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on Public Economics |
| By: | Silvia Ardagna; Francesco Caselli; Timothy Lane |
| Abstract: | We use a panel of 16 OECD countries over several decades to investigate the effects ofgovernment debts and deficits on long-term interest rates. In simple static specifications, aone-percentage-point increase in the primary deficit relative to GDP increasescontemporaneous long-term interest rates by about 10 basis points. In a vector autoregression(VAR), the same shock leads to a cumulative increase of almost 150 basis points after 10years. The effect of debt on interest rates is non-linear: only for countries with above-averagelevels of debt does an increase in debt affect the interest rate. World fiscal policy is alsoimportant: an increase in total OECD-government borrowing increases each country'sinterest rates. However, domestic fiscal policy continues to affect domestic interest rates evenafter controlling for worldwide debts and deficits. |
| Keywords: | Government deficit, public debt, long-term interest rates |
| JEL: | E62 E44 H62 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0670&r=pbe |
| By: | Roel Beetsma; Alex Cukierman; Massimo Giuliodori |
| Abstract: | We provide empirical evidence on two, major war-related, regularities of U.S. fiscal policy. First, while during and around World War I there is a positive correlation between defense spending and civil non-defense spending, this correlation becomes negative during World War II. This may be explained by a combination of complementarities between defense and civilian spending that decrease with the size of government in conjunction with marginal tax distortions that increase with government's size. Second, during and around World War II there are, war-related, ratchets in transfers, veteran spending, taxes and revenues in the following sense. Invariably, the share of taxes and revenues in GDP goes up, and the share of transfers goes down, when the share of defense expenditures goes up. But taxes go down less and transfers go up more per unit change in defense expenditures when those expenditures go down at the war's conclusion than the amounts by which taxes go up and transfers go down during the buildup in defense expenditures at the beginning of the war effort. There is no evidence of such ratchets during and around World War I. Two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, explanations for these findings are: 1. The substantially higher franchise during World War II interacted with the crisis induced by the war to cause a permanent expansion of the welfare state. 2. The Great Depression permanently changed the norms of social justice and the interaction of this change with the experience of the War led to a more generous welfare state. |
| Keywords: | World War I and II; ratchet; defense spending; civilian spending transfers; taxes; revenues; franchise. |
| JEL: | E62 E65 N11 N12 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:057&r=pbe |
| By: | Han, Seungjin; Bjerk, David |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of the labor market where firms incur an adjustment cost when one of their workers quits, and males and females form households assortatively by skill. In this environment, we show that females can earn less and drop out more frequently than equally skilled males in equilibrium, even if males and females are ex-ante identical. Moreover, this gender inequality can be exacerbated by several reasonable government provision of homecare service schemes. In fact, we find that gender inequality can only be unambiguously decreased when homecare services are provided to only dual-career households and funded via fixed taxes that do not depend on earnings. |
| JEL: | H42 H24 J71 J16 J13 |
| Date: | 2005–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:pmicro:bjerk-05-11-21-10-55-45&r=pbe |
| By: | Douglas H. Joines |
| Keywords: | social security reform |
| JEL: | H55 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:396&r=pbe |
| By: | James Costain (Economics Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Michael Reiter |
| JEL: | E32 E62 H21 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:704&r=pbe |
| By: | Conny Olovsson (Department of Economics Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Keywords: | Social Security, risk sharing |
| JEL: | E21 H21 H55 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:584&r=pbe |
| By: | Sagiri Kitao (Economics NYU) |
| Keywords: | Income Taxation, Entrepreneurs, Dynamic General Equilibrium, Heterogeneous Agents |
| JEL: | E1 E6 H2 H3 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:514&r=pbe |
| By: | Adriano Rampini (Department of Finance Northwestern University); Alberto Bisin |
| Keywords: | Markets; Optimal Policy; Optimal Taxation; Time Consistency |
| JEL: | E61 H21 D82 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:325&r=pbe |
| By: | Tim Worall; Jonathan P Thomas |
| Keywords: | Social Insurance, Moral Hazard, Limited Commitment, Unemployment Insurance, Crowding Out. |
| JEL: | D61 H31 H55 J65 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:158&r=pbe |
| By: | Matteo Cervellati; Uwe Sunde (Economics IZA); Piergiuseppe Fortunato |
| Keywords: | Endogenous Constitutions, Democratic Transition, Public Goods, Redistribution |
| JEL: | H10 H40 N40 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:728&r=pbe |
| By: | Juan Carlos Hatchondo; Hugo Hopenhayn |
| Keywords: | Social insurance |
| JEL: | H21 H31 I38 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:129&r=pbe |
| By: | Enlinson Henrique Carvalho Mattos |
| Abstract: | This paper combines poverty considerations in the social welfare function and tax evasion into an optimal general income tax problem. It investigates the optimal audit and tax structures using a model with two types of individual, endogenous labor supply and a hybrid social welfare function that captures the pluralism of the objectives of a full committed government. The results confirm the previous literature on tax evasion: (i) skilled households should never be audited and face any distortions in the labor supply, (ii) unskilled households have to be audited randomly (probability less than one) and (iii) Individuals should be rewarded if telling the truth about their income. In addition, the introduction of poverty concern as a negative externality brings new characteristics for the optimum income tax on poor: (iv) they may (or not) face negative marginal income tax. Also, a numerical example is provided to further explore the model. |
| JEL: | H42 H21 H31 H23 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2005:044&r=pbe |
| By: | Julia Darby, V. Anton Muscatelli and Graeme Roy |
| Abstract: | Cross-country evidence on sub-central governments’ responses to cuts in grants received from central government shows the typical response is to adjust expenditure rather than offset cuts by raising ‘own’ revenues. Spending cuts are focused on the wage bill and, disproportionately, on capital expenditure. Even where countries have greater flexibility to offset the centrally imposed cuts, through a high degree of expenditure decentralisation, tax and borrowing autonomy, they tend not to exercise these powers. So, centrally imposed cuts result in expenditure restraint at the sub-central level, but the adjustment appears to suffer from short-termism, given the disproportionate focus on capital spending. |
| JEL: | E62 E63 H62 H77 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gla:glaewp:2005_18&r=pbe |
| By: | Marie-Claire Villeval (GATE CNRS); Bernard Fortin; Guy Lacroix |
| Abstract: | The paper extends the standard tax evasion model by allowing for social interactions. In Manski’s (1993) nomenclature, our model takes into account social conformity effects (i.e., endogenous interactions), fairness effects (i.e., exogenous interactions) and sorting effects (i.e., correlated effects). Our model is tested using experimental data. Participants must decide how much income to report given their tax rate and audit probability, and given those faced by the other members of their group as well as their mean reported income. The estimation is based on a two-limit simultaneous tobit with fixed group effects. A unique social equilibrium exists when the model satisfies coherency conditions. In line with Brock and Durlauf (2001b), the intrinsic nonlinearity between individual and group responses is sufficient to identify the model without imposing any exclusion restrictions. Our results are consistent with fairness effects but reject social conformity and correlated effects. |
| Keywords: | Social interactions, Tax evasion, Simultaneous tobit, Laboratory experiments |
| JEL: | C24 C92 D63 H26 Z13 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0410&r=pbe |
| By: | Jorge Soares; Marina Azzimonti (Economics University of Iowa); Pierre-Daniel Sarte |
| Keywords: | Time-consistency, Markov Equilibrium, Public Debt |
| JEL: | H2 H6 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:481&r=pbe |
| By: | Boerner, Kira; Uebelmesser, Silke |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of emigration on the political choice regarding the size of the welfare state. Mobility has two countervailing effects: the political participation effect and the tax base effect. With emigration, the composition of the constituency changes. This increases the political influence of the less mobile part of the population. The new political majority has to take into account that emigration reduces tax revenues and thereby affects the feasible set of redistribution policies. The interaction of the two e¤ects has so far not been analyzed in isolation. We find that the direction of the total e¤ect of migration depends on the initial income distribution in the economy. Our results also contribute to the empirical debate on the validity of the median-voter approach for explaining the relation between income inequality and redistribution levels. |
| JEL: | D72 D31 H50 F22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:728&r=pbe |
| By: | A. Mitchell Polinsky; Steven Shavell |
| Abstract: | This chapter of the forthcoming Handbook of Law and Economics surveys the theory of the public enforcement of law – the use of governmental agents (regulators, inspectors, tax auditors, police, prosecutors) to detect and to sanction violators of legal rules. The theoretical core of our analysis addresses the following basic questions: Should the form of the sanction imposed on a liable party be a fine, an imprisonment term, or a combination of the two? Should the rule of liability be strict or fault-based? If violators are caught only with a probability, how should the level of the sanction be adjusted? How much of society’s resources should be devoted to apprehending violators? We then examine a variety of extensions of the central theory, including: activity level; errors; the costs of imposing fines; general enforcement; marginal deterrence; the principal-agent relationship; settlements; self-reporting; repeat offenders; imperfect knowledge about the probability and magnitude of sanctions; corruption; incapacitation; costly observation of wealth; social norms; and the fairness of sanctions. |
| JEL: | D23 D62 D63 H23 H26 K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11780&r=pbe |
| By: | Julia Darby, V. Anton Muscatelli and Graeme Roy |
| Abstract: | Fiscal consolidations, episodes where governments make large discretionary improvements in their fiscal positions, have received considerable attention, especially in EMU. The existing literature demonstrates that the composition of consolidations is a crucial determinant of their success. We show that sub-central governments also play a key role in consolidations through sustained cuts in expenditures, as their intergovernmental grants are cut. In contrast to existing studies we find that cuts in capital spending at sub-central levels are a feature of successful consolidations. We also show that the government type and the nature of fiscal arrangements in a country impact on these results. |
| JEL: | E62 E63 H62 H77 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gla:glaewp:2005_21&r=pbe |
| By: | Bucovetsky, Sam; Haufler, Andreas |
| Abstract: | We analyze a sequential game between two symmetric countries when firms can invest in a multinational structure that confers tax savings. Governments are able to commit to long-run tax discrimination policies before firms' decisions are made and before statutory capital tax rates are chosen non-cooperatively. Whether a coordinated reduction in the tax preferences granted to mobile firms is beneficial or harmful for the competing countries depends critically on the elasticity with which the firms' organizational structure responds to tax discrimination incentives. The model can be applied to recent policy initiatives that aim at a ban on preferential tax regimes and at reducing the profit shifting opportunities for multinational firms. |
| JEL: | F23 H73 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:729&r=pbe |
| By: | Alexandre Porsse; Eduardo Haddad; Eduardo Ribeiro |
| Abstract: | Tax incentives are common instruments in regional policies used to attract new investments and promote increase in employment and income, but the impact on regional public finances is very controversial. This paper uses an interregional computable general equilibrium model for the Brazilian economy to evaluate the net effects of tax incentives on the regional government revenues. The model takes into account the structural relationships between two regions and the specific characteristics of the Brazilian federalism that affects regional public finances. The theoretical specification allows capturing indirect and induced effects of the new investments and the net output of such incentive policies for the regional government revenues. |
| JEL: | C68 R13 H73 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2005:124&r=pbe |
| By: | Vito Polito; Mike Wickens |
| Abstract: | We propose an index of the fiscal stance that is convenient for practical use. It is based on a finite time horizon, not on an infinite time horizon like most tests. As it employs VAR analysis it is simple to compute and easily automated. We also show how it is possible to analyse a change of policy within a VAR framework. We use this methodology to examine the effect on fiscal sustainability of a change in policy. We then conduct an empirical examination of the fiscal stances of the US, the UK and Germany over the last 25 or more years, and we carry out a counter-factual analysis of the likely consequences for fiscal sustainability of using a Taylor rule to set monetary policy over this period. Among our findings are that the recent fiscal stances of all three countries are not sustainable, and that using a Taylor rule in the past would have improved the fiscal stances of the US and UK, but not that of Germany. |
| Keywords: | Budget deficits; government debt; fiscal sustainability; VAR analysis; economic policy. |
| JEL: | C22 C53 E62 E63 |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:san:cdmacp:0503&r=pbe |
| By: | Felipe Diniz |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to construct a broader measure of welfare that takes in account the access people have to some public goods. If the data on household access to public goods and private assets is assumed to be the result of a maximization problem, a latent indirect utility level may be estimated by some factor model. In this paper the individual measure of welfare is constructed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the ownership of private assets and the existence of public goods in the neighborhood the agent lives in. The resulting welfare distributions are used in different analysis: Calculate the treatment effect of having access to certain public goods; investigate the effects of public goods in poverty and inequality alleviation; development of an algorithm to locate public goods in order to maximize some social welfare function. |
| JEL: | H41 I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2005:045&r=pbe |
| By: | Maria Gabriella Briotti (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | The paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature that has investigated the conditions under which a contractionary fiscal policy is effective in reducing debt and deficit, but does not have a negative effect on growth. The issue is central to macroeconomics and policy making, given that many countries are currently facing increasing fiscal imbalances, with additional pressure coming in the medium term from population ageing. The paper concludes that the theoretical impact of fiscal policy on aggregate demand and economic activity depends largely on the conceptual framework considered and its assumptions about the world. Empirical studies based on macro-econometric model simulations find evidence that fiscal consolidations lead initially to production losses, while they can result in a higher output in the medium term. Empirical studies focusing on episodes of changes in fiscal policies provide in turn evidence that under certain circumstances austerity measures may have an expansionary impact on the economy. |
| Keywords: | fiscal multiplier, fiscal consolidation, non-Keynesian effects, government spending and taxing. |
| JEL: | E62 H30 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbops:20050038&r=pbe |
| By: | K. Balla; G. Kertesi |
| Keywords: | transition, privatization, unemployment |
| JEL: | E62 H23 P30 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:75&r=pbe |
| By: | Michael J. Hicks (Air Force Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This research analyzes selected fiscal impacts of Wal-Mart in Ohio from 1985 through 2003. Using a panel of counties, and accounting for spatial autocorrelation in an instrumental variable model I estimate impact of Wal-Mart and Super-Centers on selected revenues and transfer payments. On revenues I find that the presence of a Wal-Mart increases local commercial property tax assessments, resulting in collection increases of between $350,000 to roughly $1.3 million. Wal-Mart also is associated with higher levels of local labor force participation. On expenditures I also find that the presence of a Wal-Mart dramatically increases the per capita EITC claims in a county (between 18 and 43 percent), while the dollar value of these claims experiences mixed impacts between Wal-Mart and a Supercenter. Similarly, the impact of Wal-Mart on Foodstamps expenditures is mixed, but small in any case. There are no in-county impacts of Wal-Mart on expenditures on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and its predecessor Aid to Families with Dependent Children. However, Medicaid expenditures experience growth which may amount to roughly 16 additional cases per county attributable to a single Wal- Mart. The per worker costs of Medicaid estimated in this study is consistent with reported levels in a number of states, and study estimates by Dube and Jacobs [2004], Carlson [2005] and Hicks [2005a]. The magnitude and statistical certainty of these findings, accompanied by a review of previous research suggests that local fiscal intervention, either through incentives or the much touted “Wal-Mart Tax” is unwarranted. |
| JEL: | D6 D7 H |
| Date: | 2005–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0511016&r=pbe |
| By: | Michael J. Hicks (Air Force Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | As the largest private sector employer in the United States, Wal-Mart experiences considerable scrutiny over its influence on a number of regional fiscal and economic issues. These include its impact on the local retail market structure, land use patterns, local fiscal conditions and general business practices. Criticism of Wal-Mart’s business practices include, but are not limited to its anti-unionization efforts, sale of imported goods, wage and compensation structure and the use of Federal and state anti-poverty transfers by its employees. In this paper I evaluate the concerns regarding the role of Wal-Mart in changing expenditures on Federal and state anti-poverty transfers in the United States. Using a panel of the conterminous 48 states, correcting for time and spatial autocorrelation and local government mix and policy changes, I find the number of Wal-Marts, and their employment share in the retail sector have no impact on Foodstamps expenditures. Expenditures on AFDC/TANF are unaffected by Wal-Mart in the test using the number of stores to represent Wal-Mart’s presence. In the retail employment share, the impact is negative, with a 1 percent increase in Wal-Mart’s share reduced AFDC/TANF expenditures by 3.3 percent. I find that Wal-Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low wage worker across the United States. |
| JEL: | D6 D7 H |
| Date: | 2005–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0511015&r=pbe |
| By: | Ognedal, Tone (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo); Barth, Erling (Institute for Social Research,) |
| Abstract: | Unreported labour by one worker in a firm increases the probability of detection for his fellow workers, not only for himself. The firm takes this external effect into account. As a consequence, unreported work becomes rationed by the firms demand, rather than determined by demand equal supply. The gap between supply and demand increases with firm size. An empirical analysis on survey data supports theses theoretical predictions. Using a bivariate probit model, we find evidence of excess supply of unreported work in firms. We also find that the gap between supply and demand increases with firm size. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion; unreported labour |
| JEL: | H26 J20 J22 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2005–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2005_028&r=pbe |
| By: | Werner Eichhorst (IZA Bonn); Ole Wintermann (Bertelsmann Foundation) |
| Abstract: | Policy advice can help political actors design and implement institutional reforms through the generation of political and substantial legitimacy. This article clarifies the institutional preconditions of effective supply and transfer of policy advice with particular respect to the field of labor market and social policy reform and to corporatist arrangements where academic think tanks and social partner bodies for policy advice exist side by side. It shows how policy advice is structured and to what it extent it could influence actual policy-making in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden over the last decade. Our main argument is that the structure of policy advice is essential for its effectiveness, with highly reputable and less contested expert committees and research institutes providing balanced policy-oriented advice are most influential and conducive to furthering labor market and welfare state reforms in corporatist settings. In combination with a shadow of hierarchy spent by government they can also facilitate social partner consensus. Hence, an appropriate supply of policy advice can help ensure sufficient legitimacy for institutional reforms and increase societal problem-solving capacities. If government is weak for institutional reasons and policy advice rather fragmented, challenged and less policy-oriented, like in the German case, policy advice can not realize its full potential. |
| Keywords: | policy advice, corporatism, labor market reforms, public policy |
| JEL: | H83 J58 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1845&r=pbe |
| By: | Patrick Bayer; Robert McMillan |
| Abstract: | Prompted by widespread concerns about public school quality, a growing empirical literature has measured the effects of greater choice on school performance. This paper contributes to that literature in three ways. First, it makes the observation that the overall effect of greater choice, which has been the focus of prior research, can be decomposed into demand and supply components: knowing the relative sizes of the two is very relevant for policy. Second, using rich data from a large metropolitan area, it provides a direct and intuitive measure of the competition each school faces. This takes the form of a school-specific elasticity that measures the extent to which reductions in school quality would lead to reductions in demand. Third, the paper provides evidence that these elasticity measures are strongly related to school performance: a one-standard deviation increase in the competitiveness of a school's local environment within the Bay Area leads to a 0.15 standard deviation increase in average test scores. This positive correlation is robust and is consistent with strong supply responsiveness on the part of public schools, of relevance to the broader school choice debate. |
| JEL: | I20 H41 R21 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11802&r=pbe |
| By: | Javier Herrera (DIAL, IRD, Paris); Mireille Razafindrakoto (DIAL, IRD, Paris); François Roubaud (DIAL, IRD, Paris) |
| Abstract: | (english) Public statistics face quite a challenge when it comes to measuring new dimensions of development (institutions, governance, and social and political participation). To take up this challenge, modules on Governance, Democracy and Multiple Dimensions of Poverty have been appended to household surveys by National Statistics Institutes in twelve African and Latin-American developing countries. This paper presents the issues addressed and the methodological lessons learnt along with a selection of findings to illustrate this innovative approach and demonstrate its analytic potential. We investigate, for instance, the population’s support for democratic principles, the respect for civil and political rights and the trust in the political class; the “need for the State”, particularly of the poorest; the extent of petty corruption; the reliability of expert surveys on governance; the perception of decentralisation policies at local level; the level and vitality of social and political participation, etc. The conclusive appraisal made opens up prospects for the national statistical information systems in the developing countries. The measurement and tracking of this new set of objective and subjective public policy monitoring indicators would benefit from being made systematic. _________________________________ (français) La mesure des nouvelles dimensions du développement (institutions, gouvernance, participation, sociale et politique) pose un redoutable défi à la statistique publique. Pour y répondre, des modules thématiques sur la Gouvernance, la Démocratie et les Multiples Dimensions de la Pauvreté ont été greffés sur des enquêtes auprès des ménages réalisées par les Instituts Nationaux de la Statistique de douze pays en développement, africains et latino américains. On présente ici les enjeux et les enseignements méthodologiques de cette expérience, ainsi qu’une sélection de résultats illustratifs de cette approche novatrice. On s'interroge sur l’adhésion des citoyens aux principes démocratiques ; le respect des droits civils et politiques ; la confiance envers les institutions et la classe politique ; le « besoin d’Etat », notamment des pauvres ; l’ampleur de la petite corruption ; l'efficience des institutions ; la fiabilité des enquêtes-experts sur la gouvernance ; l’appréciation des politiques de décentralisation au niveau local ; le niveau et la dynamique de la participation sociale et politique, etc. Le bilan concluant qui en est tiré ouvre des perspectives pour les systèmes nationaux d’informations statistiques dans les PED. La mesure et le suivi de cette nouvelle batterie d’indicateurs objectifs et subjectifs au service de la conduite des politiques publiques mériteraient d’être systématisés. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Latin America, Democracy, Monitoring Mechanism, Household Surveys,Governance, Poverty, Corruption, Development Policy, Statistics, Afrique, Amérique latine, Démocratie, Dispositif de suivi, Enquêtes auprès des Ménages, Gouvernance, Pauvreté, Corruption, Politique de développement, Statistique. |
| JEL: | I31 I32 I38 H11 D73 O54 O55 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200512&r=pbe |
| By: | Maria da Conceição Sampaio de Sousa; Silvane Battaglin Schwengber |
| Abstract: | In this paper we have attempted to appraise, quantitatively, the efficiency levels of the justice courts in Rio Grande do Sul. For that purpose, we analyzed the relationship between output and inputs by constructing nonparametric efficiency frontiers.Two different techniques of efficiency analysis were used to determine this frontier: the FDH approach and the order-m frontier. Our results provided useful insights into the assessment of the administrative efficiency of courts. The expected order-m frontier produces more reliable results as it is not affected by the curse of dimensionality as is the case of most nonparametric measurements. We show also that efficiency losses are particularly important for small courts, thus suggesting the presence of economies of scale. Due to their size, smaller courts do not explore the economies of scale in the production of justice services. They tend to use relatively more resources, as they do not benefit from the specialization, found out in larger courts. This can be inferred by the estimated substantial reducible backlog that characterizes those courts. This is a quite robust result, supported by both methodologies. |
| JEL: | C5 C6 H4 H7 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2005:053&r=pbe |
| By: | Hassan Molana; Catia Montagna |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between welfare state policies and economic performance in a small open economy with (i) free trade in final goods and international capital mobility, and (ii) aggregate increasing returns to scale. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that a retrenchment of welfare programmes is not an inevitable consequence of economic integration. Instead, by improving the exploitation of aggregate scale economies, social expenditure policies and international openness complement each other in facilitating an improvement in economic performance that can sustain a more generous welfare protection. |
| Keywords: | Welfare state; circular causation; international trade; capital mobility. |
| JEL: | E6 F1 F4 H3 J5 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:san:cdmacp:0505&r=pbe |
| By: | Michael Greenstone; Justin Gallagher |
| Abstract: | Approximately $30 billion (2000$) has been spent on Superfund clean-ups of hazardous waste sites, and remediation efforts are incomplete at roughly half of the 1,500 Superfund sites. This study estimates the effect of Superfund clean-ups on local housing price appreciation. We compare housing price growth in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites to be cleaned up through the Superfund program to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these clean-ups. We cannot reject that the clean-ups had no effect on local housing price growth, nearly two decades after these sites became eligible for them. This finding is robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the benefits of Superfund clean-ups as measured through the housing market are substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund clean-ups. |
| JEL: | H4 Q51 Q53 R5 R2 I18 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11790&r=pbe |
| By: | Annette Bergemann (Free University of Amsterdam and IZA Bonn); Bernd Fitzenberger (Goethe University of Frankfurt, ZEW, IFS and IZA Bonn); Stefan Speckesser (Policy Studies Institute, London) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the employment effects of training in East Germany. We propose and apply an extension of the widely used conditional difference-in-differences evaluation method. Focusing on transition rates between nonemployment and employment we take into account that employment is a state dependent process. Our results indicate that using transition rates is more appropriate and informative than using unconditional employment rates as commonly done in the literature. Training as a first participation in a program of Active Labor Market Policies shows zero to small positive effects both on reemployment probabilities and on probabilities of remaining employed with notable variation over the different start dates of the program. |
| Keywords: | evaluation of active labor market policy in East Germany, nonparametric matching, conditional difference-in-differences, employment dynamics, Ashenfelter's Dip, bootstrap |
| JEL: | C14 C23 H43 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1848&r=pbe |
| By: | Fang Yang (Department of Economics University of Minnesota) |
| Keywords: | Consumption, Housing, Portfolio |
| JEL: | H31 E21 E27 R21 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed005:718&r=pbe |
| By: | Sirisha C. Naidu (University of Massachusetts Amherst) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of group heterogeneity in collective action among forest communities in northwestern Himalayas. Based on data from 54 forest communities in Himachal Pradesh, India, this paper finds that heterogeneity has at least three dimensions: wealth, social identity and interest in the resource, and each may significantly affect collective actions related to natural resource management. However, their effects are far from simple and linear. The empirical results suggest that cooperation need not depend on caste parochialism, that very high levels of wealth heterogeneity can reduce cooperation, and that there can be a divergence between ability and incentive to cooperate which reduces the level of cooperation in the community. |
| Keywords: | common pool resources, group outcomes, heterogeneity, forests, Himachal Pradesh |
| JEL: | D63 D71 H41 Q23 |
| Date: | 2005–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpot:0511004&r=pbe |
| By: | Alan Manning; B Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | In 2003, women working part-time in the UK earned, on average, 22% less than women working full-time. Compared to women who work FT, PT women are more likely to have low levels of education, to be in a couple, to have young and numerous children, to work in small establishments in distribution, hotels and restaurants and in low-level occupations. Taking account of these differences, the PT penalty for identical women doing the same job is estimated to be about 10% if one does not take account of differences in the occupations of FT and PT women and 3% if one does. The occupational segregation of PT and FT women can explain most of the aggregate PT pay penalty. In particular, women who move from FT to PT work are much more likely to change employer and/or occupation than those who maintain their hours status. And, when making this transition, they tend to make a downward occupational move, evidence that many women working PT are not making full use of their skills and experience. Women working PT in the other EU countries have similar problems to the UK but the UK has the highest PT pay penalty and one of the worst problems in enabling women to move between FT and PT work without occupational demotions. At the same time, PT work in the UK carries a higher job satisfaction premium (or a lower job satisfaction penalty) than in most other countries. Policy initiatives in recent years like the National Minimum Wage, the Part-Time Workers Regulations and the Right to Request Flexible Working appear to have had little impact on the PT pay penalty as yet although it is too early to make a definitive assessment of the full impact of some of these regulations. The most effective way to reduce the PT pay penalty would be to strengthen rights for women to move between FT and PT work without losing their current job. |
| Keywords: | employment transitions, part-time work, motherhood, EU, equality |
| JEL: | D12 H31 J16 J18 J2 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0679&r=pbe |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Olivier Marie |
| Abstract: | In this paper we look at links between police resources and crime in a different way to theexisting economics of crime work. To do so we focus on a policy intervention - the StreetCrime Initiative - that was introduced in England and Wales in 2002. This allocatedadditional resources to some police force areas to combat street crime, whereas other forcesdid not receive any additional funding. Estimates derived from several empirical strategiesshow that robberies did fall significantly in SCI police forces relative to non-SCI forces afterthe initiative was introduced. Moreover, the policy seems to have been a cost effective one.There is some heterogeneity in this positive net social benefit across different SCI policeforces, suggesting that some police forces may have made better use of the extra resourcesthan others. Overall, we reach the conclusion that increased police resources do in fact leadto lower crime, at least in the context of the SCI programme we study. |
| Keywords: | Street crime, Police resources, Cost effectiveness |
| JEL: | H00 H5 K42 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0680&r=pbe |