|
on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | Ravallion, Martin |
| Abstract: | The 20th Human Development Report has introduced a new version of its famous Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI aggregates country-level attainments in life expectancy, schooling and income per capita. Each year's rankings by the HDI are keenly watched in both rich and poor countries. The main change in the 2010 HDI is that it relaxes its past assumption of perfect substitutability between its three components. However, most users will probably not realize that the new HDI has also greatly reduced its implicit weight on longevity in poor countries, relative to rich ones. A poor country experiencing falling life expectancy due to (say) a collapse in its health-care system could still see its HDI improve with even a small rate of economic growth. By contrast, the new HDI's valuations of the gains from extra schooling seem unreasonably high -- many times greater than the economic returns to schooling. These troubling tradeoffs could have been largely avoided using a different aggregation function for the HDI, while still allowing imperfect substitution. While some difficult value judgments are faced in constructing and assessing the HDI, making its assumed tradeoffs more explicit would be a welcome step. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Inequality,Rural Poverty Reduction,Debt Markets,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2010–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5484&r=pke |
| By: | Peter N. Ireland (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Although theologians and economists communicate their ideas to different professional audiences in different ways, we agree on many basic points. We agree, for instance, that all too often, a large gap appears between "what is" and "what should be." We agree, more specifically, that unregulated markets lead to undesirable and perhaps even disastrous environmental degradation. And we view with great suspicion government policies that redistribute wealth perversely, away from the needy and towards the affluent. But while economists share theologians' concerns about the problems that economic development brings, we can also point to benefits that come with rising income levels. |
| Keywords: | theology, economics, economic development |
| JEL: | A12 A13 O10 Q56 |
| Date: | 2010–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:763&r=pke |
| By: | David Guerreiro |
| Abstract: | Despite the vast literature dealing with the impact of the subsidies on world cotton prices, there is no consensus regarding the quantification of these effects. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this literature through the implementation of a meta-regression analysis. This methodology allows us to: (i) identify the main sources of heterogeneity between the primary studies, (ii) give some tracks to improve the modeling, (iii) provide a reliable quantification of the removal of subsidies on world cotton prices. Relying on the estimation of various models to derive robust results, our findings show that a withdrawal of US subsidies would increase the world cotton price by around 10%. |
| Keywords: | Meta-Regression Analysis, Mixed Effect Sizes, Cotton, Subsidies, Agriculture |
| JEL: | Q17 Q18 C82 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2010-26&r=pke |