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Economic Grounds (economic + ground)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	80%

Selected Abstracts

PUBLIC PREFERENCES FOR REHABILITATION VERSUS INCARCERATION OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS: EVIDENCE FROM A CONTINGENT VALUATION SURVEY,

CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 4 2006
DANIEL S. NAGIN
Research Summary: Accurately gauging the public's support for alternative responses to juvenile offending is important, because policy makers often justify expenditures for punitive juvenile justice reforms on the basis of popular demand for tougher policies. In this study, we assess public support for both punitively and nonpunitively oriented juvenile justice policies by measuring respondents' willingness to pay for various policy proposals. We employ a methodology known as "contingent valuation" (CV) that permits the comparison of respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for competing policy alternatives. Specifically, we compare CV-based estimates for the public's WTP for two distinctively different responses to serious juvenile crime: incarceration and rehabilitation. An additional focus of our analysis is an examination of the public's WTP for an early childhood prevention program. The analysis indicates that the public is at least as willing to pay for rehabilitation as punishment for juvenile offenders and that WTP for early childhood prevention is also substantial. Implications and future research directions are outlined. Policy Implications: The findings suggest that lawmakers should more actively consider policies grounded in rehabilitation, and, perhaps, be slower to advocate for punitive reforms in response to public concern over high-profile juvenile crimes. Additionally, our willingness to pay findings offer encouragement to lawmakers who are uncomfortable with the recent trend toward punitive juvenile justice policies and would like to initiate more moderate reforms. Such lawmakers may be reassured that the public response to such initiatives will not be hostile. Just as importantly, reforms that emphasize leniency and rehabilitation can be justified economically as welfare-enhancing expenditures of public funds. The evidence that the public values rehabilitation more than increased incarceration should be important information to cost-conscious legislators considering how to allocate public funds. Cost-conscious legislatures may become disenchanted with punitive juvenile justice policies on economic grounds and pursue policies that place greater emphasis on rehabilitation. They may be reassured, on the basis of our findings, that the public will support this move. [source]

Should governments fund science?

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2000
Terence Kealey
Empirical evidence shows the flaws in the ,linear model' of economic growth - in which government funds pure science which leads to applied science and enhanced economic growth. Adam Smith's model - in which academic science flows out of applied science - is nearer the mark. Governent funding of science cannot be justified on economic grounds and indeed tends to crowd out private funding. [source]

Road pricing: lessons from London

ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 46 2006
Georgina Santos
SUMMARY Road pricing LESSONS FROM LONDON This paper assesses the original London Congestion Charging Scheme (LCCS) and its impacts, and it simulates the proposed extension which will include most of Kensington and Chelsea. It also touches upon the political economy of the congestion charge and the increase of the charge from £5 to £8 per day. The possibility of transferring the experience to Paris, Rome and New York is also discussed. The LCCS has had positive impacts. This was despite the considerable political influences on the charge level and location. It is difficult to assess the impacts of the increase of the charge from £5 to £8, which took place in July 2005, because no data have yet been released by Transport for London. The proposed extension of the charging zone does not seem to be an efficient change on economic grounds, at least for the specific boundaries, method of charging and level of charging that is currently planned. Our benefit cost ratios computed under different assumptions of costs and benefits are all below unity. Overall, the experience shows that simple methods of congestion charging, though in no way resembling first-best Pigouvian taxes, can do a remarkably good job of creating benefits from the reduction of congestion. Nevertheless, the magnitude of these benefits can be highly sensitive to the details of the scheme, which therefore need to be developed with great care. , Georgina Santos and Gordon Fraser [source]

A Simple Model of Severance Pay Determination: The Case of Individual Dismissals in Spain

LABOUR, Issue 2 2000
Miguel Á. Malo
In this article we model the determinants of severance pay for individual dismissals in Spain, following an idea proposed by Jimeno and Toharia (Economistas 55: 243,255, 1993). We point out the importance of severance pay settled before judgment, since the legal framework creates a bargaining space to determine the amount paid by firms in cases of individual dismissal. The model is a simple pre-trial bargaining game between the firm and the worker. It predicts a higher settled severance pay for dismissals on economic grounds than on disciplinary ones, which could explain the perceptions held about the wide use of disciplinary dismissals in Spain. In addition, this approach could be useful in designing labour market reforms aimed at changing dismissal costs, because it allows us to determine the key variables affecting settled severance pay. Our simple model predicts that the key variables for Spain are the severance pay for unfair dismissal and the probability of unfair dismissal. [source]

The Economic Impacts of a New Dam in South-East Queensland

THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
Glyn Wittwer
South-East Queensland has combined the most rapid population growth in Australia with rainfall that has persisted below average for many years. The Queensland Government has responded with a number of plans to supplement existing water supplies in the region. This paper uses a multiregional, dynamic CGE model to estimate the regional impacts of construction of Traveston dam. The magnitude of net welfare benefits of the project depends on underlying assumptions concerning future rainfall patterns. All the mainland state governments are proposing water supply augmentation measures. It is probable that a number of these projects are not justifiable on economic grounds. [source]