Economic Welfare (economic + welfare)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Capital Assistance for Small Firms: Some Implications for Regional Economic Welfare

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS, Issue 1 2000
Daniel Felsenstein
This paper analyzes the role of finance capital in regional economic development. A cost-benefit approach is invoked in order to estimate the welfare impacts of a regional loan and guarantee program for small firms in Israel. Program-created employment is treated as a benefit and an employment account that separates net from gross employment, is presented. An estimate of net wage benefits is then derived. This involves adjusting wages across different earnings classes in order to account for the variation in opportunity costs of labor at different levels. The estimation of costs includes the opportunity costs of capital, administration, default, and tax-raising costs. Results point to substantial regional welfare effects. We stress the need to account for changing regional economic structure in this kind of evaluation framework. [source]


Efficiency-wage Unemployment and Economic Welfare in a Model of Endogenous Growth

LABOUR, Issue 4 2001
Jürgen Meckl
This paper examines positive and normative implications of efficiency-wage-induced unemployment within a model of endogenous growth. Sector-specific impacts of the wage rate on labour efficiency establish a correlation between the growth rate and the rate of unemployment. The sign of this correlation is determined by the intersectoral wage differential. Despite the existence of unemployment, decisive positive properties of the full-employment model are preserved. However, welfare implications of the full-employment model may be reversed. The optimal policy can be to reduce growth, while at the same time raising unemployment. [source]


Has International Trade in Saving Improved US Economic Welfare?

THE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 2009
ANTHONY J. MAKIN
Over the past decade international policy-makers have perceived the current account deficit of the world's largest foreign borrower economy, the United States, as a threat to global economic and financial stability. Yet, by bridging the US domestic saving-investment gap, capital inflow that matched the huge US current account deficit also enabled a faster rate of domestic capital accumulation than home saving alone would have permitted. Consistent with the theory of international capital movements, this study identifies and compares the respective contributions of domestic and foreign saving to US gross domestic product per worker over the two decades prior to the onset of the US banking crisis. By revealing that foreign borrowing contributed significantly to raising US output and hence living standards over this period, it adds a new dimension to the debate about global imbalances. [source]


Identifying Welfare Effects from Subjective Questions

ECONOMICA, Issue 271 2001
Martin Ravallion
We argue that the welfare inferences drawn from answers to subjective,qualitative survey questions are clouded by concerns over the structure of measurement errors and how latent psychological factors influence observed respondent characteristics. We propose a panel data model that allows more robust tests and we estimate the model on a high-quality survey for Russia. We find significant income effects on an individual's subjective economic welfare. Demographic effects are weak at given income per capita. Ill-health and becoming unemployed lower welfare at given current income, although the unemployment effect is not robust, and returning to work does not restore welfare without an income gain. [source]


CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota

EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2004
Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache
Summary CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota The reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy of June 2003 introduced major policy changes, In the dairy sector the aim is to decrease price distortions between the EU and world dairy markets through successive reductions in milk intervention prices. However, the milk quota system is still in place and successive increases in milk quotas are planned. The question is whether these dairy reforms are going in the right direction given the three main characteristics of the EU dairy sector. First the price inelasticity of both milk supply (due to quota) and domestic demand means that price distortion mainly affects the distribution of economic surplus between consumers and producers but does not generate significant net losses in economic welfare. Second, the ,large country' position of the EU on the world market means that the EU should remove all export subsidies, which will reduce EU exports and increase world prices. Third, the projected increase in EU aggregate demand for milk favours a reduction in all subsidies. The CAP is going in the right direction in the dairy sector. But to reduce price distortions all subsidies should be removed as soon as possible and the milk production quota should be retained. La réforme de la PAC laitiére: supprimer les subventions aux exportations et conserver les quotas La réforme de la PAC en juin 2003 est un changement majeur. En ce qui concerne le secteur laitier, l'idée consiste à diminuer les distorsions entre les prix européens et ceux du marché mondial par une série de réductions progressives du prix d'intervention. En même temps, le système des quotas reste en place et des accroissements progressifs sont envisageés pour les droits à produire. La question. est alors de savoir si une telle politique est bien orientée, compte tenu des trois caractéristiques principales du secteur laitier européen. En premier lieu, la faible élasticité-prix aussi bien de l'offre (à cause des quotas) que de la demande, implique que les distorsions, si elies affectent la répartition des bénéfices entre producteurs et consommateurs, ne génèrent pas de très grandes pertes sociales au niveau du bien-être global. Ensuite, l'importance de l'Union européenne sur les marchés mondiaux implique que l'UE doive réduire ses subventions à l'exportation, ce qui diminuera le volume des exportations et en fera remonter le prix, Enfin, l'accroissement prévisible de la demande globale européenne en produits laitiers devrait conduire G une réduction des subventions de toute sorte. La PAC est done sur la bonne voie en matière laitière. Mais pour réduire les distorsions, il faut le plus vite possible supprimer les subventions et conserver les quotas laitiers. Reform der GAP im Milchsektor: Abschaffung der Exportsubventionen und Beibehaltung der Milchquoten Die Reform der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik vom Juni 2003 führt zu erheblichen Politikänderungen. Im Milchsektor ist das Ziel, die Preisverzerrungen zwischen der EU und den Weltmärkten für Milchprodukte durch eine sukzessive Reduzierung der Milchinterventionspreise zu verringern. Das Milchquotensystem bleibt jedoch weiter bestehen und sukzessive Erhöhungen der Milchquoten sind geplant. Es ergibt sich die Frage, ob die Reform bei den vorhandenen drei Charakteristika im EU Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung geht. Erstens bedeuten das gegebene preisunelastische Angebot von Milch (wegen der Quotierung) und die Nachfrage im Inland, dass die Preisverzerrung sich vomehmlich auf die Verteilung der ökonomischen Rente zwischen Konsumenten und Produzenten auswirkt, nicht aber zu bedeutenden Wohlfahrtsverlusten führt. Zweitens fuhrt die Abschaffung aller Exporterstattungen für Milch und Milchprodukte dazu, dass die EU Exporte sinken und damit wegen der EU als relative großes Land die Weltmarktpreise für Milch steigen werden. Drittens begünstigt die vorausgesagte Zunahme in der aggregierten Milchnachfrage in der EU eine Reduzierung aller Subventionen. Die GAP entwickelt sich im Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung. Es sollten aber alle Subventionen so schnell wie möglich abgebaut und die Milchquote sollte aufrechterhalten werden, um Preisverzerrungen zu reduzieren. [source]


Winners and losers of conservation policies for European eel, Anguilla anguilla: an economic welfare analysis for differently specialised eel anglers

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
M. DOROW
Abstract, Recreational specialisation theory was coupled with a discrete choice experiment to understand eel, Anguilla anguilla L., angler's heterogeneity in their reaction to regulatory changes and the associated welfare changes. Differently specialised eel anglers exhibited distinct preferences for catch variables and eel angling regulations. All anglers preferred slightly to moderately stricter regulations than are currently in place; however, such policies particularly benefited casual eel anglers. In contrast, advanced eel anglers would be most penalised by highly restrictive regulations as indicated by substantial reductions in economic welfare. Aversions to stricter regulations found for advanced anglers contradicted predictions from specialisation theory. From an eel management perspective, the implementation of some simple tools such as increased minimum-size limits will reduce angling mortality on eel and simultaneously increase the welfare of anglers. By contrast, highly restrictive eel angling regulations will result in considerable economic welfare losses of several million , per year for northern Germany alone. [source]


Testing for an economic gradient in health status using subjective data

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2008
Michael Lokshin
Abstract Can self-assessments of health reveal the true health differentials between ,rich' and ,poor'? The potential sources of bias include psychological adaptation to ill-health, socioeconomic covariates of health reporting errors and income measurement errors. We propose an estimation method to reduce the bias by isolating the component of self-assessed health that is explicable in terms of objective health indicators and allowing for broader dimensions of economic welfare than captured by current incomes. On applying our method to survey data for Russia we find a pronounced (nonlinear) economic gradient in health status that is not evident in the raw data. This is largely attributable to the health effects of age, education and location. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Distribution, Inequality and Concentration of Incomeamong Older Immigrants in Canada

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2000
K.G. Basavarajappa
While there are many studies on differences in earnings between immigrants and the native-born or among immigrant groups, they do not consider distribution and concentration of income among immigrants explicitly. These aspects are important for understanding the distribution of economic welfare and consumer behaviour among members and hence are policy relevant. Using the 1991 Census data, the distribution and concentration of incomehave been examined among 15 broad birthplace groups for population aged55 years and over. About 19 per cent of males and 15 per cent of femalesreceive less than half the median income and obtain 5 per cent and 3 per centof the aggregate income respectively. About 30 per cent of males and29 per cent of females receive more than one and half times the medianincome and obtain 61 per cent and 59 per cent of aggregate incomerespectively. About 51 per cent of males and 56 per cent of females whoreceive incomes between half and one and half times the median income aretermed middle-class and their shares of aggregate income amount to 34 and38 per cent respectively. Although older immigrants aged 55 years and over, as a group, have roughlythe same quartile distribution and concentration of income as theirCanadian-born counterparts, the birthplace groups differ considerably. Those from the developing regions, that is, the groups that have loweraverage annual incomes, also have more inequitable distribution of incomethan the Canadian-born or their counterparts from the developed regions. Thus, income distribution is more polarized in populations from developingregions than in populations from developed regions or in the Canadian-bornpopulation. On average, females receive 45 per cent less income than males, and thereis less polarization of income among them than among males regardless ofthe place of birth. A part of the explanation lies in the receipt of government transfers, whichtend to equalize rather than polarize incomes, and older women derive ahigher proportion of their income from government transfers than older men. [source]


MONOPOLY, POTENTIAL COMPETITION AND PRIVATE STOCK INFORMATION IN EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCE MARKETS

NATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 4 2000
MARK D. AGEE
ABSTRACT. This paper develops an exhaustible resource model with an incumbent monopolist that faces future potential entry of a single rival or backstop technology. The model is characterized by private stock information in the sense that firms do not know with certainty the size and/or quality of their rival's reserve stock. Results indicate that if such information is private, the strategic response of the monopolist to an entry threat is to extract reserves in the pre-entry era at a rate faster than would a pure monopolist in an uncontested market, and thus could lead to an improvement in economic welfare relative to the situation where entry is restricted. [source]


Irving Fisher and the Contribution of Improved Longevity to Living Standards

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
Article first published online: 22 MAR 200, William D. Nordhaus
The present study discusses the theory of the measurement of national income, proposes a new concept called "health income" that can be used to incorporate improvements in health status, and applies the theory to data for the United States over the 20th century. It concludes that accounting for improvements in the health status would, over the twentieth century in the United States, make a substantial difference to our measures of economic welfare. [source]


DIVISIONS OF LABOUR, SPECIALIZATION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF A SYSTEM OF PROPERTY RIGHTS: A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS

PACIFIC ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2004
Li Ke
The model suggests that fiscal competition between states facilitates important circular effects, which propel improvements in economic welfare and promote economic growth. In particular, improvements in institutional efficiency expand the demand for transactions, which in turn increases the need for further third-party protection of property rights. We illustrate our results using the growth of the state system in Western Europe. [source]


The IMF on Policies Responding to Demographic Change

POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2004
Article first published online: 15 DEC 200
In its semiannual report World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund presents its analysis of major economic policy issues and assessment of economic prospects, along with more detailed treatment of a selected current topic. The special topic in the 300-page report published in September 2004 is "The Global Demographic Transition," treated in Chapter III of the document. An excerpt from the section of that chapter titled "Policies to Meet the Challenges of Global Demographic Change" is reproduced below with the permission of the IMF. Footnotes and the figure included in the excerpt have been renumbered. The title of Chapter III is "How Will Demographic Change Affect the Global Economy?" The tone of the discussion is set by the opening epigraph, a quotation from the UK's 1949 Report of the Royal Commission on Population: "It seems possible that a society in which the proportion of young people is diminishing will become dangerously unprogressive, falling behind other communities not only in technical efficiency and economic welfare, but in intellectual and artistic achievement as well." Accordingly, the focus of the analysis, like that of the commentary by US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reprinted in the preceding Document item in this issue, is on the consequences of population aging and on the desirable policy responses to that process. The discussion broadly parallels Greenspan's but with a wider compass, including some consideration of the effects of aging in developing countries. It emphasizes the need for counteracting adverse effects of demographic change through a combination of policy measures, since "the size of the reforms" (such as increasing labor force participation, inducing later retirement, and attracting more immigrants) "that would be needed in any single area [is] sufficiently large that they would be politically and economically difficult to achieve." [source]


JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES MEETS MILTON FRIEDMAN AND EDMOND PHELPS: THE RANGE VERSUS THE NATURAL RATE IN AUSTRALIA, 1965:4 TO 2003:3

AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2006
JENNY N. LYE
In this paper we compare the estimates of the range model in Lye and McDonald (2005a) with estimates of a natural rate model. We find that the range model is superior to the natural rate model according to econometric criteria and economic plausibility. Our estimates of the range model suggest that a significantly lower rate of unemployment is obtainable at the current time by aggregate demand policy, indeed a rate of 3.1 per cent for 2003:3 compared with about 6.5 per cent for the natural rate model. Thus we conclude that basing macroeconomic policy on the natural rate model would underrate the possibilities for economic welfare in Australia. [source]


Market-Based Policy Instruments, Irrigation Water Demand, and Crop Diversification in the Bow River Basin of Southern Alberta

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2010
Lixia He
This paper investigates two market-based policy instruments, short-term water trading and volumetric water pricing, in a jurisdiction where historical water allocations are based on the seniority of appropriative water rights. The analysis identifies the potential effects of alternative surface water allocations on crop choices and on producer incomes in three irrigation districts in the Bow River Sub-basin of the South Saskatchewan River. The short-run effects of these alternative policy instruments are examined in scenarios where seasonal water supplies are reduced by 10,30% relative to the 2003 water usage levels. An important contribution of the paper is to present a computational, positive mathematical programming model that integrates both irrigation decisions and specific crop choices when characterizing agents' optimal responses to moderate water scarcity. The numerical results illustrate the manner in which the use of these market-based economic instruments can increase the irrigated land area and economic welfare relative to the allocations made based only on the seniority of water rights. Under full information with no transactions costs, the use of water pricing for allocation purposes can achieve the same production outcomes as could be reached under short-term water trading. However, the distribution of potential monetary gains and losses among agents would vary considerably across policies. Le présent article étudie deux instruments de politique fondés sur le marché, soit le commerce de l'eau à court terme et l'établissement du prix de l'eau en fonction du volume, dans une province où l'attribution de l'eau est historiquement fondée sur l'ancienneté des droits d'appropriation de l'eau. L'analyse a exposé les effets potentiels de divers moyens d'attribution de l'eau de surface sur le choix des cultures et le revenu des producteurs dans trois districts d'irrigation situés dans le sous-bassin de la rivière Bow qui s'écoule dans le sous-bassin de la rivière Saskatchewan Sud. Nous avons examiné les effets à court terme de ces moyens dans des scénarios où les approvisionnements saisonniers en eau ont été réduits de 10 à 30 p. 100 par rapport aux niveaux d'utilisation de l'eau établis en 2003. Le présent article visait, entre autres, à présenter un modèle de programmation mathématique positive intégrant à la fois les décisions concernant l'irrigation et le choix de cultures spécifiques au moment de caractériser les réactions optimales des agents face à une rareté modérée de l'eau. Les résultats numériques ont montré de quelle façon l'utilisation de ces instruments économiques fondés sur le marché pouvait accroître les superficies irriguées et le bien-être économique comparativement à l'attribution de l'eau fondée sur l'ancienneté des droits d'appropriation de l'eau. Selon les renseignements complets sans coûts de transaction, le recours à l'établissement du prix de l'eau en fonction du volume et le commerce de l'eau à court terme peuvent permettre d'obtenir les mêmes résultats en matière de production. Toutefois, la répartition des pertes et des gains éventuels entre les agents varieraient considérablement d'une politique à l'autre. [source]


Landscape Clubs: Co-existence of Genetically Modified and Organic Crops

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2007
W. H. Furtan
The possibility of increased production of genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture accentuates the need to examine the feasibility of GM and non-GM technologies co-existing on a common physical landscape. Using the theory of clubs, this paper examines the possibility of co-existence for GM and organic wheat technologies through the formation of an organic club with an endogenously determined buffer zone. Given the available data on prices, and yields, it is shown that a club can be created in which GM and organic agricultural production technologies can economically co-exist in the same physical landscape. Specifically, co-existence results in an increase in economic welfare over a situation where only GM technology is used but is not Pareto superior because producers in the buffer zone will incur injury. We show that organic producers in the club can compensate producers in the buffer zone and still be better off. Hence, the compensation principle holds. La possibilité de production accrue de cultures génétiquement modifiées (GM) accentue la nécessité d'examiner la faisabilité de coexistence des technologies GM et non GM dans un même paysage agricole. À l'aide de la théorie des clubs, le présent article a examiné la possibilité de coexistence des technologies de culture de blé GM et de blé biologique en créant un club ,biologique, comprenant une zone tampon déterminée de façon endogène. Compte tenu des données disponibles concernant les prix et les rendements, il est montré qu'il est possible de créer un club au sein duquel les technologies de production de cultures biologiques et GM peuvent économiquement coexister dans un même paysage naturel. Spécifiquement, la coexistence engendre une augmentation du bien-être économique par rapport à une situation où seule la technologie GM est utilisée, mais elle n'est pas Pareto supérieure parce que les producteurs dans la zone tampon subiront des dommages. Nous montrons que les producteurs de cultures biologiques membres du club peuvent indemniser les producteurs de la zone tampon tout en demeurant en bonne position. Le principe de compensation tient donc. [source]


Casino regulations and economic welfare

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010
Juin-Jen Chang
Abstract This paper studies the entry and tax regulation of oligopolistically competitive privately run casinos and government-run casinos in a jurisdiction. We highlight three important external effects from casino-style gambling: non-casino income creation, social disorder costs, and cross-border gambling. The laissez-faire equilibrium need not be overcrowding compared with regulated or government-run regimes. Entry regulation may lead to higher jurisdiction welfare than tax regulation. Government-run casinos always operate on a larger scale and achieve higher welfare than other regimes, given the same number of casinos. With an endogenous fraction of external gamblers, a dispersed casino configuration yields higher welfare than a centralized one. Ce texte étudie les réglementations à l'entrée et de nature fiscale dans un monde oligopolistique concurrentiel où coexistent des casinos opérés par les secteurs privé et gouvernemental. On souligne trois effets externes importants des jeux d'argent de style casino : la création de revenu de type non-casino, les coûts du désordre social engendré, et le fait que ces jeux d'argent transgressent les frontières. L'équilibre de laissez-faire n'engendre pas nécessairement sur-encombrement par rapport à des régimes réglementés ou opérés strictement par le gouvernement. Les régulations de l'entrée peuvent engendrer des effets de bien-être plus grands pour la juridiction que la réglementation fiscale. Les casinos opérés par le gouvernement opèrent toujours sur une plus haute échelle et engendrent des effets de bien-être plus grands que les autres régimes pour un nombre donné de casinos. Compte tenu qu'il existe une fraction endogène de joueurs externes, une configuration dispersée de casinos donnent des effets de bien-être plus grands qu'une configuration centralisée. [source]