Welfare Economics

Care in a New Welfare State

by Sophie Moullin

Economía del Bienestar y Justicia Distributiva

by Mauricio Uribe López

Publicado en el libro: "Ética y Economía: Ensayos en Memoria de Jesús Antonio Bejarano". Jorge Iván González, Editor. Bogotá, Universidad Externado de Colombia, 2003

Desigualdad económica y bienestar: tres modelos de justicia social

by Borja Barragué

TÁRKI - Monitor pension developments through micro socio-economic instruments based on individual data sources

by TARKI Social Research Institute

Final Report for The European Commission
Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
DG EMPL E4 Unit

Submitted by:
TARKI Social Research Institute (Hungary)
Prepared by:
Róbert I. Gál
András Horváth
Gábor Orbán
in collaboration with
Gijs Dekkers (FPB, Belgium)

TARKI Social Research Institute was awarded a contract by the European Commission to prepare a feasibility study on... more TARKI Social Research Institute was awarded a contract by the European Commission to prepare a feasibility study on “Monitoring pension developments through micro socioeconomic
instruments based on individual data sources”. From the onset the project was designed so as to

- Inform on the state of development of instruments used by Member States to monitor life time earnings and related acquisition of pension rights
- Provide descriptions of available tools, such as data sets and models of prospective pension outcomes based on individual data sources
- Identify and characterise tools, in particular where they already exist and where they could be further developed (notably needs for adequate data sources, need for building models).
- Analyse and describe both the administrative and survey data used for the prospective models of pension outcomes across all Member States (where such instruments exist) and elaborate a classification of instruments built to assess future developments
of pension benefits, based on individual information
- Characterise the various results available and review them as well as those likely to be derived through such instruments

A Note on Youth Unemployment in the EU

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored paper with F.E. Caroleo,
Annals of the University of Petroşani, 27, 7(1): 37-52.

This short note aims to provide a theoretical framework to think of the youth unemployment problem and a... more This short note aims to provide a theoretical framework to think of the youth unemployment problem and a classification of EU countries according to the way they address it. The key factor to explain youth unemployment is what we call the youth experience gap. To help young people to fill their experience gap and smooth school-to-work transitions every country provides a mix of policy instruments, including different degrees and types of labour market flexibility, of educational and training systems, of passive income support schemes and fiscal incentives. Five different country groups are detected whose outcomes in terms of youth unemployment are dramatically different: a) the North-European; b) the Continental European; c) the Anglo-Saxon; d) the South-European; e) new member states. The Lisbon strategy provides well-targeted guidelines, but is costly and hard to implement.

The historical perspective of the problem of interpersonal comparisons of utility

by Stavros Drakopoulos

Published in Journal of Economic Studies, vol.16, 1989

The starting-point of the article is the inconsistency between the established practice of acceptance in many cases,... more The starting-point of the article is the inconsistency between the established practice of acceptance in many cases, of economic policy (i.e. progressive taxation, national insurance policies) and the theoretical rejection of interpersonal comparisons of utility who see it as an unscientific value judgement. The inconsistency is explained by identifying three groups of theorists: (1) those who thought of comparability as a value judgement and unacceptable for economic policy considerations (positivists), (2) those who agreed with the positivists, on the normative nature of comparability but accepted it as a basis for economic policy, and (3) those who thought of it as part of a scientific economics. The implication was that, despite the dominance of positivist methodology in other sub-fields, the historical experience points to the difficulty of applying positivist methodology to the issue of comparability. If the inconsistency is thus due to the inappropriateness of the positivist approach, the only possible solution is the explicit abandonment of this approach at least in matters related to the collective aspects of economics.

2012, « The Historicity of the Neoliberal State », in Social Anthropology, volume 20, n° 1, pp. 80-94

by Mathieu Hilgers

Debate with Loic Wacquant “Three Steps to a Historical Anthropology of Actually Existing Neoliberalism." Social Anthropology, 20, 1, with responses in the next issue: Jamie Peck, Nick Theodore, and Neil Brenner, Stephen Collier, Daniel Goldstein, Johanna Bockman, Don Kalb...

Welfare to work interventions and their effects on the health and well-being of lone parents and their children.

by Candida Fenton

Gibson M, Banas K, Thomson H, Bambra C, Bond L, McKee M, Lutje V, Fenton C.
Edinburgh: Chief Scientist's Office, 2011

The Determinants of Female Labour Supply in Belarus

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Alina Verashchagina, in Ravi Kanbur and Jan Svejnar (2009, eds.), Labour Markets and Economic Development, Routledge, London (also available as IZA dp, n. 3457).

Unlike in many other transition countries, where the gender pay gap has remained stable while female employment rates... more Unlike in many other transition countries, where the gender pay gap has remained stable while female employment rates have reduced, in the case of Belarus women’ activity rate has been practically unchanged despite an increase in the gender pay gap. This paper investigates why this is the case by looking at the determinants of female labour force participation in 1996 and 2001 (data from the Belarusian Household Survey). The selectivity corrected wage equation is estimated to compute an expected wage offer for women. The latter is included, in the second step, as a regressor in the structural female labour supply equation, estimated by probit. Several measures for the care of children and elderly people, proxies for the opportunity cost of working, affect female participation, but do not generate sample selection mechanisms. The estimated elasticity of female participation to wages is low, at about 0.45 in 1996 and 0.41 in 2001. Moreover the data allows detecting poverty trap mechanisms, whereas women in low-income households have much lower than average participation rates. At the same time the elasticity of female labour supply with respect to the own wage appears to be much higher for the low-paid groups of women.

Proposal for a New Economic Framework Based on Islamic Principles

by Salman Ahmed Shaikh

This book provides a holistic socio-economic framework working in conformity with the Islamic principles. Chapter 2... more This book provides a holistic socio-economic framework working in conformity with the Islamic principles. Chapter 2 builds the ground for the proposed framework by discussing the foundations of the ethical precepts of Islam. It discusses the thesis of religion, answers some of the questions in the comparative study of religion and tries to resolve few of the misconceptions about the faith of Islam.

Chapter 3 outlines the economic teachings of Islam with regard to earning and spending. It discusses at length the ideals Islam set before its adherents in the ethical sphere of life. The ethical principles are discussed based on the study of relevant Quranic text and the narrations of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Chapter 4 studies the comparative economic systems. It analyzes Capitalism, Socialism, Mixed Economy and Islamic economic system. Chapter 5 introduces the salient features of the proposed economic framework with special focus on fiscal reforms. It discusses the potential of the institution of Zakat to meet fiscal needs of the government and to assist it in doing away with deficit financing, fiscal bleeding, crowding out private sector and reducing deadweight loss by parting the way with private sector so as to ensure market economy operating on its own as far as possible and playing an active regulatory role.

Chapter 6 introduces the monetary reforms. It discusses how savings would feature despite discontinuation of interest, how inflation will be checked with central banks not having at their disposal conventional OMO, how liquidity will be managed in banking sector when a central bank wants to inject liquidity or mop up funds. How and to what extent the institution of Zakat would enable the government to meet its fiscal targets and does not crowd out private sector with public borrowing. How balance of payments and exchange rate stability can be managed in an interest free economy. If in the short term, the government or central bank needs alternative source of revenue other than Zakat, they can issue GDP linked bonds. This could replace T-bill and provide a base instrument for OMO and liquidity management in the banking and financial sector.

Chapter 7 introduces the currently practiced Islamic Banking and Finance. Since Islamic economic principles have more prominently been used in banking and finance, much of the discussion centers on Islamic banking and finance in lieu of analyzing the existing practices and then in the next chapter, preferable alternatives in areas where shortcoming is observed and need for improvement is felt are suggested.

Chapter 8 discusses the financial system in the proposed framework with the role of institutions and the discussion on comprehensive need fulfillment mechanisms to serve every major need of a sophisticated contemporary financial system.
Some important novel changes are recommended, such as introduction of options in mortgage financing, which will allow the bank to separate the tenancy and sale contract in a distinctive way. This will still ensure that it locks the sale with the borrower or with the third party without making both contracts dependent on each other. It will benefit the bank as well as the borrower, who will have an option but not an obligation to buy the asset at maturity.

The modified role of bank entering in a Mudarabah contract as a “Rabb-ul-maal” (investor) will ensure that the bank takes on operational risk. It will enable the resources to go into productive avenues rather than in financial instruments. This modification will generate employment and productive activities in the economy in a more direct manner.

The division of Mudarabah corporate and Mudarabah consumer will target two very distinct markets and will result in channeling of funds from saving surplus units to saving-deficient units. Reforms in equity markets and alternatives for insurance are also suggested.

Chapter 9 introduces feasibility and structure of Micro credit as an alternative for interest based micro finance. It discusses how the potential obstacles in the form of lack of trust, funding commitment, lack of collateral arrangement, lack of documentation etc would be handled.

Current Trends in Welfare Measurement

by Erik Angner

Angner, Erik (2011) "Current Trends in Welfare Measurement," in John B. Davis and D. Wade Hands (Eds.) The Elgar Companion to Recent Economic Methodology (Northampton: Edward Elgar), pp. 121-154.

The rise of subjective measures of well-being represents at least two important trends in the measurement of welfare... more The rise of subjective measures of well-being represents at least two important trends in the measurement of welfare or well-being. The first trend, which has already received some attention in the literature, is a shift away from preference-satisfaction accounts of individual well-being and toward mental-state accounts. The second trend, which has gone largely unnoticed, is a shift away from the measurement-theoretic (or representational) approach to measurement and toward the psychometric approach. In this chapter, I will argue that whereas orthodox economic welfare measures are based on the measurement-theoretic approach, subjective measures are based on the psychometric approach. The difference helps explain why subjective measures are based on questionnaire data, while orthodox economic measures are based on observable choices; why proponents of subjective measures validate their measures by establishing construct validity, reliability, and so on, whereas orthodox economists tend to establish that a particular function is a utility function; why orthodox economists’ approach to welfare measurement strikes proponents of subjective measures as terribly inadequate, and vice versa; and why subjective measures are based on mental-state accounts, whereas orthodox economic measures are based on preference-satisfaction accounts of well-being. This trend constitutes a radical methodological shift, which is likely to have a significant impact on the shape of welfare economics and on the public policy it informs, and could generate novel and interesting avenues of research.

Subjective Well-Being

by Erik Angner

Angner, Erik (2010) "Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Socio-Economics 39(3): 361-368.

This paper examines the notion of “subjective well-being” as it is used in literature on subjective measures of... more This paper examines the notion of “subjective well-being” as it is used in literature on subjective measures of well-being. I argue that those who employ the notion differ at least superficially on at least two points: first, about the relationship between subjective well-being and well-being simpliciter, and second, about the constituents of subjective well-being. In an effort to reconcile the differences, I propose an interpretation according to which subjective measures presuppose preference hedonism: an account according to which well-being is a matter of desired mental states.

Predicting and Indulging Changing Preferences

by Erik Angner

Loewenstein, George and Erik Angner (2003) "Predicting and Indulging Changing Preferences," in George Loewenstein, Daniel Read, and Roy Baumeister (Eds.) Time and Decision: Economic and psychological perspectives on intertemporal choice (New York: Russell Sage Foundation), pp. 351-391.

This book chapter discusses three interrelated issues: (1) how and why people's preferences change over time; (2)... more This book chapter discusses three interrelated issues: (1) how and why people's preferences change over time; (2) whether people can accurately predict how their preferences will change, and in what ways those predictions fail; and (3) when future tastes are expected to differ from current tastes, the conditions under which people choose to indulge their current tastes or those they expect to prevail in the future.

The social cost of hospital waiting lists and the case for copayment: evidence from Galicia

by Anca Timofte

(2011) 'The social cost of hospital waiting lists and the case for copayment: Evidence from Galicia', The USV Annals of Economics and Public Administration 11(1): 18-26.

by Diego Varela

Co-authored with Anca Timofte.

In this paper we try to quantify the social cost of hospital waiting lists in Galicia, on the basis of the model by... more In this paper we try to quantify the social cost of hospital waiting lists in Galicia, on the basis of the model by Cullis and Jones (1986). From official data of waiting lists for outpatient appointments published by the Galician Health Service (Sergas) and a survey of specialist doctors in the province of A Coruña, we estimate that the cost of waiting lists is 70 million euros annually. We argue that this estimate, which does not include surgical waiting lists, tends to be conservative. Finally, as a possible measure to reduce the costs of waiting, we propose the introduction of a copayment, which would bring about a direct efficiency gain from the reduction in waiting costs and an indirect “efficiency dividend” from the revenue of the copayment, which may reduce the need for market distorting taxes.

Nutrition, hygiene, and mortality. Setting parameters for Roman health and life expectancy consistent with our comparative evidence

by Geoffrey Kron

In E. Lo Cascio (a cura di), L’impatto della “peste antonina,” (Collana di Pragmateiai) (Bari: Edipuglia) (in press)

Any hypotheses regarding the likely long-term demographic impact of the Antonine plague will have to take into... more Any hypotheses regarding the likely long-term demographic impact of the Antonine plague will have to take into account, not only the cause of the epidemic, but also the underlying mortality and fertility regime of the Roman empire. Health, nutritional status and hygiene have a significant effect upon the virulence of some epidemics, while for others, like the bubonic plague, for example, they are largely irrelevant. But whatever the effect on the morbidity of the epidemic, the underlying mortality regime of the population will have a significant impact on determining both the extent to which the population will be able to absorb this excess mortality, and the extent to which it will or will not recover.

At least since the influential work of Keith Hopkins in the 1960’s, a broad consensus has emerged among ancient historians setting the life expectancy at birth in the Roman Principate and Empire at between 20 and 30 years of age, with most estimates falling on the lower end of this range, often below 25 years. As the trenchant critiques of Tim Parkin and Walter Scheidel have emphasized, however, solid evidence for the calculation of ancient life expectancy simply does not exist. Recent estimates must therefore remain largely educated guesses based on comparative evidence from early-industrial Europe or the contemporary Third World. I intend to argue that at least three strong considerations suggest that the present scholarly consensus is unrealistically low. .

First, a more careful reading of the modern demographic evidence will show that the life expectancies as low as those conjectured for Roman Italy are rarely documented for Western European societies, generally only in brief periods of extreme poverty and stress, or for limited segments of society.

Second, researchers of ancient demography have generally neglected the critical role of nutrition in the modern rise in life expectancy, as argued in a classic, if controversial, work by Thomas MacKeown, and confirmed by the correlation between the secular increase in heights and decline in mortality in modern Europe and North America drawn by Robert Fogel. In fact, anthropometric evidence of ancient heights suggests that Greco-Roman societies enjoyed a significantly higher biological standard of living than the working classes of 18th and 19th century Western Europe. Early industrial life expectancies are therefore likely to represent a floor, rather than a ceiling, for plausible Greco-Roman estimates.

Finally, there is evidence that, in addition to enjoying superior nutritional standards, Greco-Roman populations likely faced fewer health stresses from contaminated drinking water, over-crowding, poor hygiene and sanitation, lack of exercise, and social inequality generally than the poor of the European ancien régime.

The Distribution of Wealth at Athens in Comparative Perspective

by Geoffrey Kron

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 179 (2011) 129–138

Standards of Living, Wealth

by Geoffrey Kron

in R. Bagnall, K. Broderson, A. Erskine, S. Heubner (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Oxford: Blackwell, in press)

„The determinants of youth success in the labour market”

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Floro Ernesto Caroleo
(an extract is published in: Economia & Lavoro, XLIII (3): 107-132).

Questo articolo individua nella scarsa esperienza lavorativa dei giovani rispetto agli adulti la causa principale... more Questo articolo individua nella scarsa esperienza lavorativa dei giovani rispetto agli adulti la causa principale delle difficoltà che essi sperimentano nel mercato del lavoro sia in termini di prospettive occupazionali che salariali. Gli economisti si sono divisi sul come interpretare le cause e, naturalmente, su come porre rimedio all’inesperienza lavorativa dei giovani. I più ritengono che il mercato debba risolvere la difficoltà dei giovani offrendo un salario d’ingresso più basso a conferma della loro minore produttività, maggiore flessibilità in modo da permettere più facilmente di passare da un lavoro all’altro fino a trovare quello giusto e, in particolare, lavori temporanei che sono l’unico modo per accumulare l’esperienza lavorativa di cui hanno bisogno. Altri, invece, criticano la flessibilità in entrata e i lavori temporanei. La prima funziona solo se accompagnata da strumenti aggiuntivi, altrimenti finisce con il favorire coloro che già hanno una maggiore motivazione e un livello d’istruzione più alto. Il lavoro temporaneo permette di accumulare esperienza lavorativa generica, ma non specifica al posto di lavoro. La soluzione è invece un policy mix nel quale la flessibilità sia accompagnata da un sistema d’istruzione e di formazione professionale più efficiente ed equo, oltre che fondato sul principio duale.

The youth experience gap: explaining differences across EU countries

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Floro Ernesto Caroleo

This note aims to provide a theoretical framework to think of the youth unemployment problem and a classification of... more This note aims to provide a theoretical framework to think of the youth unemployment problem and a classification of EU countries according to the way they address it. The key factor to explain youth unemployment is what we call the youth experience gap. To help young people fill it in and ease school-to-work transitions, every EU country provides a mix of policy instruments, including different degrees and types of labour market flexibility, of educational and training systems, of passive income support schemes and fiscal incentives. Five different
country groups are detected whose outcomes in terms of youth unemployment are dramatically different: a) the North-European; b) the Continental European; c) the Anglo-Saxon; d) the South-
European; e) New Member States. The Lisbon strategy provides guidelines in line with the theoretical framework discussed here, but it is costly and hard to implement.