Alcohol availability and crime: a robust approach

The relationship between alcohol availability and crime is investigated in this study. It first considers common parametric specifications that have been used in the literature. After applying a powerful consistent conditional moment test for correct specification, it is found that these common parametric specifications are rejected by the data. The study then proceeds with a robust nonparametric method that can have a rate of convergence close to that for a correctly specified parametric model when the underlying relationship is somewhat linear. The application of nonparametric methods reveals structure present in the data that would remain undetected when applying common parametric specifications, but more importantly reveals that the impact of alcohol availability is considerably higher than one might believe on the basis of the misspecified parametric model. It is also found that the marginal effect of alcohol availability on crime changes with the level of alcohol availability.     

A requiem for the Australian motor vehicle industry

The last automobiles manufactured in Australia rolled off the assembly line in the fall of 2017. This article looks at some of the factors that have impacted the industry since 1968 and led to its demise, including a high value of the Australian dollar in recent years, strategic decisions on the part of parent companies and reductions in governmental support and tariff protection. We estimate a cost function for the industry with inputs of domestic capital and labour and insourced intermediate goods as well as imported intermediate goods. The findings include that the remaining firms are operating in an output range of strongly statistically significant economies of scale, and that all of the input pairs are substitutes except for statistically significant complementary relationships between capital and domestic intermediate goods and labour and foreign intermediate goods. Unexpected results are that an increase in output per assembly plant appears to have a positive effect on total cost, while an increase in the effective tariff and an increase in the number of models appears to have a negative effect. One explanation for these robust but unexpected findings may be that total profit contribution is a part of total cost, and, therefore, factors that increase total profit contribution will also increase total cost.     

Production and costs in the South African motor vehicle industry

This study investigates the existence of economies of scale in the South African motor vehicle industry as well as the substitution possibilities between input pairs and the direct and cross-price elasticities of demand for the various inputs. Because of data limitations, a translog cost function was estimated for only a three input model corresponding to a homogeneous production function involving capital, labour and intermediate goods. The issue of the existence of economies of scale in the South African motor vehicle industry is a particularly important one because South Africa once again is a member of GATT and a full participant in the international trade arena. The null hypothesis of constant returns to scale was rejected at the 0.5% level of significance. Thus, the results of this model are certainly consistent with economies of scale in the South African motor vehicle industry. The estimated direct price elasticities were consistent with the hypothesis that, during the past two decades, capital was the productive factor with the most elastic demand, and the estimated cross-elasticities between input pairs generally supported the hypothesis that all inputs are substitutes.     

The motor vehicle industry in an emerging nation: the case of Brazil

As in other emerging nations, in Brazil, the motor vehicle industry is considered to be strategically important for economic development because of its backward and forward linkages and possibilities for export-led growth. This study analyses prospects for the industry by estimating an industry-level cost function that includes output of both vehicles and component parts with capital, labour and intermediate goods as inputs. The cost elasticity of output (an indicator of scale properties) and the elasticity relationships among inputs are explored. One unexpected outcome of the work that appears to be robust is that during early years of the study period, the industry had constant returns or even diseconomies of scale. However, during later years, when output was greater, there were economies of scale. This finding is likely the result of some combination of the entry of new firms, the development of new models or technological change. The study concludes that if firm output can be increased, economies of scale can be expected to strengthen the position of the Brazilian industry in the international marketplace.     

欧盟竞争法对汽车领域纵向限制行为的规制

汽车与其他产品相比具有很大的特殊性。一方面，汽车生产市场上竞争者数目相对较少、市场准入门槛较高，使得企业极易限制彼此的竞争，形成垄断；另一方面，汽车的高安全性的要求又需要汽车生产商对汽车的销售和维修服务做出的某些合理的竞争限制。汽车领域的特殊性使得竞争法在防范纵向限制可能导致的垄断性倾向的同时，还必须考虑其安全性的价值取向。欧盟竞争法有效地解决了这一矛盾，对我国汽车领域的立法有很大的借鉴意义。     

Traffic accidents,deaths and alcohol consumption

The main goal of this article is to analyse the relationship existing among prices of alcoholic beverages, alcohol consumption and traffic fatalities for the Spanish Autonomous Communities during the time interval 1998 to 2002. Among the main results, we highlight a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and traffic mortality rate. Basically, governments implement two kinds of policies to reduce the traffic mortality rate. One is oriented to control the supply of alcohol by increasing alcohol taxes. The other is oriented to preserve traffic security, increasing the number of sanctions for traffic rule infraction. We find evidence that both policies exert a positive influence in the reduction of traffic fatalities. There is no empirical evidence to indicate that being a novice driver increases the tendency to be involved in a mortal traffic accident.     

Environmental accidents under moral hazard and limited firm liability

We study optimal government policy when firms' operations involve a risk of a large environmental accident, firms do not have sufficient assets to cover such costs, and the risk is affected by firms' efforts which are unobservable to outsiders. When firms' profits and government revenues have equal weights in the social welfare function, a first best can be implemented and requires that the firm be subsidized heavily when operating with no accident, and all its assets confiscated in the event of an accident. With a lower weight on firm profits the solution is always second best, with lower subsidies to the firm, and a firm effort lower than at the first-best solution. When firm investments affect both the required accident-preventing effort for given risk and the work effort required for a given output, the first best never involves specific investment subsidies, while a second-best solution generally always does.The paper is part of the research project Environmental policy under asymmetric information', at the SNF Centre for research in economics and business administration, Department of Economics, University of Oslo. I thank, without implicating, Mikael Hoel, Jean-Charles Rochet, Jean Tirole, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on a preliminary version.     

Alcohol consumption and alcohol advertising bans

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between alcohol advertising bans and alcohol consumption. Most prior studies have found no effect of advertising on total alcohol consumption. A simple economic model is provided which explains these prior results. The data set used in this study is a pooled time series of data from 20 countries over 26 years. The empirical model is a simultaneous equations system which treats both alcohol consumption and alcohol advertising bans as endogenous. The primary conclusions of this study are that alcohol advertising bans decrease alcohol consumption and that alcohol consumption has a positive effect on the legislation of advertising bans. The results indicate that an increase of one ban could reduce alcohol consumption by 5% to 8%. The alcohol price elasticity is estimated at about 0.2. The results suggest that recent exogenous decreases in alcohol consumption will decrease the probability of enactment of new bans and undermine the continuance of existing bans. Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and Finland have recently rescinded alcohol advertising bans. Alcohol consumption in these countries may increase or decrease at a slower rate than would have occurred had advertising bans remained in place.     

Alcohol consumption,censorship and misjudgement

In the study of the economic determinants of alcohol consumption, there is an under-appreciated issue of sample selectivity as consumption is often not fully observed. Sample selectivity involves ignoring consumption below a censorship cut-off level. This article estimates a demand system for beer, wine and spirits with and without allowance for selectivity. Then using a simulation approach, it examines the impact of misjudgement in the censorship level on the estimated demand parameters. A mean squared error (MSE) criterion is suggested for determining the appropriate censorship level.     

Alcohol consumption,smoking and wages

The good health of an individual is a combination of uncontrollable factors that includes genetics and random events and controllable factors through the regulation of activities such as smoking and drinking. Since the work of Grossman in the 1970s, a significant relationship between health and earnings has been predicted. In this present paper the 1995 Australian National Health Survey is used to examine simultaneously the effects of drinking and smoking on wages. To model the interaction of smoking with alcohol consumption separate models are fitted for smokers and nonsmokers. These models account for potential selectivity bias resulting from the decision to smoke, and endogeneity arising from a potential causal relationship between earnings and alcohol consumption.     

Alcohol-related crashes and alcohol availability in grass-roots communities

This paper employs a unique panel data from 111 small non-metropolitan incorporated cities in California during a 108 month period from January 1981 to December 1989 in order to analyse the effect of alcohol availability on highway safety. Negative binomial regression models are estimated which include alcohol licences per square mile as a measure of alcohol availability. Theoretically, the sign of the alcohol licence density is indeterminate as it reflects a trade-off of its effect on traffic exposure and on the time price alcohol. Among the findings, increases in the density of general alcohol licences for off-site (on-site) alcohol consumption are beneficial (detrimental) to highway safety whereas increasing the density of beer/wine licences have non-uniform effects. Additional findings important to municipal policymakers are that DUI arrests and increasing the price of alcohol reduce alcohol-related crashes.     

Economic Relationship Between Alcohol and Cannabis Revisited

Consuming cannabis in combination with alcohol is common among Australian cannabis users. This paper investigates whether the economic relationship between cannabis and alcohol is affected by the manner in which these two substances are used. Our results indicate that cannabis and alcohol are economic complements for all cannabis users, but this relationship is stronger for cannabis users who tend to use alcohol and cannabis together, whom we refer to as polysubstance users. Separate analysis by gender suggests that cannabis consumption by polysubstance and non-polysubstance using males is more responsive to changes in the full price of alcohol than their female counterparts.     

Border effects and the availability of domestic products abroad

Abstract.  Trade between countries could fall short of trade within a country because (1) the volume of international trade is less than the volume of domestic trade for a given product (the intensive margin); or (2) some goods that are sold domestically are simply not exported (the extensive margin). My theoretical model illustrates that either of these two factors could explain a given aggregate 'border effect.' I examine the empirical relevance of this distinction by isolating the fraction of total domestic production attributable only to exporters, finding that around one‐half of the border effect may be attributed to each explanation. JEL classification: F1     

Venture capital availability and labour market performance around the world

This article studies the effects of venture capital on the performance of the labour market. Using data from a much larger sample of countries than previous papers, it finds more readily available venture capital to favourably affect both the unemployment and the employment rate. The magnitude of the estimated effects is substantial. We control for both endogeneity of venture capital availability and most major determinants of labour market performance. The results are robust to variations in specification.     

美国车路协同系统和智能交通

车路协同系统（Ⅶ）是指基于车车、车路信息交互基础之上,而建立的人、车、路一体的安全智能交通系统。美国推行Ⅶ技术,其设想是在美国生产的所有车辆上装备通讯设备以及GPS模块,从而能够与全国性的道路网进行数据交换。IntelliDrive的计划是在Ⅶ基础上深化研究车路协同控制。我国车路协同实施起步较晚。随着我国交通流量的迅速增加,借鉴美国经验,推行车路协同技术势在必行。     

Cannabis, Alcohol and Cigarettes: Substitutes or Complements?

This paper uses individual level data from the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys to estimate the price responsiveness of participation in cannabis, alcohol and cigarette use. In addition to own price effects, we estimate cross price effects and the impact of decriminalizing cannabis use. We find that participation is responsive to own prices. There is some evidence that cannabis is a substitute for alcohol and a complement to cigarettes, and that alcohol and cigarettes are complements. The liberalization of cannabis laws in South Australia may have led to a temporary increase in cannabis use among the over-30 age group.