Health and Welfare Measurement

The strengths of the welfarist framework are a reliance on empirical analysis and an explicit social evaluation framework. The focus of economists should be on applying developments in welfare measurement to the health sector.     

Productivity Dispersion and Measurement Error

Several reasons have been put forward to explain the high dispersion of productivity across establishments: quality of management, different input usage and market distortions, to name but a few. Although it is acknowledged that a sizable portion of productivity dispersion may also be due to measurement error, little research has been devoted to identifying how much they contribute. We outline a novel procedure for identifying the role of measurement error in explaining the empirical dispersion of productivity across establishments. The starting point of our framework is the errors-in-variable model consisting of a measurement equation and a structural equation for latent productivity. We estimate the variance of the measurement error and subsequently estimate the variance of the latent productivity variable, which is not contaminated by measurement error. Using Norwegian data on the manufacture of food products, we find that about one percent of the measured dispersion stems from measurement error.     

比较福利模型的构建及其测量

与效用概念的福利相比,与历史同期、与其他类似情况相比较而增加的收入或减少的支出,即比较福利,更具有可接受性。在劳动报酬方面贯彻"同工同酬"原则、在消费支出方面遵循"同物同价"原则的假设下,构建了一个比较福利模型。通过比较福利模型的理论分析,可以得出重要结论:(1)比较福利能够相对真实地反映单位之间、行业之间、地区之间的福利差异,避免"被福利"现象;(2)比较福利可以激励单位努力提高员工福利,激励行业展开行业福利竞争,激励地区提高地域福利。使用浙江省相关统计数据进行比较福利测量,可以得出一些有意义的结论:(1)从整体上看,国有单位比集体单位、其他单位具有压倒性优势的福利,提升非国有单位的活力任重而道远;(2)从绝对数看,金融行业具有压倒性优势的福利,但福利增长最快的是卫生社会保障和社会福利业;(3)就浙江省来说,宁波具有最高的地域福利,杭州及温州的地域福利均不高,仅列全省第六、第七。     

Money Metric, Consumer Surplus and Welfare Measurement

The paper provides a rigorous derivation of the 'welfare triangle approximation' (WTA), which is at the centre of cost–benefit analysis. The result is generalized by showing that the WTA is one of two dual expressions, one of which approximates the change in real consumption, the other the change in the cost of living. The result is based on a correction of a proof attempted by Hicks. Many other derivations are also given, each based on a different definition of the theoretical functions to be approximated. The final result is the following: each of the empirical variations corresponds to a range of theoretical variations. The edges of the range are theoretical Laspeyres and Paasche variations which are approximated linearly; the interior region of the range is approximated quadratically; the centre of the range is replicated exactly by the empirical measures.     

Hedonic Wine Price Functions and Measurement Error

Accumulated theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that wine prices depend on quality, reputation and objective characteristics. Unlike previous studies, we recognize that quality and reputation are latent constructs and therefore employ factor analysis and 2SLS techniques to consistently estimate hedonic prices in the presence of attributes measured with error. The application to Australian premium wines points to significant reputation effects but insignificant quality effects. It is also illustrated that inappropriately using standard OLS procedures can seriously distort the statistical significance of attributes, the implicit marginal attribute prices, and the predictions of 'average' prices for a given set of characteristics.     

Measurement Error Models with Auxiliary Data

We study the problem of parameter inference in (possibly non-linear and non-smooth) econometric models when the data are measured with error. We allow for arbitrary correlation between the true variables and the measurement errors. To solve the identification problem, we require the existence of an auxiliary data-set that contains information about the conditional distribution of the true variables given the mismeasured variables. Our main assumption requires that the conditional distribution of the true variables given the mismeasured variables is the same in the primary and auxiliary data. Our methods allow the auxiliary data to be a validation sample, where the primary and validation data are from the same distribution, and more importantly, a stratified sample where the auxiliary data-set is not from the same distribution as the primary data. We also show how to combine the two data-sets to obtain a more efficient estimator of the parameter of interest. We establish the large sample properties of the sieve based estimators under verifiable conditions. In particular, we allow for the mismeasured variables to have unbounded supports without employing the tedious trimming scheme typically used in kernel based methods. We illustrate our methods by estimating a returns to schooling censored quantile regression using the CPS/SSR 1978 exact match files where the dependent variable is measured with error of arbitrary kind.     

Measurement Error in Education and Growth Regressions*

The use of the perpetual inventory method for the construction of education data per country leads to systematic measurement error. This paper analyzes its effect on growth regressions. We suggest a methodology for correcting this error. The standard attenuation bias suggests that using these corrected data would lead to a higher coefficient. Our regressions reveal the opposite. We discuss why this is the case.     

创新测量误差：理论框架与研究展望

创新测量误差会严重影响学术研究、政策制定与企业决策质量，且相关问题研究缺乏清晰的逻辑主线与理论框架。通过查阅国内外研究文献，围绕什么是创新测量误差、为何产生创新测量误差以及如何减少创新测量误差的逻辑主线进行系统梳理与分析，建立创新测量误差研究理论框架，得出相应研究结论并对未来研究方向进行展望，以期为创新实践提供有益参考与借鉴。     

东亚消费风险分担的度量及潜在福利分析

文章利用1970-2004年的相关数据,度量了东亚13个经济体的消费风险分担的程度以及东亚地区在实现完全风险分担后带来的潜在福利收益.实证结果表明:东亚区域资本市场在平滑GDP冲击方面的作用非常小,对区域借贷市场虽有一定的作用,但较为有限,这说明东亚的消费风险分担程度还相当低;相比OECD国家和欧盟国家,东亚各经济体风险分担的福利收益是比较高的.     

Bread and Social Justice: Measurement of Social Welfare and Inequality Using Anthropometrics

We address the question of the measurement of health achievement and inequality in the context of variables exhibiting an inverted-U relation with health and well-being. The chosen approach is to measure separately achievement and inequality in the health increasing range of the variable, from a lower survival bound a to an optimum value m, and in the health decreasing range from m to an upper survival bound b. Because in the health decreasing range, the equally distributed equivalent value associated with a distribution is decreasing in progressive transfers, the paper introduces appropriate relative and absolute achievement and inequality indices to be used for variables exhibiting a negative association with well-being. We then discuss questions pertaining to consistent measurement across health attainments and shortfalls, as well as the ordering of distributions exhibiting an inverted-U relation with well-being. An illustration of the methodology is provided using a group of five Arab countries.     

Welfare State and Welfare Society

This paper updates and extends my earlier work on how the middle class fares throughout the world based on the microdata sets that comprise the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Wave #6 LIS data, recently released and centered around 2004, provides an opportunity to assess what has happened to the size of the middle class around the world in the early 2000s. In contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, there was no noticeable decline in the middle class during the early 2000s. The paper provides further evidence that the size of the middle class in each nation depends mainly on government tax and spending policies. In particular, it shows the key role played by family allowances and paid family leave in supporting a national middle class.     

A General Approach to Welfare Measurement through National Income Accounting*

A framework is developed for analyzing national income accounting using a revealed welfare approach that is sufficiently general to cover, both the standard discounted utilitarian and maximin criteria as special cases. We show that the basic welfare properties of comprehensive national income accounting, previously ascribed only to the discounted utilitarian case, extend to this more general framework. In particular, under a wider range of circumstances, it holds that real NNP growth (or, equivalently, a positive value of net investments) indicates welfare improvement. We illustrate the applicability of our approach in the Dasgupta–Heal–Solow model of capital accumulation and resource depletion.     

中国生态福利绩效测度与空间敛散性分析

文章使用super-SBM模型,对中国30个省与东、中、西地区2010-2019年的生态福利绩效进行测度.在此基础上,运用空间计量模型研究各区域及全国整体生态福利绩效的空间敛散性.结果表明:中国生态福利绩效整体处于较高水平,区域间存在显著差异性,且东、中、西部生态福利绩效水平呈依次递减.东部地区生态福利绩效空间敛散性变化态势为分散—收敛—分散;中部地区生态福利绩效先趋于分散,后进入持续变化状态;西部地区呈先分散后收敛趋势.另外,对外开放度、绿化覆盖率、城镇化水平等因素对中国生态福利绩效敛散性存在异质性影响.     

Fuzzy Chronic Poverty: A Proposed Response to Measurement Error for Intertemporal Poverty Measurement

A number of chronic poverty measures are now empirically applied to quantify the prevalence and intensity of chronic poverty, vis‐à‐vis transient experiences, using panel data. Welfare trajectories over time are assessed in order to identify the chronically poor and distinguish them from the non‐poor, or the transiently poor, and assess the extent and intensity of intertemporal poverty. We examine the implications of measurement error in the welfare outcome for some popular discontinuous chronic poverty measures, and propose corrections to these measures that seeks to minimize the consequences of measurement error. The approach is based on a novel criterion for the identification of chronic poverty that draws on fuzzy set theory. We illustrate the empirical relevance of the approach with a panel dataset from rural Ethiopia and some simulations.     

Measurement of Changes in Economic Welfare in India: 1970–2001

This paper provides time series estimates of measures of economic welfare, inequality, decile class specific true cost of living index and poverty measures based on 20 rounds of National Sample Survey data for the period 1970–2001. It has estimated piece-wise Linear Expenditure System (LES) for very poor, moderately poor, non-poor low and non-poor high expenditure groups for rural as well as urban areas. Money metric utility for deciles are derived from the money metric utility function and social welfare index is constructed by aggregating metric utility of the deciles. Using social welfare index as well as real per capita consumption, the paper analyses the changes in economic welfare over the three decades. Using conventional measures, the paper analyses the changes in poverty and inequality during 1970–2001. The paper also provides estimates of the welfare effects of commodity prices.

     

基于竞争约束的市场力量与福利损失测度理论述评

评估市场力量及其影响的核心在于模型化市场的竞争约束。勒那指数、推测变差模型、Chang—Tremblay模型、剩余需求函数法、托宾q等沿着不同的可观测变量假设与构造方式直接或间接地测度了市场力量,而Lavergne—Requillart．Simioni模型表明,希克斯剩余函数可以比马歇尔剩余函数更为逻辑内洽与精确地测度福利损失。古诺竞争模型、价格领导者模型、边际成本差模型等不同理论模型隐含着关于市场竞争状态的不同的认知与知识假定,由此会导致市场力量与福利损失测度的重大差异。合理刻画产业内的竞争状态是反垄断实践中实证地评估二者的关键。     

Welfare and Integration

This article argues that the terms‐of‐trade and volume‐of‐trade taxonomy from the theory of tariffs constitutes an attractive alternative to Viner's trade diversion and creation effects for the analysis of preferential trading arrangements. In applications of the alternative approach, the article establishes that results by Lipsey and Riezman on large versus small preunion trade flows for choice of partners are not ‘contradictory’ and that under some conditions a small country's optimal strategy is to seek membership of multiple free‐trade areas.