PENSION REFORM,POLITICAL PRESSURE AND PUBLIC CHOICE – THE CASE OF FRANCE

An ageing population and generous public sector pensions have put significant pressure on the funding of the French pension system making a reduction in the scope of state pension schemes imperative. Yet, as public‐choice theory would predict, lobbying by interest groups has made reform difficult to achieve.     

PENSIONS AND PUBLIC CHOICE: THE ROAD TO MYNERS

The Myners Review of Institutional Investment is the latest of several classic examples of how Public Choice theory can be applied to the financial services industry. It demonstrates changing objectives and lack of knowledge and satisfies the vested interests of government and the pension fund advisory industry.     

PUBLIC CHOICE THEORY, PROTECTIONISM AND THE CASE OF NAFTA

Public choice theory suggests that the political process has an in-built tendency to promote protectionist measures favoured by organised interest groups rather than trade liberalisation that would benefit society as a whole. But the example of the North American Free Trade Agreement shows that political campaigns in support of free trade can successfully mobilise public opinion to neutralise the power of special-interest groups. Therefore, it is imperative that politicians and others who believe in free trade remind the public of its benefits.     

EFFICIENCY OF THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: A SUB‐STATE LEVEL ANALYSIS FOR WEST BENGAL (INDIA)

This paper attempts a sub‐state level analysis of health system efficiency, focusing on West Bengal, a low income Indian state. Using a stochastic frontier model, it provides an idealized yardstick for evaluation. Our results suggest that overall efficiency of the public health delivery system remains low due to considerable disparities across districts. This is owing to differentials in availability and utilization of inputs such as the per capita availability of hospitals, beds, and manpower, and adversely affects life expectancy. Overcoming these factoral disparities may help the deficient districts to improve life expectancy. It may require a considerable increase in medical and public health expenditure in rural areas in the state and especially calls for resource mobilization to improve infrastructure facilities and maintain essential supplies at primary health centers. This could be attempted partly through funds from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and by improving rural sanitation in poorer districts.     

ENTREPRENEURS' LOCATION CHOICE AND PUBLIC POLICIES: A SURVEY OF THE NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Abstract The aim of this paper is to survey what has been done by the New Economic Geography (NEG) on a regional scale in order to answer the three following questions: What are the predictions of the NEG concerning the future of regions in the triad? Are these predictions robust? What can be the optimal public policy on a regional and national scale in a world characterized by agglomeration, trade liberalization and mobility of entrepreneurs? In surveying the most recent contributions in this area, the paper sheds light on several shortcomings of the NEG literature in order to point out new directions for further research, with particular reference to studies concerning welfare and tax competition.     

YES MINISTER: INVALUABLE MATERIAL FOR TEACHING THE PUBLIC CHOICE OF BUREAUCRACY

Conveying the logical consequences of modelling the individual as self-interested in the public sector bureaucracy is not an easy task. One has to avoid, without dismissing, normative judgments and issues of empirical validity in order to focus on the logical consequence. Illustrating the theory in a memorable way is also difficult. This paper argues that Yes Minister provides ideal material for the task.     

ON THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR BETA – BINOMIA

The beta–binomial distribution is reported in literature as a useful generalization of the binomial in case of heterogeneous binomial sampling. An extra model parameter is introduced to accommodate for extra–binomial variation. Some additions to results already available will be given by presenting approximate F–tests for factorial designs, where the response variable is of 0–1 type and sampling is heterogeneous binomial. These tests can be used when sample sizes are large and equal and some degrees of freedom are left from replicates or negligible interactions to estimate the extra model parameter.     

BACK TO THE FUTURE: TOWARDS A BETTER STATE OF HEALTHCARE

In 1948, the government nationalised more than 3,000 independent hospitals, homes and clinics to create a National Health Service that was supposed to deliver 'all medical, dental and nursing care'- free at the point of delivery. Demonstrating that the service failed to do this and instead substituted rational pricing signals with numerous forms of rationing, the authors examine the re-emergence of a sizeable independent health and social care sector today and its implications for the future.     

A TIME SERIES ANALYSIS OF ANNUAL PASSENGER DEMAND FOR THE STATE RAILWAY OF THAILAND

This paper presents a time series regression model to estimate annual passenger demand for the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). The model was developed for a time period of 15 years (1974–1988), incorporating such variables as the country's gross domestic product (GDP), SRT passenger fares, competing intercity bus fares, and a dummy variable of the Fifth National Five Year Plan advocating a railway-favored modal shift policy. This simple but useful model analysis estimated the demand elasticities as: 0.907 with respect to real GDP; -0.970 with respect to real SRT fare; and 0.808 with respect to real bus fare. Remarkable manufacturing-oriented economic development of Thailand in recent years played an important part in recent SRT demand increases. As the relatively high own and cross fare elasticity estimates imply, the SRT is concerned about demand loss to competing intercity bus services, and has thus been keeping fare levels low. The model analysis also estimated a demand gain of 12.3% due to the modal shift policy during the Fifth Plan period, suggesting effectiveness of the policy.     

THE CHOICE OF CELLS IN CHI–SQUARE TESTS

The choice of cells in chi–square goodness of fit tests is a classical problem. Some recent results in this area are discussed. It is shown that the likelihood ratio of alternatives w.r.t. null distributions plays a key role when judging different procedures. The discussion centers on the case of a simple hypothesis, but location–scale models and tests of independence in contingency tables are also considered.     

THE EFFECTS OF PENSION FUNDS ON MARKETS PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW

The worldwide reforming process of pension systems triggered by the demographic transition and globalization has led several countries to implement multi‐pillar pension systems and enhance pension funds. For this reason the studies on the effects that pension funds exert on markets performance have been flourishing in the last decades. In this paper, we provide an updated review of the empirical advances in this field of study, with particular focus on the effects that pension funds produce on labour markets, financial markets and economic growth.     

ETHNIC DIVERSITY,PUBLIC SPENDING,AND INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT FOR THE WELFARE STATE: A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE

We review the empirical literature that studies the effect of ethnic diversity on public spending and on individual support for the welfare state. The survey puts a particular focus on the fast‐growing literature that uses experiments to study the effects of ethnic diversity. Many of these studies have appeared since the pioneering survey by Alesina and La Ferrara and have not been covered by a survey before.