Econometrics for Evaluations: An Introduction to Recent Developments

There has recently been a rapid expansion of interest in the econometrics of program evaluation, both within Australia and around the world. We provide a review of the key issues and recent developments in this field. A central feature of recent developments is the attempt to allow for program impacts that vary across individuals. This contrasts with earlier econometric approaches that implicitly assumed a homogeneous treatment effect. We survey alternative nonexperimental estimation strategies and note that they can be characterised by (1) an assumption about how untreated outcomes vary across individuals: this assumption in turn suggests how the counter-factual untreated outcomes of program participants should be estimated, and (2) the way in which the estimator aggregates or weights the program impacts of different individuals in the treatment group. We also emphasise the importance of good data.     

Assisting the Long-Term Unemployed: Results from a Randomised Trial

Welfare reform in Australia centres on both economic and social participation. The policy concern is that people who fail to participate in economic and social life may become entrenched in disadvantage. In 2000–2001, a randomised trial was conducted by the Department of Family and Community Services to assess whether an intensive interview with follow-ups would result in increased participation for long-term recipients of income support. Participation in the trial led to a reduction in average hours worked, but increased hours spent in study or training. We find evidence of increased social integration associated with participation in the trial.     

Title Assurance and Settlement Charges

The assurance that a seller of real estate has the right to transfer property free and clear of any encumbrances is important to potential purchasers and lenders. In the vast majority of cases in which real property is transferred, title insurance is used for this purpose. Consumer ignorance, coupled with a price structure based on the sales price of the property being insured, has led to an industry in which it is theoretically possible for the total charges by the primary supplier of the services to be indefinitely above a competitive level.     

Tanzanian grain supply: Peasant production and state policies

This article discusses the problem inherent in the development of the Tanzanian economy with respect to the primary reliance placed on peasant commodity production of grain for the provision of the national grain supply. The discussion includes issues related to structural features of the Tanzanian economy, the nature of state intervention and the development of labour productivity in peasant agriculture. A mutually servicing relationship between peasant producers and state agents providing marketing and productive infrastructure is critical to the resolution of the current national grain supply problem.     

The Feminist Competition/Cooperation Dichotomy

Feminist literature sometimes posits that competition and cooperation are opposites. This dichotomy is important in that it is often invoked in order to explain why mainstream economics has focused on market activity to the exclusion of non-market activity, and why this fascination or focus is sexist. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the competition/cooperation dichotomy is false. Once the dichotomy is dissolved, those activities which are seen as competitive (masculine) and those which are seen as cooperative (feminine) are no longer mutually exclusive but are, in fact, dependent upon one another. It is shown that the outcome of competition (more and better knowledge) enhances, and in some cases makes possible, cooperation. The function of battle is destruction; of competition, construction. Ludwig von Mises     

A re-examination of socially responsible consumption and its measurement

Socially responsible consumption is increasing and many companies are responding to the desires and, in some cases, demands of socially and environmentally responsible consumers. Theoretically, the domain of socially responsible consumption has changed over the years, as have socially responsible corporate programs in the marketplace. The Socially Responsible Purchase and Disposal (SRPD) scale is developed to reflect recent developments that have occurred in theory and practice. Three dimensions of socially responsible consumption emerge: (1) purchasing based on firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance; (2) recycling; and (3) avoidance and use reduction of products based on their environmental impact. The SRPD provides a tool for academicians and practitioners in the development of theory and marketing strategy.