Subliminal influence on generosity

We experimentally subliminally prime subjects prior to charity donation decisions by showing words that have connotations of pro-social values for a very brief time (17 ms). Our main finding is that, compared to a baseline condition, the pro-social prime increases donations by approximately 10–17 % among subjects with strong pro-social preferences (universalism values). We find a similar effect when interacting the prime with the Big 5 personality characteristic of agreeableness. We furthermore introduce a novel method for testing for priming, “subliminity”. This method reveals that some subjects are capable of recognizing prime words, and the overall results are weaker when we control for this capacity.     

Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development

Using cross-country and panel regressions, this article investigateshow gender inequality in education affects long-term economicgrowth. Such inequality is found to have an effect on economicgrowth that is robust to changes in specifications and controlsfor potential endogeneities. The results suggest that genderinequality in education directly affects economic growth bylowering the average level of human capital. In addition, growthis indirectly affected through the impact of gender inequalityon investment and population growth. Some 0.4–0.9 percentagepoints of differences in annual per capita growth rates betweenEast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the MiddleEast can be accounted for by differences in gender gaps in educationbetween these regions.     

EC Agricultural reform ad infinitum?

After protracted negotiations, the EC Ministers of Agriculture agreed on a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy on July 1st. Will this reform solve the fundamental problems plaguing the common agricultural market? Is it compatible with the GATT?     

A critical assessment of the political preference function approach in agricultural economics

The policy preference function (ppf ) approach has become popular with economists seeking to explain the origin of government policies. In this paper, a distinction between positive and normative work with the ppf concept is made. Positive work is shown to suffer from a variety of shortcomings including the misspecification of traditional ppfs and the failure to consider the importance of institutions, constraints and the interaction between different commodity policies. These weaknesses are reflected in the counter-intuitive results of a simple ppf model designed to reflect the interaction between the EC's wheat and barley policies. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that ppf weights change as a result of both political preferences and market parameters. Hence, changes in ppf weights cannot be attributed to changes in preferences alone. Tests of the axioms of revealed preference theory are used to demonstrate that even though ppf weights derived for the EC's wheat and barley markets have fluctuated considerably since the early 1970s, we are not able to conclude that there has been a shift in political preferences. The paper concludes with some comments about the use of ppfs in a normative framework. The underlying assumption that policy-makers optimise seems, not surprisingly, often to lead practitioners to the conclusion that observed policies are not so bad after all. Economists should also beware of the tendency to overlook possible differences between the ppf and the social welfare function.     

Procedures and Third Parties

Procedural reform, with the help of third-party intervention, was at the heart of the Donovan Commission's recommendations. This paper looks at what happened since then, and why. In the 1970s considerable progress was made, although this was hidden from public perception by a number of economic and industrial relations traumas. In the 1980s, with the swing in the balance of power to employers, change was often imposed, rather than negotiated, and the role of third parties diminished. The proportion of workplaces recognizing unions and the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining was much reduced. Formal procedures remained in place, but this hid major changes in the conduct of workplace industrial relations.     

State abortion policy and infant health: A simulation model of the impact of hypothetical patterns of state laws proscribing abortion services

Prior research suggests that the availability of abortion services may affect the proportion of observed births with poor outcomes (e.g., low birth weight). Recent Supreme Court decisions and changes in the composition of elected officials of state governments have increased the saliency of state discretion over abortion related policies. This paper presents results from a simulation model of the effects of hypothetical state laws prohibiting abortion on observed measures of infant health in the states regarded as most likely to adopt laws significantly restricting abortion access. Under several model scenarios, both the incidence of low birthweight infants and neonatal mortality among blacks are predicted to increase substantially in states adopting restrictive abortion laws. The predicted impact among whites, however, is relatively small. Helpful comments on previous drafts were provided by Janet Bronstein, Jacob Klerman, and Michael Morrisey. Aaron Stinnett provided excellent research assistance. This research was funded in part by a grant from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (R01-HS06685). The authors are responsible for the views expressed.