EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

This research provides empirical support for the hypothesis that learning economics increases a student's critical thinking skills. Using the short form of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA-S) as our measure of critical thinking skills, we find that students who gain a high level of economic understanding in their introductory economics class, as measured by the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE), have statistically significant gains in their WGCTA-S scores. Students who spend more time taking classes and are more fully engaged in the university experience also have greater gains in critical thinking. These results lend support to the idea that introductory economics courses can work in concert with other university level courses, especially within the context of a full-time curriculum, to enhance critical thinking skills. ( JEL A22)     

Charges in the Industrial Water Sector: Comparison Between Ireland and Spain

The European Treaty supports the application of the polluter pays principle in all environmental policies including the Water Framework Directive. This paper assesses the efficiency of water-charging systems in two European regions. The regions examined are the South west region of Ireland and the Navarre region in Spain which were selected because they are similar in terms of economic indicators but different in terms of water pricing structures. The paper describes the development and application of a simple model to analyse data on water-charging systems from these two regions. We present the results of a detailed scenario-based investigation illustrating the differences between experience, composition and basis, impact and constraints on the application of water charges for both regions. The key findings are that existing water charges do not provide incentives for users to use water efficiently and thereby do not contribute effectively to the environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive.     

The legal challenge to ERISA preemptions

Managed care, once celebrated as a vehicle to halt the increasing cost of health care, has come under increasing fire from patients and health care providers, accused of cutting costs and managing care at the expense of patients. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) has been a shield for managed care organizations (MCOs), buffeting them from liability for quality-of-care issues. Lawsuits and legislation are chipping away at the protective shield of ERISA as MCOs find themselves more liable for their decisions and for the care provided by physicians with whom the MCO contracts and provides financial incentives for controlling cost of medical care.     

Functions of innovation systems as a framework to understand sustainable technological change: Empirical evidence for earlier claims

Understanding the emergence of innovation systems is recently put central in research analysing the process of technological change. Especially the key activities that are important for the build up of an innovation system receive much attention. These are labelled ‘functions of innovation systems’. This paper builds on five empirical studies, related to renewable energy technologies, to test whether the functions of innovation systems framework is a valid framework to analyse processes of technological change. We test the claim that a specific set of functions is suitable. We also test the claim made in previous publications that the interactions between system functions accelerate innovation system emergence and growth. Both claims are confirmed.     

Modelling the Ecological Comorbidity of Acute Respiratory Infection,Diarrhoea and Stunting among Children Under the Age of 5 Years in Somalia

The aim of this study was to assess spatial co‐occurrence of acute respiratory infections (ARI), diarrhoea and stunting among children of the age between 6 and 59 months in Somalia. Data were obtained from routine biannual nutrition surveys conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization 2007–2010. A Bayesian hierarchical geostatistical shared component model was fitted to the residual spatial components of the three health conditions. Risk maps of the common spatial effects at 1×1 km resolution were derived. The empirical correlations of the enumeration area proportion were 0.37, 0.63 and 0.66 for ARI and stunting, diarrhoea and stunting and ARI and diarrhoea, respectively. Spatially, the posterior residual effects ranged 0.03–20.98, 0.16–6.37 and 0.08–9.66 for shared component between ARI and stunting, diarrhoea and stunting and ARI and diarrhoea, respectively. The analysis showed clearly that the spatial shared component between ARI, diarrhoea and stunting was higher in the southern part of the country. Interventions aimed at controlling and mitigating the adverse effects of these three childhood health conditions should focus on their common putative risk factors, particularly in the South in Somalia.     

Subgame perfection in ultimatum bargaining trees

In typical experiments on ultimatum bargaining, the game is described verbally and the majority of subjects deviate from subgame-perfect behavior. Proposers typically offer significantly more than the minimum possible and Responders reject “unfair” offers. In this work, we show that when the ultimatum bargaining game is presented as an abstract game tree, the vast majority of behavior is consistent with individualistic preferences and subgame-perfection. This finding raises doubts about theories that ignore the potential influence of social context and experiments that do not control for social context.     

Efficient propagation of shocks and the optimal return on money

We study optimal allocations in an environment in which money is essential due to lack of commitment and anonymity of individuals. Because the economy features aggregate preference shocks, we apply a notion of implementability that allows for allocations with non-trivial business-cycle dynamics for the propagation of shocks. We show that history dependence is predicted by the theory of second best and becomes necessary for optimality when the degree of patience is neither too low nor too high. Our analysis concludes with a discussion of whether there is a role for the propagation of shocks in alternative economic environments.