The American Example in Health Care

Medical provision to British taxpayers under the National Health Service has often been favourably contrasted with the experience of American consumers. Frances Stevens who has worked in the NHS for years suggests from her observation of the American health system that the NHS can learn much from America.     

Export Performance and Destination Characteristics of Irish Manufacturing Industry

Recent research has sought to explore whether exporting enterprises have superior performance characteristics relative to non-exporters, and whether such superiority is associated with performance pre- and/or post-exporting. This paper extends existing research by examining the influence of export market destination on firm performance. It explores these issues using micro data on Irish manufacturing between 1991 and 1998, a time period during which Ireland experienced rapid export-driven growth. The study provides further evidence of the superior characteristics of exporters relative to non-exporters and supports the self-selection hypothesis that superior enterprises are more likely to export. We find export destination matters: the performance characteristics of enterprises that export globally differ from those that export locally. JEL no. F14     

MEASURING INEQUALITY WITHIN THE HOUSEHOLD

The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of measures of inequality within households. We focus primarily on two types of inequality, first, inequality in money incomes, second, inequality in control over household resources. Control is measured in two ways: first, as control over the management of household finances and, second, as influence over household decision-making. We discuss arguments for and against each of the measures of inequality, and compare the measures against one another in terms of the level of inequality each measure finds. The paper does not attempt to explain inequality; instead, its aim is to discuss the question “What is it that we wish to explain?”

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Cultural relativity of accounting professionalism: Evidence from New Zealand and Samoa

This study investigates the value orientations of two culturally distinct countries in the South Pacific, namely, Samoa and New Zealand, with a view to providing empirical evidence on the relationships between accounting and culture. It uses Rokeach's value survey (1973), Schwartz and Bilsky's motivational domains (1987, 1990), and Hofstede–Gray framework to establish the possible linkages between values and accounting professionalism. The results provide culture-related evidence that suggests the possibility for the existence of major differences in the levels of accounting professionalism in the two countries. This study may have implications for the application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the analysis of differences in judgments of professional accountants on measurement, disclosure, and ethical issues. It is the first substantial accounting study on Samoa.     

Australian enrolment trends in technology and engineering: putting the T and E back into school STEM

There has been much political and educational focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Australian schools in recent years and while there has been significant research examining science and mathematics enrolments in senior high school, little is known about the corresponding trends in Technologies and engineering. Understanding these subjects is essential for educators and policy-makers alike if Australians are to embrace the challenges of an innovation economy. We have collected raw enrolment data from each of the Australian state and territory education departments from 1992 to 2014 and analysed this across five Technology and Engineering subject areas. We also consider some of the relationships between these subject areas and other areas of the STEM equation. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of absolute enrolments, participation rates and sex balance. We have found that the total number of students in Year 12 increased year on year and that this growth is echoed, to a lesser extent, in the participation rates for design technology, food technology and engineering. Digital Technologies however, grew rapidly until 2000, after which time it has been in steady decline. We identify that while the trends mostly show growth, there is a concerning male bias to many of these subject areas. We suggest that the broadening of the upper high school curriculum, confusion surrounding vocational training enrolments, and gamesmanship of the university entrance system, may be contributing to the limited growth observed. Finally, we identify a number of important areas for further research in this key learning area.     

Developing Policies and Instruments for Sustainable Household Consumption: Irish Experiences and Futures

In recent years, the concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has received increased attention. Overconsumption in industrialized countries still presents major challenges to achieving sustainable development goals despite the global economic crisis. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of national influences on consumption patterns in the Republic of Ireland, focusing in particular on the role of governance in the design of policy instruments for sustainable consumption. It is argued that country-specific political conditions and policy frameworks fundamentally shape everyday household consumption. After an initial discussion of the effectiveness of three key types of policy instruments—legislative, economic, communicative—the paper compares SC policy making and implementation in Ireland with examples of good practice from Europe. An agenda to progress Ireland’s sustainable consumption policy framework is proposed in the concluding part of the paper.     

A Cournot–Nash Model of Family Decision Making

This paper models a two-person family. Each family member is utility maximising, yet family members are interdependent because of caring and public goods within the family. The two family members' interdependent utility maximisation problems are first solved using a non-cooperative, or Cournot–Nash, game theoretic framework. The Cournot–Nash equilibrium is then used as a threat point in a bargaining game. The paper provides a rigorous derivation of the properties of household demands, a full analysis of the determinants of intra-household resource allocation, including the effect of varying household bargaining power, and consideration of policy implications.     

Signaling by an informed service provider

We study a service provider, who, at the time of offering a contract, is better informed than the potential client. A service provider that is hired to increase the client's chance of a gain, an “enhancer,” may be better informed of whether the client has a big or small opportunity. A service provider that is hired to reduce the client's chance of a loss, a “problem solver,” may be better informed of whether the client has a big or small problem. We show that an enhancer predominantly offers a contingent contract, while a problem solver predominantly offers a flat fee due to their signaling incentives. This explains the differences in real‐world contracts and also provides a novel explanation for the existence of low‐powered incentive contracts. We evaluate the policy intervention that limits the contingent part of the service providers' contracts.