Pecunia non olet: on the self-selection into (dis)honest earning opportunities

Experimental Economics - We study self-selection into earning money in an honest or dishonest fashion based on individuals’ attitudes toward truthful reporting. We propose a...     

The EU Elephant: Europe in the 2021 Dutch General Elections

Intereconomics - For the Netherlands, the single most important EU issue is the future of the eurozone.     

Ambiguous workarounds in policy piloting in the NHS: Tensions,trade‐offs and legacies of organisational change projects

Pilot projects are increasingly used as a mechanism to enact organisational change, particularly government policy. Information technology's centrality to organisations often makes it key to the introduction of new processes. However, it can give rise to workarounds as employees circumvent impediments it presents by rejecting its prescribed use. Workarounds tend to be conceptualised dichotomously, as either ‘good’ problem solving, or ‘bad’ subversion of the technology. In pilot projects, workarounds are more ambiguous because those that support projects' successful completion in the short‐term may undermine day to day operations longer term. We draw on interview data from a policy pilot in general practice in the National Health Service in England aimed at extending access to care. We problematise the dichotomous conceptualisation of workarounds, finding they can be simultaneously supportive and undermining of policy pilots. Workarounds thereby become political, as employees are required to trade‐off consequences for themselves and the wider organisation.     

Pilot workload and fatigue on short-haul routes: an evaluation supported by instantaneous self-assessment and ethnography

In the context of claims that the European Aviation Safety Agency’s flight and duty- time regulations pose a threat to safety, pilot workload and fatigue were assessed on two short-haul routes using a mixed-methods approach. Data produced by the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine Crew Status Survey (CSS) showed that pilots rarely assessed workload and fatigue to be high-risk. Data produced by an ethnographic study somewhat contradicted the CSS findings, with some pilots claiming to be fatigued. The combined data suggested a correlation between both workload and fatigue and aviation system dynamics such as airspace manoeuvring restrictions, especially in the vicinity of busy airports. The research presented an opportunity to test claims made for the CSS, specifically that it is ‘easily understood, easy to administer and minimally intrusive’. Missing forms and errors suggest that it is not as reliable a research instrument as proponents suggest, although contextual factors may have served to reduce the volume and quality of data. It is concluded that a pre-survey, systems-thinking-informed evaluation of the host airline would suggest ways of improving buy-in.     

The impact of the cessation of blogs within the UK police blogosphere

This article investigates the concept of influence within a group of police work‐bloggers. During the period studied (2007–2013), three influential police bloggers, well‐known within the small and tightly knit UK police blogosphere, abruptly ended their blogging activity. Their cessation stimulated others to reconsider their own blogging and led to several bloggers ceasing to blog for fear of being outed and disciplined or because they had been warned by superiors. This can be seen as part of a wider phenomenon as increasing blog surveillance has resulted in a reduction of work‐related blogs. The study shows that work‐blogging cessation is influenced by the activities or perceived activities of bloggers' peers and that, while internal factors were influential in the creation of new work‐blogs, external factors—in particular, fear of consequences for their career—were the predominant influences on their cessation.     

The Impact of Import Competition and Export Opportunities on the Dutch Labour Market

De Economist - We study the impact of rising Chinese and Eastern European import competition and export opportunities between 2001 and 2016 on the Dutch labour market. Both the participation of...     

Economies of scale and mechanization in Chinese corn and wheat production

ABSTRACT

As the growth in Chinese farm productivity slowed down between 2000 and 2010, modernizing agriculture has become a priority of the Chinese government. Given the important role of mechanization and land reform policies in that context, this study investigates farm production in China with a specific emphasis on the potential role of mechanization as well as land and farm consolidation. A production function is estimated using farm household data on corn and wheat production in the Shandong and Hebei provinces. The results allowed us to explore the potential economies of scale across a range of farm size, the impact of land fragmentation, and assess the impact of machinery usage. Our findings suggest that, taken in isolation, the prospect for efficiency gains from mechanization and land reforms appears limited.     

A model of the optimal allocation of government expenditures

Government expenditures can be used for various socioeconomic objectives, including public education, consumption of public goods and services, and social protection. This paper analyzes the optimal allocation of public expenditures among these competing functions. We establish an overlapping generations model with heterogeneous individuals in which the government optimally chooses income tax, transfer payment, educational spending, and public consumption. Our model characterizes the transitional dynamics and the steady state of each function with and without a pay‐as‐you‐go intergenerational contract. We also conduct a simulation illustrating that the presence of an intergenerational contract may raise public consumption and social welfare in the steady state.