Surveillance in Employment: The Case of Teleworking

This paper looks at various ways teleworking can be linked to surveillance in employment, making recommendations about how telework can be made more acceptable. Technological methods can allow managers to monitor the actions of teleworkers as closely as they could monitor "on site" workers, and in more detail than the same managers could traditionally. Such technological methods of surveillance or monitoring have been associated with low employee morale. For an employer to ensure health and safety may require inspections of the teleworkplace. When the teleworkplace is in the home, there may be an invasion of privacy associated with such inspections, that could be perceived and resented as surveillance. A problem of telework is that teleworkers may feel isolated. Methods to counter this could be associated with further forms of surveillance, and fear of such surveillance may inhibit them from reaching their potential as methods to counter isolation. The idea that teleworking may also allow communications to be intercepted by third parties is also looked at. Some, but not all, of the issues considered are applicable, to some extent, in non-teleworked employment situations. The overall conclusion of the paper is that the potential exists for surveillance to be associated with telework. Fears of such surveillance may turn actors against telework. However, much can be done to reduce such fears.     

新冠肺炎疫情对中国保险业的影响研究——基于非典的复盘与长短期影响分析

本文基于张响贤等(2003)的非典分析框架,复盘2020年新冠肺炎疫情对中国保险业的影响,并且基于长短期的视角,从收入端、赔付端和投资端三个维度关注短期内疫情对保险业的影响,从商业逻辑、发展模式、产品创新和保险科技的四个角度关注长期影响。研究发现,新冠肺炎与非典疫情均给保险业带来正负面影响,但非典时间的负面影响在新冠肺炎时期被部分正面影响所中和;疫情短期内对保险业造成部分负面的冲击,但是整体冲击有限;新冠肺炎疫情将给保险业带来深远的影响,助推保险转型、信息化运用和"大国家大保险"等发展模式。     

商业健康险税收优惠政策的效果分析--基于需求价格弹性的测算

本文基于经典商业健康险需求理论的价格弹性模型,分别利用天津市调研数据和中山大学劳动力动态调查数据库测算了按收入分层的商业健康险需求价格弹性及商业健康险的消费结构。并基于上述测算结果,通过数据库对接推算了全国商业健康险的需求价格弹性和税优政策的预期效果。测算结果表明,我国商业健康险的需求价格弹性为-0.22,在当前的税优政策下,个税税改前后,税优健康险的预期年保费规模分别为16.54亿元、6.09亿元,由此带来的年税式支出预计将分别达到2.47亿元、0.69亿元。最后,基于实证分析结果,本文对税优健康险未来的政策调整方向提供了建议。     

论公共卫生最优支出策略

公共卫生支出具有极强的正外部性.如果由地方政府或私人选择公共卫生支出的水平,那么他们的最优选择是较低的公共卫生支出和较高的个人消费(内含个人医疗支出),整个社会的福利将会处于较低的水平状态.本文在一个动态的框架下分析了发生这种现象的经济学原因,说明中央政府而非地方政府或私人应该对公共卫生的建设承担更大的责任,应由中央政府负责全国公共卫生体系的建设.     

Unit determination: National Labor Relations Board rule making in the health care industry

This article reviews the events leading up to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) historic decision to engage in substantive rule making over appropriate bargaining units in the health care industry. It describes the rule-making process and outcomes, and the reaction of hospital unions and management to the rules. Finally, the potential for the use of rule making for other issues facing the NLRB is analyzed. This analysis uses a cost/benefit framework from the agency's perspective to predict the likelihood of future rule making. The article concludes that rule making is sufficiently costly to make extensive use in other situations unlikely.The order of the author's names was determined randomly and should not be interpreted as implying an unequal contribution.     

Valuing the Benefits of Coastal Water Quality Improvements Using Contingent and Real Behaviour

Recent moves in the European Union have beenmade towards a toughening of legislation onbathing water quality. This has focussedpolicy-makers thoughts on the welfare benefitsresulting from such improvements, especiallygiven their cost. Our paper uses a combinedstated and revealed preference approach tovalue coastal water quality improvements,focussing on an area of Scotland which hasconsistently failed to meet standards under theBathing Waters Directive. We combine data onreal behaviour with data on contingentbehaviour using a random effects negativebinomial panel model. This allows us to predictboth the change in participation (trips) shouldwater quality be improved, and the welfareincrease per trip. Our model includes allowancefor the existence of substitute sites, and forchanges in recreational behaviour during abeach visit.     

Ordering effects in contingent valuation surveys

This paper focuses on ordering effects in CVM surveys; how the expressed value of a particular good valued in a sequence of several goods depends on where in the sequence the good is valued. We use data from a Norwegian CVM survey focusing on WTP for a 50% reduction in air pollution from car traffic to test for the existence of ordering effects and to apply a test for internal consistency. We found considerable and significant ordering effects in our data, but were not able to reject the hypothesis of internal consistency. Based on our survey, we argue that ordering effects may be a result of rational choice. These effects are problematic if a sequential valuation procedure is applied to a simultaneous problem, and/or the respondents are given imperfect information about the decision problem.     

On International compensations for environmental stocks

This paper sheds some light on the possible implications of compensations which are paid for the maintenance of an environmental stock. It shows that serious complications can arise if the resource-owner may influence the compensation price strategically. If the incentive to raise the compensation price dominates the preservation incentive, the steady-state stock falls short from that which is voluntarily held. Whether compensation policies can neglect this feature depends crucially on the institutional setting which determines the compensation price.This paper originated from a research project about the stability of international environmental agreements. I gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Volkswagen Foundation. A predecessor of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Ausschuß für Umwelt- und Ressourcenökonomie of the Verein für Socialpolitik in Ladenburg. I am indebted to the participants for many helpful comments which improved this paper significantly. Thanks are also due to Gernot Klepper, Peter Michaelis and two anonymous referees whose comments and suggestions were very helpful. The usual disclaimer applies.     

The child health effects of terrorism: evidence from the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria

This study examines the effect of terrorism on height-for-age z-scores, weight-for-age z-scores, weight-for-height z-scores, stunting, and wasting. Using the Boko Haram Insurgency, it compares outcomes in Boko Haram high-active and low-active areas. A difference-in-difference and regression model identifies the extensive and intensive margin effects respectively. The study uses data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and the Global Terrorism Database. The results suggest that the Boko Haram Insurgency reduces weight-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores and increases the probability of wasting. The evidence suggests that policies targeting healthcare services may mitigate the long-term impacts of the Boko Haram Insurgency on human capital production.     

Children’s health benefits of reducing environmental tobacco smoke exposure: evidence from parents who smoke

This paper uses data from the 1991 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey to estimate propositions derived from a model of intrahousehold allocation, wherein parents engage in a consumption activity (smoking) that produces own utility, while generating environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) that harms their children’s health. We find a statistically significant negative association between sample mothers‘ assessed health of their children and the children’s daily exposures to ETS. Mothers’ average annual willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a 1-hour-per-day reduction in child ETS exposure (about a 17% decrease in daily exposure) is about $150. WTP estimates for respondent mother and child health status further suggest that smoking mothers on average value their child’s health roughly 55% higher than their own health. Helpful comments and suggestions by Scott Atkinson, Donald Kenkel, and two anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged. Marcy Agee and Stefanos Nastis provided valuable research assistance. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided financial support through Grant#R82871601, the research has not been subjected to the Agency’s required peer and policy review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency