MARKETS FOR ORGANS: THE QUESTION OF SUPPLY

Organ transplantation holds the potential to substantially restore the health of many otherwise terminally ill patients. That potential, however, is currently being denied full realization by a chronic and severe shortage of cadaveric organs that are made available for this use. In recent years, medical practitioners, social scientists, and others have debated the virtues of allowing markets for cadaveric organs to form as a way to end the current shortage. In this debate, market opponents have argued, inter alia, that (1) organ collections may fall with payment of positive prices and (2) the price required to equilibrate organ supply and demand would be high. On the other hand, proponents of organ markets have argued that financial inducements could save many lives and that the equilibrium price is likely to be low. While dozens of papers have been published debating this issue, to date no one has provided any empirical evidence to resolve these important questions of supply. This paper provides preliminary evidence suggesting that potential donors would be relatively responsive to financial inducements and, accordingly, that the price required to eliminate the current shortage of organs is surprisingly low. (JEL 118, L50)     

An Application of the Hedonic Price Model to the Perth Residential Land Market*

This paper presents the results of an application of the Rosen-Freeman hedonic price model to the Perth (Western Australia) residential land market. A sample of over two thousand market transactions is used to estimate the value of residential land attributes. Major emphasis is given to those particular land attributes that are subject to public regulation and to the policy implications that follow.     

Consumerism and school uniforms

Consumer concerns about school uniforms are a recurring problem particularly in areas such as Northern Ireland characterized by low income and social deprivation. The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland carried out a systematic in-depth investigation into the problem to assess current policy, practice and consumer concerns in the purchase of school uniforms. The research highlighted how school principals, who influence uniform policy, underestimate the cost of its provision and the significant relationship between the cost of uniforms and the type of school attended. Problems associated with the quality of uniforms emerge, as do parental and student concerns about the limited range of suppliers and support for ‘nearly new’ facilities in schools.     

Learning by Disinflating

Disinflationary episodes are a valuable source of information for economic agents trying to learn about the economy. In this paper, we are particularly interested in how policymakers can themselves learn by disinflating. The approach differs from the existing literature, which typically focuses on the learning of private agents during a disinflation. We build a model where both the policymaker and private agents learn, and ask what happens if the policymaker has to disinflate to satisfy a new central bank mandate specifying greater emphasis on inflation stabilization. In this case, our results show that inflation may fall dramatically before it gradually rises to its new long‐run level. The potential for inflation to undershoot its long‐run level during a disinflationary episode suggests that caution should be exercised when assessing the success of any change in the policymaker's mandate.