AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE BSE SCARE

The economic aspects of the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in British cattle herds are investigated. On balance, a non-interventionist approach is most likely to be the least-cost method of dealing with the BSE problem, where costs include the risks of humans contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). There is no case for compensating farmers for the historic cost of building up infected herds.     

Criminalizing price-fixing

We assess whether recent US Department of Justice (DOJ) price-fixing cases exhibit characteristics that are associated theoretically with optimal use of criminal law. We take our welfare standard from seminal work on optimal legal design. Optimal legal design recognizes the private and public elements present in all areas of the law. The mixed results show that the characteristics to be expected in criminal cases are not all present in the DOJ cases. Criminal sanctions applied in these collusive antitrust cases do however show significant responsiveness to some of the variables derived from the economic analysis of criminal law.     

The New Student's Guide to Economics at Universities and Polytechnics

What should the new student in economics at college expect? Anthony Ones, a lecturer in economics at Buckingham University, outlines how economics is taught at universities and polytechnics.     

THE RESEARCH ASSESSMENT EXERCISE AND THE REFORM OF ACADEMIC TENURE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

In this article the reform of academic tenure is examined in the United Kingdom. We test the hypothesis that reforming tenure may have reduced performance in the universities. The years following the 1988 Education Reform Act provide an interesting natural experiment, as the broad effect of the legislation was to soften (though not to remove) tenure in universities in the United Kingdom. It is concluded that the act has not adversely affected efficiency as some writers have predicted it would.     

Managerial economics: a forward looking assessment

We examine recent trends in managerial economics, particularly in relation to behavioral, experimental, global and organizational influences. Managerial economics shows healthy development over the recent decade and is still grounded in practical applications. Examples are given using recent articles from Managerial and Decision Economics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.