144 research outputs found
A Simple Model of the Juggernaut Effect of Trade Liberalisation
No full textThis paper posits a formal political economy model where the principle of reciprocity in multilateral trade talks results in the gradual elimination of tariffs. Reciprocity trade talks turn each nation's exporters into anti-protectionists at home; they lower foreign tariffs by convincing their own government to lower home tariffs. Due to the new array of political forces, each government finds it politically optimal to remove tariffs that it previously found politically optimal to impose. The one-off global tariff cut then reshapes the political economy landscape via entry and exit - reducing the size/influence of import-competing sectors and increasing that of exporters. In the next round of trade talks governments therefore find it politically optimal to cut tariffs again. The process may continue until tariffs are eliminated.Trade policy, Economic integration
The Impact of Low-Income on Child Health: Evidence from a Birth Cohort Study
No full textThere is a growing literature that shows that higher family income is associated with better health for children. Wealthier parents may have more advantaged children because they have more income to buy health care or because parental wealth is associated with beneficial behaviours or because parental health is associated with both income and children's health. The policy implications of these transmission mechanisms are quite different. We attempt to unpick the correlation between income and health by examining routes by which parental disadvantage is transmitted into child disadvantage. Using a UK cohort study that has rich information on mother's early life events, her health, her behaviours that may affect child health, and her child's health, we examine the impact of being in low income compared to that of mother child health related behaviours and mother's own health on child health. We find children from poorer households have poorer health. But we find the direct impact of income is small. A larger role is played by mother's own health and events in her early life. No clear role is played by mother child health production behaviours.child health, income, maternal health, transmission mechanisms
Private Sector Employment Growth, 1998-2004: A Panel Analysis of British Workplaces
No full textUsing nationally representative panel data for British private sector workplaces this paper points to the importance of distinguishing between workplace and firm size when analysing employment growth, and finds that the factors associated with growth differ markedly between single independent establishments and those belonging to multi-site firms. Results also differ according to whether one adjusts for sample selection arising from workplace survival, and according to whether one distinguishes between growth per se and internal, organic employment growth. We find evidence at the plant level that is consistent with creative job destruction.employment growth, workplace survival, workplace age, workplace size, humancapital, sunk costs
Death by Market Power. Reform, Competition and Patient Outcomes in the National Health Service
No full textThe effect of competition on the quality of health care remains a contested issue. Most empirical estimates rely on inference from non experimental data. In contrast, this paper exploits a pro-competitive policy reform to provide estimates of the impact of competition on hospital outcomes. The English government introduced a policy in 2006 to promote competition between hospitals. Patients were given choice of location for hospital care and provided information on the quality and timeliness of care. Prices, previously negotiated between buyer and seller, were set centrally under a DRG type system. Using this policy to implement a difference-in-differences research design we estimate the impact of the introduction of competition on not only clinical outcomes but also productivity and expenditure. Our data set is large, containing information on approximately 68,000 discharges per year per hospital from 160 hospitals. We find that the effect of competition is to save lives without raising costs. Patients discharged from hospitals located in markets where competition was more feasible were less likely to die, had shorter length of stay and were treated at the same cost.competition, hospitals, quality
There Will Be Money
No full textA common belief among monetary theorists is that monetary equilibria are tenuous due to the intrinsic uselessness of fiat money (Wallace (1978)). In this article we argue that the tenuousness of monetary equilibria vanishes as soon as one introduces a small perturbation in an otherwise standard random matching model of money. Precisely, we show that the sheer belief that fiat money may become intrinsically useful, even if only in an almost unreachable state, might be enough to rule out nonmonetary equilibria. In a large region of parameters, agents' beliefs and behavior are completely determined by fundamentals.Fiat money, autarky, equilibrium selection
Design of a Compliant Escapement Mechanism
No full textThis thesis describes the design process for an iso-frequent oscillator. Instead of designing the perfect linear spring for a harmonic oscillator, non-linearities in the force deflection behavior of the spring are allowed. These inperfections are then compensated by propper transmission design.BMDBioMechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Can governments do it better? Merger mania and hospital outcomes in the English NHS
No full textThe literature on mergers between private hospitals suggests that such mergers often produce little benefit. Despite this, the UK government has pursued an active policy of hospital mergers, arguing that such consolidations will bring improvements for patients. We examine whether this promise is met. We exploit the fact that between 1997 and 2006 in England around half the short term general hospitals were involved in a merger, but that politics means that selection for a merger may be random with respect to future performance. We examine the impact of mergers on a large set of outcomes including financial performance, productivity, waiting times and clinical quality and find little evidence that mergers achieved gains other than a reduction in activity. Given that mergers reduce the scope for competition between hospitals the findings suggest that further merger activity may not be the appropriate way of dealing with poorly performing hospitals.Hospital mergers, event study, quality, political influence.
Confirmation Class of 1963
No full textCameo portraits of the confirmation class of 1963, Beth-El Congregation, Fort Worth.
Top corners: Cheryl Bernstein, Renee Schwartz
Row 1: Marcia Rosenthal, Carol Cohn, Robert Archenhold, Miriam Winesanker, Ed Nussbaum, Nina Propper, Kim Herman, Linda Wisch
Row 2: Susan Cohen, Adele Echt, Richard Slatkin, Frances Ginsburg, David Mater, Camille Joseph, Gary Steinberger, Susan Ellman
Row 3: Carol Goldman, Arlene Schwartz, Rickie Bodner, Ronnie Sherman, Max Levy, Mary A. Glicksman, Mike Stuart, Joan Labovitz
Not shown: Henry Jorman, Jerry Meyerso
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