Linguistic theory, linguistic diversity and Whorfian economics

Languages vary greatly in their words, sounds and sentence structures. Linguistic theory has shown that many aspects of variation are superficial and may not reflect underlying formal similarities between languages, which are relevant to how humans learn and process language. In this chapter, I show both how languages can vary and how the surface variations can be manifestations of underlying similarities. Economists have sometimes adopted a ‘Whorfian’ view that differences in languages can cause differences in how their speakers think and behave. Psychological experiments have shown both support for this hypothesis and evidence against it. Specific arguments that language causes thought, which have been made in recent economics papers, are examined in the light of what linguistics tells us about superficial and underlying variatio

Can Bribery Buy Health? Evidence from Post-Cmmunist Countries

Corruption is pervasive, but we know little about its effects on individual lives. Using individual-level data from 28 post-communist countries, we demonstrate that bribing for public services worsens self-assessed health. We account for endogeneity of bribery and show that bribing for any type of public service, not just for health services, has an adverse impact. We also find that bribery lowers the quality of services received. Moreover, there are potentially high indirect costs of bribery since, as we show, it comes at the expense of cutting food consumption. These findings suggest that corruption is a potentially important source behind the poor health outcomes in many developing countries. © 2021 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.We thank Steven Bond-Smith, Alan Duncan, Jan Feld, Silvia Salazar and the participants of BCEC Research Development Series 2019 for valuable comments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the research travel support under Australia–Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD PPP Australia 2019 funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ). Vladimir Otrachshenko acknowledges the funding by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ), SDGnexus Network (Grant No. 57526248 ), program “exceed - Hochschulexzellenz in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit”

To Health and Happiness: WA’s Health Industry Future

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Gender gaps in long-term earnings and retirement wealth: The effects of education and parenthood

We measure gender gaps in long-term earnings and retirement wealth over the 15-year period from 2001 to 2015. Our analysis of data from the Housing, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey generates new estimates of the effects of education on men’s and women’s long-term earnings. These show that whilst university qualifications improve women’s long-term earnings, university education does not, on average, lift women’s earnings above those attained by men with a high school qualification. The increment in long-term earnings associated with parenthood also shows a large gender gap favouring men. Parenthood is associated with higher long-term earnings for men but on average this factor has a strong negative association with women’s earnings. The article also maps the consequences of the gender gap in long-term earnings for retirement wealth in the form of superannuation. The results show how the large gender gaps in retirement wealth reflect in large part the economic costs arising from the gendered division of roles associated with parenthood in many Australian households

Keep them safe Outcomes Evaluation: KTS Indicators Final Report

This report provides a final analysis of a range of indicators of wellbeing of children and young people in New South Wales, in particular vulnerable children targeted by the KTS reforms. It is a companion report to the Final Report of the Keep Them Safe Outcomes Evaluation. One of the key aims of the evaluation is to examine the progress of the outcome indicators and whether or not targets have been met or positive changes have been achieved. Specifically, we examine the path to achieve the target and its variations at different time points and throughout different regions of NSW. Therefore, the first step is to compare the initial condition (ideally before substantial KTS investment) with a target or threshold line going forward