Students' expectations of the economic returns to college education Results of a controlled experiment

This study reports the results of an experiment designed to elicit students' subjective beliefs about the economic returns to college education. An important feature of our experimental design is the inclusion of financial incentives for accurate reporting. We also consider the extent to which individuals' beliefs about their own returns differ from their beliefs about the returns for others. The evidence shows that students do have a self-enhancement tendency, and this finding cannot be attributed to previously uncontrolled order effects. The evidence also indicates that there is no significant difference between beliefs elicited using hypothetical surveys or real financial incentives in the elicitation procedure. This finding suggests that economists' reluctance to gather subjective data on earnings expectations may not be warrant.rate of return, human capital

Hypothetical, real, and predicted real willingness to pay in open-ended surveys: experimental results

This study reports the results of experiments designed to elicit, within a controlled laboratory environment, hypothetical and real willingness to pay for an environmental educational program using the open-ended question format. By maintaining both the good and the question format constant across the treatments, our experiments overcome the shortcomings of recently reported experimental results, providing a clean test for hypothetical bias in open-ended valuations. Having found a statistically significant difference between the hypothetical and real values, we turn into the question of whether hypothetical valuations may nonetheless provide useful statistical information concerning individuals’ real valuations. This question, which is perhaps the key question in the current state of the debate surrounding the contingent valuation method, is answered affirmatively in this study.experimental methods, contingent valuation methods, calibration methods

Has Portugal gone wireless? Looking back, Looking ahead

This paper analyses the pattern and rate of adoption of mobile telephones by the Portuguese population. It is shown that the pattern of diffusion is S-shaped and is consistent with a logistic function, which describes a symmetrical growth process. Furthermore, it is found that 67 percent of the population will likely adopt mobile phones, and that the levelling-off process in the diffusion of mobile phones has already begun. The analysis is intended to inform the larger discussion of managing the communications service, as well as to assist analysts concerned about assessing the impact of public policies in the evolution of communications sectors.technology diffusion, mobile telecommunications

How to comply with environmental regulations? The role of information

The effectiveness of environmental regulation can be viewed as conditioned by the action of at least two main agents: the regulated firms and the public agency (the regulator). The agency’s role is, on one hand, to enact environmental regulations and, on the other, to monitor firms’ environmental behavior and enforce environmental regulations. The regulated firms, on the other hand, must be informed about the legal limits imposed on them and subsequently they must be able to comply with those limits. Using a questionnaire on the pulp and paper industry in Portugal we found that firms decision to comply with environmental regulations is strongly influenced by firms’ information on its legal obligations and that this effect is stronger for smaller firms. Moreover larger and younger firms are less likely to comply with environmental regulations than smaller and older firms. With respect to the public agency’s behavior, we found that greater monitoring efforts are directed towards larger and younger firms, as well as towards those firms most likely to cause higher pollution levels.

An experimental analysis of grandfathering vs dynamic auctioning in the EU ETS

This study constitutes a first attempt to experimentally test the performance of a 100% auction versus a 100% free allocation of CO2 permits under the rules and parameters that mimic the EU ETS (imperfect competition, uncertainty in emissions’ control, and allowing banking). It also incorporates a first attempt to include in the analysis measures of the risk preferences of subjects participating in emission permits experiments. Another distinctive feature of this study is the implementation of a theoretically appropriate auction format for the primary allocation of emission permits. Our experimental results indicate that the EU ETS has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, achieving targets considerably more restrictive than the current ones at high efficiency levels, both with auctioned and free emission permits. Auctioning, however, reveals a clear potential to do better than grandfathering the initial allocation of permits. In addition, the results reveal that concerns about undue scarcity, and corresponding high prices, in secondary markets generated by a primary auction market are not warranted under the proposed dynamic auction format.EU ETS, auctioning, grandfathering, banking, Ausubel auction

Cientistas, jornalistas e profissionais de comunicação : agentes na comunicação de ciência e tecnologia

Um dos temas emergentes na temática da comunicação de ciência é a interacção do trinómio cientista-comunicador-jornalista. Este artigo baseia-se num estudo empírico aplicado a investigadores do INESC Porto e tem como objectivo identificar as suas motivações ou desmotivações para comunicar publicamente sobre ciência, bem como analisar a sua percepção sobre a mediatização do seu trabalho de investigação e sobre o papel do profissional de comunicação como intermediário. Os resultados indicaram que a maioria dos investigadores comunica os resultados científicos com a motivação de, pura e simplesmente, descomplexificar a ciência no sentido de a tornar mais inteligível para diferentes públicos. Apesar de evocarem algumas experiências menos bem-sucedidas, os investigadores avaliaram positivamente a forma como os jornalistas têm tratado o seu trabalho. A função do profissional de comunicação nas instituições de investigação foi assumida como importante, podendo contribuir para uma efectiva melhoria da comunicação da ciência.(undefined

Has Portugal gone wireless? : looking back, looking ahead

This paper analyses the pattern and rate of adoption of mobile telephones by the Portuguese population. It is shown that the pattern of diffusion is S-shaped and is consistent with a logistic function, which describes a symmetrical growth process. Furthermore, it is found that about 67 percent of the population will likely adopt mobile phones, and that the levelling-off process in the diffusion of mobile phones has already begun. The analysis is intended to inform the larger discussion of managing the communications service, as well as to assist analysts concerned about assessing the impact of public policies in the evolution of communications sectors.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Discourses of crisis and academia: debating impacts on practices, values and identities

The University as an idea, as a project, is being transformed. What are its specificities in the present days? Do universities still have a public task? What are the appropriate functions of higher education? What are the purposes of teaching and research? What counts as relevant knowledge and what counts as an appropriate higher education? Is the age of Universities (late 11th c. — early 21st c.) in the West getting to a close? Whose discourses are achieving dominance? Meanings related to the identity, principles and practices of the university have been reworked in profound and contradictory ways, generating tensions and disputes within the university and in its relations with the state and society. How are we dealing with these challenges that are at once obstructive, destructive and creating new opportunities? We need to make a pause, to look in the mirror. After all, we are “responding” in whatever we do

Environmental tobacco smoke risk perception and smoking behavior in Portugal

This study analyzes public attitudes towards environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) risks. ETS legislation and smoking behaviors using recent data from Special Eurobarometer 272 that is a unique database on public perception of ETS. Some major conclusions are drawn: (1) both smokers and non-smokers are aware of health consequences from ETS, (2) moderate and heavy smokers tend to be less concerned with seriousness of the health consequences, (3) that the belief that ETS increases the risk of a serious disease decreases the probability of being smoker, (4)ETS beliefs do not affect the quitting decision, (5) those who smoke at home appear to be aware of health consequences of ETS, (6) ETS health risk beliefs is negatively associated with the number of cigarette consumed.