Advertising and product launch strategies in the light of tobacco advertising legislation.

This short paper aims to increase understanding of tobacco companies’ advertising strategies. Time series data and intervention analysis methods are used to investigate whether tougher tobacco advertising legislation, and the threat of such legislation, result in firms significantly changing their advertising activities in the period preceding the enactment of legislation. The paper considers legislation introduced by both the UK Government and the EC in recent years. Results suggest that there is some significant short-term increase in advertising behaviour, coinciding with product launches that firms instigate prior to legislation changes. However, firms do not generally maintain higher advertising expenditures than previously throughout the period between legislation being introduced and coming into force

Community development finance institutions and the ‘poverty trap’: social and fiscal impact.

This paper examines the current and potential ability of `community development financial institutions´ – institutions aimed at reducing the incidence of financial exclusion at the bottom end of the capital market – to reduce poverty, and the fiscal implications of this process. It seeks to connect the growing literature on labour supply functions for the self-employed with the literature on poverty and measures to escape from it, generating in the process a `poverty exit function´ which is then estimated against data (at this stage, a pilot sample of 45 self-employed households only, plus their employees) for three UK cities. Our model, by analogy with the `poverty trap´ models sometimes used in developing countries, has potentially self-reinforcing features, in which in the presence of certain parameter values efforts to get out of poverty only make the problem worse; but this, to our knowledge, is the first application of such a model to an industrialised country. The quantitative analysis indicates a negative role, in escaping from the poverty trap, for uninsured shocks. It indicates a positive role for formal education and for institutional measures which protect against risk; indeed, some of independent variables such as training are significant only if interacted with protection against risk, implying that simple injections of inputs are insufficient as a support policy for the sector. We make a preliminary investigation of the fiscal savings arising from investment in the CDFI sector, of which the upper bound is about £350 million a year or about 1.5 per cent of the total social social security budget; these impacts, however, are sensitive to variations in the policies of both CDFIs and the various levels of government support for the sector. The qualitative part of the analysis, in addition, suggests a positive role for `integrated support´ to microentrepreneurs which combines finance, mentoring and training. We have observed that many escapes from the poverty trap are achieved by employees rather than by entrepreneurs, which draws attention to the importance of growing along a labour-intensive production function, which ironically was in our sample secured better by small-to-medium firms than by start-up enterprises. Finally, a key variable in the exit-from-poverty process is the `regeneration multiplier´: the extent to which benefits provided by CDFIs remain within, or leak outside, target areas of high social deprivation. This multiplier varied greatly across our samples, being highest in Glasgow and lowest in Sheffield. We surmise (and proper analysis of this parameter is an important agenda for future research) that the regeneration multiplier varies negatively with the wage level and positively with the level of human capital inside regeneration areas. Diversification of financial products, and accompanying expenditure in support of regeneration areas by incentives to source labour and materials locally, could be a useful addition to this policy agenda.

Overeducation across British regions

This paper analyses levels of over-education and wage returns to education for males across eleven regions of the UK using Labour Force Survey data. Significant differences are found in the probability of being over-educated across regions; also, differences are found in the return to the ‘correct’ level of education in each region, in each case associated with flexibility of movement between and into particular regions, which determines the ease of job matching. Furthermore, evidence is found that, after controlling for the level of education acquired, there exists a premium to the ‘correct’ level of education, which varies across UK regions

Safe and just Earth system boundaries

The stability and resilience of the Earth system and human well-being are inseparably linked 1-3, yet their interdependencies are generally under-recognized; consequently, they are often treated independently 4,5. Here, we use modelling and literature assessment to quantify safe and just Earth system boundaries (ESBs) for climate, the biosphere, water and nutrient cycles, and aerosols at global and subglobal scales. We propose ESBs for maintaining the resilience and stability of the Earth system (safe ESBs) and minimizing exposure to significant harm to humans from Earth system change (a necessary but not sufficient condition for justice) 4. The stricter of the safe or just boundaries sets the integrated safe and just ESB. Our findings show that justice considerations constrain the integrated ESBs more than safety considerations for climate and atmospheric aerosol loading. Seven of eight globally quantified safe and just ESBs and at least two regional safe and just ESBs in over half of global land area are already exceeded. We propose that our assessment provides a quantitative foundation for safeguarding the global commons for all people now and into the future

Safe and just Earth system boundaries

The stability and resilience of the Earth system and human well-being are inseparably linked1-3, yet their interdependencies are generally under-recognized; consequently, they are often treated independently4,5. Here, we use modelling and literature assessment to quantify safe and just Earth system boundaries (ESBs) for climate, the biosphere, water and nutrient cycles, and aerosols at global and subglobal scales. We propose ESBs for maintaining the resilience and stability of the Earth system (safe ESBs) and minimizing exposure to significant harm to humans from Earth system change (a necessary but not sufficient condition for justice)4. The stricter of the safe or just boundaries sets the integrated safe and just ESB. Our findings show that justice considerations constrain the integrated ESBs more than safety considerations for climate and atmospheric aerosol loading. Seven of eight globally quantified safe and just ESBs and at least two regional safe and just ESBs in over half of global land area are already exceeded. We propose that our assessment provides a quantitative foundation for safeguarding the global commons for all people now and into the future

Microfinance Non-Financial Services: A Key for Poverty Alleviation? Lessons from Mexico

Microfinance non-financial services have been recently reformulated as high quality demand-led programs. In the Mexican context, these are now voluntary, can have a cost for the borrower and are frequently supplied in partnership with specialized public or private agencies. Using primary data from a survey of clients of two credit-plus programs in Chiapas, this paper examines and compares the participation determinants and added impact of the training sessions on monetary poverty outcomes of the borrowers. We focus on two specific programs: Business Development Services and Preventive Health Services. Results suggest that the participation decision mainly depends on borrowers´ characteristics. Non-financial services are found to reduce the clients´ likelihood of being under the asset poverty line. No significant differences were observed between the impacts of the two non-financial programs

An economic evaluation of post-compulsory education

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Part time employment and happiness: A cross-country analysis

This paper analyses levels of over-education and wage returns to education for males across eleven regions of the UK using Labour Force Survey data. Significant differences are found in the probability of being over-educated across regions; also, differences are found in the return to the ‘correct’ level of education in each region, in each case associated with flexibility of movement between and into particular regions, which determines the ease of job matching. Furthermore, evidence is found that, after controlling for the level of education acquired, there exists a premium to the ‘correct’ level of education, which varies across UK regions.education, returns

The Cost Structure of Higher Education in Further Education Colleges in England

This paper examines the cost of the provision of higher education courses within further education colleges in England. The further education sector is complex because of the wide range of courses it provides both in terms of subject type and of qualification level. We believe this to be the first attempt to fit a cost function specifically to the further education sector. Cost functions for a sample of 96 colleges over a two-year period, from 2000 to 2002, are fitted using a panel data methodology as well as stochastic frontier analysis. Our findings indicate that most further education colleges are able to benefit from economies of scale. Results from both methodologies suggest the presence of product-specific economies of scale, substantial ray economies of scale and that higher education classroom-based courses, such as business studies, along with vocational courses display substantial economies of scope.Stochastic frontier, Education