Deus Economicus

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected . This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis to divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars.Rational Choice; Economics of Religion; Divine Action

Trade and the distributional politics of international labour standards

This paper constructs a simple general equilibrium model of the trade and distributional effects of spreading advanced country international labour standards to developing countries. Labour standards (including minimum safety requirements, prohibition of prison and child labour, and rights to unionise) are represented as a floor to the cost of employing labour. The model shows how the spread of standards affects the terms of trade and pattern of international specialisation, and can shift unskilled unemployment from advanced to developing countries, redistribute income among groups of factor owners in different countries. Political support for labour standards is predicted to come from a coalition of advanced country unskilled workers with insecure jobs and the secure unskilled in developing countries. Opposition is predicted from owners of other factors. Overall country lobbying positions in international forums will depend on the relative strengths of the groups within the country.Trade; International Labour Standards; Harmonization

Dismissal Costs and their Impact on Employment: Evidence from Australian Small and Medium Enterprises

The influence of labor market regulation on employment and other macroeconomic variables is intensely debated across the OECD. In Australia the focus is currently on the employment impact of proposed changes to unfair dismissal provisions. There is surprisingly little research on the magnitude and structure of dismissal costs and this paper presents new data from a major survey of small- and medium-sized Australian enterprises. Dismissal costs are compared for different types of separations, including redundancy, uncontested fires and complex fires. Using the data and a simple labour demand model we estimate the employment impact of the proposed unfair dismissal changes, which we find likely to be modest.Hiring and Firing; Unfair Dismissal; Redundancy; Survey; Australia

Deus economicus

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected. This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis of divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars. [Editors Note: This article is the first part of a conversation which is continued in the article entitled Conversation on Paul Oslingtons Deus Economicus in this same issue of AEJT: [http://aejt.com.au/2009/issue_13] http://aejt.com.au/2009/issue_13.

Deus Economicus

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected . This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis to divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars

Trade and the distributional politics of international labour standards

This paper constructs a simple general equilibrium model of the trade and distributional effects of spreading advanced country international labour standards to developing countries. Labour standards (including minimum safety requirements, prohibition of prison and child labour, and rights to unionise) are represented as a floor to the cost of employing labour. The model shows how the spread of standards affects the terms of trade and pattern of international specialisation, and can shift unskilled unemployment from advanced to developing countries, redistribute income among groups of factor owners in different countries. Political support for labour standards is predicted to come from a coalition of advanced country unskilled workers with insecure jobs and the secure unskilled in developing countries. Opposition is predicted from owners of other factors. Overall country lobbying positions in international forums will depend on the relative strengths of the groups within the country

Deus Economicus

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected . This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis to divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars

Dismissal Costs and their Impact on Employment: Evidence from Australian Small and Medium Enterprises

The influence of labor market regulation on employment and other macroeconomic variables is intensely debated across the OECD. In Australia the focus is currently on the employment impact of proposed changes to unfair dismissal provisions. There is surprisingly little research on the magnitude and structure of dismissal costs and this paper presents new data from a major survey of small- and medium-sized Australian enterprises. Dismissal costs are compared for different types of separations, including redundancy, uncontested fires and complex fires. Using the data and a simple labour demand model we estimate the employment impact of the proposed unfair dismissal changes, which we find likely to be modest