Welfare Costs of Crime and Common Violence: A Critical Review

This paper critically reviews a vast array of literature on the costs of crime and common violence. Using a simple economic model of crime as a theoretical benchmark, we conceptually discuss the estimates available and their potential use as inputs for public policy. We present current methodologies, explore their main results, discuss their limitations, and suggest directions for further research.crime, violence, welfare, costs, contingent valuation, willingness to pay JEL codes: K42, O17, O57

Altruism, Fertility, and the Value of Children: Health Policy Evaluation and Intergenerational Welfare*

This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in a “value of life” type of framework. We are able to express adults’ willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the “value of life” and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.value of life, mortality, fertility, altruism, intergenerational welfare, willingness to pay

Organization and Information in the Fight against Crime: An Evaluation of the Integration of Police Forces in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This paper explores the experience of information sharing, coordination, and integration of actions of the Civil and Military Polices in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the context of the IGESP program. The IGESP is based on the introduction of information management systems and organizational changes akin to those associated with COMPSTAT. All the evidence presented points to a causal effect of the IGESP on crime. The most conservative estimates indicate a reduction of 24% in property crimes and 13% in personal crimes. There is also evidence that the IGESP is associated with improved police response, measured by apprehension of weapons and clearance rates. We present one of the first set of causal estimates – with a clear identification strategy – of the impact of COMPSTAT-like programs. The results suggest that the coordination and informational gains represented by the program may constitute a first-order factor in a successful policy for fighting crime.crime, police, Brazil, COMPSTAT, impact evaluation JEL Codes: H11, K00, K42

Accountability and corruption : political institutions matter

Using a cross-country panel, Lederman, Loayza, and Soares examine the determinants of corruption, paying particular attention to political institutions that increase political accountability. Previous empirical studies have not analyzed the role of political institutions, even though both the political science and the theoretical economics literature have indicated their importance in determining corruption. The main theoretical hypothesis guiding the authors?empirical investigation is that political institutions affect corruption through two channels: political accountability and the structure of the provision of public goods. The results suggest that political institutions are extremely important in determining the prevalence of corruption: democracy, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of the press are all associated with lower corruption. In addition, the authors show that common findings of the earlier empirical literature on the determinants of corruption?elated to openness and legal tradition?o not hold once political variables are taken into account.Corruption&Anitcorruption Law,Decentralization,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,National Governance,Governance Indicators,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics,Corruption&Anitcorruption Law,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures

On the determinants of mortality reductions in the developing world

This paper presents and critically discusses a vast array of evidence on the determinants of mortality reductions in developing countries. We argue that increases in life expectancy between 1960 and 2000 were largely independent from improvements in income and nutrition. We then characterize the age and cause of death profile of changes in mortality and ask what can be learned about the determinants of these changes from the international evidence and from country-specific studies. Public health infrastructure, immunization, targeted programs, and the spread of less palpable forms of knowledge all seem to have been important factors. Much of the recent debate has revolved around antagonistic approaches, which are not supported by the evidence discussed here. Finally, the paper suggests that the evolution of health inequality across and within countries is intrinsically related to the process of diffusion of new technologies and to the nature of these new technologies (public or private).

The Demographic Transition and the Sexual Division of Labor

This paper presents a theory where increases in female labor force participation and reductions in the gender wage-gap are generated as part of a single process of demographic transition, characterized by reductions in mortality and fertility. The paper suggests a link between changes in mortality and transformations in the role of women in society that has not been identified before in the literature. Mortality reductions affect the incentives of individuals to invest in human capital and to have children. Particularly, gains in adult longevity reduce fertility, increase investments in market human capital, increase female labor force participation, and reduce the wage differential between men and women. Child mortality reductions, though reducing fertility, do not generate this same pattern of changes. The model reconciles the increase in female labor market participation with the timing of age-specific mortality reductions observed during the demographic transition. It generates changes in fertility, labor market attachment, and the gender wage-gap as part of a single process of social transformation, triggered by reductions in mortality.

Determinação de salários no Brasil: dualidade ou não-linearidade no retorno à educação?

O objetivo deste artigo é testar empiricamente a existência de dualidade no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. O método de análise consiste em avaliar em que medida são observadas diferenças salariais entre trabalhadores que não são explicadas apenas por diferenças nos seus atributos produtivos. São analisados os dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE) de 1988, através da metodologia proposta por Dickens & Lang (1985 e 1992), a qual determina endogenamente os setores duais a partir de um modelo de switching-regressions. Os resultados sugerem que parece não haver dualidade no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. Apesar do modelo dual explicar melhor os salários do que um modelo competitivo linear, o seu desempenho é inferior ao de um modelo competitivo com não-linearidades no retorno à educação. A evidência faz crer que a educação é o determinante básico do salário e do acesso aos bons postos de trabalho no Brasil.

VARIATIONS IN THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF TEAK (Tectona grandis L. F.) PLANTED IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

Tectona grandis L.f., known as teak, is considered as a promising species for sustainable development in the tropical regions where it has adapted itself. This adaptation is due to its significant plasticity, which combines with biotic and abiotic conditions to alter the properties of the wood. It is therefore, necessary to evaluate the wood in different locations where the species is grown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the physical properties of the wood as a function of the diametric class and in the longitudinal direction of the trunk, in a plantation in the Brazilian Amazon. To achieve the objective, 20 individual plants were cut down and classified into four diametrical classes. Speciments with dimensions of 2 x 2 x 2 cm3 were removed in a longitudinal direction (base, middle, and top) from the discs taken from the trees. Transverse, tangential, radial, and volumetric wood shrinkage values were obtained, along with anisotropy and density for both the diametrical and longitudinal classes. These variables were subjected to an analysis of variance, the Tukey’s test at 5%, and an analysis of the main components. The values in the diameter class classification were 0.37, 1.12, 1.68, 3.04, 0.88, and 0.535, while in the longitudinal classification of the trunk they were 0.37, 1.41, 1.84, 3.42, 1.01, and 0.526 for the transverse, tangential, radial, and volumetric shrinkage, anisotropy, and density, respectively. The density was higher when the diameter varied from 21.4 cm to 32.60 cm, and the tangential shrinkage, volumetric shrinkage, and anisotropy were smaller at the base of the trunk, possibly due to the formation of adult wood, which showed a greater stability of the wood