Anti-social welfare functions: a reply to Hansen et al [erratum appears in J Health Econ. 2005 Sep;24(5):1054]

We could reasonably expect society to give at least the same weight to the marginal utility of the poor as to the rich, and to the marginal utility of the ill as compared to the healthy. Whilst Hansen et al. [Journal of Health Economics (2004)], may be said to link CEA and CBA within a welfarist framework, the assumptions they require are inconsistent with these types of ethical preferences. Thus, the degree to which they employ a reasonable social welfare function is doubtful. This paper argues that any link between CEA and CBA will occur not within a welfarist framework but instead within a non-welfarist one in which it is unlikely that CBA results could be easily transformed into cost-effectiveness ratios

Christian Education and Worldview

What we believe as Christian educators is conveyed in many different ways to our students. The concept of worldview has been used in recent years to describe the comprehensive approach to reality that provides the foundation for how we understand the world and how we teach our students. Christians assert that worldview is a deeply religious concept, and that, particularly in education, we need to understand and critique our own worldviews to ensure that we are offering education that is faithful to our calling to celebrate the lordship of Christ over all of creation rather than an education that is an unconscious and culturally idolatrous adaptation of pagan norms for living that we have imbibed from the world around us. This paper offers a brief reflection upon the concept of worldview, suggests ways that unfaithful worldview concepts may have infiltrated our teaching, and suggests foundational perspectives that are biblically faithful which could be adopted as cultural shaping, God-honouring alternatives in our own lives and in our classrooms and lecture halls

Cadillac Contracts and Up-Front Payments: Efficient Investment Under Expectation Damages

This paper shows that up-front payments can play a crucial role in providing efficient investment incentives when contracts are incomplete. They can eliminate the overinvestment effect identified by Rogerson [1984] and Shavell [1980] when courts use an expectation damage remedy. This method extends to complex contracting situations if parties combine up-front payments with what we call 'Cadillac' contracts (contracts for a very high quality or quantity). This combination provides efficient investment incentives in complex contracting problems when an expectation damage remedy is accompanied by a broad duty to mitigate damages. This indicates that an expectation remedy is well-suited to multidimensional, but one-sided, investment problems, in contrast to specific performance, which Edlin and Reichelstein [1993] showed is well-suited to two-sided, but unidimensional, investment problems.

An Exploration of ‘Love Your Body’ Advertising and How This Is Perceived by Women

Empirical and feminist literature suggest that LYB advertising may not be straightforwardly helpful for women. Empirical literature elicited an understanding of women’s responses and feminist literature has analysed the adverts themselves, however no research to date has conducted an analysis of both to understand how they relate. This research explored women’s perceptions of two LYB advertising campaigns in the UK ; Boot’s ‘Let’s Feel Good About Summer’ and Dove’s ‘#ArmsUp’ and also conducted an analysis of these adverts themselves. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 women from a UK University and a Thematic Analysis was used to analyse both sets of data. Participants expressed overall ambivalence in response to two LYB advertising campaigns. Positive responses from participants included; the adverts setting a positive social norm for women, that the adverts portrayed diversity and the focus on the body was felt to elicit positive body image. Participants also discussed a number of more negative responses including; LYB adverts setting a problematic social norm for women, excluding marginalised bodies, maintaining a preoccupation with the body, and an awareness of the adverts’ links to capitalism and their promotion of neoliberal ideology. Ambivalent responses were in part explained by the contradictory messages present in the advertisements which simultaneously represented a shift from traditional advertising whilst visual and verbal aspects remained reminiscent of traditional advertising. LYB advertising may contribute to unhelpful understandings of the body; as body dissatisfaction is a significant public health concern this is an important issue to address. Implications, recommendations and ideas for future research are discussed

Measuring the societal value of lifetime health

This paper considers two societal concerns in addition to health maximisation: first, concerns for the societal value of lifetime health for an individual; and second, concerns for the value of lifetime health across individuals. Health-related social welfare functions (HRSWFs) have addressed only the second concern. We propose a model that expresses the former in a metric – the adult healthy-year equivalent (AHYE) – that can be incorporated into standard HRSWFs. An empirical study based on this formulation shows that both factors matter: health losses in childhood are weighted more heavily than losses in adulthood and respondents wish to reduce inequalities in AHYEs

Measuring the societal value of lifetime health

This paper considers two societal concerns in addition to health maximisation: first, concerns for the societal value of lifetime health for an individual; and second, concerns for the value of lifetime health across individuals. Health-related social welfare functions (HRSWFs) have addressed only the second concern. We propose a model that expresses the former in a metric – the adult healthy-year equivalent (AHYE) – that can be incorporated into standard HRSWFs. An empirical study based on this formulation shows that both factors matter: health losses in childhood are weighted more heavily than losses in adulthood and respondents wish to reduce inequalities in AHYEs

Clearings and Thickets

Intellectual property law, which includes patents and copyright law, establishes the ownership of innovations by people. It conveys a bundle of rights to creators as determined by rules. Applied to intellectual property law, the normative question of growth economics is, “Which ownership rules maximize innovation?” In order to increase the pace of innovation, ownership rules should increase venture profits. So the question of this essay is, “Which ownership rules maximize venture profits?".Institutions; property rights; intellectual property rights; law and economics

Neural Proloterapi

Terapi nyeri dengan injeksi regeneratif merupakan terapi yang mulai berkembang dengan pesat dalam kurun waktu ini. Ilmu pengetahuan dasar dan penelitian klinis terbaru menunjukkan kalau injeksi larutan dekstrosa dapat mengurangi rasa sakit, meningkatkan fungsi keseluruhan dan mengembalikan fungsi jaringan ikat yang rusak kembali menjadi normal. Walaupun mekanisme aksi dekstrosa belum dipahami dengan baik pada tingkat sel, uji klinis telah melaporkan efek klinis positif dibandingkan dengan kontrol injeksi buta. Salah satu teknik regenerasi aktif injeksi yang mulai dilirik para peneliti adalah neural proloterapi (NP). Berbagai penelitian dan laporan kasus mulai bermunculan dan menunjukkan bahwa NP dapat dilakukan baik sebagai penanganan alternatif maupun penanganan utama dalam berbagai kasus penyakit dan berbagai kondisi yang disertai nyeri kronik. Keuntungan utama pendekatan teknik NP selain memerlukan biaya yang murah, tingkat keamanan yang tinggi dan kemudahan teknik juga dapat dipertimbangkan

The American Airlines Case: A Chance to Clarify Predation Policy

Predation occurs when a firm offers consumers favorable deals, usually in the short run, that get rid of competition and thereby harm consumers in the long run. Modern economic theory has shown how commitment or collective-action problems among consumers can lead to such paradoxical effects. But the paradox does signal danger. Too hawkish a policy might ban favorable deals that are not predatory. It would be ironic indeed if the standards for predatory pricing liability were so low that antitrust suits themselves became a tool for keeping prices high. Predation policy must therefore diagnose the unusual cases where favorable deals harm competition. To this end, courts and commentators have largely defined predation as sacrifice followed, at least plausibly, by recoupment at consumers' expense. The American Airlines case raises difficult questions about this approach.