A computational theory of willingness to exchange, ESRI working paper no. 477, January 2014

A new model of exchange is presented following Marr’s conception of a “computational theory”. The model combines assumptions from perceptual theory and economic theory to develop a highly generalised formal model. The approach departs from previous models by focussing not on how ownership alters preferences, but instead on difficulties inherent in the process of exchange in real markets. Agents treat their own perceptual uncertainty when valuing a potential exchange item as a signal regarding the variability of potential bids and offers. The analysis shows how optimising agents, with no aversion to risk or loss, will produce an endowment effect of variable degree, in line with empirical findings. The model implies that the endowment effect is not a laboratory finding that may not occur in real markets, but rather a market phenomenon that may not occur in the laboratory

GET BACK IN THE GAME: SPORT, THE RECESSION AND KEEPING PEOPLE ACTIVE. ESRI Research Bulletin 2010/1/3

International research has established that the importance of physical activity for health is more serious than its role in the “obesity epidemic”, which inspires so much commentary. Physical activity reduces the risk of various cancers, coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and improves skeletal health. A major part of the overall physical activity of adults consists of sport and recreational physical exercise. To the extent that sports policy has the ability to increase participation in sport and exercise, there is consequently a sound justification for spending public money on it

\u27You Have Lost Your Opportunity\u27 British Quakers and the Militant Phase of the Women\u27s Suffrage Campaign: 1906-1914

Quakers are widely believed to have been in the forefront of 19th century social change, and in particular to have been in favour of women\u27s equality. Through consideration of individual and corporate public statements by British Friends during the period of militant campaigning for women to have the parliamentary vote, I show that this perception is inaccurate, largely mythic, and based on generalisation from the actions of a small number of individual Friends. I suggest that Friends\u27 reputation for having been corporately progressive on the question of women\u27s equality is undeserved, based on superficial consideration of the use of the term \u27equality\u27, and that the position of the London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends was far more cautious and divided than is generally supposed

\u27Do We Still Quake?\u27: An Ethnographic and Historical Enquiry

Michele Tarter\u27s (2004) essay, on first generation Friends and their prophecy of celestial flesh, explores the striking bodily manifestations of their spiritual experience, particularly \u27quaking\u27. Reflecting on this, she writes: \u27it is precisely what we no longer do: quake\u27. Using interview data from a small group of British Friends I shall show that some twenty-first-century Friends certainly do quake. I use accounts of early quaking, a variety of Quaker commentators, and historical accounts of the understanding of the body, to show the ways in which current quaking is different, and differently understood, from that of early Friends

GET SUBJECT SPORT -The Games We Used to Play An Application of Survival Analysis to the Sporting Life-course. ESRI WP272. January 2009

In the absence of longitudinal data, recall data is used to examine participation in sport. Techniques of survival analysis are adapted and applied to illuminate the dynamics of sporting life. The likelihood of participation has a distinct pattern across the life-course, rising to a peak at 15 years of age, falling sharply in late teenage years and more gradually during adulthood. Logistic regressions and Cox regressions reveal strong effects on participation of gender, cohort and socioeconomic status, which vary over the life-course and by type of sport. The findings add significantly to previous work and have implications for policymakers wishing to increase physical activity

GETTING OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN: An Evaluation of Public Investment in Irish Sport. RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 4 OCTOBER 2008

This paper presents an economic analysis of the returns to public investment in Irish sport, which has increased dramatically over the past decade. It combines figures on spending by central government and state agencies with a relatively new and rapidly expanded body of research on participation in sport. The aim is to use what has become a substantial evidence base to assess whether Irish sports policy is likely to meet its stated aims of improving health and quality of life. Empirical findings support the view that there are significant health and social benefits to be had from participation in sport. However, the analysis challenges the way current policy addresses three trade-offs in the allocation of resources: the balance between “elite” and “grassroots” sport; the trade-off between investment in sporting facilities (physical capital) and participation programmes (human and social capital); and the allocation of public money across the range of different sporting activities. In each case, given the stated aims of policy and the evidence base, it is difficult to justify the current position. The paper concludes that the allocation of public investment in sport needs to be updated in light of recent findings