27 research outputs found
Incentive Effects on Risk Attitude in Small Probability Prospects
Most studies on the role of incentives on risk attitude report data obtained from within-subject experimental investigations. This may however raise an issue of sequentiality of effects as later choices may be influenced by earlier ones. This paper reports instead between-subject results on the effect of monetary stakes on risk attitudes for small probability prospects in a laboratory experiment. Under low stakes, we find the typical risk seeking behavior for small probabilities predicted by the prospect theory. But under high stakes, we provide some evidence that risk seeking behavior is dramatically reduced. This could suggest that utility is not consistently concave over the outcome space, but rather contains a convex section for very small amounts.risk attitude, incentives, decision, experiment
Tax Evasion, Welfare Fraud, and "The Broken Windows" Effect: An Experiment in Belgium, France and the Netherlands
In a series of experiments conducted in Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), France and the Netherlands, we compare behavior regarding tax evasion and welfare dodging, with and without information about others' behavior. Subjects have to decide between a 'registered' income, the realization of which will be known to the tax authority for sure, and an 'unregistered' income that will only be known with some probability. This unregistered income comes from self-employment in the Tax treatment and from black labor supplementing some unemployment compensation in the Welfare treatment. Subjects have then to decide on whether reporting their income or not, knowing the risk of detection. The results show that (i) individuals evade more in the Welfare treatment than in the Tax treatment; (ii) many subjects choose an option that allows for tax evasion or welfare fraud but report their income honestly anyway; (iii) examples of low compliance tend to increase tax evasion while examples of high compliance exert no influence; (iv) tax evasion is more frequent in France and the Netherlands; Walloons evade taxes less than the Flemish. There is no cross-country difference in welfare dodging.tax evasion, social fraud, social comparisons, cross-country comparisons, experiments
Numéro 152 - novembre 2019
LâĂtat providence nâa jamais Ă©tĂ© autant dĂ©criĂ© quâaujourdâhui et pourtant il nâa sans doute jamais Ă©tĂ© autant nĂ©cessaire. Les critiques quâil doit essuyer viennent de ceux qui veulent en rĂ©duire la voilure comme de ceux qui le trouvent inefficace Ă remplir ses principales missions. Pourtant les multiples fractures sociales qui ont conduit une partie de la population Ă douter de politiques censĂ©es la secourir, et de basculer parfois dans le vote populiste, redonnent toute sa justification Ă un Ătat providence plus performant et soucieux de combler le fossĂ© sĂ©parant une certaine tranche de la population socialement intĂ©grĂ©e d'une autre, composĂ©e d'exclus.
Il convient cependant de reconnaĂźtre que le contexte actuel est bien diffĂ©rent de celui que lâĂtat providence a connu au moment de son essor, aprĂšs la seconde guerre mondiale. Les principaux changements concernent lâouverture des frontiĂšres, le marchĂ© du travail de plus en plus prĂ©carisĂ©, la structure familiale Ă©clatĂ©e et lâindividualisme croissant; auxquels sâajoutent le dĂ©fi climatique, le vieillissement dĂ©mographique et un net ralentissement de la croissance. Ces nouvelles donnes qui menacent la pĂ©rennitĂ© de lâĂtat providence appellent donc des rĂ©formes profondes.
Avant de parler de rĂ©formes, il importe Ă©galement de rappeler que jusquâĂ un passĂ© rĂ©cent la performance de lâĂtat providence a Ă©tĂ© satisfaisante. Elle nâa cessĂ© de croĂźtre dans la plupart des pays europĂ©ens et on a pu assister Ă une nette convergence entre ces mĂȘmes pays europĂ©ens. Certes des diffĂ©rences demeurent avec les pays nordiques comme premiers de classe et la Bulgarie, la Roumanie et la pauvre GrĂšce en bons derniers. Ce bilan globalement satisfaisant et qui va Ă lâencontre de jugements hĂątifs et idĂ©ologiques ne doit pas nous faire oublier que les menaces demeurent, sans doute plus vives que dans le passĂ© et qui se traduisent par diverses fractures sociales.
La source majeure de ces fractures est sans nul doute la panne de lâascenseur social. LâĂtat providence sâest sans doute trop longtemps prĂ©occupĂ© de lâinĂ©galitĂ© des revenus et de la pauvretĂ© et pas assez de la mobilitĂ© sociale. Il semble important de rĂ©orienter ses prioritĂ©s et dâadopter une politique davantage proactive. Cela demande de sĂ©curiser le quotidien des pauvres mais aussi celui des classes moyennes qui subissent de plein fouet les chocs quâentraine une Ă©conomie de marchĂ© mondialisĂ©e. Cela exige surtout de donner aux uns et aux autres des perspectives dâavenir en remettant en marche lâascenseur social.
A cet effet, nous suggĂ©rons dâamĂ©liorer la perception des droits de succession et de rendre lâĂ©cole davantage dĂ©mocratique. Cela implique Ă©galement une rĂ©organisation de la protection sociale. Tout particuliĂšrement, il faudrait revenir Ă des programmes qui dans la tradition bismarckienne ne couvrent pas seulement les plus pauvres mais lâensemble de la sociĂ©tĂ©. On a sans doute eu trop tendance Ă se focaliser sur les seuls pauvres et oublier que le besoin de sĂ©curitĂ© concernait dâautres catĂ©gories : les personnes dĂ©pendantes, les travailleurs prĂ©carisĂ©s, les retraitĂ©s. Les salaires minimaux reprĂ©sentent une garantie de stabilitĂ© pour les travailleurs peu qualifiĂ©s. Plus gĂ©nĂ©ralement, il importe de sâassurer que les minimas sociaux soient fixĂ©s Ă un niveau supĂ©rieur au seuil de pauvretĂ©. Ajoutons le fait que la famille qui a longtemps constituĂ© un filet de sĂ©curitĂ© solide commence Ă faire dĂ©faut. LâĂtat se trouve ainsi confrontĂ© Ă des besoins nouveaux que couvraient la famille.
Nous avons esquissĂ© quelques rĂ©formes que rĂ©clament les fractures sociales. Il serait tĂ©mĂ©raire de croire que nous avons la rĂ©ponse Ă une question dont les chercheurs et les hommes politiques nâont pas fini de prendre la mesure. Mais ici plus quâailleurs, il faut Ă©viter de jeter le bĂ©bĂ© avec l'eau du bain, ce que nâhĂ©siteraient pas de faire les ennemis de lâĂtat providence
Rigor Mortis: Annotating MWEs with a Gamified Platform
International audienceWe present here Rigor Mortis, a gamified crowdsourcing platform designed to evaluate the intuition of the speakers, then train them to annotate multi-word expressions (MWEs) in French corpora. We previously showed (Fort et al., 2018) that the speakers' intuition is reasonably good (65% in recall on non-fixed MWE). After a training phase using some of the tests developed in the PARSEME-FR project, we obtain 0.685 in F-measure at an experimentally determined 25% threshold (number of players who annotated the same segment)
FGT poverty measures and the mortality paradox: Theory and evidence
Income-differentiated mortality, by reducing the share of poor persons in the population, leads to what can be called the "Mortality Paradox": the worse the survival conditions of the poor are, the lower the measured poverty is. We show that the extent to which FGT measures (Foster Greer Thorbecke 1984) underestimate old-age poverty under income-differentiated mortality depends on whether the prematurely dead would have, in case of survival, suffered from a more severe poverty than the average surviving population. Taking adjusted FGT measures with ex- tended lifetime income profiles as a benchmark, we identify conditions under which the selection bias induced by income-differentiated mortality is higher for distribution-sensitive measures than for headcount measures. Finally, we show, on the basis of data on poverty in 11 European economies, that the size of the selection bias varies across different sub-classes of FGT measures and across countries
Mesurer et comparer le bien-ĂȘtre des personnes ĂągĂ©es dans lâUE
In this paper, we propose a multidimensional measurement method to assess the welfare of the elderly for the last decade. This measure aggregates several welfare dimensions, namely average and relative income levels, poverty and inequality rates, life expectancy and health. The aggregate measure allow us to compare European countries and to study the possible convergence in welfare for the elderly who are somehow in difficult position in a time of ageing process and financial crisis of social security systems.Dans cet article, nous proposons une mĂ©thode de mesure multidimensionnelle du bien-ĂȘtre des personnes ĂągĂ©es dans lâUE au cours de la derniĂšre dĂ©cennie. Cette mĂ©thode agrĂšge un certain nombre de facettes du bien-ĂȘtre, Ă savoir les niveaux moyen et relatif de revenus, les taux de pauvretĂ© et dâinĂ©galitĂ©, lâespĂ©rance de vie et la santĂ©. Cette mesure synthĂ©tique permet de comparer les pays europĂ©ens, dâĂ©tudier lâĂ©volution et lâĂ©ventuelle convergence du niveau de bien-ĂȘtre des personnes ĂągĂ©es, qui connaissent des moments difficiles avec le vieillissement dĂ©mographique et la crise financiĂšre de nombreux systĂšmes de retraite.LefĂšbvre Mathieu. Mesurer et comparer le bien-ĂȘtre des personnes ĂągĂ©es dans lâUE. In: Revue française d'Ă©conomie, volume 25, n°1, 2010. pp. 213-227
Social protection performance in the European Union:comparison and convergence
In this paper we use data on five social inclusion indicators (poverty, inequality, unemployment, education and health) to assess the performance of 15 European welfare states (EU15) over a ten-year period from 1995 to 2004. Aggregate measures of performance are obtained using index number methods similar to those employed in the construction of the widely used Human Development Index (HDI). These are compared with alternative measures derived from data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. The influence of methodology choice and the assumptions made in scaling indicators upon the results obtained is illustrated and discussed. We also analyse the evolution of performance over time, finding evidence of some convergence in performance and no sign of social dumping
Retraite et chÎmage en Belgique : les jeunes bénéficient-ils des préretraites ?
? H55, J21, J26, J14.pensions, social security, early retirement, unemployment
The generosity of the welfare state towards the elderly
Social security, Generosity, Bismarck, Beveridge, H55, I38, J26,