Exact consumers surplus and deadweight loss are the most widely used welfare and economic efficiency measures. These measures can be computed from demand functions in straightforward ways. Nonparametric estimation can be used to estimate the welfare measures. In doing so it seems important to account correctly for unobserved heteroeneity given the high degree of unexplained demand variation oft...

We empirically implement a dynamic structural model of labor supply and welfare program participation for agents with potentially time-inconsistent preferences. Using panel data on the choices of single women with children from the NLSY 1979, we provide estimates of the degree of time-inconsistency, and of its influence on the welfare take-up decision. With these estimates, we conduct counterfa...

The design of social insurance is modelled through majority voting. Individuals, risking the loss of income, vote sequentially on the type of benefits, flat v. proportional, as well as the level of social insurance benefits. The effects of allowing social insurance to be topped up in the private market are then examined. As expected, the existence of an actuarially fair insurance alternative de...

Commuters in rural Ireland, like in many other countries are primarily constrained to using private vehicles as their primary form of transport. This reliance on motorcars is much greater than in urban areas which are well served by public transport. With this in mind, carbon reduction schemes such as carbon taxation and carbon trading which penalise the use of these less sustainable modes of t...

Rising suicide rates have been identified as a social problem in several Western countries. The application of a Welfare Economics argument justifies a role for policy that reduces the welfare impact of suicide, whereas the measurement of that impact can inform policy making. Two dimensions of the concept can be measured: the social loss from suicide, and the inequality in the distribution of t...

This article seeks to explain local variations in the use of antibiotics in the community and to assess the welfare loss due to heterogeneous attitudes towards the risk of bacterial resistance. Quarterly data on antibiotic sales from 240 small areas in Switzerland over the course of one year are used. An econometric ad-hoc model with spatial lags is proposed in which the demand for antibiotics ...

BACKGROUND malnutrition is regarded as a major risk factor for complications and delayed recovery in hospitalised elderly patients. OBJECTIVE to examine the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalised elderly patients and evaluate simple clinical screening criteria. To investigate whether malnutrition was related to lack of care from the health care or social welfare system, quality of life an...

BACKGROUND Diabetes is a costly and debilitating disease. The aim of the study is to quantify the individual and national costs of diabetes resulting from people retiring early because of this disease, including lost income; lost income taxation, increased government welfare payments; and reductions in GDP. METHODS A purpose-built microsimulation model, Health&WealthMOD2030, was used to estim...

In this paper we study the welfare effect of a monopoly innovation. Unlike many partial equilibrium models carried out in previous studies, general equilibrium models with non-price-taking behavior are constructed and analyzed in greater detail. We discover that technical innovation carried out by a monopolist could significantly increase the social welfare. We conclude that, in general, the cr...