Attiat F. Ott

PREDATORY BEHAVIOR OF GOVERNMENTS: THE CASE OF MASS KILLING

In this paper we seek to answer the question: why do governments engage in mass killing? Tullock (1974) gives gain or avoidance of loss as the motive. We construct a three‐stage theoretic framework to explain the choice of a ruler of a country. The conditions that must be met for a mass killing regime to win over alternative regimes are derived. Using the COW project data over the period 1816–1997, we estimate two models: negative binomial regression of number of battle‐related deaths and a probit model for the choice of mass killing. The paper concludes with suggestions for data collections and further research.

Hospital Care inflation in the United States: prices adjustments in a disequilibrium econometric framework

Uncontrollable medical care expenditure inflation in excess of general price inflation in the United States has prompted the writing of this paper. It is argued that such a frustrating phenomenon is due to the existence of disequilibrium in the hospital market. This phenomenon can be verified only by modelling the market by disequilibrium methods. In this paper, a model of price adjustment in non-clearing market is presented and tested by using autoregressive techniques. It is found that excess demand for hospital care has been the source of disequilibrium for a large part of the period of the study, 1965–1984. It is observed then the key factor causing excess demand is low out-of-pocket expenditure for hospital care by patients due to third-party payments. Had the co-insurance rate been adjusted upward or co-payment patient rate not fallen, excess demand would have been eliminated. This study also finds that the response of providers and regulators to cost inflation through price control policy seems to ...

Anxiety as a consequence of liberalization: An analysis of opinion surveys in Estonia

Abstract This article examines some of the consequences of the liberalization of command economies. It is argued that the breakdown of the pre-existing system of production and distribution, changes in political power, and the displacement of property rights introduces uncertainty into peoples lives. The article explores two questions: (1) How does the prospect for political and economic liberalization accompanied by increasing uncertainty affect peoples beliefs about their own well-being? and (2) How does the anxiety created by the process of liberalization impact different ethnic groups? Estonias experience during the transitional period is used to explore these questions. On the basis of two surveys, anxiety measures are calculated. To test the theoretical model a probit model is estimated. The study findings suggest that ethnicity does play a significant role in perceptions about “own” well-being and in the development of anxiety.

Do Children Create an Externality in the Provision of Public Education

In 1972, Oakland presented a formal theory of congestible public goods. One implication of the Oakland model is that the marginal benefit of consuming a congestible public good, like public education, depends on both the level of congestion and the capacity of provision. This study uses a county-level panel data set (1967-1987), in the context of the Oakland model, to examine the effect of a “children externality” on the consumption of public education, a congestible public good. Viewed as a congestion cost, one would expect the number of school children in a community (i.e., the children externality) to contribute negatively to the service provision of public education, all else equal. Because this children externality, or consumption sharing of the public good, can be mitigated or eliminated by expanding the capacity, tax limits imposed on a local community’s ability to expand this capacity will further add to an already congested facility. Anticipating the results, the authors demonstrate that both the children externality and limits to expanding capacity lead to significantly lower per pupil expenditures on local public education.

The Public Economics of Self Control

This paper analyzes self-control problems in intertemporal consumption of a sin good where current consumption imposes a negative externality on one’s future selves due to the existence of present-biased preferences. We introduce the negative externality dubbed ‘internality’, which is augmented by the cumulative distribution function of the sum of previous consumption. We show that the shot-run self with self-control problem over consumes the sin good compared to that of the long-run self without present-biased preferences. Further, we investigate the effectiveness of self-bargaining with the presence of an external control devise as possible punishment. The short-run self faces three possible options: do nothing, accept the long-run self’s offer, or reject the offer. In the latter case an external control devices is implemented. It is shown that successful self-bargaining depends on the efficiency of the control device.

Do Conservative Governments Make a Difference in Monetary Policy? A Study of the U.S. and the U.K

This paper offers an empirical test of the Simons proposition: Do conservative governments make a difference in monetary policy? Using quarterly data on the inflation rate and the GDP gap, the authors test the hypothesis during the tenure of two regimes: conservatives and non-conservatives, and for two countries, the U.S. and the U.K. Under the assumption that the monetary authority followed a Taylor rule, they evaluate monetary policies pursued by alternative regimes in the two countries. Alternatively, they assume that the monetary authority adjusts money growth in response to deviations of inflation and GDP from their target levels. The estimation results were mixed. The Simons hypothesis was supported in the U.K. during the Thatcher regime, but not in the U.S. during the Reagans tenure. The findings for the U.S. in contrast to those obtained for the U.K. indirectly validate the Simons contention that monetary policy in the U.S. is subject to manipulation by interest groups“Perhaps the ultimate test of the conservative status of government is its willingness to pursue stable monetary policy.”William E. Simon, 1980, p. 8

Modeling Mass Killing: For Gain or Ethnic Cleansing?

3 A bargaining theory perspective on war 29 Charles H. Anderton and John R. Carter 4 Modeling mass killing: for gain or ethnic cleansing? 52 Attiat F. Ott and Sang Hoo Bae 5 The economics of destructive power 79 Mehrdad Vahabi 6 The government budget allocation process and national security: an application to the Israeli–Syrian arms race 105 Itay Ringel and Asher Tishler 7 Characteristics of terrorism 143 Karen Pittel and Dirk Rübbelke 8 Confl ict and corruption 172 John R. Hudson 9 Confl ict in space 195 Vasilis Zervos 10 The economics of peacekeeping 237 Vincenzo Bove and Ron Smith 11 Peacekeeping, private benefi ts and common agency 265 Ugurhan G. Berkok and Binyam Solomon 12 The longterm costs of confl ict: the case of the Iraq War 293 Linda J. Bilmes and Joseph E. Stiglitz 13 Macroeconomics and violence 311 Jurgen Brauer and J. Paul Dunne

Introduction to the Special Issue: Developing the African Continent: Selected Issues

This special issue, “Developing the African Continent: Selected Issues,” is the outgrowth of a conference held in Gaborone, Botswana, August 19–21, 2008 sponsored by the Institute for Economic Policy Studies (IEPS), Worcester Massachusetts, USA. The theme of the conference was, “Developing the African Continent: Who is in Charge?”

The Empirics of the Three Branch Model

Attiat Ott and Richard Cebula have recognised the need to present, in an accessible and straightforward way, the voluminous literature in the public economics arena. Advances in econometric techniques and the spillover of knowledge from other disciplines made it difficult, not only for students but also for lecturers, to accurately find the information they need.

Life styles, job environment and health status: Some empirical findings for West Germany

Abstract The article investigates two issues: First, the link between health status, life styles and job environment and secondly, whether health life styles are influenced by socioeconomic factors. The theoretical framework used for the analysis is that of utility maximization where the consumption of medical and non medical goods as well as the health status enter as arguments. The model is empirically tested using a data sample of the West German population (BZGA 1984 sample). The study findings support the hypotheses: life style and work conditions are important factors to health status and that socioeconomic factors, especially education influence life style.