Eric Malin

Explaining the pattern of regional unemployment: The case of the Midi-Pyrénées region

Abstract. Unemployment rates vary widely at the sub-regional level. We seek to explain why such variation occurs, using data for 174 districts in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France for 1990–1991. A set of explanatory variables is derived from theory and the voluminous literature. The best model includes a correction for spatially autocorrelated errors. Unemployment rates are higher in urban areas and, where per capita income is higher, are consistent with the view that unemployment differences largely reflect variations in “amenities.” Along with a lack of evidence of housing market rigidities, these suggest that subregional variations in unemployment are not mainly the result of labor market disequilibrium.

Using respondents’ uncertainty scores to mitigate hypothetical bias in community-based health insurance studies

Community-based health insurance has been implemented in several developing countries to help the poor to gain access to adequate health-care services. Assessing what the poor are willing to pay is of paramount importance for policymaking. The contingent valuation method, which relies on a hypothetical market, is commonly used for this purpose. But the presence of the hypothetical bias that is most often inherent in this method tends to bias the estimates upward and compromises policymaking. This paper uses respondents’ uncertainty scores in an attempt to mitigate hypothetical bias in community-based health insurance in one rural setting in Cameroon. Uncertainty scores are often employed in single dichotomous choice surveys. An originality of the paper is to use such an approach in a double-bounded dichotomous choice survey. The results suggest that this instrument is effective at decreasing the mean WTP.

Les limites a la discrimination par les prix

Dans cet article, nous proposons un cadre unifie permettant de rendre compte des developpements les plus recents de la theorie de la discrimination par le prix. Ces developpements ont pour denominateur commun le desir de relacher les hypotheses sous-tendants le cas desormais classique de la discrimination monopolistique. Notre cadre unifie permet de comparer les distortions allocatives du modele classique avec celles obtenues lorsque ces hypotheses sont perturbees.

Dynamiques de réseaux et externalité de demande, une approche en termes d'équilibre bayésien parfait

RésuméCet article analyse la dynamique de la taille ďun réseau dont la valeur, pour les clients, dépend des usagers raccordés. La valeur de cette taille est une caractéristique propre à chacun des usagers potentiels qui n’est pas connue des autres. Le problème est donc typiquement un problème de coordination en information incomplète. Mais la possibilité qu’ ont ces agents de s’ observer les uns les autres si la situation perdure est source ďune dynamique oú ľobservation mutuelle des décisions peut réduire ľ incertitude initiale? Les auteurs montrent que ľeffet de la répétition est de faciliter le raccordement lorsque c’est ľintérêt des usagers ďêtre raccordés et au contraire de rendre ce raccordement plus difficile lorsque c’est ľintérêt des joueurs de ne pas ľêtre.AbstractThis paper analyses the dynamics of a network size when the value assigned to this network by the potential users depends on the number of subscribers. Each potential subscriber’s network value is an individual parameter, known only to that subscriber. This situation is typically a coordination problem in incomplete information. The observation of each other move, when this situation is repeated, can reduce the initial uncertainty about player’s types resulting in a network dynamics. We show that the repetition makes the access to the network easier, when the users are interested by connexion, and more difficult, when the users are not interested by entering the network.