Martin Shanahan

Counting the cost : estimating the economic benefit of pedophile treatment programs

OBJECTIVE The principal objective of this paper is to identify the economic costs and benefits of pedophile treatment programs incorporating both the tangible and intangible cost of sexual abuse to victims. METHOD Cost estimates of cognitive behavioral therapy programs in Australian prisons are compared against the tangible and intangible costs to victims of being sexually abused. Estimates are prepared that take into account a number of problematic issues. These include the range of possible recidivism rates for treatment programs; the uncertainty surrounding the number of child sexual molestation offences committed by recidivists; and the methodological problems associated with estimating the intangible costs of sexual abuse on victims. RESULTS Despite the variation in parameter estimates that impact on the cost-benefit analysis of pedophile treatment programs, it is found that potential range of economic costs from child sexual abuse are substantial and the economic benefits to be derived from appropriate and effective treatment programs are high. CONCLUSIONS Based on a reasonable set of parameter estimates, in-prison, cognitive therapy treatment programs for pedophiles are likely to be of net benefit to society. Despite this, a critical area of future research must include further methodological developments in estimating the quantitative impact of child sexual abuse in the community.

Price elasticity of water allocations demand in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District

Bid prices for the demand and supply of water allocations between 2001 and 2007, and average monthly prices paid for water allocations from 1997 to 2007 in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District are analysed to estimate price elasticities. Based on bid prices, the price elasticity of demand for water allocations appears highly elastic, with elasticities strongly influenced by the season and drought. The price elasticity of supply for water allocations is also elastic, albeit less elastic than demand. Using actual prices paid, water demand is negatively related to price and is inelastic, and appears to be most influenced by demand the previous month, drought and seasonality factors. Copyright 2008 The Authors.

Dissonant Forms of 'Memorising' and 'Repetition'

The present study examines the phenomenon of dissonant forms of memorising and repetition from both location and structural perspectives. Attention is drawn to clear evidence that supports, in particular, an argument in favour of gender-response differences in both location and structural dissonance. The study also illustrates how the isolation of dissonant response patterns may be approached analytically, especially in terms of using selected stable features of k-means cluster solutions as a basis for the direct categorisation of observed data.

Developing metalearning capacity in students: actionable theory and practical lessons learned in first‐year economics

Congruent with the University of South Australia’s mission to widen access, first‐year students of business studies enter the university with a wide range of educational backgrounds and experiences. Previous work (Meyer & Shanahan, 1999) has revealed that such students vary considerably in their views about what learning is, and how they engage in learning. Complementary to these insights, and intimately connected to issues of learning, the same research has revealed the diversity of views held by entering students about economic phenomena (what economics is, what economists do, mechanisms of price determination, and so on). Entering students whose conceptions of learning are at odds with the demands of the institution, or whose conceptions of their academic discipline (in this case economics) are incongruent with fundamental conceptions associated with the discipline (e.g. they hold misconceptions of economics) face difficulties even before they commence their university studies. Within this disciplinary and institutional context, the present study reports on the development and integration of processes to assist students in developing their metalearning capacity. These processes include designing a discipline‐sensitive learning inventory, developing a Web‐based platform for administering the inventory, using resultant data to inform students on an individual basis about themselves as learners in context, and using (variation in) inventory data to inform the course curriculum, the design of course materials and academic staff development.

The Economics Degree in Australia: Down but Not Out?

Before 1980, strong demand existed in Australia for the economics degree. Since then, competition from programs in business and management has increased. Student preferences have shifted from university and secondary economics. Economics enrollments have declined in both sectors. The authors analyze these trends and assess economic education publications by Australian economists.

Personal Wealth in South Australia

Probate and succession-duty records are a rich source of information about the living standards and material wealth of past communities. According to these records, the small, mainly rural, and comparatively egalitarian population of South Australia held a diverse array of personal assets at the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite the strong British influence on the former colonys culture, however, South Australias distribution of wealth before World War I was more similar to that of the United States fifty years earlier than to that of contemporary Great Britain.

Serious cartel conduct, criminalisation and evidentiary standards: Lessons from the Coal Vend case of 1911 in Australia

The criminalisation of anti-competitive behaviour such as price fixing has long been a feature of US antitrust law. Some European countries have introduced criminal penalties for price fixing while in others the matter is under debate. Australia introduced such laws in 2009. Of critical importance when considering criminalisation is the evidentiary standard expected in criminal prosecutions. A century ago, in the Coal Vend case, the High Court of Australia broke new evidentiary ground in applying forensic accounting and economic methods to examine price fixing. Subsequently overturned, much could still be learnt by policy makers and competition agencies from this case.

How much more unequal? Consistent estimates of the distribution of wealth in the United States between 1774 and 1860

Current estimates of long trends in the distribution of personal wealth in the United States combine a number of different studies. However, the trend estimates are open to challenge because of differences in the methods of estimation between individual studies. In this article, a sample set from the 1860 census is analyzed and the distribution of wealth among different subsets of the population is described. Holding constant the method of estimation, we conclude that the apparent rise in inequality in the United States between 1774 and 1860, as measured using the Gini coefficient, is overstated by 0.1.

Threshold concepts in economics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine threshold concepts in the context of teaching and learning first-year university economics. It outlines some of the arguments for using threshold concepts and provides examples using opportunity cost as an exemplar in economics. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview of the theoretical literature around threshold concepts in economics and provides exemplars from previous research, and current practice, to illustrate how they might be applied in economics. Findings – The notion of threshold concepts such as opportunity cost can be extremely useful in pedagogic design. They focus on how learning concepts changes student thinking, rather than the standard approach which treats many concepts as equal in importance. Designing appropriate instructional materials around threshold concepts is time consuming and this may prove a barrier to the notions widespread adoption. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature discussing ...

Australian Labour Market Institutions Through Time: A Perspective from the New Institutional Economics

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Australian economy over most of the past century has been its labour market institutions and organizations. Recently these institutions have changed to become more decentralized. Douglas North has argued that examining and explaining institutional change through time is an important and comparatively unresearched topic facing economic historians. In this paper, changes to Australias labour market institutions are examined from the perspective of the New Institutional Economics. Following North, it is argued that further research should be directed to identifying the role ideological beliefs have played in shaping Australias labour market institutions over time.