| 1. |
- Carlsson, Fredrik, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Funding a New Bridge in Rural Vietnam: A field experiment on conditional cooperation and default contributions
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ability to provide public goods is essential for economic and social development, yet there is very limited empirical evidence regarding contributions to a real local public good in developing countries. This paper analyzes a field experiment where 200 households in rural Vietnam could make real contributions to an archetypical public good, a bridge. In particular, we study the role of two kinds of social influence: i) conditional cooperation, i.e., that people may be more willing to cooperate if others do, and ii) the effects of the default alternative, i.e., that people are influenced by the default alternative presented to them in the choice situation. We find significant and substantial effects of both kinds of influence. For example, by either giving the subjects the additional information that one of the most common contributions by others is 100,000 dong (a relatively low contribution) or introducing a zero-contribution default alternative, the average contribution decreases by about 20% compared to the baseline case.
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| 2. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Veblen’s theory of the leisure class revisited : Implications for optimal income taxation
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Almost all previous studies on public policy under relative consumption concerns have ignored the role of leisure for status comparisons. Inspired by Veblen (1899), this paper considers a two-type optimal income tax model, where people care about their relative consumption, and where the importance of relative consumption increases with the use of leisure due to increased consumption visibility. We show that increased consumption positionality typically implies higher marginal income tax rates for both ability-types. Using a leisure-weighted measure of reference consumption, rather than a measure where leisure plays no role as in the previous literature, increases the marginal income tax rate implemented for the low-ability type and decreases the marginal income tax rate implemented for the high-ability type, i.e., it gives rise to a regressive tax component.
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| 3. |
- Folmer, Henk, et al.
(författare)
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Does Environmental Economics Produce Aeroplanes Without Engines? - On the Need for an Environmental Social Science
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we first critically review conventional environmental economics. We conclude that the standard theory offers too narrow a perspective for many real world problems and that many theories are not empirically tested. Consequently, environmental economics is at risk of producing aeroplanes without engines. Next, we welcome and discuss some recent trends, particularly the rapid developments of behavioural and new institutional economics as well as the increased interest in empirical analysis. Yet, we conclude that more „logical duels‟ between competing theories, more interaction between theory and empirics, and more integration between the social sciences are needed to achieve a better understanding of real world environmental problems and the development of adequate policy handles. Finally, we present an outline of steps towards the development of an environmental social science and briefly present the papers that make up this special issue as important building stones of such a discipline.
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| 5. |
- Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 1966
(författare)
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Are Most People Consequentialists?
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Welfare economics relies on consequentialism. Whether a public action is good or bad is then determined by the consequences for people, rather than for example by the extent to which it infringes on others’ rights. Yet, many philosophers have questioned this assumption. The present note presents new survey evidence where a representative sample in Sweden are asked about their ethical perceptions with respect to what matters intrinsically. Overall, people’s perceptions are largely consistent with consequentialism.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Animal Welfare and Social Decisions
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyzes the standard welfare economics assumption of anthropocentric welfarism, i.e., that only human well-being counts intrinsically. Alternatives where animal welfare matters intrinsically are explored theoretically, based on moral philosophical literature, and empirically where the general public‘s ethical preferences are measured through a survey with a representative sample in Sweden. It is concluded that welfare economics should be generalized in order to encompass the idea that animal welfare should sometimes matter intrinsically.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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POSITIONAL PREFERENCES IN TIME AND SPACE: IMPLICATIONS FOR OPTIMAL INCOME TAXATION
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper concerns optimal nonlinear taxation in an OLG model with two ability-types, where people care about their own consumption relative to (i) other people’s current consumption, (ii) own past consumption, and (iii) other people’s past consumption. We show that intertemporal consumption comparisons affect the marginal income tax structure in the same qualitative way as comparisons based on other people’s current consumption. Based on available empirical estimates, comparisons with other people’s current and previous consumption tend to substantially increase the optimal marginal labor income tax rates, while they may either increase or decrease the optimal marginal capital income tax rates.
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