This is a mind map to show the studies and results found throughout the course. I've included images next to the relevant points for illustrative purposes. Be sure to take a look at the additional notes I've made by clicking the "sticky note" icon on the top right corner of some of the bubbles!
R. Kennedy - Our gross
national product... measures
everything, in short, except
thar which makes life
worthwhile
Easterlin Paradox: Happiness does not increase with
income once basic needs arre fulfilled
Nun Study: among the less positive
nuns, 2/3rds died before their 85th
birthday. Among the happy nuns, 90%
were still alive
Increase in my Income leads to a loss of
everybody else's happiness by 30% of my
own increase in happiness
Emp. Evidence from World Values
Survey: Increase in average income
only to raise average happiness in
countries below around 15000 per
head (John Helliwell)
Survey of 6000 from switzerland (1992): People
older than 60 happier; Women not happier than
men; foreigners are less happy (can't vote on
legislation); people with higher education are
happier...
Democratic rights ^ by 1 point increases H
index by 0.028
Crime
-ve correlation
between prison pop.
and (BCS) crime rate in
90s
Nota:
punishment heavier > seen as decrease in expected utility from crime - Crime rate (supply) decreases
Philipson and Posner (1996) - Empirical
evidence shows more police means less
insurance policies bought (significant and negative)
Nota:
Policing up, Fear down, Self Protection Down -> people react to fea/perception of crime
Levitt (1997) - strong link between unemployment and property
crime...weaker link between unemployment and violent crime
Nota:
Slight proof that there is a need for reward to be monetary (as opposed to psychic etc)
Paper on CBT by Sara
Heller et al. (2013) -
Program participation
reduced violent-crime
arrests during the
program year to 8.1
per 100 youth (a 44
percent reduction).
Eide (1999) - 10% increase in
probability of being punished will
redue crime by 7%, 10% increase
in severity of punishment will
reduce crime by 4%
Nota:
People react more/are more sensitive to a higher risk of being caught.
F. Cornaglia and A Leigh (2011) - Empirical evidence suggests
"Cost of crime through reducing the welbeing of non-victims
may be substancial. Also, largest effect of violent crimes on
smaller and more densely populated areas. Mesia coverage
creates a multiplier effect.
Bentham (1781) "The Alarm"
Nota:
The Alarm
“The report of this robbery circulates from hand to hand, and spreads itself in the neighbourhood. It finds its way into the newspapers, and is propagated over the whole country. Various people, on this occasion, call to mind the danger which they and their friends, as it appears from this example, stand exposed to in travelling; especially such as may have occasion to travel the same road.”
Newfoundland, Australia with low crime even
though it has low income
Nota:
Maybe inequality is key
Freeman (1999) on "Porous Boundary"
youths shift between crime and
work with some regularity
young offenders are engaged in an
active process of income optimization
Economics
Becker (1992) "...what most distinguishes economics as
a discipline from other disciplines in the
social science is NOT its subject matter
but its APPROACH. ”
Lazear (1999): a methodology that produces refutable implications and tests
these implications using solid statistical techniques
Lazear (1999) Economic toolbx can be used to
address a large variety of problems. drawn from a wide range of topics
Smoking
Canada (1993): Increased then reduced
taxes sharply from fears of smuggling -
smoking prevalence back to normal level
Better to focus on crime prevention
Adda and Cornaglia (2006):
Smokers seem to adjust not only
the number of cigarettes smoked
but also the amount of nicotine
they extract
Nota:
question of how effective taxes are at reducing negative health effects
Tax elasticity of -0.2 on passive smokers (from decrease in # probably)
Some evidence from australia that plain
packaging works
DeCicca et al. : Cigarette prices do not affect
initiation at young ages