Economics uncut: a complete guide to life, death, and misadventure

Economics Uncut......Page 1
Contents......Page 10
Peter J. Sloane......Page 12
Mark Thornton......Page 13
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 17
Early discrimination......Page 18
Happy families......Page 19
Crime and the fear economy......Page 23
Drugs and despair......Page 27
Behavioural economics and wackonomics......Page 30
Introduction......Page 34
The economics of economics......Page 36
PART I SINS AND NEEDLES......Page 42
1 Economics of drug addiction......Page 44
1 Illicit drug consumption statistics......Page 45
2 Theories of addiction......Page 49
2.1 Relative theory of addiction......Page 51
2.2 Melioration theory of addiction (‘primrose path’)......Page 53
2.3 Theory of rational addiction......Page 54
2.4 Hyperbolic discounting and other extensions to rational addiction......Page 57
3.1 E.ective prices......Page 60
3.2 Double-kinked demand curve......Page 61
4 Price elasticity of demand for illicit drugs: evidence......Page 63
4.2 Myopic demand studies......Page 67
5 Drug prohibition: the welfare economics approach......Page 71
Notes......Page 73
References......Page 74
2 Economics of drug prohibition......Page 77
1.2 Prohibition and the supply of drugs......Page 78
2 Price and quantity of drugs under prohibition: evidence......Page 80
3.1 The impact of prohibition on crime......Page 85
000 population in USA (1900–2001)......Page 87
3.2 The e.ect of drug use on crime......Page 88
4.1 The impact of prohibition on drug quality......Page 89
4.2 Drug use and addiction revisited......Page 91
4.3 Drug use and labour market outcomes......Page 93
4.4 Drug use and accidents......Page 94
4.5 Drug use and the unborn fetus......Page 95
Notes......Page 96
References......Page 97
3 Economics of drug liberalization......Page 101
1.1 European demand-side policies......Page 102
1.2 European supply-side policies......Page 105
1.3 US demand-side policy......Page 106
1.4 US supply-side policy......Page 107
2Government monopoly......Page 112
3Government regulation......Page 114
4 Sin taxes......Page 115
5Free market......Page 120
6 Conclusion......Page 128
References......Page 129
PART II GUNS AND ROSES......Page 132
4 Economics of crime......Page 134
1A criminal world......Page 136
000 population in USA (1960–2003) ted......Page 138
2 The supply of criminal offences......Page 143
3.1 Capital punishment......Page 146
3.2 Extensions to the standard empirical model of crime......Page 149
1937–2003)victed of......Page 150
COM3......Page 152
4.1 The tragedy of the criminal commons......Page 155
4.2 Allocation of resources and probability and severity of punishment......Page 159
5.1 The impact of a growing economy......Page 162
5.2 The rise in private protection......Page 163
6 Conclusion......Page 165
References......Page 166
1 Trends in marriage and divorce......Page 170
2 Marriage versus cohabiting......Page 177
3.1 Love and sex......Page 178
3.2 Children......Page 179
3.4 Time......Page 181
4How do married couples make decisions?......Page 183
4.1 How do families make decisions?......Page 184
4.2 Bargaining among family members......Page 185
4.3 Decisions involving spending: golf clubs versus sandals......Page 186
4.4 Decisions involving spending: private goods versus dinner together......Page 187
5.1 Getting together......Page 188
5.2 Breaking up......Page 190
5.3 Changes......Page 191
5.5 Commitment......Page 194
5.7 Policy interventions......Page 196
6 Conclusion......Page 198
References......Page 199
PART III BODY AND SOUL......Page 202
6 Economics of pornography......Page 204
1 Social outcomes of pornography: negative externalities......Page 205
2.1 Production and consumption......Page 206
2.2 Size distribution of .rms......Page 208
2.3 Pro.ts......Page 209
3.1 The legal and philosophical perspective......Page 210
4.1 The price of pornography......Page 214
5Regulation of porn: methods and problems......Page 216
6.1 Dirty postcards......Page 218
6.3 Prevention......Page 219
6.4 Marginal productivity of porn preventers and consumers......Page 220
7.1 Social bene.ts......Page 221
7.2 Consuming porn: substitute or complement?......Page 222
8 Conclusion......Page 223
References......Page 224
1 Introduction......Page 226
2Overview of world prostitution......Page 230
3.1 Overview of economic theories......Page 235
3.3 Market structure......Page 236
3.4 Explaining the high compensating wage di.erential......Page 238
3.5 Extensions......Page 242
3.7 Economic welfare considerations......Page 243
4 Empirical studies of prostitution......Page 244
4.2 Exploratory analysis of the Punternet dataset......Page 246
4.2.1 Determinants of price An ordinary least squares regression was......Page 247
23.8......Page 249
4.2.2 Determinants of satisfaction As already noted, one of the pieces of......Page 251
31.5......Page 252
5Policy......Page 254
6 Conclusion......Page 257
Notes......Page 259
References......Page 260
8 Economics of suicide......Page 262
1.1.2 Fatalistic suicide In contrast to anomic, fatalistic suicide may......Page 263
1.1.4 Altruistic suicide Integration is too great in the case of altruistic......Page 264
1.2 By their own (invisible) hand......Page 265
2 Statistics of suicide......Page 266
2.1 Problems with suicide statistics......Page 270
000 population 0–14 0.6 00.3 0 0 00.40.20.2 00.10.1 00.1 00.10.30.1......Page 271
3 The simple microeconomics of suicide......Page 273
1958–77) ,......Page 275
3.2 The Hamermesh and Soss model......Page 276
4.1 Preferences and suicide......Page 278
4.2.1 Suicidal children Cutler et al. (2001) use a game-theoretic frame-......Page 280
5.1 Alcohol, business cycles and suicide......Page 281
5.2 Gun availability and suicide......Page 284
6.1 Loss of human capital stock......Page 286
6.2.1 Positive externalities of Cobain’s death Among the economic gains......Page 288
6.2.2 Negative externalities of Cobain’s death The social cost of a......Page 289
7 Economics of anti-suicide policy......Page 291
References......Page 294
1 The demand for religion......Page 297
1.1 Scarcity and the benefits o religion......Page 298
1.2 Determinants of demand......Page 301
1.3 Religious capital......Page 303
2 The supply of religion......Page 304
2.2 Sacrifice and stigm......Page 307
2.3 Optimal firm sie......Page 310
3Religious risk......Page 311
3.1 Strategies for exclusivity......Page 312
4.1 Religious products and market competition......Page 313
4.2 Regulated religion......Page 316
4.3 Competition and doctrine......Page 318
5 Conclusion......Page 319
References......Page 320
PART IV CONCEPTION AND REJECTION......Page 322
10 Economics of assisted reproduction......Page 324
1 Microeconomics of demand for and supply of children (before reproductive markets)......Page 326
2 The evolution of reproductive markets......Page 328
3 Assessing the size of markets in assisted reproduction......Page 330
4.1 Supply......Page 331
4.2 Demand......Page 334
4.3 Risk in demand and supply......Page 336
4.4 Putting supply and demand together......Page 338
6 Conclusion......Page 343
Notes......Page 344
References......Page 346
1Terminology and demographics of abortion......Page 348
1.1 Abortion usage......Page 349
1.2 Availability of abortion services......Page 350
2.1 The basic model of demand (and supply)......Page 354
2.2 Public subsidies, consent laws and issues of access......Page 357
3 Abortion as a cause: the effects of abortion availability on fertility, premarital sex, shotgun weddings and crime......Page 360
3.1 Abortion access and fertility......Page 361
3.2 Endogenous pregnancy......Page 362
3.3 Abortion and shotgun weddings......Page 364
3.4 Abortion and crime......Page 366
4 Conclusion......Page 370
Notes......Page 371
References......Page 373
PART V FUN AND GAMES......Page 376
12 Economics of sport......Page 378
1Team and league objectives......Page 379
2 The nature of the product......Page 381
3 Cartel behaviour......Page 384
4 Current policy issues in professional team sports......Page 385
4.1 Free agency and salary caps......Page 386
4.2 Cheating in professional team sports......Page 391
4.3 Revenue-sharing and the collective sale of broadcasting rights......Page 392
5 Conclusion......Page 397
References......Page 398
1 The scope of gambling worldwide......Page 400
2Why gamble?......Page 402
3Why tolerate gambling?......Page 409
4.1 Gambling as economic regenerator?......Page 412
4.2 Social costs......Page 413
4.3 Illegal betting......Page 415
4.4 The threat of the Internet?......Page 416
4.5 Gambling as social engineering......Page 418
5 Conclusion......Page 419
References......Page 420
1A brief history of the music industry......Page 422
2 Size and scope of global music market......Page 424
1973–2004) ,......Page 426
3 Economics of record contracts......Page 427
3.1 Division of risk......Page 428
3.2 Incentives and enforcement......Page 430
ln F......Page 434
4.2 Superstar concerts......Page 437
1982–2003......Page 439
4.3 David Bowie economics......Page 442
5.1 Size of copying market......Page 444
5.2.1 Indirect appropriability The term ‘indirect appropriability’ was......Page 446
5.2.2 Exposure e.ects, space-shifting, network externalities and price commitments The ‘exposure e.ect’ is another means by whic......Page 447
5.3 Music copying and empirical evidence......Page 449
Notes......Page 452
References......Page 453
Index......Page 456