Data from 31 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is used to estimate education production functions for reading literacy. The analysis suggests that the probability of finding statistically significant and correctly signed class size effects increases the higher the level of aggregation used to measure class size.

This paper estimates the impact of competitive tendering on cleaning costs in Scottish National Health Service hospitals. Unlike previous studies, which have relied on cross-sectional data, a five-year balanced panel of 176 hospitals is used to estimate a series of fixed effects regression models. These panel estimates suggest that previous studies have likely over-estimated the cost-savings associated with competitive tendering. The findings also suggest that the lower costs associated with competitive tendering have more to do with auction theory than with any intrinsic efficiency of the private sector.

Scottish Journal of Political EconomyVolume 51, Issue 1 p. 143-147 Micro-Level Data Sources for Scottish Policy Studies David N. F. Bell, David N. F. Bell University of Stirling and Scottish Economic Policy Network.Search for more papers by this authorGregor Jack, Gregor Jack University of Westminister.Search for more papers by this authorRobert E. Wright, Robert E. Wright University of Stirling, CEPR, IZA and Scottish Economic Policy Network.Search for more papers by this author David N. F. Bell, David N. F. Bell University of Stirling and Scottish Economic Policy Network.Search for more papers by this authorGregor Jack, Gregor Jack University of Westminister.Search for more papers by this authorRobert E. Wright, Robert E. Wright University of Stirling, CEPR, IZA and Scottish Economic Policy Network.Search for more papers by this author First published: 20 January 2004 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0036-9292.2004.05101009.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume51, Issue1February 2004Pages 143-147 RelatedInformation

This paper applies the 'choice experiment' method to investigate public preferences over the design of wild goose conservation policy in Scotland. We argue that this method can shed useful light on the design of conservation policy, allowing policy-makers to take account of people's preferences, be they members of the general public (whose taxes often pay for conservation actions), local residents more directly affected by the policy, or visitors to wildlife areas. Preferences can be quantified in economic terms, so that the costs and benefits of different policy designs can be compared. In our study, we find that the general public, local residents and visitors have very different preferences for the conservation of geese. Whether geese are shot, the endangered status of geese, the spatial targeting of conservation and the size of the goose population all have impacts on the perceived benefits of conservation. In general, though, people are willing to pay for wild geese conservation.

Scottish Journal of Political EconomyVolume 47, Issue 3 p. 337-339 The Scottish Household Panel Survey Heather M. Laurie, Heather M. Laurie University of Essex,Search for more papers by this authorRobert E. Wright, Robert E. Wright University of Stirling; Centre for Economic Policy Research, London; and University of BonnSearch for more papers by this author Heather M. Laurie, Heather M. Laurie University of Essex,Search for more papers by this authorRobert E. Wright, Robert E. Wright University of Stirling; Centre for Economic Policy Research, London; and University of BonnSearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 January 2003 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9485.00166Citations: 5AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume47, Issue3August 2000Pages 337-339 RelatedInformation

This paper estimates changes in the rate of return to education in Sweden between 1968 and 1991. Both the 'quantity' (years of schooling completed) and 'quality' (highest qualification obtained) dimensions of education are considered. Adopting a human capital approach, the rate of return is measured in terms of differences in wage rates associated with differences in education. Both quadratic wage and cubic spline wage functions are estimated. The data used are from the 1968, 1981 and 1991 Swedish Level of Living Surveys.

When house prices are expected to rise, the representative house mover has an incentive to secure his purchase price (i.e. exchange contracts) on the ‘new’ house before exchanging contracts on the sale price on his ‘old’ house. If all house-movers adopt this stance, the imbalance between buyers and sellers causes a self-fulfilling speculative price bubble. Transactions costs do not represent a barrier to such speculation in the house market, as such costs can be considered as being sunk costs for first-time buyers and owner-occupiers intending to move for non-speculative reasons. This idea is formalised and empirical evidence is presented which suggests that speculation is a significant determinant of house prices in the United Kingdom.

This paper presents and tests a model of house price speculation. The mechanisms by which price speculation may occur in the housing market are described and formalised. A model of house prices is constructed that allows for speculation. Aspects of this model are tested using time-series data for the UK and the Greater London area (1969-95). Overall, the analysis presents some evidence of the process of speculation as a possible determinant of house prices in the London and UK-wide housing markets.

The U.S. Treasury Department has recently issued inflation-indexed bonds whose yields may be used to provide bond market-based measures of expected inflation. This paper suggests that the U.S. tax treatment of the inflation indexation uplift on the principal may create a ''tax clientele bias,'' which could cast doubt on the interpretation of the yield gap between indexed and conventional bonds as a market measure of expected inflation. This problem is discussed in the context of the United Kingdom, a country where inflation-indexed bonds have been issued for the past 14 years.

This paper outlines a method for controlling for compositional factors in the measurement of poverty. The method is based in shift-share analysis and direct standarization, the later technique popular in the field of demography. The method is consistent with Sen's influential axiomatic approach to poverty measurement and employs the popular poverty index proposed by Foster et al. This index is one of the few summary poverty measures that can be directly standardized and also meets Sen's criteria.

The study(1) estimates a hazard-rate model of the socio-economic factors influencing the risk of entering single parenthood among British women, through pre-marital births to never-married women. Higher welfare benefits and higher unemployment levels moderately increase the likelihood of a pre-marital birth. The male-female wage ratio has little impact. The facts of being in education or employment are associated with a lower risk of a pre-marital birth among this group of women. This suggests that flows into single parenthood 'select' women in poorer economic circumstances.

Journal Article LIMDEP: Limited Dependent Variables Models, Version 7.0. Get access Robert E. Wright Robert E. Wright University of Stirling and Centre for Economic Policy Research Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 106, Issue 438, 1 September 1996, Pages 1458–1460, https://doi.org/10.2307/2235555 Published: 01 September 1996

It is argued that government policy could be greatly improved by the existence of a gilts market 'window' on expected inflation. The indexed gilts method for measuring expected inflation, developed by Levin and Copeland (1993), is described and extended. This extended method is applied to the 41 market days between 20 August 1992 and 15 October 1992 in order to observe how the developing crisis associated with Britain's departure from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism affected real interest rates, expected inflation and the inflation uncertainty premium. The estimates for this period demonstrate that it is technically possible with the indexed gilts method to 'read' the financial markets' forecast of the future path of inflation in the UK. In addition, the estimates show quite clearly that the expected inflation path alters in response to external shocks and to subsequent policy reactions.