Anxieties without borders: The United States,Europe and their southern neighbours

In recent years, there has been a lively debate on “the end of the West” with the rise of authoritarian capitalist powers and the challenge they pose to the values and institutions of the West. The debate has to be qualified in two important respects. First, China and Russia have – albeit for different reasons – major stakes in the preservation of the current world order, thus making it unlikely that they will be able or willing to launch a sustained assault on it. Second, and perhaps more importantly, despite certain current similarities in their international outlook, China and Russia are in fact far from natural and permanent partners in the creation of a new anti-liberal world order. Therefore, instead of galvanising a strong resistance against the rise of China and, to a lesser extent, Russia, the future challenge for the West is to find ways to deal constructively with these countries so as to reinforce the liberal and multilateral elements of the present world order. This will necessarily require a moderate and constructive stance from China and Russia, one that can plausibly be expected in the natural course of events, provided they are given a chance to voice their legitimate concerns.     

Strategies to enhance price and quality competition in health care: lessons learned from tracking local markets

Drawing on observations from tracking changes in local health care markets over the past ten years, this article critiques two Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice recommendations to enhance price and quality competition. First, we take issue with the notion that consumers, acting independently, will drive greater competition in health care markets. Rather we suggest an important role remains for trusted agents who can analyze inherently complex price and quality information and negotiate on consumers' behalf. With aggregated information identifying providers who deliver cost-effective care, consumers would be better positioned to respond to financial incentives about where to seek care and thereby drive more meaningful competition among providers to reduce costs and improve quality. Second, we take issue with the FTC/DOJ recommendation to provide more direct subsidies to prevent distortions in competition. In the current political environment, it is not practical to provide direct subsidies for all of the unfunded care that exists in health care markets today; instead, some interference with competition may be necessary to protect cross subsidies. Barriers can be reduced, though, by revising pricing policies that have resulted in marked disparities in the relative profitability of different services.     

“Sure,I Voted for the Winner!” Overreport of the Primary Vote for the Party Nominee in the National Election Studies

Misreport is a serious problem because inaccurate data may lead to erroneous substantive conclusions. This study examines the systematic misreport for the eventual presidential nominee in the American National Election Studies (ANES) presidential primary vote question. Using various data sources, this study demonstrates that misreport in presidential primaries is a serious problem leading to possible misinterpretation of the negative carryover hypothesis. Misreport also may be a product of time of interview. Earlier interviewing may help to solve part of the misreport problem.     

Discounting procedures for environmental (and other) projects: A comment on Kolb and Scheraga

We compare two alternative methods to discount the costs and benefits of environmental projects. These are (1) the shadow price of capital, which can be practically expressed by using the cost of capital and thus the discount rate on government bonds, and (2) the two-stage discounting procedure advocated by Kolb and Scheraga. We suggest that the two-stage approach is in many cases inconsistent with the shadow price of capital approach and will therefore lead to misallocations of resources. We further argue that the use of the cost of capital as the discount rate will be easier than the two-stage procedure, will yield results that are consistent with the shadow price of capital approach, and will be justified by the potential Pareto criterion. Finally, use of the shadow price of capital approach has a potential for achieving considerable consensus in practice as well as in theory, a result that could considerably enhance project evaluation.     

Joh for PM: the Inside Story of an Extraordinary Political Drama

Joh for PM: the Inside Story of an Extraordinary Political Drama. By Paul Davey (Sydney: New South, 2015), pp.311, AU$29.99 (pb).