Government spending and happiness of the population: additional evidence from large cross-country samples

This study uses large cross-country samples and several measures of happiness, income, and government spending to revisit the relation between government spending and the population’s happiness. The main finding is that increased government spending does not lower happiness in broad cross-country contexts. Much caution is, therefore, urged in interpreting the negative association between government spending and happiness reported in some earlier studies and the suggested policy implications. Three additional points are noted. First, the weight of the evidence suggests a significant positive association between income and happiness. Second, estimates based on income and government-share data from Penn World Table and the new International Comparison Program show similar patterns. Third, the parameter for generalized trust seems fragile.     

Comparative Vigilance

A growing body of literature suggests that courts and juriesare inclined toward division of liability between two strictlynon-negligent or "vigilant" parties. In this paper, we explorethe economic efficiency of liability rules based on comparativevigilance. We devise rules that are efficient and that rewardvigilance. Commonly used liability rules have discontinuousliability shares. We develop a liability rule, which we callthe "super-symmetric rule," that is both efficient and continuous,that is based on comparative negligence when both parties arenegligent and on comparative vigilance when both parties arevigilant, and that is always responsive to increased care.     

The Transaction Costs of Government Responses to the COVID-19 Emergency in Latin America

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis that is challenging national and local governments to innovate in their responses to novel problems. Despite similarities to the challenges confronted in developed countries, for Latin American governments, these problems are amplified by structural obstacles such as social inequalities. These countries must respond with capacities and resources that are often limited by spoils systems and by social and political polarization. This essay provides an overview of some innovative practices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. In particular, this essay concentrates on some salient collaborative efforts in the region. To draw lessons from these practices, the authors focus on the formal and informal institutions that facilitate or obstruct collaboration across jurisdictions. The findings are discussed in terms of the transaction costs of collaboration identified in these experiences.     

‘Full’ Compensation Criteria: An Enquiry into Relative Merits

The principle of full compensation is said to restore the victim of an accident to the position he was in before the tort. The conventional pre-tort position of the victim is taken to be the one in which he bears no accident losses at all. Therefore, a negligent injurer is required to compensate his victim fully. In an interesting paper in this journal, Van Wijck and Winters (2001) have reinterpreted the pre-tort position of the victim, and proposed an alternative specification of liability for the purpose of compensation. We study the relative merits of the two compensation criteria. We show that while the alternative compensation criterion is indeed insightful from economic as well as legal point of view, at the same time it suffers from some serious limitations.     

Challenging pharmaceutical industry political power in Maine and Vermont

A comparison of the Vermont and Maine cases of attempting to control pharmaceutical prices in the year 2000 shows that the Maine legislators were more successful in challenging pharmaceutical industry political power. This comparison shows that challenging the industry was aided by (1) mobilizing public support through grassroots organizations, (2) including independent pharmacists in negotiations over the legislation, and (3) developing state purchasing power leverage.     

Genetic profiling of a central Venezuelan population using 15 STR markers that may be of forensic importance

The AmpFlSTR Identifiler kit has recently been accepted for use in DNA databasing of forensic samples in the FBI's National DNA Index System. In the present study, we used this kit to analyze the allele distribution of 15 short tandem repeat markers (STR) in individuals living in Caracas city, Venezuela. The allele frequencies of two of these STR, D2S1338 and D19S433, have not previously been reported for this or any other Latin American population. The results indicate that for the population here studied, the 15 STR tested are useful markers for paternity testing and forensic casework.     

Optimization of DNA extraction from low-yield and degraded samples using the BioRobot EZ1 and BioRobot M48

Robotic extraction of DNA from dilutions of blood and semen using either the BioRobots EZ1 or BioRobots M48 consistently produced lower recoveries than standard organic extractions of the same samples. In an effort to increase the efficiency of robotically extracted DNA, glycogen and carrier RNA were added following cell lysis. The addition of glycogen, postlysis, resulted in no improvement in DNA recovery with the BioRobot EZ1. However, when carrier RNA was added to the cell lysate of limited and degraded samples extracted on the EZ1 or the M48, DNA recoveries dramatically increased four- to 20-fold. DNA yields obtained by robotic extraction in the presence of carrier RNA were as high, or higher, as those obtained by organic extraction lacking carrier RNA, while experiments that utilized carrier RNA in both types of extractions showed increased sensitivity for both methods. Furthermore, carrier RNA substantially increased the recovery of fragmented DNA with the EZ1.     

Ethnocompetitiveness,relations, and networks: towards rural sustainability

Small producers face various obstacles in placing their products on the global market. The most important obstacle is associated with the generation of innovative products in a dynamic context. This article presents a case study which provides support for a methodology designed to quantify the competitiveness of small and medium-sized local producers in relation to other producers in the same region and nation. It explores how the evolution of knowledge relates to the ability of agricultural producers to sell their products in regional and international markets. To do so, it utilises the concept of ethnocompetitiveness, which can be understood as the hybridisation of local knowledges with external or codified knowledge.     

Moderating Factors in Adopting Local e-Government in Spain

This study analyses the factors that influence citizens' intention to use e-government activities offered by municipalities in Spain. For this purpose, we developed a straightforward user behaviour model that considers the components of the TAM and DOI models simultaneously, harnessing their synergies and factoring in the role of citizens' trust. We also examined the moderating role that population size can play in the model's behaviour. Among the results we obtained, it is important to note that user trust not only improved the model's fit, but also showed a significant effect on intention of use for all the population sizes that we analysed. The other significant relationship for all the samples linked ease of use to perceived usefulness. For the other relationships between variables, we observed the moderating role of size for the populations we considered.