Compensation for industrial accidents and incentives for prevention: a theoretical and empirical perspective

This paper examines the compensation systems for industrial accidents in Belgium, Germany and Great Britain, thereby taking into account some recent empirical data on industrial accident rates and (although hardly available) amounts of compensation paid out to employee victims. The key question of this paper, derived from past research in law and economics, is whether these particular compensation systems include elements that may contribute to the prevention of industrial accidents. While the three countries examined here all have at least some incentive-based elements, notably in the way those systems are financed, there appears to be room for improvement both in Belgium and Great Britain. The German case study leads to the proposition that giving an organisation the responsibility for both compensation and prevention may have a beneficial effect on the accident rate.     

Rent seeking and hidden in-kind resource distortion: Some empirical evidence

We wish to thank John Jackson, Robert Hebert, Gordon Tullock and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on earlier draft of the paper.     

Regional forensic medical characteristics of sexual maturity

Published data on sexual maturity of women in the North are reviewed. The authors analyze the findings of their studies and the anthropometric parameters of sexual maturity recorded in Regulations of Forensic Medical Obstetrical and Gynecological Expert Evaluations (1966) and find essential differences in the values of some parameters as regards the population of the Russian European North. The authors propose revision of the current Regulations in order to define regional standards.