Search results for "Choice"
showing 10 items of 795 documents
National Preferences and the European Union Presidency: The Case of German Energy Policy towards Russia*
2011
This article analyses the formation and development of Member State preferences and positions before and during the European Union (EU) Presidency term. The empirical analysis focuses on the Federal Republic of Germany's policy concerning EU–Russian relations, especially regarding energy policy. The extent to which liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) furthers our understanding of state behaviour in the context of the EU Presidency is questioned. The findings suggest that LI adequately explains the formation of German positions prior to assuming office, as its policy objectives are chiefly influenced by domestic producers' interests. However, LI cannot satisfactorily account for German governm…
Measuring freedom of choice: An alternative view of a recent literature
2004
A recent literature has emerged in social choice theory which attributes intrinsic importance to freedom in the evaluation of states of affairs. The literature’s philosophical basis lies in Berlin’s notion of positive liberty. Accordingly, axiomatic measures of availability of choices are developed and the information they convey used for ranking states on the basis of the extent of liberty they offer to individuals. This paper argues that the literature’s contributions have taken Berlin’s analytical framework for granted exceedingly narrowing the philosophical terms of the debate. It is shown that, once freedom is analyzed from the perspective of an alternative structure, the triadic synta…
INSTRUMENTOS DE PROMOCIÓN DE LOS VINOS EN LOS RESTAURANTES DE ALTO NIVEL
2009
RESUMENEn los últimos años, la comercialización de vinos está adquiriendo un peso creciente en los establecimientos de restauración. El aumento en la complejidad de la oferta de vinos determina que la elección del consumidor esté condicionada por la oferta presente en la carta y por la influencia del personal de sala. El objetivo del presente trabajo es identificar y caracterizar los instrumentos relevantes de promoción de los vinos que utilizan los restaurantes, en función de la presencia de personal formado en vinos. Como resultado de un estudio realizado para una muestra de restaurantes de alto nivel, observamos que el contenido y el diseño de la carta de vinos se encuentran en gran medi…
Inferring Cognitive Heterogeneity From Aggregate Choices
2020
Theories of bounded rationality often assume a rich dataset of choices from many overlapping menus, limiting their practical applicability. In contrast, we study the problem of identifying the distribution of cognitive characteristics in a population of agents from a minimal dataset that consists of aggregate choice shares from a single menu, and includes no observable covariates of any kind. With homogeneous preferences, we find that “consideration capacity” and “consideration probability” distributions can both be recovered effectively if the menu is sufficiently large. This remains true generically when tastes are heterogeneous with a known distribution. When the taste distribution is un…
Educational intentions, cognitive skills and earnings expectations of French undergraduates
2014
International audience; This article aims to study the earnings expectations of first-year students at a French university. Our findings highlight the importance of the environment in which students make their choices about education. Expected earnings are proportionally higher when their parents seem to be involved in the careers guidance, taking into account the effect of parental socio-economic status. The positive opinion of parents about the orientation or the connection between the discipline and the father's occupation are generally associated with higher earnings. In addition, our results show a strong impact of cognitive variables which are far more significant than variables relat…
Alternative pricing regimes in interurban passenger transport with externalities and modal competition
2009
Abstract We develop an interurban passenger transport model with modal competition, where modes are perceived as differentiated products, and capture all major externalities. Our objective is to establish whether alternative regulatory regimes, which may involve road tolls, may lead to a traffic allocation, user welfare, and total welfare that may be closer to the social optimum. An empirical application to interurban Spanish travel is undertaken. We find that the private regime yields the lowest total welfare level: 12.6% below the social optimum level. Optimum pricing requires a toll on car transport of 5.1 cents of per passenger-km, and a price decrease of all other modes, relative to th…
More skilled, better paid : labour-market returns to postsecondary vocational education
2017
Outside the USA, relatively little is known about the labour-market returns to postsecondary vocational (or polytechnic) education. Yet, polytechnics in Europe are distinct from US community colleges. This paper focuses on the labour-market returns to polytechnic attendance in Finland, where polytechnics are representative of many European countries. Using matching methods and longitudinal administrative data, we find that, compared to individuals with no postsecondary education, students who attend polytechnics have higher annual earnings of €3,300 to €3,700 and employment gains of 2.5 to 6.6 percentage points 10 years after the entry decision. However, the returns vary by personal charact…
Temptation and commitment in the laboratory
2010
Temptation and self-control in intertemporal choice environments are receiving increasing attention in the theoretical economics literature. Nevertheless, there remains a scarcity of empirical evidence from controlled environments informing behavior under repeated temptations. This is unfortunate in light of the fact that in many natural environments, the same temptation must be repeatedly resisted. This paper fills that gap by reporting data from a novel laboratory study of economic decisions under repeat temptations. Subjects are repeatedly offered an option with instantaneous benefit that also entails a substantial reduction to overall earnings. We show that this option is "tempting" in …
Is There Real Freedom of School Choice?: An Analysis from a Study in Chile1
2018
Between 1981 and 1990, Chile began to implement an education reform based on school choice and a financing system through vouchers. In theory, the system ensures complete freedom of choice of school by families. This article attempts to identify the existence of factors that conditioned the enrollment process in different types of schools existing nowadays in the Chilean educational system, the largest quasi-market of Latin America. Results show a social stratification and separation by schools and indicate how geographical distance and social composition are the most critical factors for families when choosing a school.
Vers de nouveaux modes de gouvernement des systèmes éducatifs ? Les leçons des comparaisons internationales
2002
Dans la plupart des pays développés, l'autonomie des établissements scolaires s'est accrue, accompagnée en général par une surveillance de leurs performances et par des mécanismes d'incitation. Par ailleurs, les parents peuvent davantage choisir l'école de leurs enfants. Cela s'est passé en France aussi, mais de façon plus retenue, et sans que le mode de régulation du système éducatif n'évolue en conséquence. Cet article présente les politiques implantées à l'étranger en la matière, en particulier au Royaume-Uni et dans certains Etats ou Districts des Etats-Unis, et le bilan que l'on peut faire des politiques de choix de l'école comme des politiques d'autonomie/régulation par les résultats.…