A new approach to measuring legislators’ activity

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-599
Author(s):  
Osnat Akirav
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Committee Chair ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Legislative Activities ◽  
The Cost

How do we measure the activity of legislators? I argue that, in addition to using measures such as how many bills they pass, we must also consider activities such as parliamentary questions, early day motions, motions for the agenda and one-minute speeches. One means for doing so is Akirav’s activity scale developed in Israel. I use this scale to measure legislators’ activity in two additional political systems – the United States and the United Kingdom. I also identify the characteristics shared by the most active legislators and the least active. The findings indicate that opposition, junior and committee chair legislators are more active than other representatives. While previous studies have investigated the cost–benefit analysis in which legislators engage regarding where and how to invest their time in their legislative work, this study is the first to conduct such an analysis about both their legislative and non-legislative activities. This more complete picture reveals their incentives for engaging fully in parliamentary work.

Inferring age from otolith measurements: a review and a new approach

2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 1269-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
RIC Chris Francis ◽  
Steven E Campana
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Experiment ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
New Method ◽  
Population Parameters ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Mixture Analysis ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
The Cost

In 1985, Boehlert (Fish. Bull. 83: 103–117) suggested that fish age could be estimated from otolith measurements. Since that time, a number of inferential techniques have been proposed and tested in a range of species. A review of these techniques shows that all are subject to at least one of four types of bias. In addition, they all focus on assigning ages to individual fish, whereas the estimation of population parameters (particularly proportions at age) is usually the goal. We propose a new flexible method of inference based on mixture analysis, which avoids these biases and makes better use of the data. We argue that the most appropriate technique for evaluating the performance of these methods is a cost–benefit analysis that compares the cost of the estimated ages with that of the traditional annulus count method. A simulation experiment is used to illustrate both the new method and the cost–benefit analysis.

“Expensive” people: Consumer citizenship and the limits of choice in neoliberal publics

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney Gent
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Choice ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing First ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Chronic Homelessness ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Consumer Citizenship ◽  
The Cost

In a context of neoliberalism, decisions made for a “public” good are often articulated as what makes the most financial sense, and citizenship is exercised as a matter of consumer choice. Neoliberal theory positions choice as an unmitigated good, and as universally available when markets are deregulated and goods and services are privatized. Examining rhetorics of choice, however, illuminates the often-invisible power relations that shape choice, and makes visible the ways in which choice is conditioned by inequality. This essay attends to the cost–benefit analysis used to promote the spread of Housing First, an approach to addressing chronic homelessness in the United States. It argues that a neoliberal discourse of choice reconfigures possibilities for rhetorical citizenship by constructing “good” and “bad” consumer citizen subjectivities, constraining agency for “expensive” people while concentrating responsibility for public decision-making among “taxpayers.” These discourses thus limit membership to neoliberal publics to people with access to private resources.

Environmental sustainability

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ekins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Ecosystem Goods And Services ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Sustainability Standards ◽  
The Cost

This paper reflects on the extensive literature on environmental sustainability that has been produced over the last two decades, and proposes a new approach for environmental policy that goes beyond the cost-benefit analysis that has proved so difficult to implement for non-marginal environmental issues. This approach combines the Safe Minimum Standard approach, which was proposed many years ago, with the concepts of environmental functions and ecosystem goods and services, which have been developed much more recently. It is shown that this approach provides the basis for a robust calculation of sustainability across different environmental themes, following which a ‘sustainability gap’, showing the extent to which this standard is not being met, may be computed. This gap may be expressed in both physical and monetary terms, which permits the formulation of sustainability performance in a scientifically robust, easily communicable indicator that may be compared with GDP. While there appear to be no insurmountable scientific or practical obstacles to the full operationalization of this approach, it remains to be seen whether human societies are sufficiently concerned about the implications of continuing environmental unsustainability to make the resources available for such operationalization, and to enact the policies to allow the sustainability standards to be met.

scholarly journals The Consequences And Public Policy Implications Of Welfare Reform: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of The Welfare Reform Policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O. Adams ◽  
Gbolahan S. Osho ◽  
Crystal D. Hadnott
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Cost

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Welfare reform has been the recurrent subject of heated debate in the United States, culminating in far-reaching legislation in 1996.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Taking the measure of that legislation requires attention both to the broader context of which welfare policy is a part and to the merits of the 1996 law itself.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Ultimately, the success or failure of welfare reform, which evoked a great deal of partisan rhetoric, will be assessed on empirical rather than partisan grounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It cannot be determined merely by changes in the size of welfare caseloads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is crucial to any piece of legislation to analyze the cost in relations to its benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Most importantly, we must ask: What has happened to the families and children who have left the welfare system?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 is a successful legislation that needs a little troubleshooting, so it will not be the failed anti-poverty prescription</span></span></p>

scholarly journals Climate Change Will Unravel Air Quality Regulations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Bento ◽  
David Adler ◽  
Noah Miller ◽  
Edson Severnini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Ambient Ozone ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Ozone Precursor ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Using daily data for the United States over the period 1980-2019, we estimate the impacts of temperature on ambient ozone concentrations, accounting for adaptation to climatic change. We find that even with adaptation, rises in temperature will steeply increase ozone levels by over 9 ppb on days above 25◦C. By mid-century, we calculate that 189 additional counties will be violating the air quality standards, with 33 million more residents exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone. Climate change will thus put the ambient ozone standards at risk as the costs of compliance with existing standards will likely increase. In light of a recent EPA ruling that would effectively remove co-benefits from ozone precursor reductions from the cost-benefit analysis of those standards, they will be in peril.

scholarly journals Solar panels in Brazil: a feasible public policy

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrique Pissaia de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Policy Intervention ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Energy Matrix ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Official Sources

Brazil has a huge area with constant and long solar exposition. The country is already facing some energy bottlenecks and need to expand its energy matrix. In this context the implementation of photovoltaic solar panels, in houses’ rooftops, is a viable initiative that should be encouraged by government. This paper proposes a public policy intervention to incentive the use of photovoltaic solar panels. It provides an analysis of Brazilian background, further consumption and planning, the policy intervention, the needed tools, political feasibility and implementation. The logic model will be used showing the main inputs, activities and results. The data was collected from official sources. The main limitation is the missing mathematical approach in the cost-benefit analysis that can be extended in the future. The paper presents a new approach to the energetic problem in Brazil and shows that the proposal is feasible with some goodwill from authorities.

Hostile Takeovers and Anti-takeover Defenses in the Russian Corporate Market

2007 ◽  
pp. 70-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Demidova
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Hostile Takeovers ◽  
Russian Market ◽  
Takeover Defenses ◽  
The Cost ◽  
European Markets

This article analyzes definitions and the role of hostile takeovers at the Russian and European markets for corporate control. It develops the methodology of assessing the efficiency of anti-takeover defenses adapted to the conditions of the Russian market. The paper uses the cost-benefit analysis, where the costs and benefits of the pre-bid and post-bid defenses are compared.

What's it Worth? Improving Surface Water Quality

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 153-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Newsome ◽  
C. D. Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
The Cost

Many countries are investing in measures to improve surface water quality, but the investment programmes for so doing are increasingly becoming subject to cost-benefit analysis. Whilst the cost of control measures can usually be determined for individual improvement schemes, there are currently no established procedures for valuing the benefits attributable to improved surface water quality. The paper describes a methodology that has been derived that now makes this possible.

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