scholarly journals The Case Against the Universal Basic Income

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Dong Hai Nguyen

With the cost of implementation shrinking and robot-to-workers ratio skyrocketing, the effects of automation on our economy and society are more palpable than ever. According to various studies, over half of our jobs could be fully executed by machines over the next decade or two, with severe impacts concentrated disproportionately on manufacturing-focused developing countries. In response to the threat of mass displacement of labour due to automation, economists, politicians, and even the business community have come to see Universal Basic Income (UBI) as the panacea. This paper argued against a UBI by addressing its implementation costs and efficiency in mitigating the impact of automation through quantitative evidence as well as results of failed UBI-comparable programs across the world. The author of this paper instead advocated for the continuation of existing means-tested welfare systems and further investment in education scheme for unskilled and low-skilled labour.This paper was submitted to the “Young Economist of the Year 2019” essay competition hosted by the Financial Times and the Royal Economic Society, where it won a high commendation and was one of the 36 best papers shortlisted among 1,300 qualified submissions to be honoured on the website of the Royal Economic Society (2.7% acceptance rate). Due to the rules and policies of the Royal Economic Society, the author could only make this paper available to the public at least one year after the original date of submission.

Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Abbott ◽  
William L Buslepp

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspects auditors with fewer than 100 publicly held clients, once every three years (i.e., triennial inspection). In doing so, the PCAOB may inspect any audit engagement within the three-year window, including audits completed only months earlier ("inspection year" audits) and audits with at least a one-year, if not two-year lag ("non-inspection year" audits). We theorize the triennial inspection process affects audit quality levels, whereby auditors impose higher (lower) audit quality during inspection years (non-inspection years). We find clients of triennially inspected auditors have significantly lower levels of accruals during inspection years. Further, this change can be attributed to additional audit effort expended during inspection years. Finally, we find some evidence this is a learned behavior developed after the initial round of inspections. Our evidence suggests auditors opportunistically increase (decrease) audit quality during inspection (non-inspection) years in response to the triennial inspection process.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Kobelt ◽  
Linus Jönsson

Several new topical agents have been introduced recently and it can be expected that the treatment of glaucoma will change, depending on how effectively these agents control intraocular pressure (IOP). IOP is considered the major risk factor in the development of glaucomatous damage. In order to estimate the impact of these new agents on the cost of treating glaucoma, a simulation model was created to estimate the cost of treating patients with a recent diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension in different countries. The Markov model is based on retrospective chart reviews in different countries and calculates only cost, not outcome. Results are presented for France and the United Kingdom, where current treatment appeared to be comparable. Average one-year costs per patient with current treatment were FF2,389 (US $389) and £380 (US $627), respectively. Costs with the new treatments were lower than with current therapy.


Te Kaharoa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teena Brown Pulu

Entering the new year of 2014 the Kingdom of Tonga had enough to worry about; a local economy choking to near death and a finance minister sacked and replaced in a political spectacle leaving the public baffled over what went wrong between him and the Prime Minister (Fayle, 2014; Lopeti, 2014c; Fonua, 2014b).  People uttered they looked forward to the end of year election tentatively set for Thursday November 27th.  The 2010 register of around forty thousand voters had increased at the 2014 intake by four thousand, mostly voters who had turned the age of suffrage at twenty one years old.  The chorus call from the masses was simple, vote them out.  Then Cyclone Ian struck on Saturday 11 January 2014 aggravating Tonga’s money shortage. Journalist Pesi Fonua wrote “the impact on the Tongan economy of the cyclone and the salary rise for civil servants at this point of time is a matter of great concern” (Fonua, 2014a).  He was right.  The state and taxpayers could not afford economic recovery from Tonga’s cruellest cyclone, a symptom of climate change, let alone paying for a 5% rise in the cost of living allowance for public servants.  As the national debt distress sore became inflamed the Public Service Association decided it was the right time to fight cabinet for a 22% living allowance rise because 5% was not enough (Lopeti, 2014a).  This essay asks a pointed question.  Leading up to the general election of November 2014, how was cyclone politicking being manoeuvred to sway the way people would vote?


Redes ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 510
Author(s):  
Débora Nayar Hoff ◽  
Camila Amaral Pereira ◽  
Luis Gustavo Nascimento De Paula

Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é rever, a partir de seu confronto com a discussão internacional sobre o assunto, o modelo analítico proposto por Hoff, San Martin e Sopeña (2011) para a análise do impacto das universidades públicas no desenvolvimento regional. O modelo, originalmente, foi desenvolvido a partir de referências nacionais para o tema. Para tanto, utiliza-se a técnica de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. O referencial teórico estudado demonstra que o modelo analítico estabelecido com referências nacionais mostra-se correspondente à discussão apresentada pela literatura internacional sobre o tema. Destaca-se, no entanto, que a literatura internacional apresenta enfoque direcionado às relações com o ambiente externo à universidade, principalmente com o meio empresarial, fato não tão presente na literatura nacional. Conclui-se que a literatura internacional ratifica o modelo proposto por Hoff, San Martin e Sopeña (2011). Abstract The purpose of this article is to review, from its confrontation with the international discussion, the analytical model proposed by Hoff, San Martin and Sopeña (2011) to analyze the impact of public universities in regional development. The model originally was developed from national reference to the subject. Therefore using the bibliographic and documentary research technique. The studied theoretical framework shows that the analytical model established with national references is shown corresponding to the discussion presented in the international literature on the subject. Noteworthy, however, that the present international literature focusing mainly on relations with the external environment to the university, especially with the business community, which was not so present in the national literature. We conclude that the international literature confirms the model proposed by Hoff, San Martin and Sopeña (2011).


Author(s):  
Rolf N. Van Lieshout

Periodic timetabling is one of the most well-researched problems in the public transport optimization literature. However, the impact that timetabling has on the number of required vehicles, which directly translates to operator costs, is rarely considered. Therefore, in this paper, we consider the problem of jointly optimizing the timetable and the vehicle circulation schedule, which specifies the cyclic sequences of trips that vehicles perform. In order to obtain high-quality solutions to realistic instances, we improve an earlier proposed formulation by contraction techniques, three new valid inequalities, and symmetry-breaking constraints. Ultimately, this allows us to explore the trade-off between the number of vehicles and the attractiveness of the timetable from the passengers’ perspective. An extensive computational study demonstrates the effectiveness of the improved formulation. Moreover, using this approach, we are able to find timetables requiring substantially fewer vehicles at the cost of minimal increases of the average travel time of passengers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaker A. Aladwan ◽  
Sajeda I. Alshami

PurposeThe aim of this paper is the identification of the impacts that innovation and service excellence have upon organisational reputation within public sector organisations in Jordan.Design/methodology/approachAn approach was adopted that was quantitative with a questionnaire designed that was to be self-administrated for the primary data collection. In total, there was distribution of 600 questionnaires from which 556 were retrieved with a high rate of response (92.7%).FindingsThrough analysis of the data, several findings were revealed by the study, including that innovation was the factor with the most influence (beta = 0.81) upon organisational reputation within the public sector in Jordan compared to the factor for service excellence (beta = 0.54).Practical implicationsThe research has several potential implications for theory and management for those making decisions and policies within public administration such as in relation to enhancement of innovation strategy application for improving the reputations of organisations within the public sector. Furthermore, the paper fills a gap within the theory of organisational reputation and within the literature generally, especially in the context of public administration.Originality/valueIn regard to value and originality of this paper, it can be considered the first of its type for the public sector in Jordan, and perhaps the Arab region as a whole, that has examined the impacts that innovation and service excellence have upon organisational reputation within the context of public administration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. A12-A25 ◽  
Author(s):  
HakJoon Song ◽  
Zhongxia (Shelly) Ye

SUMMARY The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regularly conducts inspections of non-U.S. audit firms. Based on 243 PCAOB inspection reports of non-U.S. audit firms, published by the PCAOB between January 2006 and December 2011, we examine involuntary dismissals, voluntary resignations, and voluntary deregistration of inspected non-U.S. audit firms following PCAOB reports containing audit deficiencies. Our results show that 24 out of 1,604 clients of non-U.S. audit firms have dismissed their auditors within one year following the disclosure of audit deficiencies in PCAOB reports, and that only four of these 24 clients appointed successor auditors with clean PCAOB reports. Also, we find only four auditor resignation cases from the 1,604 clients of non-U.S. audit firms within one year after they received a PCAOB report containing audit deficiencies. Finally, 22 non-U.S. audit firms voluntarily ceased to be registered with the PCAOB either during the inspection process or after they received PCAOB reports containing audit deficiencies. Compared to registered non-U.S. audit firms, these deregistered non-U.S. audit firms have relatively fewer resources (e.g., fewer partners and professional staff, smaller offices) and, thus, may not be able to bear compliance costs (e.g., costs associated with preparation for inspections) associated with PCAOB inspections. This study provides insights regarding the impact of PCAOB international inspections.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 1019-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Zafante ◽  
Steve Hampton

ABSTRACT Large oil spills routinely impact hundreds or even thousands of birds. In order to determine the compensation that responsible parties owe the public, trustee agencies typically examine the number of live and dead birds collected to estimate total bird mortality caused by the spill (Ford et al., 1987). In these natural resource damage assessments (NRDA), compensation is typically based upon the potential ecological benefits that flow from a restoration project. In the case of a bird kill, final compensation is based upon the cost of implementing a restoration project and not upon a dollar value per bird. The dominant paradigm for calculating compensatory restoration for bird injuries is Resource Equivalency Analysis (REA). This paper begins by providing a brief overview of REA when applied to birds. We then examine the REA implications of varying the level of mortality, baseline variability, and demographic variables in a simple population model that tracks both injured and baseline population levels. After finding no evidence that these factors necessarily produce short recovery times, we summarize two general approaches for calculating lost bird-years. We conclude that short recovery times (e.g., one-year) are unlikely for birds when using individual-based measures of injury. Further, we believe that recovery times may be much longer than currently calculated for situations where plausible “recovery mechanisms” cannot be defined.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Hassan K. Almahdi

The Objective of this study is to determine the influence of strategic alliances on the cost efficiency of Saudi banks. For this, we first develop a theoretical framework paving the way for an empirical study that refers to a sample of 09 Saudi banks adopted to verify this relationship. It is therefore, necessary to list the interests of strategic alliances in the banking sector and to question the role of public and foreign as wellas public and private alliance strategies in improving the cost efficiency of Saudi commercial banks.A quantitative approach has been adopted to explore and understand the research problem. We begin by regressing the ordinary least squares efficiency on a series of explanatory variables. The conceptual research model is tested by two different regression equations that will be estimated simultaneously. The first regression, aims to test the impact of the public-foreign alliance on the efficiency of the banks in our sample. As for the second regression, it is carried out to test the impact of the public-private alliance on the latter.The results of this study prove that the creation of an alliance agreement allows Saudi commercial banks to improve their efficiency and constitute for them an opportunity besides an interesting strategic option. Forthermore, public-private and public-foreign alliances are strategies that can improve the efficiency of public banks, increase their competitiveness and reduce their fragility.


2021 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Daryl Green

Abstract This article explores the variance in attitudes towards user photography in UK libraries, archives, and museums. It examines the various interpretations of copyright and rights to reproduce images of items in the public domain deployed by cultural heritage institutions, the cost structures for user photography in the reading room, and the historic reasons for these decisions. Finally, this article explores the impact of the multiplicity of regulations on the researcher and the benefits of a clear and open approach to access and to the new research methods being employed by readers.


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