The present paper deals with some legal issues surrounding environmental protection, namely those issues concerning the liability of the different firms and individuals directly or indirectly involved in the generation of environment damaging accidents. We consider in particular the potential...

This paper analyzes the incentive properties of the standard and burden of proof for a finding of negligence, when evidence about injurers' behavior is imperfect and rests with the parties. We show that the `preponderance of evidence' standard used in common law, together with ordinary exclusion...

When a deficit occurs in the funding of collective goods, it is usually covered by raising the amount of taxes or by rationing the supply of the goods. This article compares the efficiency of these institutions. We report the results of a 2x2 experiment based on a game in the first stage of...

Due to meteorological factors, the distribution of the environmental damage due to climate change bears no relationship to that of global emissions. We argue in favor of offsetting this discrepancy, and propose a global insurance scheme to be financed according to countries' responsibility for...

This study analyzes the impact of remittances as seen in household survey data from three small rural communities. OLS and multivariate anova regressions were used to analyze household survey data collected in Cumbe and Gualaceo (Ecuador) and in Ciudad Romero (El Salvador). The results...

We estimate a dynamic programming model of schooling decisions in which the degree of risk aversion can be inferred from schooling decisions. In our model, individuals are heterogeneous with respect to school and market abilities but homogeneous with respect to the degree of risk aversion. We...

In this essay, I provide an extensive review of the theoretical and empirical contributions pertaining to human capital. The first part follows the development of the theory with special emphasis, naturally, on Becker's path-breaking work (JPE '62 and Woytinski Lecture) and also on Ben-Porath's...

This document offers a synthesis of the papers presented at the Conference on the Econometrics of Education: Modeling Selectivity and Outcomes, held at CIRANO, April 26 and 27, 2002. The papers serve as a pretext to draw a non exhaustive survey of the state of research in the economics of...

There is a strong negative relationship between economic development and HIV/AIDS prevalence throughout the world. However in Sub-Saharan Africa where the epidemic is worst, this relationship does not hold. Some of the wealthier countries in this region have some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS...

We use the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) to investigate the determinants of self-employment. More precisely, we consider the influence of immediate social environments and social networks on the choice of self-employment. We conjecture that self-employment is correlated across...