This paper posits that the sequencing of topics in introductory economics texts plays a subtle, but potentially key, role in influencing the effective delivery of principles courses. The key criterion for effectiveness is the attainment of economic literacy. The effective role of sequencing is...

Using primary survey data collected in two sub-districts of Gujarat, India, on a unique program that trains rural women with low human capital to repair village water handpumps, we examine the effect of skills training on their socio-economic outcomes. We find that participating in the training...

We study the effect of (declining) Confucian social norms on human capital investment and savings rates in China. In our simple two-period model, parents have the option to invest in either a risk-free asset or the human capital of their child. We assume that social norms, and thus enforcement...

To improve drinking water accessibility and safety in rural China, the Chinese government launched the rural drinking water program in the 1980s. As part of the program, tap water infrastructure has been constructed in rural areas to supply tap water to rural residents. This policy intervention...

We provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of target-based performance evaluation for bureaucrats in the context of the Two Control Zones policy in China. In 2006, the Chinese central government made sulphur dixoide (SO2) emissions cuts a major performance evaluation criterion for...

In this paper we estimate the causal relationship between schooling and non- cognitive skills in later life. We exploit two exogenous changes in education policy in China and Indonesia and estimate the effect of schooling on non-cognitive skills as measured by the Locus of Control and...

The economic valuation of ecosystem services in cities often relies on the concept of willingness to pay. Such reliance invariably leads to the adoption of methods that have several inherent limitations. The object of this paper is to present both a conceptual and methodological framework within...

The recognition of two important concepts in science, namely the assimilative capacity of nature and the entropy of law of thermodynamics enables the formulation of an alternative framework for factor-utilization in economics. This framework, which includes environmental capital (KN) as a...

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the significant differences that would emerge in policy formulation, when environmental capital is explicitly accounted for in macroeconomic analyses. These differences are illustrated with reference to the Australian economy. The main analytic frameworks...

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the significant differences that would emerge in policy formulation, when environmental capital (KN) is explicitly accounted for in macroeconomic analyses. These differences are illustrated with reference to two selected Organisation for Economic...