This paper examines the link between parental income during adolescent years and higher education choices of the offspring at age 18. This study is the first to use a recent longitudinal data set from New Zealand (Christchurch Health and Development Surveys, CHDS), in the higher education...

A graphical representation is offered based on a fairly standard formulation of an underlying comparative static model for applied undergraduate analysis. Contrary to standard practice the approach takes Walrasian equilibrium as its starting point and considers market failures that include...

This paper marks the centenary of A. C. Pigou’s Wealth and Welfare, published by Macmillan in 1912. Consideration is given to the content and contributions of Wealth and Welfare and: its relationship to Pigou’s earlier articles; its relationship to Pigou’s subsequent work on wealth and...

Despite its key contribution to global economic growth through the 1960s and 1970s, in recent decades the rise of China has seen the importance of Japan recede from the public discourse. This is notwithstanding its continuing key role as global investor and trading partner. Yet this role has...

One measure of the change in the “quality” of consumption is the degree to which the consumption basket as a whole moves towards more luxurious goods, away from necessities. We introduce two related measures based on the luxury/necessity distinction. One is an index of the extent to which...

East Asia is already the main destination of the world’s commercial liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, the gas markets in the EAS area are either underdeveloped or fragmented. The objectives of this study are twofold, namely, i) to present a review of the trends in global gas market...

The world’s two population giants have undergone significant, and significantly different, demographic transitions since the 1950s. The demographic dividends associated with these transitions during the first three decades of this century are examined using a global economic model that...

This paper examines the effect of innovation on export decision in Chinese high-tech firms during the period of 2005-2007. Using a parametric, instrumental variable approach and a non-parametric matching method, we find that firm-level innovation efforts, measured by R&D spending and new product...

Farm survey data show that the risk aversion of West Australian farmers is comparable to that of other asset holders. An increase in the variability of crop yield by 20%, which may be caused by future climate change, would raise their willingness to pay for crop insurance almost one-to-one by...

The dispersion of the distribution of relative prices in poor countries is substantially higher than that in the rich. As in 130+ countries relative prices are closely related to incomes, we develop a model that shows that the prices of luxuries (necessities) rise (fall) with income growth. This...