Improving cognitive skills of young children has been suggested as a possible strategy for equalising opportunities across racial groups. Using data on 4-5 year olds in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, we focus on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and...

My lecture is about the needs of the low paid as a criterion in wage determination. I am concerned about the meaning given to needs and the manner in which they affect wage outcomes. The central issue is this. Does a regard for the needs of the low paid lead simply to an endeavour to maintain...

The currently fashionable theory of self-organisation has its origins in statistical physics. Many believe that the underlying physics model, which is based on inanimate systems, can be employed to explain and predict the emergence of social structures, even of history itself. Some are even...

This is the first paper of which we are aware that attemps to formally model the supply-supply behavior of elderly individuals in a developing countryWithout broad-based public pension schemes, the majority of the elderly in developing countries are left to rely on their current and accumulated...

A hallmark of modern labour economics is the close interplay between the development of theory, data sources and econometric testing. The evolution of the economic analysis of unemployment insurance (UI) provides a good illustration. The economics of UI has been a very active research area over...

This paper is about Nicky Kaldor and other economists contributions to economics.

There is currently a worldwide shortage of registered nurses, driven by large shifts in both the demand for and supply of nurses. Consequently, various policies to increase the recruitment and retention of nurses are under discussion, in particular, the role that wage increases might have in...

It is most important to get the conceptual aspects of a problem clear, before starting any formal or statistical analysis. This the author has always tried to do.

This paper inserts Veblen’s (1898) concepts of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption into a very simple model. Individuals have the choice to either invest their time into working, leading to easily observable levels of consumption, or into conspicuous leisure, whose effect on...