Experimental markets for insurance

This article extends the large amount of research on double-oral auction markets to hazards that produce only losses. We report results from a series of experiments in which subjects endowed with low-probability losses can pay a premium for insurance protection. Insurers specify the price at which they are willing to assume the risk of a loss. Insurance prices approach expected value for a large range of probabilities and loss amounts. Subjects seem to realize losses are statistically independent. Prices are not affected by ambiguity about the probability of loss.     

Alternative forms and properties of the score test

TWO different issues relating to the score (S) test are investigated. Firstly, we study the finite sample properties of a number of asymptotically equivalent forms of the S test. From our simulation results we observe that these forms can behave very differently in finite samples. Secondly, we investigate the power properties of the S test and find that it compares favorably to those of the likelihood ratio (LR) test although the former does not use information about the precise forms of the alternatives.     

Institutions and Policies for Pro‐poor Agricultural Growth

Global experience with pro‐poor growth and empirical work spanning India, Malawi and Zimbabwe demonstrates the importance of agricultural growth for poverty reduction in poor rural areas, while also pointing to the need for complementary non‐farm sector growth. Theoretical arguments, historical evidence and livelihoods modelling in poor medium‐potential rural economies suggest that, contrary to thinking dominating much of current development policy, subsidies to relieve critical seasonal credit and cash restraints and reduce market and input supply uncertainties need to help in ‘kick‐starting’ agricultural markets if increased smallholder productivity in food‐grains is to drive rural non‐farm growth. Establishing the base conditions for these to work, designing and implementing them to be effective, and then phasing them out are major challenges facing policymakers.     

A Framework for Practising Knowledge Management

The management of an intangible asset such as knowledge is beset with complex and theoretical concepts. This paper sets out a matrix that describes four approaches to Knowledge Management based on whether it is in an organisational or an individual context, and whether knowledge management is imposed or empowered by managerial approaches. It explores the validity of the framework through an analysis of ongoing management projects at seven organisations.     

Building on the original strengths of direct payments to create a better future for social care

Confidence in the prevailing In Control model of personal budgets in the United Kingdom is beginning to waver. This raises the question of ‘where to next?’ for social care. Will we be returning to the monolithic system that typified services at the turn of the millennium – a system that is deeply oppressive for the great majority who lack the support and confidence to escape it by accessing a direct payment to manage their own support system? The Care Act has made no change to the basic process whereby it is councils that will decide what a person’s needs are, which will be met and with what resource. However, we argue here that the situation is far from hopeless. In Control’s analysis, while attractive to a neo-liberal political ideology, was based on a serious failure to understand the reasons for the success of direct payments. Whilst policy-makers saw it as a triumph for consumerist notions of choice, it is better understood as a triumph for needs-based planning, but carried out in a person-centred way. Learning the right lessons offers a new way forward to deliver a respectful and flexible service within the context of the Care Act.