Monday, May 26, 2014

EU elections--young men and young women in Austria

This is a striking contrast:

Compare young men with young women (source: der Standard):






I wonder about household formation...

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Name as a Quality Signal

A firm's choice of a name is a signal of quality
The average plumbing firm whose name begins with "A" or a number receives fi ve times more service complaints than other firms, and also charges higher prices.
Ryan C McDevitt has this paper forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Male Circumcision

I did not know this:
male circumcision is one of the most cost-effective HIV prevention interventions. The most recent simulations suggest that scaling up medical male circumcision to 80 percent coverage in priority countries could avert approximately 22 percent HIV infections through 2025
from Chinkhumba, Godlonton, and Thornton (2014), who study the demand for male circumcision in Malawi.

Actual demand in Malawi is less than 10 percent --- far from the 80 percent stated above. Demand, however, is greater at lower prices, but information appears to be an important reason for actual take-up, too.