Author archives: José Luis Ferreira

What motivates effort?

What motivates effort?

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

One of the topics of discussion within behavioral economics is the motivation of effort. Although the typical economic model usually assumes monetary incentives, they do not preclude the existence of other factors, like preferences for being first or psychological and economical benefits from reputation. The growing experimental literature on this area will help to determine […]

School vouchers

School vouchers

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

The most used mechanism to guarantee universal education in a country is by providing free public education, where public means both publicly financing and public provision. Milton Friedman (1962) made the case to keep the public funding but make the provision private through a system of school vouchers. Say that the State spends 100 per […]

How to scale up a pilot program

How to scale up a pilot program

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

Economics needs theory, lab experiments, historical data and field evidence. Pilot programs and randomized controlled trials are particularly credible from the point of view of internal validity. However, the results of these “proof-of-concept” studies do not necessarily extend beyond the context in which they where implemented or scale up if they are generalized. Banerjee et […]

Use markets to feed the poor

Use markets to feed the poor

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

Competitive markets are a well understood economic mechanism. The Economic Theory explains remarkably well, at least for a social science, its properties and success along economic history. We have lab experimentation (see here), and plenty of historical evidence that a market oriented society improves upon a non-market oriented one. It has happened in democracies like […]

Selfishness in Economics

Selfishness in Economics

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

Very often Economics is censured for using unrealistic assumptions, like that stating that people are selfish. According to some critics (e.g., the philosopher Mario Bunge, 2010 ), this fact is enough to show the invalidity of Economic models. After all, if we start with a falsehood, how can we hope to find useful theories? The […]