This paper presents a new model of nursing labour supply that reconciles key features of the curr... more This paper presents a new model of nursing labour supply that reconciles key features of the current state of nursing in the NHS: a large, persistent and potentially growing workforce gap; staff surveys that show that nurses gain great satisfaction from the job they do, but feel they don't have enough colleagues to enable them to do it well; a large fraction of nurses working paid and unpaid overtime; nurses leaving citing as significant factors both workload and an inability to deliver the quality of care that they would like to give. The paper examines both the intensive and extensive margins of nurse labour supply by extending the standard model of labour supply to include the intrinsic value nurses attach to providing care, which depends on the time a nurse can spend with each patient. This leads nurses to overworking in a well-defined sense. Choosing to work as a nurse involves balancing off: relative pay; the disutility from overworking as a nurse; the intrinsic benefit derived from nursing. For given levels of demand and a given relative wage for nursing, there may be multiple "equilibrium" levels of the workforce gap, some of which are unstable. However calibrating the model to recent data for the UK shows that the current workforce gap seems to be characterised as a unique stable equilibrium, and that increasing the pay of nurses is an effective means of reducing the gap.
here were garnered over several years of contact and discussions when neither of the participants... more here were garnered over several years of contact and discussions when neither of the participants knew to what purpose they would be put, and least of all is Paul responsible for my misinterpretations.
This article examines the determinants of tax non-compliance when we recognise the existence of a... more This article examines the determinants of tax non-compliance when we recognise the existence of an imperfectly competitive ''tax advice'' industry supplying schemes which help taxpayers reduce their tax liability. We apply a traditional industrial organisation framework to model the behaviour of this industry. This tells us that an important factor determining the equilibrium price and hence, the level of non-compliance, is the convexity of the demand schedule. We show that in this context, this convexity is affected by the distribution of pre-tax income, the progressivity of the tax-schedule and the way in which monitoring and penalties vary with income. It is shown that lower pre-tax income inequality as well as a less progressive tax code may cause more tax minimisation activities. Therefore, the frequently advocated policy of reducing the highest tax rate may fail as a policy directed at improving tax discipline. One way of offsetting the possible harm to tax compliance from a less progressive tax could be an adjustment of the penalty and monitoring functions.
In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of policies in stimu... more In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of policies in stimulating innovation that is designed to produce greener and more energy-efficient technologies. First we review the theoretical literature on the role of purely environmental policies in inducing firms to undertake environmental innovation. The conclusion is that for a wide range of policies and in a wide range of circumstances one cannot prove that these policies necessarily induce greater innovation. We then consider the empirical evidence, which suggests that the effect of these policies is weak but that the largest effects come in the long run when, through learning-by-doing, firms better understand the scope and potential for new energyefficient technologies. Finally we consider the design of both environmental and technology policies, and show that the interaction of these policies is complex and warrants considerable further research.
An important issue when considering what type of enforcement procedure to use in situations in wh... more An important issue when considering what type of enforcement procedure to use in situations in which regulatory intervention in markets is deemed necessary is that of Legal Uncertainty. Certain enforcement or decision procedures are thought of, ceteris paribus, as being superior because their cost in terms of the legal uncertainty generated
Empirical evidence suggests that an important determinant of subjective well-being is how an indi... more Empirical evidence suggests that an important determinant of subjective well-being is how an individual's consumption compares with that of their immediate peers. We introduce peer comparisons into the standard optimal tax framework and demonstrate that the optimal linear tax expression is adjusted in three key ways, the latter two of which are novel to this paper and act to lower the tax rate. First, the dependence of well-being on peer income introduces an externality that distorts labour supply above that which individuals would choose were they to recognise the interplay between their own choices and the Nash equilibrium level of peer consumption. The optimal tax rate is adjusted upwards to (partially) correct this distortion. Second, if individual labour supply is a function of peer consumption, there are 'Keeping up with the Joneses' multiplier effects that raise the Nash compensated labour supply elasticity above the individual labour supply elasticity. This implies a lower tax rate on efficiency grounds. Third, Nash indirect well-being is decreasing in the wage rate for workers with wages close to the reservation wage. To the extent that this lowers the covariance between gross earnings and the net social marginal value of income, this will act to lower the optimal tax rate.
Economics : the Open-Access, Open-Assessment e-Journal, Apr 5, 2012
We address the following question: how does a higher education funding system influence the trade... more We address the following question: how does a higher education funding system influence the trade-off that universities make between research and teaching? We do so by constructing a model that allows universities to choose actively the quality of their teaching and research when faced with different funding systems characterised by the pivotal role of the university funding budget constraint. In particular, we derive the feasible sets that face universities under such systems and show how, as the parameters of the system (the research block grant element, the research quality premium and the incentives-triggering quality threshold) are varied, the nature of the university system itself changes. Different 'cultures' of the university system emerge such as the 'research elite' and the 'binary divide'.
The choice of legal standards (LSs) in antitrust enforcement, to guide the assessment of potentia... more The choice of legal standards (LSs) in antitrust enforcement, to guide the assessment of potentially anticompetitive conduct, in order to decide whether there is liability or not, has been hotly debated for many years. The debate has gained in intensity in recent years as a result of the concerns expressed in many countries with the antitrust treatment of the major digital platforms. This article provides a detailed presentation of a new methodology for defining LSs along the continuum of LSs, depending on the screens assessed at different stages of the continuum. This is followed by a detailed formal examination of how all the pertinent factors that could influence error minimisation interact to determine the optimal LSs for different conducts and markets. The framework can be used to examine how the choice of error minimising LSs depends on the context in which specific conduct types are undertaken.
Technology policy can be thought of as a specific set of industrial policies that aim to improve ... more Technology policy can be thought of as a specific set of industrial policies that aim to improve the ability of firms to compete by promoting technological improvements through the generation, diffusion and adoption of process, product and organizational innovations. In recent years technology policy has moved to the forefront of the discussion of industrial policy within the European Commission, the United States and Japan.
Handbook on European Competition Law: Enforcement and Procedure sets out in detail the procedural... more Handbook on European Competition Law: Enforcement and Procedure sets out in detail the procedural aspects of EU competition law, ranging from fines, remedies and judicial review. It also gives unique insight into both private and public enforcement of completion law, and offers commentary on the relationship between EU competition law and national competition law, and on the relationship between competition law and private international law.
This paper presents a new model of nursing labour supply that reconciles key features of the curr... more This paper presents a new model of nursing labour supply that reconciles key features of the current state of nursing in the NHS: a large, persistent and potentially growing workforce gap; staff surveys that show that nurses gain great satisfaction from the job they do, but feel they don't have enough colleagues to enable them to do it well; a large fraction of nurses working paid and unpaid overtime; nurses leaving citing as significant factors both workload and an inability to deliver the quality of care that they would like to give. The paper examines both the intensive and extensive margins of nurse labour supply by extending the standard model of labour supply to include the intrinsic value nurses attach to providing care, which depends on the time a nurse can spend with each patient. This leads nurses to overworking in a well-defined sense. Choosing to work as a nurse involves balancing off: relative pay; the disutility from overworking as a nurse; the intrinsic benefit derived from nursing. For given levels of demand and a given relative wage for nursing, there may be multiple "equilibrium" levels of the workforce gap, some of which are unstable. However calibrating the model to recent data for the UK shows that the current workforce gap seems to be characterised as a unique stable equilibrium, and that increasing the pay of nurses is an effective means of reducing the gap.
here were garnered over several years of contact and discussions when neither of the participants... more here were garnered over several years of contact and discussions when neither of the participants knew to what purpose they would be put, and least of all is Paul responsible for my misinterpretations.
This article examines the determinants of tax non-compliance when we recognise the existence of a... more This article examines the determinants of tax non-compliance when we recognise the existence of an imperfectly competitive ''tax advice'' industry supplying schemes which help taxpayers reduce their tax liability. We apply a traditional industrial organisation framework to model the behaviour of this industry. This tells us that an important factor determining the equilibrium price and hence, the level of non-compliance, is the convexity of the demand schedule. We show that in this context, this convexity is affected by the distribution of pre-tax income, the progressivity of the tax-schedule and the way in which monitoring and penalties vary with income. It is shown that lower pre-tax income inequality as well as a less progressive tax code may cause more tax minimisation activities. Therefore, the frequently advocated policy of reducing the highest tax rate may fail as a policy directed at improving tax discipline. One way of offsetting the possible harm to tax compliance from a less progressive tax could be an adjustment of the penalty and monitoring functions.
In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of policies in stimu... more In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of policies in stimulating innovation that is designed to produce greener and more energy-efficient technologies. First we review the theoretical literature on the role of purely environmental policies in inducing firms to undertake environmental innovation. The conclusion is that for a wide range of policies and in a wide range of circumstances one cannot prove that these policies necessarily induce greater innovation. We then consider the empirical evidence, which suggests that the effect of these policies is weak but that the largest effects come in the long run when, through learning-by-doing, firms better understand the scope and potential for new energyefficient technologies. Finally we consider the design of both environmental and technology policies, and show that the interaction of these policies is complex and warrants considerable further research.
An important issue when considering what type of enforcement procedure to use in situations in wh... more An important issue when considering what type of enforcement procedure to use in situations in which regulatory intervention in markets is deemed necessary is that of Legal Uncertainty. Certain enforcement or decision procedures are thought of, ceteris paribus, as being superior because their cost in terms of the legal uncertainty generated
Empirical evidence suggests that an important determinant of subjective well-being is how an indi... more Empirical evidence suggests that an important determinant of subjective well-being is how an individual's consumption compares with that of their immediate peers. We introduce peer comparisons into the standard optimal tax framework and demonstrate that the optimal linear tax expression is adjusted in three key ways, the latter two of which are novel to this paper and act to lower the tax rate. First, the dependence of well-being on peer income introduces an externality that distorts labour supply above that which individuals would choose were they to recognise the interplay between their own choices and the Nash equilibrium level of peer consumption. The optimal tax rate is adjusted upwards to (partially) correct this distortion. Second, if individual labour supply is a function of peer consumption, there are 'Keeping up with the Joneses' multiplier effects that raise the Nash compensated labour supply elasticity above the individual labour supply elasticity. This implies a lower tax rate on efficiency grounds. Third, Nash indirect well-being is decreasing in the wage rate for workers with wages close to the reservation wage. To the extent that this lowers the covariance between gross earnings and the net social marginal value of income, this will act to lower the optimal tax rate.
Economics : the Open-Access, Open-Assessment e-Journal, Apr 5, 2012
We address the following question: how does a higher education funding system influence the trade... more We address the following question: how does a higher education funding system influence the trade-off that universities make between research and teaching? We do so by constructing a model that allows universities to choose actively the quality of their teaching and research when faced with different funding systems characterised by the pivotal role of the university funding budget constraint. In particular, we derive the feasible sets that face universities under such systems and show how, as the parameters of the system (the research block grant element, the research quality premium and the incentives-triggering quality threshold) are varied, the nature of the university system itself changes. Different 'cultures' of the university system emerge such as the 'research elite' and the 'binary divide'.
The choice of legal standards (LSs) in antitrust enforcement, to guide the assessment of potentia... more The choice of legal standards (LSs) in antitrust enforcement, to guide the assessment of potentially anticompetitive conduct, in order to decide whether there is liability or not, has been hotly debated for many years. The debate has gained in intensity in recent years as a result of the concerns expressed in many countries with the antitrust treatment of the major digital platforms. This article provides a detailed presentation of a new methodology for defining LSs along the continuum of LSs, depending on the screens assessed at different stages of the continuum. This is followed by a detailed formal examination of how all the pertinent factors that could influence error minimisation interact to determine the optimal LSs for different conducts and markets. The framework can be used to examine how the choice of error minimising LSs depends on the context in which specific conduct types are undertaken.
Technology policy can be thought of as a specific set of industrial policies that aim to improve ... more Technology policy can be thought of as a specific set of industrial policies that aim to improve the ability of firms to compete by promoting technological improvements through the generation, diffusion and adoption of process, product and organizational innovations. In recent years technology policy has moved to the forefront of the discussion of industrial policy within the European Commission, the United States and Japan.
Handbook on European Competition Law: Enforcement and Procedure sets out in detail the procedural... more Handbook on European Competition Law: Enforcement and Procedure sets out in detail the procedural aspects of EU competition law, ranging from fines, remedies and judicial review. It also gives unique insight into both private and public enforcement of completion law, and offers commentary on the relationship between EU competition law and national competition law, and on the relationship between competition law and private international law.
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Papers by David Ulph