Using two studies of the same leading Israeli crowdfunding platform—‘Headstart’—various aspects of the fundraising method discussed in this article were explored. The first study identifies the ...factors that impact the amount of investment in crowdfunding projects. Using data from 517 backers who invested in ‘Headstart’ projects, direct correlations were established between the age of the backers, the minimum tangible reward levels, being friends or family of the entrepreneurs and the level of risk aversion with the investment amount. It is argued that these results are related to more extensive information being available to family and friends. Furthermore, the findings implicate that for different amounts of investment, different factors will have an impact. The second study seeks to identify the crowdfunding entrepreneurs’ unique characteristics that make some of them succeed in funding their projects more than others. According to the responses of 162 crowdfunding entrepreneurs to the ‘Big Five’ questionnaire, their agreeableness and extraversion have a positive impact on the success of campaign funding, but the impact is gender related. Neuroticism and conscientiousness are also factors. These studies contribute to the literature by using rare, first-hand information from entrepreneurs and backers to identify the internal and external factors that lead to success in crowdfunding.
In this research we show that workers aged 30-44 were significantly more likely than those aged 45-59 to find a job a year after being unemployed. The main contribution is demonstrating empirically ...that since older workers' difficulties are related to their age, while for younger individuals the difficulties are more related to the business cycle, policy makers must devise different programs to address unemployment among young and older individuals. The solution to youth unemployment is the creation of more jobs, and combining differential minimum wage levels and earned income tax credits might improve the rate of employment for older individuals.
Purpose
– The purpose of this article is to examine the existence of biased stereotypes about older workers. What are the economic implications of such biased stereotypes? Finally, what policy ...measures are required in order to achieve efficiency in the labor market?
Design/methodology/approach
– The authors grouped 25 opinions about older workers into three categories of stereotypes. The first category dealt with the productivity of older staff. The other two categories addressed their reliability and adaptability. The authors then questioned 312 Israeli respondents about the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with the opinions. Finally, the authors examined theoretically the economic effects of biased stereotypes about older workers.
Findings
– The study demonstrates that individual and organizational characteristics affect employers' attitudes. Age was a significant factor in all three categories. The older the respondent, the fewer prejudices he or she had against older workers. Other characteristics such as gender, interaction with older workers, the nature of the respondent's work in the organization, the age of the employees, and the size of the organization were all significant, but not always, and not in all three categories. The findings imply that there are biased stereotypes about older workers, so the allocation of workers is distorted, which leads to a failure of the market.
Originality/value
– The results strengthen the economic justification for policy intervention to correct the distorted level of employment of older workers in the labor market.
Human brucellosis has reemerged as a serious public health threat to the Bedouin population of southern Israel in recent years. Little is known about its economic implications derived from elevated ...healthcare utilization (HCU). Our objective was to estimate the HCU costs associated with human brucellosis from the insurer perspective. A case-control retrospective study was conducted among Clalit Health Services (CHS) enrollees. Brucellosis cases were defined as individuals that were diagnosed with brucellosis at the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of Soroka University Medical Center in the 2010-2012 period (n = 470). Control subjects were randomly selected and matched 1:3 by age, sex, clinic, and primary physician (n = 1,410). HCU data, demographic characteristics and comorbidities were obtained from CHS computerized database. Mean±SD age of the brucellosis cases was 26.6±17.6 years. 63% were male and 85% were Bedouins. No significant difference in Charlson comorbidity index was found between brucellosis cases and controls (0.41 vs. 0.45, respectively, P = 0.391). Before diagnosis (baseline), the average total annual HCU cost of brucellosis cases was slightly yet significantly higher than that of the control group ($439 vs. $382, P<0.05), however, no significant differences were found at baseline in the predominant components of HCU, i.e. hospitalizations, diagnostic procedures, and medications. At the year following diagnosis, the average total annual HCU costs of brucellosis cases was significantly higher than that of controls ($1,327 vs. $380, respectively, P<0.001). Most of the difference stems from 7.9 times higher hospitalization costs (p<0.001). Additional elevated costs were 3.6 times higher laboratory tests (P<0.001), 2.8 times higher emergency room visits (P<0.001), 1.8 times higher medication (P<0.001) and 1.3 times higher diagnostic procedures (P<0.001). We conclude that human brucellosis is associated with elevated HCU costs. Considering these results in cost-effective analyses may be crucial for both reducing health inequities and optimal allocation of health systems' scarce resources.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study, we explore the behavioral factors that play a role in the decision—among people with and without disabilities—to move from welfare to work and from work to welfare. A survey of people ...with and without disabilities in Israel was conducted; a nonprobability quota sample of 193 individuals was drawn (95 people with disabilities and 98 nondisabled people). The data were collected by means of a closed-ended questionnaire. The results show that people with disabilities tended more than nondisabled persons to favor decisions that maintain their current employment status quo bias). Furthermore, compared with nondisabled individuals, people with disabilities demanded more wages or benefits while changing status in the labor market. The more years of education people with disabilities have, the less incentive is needed to resume or begin working. In addition, the noneconomic value of work is higher among more-educated people compared with less-educated people with disabilities. The results emphasize the need to design various policies to lower the status quo bias effect, especially, among people with disabilities. Maintaining employment status among this population, and promoting their education level, should be central rehabilitation priorities.
People's perceptions about the gender gap might influence their attitudes about the need for policy interventions to reduce it. How accurate are these perceptions? Which gender has a better ...understanding about the actual gender gap? Using a survey-based experiment with a representative sample of 538 Israelis, we found a significant gap between perceptions and reality with regard to wages, attributes of employment, seniority within the company and education. The misperceptions were significantly higher among males. We also found that in general, both men and women underestimated the contribution of the latter to the workforce and their level of education. Similarly, they both overestimated the percentage of women in positions such as CEOs and company chairs. The results suggest the need to increase the awareness of the gender gap, particularly among men. Such awareness is the first step in narrowing the gender gap.
Relieving poverty is one of the more important and complicated tasks in every society. Is the public aware of poverty‐related data? Do people know who is considered poor? Public awareness about the ...issue of poverty is crucial for pushing policymakers to act. Using a survey‐based experiment with a representative sample of 751 Israelis, we found significant gaps between perceptions and reality regarding several measures of poverty. In fact, in most of the poverty indicators, 80 percent of the public estimations were inaccurate. We found, however, that 60 percent of the people understand that the issue of poverty negatively affects the entire society. We showed that perceptions about poverty and the reasons for it affect people's views about the need for policy measures to reduce it.
减贫是每个社会中重要且复杂的任务之一。公众是否了解与贫困相关的数据? 人民是否知道贫困的标准是什么?为鼓励决策者作出行动, 公众对贫困问题的观感尤为关键。通过使用一项基于调查的实验, 该实验包括由751名以色列人代表组成的样本, 我们发现, 就有关贫困的几种衡量方法而言, 观感和现实之间存在显著差异。事实上, 在大多数贫困指标中, 80%的公共预测都不准确。然而我们发现, 60%的人知道贫困问题会对整个社会造成消极影响。我们表明, 贫困观感和贫困原因会影响人们对需要政策措施进行减贫的看法。
Aliviar la pobreza es una de las tareas importantes y complicadas en toda sociedad. ¿El público conoce los datos relacionados con la pobreza? ¿La gente sabe quién se considera pobre? La conciencia pública sobre el tema de la pobreza es crucial para impulsar a los responsables políticos a actuar. Utilizando un experimento basado en encuestas con una muestra representativa de 751 israelíes, encontramos brechas significativas entre las percepciones y la realidad con respecto a varias medidas de pobreza. De hecho, en la mayoría de los indicadores de pobreza, el 80% de las estimaciones públicas eran inexactas. Sin embargo, descubrimos que el 60% de las personas comprende que el tema de la pobreza afecta negativamente a toda la sociedad. Mostramos que las percepciones sobre la pobreza y las razones de la misma afectan las opiniones de las personas sobre la necesidad de medidas políticas para reducirla.
The aim of this research is to explore the effect of a lower return on human capital in peripheral regions of a country compared to core regions on the decision of individuals in each region to ...acquire human capital by advancing their education. In addition, the study examines how these decisions may endogenously increase the income gap between the core region and the peripheral region.
Several studies found that people have a positive utility when they have more than others do. These papers claim that individuals are willing to sacrifice part of their absolute income or products in ...order to have more than others. As far as we know, the current paper is the first to show that positionality is bounded, so that individuals enjoy having more than others only when the gap between them and the others is not too large. Using the results from a survey-based experiment conducted in Israel that included 924 participants, we show that when individuals were asked to forgive some of their income in order to have a higher income compared to others, most of them chose to forgive their absolute income in order to have more than others. However, when individuals were asked to forgive the same amount of income in order to a have a much higher income compared to others, the attractiveness of having more than others significantly decreased. These results may indicate that individuals suffer from a disutility when extreme gaps exist in society, even if they are the ones with the high income.
•Extremely high net wages are not necessary for achieving efficient allocation in the labor market and have nothing to do with the effort invested by employees.•We posit that for any individual there ...must be a boundary level of effort beyond which s/he is not capable of investing any additional effort, independent of the monetary incentives provided.•In the range beyond the break-off wage in which the link between incentives and effort breaks down, we propose to “detach” the gross wages that express the monetary compensation firms are paying (or willing to pay) in return for work from the net wages that the employees are actually receiving (or should receive) in order to motivate them to work by employing high marginal tax rate on the premium above the break-off wage.•We show that even considering enormous convexities in the employee performance gradient, our policy neither changes the competitive allocation of labor nor hurts the incentives schemes for employees.
An average worker in some US companies needs to work more than a year to earn his/her CEO's daily wage. We posit that the level of effort any individual can invest is bounded. Therefore, we cast doubt on the well-accepted economic notion that extremely high salaries are necessary because they ensure economic efficiency. Considering the notion of bounded effort may enrich the public discussion about the need for extreme wage levels that to date has overlooked the limited power of economic incentives.
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