Ideology and the State: an Analysis of the Connection between Fairness, Altruism, and Redistribution

Disgrifiad o Effaith

Noemi Mantovan’ s publications on the role ideology in defining individual preferences for voting, and on the effect of government expenditure on altruism, have impacted the financial community. Articles about her research have appeared on Bloomberg’s and on City AM's website. Her publications have also impacted the academic community. She received the prize for “Best PhD Thesis” from Durham Business School and has been invited to present her work in several universities, including the Royal Holloway University of London and St. Gallen University. Finally her work has impacted public opinion as it has been mentioned in several economics and politics newspapers and blogs.
Noemi Mantovan’ s research on the role ideology in defining individual preferences for voting, and on the effect of government expenditure on altruism, has had a strong impact on the academic community, especially considering that she is still a young fellow at Bangor University. Her work on ideology, altruism, and redistribution has been presented at several universities [1] (including Oxford University, St. Gallen University, Glasgow University, Royal Holloway University of London, Caledonian University) and at several conferences (including NBER Summer Institute and Royal Economic Society). Also, her work appears on the Harvard University website [2], and on The National Bureau of Economic Research website [3]. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a US institution described as “the nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization. Twenty-two Nobel Prize winners in Economics and thirteen past chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers have been researchers at the NBER” [4]. Moreover, for her leading research, Noemi has also been awarded the “Best PhD Thesis” prize by Durham Business School [5].
Noemi’s articles have impacted also higher education and A level teaching: one of Noemi’s article [B] has been appointed as one of the selected topics for Diploma and Master Thesis in Economics at the University of Tübingen [6]. Also, one of her articles [B] is described in Geoff Riley (Head of Teaching and Learning Technologies at Eton College, formerly Head of Economics at Eton College) blog for A level economics, Unit 4 Macroeconomics [7].
However, her impact goes beyond the academic area and influences the financial community and the public opinion. Her work deals with policy issues, and the impact has been substantial. Also, Bloomberg, one of leading financial companies in the world has shown interest in Noemi’s work. Recently, an article appeared in Bloomberg News Section’s website [9] describing the main policy implication of her article [B], written by Bloomberg reporter Simon Kennedy. The Bloomberg article focused on the fact, discovered in Noemi’s paper, that a fiscal policy reform taxing inherited wealth rather than incomes would redistribute wealth from those who are born “lucky” to the “unlucky,” and the bet is this would reduce perceptions of unfairness in society and encourage people to be more productive, bolstering expansion. Moreover, City AM has requested Noemi to write a blog regarding her paper [E], that has been published in May 2014. Noemi’s cutting edge research on fiscal policy reforms has strongly impacted the public opinion, and several blogs have reported her results or have been written about her work, as for the example the blog “National Affairs” by Kevin Lewis [10].

Disgrifiad o'r ymchwil sylfaenol

Noemi Mantovan’s Bangor University research focuses on the connection between ideology, altruism, and voting. Noemi’s research started with the beginning of her PhD in September 2008. As a result, she completed her PhD thesis [A], published two articles: on ideology and voting [B], and on the impact of the “Big Society” program on volunteering [C], contributed to a book about volunteering [D], and wrote a paper that has had already received coverage from the press [E]. Her thesis aimed at overcoming the simplistic idea of homo economicus, by exploring the voting behaviour of heterogeneous agents whose actions are also influenced by their view of social justice and altruism. Her PhD has been funded by several institutional and academic bodies (ESRC, Scottish Institute of Research, Adam Smith Research Foundation, Durham University, and Fondazione Luigi Einaudi), and her thesis won the “Best PhD Thesis” prize awarded by Durham Business School. Her first article, published in the Economic Journal shows how ideas about what is "fair" influence preferences for redistribution. The article studies the dynamic evolution of different economies in which redistributive policies, perception of fairness, inequality and growth are jointly determined.. Her article explores several issues and has strong policy implications: first, different initial conditions regarding fairness can lead countries to two different steady states, thus explaining the redistribution differences between Europe Area and US. Second, a temporary shock to preferences, for instance a change in what is viewed as "fair" inequality, may lead to long lasting dynamic consequences. Third, different forms of taxation, namely income taxation versus bequest taxation, interact with the perceptions about fairness. The article proves that under certain conditions, a high level of bequest taxation is superior to income taxation in order to reduce the perceived level of "unfairness" in inequality. This article has been presented in several world leading conferences (including NBER Summer Institute, and the Royal Economic Society Annual Meeting) and at several universities (Oxford University, Royal Holloway University of London, Glasgow University). Her second article, published in Public Administration Review, analyze the “Big Society” program implemented by the current UK Government. The main reason behind the article is that there is actually little evidence about the fundamental belief underlying the “Big Society”: whether volunteering should, can, and will emerge as a perfect substitute for public spending and activity. The article overcomes this shortfall by analysing this premise from a 360 degrees perspective. It starts by modelling the decision of employed individuals as depending on levels of public spending, mediated by their individual abilities and the available volunteering infrastructure. Employed individuals are pivotal potential volunteers, because they have to make a decision between allocating their time to volunteering or to working for their own income. Then, the focus shifts on statistical evidence from Europe and the UK as well as at a number of in-depth interviews with local volunteers and public officials. The results of the modelling, statistical analyses, and interviews all point in the same direction: less public spending reduces the likelihood of (successful) volunteering. This article has been presented in several Universities, including Glasgow University and Bangor University. Also, following this article she was invited to contribute to a book that studies volunteering internationally given her recognized expertise in British volunteering. Her contribution was a chapter about the state of volunteering in the UK and the effects of recent policy reforms on it. She recently completed a new paper about volunteering, which is now submitted. The paper studies the effects of volunteering on future income. The paper shows how volunteering increases the probability of receiving a higher level of income in the future, and contains policy advises and implication. The paper has been presented in seminars and conferences, including St. Gallen University and the Royal Economics Society conference. [A] Mantovan, N. (2012), Ideology and the State: an Analysis of the Connection between Fairness, Altruism, and Redistribution, PhD Thesis, Durham University. [B] Alesina, A., Cozzi, G., & Mantovan, N. (2012). The Evolution of Ideology, Fairness and Redistribution. The Economic Journal, vol 122(566): 1244-1261. [C] Bartels, K., Cozzi, G., & Mantovan, N. (2013). “The Big Society,” Public Expenditure, and Volunteering. Public Administration Review, vol 73(2): 340-351. [D] Bartels, K.P.R., N. Mantovan & G. Cozzi (2014). The Big Society: The Rhetoric and Practice of Volunteerism in the UK. In T. Bryer, ed. National Service and Volunteerism: Achieving Impact in Our Communities. New York: Lexington Books. [E] Cozzi, G., Mantovan, N., & Sauer, R. M. (2014). Does It Pay to Work for Free? Wage Returns and Gender Differences in the Market for Volunteers. Submitted.

Nodiadau Cyffredinol

5. Sources to corroborate the impact (indicative maximum of 10 references)
[1] Professor Guido Cozzi, University of St. Gallen School of Management, Economics, Law, Social Sciences and International Affairs (HSG). Dufourstrasse 50, CH-9000 St.Gallen. Telephone: Phone: +41 (0)71 224 23 99. Email: [email protected]
[2] Harvard University, Professor Alberto Alesina’ s personal page: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/alesina/recently_published_alesina
[3] Noemi Mantovan’ s author page at NBER Institute website: http://www.nber.org/authors/noemi_mantovan
[4] NBER History:
http://www.nber.org/info.html
[5] Louise Snaith, Acting Doctoral Programmes Coordinator, Van Mildert Conference Centre, Mill Hill Lane, Durham , DH1 3LH. Telephone: +44 (0) 191 3345066. Email: [email protected]
[6] Dissertation’s topics at the University of Tübingen, prof. Buch
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/Uni_Tuebingen/Fakultaeten/WiSo/Wiwi/Uploads/Lehrstuehle/Prof._Buch/Teaching/WS_11_12/Topics_for_Diploma_and_Master_Theses_Winter_2011-2012.pdf
[7] Tutor2you A Level Economics
http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/unit-4-macro-tax-changes-to-boost-growth
[8] City AM:
http://www.cityam.com/article/1398969449/why-making-it-easier-volunteer-will-narrow-gender-pay-gap
[9] Bloomberg news section website:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-14/companies-risk-voter-wrath-in-profit-wage-gap-cutting-research.html
[10] National Affairs Blog:
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/blog/detail/findings-a-daily-roundup/quid-pro-quo

Statws effaith	Potensial
Categori effaith	Economegol, Cymdeithasol, Polisi a Gwasanaethau Cyhoeddus