Abstract
Quah and Ng first discuss Ezra Mishan’s contributions to cost–benefit analysis, focusing on the appropriate set of individuals to be included, unconventional spillover effects such as ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, and the value of a statistical life. They then provide some qualifications to Mishan’s arguments questioning globalisation and immigration, concentrating on three commonly ignored benefits of a larger population. An increase in population, including as a result of immigration, need not reduce the per capita income due to the presence of increasing returns. Even if per capita income is reduced, existing citizens still gain economically through higher returns of factors complementary to the immigrating labour. Additionally, a larger population reduces the per capita costs of providing public goods, like defence and research.
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- 1.
The fifth edition of Cost-Benefit Analysis (2007), published by Routledge, is co-authored with Euston Quah. The sixth edition is in preparation.
- 2.
Kenny subsequently received hundreds of applications (the vast majority of which were unsuitable) but only after the international media had reported the story.
References
Main Works by Ezra J. Mishan
Mishan, E.J. (1967). The Costs of Economic Growth. London: Staples Press. Revised edition, 1993, Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Mishan, E.J. (1971). ‘Evaluation of Life and Limb: A Theoretical Approach’. Journal of Political Economy, 79(4): 687–705.
Mishan, E.J. (1972). Elements of Cost-Benefit Analysis. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Mishan, E.J. (1980). ‘The New Welfare Economics: An Alternative View’. International Economic Review, 21(3): 691–705.
Mishan, E.J. (2005). ‘Can Globalisation Depress Living Standards in the West?’. Economic Affairs, 25(3): 66–69.
Mishan, E.J. (2006). ‘A Rejoinder to John Meadowcroft’. Economic Affairs, 26(1): 68–69.
Mishan, E.J. (2009). Thirteen Persistent Economic Fallacies. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Mishan, E.J. and E. Quah (2007). Cost-Benefit Analysis. Fifth edition. London: Routledge.
Other Works Referred To
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Quah, E. and K.C. Tan (1998). ‘The Siting Problem of NIMBY Facilities: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Auction Mechanisms’. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 16(3): 255–264.
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Yang, X. and Y.-K. Ng (1993). Specialization and Economic Organization. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
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Quah, E., Ng, YK. (2019). Ezra J. Mishan (1917–2014). In: Cord, R.A. (eds) The Palgrave Companion to LSE Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58274-4_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58274-4_24
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