This study assessed households’ willingness to pay and payments for water services supplied by the Akwa Ibom Water Company Limited using the Heckman two-step analysis. Using the survey research design, these households comprised households that have access to 5.06% of water supply services...

This study assessed households’ willingness to pay and payments for water services supplied by the Akwa Ibom Water Company Limited using the Heckman two-step analysis. Using the survey research design, these households comprised households that have access to 5.06% of water supply services...

This paper discusses the links between earnings, consumption and economic welfare inequality. It places emphasis on the role of leisure and labor supply in the assessment of cross-household inequality and argues that the documented increase of such inequality has its origin in the labor market....

This paper presents some theoretical foundations underlying the welfare analysis that can be established in order to quantify the impact on consumers, when an agent violates the rights of purchaser and such behavior is reflected in a price increase. This exercise allows us to conclude that if it...

Despite persistent efforts to deal with life's economic challenges, most Ghanaians are financially insecure, making the pursuit of lifelong goals more difficult. Given these realities, financial literacy and consumer financial stability appear viable strategies for promoting economic stability....

Some micro level empirical studies questioned the validity of the poverty hypothesis of child labour. In some cases child labour incidence found to be increasing even with improvement in the economic conditions of the poor. This paper provides a possible explanation as to why increase in...

The distinction made by the classical economists between necessaries and luxuries is weakened by two problems: how to draw the line between necessaries and luxuries in advanced modern economies; how to evaluate luxuries, whether positively for individual’s freedom and for the economy, or...

Two propositions are required to introduce separate needs into utility theory. Firstly, the shape of the utility function must represent the different stages of fulfilment of a need as experienced by a consumer: deprivation, subsistence, sufficiency, satiation, surfeit. The second proposes weak...

Bounded cardinal utility theory (BCUT), built on the seminal work of Van Praag (1968), is based on three axioms. • The leaning-S-shaped utility function reflects the individual’s experiences of fulfilment of a need – deprivation (increasing marginal utility (MU)), subsistence (a point of...

This very brief paper aims to provide some little microeconomic hints in order to explain the early retirement of workers. In particular, the hipothesis of quasi-concavity of the utility function, differences in wage rates and in pension benefits are all factors which may contribute to force a...