DO YOU HAVE THE TRAIT OF A GOOD LEADER?

From a very young age, we hear about leaders and that we should all strive to be one. In order to advance your career, leadership qualities are quintessential in guaranteeing success. Unfortunately, only a few people naturally are a good leader, but, luckily, qualities that make you a good leader can be practiced.

Before we dive into our list, we should lay some ground rules for what you need to have before you can even start to practice the below qualities.

One cannot be a leader (let alone a good leader) if you are not honest. You must be honest with yourself and your team – nothing will make you look worse than getting caught in a lie and once the trust has been broken, repairing the damage will be next to impossible.

Secondly, you have to convey passion about your work and goals. Why should your team care if you don’t?

Thirdly, respect! It may seem like common sense, but working with different personalities is not an easy task let alone leading them to accomplish a goal.  You have to learn to respect the ideas of your team members – treating everybody equally and not showing favoritism is very important.

Now, let’s get on with the list.


1. Optimism

No matter how hard the struggle is, a good leader will never lose sight of their goals. The attitude that your team members have might very well be the reflection of yours. It’s understandable that people will have the occasional bad days, but these days can serve as a catalyst to create a stronger bond between you and your teammates if handled with positivity and not scrutiny.


2. Confidence/Decisive

Confidence is a captivating quality. As a leader, not only will you have to make tough decisions, but you will have to sell those decisions in to your team. The morale of your team can lower overwhelmingly if you make decisions with uncertainty; be fearless, and display confidence. Taking risks is an unfortunate part of the gig. Confidence should be displayed especially in all non-verbal communications.


3. Humility

If you are a good leader, your followers will put you on a pedestal; just don’t let the thin air get to your head. There’s a reason why leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are still revered while others are forgotten about, although both might have gotten the job done. A great way to show this is by acknowledging hard work and sharing the credit for all the accomplishments with upper management; people like to get a pat on the back for their work.


4. Ability to Delegate

A team will never work properly without proper organization. Often times, tasks get handled incorrectly because of miscommunication and unfortunately the leader is usually to blame. As a leader, your team is looking to you for directions and you must possess the ability to break down a project in easy to understand steps. You can only do this properly if you know how your team operates and the only way to practice is through actually doing. A good start would be to share your vision with your team.

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12 THINGS TRULY CONFIDENT PEOPLE DO DIFFERENTLY

By: Travis Bradberry

Confidence takes many forms, from the arrogance of Floyd Mayweather to the quiet self-assurance of Jane Goodall. True confidence—as opposed to the false confidence people project to mask their insecurities—has a look all its own.

When it comes to confidence, one thing is certain: truly confident people always have the upper hand over the doubtful and the skittish because they inspire others and they make things happen.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right. - Henry Ford
Ford’s notion that your mentality has a powerful effect on your ability to succeed is manifest in the results of a recent study at the University of Melbourne that showed that confident people went on to earn higher wages and get promoted more quickly than anyone else.

Learning to be confident is clearly important, but what is it that truly confident people do that sets them apart from everyone else?

I did some digging to uncover the 12 cardinal habits of truly confident people so that you can incorporate these behaviors into your repertoire.

1. They Get Their Happiness from Within

Happiness is a critical element of confidence, because in order to be confident in what you do, you have to be happy with who you are.

People who brim with confidence derive their sense of pleasure and satisfaction from their own accomplishments, as opposed to what other people think of their accomplishments. They know that no matter what anyone says, you’re never as good or as bad as people say you are.

2. They Don't Pass Judgement

Confident people don’t pass judgment on others because they know that everyone has something to offer, and they don’t need to take other people down a notch in order to feel good about themselves. Comparing yourself to other people is limiting. Confident people don’t waste time sizing people up and worrying about whether or not they measure up to everyone they meet.

3. They Don’t Say Yes Unless They Really Want To

Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Confident people know that saying no is healthy, and they have the self-esteem to make their nos clear. When it’s time to say no, confident people avoid phrases such as “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” They say no with confidence because they know that saying no to a new commitment honors their existing commitments and gives them the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

To Get Ahead Build a Team 


4. They Listen More Than They Speak

People with confidence listen more than they speak because they don’t feel as though they have anything to prove. Confident people know that by actively listening and paying attention to others, they are much more likely to learn and grow. Instead of seeing interactions as opportunities to prove themselves to others, they focus on the interaction itself, because they know that this is a far more enjoyable and productive approach to people.

5. They Speak With Certainty

It’s rare to hear the truly confident utter phrases such as “Um,” “I’m not sure,” and “I think.” Confident people speak assertively because they know that it’s difficult to get people to listen to you if you can’t deliver your ideas with conviction.

6. They Seek Out Small Victories

Confident people like to challenge themselves and compete, even when their efforts yield small victories. Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. When you have a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for months.

7. They Exercise

A study conducted at the Eastern Ontario Research Institute found that people who exercised twice a week for 10 weeks felt more competent socially, academically, and athletically. They also rated their body image and self-esteem higher. Best of all, rather than the physical changes in their bodies being responsible for the uptick in confidence, it was the immediate, endorphin-fueled positivity from exercise that made all the difference.

8. They Don't Seek Attention 

People are turned off by those who are desperate for attention. Confident people know that being yourself is much more effective than trying to prove that you’re important. People catch on to your attitude quickly and are more attracted to the right attitude than what, or how many, people you know. Confident people always seem to bring the right attitude.

In Youth We Learn In Age We Understand

Confident people are masters of attention diffusion. When they’re receiving attention for an accomplishment, they quickly shift the focus to all the people who worked hard to help get them there. They don’t crave approval or praise because they draw their self-worth from within.

9. They Ain't Afraid To Be Wrong

Confident people aren’t afraid to be proven wrong. They like putting their opinions out there to see if they hold up because they learn a lot from the times they are wrong and other people learn from them when they’re right. Self-assured people know what they are capable of and don’t treat being wrong as a personal slight.

10. They Stick Their Neck out

When confident people see an opportunity, they take it. Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, they ask themselves, “What’s stopping me? Why can’t I do that?” and they go for it. Fear doesn’t hold them back because they know that if they never try, they will never succeed.

Be The Change You Want To See

11. They Celebrate Other People

Insecure people constantly doubt their relevance, and because of this, they try to steal the spotlight and criticize others in order to prove their worth. Confident people, on the other hand, aren’t worried about their relevance because they draw their self-worth from within. Instead of insecurely focusing inward, confident people focus outward, which allows them to see all the wonderful things that other people bring to the table. Praising people for their contributions is a natural result of this.

12. They Ain't Afraid To Ask For Help

Confident people know that asking other people for help won’t make them seem weak or unintelligent. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and they look to others to fill the gaps. They also know that learning from someone with more expertise is a great way to improve.

Bringing All Together

Building confidence is a journey, not a destination. Please share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

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YOU CAN BE PERFECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The West Germatic language - English language -is a very broad subject of discussion. It is easy to get wrong and also easy to get right. One of the major problems confronting English writers and speakers is the correct use of English words. Do not be carried away by the soundness of English words, A word may sound nice when used to make a sentence but, it may also be wrong choice of words.

     Why not spend time studying these incorrectly used words that can make you look bad?


Adverse and averse

Adverse means harmful or unfavorable: "Adverse market conditions caused the IPO to be poorly subscribed." Averse refers to feelings of dislike or opposition: "I was averse to paying $18 a share for a company that generates no revenue."

But you can feel free to have an aversion to adverse conditions.

Affect and effect

Verbs first. Affect means to influence: "Impatient investors affected our roll-out date." Effect means to accomplish something: "The board effected a sweeping policy change." How you use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them, or can effect changes by implementing them. Use effect if you're making it happen, and affect if you're having an impact on something someone else is trying to make happen.

As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: "Once he was fired he was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects." Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless you're a psychologist, you probably should not be using it.


The man who achieved everything in life

Compliment and complement

Compliment is to say something nice. Complement is to add to, enhance, improve, complete, or bring close to perfection. So, I can compliment your staff and their service, but if you have no current openings you have a full complement of staff. And your new app may complement your website.

For which I may decide to compliment you.

Criteria and criterion

"We made the decision based on one overriding criteria" sounds pretty impressive but is wrong.

Remember: one criterion, two or more criteria, although you could always use "reason" or "factors" and not worry about getting it wrong.

Discreet and discrete

Discreet means careful, cautious, showing good judgment: "We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company."

Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct: "We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels." And if you get confused, remember you don't use discreetion to work through sensitive issues; you exercise discretion.

Elicit and illicit

Elicit means to draw out or coax. Think of elicit as the mildest form of extract or, even worse, extort. So if one lucky survey respondent will win a trip to the Bahamas, the prize is designed to elicit responses.

Illicit means illegal or unlawful. I suppose you could "illicit" a response at gunpoint ... but you best not.


10 people with the highest IQ ever recorded

Farther and further

Farther involves a physical distance: "Florida is farther from New York than Tennessee." Further involves a figurative distance: "We can take our business plan no further." So, as we say in the South, "I don't trust you any farther than I can throw you." Or, "I ain't gonna trust you no further."

Imply and infer

The speaker or writer implies. The listener or reader infers. Imply means to suggest, while infer means to deduce (whether correctly or not). So, I might imply you're going to receive a raise. You might infer that a pay increase is imminent. (But not eminent, unless the raise will be prominent and distinguished.)

Insure and ensure

This one's easy. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to make sure. So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure it actually happens. Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is damaged or lost--then feel free to insure away.

Number and amount

I goof these up all the time. Use number when you can count what you refer to: "The number of subscribers who opted out increased last month." Amount refers to a quantity of something that can't be counted: "The amount of alcohol consumed at our last company picnic was staggering."

Of course it can still be confusing: "I can't believe the number of beers I drank" is correct, but so is "I can't believe the amount of beer I drank." The difference is I can count beers, but beer, especially if I was way too drunk to keep track, is an uncountable total--so amount is the correct usage.


Brain teaser

Precede and proceed

Precede means to come before. Proceed means to begin or continue. Where it gets confusing is when an ing comes into play. "The proceeding announcement was brought to you by..." sounds fine, but preceding is correct since the announcement came before.

If it helps, think precedence: Anything that takes precedence is more important and therefore comes first.

Principal and principle

A principle is a fundamental: "We've created a culture where we all share certain principles." Principal means primary or of first importance: "Our startup's principal is located in NYC." (Sometimes you'll also see the plural, principals, used to refer to executives or (relatively) co-equals at the top of a particular food chain.)

Principal can also refer to the most important item in a particular set: "Our principal account makes up 60 percent of our gross revenues."

Principal can also refer to money, normally a sum that was borrowed, but can be extended to refer to the amount you owe--hence principal and interest.

If you're referring to laws, rules, guidelines, ethics, etc., use principle. If you're referring to the CEO or the president (or the individual in charge of the high school), use principal. And now for those dreaded apostrophes.


Finding faults

It's and its

It's is the contraction of it is. That means it's doesn't own anything. If your dog is neutered (the way we make a dog, however much against his or her will, gender neutral), you don't say, "It's collar is blue." You say, "Its collar is blue." Here's an easy test to apply. Whenever you use an apostrophe, un-contract the word to see how it sounds. In this case, turn it's into it is: "It's sunny" becomes "It is sunny." Sounds good to me.

They're and their

Same with these: They're is the contraction for they are. Again, the apostrophe doesn't own anything. We're going to their house, and I sure hope they're home.


Understanding

Who's and whose

"Whose password hasn't been changed in six months?" is correct. "Who is (the noncontracted version of who's) password hasn't been changed in six months?" sounds silly

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FINDING FAULTS

People with good self-esteem, tend to look for the good in
people. When you love yourself, you’re
much less likely to look for what’s wrong
with someone else. If you focus on
what’s wrong with someone, it’s hard to
attract what’s right. And in the long run,
it won’t make you feel better about you.

Only self-love can do that! When you
look for the good in others, you’ll also
find it in yourself and others will find
your good too.
The things you criticize in others also
tend to reflect things you don’t like about
you.

7 Steve jobs quotes that could change your life

Focusing on positive things keeps your
vibe positive. Looking for the beauty in
people makes you feel good, not mean or
hurtful. All the emotions created when
you look for things to criticize make your
vibration negative. Plus, it’s not nice.
Next time you find yourself noticing
faults in people, consciously tell yourself
to look for the good.

To get ahead, build a team.

Fault-finding and criticizing, no matter what our
intentions, tend to drive wedges between us and
other people. A person who finds fault in
everything is a person to be avoided, when all is
said and done, and who among us wants other
people to avoid us whenever they can?

Be Positive. Look out for the good.

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BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

By: Odeme Tochukwu

Incessantly, motorcycle horns hooted. The
unpleasant sound went into my
ears as though it was end time. I couldn't bear it
anymore, so I stood up,
looked through my window to see what's
happening. "Today is election day!"
They all clamoured, standing on their bike,
becoming a nuisance to the
community. Looking at this set of individuals who
could hardly provide
three-square meals for their family, I felt
devastated. I told myself I
needed to talk to these people. So I decided to
take the bull by its horn.
I thought of how to reach out to this set of
individuals, and talk some
sense into their head.

You do not necessarily have to collide with
political thugs in order to get
your voice heard, neither do you need to go to the
pulling units with
weapons of any kind in order to strike the change
you want to see. After
all, the novelist J. M Barne once observed thus:

The life of every man is a diary
in which he means to write one
story and write another; and his
humblest hour is when he com-
pares the volume as it is with
what he vowed to make it.

Be careful of the choices you make—they either
make or break you.

Still looking through my window, trying to figure
out what really triggered
their aggressiveness, suddenly, one of the
motorcyclists alighted from his
bike to address his followers. And he said, "make
we go block road, today
na today!" I shook my head and wondered:

How much were these motorcyclist paid to engage
in electoral violence?
Do they really care to know what will happen if
they die today?

Does it truly worth it?

All these thoughts and questions exhausted me
emotionally. To try to bounce
back, I switched on my phone in order to surf the
Internet. The news –
“ballot boxes have been stolen in Port Harcourt –
making the headlines
stunned me as though I was struck by a
lightening. And I asked, "Is this
the way forward?"

I dream of a Nigeria where her citizens would not
only see democracy in its
ordinary sense, but to also conceptualise
democracy as a civilised way of
thinking.

You clamour for a better Nigeria yet you ignite
electoral violence to cause
your fellow citizens pains. Most Nigerian
politicians would always say
together we can build a better Nigeria which I do
not really agree with.
If
you truly want a change as a Nigerian, you must
first be the change you
want to see. You must change your views as
regards political practices in
Nigeria.

It is said "responsibility is the most important
ability that a person can
posses."

Take responsibility for your actions, money can't
buy life. Electoral
violence is often ignited by greed which in turn
leads to hatred.


IF YOU WANT A BETTER NIGERIA, BE THE CHANGE
YOU WANT TO SEE.

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AND DEATH WEPT IN AGONY

By: Nwankam Emmanuel 

Were humans devising a way to live longer on earth and Death couldn't stand people suffering? What if Death was a comfort zone for humans-a place of eternal rest? Is Death causing more harm or trying to avert what it sees as human difficulties?  What if Death foresees human sufferings? What if Death was just giving a helping hand and humans kept misinterpreting it? What if Death saw human labour as being a stress?

  

           On the other hand, the feeling of losing a loved one attaches an emotional pain like a scar which memories can be hard to erase. Humans thereby have every reason to see death as being cruel.

      Lots of religion beliefs buttress the dead are in some kind of bosom waiting for their loved ones to arrive. People have in recent times visited spiritualist to see how their deceased loved ones are faring and sometimes people claim they appear in their dreams, pass messages and as “guardian angel”. Death has now stood as pain-causing icon which was and is still man’s greatest enemy.

    Should man learn to accept death and know that it is inevitable? But this is one too many questions to digest and even made certain religion to doubt their God because man thought if God was all that powerful, a way should be devised to avert death but instead new method of dying kept surfacing.

        Of course, nature has a part to play in Death and it is quite comfortable with it. Age increases with the law of diminishing return setting in and man finally dies and the question is why doesn’t man grow old, shed skins like the snake and become young again?  Is nature being cruel?

        Looking at Death Economically, if human population kept increasing, crisis may set in due to scarcity of human needs and political instability. In certain cultures, Death is never talked about and is therefore forbidden. Even in modern days, penalties for causing death are death itself. Man has concluded death a punishment.  What if death isn’t really a punishment?

            Man is very sensitive to emotional trauma especially in cases of death that is more of a reason a doctor is highly ranked in the society today.

       When a loved one dies, we normally say it is “resting in peace”, so why do one worry?  Although, most religion has tagged death a place of eternal suffering and torment but can we get any evidence of it? People have been in many cases revived from death; do we see any mark of suffering or torment? So why are there ill comments about death?   Death has been accused of inflicting grieve on man.

             Is Death feeling betrayed? Or man should have a second thought about Death? 

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The Mind – Power House of the Human Soul

By: Kingsley Mkpandiok

As the butterfly flies randomly from one flower to another in search of the nectar and as the wall gecko moves steadily towards its prey so also the mind moves trying to feast on that which it is attracted to.

I’ve heard so do you that the mind is the power house of the human soul, where the character and habits we showcase is being forged by our thoughts and imaginations. Like a carefully forged sword in the hand of a blacksmith so also is our character to our thoughts.

Our mind is the seat of our imaginations, just as the wind that blows in a direction it deems fit, but one can only tell it’s direction by the help of a wind vane – the cycle of our thoughts which are usually weaved round the words that proceed out of our mouth this of course becomes a pointer to which direction our mind is leading us.

Ironically, it may sound yet too truthful to be irrefutable that strength lies in the mind not in the muscular biceps and triceps. And fear too is enthroned in the mind where our imaginations leads us into an atmosphere of assumptions leaving our very thoughts to roam in a deserted and desolate land where the fear of what may or would happen begins to grip us releasing the magic fluid of weakness into our marrows and making us lose confidence in who we think we really are…

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TIMING IS EVERYTHING - DANIEL HERRERA

DANIEL HERRERA PhD 

To live is to take risks: Danger is all around us and the most we can do is to slightly reduce our exposure. Certain actions such as buckling your seat belt when driving or drinking only bottled water do in fact reduce the risk of incurring mortal injuries or contracting painful diseases; however, even such simple measures are not costless. Is a morning coffee worth the risk of hot water burns or the risk of spills on the laptop? Every moment of every day, we are making decisions that trade risks against some benefit we incur by accepting them. In my thesis, I attempt to deepen our understanding about how people value certain risks, and shed light on how government policies might nudge individuals towards better choices. 

If we could and wanted to protect ourselves against identified risks, we would need to incur costs. Unfortunately, we have limited resources, thus, we need to find a system that allows us to minimize the expected impact that those risks may have at the lowest cost. Comparing diverse risk-reduction strategies requires a common metric. One popular approach is to use a monetary metric which facilitates the comparison between costs and benefits. Costs are usually expressed in monetary terms and are relatively easy to measure; generally they are computed using process-based calculations. Benefits are more problematic. In many cases, population-level risk reduction results in probabilistically saving the lives of unidentified individuals. How much is such a thing valued by society? The conventional metric for valuing a reduction in mortality risk in a monetary form is the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL). While the VSL is often misinterpreted, it does not purport to represent the value of an identified individual’s life. On the contrary, it is a measure of how much society is willing to pay to reduce a diffuse but possibly mortal risk. 

It would be valuable, from a policy perspective, to know exactly how much an individual is willing to pay to reduce a mortal risk to him or herself or to others; unfortunately, we hardly ever do. It is therefore necessary to try to extract this information from the decisions that people make. There are two main ways that this is done in practice: either through revealed or stated preferences. Neither approach is perfect, but both are powerful tools that allow researchers to estimate true preferences. On one hand, the main advantage of the revealed preference approach is that it is based on what consumers are actually choosing. Unfortunately, revealed preference measures face the critique that the effect that is being captured could possibly be confounded with other effects. Identification of the willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce risk is compromised. On the other hand, stated preferences overcome the issue of identification by controlling the decision-making environment but stated preferences are stated; we do not know whether the respondents would really behave as they have stated . Nevertheless, under the right circumstances, these tools can be valuable aids for evaluating or designing policies. 

VSL models assume that people make decisions based on their individual preferences. What about the risks that we take for others? Empirically, individuals tend to be willing to pay more for risk reductions relating to children. Evidence of this is can be found in the Food Quality Protection Act in the United States of 1996 which requires an additional tenfold margin of safety for children to ensure that they face no risks from pesticide residue in food (Dockins et al. s 2002). Why is this the case? First, while individuals tend to prefer risks that are voluntary (Slovik, 1987), children are generally perceived as involuntary participants in risky activities. Second, there is ambiguity related to the lifetime health risks faced by children, particularly for new or modern threats. Theoretically, an increase in WTP for risk reduction could plausibly stem from ambiguity aversion (Alary et al. 2012). Finally, there is some evidence to suggest that age could affect WTP (Rowe et al. 1995). In general, we assume that parents have the right incentives to care for their children, and therefore accept parents' valuations of their children's health. Of course, this is under the assumption that parents always have the information they need to take the right action, but do they? 

In my first paper, I use a revealed preference approach to explore a particular risk-reducing action taken by mothers. In 2000, the French government, following a worldwide trend, began a health advisory policy urging French residents to improve their eating habits.  The policy, which is still being implemented today, is commonly known as “Manger Bouger”. Embedded within this larger policy, a smaller, lesser known initiative (starting from 2005) targeted fetal neural tube diseases (NTDs). NTDs are potentially deadly conditions which occur when the neural tube is not fully covered by the spinal cord. While NTDs often lead to abortions, the condition is generally not terminal; the consequences for the child include paralysis or severe brain malformation. To reduce the risk of NTDs, mothers need to consume at least 400 micrograms of folic acid (also known as Vitamin B9) on a daily basis for two months before and two months after conception. This amount can be achieved either through naturally occurring folic acid or through supplementary pills.  

Unfortunately, the NTDs trend did not change after the policy. Over the past decade the yearly NTD prevalence was roughly 1 baby per 1000. Does this mean that the policy did not have any effect? Using a highly detailed household level purchase database, a quasi-experimental setting and state of the art demand estimation techniques on the ready-to-eat breakfast cereal market, my research suggests that targeted women did in fact consume more folic acid after the policy was implemented. This increase was achieved through pill supplements. Regrettably, timing is everything. Supplemental folic acid taken outside the narrow time window will have no effect on fetal NTD risk. Although targeted individuals did consume more folic acid it may seem that they did not consume it at the appropriate moment. This is not surprising since it is very hard to correctly predict the timing of conception. 

Is there anything else that can be done? Fortifying staple foods is a common practice in France, it is an inexpensive and effective process. Nearly all the baguettes consumed are fortified with some vitamins. However, vitamin B9 is not among them. This omission is due to the plausible secondary effects that B9 can have on individuals aged 50 years and over. There are epidemiological studies linking increased levels of folic acid to the proliferation of some types of cancer. Others studies find an association with decreased levels of cancer proliferation.

The bottom line: there is an important level of uncertainty regarding the secondary effects of B9 in some segments of the population. To deal with this uncertainty, I construct a probabilistic model and evaluate the impact of a massive B9 fortification policy in France: an increase in folic acid intake of 400 micrograms or more by the entire population. After taking into account the effects on longevity, health and wealth for children and adults, I conclude that a fortification policy is advised.  



In the second chapter of my thesis, in joint work with James Hammitt, we conducted a French representative Internet based survey to assess the WTP to reduce risks of fatal disease. The survey was designed to identify how WTP varies with characteristics of the disease (cancer or other diseases, which organs are affected etc.), the latency between exposure and the manifestation of the symptoms (1, 10 or 20 years), and whether the person at risk is the adult respondent, a child or another adult in the respondent's household. We use a latent class estimation technique along with paradata - data on how the survey data was collected - to identify those respondents who have correctly answered the survey. What is considered as answering a survey correctly? What is usually done in the literature is to check if, at least, the respondents are paying attention to characteristics that are hard to grasp. One of those characteristics relates to scope sensitivity. It is conventional that a survey passes the scope sensitivity test if the amount willing to be paid is nearly proportional to the risk reduction. We find that the proportion of respondents that are paying attention to these hard characteristics varies between 20 and 40 per cent. Time spent filling the survey influences heavily the quality of the answers: too little or too much time spent has a negative effect. Moreover, the implied VSL with and without our estimation procedure varies substantially: results range from 6, 10 and 8 million euros per statistical life for respondents, child and other adults respectively, based on the standard technique to 2.2, 2.6 and 1.8 millions euros with the latent class estimation.  Although these results are still preliminary, they suggest that the differences in VSL we initially observed are partly explained by respondents answering the survey incorrectly.

As compared with the US where the implementation of cost-benefit analyses to select the best projects is the norm, their use in France is still quite restricted. In part, this has limited the scope of WTP studies in France particularly regarding WTP for child risks. There are clear intentions from the French government to begin using cost-benefit analyses more frequently. This development highlights the need to investigate whether established policies are working, as well as to develop reliable French VSLs estimates for ex-ante (or ex-post) project evaluations. 

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