Isabella Sankey of Liberty, a pressure group, fears the CPI could be worse than the ASBO, as the standard of proof will be lower and the test of anti-social behaviour broader.

ECONOMIST: Some new tools for fighting yobs, and fresh questions

Ms Mayer found that although doubling the income of poor families would lift most children above the poverty line, it would have virtually no effect on their test scores and only a slight effect on social behaviour.

ECONOMIST: Can��t buy me love

So Dr Wildt's group is, for example, using a test-tube assay to measure hormone patterns in the faeces of endangered clouded leopards, and correlating these to behaviour under stress with a view to improving reproductive efficiency.

ECONOMIST: Endangered species