Business Commons^™

The Effect Of Lockdown Repeal On Socialization: Bayesian Multilevel Difference-In-Differences Approach, Hyunwoo Jung, Yiling Li, Jeonghye Choi

Asia Marketing Journal

The COVID-19 lockdown has had an unprecedented impact on people in various ways. This study evaluates the effect of lockdown repeal from both marketing and public-policy perspectives. Combining the Bayesian multilevel model with the difference-in-differences design, we find that a lockdown repeal has had a negative impact on socialization. Furthermore, the results show that those who have a low level of risk perception are less affected by lockdown repeal. Also, the negative effect of lockdown repeal varies depending on past socialization behaviors; that is, the lockdown-repeal effect is attenuated for those who socialized more than others in the past. Our …

The Case For Preempting State Money Transmission Laws For Crypto-Based Businesses, Carol R. Goforth

Arkansas Law Review

Few industries are evolving as rapidly or as dramatically as those involving payment systems. The recent advent and spread of cryptocurrencies and associated trading platforms and exchanges, as well as ongoing improvements and innovations in FinTech generally, ensure that this is going to continue for the foreseeable future. Along with this rapid change has come a dynamic increase in the number and range of payment startups, a development that has been recognized as likely to redound to the benefit of consumers and the broader economy. The problem is simply that regulation is not keeping up with innovation.

Assessing A Foundation’S Contribution To Public-Policy Change: A New Framework, Barbara Masters, Gigi Barsoum, Sandra Martinez, Fatima Angeles

The Foundation Review

This article presents a framework for evaluating a foundation’s role in complex policy-change efforts, based on a 10-year retrospective evaluation of The California Wellness Foundation’s grantmaking in public policy.

After examining more than 25 policy outcomes associated with the foundation’s grantmaking priorities, three dimensions of contribution emerged: the role of its grantees relative to other organizations, the prominence of its role and funding relative to other funders or donors, and the degree of alignment between the policy change and the foundation’s policy goals.

The experience of The California Wellness Foundation illustrates that there is no single approach to supporting work …

Food Policy: Urban Farming As A Supplemental Food Source, Bessie Didomenica, Mark Gordon

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Food policy has a unique role for public, nonprofit, private, and academic stakeholders. Growing food in the city is a challenge worldwide. Food systems can be destroyed by external (weather extremes) and internal (zoning regulations) forces. This study explores urban farms as a secondary food source and their common themes across four sectors. A Northeastern U.S. city was the case study to examine how it implemented its formal urban agriculture program. The positive social change implications of urban farms include greater food visibility and food access in low-income areas and more consumer awareness about growing fresh food. This study contributes …

How To Implement A Funder-Supported Advocacy Effort And The Integral Role Of Policy Consultants, Deena Margolis, Leah Ersoylu

The Foundation Review

There has been growing recognition in the philanthropic field that public-policy engagement and advocacy are critical strategic investments to support social change. For those foundations that are new to advocacy or are contemplating adding this type of work to their portfolio, however, this can be a significant shift in how they do business.

Before a foundation engages in this type of work, it is critical that leadership and staff understand the role and potential impact of foundations in the advocacy and policy arenas, the practical considerations of how best to engage in advocacy and policy work, and the role of …

Climbing The Mountain: An Approach To Planning And Evaluating Public-Policy Advocacy, Sam Gill, Tom Freedman

The Foundation Review

· This article proposes a new methodology for planning and evaluating public-policy advocacy. The methodology is designed around a series of stages, each with a different set of strategic planning and assessment requirements.

· The article suggests that both planning and evaluative approaches that fail to take account of the necessary stages required to develop and then implement an advocacy strategy will likely assign the wrong indicators of success.

· This analysis is based on direct experience working with both policy processes and a wide range of foundations and nonprofits that have invested in public-policy advocacy, including the Rockefeller, Ford, …

A System Dynamics Approach To Assessing Public Policy Impact On The Sustainable Growth Rate Of New Ventures, Jeff W. Trailer, Kuau Garsson

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The growth of firms is fundamentally based on self-reinforcing feedback loops, one of the most important of which involves cash flow. When profit margin is positive, sales generate cash, which may then be reinvested to finance the operating cash cycle. We analyze simulations of a sustainable growth model of a generic new venture to assess the importance of taxes, and regulatory costs in determining growth. The results suggest that new ventures are particularly vulnerable to public policy effects, since their working capital resource levels are minimal, and they have few options to raise external funds necessary to fuel their initial …