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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Equitable Carbon Revenue Distribution Under An International Emissions Trading Regime, Nathan Hultman, Daniel M. Kammen Jan 2004

Equitable Carbon Revenue Distribution Under An International Emissions Trading Regime, Nathan Hultman, Daniel M. Kammen

PERI Working Papers

When people hear about ‘global warming’ or the Kyoto Protocol, many think of a topic of boundless uncertainty and political controversy. One reason for this reaction is the current U.S. administration’s statement that ‘Kyoto is dead’ and impossible to implement in the United States. As the largest greenhouse polluter in the world, the U.S. is indeed vital to any meaningful attempt to address the certain threat of climate change. Yet climate change will not go away simply because the Bush Administration refuses to sign one particular international accord. Scientists believe with high certainty that the impacts of current greenhouse gas …


Extractive Reserves: Building Natural Assets In The Brazilian Amazon, Anthony Hall Jan 2004

Extractive Reserves: Building Natural Assets In The Brazilian Amazon, Anthony Hall

PERI Working Papers

Amazonia possesses the world's largest remaining area of tropical rainforest (3.5 million sq. km). Despite three decades of settlement and intensive development, the forest is still relatively intact compared with similar areas elsewhere. The region is an increasingly important source of natural assets for both regional and national economic growth, and provides livelihood support to a population of several million. In addition, the Amazon supplies key environmental services in terms of the conservation of biological diversity, climate regulation, and watershed management, as well as sequestering an estimated ten percent of global carbon emissions.


The Rise Of European Unemployment: A Synopsis, Engelbert Stockhammer Jan 2004

The Rise Of European Unemployment: A Synopsis, Engelbert Stockhammer

PERI Working Papers

This paper takes Keynesian macroeconomics and growth theory as its starting point and uses it to analyse the rise of unemployment in the large European economies. In a nutshell the explanation proposed in a series of papers2 is the following. Employment growth is determined by demand growth. The path of growth is set by investment decisions. Changes in labor market institutions are unable to explain the rise in unemployment. Econometric evidence on the relative explanatory power of labor market institutions and capital accumulation in explaining labor market variables are presented in Stockhammer (2004a). I conclude that capital accumulation determines the …


Was The Imf's Imposition Of Economic Regime Change In Korea Justified? A Critique Of The Imf's Economic And Political Role Before And After The Crisis, James Crotty, Kang-Kook Lee Jan 2004

Was The Imf's Imposition Of Economic Regime Change In Korea Justified? A Critique Of The Imf's Economic And Political Role Before And After The Crisis, James Crotty, Kang-Kook Lee

PERI Working Papers

As late as October 1997 the IMF declared that the Korean economy was experiencing a temporary liquidity squeeze, not a solvency problem. Yet in December 1997 Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer declared that Korea suffered from a systemic “breakdown of economic relations” so complete that only radical economic restructuring could restore prosperity. The IMF attached what it called “extreme structural conditionality” to its loan agreements with Korea, demanding a complete and rapid transition from Korea’s traditional East Asian economic model to a globally integrated neoliberal model. We subject the IMF’s assertion that the allocative efficiency of the Korean economy had …


Deepening Divides In The U.S. Economy, 2004: Jobless Recovery And The Return Of Fiscal Deficits, Robert Pollin Jan 2004

Deepening Divides In The U.S. Economy, 2004: Jobless Recovery And The Return Of Fiscal Deficits, Robert Pollin

PERI Working Papers

Writing in March 2004, two manifestations of the current conditions have become most prominent, having become, in fact, major news stories on an almost daily basis as we move deeply into the Presidential election season. The first is the so called “jobless recovery” from the 2001 recession, and the second is the return to large fiscal deficits by the federal government. In what follows, I wish to consider both of these developments, showing how they both reflect and reinforce the economy’s negative trajectory, though not primarily for the reasons that have been most prominently cited in mainstream discussions of these …


Review (For Challenge Magazine) Of The Roaring Nineties: A New History Of The World’S Most Prosperous Decade By Joseph E. Stiglitz, Robert Pollin Jan 2004

Review (For Challenge Magazine) Of The Roaring Nineties: A New History Of The World’S Most Prosperous Decade By Joseph E. Stiglitz, Robert Pollin

PERI Working Papers

In The Roaring Nineties, Professor Joseph Stiglitz delivers a forceful and largely effective attack on U.S. economic policy during the Presidency of Bill Clinton. The author undertakes this criticism despite the fact that Bill Clinton chose him to serve as a Member and then Chair, of his Council of Economic Advisors. In 1997, Stiglitz moved on to become Chief Economist at the World Bank, another position which he could not have obtained without the endorsement of the Clinton Administration. In the book’s preface, Stiglitz makes clear his sincere appreciation to President Clinton for appointing him to these senior policymaking posts. …


Air Pollution And Per Capita Income, Rachel A. Bouvier Jan 2004

Air Pollution And Per Capita Income, Rachel A. Bouvier

PERI Working Papers

During the last decade, researchers have investigated the relationship between per capita income and environmental quality. This paper disaggregates the relationship between per capita income and emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds into scale, composition and technology effects, using data from European and North American countries from the period 1980-1986. Results indicate that the scale effect outweighs the composition and technology effects in the cases of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds, while the opposite is true in the cases of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. The results also suggest that greater democracy is …


International Environmental Justice: Building The Natural Assets Of The World’S Poor, Krista Harper, S. Ravi Rajan Jan 2004

International Environmental Justice: Building The Natural Assets Of The World’S Poor, Krista Harper, S. Ravi Rajan

PERI Working Papers

In recent years, vibrant social movements have emerged across the world to fight for environmental justice – for more equitable access to natural resources and environmental quality, including clean air and water. In seeking to build community rights to natural assets, these initiatives seek to advance simultaneously the goals of environmental protection and poverty reduction. This paper sketches the contours of struggles for environmental justice within and among countries, and illustrates with examples primarily drawn from countries of the global South and the former Soviet bloc.


A Future For Small Farms? Biodiversity And Sustainable Agriculture, James K. Boyce Jan 2004

A Future For Small Farms? Biodiversity And Sustainable Agriculture, James K. Boyce

PERI Working Papers

Small farms play a crucial role in conserving the agricultural biodiversity that underpins longterm food security worldwide. Particularly in centers of crop genetic diversity – such as Mesoamerica in the case of maize (corn) and the Andean region in the case of potatoes – small farmers are the ‘keystone species’ in agricultural ecosystems of great value to humankind. Today, however, a formidable nexus of market forces and political forces threatens both small farmers and the biodiversity they sustain. Countervailing public policies are urgently needed. These should include the removal of existing policy biases against small farmers; social recognition of the …


Rising Foreign Outsourcing And Employment Losses In U.S. Manufacturing, 1987-2002, James Burke, Gerald Epstein, Minsik Choi Jan 2004

Rising Foreign Outsourcing And Employment Losses In U.S. Manufacturing, 1987-2002, James Burke, Gerald Epstein, Minsik Choi

PERI Working Papers

Foreign outsourcing, otherwise known as off-shoring, has become a matter of intense public debate and great concern in the United States presidential contest, especially in light of the large job losses experienced by U.S. workers since George Bush became president. Yet, there is a lack of good data on foreign outsourcing since the early 1990s. This paper presents updated measures of foreign outsourcing for the recent period. Its main findings are that the share of foreign-sourced goods in total manufactured inputs almost doubled – from 12.4% to 22.1%– in U.S. manufacturing between 1987 and 2002. Since the early 1990s, outsourcing …


Declining Corporate Income Taxes In The 1990s: A State-By-State Analysis Of Effective Tax Rates, Elissa Braunstein Jan 2004

Declining Corporate Income Taxes In The 1990s: A State-By-State Analysis Of Effective Tax Rates, Elissa Braunstein

PERI Working Papers

Between 1995 and 2000, inflation-adjusted federal corporate income taxes grew an average of 2.0 percent a year; the annual average for state and local corporate tax revenue actually declined by 0.12 percent during the same period. A number of statelevel studies have documented this decline by showing that corporations are paying a declining share of state taxes. But such results are inconclusive because they do not control for changes in corporate profitability. In this paper we use data from the National Income and Product Accounts to create a time series of corporate profits by state, enabling us to investigate corporate …


Compensation For Environmental Services And Rural Communities: Lessons From The Americas, Herman Rosa, Deborah Barry, Susan Kandel, Leopoldo Dimas Jan 2004

Compensation For Environmental Services And Rural Communities: Lessons From The Americas, Herman Rosa, Deborah Barry, Susan Kandel, Leopoldo Dimas

PERI Working Papers

In principle, payments for environmental services – such as watershed management, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration – can advance the goals of both environmental protection and poverty reduction. A review of recent initiatives in the Americas suggests, however, that this desirable combination is not automatic. If payments for environmental services (PES) schemes are to be an effective vehicle for strengthening livelihoods in poor rural communities, they must be designed with that objective firmly in mind. This paper draws key lessons from diverse experiences in Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, and New York.


Levels, Differences And Ecms – Principles For Improved Econometric Forecasting, P. Geoffrey Allen, Robert Fildes Jan 2004

Levels, Differences And Ecms – Principles For Improved Econometric Forecasting, P. Geoffrey Allen, Robert Fildes

PERI Working Papers

An avalanche of articles has described the testing of a time series for the presence of unit roots. However, economic model builders have disagreed on the value of testing and how best to operationalise the tests. Sometimes the characterization of the series is an end in itself. More often, unit root testing is a preliminary step, followed by cointegration testing, intended to guide final model specification. A third possibility is to specify a general vector autoregression model, then work to a more specific model by sequential testing and the imposition of parameter restrictions to obtain the simplest data-congruent model ‘fit …


Direct And Market Effects Of Enforcing Emissions Trading Programs: An Experimental Analysis, James J. Murphy, John K. Stranlund Jan 2004

Direct And Market Effects Of Enforcing Emissions Trading Programs: An Experimental Analysis, James J. Murphy, John K. Stranlund

PERI Working Papers

Since firms in an emissions trading program are linked together through a permit market, so too are their compliance choices. Thus, enforcement strategies for trading programs must account for not only the direct effects of enforcement on compliance and emissions decisions, but also the indirect effects that occur because changes in enforcement can induce changes in permit prices. This paper uses laboratory experiments to test for these direct and indirect market effects. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find a direct effect of enforcement on individual violations, as well as a countervailing market effect through the permit price. Thus, the productivity …


An Economic Valuation Of Recreational Shellfishing On Cape Cod, David T. Damery, P. Geoffrey Allen Jan 2004

An Economic Valuation Of Recreational Shellfishing On Cape Cod, David T. Damery, P. Geoffrey Allen

PERI Working Papers

Estimated total value for recreational shellfishing on Cape Cod was $7.4 million in 2002, based on results of a survey of 233 shellfish permit holders, a figure that has roughly kept pace with inflation based on a similar study conducted in 1975. The total value is made up of two components, the actual permit fees collected ($387,000) and an estimate of consumer surplus, which was based on willingness to accept compensation to give up a fishing permit and hence is unbounded by the survey respondents’ income. An estimate based on willingness-to-pay (WTP) gave a total value estimate of $1.0 million …


Pricing-To-Market: Price Discrimination Or Product Differentiation?, Nathalie Lavoie, Qihong Liu Jan 2004

Pricing-To-Market: Price Discrimination Or Product Differentiation?, Nathalie Lavoie, Qihong Liu

PERI Working Papers

We employ a vertical differentiation model to examine the potential bias in pricing-tomarket (PTM) results when using unit values aggregating differentiated products. Our results show that: i) false evidence of PTM (“pseudo PTM”) is always found when using unit values, whether the law of one price holds or not; and ii) the extent to which results are biased due to pseudo PTM increases with the level of product differentiation. Correspondingly, our simulation results suggest that: i) it is possible to get a statistically significant estimate of the exchange rate coefficient, even when there is no real PTM; ii) the probability …


Hypothetical Bias In Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation Studies, Michael Ash, James J. Murphy, Thomas H. Stevens Jan 2004

Hypothetical Bias In Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation Studies, Michael Ash, James J. Murphy, Thomas H. Stevens

PERI Working Papers

This paper uses a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between hypothetical bias and the price respondents are asked to pay. For public goods, the results clearly indicate a difference in the price elasticity between hypothetical and actual payment conditions. Since the bias increases for larger dollar amounts, any simple guidelines, such as NOAA’s “divide by two” rule of thumb, could be misleading. Future attempts to calibrate contingent valuation responses should reflect this price sensitivity.


The Economics Of Implementing Traceability In Beef Supply Chains: Trends In Major Producing And Trading Countries, Diogo M. Souza-Monteiro, Julie A. Caswell Jan 2004

The Economics Of Implementing Traceability In Beef Supply Chains: Trends In Major Producing And Trading Countries, Diogo M. Souza-Monteiro, Julie A. Caswell

PERI Working Papers

Countries have implemented traceability systems, especially after discovery of BSE in cattle, in order to quickly identify hazard sources. We compare the economic impacts of mandatory and voluntary systems in the EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and the United States in terms of the systems’ breadth, depth, and precision.


Guard Labor: An Essay In Honor Of Pranab Bardhan, Samuel Bowles, Arjun Jayadev Jan 2004

Guard Labor: An Essay In Honor Of Pranab Bardhan, Samuel Bowles, Arjun Jayadev

Economics Department Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.


Separate And Unequal: The Effect Of Unequal Access To Employment-Based Health Insurance On Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual People, Michael A. Ash, Lee Badgett Jan 2004

Separate And Unequal: The Effect Of Unequal Access To Employment-Based Health Insurance On Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual People, Michael A. Ash, Lee Badgett

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Employers’ standard practice of including legal spouses in health insurance is likely to place people in unmarried couples at a significant disadvantage for obtaining coverage. Data from married and unmarried couples in the Current Population Survey confirm that people with unmarried partners are two to three times more likely to lack health insurance than are people in married couples, even after controlling for factors that influence coverage. A requirement to provide the same benefits for partners as are provided to spouses would reduce the proportion of uninsured people in same-sex couples and different-sex couples by as much as 50%. We …


Steindlian Models Of Growth And Stagnation, Peter Flaschel, Peter Skott Jan 2004

Steindlian Models Of Growth And Stagnation, Peter Flaschel, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Following an analysis of the relation between a standard Steindlian model of stagnation and Steindl’s own analysis, we modify the standard model by introducing endogenous changes in the markup and a reformulation of the investment function. These extensions, which address significant weaknesses of the standard model, find support in Steindl’s writing and leave intact some of Steindl’s key results. In a further extension, we add a labour market and analyse the stabilizing influence of a Marxian reserve-army mechanism. The implications of the extended model for the effects of increased oligopolization are largely in line with Steindl’s predictions.


Aid, Conditionality, And War Economies, James K. Boyce Jan 2004

Aid, Conditionality, And War Economies, James K. Boyce

Economics Department Working Paper Series

When natural resource revenues provide an important motive and/or means for armed conflict, the transition from war peace faces three challenges: (i) ensuring that the benefits and costs of natural resource exploitation are distributed so as to ease rather than exacerbate social tensions; (ii) channeling revenues to peaceful and productive purposes; and (iii) promoting accountability and transparency in natural resource management. Aid conditionality can help to address these challenges provided that three prerequisites are met: (i) there are domestic parties with sufficient authority and legitimacy to strike and implement aid-for-peace bargains; (ii) donor governments and agencies make peace their top …


The Current Non-Status Of General Equilibrium Theory, Donald W. Katzner Jan 2004

The Current Non-Status Of General Equilibrium Theory, Donald W. Katzner

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper argues that the abandonment of general equilibrium theory by microeconomists was a mistake. It provides counter arguments to two of the reasons for that abandonment — lack of both generality and consistency with methodological individualism in uniqueness and stability analysis of equilibria — and urges microeconomists to refocus some of their attention on it.


Female Land Rights And Rural Household Incomes In Brazil, Paraguay And Peru, Carmen Diana Deere, Rosa Luz Durán, Merrilee Mardon, Tom Masterson Jan 2004

Female Land Rights And Rural Household Incomes In Brazil, Paraguay And Peru, Carmen Diana Deere, Rosa Luz Durán, Merrilee Mardon, Tom Masterson

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper explores the determinants of female land rights and their impact on household income levels among owner-operated farms in Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Previous studies in Latin America suggest that the gender of the household head is not a significant predictor of household income, not unsurprising given the ambiguities with which self-declared headship is associated. We hypothesize that female land rights, by increasing women’s options, are a positive determinant of household income, but given the disadvantages that they face as farmers, that their land rights will more likely impact upon off-farm rather than farm income. Regression analysis indicates that …


Fairness As A Source Of Hysteresis In Employment And Relative Wages, Peter Skott Jan 2004

Fairness As A Source Of Hysteresis In Employment And Relative Wages, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper analyses the inlfuence of norms of fairness on wage formation. Fairness is defined by 'real-wage' and 'relative-wage' norms that relate wage offers to workers' own current wage and to the wages of other groups of workers, and, to avoil shirking, firms pay their wages. The wage norms change endogenously, and the result is hysteresis with respect to both employment and the distribution of wages. An extention of the model that allows 'induced overeducation' may help explain trends in wage inequality.


By What Measure? Family Time Devoted To Children In The U.S., Nancy Folbre, Jayoung Yoon, Kade Finnoff, Allison Sidle Fuligni Jan 2004

By What Measure? Family Time Devoted To Children In The U.S., Nancy Folbre, Jayoung Yoon, Kade Finnoff, Allison Sidle Fuligni

Economics Department Working Paper Series

We argue that previous research on time devoted to child care has devoted insufficient attention to the definition and conceptualization of care time. Three separate problems are evident. First, the conventional focus on explicit activities with children distracts attention from the larger responsibilities of “passive” care, which ranges from time when children are sleeping to time when they are in the same room but not engaged in an activity with parents. Second, empirical analysis of activity time focuses almost exclusively on parents, overlooking the role of relatives such as grandmothers and siblings. Third, measurement of active care time typically ignores …


Ideological State Apparatuses, Consumerism, And U.S. Capitalism: Lessons For The Left, Richard D. Wolff Jan 2004

Ideological State Apparatuses, Consumerism, And U.S. Capitalism: Lessons For The Left, Richard D. Wolff

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Althusser’s pioneering concept of “ideological state apparatuses” is extended to the unique role of consumerism as a particular ideology enabling and supporting U.S. capitalism. It is argued that rising levels of worker consumption have functioned effectively to compensate workers for (and thereby allow) rising rates of exploitation and their negative social effects. For such compensation to succeed requires that workers embrace an ideology stressing the importance of consumption, namely consumerism. It is argued that the weakness of the US left (in labor unions, parties, and movements) stems in part from having endorsed this consumerism rather than undermining it within the …


Mythical Ages And Methodological Strictures — Joan Robinson’S Contributions To The Theory Of Economic Growth, Peter Skott Jan 2004

Mythical Ages And Methodological Strictures — Joan Robinson’S Contributions To The Theory Of Economic Growth, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper considers some methodological aspects of Joan Robinson’s contribution to post-Keynesian growth theory. Joan Robinson’s criticisms of equilibrium analysis, of the conflation of logical and historical time and of the uses (and misuses) of mathematical formalisation are scathing. But while many of her points are well taken, parts of her argument appear questionable. As a result, her methodological critique of equilibrium economics may be misleading. Moreover, she failed to appreciate the potential gains from mathematical formalisation. The further development of a Robinsonian analysis of economic growth calls for a reconsideration of these aspects of her legacy.


Election Campaigns, Agenda Setting And Electoral Outcomes, Manfred J. Holler, Peter Skott Jan 2004

Election Campaigns, Agenda Setting And Electoral Outcomes, Manfred J. Holler, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Framing effects and bounded rationality imply that election campaigns may be an important determinant of election outcomes. This paper uses a two-party setting and simple game theoretic models to analyse the strategic interaction between the parties’ campaign decisions. Alternations of power emerge naturally, even if both electoral preferences and party positions remain constant.


The Blessing Of Commons: Small Scale Fisheries, Community Property Rights, And Coastal Natural Assets, John Kurien Jan 2004

The Blessing Of Commons: Small Scale Fisheries, Community Property Rights, And Coastal Natural Assets, John Kurien

PERI Working Papers

Following the influential article of Garrett Hardin titled ‘tragedy of the commons,’ it is part of both popular and scholarly belief that unless natural resources are strictly in the domain of private or state property, their fate is inevitable ruin. Closer examination of the actions of lowincome communities who depend on natural resources for their daily livelihoods has recently brought to the fore a more positive view about human proclivity for caring and nurturing common resources found in nature (Hardin 1968).