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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Economics At The Fcc, 2008-2009: Broadband And Merger Review, James Prieger, Michelle Connolly Sep 2009

Economics At The Fcc, 2008-2009: Broadband And Merger Review, James Prieger, Michelle Connolly

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Many issues have come before the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) in the last year. Some actions were taken (as with particular mergers), some actions were postponed (as with Universal Service Fund reform), and some issues are currently being tackled (the National Broadband Strategic Plan). In this paper, we focus on the topic of the National Broadband Plan, which the FCC is mandated to provide to Congress February 17, 2010, the FCC Merger Review process, and the determination of optimal penalties for violations of FCC rules or orders.


America’S Vital Interests, Ted Mcallister Aug 2009

America’S Vital Interests, Ted Mcallister

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Near mid-century the most influential journalist of the age, Walter Lippmann, appealed for a foreign policy rooted in American "vital interests" rather than a "fundamentalist" idealism. Even as he crafted a more realistic, less moralistic foreign policy, Lippmann was famously developing his controversial public philosophy grounded on a universal Natural Law. At this intersection between a nation oriented around self-evident Truth and an international order ruled by naked power and interests, Walter Lippmann produced a hard-headed via media lamentably rare in an ideological age. We have much to learn from this great American stoic whose life's work was to educate …


The Microeconomic Impacts Of E-Business On The Economy, James Prieger, Daniel Heil May 2009

The Microeconomic Impacts Of E-Business On The Economy, James Prieger, Daniel Heil

School of Public Policy Working Papers

The adoption of e-business at the microeconomic level of retail, wholesale, and labor market transactions has an enormous impact on the performance of firms and the economic welfare of consumers and workers. This article reviews, in broad outlines, the economics of e-business, focusing on empirical research. The fundamental notion that e-business and adoption of ICT lowers the cost of transferring, storing, and processing in-formation is used to organize the examination. E-business spheres of impact covered include B2C and B2B e-commerce, the labor market, and the productivity of firms. This article covers both the predicted impacts of e-business on the economy …


The Macroeconomic Impacts Of E-Business On The Economy, James Prieger, Daniel Heil May 2009

The Macroeconomic Impacts Of E-Business On The Economy, James Prieger, Daniel Heil

School of Public Policy Working Papers

The growing use of information and communications technology (ICT) by business—e-business—profoundly affects the economy. This article covers some of the macroeconomic impacts of e-business. Evidence from empirical studies examining the impact that greater use of ICT by business has on productivity and national economic growth is presented, along with discussion of how e-business changes the volatility and complicates measurement of growth. E-business can bring down inflation, but also exacerbates some monetary and fiscal policy challenges, and raises new ones. While e-payments and e-money can complicate monetary policy and may alter its goals, little effect has been seen to date. Sales …


Life Is Unfair In Latin America, But Does It Matter For Growth?, Luisa Blanco Feb 2009

Life Is Unfair In Latin America, But Does It Matter For Growth?, Luisa Blanco

School of Public Policy Working Papers

I analyze the effect of inequality on economic growth in Latin America, where inequality is measured as the area of family farms as a percentage of the total area of agricultural holdings. Using data from 18 Latin American countries between 1960 and 2004, I find that inequality has a nonlinear effect on economic growth. Overall, for the countries included in this analysis, the share of family farms has a positive significant effect on economic growth. These findings are robust to controlling for several factors, using a different indicator of inequality (land Gini), and addressing for endogeneity.


The Finance–Growth Link In Latin America, Luisa Blanco Jan 2009

The Finance–Growth Link In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

School of Public Policy Working Papers

This paper analyzes the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Latin America with a Granger causality test and impulse response functions in a panel vector autoregression model. Using annual observations from a sample of 18 countries from 1962 to 2005, it is shown that while economic growth causes financial development, financial development does not cause economic growth. This finding is robust to different model specifications and different financial indicators. Interestingly, when the sample is divided according to different income levels and institutional quality, there is two way causality between financial development and economic growth only for the middle …


Long Live Democracy: The Determinants Of Political Instability In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier Jan 2009

Long Live Democracy: The Determinants Of Political Instability In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

School of Public Policy Working Papers

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of political instability in Latin America. In a panel of 18 Latin American countries from 1971 to 2000, we find that democratic countries experience less average instability in the region, indicating that the move to increased democracy in the last couple decades may alleviate the persistent problem of instability in the area. We also find that income inequality and ethnic fractionalization are important determinants of instability. Countries with low levels of inequality also suffer less instability on average, while ethnic diversity has a non-linear effect on instability. Many macroeconomic variables commonly thought to …