Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Preliminary Estimate Of Short-Term Economic Losses Of The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Ling Huang, Ussif Sumaila Etc.

Ling Huang

No abstract provided.

The Way Forward With Ecosystem-Based Management In Tropical Contexts: Reconciling With Existing Management Systems, Shankar Aswani, Patrick Christie, Nyawira Muthiga, Robin Mahon, Jurgenne Primavera, Lori Cramer, Edward Barbier, Elise Cranek, Chris Kennedy, Eric Wolanski, Sally Hacker

Edward B Barbier

No abstract provided.

A Spatial Model Of Coastal Ecosystem Services, Edward Barbier

Edward B Barbier

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Rent-Seeking In Dissipating Developmental Efforts: The Ethiopian Experience, Asayehgn Desta

Asayehgn Desta

Income Polarization, Convergence Tools And Mixture Analysis, Michele Battisti, Christopher Parmeter

Christopher F. Parmeter

Modeling the cross-country distribution of per capita using mixture analysis provides a natural platform for the recovery or detection of clubs of countries. Unfortunately, these mixture methods, when based on a strictly univariate approach are limiting towards one's ability to learn about the underlying process of the emergence of the clubs. This paper takes a fresh look at the sources contributing to the emergence of clubs in the distribution of cross-country output using bivariate and multivariate mixture analysis.

Does The Individual Mandate Force Individuals To Buy Insurance?, Raphael Boleslavsky, Sergio J. Campos

Raphael Boleslavsky

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains provisions which penalize individuals for failing to purchase health insurance. These provisions are commonly known as the "individual mandate." Both critics and supporters believe that the individual mandate forces individuals to buy health insurance, but supporters argue that this coercion is necessary. This term, the Supreme Court will address the constitutionality of the mandate, and this legal issue has sparked debate about the government's power to force individuals to purchase a private good. In this Essay we question the consensus that the individual mandate forces individuals to pay for health insurance. Using …

Empirical Evidence For Decreasing Returns To Scale In A Health Capital Model, Titus Galama, Patrick Hullegie, Meijer Erik, Sarah Outcault

Titus Galama

We estimate a health investment equation, derived from a health capital model that is an extension of the well-known Grossman model. Of particular interest is whether the health production function has constant returns to scale, as in the standard Grossman model, or decreasing returns to scale, as in the Ehrlich-Chuma model and extensions thereof. The model with decreasing returns to scale has a number of theoretically and empirically desirable characteristics that the constant returns model does not have. Although our empirical equation does not point-identify the decreasing returns to scale curvature parameter, it does allow us to test for constant …

Information And Extremism In Elections, Raphael Boleslavsky, Christopher Cotton

Raphael Boleslavsky

We show that informative political campaigns can increase political extremism and decrease voter welfare. We present a model of elections in which candidate ideology is strategically selected prior to a campaign which reveals information about candidate quality. Documented means by which campaigns can harm voters are not present in our model; special interest groups, fundraising, and biased or private information are not part of the analysis. Even under these optimistic assumptions, we establish that informative campaigns have negative consequences. We discuss implications regarding media coverage, the number of debates, and campaign finance reform.