Economics Commons^™

Competition For Innovation, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Both antitrust and IP law are limited and imperfect instruments for regulating innovation. The problems include high information costs and lack of sufficient knowledge, special interest capture, and the jury trial system, to name a few. More fundamentally, antitrust law and intellectual property law have looked at markets in very different ways. Further, over the last three decades antitrust law has undergone a reformation process that has made it extremely self conscious about its goals. While the need for such reform is at least as apparent in patent and copyright law, very little true reform has actually occurred.

Antitrust has …

Distributive Justice And Consumer Welfare In Antitrust, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The dominant view of antitrust policy in the United States is that it is intended to promote some version of economic welfare. More specifically, antitrust promotes allocative efficiency by ensuring that markets are as competitive as they can practicably be, and that firms do not face unreasonable roadblocks to attaining productive efficiency, which refers to both cost minimization and innovation.

The distribution concern that has dominated debates over United States antitrust policy over the last several decades is whether antitrust should adopt a “consumer welfare” principle rather than a more general neoclassical “total welfare” principle. In The Antitrust Paradox Robert …

The Trajectory Of Warwick Junction As A Site Of Inclusivity In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Kara Van Schilfgaarde Van Schilfgaarde

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Warwick Junction, a thriving trading hub in the inner city of Durban, has long been considered one of the best examples of collaborative urban management practices between the local government and informal traders. In a post-apartheid South Africa, there was a national desire to transform the old systems of governance, which in Warwick translated to city government institutions making an effort to include informal traders in the policymaking and management processes. This paper tracks the history of Warwick Junction, using its oppressive past to frame common perspectives of informal trade. It considers the legacy of the post-apartheid era South Africa, …

A Case Study Of Rural Finance Self-Help Groups In Uganda And Their Impact On Poverty Alleviation And Development, Rebecca Flynn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of financial Self-Help Groups (SHGs)on poverty alleviation and development in rural areasof Uganda and evaluate their successes, limitations, and potential for sustainability.An extensive literature review ofpovertyin Uganda, development theories and development in Uganda,andrural finance self-help group methodology and theorieswas conducted in order to provide a broader context for the research.

The participants in the research were members of SHGs in Central Uganda under the Self-Help Group Approach Uganda (SHGAU) organization andemployees of SHGAU.The primary methods were personal interviews and focus groups. Thesegave the researcher insight into the goals and structure …

The Effect Of Snap On Poverty, Laura Tiehen, Dean Jolliffe, Timothy Smeeding

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

On signing the Food Stamp Act of 1964, President Johnson noted that “as a permanent program, the food stamp plan will be one of our most valuable weapons for the war on poverty” (Johnson, 1964). From a humble beginning of 2.9 million recipients per month and $228 million in benefits in 1969 (earliest national figures), the program has grown to serve 47 million persons with benefits of over $74.6 Billion in 2012 (USDA, 2013a). In the late 60’s and early 70’s, when the average monthly benefit was under $20 per month per month, we did not record the effects of …

Property Value Impacts Of Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions Under Uncertainty, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Senay Solak, Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations seek to stabilize neighborhoods affected by the recent foreclosure crisis through acquisition and redevelopment of distressed properties. One rationale for this work is the alleviation or avoidance of negative foreclosure impacts. We estimate the lost value to proximate properties associated with a single foreclosure through a Markov chain representing probabilistic transitions between foreclosure stages. We apply our model to a case study of foreclosure properties in Chelsea, MA. A rank ordering by estimated property value impacts indicates significant potential gains in social value as compared to current community development practice. We extend our basic model to address …

The Art Of Getting In The Way: Five Years Of The Bndes Platform, Peter Spink, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

When a coalition of civil society organizations began to pry into the finances of Brazil’s powerful national development bank, it challenged the status quo and advanced the call for a more transparent, balanced, and democratic economic policy.

The short summary and full version of this case study are available in English. The short summary case study is available in French and Spanish.

LINK: http://internationalbudget.org/publications/the-art-of-getting-in-the-way-five-years-of-the-bndes-platform-2/

Agency Decision-Making For Climate Change: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And The Bounds Of Rationality, Laura Carr

Pomona Senior Theses

Climate change tests the limits of human understanding of complexity and uncertainty. It challenges assumptions about our presumed power of control over this planet. This paper examines the theory of how governmental executive branch agencies make regulation decisions about climate change using the decision-making methodologies of cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle, and as influenced by perceptions of the bounds of human rationality and ability to deal with risk and uncertainty.

Llaguepulli Y La Resistencia Mapuche Dentro Del Espacio Del Indio Permitido, Marlen Rosas

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research aims to analyze the current relationship of the Mapuche movement to the political space allowed to them by the neoliberal Chilean state. This space, which authors Charles R. Hale and Rosamel Milláman call the space of the “indio permitido,” or permitted Indian, is a product of the rhetoric of multiculturalism created by various neoliberal Latin American states with the goal of pacifying their respective indigenous populations by integrating them to the dominant economic, political, and social systems. In Chile, the National Corporation of Indigenous Development, or CONADI, is the primary organism of the state through which the …

Foreign Assistance And Fiscal Transparency: The Impact Of The Open Budget Initiative On Donor Policies And Practices, Linnea Mills, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

This paper presents research that sought to document how, when, and why three donor agencies — the U.S. Department of State, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) — have adopted the Open Budget Index in language and practice; assesses the contributions of the Open Budget Initiative and its partners to achieving these apparent advocacy successes; and analyzes other factors that may have influenced the decision of these three donors to use the language and methodology advocated by the Open Budget Initiative. In conclusion, the analysis of the three donor case studies covered in …

Symposium Report: Findings From The Research Roundtable On The Economic And Community Impact Of Broadband, Edward Feser, John Horrigan, William Lehr

Edward J Feser

In December 2012, a group of experts spanning disciplines and practice in the field of broadband policy met to discuss how the research community can better serve state and local policymakers and other stakeholders. This group of subject matter experts was convened to examine how best to measure the economic impact of state and national broadband deployment and capacity/adoption building efforts. The impetus for the symposium stemmed from the widespread view that there is a deficit of research, standards, and measurements to adequately inform the widely acknowledged view that broadband Internet is a driver of sustainable economic and community development. …

Budget Transparency In Afghanistan: A Pathway To Building Public Trust In The State, Nematullah Bizhan

International Budget Partnership

This case study discusses major improvements in government budget transparency and public engagement in Afghanistan, presenting an analysis of the roles of the following actors in the trend toward more open budgeting: 1) the International Budget Partnership, foreign donors, civil society organizations, and the media; 2) the government; and 3) the legislature. This paper argues that by increasing its OBI score from 8 in 2008 to 21 in 2010, Afghanistan has made important progress, though it still remains below average. But donors, CSOs, and to some extent the media are putting increasing pressure on the government to improve its Public …

The Impact Of The International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Survey And Its Partner Institution's Advocacy On Budget Transparency In Honduras, Hugo Noe Pino, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

This case study looks at how the preparation and publication of the Open Budget Survey 2010 in Honduras increased awareness of Honduras’ budget transparency problems. The increased attention given to these issues brought together local civil society organizations, the International Budget Partnership, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the government of Honduras to make progress on budget transparency. Also, the IBP’s technical assistance to the government of Honduras played an important role in the recent publication of budget documents, which combined with a strong government will have provided the basis for public finance management reforms. Although the main incentive for the …

The Unintended Consequences Of Regulation In The Presence Of Multiple Unpriced Externalities: Evidence From The Transportation Sector, Antonio M. Bento, Daniel Kaffine, Kevin Roth, Matthew Zaragoza

Antonio M. Bento

In transportation systems with unpriced congestion, allowing single-occupant low-emission vehicles in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to encourage their adoption exacerbates congestion costs for carpoolers. The resulting welfare effects of the policy are negative, with environmental benefits overwhelmingly dominated by the increased congestion costs. Exploiting the introduction of the Clean Air Vehicle Stickers policy in California with a regression discontinuity design, our results imply a best-case cost of $124 per ton of reductions in greenhouse gases, $606,000 dollars per ton of nitrogen oxides reduction, and $505,000 dollars per ton of hydrocarbon reduction, exceeding those of other options readily available to …

Entrepreneurship Education In The Research-Intensive Entrepreneurial University, Edward Feser

Edward J Feser

Knowledge commercialisation and commodification are important components of universities’ “Third Mission” to contribute to the development of their home regions by strengthening their engagement with the public, private, and third sectors. Entrepreneurship education programmes have tended to develop in parallel to such “entrepreneurial university” initiatives, rather than in intentional alignment with them. This is reflected in the research literature as well, where the analysis of the “entrepreneurial university” and studies of entrepreneurship education have little overlap. This paper examines the evolution of the entrepreneurship education initiative of a single research-intensive institution—the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom—and the ways …

Isserman's Impact: Quasi-Experimental Comparison Group Designs In Regional Research, Edward Feser

Edward J Feser

Applications using quasi-experimental comparison group designs in regional science and geography have increased substantially over the last three decades, inspired by the work of Andrew Isserman and colleagues in the 1980s and 1990s, robust literatures on quasi-experimental design in fields like education and psychology, a vast program evaluation literature, observational studies methodology in statistics, and the growing interest in experimental and non-experimental (natural) designs in empirical economics. This paper discusses the state of quasi-experimental comparison group research today, with a primary focus on studies in which regions—Census tracts, counties, cities, metropolitan areas, provinces, or states—are the units of analysis. There …

Sharing What Works Through South-South Cooperation: The Case Of The Risk Reduction Management Centre Replication Project, Rachel M. Cohn

Capstone Collection

The Risk Reduction Management Centre (RRMC) Replication Project, an initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), aims to take a Cuban best practice in disaster risk reduction and adapt it to the local context of five other Caribbean countries. This project differs from most development projects in that the individuals and institutions providing the assistance (in this case technical training and know-how) are themselves from a developing country (Cuba). This model, wherein developing countries provide resources, information, and training to other developing countries, is known as South-South Cooperation (SSC).

This capstone uses the case of the RRMC Replication Project …

India: Subsidy State Or Developmental State?, Annie Jalota

CMC Senior Theses

India does not fit easily into existing models of thought on the nature of a state and defies ease of understanding. Though India is most often considered to be a subsidy state, I show in this thesis the notion of the subsidy state does not capture the true nature of the Indian state. Chapter two of the paper looks at various models of understanding the nature of the Indian state and draw out three essential features: competing interest groups, how economic liberalization facilitates corruption and works against India’s aim of equalizing the capabilities and freedoms of all its citizens, and …

Water Governance In Bolivia: Policy Options For Pro-Poor Infrastructure Reform, Daniel M. Maxwell

CMC Senior Theses

As the case with most countries across Latin America, unprecedented migration to urban areas has strained city infrastructure systems. More particularly, the region faces a pressing crisis of water security, where rapid urbanization has outpaced water sector development. This thesis addresses the water infrastructure reform in El Alto and La Paz, Bolivia, focusing on strategies to better promote water access for the peri-urban poor. The research investigates the level of progressivity of water service expansion and pricing regimes: in other words, does the present model of water distribution positively improve the lives of the poorest groups? By investigating these social …

An Optimist's Take On The Decline Of Small-Employer Health Insurance, Allison K. Hoffman

All Faculty Scholarship

In their Article, Saving Small-Employer Health Insurance, Amy Monahan and Dan Schwarcz contend that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) could be the death of small-group health insurance by incentivizing many small employers not to offer coverage. While their prediction that the ACA, after implemented, will destabilize the small-group insurance market may prove true, I argue why their prescription that it should be saved is flawed and why we may be better off without small group insurance.

Transaction Costs Analysis Of Low-Carbon Technologies, Luis Mundaca T., Mathilde Mansoz, Lena Neij, Govinda R. Timilsina

Luis Mundaca

Transaction costs (TCs) must be taken into account when assessing the performance of policy instruments that create markets for the diffusion and commercialization of low-carbon technologies (LCTs). However, there are no comprehensive studies on the development and application of transaction cost analysis to LCTs. In this meta-analysis, a wide-ranging evaluation of TCs associated with energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon market technologies is provided. There is a plethora of different definitions of, and measurement techniques to estimate, TCs. There is wide variation in the quantitative estimates, which can be attributed to factors such as the definition used, data collection, quantification …

Walking Away From A Low-Carbon Economy? Recent And Historical Trends Using A Regional Decomposition Analysis, Luis Mundaca T., Anil Markandya, Jørgen Nørgaard

Luis Mundaca

Using the latest available data, this article provides the first regional decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Covering eight regions of the world, determinants are estimated in relative and absolute terms for the period 1971-2010. We take the 2010 global surge in CO2 emissions as an entry point for the analysis. Overall, results show that most regions have recently performed worse than their historical trends and lack of meaningful progress is identified. Whereas specific drivers for certain regions suggest some level of continuous improvement (e.g. reduced energy intensity in Asia), they are incapable of offsetting the effects of …