Economics Commons^™

Producing Law For Innovation, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

In this contribution to the forthcoming Rules for Growth prepared by the Kauffman Task Force on Law, Innovation and Growth, I first discuss why we need to think of legal infrastructure as economic infrastructure requiring focused economic policymaking, what is wrong with our existing legal infrastructure and why we need to change our modes of legal production. I then set out a vision of what greater reliance on market-based production of legal infrastructure could look like. Finally, I suggest some concrete steps that policymakers can take to move us toward a more open, competitive system of legal production. These include …

Equipping The Garage Guys In Law, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

The twin structural changes of the last few decades—globalization and the emergence of a web-based platform for economic activity--have transformed the economic demand for law. The market for law, however, has struggled to keep up with these changes, showing few signs of the kind of innovation that we see in many other sectors of the new economy. Even our most sophisticated and innovative corporations report difficulty in finding lawyers with the kinds of risk-attuned and creative problem-solving skills that they need (Hadfield 2011). Some large corporate clients have gone so far as to refuse to hire new law firm associates, …

Would Hotelling Kill The Electric Car?, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Andrew Leach, Michel Moreaux

Ujjayant Chakravorty

In this paper, we show that the potential for endogenous technological change in alternative energy sources may alter the behavior of resource-owning firms. When technological progress in an alternative energy source can occur through learning-by-doing, resource owners face competing incentives to extract rents from the resource and to prevent expansion of the new technology. We show that in such a context, it is not necessarily the case that scarcity-driven higher traditional energy prices over time will induce alternative energy supply as resources are exhausted. Rather, we show that as we increase the learning potential in the substitute technology, lower equilibrium …

Una Interpretación Sectorial-Estructural Del Bajo Crecimiento En México, Isaac Leobardo Sánchez Juárez, Cuauhtémoc Calderón

Isaac Sánchez-Juárez

Desde 1982 la economía mexicana se ha caracterizado por la presencia de bajas tasas de crecimiento económico, lo que ha deteriorado los niveles de bienestar. Siguiendo la concepción kaldoriana del desarrollo, se supone que el proceso de estancamiento que sufre el país, especialmente en los últimos años, se explica por la falta de dinamismo del sector manufacturero nacional. En este artículo se exhibe el proceso de estancamiento económico y se demuestra su correlación estadística, por medio de un test de causalidad de Granger, con la insuficiencia dinámica manufacturera. Lo que sugiere corregir la actual política económica y aplicar una nueva …

To Share Or Not To Share: Cancer And What Teachers Should Tell Students About It, Robert A. Eckhart

Robert A. Eckhart

How much personal information to disclose to students is a fundamental question teachers have been asking themselves for decades. How much should teachers tell their students – a lot or a little? How should they tell them –in class, or face-to-face? Should the teacher only tell their students in a limited manner and then not answer questions, or should they be prepared to answer any and all questions the students might have? These are difficult questions, but if the teacher approaches the disclosure in the right way – avoiding irrelevant, overly negative, or offensive disclosures – it can be a …

Workers’ View Of The Impact Of Trade On Jobs, Clair Brown, Julia Ingrid Lane, Time Sturgeon

Julia Ingrid Lane

This paper uses new data to examine how workers’ perceptions of the impact of trade on jobs are related to economic variables representing their career paths, job characteristics, and local labor market conditions. Interestingly, given prior literature, we find that workers’ perceptions do not reflect their job characteristics or the movability of their jobs. Their perceptions of trade impact primarily reflect local labor market conditions (hiring and separation rates) and education. The determinants of workers’ perceptions of trade present a different pattern compared to their perceptions of job security.

Testing The Equilibrium Exchange Rate Model, Sergio Da Silva, Guilherme Moura

Sergio Da Silva

We find favorable evidence for the textbook equilibrium exchange rate model of Stockman using Blanchard and Quah’s decomposition. Real shocks are shown to account for more than 90 percent of movements in the real exchange rate between Brazil and the United States of America, and for more than half of the nominal exchange rate changes. Impulse response functions also suggest that real shocks alter these countries’ relative prices.

Interlinked Factor Markets And Allocative Efficiency: A Case Study In Rural West Bengal, India, Dr. Arindam Laha, Dr.Pravat Kumar Kuri

Dr. Arindam Laha

The issue of the implication of interlinkage of factor markets on the allocative efficiency level of the farm households deserves a special attention in the light of the controversy among two distinct schools of thought: the Neoclassical and the Marxist. An attempt has been made in the paper to measure allocative and cost efficiencies of the interlinked holding vis-à-vis a comparable group of non-interlinked holding in the framework of Data Envelopment Analysis. Empirical evidence establishes the Neo-Classical proposition that interlinked factor markets can be considered as one of the “efficiency improving institutional change” in rural agrarian economy.

Of Revolution, Debt, And Social Unrest: The Challenges Of Political Risk, Beat Habegger, Kaspar Zellweger

Beat Habegger

No abstract provided.

Spesa Innovativa, Impatto Dell’Innovazione E Profitti Nelle Imprese Italiane, Francesco Bogliacino, Matteo Lucchese, Leopoldo Nascia, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

La capacità delle imprese di trasformare la spesa innovativa in innovazioni di successo; la capacità delle innovazioni di condurre a profitti “schumpeteriani”; l’impegno delle imprese a reinvestire tali profitti in nuova R&S e spese innovative sono tre relazioni chiave analizzate in questo lavoro con un modello a tre equazioni, applicato al panel di imprese italiane in cui sono integrati dati tratti dai conti delle imprese e dalle indagini sull’innovazione e R&S relativi al periodo 1998-2007. Il lavoro verifica la presenza di un “circolo virtuoso” tra spesa innovativa, fatturato dovuto all’innovazione e profitti nelle imprese manifatturiere italiane che sono “innovatrici persistenti”, …

Un Programma Per L'Economia, Mario Pianta

Mario Pianta

No abstract provided.

Innovation And Development. The Evidence From Innovation Surveys, Francesco Bogliacino, Giulio Perani, Mario Pianta, Stefano Supino

Mario Pianta

In this article we investigate the existing evidence on innovation produced by innovation surveys in developing and emerging countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. We review the literature, discuss methodological issues, and analyse the results for the countries with the most comparable surveys, considering the well established findings of innovation surveys for Europe as a benchmark. From the evidence we considered, regional patterns are identified and some stylized facts on innovation and development are proposed, pointing out the specificity of innovation processes in economies engaged in industrialisation and catching-up.

Engines Of Growth. Innovation And Productivity In Industry Groups, Mario Pianta, Francesco Bogliacino

Mario Pianta

The diversity of technological activities that contribute to growth in labour productivity is examined in this article for manufacturing and services industries in eight major EU countries. We test the relevance of two “engines of growth”, i.e., the strategies of technological competitiveness (based on innovation in products and markets) and cost competitiveness (relying on innovation in processes and machinery) and their impact on economic performance. We propose models for the determinants of changes in labour productivity and we carry out empirical tests for both the whole economy and for the four Revised Pavitt classes that group manufacturing and services industries …

Skill-Biased Technology Imports, Increased Schooling Access, And Income Inequality In Developing Countries, Alberto Behar

Alberto Behar

Why has schooling not countered the pervasive rises in wage inequality driven by skill-biased technical change? Using data and a model of directed technical change in which developing countries acquire technology licenses from abroad, we show technological change is skill-biased in the South simply because it is in the North. This causes permanently rising wage inequality in the South. We model expanded schooling access as producing relatively educated new cohorts of labor market entrants. This makes the market for skill-biased technologies more attractive, which generates accelerated skill-biased technical change, which leads to higher wage inequality and possibly stagnant unskilled wages.

2011 Professor's Update To Antitrust Analysis, Problems, Text, And Cases, Philip Areeda, Louis Kaplow, Aaron S. Edlin

Aaron Edlin

No abstract provided.

Do Social Connections Reduce Moral Hazard? Evidence From The New York City Taxi Industry, C. Kirabo Jackson, Henry Schneider

C. Kirabo Jackson

We investigate the role of social networks in aligning the incentives of agents in settings with incomplete contracts. We study the New York City taxi industry where taxis are often leased and lessee-drivers have worse driving outcomes than owner-drivers due to a moral hazard associated with incomplete contracts. We find that: (1) drivers leasing from members of their country-of-birth community exhibit significantly reduced effects of moral hazard; (2) network effects appear to operate via social sanctions; and (3) network benefits can help to explain the industry organization in terms of which drivers and owners form business relationships.

Disciplina De Mestrado: Geografia De Relações Internacionais, Prof. Dr. Eloi Martins Senhoras

Elói Martins Senhoras

No abstract provided.

How Does Size Matter? Investigating The Relationships Among Plant Size, Industrial Structure, And Manufacturing Productivity., Joshua Drucker

Joshua Drucker

Beyond Competing Theories Of The Hidden Economy, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the validity of rival theorisations of the hidden economy that variously read this sphere as a leftover from a previous era, a by-product of a new emergent form of capitalism, a complement to formal employment or an alternative to the formal economy. Until now, the common tendency among economic theorists has been to either universally privilege one theorisation over others, or to represent each theory as valid in different places. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate their validity to the city of Moscow, a survey is reported involving 313 face-to-face interviews with inhabitants conducted …

Evaluating The Nature Of The Relationship Between Informal Entrepreneurship And The Formal Economy In Rural Communities, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper evaluates critically the different theorizations of the nature of the relationship between informal entrepreneurship and the formal economy, which variously depict informal entrepreneurship as a leftover from a previous era, a survival practice for those excluded from the formal economy, and a complement or an alternative to participation in the formal economy. Reporting evidence from 350 face-to-face interviews in English rural communities, no single theorization is found to be universally applicable. Instead, all are shown to be valid in relation to different forms of informal entrepreneurship, and only by combining them is it feasible to achieve a finer-grained, …

The Illusion Of Capitalism In Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study Of The Gambia, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the meta-narrative that there is no alternative to capitalism. Building upon an emerging body of post-structuralist thought that has begun deconstructing this discourse in relation to western economies and post-Soviet societies, this paper further extends this critique to Sub-Saharan Africa by investigating the degree to which people in the Gambia rely on the capitalist market economy for their livelihood. Reporting the results of 80 household face-to-face interviews (involving over 500 people), the finding is that only a small minority of households in contemporary Gambian society rely on the formal market economy alone …

Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper contributes to a small but growing body of thought that has questioned the hegemony of capitalism by revealing the persistence of multifarious economic practices in everyday community economies. To further advance this school of thought, first, a conceptual framework is developed to map the diverse economic practices used by communities and second, this is applied through a survey of 600 households in Ukraine. The outcome is to reveal that just as multifarious economic practices prevailed under state socialism, the same applies in societies in transition to capitalism, suggesting that there are alternative futures for community economies beyond market …

Women Entrepreneurs In The Indian Informal Sector, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – Studies on women entrepreneurs either view women through a structuralist lens, as marginalised populations engaged in low-quality work, or through a neo-liberal lens, as engaged in relatively higher quality endeavour more as a rational choice. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these explanations in relation to women entrepreneurs in the informal sector in India. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate the contrasting explanations of structuralist and new liberal approaches, questionnaire surveys were conducted in two phases, namely 2007 and 2010, over a period of several months. The sample design was stratified random and the sample was taken …

Willingness To Pay For Electric Vehicles And Their Attributes, Michael K. Hidrue, George R. Parsons, Willett Kempton, Meryl Gardner

George Parsons

This paper presents a stated preference study of electric vehicle choice using data from a national survey. In our choice experiment, 3029 respondents chose between their preferred gasoline vehicle and two electric versions of their preferred gasoline vehicle. Using the response data we valued five electric vehicle attributes: driving range, charging time, fuel cost saving, pollution reduction, and performance. Driving range, fuel savings, and charging time led in importance to respondents. Individuals were willing to pay (wtp) from $35 to $75 for a mile of added driving range, with incremental wtp per mile decreasing at higher distances. They were willing …

Gauging The Value Of Short-Term Site Closures In A Travel-Cost Rum Model Of Recreation Demand With A Little Help From Stated Preference Data, George R. Parsons, Stela Stefanova

George Parsons

No abstract provided.

The Economic Value Of Viewing Migratory Shorebirds On The Delaware Bay: An Application Of The Single Site Travel Cost Model Using On-Site Data, Peter E T Edwards, George R. Parsons, Kelley A. Myers

George Parsons

We estimated a count data model of recreation demand using data from an on-site survey of recreational birders who had visited southern Delaware during the month-long annual horseshoe crab/shorebird spring migration in 2008. We analyzed daytrips only. Our estimates from the models ranged from $32 to $142/trip/household or about $131 to $582/season/household (2008$). The variation was due to differences in the value of time. The average household size was 1.66. We found that the valuation results were sensitive to the inclusion of covariates in the model. Our results are useful for damage assessments and benefit-cost analyses where birdwatching is affected.

Does Financial Development Reduce Corruption?, John Thornton, Yener Altunbas

John Thornton

We estimate the impact of bank credit to the private sector on corruption using indicators of a country’s legal origin as instrumental variables to assess causality. We find that bank credit to the private sector reduces corruption, with the result robust to instrumenting for bank credit and for many different controls.

Post-Crisis Financial Reform: Where Do We Stand?, John Thornton, Alessandro Giustiniani

John Thornton

The financial reform agenda is broad, ranging from strengthening prudential regulation; to enhancing supervision; from mitigating pro-cyclicality to integrating micro- and macro-prudential oversight; from reducing the systemic risk associated with large and complex financial institutions to expanding resolution process and fortifying financial market structure. Reforms are proceeding slowly but important building blocks have been laid down, such as Basel III; other difficult reforms are in the making, such as the resolution framework for cross-border financial institutions or how to deal with systemically important financial institutions. This paper presents an analytical survey of recent developments.

The Intertemporal Relation Between Government Revenue And Expenditure In The United Kingdom, 1750 To 2004, John Thornton, Lusine Lusinyan

John Thornton

We examine the intertemporal relation between government revenue and expenditure in the UK during 1750 to 2004. We pay particular attention to long run trends by applying a battery of unit root and cointegration techniques to the data, and we use a modified Granger causality test on data spans organized around structural breaks in the series. The results suggest that, allowing for structural breaks, UK real revenue and spending are I(1) series and cointegrated and that Granger causality runs from government spending to revenue. As such, the ‘spend-tax’ hypothesis appears to best characterize the long run intertemporal relation between government …

Domestic Violence And Women's Autonomy: Evidence From India, Mukesh Eswaran, Nisha Malhotra

Nisha Malhotra

This paper sets out a simple non-cooperative model of resource allocation within the household in developing countries that incorporates domestic violence as an instrument for enhancing bargaining power. We demonstrate that the extent of domestic violence faced by women is not necessarily declining in their reservation utilities, nor necessarily increasing in their spouses’. Using the National Family Health Survey data of India for 1998-99, we isolate the e¤ect of domestic violence on female autonomy, taking into account the possible two-way causality through the choice of appropriate instruments. We provide some evidence for the evolutionary theory of domestic violence, which argues …