Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Economics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

1996

Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 30 of 106

Full-Text Articles in Economics

A Community Divided: Coping With A Locally Unwanted Land Use, Robert H. Hamblen Nov 1996

A Community Divided: Coping With A Locally Unwanted Land Use, Robert H. Hamblen

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Locally Unwanted Land Uses constitute a phenomenon peculiar to twentieth century industrialized countries. LULUs, as they have become known, are a facility or development that is perceived by citizens, communities, regions, or states as undesireable, so much so that effort and resources sufficient to end the threat of the facility being built in a location that will significantly impact those citizens, communities, regions, or states will be expended. This scenario has been replayed time and again in the country and others, in response to uses such as halfway houses, generating plants, and landfills.

Go to article

The Future Of China: Three Scenarios, Murray L. Weidenbaum Nov 1996

The Future Of China: Three Scenarios, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This article looks at the rise of China as a world power and how this will impact American businesses.

Go to article

Where Do The Rents Go? Land Ownership In An Urban Model, Stephen Ross, John Yinger Nov 1996

Where Do The Rents Go? Land Ownership In An Urban Model, Stephen Ross, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

Despite the predominance of homeownership, general equilibrium urban models assume that rents flow to absentee landlords or are redistributed to residents. This paper explores open urban models with more realistic forms of land ownership, namely ownership of shares in a land corporation and individual home ownership. These models, which produce capital gains and losses for residents, can yield different comparative static results than previous open models, with post-shock bid functions that are flatter at the periphery or steeper at the center. Moreover, shocks to these models cannot in general be analyzed without knowing the characteristics of all the urban areas …

Go to article

The Quiet Reversal Of U.S. Climate Change Policy, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Christopher Douglass Nov 1996

The Quiet Reversal Of U.S. Climate Change Policy, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Christopher Douglass

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This paper calls for an immediate and extensive Congressional and national debate about the scope of climate change and the role of the U.S. in addressing this issue before passing any international laws.

Go to article

Small Business Lending: Barriers And Trends, Zhongcai Zhang, Ziona Austrian Oct 1996

Small Business Lending: Barriers And Trends, Zhongcai Zhang, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In recent years, small-business lending has been discussed widely among the commercial banking community, a reflection of both the growing relative importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy and the fact that large companies have developed the ability to access capital markets directly for debt and equity financing. Although their market share in small-business lending has been eroded in recent years by competition from depository and non-depository financial institutions, commercial banks remain the most frequently used source of financing for small businesses. Accordingly, this paper will focus on commercial banks. At some point during their operating history, most small …

Go to article

Singapore's Experience With Car Quotas: Issues And Policy Processes, Sock-Yong Phang, Wing-Keung Wong, Ngee-Choon Chia Oct 1996

Singapore's Experience With Car Quotas: Issues And Policy Processes, Sock-Yong Phang, Wing-Keung Wong, Ngee-Choon Chia

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper examines the policy processes behind Singapore's car quotas. The policy, when filtered through the market mechanism, had a number of unintended consequences. The public's unhappiness with certain features and [`]loopholes' of the system resulted in many changes to the rules. The effects of recent measures to curb speculation on quota premiums are evaluated. Problems with Singapore's Weekend Car Scheme are also discussed. The lesson for transport policy makers elsewhere is that in attempting to deal with the road congestion problem through car ownership policies, an asset market for vehicles should be taken into account.

Go to article

An Ambitious Agenda For Economic Growth, Murray L. Weidenbaum Sep 1996

An Ambitious Agenda For Economic Growth, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

An extensive array of expenditure, tax, and regulatory reforms could help in shifting the American economy to a sustainable higher growth path. Carrying out needed changes requires more than developing attractive new programs; it also means making a continuous stream of hard choices.

Go to article

A Model For Successful Reutilization Of A Military Installation: A Case Study Of Gentile Air Force Station, Maria L. Garcia Sep 1996

A Model For Successful Reutilization Of A Military Installation: A Case Study Of Gentile Air Force Station, Maria L. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research concerning base closure and reutilization focused on the roles of government agencies and the assistance they provided. This study looks at the community and the impact of installation closure. The process of planning for reuse of an installation is difficult and confusing. The guidance provided by the government has changed drastically since the first closures announced in the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure Committee recommendations. This study focuses on the strategy employed by Kettering, OH to successfully reuse Gentile AFS upon closure. As the final part in a longitudinal study, the research focus was lessons learned and implementation …

Go to article

Recounting Winners And Losers In The 1980s: A Critique Of Income Distribution Measurement Methodology, Richard V. Burkhauser, Amy D. Crews, Mary C. Daly Aug 1996

Recounting Winners And Losers In The 1980s: A Critique Of Income Distribution Measurement Methodology, Richard V. Burkhauser, Amy D. Crews, Mary C. Daly

Center for Policy Research

The 1980s have been characterized as a time when the “rich got richer and the poor got poorer.” Using a cross-over point methodology used in several recent studies, we show how sensitive the measurement of winners and losers can be to seemingly small differences in methodological practice. Specifically, we show sensitivity to the years compared, the income sharing unit chosen, and the inflation index used. Our results show that these and other studies of economic well-being exaggerate losses by mixing cyclical with cross-cycle effects

Go to article

The Control Of The Monetary And Banking System By The Central Bank Of Nigeria., Paul A. Ogwuma Jun 1996

The Control Of The Monetary And Banking System By The Central Bank Of Nigeria., Paul A. Ogwuma

Bullion

To understand the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria in controlling the system under the prevailing functional arrangement, it would be necessary to relate the conceptual framework of monetary and banking system control to the Bank's experience. To this end, the paper is organised in five sections. After Section One which is the introduction, Section Two examines the conceptual framework of monetary and banking system control. This is followed by Section Three which reviewed the CBN's techniques of control and their changes over the years. Section Four appraises the control measures and ascertains their effectiveness while Section Five provides …

Go to article

Mobilising Financial Resources For Growth: Nigeria's Financial Policy Perspective., Felix U. Ezeuduji Jun 1996

Mobilising Financial Resources For Growth: Nigeria's Financial Policy Perspective., Felix U. Ezeuduji

Bullion

Financial resources for growth are from several sources because no single source could provide the required funding. The major known sources of resources for growth are based to both the informal sector and formal sector activities which include the fiscal operations of the Government foreign sector transactions, capital market activities, and institutional savings mobilisation in the financial sector which is the focus of this paper. This paper is organised in five sections. The introduction constitutes Section One which provides the background, the objective and the organisation of the paper. In section Two, the conceptual framework of financial resource mobilisation is …

Go to article

Fiscal Federalism: Revenue Allocation For Economic Development In Nigeria., T. O. Okunrounmu Jun 1996

Fiscal Federalism: Revenue Allocation For Economic Development In Nigeria., T. O. Okunrounmu

Bullion

From colonial administration to independence in 1960 and 35 years of self-rule, revenue allocation in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has had a chequered history. It has been subject of intensive lobbying by politicians in the attempt to have their wishes engrained in the Constitution. This paper is prepared in three parts. Part I is a theoretical overview of fiscal federalism while Part II reviews the Nigerian experience with Fiscal Federalism. Part III analyses proposals for an effective fiscal Federalism that would enhance economic development.

Go to article

Nigeria's Domestic Public Debt Stock: An Assessment., Victor A. Odozi Jun 1996

Nigeria's Domestic Public Debt Stock: An Assessment., Victor A. Odozi

Bullion

Since the early 1980s, Nigeria has taken steps to evolve external debt management strategies encompassing refinancing, restructuring, buyback, collateralisation and debt conversion arrangements as well as issuing external borrowing guidelines. Although the county's external debt problem remains severe, judging both by the absolute level of the debt stock and the unsustainable trend of the various debt servicing ratios, such as debt stock/GDP, debt stock/exports and debt service/export earnings, it is generally acknowledged that the Government had made concerted efforts to address the problem. However, the domestic debt has not been given the same attention, if any at all. the domestic …

Go to article

The Strategy And Financing Of Economic Recovery In Africa., Ubadigbo Okonkwo Jun 1996

The Strategy And Financing Of Economic Recovery In Africa., Ubadigbo Okonkwo

Bullion

The paper examines the impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) on investment and growth in Africa and suggests the need for a new development paradigm. Working in partnership with the private sector, African Governments must establish a sound institutional and incentive framework for rapid growth. An alternative development strategy should be market-friendly and people-centred and must give priority to the accelerated expansion of exports and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In view of the bleak prospects for external financing, Africa must rely on domestic financial institutions and capital markets to mobilise the required financial resources for economic recovery.

Go to article

Financial Capital, Human Capital, And The Transition To Self-Employment; Evidence From Intergenerational Links, Thomas Dunn, Douglas Holtz-Eakin Jun 1996

Financial Capital, Human Capital, And The Transition To Self-Employment; Evidence From Intergenerational Links, Thomas Dunn, Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Center for Policy Research

The environment for business creation is central to economic policy, as entrepreneurs are believed to be forces of innovation, employment and economic dynamism. We use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) to investigate the relative importance of financial and human capital exploiting the variation provided by intergenerational links. Specifically, we estimate the impacts of parental wealth and human capital on the probability that an individual will make the transition from a wage and salary job to self-employment. We find that young men’s own financial assets exert a statistically significant, but quantitatively modest effect on the transition to self-employment. In …

Go to article

Fax: May 7, 1996,The White House, Office Of The Press Secretary May 1996

Fax: May 7, 1996,The White House, Office Of The Press Secretary

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A fax sent to Dr. Edna L. Saffy, the press release outlines President Clinton’s strong record of success meeting the challenges by the numbers. The fax gives statistics pertaining the economy and violent crimes in the United States.

Go to article

An Estimation Of Three Sets Of Indicators Of Financial Risk Among Multifamily Properties, Amy S. Bogdon, James R. Follain May 1996

An Estimation Of Three Sets Of Indicators Of Financial Risk Among Multifamily Properties, Amy S. Bogdon, James R. Follain

Center for Policy Research

A lack of information about the financial condition of multifamily properties has hindered the development of a secondary mortgage market in multifamily mortgages and federal policies to finance multifamily housing. The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of the financial condition of multifamily properties. The centerpiece of the analysis is the 1991 RFS [U.S. Bureau of the Census]. Three sets of indicators of financial distress are examined in this paper. The first is interest rate related risk. We find that twenty five percent of the properties with mortgages have contract interest rates at least 87 basis points …

Go to article

Neoisolationism And Global Realities, Murray L. Weidenbaum May 1996

Neoisolationism And Global Realities, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The United States needs to take the necessary actions to make American business and labor more productive and, thus, more competitive. Tax Reform, regulatory reform, liability law reform, and a modern labor policy can help achieve those goals.

Go to article

Work, Welfare, And The Burden Of Disability: Caring For Special Needs Of Children In Poor Families, Marcia K. Meyers, Anna Lukemeyer, Timothy M. Smeeding Apr 1996

Work, Welfare, And The Burden Of Disability: Caring For Special Needs Of Children In Poor Families, Marcia K. Meyers, Anna Lukemeyer, Timothy M. Smeeding

Center for Policy Research

This paper addresses issues which arise at the juncture of welfare and disability policies. Using preliminary data from a recent survey of current and recent AFDC recipients in California, we find that disabilities and chronic health problems affect the mothers or children in 43 percent of all households in the AFDC system. The presence of one or more children with disabilities or chronic illnesses is found to have an impact on the economic well-being of families, with increased levels of direct hardship reported by families caring for one or more severely impaired children. Potential causes of higher levels of hardship …

Go to article

The Employment Act Of 1946: A Half Century Of Experience, Murray L. Weidenbaum Apr 1996

The Employment Act Of 1946: A Half Century Of Experience, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The enactment of the Employment Act of 1946 established the Council of Economic Advisers and the congressional Joint Economic Committee. This paper discusses the role each has played since then involving economic policy.

Go to article

Four Approaches To Tax Reform, Murray L. Weidenbaum Apr 1996

Four Approaches To Tax Reform, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This report explains four alternatives to the income tax: the flat tax, the saving-friendly USA Tax, a national sales tax, and a value-added tax.

Go to article

Individuals' Lifetime Use Of Nursing Home Services: A Dynamic Microsimulation Approach, Sarah B. Laditka Apr 1996

Individuals' Lifetime Use Of Nursing Home Services: A Dynamic Microsimulation Approach, Sarah B. Laditka

Center for Policy Research

Despite the projected growth in the number of older Americans who will use nursing home services as the baby boom generation ages, there is little information about the total amount of time we can expect people to reside in nursing homes. I estimate individuals’ lifetime use of nursing home services using data from the 1984-1990 Longitudinal Study of Aging and the 1982, 1984, and 1989 National Long-Term Care Survey. A Markov model of functional status was used to estimate monthly functional status transition probabilities. Discrete-time hazard models were estimated to determine characteristics that were associated with nursing home use. Microsimulation …

Go to article

The Demand For Home Mortgage Debt And The Income Tax, James R. Follain, Robert M. Dunsky Apr 1996

The Demand For Home Mortgage Debt And The Income Tax, James R. Follain, Robert M. Dunsky

Center for Policy Research

The goal of this paper is to learn more about the demand for the amount of mortgage debt owed by United States home owners. Mortgage debt is defined to be the amount of outstanding household debt secured by the owner’s principal residence; mortgages for second homes and other real estate are not considered, but second mortgages and home equity loans are. The analysis focuses on the behavior of individual households and examines variations in the their demand for mortgage debt with respect to a variety of characteristics such as household income, age, education, and other characteristics of the household. Of …

Go to article

Do Housing Programs For Low-Income Households Improve Their Housing?, Amy D. Crews Apr 1996

Do Housing Programs For Low-Income Households Improve Their Housing?, Amy D. Crews

Center for Policy Research

The primary goals of the 1937 Housing Act were to provide safe and sanitary housing and to reduce crowding for low-income households. During the nearly 60 years since, the effective goals have expanded to include lowering housing costs, and by extension, to increasing nonhousing consumption. This paper examines the effect these programs have had on the overall consumption behavior of participants. Using data from the 1987 American Housing Survey (AHS), the results indicate that federal housing programs have little effect on the housing consumption of participants (4.4 percent increase), but an enormous effect on their nonhousing consumption (141 percent increase). …

Go to article

Government Regulation And Medium-Sized Business, Murray L. Weidenbaum Mar 1996

Government Regulation And Medium-Sized Business, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This paper attempts to analyze government regulation across the size spectrum, arguing in favor of market policies over government intrusion.

Go to article

Is This The Healthiest Economy In Three Decades?, Murray L. Weidenbaum Mar 1996

Is This The Healthiest Economy In Three Decades?, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The same people who would not admit a real economic recovery was underway in 1992 are reluctant to acknowledge that this same recovery is now old and tired in 1996. Only 31% pf the adult population is satisfied with the economy. Over one-half of Americans believe that the country is "headed in the wrong direction." For the most part, the data support these sentiments, from slowed GDP and productivity growth to increased worker insecurity. Policymakers need to take their own Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm. At the same time, they cannot sit idly by either.

Go to article

Ruthless Prepayment? Evidence From Multifamily Mortgages, James R. Follain, Jan Ondrich, Gyan P. Sinha Mar 1996

Ruthless Prepayment? Evidence From Multifamily Mortgages, James R. Follain, Jan Ondrich, Gyan P. Sinha

Center for Policy Research

Estimates of a prepayment function for multifamily mortgages are reported in this paper. These are among the first attempts to estimate such a function; most previous work along these lines focuses on single family mortgages. A further distinguishing aspect of the paper is its attempt to incorporate the impact of unobservable factors on the mortgage refinancing decision. A variant of the maximum likelihood procedure first developed by Meyer (1987) is employed. The results indicate an overall positive duration dependence for the conditional prepayment rate. The estimated response of prepayments to a change in the market rate of interest is significant …

Go to article

The Marginalization Of Social Welfare In Developing Countries: The Relevance Of Theories Of Social Policy Development, Kwong-Leung Tang Mar 1996

The Marginalization Of Social Welfare In Developing Countries: The Relevance Of Theories Of Social Policy Development, Kwong-Leung Tang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social welfare development has been marginalized in many developing countries. This study examines the social policies of developing countries and refers to four major theories of social policy development (social conscience, modernization, dependency and diffusion) to see if they offer an explanation of the phenomenon. It is argued that dependency theory and diffusion theory provide better interpretations than the other two theories. The paper shows how theories of social policy have international relevance in explaining current trends in social welfare.

Go to article

Refugee Resettlement In The United States: Implications For International Social Welfare, Miriam Potocky Mar 1996

Refugee Resettlement In The United States: Implications For International Social Welfare, Miriam Potocky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An analysis of U.S. refugee resettlement policy reveals approaches that do not address several root causes of resettlement difficulties: cultural differences, post-traumatic stress disorder, and discrimination by the host culture. Several recommendations are made for policy improvements, and suggestions for the future of international social welfare are presented.

Go to article

Reducing The Welfare Dependence Of Single-Mother Families: Health-Related Employment Barriers And Policy Responses, Jean Kimmel Mar 1996

Reducing The Welfare Dependence Of Single-Mother Families: Health-Related Employment Barriers And Policy Responses, Jean Kimmel

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The problem of rising health care costs and the related increased dependency on health insurance coverage has moved to the forefront of the U.S. policy agenda in recent years and was a fundamental component of President Clinton's 1992 campaign platform. However, the President's 1994 health care reform proposal was unsuccessful, and current GOP proposals to cut the rate of growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending while the eligible population and costs both continue to grow fail to address the problem of coverage. In fact, one likely side effect of the cost-shifting to private insurance carriers will be to increase the …

Go to article

Next Last