Public Economics Commons^™

Introducing: The Survey Of Professional Forecasters, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

Forecasts play a crucial role in the economy. Businesses won't hire workers as readily if they think the economy may go into a recession soon. Long-term interest rates will rise if people in the financial markets expect inflation to increase. And firms are less likely to borrow money for new investment spending today if they think interest rates will soon decline.

Forecasts are important for many decisions, but not many people have the knowledge and experience to forecast economic variables well. It makes sense, therefore, for people to rely on the forecasts of experts. One easy way to get these …

Providence's Unending Quest For Cash, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The mayor of Providence has a big problem. How can he balance a budget that addresses the needs of an increasingly large number of people, yet deal with a declining tax base that is less able to pay for theses extra services?"

How Goes The American Dream?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Americans are a hard-working lot. The ambitious American worker has fewer holidays, less vacation time and other benefits than Western Europeans. They are well-rewarded for their pursuit of the American dream. Home ownership rates in this country are among the highest rates in the world. The typical American worker has more cars and more kitchen gadgets, electronic hardware, recreational gear and more computers in his home than any other worker in the world."

Impacts Of Growth A Buildout Analysis, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This study was constructed to develop and submit a build-out analysis report to the town of New Salem, Massachusetts. The town's Planning Board was interested in finding ways to direct the potential development to preserve the town's in inherent character and maximizing revenues. In particular, they wanted to incorporate some of these measures in the subdivision regulations which were being rewritten.

Pelham Organizational Structure Evaluation Of Property Assessment And Tax, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The goal of this report was to evaluate the governmental structure of the Town of Pelham, Massachusetts. The scope of the project focused on the organizational structure of Pelham’s assessing and collecting offices. A series of strategies were researched and offered as part of the report as a potential alternative to the present system.

Comparative Analysis Of Competitive Advantage For Holyoke Massachusetts, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report was made to provide an overview of how Holyoke, Massachusetts compared to the other fifteen towns and cities in Western Massachusetts. A snapshot matrix was developed that compared Holyoke with each of the towns in one matrix. In the snapshot matrix a standard hypothetical comparison was developed and used to compare the towns in each of the separate categories.

Capital Facilities Inventory And Assessment Study Grafton, Massachusetts, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The reason for this report was to provide a public facilities inventory component for the Grafton Master Plan, assess the existing levels of public services in relation to capital facilities, and research an array of standards and guidelines through which Grafton, Massachusetts could identify excess or deficient capital facilities.

A Methodology For Determining The Local Impacts Of Defense Spending, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report was meant to determine what the economic impact of Department of Defense cutbacks would have been on local communities in Western Massachusetts. This project provided a methodology to determine what these local impacts were. The plan was to have policy makers use this data to create strategies which may ease the effects of defense spending cutbacks on their communities.

A Comparative Analysis Fire, Police, And Public Works Departments Pelham, Massachusetts, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

In an ongoing effort to evaluate the effectiveness of its operations, the Town of Pelham engaged the services of the Center for Economic Development (CED) at the University of Massachusetts to examine the Highway (DPW), Police and Fire departments.

To that end, CED produced a detailed matrix comparing Pelham's three departments with those of three other communities; contacted professional and government organizations for potentially useful trends and researched additional information requested by the town. Herewith are the results of these efforts.

It was agreed that a comparative analysis of an extensive list of descriptive characteristics between Pelham's and three other …

The Role Of Equilibrium And Disequilibrium In Modeling Regional Growth And Decline: A Critical Reassessment, Philip E. Graves, Peter R. Mueser

PHILIP E GRAVES

The assumption of interregional equilibrium in migration research has recently been attacked. At issue is the motivation for on-going migration if rents and wages accurately compensate for spatial amenity variations; but if rents and wages fail to accurately compensate potential migrants, then amenity valuations must be flawed. We here show that arguments supporting substantial disequilibrium in the U.S. economy are unconvincing. The substantive issues are then clarified by a model which allows for both equilibrium and disequilibrium migration. We conclude that intertemporally systematic migration stems predominantly from equilibrium forces.

Speed Variance, Enforcement, And The Optimal Speed Limit, Philip E. Graves, Dwight Lee, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

A model of the optimal speed limit is developed which explicitly recognizes the roles of average speed, speed variance, and the level of enforcement. An unusual result emerges, namely that a higher speed limit may be optimal when reducing the variance in highway speeds reduces accident externalities.

A Test Of The Theory Of Optimal Taxation For The United States, 1869-1989, Gregory Hess

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

A popular theory of optimal tax policies suggests that tax rates should follow a random walk. This paper extends the existing empirical literature in three ways. First, the impact on the marginal utility of consumption when the government chooses a tax plan to smooth the distorting impact of taxes is considered. Second, exogenous changes in the real rate of interest are incorporated into the government's optimal tax plan. Finally, the tax elasticity of output is not constant over time. Allowing for these changes, there is evidence that the government discounts the future, attempts to smooth the distorting impact of taxes …

Of Diagnoses And Discrimination: Discriminatory Nontreatment Of Infants With Hiv Infection, Mary Crossley

Articles

Evidence of physician attitudes favoring the withholding of needed medical treatment from infants infected with HIV compels a reassessment of the applicability and adequacy of existing law in dealing with selective nontreatment. Although we can hope to have learned some lessons from the Baby Doe controversy of the mid-1980s, whether the legislation emerging from that controversy, the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, has ever adequately dealt with the problem of nontreatment remains far from clear. Today, the medical and social characteristics of most infants infected with HIV introduce new variables into our assessment of that legislation. At stake are the …

Speed Variance, Enforcement, And The Optimal Speed Limit, Philip E. Graves, Dwight Lee, Robert L. Sexton

Robert L Sexton

A model of the optimal speed limit is developed which explicitly recognizes the roles of average speed, speed variance, and the level of enforcement. An unusual result emerges, namely that a higher speed limit may be optimal when reducing the variance in highway speeds reduces accident externalities.

Purification And Characterization Of Porin From Corn (Zea Mays L.) Mitochondria, Philadelphia University

Philadelphia University, Jordan

No abstract provided.

Tax Exporting, Federal Deductibility, And State Tax Structure, Gilbert E. Metcalf

Gilbert E. Metcalf

This paper studies the interaction between the federal and state tax systems during the 1980s and, in particular, considers how the Tax Reform Act of 1986 affected state tax structure. Using a panel data set on state governments over a nine-year period, I estimate tax share equations for six categories of taxes. I find that the state personal income tax is sensitive to changes in its tax price, but find a much smaller sensitivity to changes in tax prices for the general sales tax. I then consider various reasons why the sales tax does not exhibit a sensitivity to changes …