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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Air Pollution And Procyclical Mortality, Garth Heutel, Christopher J. Ruhm
Air Pollution And Procyclical Mortality, Garth Heutel, Christopher J. Ruhm
ECON Publications
Prior research demonstrates that mortality rates increase during economic booms and decrease during economic busts, but little analysis has been conducted investigating the role of environmental risks as potential mechanisms for this relationship. We investigate the contribution of air pollution to the procyclicality of deaths by combining state-level data on overall, cause-specific, and age-specific mortality rates with state-level measures of ambient concentrations of three types of pollutants and the unemployment rate. After controlling for demographic variables and state and year fixed-effects, we find a significant positive correlation between carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and mortality rates. Controlling for CO, particulate matter …
Incidence And Environmental Effects Of Distortionary Subsidies, Garth Heutel, David L. Kelly
Incidence And Environmental Effects Of Distortionary Subsidies, Garth Heutel, David L. Kelly
ECON Publications
Government policies that are not intended to address environmental concerns can nonetheless distort prices and affect firms' emissions. We present an analytical general equilibrium model to study the effect of distortionary subsidies on factor prices and on environmental outcomes. We model an output subsidy, a capital subsidy, relief from environmental regulation, and a direct cash subsidy. In exchange for receiving subsidies, firms must agree to a minimum level of labor employment. Each type of subsidy and the employment constraint create both output effects and substitution effects on input prices and emissions. We calibrate the model to the Chinese economy, where …
The Investment Returns Of Nonprofit Organizations, Part Ii, Garth Heutel, Richard Zeckhauser
The Investment Returns Of Nonprofit Organizations, Part Ii, Garth Heutel, Richard Zeckhauser
ECON Publications
We continue our examination of the investment performance of nonprofit charities and foundations. This analysis tests hypotheses about what types of organizations do better. Our motivating intuition is that nonprofits with greater focus on investment performance will secure higher returns. Our hypotheses are tested by regressing the rate of return for each organization on various characteristics. As expected, nonprofits whose primary business is predominantly financial, such as insurance providers and pension or retirement funds, consistently earn higher returns. The data also support our hypotheses that larger nonprofits, older nonprofits, and private foundations will tend to outperform. The evidence is mixed …
Environmental Macroeconomics: Environmental Policy, Business Cycles, And Directed Technical Change, Garth Heutel, Carolyn Fischer
Environmental Macroeconomics: Environmental Policy, Business Cycles, And Directed Technical Change, Garth Heutel, Carolyn Fischer
ECON Publications
Environmental economics has traditionally fallen in the domain of microeconomics, but recently approaches from macroeconomics have been applied to studying environmental policy. We focus on two macroeconomic tools and their application to environmental economics. First, real business cycle models can incorporate pollution and pollution policy and be used to answer several questions. How can environmental policy adjust to business cycles? How do different types of policies fare in a context with business cycles? Second, endogenous technological growth is an important component of environmental policy. Several studies ask how policy can be designed to both tackle emissions directly and influence the …
The Investment Returns Of Nonprofit Organizations, Part I, Garth Heutel, Richard Zeckhauser
The Investment Returns Of Nonprofit Organizations, Part I, Garth Heutel, Richard Zeckhauser
ECON Publications
Nonprofit charities and foundations hold endowments and other investments. How do their investments perform? Some high-profile nonprofit endowments, importantly those of colleges and universities, have been studied before. This study is the first, to our knowledge, that looks at a large number of the diverse types of nonprofits. We investigate the determinants of investment performance using a large panel data set culled from the 990 forms nonprofits must file annually with the IRS. In this first part, we discuss our approach and the challenges of using these data to infer investment returns. The IRS data, though less than perfect, yield …
Poor Face A Public Policy Challenge: A Commentary, Roy W. Bahl
Poor Face A Public Policy Challenge: A Commentary, Roy W. Bahl
ECON Publications
No abstract provided.
An International Perspective On The Determinants Of Local Government Fragmentation, Juan Luis Gomez-Reino, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez
An International Perspective On The Determinants Of Local Government Fragmentation, Juan Luis Gomez-Reino, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez
ECON Publications
No abstract provided.
Coping With Rising Inequality In Asia: How Effective Are Fiscal Policies, Iris Claus, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Violeta Vulovic
Coping With Rising Inequality In Asia: How Effective Are Fiscal Policies, Iris Claus, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Violeta Vulovic
ECON Publications
This paper discusses the role and effectiveness of redistributive fiscal policies and provides estimates of the effects of taxation and government expenditure on income inequality in Asia. Tax systems around the world tend to be progressive, but government expenditure is generally found to be a more effective tool for redistributing income. In Asia, government spending on social protection has a distinctive differential distributive impact. Social protection spending appears to increase income inequality in Asia, whereas it reduces it in the rest of the world. Government expenditure on housing is also adversely affecting the distribution of income in Asia. Policy options …
Do Companies View Bribes As A Tax? Evidence On The Tradeoff Between Corporate Taxes And Corruption In The Location Of Fdi, Timothy Goodspeed, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Li Zhang
Do Companies View Bribes As A Tax? Evidence On The Tradeoff Between Corporate Taxes And Corruption In The Location Of Fdi, Timothy Goodspeed, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Li Zhang
ECON Publications
No abstract provided.
Measuring The Extent Of Fiscal Decentralisation: An Application To The United States, Yongzheng Liu, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Andrey Timofeev
Measuring The Extent Of Fiscal Decentralisation: An Application To The United States, Yongzheng Liu, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Andrey Timofeev
ECON Publications
The goal of this chapter is to develop a taxonomy of decentralisation measures and how they are related to each other. In addition to introducing a common language for the different strands of literature, this taxonomy is instrumental for studying the outcomes of decentralisation. Using cross-state data from the United States, we show that aggregating distinct dimensions of fiscal decentralisation into a single indicator inevitably leads to a loss of information in the form of lower explanatory power. We conclude that the distinct aspects of decentralisation should enter regression analyses separately, in the most flexible functional form possible. In particular, …