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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Nominal Gdp Versus Price Level Targeting: An Empirical Evaluation, James S. Fackler, W. Douglas Mcmillin Nov 2018

Nominal Gdp Versus Price Level Targeting: An Empirical Evaluation, James S. Fackler, W. Douglas Mcmillin

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

In response to the ongoing discussion in the literature of the appropriate framework for monetary policy, we compare two of the most frequently discussed alternatives to inflation targeting—targeting either the level of nominal GDP or the price level—within the context of a simple vector autoregressive (VAR) model. Our approach can be considered a constrained-discretion approach. The model is estimated using quarterly data over the period 1979:4-2003:4, a period in which the economy was buffeted by substantial supply and demand shocks. The paths of the federal funds rate, nominal GDP, real GDP, and the price level under nominal GDP and price …


Dissecting The Impact Of Import Competition On U.S. Earnings Inequality, Felipe Benguria Jul 2018

Dissecting The Impact Of Import Competition On U.S. Earnings Inequality, Felipe Benguria

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

This paper studies the impact of globalization on U.S. earnings inequality in the context of rapidly growing import competition from China. The increase in U.S. inequality during 2000-2007 has been driven entirely by changes within regions}. While the existing literature has established differences in wage growth across regions as a consequence of import competition, understanding the impact of globalization on rising U.S. inequality requires then focusing on its impact on inequality within regions. Exploiting variation in exposure to this unprecedented trade shock across local labor markets I find that import competition causes an increase in earnings inequality. This impact occurs …


Effects Of The Affordable Care Act On Health Behaviors After Three Years, Charles J. Courtemanche, James Marton, Benjamin Ukert, Aaron Yelowitz, Daniela Zapata Apr 2018

Effects Of The Affordable Care Act On Health Behaviors After Three Years, Charles J. Courtemanche, James Marton, Benjamin Ukert, Aaron Yelowitz, Daniela Zapata

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

This paper examines the impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – which substantially increased insurance coverage through regulations, mandates, subsidies, and Medicaid expansions – on behaviors related to future health risks after three years. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and an identification strategy that leverages variation in pre-ACA uninsured rates and state Medicaid expansion decisions, we show that the ACA increased preventive care utilization along several dimensions, but also increased risky drinking. These results are driven by the private portions of the law, as opposed to the Medicaid expansion. We also conduct subsample analyses by …


Educational Test Scores, Education Spending, And Productivity In Public Education: National Trends And Evidence Across States And Over Time, 1990-2015, John Garen, Rex Bray Jan 2018

Educational Test Scores, Education Spending, And Productivity In Public Education: National Trends And Evidence Across States And Over Time, 1990-2015, John Garen, Rex Bray

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

We examine national trends in educational funding, test score outcomes, and productivity as well as variations in funding and test scores over time and across states to assess how changes in educational spending are (or are not) related to changes in educational test score outcomes for states. National trends show small increases in test scores, large increases in educational funding (until the last recession), and a continued fall in educational productivity. The cross-state, over time analysis indicates a statistically significant but very small association of state funding to test scores; so small that large changes in funding have little effect …