Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Encryption/Decryption Dickwads Of Cipherspace, Raleigh Muns

Raleigh Muns

Energy Tax Credits And Residential Conservation Investment: Evidence From Panel Data (With Kevin Hassett), Gilbert E. Metcalf

Gilbert E. Metcalf

Using panel data on individual tax returns and variation in state tax policy, we measure the impact of government tax policies to encourage residential conservation investment on the probability of making these investments. Unlike previous work, we account for unobserved heterogeneity in tastes for energy-saving activities and its possible correlation with tax policy at the state level. We find that controlling for unobserved heterogeneity is very important. Based on our preferred point estimate of the tax price coefficient, a 10 percentage point change in the tax price for energy investment would lead to a 24 percent increase in the probability …

The 'New' View Of Investment Decisions And Public Policy Analysis: An Application To Green Lights And Cold Refrigerators, Gilbert E. Metcalf, Donald Rosenthal

Gilbert E. Metcalf

Recent research in investment theory emphasizes the importance of sunk investment costs, uncertainty in returns, and flexibility in investment timing. Allowing for the presence of these characteristics alters traditional discounted cash flow rules for when to invest. Those rules will recommend investing at lower rate-of-return thresholds than is optimal. This article describes this research and suggests the range of potential situations to which the theory applies. It also discusses the implications for policy analysis and suggests that government programs to encourage investment may, in some cases, be inappropriate. After discussing a wide array of possible applications, we focus on one …

Investment Under Alternative Return Assumptions: Comparing Random Walks And Mean Reversion (With Kevin Hassett), Gilbert E. Metcalf

Gilbert E. Metcalf

Many recent theoretical papers have come under attack for modeling prices as Geometric Brownian Motion. This process can diverge over time, implying that firms facing this price process can earn infinite profits. We explore the significance of this attack and contrast investment under Geometric Brownian Motion with investment assuming mean reversion. While analytically more complex, mean reversion in many cases is a more plausible assumption, allowing for supply responses to increasing prices. We show that cumulative investment is generally unaffected by the use of a mean reversion process rather than Geometric Brownian Motion and provide an explanation for this result.

Key Issues In The Reform Of Central Bank Legislation, Warren Coats, Henry Schiffman

Warren Coats

In order to improve the performance of central banks, monetary arrangements should be designed to anchor monetary policy to long-run considerations and to establish specific accountability for its implementation. In order to strengthen the long-run view needed for monetary stability against the short-run problem solving perspective more typical of governments and parliaments, there has been a growing movement in recent years in all regions of the world toward increasing central banks' independence from governments and parliaments. In all countries, the responsibility for the monetary system is ultimately the state’s. This responsibility is often explicit in a country's constitution. Central bank …

Right-Wing Extremism Analyzed. A Comparative Analysis Of The Ideologies Of Three Alleged Right-Wing Extremist Parties (Npd, Ndp, Cp'86), Cas Mudde

Cas Mudde

The so-called 'third wave' of right-wing extremism has taken both society and social science by storm. In contrast to the many studies that look for possible explanations for the success of this 'wave', this article focuses on right-wing extremism itself. In the first part, the concept is defined on the basis of the existing literature, as a political ideology that consists of a combination of several features. In the second part, these features are first conceptualized and second used in a comparative analysis of the ideologies of three alleged right-wing extremist parties (the Dutch CP'86, the German NPD and the …

Published Papers, Tacit Competencies And Corporate Management Of The Public/Private Character Of Knowledge, Diana Hicks

Diana Hicks

Published Papers, Tacit Competencies And Corporate Management Of The Public/Private Character Of Knowledge, Diana Hicks

Diana Hicks

Malthusian World(S): Globalization, Race And The American Imaginary In The Immigration Debates Of The Twentieth Century, Ronald Walter Greene

Ronald Walter Greene

No abstract provided.

Technology Adoption In The Presence Of An Exhaustible Resource: The Case Of Groundwater Extraction, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Farhed Shah, David Zilberman

Ujjayant Chakravorty

In this paper we integrate technology diffusion within Hotelling's exhaustible resource model. The modern technology is a conservation technology such as drip irrigation used with groundwater. Resource quality heterogeneity and rising water prices are responsible for the gradual adoption of the modern technology, and under reasonable conditions the diffusion curve is an S-shaped function of time. Without intervention, the diffusion process will be slower than is socially optimal, and optimal resource use tax will accelerate the diffusion of the conservation technology and slow down excessive resource depletion caused by market failure due to open access conditions.

A Spatial Model Of Optimal Water Conveyance, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Eithan Hochman, David Zilberman

Ujjayant Chakravorty

Most water projects suffer from losses in conveyance. Because conveyance has public good characteristics, investment in reducing conveyance losses must be provided by a central authority. This paper develops a spatial model to determine optimal conveyance investment, water allocation, and investment in firm-specific conservation technology. The efficiency and distributional characteristics of the optimal solution are compared to projects with (i) well-developed water markets and (ii) spatially uniform water prices, both with sub-optimal conveyance. A numerical illustration is provided.

Bæredygtig Udnyttelse Af Fornybare Ressourcer: Torskefiskeriet Ved Færøerne, Niels Vestergaard

Niels Vestergaard

The Faroe Islands cod fishery is analyzed for the period 1985-1992. It is shown that an approximately optimal and implementable fishery policy based on sustainability have increased the gross national income in the fishery by about 20%. This loss is due to an inoptimal organization of the fishery during that period combined with a very low cod stock at the end of 1992, which means reduced future catch possibilities. that the fishing capacity could have been reduced by about 1/3. The policy of sustainability is applied to the current situation in the fishery, and it is shown that the current …

Selected Mmpi-2 Scales For Identifying Women With A History Of Sexual Abuse., Evan D. Parks

Evan D Parks

Studies with adults who have experienced early childhood sexual trauma suggest the presence of frequent long-term mental and physical sequelae. While the symptom profiles vary due to a number of moderating factors, the preponderance of evidence indicates that a significant level of distress and dysfunction is experienced by abused individuals. It is this increase in psychopathology that may be useful in correctly identifying patients who may be suspect for previous early trauma. In this study, selected Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scales were use for identifying women with a history of sexual abuse.

Bedouins Of Qatar

Roberta L. Dougherty

Assessing Sequential Oncogene Amplification In Human Breast Cancer, Laura E. Janocko, Joseph F. Lucke, David W. Groft, Kathryn A. Brown, Charles A. Smith, Agnese A. Pollice, Sarita G. Singh, Robert Yakulis, Robert J. Hartsock, Stanley E. Shackney

Charles Kay Smith

Studies of amplification and/or overexpression of c-myc, HER-2/neu, and H-ras in breast cancer have shown that each is associated with a poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility that there is a preferred sequence of amplification of these oncogenes in breast cancer. The frequencies of amplification and patterns of co-amplification of c-myc, HER-2/neu, and H-ras were studied in a group of 84 breast cancers. The data suggested a preferred sequence of amplification that consisted of c-myc amplification-HER-2/neu amplification-H-ras amplification. This model was supported by loglinear analysis. In addition, the levels of amplification of JC-A, a …

Environment And Archaeology. Β - Visiting The Excavation Of The Neolithic Settlement At Poussi-Kalogeri (In Greek), Anastasia Tsaliki, Lilian Karali

Dr Anastasia Tsaliki, PhD

No abstract provided.

Controlling Crimes By The Military, Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Violence By Municipal Police In Canada, Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

A Process Model Of Public Police Violence In Advanced Industrialized Democracies, Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of Quebecois Separatist Terrorism: A Qualitative Application Of Factors From Two Models, Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Did The United Nations Fight A Just War?: Ethics In The Un Peace-Enforcement Activities In Somalia, Tatsushi Arai

Tatsushi Arai

The United Nations' military operation initiated on June 12, 1993 in Somalia has considerable moral implications. Examination of this first "peace-enforcement" operation with three guidelines of the just war doctrine, (1) proportionality of the goals to use force and the means and costs to achieve them, (2) just cause of war, and (3) warring actors' legitimacy to use force, indicates that this UN action is not justifiable. The ethically optimal alternative to this military operation would have been non-military action, no matter how ineffective it could have been. This moral analysis concludes with two lessons for the future of UN …

Experimental Research On Complex Problem Solving, Joachim Funke

Joachim Funke

Value Added Taxation: A Tax Whose Time Has Come?, Gilbert E. Metcalf

Gilbert E. Metcalf

Value-added taxes (VATs) are used in a large number of developed countries and have been under consideration at the national level in the United States in recent years. This paper provides an introduction to the tax for those unfamiliar with it. The author begins by describing how VATs work and briefly surveys their use by other countries. The remainder of the paper considers the economic impact as well as design issues that are likely to arise if the United States were to implement a VAT.