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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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- Common pool resources (2)
- Compliance (2)
- Enforcement (2)
- Altruism (1)
- Chinese Economy (1)
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- Command-and-control (1)
- Community Supported Agriculture (1)
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- Food attributes (1)
- Food marketing (1)
- Forest certification (1)
- Forests (1)
- Fresh Produce (1)
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- Heterogeneity (1)
- Imbalances (1)
- Inflation (1)
- Labor law (1)
- Landowner (1)
- Long Waves (1)
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Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social Attitudes, Labor Law, And Union Organizing: Toward A New Economics Of Union Density, Thomas I. Palley, Robert M. Lajeunesse
Social Attitudes, Labor Law, And Union Organizing: Toward A New Economics Of Union Density, Thomas I. Palley, Robert M. Lajeunesse
PERI Working Papers
Much has been written about union wage bargaining. Much less has been written about union density, which has been viewed as simply the employment outcome under the wage bargain. This paper presents a new dynamic model of union density that exhibits multiple equilibria and path-dependency. The model builds upon Freeman (1998) who identified the importance of union spending on organizing and business spending on opposing unions. It emphasizes the demand for union representation which depends on wage bargaining outcomes, the state of labor law, and socio-economic factors impacting public attitudes to unions. The model is used to provide a narrative …
Land Reform And Sustainable Development, James K. Boyce, Peter Rosset, Elizabeth A, Stanton
Land Reform And Sustainable Development, James K. Boyce, Peter Rosset, Elizabeth A, Stanton
PERI Working Papers
Land reform – the reallocation of rights to establish a more equitable distribution of farmland – can be a powerful strategy for promoting both economic development and environmental quality. This paper surveys land reform strategies, illustrated by the postwar reforms in East Asia and the ‘bottom-up’ land reform today being led by Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement. Land reform can reduce rural poverty not only by channeling a larger slice of the agricultural- income pie to low- income households, but also by increasing the size of the pie by raising land productivity. Land reform’s contribution to poverty reduction can be magnified …
Exchange Market Pressure, Monetary Policy, And Economic Growth: Argentina In 1993-2004, Clara Garcia, Nuria Malet
Exchange Market Pressure, Monetary Policy, And Economic Growth: Argentina In 1993-2004, Clara Garcia, Nuria Malet
PERI Working Papers
The pressure in the exchange market against a particular currency has been frequently measured as the sum of the loss of international reserves plus the loss of nominal value of that currency. This paper follows the tradition of investigating the interactions between such measure of exchange market pressure (EMP) and monetary policy; but it also questions the usual omission of output growth in the empirical investigations of the interrelations between EMP, domestic credit, and interest rates. The focus of this work is Argentina between 1993 and 2004. As in previous studies, we found some evidence of a positive and double-direction …
The Work Environment Index: Technical Background Paper, James Heintz, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Robert Pollin
The Work Environment Index: Technical Background Paper, James Heintz, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Robert Pollin
PERI Working Papers
The vast majority of Americans work for a living. The track record of different states varies widely when it comes to providing decent opportunities for working people. The Work Environment Index (WEI) captures these differences and provides a basis for evaluating how well each state does in creating an economy that supports its working population. The purpose of this article is to detail the construction of the WEI and to explain the design of the Index. This paper serves as a technical companion to the report Decent Work in America: The 2005 Work Environment Index.
Inflation And Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Non-Linear Analysis, Robert Pollin, Andong Zhu
Inflation And Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Non-Linear Analysis, Robert Pollin, Andong Zhu
PERI Working Papers
This paper presents new non-linear regression estimates of the relationship between inflation and economic growth for 80 countries over the period 1961 – 2000. We perform tests using the full sample of countries as well as sub-samples consisting of OECD countries, middle-income countries, and low-income countries. We also consider the full sample of countries within the four separate decades between 1961 – 2000. Considering our full data set we consistently find that higher inflation is associated with moderate gains in GDP growth up to a roughly 15 – 18 percent inflation threshold. However, the findings diverge when we divide our …
Neoliberalism, Global Imbalances, And Stages Of Capitalist Development, Minqi Li, Andong Zhu
Neoliberalism, Global Imbalances, And Stages Of Capitalist Development, Minqi Li, Andong Zhu
PERI Working Papers
This paper examines certain structural macroeconomic relations in the neoliberal global economy. The current global economy rests upon three unsustainable trends: the debt-driven U.S. consumption expansion; China’s excessive investment expansion; and the large and rising U.S. current account deficits. When these trends are eventually reversed or corrected, there could be major upheavals in the world economy. The decline of neoliberalism may pave the way for a new set of economic, political, and social institutions.
A Chinese Sky Trust? Distributional Impacts Of Carbon Charges And Revenue Recycling In China, Mark Brenner, Matthew Riddle, James K. Boyce
A Chinese Sky Trust? Distributional Impacts Of Carbon Charges And Revenue Recycling In China, Mark Brenner, Matthew Riddle, James K. Boyce
PERI Working Papers
The introduction of carbon charges on the use of fossil fuels in China would have a progressive impact on income distribution. This outcome, which contrasts to the regressive distributional impact found in most studies of carbon charges in industrialized countries, is driven primarily by differences between urban and rural expenditure patterns. If carbon revenues were recycled on an equal per capita basis via a ‘sky trust,’ the progressive impact would be further enhanced: low-income (mainly rural) households would receive more in sky-trust dividends than they pay in carbon charges, and high-income (mainly urban) households would pay more than they receive …
A Laboratory Investigation Of Compliance Behavior Under Tradable Emissions Rights: Implications For Targeted Enforcement, James J. Murphy, John Stranlund
A Laboratory Investigation Of Compliance Behavior Under Tradable Emissions Rights: Implications For Targeted Enforcement, James J. Murphy, John Stranlund
PERI Working Papers
This paper uses laboratory experiments to test the theoretical observations that both the violations of competitive risk-neutral firms and the marginal effectiveness of increased enforcement across firms are independent of differences in their abatement costs and their initial allocations of permits. This conclusion has important implications for enforcing emissions trading programs because it suggests that regulators have no justification for targeting their enforcement effort based on firm-level characteristics. Consistent with the theory, we find that subjects’ violations were independent of parametric differences in their abatement costs. However, those subjects that were predicted to buy permits tended to have higher violation …
What Motivates Common Pool Resource Users? Experimental Evidence From The Field, Maria Alejandra Vélez, John K. Stranlund, James J. Murphy
What Motivates Common Pool Resource Users? Experimental Evidence From The Field, Maria Alejandra Vélez, John K. Stranlund, James J. Murphy
PERI Working Papers
This paper develops and tests several models of pure Nash strategies of individuals who extract from a common pool resource when they are motivated by a combination of self-interest and other motivations such as altruism, reciprocity, inequity aversion and conformism. We test whether an econometric summary of subjects’ strategies is consistent with one of these motivations using data from a series of common pool resource experiments conducted in three regions of Colombia. As expected, average extraction levels are less than that predicted by a model of pure self-interest, but are nevertheless sub-optimal. Moreover, we find that a model of conformism …
Landowner Driven Sustainable Forest Management And Value-Added Processing, David T. Damery
Landowner Driven Sustainable Forest Management And Value-Added Processing, David T. Damery
PERI Working Papers
The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative, LLC (MWC) is working to help members conduct sustainable forestry of the highest standards while increasing financial returns from harvest activities. The forests of Massachusetts, the 3rd most densely populated of the United States, are threatened. Decades of high grading and the threat of conversion to alternative use present challenges for maintaining a forested landscape. Despite being 60% forested Massachusetts imports approximately 98% of the wood fiber that its citizens consume. MWC is a forest management, processing and marketing cooperative organized by and on behalf of forest landowners in western Massachusetts. The cooperative was envisioned in …
Heterogeneity And Common Pool Resources: Collective Management Of Forests In Himachal Pradesh, India, Sirisha C. Naidu
Heterogeneity And Common Pool Resources: Collective Management Of Forests In Himachal Pradesh, India, Sirisha C. Naidu
PERI Working Papers
In the past two decades, theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that communities of resource users are capable of overcoming social dilemmas, and are capable of creating and sustaining institutions designed to prevent degradation of common pool natural resources. However, there is incomplete understanding of what motivates this group-level behavior and why some communities are better adept at solving collective action problems than others. This paper specifically explores the role of group heterogeneity in collective action among forest communities in the northwestern Himalayas. Heterogeneity can have important social and ecological consequences and understanding both its nature and effects can help in …
Employment, Poverty, And Gender In Ghana, James Heintz
Employment, Poverty, And Gender In Ghana, James Heintz
PERI Working Papers
This paper examines the connections among gender, employment, and poverty in Ghana using data from the fourth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The relationships are explored through a series of tabulations that shed light on how labor force segmentation, different forms of employment, and gender dynamics influence poverty rates and earnings of individuals and households. The estimates suggest that substantial labor force segmentation is evident in Ghana. Women are disproportionately represented in more precarious forms of employment. In addition, poverty and earnings differ markedly from one employment status category to the next. These results have important implications for …
The Effects Of Neoliberal "Reforms" On The Post-Crisis Korean Economy, James Crotty, Kang-Kook Lee
The Effects Of Neoliberal "Reforms" On The Post-Crisis Korean Economy, James Crotty, Kang-Kook Lee
PERI Working Papers
In December 1997 the IMF offered Korea loans to help alleviate its financial crisis. These loans were accompanied by what the IMF called “extreme structural conditionality.” Korea was required to replace its traditional East Asian economic system with a neoliberal model. We review economic performance in the neoliberal era. Growth has slowed, poverty and inequality have risen, and investment spending has stagnated, while foreign ownership of Korean firms and banks has skyrocketed. We argue that foreign investment has not helped Korea. For example, by leading a shift from corporate to consumer lending, foreign control of Korea’s financial markets has constrained …
Comments On Aaron Yelowitz, "Santa Fe's Living Wage Ordinance And The Labor Market", Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Comments On Aaron Yelowitz, "Santa Fe's Living Wage Ordinance And The Labor Market", Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim
PERI Working Papers
In a new study by Yelowitz “Santa Fe’s Wage Ordinance and the Labor Market,” dated September 23, 2005 (published by the Employment Policies Institute) Yelowitz claims to have demonstrated that the Santa Fe living wage ordinance is responsible for significant, negative consequences for Santa Fe’s least educated residents, including a 9.0 percentage point increase in the city’s unemployment rate among such workers. However, he derives these findings through a presentation of evidence that is misleading and incomplete, misusing the available data. We replicate and extend Yelowitz’s model to look at job growth specifically, and, using the same data as Yelowitz, …
Central Banks As Agents Of Economic Development, Gerald Epstein
Central Banks As Agents Of Economic Development, Gerald Epstein
PERI Working Papers
In the last two decades, there has been a global sea change in the theory and practice of central banking. The currently dominant “best practice” approach to central banking consists of the following: (1) central bank independence (2) a focus on inflation fighting (including adopting formal “inflation targeting”) and (3) the use of indirect methods of monetary policy (i.e., short-term interest rates as opposed to direct methods such as credit ceilings). This paper argues that this neo-liberal approach to central banking is highly idiosyncratic in that, as a package, it is dramatically different from the historically dominant theory and practice …
Certification Systems As Tools For Natural Asset Building: Potential , Experience To Date, And Critical Challenges, Michael E. Conroy
Certification Systems As Tools For Natural Asset Building: Potential , Experience To Date, And Critical Challenges, Michael E. Conroy
PERI Working Papers
Certification systems are becoming important tools to encourage and reward social and environmental responsibility. This paper explores whether these systems, which generally have not been designed for the explicit aim of poverty reduction, can assist poor people, either individually or in community-based and small-to-medium production units, to build their natural assets as a basis for sustainable livelihoods. The paper examines two leading certification systems – the Forest Stewardship Council™ and the Fair Trade Certified™ system – and emerging systems in tourism and mining. The results to date have been mixed. In the forestry sector, poverty reduction benefits of certification have …
An Investigation Of Voluntary Discovery And Disclosure Of Environmental Violations Using Laboratory Experiments, James J. Murphy, John K. Stranlund
An Investigation Of Voluntary Discovery And Disclosure Of Environmental Violations Using Laboratory Experiments, James J. Murphy, John K. Stranlund
PERI Working Papers
This paper uses laboratory experiments to test individual responses to policies that seek to encourage firms to voluntarily discover and disclose violations of environmental standards. We find that while it is possible to motivate a significant number of voluntary disclosures without adversely affecting environmental quality, this result is sensitive to both the fine for disclosed violations and the assumption that firms know their compliance status without cost. When firms have to expend resources to determine their compliance status, motivating a significant number of violation disclosures yields worse environmental quality. Finally, relative to conventional enforcement, disclosure polices will result in more …
Interaction Between Food Attributes In Markets: The Case Of Environmental Labeling, Gilles Grolleau, Julie A. Caswell
Interaction Between Food Attributes In Markets: The Case Of Environmental Labeling, Gilles Grolleau, Julie A. Caswell
PERI Working Papers
Some consumers derive utility from using products produced with specific processes, such as environmentally friendly practices. Means of verifying these credence attributes, such as certification, are necessary for the market to function effectively. A substitute or complementary solution may exist when consumers perceive a relationship between a process attribute and other verifiable product attributes. We present a model where the level of search and experience attributes influences the likelihood of production of eco-friendly products. Our results suggest that the market success of ecofriendly food products requires a mix of environmental and other verifiable attributes that together signal credibility.
Inspections To Avert Terrorism: Robustness Under Severe Uncertainty, L. Joe Moffitt, John K. Stranlund, Barry C. Field
Inspections To Avert Terrorism: Robustness Under Severe Uncertainty, L. Joe Moffitt, John K. Stranlund, Barry C. Field
PERI Working Papers
Protecting against terrorist attacks requires making decisions in a world in which attack probabilities are largely unknown. The potential for very large losses encourages a conservative perspective, in particular toward decisions that are robust. But robustness, in the sense of assurance against extreme outcomes, ordinarily is not the only desideratum in uncertain environments. We adopt Yakov Ben-Haim’s (2001b) model of information gap decision making to investigate the problem of inspecting a number of similar targets when one of the targets may be attacked, but with unknown probability. We apply this to a problem of inspecting a sample of incoming shipping …
Market Power In Direct Marketing Of Fresh Produce: Community Supported Agriculture Farms, Daniel A. Lass, Nathalie Lavoie, T. Robert Fetter
Market Power In Direct Marketing Of Fresh Produce: Community Supported Agriculture Farms, Daniel A. Lass, Nathalie Lavoie, T. Robert Fetter
PERI Working Papers
CSA farms establish a loyal customer base and, potentially, market power. A new empirical industrial organization (NEIO) approach and survey data from Northeast CSA farms are used to determine whether CSA farms have market power and the extent to which they exercise their market power. Results suggest CSA farms exert about two percent of their potential monopoly power.