Political Economy Commons^™

Minnesota Mandates: County Government Fiscal Stress In An Era Of Declining State Support, Selena Krueth

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Minnesota counties are experiencing more than just financial burdens from state mandates these days. Counties and local governments currently are seeking the most effective solution of implementing state mandates; leaving behind the argument of no mandates without funding to "give us mandates that work". In my analysis I combined county budgetary and demographic data, with phone survey data gathered from Minnesota counties. I anticipate results that will show a wide variety in county administrator attitudes towards state mandates and varying local capacity to meet them. Costly state mandates, such as health services, and large county populations have proven significant in …

A Comprehensive Economic Stimulus For Our Failing Economy, Sarah R. Anderson, Steven T. Ferraro, Jeffrey D. Greenlaw, Justin E. Holz, David H. Krisch, Jonathan M. Koury, Jamee L. Kuznicki, Stephen M. Mcnamee, Jeffrey D. Ryckbost, Kristi L. Saeger, Andrew L. Smith, Daniel B. Sprague, Ryan Willaurer, Timothy D. Wills, Benjamin B. Wood

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper presents a comprehensive plan to fix the ailing American economy, through a five-step approach. First, the Federal Reserve must continue to broaden the scope of monetary policy, by purchasing and selling long-term securities. Manipulating expectations through FOMC statements is another tool at the Federal Reserve’s disposal. Secondly, the government must enact fiscal stimulus to stabilize the economy in the short and medium runs, through investment in infrastructure projects, green technology, fusion technology, and science education. Additionally, the new fiscal policy must tackle the mortgage meltdown, which is weighing down the entire economy. Third, the regulatory system must be …

Cyclicality Of State Budgeting: A Political-Economy Analysis., Ian W. Cummins

Honors Theses

This paper disentangles the effect of political ideology and budget rules on fiscal cyclicality across the U.S. states. Using panel data from 1963 to 2006, liberal states are found to be significantly less procyclical than conservative ones. The impact of balanced budget constraints is contingent on the ideological orientation of the state in which they are imposed. Tight balanced budget rules are not binding on conservative states, but are binding on liberal ones. Where they are binding, budget rules mediate the link between voter preferences and policy outcomes skewing them toward greater procyclicality.

Keeping Dictators Honest: The Role Of Population, Quoc-Anh Do, Filipe R. Campante

Research Collection School Of Economics

In order to explain the apparently paradoxical presence of acceptable governance in many non-democratic regimes, economists and political scientists have focused mostly on institutions acting as de facto checks and balances. In this paper, we propose that population plays a similar role in guaranteeing the quality of governance and redistribution. We argue and demonstrate with historical evidence that the concentration of population around the policy making center serves as an insurgency threat to a dictatorship, inducing it to yield to more redistribution and better governance. We bring this centered concept of population concentration to the data through the Centered Index …

Paying Teachers To Earn Advanced Degrees: Evidence On Student Performance In Georgia, Noel D. Campbell, Edward J. Lopez

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Incumbent Deviations From Constituents: Further Tests, Noel D. Campbell, Edward J. Lopez, Tammy Rogers

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Global Governance And The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Reviewed Work: Understanding Institutional Diversity By Elinor Ostrom, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Policymaker Costs And Political Competition Into Rent-Seeking Games, R. Kenneth Godwin, Edward J. Lopez, Barry J. Seldon

Faculty Publications

We incorporate policymaker costs of supplying rents and variable intensities of competition among rent seekers into the standard rent-seeking game. By incorporating these aspects, the game has greater verisimilitude to the lobbying process. The first aspect captures the fact that in rent-seeking contests there is a positive probability that neither firm will obtain the rent. The second aspect captures the fact that firms seeking different rents still must compete for policymakers' resources. We find that lobbying expenditures, rent-seeking profits, and rent dissipation depend on the intensity of competition and the value of the rent relative to policymaker costs. For example, …

Governing The City Of London In A Global Era: The Promise And Problems Of Transgovernmental Regulatory Networks, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Land Values As A Source Of Local Government Finance, Tom Dunne

Books/Book Chapters

Funding local government has been a permanent feature of debates about public policy in Ireland and Many feel that the balance of power between local and central government is weighted too much in

This paper suggests that the concept of economic rent, on which the justification for property taxes rests and its relevance to the property market in a modern, economically successful and urbanised Ireland, needs to be vented, discussed and debated.

The proposition is that if a greater understanding was created about the economic characteristics of landed property both value capture and local property taxes would achieve greater public …

Mcdonald’S And Samoan Youth: A Case Study Of Globalization, Anna Schechter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The topics of change, development and globalization are extremely pertinent to modern-day Samoa. The past ten years have lead to a vast increase in the inter-connectedness of Samoa to the world economically, socially, and culturally. This paper uses McDonald’s as a representation of the globalization occurring in Samoa in order to better understand the real impacts of these abstract terms. Samoan youth act as a medium in which to explore this topic. They are often the most attune to the impacts of globalization and perhaps even act as a catalyst for change. Thus this paper explores, specifically, the relationship between …

New Anti-Merger Theories: A Critique, Edward J. Lopez

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate these new anti-merger instruments on the basis of economic theory and evidence. I first discuss how the economics of antitrust has developed over the years, with the intention of characterizing the intellectual inheritance of 1990s' antitrust regulators. Within this context, I then discuss each anti-merger instrument, how it has been applied in specific cases, and how it accords with underlying economic science. On the basis of these arguments, antitrust regulators should pause and reconsider the theoretical and empirical bases of applying unilateral effects and innovation markets to merger investigations.

Northeast Ohio’S Regional Economy: An Assessment Of The Economic State Of The Region And Its Political Challenges, Edward W. Hill

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Administration By Regulation: Preliminary Findings Regarding The U.S. Government's Venture Capital Funds, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

This article assesses the ability of elected officials to control public policy as implemented by public/private hybrid organizations, specifically, government venture capital funds. The study reveals greater control over OPIC investment funds than Enterprise Funds despite the existence of more traditional administrative tools of control for Enterprise Funds. This finding suggests that the regulatory infrastructure for hybrid organizations is more determinative of control than the existence (or lack) of traditional administrative control tools. Thus the challenge of hybrid government centers on the development of regulation as a substitute for administration.

Low Inflation: The Surprise Of The 1990s, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

For most of the 1990s, forecasters have been predicting an upturn in inflation. Yet, over that same period, the United States has experienced stable or declining inflation. Why have forecasts been at odds with reality? And why does it matter? In this article, Dean Croushore considers some answers to these questions and explains why inflation is the economic surprise of the decade.

Russia's Economic Stability: Recent Evidence And Policy Implications, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Balanced Budget Amendment: A Time Bomb To Subvert American Prosperity, Hyman P. Minsky Ph.D.

Hyman P. Minsky Archive

Paper dated Feb. 13, 1995.

Summary of a Report: ’A Time Bomb to Subvert American Prosperity’.

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 …

What Are The Costs Of Disinflation?, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

The Federal Reserve can use monetary policy to reduce the inflation rate, a process known as disinflation. Are the benefits of disinflation worth the costs? Proponents of disinflation argue that the long-run benefits of price stability, including lower interest rates, increased economic efficiency, and perhaps faster economic growth, greatly exceed the short-run costs. Opponents, of course, claim the opposite, usually arguing that the short-run costs in terms of higher unemployment and lost output would be immense.

How Big Is Your Share Of Government Debt?, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

In evaluating the government's financial position, taxpayers need to account not only for its debt, but also for its ownership of tangible assets. Each taxpayer has a share of the government's net worth that is positive; however, the share was larger 10 years ago. While the real net debt tripled, this huge rise in government indebtedness generated no similar gain in government assets. Taxpayers will be paying interest on this debt with little hope of higher future returns from government assets to help pay it off. It is recommended that the government adopt a capital-budgeting system. This system would change …

Government Financial Policy And Capital, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

Economists have long been concerned about the best way to finance government deficits. Finding the proper fiscal policy and monetary policy mix is a crucial decision. When government debt grows too fast, interest rates rise and capital is crowded out. If the money growth rate is excessive, inflation occurs.

The study of this issue at the theoretical level requires a model which incorporates the following features: (1) modeling money and bonds as endogenous financial assets, whose rates of return are determined in general equilibrium, (2) examination of the utility maxi mization decisions of individuals, so that welfare analysis of alternative …

State, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This folder includes:
Handwritten note cards titled:

• State (on Gabriel Kolko article, Summer 1980)
• Wages and Taxes
• Non-Capitalist Sectors
• State Capital

Capitalist Rationality And The State, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This folder includes:
Handwritten note cards titled:

• Investment and Effective Demand (1/3/81)
• Mattick on Bourgeois Economics (9/6/84)
• Mattick on Bourgeois Economics (9/6/84)
• Debt and Surplus Value (9/6/84)
• Government Deficits & Interest (2/3/85)
• Marx & Keynes: Investment, Profits, Capacity Utilization (8/25/84)
• Balanced Budget Multiplier (5/80)
• Macroeconomics Math Example
• Effects of Cut in Income on Stock or Flow of Saving (9/18/80)

Central Bank Of Nigeria Annual Report And Statement Of Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 1965, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Annual Report

CBN Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for 1965 discussed the economic performance of Nigeria with emphasis on inflation rate, GDP growth, exchange rate stability, banking sector performance, monetary policy, financial stability, fiscal policy, and regulatory updates. Two major developments dominated the world economic scene in 1965. One was the overall slowdown of economic expansion in most industrialized countries. The other was the overall contraction in the growth rate of world trade and in the flow of international capital. Due to the problem of balance of payment disequilibrium, the industrialized countries intensified economic measures to achieve internal stability and equilibrium …

Economic Aspects Of The Boulder Canyon Project, Leonard Mckaig

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The recent passage of the Swing-Johnson bill by Congress and its approval by the President has been the signal for a general rejoicing throughout the West, and especially in Southern California, the section to be meet directly benefited by this legislation. There has been a widespread feeling that the long fight for Federal development of this great western river is over, and that we may begin shortly to realize some concrete returns upon our investment. Press reports indicate that many are already seeking work on the construction of the dam at Black Canyon, in anticipation of the immediate launching of …