Economic Policy Commons^™

Alternative Vat Policies For Sustainable Menstrual Products In Indonesia, Saraswati Nirmala Suci, Hanik Susilawati Muamarah

Jurnal Akuntansi dan Keuangan Indonesia

Background: Sustainable menstrual products currently face the same VAT rate as conventional products, making them less affordable and slowing their adoption. This price gap drives consumers toward cheaper disposable alternatives, increasing non-recyclable waste and environmental risks. Addressing this imbalance is essential to advancing sustainability and menstrual equity. Method: This study conducted in-depth interviews with officials from the Directorate General of Taxes, the Fiscal Policy Agency, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, academicians, and a sustainable product manufacturer. Data were analyzed using the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) framework to evaluate four VAT policy alternatives: normal VAT, VAT exemption, non-collected VAT, and …

Navigating Trump Tariffs In Africa: The Role Of Regional Economic Integration, Baba N. Yaaba

Bullion

The global economy is shifting away from free trade toward protectionism and economic nationalism, from multilateralism to unilateralism. This is evidenced by both tariffs and non-tariff measures taken by major global powers, which arise from political populism, economic insecurity, and strategic competition among them. This study analyses this trend, emphasising Trump's recent tariffs and their attendant implications for the global economy. The study argues that African Regional Economic Integration offers a shield to the continent if pursued vigorously. With vast potential in Africa, strategic investments, good governance, and inclusive policies can drive growth. At the same time, cooperation, such as …

The Equity Dead Zones: Legal Intersectionality Failure Points In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Tearria N. Simmons

The Guardianship Journal

Legal intersectionality failure points describe the systemic fractures that occur where overlapping legal, social, and economic inequalities converge, potentially producing compounded barriers to relief. Each failure point marks a site of marginalization. In what ways do individuals already recognized as vulnerable in Chapter 13 bankruptcy face a heightened risk when multiple forms of disadvantage intersect? When these intersections combine in mutually reinforcing ways—racial, economic, and relational disparities colliding with structural deficiencies in family, property, and bankruptcy law—does it result in pronounced negative outcomes, and, if so, what are those outcomes? Within this convergence, could there be a space where compounded …

China’S Influence Over The Mining Industry In Africa, Safa M. Altamimi, Reda Amer

Undergraduate Research Symposium

How much influence does China have over the international supply of minerals from Africa? The purpose of this research is to study China’s involvement in Africa’s mining industry and analyze its impact on US economic interests. China has traded and invested in many mining sites across Africa; However, I will be focusing on DRC, Zambia, and Zimbabwe for my research. Using ArcGIS pro tools, I will create and analyze a map that contains information about mineral deposits and facilities.

Can Schools Sustain The Rising Cost Of Retiree Health Care?, Robert Bifulco, Iuliia Shybalkina

Center for Policy Research

Many New York State school districts spend significant amounts each year for retiree health care benefits, and these payments are expected to grow over the coming decades. This brief summarizes findings from a study examining approximately 300 New York State school districts. Unlike retiree pension plans, which are typically prefunded, retiree health care benefits are funded on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning that benefits for past employees who are currently retired are paid using current district revenues. In the average school district, pay-as-you-go spending currently amounts to 4.5 percent of district revenues. Assuming current benefit and funding policies remain, spending is …

The Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Economy In The Mountain West, 2025, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Sean Curry, Krish Sharma, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet reports on the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of five Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Salt Lake City-Murray, UT; Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO; Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV; and Albuquerque, NM. Using data from the Brookings Institution's “Mapping the AI Economy” report, the MSAs are benchmarked based on their overall population, employment, talent, adoption, and innovation.

Money At Work: How The Inflation Reduction Act Reshaped The Irs, Richard Hansen

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze and explore the ways in which the funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) present in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) has impacted the real life operations of the agency. These impacts will be examined across two broad categories: the ways in which the IRS has offered improved taxpayer services, and the ways in which the IRS has been better equipped to collect owed taxes and enforce tax compliance since the passage of the IRA. Existing data and literature indicates that the increased IRS funding has been correlated with some improvements across …

Two Essays On Agricultural Trade Policy And Total Factor Productivity, Hanifi Otgun

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation consists of two essays: the first examines the welfare and trade implications of the 2016–2017 drought in Brazil and the subsequent temporary import ban on Robusta coffee; the second examines how trade openness influences agricultural total factor productivity across 26 NUTS-2 regions in Türkiye from 2013 to 2020.

The first essay focuses on Brazil, a major Robusta coffee producer and exporter that faced a significant drought in 2016–17, reducing Robusta output. In response, the government initially allowed one million 60-kg bags of Robusta coffee to be imported. An import ban was imposed shortly afterward due to lobbying by …

Growing Up Under Mao And Deng: On Politician Ideology And Corporate Policies, Hao Liang, Rong Wang, Haikun Zhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We provide firm-level evidence on how politicians’ ideologies shape economic outcomes, using a unique setting of ideological discontinuity in China, transitioning from Maoism to Dengism around 1978. We find that ideological exposure during a politician’s early adulthood has a lasting impact on contemporary firm policies in their city. Firms governed by “Maoist mayors” show greater stakeholder spending, lower pay inequality, and less internationalization compared with those governed by “Dengist mayors.” Further evidence suggests that politicians’ ideologies influence corporate behaviors through nonpolicy channels, and these results cannot be fully explained by selection bias, endogenous matching, or the age of the mayor.

A Capital Idea? The Welfare Effects Of Relocating Indonesia’S Government To A New City, Alexander D. Rothenberg, Radine Rafols, Yao Wang, Yi Jiang

Center for Policy Research

Many developing countries are planning to create new capital cities, a place-making policy designed to alleviate congestion and respond to climate change. To evaluate growth and welfare effects, we specify a dynamic quantitative spatial model with public employment, informality, fiscal transfers, and frictions in trade and migration. We calibrate the model with data from Indonesia and conduct policy experiments studying the creation of Nusantara in East Kalimantan. Despite increasing employment in the new capital region, we find that building Nusantara reduces national growth and welfare. Climate change attenuates its negative welfare effects, but only slightly.

Preparing For The Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Economy In The Mountain West, 2025, Kian Parikh, Taylor Volk, Maisoon Faris, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents data from the Brainly report, “Here Are the States Most (and Least) Prepared to Win the AI Race in 2025” for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. This fact sheet highlights the national and individual rankings of four key metrics for each Mountain West state: the fixed percentage of businesses using artificial intelligence (AI); the number of AI jobs per 1,000 workers; the number of AI-related degrees per 10,000 people ages 20-24; and federal funding for small business technology innovation per $1 million of gross domestic product (GDP).

Chinese Communist Party Infiltration Of U.S. Pacific Islands: Protecting American National Security Through Defending Strategic Pacific Assets, Contessa Amedore

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Many Americans picture the U.S.’s Western most border to be the coast of California. However, when threats have historically formed in the Pacific, U.S. Pacific Island territories have served as the nation’s first line of defense. Today, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have slowly but ambitiously deployed new age or ‘unrestricted’ warfare tactics against the United States and allies in their long awaited plan to assume global hegemony. Their illegal infiltration and psychological operations have gone past Taipei and reached American soil in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. This paper examines how the (CCP) uses unrestricted warfare …

Why Color-Blind Solutions Won't Solve The Racial Wealth Gap: How We Can Overcome The Constitutional Hurdles To Race Conscious Remedies In Addressing The Wealth Gap, Malik Edwards, William A. Darity Jr.

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Interest Convergence And The Racial Wealth Gap: Defusing Racism's Divide-And-Conquer Via Universal Basic Income, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Wage Enslavement: How The Tax System Holds Back Historically Disadvantaged Groups Of Americans, Goldburn P. Maynard Jr., David Gamage

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Structure, Agency, And Culture: Examining The Influence Of Organizational Culture In Succession Planning In Higher Education Institutions, Ferdinand Luneta Rellorosa

Lily Gokongwei Ngochua Leadership Academy

Structure, Agency, and Culture: Examining the Influence of Organizational Culture in Succession Planning in Higher Education Institutions Conference: The Asian Conference on Education (ACE2025) Title: Structure, Agency, and Culture: Examining the Influence of Organizational Culture in Succession Planning in Higher Education Institutions Submission Number: 96492 Date Submitted: May 22, 2025 Stream: Educational Policy, Leadership, Management & Administration Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Current Status: Accepted Authors: Ferdinand Rellorosa, Ateneo De Manila University, Philippines Abstract: Succession planning (SP) is vital for leadership continuity and institutional sustainability (Ahmad et al., 2020; Rothwell, 2005). While largely studied in corporate settings, its application in higher …

A New View Of Formal Equality And A Case For Predistribution, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

A long-held egalitarian view is that formal equality — the absence of formal legal distinctions based on the material resources of individuals — is regressive. If legal rules are the same for the rich and the poor, the rich benefit and the poor suffer. This Essay argues that this view is mistaken. Far from being synonymous with laissez-faire, a commitment to formal equality provides a counterweight to the key neoliberal maxim that regulation of the market economy should focus on efficiency alone. Moreover, a new view of formal equality offered here reveals a key advantage of predistribution over redistribution: Explicit …

Administering Money: Coinage, Debt Crises, And The Future Of Fiscal Policy, Rohan Grey

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Understanding Michigan’S Reconnect Program Applicants, Alexander W. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Brian Jacob, Kevin M. Stange, Bryan A. Stuart, Zhonghan Xie

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Return On Investment (Roi) For Higher Education In Nevada, 2021-2022, Sean Curry, Cason Noll, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents 2021-2022 data on the return on investment (ROI) of six public higher education institutions in Nevada. The data are sourced from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce’s “Ranking 4,600 Colleges by ROI” data tool, which provides standardized ROI estimates across institutions and degree levels nationwide. This fact sheet includes data for the following six public higher education institutions in Nevada that predominantly grant bachelor’s and associate’s degrees: University of Nevada, Reno; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Nevada State College; Truckee Meadows Community College; Western Nevada College; and College of Southern Nevada.

Wine-Rs Or Losers: Assessing The Socio- Economic Impact Of Eu Regulations On Climate-Exacerbated Pests And Diseases In Northern Italian Viticulture, Kyley Fishman

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

As climate change creates extreme weather events, unprecedented disease and pest infestations, European farmers are challenged by these threats. Balancing sustainable and traditional practices while maintaining socio-economic stability under European Union agroregulations can be extremely difficult. An area of concern for the EU is viticulture, which is among the most climate-sensitive agricultural sectors. My study examines in what ways the EU’s regulations addressing climate-exacerbated pests and plant diseases influence the socioeconomics of different vineyard farms in Northern Italy. Three key socio-economic findings emerged from the analysis. First, top-down and research-driven management strategies can subvert local, place-based knowledge, which undermines traditional …

Berrien County Talent Ecosystem, Lee Adams, Val Klomparens

Reports

No abstract provided.

Local Journalist Equivalents (Ljes) In The Mountain West, 2025, Taylor Volk, Anthony Arroyo, Yiselle Olivas Ruiz, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2025 data on Local Journalist Equivalents (LJEs) for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are derived from the Muck Rack report “Local Journalist Index 2025,” which includes data on LJEs for states and counties across the U.S. This fact sheet highlights state-level LJE data among Mountain West states, as well as LJE data for the following 17 Nevada counties: Carson City, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, and White Pine.

Economic Growth In Mountain West Cities, 2019-2023, Anirudh Polagani, Isabelle G. Graham, Olivia K. Cheche, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2019-2023 data on economic growth indicators in 32 Mountain West cities across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The CoworkingCafe report, “Rising Powerhouses: The Cities Making America’s Economic Future,” includes economic growth data for 269 cities across the United States. This fact sheet highlights data from select cities in each Mountain West state, categorized by population size: five large cities, eight mid-sized cities, and 19 small cities.

Nyc’S “Just Cause” Law Aims To Make It Harder To Fire Fast Food Workers. Does It?, Joseph Pickens, Aaron Sojourner

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Just Cause Protection Under Manager Discrimination, Joseph Pickens, Aaron Sojourner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

“Just cause” policies aim to discourage the arbitrary firing of employees. Recent efforts at passing such laws in the U.S. have been motivated by deterring discrimination. This paper presents a framework to study the effects of just cause when managers engage in taste-based discrimination. The framework generates predictions on whether just cause will ease achievement and retention of stable employment by exploiting the timing of separations around a probationary period. Since probationary periods are a typical feature of protections, the approach is generalizable. We test predictions using New York City’s 2021 just cause law for fast-food employees. Using a synthetic …

Ten Lessons In Public–Private Partnerships To Create Good Jobs, Kathleen Bolter, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Michelle Miller-Adams, Alfonso Hernandez, Kyle Huisman, Bridget Timmeney

Reports

No abstract provided.

U.S. Water Infrastructure: Diving Into Needs And Recent Policy Developments, Joseph Kane

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled, "U.S. Water Infrastructure: Diving Into Needs and Recent Policy Developments" by Brookings fellow in Brookings Metro, Joseph Kane. Whether providing drinking water, treating wastewater, or managing stormwater, water infrastructure in the United States spans a wide range of human-made and natural systems. In turn, the enormous scale and variety of these systems is leading to an array of challenges: aging and vulnerable infrastructure; fragmented governance and siloed planning across different geographies; a lack of financial, technical, and managerial capacity; difficulties adapting to new industrial and …

China’S Turn To Domestic-Led Growth: Replacing Consumption Taxes With Land Taxes?, Yilin Hou, Michael Kumhof, Lei Shao

Center for Policy Research

As part of its turn towards domestic-led growth China plans to stimulate consumption, including through a reduction in consumption taxes. We compare two model-based scenarios in which the revenue losses from lower consumption taxes are replaced by higher income taxes or higher land taxes. The model is carefully calibrated to recent Chinese data, including detailed fiscal data. We find that higher income taxes lead to significant losses in output and incomes, while higher land taxes lead to significant gains. These gains are increasing in the share of land in net wealth, a statistic for which better data would be invaluable.