Economic Inquiry articles from July 2003

Economic Inquiry archives from July 2003

The economic reward for studying economics.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Each year, college students must select a major from a bewildering array of choices. Academic advisors extol the aesthetic beauty, social value, intellectual rigor, and inherent interest of the various disciplines, and they...

Distance to hospital and children's use of preventive care: is being closer better, and for whom?
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION This article examines the effect of distance to hospital on the utilization of preventive care among children. Many poor children, lacking alternative providers, rely on hospitals and clinics for preventive care. Moreover,...

Why is inflation low when productivity growth is high?
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION In the United States since World War II, inflation has been low when productivity growth has been high. For example, the 1950s and 1960s were a period of low inflation and high productivity growth, whereas the 1970s and...

Confidence in domestic money and currency substitution.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION The prevalence of currency substitution (CS), that is, the demand for foreign money by domestic residents, has been endemic in several Latin American and East European countries as well as some other parts of the world....

Suppressing asset price inflation: the confederate experience, 1861-1865.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION The absorption of Treasury notes by the funding process is progressing favorably, and will counteract the tendency to a further depreciation of our currency arising from the heavy issues since the 1st of January last. ...

Politics and productivity.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Economic studies of long-run performance are focusing increasingly on political, legal, financial, and social factors. Development is no longer regarded as a gradual, inevitable transformation from self-sufficiency to...

Are political economists selfish and indoctrinated? Evidence from a natural experiment.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Economic science is constantly being accused of having a blind spot. It is said that, compared to efficiency, equity is not given its just weight in the education of economists. Moreover, it is argued that the Homo...

Can adequate child support be legislated? Responses to guidelines and enforcement.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION In response to the high levels of poverty faced by children of divorced parents, federal and state governments adopted a number of policies during the 1980s aimed at increasing child support awards and payments. These laws...

Redistributing income and relative efficiency.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION The welfare costs associated with a demo-grant reform and with spending on a publicly provided good have been extensively investigated, as in Browning and Johnson (1984), Stuart (1984), and Ballard (1988). The welfare cost...

The political economy of FEMA disaster payments.
July 1, 2003... Disasters are very political events. -Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt (Testimony to U.S. Senate, 30 April 1996) I. INTRODUCTION A central contribution of public choice theory to the analysis of government activity is in...

Liberalization, FDI, and growth in developing countries: a panel cointegration, approach.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Although there is an enormous body of literature dealing with the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on both long-run and short-run growth, there is no common consensus regarding the permanent as well as transitional...

Fringe benefits and inequality in the labor market.
July 1, 2003... 1. INTRODUCTION Wage inequality has been the topic of much recent empirical research. Similarly, inequality in the distribution of fringe benefits has also been studied. (1) On the whole, the vast majority of research on inequality has...