Economic Inquiry articles from July 2006

Economic Inquiry archives from July 2006

The labor market effects of sex and race discrimination laws.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION Public policies to narrow the gaps in labor market outcomes between men and women and between whites and minorities have a long and controversial history. Two pieces of federal legislation stand out as perhaps the most...

A theory of affirmative action in college admissions.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION Race-conscious preferential admissions have been widely practiced by selective colleges and universities to enhance minority representation in higher education. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences at the...

Principal agency theory and health care utilization.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION The way in which the health care industry is organized has undergone significant changes over the past 20 years, making it a particularly interesting arena for industrial organization analysis. There are currently two...

Do you want fries with that? An exploration of serving size, social welfare, and our waistlines.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION "Do you want fries with that?" is the mantra of the fast food burger joint. It is also the direct descendant of the "Anything else?" at the baker's, the "May I interest you in these lovely pork chops, madam?" at the...

Marginal welfare costs of taxation with human and physical capital.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION Marginal welfare cost of taxation is the amount by which the social cost of an additional tax dollar differs from 1 because of distortionary taxation. Browning and Johnson (1984), Stuart (1984), Browning (1987), Ballard...

Has the Internet increased trade? Developed and developing country evidence.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION Much of the excitement surrounding the new economy did not survive the economic slowdown in 2001. However, two dramatic and real changes did take place in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s. The first was a large increase...

Why did semiconductor price indexes fall so fast in the 1990s? A decomposition.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION By any measure, price deflators for semiconductors fell at a staggering pace over much of the last decade. As shown in the top part of Table 1, Fisher price indexes for integrated circuits (ICs)--a broad class of...

Real balance effects and monetary policy.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION Modern literature on monetary policy rules employs new Keynesian optimizing models that do not explicitly include monetary aggregates (see, e.g., Rotemberg and Woodford 1997; Clarida et al. 1999; Taylor 1999). In these...

The deterrent effect of capital punishment: evidence from a "judicial experiment".
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION The contemporary debate over capital punishment involves a number of important arguments based on either moral principles or social welfare considerations. The primary social welfare issue, viewed as "the most important...

Shirking on the court: testing for the incentive effects of guaranteed pay.
July 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Opportunistic behavior can arise in the employment relationship between a principal (the employer) and agent (the employee) when the labor contract is incomplete or when the principal is unable to distinguish shirking behavior...

No-fault divorce and the compression of marriage ages.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION The no-fault divorce revolution that took place in the United States over the past three decades provides an opportunity to test economic models of marital behavior. To date, most research on no-fault laws has focused on...

Why do entrepreneurs enter politics? Evidence from China.
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION There is a growing interest among economists in studying the implications of political connections, particularly in the business world of developing and transition countries. It has been found that political connections...

Do EPA defendants prefer Republicans? Evidence from the 2000 election.(Environmental Protection Agency)
July 1, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION There is an extensive body of literature documenting the effects of political interference in bureaucratic agencies. Much of this deals with the enforcement of antitrust disputes as mediated by the Federal Trade Commission....