Contemporary Economic Policy articles from January 2008

Contemporary Economic Policy archives from January 2008

The decision to use benefit transfer or conduct original valuation research for benefit-cost and policy analysis.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION Federal agencies are often required by statute or executive order to examine the costs and benefits of their decisions (Executive Order #12866, 1993; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1998; U.S. Water Resources Council,...

Language-related differences in environmental benefits estimation: evidence from a mail survey.(Survey)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION The contingent valuation method (CVM) is firmly established as a very important tool to evaluate the economic value of environmental goods. CVM is especially valuable as a way to study environmental values that have no...

Why are Americans addicted to baseball? An empirical analysis of fandom in Korea and the United States.(Report)
January 1, 2008... Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them. --Confucius I. INTRODUCTION Static microeconomic theory predicts that profit-maximizing monopolists will price in the elastic range of demand. The recurrent finding...

Economic incentives and contracts: the use of psychotropic medications.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION "The past decade has seen an outpouring of new drugs introduced for the treatment of mental disorders. New medications for treatment of depression and schizophrenia are among the achievements stoked by research...

Labor markets and health benefits: the offer and restrictions on it.(Report)
January 1, 2008... Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance dropped from 63.6 to 60.4 (Gould, 2004). Low-wage workers with minimal skills may be particularly at risk for being uninsured. Eighty-eight percent of...

Why have so many disinflations succeeded?(Report)
January 1, 2008... "[...] the work of policy is not done: sustaining reasonable price stability presents its own challenges" [IMF, October 1999, p. 125] I. INTRODUCTION The 1970s marked the beginning of an inflationary era that would plague most...

Credit union to mutual conversion: do interest rates diverge?(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION In a recent directive, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) proposed that a converting credit union (CU) includes the following disclosures in each written communication it sends members regarding conversion:...

The determinants of Korea's foreign direct investment from the United States, 1980-2001: an empirical investigation of firm-level data.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been one of the main driving forces of rapid economic growth in Korea in recent years. FDI inflows into Korea have grown at a rapid pace over the last two decades, especially since the...

The sources of the decline in U.S. output volatility.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION The recent macroeconomic literature provides evidence of decreased volatility of U.S. output since the middle of the 1980s. The performance of the U.S. economy for the last two decades seems to be quite different in...

Assessing the integration of electricity markets using principal component analysis: network and market structure effects.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION Detecting the exercise of market power in electricity markets is even more difficult than detecting it in markets for more conventional goods because of features such as the volatility of electricity prices and fuel...

An economic interpretation of suicide cycles in Japan.(Report)
January 1, 2008... I. INTRODUCTION Since the early 1990s, Japan has experienced a tremendous increase in its suicide rate, especially among middle-aged men. At the same time, most other industrialized countries have seen suicide rates fall or increase only...