cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health employment, medical spending, and long term health reform

This paper explores the relationships between the growth in the medical workforce in an aging society and employment in other sectors of the economy, based on data from the United States since 1985. Employment in medical services grew, but did not displace employment in other sectors uniformly. Instead, regression analysis shows that medical workforce growth produced contemporaneous reductions in relative employment in the manufacturing, construction, and information sectors, while being associated with growth in other services and public administration. Import penetration and productivity growth mattered, but much of the displacement remains even after controlling for these factors. JEL-Code: I100. Mark V. Pauly Health Care Management Department The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania 3641 Locust Walk, Room 208 USA – Philadelphia, PA 19104 pauly@wharton.upenn.edu Anand Saxena Health Care Management Department The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania 3641 Locust Walk USA – Philadelphia, PA 19104 ansaxena@sas.upenn.edu This draft: August 1, 2011 Paper Presented at April, 2011, CESifo Area Conference on Public Sector Economics Munich, Germany.
Optimal CO2 Abatement in the Presence of Induced Technological Change

This paper explores the significance of policy-induced technological change for the design of carbon-abatement policies. We derive analytical expressions characterizing optimal CO2 abatement and carbon tax profiles under different specifications for the channels through which technological progress occurs. We consider both R&D-based and learning-by-doing-based knowledge accumulation, and we examine each specification under both a cost-effectiveness and a benefit–cost policy criterion. We show analytically in a cost-effectiveness setting that the presence of induced technological change (ITC) always implies a lower time profile of optimal carbon taxes. The same is true in a benefit–cost setting as long as damages are convex in the atmospheric CO2 concentration. The impact of ITC on the optimal abatement path varies. When knowledge is gained through R&D investments, the presence of ITC justifies shifting some abatement from the present to the future. However, when knowledge is accumulated via learning-by-doing the impact on the timing of abatement is analytically ambiguous. Illustrative numerical simulations indicate that the impact of ITC upon overall costs and optimal carbon taxes can be quite large in a cost-effectiveness setting but typically is much smaller under a benefit–cost policy criterion. The impact of ITC on the timing of abatement is very slight, but the effect (applicable in the benefit–cost case) on cumulative abatement over time can be large, especially when knowledge is generated through learning-by doing.
Minding the Gaps: Understanding Technology Interdependence and Coordination in Knowledge Work

In this paper, we broaden the concept of interdependence beyond its focus on task to include technology, defining technology interdependence as technologies' interaction with and dependence on one another in the course of carrying out work. With technologies increasingly aiding knowledge work, understanding technology interdependence may be as important as understanding task interdependence for theories of organizing, but the literature has yet to develop ways of thinking about technology interdependence or its impact on the social dynamics of work. We define a technology gap as the space in a workflow between two technologies wherein the output of the first technology is meant to be the input to the second one. Using data from an inductive study of two engineering occupations (hardware engineering and structural engineering), we analyzed engineers' gap encounters (episodes in which a technology gap appeared in the course of action) and found striking differences in how engineers minded the gaps. Hardware engineers minded the gaps by coordinating technologies via “bridges” that automated data transfers between technologies. Structural engineers, in contrast, allowed technology gaps to persist even though traversing gaps consumed significant time and effort. Our findings highlight a difference between task and technology in the degree of coordination necessary for success. Managers in our study designed policies around technology interdependence and coordination not to manage technology most efficiently, but to manage work and workers in a manner consistent with occupational structures and industry constraints. We discuss the implications of our findings for theories of organizing work.
Issues in extractive resource taxation: A review of research methods and models

Abstract This paper provides a conceptual overview of economists′ attempts to learn about the effects of taxes on extractive resources. The emphasis is on research methods and techniques, with no attempt to provide a comprehensive tabulation of previous empirical results or policy conclusions regarding preferred tax instruments or systems. We argue, in fact, that the nature of such conclusions largely depends on, and is limited by, the researcher′s choice of modeling framework. Many alternative frameworks and approaches have been developed in the literature. Our goal is to describe the differences among them and to note their strengths and limitations.
Did the Sky Really Fall? Ten Years After California's Proposition 209

Discrimination and preferential treatment based on immutable characteristics, such as race and sex, are hotly contested issues in the courts and among the general public. By adopting Proposition 209, California voters amended the California State Constitution, the organic law that determines the state's governing principles, to eliminate race and sex based discrimination and preferential treatment. California's approach is effective at eliminating discrimination and preferential treatment in public contracting, education, and employment without negatively impacting the position of women and minorities. It is unnecessary for governmental entities to discriminate or grant preferential treatment as minorities and women are able to maintain their levels of employment, education, and contracting without being granted preferential treatment. Comparing the pre- and post-Proposition 209 statistics by race and gender demonstrates that women and minorities have not lost any ground in employment, education, or public contracting as a result of Proposition 209's prohibition of discrimination and preferential treatment. Although the state of Washington has successfully passed similar legislation, other states have not yet been as successful. If discrimination and preferential treatment based on race and sex are to be eliminated, it is important for citizens and states to use California's Proposition 209 as a model.
Rational panics and stock market crashes

Abstract This paper offers an explanation for stock market crashes which focuses on the role of rational but uninformed traders. We show that uninformed traders can precipitate a price crash because as prices decline, they surmise that informed traders received negative information, which leads them to reduce their demand for assets and drive the price of stocks even lower. The model yields several implications, such as that crashes can occur even when the fundamentals are strong, and that the magnitude of the crash depends on the fraction of uninformed investors and the amount of unsophisticated passive investing present in the market.
Boards of Directors: Utilizing Empirical Evidence in Developing Practical Prescriptions

Boards of directors and corporate governance, more generally, continue to capture the attention of practitioners and scholars alike. There are now several reports, such as the Higgs Review, that offer both descriptions of past board structures and practices, and prescriptions for effective corporate governance practices going forward. This paper provides an overview of a series of research in which we have been involved that investigated the relationships between board structures (i.e. board composition, board leadership structure, board size and board member equity ownership) and firm financial performance. The paper demonstrates that not all current corporate governance ‘best practices’ are supported by empirical investigation. It also offer views on two means for installing independence in corporate boardrooms that hold considerable promise – installation of a lead independent director and reliance on an independent board of directors budget. Ultimately, however, no amount of structural prescription will guarantee effective boards of directors. Effective boards will install effective boardroom processes and be guided by individuals with the highest integrity and character.
A New ASCA and ROSAT Study of the Supernova Remnant G272.2-3.2

G272.2-3.2 is a supernova remnant (SNR) characterized by an apparent centrally brightened X-ray morphology and thermally dominated X-ray emission. Because of this combination of Sedov-type (thermal emission) and non-Sedov-type (non-shell-like morphology) features, the remnant is classified as a "thermal composite" SNR. This class of remnant is still poorly understood, in part because of the difficulties in modeling accurately all the physical conditions which shape the emission morphology. This paper presents a combined analysis of data from the ASCA and ROSAT satellites coupled with previous results at other wavelengths. We find that the X-ray emission from G272.2-3.2 is best described by a nonequilibrium ionization (NEI) model with a temperature around 0.70 keV, an ionization timescale of 3200 cm-3 yr, and a relatively high column density (NH ~ 1022 atoms cm-2). We look into the possible explanations for the apparent morphology of G272.2-3.2 using several models (among which are both cloud evaporation and thermal conduction models). For each of the models considered, we examine all the implications on the evolution of G272.2-3.2.
Member State Liability and Constitutional Change in the United States and Europe

In a well-known series of recent cases, the Supreme Court of the United States has dramatically narrowed the obligation of states to comply with the rules of accountability that Congress has applied to other aspects of our national commercial life. Although the Court has frequently invoked the Eleventh Amendment to defend its narrowing of state accountability, its decision in Alden v. Maine makes clear that state sovereign immunity rests less on the text of the Constitution than on unwritten structural postulates that it has described as "implicit in the constitutional design." Across the Atlantic, the European Court of Justice has drawn on similarly unwritten postulates in developing rules to govern member state accountability to central legislative norms. Yet in Europe, the ECJ has pushed in the opposite direction, expanding member state liability beyond the limits specified in the treaties that constitute the European Union. This paper takes the differing approaches of the Supreme Court and the ECJ as the jumping off point for a rumination on the legitimacy of constitutional change in federal systems. In Europe, a doctrine known as the acquis communautaire has evolved in ways that require newly admitted member states to subscribe not only to the formal terms of the treaties themselves but also to the unwritten rules that the ECJ has announced in working out a jurisprudence of European integration. Avowedly forward looking, the acquis provides an underpinning of legitimacy for the ECJ's jurisprudence. In effect, the acquis suggests that each member state, upon accession to the Union, must accept both the specific terms of prior judicial decisions and the notion of an evolving jurisprudence. In the United States, by contrast, the Supreme Court's decisions have looked backwards through the lens of originalism to identify the nature of the accessionary bargain of the original thirteen states. Such a backward-looking originalism corresponds to the emphasis in the American equal-footing doctrine on the nature of the original deal among the states that formed the Union. It also corresponds to the Court's rejection of the metaphor of living constitutionalism that one finds most famously expressed in Justice Holmes opinion in Missouri v. Holland. The paper concludes with a suggestion that the acquis, coupled with the relatively dynamic quality of European federalism, may help to explain the ECJ's evolving jurisprudence of constitutional integration. Europe continues to grow, with the planned accession of ten new member states in 2004 and more on the way. In the United States, by contrast, no new member states have joined the Union since the late 1950s, and the prospects for further growth as a nation seem remote indeed. The closing of the border in the United States may have contributed to the perception that the project of federal integration has been completed. Such developments may have also contributed to a closing of the judicial mind to the possibility of further change in the nature of federal relationships.
Teaching Contracts from A Socioeconomic Perspective

This essay begins with a brief discussion of what socioeconomics is. In this section I also address whether one must be well versed in conventional economics in order to apply a socioeconomic perspective. I then discuss the basic themes that are present throughout my contracts class that stem from my interest in socioeconomics. Underlying these themes is the more fundamental goal of devising methodologies for assessing the quality of contracts. By quality, I mean something more and perhaps more subtle than whether the parties have conformed to all the formal requirements. Instead, I encourage students to examine whether all of the many factors leading to the formation of a contract are ones to be supported. Finally, I identify some specific materials that lend themselves to a socioeconomic perspective that are not always included in the casebook.
A welcome exchange on the scientific status of fingerprinting

Ten years ago, the notion that a top academic journal should publish an exchange on the scientific validation of fingerprint evidence would have been a non-starter. Until then, all but a few self-interested defendants and defence attorneys believed that when a fingerprint examiner matched a crime scene print (a latent print) to a suspect’s reference print, the evidence was absolute and irrefutable. A fingerprint match proved identity if not guilt. Today, however, scientists, attorneys and others are taking a hard look at the forensic sciences in general and fingerprint evidence in particular. The oft-repeated claims that fingerprints are unique and that the source of fingerprint fragments can be identified with certainty have received special attention. Balding (2005), Cole (2004) and Saks & Koehler (2008) argue against the uniqueness claim both in theory and in practice. Kaye (2003) points out the serious flaws in a study that some rely on as proof of fingerprint uniqueness. As for the certainty of fingerprint identifications, the data (not surprisingly) show that fingerprint examiners are fallible. Many commit false-positive and falsenegative errors in proficiency tests and in casework (Cole, 2005, 2006). Indeed, some critics argue that there is no scientific reason to believe that fingerprint examiners can make reliable identifications at all (Epstein, 2002). The scientific status of fingerprint identifications is brought into sharp focus by Drs Ralph and Lyn Haber in the target article that follows. As readers of this journal know, the US Supreme Court decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993) allows proffered scientific evidence to be admitted in court only if the underlying technique is scientifically valid. Is the primary method used to analyse fingerprints (the ACE-V method) scientifically valid? The Habers argue that it is not. Shocking though it may be, no one has ever bothered to conduct a rigorous scientific experiment on ACE-V. The Habers detail what such an experiment should look like in light of the Daubert requirements. They conclude that fingerprint evidence be banished from the courtroom until the scientific validity of ACE-V is established. Three influential fingerprint scholars offer lively commentaries on the Habers’ paper. Professor Christophe Champod (University of Lausanne) argues that the shortcomings associated with ACEV have more to do with its transparency than its reliability. Professor Simon Cole (University of California Irvine) agrees with the Habers that the scientific validity of ACE-V has not been established, but fears that their policy recommendation will fall on deaf judicial ears. Professor Jennifer Mnookin (University of California Los Angeles) also agrees that ACE-V has not been validated through scientific tests, but argues that the Habers’ admissibility test is misguided. The Habers respond to these commentaries with characteristic gusto.
Party Labels and Vote Choice in Judicial Elections

The vast majority of states use elections to select at least some of their judges. The chief institutional variation in these contests is whether the candidates’ partisanship appears on the ballot....
WILLFUL BLINDNESS: THE INEFFICIENT REWARD STRUCTURE IN ACADEMIC RESEARCH

This article examines how economics departments judge research articles and assign credit to authors. It begins with a demonstration that only strictly prorated author credit induces researchers to choose eﬃcient sized teams. Nevertheless, survey evidence reveals that most economics departments only partially prorate authorship credit, implying excessive coauthorship. Indeed, a half-century increase in coauthorship may be better explained by incomplete proration than by any increased specialization among authors. A possible explanation for the reliance on incomplete proration is the self-interest of economists who are more likely to engage coauthorship—full professors. The self-interest of senior faculty may also explain the relatively small role given to citations in senior promotions. A rational response by economists to the under-proration of author credit is to engage in false authorship. Although false authorship is of dubious ethical status, it may have the perverse impact of improving the eﬃciency of team production. Grossly excessive coauthorship, where little attention is paid to most authors listed on a paper, as found in some other academic disciplines, may be the path down which economics is headed if the reward structure is not altered. (JEL A14, O30, I23)
How disclosure medium affects investor reactions to CEO bragging, modesty, and humblebragging

Abstract We examine if investor expectations of two common disclosure mediums (conference calls and Twitter) interact with a CEO's communication style to influence investor judgments. Consistent with theory, results show that when the disclosure medium is a conference call, investors are less willing to invest when the CEO is modest about positive firm performance compared to when the CEO brags. In contrast, when the disclosure medium is Twitter, investors are less willing to invest when the CEO brags about positive firm performance compared to when the CEO is modest. Further analysis reveals that perceived CEO credibility mediates the influence of a CEO's communication style and disclosure medium on investor judgments. Additionally, we find that regardless of the disclosure medium, investors are less willing to invest in a firm when the CEO humblebrags about positive firm performance relative to when he brags or is modest. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on social media and disclosures, and to the literature investigating how style features of disclosures influence investor judgments. Our results also have practical implications for firms and managers developing communication strategies for new disclosure mediums like Twitter.
From the ‘Stranger King’ to the ‘Stranger Constitution’: Domesticating Sovereignty in Kenya

Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins has asserted the near-universality of the notion that sovereignty in pre-modern polities is conceived of as foreign or alien. In his telling, sovereignty comes from abroad, from over the horizon, very often in the mythical form of the ‘stranger king’ or an immigrant prince. But, he argues, this alterity is complemented by equally widespread techniques of domestication; through sacrifice and marriage the stranger king becomes bound to the local people. Sahlins deployed this structure in his interpretation of the Hawaiian reception, killing, and deification of Captain James Cook in the late 1700s. This Article applies Sahlins’ construct to postcolonial governance, with a particular focus on Kenya and its new constitution of 2010. While the U.S. tradition may envisage constitutions as bottom-up expressions of the popular sovereign, in many postcolonial contexts constitutions are also imported products, often drafted by foreign experts. Despite such constitutions’ focus on ‘the people,’ the constitution itself might be said to be something of a stranger. The notion of the stranger king, as this Article demonstrates through its case study of Kenya, fruitfully expands the vocabulary of political and constitutional theory by pointing towards ethnographically grounded ways of understanding authority and law that come from beyond the boundaries of a political order.
Evaluating and managing brand repurchase across multiple geographic retail markets

Highlights: [�] Brand repurchase is a multi-level phenomenon influenced by individual-, brand-, and market-level variables. [�] Customer satisfaction and relational investments have substitutive effects on brand repurchase. [�] Territorial market share moderates the effects of customer satisfaction and relational investments. [�] Customer satisfaction has relatively more effect on repurchase in territories where a brand's market share is lower. [�] Relational investments have relatively more effect on repurchase in territories where a brand's market share is higher.
Regulatory reform in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007‐2008

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse regulatory reform in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007‐2008.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a framework for regulatory reform that begins with the observation that financial manias and panics cannot be legislated away, and may be an unavoidable aspect of modern capitalism.Findings – Financial crises are unavoidable when hardwired human behavior – fear and greed, or “animal spirits” – is combined with free enterprise, and cannot be legislated or regulated away. Like hurricanes and other forces of nature, market bubbles, and crashes cannot be entirely eliminated, but their most destructive consequences can be greatly mitigated with proper preparation. In fact, the most damaging effects of financial crisis come not from loss of wealth, but rather from those who are unprepared for such losses and panic in response. This perspective has several implications for the types of regulatory reform needed in the wake of the financial crisis of ...
What (if Anything) Can Economics Say About Equity

Does economics have anything to teach us about the meaning of fairness? The leading practitioners of law and economics disagree. Judge Richard Posner argues that economics is largely irrelevant to distributive issues.1 Posner maintains that the most useful economic measure of social welfare is cost-benefit analysis (which he calls wealth maximization). But, he observes, this economic measure "ratifies and perfects an essentially arbitrary distribution of wealth."2 Given an ethically acceptable initial assignment of wealth, rules based on economic efficiency may have some claim to be considered fair.3 On the critical issue of distributional equity, however, Posner apparently believes that economics has little to say. In contrast, Professors Louis Kaplow4 and Steven Shavells believe that economics can teach us nearly everything about equity. In Fairness Versus Welfare, they argue that there is only one viable notion of equity: resources should be distributed so as to maximize overall social welfare. As we will see, the full import of this argument is ambiguous. On the one hand, Kaplow and Shavell expressly
The politico-historical construction of the Pintupi Luritja and the concept of tribe

This paper explores the history of the emergence of Pintupi Luritja as the dominant language in the Central Australian community of Amunturrngu (Mt Liebig), traced from the people's first encounters with settlement in the 1940s at Haasts Bluff, through to the present. It is a political history, as movement toward settlement demanded a re-structuring of social relations within a newly settled polity. To elaborate on this polity I examine the concept of a language community through the construction of Pintupi Luritja as a 'communilect'. The development of this communilect as a lingua franca in these early settlements signals the value of the original term 'Luritja' as a trope. The meaning of this original Indigenous term is not only indicative of the regional history, but also of the flexible potential in group formation. The pattern of contact and settlement in this Pintupi Luritja region has compelled a socio-linguistic re-configuration, lending a currency to the label Pintupi Luritja that suggests a modern, firmed up, 'tribe'. This tribe is a 'secondary phenomenon' formed through the manipulation of relatively unstructured populations - stateless societies - by the colonial State (Fried 1975). At issue here is the inter-cultural aspect of this language formation that is the elemental process in the creation of this 'new' social formation.
Online Knowledge Communities: Breaking or Sustaining Knowledge Silos?

Today many companies use technology-enabled social platforms such as online communities to improve knowledge sharing among their geographically separated employees. Given the increasing adoption of such technology, it is important to investigate if the technology actually breaks physical knowledge silos as it is intended, thereby enables employees to obtain previously unavailable solution to better serve their customers. We perform network analysis using unique time-series data from a global Fortune 500 consulting company to empirically examine whether an online knowledge community actually breaks traditional knowledge barriers. Our analysis reveals that subgroups of homogeneous employee emerge because employees tend to herd with their virtual and geographic neighbors. We further find that this herding behavior gradually fragments an online knowledge community in multiple dimensions (i.e., geography, knowledge domains). Our results offer insights into how to manage an online knowledge community as an emerging knowledge management platform for companies.
The Federal Reserve System Balance Sheet : What Happened and Why it Matters

The recent expansion of the balance sheet of the consolidated Federal Reserve Banks (FRB) is analyzed in an historical context. The analysis reveals that the nature of Fed involvement in U.S. financial markets has changed dramatically and its expansion is several orders of magnitude beyond what is usually reported. The associated fiscal risks and potential exit strategies are then considered. Although risks are considerable in certain unlikely scenarios, FRB capital, earnings capacity, and reserves are more than ample to preserve their financial independence. Nevertheless, the occurrence of losses or a significant drop in FRB profit might lead to an eventual curtailment of Fed operational independence. The paper concludes by considering options to enhance FRB risk management and to assign responsibilities for monetary, financial stability and fiscal policies once the current crisis is overcome.
The Effect of Tax Authority Monitoring and Enforcement on Financial Reporting Quality

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the relation between tax enforcement and financial reporting quality. The government, due to its tax claim on firm profits, is de facto the largest minority shareholder in almost all corporations. Therefore, the government, like other shareholders, has an interest in the accurate reporting of (taxable) income and preventing insiders from siphoning corporate funds to obtain private benefits. We hypothesize and find evidence that higher tax enforcement by the tax authority has a positive association with financial reporting quality. Further, we find that this association is generally stronger when other monitoring mechanisms are weaker. Our evidence is consistent with the predictions from the Desai, Dyck, and Zingales (2007) theory that the tax authority provides a monitoring mechanism of corporate insiders. Our paper also adds to the literature on the determinants of financial reporting quality and how the relation between accounting standards and reporting outcomes depends on...
A MONOPOLY REASON WHY AUTARKY MIGHT BE BEST FOR A LARGE COUNTRY

Will all countries gain from free trade? Two countries, one with a large and the other a small population, are modeled. Once trade is opened, real income rises in the small country and falls in the large one. The intuition is that, without trade, the large country's local monopoly makes profits at the expense of its consumers. With trade, the foreign duopolist earns some of the profits, even though the industry profits are smaller. Average home consumption falls, even though all the home citizens, except the producer, benefit. This can explain the objections to the lifting of economic barriers.
Intellectual Property as Price Discrimination: Implications for Contract

As people become enamored with the possible benefits of allowing price discrimination in contracts for intellectual goods, they should realize that traditional intellectual property law works by fostering price discrimination among customers. This simple fact has implications for federal pre-emption, and is a reminder of the complexity of the economic issues involved. Increasing a seller's ability to price discriminate will often involve increasing his monopoly power, with dubious welfare effects.
U.S. Migrant Worker Law: The Interstices of Immigration Law and Labor and Employment Law.

The work visa program for temporary foreign workers in the United States is “not only the longest-running, but also the largest such program in the world.” Close to one million foreign workers receive work visas each year for both skilled and unskilled temporary jobs in the United States. Nevertheless, the number of foreign workers laboring in the United States that do not have the legal documentation necessary to work in the United States (“undocumented migrant workers”) dwarfs the number of temporary foreign workers that receive visas to work in the United States (“documented migrant workers”). As of 2008, there were an estimated 8.3 million, mostly low-wage and low-skilled, undocumented migrant workers in the U.S. labor force. Some estimates suggest that the number of undocumented migrant workers in the United States may be even higher. Thus, when discussing “migrant worker law,” the laws that affect undocumented migrant workers deserve special attention in the U.S. context.
Probing protein orientation near charged nanosurfaces for simulation-assisted biosensor design

Protein-surface interactions are ubiquitous in biological processes and bioengineering, yet are not fully understood. In biosensors, a key factor determining the sensitivity and thus the performance of the device is the orientation of the ligand molecules on the bioactive device surface. Adsorption studies thus seek to determine how orientation can be influenced by surface preparation, varying surface charge, and ambient salt concentration. In this work, protein orientation near charged nanosurfaces is obtained under electrostatic effects using the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, in an implicit-solvent model. Sampling the free energy for protein G B1 D4′ at a range of tilt and rotation angles with respect to the charged surface, we calculated the probability of the protein orientations and observed a dipolar behavior. This result is consistent with published experimental studies and combined Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations using this small protein, validating our method. More relevant to biosensor technology, antibodies such as immunoglobulin G are still a formidable challenge to molecular simulation, due to their large size. With the Poisson-Boltzmann model, we obtained the probability distribution of orientations for the iso-type IgG2a at varying surface charge and salt concentration. This iso-type was not found to have a preferred orientation in previous studies, unlike the iso-type IgG1 whose larger dipole moment was assumed to make it easier to control. Our results show that the preferred orientation of IgG2a can be favorable for biosensing with positive charge on the surface of 0.05 C/m2 or higher and 37 mM salt concentration. The results also show that local interactions dominate over dipole moment for this protein. Improving immunoassay sensitivity may thus be assisted by numerical studies using our method (and open-source code), guiding changes to fabrication protocols or protein engineering of ligand molecules to obtain more favorable orientations.
Common Myths in the Economic Analysis of Law

This article discusses some reasons for the limited usefulness of economics and economic myths in legal analysis. This article further examines two economic myths that are popular with the conservative wing of law and economics, the myths of markets and cost-benefit analysis. These myths purport to provide clear answers to important legal issues. This article concludes that these two myths downplay the overwhelming importance of human judgment and societal values in legal issues; they are used too theoretically, and too often as a substitute for careful analysis of real-world conditions; and they provide only preliminary, rather than ultimate, and possible rather than definitive, solutions to legal problems. As a consequence, two economic concepts that should have been used to generate insightful questions have instead developed into vehicles which can be used to promote the values of that analyst who applies economics to law. In the end, the common myths of markets and cost-benefit analysis are "just-so" stories, products of armchair speculation and fanciful theorizing.
Regulating Innovation with Uncertain Quality: Information, Risk, and Access in Medical Devices

We study the impact of regulating product entry and quality information requirements on an oligopoly equilibrium and consumer welfare. Product testing can reduce consumer uncertainty, but also increase entry costs and delay entry. Using variation between EU and US medical device regulations, we document patterns consistent with valuable learning from more stringent US requirements. To derive welfare implications, we pair the data with a model of supply, demand, and testing regulation. US policy is indistinguishable from the policy that maximizes total surplus in our estimated model, while the European Union could benefit from more testing. "Post-market surveillance" could further increase surplus.
Corruption, Public Investment, and Growth

Up to the time when a huge corruption scandal, popularly labeled “tangentopoli” (bribe city), brought down the political establishment that had ruled Italy for several decades, that country had reported one of the largest shares of capital spending in GDP among the OECD countries. After the scandal broke out and several prominent individuals were sent to jail, or even committed suicide, capital spending fell sharply. The fall seems to have been caused by a reduction in the number of capital projects being undertaken and, perhaps more importantly, by a sharp fall in the costs of the projects still undertaken. Information released by Transparency International (TI) 1 reports that, within the space of two or three years, in the city of Milan, the city where the scandal broke out in the first place, the cost of city rail links fell by 52 percent, the cost of one kilometer of subway fell by 57 percent, and the budget for the new airport terminal was reduced by 59 percent to reflect the lower construction costs. Although one must be aware of the logical fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, the connection between the two events is too strong to be attributed to a coincidence. In fact this paper takes the view that it could not have been a coincidence
Has the Fed improved U.S. economic performance

Abstract This paper finds that U.S. economic performance has not generally improved under the Federal Reserve, with the possible exception of the Great Moderation. We analyze the Fed and pre-Fed periods in terms of the rates and volatilities of inflation and real GDP growth. Comparing the pre-Fed periods to the post-World War II period and the Great Moderation, we find that real GDP growth has been lower under the Fed, while inflation has been higher. The volatilities of inflation and GDP growth have both declined under the Fed, but the reductions occurred mostly during the Great Moderation.
Design, Performance and Interstate Collaboration: Insights from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Given pressure to act on climate change, nations now use market-based approaches for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Cap-and-trade systems for reducing GHG are strongly debated. Policy designers must allocate emissions allowances effectively to ensure successful cap-and-trade systems; for example, some argue that the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme has underperformed due to poor allowance distribution. We apply insights from auction design theory to analyse the performance of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) emissions allowance auctions, and show how RGGI could serve as a model for a national cap-and-trade system.
Bayesian model selection in complex linear systems, as illustrated in genetic association studies

Summary Motivated by examples from genetic association studies, this article considers the model selection problem in a general complex linear model system and in a Bayesian framework. We discuss formulating model selection problems and incorporating context-dependent a priori information through different levels of prior specifications. We also derive analytic Bayes factors and their approximations to facilitate model selection and discuss their theoretical and computational properties. We demonstrate our Bayesian approach based on an implemented Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm in simulations and a real data application of mapping tissue-specific eQTLs. Our novel results on Bayes factors provide a general framework to perform efficient model comparisons in complex linear model systems.
Geometry and Algebra of the Deltoid Map

The geometry of the deltoid curve gives rise to a self-map of C 2 that is expressed in coordinates by f ( x , y ) = ( y 2 − 2 x , x 2 − 2 y ) . This is one in a family of maps that generalize Cheby...
The effect of price limits on intraday volatility and information asymmetry

Abstract We investigate the effect of price limits on intra-day volatility and information asymmetry using transactions data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Proponents of price limits argue that they provide an opportunity for investors to reevaluate market information and make more rational trading decisions. We identify three different limit hits – closing, single, and consecutive – and hypothesize that only the consecutive limit hits are likely to provide such an opportunity, namely, to counter investor overreaction (volatility hypothesis) and to enhance information revelation (information asymmetry hypothesis). Our empirical evidence supports the volatility hypothesis. Our findings generate important policy implications for stock markets that have price limits.
How the War Against ISIS Changed International Law

In an effort to destroy ISIS, beginning in August 2014, the United States, assisted by a handful of other Western and Arab countries, carried out thousands of bombing sorties and cruise missile attacks against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. Iraq had consented to the airstrikes in its territory, but Syria had not, and Russia blocked the UN Security Council from authorizing force against ISIS in Syria. The United States invoked several different legal arguments to justify its airstrikes, including the right of humanitarian intervention, the right to use force in a failed state, and the right of hot pursuit, before finally settling on self-defense. Use of force in self-defense has traditionally not been viewed as lawful against non-state actors in a third state unless they are under the effective control of that state but the United States argued that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda, such force can be justified where a government is unable or unwilling to suppress the threat posed by non-state actors operating within its borders. This view was not, however, initially accepted by Russia, China, or even the United Kingdom. But that changed in the aftermath of ISIS attacks against a Russian jetliner and a Paris stadium and concert hall in 2015, leading to the unanimous adoption of a UN Security Council resolution calling on States to use all necessary measures to fight ISIS in Syria without offering a legal basis for military action. This article examines the evolution of the right to use force in self-defense against non-state actors and makes the case that events in 2015 triggered a “Grotian Moment”: a fundamental paradigm shift that will have broad implications for international law.
Beauty vs. earnings: Gender differences in earnings and priorities over spousal characteristics in a matching model

Abstract I develop a model of marriage matching where males and females care about two distinct characteristics of their spouse—beauty and earnings. Each individual’s beauty is exogenous, but earnings depend on human capital investments made by each individual prior to entering the marriage market. I show that even if males and females constitute ex ante identical populations, with identical underlying preferences and equal access to human capital investment and labor market opportunities, there can still exist an equilibrium where, on average, one gender invests more in human capital than the other, and moreover, members of one gender are more likely to prioritize beauty over earnings in a spouse, while members of the other gender are more likely to prioritize a potential spouse’s earnings over beauty.
Why Do Plaintiffs Lose Appeals? Biased Trial Courts, Litigious Losers, or Low Trial Win Rates?

Multiple studies find that plaintiffs who lose at trial and subsequently appeal are less successful on appeal than are losing defendants who appeal. The studies attribute this to a perception by appellate judges that trial courts are biased in favor of plaintiffs. However, at least two alternative explanations exist. First, losing plaintiffs may appeal at higher rates independent of the potential merits. Second, if plaintiffs tend to pursue to trial lawsuits where they should win on the merits less than half the time, then potentially reversible outcomes at trial will be more likely to be adverse to defendants. This study revisits the analysis of the appellate process with a statistical model that ties together win rates at trial, appeals rates, and success rates on appeal. The model can distinguish the competing explanations for differential appellate success rates, and we estimate this model using matched data on Federal District Court trials and appeals to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. We find consistent evidence that the lower plaintiff success rate on appeal is due to plaintiffs’ pursuing lawsuits where they should win on the merits (which we define to be an outcome that would not be reversed or remanded on appeal) less than half the time. We find no evidence that asymmetric success on appeal is attributable either to trial courts favoring plaintiffs or to higher rates of appeal by losing plaintiffs. (JEL: K41)
The influence of governance on investment: Evidence from a hazard model

Abstract Does corporate governance affect the timing of large investment projects? Hazard model estimates suggest strong shareholder governance may deter managers from pursuing large investments. Controlling for investment opportunities, firms with good governance experience longer spells between large investments. However, in the presence of financial constraints or strong CEO incentives (high delta ( δ )), we find no such timing differences. Finally, these higher investment hazard firms exhibit significantly negative long-run operating and stock performance. Overall, our findings are consistent with the notion that poor governance associates with overinvestment.
Quantifying the transient response of ecological-economic systems to perturbations

Abstract Ecologists and economists are increasingly in agreement that ecological and economic systems are linked and that these actually should be viewed as one system. Perhaps because this recognition has been very recent, neither ecologists nor economists have studied the short-term behavior of jointly determined ecological-economic systems that are subject to perturbations stemming from natural events and the continuance of economic activities. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to construct a metric that can be used to quantify the transient response of ecological-economic systems to perturbations. This metric is a non-asymptotic measure of an ecological-economic system's resilience.
External engagement: Explaining the spread of electoral participation provisions in civil conflict settlements

Author(s): Matanock, AM | Abstract: When do settlements to civil conflict bring former combatants into normal politics as political parties? Prior work shows that electoral-participation provisions in settlements correlate with enduring peace; such provisions help end some of the longest and deadliest civil conflicts. But they are not always included in negotiated settlements. This article presents original data showing that no settlements included electoral-participation provisions until the end of the Cold War. Since then, they appear in almost half of all settlements. What explains this pattern? I argue that combatants include electoral-participation provisions to engage international actors; through these provisions, international actors can often enforce negotiated deals by monitoring and providing incentives conditioned on combatant compliance. This helps to overcome commitment problems that often prevent peaceful settlements of civil conflicts. An analysis of data on civil conflicts and settlements since 1975, as well as illustrative case evidence, provides support this argument.
TRIPs, Patents, and Access To Life-Saving Drugs In The Developing World

While the recent WTO agreement allowing developing countries to import life-saving drugs by bypassing patent laws is beneficial, a majority of the drugs used to combat epidemics are off-patent or not patented in many developing countries. Consequently, the agreement will do very little to assist those nations in preventing and treating public health crises and epidemics. Extreme poverty, lack of funding for healthcare, and little or no resources available for the storage, transport, and distribution of drugs must be addressed before there can be any hope of alleviating the suffering.
Nonparametric Generalized Least Squares in Applied Regression Analysis

This paper compares a nonparametric generalized least squares (NPGLS) estimator to parametric feasible GLS (FGLS) and variants of heteroscedasticity robust standard error estimators (HRSE) in an applied setting. NPGLS consistently estimates the unknown scedastic function and produces more efficient parameter estimates than HRSE. We apply these various approaches for handling heteroscedasticity to data on professor rankings obtained from RateMyProfessors.com. We find that the statistical significance of key variables differs across seven versions of HRSE, leading to different conclusions, and a standard parametric approach to FGLS suffers from misspecification. NPGLS combines the virtues of both of these parametric approaches.