Education and Smart Growth Policies in U.S. Cities: A Response to Lenahan O'Connell*

Objective. This response to Lenahan O'Connell's article “Exploring the Social Roots of Smart Growth Policy Adoption by Cities” examines whether the relationship between education and the adoption of smart growth programs in U.S. cities is reflective of the new political culture and rooted in postmaterial values or, perhaps, just reflective of a slightly different way of thinking about traditional economic development. Methods. Using data for 45 U.S. cities that have articulated broad policies to try to become more sustainable, this analysis includes a measure of the severity of air pollution as an indicator of the need for smart growth programs. Results. The measure of need is more strongly related to the pursuit of smart growth than is either education or income. Conclusions. Since the level of air pollution is frequently understood to make economic growth difficult or impossible, the results suggest that smart growth programs might be just as likely motivated by traditional economic development as by postmaterial values, and there is a need to develop a deeper understanding of the motivates for adopting such programs.     

Trade frictions and productivity performance—Technological, Price, and cost competitiveness of Japan and U.S. exports

Over the last two decades Japanese industry has increased its share of world exports, and hence their competitiveness, while U.S. industry has declined in shares and competitive position. Focusing on cost competitiveness of Japanese and U.S. manufacturing exports, a model was developed to explain relative export performace of the two countries by relative technological progress and the resulting cost advantage. It is shown that technological progress and cost factors are important in determining relative exports of the two countries. It is also indicated, however, that problems for U.S. export industries in particular are not only their slower productivity growth, relative to Japanese industries, but also the lack of association of their productivity growth and cost factors with their export growth.     

Political confrontation over fiscal processes: The impact of the U.S. Congressional Budget Act

In July 1974 the U.S. Congressional Budget Act was signed into law. This legislation was the result of a heavily fought political confrontation between President Nixon and Congress over who controlled the Federal budget. In addition to the issue of control, the Act was prompted by dissatisfaction with the procedures used by Congress to determine Federal receipts and expenditures. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact this legislation had on the U.S. economy in its early years.The first section of the paper sets up a simple modeling framework. The model is specified so as to illustrate how a change in the budget process resulting from the Congressional Budget Act could potentially produce changes in the level of total output. This section also explains the derivation of a tax and expenditure series used in the model's empirical testing. The second section addresses some of the theoretical issues, and presents the results of simulations based on the Chase, Wharton, and Data Resources econometric models. Broad conclusions are gathered in the final section.     

Who Lives on the Wrong Side of the Environmental Tracks? Evidence from the EPA's Risk‐Screening Environmental Indicators Model*

Objective. We analyze the social and economic correlates of air pollution exposure in U.S. cities. Methods. We combine 1990 Census block group data for urbanized areas with 1998 data on toxicity‐adjusted exposure to air pollution. Using a unique data set created as a byproduct of the EPA's Risk‐Screening Environmental Indicators Model, we improve on previous studies of environmental inequality in three ways. First, where previous studies focus on the proximity to point sources and the total mass of pollutants released, our measure of toxic exposure reflects atmospheric dispersion and chemical toxicity. Second, we analyze the data at a fine level of geographic resolution. Third, we control for substantial regional variations in pollution, allowing us to identify exposure differences both within cities and between cities. Results. We find that African Americans tend to live both in more polluted cities in the United States and in more polluted neighborhoods within cities. Hispanics live in less polluted cities on average, but they live in more polluted areas within cities. We find an extremely consistent income‐pollution gradient, with lower‐income people significantly more exposed to pollution. Conclusions. Communities with higher concentrations of lower‐income people and people of color experience disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards. Our findings highlight the importance of controlling for interregional variation in pollution levels in studies of the demographic correlates of pollution.     

The impact of opening markets on Mexican male/female wage and occupational differentials

This article addresses the effect of a more open market under NAFTA on the economic status of Mexican women. It is assumed that increases in export processing and tourism, industries that have a high demand for female labor, will result from the agreement. The approach of this study is to use regression and correlation analysis to compare wage and occupational differences in two Mexican cities: Tijuana, on the U.S.-Mexican border, and Torreon, in the interior. A major findings is that the overall wage gap is statistically significantly lower where there is increased export processing activity, but there appears to be very little change in occupational segregation. Three additional impacts are: first, that labor force participation rates increase for both men and women, but proportionally more for women. Second, the higher labor demand appears to weaken the relationship between the job qualifications of education and experience and wages. Third, wages by gender are more equal, but for the labor force as a whole there is a greater level of wage dispersion.     

The awakening of the sleeping giant? An examination of the role of Ethnicity in the 2006 immigrant rights protests

Since the 1960s many have referred to the Latino community in the U.S. as a “Sleeping Giant.” Recent events including the 2012 presidential election demonstrate that Hispanics are engaged in social and political activism and we posit that this activism can be traced back to the 2006 immigrant rights demonstrations. However, this activism has yielded little success in terms of policy change. Using survey data gathered during a symposium on political activism and civic engagement in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex we employ regression models to examine the factors that influence the perceptions of Latino political activism and its impact. Our results demonstrate that ethnicity played a key role in how the marches were perceived. Further, we find that different variables drive perceptions about the marches for Hispanics and Caucasians, respectively. We conclude the study by discussing the impact of ethnicity in perceptions of political activism.     

美国反垄断法的演变轨迹——政治博弈的视角

美国反垄断法的历史演变呈现出了典型的“钟摆式”运行轨迹,与其不断“经济学化”的主流解释存在抵牾。经济学理论、政党政治以及经济和战争危机等因素确实对美国反垄断法的演变有影响,但是这些解释都不尽周延。以生产者团体和消费者团体为代表的利益团体之间的“政治博弈”,是导致美国反垄断法钟摆式演变的根本原因。这种博弈塑造了美国的反垄断政策,并不断引导美国反垄断法的发展和演变。     

A Realistic Path to Implementing China’s Budget Law

The core issue for the implementation of modern budget law is to optimize the satisfaction of society’s demand for public goods. The form of implementation mechanism that will best achieve this goal has thus become a major topic in the field of legal research. To go beyond the Anglo-Saxon budget model and construct a realistic path for the implementation of China’s budget law, this issue needs to be explored from the perspective of Chinese citizens in a way that safeguards the fundamental interests of the people and is premised on upholding and improving the People’s Congress system, so as to achieve a balance between internal and external budget allocation relationships. There are three routes to implementing China’s budget law: the political, the social, and the judicial. Under the first, citizens’ political identity interests are represented by deputies who oversee the budgetary powers of administrative bodies through the People’s Congress. Under the second, citizens individually or collectively participate, influence or even decide the allocation of public economic resources through dialogue, negotiation, reasoning and argument with the responsible budgetary agency in the course of the budget’s compilation, examination and approval, execution and supervision. Under the third, the establishment of a system for budgetary litigation allows citizens to participate in and supervise the implementation of the budget law, individually or collectively. This provides judicial security for the law’s implementation. These three realistic implementation routes represent the dialectical unity of concerted institutional effort aimed directly at effective implementation of budget law. Judicial interpretations of budget law implementation indicate the importance and urgency of promoting national governance capacity through reform of the legal systems governing finance and taxation. This explains the significant role of finance and taxation law in national governance.     

U.S. Labor supply and demand in the long run

In this paper we model U.S. labor supply and demand over the next 25 years. Despite the anticipated aging of the population, moderate population growth will provide growing supplies of labor well into the 21st century. Improvements in labor quality due to greater education and experience will also continue for some time, but will eventually disappear. Productivity growth for the U.S. economy will be below long-term historical averages, but labor-using technical change will be a stimulus to the growth of labor demand. Year-to-year changes in economic activity will be primarily the consequence of capital accumulation. However, the driving forces of economic growth over the long term will be demography and technology.     

基于钻石模型的黑龙江省风电装备制造产业发展研究

风电作为最为安全可靠的可再生清洁能源,不消耗燃料,不污染环境,具有良好的经济效益与生态效益。黑龙江省依托资源优势,在国家振兴东北老工业基地的背景下,大力发展风电装备制造产业,有利于风力发电新能源的发展,符合国民经济和社会发展的生态经济要求。在此背景下,文章应用波特钻石模型对黑龙江省风电装备制造产业发展,在生产要素、需求条件、关联和辅助产业、机会和政府等四个方面进行了分析,提出黑龙江省风电装备制造企业发展的具体措施。     

The effects of Mexico's devaluations and tariff changes on U.S. exports

The recent economic crisis in Mexico has been accompanied by several devaluations of the peso and a change in Mexico's tariff schedule. With Mexico being the third largest trading partner of the U.S. any serious disruption of this trade flow could significantly affect U.S. exports. This article presents estimates of the decline in U.S. exports in total and by industry. In total, the decline amounts to approximately $4.5 billion or a reduction in U.S. exports to Mexico of 31 percent. In addition, it is shown that approximately 40 percent of this total reduction in U.S. exports occurs in 15 product categories with 4 product categories accounting for about one-fifth of the total reduction. As is evident, only a few industries will bear a large percentage of the decline in U.S. exports to Mexico.     

Labor-Environmental Relations: An Analysis of the Relationship between Labor Unions and Environmentalists

Objective. I seek to assess the quality of relations between labor unions and environmental organizations and to identify economic, political, and organizational factors that influence those relations. Methods. A survey of state labor leaders was conducted in order to determine the quality of relations between unions and environmental organizations around the United States. Ordinary least squares regression is used to identify associations between state level economic and political indicators and the quality of labor-environmental relations. Results. Relations between labor unions and environmentalists are generally positive. Except for the timber industry, there is no evidence of hostility between environmentalists and unions in industries that may be threatened with job loss due to environmental measures. Republican control of state government and labor-industry cooperation are associated with poor labor-environmental relations. Conclusions. Popular beliefs about entrenched "jobs versus the environment" conflict are largely unfounded. Instances of conflict between unions and environmental advocates are rare and largely isolated in certain employment sectors. Although unions and environmentalists share certain interests, Republican political control reduces cooperation between these two constituencies. Unions can be seen as situated between employers and environmentalists in regard to environmental issues. Cooperation with employers results in poorer relations between unions and environmentalists.     

Targeting Democracies: Regime Type and America's "Aggressively Unilateral" Trade Policy

Objectives . The American trade policy instrument Section 301 authorizes the president to demand changes in foreign states' trade policies and to fortify these demands with threats of sanctions. I examine the economic and political factors that influence the selection of states as targets for Section 301 proceedings. Methods . I develop an argument connecting a state's regime type to the likelihood that it will be targeted under Section 301. Controlling for other relevant factors, democratic states are predicted to have a higher probability of being targeted. I test the hypothesis in a set of regression models on cross–sectional time series data with both targeting incidence and targeting frequency as dependent variables. Results . States with more open and competitive political systems are more likely to be targeted under Section 301. Of the included variables, only a state's regime type and the size of its trade relationship with the United States have consistently significant effects across alternative model specifications. Conclusions . Section 301 plays on the rivalry between protectionist and export–oriented interests by demanding reductions in trade barriers and backing them up with threats directed against export industries. Industries currently favored by protectionist policies have a higher chance of losing such a political contest in a political system more open to interest–group competition. The institutional form of political competition within a state affects the state's response to international pressure on trade policy.     

新时期的日美贸易谈判:成果与趋势探析

特朗普执政后,开始实行“美国优先”和贸易保护政策,反对多边主义,主张双边谈判。在美国对日存在大量贸易逆差、中美贸易摩擦持续、日本加快扩展对外经贸关系的形势下,美国与日本缔结双边贸易协定、加强经贸合作的必要性明显上升。2019年4月,美日启动双边贸易谈判,并在半年内签署了初步贸易协定,其范围基本未超日本所要求的货物贸易内容,仅增加了数字贸易领域,反映出日本与美国欲在新一轮国际贸易体系转型中引领规则与标准制定的战略意向。日美贸易协定对日本的预期经济效果低于CPTPP和日欧EPA,尤其是日本的农业将面对更加激烈的竞争。依照特朗普政府对日谈判方针,日美今后还将围绕汇率条款、原产地规则、投资及服务贸易等问题展开谈判,日本仍会面临来自美国的压力与挑战。     

Competition and Wage Discrimination: The Effects of Interindustry Concentration and Import Penetration*

Objective. Economic theory suggests that competition reduces employers' latitude to engage in wage discrimination ( Becker, 1957 ). This study investigates the impact of foreign and domestic competition on wage discrimination. Method. Utilizing the sample of males in U.S. manufacturing industries from the 1990 Public Use Micro Sample (PUMS), industry wage equations are estimated. In a second stage, the impact of domestic and foreign competition on racial wage disparity is assessed. Results. We find little evidence to support our hypothesis. Conclusions. Notwithstanding, the failure of conventional economic theory to satisfactorily explain racial wage disparity reiterates the need to incorporate alternative theories of discrimination into mainstream economic theory.     

Social Capital and the Growth of the Nonprofit Sector*

Objectives. This article examines the extent to which nonprofit organizational foundings are determined by various forms of social capital. Our hypothesis is that, controlling for other relevant social, political, and economic factors, communities with higher levels of social capital should experience more extensive growth in their nonprofit sectors. Methods. Using data derived from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey and the IRS “charitable organization” Business Master Files, we test our hypothesis using a negative binomial event count regression on nonprofit organization foundings in 284 U.S. counties in the year 2001. Results. We find that two core dimensions of social capital—political engagement and “bridging” social ties—have a significant impact on county‐level nonprofit foundings. Surprisingly, a key element of social capital in the literature, the level of interpersonal trust, does not lead to an increase in foundings of new not‐for‐profit organizations. Conclusions. This study provides further evidence of the strength of political engagement and bridging ties for the vitality of the community. It also shows that the different dimensions of social capital do not manifest a uniform effect on nonprofit sector growth. These results further demonstrate that the growth of a community's not‐for‐profit sector is dependent on a mix of ecological and environmental factors, especially preexisting organizational density, median household income, unemployment, and levels of governmental spending. Overall, social capital can usefully be seen as another key “environmental” factor in explanations of organizational foundings.     

The impact of the twin financial crises

We focus on the first 20 years of the Euro, from 1999 to 2019, and we split this period into two approximate decades to examine the performance of three benchmarks: the real GDP quarterly growth, the annualized real per capita GDP changes and unemployment. These illustrate that the underperformance of Europe is more evident during the second decade. Searching for causes we find that the Global Financial Crisis was an exogenous shock to the EU but its impact was large in both the U.S. and the EU. One major reason is that the U.S. responded quickly and aggressively both fiscally and via an unconventional monetary policy. The Euro area was constrained by a European Central Bank that focused on price stability, and fiscal policy was not much of an option. The second shock of the Sovereign Debt Crisis was endogenous to the Euro area and it, more than the Global Financial Crisis, revealed the original weaknesses and fragility of the European monetary union. This financial fragility quickly translated into declines in aggregate demand and economic underperformance.     

Liability risk in the pharmaceutical industry: Tort law in the US and UK

This paper examines the extent to which product liability risk contributes to the high costs of pharmaceuticals in the United States relative to prices in the United Kingdom. Research on pharmaceutical prices rarely accounts for the impact of liability risk, and none that we are aware of compares the United States and United Kingdom. Drawing on a dataset of 77 brand name drugs sold in both the U.S. and the U.K., we analyze relative manufacturers’ factory prices in each nation. We utilize several proxies for liability risk including drug litigation history, the percentage of plaintiff wins, and controlled substance classification. Importantly, under U.S. law there are no caps on the amount that can be awarded to a plaintiff claiming economic losses in the U.S. However, payouts in the U.K. are limited. Accounting for market differences and regulatory environments, we find liability risk can account for a portion of the price differential that exists between the U.S. and U.K., warranting further investigation.     

Technical complexity,regionalism, and decision-making: Case processing outcomes in EPA's toxic substances program

In this article, I explore the effect of the technical complexity of decisions on the nature of the relationship between agents and their political leaders and contextual pressures. I examine this within the regional context of The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) toxic substances enforcement. The results suggest that case characteristics are important in both routine and complex cases. Moreover, responsiveness toward national and regional preferences occurs to some extent in all models. With more technically complex decisions, however, this responsiveness is more pronounced and diversified. This lends support for hypotheses derived from a bounded rationality theory of agency actions.