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Newsletter
Patents: protecting inventors and the public good
Patent rights are becoming increasingly controversial in areas such as pharmaceuticals and genetics. Should the public good come before the private gain of new product inventors or developers? The May 2010 Newsletter tackles this issue.
Journal Article
Auctions as a vehicle to reduce airport delays and achieve value capture
Congestion at airports imposes large costs on airlines and their passengers. A key reason for congestion is that an airline schedules its flights without regard to the costs imposed on other airlines and their passengers. As a result, during some time intervals, airlines schedule more flights to and from an airport than that airport can accommodate and flights are delayed. This paper explores how a specific market-based proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which includes the use of auctions to determine the right to arrive or depart in a specific time interval at airports in ...
Working Paper
City business cycles and crime
We explore the influence of city-level business cycle fluctuations on crime in 20 large cities in the United States. Our monthly time series analysis considers seven crimes over an approximately 20-year period: murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Short-run changes in economic conditions, as measured by changes in unemployment and wages, are found to have little effect on city crime across many cities, but property crimes were more likely to be influenced by changes in economic conditions than were more violent crimes. Contrary to the deterrence ...
Journal Article
Neighboring cities show job trends that are far apart
Newsletter
Big-box retail and its impact on local communities
What is the local impact of big-box retail? Some states have begun to reconsider whether the benefits of such development are worth the costs to local communities.
Journal Article
Regulating carbon emissions: the cap-and-trade program
The anti-pollution program in Congress contains desirable economic features. But a key component - an auction process covering all permits for carbon emissions - does not seem to be politically viable.
Working Paper
Crime and arrests: deterrence or resource reallocation?
We use monthly time-series data for 20 large U.S. cities to test the deterrence hypothesis (arrests reduce crimes) and the resource reallocation hypothesis (arrests follow from an increase in crime). We find (1) weak support for the deterrence hypothesis, (2) much stronger support for the resource reallocation hypothesis, and (3) differences in city-level estimates suggest much heterogeneity in the crime and arrest relationship across regions.
Journal Article
What do you get for \"Sixteen Tons\"?
Journal Article
Patterns of interstate migration in the United States from the survey of income and program participation
The authors describe the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) as a data source for migration studies. The SIPP is a panel dataset that provides information on income, employment outcomes, and participation in government programs. Survey participants are interviewed for up to four years even if they move to a new household or that household migrates within the United States. This unique longitudinal design gives the survey a strong advantage over traditional data sources. The authors illustrate differences in the propensity for interstate migration among different demographic ...
Newsletter
The economic impact of an influenza pandemic on the United States
They have been known to be deadly, disorderly, and expensive. Influenza pandemics occur 3 to 4 times every century, and many health experts believe another U.S. pandemic is unavoidable. How would a modern-day influenza pandemic affect the U.S. economy? Predictions include $700 billion in economic losses and a 5.5 % drop in GDP the year a severe pandemic occurs.