When Economics Faces the Economy: John Bates Clark and the 1914 Antitrust Legislation

The aim of this paper is to analyze John Bates Clark's influence in the passing of the Clayton and Federal Trade Commission Acts of 1914. It is argued that Clark was important to the passage of these acts in two ways. First, he exercised an indirect influence by discussing in academic journals and books problems concerning trusts, combinations, and the measures necessary to preserve the working of competitive markets. At least as importantly, Clark took an active role in the reform movement, both contributing to draft proposals for the amendment of existing antitrust legislation and providing help and advice during the Congressional debates that led to the passage of the FTC and Clayton Acts.     

American institutionalism at Chicago: A documentary note

Abstract

This note provides new evidence concerning American institutionalism at Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s.     

When Consumers and Products Come From the Same Place: Preferences and WTP for Geographical Indication Differ Across Regional Identity Groups

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the existing literature on geographical indications by observing consumers’ stated preference for extra-virgin olive oil in two groups differing in their regional identity. In particular, consumers from two groups were asked to rank products in a contingent ranking survey. One group (“insiders,” Sicilian consumers) shared origin with a good product (Sicilian oil); the other group (“outsiders,” Rome and Milan) presented “no association” consumer-product. Results indicate that insiders are willing to pay more for goods originating from the region they identify with compared with a region associated with outsiders. Identity seems to give a bias by which a local product is not necessarily perceived as superior in absolute terms, but in relative terms: outside products are never considered better than inside options but are either inferior or equal in perceived value.     

Did the 2008–2009 Food and Financial Crises Affect Child Mortality? The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

We estimate an aggregate model of child mortality on a panel of 40 African countries over the period 1995–2007. This model is then used to assess the impact of the 2008–2009 food and financial crises on child mortality, by comparing the number of child deaths computed under a “business-as-usual scenario” with those computed under the actual 2008–2009 “crisis scenario”. According to the simulation results, the 2008–2009 food price rise and recession caused a statistically non-significant additional 27,000 child deaths. However, if the 2008–2009 changes in other determinants of child mortality are factored in, the number of child deaths declined by 15,000. This unexpected result is explained by the fact that the effects of the rise in domestic food prices and the recession were offset in most of the region by the protective effect on the under-five mortality rate of a surge in food production, and by a rise in public expenditure on and foreign aid to the health sector.     

Modelling the spatiotemporal distribution of the incidence of resident foreign population

Many European countries have recently experienced a substantial increase in the proportion of immigrants in their populations. The incidence of resident foreigners calculated at a national level does not provide information on the local spatial and temporal distribution of the phenomenon. This information may be of crucial importance for planning local policies. In this article, we suggest a tool for practitioners to provide spatiotemporal maps representing the local distribution of the incidence of resident foreigners in the territory, and changes in spatial trends over time. We illustrate this with Italian data at a municipal level, for the period 2003–2008. To account for spatiotemporal interactions in the data, we propose using a generalized additive model incorporating a smoother of the time and space dimensions. Specifically, we set up a tensor product smoother combining a cubic regression spline basis for time and a soap film spline basis for space. This approach provides a consistent framework to produce spatiotemporal maps which could be effectively used by policy makers to decide the allocation of economic resources at a local level.     

Determinacy,indeterminacy and dynamic misspecification in linear rational expectations models

This paper proposes a testing strategy for the null hypothesis that a multivariate linear rational expectations (LRE) model may have a unique stable solution (determinacy) against the alternative of multiple stable solutions (indeterminacy). The testing problem is addressed by a misspecification-type approach in which the overidentifying restrictions test obtained from the estimation of the system of Euler equations of the LRE model through the generalized method of moments is combined with a likelihood-based test for the cross-equation restrictions that the model places on its reduced form solution under determinacy. The resulting test has no power against a particular class of indeterminate equilibria, hence the non rejection of the null hypothesis can not be interpreted conclusively as evidence of determinacy. On the other hand, this test (i) circumvents the nonstandard inferential problem generated by the presence of the auxiliary parameters that appear under indeterminacy and that are not identifiable under determinacy, (ii) does not involve inequality parametric restrictions and hence the use of nonstandard inference, (iii) is consistent against the dynamic misspecification of the LRE model, and (iv) is computationally simple. Monte Carlo simulations show that the suggested testing strategy delivers reasonable size coverage and power against dynamic misspecification in finite samples. An empirical illustration focuses on the determinacy/indeterminacy of a New Keynesian monetary business cycle model of the US economy.     

Reforming the Financial Health Care System： The Case of the Republic of Albania

The Albanian health care system is currently in a period of deep transformation as well as the country is reflecting the future reforms after the turbulent development of the most recent years. The admission of Albania among future members of the European Union requires also an innovation in the health care system in order to build a model more compliant with the European performance and standards. These innovations are required also in the managerial approach to the health care and in its financing system. The aim of this paper is to analyze the actual financing model of the Albanian health care sector while highlighting the possible future managerial development. First of all, this article presents a history review of the Albanian health-care system, analyzing the current governance model. The goal of this approach is to describe the starting point of the reform paths for the future policy makers. Afterwards the research underlines the transition from a financing model based on historical public expenditure to a system based on the performance as one of the main innovation in the managerial approach to the health care. The introduction of management thinking will then allow developing a cost-based financing model, an accounting system in the teaching hospital and, finally, a financing system able to pay for services provided by private health care entities. The article then offers also a contribution to policy makers in order to define the ＂paths＂ of the Albanian health care system in the next years.     

On Price Competition with Market Share Delegation Contracts

We identify a mistake in the specification of the demand system used in the strategic delegation model based on market shares by Jansen, van Lier and van Witteloostuijn, whereby the price remains above marginal cost when goods are homogeneous. After amending this aspect, we perform a profit comparison with the alternative delegation scheme à la Fershtman and Judd (1987). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job protection legislation and productivity growth in OECD countries

We examine the effect of dismissal regulation on productivity in the OECD, using annual cross-country aggregate data on the stringency of employment protection legislation and industry-level data on productivity from 1982 to 2003. Our empirical results suggest that mandatory dismissal regulations have a depressing impact on productivity growth in industries where layoff restrictions are more likely to be binding. By contrast, we find no evidence of a productivity effect of regulations concerning temporary contracts, which suggests that partial reforms, facilitating the use of fixed-term and atypical contracts, are unlikely to have an important impact on efficiency and technological change and cannot therefore be a substitute for comprehensive reforms whereby dismissal restrictions for open-ended contracts are also weakened.
--- Andrea Bassanini, Luca Nunziata and Danielle Venn     

Managerialisation processes and performance in arts organisations: the Archaelogical Museum of Bologna

The extension of management discourse to public-sector entities in Italy comes up against a particularly interesting case in museums and art organisations. Here more than anywhere else, perhaps, the rhetoric of managerialisation faces serious problems in understanding the nature of such anomalous organisations, and defining frameworks for representing their performances. In such a context management knowledge often leads to radical conflicts with well established professional discourses (museology, museography, history of art, etc.). Rather than a simplistic, pre-defined and ready-to-use exercise in “performance valuation”, the article suggests a more modest approach, processual in nature, whereby performance representation is open to dialogue with the basic features of the substantive culture of the professionals and the central role they still occupy in the management of these kinds of organisation.