Evidence on Attitudes Toward Alternative Sharing Arrangements

Attitudes of undergraduates toward a range of alternative organizational forms are surveyed. Results show that students prefer firms where employees have significant ownership and control. Our findings strongly support the hypothesis of a strong gender effect influencing undergraduates' preferences for different tyes of firms. Results also indicate the importance of political orientation in influencing respondents' preferences.     

BENEFITS OF PRESERVING OLD-GROWTH FORESTS AND THE SPOTTED OWL

This paper presents results from a national contingent-valuation study of the economic benefits of preserving old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. The study elicits "market-like" valuation responses from U.S. households concerning the benefits of a conservation policy for the northern spotted owl. These data provide a basis for estimating the benefits of preservation in terms of average household willingness to pay. Existing cost estimates are used to compute threshold prices that the benefits of the policy must exceed for the policy to be efficient. Benefit/cost ratios are calculated using "best" and "lower-bound" estimates of the benefits of preservation. Under all combinations of assumptions, the estimated benefits exceed the costs of the conservation policy.     

INCREASED INDUSTRIAL USES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES POLICY, TRADE AND ETHANOL

Using agricultural feedstocks for industrial products affects domestic and international agricultural markets, all of which are encumbered with complex policies. This article examines the interaction of three seemingly unrelated policies: the Clean Air Act, the U.S. corn program, and European Union agricultural subsidies. More ethanol production, resulting from new regulations associated with the Clean Air Act, increases the use of U.S. corn and increases the supply of corn gluten feed, an ethanol co-product. Corn gluten feed is primarily exported to Europe under a loophole in European Union trade barriers. But recent reform of European Union farm policy will lower the price of the European grain for which corn gluten feed is a substitute. This development lowers prices for a major ethanol co-product and thus makes ethanol itself less profitable just as the demand for the fuel is expanding. NAFTA, GATT, and new technologies also play cameo roles in the story .     

Canadian Public-Private Sector Earnings Differentials, 1970–1980

This paper examines changes in the public-private sector wage gap in Canada between 1970 and 1980. The results show that the gross earnings advantage of both male and female government employees rose over the decade. For men, the increase was largely attributable to improved wage-determining characteristics, especially education, experience, and occupational distribution. For women, the increase occurred mainly because of a rise in economic rents in the form of a constant wage premium.     

PROFIT SHARING AND EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP: POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Various arguments extol public encouragement of profit sharing and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Generally, advocates of public intervention cite externalities (market failure), provision of merit goods, or social transformation as bases for their arguments. To the extent that profit sharing and ESOPs increase productivity or reduce employer costs, no case exists for public intervention, since such advantages are internalized. Although Congress views retirement saving as a merit good, deferred profit sharing and ESOPs are no more deserving of public subsidy on that basis than are other forms of saving, such as pensions. Finally, the notion that ESOPs promote a social transformation by redistributing equity is untenable. One can make a case for government efforts to spread data and information about these plans. The potential macro stabilizing effects of profit sharing—but not ESOPs—provide a rationale for a tax subsidy to the former.     

INSOLVENCY AND RISK-TAKING IN THE THRIFT INDUSTRY: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

This paper puts the current problems facing the thrift industry, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation into historical perspective. It discusses the development of federal deposit insurance and regulation of depository institutions. The paper discusses causes of the recent financial difficulties faced by thrift institutions and the policy responses to those problems. It then examines the effect of the recent 511 thrift failures on the risk-taking behavior of institutions and the Bank Board's policy responses to risk-taking. Finally, the paper suggests possible responses to the large and growing number of insolvent institutions that have an economic incentive to pursue extremely risky portfolio opportunities.     

OFFSETTING NEW CO2 EMISSIONS: A RATIONAL FIRST GREENHOUSE POLICY STEP

This paper describes and assesses a policy to slow the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere. Policy governing new CO₂ sources would either prevent emissions, procure compensating emissions reductions, or sequester emissions in sinks. The paper uses electric power plants to demonstrate the mechanics of the policy and the control or offset choices. Offset options include scrubbing, fuel switching, investments in energy conservation and efficiency, and afforestation.
Costs per ton ofC0₂ sequestered range from $1.35 for planting shade trees to $59.41 for scrubbing. All options except scrubbing cost less than $11.00, and the median cost is around $6.00 per ton removed. Planting trees on erodible cropland in conjunction with the Conservation Reserve Program combines the goals of reduced erosion, surplus agricultural production, and greenhouse warming. This policy is a first sane step toward reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases. Having an international framework for managing emissions is most desirable. In the interim, however, the United States can demonstrate environmental leadership, generate substantial conservation benefits, and spark ingenuity in searching for alternatives, broadening the options, and lowering the ultimate costs of reducing CO₂ emissions.