Agricultural policy,migration, and malaria in the United States in the 1930s

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was associated with a population shift in the United States in the 1930s. Evaluating the relationship between the AAA and the incidence of malaria can therefore offer important lessons regarding the broader consequences of demographic changes. Using a quasi-first difference model and a robust set of controls, we find a negative association between AAA expenditures and malaria death rates at the county level. Further, we find that the AAA was associated with increased out-migration of low-income groups from counties with high-risk malaria ecologies. These results suggest that the AAA-induced migration played an important role in the reduction of malaria.     

The Causal Effects of Participation in the American Economic Association Summer Minority Program

This article examines whether participation by underrepresented minority groups in the American Economics Association Summer Minority Program (AEASMP) has causal effects on outcomes associated with success as academic economists. We estimate both propensity score weighted and Heckit parameter estimates of (1) the average effect of treatment and (2) the effect of treatment on the treated. Our results, which vary across specifications of potential outcomes and propensity score truncated samples, suggest that AEASMP participation by black American Ph.D. economists has a positive and causal impact on 4 outcomes associated with success as an academic economist. However if the probability of selection into the treatment by the nontreated is similar to that of the treated, the results suggest that AEASMP participation by black American Ph.D. economists has a positive and causal effect on research productivity and in gaining access to research funding.     

Left out in the cold? New energy tariffs,low‐income households and the fuel poor

Two new gas tariffs were introduced in 2000, with contrasting effects. One abolished a fixed standing charge, while the other, specifically targeted at low‐income consumers, introduced a preset charge, independent of fuel consumption, for eligible consumers. We analyse the effect of the abolition of the standing charge on different household groups, including the fuel poor, the current focus of government and regulatory policy. We find that while low‐income groups have benefited more than others from abolition of the standing charge, the fuel poor have gained less than average. We contrast this with the other targeted preset charge scheme.     

Branding in a global marketplace: The mediating effects of quality and self-identity brand signals

Research documents that consumers with a stronger belief in global citizenship through global brands (GCGB) view branded products as more important and prefer global to local brands. We test the mediating effects of consumer use of quality and self-identity brand signals on the relationships between GCGB and the importance attributed to branded products (Study 1: U.S. and Russia) as well as purchases of global brands (Study 2: U.S., U.K, and Russia). Our research establishes that consumer involvement with branded products and purchases of global brands revolves around consumers' use of brands as signals of quality and self-identity. In the developing country, results document mediation effects for the use of both quality and self-identity signals on the importance of branded products and global brand purchases. In developed countries, we find that the importance of branded products is explained by a greater use of brands as self-identity signals, whereas purchases of global brands are explained by a greater use of quality signals. Overall, consumers with a stronger belief in GCGB are more likely to use brands as symbolic signals and to express their identity through brands, and consumer use of global brands as quality signals provides a distinct competitive advantage to global brands in both developed and developing countries.     

The changing relation between the Canadian and U.S. yield curves

The term structures of Canada and of the United States, two countries with historically interdependent economic ties, have been closely linked. We investigate the link between Canadian and U.S. yield curves and show previously strong correlations between yield curve components dissipate after Canadian monetary policy reforms in the early 1990s. We attribute the separated ties to the adoption of explicit inflation targets in 1991 and the maintenance of credibility in price stability as a central policy goal by the Bank of Canada. The effect is particularly evident in the diminished cross-country correlations of the short term bond yields. Additionally, there exists strong evidence of cointegration before the reforms, evidence which weakens after the policy change date. Lastly, the results on the term structure are shown using a vector autoregression with an endogenously determined break date for Canadian and U.S. estimates of the three-factor Nelson and Siegel (1987) yield curve model.     

Refined racial discrimination: A case study of public employment in a southeastern city

Summary and Conclusion Though the preceding findings are not conclusive, 9 they are strongly supportive of the refined discrimination hypothesis and closely parallel Long’s conclusions in his study of job discrimination in the federal government.     

Incentive Regulation and Efficient Pricing

Abstract ** :  One objective of introducing incentive regulation to the newly privatized UK utilities over the past 20 years was to encourage efficient pricing structures. Caps have been imposed on average price levels, giving firms freedom to rebalance amongst prices within the basket. We test how firms have responded to the incentives within such discretion through an extensive review of the relative prices charged within UK price capped industries. We find surprisingly little response to these incentives, suggesting that strategic behaviour dominates short‐term profit incentives even after the introduction or threat of competition .     

Vertical Unbundling in the EU Electricity Sector

In its September 2007 package of energy policy proposals the European Commission has expressed a clear preference for ownership unbundling as the most effective way of separating transmission from other stages of the value chain, which is regarded as necessary in order to promote infrastructure investment, fair network access and market transparency. The welfare effects of this measure are, however, still hotly debated. The following articles highlight the pros and cons of ownership unbundling. * Thanks are due to Alberto Prandini for earlier discussions on this topic and to Hieu Tran for excellent research assistance. Funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council is gratefully acknowledged. ** The contribution of this author is on personal title and does not bind the NMa in one way or another.