Are Production Decisions Decoupled under a Bond Scheme? Experimental Evidence

Experimental economics procedures were used to investigate impacts of a proposed bond scheme on production decisions. As expected, production with subsidy payments tied to a support price was substantially higher than with no policy. A shift from the support price to equivalent annual or lump-sum payments not tied to price resulted in production at or near no-policy levels, providing empirical evidence to support the theoretical prediction that bond schemes would not result in production distortions. Potential extensions to the basic model used in this study also are presented.     

Paradigms and Novelty in Economics: The History of Economic Thought as a Source of Enlightenment

Over time, economics has experienced paradigm shifts, and there is every reason to think this will continue. In economics, as in the development of technological knowledge, paradigms do not emerge from nowhere, but build on precursors, possibly from other fields. Our understanding of current economic thinking can be enhanced by paying greater attention to the role of paradigms and by using concepts such as myth, plot structure, and cultural endowment, which are typically given greater attention by literary analysts than by economists, to study paradigms. Here we argue that together these can help us better understand how ideas from other times and fields may be combined with our own to generate better research and publications, and that a greater awareness of the history of economics may well be an excellent vehicle for enhancing that understanding.     

The Impact of American Politics on Perceptions of Women's Golfing Abilities

We examine the relationship between political environments and perceptions of women's physical abilities. Using a sample of 496 golf courses located in the United States, we find a significant relationship between state political affiliations, ratings of senators and congressional representatives on a liberal to conservative continuum, and perceptions of gendered physical abilities. Institutional theory is presented as an explanation for the regional variation in perceptions of women's golfing abilities. Implications and results are discussed. Suggestions for further research are presented.     

OPTIMAL CONTROL OF EXTERNALITIES IN THE PRESENCE OF INCOME TAXATION*

A substantial literature examines how the Pigouvian directive that marginal taxes should equal marginal external harms needs to be modified in light of the preexisting distortion due to labor income taxation. Additional literature considers distributive concerns. It is demonstrated, however, that simple first‐best rules—unmodified for labor supply distortion or distribution—are correct in the model examined. Specifically, setting all commodity taxes equal to marginal harms (and subsidies equal to marginal benefits) can generate a Pareto improvement, as can a marginal reform toward the first‐best. Qualifications and explanations for differences from previous work are also presented.     

学术批判不同于道义谴责——评《在科学与艺术之间——质疑国际关系理论》

《在科学与艺术之间———质疑国际关系理论》一文虽然提出了一些具有一定学术价值的问题 ,对国际关系理论提出了一些具有一定原创性的批评 ,但文章违背了学术批判的基本原则 ,在逻辑推断和事实运用上也存在问题 ,从而直接削弱了文章的科学性和说服力 ,使批判失去了本应具有的推动学术进步的功能。     

Are real estate markets becoming more efficient?

This paper compares real rates of return to housing capital with returns to other forms of fixed reproducible capital. All data are from the national income and capital accounts and are gross of taxes and depreciation. Returns to housing capital have been consistently lower than those to other capital during the fifty-five year period for which data are available. Since 1950, the disparity between returns to housing and other capital has narrowed steadily and substantially. The paper presents speculations as to the reasons for the improvement in capital market efficiency.I am indebted to Robert Godrick and Daniel Siegel for comments on an earlier draft.     

Performance of residential mortgages in low and moderate-income neighborhoods

This paper presents the first data on performance of mortgages on residences located in lowand moderate-income neighborhoods of U.S. cities. It provides new data on delinquencies and foreclosure provided by a sample of lenders who are members of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders and who have lending programs established pursuant to the Community Reinvestment Act.Sample mortgages on multifamily dwellings perform comparably with national sample data, whereas sample mortgages on single-family mortgages perform much better than comparable national sample data.The findings of this paper demonstrate clearly that lending programs in lowand moderate-income neighborhoods can be viable. The findings do not, however, help to settle the issue as the racial or gender discrimination in mortgage origination.This paper is based on Performance Analysis of Community Reinvestment Programs, prepared by the athors for the Woodstock Institute, Chicago, IL.     

Collective Acceptance, Social Institutions, and Social Reality

ABSTRACT . The paper presents an account of social institutions on the basis of collective acceptance. Basically, collective acceptance by some members of a group involves the members’ collectively coming to hold and holding a relevant social attitude (a “we‐attitude”), viz. either one in the intention family of concepts or one in the belief family. In standard cases the collective acceptance must be in the “we‐mode,” viz. performed as a group member, and involve that it be meant for the group. The participants must be collectively committed to what they have accepted. Social institutions are taken to be norm‐governed social practices introducing a new social and conceptual status on the practices or some elements involved in those practices. This requires that some of the involved norms be constitutive norms as opposed to merely “accidentally” regulating ones. A classification of social institutions is presented. The account is broader in scope than is Searle’s.