ITC voting behavior on sunset reviews

This paper is the first attempt to analyze ITC Commissioner voting behavior on sunset reviews of antidumping cases. Sunset determinations entail greater complexity than initial antidumping investigations because ITC commissioners must account for the impact of dumping protection as well as competitive forces on industry conditions. Empirical findings indicate that ITC voting is based on both sunset regulation and nonstatutory factors. Results reveal apparent biases against Chinese competitors and poorer nations generally, and favorable treatment toward U.S. steel producers and high-wage industries. There is also evidence of preferential treatment of industries located in states of Senate oversight committee members. JEL no. F13     

政党与政权的生命

本文提出了一套关于一党制下的政权巩固理论，并试图利用该理论来解释一党制国家政权寿命长短不一的原因。文章作者认为，在政党建设过程中，政治精英们思忖如何建立强有力的政治支柱时，不得不考虑的两个因素就是反对派势力的强弱和寻租的难易程度。如果反对派势力越弱小，且寻租越容易，那么政权建设的成本就越低，但同时这又将不利于建立一个强大的政党联盟或政党组织，并最终导致一党制政权脆弱而不堪一击，一遇危机就陷入分崩离析的境地。相反，如果执政精英起初就面临强大的反对势力并且寻租的可能性很小，那么他们就会给潜在的盟友提供话语权和决策权，从而推动政党建设。事实也证明诸如此类的执政党在危机来临的时候有更强的柔韧性和生命力。为了证实该理论，作者以几内亚比绍和坦桑尼亚，印尼和菲律宾这两对国家为例进行了详细的阐述。     

Retail Leasing: The Determinants of Shopping Center Rents

The determinants of lease rentals are of fundamental importance to real estate researchers and practitioners. Retail leases are unique in that they typically have two rental components: a base rent and an "overage" rent equal to a percentage of the tenant's gross sales above some threshold level. In this paper, we develop and test a simple cash flow model of retail lease valuation that predicts that base rents are lower with higher percentage rent rates and are higher with greater threshold levels of sales. Using a sample of shopping center leases, regression analysis indicates that these tradeoffs are observed in the market.     

Values,beliefs, and welfare recipiency: Is there a connection?

Relationships between values/beliefs and welfare recipiency and work attachment are examined using a sample of black and white women. The concept of self-efficacy, i.e. perceived ability to produce and regulate events is used to model paths of influence between values/ beliefs and observable behaviors. No racial differences are found in the determinants of current labor force status and previous work history. Race is also found to have no significant impact on the probability of receiving public assistance. The explanatory power of measures of self-efficacy is found to be minimal with respect to receipt of public assistance or the duration of receipt of assistance.     

A protectionist foodgrain price policy : The case of rice in Panama

Panama has pursued a protectionist price policy for rice, with domestic prices well above the world market level. The government marketing authority purchases sufficient rice to support the established price level and stores or exports the surplus. Although producers benefit, this policy imposes significant costs on consumers, government expenditures and economic efficiency. One policy recommendation is to bring domestic prices in line with the international level. Although free trade is one possibility, a market stabilization programme could be retained. At a minimum Panama's rice price should reflect domestic demand and not production costs. The unfavourable rice-fertilizer price ratio also deserves attention.     

eBay的品牌管理

eBay的想法是让不同的人进入市场。从而把这个市场变得有效。同时也因为经济的开放。提供一个公平竞争的环境和机会，把不同的人喜欢的不同的东西给连接起来。eBay是历史最长的世界范围的网上交易市场。我们给世界各地所有的人提供一个可以自由贸易的平台。你只要坐在家里，就可以买到你想要的世界上的产品，同时也可以足不出户。卖掉你所要销售的产品。     

Bias from Farmer Self‐Selection in Genetically Modified Crop Productivity Estimates: Evidence from Indian Data

In the continuing debate over the impact of genetically modified (GM) crops on farmers of developing countries, it is important to accurately measure magnitudes such as farm‐level yield gains from GM crop adoption. Yet most farm‐level studies in the literature do not control for farmer self‐selection, a potentially important source of bias in such estimates. We use farm‐level panel data from Indian cotton farmers to investigate the yield effect of GM insect‐resistant cotton. We explicitly take into account the fact that the choice of crop variety is an endogenous variable which might lead to bias from self‐selection. A production function is estimated using a fixed‐effects model to control for selection bias. Our results show that efficient farmers adopt Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton at a higher rate than their less efficient peers. This suggests that cross‐sectional estimates of the yield effect of Bt cotton, which do not control for self‐selection effects, are likely to be biased upwards. However, after controlling for selection bias, we still find that there is a significant positive yield effect from adoption of Bt cotton that more than offsets the additional cost of Bt seed.     

Liberalizing Services Trade In APEC: A General Equilibrium Analysis with Imperfect Competition

The paper studies services-sector trade liberalization in the Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Forum using a global, multicountry, multisector applied general equilibrium model with an imperfectly competitive service sector. Reducing the service sector's nontariff barriers is modeled by eliminating the possibility for oligopolistic firms to price-discriminate between client countries within APEC and lowering the fixed costs of the firms doing service exporting business. The results suggest that services trade liberalization reinforces existing sectoral trade balances. Increase in demand for intermediate services tends to reinforce rather than counteract the role of primary factors in determining sectoral comparative advantage. The western APEC members received the greatest welfare gains from services trade liberalization, while the developing economies gained more if only tariffs were eliminated.