The Laws of Economic Rent and Property:

A bstract Economic rent in general, and oil rent in particular, is an historically-specific, social category, reflective of unique property relations , which goes beyond the conventional notion of physical scarcity prevailing in economics literature Neither the Ricardian theory nor the neoclassical general equilibrium theory suitably explain the nature of the capital-land relation and convey an understanding of the priority of their mutual interaction within the production process Being an effect of specific property relation, the phenomenon of rent merely assumes the status of a special category applicable to the concrete conditions of some industries Hence, political economy lacks a general theory of rent
The concept of oil rent is based on the potentially conflicting interaction of ownership of oil reserves , and that of the oil leases , within the global oil industry The oil rent is the result of the transformation of the existing differential productivities of oil-producing regions within the global oil industry The formation of global oil prices and differential oil rents rest on the global competition which has become a distinguishing feature of this industry since the early 1970s     

Initiating U.S. Free Trade Agreements: How Do Potential Partners Stack Up?

This paper addresses the possible endogeneity of income in the gravity model by providing instrumental variables for income. Using these instruments (physical capital, human capital, and labor accumulation rates) in regression equations of the gravity model, it is shown that the effect of income on bilateral trade is highly significant and, in some cases, is not appreciably different from ordinary least squares estimates. The impact on trade of other gravity variables, including dummy variables for membership in various trading blocs, is also examined.     

Maximum likelihood estimation of the double exponential jump-diffusion process

The double exponential jump-diffusion (DEJD) model, recently proposed by Kou (Manage Sci 48(8), 1086–1101, 2002) and Ramezani and Zeng (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=606361, 1998), generates a highly skewed and leptokurtic distribution and is capable of matching key features of stock and index returns. Moreover, DEJD leads to tractable pricing formulas for exotic and path dependent options (Kou and Wang Manage Sci 50(9), 1178–1192, 2004). Accordingly, the double exponential representation has gained wide acceptance. However, estimation and empirical assessment of this model has received little attention to date. The primary objective of this paper is to fill this gap. We use daily returns for the S&;P-500 and the NASDAQ indexes and individual stocks, in conjunction with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to fit the DEJD model. We utilize the BIC criterion to assess the performance of DEJD relative to log-normally distributed jump-diffusion (LJD) and the geometric brownian motion (GBM). We find that DEJD performs better than these alternatives for both indexes and individual stocks.     

The no-arbitrage condition and financial markets with heterogeneous information

This paper examines the role of the no-arbitrage condition in financial markets with heterogeneous expectations. We consider a single-period, state-contingent claims model, withM risky securities andS states. There exist two types of heterogeneously informed investors, where the information heterogeneity is defined with respect to either the security payoff matrix, the state probability vector, or state partitions. When the information heterogeneity is defined with respect to either the security payoff matrix or state partitions, the no-arbitrage condition imposes a constraint on the dispersion of information between informed and uninformed investors. Further, the no-arbitrage condition is useful in ascertaining the patterns of heterogeneity among investors that are consistent with equilibrium. However, when the information heterogeneity is defined with respect to state probabilities, the role of the no-arbitrage condition is severely restricted. Finally, the no-arbitrage condition may have important implications for the (necessary and sufficient) conditions for the existence of an equilibrium price vector in financial markets with heterogeneous expectations.     

Population Density and Infrastructure Development

A model is proposed with the following features: (1) there is a publicly accessible transport technology, which is more advanced when there is more specialized labor in it; (2) a high population density facilitates the development of the transport technology; (3) an improved transport technology facilitates a finer division of labor, which in turn increases per capita income. These features are compatible with the phenomena of economic development described by Boserup in 1981. It is also shown that, provided the infrastructure sector can charge the users, and individuals are free to choose jobs, the competitive equilibrium will be Pareto-optimal.     

Prices,output and the trade balance in Iran

This paper analyses the impact of the rise in oil prices on domestic inflation, the trade balance, and output growth in Iran for the period 1960–1977. A macro framework is developed in which the domestic spending of oil revenues results in higher output, inflation and imports. Our results indicate that, although the overall growth remained high, the rapid increase in oil revenues in 1973–1974 was mainly reflected in higher inflation and higher imports. In the absence of any exchange rate adjustment, there was a sharp deterioration in the competitive position of the non-oil traded sector.     

Association between provider specialty and healthcare costs and glycemic control for patients with diabetes

Aims: To analyze the association between provider, healthcare costs, and glycemic control for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study identified adults with type 1 or 2?DM (T1D, T2D) in the Optum database. The main independent variable was provider (endocrinologist or primary care). Regression analysis compared total medical and pharmacy costs, adjusting for health status and other patient differences, by provider.

Results: For all patients, HbA1C improvement was greater, and medical costs significantly lower with an endocrinologist rather than a primary care provider. The largest HbA1C improvement (4%) occurred for insulin-dependent patients seen by endocrinologists. Significant medical savings with endocrinologist management occurred within the Medicare Advantage population in every sub-group of patients, with 14% lower costs ($4,767) for patients with T1D, 11% lower costs ($3,160) for patients with macro- and microvascular complications, and 10% lower costs ($2,237) for insulin-dependent patients. Within the commercial insurance population, medical costs were reduced by ≥9% in every sub-group of patients, with a 20% reduction ($8,450) for patients with micro- and macrovascular complications. Overall total costs (medical and pharmacy) were 8% ($1,541) higher for patients receiving endocrinologist rather than primary care, although endocrinologist care resulted in a 9% reduction (–$3,710) in costs for Medicare Advantage patients with T1D. Total medical costs (excluding pharmacy costs) may be a more accurate indicator of costs associated with patients in various stages of DM.

Limitations: There was insufficient data to develop risk-adjustment payments for pharmacy costs based on disease severity. The cross-sectional design identifies associations and not cause–effect relationships.

Conclusion: DM management by an endocrinologist was associated with greater HbA1C improvement and significantly lower medical costs. Total costs were higher with an endocrinologist, but for patients with T1D lower costs were seen, ranging from 2–9% regardless of insurance type.     

Behavioral attitudes toward current economic events: a lesson from neuroeconomics

This paper discusses the implications of neuroeconomics with respect to behavioral attitudes toward the interpretation of current economic events. To this end it first brings to the fore two aspects of neuroeconomics, namely, that thinking imposes strain on the mind, and that brain activity is a scarce resource. It then discusses how this affects the attitude of an economist trained in a specific school of thought. Without exposure to other schools of economic thought, the economist will have unknowingly biased views.     

The Evolutionary Theory of Time Preferences and Intergenerational Transfers

At each age an organism produces energy by foraging and allocates this energy among reproduction, survival, growth, and intergenerational transfers. We characterize the optimal set of allocation decisions that maximizes fitness. Time preference (the discount rate) is derived from the marginal rate of substitution between energy obtained at two different times or ages, holding fitness constant. Time preference varies with age in different ways depending on whether an individual is immature or mature, and during the transition between these stages. We conclude that time preference and discount rates are likely to be U-shaped across age.