1,294 research outputs found
Who watches the watchmen? Assessing potential regulatory capture through an examination of historical Surface Transportation Board (STB) decisions on shipper/railroad disputes
This thesis will examine a series of historical decisions made by a major U.S. regulatory body, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in the surface freight transportation sector. As a federal regulator overseeing a major industry, the STB (and the ICC before it) were created to operate as a neutral economic regulator acting in the public interest, managing relationships and disputes between surface railroads (in this case, railroads) and their shipper customers. But understanding the incentives and consequences described by Stigler (1971) in the context of economic regulation and capture, in particular the U.S. freight rail sector continues to operate under some controversy because of the questionable regulatory objectivity of the STB as the railroad regulator (Gallamore, 2014). Much of the prior regulatory research about the STB has focused on its scope along with key issues resulting from the agencyâs long term regulation of the rail sector (Goldman, 2022), as well as the impact of regulation on the operation and management of the U.S. freight rail system. Other related literature tries to gain insight on decision processes as well as rationalizing the outcomes of the STB decisions over various freight disputes (Warren, 2018). But in spite of this body of research, to our knowledge there have been few if any analytic attempts to assess the fairness or objectivity of the STB regulatory decisionmaking. One interesting feature of the STB crucial to our assessment is that the agency maintains an online compendium or database of its decisions, going back well into the 1990âs and overall numbering into the thousands. As a qualitative database it can be difficult to use for analytics, but it is detailed and allows us to set up both empirical and qualitative assessments of regulatory objectivity. A further underlying factor in formulating this thesis was the effort required to identify and code the sub-set of relevant STB decisions that were both thematically consistent (i.e. rate disputes between a railway and a shipper) as well as independent over time to the present. This extensive vetting yielded individual decisions/data points that were used to conduct our initial statistical analysis and subsequent qualitative work.
After reviewing related literature on assessments of regulatory objectivity in other industries, the empirical part of the thesis estimates various statistical tests (randomness tests, tests of distributional differences) on the case decision data to identify whether or not the data were generated by a neutral decision-maker. To supplement the statistical analysis and to help facilitate understanding of the reasonability and justifiability of STB decisions, we further qualitatively analyze the same cases to add insight on regulatory behavior. Overall, we hope this study will contribute to a better understanding about the decision-making process of a major U.S. economic regulator. Further, we hope this work might help improve STB performance by improving future objectivity in regulatory decision-making within the US freight rail sector
Global value chains: Potential synergies between external trade policy and internal economic initiatives to address the strategic dependencies of the EU
Global value chains enable two-thirds of international trade, notably for the EU. The EU
wants to preserve its commercial links with third countries and organisations to make
up for trade disruptions. This study examines sustainable supply of raw materials,
commodities, and critical goods using the EU's Open Strategic Autonomy concept. It
examines which raw material are crucial for sustainable supply and necessary for the
green transition. The paper examines EU internal legislation and international
cooperation instruments to determine the EU's disruption risk. It evaluates the
economic impact of EU preferential trade agreements on raw material availability. The
study illustrates the political and economic relevance of raw material partnerships and
plurilateral and bilateral trade agreements. It analyses the EU's toolbox for
safeguarding its interests and making independent trade choices to counteract other
actors' unfair practices and intervention. Finally, the paper examines regulatory
frameworks, international alliances, and activities to find ways to strengthen global
value chains in critical EU industries
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Exploring Practices and Understandings of Designing Inclusively
The concept of inclusion in design is increasingly well known. It raises awareness and supports how a greater diversity of people can bring value to the creation of new buildings, spaces, services, and products. Yet, uptake is said to be limited in practice. Although well-researched, the numerous ways to describe and understand inclusion are unsettled, and often paradoxical. To learn more about the real-world practices and conceptualisations of inclusion, this research explores (i) how practitioners advocate for and navigate inclusion in design projects, (ii) their driving motivations and mindsets, (iii) inclusionâs prevalence during project negotiations and trade-offs, and (iv) the opportunities to improve inclusive practice.
A review of existing literature helped formulate preliminary notions to guide discussions conducted with practitioners recruited across different domains. These semi-structured interviews helped evolve the notions further to better bridge inclusive practice and theory. Further analyses and inquiries conducted with practitioners also led to discover relationships between notions and uncovered other underlying themes â or aspects â to designing inclusively. Findings revealed concerns raised by participants about governing project development processes and the influence of team dynamics. Regarding inclusion, practitioners provided further insights into the types of user involvement and details about recruitment, compensation, and facilitating their participation in the process. Testimonials also helped capture cautionary tales and best practices that can be used to iteratively improve inclusive practice from one project to the next, resolve some of the paradoxical tensions reported in theory, and argue the positive and negative ripple effects of enabling or omitting inclusion. Findings were further analysed using different frameworks that continued to bring theoretical findings closer to practical application. Ultimately, results were transformed into an Overlay for Designing Inclusively. It was evaluated by practitioners who reported on the clarity, relevance, and value of this practical contribution. Findings suggest that the overlay provides insights that can support uptake across different disciplines of design practice, roles, responsibilities, and levels of experience with designing inclusively.
In sum, this research was designed to help untangle the issues surrounding inclusion that matter to practitioners. It revealed key concerns and strategies to designing inclusively across different phases of the project development process and proposes a practical contribution that supports uptake of inclusive practice
Shall we share? The principle of FRAND in B2B data sharing
Data is often defined as the âoilâ of the 21st century economy: companies that successfully collect and
process a large amount of data can provide more personalized services to their customers, develop
new products, and reduce their production costs, thus becoming more competitive. Similarly, public
institutions can provide more personalized services to citizens if they can access a large dataset.
However, small firms and public institutions often cannot collect a sufficiently large amount of data
on their own, and via data sharing small firms and public institutions can access larger and more
diversified sets of data, thus boosting their efficiency. Despite its well-recognized benefits, several
technical, regulatory and economics obstacles currently limit the degree of data sharing.
This paper first discusses the market failures that currently limit data âaccessâ and âre-useâ â which
are jointly defined as âdata sharingâ. Secondly, the paper analyses the legislation recently adopted
by the European Union (EU) to foster Business2Business (B2B), Government2Business (G2B) and
Business2Government(B2G) data sharing, especially by comparing the terms of the compensation
that is provided by the EU legislation. Finally, the paper analyses the meanings of Fair, Reasonable
and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms in the context of the licensing of Standard Essential Patents
(SEPs) and access remedies in EU competition law, to draw some lessons on how the principle of
FRAND, in the context of B2B data sharing, is interpreted
Rebuilding the Appalachian Economy From the Ground Up: Towards A Holistic Organizational Framework for Community and Economic Development in Rural Extractive Areas
Central Appalachia specifically and rural extractive areas more generally face some of the most challenging socio-economic realities in North America. Community-based organizations (CBOs) are an important tool for addressing these challenges. As governments intensify efforts to mitigate climate change, and as fossil-fuel industries contract, extracted communities are experiencing economic, cultural, and environmental upheaval. Many leaders call for a âjust transitionâ away from fossil-fuels, which would make local extraction communities whole. However, achieving a truly just transition away from fossil fuels is extraordinarily challenging, and many extracted communities were never whole to begin with. I argue CBOs are the crucial vehicle through which effective community and economic development (CED) outcomes can materialize for distressed rural communities. Yet CBOs do not receive nearly enough funding, policy-focus, or high-level partnership. Technical assistance provided to CBOs is often ineffective, especially in rural settings. Evaluation systems for measuring rural CBO effectiveness are inadequate.
My research is primarily geared toward practitioners and aspiring practitioners. Findings, program designs and evaluative structures put forward herein are based on experience with Coalfield Development, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization I founded in southern West Virginia in 2010. Coalfield Development has essentially served as my research field lab. This dissertation provides four sections detailing organizational capabilities which local CBOs can develop and implement towards the goal of a just transition and improved quality of life for their unique rural place. In doing so, support is needed from funders and policy-makers in order to succeed. Much better evaluative systems are needed, as well, which could improve resource allocation decisions in these greatly under-invested communities and could also improve organizational effectiveness. The four capabilities and corresponding sections of this dissertation are: capacity building for rural CBOs incubating and investing in employment social enterprises human development for people facing barriers to employment and community-based real-estate revitalization
In this dissertation, I use mixed-methods to draw insights and best-practices from more than a decade of interventions through Coalfield Development including case studies, focus groups, surveys, cost-benefit-analyses, program designs and program evaluations. My research illustrates and articulates the value of all four capabilities, finding them each as essential components for CBOs working in extracted local economies. While this research is based in central Appalachia it is intended to be useful to practitioners, policymakers, funders, local leaders and researchers in other rural fossil-fuel communities throughout the world
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