Steam versus coking coal and the acid rain program

The Clean Air Act of 1990 initiated a tradable permit program for emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants. One effect of this policy was a large increase in the consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal by coal-fired power plants. However, low-sulfur bituminous coal is also the ideal coking coal for steel production. The analysis presented here will attempt to determine how the market responded to the increased consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal by the electricity generation sector. Was there a decrease in the quality and/or quantity of coking coal consumption or did extraction increase? Most evidence suggests that the market for coking coal was unaffected, even as the extraction and consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal for electricity generation increased substantially

The Political Economy of US Military Spending

The causes of the dramatic rise in military spending in the post-war era have been the subject of much political and academic controversy. No extant formulation seems to provide a compelling explanation of the dynamics involved in the levels of, and rates of change in, such spending. In light of this, the authors develop a new model, based mainly on a political-business cycle argument, to account for these dynamics. The basic proposition in this model is that variations in national defense spending arise from political considerations which are related to real and desired conditions within the national economy. Applying this model to the experience of the United States 1948-1976, the authors show that it has a large measure of empirical validity. If one removes the effects of war-time mobilization, it is clear that for the United States the principal driving forces in military spending dynamics were (1) the perceived utility of such spending in stabilizing aggregate demand, (2) the political or electoral value of the perceived economic effects arising out of such spending, and (3) the pressures of institutional-constituency demands.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68958/2/10.1177_002234337901600202.pd

Work, Income, and Material Hardship after Welfare Reform

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73149/1/j.1745-6606.2000.tb00081.x.pd

Imports, unionization and racial age discrimination in the US

Past studies of the relationship between competition and racial wages find that domestic competition reduces racial wage discrimination of nonunion workers. This article examines the effects of foreign competition on racial wages of union and nonunion workers utilizing an empirical model which allows for cluster-adjusted SEs by industry. Such a procedure allows independence of observations across industries but not within industries, thereby not overstating the significance of industry invariant controls. In this analysis, clustered SEs prevent the overstatement of the significance of imports as a means to reduce earnings discrimination. We find evidence of a wage premium for nonunion white workers in concentrated industries; however, imports cause the wages of nonunion whites to converge towards market rates. In contrast, for union workers in concentrated industries, wage standardization provides a sanctuary from market power initiated discrimination such that imports play a limited role in reducing discrimination

The relationship between frequency of family dinner and adolescent problem behaviors after adjusting for other family characteristics

Objective: To examine the association between frequency of family dinners (FFD) and selected problem behaviors for adolescents after adjusting for family connectedness, parental awareness, other family activities, and other potentially confounding factors. Methods: Data are drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997. The primary variable of interest is self-reported FFD in a typical week. Problem behaviors studied are substance-use, physical violence, property-destruction, stealing, running away from home, and gang membership. Multivariate logistic models are estimated for each behaviors. Linear regression models are estimated for behavior-frequency for the subsamples engaging in them. Analysis is done separately by gender. Results: FFD is negatively associated with substance-use and running away for females; drinking, physical violence, property-destruction, stealing and running away for males. Conclusion: Family meals are negatively associated to certain problem behaviors for adolescents even after controlling rigorously for potentially confounding factors. Thus, programs that promote family meals are beneficial