The Constitution in the Supreme Court: Contracts and Commerce, 1836-1864

Continuing a study of the first hundred years of constitutional litigation, Professor Currie explores the decisions of the Taney period respecting the Contract and Commerce Clauses. Though early decisions of the Taney Court seemed to portend a departure from the nationalism of its predecessor, the author argues that the impression was largely misleading. In general, for example, the Court under Taney proved rather sympathetic to contract rights. In Commerce Clause cases, after being badly split, the Court was able to agree on a longlasting formula that acknowledged an implicit limitation on state power; and although in the Taney period the Court never clearly struck down a state law on Commerce Clause grounds, it found other ways to protect the interest in unobstructed commerce

Separating Judicial Power

Currie outlines the development of the status of judges in England and in the US, with a brief reference to the German system. He also discusses some of the more important controversies over judicial independence and accountability that have arisen under the US Constitution

Efficient Provision of High-Quality Early Childhood Education: Does the Private Sector or Public Sector Do It Best?

Bildung, Kinder, Pädagogik, Bildungspolitik, Bildungsinvestition, Privatwirtschaft, Öffentlicher Sektor, Education, Children, Education sciences, Educational policy, Human capital investment, Private sector, Public Sector

How OECD policies affected Latin America in the 1980s

The authors assess the effects of OECD monetary and fiscal policies on Latin America by means of simulation studies using the LBS/NIESR Global Econometric Model and a new empirical model of Latin America. The Latin American model pays special attention to the supply-side determination of natural rate of output and to the effects of asset accumulation. The Latin American model and its properties are presented by both empirical simulations and by means of a simple analytical representation. This model of Latin America is used in conjunction with the Global Econometric Model to study the macroeconomic interactions between Latin America and the rest of the world. The assumption in policy simulations is that G-3 exchange rates are forward-looking while Latin America pegs its currency to the U.S. dollar. It is postulated that Latin American fiscal policy adjustments target a baseline current account balance, in the face of external shocks. The simulation results reflect a number of important international links, which can be quantified as multiplier properties of the linked system of models. A permanent 5 percent contraction in the U.S. money supply induces a contraction of about the same order in Latin American GDP and capital stock. This is caused by higher U.S. interest rates and diminished Latin American competitiveness in third markets, reinforcing the fall in U.S. demand. Similarly, a combined monetary contraction in G-3 countries on a permanent footing - a contraction like the one in 1978-80 (U.S., 5.2 percent, German, 11.9 percent, and Japanese, 1.7 percent) hurts Latin America. Latin American GDP remains depressed by 4 percent and capital stock by 5 percent even after 10 years. The effects of negative income and interest rates emanating from G-3 countries are mutually reinforcing. U.S. fiscal expansion equal to 1 percent of baseline GDP, sustained over five years, transmits negatively to Latin America, where GDP falls 0.6 percent in the short run and remains depressed by 0.3 percent even after 10 years. The negative effects of higher interest rates and diminished competitiveness dominate the positive effects (which are short-lived) of expanded U.S. demand for Latin American exports. Similarly, G-3 fiscal spending shocks, which aregradually built up over five years, then reversed the next two years, have a mild negative effect on Latin American GDP. The G-3 fiscal shocks administered were set to their actual magnitudes relative to baseline GDP, as observed in 1980-85 (U.S. expansion of 3.5 percent but contraction in German and Japanese spending of 4.4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively). Latin American GDP is lower than baseline GDP by 0.5 percent when the shocks peak at the end of five years, but continues to remain depressed 0.3 percent by the end of 10 years. The simulated effects of G-3 monetary and fiscal policies, with the shocks constructed to reflect their actual sizes in the early 1980s, suggest that Latin America's adjustment problems in that period cannot be attributed to G-3 fiscal imbalances that arose because of failures of G-3 fiscal policy coordination. But concerted G-3 monetary contraction in response to the second oil shock imposed heavy costs on Latin America; without it, Latin American GDP would have been 5 percent higher in the 1980s.Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Macroeconomic Management,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Stabilization

How perilous are broad-scale correlations with environmental variables?

Many studies correlate geographic variation of biotic variables (e.g., species ranges, species richness, etc.) with variation in environmental variables (climate, topography, history). Often, the resulting correlations are interpreted as evidence of causal links. However, both the dependent and independent variables in these analyses are strongly spatially structured. Several studies have suggested that spatially structured variables may be significantly correlated with one another despite the absence of a causal link between them. In this study we ask: if two variables are spatially structured, but causally unrelated, how strong is the expected correlation between them? As a specific example, we consider the correlations between broad-scale variation in gamma species richness and climatic variables. Are these correlations likely to be statistical artefacts? To answer these questions, we randomly generated pseudo-climatic variables that have the same range and spatial autocorrelation as temperature and precipitation in the Americas. We related mammal and bird species richness both to the real and the pseudo-climatic variables. We also observed the correlations among pseudo-climate simulations. Correlations among randomly generated, spatially unstructured, variables are very small. In contrast, the median correlations between spatially structured variables are near r2=0.1 – 0.3, and the 95% confidence limits extend to r2=0.6 – 0.7. Viewing this as a null expectation, given spatially structured variables, it is worth nothing that published richness–climate correlations are typically marginally stronger than these values. However, many other published richness–environment correlations would fail this test. Tests of the “predictive ability” of a correlation cannot reliably distinguish correlations due to spatial structure from causal relationships. Our results suggest a three-part update of Tobler’s “First Law of Geography”: #1) Everything in geography that is spatially structured will be collinear. #2) Near things are more related than distant things. #3) The more strongly spatially structured two variables are, the stronger the collinearity between them will be

Relationships With God - The Seeker

...Now. This morning, I want to ask you the question, what does it mean to seek God? Well, you know, it means that you want to get to know God. That means that you\u27re really committed to God. You\u27re searching out his ways. You\u27re trying to understand him. You want to have an obedient heart to God, I guess. All over scripture, we find seek to be a very common word. Matter of fact, Jesus, some of the apostles, some of the prophets all chose to use the word seek at very critical times to define relationship with God

Running The Sexual Gauntlet

In life you need to understand that we run a sexual gantlet, we walk through life, run through life, and we\u27re jostled side to side, pushed, shoved towards the type of sexuality that is not honoring to God because we walk through this gauntlet from every side. There\u27s pressures pushing, jostling us, attacking us, running at us, and they\u27re affecting who we are. That\u27s what I want to talk about tonight and how the world has pressured us through this gantlet experience to be representative of the world\u27s values instead of God\u27s