Heart of Darkness: Modeling Public-Private Funding Interactions Inside the R&D Black Box

This paper is a first step toward closing the analytical gap in the extensive literature on the results of interactions between public and private R&D expenditures, and their joint effects on the economy. Earlier studies frequently report contradictory estimates of the response of company financed R&D to changes in the level and nature of public R&D expenditure. A major cause of "inconsistencies" in the empirical literature is the failure to recognize key differences among the various policy "experiments" being considered depending upon the economy in which they are embedded, and the type of public sector R&D spending that is contemplated. Using a simple, stylized structural model, we identify the main channels of impact of public R&D and characterize the various effects, distinguishing between short-run and long-run impacts that would show up in simple regression analyses of nominal public and private R&D expenditure variables. We offer interpretations that shed light on recent cross-section and panel data findings at both high (i.e. national) and low (specific technology area) levels of aggregation.

Heart of Darkness: Modeling Public-Private Funding Interactions Inside the R&D Black Box

This paper is a first step toward closing the analytical gap in the extensive literature on the results of interactions between public and private R&D expenditures, and their joint effects on the economy. Econometric studies in this area report a plethora of sometimes confusing and frequently contradictory estimates of the response of company financed R&D to changes in the level and nature of public R&D expenditure, but the necessary theoretical framework within which the empirical results can be interpreted is seldom provided. A major cause of inconsistencies' in the empirical literature is the failure to recognize key differences among the various policy experiments' being considered depending upon the economy in which they are embedded, and the type of public sector R&D spending that is contemplated. Using a simple, stylized structural model, we identify the main channels of impact of public R&D. We thus can characterize the various effects, distinguishing between short-run and long-run impacts that would show up in simple regression analyses of nominal public and private R&D expenditure variables. Within the context of our simple model it is possible to offer interpretations that shed light on recent cross-section and panel data findings at both high (i.e. national) and low (specific technology area) levels of aggregation.

Ten Years Fighting Hate

On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (“the Act”). One of the goals of the Act was to broaden protections against crimes motivated by hatred for a person’s group membership (her perceived race, national origin, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or religion). The Act intends to address the need for US law to recognize the particularly destructive and virulent nature of crimes motivated by this kind of animus toward minority groups. Such crimes can often have an outsized effect, because they are intended to terrorize not only the victim, but entire populations. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Act, this Article undertakes an endorsement of the Act in three Parts. The first Part examines the history and logic underlying the Act and considers challenges—both legal and philosophical—to the Act’s passage and enforcement. The second Part reviews prosecutions under the Act over the ten–year period from its enactment in 2009 through 2019, with consideration of variations in application among the federal Circuits, and the types of crimes most–often prosecuted under the Act. Finally, Part Three of this Article looks ahead to ways in which the Act may be amended, improved, and implemented over the next ten years—and beyond

Grid-connected renewables, storage and the UK electricity market

This article is a critical counterpoint to an article by published by Swift-Hook in the journal of Renewable Energy entitled "Grid-connected intermittent renewables are the last to be stored". In contrast to Swift-Hook we found evidence that "grid-connected intermittent renewables" have been, and will continue to be stored when it suits the "UK market" to do so.  This article is important to policy makers as energy storage (through EV battery demand side management for example) may well have an important role to play in facilitating the integration of high wind penetrations

Field evaluation of potential pheromone lures for Lygus lineolaris (Hemiptera: Miridae) in the Mid-South

Field screening of lures in the Midsouth USA indicated that the lure containing hexyl butyrate, (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate and (E)-4-oxo-2-hexenal(4:10:7) was the most effective at collecting Lygus lineolaris, and collected similar numbers of individuals to traps baited with live virgin insects over a similar period of time in other studies