Subsidizing Rent-Seeking: Antidumping Protection and the Byrd Amendment

Theoretical comparisons of the welfare consequences of tariffs, subsidies and import licenses have relied on the assumption that firms reap no private benefits from the imposition of a tariff. This paper conducts an empirical analysis of whether a recent change in U.S. antidumping law known as the Byrd Amendment bestows private benefits to firms lobbying for tariff protection and, thus, increases the level of rent-seeking in the United States. The results provide strong evidence that industries have chosen to lobby for more tariff protection, or filed more antidumping petitions, since passage of the Byrd Amendment. However, there is less evidence that the number of firms filing these petitions increased under the law. This suggests that the Byrd Amendment only partially alleviates the incentive to free-ride.antidumping, Byrd Amendment, rent-seeking, free-riding, trade protection

The Determinants of State-Level Antitrust Enforcement

While there has been a considerable literature exploring determinants of antitrust enforcement in the United States, studies have been based either on aggregate federal enforcement data over time (exploring cyclical influences) or cross-industry studies, usually for a single year or aggregated over several years. What has never been investigated is the pattern of state-level antitrust. This is somewhat surprising, as this has been a major activity of many state Attorneys General. In this paper, we explain state antitrust enforcement across states and time (for a 15-year period), examining a number of economic and political determinants which have been proposed in the literature.antitrust enforcement

The Returns from Rent-Seeking: Campaign Contributions, Firm Subsidies, and the Byrd Amendment

This paper examines Congressional support of the Byrd Amendment, a new antidumping law that directs the U.S. Customs Service to distribute collected duties to protected firms. A critical feature of the Byrd Amendment is that it produces a highly transparent measure of how much each firm is rewarded for its rent-seeking efforts to secure the bill’s passage, specifically the dollar value its Byrd disbursement. Therefore, this policy provides researchers with a unique setting in which to study the link between campaign contributions, Congressional behavior, and the subsequent financial returns to firms. Our empirical results show that campaign contributions from potential beneficiaries increased the likelihood that lawmakers would sponsor the Byrd Amendment. We also show that political contributions from the law’s beneficiaries increased with the rewards that they expected to receive, although not by as much as predicted by some political economy models of trade policy.Byrd Amendment, Antidumping, Campaign Contributions, Political Economy of Trade Policy

Association between high school students’ cigarette smoking, asthma and related beliefs: a population-based study

Background Smoking has a detrimental effect on the symptoms and severity of asthma, a common chronic disease among adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between asthma and smoking among high school students and assess provider-patient communication with asthmatic adolescents regarding smoking and adolescents’ beliefs about the harms of smoking. Methods In fall 2014, data from high school students, ages 14–18 years, completing the 2009-2010 Virginia Youth Tobacco Survey (N = 1796) were used in descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression models adjusting for model-specific confounders as appropriate. Results Overall, an estimated 19 % of high school students in Virginia smoked and 16 % had asthma. Odds of smoking did not differ by asthma status; however, asthmatics had 1.5 times higher odds of being asked if they smoke (95 % CI 1.06–2.13) and being advised not to smoke by a health professional (95 % CI 1.10–2.14) compared to non-asthmatics. Asthmatics who believed second-hand smoke or smoking 1–5 cigarettes/day was not harmful had respectively 4.2 and 2.8 times higher odds of smoking than those who thought each was harmful. Further, asthmatics who thought smoking 1−2 years is safe had 3.4 times higher odds of smoking than those who did not (95 % CI 1.57–10.1). Conclusions While asthmatic adolescents are just as likely to smoke as non-asthmatics, less healthy beliefs about the risks of smoking increase the odds of smoking among asthmatics. Thus, targeted asthma-specific smoking prevention and education to change attitudes and beliefs could be an effective tool for adolescents

Anticipated versus Realized Benefits: Can Event Studies Be Used To Predict the Impact of New Regulations?

Economists often use event study methodology to evaluate the impact of new regulations on firms before there is enough data to empirically estimate the effects. This research investigates the degree to which event study methodology can provide useful information in this regard by studying how accurately markets predict the actual benefits associated with a new law. Utilizing a unique change in U.S. trade law, I compare the benefits predicted by event study methodology with the actual benefits accruing to individual firms. The results indicate that estimates from event study methodology are poor predictors of the true effect of new policies.event studies, Byrd Amendment, antidumping

Overcoming Free Riding: A Cross Country Analysis of Firm Participation in Antidumping Petitions

This research is one of the first attempts to investigate the proliferation of antidumping protection from the firm-level and, in particular, to study the reasons why the free-riding problem may be more or less severe in particular countries or industries. Using a panel of data on the number of firms filing antidumping petitions in 10 countries between 1995 and 2005, I study the determinants of the industry's ability to overcome the free-riding problem. I find clear evidence that more firms will participate in antidumping petitions the lower the cost of filing; these filing costs significantly decrease in such variables as the number of countries targeted at one time and the level of development of the country. There is little evidence, however, that firms perceive that the expected benefits of the petition will be higher if they choose to participate, thus alleviating the free-rider problem. A separate statistical evaluation of actual case outcomes suggests that this perception may be valid.antidumping, free riding