Importing Credible Monetary Policy: A Way for Transition Economies to Fight Inflation?

In the 1990s, transition economies were rearranging their monetary regimes. This paper compares the chosen regimes based on the level of discretionary power and the ability to control inflation. Results show that non-discretionary regimes produce lower and more stable inflation.

Non-discretionary monetary policy: The answer for transition economies?

It is a well-established fact that monetary institutions help shape the macroeconomic environment of countries by stabilizing prices. In the early 1990s, transition economies had the opportunity to rearrange their monetary institutions to better achieve low levels of inflation. Those economies had several prominent monetary arrangements to choose from, such as sovereign central banks or currency boards. This paper surveys the monetary institutions currently in place in several transition economies and compares them based on their ability to control inflation. More specifically, we intend to test whether the transition economies have better inflation performance when they import the monetary policy of a credible central bank. --Transition economies,currency board,European monetary union

Entrepreneurship and State Public Policy

Many state and local governments have focused on enacting policies to promote entrepreneurship in an effort to enhance economic growth. This paper will test the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and state economic freedom in a Granger causality framework. We build a panel data set of freedom scores and entrepreneurial activity measures within the fifty US states from 1981 to 2003, and our results show that, as a whole, economic freedom causes entrepreneurship. However, we find evidence that once entrepreneurs are in place, they increase the size of government spending, which is contradictory to economic freedom.entrepreneurship, public Policy, economic freedom

An Efficiency Comparison of City Managers and Elected Mayors

Previous research has concluded that there are no efficiency differences between elected mayor-council (EMC) and council-manager (CM) city governments. However, the CM form has recently surpassed the EMC form to become the most popular U.S. city government. This paper provides an alternative method of testing the relative efficiency of the two forms of government. Relying on capitalization theory of local public goods, I develop a hedonic price model for Ohio metropolitan home sales. Results show that houses within a CM city have a pricing premium that can be attributed to the relative efficiency of the CM government.city manager, government efficiency, local public goods, hedonic, capitalization

Do Border Crossings Contribute to Underage Motor-Vehicle Fatalities?

Currently, Michigan residents can avoid the national drinking age of 21 by crossing into Ontario where the drinking age is 19. This paper explores the impact that border crossings, connecting areas with different minimum legal drinking ages (MLDA), have on motor-vehicle fatalities. We analyze border crossings connecting Michigan to Ontario, as well as to its surrounding states in the period in which Michigan’s MLDA was raised to 21. Using a “differences-in-differences-in-differences” approach we find that the MLDA change did not contribute to increased underage fatalities in border crossing counties.

Essays on political constraints, incentives, and individual economic behavior

This dissertation is a collection of papers that features applications of public choice theory to the relationship between political constraints, incentives, and individual economic behavior. The first chapter introduces the two meanings of political constraints---(i) constraints self-imposed on the political process and (ii) constraints created by the political process; reviews the public choice literature on political constraints and incentives; and outlines the research agenda for the dissertation. Chapter 2 examines the possible inefficiencies that may be produced by politicians pursuing their own self interests by comparing two forms of city government. More specifically, comparisons are made between professionally trained city managers and popularly elected mayors, and results show that city managers have a relative efficiency advantage over elected mayors. Chapter 3 analyzes how minimum drinking age laws influence drinking behavior by examining the incentive for underage U.S. citizens to cross international border crossings to avoid the nationally uniform 21-year-old drinking age. Results show that the occurrence of alcohol-related motor-vehicle fatalities, the most serious outcome of mixing drinking and driving, increases as proximity to the nearest border crossing decreases. Chapter 4 enhances the reported link between entrepreneurship and economic growth, tests the causal relationship between venture funding and entrepreneurial activity, and ultimately reveals which policies create a good environment for entrepreneurship. Results show that entrepreneurial activity draws venture funding to an area, and not vice versa. Therefore, the results suggest that enacting policies consistent with economic freedom, such as low taxes, low regulations, and secure property rights that provide a good environment for attracting or developing individual entrepreneurs, are the appropriate economic development policies. Chapter 5 summarizes the major findings of the research chapters, reviews the importance of the major findings, and proposes areas of future research

The sustainability of communicative packaging concepts in the food supply chain. A case study: part 1. Life cycle assessment

Purpose In recent years, a new perspective for food packaging has emerged as a result of several issues like quality, safety, competitive prices or providing of useful information to consumers. This new perspective is called communicative packaging. Communicative packaging may influence consumers/companies on purchasing decisions. Since the environmental evaluation of such systems has not yet been performed, this paper is focused on the environmental evaluation of a flexible best-before-date (FBBD) communicative device on a packaging consumer unit and its implications on reducing environmental impacts related to fresh products. This consumer unit consists of a nanoclay-based polylactic acid tray filled with pork chops. Methods The environmental assessment of the consumer unit was made through life cycle assessment (LCA) using a cradle-to-gate approach. Environmental impacts were assessed according to the Eco-Indicator 99 v 2.1 methodology in Individualist (I) perspective. Results and discussion Several results were obtained from the LCA. With regard to environmental impacts of the FBBD, most of them were due to the paper substrate used for the manufacture of this communicative packaging concept as well as to the transports for delivering the components of the FBBD communicative device. On the other hand, when environmental impacts of packaging system with and without FBBD were compared, a large environmental load was detected for the system that has the communicative device affixed as a result of the higher weight of the package. However, the environmental load caused by the use of the FBBD was minimal in comparison with the total environmental load of the whole packaging system. On the contrary, the consumer unit that has the communicative device affixed showed less environmental burden than the consumer unit that has not affixed the device. This was due to the environmental benefits that the communicative device provides by reducing the amount of out-of-date packaged products at retailer outlets. Conclusions The use of a FBBD contributes to minimize environmental burdens related to the production, packaging and delivery of pork chops since it facilitates a dynamic control of out-of-date products even though the consumer unit with FBBD weighs 1 g more than the consumer unit that does not use the communicative device. Recommendations The results presented in this paper are estimated results of a specific case study for a prototype of communicative packaging device. Consequently, these results must be considered as a first approach according to future developments on communicative packaging

Pressure Modulator Radiometer (PMR) tests

The pressure modulator technique was evaluated for monitoring pollutant gases in the Earth's atmosphere of altitude levels corresponding to the mid and lower troposphere. Using an experimental set up and a 110 cm sample cell, pressure modulator output signals resulting from a range of gas concentrations in the sample cell were examined. Then a 20 cm sample cell was modified so that trace gas properties in the atmosphere could be simulated in the laboratory. These gas properties were measured using an infrared sensor