What Have economists been doing for the last 50 years? A text analysis of published academic research from 1960–2010

This paper presents the results of a text based exploratory study of over 20,000 academic articles published in seven top research journals from 1960–2010. The goal is to investigate the general research foci of economists over the last fifty years, how (if at all) they have changed over time, and what trends (if any) can be discerned from a broad body of the top academic research in the field. Of the 19 JEL-code based fields studied in the literature, most have retained a constant level of attention over the time period of this study, however, a notable exception is that of macroeconomics which has undergone a significantly diminishing level of research attention in the last couple of decades, across all the journals under study; at the same time, the “microfoundations” of macroeconomic papers appears to be increasing. Other results on co-authorship trends and depth of research articles are also presented

Contract Renegotiation and Rent Re-Redistribution: Who Gets Raked Over the Coals?

Policy shocks affect the rent distribution in long-term contracts, which can lead to such contracts being renegotiated. We seek an understanding of what aspects of contract design, in the face of a substantial policy shock, affect the propensity to renegotiate. We test our hypotheses using data on U.S. coal contracts after the policy shock of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. This law altered the regulation of emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired electric power plants, initiating a tradable permit system for a subset of coal-fired power plants which had previously been unregulated at the federal level. Contracts are divided into two categories, those that were renegotiated following the shock and those that were not and their characteristics are used to determine how they influence whether or not a contract was ultimately renegotiated. The number of years until the contract expires, a larger allowable sulfur content upper bound for plants regulated immediately by the tradable permit scheme, and the minimum quantity are all associated with a contract being renegotiated

Small Hydropower Potential in Missouri

Track I: Power GenerationIncludes audio file (20 min.)The overall objective of this research is to advance our understanding of how, and to what degree, small hydropower development can aid in the fight against global warming. The leading cause of climate change today is the burning of fossil fuels related to energy production. One approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, therefore, is to more actively switch to proven renewable technologies, including small hydropower, in the production of electricity and reduce the use of fossil fuels in electricity production. We make the important distinction in this research project between “small” and “traditional” hydropower plants, because “small” hydropower, at generation capacities of less than 30 MW per site, has few to no negative effects on local river ecosystems. This makes their benefits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions even more appealing. Additionally, small hydropower is a proven technology with a number of benefits besides just emissions-free electric power, including domestic reliability, decentralization externalities, and significant energy efficiency properties. Finally, development of small hydropower sites throughout Missouri would create jobs, help to satisfy growing energy demands, and qualify under Missouri's new Renewable Portfolio Standard, passed by the voters in November, 2008. This research documents the small hydropower sites available for development within the state of Missouri, the amount of carbon emissions that could be reduced by building these sites, and finally, it provides site-specific benefit-cost analyses of actual construction of these small hydropower plants. Preliminary results of this research find that while the costs of small hydropower development are not always small, the relative benefits are often much larger than expected. Small hydropower development would also create jobs, spur the economy, and strengthen valuable energy infrastructure in the U.S

Contract Renegotiation and Rent Re-distribution: Who Gets Raked Over the Coals?

Policy shocks affect the rent distribution in long-term contracts, which can lead to such contracts being renegotiated. We seek an understanding of what aspects of contract design, in the face of a substantial policy shock, affect the propensity to renegotiate. We test our hypotheses using data on U.S. coal contracts after the policy shock of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Contracts are divided into two categories, those that were renegotiated following the shock and those that were not. Characteristics of the contract are used to explain whether or not the contract was ultimately renegotiated. Results provide guidance on rent re-distribution and contract renegotiation more generally and are applicable to contemporary policy issues such as climate change legislatio

Balancing Environmental Protection and Energy Production in the Federal Hydropower Licensing Process

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must balance environmental protection of riverine resources with the nation’s growing demand for power production every time it issues a hydroelectric license. This paper models the bureaucratic agency’s decision-making process in issuing these licenses. Data on nearly 500 hydropower licenses issued from 1983 to 2005 are utilized. It is discovered that legislative and institutional constraints are, by far, the largest influences on FERC’s regulatory decisions, implying that if the current allocation of surface water in the United States is considered inefficient, the most effective way to alter this allocation is by passing new legislation, or by implementing institutional reform at FERC.

Letter: Regarding Voting for Charity's Sake

Edlin et al.'s reason to "vote for charity's sake" was a valiant attempt to justify, for the hard-nosed logical economist, why to vote on election day. The answer as to why we vote, however, may be simpler than trying to come up with a hypothetical charity value.