How Trade Politics Affect Invasive Species Control

Trade has become the main mode of transport for many invasive species including diseases and agricultural pests. Most species are brought to their new homes unintentionally, which constitute a market failure rooted in international trade. Unless it is practical to drive invasion risk to zero, the external costs may justify a tariff. In this paper we analyze the political process likely to govern the formation of tariffs so justified, using a straightforward incorporation of an invasive species externality into Grossman and Helpman’s well-known political economy model. We show our measure of disguised protectionism—the gap between the optimal tariff and that set in the equilibrium of the political economy game—is equal to the tariff that would be set if there were no invasive species and no international disciplines on trade policy. The informational needs required to distinguish disguised protectionism from legitimate public-goods protection are formidable.invasive species, protectionism, tariff, political economy

Safe Minimum Standards in Dynamic Resource Problems—Conditions for Living on the Edge of Risk

Abstract Safe Minimum Standards (SMSs) have been advocated as a policy rule for environmental problems where uncertainty about risks and consequences are thought to be profound. This paper explores the rationale for such a policy within a dynamic framework and derives conditions for when SMS can be summarily dismissed as a policy choice and for when SMS can be defended as an optimal policy based on standard economic criteria. We have determined that these conditions can be checked with quite limited information about damages and risks. In order to analyze the SMSs in a dynamic setting, we have developed a method for solving optimal control problems where the state space is divided into risky and non-risky subsets.safe minimum standards; optimal control; critical zone; threshold effects; mixed risk spaces

Implementing the Efficient Auction: Initial Results from the Lab

The efficient auction is designed to induce truthful bidding for bidders with affiliated values. Herein we implement the auction in the lab, and observe that inexperienced people can bid systematically in this more complex environment, albeit yielding a flatter bid function than the truthful.Key Words: auction, affiliation, experiments, valuation

Unprotected Resources and Voracious World Markets

The Theory of the Second Best implies that any country with less-than-ideal resources can lose from international trade. Recently it has been suggested this means the South (poor countries) are better off suppressing trade with the North, especially trade in natural resource products, since the North has better developed rights to protect its natural resources. Here we show that the suppression of such trade may also impede the development of property rights in the South, but that even taking this into account, trade liberalization need not improve Southern welfare. We find that within a cone of world prices on the boundary of which lies the South’s autarky price vector, welfare losses still occur even when local governments in the South make optimal choices to enclose the hinterlands. Corollary to the losses, the South can gain from tariffs or quotas and, within a proper subset of the cone of loss, can suffer when the prices of its exports rise.International Trade; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Environment; Second Best; Institutional Change; Development

Is the Endangered Species Act Endangering Species?

We develop theory and present a suite of theoretically consistent empirical measures to explore the extent to which market intervention inadvertently alters resource allocation in a sequentialmove principal/agent game. We showcase our approach empirically by exploring the extent to which the U.S. Endangered Species Act has altered land development patterns. We report evidence indicating significant acceleration of development directly after each of several events deemed likely to raise fears among owners of habitat land. Our preferred estimate suggests an overall acceleration of land development by roughly one year. We also find from complementary hedonic regression models that habitat parcels declined in value when the habitat map was published, which is consistent with our estimates of the degree of preemption. These results have clear implications for policymakers, who continue to discuss alternative regulatory frameworks for species preservation. More generally, our modeling strategies can be widely applied -- from any particular economic environment that has a sequential-move nature to the narrower case of the political economy of regulation.

Machine Politics, Sound Bites and Nostalgia

In August 1991, the Political Organization and Parties Section of the American Political Science Association sponsored a workshop entitled \u27Machine Politics, Sound Bites, and Nostalgia: Substantive Issues and Methodological Problems in the Study of Party Organization,\u27 which included a panel of scholars presenting brief papers on research questions and a panel of practitioners responding from their personal experience. The results of these panels are included in this publication. The scholarly perspectives include papers presented by Leon D. Epstein, Paul S. Herrnson, Charles D. Hadley, Michael Margolis, and Kay Lawson. Applied perspectives from practitioners include comments from Michael Margolis, John Pitney, Lynn Cutler, Mark Strand, Les Frances, and Tom Cole. Co-published with the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/machine_politics/1000/thumbnail.jp

On Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

In launching PHS, our goal is to stimulate theory, practice, research and reflection on the process of teaching and learning in disciplines that address the question of what it means to be human. In so doing, we cast our net broadly to include not only psychology and the traditional social sciences, but also disciplines that are often considered to be part of the humanities – philosophy, literary studies, religious studies, history and related fields. We embrace the full range of different modes of inquiry, including philosophical reflection and analysis, quantitative and qualitative empirical research, action research, ethnography, hermeneutic and discursive analysis, and other modes of expression and analysis

Human transcription factor YY1 represses human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transcription and virion production

The transcriptional activity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is affected by many cellular factors. Homologies near the HIV-1 initiator region to the DNA-binding sequences of YY1, a multifunctional transcription factor known to regulate diverse viral and cellular promoters, suggested that YY1 might regulate HIV-1. Antibody to YY1 blocked the formation of complexes by HeLa cell nuclear extract and a DNA oligonucleotide encoding the HIV-1 initiator region. HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) expression, as measured the expression of a transfected LTR-CAT reporter gene, was repressed more than 12-fold by the cotransfection of a YY1 expression vector. HIV-1 production by both COS-1 and CEM cells after transfection of an infectious molecular HIV-1 clone was repressed 7- to 20-fold by cotransfection of a YY1 expression vector. HIV-1 production was also decreased threefold in a CD4-positive lymphocyte cell line chronically infected with HIV-1 (8E5) after transfection of YY1. In situ hybridization studies confirmed that YY1 reduced HIV-1 RNA expression. YY1 may play an important role in the regulation of HIV-1 LTR expression in vivo and virus production by infected cells

Final Cultural Resources Report For The Salt Creek Midstream, LLC Proposed Waha II Pipeline Project On State Of Texas Lands In Reeves County, Texas

Enercon Services, Inc. (ENERCON), in support of Salt Creek Midstream, LLC, conducted an intensive archeological survey for the proposed Waha II Pipeline Project. The proposed pipeline is approximately 27.33 miles in length, located near Pecos, Texas in Reeves County. This report encompasses only the two State of Texas Lands, administered by the Texas General Land Office (TGLO), segments of the proposed Waha II Pipeline Project which is approximately 0.69-miles (3,666 feet) in length in Reeves County. The State of Texas Lands portion of the project area is mapped on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Toyah Lake, Tex. (1963), and Old X Ranch, Tex. (1963, Photorevised 1981), 7.5 Minute Quadrangles. The construction corridor consists of a 50-foot-wide permanent pipeline right-of-way (ROW) and a 50-footwide temporary workspace corridor. The cultural resources survey corridor was 100 feet wide for the entire 0.69-mile length of the pipeline segment through the State of Texas Lands. The total area inspected during the cultural resources survey of the State of Texas Lands was 8.43 acres (3.41 hectares). The survey of the State of Texas property was completed under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 9017. The cultural resources field investigation on State of Texas Lands occurred on August 2 and 3, 2018 by J. Matthew Oliver and Gary D. Edington and consisted of an intensive pedestrian survey utilizing transects not spaced greater than 15 meters apart with shovel tests. The field investigation was conducted in accordance with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) Archeological Survey Standards for Texas. The entire project was supervised by Gary D. Edington, an ENERCON archeologist who meets the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for archeology as set forth in 36 CFR 61. The cultural resources survey resulted in the observation of two isolated finds (IF). IF#8 is a single lithic flake of brown chert observed on the surface in the east tract of State of Texas Lands. IF#9 is a small bulldozer push-pile of old wooden fence posts and barbed wire observed adjacent to the east fence line of the east tract of Texas State lands. IF#8 and IF#9 lack information potential and are not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or State Antiquities Landmarks (SAL). The cultural resources survey did not result in finding any additional historic or prehistoric artifacts, features, cultural lenses, or sites over 50 years of age on State of Texas Lands. No archeological sites were encountered, and no artifacts were collected. Therefore, it is recommended that the project will have no effect on any cultural resources that may qualify for inclusion to the NRHP on State of Texas Lands. No further cultural resources investigations are recommended prior to construction of the proposed Waha II Pipeline project on State of Texas Lands. If cultural material, including sites, features, or artifacts that are 50 years old or older are encountered within the ROW during construction of this project, work in the area must cease and the regional THC Archeologist must be immediately be notified

An integrated building system.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1968. M.Arch.Bibliography: leaves 36-37.M.Arch