Essays on Industrial Organization and Environmental Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine how regulation by a central authority motivates changes in behavior. Chapter 1 identifies the role of a tolerance policy as a manager’s regulatory mechanism which can deter worker misconduct in rank-order tournaments. When contestants’ actions cannot be perfectly monitored or doing so is prohibitively costly, misconduct takes place. This chapter develops a theoretical model in which contestants compete for a prize in a symmetric tournament and in which the organizer tolerates some level of misconduct. In addition to showing that zero tolerance does not minimize equilibrium misconduct, it also shows there exists a range of tolerance levels where a symmetric mixed strategy equilibrium exists in which players engage in malfeasance (i.e. misconduct above the tolerated level) with some probability. Chapters 2 and 3 study how a patentholder’s decision to license a clean technology to firms differs under alternative regulatory instruments (either an emissions tax or tradable permits). They are the first theoretical analyses to explicitly account for oligopolistic behavior in the product market and to endogenize the patentholder’s optimal licensing decision under environmental policy. Chapter 2 assumes that the number of firms in the oligopoly is fixed. In contrast to what is generally found in the environmental literature, the results show that, for at least some range of innovation, a permit policy motivates the patentholder to license to more firms than he would under an equivalent emissions tax. This is because, for this range of innovation, the optimal licensing policy of the innovator is to auction a sufficiently large number of licenses so that the market becomes concentrated. For an equivalent tax and permit policy, it is more ‘difficult’ to concentrate the market under the latter since non-licensees can free-ride off of the reduction in permit price that occurs when more licenses are auctioned. Chapter 3 is a natural extension of Chapter 2 by allowing free entry of non-licensees. The results are analogous to those in the previous chapter although the intuition differs. In Chapter 3, the innovator auctions enough licenses in order to deter entry by a potentially limitless number of non-licensees

Inducing R&D investment with price ceilings

Though government intervention is prevalent in the market for research and development (R&D), most literature has focused on the use of subsidies, patents or joint research ventures to obtain the efficient R&D investment. By using a two-stage duopoly model in which firms first choose the level of investment and then output, our paper shows that the introduction of a price ceiling by the regulator will result in the optimal level of R&D. This interesting but counterintuitive result contrasts with the existing literature and advances our understanding about price ceilings.Research and development; Subsidy; Price ceiling

Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy - Vol. IV, No. I

This is the 4th volume of the Baker Center Journal on Applied Public Policy. It includes articles on nuclear nonproliferation, American political development, election issues, Tennessee state trial courts, attitudes related to rich and poor people, and two student articles on science, innovation, technology and economic growth and explosive trace detection at airports

Relação entre o Ãndice de Massa Corporal (IMC), velocidade e agilidade em escolares de 7 anos de idade

O objetivo do presente estudo foi realizar uma relação entre índice de massa corporal (IMC), velocidade e agilidade em escolares de 7 anos de idade. A amostra intencional foi constituída por 39 escolares. Avaliou-se o peso e a estatura para obtenção de IMC. Foi realizado o teste de velocidade de deslocamento e o teste de Agilidade, protocolos sugeridos pela PROESP-BR. Para à análise dos dados foram utilizados à estatística descritiva: média, desvio padrão (dp), frequência de percentual (%) e o fator de correlação de Pearson (r). A população estudada apresentou 20,89 ± 4,02 de peso corporal; 1,13 ± 0,04 de estatura; 16,11 ± 2,29 de IMC; 5,8 ± 0,83 de velocidade e 10,48 ± 1,07 de agilidade. Pode-se observar existência de uma correlação negativa, mas não significante entre IMC e velocidade (r= -0,014; p= 0,931), o mesmo aconteceu entre IMC e agilidade (r= -0,133; p= 0,418), entretanto para velocidade e agilidade (r= 0,606; p= <0,001) observou-se uma correlação positiva e significante. Ao finalizar o estudo foi verificado que não houve correlação entre IMC e velocidade, o mesmo aconteceu entre IMC e agilidade, contudo observou-se significância entre velocidade e agilidade.   ABSTRACTRelationship between body mass index and agility and speed in schoolchildren of 7 years oldThe aim of this study was to conduct a relationship between body mass index (BMI), speed and agility in children of 7 years old. The sample was composed of 39 students. It was evaluated weight and height to obtain BMI. Test the speed of movement and the mobility test protocols suggested by PROESP - BR was performed. Mean, standard deviation (SD), frequency percentage (%) and Pearson correlation (r) factor: For data analysis descriptive statistics were used. The study population had 20.89 ± 4.02 body weight, 1.13 ± 0.04 in height, 16.11 ± 2.29 for BMI, 5.8 ± 0.83 and 10.48 ± 1.07 speed agility. Can observe the existence of a negative correlation, but not significant between BMI and speed (r= -0.014, p= 0.931), the same happened between BMI and agility (r=-0.133, p= 0.418), though for speed and agility (r= 0.606, p= < 0.001) observed a positive and significant correlation. At the end of the study it was found that there was no correlation between BMI and speed, the same happened between BMI and agility, however there was significance between speed and agility

The Gene Ontology knowledgebase in 2023

The Gene Ontology (GO) knowledgebase (http://geneontology.org) is a comprehensive resource concerning the functions of genes and gene products (proteins and noncoding RNAs). GO annotations cover genes from organisms across the tree of life as well as viruses, though most gene function knowledge currently derives from experiments carried out in a relatively small number of model organisms. Here, we provide an updated overview of the GO knowledgebase, as well as the efforts of the broad, international consortium of scientists that develops, maintains, and updates the GO knowledgebase. The GO knowledgebase consists of three components: (1) the GO-a computational knowledge structure describing the functional characteristics of genes; (2) GO annotations-evidence-supported statements asserting that a specific gene product has a particular functional characteristic; and (3) GO Causal Activity Models (GO-CAMs)-mechanistic models of molecular "pathways" (GO biological processes) created by linking multiple GO annotations using defined relations. Each of these components is continually expanded, revised, and updated in response to newly published discoveries and receives extensive QA checks, reviews, and user feedback. For each of these components, we provide a description of the current contents, recent developments to keep the knowledgebase up to date with new discoveries, and guidance on how users can best make use of the data that we provide. We conclude with future directions for the project

Testing for the survey mode effect on contingent valuation data quality: A case study of web based versus in-person interviews

This paper addresses the lack of empirical evaluation of the use of web based surveys in the context of contingent valuation surveys. We compare, using a case study, in-person interviews with web based surveys regarding response rate, information additivity effects and respondents' attitudes towards paying. The web based survey had a much lower response (5.1%) than the in-person interviewing (84%). We find the web based contingent valuation surveys to be neither more susceptible to information additivity effects nor more prone to zero protest responses. We conclude in favor of the use of web based surveys, namely in Portugal, where the number of Internet users is rapidly increasing, although further research efforts are required on their use.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VDY-4NBRFTR-1/1/8fa454b56154abf6569359519de2610