Patenting in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The chapter investigates the returns to R&D expenditures on patenting in the pharmaceutical industry, using a panel data of 32 countries. Due to the unique situation in the industry that come from the patent being the new drug and additional clinical trials which must be conducted for safety and efficacy, the pharmaceutical industry is analyzed alone. The results indicated that for pharmaceutical patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the triadic family consisting of USPTO, EPO and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), pharmaceutical R&D expenditures had no impact coming from European countries. However, for the six non-European countries in the dataset (Australia, South Korea, Mexico, Romania, Singapore and Taiwan), the R&D always had statistically significant effects on all three patent applications in the industry. The results were more pronounced when the United States and Japan were also included. While China, Brazil and India were excluded due to missing pharmaceutical R&D data, it is hypothesized that the effect of these countries would have made the results stronger

Educational Attainment: The Effects of Socioeconomic Differences

Educational attainment is a topic that has been discussed in both economics and sociology. Economic research has focused on the importance of socioeconomic factors, mainly race/ ethnic origins and poverty status (Wolfe, 1973; Hoffman, 1987; Krein & Beller, 1988; Kominski, 1990; Courtless, 1991). Research in sociology has also dealt with other important factors such as attitudes and influences of significant others (Sewell, 1971; Featherman, 1972; Hauser, 1973; Featherman, 1980; Velez, 1986). Little has been done to incorporate both types of research.While sociological research took important factors into account such as attitudes, many of the initial models were constructed for studying whites. My research will predict educational attainment more accurately by integrating the models from both areas. It also tests to determine if the model predicts differently for four prominent popUlation groups--whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians

Essays on behavioral responses to welfare generosity

textThis research investigates the effects of women’s behavioral responses to welfare generosity in the United States during the years prior to the welfare reform. While policy makers argued that welfare-induced migration and marital breakups were likely to promote subsequent dependence on welfare in more generous states, the literature continued to show insignificant behavioral responses to differential state benefit levels. Despite such results, the welfare reform of 1996 was designed to reduce the disincentive effects of the welfare system. Chapter 1 introduces an alternative measure of welfare generosity that sheds light on the insignificant results of previous literature. The “replacement ratio” measures how much of each state’s welfare benefit levels can be replaced by typical wages of a homogenous group of workers. This measure is an improvement over the conventional measure that only indexes benefits to the vii Consumer Price Index as there are significant cost-of-living differences across states and over time. In subsequent chapters, the replacement ratio is used as an alternative measure of welfare generosity to show greater behavioral responses due to its greater interstate and inter-temporal dispersion. Chapter 2 investigates whether women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) who have a higher propensity to migrate to a more generous state are at-risk of becoming welfare dependent over the long term. Unlike the previous studies that did not link the two behavioral responses, this paper finds that there is a direct link between welfare migration propensities and welfare duration, if a sample of welfare eligible women are considered. The results support the action of policy makers to introduced time limits, despite a lack of strong empirical evidence that linked welfare dependence to welfare migration propensities. Chapter 3 studies how heterogeneity of marital status affects welfare participation. While years since divorce does not matter, the predicted hazard rates of first and second marriages are correlated with the race/ ethnicity variables and affect welfare participation by reducing the significance of these observable differences across womenEconomic

Promotion speed and its effect on attrition of Navy-enlisted personnel: addressing heterogeneity in high school credentials

This article investigates the relationship between recruit quality and promotion speed of the US Navy's first-term enlisted personnel, which in turn is expected to affect retention. It also investigates whether there are quality differences between the various types of high school credentials presented at the time of recruitment, including test-based and attendance-based equivalencies and nontraditional high school diplomas. The results of this article suggest that the Navy's recent targeting of individuals with alternative high school credentials and nonhigh school graduates, who score in the top half of the Armed Forces Qualification Tests (AFQTs) as substitutes for diploma holders have desirable results for promotion speed but undesirable results for retention.

Teen Mothers and Their Educational Attainment: Some Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

This study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate the effects of teenage motherhood on the educational attainment of young women. The results of an OLS regression with interaction terms demonstrate that the effects of teenage motherhood on education depends on the socio-economic background of the mother. Estimations show that young women from economically advantaged backgrounds sacrifice more than one year of education as a result of teenage motherhood while those from disadvantaged backgrounds sacrifice little, if any, education. Statistically significant interactions are found between teenage motherhood and several background characteristics. (J13, J24

Union Concentration and Inflationary Expectations in the United States

Presented at the Academy of Economics and Finance Conferenc

Interest Rate Manipulation, Environmental Damage, and Loss Valuation

The damage generated by Hurricane Katrina caused significant private as well as social costs. The water and force from the hurricane and subsequent flooding caused immediate property damage, but also potential environmental contamination over time. The decision on the part of property owners affected by Katrina to deal with damaged property must take into account both the private and social costs. This paper explores this decision making process using a real-options model. In particular, we focus on the element of time preference in this decision. We analyze the impact that changes in monetary policy, and ultimately the discount rate, have on the decision to repair or rebuild a property damaged by flooding. According to the theory, rising interest rates would suggest a greater propensity to defer the option to rebuild damaged properties, whereas falling interest rates cause property owners to reach the decision to rebuild properties relatively more quickly

Reducing Income Inequalities: The Case of Austin

According to many economic development specialists, cities that support high-tech industries can expect to show higher and longer running rates of growth. Such has been the case in Austin. However, economic growth does not come without a price. The Austin boom has been accompanied by increased pollution and traffic congestion, skyrocketing housing prices, a scarcity of qualified labor, and most importantly, an increasing gap in income inequalities. This article explores the implications of a widening income gap.IC2 Institut

Across the Income Divide: High-Tech Industries in Texas Metropolitan Areas

Policymakers in high-technology cities have become increasingly concerned that large segments of their populations are not reaping the benefits of the economic growth associated with these industries. Though it should be noted that our perception of the positive correlation between income inequalities and the growth of high-tech industries result from indirect observations, the data considered in this article do illustrate some of the consequences of being a "high-tech city."IC2 Institut