Shopping for Water: How the Market Can Mitigate Water Shortages in the American West

The American West has a long tradition of conflict over water. But after fifteen years of drought across the region, it is no longer simply conflict: it is crisis. In the face of unprecedented declines in reservoir storage and groundwater reserves throughout the West, we focus in this discussion paper on a set of policies that could contribute to a lasting solution: using market forces to facilitate the movement of water resources and to mitigate the risk of water shortages. We begin by reviewing key dimensions of this problem: the challenges of population and economic growth, the environmental stresses from overuse of common water resources, the risk of increasing water-supply volatility, and the historical disjunction that has developed between and among rural and urban water users regarding the amount we consume and the price we pay for water. We then turn to five proposals to encourage the broader establishment and use of market institutions to encourage reallocation of water resources and to provide new tools for risk mitigation. Each of the five proposals offers a means of building resilience into our water management systems. Many aspects of Western water law impose significant obstacles to water transactions that, given the substantial and diverse interests at stake, will take many years to reform. However, Western states can take an immediate step to enable more-flexible use of water resources by allowing simple, short-term water transactions. First, sensible water policy should allow someone who needs water to pay someone else to forgo her use of water or to invest in water conservation and, in return, to obtain access to the saved water. As a second step, state and local governments should facilitate these transactions by establishing essential market institutions, such as water banks, that can serve as brokers, clearinghouses, and facilitators of trade

Per Mile Emissions Taxes And Lump Sum Emissions Taxes: A Comparative Study Using A Mathematical Approach To Demand Estimation

The primary purpose of this study was to utilize the mathematical approach to demand estimation developed in Culp (2004) to compare two common emissions based taxes. The model assumes Cournot-Nash behavior and divides the automobile market into five homogenous segments. A global optimization program is utilized to mathematically determine the range of values the coefficients of demand must take in each segment to satisfy market equilibrium. Simulations were performed to examine the comparative impact on social welfare of both the per mile emission tax (PMET) and the lump sum emission tax (LSET) in the automotive and travel markets. In the simulations, a global optimization program allows market conditions to change while holding constant the level of pollution reduction, satisfying the other constraints of the model, and satisfying each firm’s first order profit-maximizing conditions. The simulation found that in five of the thirty-two quarters examined, and regardless of market conditions, that the LSET produced more gains from trade. In simulations of the remaining quarters, the outcomes varied depending upon the cross price elasticity of vehicle demand and upon the sensitivity of consumers to vehicle operating cost. The simulations also show that an approximately 20 percent reduction in emissions from new vehicles is achieved by the LSET with a median tax rate of $155.74 per gram of average CO emissions per mile. Consequently, a vehicle that emits an average of two grams of CO per mile would pay a one-time fee of$311.48. The median tax rate required by the PMET is $0.00666 per gram per mile. Accordingly, a vehicle that emits two grams of CO per mile on average would pay$0.0103 per mile or $1332.46 for every 100,000 miles traveled. The difference between the two tax rates, required to achieve the same pollution reduction goal, is likely the result of consumer’s insensitivity to the rise in vehicle operating costs caused by the PMET. This result is consistent with the view that consumers highly discount future payments

North Korean invasion and Chinese intervention in Korea: failures of intelligence

The America intelligence community in 1950, unprepared to perform its missions, failed to provide adequate indications and warning to U.S. national leaders and to the Commander, Far East Command (FEC), about the North Korean invasion of South Korea and Red Chinese intervention in the Korean War. Post-World War II policies that reduced the size of the military, cut systems and training, and reorganized intelligence services are responsible for that failure. Training deficiencies meant that intelligence soldiers deployed to Korea without required skills. The military trained analysts to assess enemy capabilities rather than intentions, contributing to poor predictive analysis. Shortages of analysts, photo interpreters, and linguists further plagued the intelligence community and degraded intelligence collection and production. The post-war political climate focused on the Soviet threat. American estimates saw the Soviet Union as the center of control for other communist states, such as Red China and that paradigm framed analysis of Chinese intentions. Assessments by General MacArthur, head of the FEC and Supreme Commander of United Nations Forces in Korea, of Chinese intentions proved decisive in shaping the course of the war in the fall of 1950. The Far Eastern Command (FEC) G-2 shared MacArthur\u27s view that the Chinese would not intervene and spread that appraisal throughout the FEC intelligence community. In MacArthur opinion, the Chinese would not attack late in 1950 because the opportune time to do so had passed; furthermore, he thought since the Red Chinese lacked an Air Force, they would be annihilated by U.S. airpower. Analysts at all levels underestimated the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and failed to understand Chinese operational art and tactics. Consequently, they did not recognize the Chinese first phase offensive in North Korea, and erroneously concluded that the Chinese would withdraw and defend its border. The intelligence community\u27s poor readiness and lack of capability to provide indications and warning resulted in the enemy\u27s achieving surprise. The first surprise led to the deployment, and near defeat, of Task Force Smith at Pusan. The second surprise led to the withdrawal and rout of U.N. forces, which led to a prolonged war of attrition

A Mathematical Approach To Demand Estimation In Multi-Segment Oligopoly Markets - With An Application To The Automobile Market

The purpose of this paper is to develop a purely mathematical approach to determining consumer demand. The model developed allows the researcher to derive demand in an oligopoly market from observed firm output and market prices using only assumptions about each firm, modest restrictions on consumer behavior, and limitations on market structure. The advantage of this revealed demand approach is that it does not require the specification of the consumer’s utility function or any firm’s production function. In addition, this mathematical approach allows for the estimation of own price and cross price elasticities of demand without statistical regression.  The mathematical model developed is applied to the automobile industry assuming a market characterized by Cournot-Nash behavior and divided into five homogenous vehicle segments. A global optimization program is used to mathematically determine the range of values the coefficients of demand must take in each segment to satisfy market equilibrium. These coefficients can be used to estimate own and cross price elasticities of demand and construct demand equations.  The elasticity estimates generated by the mathematical model of the automobile industry are compared to other estimates of elasticity found by statistical estimation. It is shown that the mathematical model generates results that are consistent with the statistical methods of the automobile market used by other researchers.&nbsp

Nothing and Everything: Race, Romer, and (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual) Rights

In this article, Professors Chang and Culp propose that the Supreme Court\u27s decision in Romer v. Evans, viewed by some scholars as a progressive case about gay/lesbian/bisexual rights, has little to do with gay/lesbian/bisexual rights as such. They argue that whatever protection Romer provides to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals is provided not because of their sexuality but, rather, despite it. The authors demonstrate their thesis by examining the racial underpinnings of the Court\u27s opinion, which begins with Justice Harlan\u27s famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson and which relies on a specific vision of color-blindness. This submerged racial jurisprudence provides the basic architecture for the Court\u27s sexuality-blind constitutionalism. The authors are critical of color-blindness and sexuality-blindness because they preclude the Court and this nation from dealing honestly with race and sex and leave intact deeply embedded racial and sexual structures of oppression

After Intersectionality

This essay is part of a symposium that looks at what Peter Kwan has described as post-intersectionality theory. It responds to the principal article in the symposium by Nancy Ehrenreich, Subordination and Symbiosis: Mechanisms of Mutual Support Between Subordinating Systems. While the authors applaud the effort by Ehrenreich to advance identity theory to account for multiple oppression, they suggest that Ehrenreich and other post-intersectionality scholars work to make these theories speak more directly to legal doctrine and legal actors

Business as Usual? Brown and the Continuing Conundrum of Race in America

In this article, Professors Robert Chang and Jerome Culp examine the state of race in America in the aftermath of the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, focusing on the ten-year window preceding its fiftieth anniversary. Their findings reveal that while Brown established fundamental precedent in the area of race relations, racial inequality remains entrenched in a number of modern social institutions. Chang and Culp analyze this dilemma by focusing on three distinct trends. First, a cycle of inequality is driven by racial disparities in wealth and perpetuated by interlocking systems of education, housing, family, healthcare, employment, and criminal justice. Second, civil rights activists often fall short of their goals following Brown due to what the authors describe as civil rights myopias. Finally, racial remediation schemes also face major obstacles as White identity has intensified since Brown. As a result, little has changed in the ten-year window preceding Brown\u27s fiftieth anniversary and racial inequality remains a persistent problem in America

Global Health Leadership Pathway: A Novel Approach to Global Radiology Curriculum Integration for Residents

Purpose: Our radiology residency programs are at an academic medical center in the southeastern United States and are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). During the initial eight years of our department’s global health program, 22 residents participated in our global health collaborations with a related $31,000 in extradepartmental travel awards. Increasingly, residents applying to our program convey interest in the integration of global health into their careers as radiologists. To that end, our administration, global health faculty, and residency program directors created and approved a Global Health Leadership Pathway (GHLP). The Pathway spans all years of radiology training to provide curriculum support with the aim of ensuring that our residents have the knowledge and skills necessary to become future leaders in global health. Description: The GHLP is a residency track that residents apply to join with a related radiology clinical education, global health specific curriculum throughout all training years, integration of the RAD-AID Certificate of Proficiency in Global Health Radiology, individual mentorship, and participation with an international elective. Structured education on global radiology, epidemiology, access implications, and related methodologies give our residents the opportunity to learn best practices for sustainability in global health. Conclusion: Because of increasing interest and due to the past successful involvement of our radiology residents in global health, our department created this Global Health Leadership Pathway to give our trainees the educational resources to support their future leadership and involvement in the academic field of global health

Polarization Signals of Common Spacecraft Materials

This is the final report documenting the results of the polarization testing of near-planar objects with various reflectance properties. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the portion of the reflected signal which is polarized for materials commonly used in space applications. Tests were conducted on several samples, with surface characteristics ranging from highly reflective to relatively dark. The measurements were obtained by suspending the test object in a beam of collimated light. The amount of light falling on the sample was controlled by a circular aperture placed in the light field. The polarized reflectance at various phase angles was then measured. A nonlinear least squares fitting program was used for analysis. For the specular test objects, the reflected signals were measured in one degree increments near the specular point. Otherwise, measurements were taken every five degrees in phase angle. Generally, the more diffuse surfaces had lower polarized reflectances than their more specular counterparts. The reflected signals for the more diffuse surfaces were spread over a larger phase angle range, while the signals from the more specular samples were reflected almost entirely within five degrees of angular deviation from the specular point. The method used to test all the surfaces is presented. The results of this study will be used to support the NASA Orbital Debris Optical Signature Tests. These tests are intended to help better understand the reflectance properties of materials often used in space applications. This data will then be used to improve the capabilities for identification and tracking of space debris