Climate Policy and Border Tax Adjustments: Some New Wine Mixed with Old Wine in New Green Bottles?

Current policy discussions are making a very clear connection between domestic climate policies and international trade. In this article, the economic, legal and implementation issues relating to border tax adjustments for climate policies are discussed. The overall conclusion drawn is that the connection between trade and the environment is not new, having been discussed in considerable detail since the early 1990s, and reflected in an extensive economics literature. In addition, the legal aspects of border tax adjustments are not particularly new, although only a WTO ruling on their use in the presence of domestic climate policies will resolve any legal uncertainty about their use. However, there are some new issues concerning the determination and implementation of border tax adjustments for domestic climate polices that do present additional layers of complexity.climate policy, competitiveness, border tax adjustment, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Political Economy,

Cryo-mechanical tests of Ames 24E2 IR-black coating

In addition to the ambient condition tape test, five mechanical tests of the IR-black coating, Ames 24E2, were performed at either liquid helium or liquid nitrogen temperatures. Tensile strain in the coating at liquid nitrogen temperature was measured up to values of 4E-3, both before and after the coating was cycled down to liquid helium temperature. When applied to an aluminum substrate which was then bent in liquid nitrogen, the aluminum substrate always failed (permanently deformed) well before the coating failed. Sinusoidal accelerations up to 45 Gs in liquid nitrogen and 25 Gs in liquid helium did not crack or otherwise visibly damage the coating. Both sinusoidal and random acceleration at about 90 K of a representative baffle vane structure, at frequencies from 10 to 2000 Hz and up to 15 Gs, did not damage the coating, even at the intersection of a baffle with the telescope tube. Thus on a macroscopic level, cryogenic cooling and various levels of acceleration and strain did not affect this coating. However, on a microscopic scale, some loose particles were found associated with several tests. Outgassing data are also given

Policy and Practice Brief: State and Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs

This brief provides an introduction to the state and federal vocational rehabilitation system outlined in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It provides a review of how the vocational rehabilitation system is integrated within the broader Workforce Investment Act along with a break down for eligibility and available services. Discussed is financial need criteria, statutory requirements for maximization of employment, comparable services requirements and individual rights and appeals

Endogenous R&D Investment and Market Structure: A Case Study of the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry

Over the past three decades, the agricultural biotechnology sector has been characterized by rapid innovation, market consolidation, and a more exhaustive definition of property rights. The industry attributes consistently identified by the literature and important to this analysis include: (i) endogenous sunk costs in the form of expenditures on R&D; (ii) seed and agricultural chemical technologies that potentially act as complements within firms and substitutes across firms; and (iii) property rights governing plant and seed varieties that have become more clearly defined since the 1970s. This paper adds to the stylized facts of the agricultural biotechnology industry to include the ability of firms to license technology, a phenomenon observed only recently in the market as licensing was previously precluded by high transactions costs and “anti-stacking” provisions. We extend Sutton's theoretical framework of endogenous sunk costs and market structure to incorporate the ability of firms to license technology under well-defined property rights, an observed characteristic not captured in previous analyses of the sector. Our model implies that technology licensing leads to lower levels of industry concentration then what would be found under Sutton's model, but that industry concentration remains bounded away from perfect competition as market size becomes large.licensing, market structure, R&D, agricultural biotechnology, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, L22, L24, Q16,

Policy and Practice Brief: Funding of Assistive Technology to Make Work a Reality

This brief provides a definition of assistive technology and a discussion of funding sources for assistive technology including: public schools; state vocational rehabilitation agencies; Medicaid; Medicare; and, SSA’s Plan for Achieving Self Support. Eligibility is reviewed for each along with other protections and rights

For the good of the group? Exploring group-level evolutionary adaptations using multilevel selection theory.

In this paper, we present an evolutionary framework, multilevel selection theory (MLS), that is highly amenable to existing social psychological theory and empiricism. MLS provides an interpretation of natural selection that shows how group-beneficial traits can evolve, a prevalent implication of social psychological data. We outline the theory and provide a number of example topics, focusing on prosociality, policing behavior, gossip, brainstorming, distributed cognition, and social identity. We also show that individual differences can produce important group-level outcomes depending on differential aggregation of individual types and relate this to the evolutionary dynamics underlying group traits. Drawing on existing work, we show how social psychologists can integrate this framework into their research program and suggest future directions for research