Landscape Preferences and Patterns of Residential Development

I analyze a model of residential location choice in which people derive utility from their proximity to open space. When people have such landscape preferences a new residential development contains more people, more tightly packed than is optimal. More surprising, in a model where new residents arrive simultaneously, I find that land price gradients are highly non-monotonic and do correctly reflect the value of open space. On the other hand, when new residents arrive sequentially, land price gradients are nearly monotonic but do not correctly reflect the value of open space. Finally, dynamic equilibria generally have the property that more remote areas are developed before more central areas. These results have a number of interesting implications for policy. In particular; (1) the creation of central city parks is welfare improving, (2) infill development of central city open space is not welfare improving, (3) the ability of regulation to restrict development at the city s limit, greenbelts , to improve welfare does not derive from a taste for nearby open space, and (4), creating small parks in undeveloped areas before they are subject to development pressure may deter leapfrogging development. Finally, the fact that land prices need not reflect the value of open space suggests that hedonic estimates may understate the value of such open space.Sprawl, Landscape preferences.

The Usefulness of Corruptible Elections

The belief that elections reduce rent seeking by government officials is widely held, likewise the belief that rent seeking decreases as elections are less subject to corruption. In this paper we develop and test a model in which these beliefs are carefully examined. Our model indicates that, while elections may provide a disincentive for rent seeking, this disincentive (1) need not actually materialise, and (2), is not necessarily correlated with the integrity of the electoral protocol. We next consider the ability of village-level elections in rural China to reduce rent seeking, and the extent to which this ability varies as the elections are more or less corruptible. We find that in practice, even elections that appear quite corruptible provide a strong disincentive to rent seeking. Moreover, our results indicate which types of electoral reform lead to more effective popular oversight of leaders, and which do not.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39988/3/wp602.pd

Analysis of the unstable Tollmien--Schlichting mode on bodies with a rounded leading edge using the parabolized stability equation

The interaction between free-stream disturbances and the boundary layer on a body with a rounded leading edge is considered in this paper. A method which incorporates calculations using the parabolized stability equation in the Orr-Sommerfeld region, along with an upstream boundary condition derived from asymptotic theory in the vicinity of the leading edge, is generalized to bodies with an inviscid slip velocity which tends to a constant far downstream. We present results for the position of the lower branch neutral stability point and the magnitude of the unstable Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) mode at this point for both a parabolic body and the Rankine body. For the Rankine body, which has an adverse pressure gradient along its surface far from the nose, we find a double maximum in the T-S wave amplitude for sufficiently large Reynolds numbers

A Simple Theory of Smart Growth and Sprawl

This paper considers the simultaneous determination of residential density and the supply of local versus remote retail services. Possible equilibrium development patterns either correspond closely to what anti-sprawl activists describe as smart growth, or to its opposite. Equilibrium and optimal patterns of development do not always coincide. When equilibrium and optimal patterns of development diverge, optimal density is always discretely (as opposed to marginally) higher than equilibrium density. This occurs in the absence of congestion externalities, and is due to a free-rider problem and a coordination problem. The analysis indicates that a tax on large lots or a subsidy for small lots may be welfare improving under certain conditions.urban sprawl, residential land use, lot size, retail location, urban economics

The Usefulness of Corruptible Elections

The belief that elections reduce rent seeking by government officials is widely held, likewise the belief that rent seeking decreases as elections are less subject to corruption. In this paper we develop and test a model in which these beliefs are carefully examined. Our model indicates that, while elections may provide a disincentive for rent seeking, this disincentive (1) need not actually materialise, and (2), is not necessarily correlated with the integrity of the electoral protocol. We next consider the ability of village-level elections in rural China to reduce rent seeking, and the extent to which this ability varies as the elections are more or less corruptible. We find that in practice, even elections that appear quite corruptible provide a strong disincentive to rent seeking. Moreover, our results indicate which types of electoral reform lead to more effective popular oversight of leaders, and which do not.Elections, Property rights, China

Meetings with Costly Participation: An Empirical Analysis

Using data from the Mid-Atlantic surf clam and ocean quahog fishery, we find that firms with a preference for extreme, rather than moderate, policies are much more likely to participate in public meetings where regulation is determined. We also find that participation rates are higher for larger, closer, and more influential firms. These results; (1) improve our understanding of a very common institution for resource allocation, 'meetings with costly participation', (2) they refine our intuition about regulatory capture, (3) they provide broad confirmation of the recent theoretical literature predicting that polarization and bipartisanship should emerge under a variety of democratic institutions, and finally, (4) they may help to explain management problems in US fisheries.

Mobility Measurements Probe Conformational Changes in Membrane Proteins due to Tension

The function of membrane-embedded proteins such as ion channels depends crucially on their conformation. We demonstrate how conformational changes in asymmetric membrane proteins may be inferred from measurements of their diffusion. Such proteins cause local deformations in the membrane, which induce an extra hydrodynamic drag on the protein. Using membrane tension to control the magnitude of the deformations and hence the drag, measurements of diffusivity can be used to infer--- via an elastic model of the protein--- how conformation is changed by tension. Motivated by recent experimental results [Quemeneur et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111 5083 (2014)] we focus on KvAP, a voltage-gated potassium channel. The conformation of KvAP is found to change considerably due to tension, with its `walls', where the protein meets the membrane, undergoing significant angular strains. The torsional stiffness is determined to be 26.8 kT at room temperature. This has implications for both the structure and function of such proteins in the environment of a tension-bearing membrane.Comment: Manuscript: 4 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary Material: 8 pages, 1 figur

The Value of Information in Public Decisions

This paper considers the problem of an imperfectly informed regulator constrained in his choice of environmental regulation by the political opposition of those affected by the policy. We compare the value of two types of information to the regulator: the social cost of pollution and the profitability of firms present in the economy. We find that in environments where small increases in the losses to regulated firms greatly affect the regulator's ability to implement the policy, it is most valuable to learn the types of firms, while it is most valuable to learn the social cost of pollution when small increases in losses are relatively ineffectual.Environmental Policy, Pollution, Optimal Taxation