Christopher B. Colburn

A FIRM SPECIFIC ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIES OF SIZE IN THE U.S. URBAN MULTISERVICE TRANSIT INDUSTRY

This paper investigates the long-run cost structure of a specific firm of the U.S. urban multiservice transit industry, thereby permitting inferences to be made to the long-run cost structure of similar firms in the industry. The empirical results indicate that the firm exhibits economies of size over a wide service range. Since cost complementarity does not exist for all service combinations, the results do not support the existence of economies of scope.

Local Politics and the Demand for Public Education

This paper expands on the school finance literature by using a political fragmentation index to calculate how political power affects educational spending in Virginia, USA. The methodology allows the comparison of different political voices relative to each other and the consideration of the role of the distribution of political power. Political fragmentation is considered across several different dimensions, including race, age, income and political parties. Using a demand for local public goods model, it is found that, along with traditional demand variables, the interest-group pressures dominated by the primary beneficiaries (teachers and students) increase educational spending while higher income and a larger percentage of African-Americans in the population reduce educational spending.

A Public Choice Explanation for the Decline in Real income Transfers

A public choice model is used to explain the decline in the sum of AFDC and food stamp transfers that occurred about the time the food stamp program was introduced. The theoretical results suggest that the decline may be due to an increase in the marginal cost of income redistribution that results from the negative income tax feature of the food stamp program and the increase in federal tax that is required to finance the program.

Economically disadvantaged African American fathers: Social policy and fathering

Many factors potentially limit the contribution that disadvantaged African American fathers make to their children’s lives. This article attempts to examine the impact that both welfare policies and job availability have on fathering. First, social policy and job availability are discussed in terms of their effects on African American males’ presence in the home. Second, research examining the importance of African American fathering is reviewed. Next, suggestions are made for changes in social policy that are likely to improve the probability of poor African American males remaining in the home. The benefits these changes may have for chindren’s development are also discussed.

Efficiency Costs and the Demand for Income Redistribution

This study includes the marginal cost of redistribution (MCR) in analyzing the adjusted tax price faced by the median voter. The adjusted tax price is then used to analyze the degree to which efficiency costs change the level of income redistribution provided through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. The results of this article suggest that efficiency costs, on average, raise the cost of AFDC transfers by approximately 28% and reduces the level of AFDC redistribution by about 14.6%.

Work Requirements and Income Transfers

Recent structural changes m the Aid of Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program brought about by the 1988 Family Support Act mandate work requirements and training for many income transfer recipients. The article uses a theoretical analysis that predicts changes in the level and composition of income transfers resulting from the introduction of these policy changes. The model incorporates the labor supply decision of potential income transfer recipients into a public choice model that describes the process by which the level of income transfer per recipient for each state is determined. The statistical analysis involved the pooling of data on labor force participation, wage rates, and other variables relevant to the labor supply model of potential income transfer recipients with the level of transfers, guarantees, donor and recipient characteristics, and information on the marginal cost of income redistribution from the public choice model. A panel data set of time series for each state was used to estimate how sensitive the income transfer is to changes in the labor supply of welfare recipients. Policy implications of the analysis are offered that focus on the implementation of the requirement that a percentage of income transfer recipients work on the level of AFDC transfer that states provide.

The chaning composition of income transfer programmes: a public choice analysis

This paper investigates the role of the interaction between the aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) and Food Stamp programmes as an explanation for the decline in real income transfers experienced in the United States in the 1970s. A public choice model is developed that focuses on the negative income tax features of the Food Stamp programme and its impact on the marginal cost of income redistribution. The hypothesis developed from the theoretical model is investigated with a panel data set. The econometric results suggests that the introduction of the Food Stamp Programme did lead to a decline in real AFDC transfers but that combined transfers (AFDC plus Food Stamps) rose after the introduction of the Food Stamp programme. It is further found that a ‘flypaper’ effect is present which explains the strong stimulative effect from the Food Stamp grant on the level of income redistribution.