John Merrifield

The impact of selected abatement strategies on transnational pollution, the terms of trade, and factor rewards: A general equilibrium approach

Abstract Widespread publicity of international conflict over transfrontier pollutants, such as acid deposition and the November 1986 chemical spill in the Rhine River, has increased the publics awareness of the need to devise abatement strategies appropriate for transnational pollution. This article develops a general equilibrium approach for analyzing the economic impacts of selected abatement strategies. The model includes internationally mobile goods, capital and pollution flows, and flexible output and factor prices. The general equilibrium approach provides policymakers with important information which is usually not revealed by a partial equilibrium approach. That is demonstrated by applying the model to the North American acid deposition issue.

The use of control groups in evaluating regional economic policy

Abstract A major difficulty in measuring the impact of regional policy is the identification of what would have happened in the absence of the policy. Regional science may benefit from the use of quasi-experimental approaches. The specific method presented here combines the concept of control groups with the widely used shift-share framework for evaluating regional policy. Control areas are selected on the basis of their similarity to the aided region in the pre-policy period. The resulting method is sensitive to changing cyclical conditions and other exogeneous factors and traces out the time pattern of impacts.

State Government Expenditure Determinants and Tax Revenue Determinants Revisited

The primary aim of the research was to test the general hypothesis that many institutional and political variables affect fiscal outcomes; that the preferences of public officials, and the decision processes used to act on those preferences, matter. State government data (state only, not state and local) from 1980, 1985, and 1990 were used to specify state tax revenue and expenditure models. A previous (Merrifield, 1991) state tax revenue model identified many significant institutional and political variables, but it was based only on 1985 data (49 observations). The larger data set (147 observations), including better data for some of the variables, indicated that most of Merrifields (1991) findings are robust. The state expenditure models facilitated a second test of the general institutional and political variable hypothesis, as well as the hypotheses about specific variables. The expenditure model also facilitated comparisons of expenditure and tax determinants, and comparisons with results published in the literature. Though there are some noteworthy differences between the expenditure and tax models, the expenditure models also supported many of the institutional and political variable hypotheses.

The Twelve Policy Approaches to Increased School Choice.

ABSTRACT There is much interest in the effects of a larger parental role in schooling issues. That role can exist through voice—direct parental involvement in schools and participation in the political process that dictates schooling policies—or through choice from a menu of schooling options. This article addresses the limited understanding and confusion about the latter. The availability of genuine choice varies greatly with the policies (or lack thereof) aimed at expanding it. This article identifies the twelve ways to increase the availability and the affordability of schooling options and discusses the significant attributes of each.

The institutional and political factors that influence voter turnout

State data were used to develop an econometric model of voter turnout for an off-year (1982) general election. The premise of the research was that existing voter turnout models lacked some of the true explanatory variables. In particular, the political efficacy component of the decision to vote was believed to be under-represented in those models.Previously untested institutional, political, and weather variables proved to be significant explanatory variables. Many variables that were significant in previous studies were not significant in the 1982 general election analysis. 91% of the variation in voter turnout was explained, a significant improvement over previous efforts. Since the values of many of the variables are directly chosen by elected officials, the model provides policymakers with a menu of opportunities for boosting voter turnout.

Charter Laws: Disaster, Detour, Irrelevant, or Reform Tool?

ABSTRACT Charter laws have been the reform debates path of least resistance. But the combination of regulatory barriers, open admissions, lack of consumer sovereignty, preferential funding of traditional public schools, and political control of prices means that charter laws may be irrelevant as reform catalysts, or worse. Even the strongest charter laws may offer a tempting, but ultimately unproductive, avenue of system change. Some critics argue that a charter option will expand the public sector, but not improve it much, and decimate the tiny, frail private sector. This article examines what charter laws have in commonconcerns about strongcharter laws.

Implementation issues: The political economy of efficient fishing

Responses to over-fishing are very similar. Efforts begin with gear restrictions, area closures and seasonal closures. Entry restrictions, including a license moratorium and a license buyback program, often follow. The results are similar too. Over-fishing and effort increases continue. Common property (not open access) regimes (community development quotas—CDQs), private property regimes (individual transferable quotas—ITQs) and Pigouvian taxes can produce the optimal amount at the minimum cost. Of course, the details of each are critical. Political feasibility issues and local conditions are factored into the CDQ-ITQ-tax decision and the resolution of the key details of each. Fisher heterogeneity and possible ways to reduce it are especially important issues. Since over-fishing problems, initial government responses and results are so common, the policy formulation process and recommended outcome have potential global relevance.

Imagined Evidence and False Imperatives.

Pressing questions about the merits of market accountability in K–12 education have spawned a large scholarly literature. Unfortunately, much of that literature is of limited relevance, and much of it is misleading. The studies most widely cited in the United States used intense scrutiny of a few small-scale, restriction-laden U.S. school choice programs, and a handful of larger, but still restriction-laden foreign school choice expansions, to assert general conclusions about the effects of “choice,” “competition,” and “markets.” The most intensely studied programs lack most or all of the key elements of market systems, including profit, price change, market entry, and product differentiation—factors that are normally central to any discussion of market effects. The school choice literature is partly driven by a self-fulfilling prophesy. Large steps toward full-blown market accountability are widely seen as too radical to be worthy of study, especially in the absence of directly relevant data. The studies of small-scale school choice programs soft-pedal the large differences between the choices available now and those that could be available under conditions that are the norm in most of the economy and then compound the political feasibility problem by connecting market terminology to the modest effects of the small-scale programs. To address the need for credible evidence of effects of genuine education markets, scholars should look to simulation models, indirect evidence such as outcomes in similar industries, and school systems abroad that enjoy varying degrees of market accountability.

The institutional and political factors which influence taxation

The ability of politicians to concentrate the benefits of spending, while dispersing the costs of taxation makes taxation attractive (distributive politics), but the degree to which it is attractive varies widely among the states. The objective of the research was to develop a fully specified model of per capita tax revenues of state governments (not state plus local), and thereby identify the political and institutional factors which cause the attractiveness of taxation to vary. The resulting model includes 17 significant explanatory variables, which together account for all but 10% of the variation in per capita tax revenue. Thirteen of the significant variables are institutional or political factors, thus providing decisionmakers specific options for influencing the future size of government.

A general equilibrium analysis of the insurance bonding approach to pollution threats

Abstract This paper sheds additional light on the important issue of toxic accidental releases, or spills. The pollution control literature contains relatively little discussion of accidental releases. Even risk assessments are more about the risks to the public of predictable continuous emissions than about the risk of major accidents. Because spills of stored and transported chemicals are not continuous, or even inevitable, analogs of economic incentive approaches like emissions fees and transferable pollution allowances are inappropriate. Allowances are inappropriate because potential spills are often too harmful to allow, and a fee large enough to pay for clean-up and damages is beyond the means of many potential sources. The accidental release threat suggests an approach analogous to automobile liability insurance. Since a car can do more damage than most people can afford to pay for, states mandate insurance to ensure financial responsibility. Some potential sources of harmful spills are already required to demonstrate financial responsibility, and more could be. Insurance is one option for meeting financial responsibility requirements; in many cases, the only viable option. To develop testable hypotheses and determine where traditional partial equilibrium analyses would probably be misleading, the paper compares a very basic insurance bonding approach to the traditional command-and-control approach in a general equilibrium setting. That allows a comparison of effectiveness, and impacts on output levels, prices, and factor returns.