Sumner J. La Croix

Intellectual Property Rights in China: The Changing Political Economy of Chinese-American Interests

We review the evolution of modern Chinese intellectual property right (IPR) laws and enforcement and explore economic and political forces involved in international conflicts over Chinese IPR protection. Our analysis considers why the US and China moved from conflict to cooperation over intellectual property rights. Structural and institutional aspects of the political economy of IPRs within each country are considered, and data on Chinese-US trade in intellectual property-intensive goods are examined. We conclude that although enforcement of IPRs within China continues to be relatively weak, Chinese IPR institutions are converging on those in the OECD nations.

Property Rights and Institutional Change During Australia's Gold Rush

Abstract Major mineral discoveries were made in California (1848), Australia (1851), and Nevada (1859). Different reactions by the U.S. federal government and Victorias colonial government to the unexpected discoveries present an opportunity to complement previous studies of de novo contracting in the American West with the Victoria governments use of administrative regulations to govern mining. The analysis focuses on the rapid institutional change in Victoria, where the government delegated its rule-making authority to elected mining courts in 1855. Comparison with studies of institutional change in the American West indicates that the evolution of institutions in Victoria generally followed American patterns, yet also accommodated significant differences.

The Evolution of Private Property in Nineteenth-Century Hawaii

Population pressure has been identified as a major force behind the transition from traditional property rights in land to exclusive, transferable property rights. This article examines the case of Hawaii where the transition to private property in land occurred while its population was rapidly declining. That transition was driven by new market opportunities and considerations of public finance.The shift in comparative advantage to sugar production increased the rents associated with private land rights, while declining tax revenues prompted the king and his government to pursue property rights reform to gain additional revenues.

A cost-benefit analysis of voluntary routine HIV-antibody testing for hospital patients

The objectives of this paper are threefold: first, to develop a taxonomy of potential benefits from voluntary, routine HIV-antibody testing of hospital patients; second, to inform attending healthcare workers, hospital patients and policy makers of the potential benefits from such testing; and third, to make inferences about whether such testing is warranted by a cost-benefit criterion. Benefits stemming from information about a patients HIV serostatus accrue to: (1) healthcare workers if extra precautions reduce their HIV-exposure rate; (2) the patient if knowledge of HIV serostatus allows life-extending prophylactic treatment to be initiated; and (3) the patients sex partners if the patient is less likely to transmit HIV after undergoing HIV testing. Using recent estimates on the value of life, hospital-specific HIV-prevalence rates, the effectiveness of prophylactic treatment, rates of HIV exposure and conversion by healthcare workers, and reduction in high-risk sexual behaviors by seropositive patients, we estimate the benefits of testing as the value of statistical life saved. The opportunity cost of HIV testing is calculated as the reported cost of a standard HIV-test protocol with pre- and post-test counseling. Information about a patients HIV serostatus provides small expected benefits to healthcare workers (

Impact of Approved Destination Status on Chinese travel abroad: an econometric analysis

3.34) because the risk of HIV transmission is small; benefits to attending healthcare workers are insufficient to warrant routine HIV testing on a stand-alone basis even in high HIV-prevalence hospitals. However, an HIV-seropositive test result provides large expected benefits to the patient (

Forecasting Earnings Growth and Discount Rates: New Evidence From Time Series Analysis

11,202) and to the patients sex partners (

Emerging patterns of East Asian investment in China : from Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong

5271). Adding these nonrivalrous benefits, we find that routine, voluntary HIV-testing of hospital patients passes a cost-benefit test even in low HIV-prevalence hospitals. Four major qualifications of the cost-benefit analysis should be considered. (1) The benefits to some parties can only be achieved if the patients serostatus is disclosed to them. (2) The net benefits may be negative if HIV-testing induces riskier behavior. (3) The analysis does not incorporate the significant potential for third-parties (employers, insurers, healthcare workers) to use the test to impose costs on HIV-seropositive patients. (4) The sample of inpatients choosing voluntary HIV testing may not be representative of the overall hospital population. These unmeasured factors suggest that policymakers should exercise caution in implementing a voluntary HIV-testing program.

Firm-Specific Evidence on Racial Wage Differentials and Workforce Segregation in Hawaii's Sugar Industry

Since the early 1990s, Chinas government has negotiated Approved Destination Status (ADS) with 120 countries. The agreements allow government-approved travel agencies to market group tours and obtain visas in bulk to ADS destinations. The authors apply a fixed-effects estimation model to analyse how ADS has affected outbound tourist travel from China, using visitor arrivals data from 61 foreign destinations from 1995 to 2005. Various model specifications indicate that ADS has resulted in significant increases in arrivals from China, averaging 52% over three years. The authors also find evidence of travel diversion as more countries have received ADS.

Urban Land Price: The Extraordinary Case of Honolulu, Hawaii

Forensic economists can choose from a wide variety of forecasting techniques to predict earnings growth and discount rates when estimating the present value of damages in lost earnings cases. Michael Brookshire and Frank Slesnick (1991) surveyed forensic economists on their choice of forecasting methods for these two series and found that most economists use simple forecasting rules. A remarkable 72.6% of respondents predict earnings growth rates by taking the arithmetic or geometric mean of past rates, and 52.1% of respondents forecast discount rates by taking the mean of past rates? Economists forecast using sample means because the mean is simple to calculate and is easy to explain in judicial proceedings. On the other hand, such forecasts are often inconsistent with the stochastic properties of the data, thereby producing poor forecasts. Several economists (Harris, 1984; Hosek, 1982; Nowak, 1991; Pelaez, 1989; Parks, 1985; Schilling, 1985) have analyzed the stochastic properties of earnings growth and discount rates and have recommended a number of different forecasting methods other than the series’ mean. This paper extends their work by using recently developed statistical tests to evaluate the stochastic properties of several commonly used earnings growth rate and discount rate time series. We then use three different methods to forecast each time series. ARIMA forecasting techniques produce better forecasts of all series than the sample mean or the latest observation. Our empirical results lead us to the conclusion that economists should avoid using the mean of past rates to forecast future rates for discount and earnings growth rate series. Use of the sample mean is not only inconsistent with the stochastic properties of these time series, but another technique (an ARIMA model) performs significantly better. If the economist nonetheless chooses to use simple forecasting techniques, perhaps because they are easier to explain in judicial proceedings, forecasting accuracy can be markedly improved if the chosen methodology is consistent with the underlying stochastic properties of the time series. A simple rule of thumb is to use the most recent observation for nonstationary series and the sample mean for stationary series.

The Political Economy of Urban Land Reform in Hawaii

The modern age with its emphasis on technical rationality has enabled a new and dangerous form of evil--administrative evil. Unmasking Administrative Evil discusses the overlooked relationship between evil and public affairs, as well as other fields and professions in public life. The authors argue that the tendency toward administrative evil, as manifested in acts of dehumanization and genocide, is deeply woven into the identity of public affairs. The common characteristic of administrative evil is that ordinary people within their normal professional and administrative roles can engage in acts of evil without being aware that they are doing anything wrong. Under conditions of moral inversion, people may even view their evil activity as good. In the face of what is now a clear and present danger in the United States, this book seeks to lay the groundwork for a more ethical and democratic public life one that recognizes its potential for evil, and thereby creates greater possibilities for avoiding the hidden pathways that lead to state-sponsored dehumanization and destruction. Key changes to this edition: * UAE is updated and revised with new scholarship on administrative ethics, evil, and contemporary politics. * The authors include new cases on the dangers of market-based governance, contracting out, and deregulation.* There is an enhanced focus on the potential for administrative evil in the private sector. * The authors have written a new Afterword on administrative approaches to the aftermath of evil, with the potential for expiation, healing, and reparations.