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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Petros C. Mavroidis; Damien J. Neven |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the APEC and EGA agreements which grant tariff concession through HS classifications beyond the six digit level ("ex outs") in favour of "green" goods and discuss how these initiatives fit into the WTO legal regime. Even if the practical significance of the APEC agreement should not be overestimated as it involves modest tariff concessions over a subset of goods which are not heavily traded, these agreements involve a paradigm shift to the extent that they use tariffs concessions negotiated on a plurilateral basis as a policy instrument to meet public policy concern, instead of making market access conditional on meeting national regulations. We find that there is a tension between the current definition of likeness for the enforcement of MFN provisions and the use of ex outs and a risk that improved market access for ex outs could be seen a de facto discrimination. One way out of this conundrum is to define likeness in terms of policy rationales. |
| Keywords: | WTO, APEC, EGA, Tariffs, Terms of Trade, ex outs |
| JEL: | K40 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2019/07&r=all |
| By: | Federico Masera (UNSW Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using new data at the police department level, I propose an identification strategy to estimate the causal effect that police militarization has on reducing violent crime. I show that previous estimates are likely to be contaminated by unobserved factors that simultaneously determine militarization and violent crime. Upon addressing this issue, I find an effect that is 20 times as large as previously estimated. I then find that one fourth of the effect of militarization is due to the displacement of violent crime to neighboring areas. Police departments overmilitarize because they do not consider this externality. These new findings have significant implications for the policy debate concerning the costs and benefits of police militarization. |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2019-03&r=all |
| By: | Gabriele Mari; Giorgio Cutuli |
| Abstract: | Women-friendly policies may have perverse effects on the wages of employed women and mothers in particular. Yet few have addressed the causal impact of such policies and the mechanisms they might trigger at the individual level to produce such wage responses. We assess if and how two decades of reforms of parental leave schemes in Germany have shaped changes in the motherhood wage penalty over time. We compare two sweeps of reforms inspired by opposite principles, one allowing for longer periods out of paid work, the other prompting quicker re-entry in the labour market. We deploy panel data (SOEP 1985-2014) and a within-person difference-in-differences design. Motherhood wage penalties were found to be harsher than previously assessed in the 1990s. As parental leave reform triggered longer time spent on leave coupled with better tenure accumulation, wage losses for mothers remained stable in this first period. Conversely, we can no longer detect motherhood wage penalties for women affected by the later reform. Shorter career breaks and increased work hours may have benefited new mothers in the late 2000s, leading to a substantial improvement in their wage prospects. |
| Keywords: | Parental leave, motherhood wage penalty, difference-in-difference, gender inequality |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1025&r=all |
| By: | George A. Papaconstantinou |
| Abstract: | Trade in financial services is integrated through Economic Integration Agreements (EIAs), in addition to the multilateral trading system developed under the WTO. Securities’ clearing and settlement services have nowadays become more important than ever. The latter have gained enormous strategic relevance due to the global regulatory shift towards tasking clearinghouses to mitigate the risks associated with trading of OTC derivatives. This study assesses the liberalization levels of the financial services in the plurilateral trading system. It aims to shed light on the underlying dynamics that could explain the rationale behind international trade treaties. Most importantly, this contribution assesses the relationship between regulation of international trade and regulation of financial market infrastructure in order to bring into the spotlight problematic features that underscore existing silos in WTO Members’ administrations. |
| Keywords: | Regional Vs Multilateral trade in financial services, Preferential trading system, EIAs, Clearing and Settlement, GATS, Regulation of financial market infrastructure, Clearing house |
| JEL: | K40 K33 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2018/63&r=all |
| By: | Pilar Alvarez Franco; Diego Restrepo Tobón |
| JEL: | A13 A14 D91 Z13 |
| Date: | 2019–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:017204&r=all |
| By: | Polemis, Michael; Tselekounius, Markos |
| Abstract: | The channel between innovation and industry regulation constitutes a non-lasting debate among the economists and researchers within the recent years. Despite the significant contributions on this field, mostly made from the empirical standpoint, the existing literature is still incomplete. This might be attributed to the fact that existing studies fail to combine a strong theoretical framework with the empirical scrutiny in order to exemplify and decompose the relationship between regulation intensity and innovation activity. We attempt to shed light on this limitation by theoretically modeling the telecommunications sector, in which access regulation impacts the non-separable activity in process and product innovation. We then empirically test our model by deploying an efficient panel threshold technique along the lines of Hansen (1999). Our balanced panel dataset comprises of 32 OECD countries over the period 1995-2012. The empirical results unveil a non-monotonic relationship of an “inverted V-shaped” form between regulation and innovation. We argue that beyond certain thresholds increasing the regulatory stringency further results in decreasing sector innovation. Our findings survive robustness checks after the inclusion of two alternative threshold variables (market structure and entry regulation) incurring significant implications for the policy makers and government officials. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Regulation; Telecommunications, Market structure; Panel threshold model. |
| JEL: | C24 D43 L51 L80 L96 |
| Date: | 2019–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92770&r=all |
| By: | Daniel I. Tannenbaum |
| Abstract: | Child support policies in the United States have expanded dramatically since the mid-1970s and now cover 1 in 5 children. This paper studies the consequences of child support for marriage and fertility decisions. I first introduce a model showing that child support enforces ex ante commitment from men to provide financial support in the event of a child, which (1) increases premarital sex among couples unlikely to marry, and (2) reduces the abortion rate, by lessening the cost of raising a child as a single mom. Using variation in the timing and geography of the rollout of U.S. child support laws relative to the timing of pregnancy, from 1977 to 1992, I find that marriages following an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to occur under strengthened child support laws, accounting for about a 7-8 percentage point reduction relative to a base of 38 percent. I find that the child support rollout reduced the abortion rate by 1-2 per 1000 women aged 15-44, off a base of 28, representing about 50 percent of the total decline in the abortion rate over this period. |
| Keywords: | child support, family, marriage, abortion |
| JEL: | J12 J13 K36 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:19-04&r=all |
| By: | Gorecki, Paul |
| Abstract: | The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is proposing: in assessing changes in the ownership and control of broadcasting licenses that the viability/sustainability of broadcasting services should be ranked second out of eight policy objectives; and, facilitating greater concentration of ownership of commercial radio stations through limited relaxation of the current ownership thresholds. There is insufficient justification for either proposal. The viability/sustainability objective is already addressed on an ex ante basis when a broadcaster is licensed. The ex ante evaluation should be strengthened by retaining (rather than abolishing) the existing BAI two-year time limit on a licensee being able to transfer ownership. If the viability/sustainability objective is, however, to be retained then it should be ranked much lower than second out of eight objectives. In terms of the BAI’s proposals for facilitating greater concentration of ownership of commercial radio stations, serious consideration should be given to retaining (not abolishing) the Five Additional Factors that go to the heart of plurality and diversity which are core, not peripheral, to the aims and objectives of the BAI. Furthermore the BAI should provide greater clarity how the tests to approve the transfer of a radio license are applied, through guidance and the publication of reasoned decisions. |
| Keywords: | ownership; control; broadcasting services; Ireland; diversity; plurality; reform; Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. |
| JEL: | K23 L5 |
| Date: | 2019–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92606&r=all |