Titles for me but not for thee: transitional gains trap of property rights extension in Colombia

Public Choice - I apply Tullock’s transitional gains trap to the formalization of property titles in Latin America to understand public choice problems in mending institutions. In an area...     

Deregulation in Austria

Abstract. Since the new grand coalition government took office in 1986, deregulation has become an official goal of government policy in Austria. The article describes debates, measures and countervailing tendencies in three areas of deregulation: delegislation, privatization and the promotion of competition. Because deregulation initiatives have not been very effective the conclusion discusses political constraints and opportunities for such policies in the future.     

Diffusion Pathways for Electricity Deregulation

Quantitative studies of the diffusion of policy innovationsgenerally avoid cases where the appropriate governmental actoris ambiguous; this study focuses on just that context. An event-historyanalysis of U.S. electricity sector regulatory reforms involvingboth regulators and legislators between 1993 and 1999 is presentedhere. The interplay of branches and planes of government significantlyinfluences this diffusion process, suggesting that diffusionresearchers should more often focus explicitly on such dynamics.     

Taxing capital gains

From 1969 to 1971 he was a member and from 1972 to 1974 the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. His major publications include The Fiscal Revolution in America, Presidential Economics,and Governing the $5 Trillion Economy.He is a member of the board of contributors of the Wall Street Journal, where his writings appear frequently.     

Evaluating congressional reform: Deregulation revisited

An evaluation of the changes in Congress's structure that occurred in the 1970s requires attention to three dimensions of its performance as a policymaking institution: representation of interests, deliberation, and conflict resolution. Considered this way, the changes seem to have enhanced some aspects of congressional capacity (especially the representation of broadly-based interests) but to have diminished others (especially deliberation and conflict resolution on issues that are salient to mass constituencies). The resulting strengths and weaknesses help to explain differences in congressional performance on trucking deregulation and natural gas deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. To some degree, they have altered the opportunities, strategic considerations, and central skills for policy analysts who seek to influence congressional decisions.     

Transitional gains and rent extraction

Public Choice - Tullock (Bell J Econ 6:671–678, 1975) described a transitional gains trap in which the present value of rents is capitalized in the value of an asset required to get the...     

Deregulation and the Racial Composition of Airlines

Economic theory suggests that the enhanced product market competition of deregulation reduces employers' ability to discriminate when hiring. Recent studies of the effect of deregulation on racial employment in the naturally competitive trucking industry find that deregulation increased minority employment. This study examines the effect of deregulation on racial employment in the airline industry. Because deregulation transformed airlines from wasteful service competition to rigorous price competition, deregulation's effect on racial hiring in this continuously competitive industry is not apparent. This study finds that deregulation only modestly changed the racial composition of major airline occupations, which suggests that the change in market structure as a result of deregulation may largely determine the effect of regulatory reform on the racial composition of an industry. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

ISIS gains ground in sub-Saharan Africa

ISIS has had a varying degree of success in making inroads among sub-Saharan African jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda. The latter still exerts strong influence, especially in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Jihadist groups based in Africa are primarily focused on local agendas that are at odds with the international ambitions of ISIS.     

Deregulation, Competitive Pressures and the Emergence of Intermodalism

Deregulation has dramatically altered the face of Australian industry and associated services throughout the last decade or so. In the transport sector, in particular, changes have been significant and deregulation has led to pervasive changes in market structure, to the actual ownership of infrastructure and to a shift in strategic focus from a public utility to one of commercial viability and market orientation. Competitive pressures in the transport sector as a result of deregulation have meant that traditional public sector organisations such as railways and ports have been transformed. A major impact of these developments has been that transport operators, in an endeavour either to maintain or capture market share, have been forced to restructure and refocus and, in the face of growing competition, have been forced to reinvent themselves and move increasingly towards the provision of an integrated intermodal service. Rail operators are now no longer simple linehaul operators in container or bulk freight markets but have become market–focused third–party service providers of a range of integrated functions.     

RAILROAD POLICY AND INTERMODALISM: Policy Choices after Deregulation

Intermodalism is widely viewed as a promising recent development in transportation. This article examines the role played by railroads in intermodal freight transportation and the framework of public policies around whic intermodal freight movement has evolved. Intermodalism emerged because of technological, organizational, and public policy developments that contributed to its rapid growth. Deregulation of the rail industry since 1980 has led to significant restructuring through mergers and direct contracts between railroads and customers. As intermodal shipments become more important to the overall transportation system in the United States, attention will need to be given to ways in which intermodal concerns are addressed in surface transportation programs.     

Syria's war: Assad gains upper hand

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad finds itself in a better situation than at any point since early 2012. But while its survival is no longer in question in the medium term, its ability to rebuild the pretence of a state remains in doubt, given its limited resources, internal contradictions and the reality of soft partition.     

Electricity Deregulation: Kilowatts for Nothing and Your BTUs for Free

Historically, the electric power industry has been viewed as a natural monopoly that could best be managed through governmental regulation. This article traces the evolution of deregulation in the electric power industry and the intellectual, political, and economic trends and forces that modified this traditional view. It concludes that, despite policy change, retail competition of electricity remains a difficult concept to implement in part because electricity is basically a commodity. Customers must be provided with sufficient incentives to shop between electricity providers and there must be supply incentives for more efficient production. Competition also requires technological advances such as affordable “smart” meters that make it possible for customers to specify tradeoffs between price and consumption, even to the extent of programming apliances to turn on or off in response to price signals. Mature wholesale markets and open access to transmission and distribution are also neede.     

Deregulation and Participation: An International Survey of Participation in Electricity Regulation

Amidst the wave of privatization and "deregulation" across the globe, a new set of regulatory structures is being created. The fact that deregulation actually involves "re-regulation" has been acknowledged in the recent literature, but the tension between regulation and public participation has been understudied in these new structures. While some private markets need effective regulation to reduce transactions costs and ensure stable market rules, consumers need regulation that is responsive to, and protective of, their interests. Consumer participation, therefore, is an important component of effective regulation. Effective regulation must also consider collective national or public interests, including the well-being of corporations. Therefore, regulatory agencies need to be both independent from, and responsive to corporate, consumer, and public interests. This article will briefly examine the tension among the competing goals of regulatory independence and responsiveness, and then conduct a broad survey of the status quo of public participation in national regulatory structures for electricity in the Americas. Our case studies demonstrate a wide variety of institutional mechanisms for participation, yet we find that no existing system seems to embrace direct participation by a wide set of consumers. The problems are even more acute in developing countries. We conclude by looking at recent experiments and proposals to improve the levels of participation in regulatory decision making.     

The Political Economy of Electricity Deregulation: Appointed vs. Elected Utility Commissioners

Does the manner in which public utility commissioners are selected influence the kinds of decisions they render regarding electric rates and other factors pertaining to electricity services? This article examines the impact and implications of different methods of regulator selection and how that selection process affects protection of consumer interests as opposed to the interests of electricity suppliers (i.e., utilities).     

Fresh gang violence in Rio despite pacification efforts

A recent spate of criminal attacks threatens to undermine the efforts of Rio's authorities to pacify the city's slums. They are contending with highly organised and versatile armed groups, willing and able to challenge state authority directly.     

Deregulation as regulatory reform: the case of environmental policy in the Netherlands

Abstract. Deregulation in the Netherlands has been associated with the perceived crisis of the welfare state. But in the area of environmental policy it has not meant dismantling those substantive regulations designed to promote improved environmental quality. Deregulation in environmental management has involved the retention of overall regulatory objectives while striving to simplify and streamline existing regulatory procedures, and developing alternatives to the more traditional instruments of regulation. Deregulation in this area is a prime example of 're-regulation'- of steps taken to make existing regulations more effective, or to replace rules with other instruments designed to achieve more effectively and efficiently the same behavioural changes sought with the original regulatory scheme.