Collusion in auctions for emission permits: An experimental analysis

Environmental markets have several institutional features that provide a new context for the use of auctions and that have not been studied previously. This paper reports on laboratory experiments testing three auction forms—uniform and discriminatory price sealed‐bid auctions and an ascending clock auction. We test the ability of subjects to tacitly or explicitly collude in order to maximize profits. Our main result is that the discriminatory and uniform price auctions produce greater revenues than the clock auction, both with and without explicit communication. The clock appears to facilitate successful collusion, both because of its sequential structure and because it allows bidders to focus on one dimension of cooperation (quantity) rather than two (price and quantity).© 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

A New Measure of Policy Spending Priorities in the American States

In this paper, we develop and test a general measure of policyexpenditures in the American states. Our approach is to constructa spatial proximity model of yearly state program spending.The empirical analysis reveals that state spending patternsvary along a clear and readily-interpretable unidimensionalcontinuum which differentiates policies that provide particularizedbenefits to needy constituencies from policies that providebroader collective goods. Based upon standard evaluative criteria,the variable created from our model possesses some highly desirablecharacteristics. And, it compares favorably to other measuresof state policy activity. The net result is a yearly score foreach state which summarizes that state's spending across allmajor program areas. More generally, we believe that our variablecan be interpreted as valid and reliable representational measurementof state policy priorities. In this capacity, it could occupyan important position within models of state politics. Author's note: Many colleagues provided useful feedback on earlierversions of this paper. We particularly appreciate the excellentcomments and suggestions from Robert Erikson, Richard Fording,Kim Hill, David Lowery, Andrea McAtee, and George Rabinowitz.We would also like to thank Daniel Lewis and William Myers fortheir assistance with the data collection. The yearly statepolicy priority scores obtained from the unfolding analysis,along with the data used to create the scores, the SAS macroto carry out the unfolding procedure, and all other supplemental materialsare available on the authors’ web sites: http://polisci.msu.edu/jacobyand http://polisci.msu.edu/schneider. All these materials arealso available on the Political Analysis Web site.     

Indigenization of the Holocaust and the Tehran Holocaust Conference: Iranian Aberration or Third World Trend?

It is understandable that Iran’s December 2006 hosting of an international conference casting doubts on the historicity of the Holocaust would raise questions about treatments of the Shoah elsewhere in the Third World. In fact, indigenization the Holocaust—the manifold ways in which serious scholars, activists, and writers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America have come to incorporate the Holocaust in their intellectual work—has been positive overall. Within the framework of intellectual globalization, much of the Third World intelligentsia has come to include this most Western of human rights violations within the framework of their own cultures and histories. Although some of the indigenization of the Holocaust is political and instrumental, the deviant variant expressed at the Tehran Holocaust conference is atypical. Governmental respect for the memory of victims of genocide should be considered as an emerging human right.     

Les réformes des finances publiques en France : évolutions et enjeux

Abstract: France, like many other countries, has undertaken an in‐depth reform of its public finances over the past few years. The originality of the French system lies in the fact that the reforms focused strongly on the three sub‐systems of public finance (i.e., government finance, local finance and social finance). The reforms are designed, on the one hand, to streamline the French public financial system and to provide a certain consistency for addressing its inherent complexity and, on the other, to clarify the roles of the various public stakeholders in order to allow for better management of the country's public finances.     

Construct Validity of Adolescent Antisocial Personality Disorder

This study examined the construct validity of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) diagnosed in adolescence. Boys and girls were grouped by history of DSM-III-R conduct disorder (CD) and ASPD: Controls (n=340) had neither diagnosis; CD Only (n=77) had CD by age 17 but no ASPD through age 20; Adolescent ASPD (n = 64) had ASPD by age 17. The Adolescent ASPD group was then compared to 20 young adult men who met criteria for ASPD (ASPD group). As expected, the Adolescent ASPD group had significantly more depression and substance use disorders, a greater performance>verbal IQ discrepancy, more deviant peers, and poorer academic functioning than the CD Only group and Controls. The Adolescent ASPD and ASPD groups did not differ on most variables. Results support the construct validity of Adolescent ASPD and suggest that such a diagnosis could help identify adolescents at risk for persistent antisocial behavior. Jeanette Taylor is an Assistant Professor at Florida State University. She received her Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Minnesota. Her research examines biological, cognitive, and environmental influences on personality disorders and substance use disorders. Irene J. Elkins is a Co-investigator at the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research. She received her Ph.D. in 1993 from the University of Kansas and is a member of the Society for Research on Psychopathology. Her major research interests include the relationship of personality, ADHD, and antisocial behavior to substance abuse, as well as gene-environment interrelationships. Lisa Legrand is a Research Associate with the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research at the University of Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. in 2003 from the University of Minnesota. Her major research interests include gene-environment interplay in the development of externalizing psychopathology. Dawn Peuschold is a Senior Clinical Forensic Psychologist at the Hennepin Country District Court and an instructor at the University of Minnesota. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in forensic psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School after receiving her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. She is interested in risk factors for reoffense in juveniles. William G. Iacono is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota, the institution from which he received his Ph.D. in psychology. He conducts longitudinal studies of adolescent twins and adoptees aimed at understanding the development of adult adjustment and mental health.     

The public demand for smoking bans

Smoking bans are gaining widespread support in the United States and other countries. While supporters argue that bans are necessary to resolve market failures associated with negative externalities, the Coase Theorem predicts that, under various conditions, private markets internalize negative externalities. We examine the smoking issue within the framework of the Coase Theorem and hypothesize that smoking bans misallocate air space resources shared by smokers and nonsmokers. Because smoking bans shift ownership of scarce resources, they are also hypothesized to transfer income from one party (smokers) to another party (nonsmokers). Supporting evidence for these hypotheses is provided by an examination of a comprehensive smoking ban imposed in San Luis Obispo, CA.