Michael Reksulak, William F Shughart, Robert D Tollison and Atin Basuchoudhary
Contrary to conventional thinking about the purposes and effects of antitrust law enforcement, the personal fortune of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., tripled in the wake of the Supreme…
Abstract
Contrary to conventional thinking about the purposes and effects of antitrust law enforcement, the personal fortune of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., tripled in the wake of the Supreme Court’s May 1911 order dissolving the Standard Oil trust. This paper summarizes alternative explanations for that unexpected outcome, tests them empirically and finds them deficient. Coupled with new evidence confirming that major events related to Rockefeller’s antitrust encounter did not produce statistically significant abnormal returns for the company’s stockholders, we conclude that the market failed to react to news of the trust’s dismantling because investors expected the government’s remedy to prove ineffective.
Randall B. Bunker and William F. Shughart
This research quantifies the economic impact of regional tax policy incentives included in the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005.
Abstract
Purpose
This research quantifies the economic impact of regional tax policy incentives included in the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005.
Design/methodology/approach
This research utilized linear mixed-effects modeling and multiple regression procedures with a matched sample panel dataset from 2002 through 2008 containing real-world county-level economic data.
Findings
The results indicated that the regional tax incentives provided by the GO Zone Act did not generate significant increases in key economic indicators included in this study. These tax incentives were intended to spur economic recovery, but based on research findings, they do not appear to have had the impact desired by Congress.
Research limitations/implications
Archival empirical data for the affected region make this study possible but also limit the ability to generalize these results to other regions. In addition, empirical research utilizing real-world data can be prone to internal validity issues that exist due to lack of environmental controls and other possible causal factors.
Originality/value
This research adds to the existing literature by using real-world county-level economic indicators to test the impact of tax policy investment incentives at the regional level and minimizes some of the issues addressed by prior empirical research and provides evidence on the effectiveness of tax policy investment incentives at the regional level.
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Burak Dolar and William F. Shughart
Title III of the USA Patriot Act obligated the private sector to take a more active role in deterring money laundering and disrupting terrorist financing. Complying with the new…
Abstract
Purpose
Title III of the USA Patriot Act obligated the private sector to take a more active role in deterring money laundering and disrupting terrorist financing. Complying with the new law has increased the cost of doing business dramatically for firms in the financial services industry. This study aims to apply a heterogeneous‐firm model of regulation to test whether the anti‐money laundering (AML) provisions of the Patriot Act redistributed wealth within the commercial banking and thrift sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes a dataset comprising more than 150,000 observations.
Findings
The empirical evidence suggests that, owing to scale economies in regulatory compliance, the burden has fallen more heavily on smaller institutions. Moreover, the study does not find that the rules written to implement Title III have differentially impacted banks and thrifts at greater risk of being targeted by money launderers, as a public‐interest theory of regulation would predict.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on the AML provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
Details
Keywords
Adam Hoffer, Rejeana Gvillo, William Shughart and Michael Thomas
The purpose of this paper is to identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold at vending machines, purchases of food away from home, cookies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold at vending machines, purchases of food away from home, cookies, cakes, chips, candy, donuts, bacon, and carbonated soft drinks – varies across the income distribution by calculating their income-expenditure elasticites.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on 22,681 households from 2009-2012 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey were used. The data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regressions and Cragg’s double hurdle model which integrates a binary model to determine the decision to consume and a truncated normal model to estimate the effects for conditional (y>0) consumption.
Findings
Income had the greatest effect on expenditures for alcohol (0.314), food away from home (0.295), and fast food (0.284). A one percentage-point increase in income (approximately $428 at the mean) translated into a 0.314 percentage-point increase in spending on alcoholic beverages (approximately $1 annually at the mean). Income had the smallest influence on tobacco expenditures (0.007) and donut expenditures (−0.009).
Research limitations/implications
Percentage of a household’s discretionary budget spent on the studied goods falls substantially as income gets larger. Policies targeting the consumption of such goods will disproportionately impact lower income households.
Originality/value
This is the first manuscript to calculate income-expenditure elasticities for the goods studied. The results allow for a direct analysis of targeted consumption policy on household budgets across the income distribution.
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Christopher John Boudreaux, Gokhan Karahan and Morris Coats
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the institutional background and the incentive for FIFA executives to engage in corrupt activities. The authors also highlight recent FIFA…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the institutional background and the incentive for FIFA executives to engage in corrupt activities. The authors also highlight recent FIFA scandals and discuss approaches that may affect FIFA’s corruption in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors approach this subject through a historical narrative. The authors review the literature on corruption and apply these findings to the FIFA organization. Due to many similarities, the authors are able to juxtapose the successes and failures of the Olympics, and apply these findings to FIFA.
Findings
Based on the examination, the authors find that FIFA’s corruption can be mitigated, but it is a very difficult task to accomplish. The US Department of Justice has helped to jump start a corruption reform in FIFA. This has also facilitated the activities of the FIFA ethics committee. However, only time will tell whether these changes will be meaningful and last.
Originality/value
The contribution is that the authors closely link the sports management and economics literature on corruption using FIFA as the subject of analysis. Because of the recent FIFA scandal, the authors are able to update the corruption literature as it applies to this organization and, more generally, in sports.
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J.William Petty, Joel Shulman and William E. Bygrave
The harvesting of a venture is one of the more significant events in the life of an entrepreneurial firm and its owner. Little is known about this process beyond anecdotal…
Abstract
The harvesting of a venture is one of the more significant events in the life of an entrepreneurial firm and its owner. Little is known about this process beyond anecdotal information. This study is an exploratory effort to investigate this part of the entrepreneurial process when it is accomplished by selling the firm.
Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and…
Abstract
Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.
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The purpose of this paper is two folds: first, to analyze the long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators (GDP growth, GDP per capita, inflation and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is two folds: first, to analyze the long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators (GDP growth, GDP per capita, inflation and unemployment) and second, to determine the direction of causality between these variables in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators is analyzed by applying Johansen cointegration analysis. Furthermore, the causality between terrorism and macroeconomic indicators is tested by applying Toda Yamamoto Granger causality test.
Findings
The results show that there exists a long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators. Furthermore, the results suggest that there exists a bi-directional causality between terrorism and inflation. The causality between GDP per capita, unemployment, GDP growth and terrorism is unidirectional.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research work conducted to analyze the long-run relationship and direction of causation between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators specifically for Pakistan. The current paper fills the gap in the literature by using sophisticated econometric techniques and recent data set to provide the evidence of the relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators.