Suchergebnisse

This article reviews biotechnology legislation in the 50 states for 11 policy areas spanning 1990–2010, an era of immense growth in biotechnology, genetic knowledge, and significant policy development. Policies regarding health insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance, DNA data bank collection, biotech research protection, biotech promotion and support, employment discrimination, genetic counselor licensing, human cloning, and genetic privacy each represent major policy responses arising from biotechnology and coinciding with key areas of state regulation (insurance, criminal justice, economic development, labor law, health and safety, privacy, and property rights). This analysis seeks to answer three questions regarding biotechnology legislation at the state level: who is acting (policy adoption), when is policy adopted (policy timing), and what is policy doing (policy content). Theoretical concerns examine state ideology (conservative or liberal), policy type (economic or moral), and the role of external events (federal law, news events, etc.) on state policy adoption. Findings suggest ideological patterns in adoption, timing, and content of biotech policy. Findings also suggest economic policies tend to be more uniform in content than moral policies, and findings also document a clear link between federal policy development, external events, and state policy response.

A Book Review of "Global Health Law" by Lawrence O. Gostin.

Since the late 1980s, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these agrarian and food policy reforms, the government has implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. There is a general consensus that a direct payment program has the potential to be more efficient than a system of subsidies and supports. At the same time, there is widespread agreement that other policies need to be put in place to assure protection of the economically vulnerable segments of the population. Within this context, this paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then two policies are tested under an exchange rate depreciation to see how each policy regime reacts to adverse shocks. The simulations demonstrate that in a static situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural incomes. However, urban households are worse off, and their size in total population may make this an unattractive policy." ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; TMD

Since the late 1980s, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these agrarian and food policy reforms, the government has implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. There is a general consensus that a direct payment program has the potential to be more efficient than a system of subsidies and supports. At the same time, there is widespread agreement that other policies need to be put in place to assure protection of the economically vulnerable segments of the population. Within this context, this paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then two policies are tested under an exchange rate depreciation to see how each policy regime reacts to adverse shocks. The simulations demonstrate that in a static situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural incomes. However, urban households are worse off, and their size in total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Since the late 1980s, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these agrarian and food policy reforms, the government has implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. There is a general consensus that a direct payment program has the potential to be more efficient than a system of subsidies and supports. At the same time, there is widespread agreement that other policies need to be put in place to assure protection of the economically vulnerable segments of the population. Within this context, this paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then two policies are tested under an exchange rate depreciation to see how each policy regime reacts to adverse shocks. The simulations demonstrate that in a static situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural incomes. However, urban households are worse off, and their size in total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Since the late 1980s, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these agrarian and food policy reforms, the government has implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. There is a general consensus that a direct payment program has the potential to be more efficient than a system of subsidies and supports. At the same time, there is widespread agreement that other policies need to be put in place to assure protection of the economically vulnerable segments of the population. Within this context, this paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then two policies are tested under an exchange rate depreciation to see how each policy regime reacts to adverse shocks. The simulations demonstrate that in a static situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural incomes. However, urban households are worse off, and their size in total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Over the past decade, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these reforms, the government implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. This dissertation uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household, and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of reduced price intervention and PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. This dissertation provides a new social accounting matrix (SAM) of Mexico for 1996, disaggregated according to the model's specifications. The SAM's construction employs recently developed entropy techniques to reconcile disparate data to ensure that the SAM is balanced and consistent. The CGE model incorporates mixed-complementarity specifications so that the system of equations includes both strict equalities — as is typical in a CGE model — and inequalities. This relatively new approach enhances the model by permitting threshold effects in the migration decision and in the operation of the price floor and import quota. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then the two policies are tested under two different external shocks — an exchange rate depreciation, and a negative productivity shock to one region's agricultural sectors — to see how each policy regime reacts. The simulations demonstrate that in a unperturbed situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural production. However, urban households suffer, and their size in the total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Over the past decade, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these reforms, the government implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. This dissertation uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household, and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of reduced price intervention and PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. This dissertation provides a new social accounting matrix (SAM) of Mexico for 1996, disaggregated according to the model's specifications. The SAM's construction employs recently developed entropy techniques to reconcile disparate data to ensure that the SAM is balanced and consistent. The CGE model incorporates mixed-complementarity specifications so that the system of equations includes both strict equalities — as is typical in a CGE model — and inequalities. This relatively new approach enhances the model by permitting threshold effects in the migration decision and in the operation of the price floor and import quota. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then the two policies are tested under two different external shocks — an exchange rate depreciation, and a negative productivity shock to one region's agricultural sectors — to see how each policy regime reacts. The simulations demonstrate that in a unperturbed situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural production. However, urban households suffer, and their size in the total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Over the past decade, Mexico has liberalized its agricultural sector, moving from a system of price supports, producer subsidies and consumer subsidies to a less distorting scheme in which market forces play a greater role. Coinciding with these reforms, the government implemented the PROCAMPO system of direct payments to farmers. This dissertation uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the regional, household, and economy-wide effects of switching from the old system of price supports and subsidies to the new system of reduced price intervention and PROCAMPO payments. A CGE model of Mexico is constructed with four rural regions and one urban region and a high disaggregation of the agricultural and food sectors. It also includes 15 households, defined according to region and income level to permit a rich analysis of distribution effects. This dissertation provides a new social accounting matrix (SAM) of Mexico for 1996, disaggregated according to the model's specifications. The SAM's construction employs recently developed entropy techniques to reconcile disparate data to ensure that the SAM is balanced and consistent. The CGE model incorporates mixed-complementarity specifications so that the system of equations includes both strict equalities — as is typical in a CGE model — and inequalities. This relatively new approach enhances the model by permitting threshold effects in the migration decision and in the operation of the price floor and import quota. The initial experiment consists of removing the PROCAMPO payments from the base year (1996) and adding back the subsidy and support scheme as it existed in 1993, the year before PROCAMPO began. Then the two policies are tested under two different external shocks — an exchange rate depreciation, and a negative productivity shock to one region's agricultural sectors — to see how each policy regime reacts. The simulations demonstrate that in a unperturbed situation, lump sum payments are preferred to the system of subsidies and price supports. In the event of a negative external shock, the simulations suggest that the old system performs better in terms of output and rural production. However, urban households suffer, and their size in the total population may make this an unattractive policy.

Many assume that young Americans are apathetic, self-absorbed, and
indifferent to civic matters. It is a turned-off generation, we are
told. But nothing could be further from the truth. A host of data
suggests young Americans give their energy, time, and money to their
schools, community, and nation. A recent report by the Center for
Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE),
for example, suggests young Americans volunteer at higher rates than
do older Americans (Lopez 2003). The frequency of pitching-in has
also increased: In 1990 some 65% of college freshman reported
volunteering in high school, and by 2003 that figure had risen to
83%. Rates of volunteer work for those under 25 are now twice as
high as for those over 55. Perhaps this is the
activist generation.