All Articles Tagged As: politics

Stiff party competition, modest salaries good for state government, study shows (2/19/2010)

Vigorous two-party competition provides the best guarantee for meaningful, broad-based governance and modest salaries for lawmakers add a second protection against narrow-interest legislation, finds a national study spanning 120 years of state lawmaking. Although government critics often call for transparency, executive vetoes and professional pay to curb pork barrel legislation and other bills that benefit only one lawmaker's constituents, the study finds that sharp competition and lower salaries, in fact, are better remedies. ...> Full Article

Financial crisis in news: Government financial support of news media continues steep decline (1/30/2010)

Government financial support that has bolstered this country's commercial news business since its colonial days is in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report released today by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. Because these cutbacks are occurring at the height of the digital revolution, they will have an especially powerful impact on a weakened news industry. ...> Full Article

Don't privatize banks too soon (1/29/2010)

Initial findings carried out under the ESRC's World Economy and Finance research program, which comes to a conclusion with a conference in London on January 28, 2010, warn against privatizing the recently nationalized banks too soon. ...> Full Article

Economists: Appliance rebates waste government money (1/12/2010)

For every $100 of taxpayer money spent on refrigerators under the federal appliance rebate program, $6 is entirely lost, say two University of Delaware economists. ...> Full Article

Study: US biofuels policies flawed (1/7/2010)

The United States needs to fundamentally rethink its policy of promoting ethanol to diversify its energy sources and increase energy security, according to a new policy paper by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. ...> Full Article

States need economic freedom to benefit from natural resources (12/22/2009)

States with small governments, low taxes and labor market freedom enjoy greater benefits from natural resource development than states with large and intrusive government policies, according to a new study by a Florida State University researcher. ...> Full Article

Hoover's pro-labor stance helped cause Great Depression, economist says (8/31/2009)

Pro-labor policies pushed by President Herbert Hoover after the stock market crash of 1929 accounted for close to two-thirds of the drop in the nation's gross domestic product over the two years that followed, causing what might otherwise have been a bad recession to slip into the Great Depression, concludes a UCLA economist in a new study. The findings suggest that the depression was at least three times worse than it otherwise would have been. ...> Full Article

It's not the economy, stupid - it's what you do with it (8/19/2009)

UCLA political scientist Lynn Vavreck contends in a new book that they're only two routes to the White House: exploiting the nation's economic situation at the time of the campaign or staking out an issue on which the candidate is closer to voters than his or her opponent and one that the opponent cannot -- for whatever reason -- adopt. Barack Obama's campaign illustrated the first and John F. Kennedy's illustrated the second. ...> Full Article

Public service an option in exchange for mortgage relief (4/24/2009)

The debt-saddled US government doesn't have to just give away billions of taxpayer dollars that will help struggling homeowners stave off foreclosure, according to a new study by a University of Illinois law and labor expert. ...> Full Article

Tax lobbying provides 22,000 percent return to multinational firms (4/10/2009)

A recent tax law change provided a tax break to the corporations by lowering their tax rate 85 percent on certain worldwide income ...> Full Article

New working-class task force faces broad challenges, labor expert says (2/22/2009)

A task force launched by President Obama to boost America's middle class will have to help retool beleaguered US workplaces facing their most sweeping changes since World War II, a University of Illinois labor expert says. ...> Full Article

Researchers find lack of trust in leaders, institutions is major factor in US economic crisis (1/28/2009)

As unemployment rates rise and the housing crisis deepens, America's trust of its financial leaders and institutions has plummeted. To study the financial implications of eroding trust, Paola Sapienza (Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University) and Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago Booth School of Business) have created the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index. The research shows America's declining trust and how strongly it contributes to the country's financial problems. ...> Full Article

Political variables do not improve the performance of trading rules (1/22/2009)

A new study provides empirical evidence on the Democratic premium and the presidential cycle effect ...> Full Article

Political candidates and other 'phantoms:' Consumer choice in changing markets (8/12/2008)

The Impact of Decoy Dynamics on Consumer Choice ...> Full Article

Don't blame free trade for a weak economy (4/11/2008)

Professor is concerned about the lack of political will for globalization ...> Full Article

Marketing strategies for politics (2/1/2008)

How money and appearance influence the political campaigns ...> Full Article

Cross Ownership has Positive Effect on Local Media Coverage (1/24/2008)

The recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to loosen restrictions on cross ownership of newspapers and broadcast television stations in the same market has met with criticism from consumer advocates and members of Congress that a cross ownership would diminish the quality of local news coverage. However, the effect may be just the opposite, according to a University of Missouri study, which found that cross-owned television stations produce a greater percentage of local programming news content when compared to other network-affiliated stations in the same market. ...> Full Article