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802. Reducing Livability: How Sustainability Planning Threatens the American Dream
- Author:
- Randal O'Toole
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- In response to state laws and federal incentives, cities and metropolitan areas across the country are engaged in “sustainability planning” aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In many if not most cases, this planning seeks to reshape urban areas to reduce the amount of driving people do. In general, this means increasing urban population densities and in particular replacing low-density neighborhoods in transit corridors with dense, mixed-use developments.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Infrastructure, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- America
803. Antitrust Enforcement in the Obama Administration's First Term: A Regulatory Approach
- Author:
- William F. Shughart II and Diana W. Thomas
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- During his presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama criticized sharply the lax anti-trust law enforcement record of the George W. Bush administration. Subsequently, his first assistant attorney general for antitrust even went so far as to suggest that the Great Recession was, at least in part, caused by federal antitrust policy failures during the previous eight years. This paper sets out to investigate how and in what ways antitrust enforcement has changed since President Obama took office in 2009. We review four recent antitrust cases and the behavioral remedies that were imposed on the defendants in those matters in detail. We find that the Obama administration has been significantly more active in enforcing the antitrust laws with respect to proposed mergers than his two predecessors in the White House had been. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission, together with the Department of Justice, withdrew a thoughtful report on the enforcement of Section 2 of the Sherman Act and issued new merger guidelines and a new merger policy remedy guide, all of which have moved antitrust law enforcement away from traditional structural remedies in favor of very intrusive behavioral remedies in an unprecedented fashion. That policy shift has further transformed antitrust law enforcers into regulatory agencies, a mission for which they are not well-suited, resulting in the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission being more vulnerable to rent seeking.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Governance, and Law Enforcement
804. Why Growth Is Getting Harder
- Author:
- Brink Lindsey
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- For over a century, the trend line for the long-term growth of the U.S. economy has held remarkably steady. Notwithstanding huge changes over time in economic, social, and political conditions, growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has fluctuated fairly closely around an average annual rate of approximately 2 percent. Looking ahead, however, there are strong reasons for doubting that this historic norm can be maintained.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Financial Crisis, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States
805. Macedonia - A country in crisis
- Author:
- Erwan Fouéré
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- Macedonia is a country in deep trouble. Under a veneer of normality lies a climate of deep mistrust between all the political parties and between the main ethnic communities. Several incidents of inter-ethnic violence took place in the capital city earlier this year and are on the increase. Political dialogue, insofar as it exists between the parties, remains confrontational.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Corruption, Ethnic Conflict, Politics, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
806. Proposal for a Stabilisation Fund for the EMU
- Author:
- Bernard Delbecque
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper argues that it should be possible to complement Europe's Economic and Monetary Union with an insurance-type shock absorption mechanism to increase the resilience of member countries to economic shocks and reduce output volatility. Such a mechanism would neither require the establishment of a central authority, nor would it lead to permanent transfers between countries. For this mechanism to become a reality, however, it would be necessary to overcome certain technical problems linked to the difficulty of anticipating correctly the position of an economy in the business cycle.
- Topic:
- Economics, Regional Cooperation, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
807. The usual surprise? Iran's presidential elections
- Author:
- Rouzbeh Parsi
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- When the 2009 presidential election in Iran went awry, and its aftermath rocked the authority and legitimacy of the system (nezam), it seemed that nothing could bring the Islamic Republic back to normalcy. Back then, the next presidential elections looked far away and beyond anyone's ability to imagine. Yet, for all other things that can be said about the Islamic Republic, it has insistently and regularly held its presidential polls, wars and political crises notwithstanding. And now, in 2013, we are yet again trying to grapple with the complicated game of politics in Tehran as the official campaign has started. Doubts exist about how many citizens will actually go to the polls this time (it was a remarkable 80 per cent in 2009), but the fact that - on 14 June - presidential elections are to be held in conjunction with local and city council votes may increase the chances of a decent voter turnout.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Islam, Regime Change, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, and Tehran
808. Global commons: between cooperation and competition
- Author:
- Gerald Stang
- Publication Date:
- 04-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- Rapid economic development and increasing international trade are leading to a more crowded international stage and raising new challenges in the 'global commons' – those domains that are not under the control or jurisdiction of any state but are open for use by countries, companies and individuals from around the world. Their management involves increasingly complex processes to accommodate and integrate the interests and responsibilities of states, international organisations and a host of non-state actors.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
809. What Drives Interstate Balancing? Estimations of Domestic and Systemic Factors
- Author:
- Pascal Abb
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews contending realist assumptions about domestic and systemic impulses for balancing behavior, derives a set of corresponding hypotheses for state actions and submits them to a statistical large‐n analysis for testing. A total of 18 highly conflict‐prone dyads of states are observed over lengthy periods of time in order to gather data for a regression analysis of the effects of different impulses on both the external and internal balancing behavior of the weaker states. In accordance with the results, it is argued that domestic (or unit‐level) factors are highly important in explaining the scope of balancing and often exert a stronger influence than do power gaps between states. As moderating factors, they are especially crucial in clarifying apparent cases of over‐ and underbalancing.
- Topic:
- Economics, Political Theory, Power Politics, and Governance
810. Rethinking the Consultation-Conflict Link: Lessons from Bolivia's Gas Sector
- Author:
- Almut Schilling-Vacaflor
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This article sheds light on 26 consultations in Bolivia's gas sector (2007–2012) and challenges simplified conceptions of prior consultation as a tool for conflict prevention and resolution. It shows that consultations do not only appease conflicts, but also exacerbate them as these procedures are used to negotiate broader grievances. This study further argues that narrow consultations (like those carried out in Bolivia) – rather than comprehensive ones – repress conflicts in the short‐term by limiting opportunities to mobilize against extractive projects. It also reveals that the degree of conflict and prevention potential of consultations varied according to the affected groups and highlights the ambiguous effects of the entanglement of consultations and compensations.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Energy Policy, Natural Resources, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Bolivia