One problem with reports from large bureaucracies

Posted: November 28, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Accountability, Bureaucracy, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://aidwatchers.com/2010/11/one-problem-with-reports-from-large-bureaucracies/

Federal Government Fights Obesity, Pushes Cheese

Posted: November 7, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Special Interest Groups, USDA | Leave a comment »

http://volokh.com/2010/11/06/federal-government-fights-obesity-pushes-cheese/

Food Pyramid and Special Interest Groups

Posted: May 25, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Food Pyramid, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid/

The Effects of Earmarks on the Likelihood of Reelection

Posted: May 22, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Lobbying, Politics, Public Choice, Special Interest Groups, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1608230

The ethanol industry rises to defend itself

Posted: April 15, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Environment, Special Interest Groups, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

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The ethanol industry rises to defend itself


Interest Groups and the Antitrust Paradox

Posted: April 7, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Antitrust, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj6n3/cj6n3-5.pdf

Interest Groups, Information Manipulation in the Media, and Public Policy: The Case of the Landless Peasants Movement in Brazil

Posted: April 5, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Lobbying, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

“We extend the literature on interest group behavior and policy outcomes by examining how groups with limited resources (votes and campaign contributions) effectively influence government by manipulating media information to voters. Voters in turn lobby politicians to implement the group’s preferred policies. In this manner interest groups can secure favorable government actions beyond their size and wealth. This is an important contribution because of the increased role of the media in the information age and because this linkage better explains observed government policies. We develop a multi-principal, multi-task model of interest group behavior and generate the characteristics of interest groups that would be most successful using publicity to secure their policy objectives. We apply the model to the Landless Peasants’ Movement in Brazil. We detail how the Landless Peasants’ Movement molds information; show the general voter response; and examine the reaction of politicians in changing the timing and nature of policy.”

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w15865#fromrss

Becker

Posted: March 28, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Free markets, Health Care, Health Insurance, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094104575144011906222520.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook

“Health care in the United States is pretty good, but it does have a number of weaknesses. This bill doesn’t address them. It adds taxation and regulation. It’s going to increase health costs—not contain them.”

“Here in the United States,” Mr. Becker says, “we spend about 17% of our GDP on health care, but out-of-pocket expenses make up only about 12% of total health-care spending. In Switzerland, where they spend only 11% of GDP on health care, their out-of-pocket expenses equal about 31% of total spending. The difference between 12% and 31% is huge. Once people begin spending substantial sums from their own pockets, they become willing to shop around. Ordinary market incentives begin to operate. A good bill would have encouraged that.”

“People tend to impute good motives to government. And if you assume that government officials are well meaning, then you also tend to assume that government officials always act on behalf of the greater good. People understand that entrepreneurs and investors by contrast just try to make money, not act on behalf of the greater good. And they have trouble seeing how this pursuit of profits can lift the general standard of living. The idea is too counterintuitive. So we’re always up against a kind of in-built suspicion of markets. There’s always a temptation to believe that markets succeed by looting the unfortunate.”

Enforcement and Compliance in Lima’s Street Markets The Origins and Consequences of Policy Incoherence toward Informal Traders

Posted: March 27, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Endogenous Rules, Property Rights, Regulation, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

“Abstract

Almost twenty years have passed since researchers from the Institute for Liberty and
Democracy in Peru showed how ‘bad laws’ impose disproportionate costs on those who
choose formality. Although a multitude of conflicting regulations still precludes
effective governance of informal trade in Lima, this paper argues that the sources of
those conflicts are more diverse – though perhaps more tractable – than they might have
been twenty years ago. Specifically, the paper identifies three sources of policy
incoherence in Lima that contribute to persistent clashes between informal workers and
policy makers: (1) the lack of definitional clarity in national and metropolitan-level
legislation; (2) the absence of reliable mechanisms designed to resolve those
definitional contradictions; and (3) a resulting lack of policy continuity over time within
individual municipal administrations.”

http://www.wider.unu.edu/stc/repec/pdfs/rp2005/rp2005-16.pdf

Strange Bedfellows

Posted: March 27, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Drugs, Prohibition, Special Interest Groups, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

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Strange Bedfellows

Pot Farmers Against Pot Legalization or, Life Becomes a Reason.tv Video

Posted: March 26, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Drugs, Special Interest Groups, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

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Pot Farmers Against Pot Legalization or, Life Becomes a Reason.tv Video

Obama and the Health Care Special Interests

Posted: March 24, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Health Care, Health Insurance, Obama, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama-gives-sugar-plums-to-the-special-interests-88958037.html

HT: http://reason.com/blog/2010/03/24/the-special-interests-who-hear?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+reason/HitandRun+(Reason+Online+-+Hit+%26+Run+Blog)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Schoolhouse Rock Parody: How a Bill REALLY Becomes a Law

Posted: March 22, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Logrolling, Politics, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEe1nWxGb5s

FDA Expands Ban on Tobacco Sales, Ads for Kids

Posted: March 19, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Regulation, Special Interest Groups, Tobacco, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

FDA Expands Ban on Tobacco Sales, Ads for Kids
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20100318/fda-expands-ban-on-tobacco-sales-ads-for-kids

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Daniel J. Smith
Sent Via Mobile Phone

Federal Employees

Posted: March 5, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Government, Public Unions, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

” Federal workers on average earn in wages and compensation 50% more than workers in the private sector doing the same job.  Bear in mind that the federal workers are paid by the private sector workers.  We can’t all be insiders.”

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/03/department-of-yikes.html

What unions are getting… ….from the Obama Administration, according to

Posted: February 21, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Protectionism, Special Interest Groups, Unions | Leave a comment »

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-unions-are-getting.html

Automobile “Safety” Inspections Research

Posted: December 15, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Automobile Safety Permits, Lobbying, Public Safety, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.jstor.org/pss/30027176

http://www.jstor.org/pss/30025852

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2487049

Economic Manipulation for Political Profit: Macroeconomic Consequences and Constitutional Implications

Posted: November 17, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Democracy, Median Voter Theorem, Minimum Winning Coalition, Special Interest Groups, Voting | Leave a comment »

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119627972/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

What a Wise Mother Would Wish Her Children to Do For a Living if ObamaCare Passes

Posted: November 9, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Corporatism, Health Care, Health Insurance, Lobbying, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

What a Wise Mother Would Wish Her Children to Do For a Living if ObamaCare Passes

Political lobbying explained through the example of all-pay auctions

Posted: November 3, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Democracy, Lobbying, Special Interest Groups | Leave a comment »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_kt97w7Wg&feature=player_embedded#

HT: Marginal Revolution

Unions and Special Interest Groups Under Obama

Posted: September 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Special Interest Groups, Unions | Leave a comment »

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2009/09/union_power_in.html

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