Caring but sharing unintentionally: Lobbying for innovations and the leakage of knowledge

When firms engage in lobbying, their intended outcome is a regulatory change that benefits them. However, prior literature suggests that there may also be an unintended outcome of lobbying—the leakage of knowledge to competitors. In this paper, I explore when the intended and the unintended outcomes are more likely by theorizing about the relationship between lobbying and innovation. I predict that innovations that are novel are more likely to benefit from the intended regulatory changes. However, innovations that use knowledge uniquely possessed by a few firms are more likely to be compromised by the leakage of knowledge that happens during lobbying. I use new data from 1999-2013 on public U.S. firms that engaged in lobbying to federal agencies, the regulatory changes made by federal agencies, and the 16,000 patents applied for by those firms. I employ unsupervised machine learning (Doc2Vec) to measure knowledge leakage and an instrumental variable 2SLS mediation analyses to test the theory. The results suggest that the intended regulatory changes that follow lobbying can benefit innovations by facilitating wider adoption. However, unique technological knowledge that only a few firms possess may be expropriated by competitors during the process of lobbying. Overall, this paper demonstrates that fundamental aspects of innovation— such as institutional change, knowledge transfer, and technology adoption—are closely related to lobbying, a form of nonmarket activity.

Does a Federal Glass Ceiling Have Differential Effects on Female and Male Technology Entrepreneurs?

Glass ceilings are invisible organizational barriers encountered by underrepresented groups in large hierarchies. This chapter empirically investigates the existence and characteristics of an internal, government-wide glass ceiling for female employees using aggregate pay grade and demographic data on nearly 1.5 million U.S. Federal employees between 2001-2011. The external consequences for over 15,000 technology ventures seeking R&D funding from 12 federal agencies is explored. In this context, the researchers analyze over 50,000 grants and find that a unit increase in a novel, government-wide, glass ceiling measure is a meaningful and negative predictor of subsequent Phase II funding outcomes for Phase I grantees. More importantly, the negative external effects of the identified glass ceilings are significantly larger for women technology entrepreneurs when compared to their male counterparts.

Camp Perry historic district contributing buildings : character-defining features

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) established the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources, defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. NHPA Section 110 requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources. Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on properties deemed eligible or potentially eligible for the NRHP. Camp Perry Joint Training Center (Camp Perry) is located near Port Clinton, Ohio, and serves as an Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG) training site. It served as an induction center during federal draft periods and as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Previous work established boundaries for a historic district and recommended the district eligible for the NRHP. This project inventoried and analyzed the character-defining features of the seven contributing buildings and one grouping of objects (brick lamp posts) at Camp Perry. The analysis is to aid future Section 106 processes and/or the development of a programmatic agreement in consultation with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

The Reputational Dividends of Collaborating with a Highly Reputable Agency: The Case of the FDA and Its Domestic Partner Agencies

What, if any, dividends do agencies reap from collaboration with a highly reputable agency, such as the FDA? Utilizing a dataset covering 30 U.S. federal agencies over a period of 34 years (1980–2013), we estimate the short and long-term reputational effects of interagency collaboration. Collaboration is measured by the number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in effect between each agency and the FDA, while agency reputation is assessed using an automated measure of media-coverage valence (positive/negative tone) for each agency-year. To account for potential reverse and reciprocal causality, we utilize cross-lagged fixed-effects models. We find evidence of moderate rises in reputation due to increased collaboration with the FDA. These effects persist significantly for two years, before decaying to null after four years. Employing similar analyses, we furthermore estimate reversed causality – of reputation on the level of consequent collaboration – finding no evidence of such effects.Research SupportMoshe Maor and Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Israel Science Foundation under grant 1002/11.

Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce: Executive Order 13583 and Demographic Trends

President Obama’s 2011 Executive Order 13583 was expected to serve as a catalyst for a coordinated government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce. This order reinforced the government’s commitment to equal employment opportunity by “using the talents of all segments of society,” achieved by recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining a more diverse workforce. The order mandated the creation of a government-wide diversity and inclusion strategic plan as well as agency-specific plans. This study uses institutional theory as a lens to examine agency response to EO 13583 to articulate diversity and inclusion rationales, practices, and correlating workforce demographic trends. We examine how three federal agencies articulated diversity and inclusion practices and activities in the plans. We explore demographic workforce trends prior to, during, and after adoption of the agency diversity and inclusion plans. Together, these analyses offer evidence of varied approaches to diversity and inclusion as well as uneven progress in pursuing the letter and spirit of the order. Specifically, the articulation of agency-specific diversity goals following Executive Order 13583 does not consistently translate to enhanced workforce diversity.

Status of the Recovery Mandate Under Section 7(a)(1) of the U.S. Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) is widely considered to be one of the strongest laws for protecting imperiled wildlife, with nearly all species protected under the law still existing today. Among the ESA's strongest provisions, at least as written, is the requirement under section 7(a)(1) that federal agencies use their authorities to help recover imperiled species. New initiatives like 30 x 30, the campaign to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, offer opportunities to reinvigorate and expand 7(a)(1) programs to play a significant role in biodiversity conservation. To gauge the current status of 7(a)(1) plans and assess their effectiveness, we collected all section 7(a)(1) materials available to the public through internet searches and direct requests to agencies. We evaluated the scope of existing 7(a)(1) programs and found that despite the clear potential benefits of strong programs, the section has been significantly underused by federal agencies. Further, we show that existing plans are highly inconsistent in content and style, and we trace that inconsistency to the lack of policy guidance for their creation and implementation. Based on these findings, we recommend five strategies for improving 7(a)(1) implementation: establishment of formal guidance from the federal wildlife agencies, tailored guidance from other federal agencies to help them meet their 7(a)(1) obligation, dedicated funding, integration of 7(a)(1) into existing initiatives and opportunities, and top-level executive branch coordination and cooperation.

Accountability in Collaborative Federal Programs—Multidimensional and Multilevel Performance Measures Needed: The Case of Wildland Fire Prevention

Collaborative programs among Federal agencies, state and local agencies, and private sector organizations are often prescribed to address difficult interdisciplinary and intersectoral problems. Accountability for these efforts is difficult to achieve and has frequently proved elusive. This research explores the nature of the accountability dilemma in collaborative programs and analyzes and illustrates them in the context of wildland fire prevention in the United States. It suggests a multilevel–multimeasurement approach is key to achieving a fuller picture of accountability in collaborative networks.

Going rogue: what scientists can learn about Twitter communication from “alt” government accounts

The inauguration of President Trump in the United States led to the active restriction of science communication from federal agencies, resulting in the creation of many unofficial “alt” Twitter accounts to maintain communication. Alt accounts had many followers (e.g., 15 accounts had > 100,000) and received a large amount of media attention, making them ideal for better understanding how differences in messaging can affect public engagement with science on microblogging platforms. We analyzed tweets produced by alt and corresponding official agency accounts to compare the two groups and determine if specific features of a tweet made them more likely to be retweeted or liked to help the average scientist potentially reach a broader audience on Twitter. We found adding links, images, hashtags, and mentions, as well as expressing angry and annoying sentiments all increased retweets and likes. Evidence-based terms such as “peer-review” had high retweet rates but linking directly to peer-reviewed publications decreased attention compared to popular science websites. Word choice and attention did not reflect official or alt account types, indicating topic is more important than source. The number of tweets generated and attention received by alt accounts has decreased since their creation, demonstrating the importance of timeliness in science communication on social media. Together our results show potential pathways for scientists to increase efficacy in Twitter communications.

Rethinking Prisoner Reentry

With a focus on reentry after prison, we formulate an evidence-supported action plan for enhancing transitions from prison to society that focuses on increasing independence, reducing racial and ethnic disparities, and achieving public safety. Prisoner re-entry is a critical piece of any racial justice agenda as the lack of education or vocational training within carcer institutions impose barriers to job opportunities that, coupled with societal stigmas, often make reintegration extremely challenging. Noting that changes in policies with significant potential to improve reentry outcomes extend beyond federal agencies traditionally involved in the administration of justice, we include ways to reduce reentry barriers such as housing, education, employment, health, and political rights. The paper is divided into short, medium and long-term recommendations. The short-term recommendations pertain to existing funding streams and discretionary authority regarding administrative rules and regulations, funding decisions, and rule enforcement. Medium-term recommendations involve the creation of new legislation, infrastructure, and funding appropriations. In the long-term, recommendations include changes in laws to achieve fundamental re-orientations of existing policy frameworks, and approaches that require substantial new funding appropriations.