Sign up to receive senior public policy newsletter

Field experiments and public policy: festina lente

Behavioural Public Policy ◽

10.1017/bpp.2020.28 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 117-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

GLENN W. HARRISON

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Field Experiments ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Welfare Effects ◽

Current State ◽

To Receive

AbstractThe current state of the art in field experiments does not give me any confidence that we should be assuming that we have anything worth scaling, assuming we really care about the expected welfare of those about to receive the instant intervention. At the very least, we should be honest and explicit about the need for strong priors about the welfare effects of changes in averages of observables to warrant scaling. What we need is a healthy dose of theory and the implied econometrics.

Download Full-text

Presidential Particularism and US Trade Politics

Political Science Research and Methods ◽

10.1017/psrm.2017.12 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 265-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kenneth S. Lowande ◽

Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽

Andrew J. Clarke

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Foreign Affairs ◽

Distributive Politics ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Trade Policies ◽

Electoral Incentives ◽

Trade Politics ◽

Domestic Spending ◽

Grant Allocation ◽

To Receive

Research on presidential distributive politics focuses almost exclusively on federal domestic spending. Yet, presidential influence on public policy extends well-beyond grant allocation. Since the early 20th Century, for example, the president has had substantial discretion to adjust tariff schedules and non-tariff barriers “with the stroke of a pen.” These trade adjustments via presidential directive allow us to test the logic of presidential particularism in an area of policy understudied among presidency scholars. We examine unilateral adjustments to US trade policies between 1917 and 2006, with a detailed analysis of those made between 1986 and 2006, and find that presidents—in accordance with electoral incentives—strategically allocate trade protections to industries in politically valuable states. In general, states in which the president lacks a comfortable electoral majority are systematically more likely to receive protectionist unilateral orders. Overall, our results show that the president’s distributive imperative extends into the realm of foreign affairs, an arena in which the president has substantial authority to influence public policy.

Download Full-text

A Practical Approach to the New German Foreign Investment Regime – Lessons to be Learned from Merger Control

German Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s2071832200018514 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 260-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Florian Stork

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Foreign Investment ◽

Review Process ◽

Practical Approach ◽

Critical Infrastructures ◽

Basic Principles ◽

Foreign Investors ◽

Safe Harbour ◽

Scope Of Application ◽

To Receive

The author presents in this paper the new German foreign investment regime entered into force in the spring of 2009. He sets out the basic principles of the regime as well as its enforcement in practice. According to the new German foreign investment regime, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) may examine and prohibit purchases of German companies by foreign investors if they pose a severe threat to public policy or security. Certain transactions, however, fall within the “safe harbour” or are otherwise exempted so that the BMWi has no right of interference. The author presents several exemptions from the scope of application of the regime, which can be either identified from the wording of the law by reverse argument or derived from the spirit and purpose of the new foreign investment regime. Furthermore, by presenting the concept of so called “critical infrastructures”, the paper gives valuable guidance to practitioners on what the German administration might consider relevant for public policy or security. The last part of the paper summarizes the filing and the review process. The parties may, in order to receive clearance for their transaction, notify their transactions to the BMWi and receive a certificate of non-objection. While, this notification is wholly voluntary, parties who do not apply for clearance bear the risk that their transactions are blocked or unwound if the BMWi decides to investigate the transaction within three months from signing ex officio.

Download Full-text

Altruism and Desert

Utilitas ◽

10.1017/s0953820819000190 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 310-325

Author(s):

Sean Clancy

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Social Problems ◽

Moral Reason ◽

Moral Reasons ◽

Turn On ◽

To Receive

AbstractSuppose that virtue is intrinsically morally good, and that we have a pro tanto moral reason to act in ways which promote it. Further suppose that the failure of agents to receive what they deserve is intrinsically morally bad, and that we have a pro tanto moral reason not to act in ways which frustrate desert. When we are deciding whether to encourage others to make altruistic sacrifices, these two pro tanto moral reasons come into conflict. To encourage such sacrifices promotes virtue; it also causes virtuous agents to be worse off, preventing them from receiving their deserts. I argue that these effects on desert can reduce the moral desirability of promoting altruism so significantly as to make it morally wrong. This has implications for public policy, since certain practical questions turn on the extent to which we ought to rely on altruism as a means of solving social problems.

Download Full-text

Una victoria (póstuma) de las viudas de la poligamia del Sáhara español: la STSJ de Madrid de 14 de junio de 2008 = A (posthumous) victory for the widows of the polygamy in the Spanish Sahara: the decision of the Higher Court of Madrid of June 14, 2018

CUADERNOS DE DERECHO TRANSNACIONAL ◽

10.20318/cdt.2019.4654 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 807

Author(s):

Pilar Juárez Pérez

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

International Law ◽

Case Law ◽

Private International Law ◽

El Alto ◽

The Right ◽

To Receive

Resumen: El año 2018 resultó especialmente pródigo en resoluciones judiciales en torno a la poligamia, concretamente sobre la cuestión de la pensión de viudedad de las múltiples esposas concurrentes en un matrimonio polígamo. Estas decisiones destacan por su lucidez y su coherencia a la hora de abordar una demanda no siempre bien entendida y resuelta por nuestros tribunales de justicia. La Sentencia de 14 de junio de 2018 dictada por el Tribunal de Justicia de Madrid, Sala de lo Contencioso Administrativo, es un ejemplo de ello. La resolución declara el derecho de segunda esposa de un soldado español de la Policía Territorial del Sáhara a percibir la pensión de viudedad generada por éste. Además de la correcta aplicación de la doctrina del orden público atenuado, esta sentencia tiene del mérito de consolidar la línea interpretativa seguida hasta la fecha por el Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid, acogiendo la senda marcada por la STS de 24 de enero de 2018, que supone un giro jurisprudencial en el Alto Tribunal.Palabras clave: orden público internacional, Sáhara español, pensión de viudedad, poligamia, Derecho internacional privado.Abstract: In the course of 2018 several sentences about polygamy were made by the Spanish courts, with more specific regard to widow’s pension. These decisions are fully consistent with a demand not always understood and settled by ours courts. The decision of the Higher Court of Madrid of June 14, 2018 is a recent example of this. This sentence recognizes the right of the second wife of a Spanish soldier of the Territorial Police of the Sahara to receive the widow’s pension. The resolution correctly applies the attenuated public policy and consolidates the Higher Court’s previous case law in this matter, following a change in the case law of the Supreme Court’s decision of January, 24, 2018.Keywords: public policy, Spanish Sahara, widow’s pension, polygamy, private international law.

Download Full-text