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This paper investigates the relationship between the characteristics of medical licensing boards and the frequency with which boards discipline physicians. Specifically, we take advantage of variation in the structure of medical licensing boards between 1993 and 2003 to determine the effect of organizational and budgetary independence, public oversight, and resource constraints on rates of physician discipline. We find that larger licensing boards, boards with more staff, and boards that are organizationally independent from state government discipline doctors more frequently. Public oversight and political control over board budgets do not appear to influence the extent to which medical licensing boards discipline doctors. These findings are broadly consistent with theories of regulatory behavior that emphasize the importance of bureaucratic autonomy for effective regulatory enforcement.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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Greater historical perspective is needed to enlighten current debate about future human responses to higher temperatures and increased precipitation variation. We analyze the impact of climatic conditions and variability on agricultural production in five semi-arid western states. We assemble county-level data on dams and other major water infrastructure; agricultural crop mixes and yields; precipitation and temperature; soil quality, and topography. Using this extensive data set, we analyze the impact of water infrastructure investments on crop mix and yields in affected counties relative to similarly-endowed counties that lack such infrastructure. We find that water infrastructure smoothes agricultural crop production and increases the likelihood of a successful harvest, especially during times of severe drought or excessive precipitation.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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The increased popularity of college grade forgiveness policies, which allow students to substitute grades for repeated courses in their grade-point-average calculations, has been regarded as a consequence of the pressure colleges feel to ensure their "customers" are satisfied. However, this study identifies an important benefit that grade forgiveness confers on students: more risk-taking in the learning process. Using longitudinal administrative data from a four-year public institution that alternated between two grading schemes over a short period of seven years, we find that the adoption of the grade forgiveness policy, over the traditional practice of grade averaging, nudges students to pursue curriculum and/or degrees perceived as relatively more challenging and/or with harder grading standards, such as those in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This result holds true for first-time course-takers as well as for students who do not repeat any courses while in college. Finally, while helping students achieve ultimate mastery, we find no evidence that grade forgiveness delays graduation or elicits spending less effort by students.

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We provide a new and more complete analysis of the origins of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, one of the most severe environmental crises in North America in the 20th Century. Severe drought and wind erosion hit the Great Plains in 1930 and lasted through 1940. There were similar droughts in the 1950s and 1970s, but no comparable level of wind erosion. We explain why. The prevalence of small farms in the 1930s limited private solutions for controlling the downwind externalities associated with wind erosion. Drifting sand from unprotected fields damaged neighboring farms. Small farmers cultivated more of their land and were less likely to invest in erosion control than were larger farmers. Soil Conservation Districts, established by government after 1937, helped coordinate erosion control. This unitized' solution for collective action is similar to that used in other natural resource/environmental settings.