This entry examines the relationship between property rights and environmental protection. According to the ‘tragedy of the commons’ model, environmental pollution and resource depletion result from the inadequate specification of property rights in environmental goods. Two solutions typically are offered for averting the ‘tragedy’: (1) specify property rights (that is, privatize the commons) o...

This paper investigates the short-term effects of public smoking bans on individual smoking behavior. In 2007 and 2008, state-level smoking bans were gradually introduced in all of Germany’s sixteen federal states. We exploit this variation in the timing of state bans to identify the effect that smoke-free policies had on individuals’ smoking propensity and smoking intensity. Using rich longitu...

We study the general dependence of mixing angles on heavy fermion masses when mass hierarchies exist among the fermions. For two generations and small Cabibbo angle, this angle is directly shown to scale like μ1/ms ± μ2/mc, where |μ1| ≪ ms, |μ2| ≪ mc are independent mass scales. For n = 3 generations, we extend to the Yukawa matrices of uand d-type quarks the property that the 2× 2 upper-left s...

Post-translational modifications of histones play crucial roles in the genetic and epigenetic regulation of gene expression from chromatin. Studies in mammals and yeast have found conserved modifications at some residues of histones as well as non-conserved modifications at some other sites. Although plants have been excellent systems to study epigenetic regulation, and histone modifications ar...

BACKGROUND Hair and epithelial keratins constitute the major structural components of the skin and its appendages, including the hair fibre. While it is appreciated that selected steroid hormones regulate specific keratins, little is known about the neuroendocrine control of human hair keratin expression. Preliminary evidence had suggested that thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) may regulate k...

Whether a country is able e ectively to address collective action problems is a critical test of its ability to ful ll the demands of its citizens to their satisfaction. We study one particularly important collective action problem: the environment. Using a large panel dataset covering 25 years for some countries, we nd that, overall, citizens of European countries are more satis ed with the wa...

Regulation produces enormous benefits and costs, both of which are greatly influenced by myriad exemptions and preferences for small firms that contribute a significant minority of output in many sectors. These firms may generate a disproportionate share of harm due to their being exempt and because exemption induces additional harmful activity to be channeled their way. This article analyzes o...

Although many commentators have called for increased efforts to incentivize organ donations, theorists and some evidence suggest these efforts will be ineffective or even could perversely crowd out altruistic efforts. Prior papers examining the impact of tax incentives for donations generally report zero or negative coefficients. We argue these studies incorrectly define their tax variables, an...

The CD58 binding site on human CD2 was recently shown by nuclear magnetic resonance structural data in conjunction with site-directed mutagenesis to be a highly charged surface area covering approximately 770A2 on the major AGFCC'C" face of the CD2 immunoglobulin-like (Ig-like) NH2-terminal domain. Here we have identified the other binding surface of the CD2-CD58 adhesion pair by mutating charg...

The pharmaceutical industry raises unique economic questions because of three related features. First, the high rate of R&D, technical change and importance of patent protection raise important positive and normative questions related to industry structure, prices, profits and public policy. Second, the industry is heavily regulated in all major functions. Early regulatory requirements focused ...