(NRRI). The views and opinions of the author do not necessarily state or reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the NRRI, NARUC, or NARUC member commissions. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides NARUC member commissions with an independent view of the frequency, nature, and effects of government agency participation in the regulatory process. The report is directed toward commissioners a...

Women are less likely than men to reach recommended levels of physical activity and have unequal access to active leisure time. Studies in Australia have consistently found that women are only half as likely as men to be adequately active. A community-based multi-strategic health promotion intervention, 'Concord, A Great Place to be Active', was implemented from 1997 to 1999. It aimed to increa...

Institutional involvement has been determinant in the diffusion of technological innovations, however little attention has been given to institutional intervention in the adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in SMEs. This study investigates the role of government in the adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in small and medium size enterprises. King et al. (1994) framework of institutional facto...

We study the impact of outright (i.e., permanent) Open Market Operations (POMOs) by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) on the microstructure of the secondary U.S. Treasury market. POMOs are trades in U.S. Treasury securities aimed at accomplishing the Federal Reserve’s target level of the federal funds rate. Our analysis is motivated by a parsimonious model of speculative trading in t...

Often, systemic banking crises initiate from one or more banks and affect countries by rapid spreading in the banking network, financial markets and economy of countries. According to Reinhart & Rogoff (2009) in the book titled "This time is Different," financial crises are pointed as an equal opportunity menace for high-income countries and emerging markets. Although The International Mo...

Energy plays a critical role in all societies, and governments have a long tradition of intervention and participation in the energy sector even in more market-oriented economies. But in recent decades, the need for and extent of government intervention has been challenged. A growing number of governments and international agencies now agree with liberalisation advocates that reducing public in...

The last decade has witnessed different price trajectories in the international and Chinese agricultural commodity markets. This paper compares and contrasts these dynamic patterns between markets from the perspective of price bubbles. A newly developed right-tailed unit root testing procedure is applied to detect price bubbles in the CBOT and Chinese agricultural futures market during the peri...

Critical information infrastructure protection is the subject “du jour.” An important part to addressing the issue is to answer the question whether the private sector or the government should be responsible for protection. The choice of governing arrangement – government provision, private provision or any combination thereof – is essential to ensuring an adequate level of security. This paper...

If managers, creditors, or other firm counterparties use stock prices when making decisions, short sellers may attempt to manipulate prices, inducing decisions that reduce firm value. However, an informed long-term shareholder has a natural incentive to ensure that prices send the right message so that the value of his existing stake is not harmed. While he can achieve that by buying enough sha...