US Policymakers Research Articles

Employee ownership in the US: some issues on ESOPs – overcoming the barriers to further development

PurposeThis viewpoint will present some statistical information about employee ownership in the US and interpret and analyze this information in order to address the barriers question using material from qualitative interviews that the authors have conducted over the last ten years with practitioners in the field. There have been few actual empirical studies that sort out the different barriers to employee ownership. The authors have chosen to focus on employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in the US because this is the principal example from which people could learn from, and the high prevalence of ESOPs plays an important role in the US. This overview will present interpretations of these interviews with conceptual arguments that cannot always be supported with either overwhelming empirical studies or arguments that conclusively eliminate one or other explanation. This is an initial attempt to bring some comprehensive treatment and data to this incipient discussion. This is based on an interpretive analysis of qualitative interviews without quantification or social survey methods used for measurement. The advantage of this approach is that it lays out a completely different level of analysis of the barriers to employee ownership in the US that is “closer to the ground” and more based in the views of front-line practitioners who are actually implementing it.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis and interpretation of qualitative interviews.FindingsThe list of barriers that has been identified is not exhaustive. The preliminary conclusions are that (not necessarily in this order) limitations of investment banking models, poor supportive infrastructure, complexity and cost and regulatory issues, the lack of support by political parties and social movements, the sale of companies due to financial considerations and legal complexities and lack of clarity and resistance by Federal agencies are major barriers in the US. Various sectors of Wall Street has been amenable to employee ownership with the proper government and private sector support. What is needed now is a series of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews of retiring business owners in closely held companies and of CEOs and CFOs in stock market companies in order to gauge the barriers that they believe are blocking their own action in the employee share ownership area. The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing is working on such a research agenda at this time. In addition, with the future size of the US employee ownership sector at stake, a more intensive one-year interview project would make sense in order to present these different explanations to key actors and practitioners and ask them to provide evidence to prove or disprove the relevance of the different barriers.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical research which can resolve which barriers are more important than others is presented, when possible; however, studies that provide metrics to compare different barriers are not available and need to be carried out.Practical implicationsOther countries considering employee ownership policies can learn from the US experience. US policymakers and legislators can learn from an original, recent discussion of barriers.Social implicationsIf employee ownership sectors are to be developed, a careful discussion of barriers is most relevant.Originality/valueOriginal document by the authors based on original interviews.

Supporting ADRD care partners from historically and currently underserved communities

AbstractSupports for people living Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their care partners in the US remain limited. Historically and currently underserved populations in health care experience particularly stark disparities in accessing ADRD‐specific care and supports. To inform enhanced outreach and supports for underserved populations in ADRD care, and to better understand how state and federal policies can help support this goal, a study was conducted to gather insights from the perspectives of individuals with lived experience as care partners, with an emphasis on communities historically and currently underrepresented in ADRD research, for whom culturally appropriate services for people living with ADRD may be non‐existent or difficult to access.The study population focused on care partners of people living with ADRD who identify with historically and currently underserved communities including Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latinx Americans in the Portland, Oregon region. Recruitment strategies for potential focus group participants were developed in collaboration with leaders of Portland‐area community‐based organizations that provide ADRD care and supports. Focus groups were convened with care partners from these four communities, along with one focus group with individuals who identified with other communities.ADRD care partners across all populations reported a need for additional supports to help them manage care‐related activities. The specific needs and supports identified varied across populations. The findings also indicate widespread unmet care partner needs across all populations, including more information on ADRD, financial and psychological supports, in‐home care, and respite services. While many care partners were generally satisfied with their clinical care and research involvement, nearly all identified potential areas for further supports, suggesting an opportunity for coproduced supports, services, and policies.Innovative approaches to service delivery and policy development should be pursued in order to better support care partners of people living with ADRD. US policymakers could coproduce policies through direct collaboration with care partners, researchers, and clinicians by co‐designing and implementing policies focusing on improving the care partner experience. In moving toward equitable service provision, offering specific and unique supports for care partners from underserved communities who may have difficulties accessing culturally appropriate services must be a priority.

Role of Board Composition Index in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure: Evidence From United States

Corporate directors play a crucial role in meeting the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting obligation. Thus, how to promote CSR practices through MNCs has attracted the attention of scholars. This study aims to investigate the impact of the board composition index on CSR disclosure in the context of the United States. In addition, the study examines whether board characteristics (board size, board diligence, board duality and board independence) impact CSR disclosure. Panel data for S&P 1500 index firms were collected from the data stream portal. The current study employed a sample of 286 US firms from 2010 to 2020. To achieve the research objectives, the current study develops an index score very first time for board composition. A panel regression model with fixed and random effects was employed to estimate the proposed hypotheses. In addition, the problem of endogeneity was resolved through the dynamic GMM model. The results of the study revealed that the board composition index has a significant impact on the disclosure of CSR information. Moreover, higher board diligence and independence in US corporates enhance CSR disclosure. However, board duality and the size of the board room negatively and significantly impact CSR. US policymakers and legislators make reforms in composition and structure to build stakeholders’ interest. In addition, no study combined such corporate board variables to address CSR in developed countries. The findings of the study are consistent with both institutional and stakeholder theory.

Is earnings management impacted by audit fees and auditor tenure? An analysis of the Big Four audit firms in the US market

Research background: Audits are intended to ensure the reliability of financial statements, as this is fundamental for different stakeholders. However, both auditor tenure and audit fees could affect the earnings management of companies. In 2014, the European Union established a mandatory audit firm rotation policy. In the United States, although there is still no mandatory regulation in this regard, there has been a large public debate over the advisability of this policy. Another unresolved controversy is whether audit fees determine audit quality. Purpose of the article: The aim of this research is to study the effect of auditor tenure and audit fees on earnings management, i.e., to determine whether a longer-term relationship between the auditor and the audited company, as well as higher audit fees, reduce the audited company's earnings management, thereby making the financial statements more reliable for stakeholders and increasing the quality of the audit report. In addition, the Big Four auditing companies in the United States were analyzed in order to determine the influence of corporate culture. Methods: A sample of companies listed in the S&P 500 stock market index was employed for the analysis, covering the years 2012 to 2021, resulting in a dataset comprising 3,010 observations. To examine the research hypotheses while mitigating the potential bias from omitted variables, a linear regression analysis was conducted using panel data with fixed effects regression. To enhance the robustness of the results, winsorized variables were also employed. Findings & value added: Overall, the results confirm that the quality of financial statements improves as auditor tenure increases, and so implementing a mandatory auditor rotation may not be in a company’s best interests. The results also support the market segmentation theory, as higher audit fees are aligned with higher quality financial reporting. Furthermore, by analyzing the Big Four audit companies in the US, it is shown that the influence of audit fees and auditor tenure on earnings management also depends on the internal aspects of the particular audit firm, especially its ethical culture. In sum, US policymakers should neither set limits on audit fees nor enforce a mandatory audit firm rotation similar to that of the EU.

The crypto frontier: How US policymakers and investment advisers can address digital assets

This paper focuses on prominent issues surrounding digital assets. The lack of a comprehensive federal digital asset law has recently raised several issues for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-registered investment advisers as they try to navigate new markets and new industry practices. As such, this paper addresses the current US regulatory landscape, provides a comparison of non-US approaches to digital assets and provides US policymakers with key principles they can consider for potential digital asset legislation and/or regulation. The paper also provides compliance considerations for investment advisers who currently manage digital assets, to address the evolving obligations under the US securities laws.

Not Just the Economic Style: Technocratic Ideology and Neoliberalism in US Policymaking

Not Just the Economic Style: Technocratic Ideology and Neoliberalism in US Policymaking

The Summer of Living Dangerously: Robert C. McFarlane and the Breakdown of Reagan’s Lebanon Policy

ABSTRACT This article reconsiders the US Lebanon policy in the wake of the Lebanese-Israeli Agreement of May 17, 1983. After failing to convince Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad to accept the Lebanon-Israel May 17 Agreement and withdraw from Lebanon, US policymakers adopted a confrontational approach with Damascus. The American-Syrian duel over Lebanon escalated in the summer of 1983 and ended with Assad’s victory. The United States disengaged from Beirut, thus paving the way for Syrian control. I use untapped archival sources pertaining to the mission of Robert C. McFarlane, Ronald Reagan’s envoy to the Middle East, to shed a new light on these events.

Revisiting the relationship between business conditions, climate policy uncertainty, and environmental pollution: evidence from the USA.

This paper aims to revisit the interdependency between business conditions, climate policy change, and the environmental pollution of the USA. Interestingly, our paper represents a completion to the existing literature on three levels at least. First, we propose to analyze this issue during normal periods and periods of turmoil, particularly the COVID-19 outbreak. To do so, contrary to previous studies that used economic growth, we employ the ADS index as a real-time business conditions measurement. Second, we employ a frequency approach, based on the continuous wavelet transform, allowing us to understand the nature of the relationship. Understanding whether the relationship holds in the short- or long-term is useful for policymakers in monitoring public policies to achieve CO2 emission reduction as well as to investors interested in high value-added projects. Our analysis shows that, during the last two decades, the relationship between business conditions as well as climate uncertainty index and CO2 emissions is observed during the long- and short-term, and driven through economic conditions. However, during the crisis periods, the effect is detected across various scales and the relationship is bi-directional. Our results have several practical implications for the US policymakers to consider when setting policies for fighting pollution emissions and environmental protection.

Role Theory in Practice: US–Turkey Relations in Their Worst Decade

Abstract Academic and policy debates on alliances are yet to incorporate insights from foreign policy analysis (FPA) literature. Generally, bilateral relations between allies are either analyzed with insights from traditional IR theories (such as realism) or with policy-oriented work that does not engage any scholarly literature (focusing on only the day-to-day issues of international politics). I argue that FPA theories that make linkages between scholarly work and policy-oriented questions in an evidence-based and analytical fashion are capable of accounting for the most significant policy questions of modern international politics. This article analyzes US–Turkey relations in, arguably, their worst decade, with a role theoretic outlook. I claim that despite being close political and military allies since the 1940s, US–Turkey bilateral relations are witnessing their worst decade since the Arab uprisings in the MENA, due mostly to ideational factors that shape foreign policy. The conflictual relations originate from a change in US and Turkish foreign policy-makers’ role conceptualizations vis-à-vis their countries’ roles in the MENA region after the Arab uprisings and the role conflict this has caused with one another. Misaligned interests during the Arab uprisings, especially after 2014 in the Syrian civil war, have exacerbated the bilateral ties further. Drawing insights from elite interviews conducted in Turkey (2014–2016), Washington DC, and Ankara (2018–2020), I explain the sources of conflict in US–Turkey relations with a role theory perspective and offer policy prescriptions in conclusion.

BETWEEN “STRATEGIC ALTRUISM” AND “SELECTIVE COOPERATION”: US POLICY DILEMMA TOWARD INDIA

This paper discusses the US dilemma of policy making on India. The paper begins with a retrospective look at the US-India relations since Modi came to power, and a predictive analysis of the policy on India under the Biden administration, in order to show how the US perspective on India’s role in US global and regional strategies has changed. The paper demonstrates that China is one of the pivotal external variables that promote US-India relations. The review of policy is followed by a discussion of strategic assessments of India policies by US analysts and experts on India. These can be classified into two policies: “strategic altruism” and “selective cooperation,” each of which represents a type of US-India relation. Through comparing these assessments, the paper concludes that the United States faces a dilemma in policy making on India, with US policy makers unable to reach an agreement on fundamental issues concerning US-India relations.

Russia in the Indo-Pacific Region

This article seeks to understand Russia's influence and foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region and argues that Russia has been slowly reestablishing its presence in various ways and predicts that it will continue to do so despite limited resources and its lackluster performance in Ukraine. The pivot to Asia for Russia is more important in the wake of the war against Ukraine, and it must be seen in the context of Russia's interest in confronting US power amid a crisis of the liberal international order. Russian foreign policy has not factored much into the deliberations of US strategists when they considered the Indo-Pacific region recently. US policymakers will need to pay more attention to Russia going forward because the Ukraine war is bringing Russia and China closer together. Given Russia's increasing reliance on China to help circumvent the impact of sanctions against Russia and to help counter its isolation from the West, the two powers are likely to collaborate further in the future. China's reliance on Russia as its junior partner in the region benefits both in countering US influence.

Mark Philip Bradley and Mary L. Dudziak, eds. Making the Forever War: Marilyn B. Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism.

To read Making the Forever War, a collection of once scattered and two formerly unpublished essays by Marilyn B. Young, the much-loved and hugely influential historian of US foreign relations, is to be struck by how well-matched Young was to her subject: American war-making. Born in 1937, the same year Japan invaded China in the opening act of what became the Second World War, she came of age amid the Korean War, entered the profession during the Vietnam War, refracted and historicized in her first book, The Rhetoric of Empire: American China Policy, 1895–1901, and published her most significant work, The Vietnam Wars, 1945–1990, within days of the launch of the First Gulf War. Until her death in 2017, Young wrote and lectured continuously, often acidly, on whatever wars the United States was waging—throughout her long life there was always at least one. “Over time,” she observed in her 2011 Presidential Lecture for the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, “this progression of wars has looked to me less like a progression than a continuation,” so war came to seem not an aberration but the very “substance of American history.” Yet war’s very constancy, combined with its remoteness, made it obscure to Americans, an erasure US policymakers encouraged by calling their wars limited—in time, in blood, in treasure. In truth, war’s costs were not limited, only borne by others. Young’s task, she said, was “to make war visible, vivid, an inescapable part of the country’s self-consciousness, as inescapable a subject of study as it is a reality” (187). These percussive, incisive, mordant writings, gathered and smartly introduced by Mark Bradley and Mary Dudziak, with an afterword by Andrew Bacevich, demonstrate her success in that mission and her passion for it. Here, Young matches the fixity and ferocity of “forever war” with an equally fierce and dogged critical analysis forged from her lifelong opposition to such violence. For both those familiar with her work and those new to it, the book is essential reading, and it would lend itself nicely to almost any course on the United States and the world, US foreign relations, US empire, or US military history.

Countering Far-Right Anti-Government Extremism in the United States

The far-right anti-government extremist movement poses a significant threat in the United States. The January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol illustrates the capacity of this movement to plan and mount violent attacks against government targets and democratic institutions. In this article, we explore how the organisational and tactical characteristics of the far-right anti-government movement in the United States enable it to thrive despite the dangers it poses to the public. We argue that its deep-seated ideological roots, fluid organisational structure, and mix of violent and nonviolent tactics make the movement difficult for federal and state authorities to proscribe, prosecute, and ultimately eliminate. US policymakers need to develop an informed response that accounts for the fluid, decentralised, and public-facing nature of anti-government extremism, as well as the pervasive distrust of federal authority that it reflects. We suggest that this approach will likely differ from the modern counter-terrorism tools that were initially designed to combat terrorist threats emanating from abroad, such as those posed by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. We ground our arguments in evidence from cases of anti-government extremist groups and followers active in the United States over the past three decades.

Ford, CATL to build US battery plant

Ford says it will work with the Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) to build a $3.5 billion lithium iron phosphate battery plant in Michigan. Ford will own the factory and make batteries using CATL’s technology. The deal caught the attention of US policy makers, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who wants federal agencies to ensure that the project doesn’t get funds in the Inflation Reduction Act. Meanwhile, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called the deal a win.

Predicted Health Literacy Disparities Between Immigrant and US-Born Racial/Ethnic Minorities: a Nationwide Study.

Racial/ethnic minorities in the USA exhibit reduced health literacy (HL) proficiency, leading to increased health disparities. It is unclear how the effect of birth status (immigrant/US-born) affects HL proficiency among racial/ethnic minorities. To identify the direct, indirect, and total effects of birth status on HL proficiency among a nationally representative population of racial/ethnic minority adults in the USA. A cross-sectional study of 2019 data from the Medial Expenditure Panel Survey. Participants aged 18 or older reporting as racial/ethnic minorities (Black, Asian, or Hispanic) with non-missing data. We predicted HL proficiency for each participant using a previously published model. Path analysis was used to estimate the direct, indirect, and total effects of birth status on HL proficiency, accounting for several other covariates. Prevalence ratios were estimated using adjusted Poisson regression to evaluate differences in the "Below Basic" HL category. An estimated weighted 81,092,505 participants were included (57.5% US-born, 42.5% immigrant). More racial/ethnic minority immigrant participants fell into the lowest category of HL proficiency, "Below Basic" (14.3% vs 5.5%, p < 0.05). Results of the path analysis indicated a significant, negative direct effect of birth status on HL proficiency (standardized coefficient = - 0.24, SE = 0.01, 95%CI: - 0.26, - 0.23) in addition to an indirect effect mediated through insurance status, health-system resource use, and English proficiency. The total effect of birth status on HL proficiency was found to be - 0.29. The immigrant participant group had 81% higher prevalence of falling into the "Below Basic" HL category compared to US-born participants (prevalence ratio = 1.81, 95%CI: 1.52, 2.16). Immigrant status has a strong, negative, direct effect on HL proficiency among racial/ethnic minorities in the USA. This may be a result of barriers that prevent equitable access to resources that improveproper HL proficiency. US policymakers may consider several methods to reduce this disparity at the health-system-, provider-, and patient-levels.

Estimation performance comparison of machine learning approaches and time series econometric models: evidence from the effect of sector-based energy consumption on CO2 emissions in the USA.

By considering the existence of two separate analysis families and the usage of different data frequencies, this study aims to examine the effect of method choice, data frequency, and sector-based energy consumption on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by performing machine learning (ML) algorithms and time series econometric (TS) models simultaneously. In this situation, the study examines the United States (USA), considers sector-based energy consumption indicators as explanatory variables, uses monthly and yearly data between January 1973 and December 2021, estimates CO2 emissions, and compares the estimation performance of the models. The empirical findings reveal that (i) the ML algorithms outperform the TS models based on R2 and goodness of fit criteria; (ii) the estimation performance of the models increases with the high-frequency (i.e., monthly) data; (iii) the ML algorithms perform much better in case of high-frequency usage; (iv) some thresholds identify the effects of the sector-based energy consumption indicators on the CO2 emissions; (v) electric power and transportation sectors are the most important sectors in the estimation of the CO2 emissions for monthly and yearly data, respectively. Hence, the study provides to help the understanding role of method choice, data frequency, and sector-based energy consumption for the estimation of CO2 emissions. Based on the results, this study proposes that US policymakers should consider the ML algorithms, use higher-frequency data, and include sector-based energy consumption indicators to have a better estimation of CO2 emissions.

Advances in forecasting: An introduction in light of the debate on inflation forecasting

AbstractThe sharp rise in inflation during the past few years has engendered comparisons with the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. Like that earlier episode, the recent inflation has been underpinned by supply‐side shocks and, in the case of the United States, by highly accommodative fiscal and monetary policies. Like that early episode, the recent inflation has been largely unpredicted; it caught US policy makers by surprise, despite the fact that several prominent economists had warned early on that fiscal and monetary policies were setting the stage for an upsurge in inflation. To motivate this special issue, we provide a brief account of the policy miscues and policy debates that resulted from the large forecast errors in predicting the upsurge in inflation in 2021 and 2022. We then provide an overview of the papers in this issue, which address a range of methodological and empirical issues related to forecasting and highlight the dilemmas faced by agents within the economy and policy makers.

How should policymakers regulate the tetrahydrocannabinol content of cannabis products in a legal market?

An increased use of high-potency cannabis products since cannabis legalization in the United States, Canada and elsewhere may increase cannabis-related harm. Policymakers have good reasons for regulating more potent cannabis in ways that minimize harm, using approaches similar to those used to regulate alcohol; namely, banning the sale of high-potency cannabis, setting a cap on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content and imposing higher rates of taxes on more potent cannabis products. Given the difficulty that US policymakers have had in regulating cannabis extracts and edibles, governments that are planning to legalize cannabis need to put policies on extracts into enabling legislation and evaluate the impact of these policies on cannabis use and cannabis-related harms.

Making Social Welfare Policy in America: Three Case Studies since 1950

Making Social Welfare Policy in America: Three Case Studies since 1950

There is no capitalist conspiracy and the rich are not all‐powerful

There is no capitalist conspiracy and the rich are not all‐powerful