Special interest groups exert a great deal of influence over political outcomes in the United States. Understanding the determining factors for the formation of special interest groups is important. However, the literature has excluded the role of spatial neighbors. This article employs spatial econometric techniques to discriminately analyze the factors determining the number of special interest groups in a state. While geographic location is not a factor, gross state product, state general expenditures, union membership, and the percentage of manufacturing employment relationships between states are crucial in the formation of special interest groups across states.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-run impact of federal government healthcare subsidies on the level of entrepreneurship as measured by self-employment. Design/methodology/approach – Using annual healthcare and employment data from 1948 through 1999, the paper empirically examines the relationship between the growth in employer-provided healthcare and the rate of self-employment as a share of the non-agriculture, civilian labor force. Findings – The regression results imply that there is a consistent effect that has appeared over time – where federal healthcare subsidies have disproportionately benefitted larger firms, contributing to the decline in the rate of self-employment, within-firm innovation, and factor mobility over time. Research limitations/implications – The research in this study is limited by the examination of self-employment only and a constant institutional structure across all states, only varying across time for the entire USA. In addition, an empirical study looking at how the value of healthcare benefits have changed over time – vs the sole question in this study that depends upon whether or not an individual is covered or not would be very useful in determining the true effect on an entrepreneur. Social implications – Reducing or removing the layers of healthcare subsidies would bring about an increase in the transparency of the wage-productivity relationship and a more efficient allocation of labor and entrepreneurial ability across firm sizes. Originality/value – This paper presents empirical evidence supporting specific improvements to national healthcare policy at a time when such policy is undergoing significant change with consequences for entrepreneurial decision making.

No abstract

In their contribution, authors Lemper and Tasto review the evolution of the supply and demand side of the major shipping markets since the beginning of the new millennium. The dry bulk, liquid bulk, and container shipping markets are reviewed in detail and special regard is paid to interesting market developments and limitations of forecasts during the year of the global recession 2009. For this year, the industry forecasts are matched against the effective outcome. Based on the experience of the authors, selected tips are presented on how to analyze shipping markets with the help of statistics and the concepts of inter-and intracompetition of analyzing shipping markets are touched briefly. The contribution ends with a review of the different types of shipping cycles and the lessons learned from the last boom period (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008).

Cities and counties are overlapping jurisdictions in most US states. Virginia cities, however, are independent of counties, with separate tax bases and residents. This paper examines whether the Virginia system creates a horizontal relationship resembling that among cities in other states. It uses revealed preference axioms to compare spending patterns against competitive median voter benchmarks. The results show that cities and counties in metropolitan areas function like horizontal rivals in the Virginia system, in contrast with the vertical relationship imposed by the overlapping jurisdiction structure in other states.