Clark Center Forum

About the Clark Center Forum

The Forum for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets is home to the European, Finance, and US Economic Experts Panels as well as a repository of thoughtful, current, and reliable information regarding topics of the day.
US

Subsidies to Attract Businesses

Question A:

When local governments compete by offering subsidies to a firm that is willing to relocate, and shopping across multiple alternative areas, the firm typically captures most of value that is created via the relocation.

Responses

Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
Question B:

A federal prohibition against states and municipalities offering tax subsidies to attract specific businesses that are shopping across multiple areas to relocate would be welfare improving for the average taxpayer.

Responses

Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
US

Corporate Social Responsibility

It is best for society if the management of U.S. publicly traded corporations only considers the impact of their decisions on customers, employees, and community members to the extent that these impacts feedback to impact shareholder wealth.

Responses

Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
 
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Business, Management, & Corporate Performance
Europe

Quarterly Earnings

This week's IGM European Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Letting publicly traded European firms report earnings annually rather than quarterly would lead their executives to place more weight on long-term issues in their investments and other decisions.

B) A switch from quarterly to annual earnings reports would, on net, benefit shareholders of European firms. 
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Business, Management, & Corporate Performance
Europe

Social Responsibility

This week's IGM European Economic Experts Panel Statement(s):

A) To the extent that public corporations pursue social and environmental initiatives, they tend to achieve higher risk-adjusted (private) returns than otherwise similar corporations that pursue such initiatives less.

B) To the extent that Norway’s global government pension fund makes investments for social and environmental objectives — apart from investments that would bring the highest expected risk-adjusted returns — it improves the welfare of Norwegians. 
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Business, Management, & Corporate Performance
Europe

EU Fiscal Rules

This week's IGM European Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) The fiscal rules of the European Union should give more flexibility to member countries.

B) The Italian budget for 2019 that the European Commission rejected in October would have increased Italy’s risk of fiscal insolvency substantially.

C) If France runs a 2019 budget deficit of around 3.4% of GDP, as announced by President Macron’s government, France’s risk of fiscal insolvency will increase substantially. 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Europe

Ride-Sharing Caps

This week's IGM European Experts Panel statements:

A) Capping the number of ride-sharing drivers as is being discussed in New York City, Chicago, and London will make the average resident in that city worse off.

B) To achieve a given level of congestion, it would be better to use taxes for driving that vary based on the level of congestion, rather than limiting the number of ride-sharing vehicles. 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
US

US Healthcare: Prices vs Quantity and Quality

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel Statement:

The US spends roughly 17% of GDP on healthcare, according to the OECD; most European countries spend less than 12% of GDP.

Higher quality-adjusted US healthcare prices contribute relatively more to the extra US spending than does the combination of higher quantity and quality of US care (interpreting quantity and quality to reflect both greater American healthcare needs due to underlying population health and the delivery of more or better healthcare services to Americans). 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
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