Any economics nerds here?

[TR]

I feel like someone may have some good ideas for me! I am taking a special topics Economics course in my MBA and one of the available topics for our semester research paper is:

Pick a regulation and provide a history of the regulation, the purported purpose of the regulation and explain who benefits and loses from the regulation. Due on May 6. Use economic analysis and concepts to explain the winners and losers. (2000+ words)

1. Sugar price controls.

2. Ethanol requirements for gasoline.

3. Texas requirements that liquor stores be family owned.

4. The historical and current automobile gasoline mileage requirements.

5. The historical and current impact of the Davis Bacon act.

6. Any other regulation in which you are interested if I give approval.

None of those are SUPER interesting to me. Right now I'm thinking the sugar price controls. But the bolded is why I'm posting. I have tried googling and was maybe considering the Certificate of Need requirement in healthcare, but I was wondering if anyone here knew of any interesting economic regulations I could research that might be more fun.

Oh and the other optional topic is:

Country Comparison: Compare similar countries “choosing” different systems: East and West Germany after WWII. North and South Korea after WWII. Countries that changed: Cuba before and after 1959 and the end of Soviet support (the “Special Period”).

Which I think would be SUPER interesting, but I imagine getting non-biased information about West Germany or N Korea would be difficult to say the least, lol. But if someone wants to convince me otherwise, I'm in.

[nessness]

Rent control in NYC would be an interesting topic to explore.

[formerlyak]

Economic impact of $15/hour minimum wage in Seattle

Economic impact of the rise in student loan interest rates in the last decade

[smock]

This might be too broad, but it would be interesting to look at the economic impact of environmental regulations.

[BlondeSpiders]

Feb 18, 2020 14:37:23 GMT -5 smock said:

This might be too broad, but it would be interesting to look at the economic impact of environmental regulations.

This would be fascinating, especially as it relates to plastic bag/straw/single use plastics bans.

[minzy]

I’d be super curious about the environmental (and also economic) impact of travel restrictions/(regulations?) from coronavirus, but that may not yet be a fully ripe topic. For instance, I find it interesting that Apple’s quarterly projections are way down because of impacts from it.
apple.news/AJQsv0f_URUSFjEm1hT2e2w

Also that flight patterns have been altered/travel decreased. It’s also interesting to me even just the board commentary a couple of weeks ago about the improvement in air quality/decrease in particulate matter pollution since some industries in China have slowed way down.

[bowies]

Any environmental regulation would be a good pick (and timely based on their dismantling). There are a bunch regarding land use, as in former gas stations, and land near military bases.

Alabama has a regulation against female co-living that is supposed to prohibit brothels but has instead contributed to housing challenges for college students.

The alcohol mini bottle regulation from South Carolina (now deceased) would be interesting as well. Bartenders couldn’t free pour until the late 2000s.

[af1212]

The requirement of cab drivers to purchase crazy expensive medallions and now being undercut by Lyft and Uber is super interesting to me.

[Mushe]

🙋‍♀️ Econ undergrad, now involved with social policy and Econ intersection. One area with a ton of writing on the topic is the welfare to work requirements from mid-1990s welfare reform. It shut a lot of people out of receiving aid, and has led a lot of states to offer state funded aid.

[jinkies]

Regulated milk prices

There have been a lot of articles in the past few years about low milk prices and high suicide rates among dairy farmers.

[seeyalater52]

Feb 18, 2020 15:56:25 GMT -5 Mushe said:

🙋‍♀️ Econ undergrad, now involved with social policy and Econ intersection. One area with a ton of writing on the topic is the welfare to work requirements from mid-1990s welfare reform. It shut a lot of people out of receiving aid, and has led a lot of states to offer state funded aid.

100% this.

[ohgillian]

I don't know if this counts as a 'regulation' per se, but two things that interest me are the varying State rates for vapor taxes, and the preferential (aka lower) tax rate some states give to "modified risk tobacco products."

[TR]

These are all really good ideas, thank you!

[wise_rita]

Airline deregulation would be a super interesting topic.

[af1212]

Another one that interests me but you might have a hard time finding unbiased info is the effects of regional soda taxes on small stores (corner stores/bodegas and the like which are mostly family owned). To hear them tell they are being out t of business by these taxes because shoppers will go outside of the tax area to buy soda. But the tax-supporters say that is baloney.

[nessness]

Electricity market deregulation would be really interesting too, especially as it relates to California and PG&E.

[kadams767]

Oh man, I am sure it speaks to my nerdiness and my specific profession, but I am *crying* that you don't find the Davis Bacon Act super interesting.

[froggy76]

Feb 18, 2020 15:39:21 GMT -5 af1212 said:

The requirement of cab drivers to purchase crazy expensive medallions and now being undercut by Lyft and Uber is super interesting to me.

Similar to this, hotel regulations, with hotels now being undercut by Airbnb and VRBO, and the effect of those two on real estate values.

[Alex]

Canada's supply management dairy system versus the US system. It is fascinating.

[miniroller]

Feb 18, 2020 19:45:28 GMT -5 Alex said:

Canada's supply management dairy system versus the US system. It is fascinating.

Damn, I’d never even considered this, but feel as a (pizza) restaurant owner, I definitely need to further explore.
This thread is fascinating, thanks guys!

[seeyalater52]

Feb 18, 2020 19:55:02 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

The impact of the lack of price transparency in the medical profession on consumers and insurers.

This would be a fascinating one because of the research that price transparency actually tends to increase the cost of care vs decrease it. Kind of contrary to what someone might initially think.

[Mushe]

Feb 18, 2020 16:26:28 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Feb 18, 2020 15:56:25 GMT -5 Mushe said:

🙋‍♀️ Econ undergrad, now involved with social policy and Econ intersection. One area with a ton of writing on the topic is the welfare to work requirements from mid-1990s welfare reform. It shut a lot of people out of receiving aid, and has led a lot of states to offer state funded aid.

100% this.

You’re my policy wonk hero, so I love this! Thank you. 😄

[Wines Not Whines]

I’m not an econ nerd, but I’ve always wondered about NJ’s state law that prohibits people from pumping their own gas. It creates jobs, because a gas station needs employees to put gas in people’s cars. I assume it increases the cost of gas, but I don’t know for sure. And why is this required by law? It’s so strange.

[babsbunny]

When I moved to Texas long ago, I was fascinated by the Wright Ammendment that limited Dallas Love Field flights to neighboring states (limiting mainly Southwest Airlines) so that DFW airport could grow. It was a phased repeal (or maybe expiration) over the past few years, which also coincides with Southwest expanding to international routes.

[af1212]

All of these are so fascinating!! Makes me wish I mad more time to learn about them.

TR whatever you pick please let us know!!

[okla]

I don't have any suggestions, but the sugar pricing actually came up in my MBA finance class last night. We were looking at a case study involving Hershey almost selling in the early 2000s and one of their board mentioned the price of sugar being a reason to sell and move operations overseas. So, if you go that route, that may be an avenue to explore.

[Wines Not Whines]

A recent law would be the 2018 Farm Bill which decontrolled “hemp” under federal law, which is why you see a gazillion hemp and CBD products all over the place now.