Announcing the Jones Act RFA
After completing an extensive literature review of the existing research on the Jones Act, Balsa Research has designed and funded a new Request for Proposals (RFA) to conduct an economic counterfactual analysis assessing the potential economic impact of a modern-day repeal. It is now open for applications.
The Jones Act, also known as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires that all goods shipped between US ports be transported on vessels that are American-built, American-owned (at least 75% American ownership), American-crewed, and American-flagged. This is analogous to preventing domestic airlines from using Airbuses, or trucking companies from using Toyotas.
While protectionist laws around shipping are common, the Jones Act is uniquely restrictive - possibly the most restrictive among all OECD countries.
Given the Jones Act's long standing enforcement for over a century, there is limited data available on the present-day costs and economic implications of using foreign vessels to transport goods between US ports.
In our literature review, we found many quality reports and papers, but they generally read like the product of policy wonks and legal scholars; policy analyses with lots of nuance and good faith argumentation, yet lacking hard numbers. The few economic analyses we've encountered are generally less ambitious in scope, discussing specific fields and impacts, while failing to grapple with the broader implications for the US as a whole (although Olney (2020) is a commendable exception). This RFA is intended to incentivize more work into quantifying the cost of the Jones Act.
We came to the funding amount through discussions with many economists currently in academia. The $35,000 to $45,000 range is one that we expect to incentivize at least some researchers to change the direction of their work or pursue an investigation they were already interested in.
However, we recognize that the full scope of this analysis may require significantly more resources. As such, we are prepared to consider proposals with substantially higher budgets, should the researchers demonstrate the potential for outsized impact and insights. We have a number of generous donors eager to support rigorous, independent research on this important policy question.
Rather than rejecting promising applications due to funding constraints, we will work to raise the necessary resources to bring those projects to fruition. After all, if this study impacts the national conversation on the Jones Act in any meaningful way, the amount of productivity unlocked could be significantly more than what we're paying for the study.
This is a rare opportunity to dive deep into a long-standing economic puzzle and potentially overturn a century-old policy. We encourage qualified economists and research teams to apply, knowing that Balsa is committed to providing the support and resources needed to produce a study that could reshape the national conversation around the Jones Act.