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Monetary Policy And The Housing Market During The Last Decade, Jing Zhang Jan 2014

Monetary Policy And The Housing Market During The Last Decade, Jing Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how monetary policy influences the housing market in U.S. with a special emphasis on the recent financial crisis dating from 2007, which started from the burst of bubbles in the housing market. Using monthly U.S. data spanning over the period from January 2000 to July 2011, I estimate Vector Auto-regressive(VAR) models using data for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) to analyze the interaction between local housing markets and monetary policy. Aggregate responses of housing variables to monetary policy are also estimated by adopting composite data. Empirical results show that employment and housing price index both respond negatively …


The Importance Of Housing Variables In Predicting Economic Fluctuations, Wenxian Xu Jan 2014

The Importance Of Housing Variables In Predicting Economic Fluctuations, Wenxian Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the importance of housing variables in predicting the six recent recessions using factor analysis model. It shows that housing variables have great predictive power in forecasting the downturn of the economy, but little predictive power when the economy is steady or is expanding. The explanation is that housing variables match consumers' expectations of future income and employment, and consequently predict future economic downturn. By using Granger-Causality test and vector autoregression (VAR) model, combination of factor analysis and VAR model, and hard thresholding method to identify the importance of each housing variable, the results show that housing price …


Corruption, Information, And Reelection Chances Of Incumbent Parties' Presidential Candidates In Developing Countries, Mavuto Kalulu Jan 2014

Corruption, Information, And Reelection Chances Of Incumbent Parties' Presidential Candidates In Developing Countries, Mavuto Kalulu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large volume of literature shows that corruption affects economic growth through the lowering of the level investment. Slow economic growth is associated with high poverty levels. If corruption makes the voters economically and socially worse off, one expects the citizens to punish the corrupt politicians by not reelecting them. However, evidence shows that even in countries which are perceived to be highly corrupt, incumbents still do get reelected. Chad, for example, is ranked the third most corrupt country in Africa according to the 2010 Transparency International Report, and yet in 2011 presidential elections the incumbent was reelected. A possible …


Three Essays On Diversification Strategy, Diversification Performance, And Corporate Misconduct, Brandon Charles Lee Morris Jan 2014

Three Essays On Diversification Strategy, Diversification Performance, And Corporate Misconduct, Brandon Charles Lee Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The first essay investigates the relationship between diversification strategy and firm performance in the U.S. property-liability insurance industry. Prior literature has evaluated the effect of total diversification on insurer performance; however, there is an absence of evidence on the effect of diversification strategy for multi-line insurers. Theory suggests that related diversifiers should benefit from economies of scope while unrelated diversifiers should benefit from uncorrelated earnings streams. We test for the net effect of diversification strategy and find that relatedness negatively impacts accounting performance. However, we find that the relatedness penalty is confined to stock insurers while mutual insurers' profitability appears …


The Dólar Blue: The Black Market Exchange Rate For Dollars In Argentina, Brad Brunson Lanier Jan 2014

The Dólar Blue: The Black Market Exchange Rate For Dollars In Argentina, Brad Brunson Lanier

Honors Theses

At the beginning of October 2011, Argentina saw the emergence of a black market exchange rate for U.S. dollars. This black market exchange rate is known locally as the Dólar Blue. The importance of the Dólar Blue has become so public that it even has its own websites and social media accounts to inform its users of its daily rates as well as how and where to locate the human intermediary aspect of the black market known as the arbolitos. As a whole, black market exchange rates better reflect people's expectations about the true purchasing power of their currency and …


The Eurozone: Effects On Spain After The Implementation Of The Euro, Caroline Mürer Rohde-Moe Jan 2014

The Eurozone: Effects On Spain After The Implementation Of The Euro, Caroline Mürer Rohde-Moe

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the current situation in the Eurozone and how the entry into the currency union has affected the member countries. I have especially focused on the consequences the implementation of the euro has had on Spain because of the deeper recession that this country has experienced compared to many of the other Eurozone countries. I wanted to figure out what has caused some nations to struggle at a different level than others. By comparing Spain to countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, and France I have tried to look into how much of the domestic problems seen in …


An Analysis Of New Performance Metrics In The Nba And Their Effects On Win Production And Salary, Daniel Rust Jan 2014

An Analysis Of New Performance Metrics In The Nba And Their Effects On Win Production And Salary, Daniel Rust

Honors Theses

In this study I perform statistical analysis on new metrics in the NBA designed to expose information about the inputs of basketball production. These input data were collected manually for every NBA player in the 2012-13 season, along with common advanced statistics. With these new metrics regression analysis is used to separately determine their effects on existing win production metrics and salary. In this analysis I control for team and position effects. Once these effects were determined, I was able to compare them and look for specific skills or strategies that may be undervalued or overvalued by NBA teams relative …


Observing Academic Performance Based On Increased Educational Spending: An Assessment Of The Fedex Center At The University Of Mississippi, Matthew Williams Jan 2014

Observing Academic Performance Based On Increased Educational Spending: An Assessment Of The Fedex Center At The University Of Mississippi, Matthew Williams

Honors Theses

In 2007, the FedEx Student-Athlete Academic Support Center, a renovation from the Starnes Center, was completed at the University of Mississippi to provide student- athletes a facility to improve academic performance in the classroom. FedEx donated $2.5 million to the project, covering half of the total expenditure. This private funding presents an opportunity to study how increased spending on education affected performance amongst student athletes in the classroom. Using semester-by-semester GPA of student-athletes and graduation rates from 2003 to 2009, it is possible to identify which students were exposed to the new facilities and thus, able to assess the effect …


Payday Lending In America: Profitability And Regulation In The Payday Lending Market, Orion Wilcox Jan 2014

Payday Lending In America: Profitability And Regulation In The Payday Lending Market, Orion Wilcox

Honors Theses

Payday lending is a highly contentious form of credit. Consumer advocates often argue for strict regulation or complete banning of the industry based on the idea that payday lending rates are usurious. Providers of payday loans argue that their product offers access to credit that would not be available otherwise. In order to reconcile this debate, I analyze financial data on the largest payday lender in the country Advance America. Furthermore, I examine the 2008 Arkansas payday lending law to analyze the impact of the ban on bounced check fees, overdraft charges, and Non-Sufficient Funds charges at state chartered Arkansas …


The Effectiveness Of Basel Ii, Rachel Shaw Jan 2014

The Effectiveness Of Basel Ii, Rachel Shaw

Honors Theses

The New Capital Accord, Basel II, was published in 2004. It features updated capital requirements and new ways to measure bank risk; however, the validity of these new standards was called into question during the financial crisis that began in 2008. The measures that intend to stabilize our banking system did not appear sufficient. Doubt was cast upon capital requirements, and the advantages of another system, such as contingent liability, can be seen. This thesis aims to test the effectiveness of Basel II, specifically its capital requirements, in reducing bank risk. After running a fixed effects model, one can clearly …


The Currency Union Effect On Trade: The Role Of Financial Development, Walker Lee Messer Jan 2014

The Currency Union Effect On Trade: The Role Of Financial Development, Walker Lee Messer

Honors Theses

The effect of currency union formation on trade growth may depend on an economy's level of financial development. Economies with lower levels of financial development have less capacity to hedge exchange rate risk, are susceptible to hysteresis, and have little to overcome the large fixed costs of entering foreign markets. These barriers may be partially overcome through the use of common currencies. Economies with high levels of financial development may already be capable of overcoming these barriers to trade and will likely not gain significant trade from common currency formation. This paper tests the hypothesis that the currency union effect …