Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Private Value Determinations And The Potential Effect On The Future Of Research And Development, Amy L. Landers Jul 2015

Private Value Determinations And The Potential Effect On The Future Of Research And Development, Amy L. Landers

Amy L. Landers

Although the promise of an emerging patent market is thought to provide future benefits to invention, innovation, and the public, this essay examines the possibility that the aggregate influence of this activity could instead destabilize patent values in a manner that mirrors the "bubble" phenomenon that occurred in certain markets in the past. To the extent that this occurs, this would destabilize the patent system and might have negative consequences for the future of investment in research, development and innovation.


A New Approach To Measuring Poverty In The United States: A Household's Ability To Consume, David Ashelman May 2015

A New Approach To Measuring Poverty In The United States: A Household's Ability To Consume, David Ashelman

Applied Economics Theses

The definition of poverty is a social construct. As such, quantitatively measuring poverty is problematic, and creates ineffective poverty-alleviation policy. This thesis examines the historical measure of poverty in the United States, compares U.S. poverty measurements to Great Britain and Canada, and then proposes a new way to measure poverty. Instead of measuring income as the defining factor of poverty, the new poverty measurement suggested eliminates income factors and focuses on a household’s ability to consume in a non-comparative manner. When quantifying a household’s ability to consume, implications arise in economic policy for anti-poverty programs, defining the middle class, minimum …


Economic Analysis Of Flight Delay, Nathan D. Boettcher Mar 2015

Economic Analysis Of Flight Delay, Nathan D. Boettcher

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Our project began as an investigation into the phenomenon of flight delay. We approached this problem with two goals in mind. First, we used mathematical statistics and econometric methods to develop a predictive model of flight delay. An improved forecasting process has obvious benefits for customers, and would additionally shed light on the factors which airports and airlines should seek to change in order to reduce flight delay. Our secondary goal was to complement this predictive research with a theoretical analysis of the incentive structure that consumers and producers face. We limited the scope of this model to delayed flights …


A Rationale For Meeting Quotas Asymmetrically, J. Patrick Meister, Robert S. Main Feb 2015

A Rationale For Meeting Quotas Asymmetrically, J. Patrick Meister, Robert S. Main

Robert S. Main

Under certain conditions, otherwise identical, competing firms may find it jointly preferable to face differing degrees of trade barriers on individual products rather than symmetric trade barriers. The key is the ability to reduce marginal production cost via research and development. The economic significance of this insight is that there could be a role for a market for quota allotments. This insight also has applications to Voluntary Export Restraints in which a priori symmetric, restricted firms may prefer to have individual production levels allocated asymmetrically. This indicates the need for detailed studies of how quotas are met by individual firms. …