Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Determinants Of The Student Loan Decision And Financial Well-Being: The Role Of Financial Education, Financial Literacy, And Student Loan Characteristics, Emily Shaffer Hales

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The student loan crisis has been an important area of personal, political, and research discussion. Many individuals must make the decision to attend college with the help of student loans and millions are currently in repayment on their student loan. However, it can be difficult to understand what factors may play a role the decision to take out a student loan and how managing one’s student loan could affect their personal financial well-being. Thus, this study examined factors that could be related to how an individual may decide to take out a student loan, such as if they participated in …

Regulation And Energy Poverty In The United States, Michael C. Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Energy poverty is a topic often neglected in the discussion about global climate change. Apocalyptic prophecies about the negative future effects of climate change ignore the suffering of people around the globe whose lives could be drastically improved with access to reliable sources of energy. Though energy poverty from a global perspective is much more serious than energy poverty from a domestic perspective, high home energy bills are a serious cause for concern for many Americans.

This research examines the relationship between regulation, the prices of electricity and natural gas, and the household energy burden, which is the ratio of …

How High School Records And Act Scores Predict College Graduation, Lianqun Sun

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary purpose of this study is to assess the degree to which ACT scores and high school records predict success in college. I used large public university admission and graduation panel data in order to address the following questions: (1) Are high school records (class rank, high school grade point average (GPA), and Advanced Placement (AP) test credits) better predictors of college success than ACT scores, and which is the best predictor among high school records and ACT scores? (2) Is there any heterogeneity in these effects across race, sex and residency (state or non-state students)?

By answering these …

Fear-Based Policymaking: How Government Agencies Exploit Mortality Risk Perceptions, Alecia M. Hunter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this thesis is to explore how government policymakers use distorted Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) calculations for their personal benefit. The VSL estimates how much a large group of citizens would jointly pay to save the life a one random person from a fatal disease. The VSL is used by government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. Agencies use the VSL in benefit-cost analyses to help determine potentially favorable life-saving policy from wasteful policy. Despite the well-intentioned objectiveness and decisiveness of the VSL, the political framework incentivizes miscalculated and exaggerated VSL estimates. Public choice theory addresses …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Controlling Invasive Species, Yanxu Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Invasive species have caused notable economic damages in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and other industries over the past several decades. Invasive species control must therefore be designed to prevent the both the introduction and spread of invasive species. This dissertation examines the efficiency and efficacy of tariffs and inspections as a joint control mechanism at a home (i.e., importing) country's border. I find that a traditional tariff can be optimal in the short run when the invasive species level is directly related to a foreign (i.e., exporting) country's shipment size. However, in the long run a traditional tariff results in a …

Analysis Of Building Resiliency In An Ethiopian Pastoral System: Mitigating The Effects Of Population And Climate Change On Food Insecurity, Brigham Forrest

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Worldwide expenditures on international development in the form of assistance or “aid” have continued to increase as developed countries look to both help and influence developing countries. In 2011, more than $140 billion in development aid was distributed globally, more than double the amount expended for international development aid in 2003. Many of the countries that are in need of aid have governments that do not have the resources, the experience, political stability, or well-functioning institutions to effect long-term structural change to bring their people out of poverty.

Ethiopia is a country receiving large amounts of development aid, and one …

Estimating Willingness To Pay For Continued Use Of Plastic Grocery Bags And Willingness To Accept For Switching Completely To Reusable Bags, Jarod Dunn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis demonstrates a surveying method to collect data to obtain tax levels for plastic grocery bag usage. This data was collected through asking respondents about a hypothetical situation in which they were required to pay a tax for using plastic bags or whether they would instead switch to using reusable bags that could be purchased at the grocery store. The respondents were also asked if they already were using reusable bags, how much would the store have to pay them for them to use reusable bags for all grocery shopping trips. From our analysis, people who use reusable bags …

Black-White Differences In Wealth Accumulation Among Americans Nearing Retirement, Eun Hyei Shin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Using data from the 2006 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study examines what types of assets and levels of savings are held by Black near-retirees, while comparing how types of assets and levels of savings of Black near-retirees differ from those of White near-retirees. Through the use of multivariate analyses, this study further investigates the effects of being Black on the levels of savings, the likelihood of holding IRAs, and the likelihood of being financially prepared for retirement. The study sample includes 4,077 individuals between the ages of 51 and 64, and the subsamples consist of 680 Black and …

Three Essays In Forward Rate Unbiasedness Hypothesis, Devalina Chatterjee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this dissertation is to verify and explain the forward exchange rate unbiasedness hypothesis in the foreign exchange market. Since in most of the cases the unbiasedness hypothesis fails to hold, we try to provide three different explanations of this puzzling behavior in the three essays. The first essay tries to resolve the forward premium puzzle by addressing the model misspecification issue and thereby adding a time-varying risk premium term in the percentage change specification. The risk premium term is modeled using the GARCH-M representation and the model is estimated by applying a GARCH (1, 1) specification. The …

Essays On Investment Fluctuation And Market Volatility, Chaoqun Lai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation includes two different groups of objects in macroeconomics and financial economics. In macroeconomics, the aggregate investment fluctuation and its relation to an individual firm's behavior have been extensively studied for the past three decades. Most studies on the interdependence behavior of firms' investment focus on the key issue of separating a firm's reaction to others' behavior from reaction to common shocks. However, few researchers have addressed the issue of isolating this endogenous effect from a statistical and econometrical approach. The first essay starts with a comprehensive review of the investment fluctuation and firms' interdependence behavior, followed by an …

Economic Comparison Of Selected Processing Alternatives For Alfalfa, Dan J. Bates

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Processing alfalfa for export is of significant interest to areas like Millard County, the largest hay-producing county in Utah. In the past year there have been significant reductions in the price of hay as a result of increased supplies in the central and western United States. This thesis analyzes the benefits and costs of processing alfalfa into cubes and recompressed bales in order to enter the export market.

Costs of production were estimated through the use of enterprise budgets first for the farmer to establish the costs and returns for raising the hay, and secondly for cubing and recompressing the …

Production And Inefficiency, Arunava Bhattacharyya

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The overall purpose of this three-part dissertation is to specify and estimate various components of inefficiency in the production and profit-generating processes. Flexibility in inefficiency-measurement techniques is introduced using stochastic functional forms to overcome the restrictions of the simplifying assumptions used in previous studies. In addition, the profit function approach is used to measure firm specific inefficiency and to view profit inefficiency in the multiple output context. Empirical application of each approach is also attempted. Application of the measurement of the inefficiency component in the first two essays is made using data taken from Indian agriculture. The multiple output model …

Interpretations And Implementations Of Compulsory Free Enterprise Education In Utah Public High Schools, Marsha M. Campbell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah legislature passed Senate Bill 203 in 1975, requiring all public secondary schools to offer instruction on the essentials and benefits of free enterprise. The problem is that no evaluation has been made to determine if the specific requirement is being fulfilled. The purpose of this study is to determine interpretations and implementations of Senate Bill 203. Questions in four areas were studied.

1. Administrators: (a) how did administrators of the districts interpret the guidelines, (b) how did the administrators decide upon the approach followed, (c) how did the administrators justify the approach followed, (d) what instructional materials did …

Economic Analysis Of The Agricultural Sector In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Enrique Gómez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A linear programming technique is used to calculate the land allocation that maximizes the returns to the agricultural producers in the provinces Santisteban, Sara, Warnes, Ibanez, and Ichilo, in the department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, under different sets of prices.

All the input requirements per unit of land and average expected yields are estimated from survey data collected from farmers in Bolivia. Constraints on availability of land and labor are also estimated.

Seven crops are included in the model: soybeans, wheat, cotton, yuca, sugar cane, rice, and corn.

The model is first examined under the set of prices that existed …

Some Economic Aspects Of Beef Crossbreeding In Utah, William L. Beaty

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine empirically if crossbreeding offers a more profitable alternative to Utah cattlemen than straightbreeding. Ranchers practicing breed crossing were interviewed to determine the relative merits of crossbreeding and straightbreeding in the categories of calf crop, weaning weight, sale price, and minor economic factors under ranch conditions. Crossbred and straightbred sale prices were analyzed utilizing the records of the Smithfield Livestock Auction.

Analysis of rancher interview data indicated that crossbred animals exceeded straightbreds in weaning weight and sale price. Crossbreds were further credited with lowering herd disease levels. No generalizations from comparative calf crop …

Economic Analysis Of Cache County, Utah: An Input-Output Approach, Jose Isaac Torrico Soria

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theory of input-output analysis, its applications, and its empirical implementations to the Cache County economy. The historical development, the static open input-output model, and the dynamic input-output analysis are presented in the theoretical discussion, and emphasis is made on the empirical applications of the model to structural analysis, forecasting, developmental planning, and regional analysis.

In the empirical implementation of the model to the Cache County economy, the 1971 total output is estimated, the Cache County total output is projected to 1981, the output and income multipliers are computed, and the total …

Transportation And Public Service Costs For Rural Communities Of Various Sizes, Thomas L. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Lower real incomes in the agricultural sector compared with other sectors of the economy have led to continued migration of rural people to urban areas. Despite this movement of surplus people from farm areas, incomes in the rural sector have failed to keep pace with those in urban areas. Fewer social amenities and other conveniences have also contributed to rural-urban migration.

This reduction in rural population and the consequent reduction in the economic bases of many rural communities has raised some interesting questions about city and rural government consolidation. What sizes of cities should be encouraged in the rural areas, …

Economic Efficiency Of Grazing Systems, Muhammad Nazir

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Benefits and costs of implementing the specialized grazing systems on federal rangelands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) were studied. First only the direct benefits and costs were used to determine the internal rates of return on the Bureau of Land Management investments in grazing systems. Secondly, the effects of these systems on profits of private ranchers were determined. Finally the benefits and costs stream on the Bureau of Land Management and the changes in ranchers' profits were brought together to find out the net gain to society from investing the federal funds in specialized grazing systems.

The …

A Statistical Analysis Of New Deal Economic Programs In The Forty-Eight States 1933-1939, Don C. Reading

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The data base for this research was provided by a set of mimeographed reports prepared in the summer and fall of 1939 by the Office of Government Reports, Statistical Section, Washington, D.C. Originally prepared for Franklin Roosevelt's 1940 campaign, they detail each New Deal program year by year for the 1933-1939 period. The set of forty-eight reports, one for each state, also contains material on the organization of various programs and outlines work accomplishments in each state.

This dissertation is intended as an analysis of New Deal loans and expenditures in each of the forty-eight states during the 1933-1939 period, …

Local Government Finance: A Projection For North Logan, Utah, J. Mark Campbell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was developed to determine the future fiscal condition of a small rural municipality, North Logan, Utah. An effort was made to determine whether or not present revenue sources would be able to keep pace with future expenditures at the local government level by projecting North Logan, Utah's, revenues and expenditures for 1975 and 1980.

North Logan, Utah, should not have an "expenditure-revenue gap" within the next 10 years. At this time, it would appear that because of the construction growth and sales tax proportional increases, both due to large population increases, North Logan should have sufficient revenue to …

A History And Economic Analysis Of The Hyrum Reclamation Project, Douglas Eldon Brinley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Reclamation Ac t of 1902 was sign ed into law under the hand of President Theodore Roosevelt on June 17 of that year, culminating years of efforts to involve the federal government in reclamation projects. Prior to this Congress had enacted a variety of land laws designed to encourage private enterprise to develop the land and water resources of the nation, but had resisted using federal funds to construct reclamation works. The early land laws, however, served only as a temporary satisfaction to Western settlers, and Congress finally yielded to the pressure for assistance.

An Examination Of Union-Management Relations In The Garland Plant Of The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, Theral V. Bishop

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The problems presented in Union-Management Relations affect the whole economy. When collective bargaining breaks down and economic warfare, in the form of strikes or lockouts, results between industry and labor, the effects reach far beyond the two parties immediately concerned. Strikes in industries, such as the Coal or Steel Industries, impose depressive imprint upon every segment of the economy. even in purely regional industry the effects of labor dispute spawned shutdowns cannot be isolated to the parties directly involved. Therefore, any efforts that seek to find and remove causes of Union-Management conflict are worth while and should be encouraged. This …

An Economic Analysis Of The Possible Implications Of The Abolition Of The Basing Point System Of Pricing On The Steel Industry In Utah, Lester T. Hansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The production of iron in America began in a limited area east of the Alleghenies, centered around Philadelphia, which was also a principal port of entry for foreign iron. As early as 1750, pricing was done on a rudimentary basing point structure. Apparently, all prices on domestic iron were quoted on a Philadelphia base and were higher in the outlying territory where the iron was actually made. The manufacturers absorbed freight in order to move their iron to the central market, where it competed with foreign iron.

An Economic Analysis Of The Marketing Operations Of The Utah Berry Growers' Association, George W. Armstrong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Raspberry production in Utah is concentrated to a large extent in Utah county. According to the 1940 census, Utah county contains 62 percent of the state acreage of 611 acres. Average raspberry acreage in Utah is only about one-half acre per farm on farms reported as growing raspberries. With such small acreage the average producer cannot afford to devote very much time and effort to the production and marketing of raspberries. In the majority of cases raspberry production is carried on by the farmer's wife, as a means of gaining “pin” money for use in the household. Proceeds from raspberries …

The Development Of Equalization And Assessment In Utah With Special Reference To The Assessment Of Rural Lands In Cache County, Theodore R. Maughan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Uniformity of assessments and equity in the taxation of all tangible property within the state has long been the ideal of the people of Utah, yet the history of equalization and assessment is replete with the effective blocking - by pressure groups - of attainment of this ideal. Taxing officials, in general, and students of taxation, in particular, have repeatedly pointed out gross inequalities and rank injustices in our assessing system which should be corrected. But, selfish interest plus ignorance on the part of the taxpayer has permitted these abuses to remain in our taxing system. An accidental, hit-and-miss, guess …

Past Trends Of Cooperative Marketing And Its Present Economic Status In Utah, Lamoine B. Christiansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The agricultural interests of the United States and Utah have experienced some trying situations during the past quarter century. Periods of depression followed by periods of expansion and prosperity have resulted in a condition of instability and insecurity in agriculture.

The effect of alternate periods of prosperity and depression in agriculture becomes increasingly important as agriculture changes from self-sufficing to commercialized types of business enterprises. Many of the difficulties inherent in the present complex social and capital structure were of minor significances in the early types of agricultural activities.

Changing conditions in agriculture and in social institutions in general have …

Some Economic Aspects Of The Silver Fox Industry Including A Brief Study Of The Economic Possibilities Of The Industry In Northern Utah And Vicinity, Duncan Wayne Henrie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The question is often asked, does the production of silver fox fur pay? Being a new industry in this part of the country (1924 was probably the beginning) not much is known concerning the facts of the business by the average person. In the following pages an economic discussion of the factors of this industry will be given. To begin with a short history of the fur industry and fur farming is given, to give perspective and background, as it is only through the history of the past that we are able to judge the future.

A Study Of The Financial Considerations, Offered Teachers Of Utah, As Inducement For Professional Growth With Comparisons Drawn From Some Other States, Alvin Hess

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Much has been written on the subject of supervision and the improvement of teaching. It is the general opinion of authors on this subject that it is a much better procedure to retain the services of competent teachers over long tenure than to follow any of the uneconomical plans of adapting large numbers of new teachers to the task of establishing the necessary teacher-pupil contacts for successful learning. But, of course, these authors do not suggest long tenure without active improvement of teachers while in service. Tenure laws are of such importance in some states as to take the form …