Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Local Competition, Multimarket Contact, And Product Quality: Evidence From Internet Service Provision, Kyle Wilson

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

I investigate the effect of competition on quality in the internet service provision industry: I examine both local competition within markets and multimarket contact among firms across markets. This industry offers an ideal setting, as quality is both objective and measurable. I use data from speedtest.net from 2008 to 2014 to estimate a reduced-form model of the effects of local competition and multimarket contact on realized consumer download speeds. I find that increased multimarket contact leads to decreased download speeds, which is consistent with the mutual forbearance hypothesis. I also find that duopolies lead to faster download speeds than do …

Endogenous Preferences: A Challenge To Constitutional Political Economy's Normative Foundation?, Malte Dold

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This paper starts with the observation from behavioral economics that preferences are endogenous, i.e., they are unstable, context-dependent, and open to processes of adaptation. It then asks whether welfare analysis and normative economics are still possible in a world populated by people with endogenous preferences. In particular, it looks at recent proposals by Viktor Vanberg and Carl Christian von Weizsacker. In highlighting an institutional perspective, both can be seen as proponents of modern ordoliberalism and both claim that their approaches can deal with the issue of endogenous preferences in a more coherent way than approaches that remain within the mind …

Behavioural Normative Economics: Foundations, Approaches And Trends, Malte Dold

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This article summarises the theoretical foundations, main approaches and current trends in the field of behavioural normative economics. It identifies bounded rationality and bounded willpower as the two core concepts that have motivated the field. Since the concepts allow for individual preferences to be context-dependent and time-inconsistent, they pose an intricate problem for standard welfare analysis. The article discusses the ways in which two prominent approaches - the preference purification approach and the opportunity approach - have tackled the problem. It argues that shortcomings in each of these approaches motivate an agency-centric perspective. The article presents two concrete policy proposals …

The Role Of Cost, Scale, And Property Attributes In Landowner Choice Of Stormwater Management Option., W. Bowman Cutter, Alexander Pusch

Pomona Economics

Cities throughout the world are experimenting with Low Impact Development (LID) strategies to replace ecosystem services degraded by urbanization. Stormwater management may need both centralized/publicly-managed infrastructure and decentralized provision by landowners. For landowners to participate in these programs they will need some latitude in the choice of techniques and siting. However, these landowner choices will affect the bundle of ecosystem services provided (such as infiltration, aesthetics, pollution filtering, and others) as well as their spatial distribution. We studied the Santa Monica (CA) stormwater regulations that require stormwater management on a large portion of development and redevelopment but allow a significant …

The Shadow Cost Of Parking Minimums: Evidence From Los Angeles County, Sofia Franco, W. Bowman Cutter, Skyler Lewis

Pomona Economics

Minimum Parking Requirements (MPRs) are almost universal in U.S. cities and common in the rest of the world. In the U.S., parking requirements for commercial buildings commonly require 700 ft² of parking for each 1000 ft² of floor space. To the extent this is a binding requirement, MPRs could result in distortion in commercial development. MPRs require either the allocation of land for parking, or very costly substitution of structured parking for land. Therefore, MPR distortions are likely to increase with the value of land. A steep gradient in the cost of the MPRs leads to the possibility …

The International Spread Of Covid-19 Stock Market Collapses, Silvio Contessi, Pierangelo De Pace

Pomona Economics

We identify periods of mildly explosive dynamics and collapses in the stock markets of 18 major countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. We find statistical evidence of instability transmission from the Chinese stock market to all other markets. The recovery is heterogeneous and generally non-explosive.

Comovement And Instability In Cryptocurrency Markets, Pierangelo De Pace, Jayant Rao

Pomona Economics

We analyze the extent of comovement between daily price returns of nine major cryptocurrencies during the first three main phases of their development, from April 2013 to November 2018. We assess its evolution using bivariate and multivariate modelling approaches, and detect pronounced time variation. Generally, comovement is initially low and positive, but increases between early 2017 and late 2018. We then adopt a right-tail version of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test to identify periods of mildly explosive behavior (statistical instability) in the Network Value to Transactions (NVT) ratio (a measure of the dollar value of cryptocurrency transaction activity relative …

Mildly Explosive Dynamics In U.S. Fixed Income Markets, Silvio Contessi, Pierangelo De Pace, Massimo Guidolin

Pomona Economics

We use a recently developed right-tail variation of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test to identify and date-stamp periods of mildly explosive behavior in the weekly time series of eight U.S. fixed income yield spreads between September 2002 and April 2018. We find statistically significant evidence of mildly explosive dynamics in six of these spreads, two of which are short/medium-term mortgage- related spreads. We show that the time intervals characterized by instability that we estimate from these yield spreads capture known episodes of financial and economic distress in the U.S. economy. Mild explosiveness migrates from short-term funding markets to medium- …

Evangelism, Social Media, And The Mum Effect, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The Mum effect is the natural human reluctance to share bad news with others, due to a desire to avoid a range of negative consequences, consequences affecting both self and the recipient of the bad news. Although the gospel is good news to those who believe, it may be viewed negatively by those who do not believe. Thus, Christians may be hesitant to share the gospel because of the negative consequences associated with the Mum effect. Because of the anonymity of the internet, social media is often filled with unre­strained criticism of Christianity. This may amplify the perceived negative consequences …

From Gis To Uavs: Emerging Opportunities For Drone Support Services In Academic Libraries, Jessica Davila Greene, Warren Roberts

Library Staff Publications and Research

In 2015, The Claremont Colleges Library purchased a drone for its Emerging Technology Loan program. At the time, Federal Aviation Administration regulations were still in their infancy in regards to drone use in public and for teaching and research –lending wasn’t even a consideration. After three years of waiting for the regulations to catch up with the demand, The Claremont Colleges Library GIS Specialist was able to pilot a drone lending program that circulates both the drone and the GIS Specialist for course integration. This paper outlines the history of GIS at The Claremont Colleges Library, its evolution toward drone …

The Chinese Real Estate Bubble, Gary N. Smith, Wesley Liang

Pomona Economics

China has seen extraordinary economic growth for the past two decades, coupled with a booming housing market. Following the 2008 financial crisis, however, observers began worrying that the Chinese real estate market had been gripped by a speculative bubble. We use residential rent and price data to assess whether these fears are justified. We conclude that residential real estate markets are bubbly in Beijing and Shanghai, with the Beijing housing market frothier than the Shanghai market.

The Name Game: The Importance Of Resourcefulness, Ruses, And Recall In Stock Ticker Symbols, Gary N. Smith, Naomi Baer, Erica Barry

Pomona Economics

Previous research reported that a portfolio of stocks with clever ticker symbols outperformed the overall market by a significant margin during the years 1984 to 2005. This paper reports the performance of those stocks during the subsequent years 2006 to 2018, and also investigates the 2006-2008 performance of a new set of clever-ticker stocks. Both clever-ticker portfolios beat the market by a substantial margin, supporting the resiliency of the clever-ticker phenomenon.

It Is Time To Kill The Economic Theory Of Suicide, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

A seminal paper by Hamermesh and Soss modeled suicide as a rational economic decision based on a comparison of the financial costs and benefits of staying alive. Their model is fundamentally flawed and their prediction that suicide rates increase with age is wrong.

College Football: Doing Less With More And More With Less, Gary N. Smith, Jordan Hawkins, Jack Storrs

Pomona Economics

There is a substantial and highly significant correlation between the performance of widely followed college football teams and the pre-college recruiting scores received by their players. This correlation implies a regression toward the mean that should be taken into account in the identification of under-performing and over-performing teams and can also be used to improve pre-season predictions of the performance of teams with highly rated and lowly rated recruits.

Be Wary Of Black-Box Trading Algorithms, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

Black-box algorithms now account for nearly a third of all U. S. stock trades. It is a mistake to think that these algorithms possess superhuman intelligence. In reality, computers do not have the common sense and wisdom that humans have accumulated by living. Trading algorithms are particularly dangerous because they are so efficient at discovering statistical patterns—but so utterly useless in judging whether the discovered patterns are meaningful.

The Paradox Of Big Data, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

Data-mining is often used to discover patterns in Big Data. It is tempting believe that because an unearthed pattern is unusual it must be meaningful, but patterns are inevitable in Big Data and usually meaningless. The paradox of Big Data is that data mining is most seductive when there are a large number of variables, but a large number of variables exacerbates the perils of data mining.

Cultural Tightness-Looseness: Its Nature And Missiological Applications, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The focus of much missionary work concerns sharing the gospel with others so that they may put their faith in Jesus Christ. However, members of some cultures are much more resistant to this than are members of other cultures. The concept of cultural tightness-looseness helps explain why some cultures are more closed to the gospel than are others. Tight cultures, in contrast to loose cultures, have strong social norms, violations of which are met with intense sanctions. Numerous recent studies reveal the antecedents, consequences, and the geographical distribution of cultural tightness-looseness. There are important missiological implications at the societal level, …

The Principal Problem With Principal Components Regression, Heidi Margaret Artigue, Heidi Margaret Artigue

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Principal components regression (PCR) reduces a large number of explanatory variables down to a small number of principal components. PCR is thought to be more useful, the more numerous the potential explanatory variables. The reality is that a large number of candidate explanatory variables does not make PCR more valuable; instead, it magnifies the failings of PCR.

Claremont Colleges Library Research Data Management Survey, Jeanine Finn

Library Staff Publications and Research

In Fall 2017-Spring 2018, this survey instrument was used by the Claremont Colleges Library to assess faculty practices around the creation and management of research data.

A Multiple Motives Theory Of Church And Missionary Relationships, Kenneth Nehrbass, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This grounded theory study examines the motives for relationships between local churches and missionaries: What motivates churches to enter into a relationship with a missionary, to continue this relationship, and to end it? Similarly, what motivates missionaries to begin, continue, or end relationships with a local church? We used purposive stratified sampling to select 17 missionaries and church mission leaders to interview for this study. We performed semi-structured interviews with both groups to discover their understanding of why they form, maintain, and dissolve relationships with each other. Multiple motives influenced all participants. These motives can be broadly categorized as either …

Power Or Concerns: Contrasting Perspectives On Missionary Conflict, David R. Dunaetz, Ant Greenham

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Among the consequences of conflicts between missionaries are a reduction in ministry effectiveness and an increase in the likelihood of missionary attrition. In contrast to perspectives of conflict management in Christian contexts which tend to focus on power (condemning the other party as sinful, enforcing submission to the hierarchical superior, or separation of the conflicting parties), the dual concern model of conflict management views conflict as an opportunity to understand each party’s concerns so that the two parties may cooperate and find solutions that correspond to the interests of both parties (Phil. 2:4). The dual concern model also predicts conflict …

Don’T Stop The Presses! Study Of Short-Term Return On Investment On Print Books Purchased Under Different Acquisition Modes, Maria Savova, Candace Lebel

Library Staff Publications and Research

How long are we willing to wait for a book to demonstrate value? How many circulations are enough? Today, there is more pressure to show return on investment (ROI) than there used to be thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. In the era of increasingly electronic, demand-driven, and evidence-based collection development, the once reigning print book is ceding its central place within library collections. While faculty and students are showing renewed interest in print materials, flat or declining library budgets, along with inevitable increases in electronic subscription rates, put downward pressure on print monograph funding. Libraries continue to develop …

Information Has Value: A View From Three Institutions, Dani Brecher Cook, Jessica Davila Greene, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

In this presentation, three librarians with diverse roles and employed at three dramatically different academic institutions (a community college, a private liberal arts college, and a public land-grant university) will discuss the ways in which their professional praxis of instruction related to “Information Has Value” converge and diverge. From these varied experiences, the presenters will then propose a tiered model of high-impact approaches to incorporating aspects of the scholarly communication librarian portfolio into library instruction, ranging from introductory community college writing courses to courses for students completing a capstone for their major. The presenters will also suggest ways to scaffold …

The Maine Chance: Private-Public Partnership And The Katahdin Woods And Waters National Monument, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

The claim of a federal “land grab” in response to the creation of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine revealed a lack of historical awareness by critics of how two other cherished parks were established there: through private-public partnerships and the donation of land by private citizens.

Affordable Course Materials: A Library Primer For Student Academic Success, Jennifer Thompson, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

This presentation was a library staff education/professional development offering as part of the Claremont Colleges 2017 Open Education Week Celebrations.

Everything Faculty Need To Know About Copyright And Fair Use In The Classroom, Allegra Swift, Darryl Yong

Library Staff Publications and Research

Professional development workshop for faculty sponsored by the Claremont Center for Teaching and Learning. Part of the Claremont Colleges Library offerings for Fair Use Week and Open Education Week.

Danger Below: Socal’S Dams Face Same Risks As Oroville, Char Miller, Frank Connor Lyles '17

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Reputation & Impact, Allegra Swift, Jessica D. Greene

Library Staff Publications and Research

Professional development workshop for faculty led by Claremont Colleges Librarians.

Diversifying The Academy: Librarians Coaching Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Through The Scholarly Research Cycle, Alexandra Chappell, Jessica D. Greene, Jennifer Thompson

Library Staff Publications and Research

Increasing diversity within the scholarly community is a priority for academic libraries. Often the focus is on diversifying our staff, programs, collections, and services. But the library can also have an important role to play in campus diversity initiatives that focus on equity and inclusion among the student body and professorate.

This poster will detail a library coaching program developed as part of a local instance of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, a nationwide initiative to increase faculty diversity by supporting students of color to pursue PhDs and careers as professors. The coaching program pairs librarians with undergraduates in …

Social Media And Learning At The Ferguson Municipal Public Library, Madelynn Dickerson

Library Staff Publications and Research

This brief article highlights the way in which the Ferguson Municipal Public Library harnessed social media, specifically Twitter, to provide opportunities for learning in the community during the August 2014 protests after the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer. The article presents data from the Ferguson Library’s Twitter account and looks at community reception of the library’s educational efforts.