Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On The Economics Of Immigration, Phuong Vu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My dissertation consists of three papers studying the impact of social networks and employment mobility on Canadian immigrants, and the effects of economic conditions and immigration policy changes on international Ph.D. students in Canada. In the first paper, I use the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) to examine the effects of social networks on labour market outcomes of newly arrived Canadian immigrants. I find that the presence of initial networks at landing significantly increases the probability of getting a network job and reduces the probability of getting a formal job after landing. Across immigration categories, network effects vary, …

Essays On Macroeconomics, Mauricio Torres Ferro

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My dissertation consists of three essays on Macroeconomics. In the first two chapters, I study the implications of uncertain expenses for households' savings and for their consumption adjustment in response to monetary policy. In the third chapter, I study how asset liquidity affects households’ ability to smooth idiosyncratic income shocks.

In the first chapter, I characterize uncertain expenses using U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Here, my goals are twofold. First, I classify households’ spending that captures uncertainties in expenses (for example, car and home repairs or out-of-pocket medical expenses) and measure their overall importance. Second, I aim to understand how …

2023-1 The Macroeconomic Consequences Of Subsistence Self-Employment, Juan Herreno, Sergio Ocampo

Department of Economics Research Reports

We evaluate the aggregate effects of expansions of credit supply in environments where subsistence self-employment is prevalent. We extend a standard macro development model to include unemployment risk, which becomes a key driver of selection into self-employment. The model is consistent with the joint distribution of earnings and occupations, the reaction of wages to labor demand shocks, and the small effects of expansions in the supply of microloans on the earnings of the self-employed. We find that the elasticity of aggregate output to expansions in credit supply is proportional to the elasticity of individual earnings. This proportionality arises due to …

2023-2 Dynamic And Stochastic Rational Behavior, Nail Kashaev, Charles Gauthier, Victor H. Aguiar

Department of Economics Research Reports

We analyze consumer demand behavior using Dynamic Random Utility Model (DRUM). Under DRUM, a consumer draws a utility function from a stochastic utility process in each period and maximizes this utility subject to her budget constraint. DRUM allows unrestricted time correlation and cross-section heterogeneity in preferences. We fully characterize DRUM for a panel data of consumer choices and budgets. DRUM is linked to a finite mixture of deterministic behavior represented as the Kronecker product of static rationalizable behavior. We provide a generalization of the Weyl-Minkowski theorem that uses this link and enables conversion of the characterizations of the static Random …

2023-3 Dynamic Programming For Pure-Strategy Subgame Perfection In An Arbitrary Game, Peter Streufert

Department of Economics Research Reports

This paper uses value functions to characterize the pure-strategy subgame-perfect equilibria of an arbitrary, possibly infinite-horizon game. It specifies the game’s extensive form as a pentaform (Streufert 2023p, arXiv:2107.10801v4), which is a set of quintuples formalizing the abstract relationships between nodes, actions, players, and situations (situations generalize information sets). Because a pentaform is a set, this paper can explicitly partition the game form into piece forms, each of which starts at a (Selten) subroot and contains all subsequent nodes except those that follow a subsequent subroot. Then the set of subroots becomes the domain of a value function, and the …

2023-5 History Of Economic Thought's Place In Macroeconomics Revisited, David Laidler

Department of Economics Research Reports

The History of Economics Society was founded at a time when the History of Economic Thought was being expelled from the Economics post-graduate curriculum in many universities, and was one of the key institutions around which the sub-discipline successfully re-organised itself and continued to develop. Laidler (2003) argued that Economics itself, especially Macroeconomics, was suffering serious damage from this expulsion. It has continued to do so since.

2023-01 The Insurance Implications Of Government Student Loan Repayment Schemes, Martin Gervais, Qian Liu, Lance Lochner

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

No abstract provided.

2023-02 Adverse Selection Among Early Adopters And Unraveling Innovation, Rory Mcgee

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

I provide an equilibrium analysis of “selection markets”: where consumers not only vary in how much they are willing to pay, but also in how much they cost to the seller. The model provides a joint explanation for three empirical phenomena: low uptake of existing products, slow demand for new products, and market inactivity despite unmet demand. I characterize when early adopters are more adversely selected in new markets. This lowers demand, increases costs, and leads markets to unravel prematurely. With endogenous market entry for new products (e.g., reverse mortgages, annuities), extended patents serve as de facto time-varying subsidies.

2023-4 Macro’S Missing Link: The Unbridged Gap Between Monetarism And The Wicksell Connection, David Laidler

Department of Economics Research Reports

Modern mainstream macroeconomics treats the economy “as if” always in equilibrium. Two older traditions, Monetarism and the Wicksell Connections have always dissented, arguing that how agents gather information and apply it to the coordination of their activities are prior problems requiring attention before equilibrium can, or cannot, be assumed. They have developed the implications of this claim along different lines, however, with the former dealing with questions raised by the existence of monetary exchange in general and the latter concentrating in particular on inter-temporal issues. This gap has persisted since Wicksell opened it up, and has never been satisfactorily bridged: …

Examining Mobile Health App Engagement In A North American Employee Population: A One-Year Longitudinal Observational Study, Nabil Ratanshi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps may help promote physical activity and other health behaviours among office-based workers. Low app engagement, however, leading to little or no effect is typical. OBJECTIVE: To examine engagement with a rewards-based mHealth app and identify factors influencing engagement. METHODS: A one-year observational study was conducted with Canadian and U.S. users of the Sprout at Work app (N=2253; Female: 35.7%; Age: 39.3 years). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to examine engagement patterns from a ‘multiple-lives’ perspective (i.e., time to first disengagement, re-engagement, second disengagement). Regression models were used to identify factors influencing engagement. RESULTS: After one …

Essays On Financial Shocks And External Debt, Jafar El Armali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters: two chapters on the effects of financial shocks, and one on the relationship between external debt and economic growth in low- and middle-income countries.

Chapter 1, “Financial Shocks, Interbank Rates and Corporate Rates”, introduces financial shocks that change interbank and corporate debt rates and their spread and shows how these shocks affect economic fluctuations.

Chapter 2, “Tighter Debt Limits, Default, and Labour Supply”, shows that the effect of tighter debt limits on households' labour supply decisions depends on whether default is allowed or not.

Chapter 3, “External Debt, Initial Conditions, and Economic Growth in …

Statistical Roles Of The G-Expectation Framework In Model Uncertainty: The Semi-G-Structure As A Stepping Stone, Yifan Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The G-expectation framework is a generalization of the classical probability system based on the sublinear expectation to deal with phenomena that cannot be described by a single probabilistic model. These phenomena are closely related to the long-existing concern about model uncertainty in statistics. However, the distributions and independence in the G-framework are quite different from the classical setup. These distinctions bring difficulty when applying the idea of this framework to general statistical practice. Therefore, a fundamental and unavoidable problem is how to better understand G-version concepts from a statistical perspective.

To explore this problem, this thesis establishes a new substructure …

Essays On The Economics Of Education, Enrique Martin Luccioni

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters on the Economics of Education. In the first chapter, I take a structural approach to studying the extent to which teacher behavior and teacher interactions with students determine teaching contribution to test score growth in the classroom. Teachers’ contributions may differ across classrooms, as it may depend on the types of students taught and because teachers may adjust their effort to new contexts. The estimated model suggests that teacher and student efforts play a significant role in determining student knowledge. My findings indicate that teachers who are effective in teaching low-performing students may not …

Essays On Disability And The Labour Market, Robert Geoffrey Millard

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My dissertation consists of three chapters about the effects of disability and disability policy.

The second chapter analyzes the variation in labour market outcomes across disabilities by representing disability as a bundle of characteristics. Rich with information on the characteristics of a disabling condition, I use the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey to compare the relative importance of each {characteristic} and their interactions on employment, wages, hours worked, and annual employment income. The disability {characteristics} include the type of activity limitation, number of limitations, timing of onset, severity, and persistence. I find substantial cross-sectional variation in labour supply, wages, and …

Cnn-Lstm Vs Ann: Option Pricing Theory, Edward Chang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The modern derivatives market has been steadily growing since the development of the first accurate option pricing model by Fischer Black, Robert Merton, and Myron Scholes. Since then, there have been many different approaches to more accurately price options like the binomial option pricing model and approaches using technology such as machine learning. There are many different research papers on option pricing with artificial neural networks (“ANN”) but not many with other neural network types. We contribute to the existing literature by developing a convolutional neural network – long short-term memory (“CNN-LSTM”) model to price options and compare it to …

Analysis Of Credit Risk And Single / Two Factor Model, Siwen Chen

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Since 2008, businesses and banks must manage and track more risk than ever before. Financial risk management helps companies and banks decrease the risk of investment and trade. Additionally, financial risk management gives a guide on how to forecast and manage the risk efficiently. More specifically, the three major risks are market risk, credit risk, and operational risk. This report will focus on the credit risk: introducing the definition of credit risk, single factor model, the relationship between coefficient and default probability, and the relationship of m coefficient and default probability. Using the single factor model, we will extend the …

Community Development Agreements: The Hardening And Evaluation Of A Norm, Luka G. Petrusevski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Large scale mining projects generate highly variable outcomes. Proponents of mining cite benefits including job creation and revenue generation, while critics point to adverse social and economic impacts borne by mining-proximate communities. Community-based concerns about mining operations have raised ethical and social justice considerations relating to human-rights and consent. Community development agreements (CDAs) have emerged as an increasingly common tool to address such concerns and facilitate the delivery of tangible benefits from mining operations to affected communities. The effectiveness of CDAs, however, varies widely depending on the negotiated provisions and their implementation. This work contributes to the understanding of CDAs …

How Do Ontario Cities View Environmental Sustainability?, Spencer Cook

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Economic development has traditionally involved a trade-off between economic growth and the environmental quality. It is important to research how growth and development can be achieved in a way that preserves the natural environment. This research studies how cities in Ontario conceptualize sustainability, the challenges in its implementation, and examples of policies. Using a content analysis of economic development strategy documents of 48 Ontario cities, themes will emerge that can be used to draw conclusions about perceptions on sustainability in the province. The results of the content analysis show that sustainability is a low priority, with cities often referring to …

A Psychological Profile Of The Digitized Economy: Who Buys Cryptocurrencies, Nfts, And Meme-Stocks (And Why)?, Nicole Wolfe

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

As the global digital economy continues to grow in interest and financial worth, it is imperative to harvest data to gain early information on this nuanced economy. Already, we have witnessed billions of dollars in losses and wins at the blink of an eye, encouragement to invest from well-known celebrities and politicians, and high anxiety from the newness, power consumption, and potential outcomes of this nuanced system. Stemming from the lack of solid evidence in this emerging field, we hope to gain more insight on the early players and variation within the digitized economy. Similarly, we hope to identify specific …

Child Cognitive Achievement Gaps: The Role Of Family Structure And Maternal Locus Of Control In Parental Investment, Nalinda K. Murray

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Little exploration has been done to determine the impact of family structure on parental investment decisions and how gaps in children’s cognitive achievement are affected in turn. To examine the role of family structure, this paper estimates the production function for children’s cognitive achievement using a value-added specification with instrumental variables estimation. A novel feature of this research is that variation in family structure and maternal locus of control are exploited in an effort to account for the endogeneity of parental investment and children’s cognitive performance. Applying my methodology to data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and …

The Effect Of Leverage On Credit Default Swaps, Xiling Lai

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The research investigates the effect of leverage on the pricing of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and focuses on key sectors of the economy: Technology, Financials, Consumer Staples and Industrials. CDS are financial instruments that were developed a few decades ago and have become more widely used in financial markets for hedging credit exposures. Given their prevalence in financial markets, it is important to understand how CDS spreads change when reference entities modify their capital structure.

In the regression analysis, the level of CDS spread is used as dependent variable, and the standardized relative leverage is used as independent variable. My …

Simulating Salience: Developing A Model Of Choice In The Visual Coordination Game, Adib Sedig

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This project is primarily inspired by three papers: Colin Camerer and Xiaomin Li’s (2019 working paper)—Using Visual Salience in Empirical Game Theory, Ryan Oprea’s (2020)—What Makes a Rule Complex?, and Caplin et. al.’s (2011)—Search and Satisficing. Over the summer, I worked towards constructing a model of choice for the visual coordination game that can model player behavior more accurately than traditional game theoretic predictions. It attempts to do so by incorporating a degree of bias towards salience into a cellular automaton search algorithm and utilizing it alongside a sequential search mechanism of satisficing. This …

A Study Of Canadian Bankruptcies, 2014-2022, Luis Guilherme Mazzali De Almeida

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This paper studies Canadian monthly bankruptcy data from January 2014 to February 2022 with an aim towards identifying the existence of underlying heterogeneity in the decision-making of firms across different industry sectors during periods of economic adversity. The data used include provincial two-digit NAICS bankruptcy level data, provincial pandemic-related data concerning the evolution of cases and stringency of adopted policies, and external factors pertaining to the domestic and foreign economies such as industry GDP, the overnight rate target, exchange rates, imports and exports, prices, and bond liquidity premium. The method is two-fold. First, we identify changes in bankruptcy trends caused …

Essays On Industrial Organization And Health Economics, Cecilia S. Diaz Campo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters studying the impact of health insurance design and public health policy on consumers’ health and health care utilization, welfare, and costs.

Chapter 2 studies an overlooked dynamic incentive that encourages health care utilization, which I term \textit{dynamic moral hazard}. Typical health plans feature high deductibles and caps on consumers' out-of-pocket spending, which generate nonlinear pricing. These nonlinearities, coupled with the uncertainty intrinsic to future health care demand, encourage consumers to increase spending since current utilization lowers future expected prices. Standard models study health care utilization decisions through the lens of annual models, which abstract …

Revealed Preference Analysis: Theory And Applications, Charles Gauthier

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation consists of three chapters studying revealed preference theory and its applications to testing and inference. The first chapter develops a semiparametric revealed preference methodology to analyze the effects of price search on prices paid across income groups. The second chapter derives a novel representation of the exponential discounting model to make inference on the discount factor. The third chapter derives an axiomatization of the exponential discounting model and uses it to propose a nonparametric test of dynamic discrete random utility models.

The first chapter develops a novel semiparametric approach to estimate the impacts of price search on prices …

Essays On Conflict Mediation, Ali Kamranzadeh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An important barrier to conflict resolution is asymmetric information. That is adversaries have private information about their objectives, resources, and strengths during the conflict and have incentives to misrepresent this information during the negotiations. Third-party institutions, like mediators, can help adversaries to reach an agreement by making a peace proposal. In this thesis, I explore the implication of asymmetric information of players to the design of an optimal peace proposal by a mediator.

Chapter 2, co-authored with Charles Zheng, studies a problem of conflict mediation where a mediator proposes a split of a good between two ex-ante identical contestants thereby …

Essays On The All-Pay Auction, Henk Schouten

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Three all-pay auction models are examined. The first is a symmetric two-player binary-signal all-pay auction with correlated signals and interdependent valuations. The first chapter provides a complete characterization of each form of equilibrium and gives conditions for their existence. The main finding is that there generically exists a unique equilibrium. The unique equilibrium can only be one of four forms of equilibria. I apply my all-pay auction model to elections, where a candidate that receives good news from the polls behaves in a rationally overconfident manner and reduces her equilibrium effort. Consequently, the other candidate can win the election in …

Essays On Market Design And Auctions, Mingshi Kang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters that contribute to redistribution-driven market design and sponsored link auctions.

Chapter 2 and 3 (co-authored with Charles Zheng) study redistribution-driven market design with endogenous buyers and sellers. In Chapter 2, we consider a large market environment with each individual endowed with equal shares of a limited resources and allowed to buy or sell the shares. We characterize the interim (incentive-constrained) Pareto frontier subject to market clearance and budget balance, and find that at most two prices are needed to attain any (interim) Pareto optimum. Under robust conditions of the primitives, the Pareto optimal allocation …

Application Of A Polynomial Affine Method In Dynamic Portfolio Choice, Yichen Zhu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis develops numerical approaches to attain optimal multi-period portfolio strategies in the context of advanced stochastic models within expected utility and mean-variance theories. Unlike common buy-and-hold portfolio strategies, dynamic asset allocation reflects the investment philosophy of a portfolio manager that benefits from the most recent market conditions to rebalance the portfolio accordingly. This enables managers to capture fleeting opportunities in the markets thereby enhancing the portfolio performance. However, the solvability of the dynamic asset allocation problem is often non-analytical, especially when considering a high-dimensional portfolio with advanced models mimicking practical asset's return. To overcome this issue, this thesis presents …

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Tpmt Genotype-Guided Azathioprine Treatment Compared To Standard Treatment For Patients With Moderate/Severe Ulcerative Colitis, Ali Unsal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study assessed cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenomics (PGx)-based azathioprine (AZA) compared to standard AZA therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients in Canada. A patient-level Microsimulation model was developed to compare the lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by a hypothetical cohort of UC patients with age and sex characteristics. The parameters used in the model were derived from the published literature and costs from the Ontario Schedules of Payments and published sources. The results were summarized in terms of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Compared to standard AZA, PGx-based AZA care was the dominant strategy with 0.17 incremental QALYs …