Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Central Bank Nigeria Annual Report And Statement Of Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December, 2009, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Annual Report

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the Year Ended 31st December, 2009 revealed that the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.7% YoY, compared to 6.0% in the previous year. This growth was driven by the non-oil sector, with the non-oil GDP growth rate of 8.3%. Within the non-oil sector, the agricultural sub-sector grew by 6.2%, while the whole-sector and retail sectors recorded growth rates of 11.5 and 10.5 per cent, respectively. The robust output recorded during the previous three years was driven by the government's optimism, which reflected in the oil …

Volatility Risk, Zhiguang Wang

Economics Commentator

No abstract provided.

Town Of Ludlow Master Plan. Part Ii: Envisioning 2030, Rachael Cain, Euripedes De Oliveria, Paul W. Gagnon, Peter Gillo, Meredith Hill, Mark Kresge, Alyssa Larose, Walter Ramsey, Joshua Rickman, Sonya C. Smith, Ryan Wallace, Rebecca Williams

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The Master Plan Committee for the town of Ludlow contracted with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) to prepare a new Master Plan. PVPC engaged the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to assist with a portion of the Master Plan work. This work included: executing analysis and assessment of existing community conditions, conducting a weekend visioning workshop, and developing land use scenarios for the purpose of providing concrete visualization of possible futures for the Town of Ludlow in 2030.

Town Of Ludlow Master Plan. Part I: Envisioning 2030, Rachael Cain, Euripedes De Oliveria, Paul W. Gagnon, Peter Gillo, Meredith Hill, Mark Kresge, Alyssa Larose, Walter Ramsey, Joshua Rickman, Sonya C. Smith, Ryan Wallace, Rebecca Williams, Barbara Constable, Helena Farrell, Brian C. Giggey, Chris Jennett, Zhujun Kong, Megan Plante, Ben Eli Webb, Deborah A. Zervas

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The Master Plan Committee for the town of Ludlow contracted with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) to prepare a new Master Plan. PVPC engaged the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to assist with a portion of the Master Plan work. This work included: executing analysis and assessment of existing community conditions, conducting a weekend visioning workshop, and developing land use scenarios for the purpose of providing concrete visualization of possible futures for the Town of Ludlow in 2030.

Project Animate: Promoting Student Civic Participation Through Latino Voter Mobilization - Ollas Report No. 6, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

This project sought to expand voter outreach and mobilization of new registered and Latino voters through a series of activities in the greater Omaha metropolitan area. Following the successful development of a voter mobilization project undertaken in the 2006 election cycle, this project conducted door-to-door canvassing activities utilizing students to distribute nonpartisan voter information and engage in “get out the vote” activities with new Latino registered voters.

Working Paper No. 62, Uses Of Abduction In Economic Science, Daniel Urban

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry considers the meaning of abduction and its uses in Economic Science. Abductive logic is discussed at some length, in order to clarify how it is used in this inquiry. In addition, abduction is traced from its appearances in the writings of pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and how its meaning is later carried on in Thorstein Veblen’s Institutional Economics. Peirce’s influence proves foundational for Veblen’s contributions, as well as for the writings of John Roger Commons. My research suggests that after Commons, Peirce’s influence in economics wanes. Additionally, the use of retroduction in critical realism provides a contemporary …

Sportsbook Pricing And The Behavioral Biases Of Bettors In The Nhl, Rodney Paul, Andrew Weinbach

Falk College Research Center

The betting market for the NHL is investigated using actual betting percentages on favorites and underdogs from real sportsbooks. Sportsbooks do not appear to attempt to price to balance the book as betting percentages are not proportional to set odds. As in the NFL and NBA, bettors are shown to have a strong preference for favorites and road favorites in particular. Simple strategies of betting against significant imbalances toward the favorite are shown to generate positive returns. Although not pricing to balance the book, sportsbooks do not appear to price to exploit known bettor biases in all cases. Clear bettor …

Regulatory Theory, Matthew D. Adler

All Faculty Scholarship

This chapter reviews a range of topics connected to the justification of government regulation, including: the definition of “regulation”; welfarism, Kaldor-Hicks efficiency, and the Pareto principles; the fundamental theorems of welfare economics and the “market failure” framework for justifying regulation, which identifies different ways in which the conditions for those theorems may fail to hold true (such as externalities, public goods, monopoly power, and imperfect information); the Coase theorem; and the different forms of regulation.

Smes, Open Innovation And Ip Management: Advancing Global Development, Stanley P. Kowalski

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (abbreviated herein henceforth as “SMEs”) are global drivers of technological innovation and economic development. Perhaps their importance has been somewhat eclipsed by the mega-multinational corporate entities. However, whereas the corporations might be conceptualized as towering sequoia trees, SMEs represent the deep, broad, fertile forest floor that nourishes, sustains and regenerates the global economic ecosystem.

[. . .]

Broadly recognized as engines of economic and global development, SMEs account for a substantial proportion of entrepreneurial activity in both industrialized and developing countries. Indeed, their role as dynamos for technological and economic progress in developing countries is critical and …

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Fed. Reserve Board - Bernanke Speech To Economic Club Of Washington, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

WKU Archives Records

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board of speech given by Ben Bernanke at the Economic Club of Washington.

Investigating The Economic Footprint Of Cultural Tourism In Aruba, Robertico R. Croes

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Aim: The purpose of this study is to assess the economic impact of the cultural tourism market in Aruba and determine whether cultural tourism could enhance the Aruba product. Design: 386 intercept surveys to international tourists at the Reina Beatrix Airport were conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics of Aruba during the month of July, 2009. The survey design was the result of a series of focus groups with industry and local cultural stakeholders. The data collected was assessed with SPSS 17 by the researcher to identify the segments and their spending behavior. Based on their spending behavior, an …

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Fed. Reserve Board - Ben Bernanke Confirmation Hearing Q&A, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Question and answers from Ben Bernanke's confirmation hearing as distributed to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board.

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Fed. Reserve Board - Ben Bernanke's Confirmation Hearing Testimony, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

WKU Archives Records

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board regarding Ben Bernanke's confirmation hearing testimony.

The Psychology Of Eco-Consumption., Mario F. Teisl, Caroline L. Noblet, Jonathan Rubin

Publications

Information programs to promote cellulosic biofuels may not achieve their objectives unless consumers can be induced to care about the information presented to them. The social psychology literature highlights two commonly used models to link psychological variables to environmentally related behaviors: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Theory (NAT). Other studies have compared the strength of these models or have adapted these models by adding additional variables, but few have compared across the alternative variable combinations noted in the literature. That is, most studies have added one or two psychological variables to the NAT or TPB …

2009 Workforce Solutions - Urg Employee Survey, Guadalupe Corral, Melissa Gonzalez, Elizabeth K. Gibson, Mario E. Caire

IPED Technical Reports

The Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was contracted by Workforce Solutions - Upper Rio Grande (URG) to conduct an employee satisfaction survey as part of a larger evaluation project in which Workforce Solutions – URG’s business clients and jobseekers were also surveyed. The employee survey focused on issues related to how employees feel about various topics with regard to their work experiences at Workforce Solutions - URG. The goals of the survey were to evaluate how employees feel about Workforce Solutions as a place to work and in the …

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index — December 2009, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

The Incidence Of Tobacco Taxation: Evidence From Geographic Micro-Level Data, Andrew Hanson, Ryan Sullivan

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper uses a recent increase in Wisconsin’s tobacco tax as a natural experiment to measure the economic incidence of tobacco taxation, using micro-level data on cigarette prices from retail locations in Wisconsin and states that share its border. We find that Wisconsin’s $1 tobacco tax increase was over-shifted to consumers; they pay the entire amount of the tax as well as a premium of between 8–17 cents per pack of cigarettes. We also use geo-coded data to test if the incidence of the tobacco tax is different for locations near the border of states with different tobacco taxation.

On The Many Flavors Of Capitalism Or Reflections On Schumpeter's Ghost, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

Most legal scholars treat capitalism as a genus with one species. The appearance of several books that argue to the contrary suggests that it is sensible to revisit this assumption. Discussion begins by considering the constructed nature of markets, the importance of market systems, and the role of financings as the factor distinguishing capitalism from other forms of a market economy. Thereafter, four articulations of the varieties of capitalism are reviewed: the classic Marxist one, one by a political economist, another by a pair of comparative political scientists, and third by a trio of economists. This review leads to a …

Borderplex Economic Outlook: 2009-2011, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Angel L. Molina Jr.

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Use Of Unemployment Insurance And Employment Services By Newly Unemployed Leavers From Temporary Assistance For Needy Families: Final Report, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline

External Papers and Reports

This study examines participation in Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Employment Services (ES) by adults who received cash welfare benefits through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Among those who leave TANF for employment, we measure the rates of subsequent unemployment, application for UI, eligibility for and receipt of UI benefits, and the use of Wagner-Peyser funded ES. We also investigate the correlations between UI and ES services receipt with reemployment and future independence from TANF. The analysis is based on person-level administrative program records from four of the nine most populated states between 1997 and 2003. Evidence suggests that three-quarters …

Mountain Monitor-3rd Quarter 2009, Brookings Mountain West

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Nationwide, the recession is technically over. Or at least that is the view of most economists. They note that real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) finally expanded in the third quarter of 2009, growing at a 2.8 percent annual rate after four consecutive quarters of contraction. They point to a significant slowing of job losses in November, rising housing prices, and a slight downtick in unemployment as other positive signs. Their conclusion: Economic recovery is at last underway. And yet, the pace of renewal seems tentative and its geography patchy. Most notably, the aggregate national story of recovery and expansion …

Recursive Methods In Discounted Stochastic Games: An Algorithm For Delta Approaching 1 And A Folk Theorem, Johannes Hörner, Takuo Sugaya, Satoru Takahashi, Nicolas Vieille

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We present an algorithm to compute the set of perfect public equilibrium payoffs as the discount factor tends to one for stochastic games with observable states and public (but not necessarily perfect) monitoring when the limiting set of (long-run players’) equilibrium payoffs is independent of the state. This is the case, for instance, if the Markov chain induced by any Markov strategy profile is irreducible. We then provide conditions under which a folk theorem obtains: if in each state the joint distribution over the public signal and next period’s state satisfies some rank condition, every feasible payoff vector above the …

New Establishment Dynamics: Business Formation And Survival Trends In Ohio, Afia Yamoah, Ziona Austrian, Joel A. Elvery

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Ohio New Establishments Dynamics data (O-NED) is a new data set, developed by the College and Center. O-NED tracks employment and number of establishments for establishments that first started employing people between the 2nd quarter of 1997 and the 1st quarter of 2008. The report “New Establishment Dynamics: Business Formation and Survival Trends in Ohio” summarizes how trends in employment growth and establishment survivorship differ across sectors of the economy and various regions of Ohio. This new data set allows us to analyze the number of establishments born in a specific year called “birth cohort” and document their survival …

Economics Of The Super Bowl, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

The Super Bowl is America’s premier sporting event. This paper details basic economic facts about the game as examines the controversy surrounding the purported economic impact of the game on host communities. While the league and sports boosters claim that the game brings up to a $500 million economic impact to host cities, a review of the literature suggests that the true economic impact is a fraction of this amount.

A Specification Test For Instrumental Variables Regression With Many Instruments, Yoonseok Lee, Ryo Okui

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper considers specification testing for instrumental variables estimation in the presence of many instruments. The test proposed is a modified version of the Sargan (1958, Econometrica 26(3): 393-415) test of overidentifying restrictions. The test statistic asymptotically follows the standard normal distribution under the null hypothesis of correct specification when the number of instruments increases with the sample size. We find that the new test statistic is numerically equivalent up to a sign to the test statistic proposed by Hahn and Hausman (2002, Econometrica 70(1): 163-189). We also assess the size and power properties of the test.

Selling Information, Johannes Hörner, Andrzej Skrzypacz

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We characterize optimal selling protocols/equilibria of a game in which an Agent first puts hidden effort to acquire information and then transacts with a Firm that uses this information to take a decision. We determine the equilibrium payoffs that maximize incentives to acquire information. Our analysis is similar to finding ex ante optimal self-enforcing contracts since information sharing, outcomes and transfers cannot be contracted upon. We show when and how selling and transmitting information gradually helps. We also show how mixing/side bets increases the Agent’s incentives.

Selling Information, Johannes Hörner, Andrzej Skrzypacz

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We study a dynamic buyer-seller problem in which the good is information and there are no property rights. The potential buyer is reluctant to pay for information whose value to him is uncertain, but the seller cannot credibly convey its value to the buyer without disclosing the information itself. Information comes as divisible hard evidence. We show how and why the seller can appropriate a substantial fraction of the value through gradual revelation, and how the entire value can be extracted with the help of a mediator.

Selling Information, Johannes Hörner, Andrzej Skrzypacz

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

An Agent who owns information that is potentially valuable to a Firm bargains for its sale, without commitment and certification possibilities, short of disclosing it. We propose a model of gradual persuasion and show how gradualism helps mitigate the hold-up problem (that the Firm would not pay once it learns the information). An example illustrates how it is optimal to give away part of the information at the beginning of the bargaining, and sell the remainder in dribs and drabs. The Agent can only appropriate part of the value of information. Introducing a third-party allows her to extract the maximum …

Identity And Democracy: Linking Individual And Social Reasoning, John B. Davis, Solange Regina Marin

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Following Amartya Sen's approach, John Davis and Solange Regina Marin look at individual and social reasoning when examining the complex relationship between identity and democracy. They characterize democracy as a process of social or public reasoning that combines the individual reasoning of all citizens. Identity is explained in terms of personal identity, social identity, and individual identity. They argue that democracy in combining the individual reasoning of all citizens responds to individuals’ different personal identity concerns and needs, reflects their shared social identity interests and goals, and accords them rights and responsibilities associated with their many different individual identities.

How Effectively Do People Learn From A Variety Of Different Opinions?, Andrew Healy

Economics Faculty Works

This paper presents experimental evidence about how effectively individuals learn from information coming from heterogeneous sources. In the experiment, Thai subjects observed information that came from Americans and from other Thais that they could use to help them answer a series of questions. Despite listening too little to either group, subjects demonstrated a significant amount of statistical sophistication in how they weighed observed American information relative to observed Thai information. The data indicate that subjects understood that outside information has extra value because people from the same group tend to make the same kinds of mistakes. The results illustrate the …