Economics Commons^™

Enhanced Prediction Of Stock Markets Using A Novel Deep Learning Model Plstm-Tal In Urbanized Smart Cities, Saima Latif, Nadeem Javaid, Faheem Aslam, Abdulaziz Aldegheishem, Nabil Alrajeh, Safdar Hussain Bouk

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

Accurate predictions of stock markets are important for investors and other stakeholders of the equity markets to formulate profitable investment strategies. The improved accuracy of a prediction model even with a slight margin can translate into considerable monetary returns. However, the stock markets' prediction is regarded as an intricate research problem for the noise, complexity and volatility of the stocks' data. In recent years, the deep learning models have been successful in providing robust forecasts for sequential data. We propose a novel deep learning-based hybrid classification model by combining peephole LSTM with temporal attention layer (TAL) to accurately predict the …

Economic Freedom And One-Way Truck Rental Prices: An Empirical Note, Alexander Cardazzi, Robert A. Lawson

Economics Faculty Publications

This study examines the one-way truck rental prices for 378 cities. There are large price differentials in one-way rental prices between city pairs. The pull of people toward higher economic freedom locales and push away from lower economic freedom locales is found to be an important determinant of the city-pair price differentials.

Do Lawyers Inhibit Economic Growth? New Evidence From The 50 U.S. States, James V. Koch, Richard J. Cebula

Economics Faculty Publications

Whether the activities of lawyers might hamper economic growth has been hotly contested over the past three decades. Contradictory conclusions have flowed from evidence that typically has focused on the impact of lawyers on the growth rates of countries. Disputes over definitions and samples that vary among countries have colored portions of these debates. We surmount many of these issues by adopting a 50-state panel covering the period 2005-2018 for the United States and by utilizing widely accepted variables regarding economic activity and who is considered a lawyer. Further, we utilize two distinct measures of the activity of lawyers and …

The Partition Of Production Between Households And Markets, Christopher Colburn, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

The process of industrialization was accompanied by the switch from household production to firm production. The industrialization process was also a process of population growth, the appearance of general-purpose technologies, and the expansion of international trade. This paper studies the partition of production between households and firms in an analytically tractable general equilibrium model with a continuum of goods. We show that population growth, development of general-purpose technologies, and the opening of international trade increase the percentage of goods produced by firms. However, with the appearance of a technology biased toward home production, the percentage of goods produced by households …

Institutional Stretching: How Moroccan Ngos Illuminate The Nexus Of Climate, Migration, Gender And Development, Shelby Mertens

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The global migration crisis the world has experienced thus far is only the tip of the iceberg. As the earth’s temperature continues to warm and extreme weather conditions worsen, millions of people across the globe will be displaced, and women in particular will face more difficult challenges. What the climate migration literature fails to study is these longer-term impacts beyond sudden onset disasters. Governments and institutions will be forced to respond and adapt to the new reality resulting from the climate crisis. This research provides a case study of Morocco and, by using institutional ethnography, investigates how NGOs working in …

Exploring The Formation Mechanism Of Radical Technological Innovation: An Mlp Approach, Yun Sun, Hecheng Wang, Haiqing Yu, Yong Chen, Mikhail Yu Kataev, Ling Li

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper identifies three stages in the radical technological innovation process, namely formation process in niches, breaking out of niches and entering regimes, and new regime formation. It then adopts Multi-level Perspective (MLP) to explore the formation process, operating mechanism, breakthrough path, and impact factors of radical technological innovation. A three-phase model, which includes formation of radical innovation, breakout of radical innovation, and new regimes construction, is proposed to analyze radical technological innovation. The model is adopted in a case study to analyze the leapfrogging development of technologies in China’s mobile communication industry. This paper enriches technological innovation theory and …

Support For And Behavioral Responses To Tolls: Insights From Hampton Roads, Virginia, Juita-Elena Wie Yusuf, Khairul Azfi Anuar, Lenahan L. O'Connell, David Chapman, Donta Council, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Meagan M. Jordan

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This chapter analyzes the experiences with tolling in the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia to better understand residents' and drivers' support for tolls and behavioral responses to tolls. The Hampton Roads region, with its population of 1.7 million and extensive network of highways, roads, bridges, and tunnels, has a long history of toll facilities that date back to the 1920s. The most recent tunnel tolls, associated with the Elizabeth River Crossing Project and introduced in February 2014, are the focus of this chapter. This chapter analyzes two sets of survey data to provide insights that have implications for policies …

Coordination Costs, Market Size, And The Choice Of Technology, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

Impact of coordination costs and market size on a firm’s choice of technology is studied in a general equilibrium model in which firms engage in oligopolistic competition. A firm establishes an organizational hierarchy to coordinate its production. First, it is shown that an increase in market size leads a firm to choose a more specialized technology. Second, surprisingly, a robust result is that an increase in the level of coordination efficiency leads a firm to choose a less specialized technology.

A Study Of Public Seaport Governance In The United States, Christopher Michael Williams

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Seaports are important economic engines serving many metropolitan areas in the United States. Most seaports in the U.S. are public-owned and managed by a set of elected or politically appointed board members. Indeed, this is public governance in action but the field of port governance seems to be focused on the study of operating efficiencies and less concerned with the public governance aspects of seaports.

The term “governance” in a public organization conveys a level of democratic accountability to the citizenry for management of public-owned resources but, until now, studies of seaport governance in the U.S. have not focused on …

Exploring Critical Success Factors Of Community Development Projects, Kevin Wanjama Muchiri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The utilization of Community Development Projects in developing nations continues to increase in significance. In the wake of the latest Sustainable Development Goals, developing nations are working towards eliminating poverty, promoting sustainable cities and communities, gender equality, and health and well-being. Although Community Development Projects have become prevalent, the challenge has been that some are successful, while others fail. This dissertation investigates what makes Community Development Projects successful.

This dissertation implemented a comprehensive quantitative analysis using data collected from over one hundred community development projects obtained from The World Bank database. These projects took place in developing nations around the …

An Overlapping-Generations Model Of Firm Heterogeneity In Economic Development, Yu Chen, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

We study firm heterogeneity in economic development in an overlapping-generations general equilibrium model in which manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition. Individuals differ in their productivities in the manufacturing sector and choose to become entrepreneurs or workers. The model is surprisingly tractable. In the steady state, an increase in the entry barrier in the manufacturing sector or an increase in the percentage of income spent on the agricultural good decreases the wage rate, but the level of output in the manufacturing sector does not necessarily decrease. An increase in the degree of patience of an individual increases the steady state …

Assessment Of And Outlook On China's Corruption And Anticorruption Campaigns: Stagnation In The Authoritarian Trap, Shaomin Li

Management Faculty Publications

Since the beginning of China's economic reform in the late 1970s, corruption has been progressing alongside of economic growth. In 2012, when Xi Jinping took power, he waged the largest and longest anticorruption campaign known in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. This study provides an assessment on his campaign and projects an outlook on the future of corruption and anticorruption in China. The author argues that China will enter into an "authoritarian trap," in which the authoritarian power enables the state to effectively carry out the economic reform and achieve economic growth, while suppressing the demand for the …

The Big Economic Development Project Question: Is It New Revenue Or A Spending Transfer?, Paul Harris, Ronald Berkebile, Julia Martin, Larry Filer

Economics Faculty Publications

Most local governments pursue some degree of economic development activity to strengthen their economy by adding jobs and generating tax revenue. Witness the growth in tax increment financing, property tax abatements, tax credits, and exemptions for economic development. These state and local incentives totaled more than $80 billion in 2012. Economic development projects can represent a significant boon for a local economy. Estimating how much money they might generate, however, is not as easy as it initially seems, and jurisdictions can receive far less net new revenue than developers predict. Most consumers have finite incomes, which limits their discretionary spending. …

Maritime Economics In A Post-Expansion Panama Canal Era, Grace W. Y. Wang, Wayne Talley, Mary R. Brooks

Economics Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) The 2016 opening of an expanded Panama Canal will allow for Post-Panamax containerships up to 12 500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in size to transit the Panama Canal. In response, some US East Coast container ports are having their channels and berths dredged deeper—to allow Post-Panamax containerships from Asia (transiting the expanded canal) to call at their ports. What are the implications for the US West Coast ports? Will there be a cargo shift from West Coast to East Coast ports? These topics as well as the impacts of other changes in global shipping lanes (e.g., the Suez …

A Dynamic Model Of The Choice Of Technology In Economic Development, Haiwen Zhou, Ruhai Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

In this overlapping-generations model, there is unemployment in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies to maximize profits. With capital as a fixed cost of production, increasing returns in the manufacturing sector exist. In the unique steady state, first, when individuals become more patient, the savings rate increases while the level of an individual’s income decreases. Second, an increase in population or percentage of income spent on manufactured goods does not change steady-state technology while the level of an individual’s income decreases. Third, an increase in the wage rate leads manufacturing firms to choose more …

Institutions Of Higher Education And Cultural Heritage Tourism: A Case Study Of The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, Terence Michael Gilley

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The southwest region of Virginia has an unstable economy, which cycles through periods of growth and decline. The strategic plans for southwest Virginia propose cultural heritage tourism as a sustainable industry for economic development of this rural region. Institutions of higher education provide education and training for a qualified workforce and community service. This qualitative, single case study on The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail examines the roles of institutions of higher education with regard to cultural heritage tourism for sustainable community and economic development in rural areas. The data sources for this study are the administrators of …

Removing The Rust: Comparative Post-Industrial Revitalization In Buffalo, Cleveland, And Pittsburgh, Scott Nicholas Duryea

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to understand the differences in post-industrial redevelopment among the cities of Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Part of the so-called "rust belt," these three cities experienced industrial decline from the 1960s through the 1980s, largely as a result of the economic globalization of heavy industry. Intensive manufacturing and output had come to a screeching halt, unemployment skyrocketed, outmigration ensued, and each metropolitan area faced formidable challenges to convert to service-oriented industries. Over the past twenty years, these cities, and the regions that encompass them, have begun to redevelop, although unevenly. At a glance, the Pittsburgh region appears to …

Introduction To The Special Issue: Towards A Theoretical Understanding Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship In India, Sanjay Jain, Anil Nair, David Ahlstrom

Management Faculty Publications

Over the past few decades, India has become one of the world’s most vibrant economies (Chari & Banalieva, 2015). While the first forty years after India’s independence in 1947 was characterized by a sluggish annual growth rate (of approximately 3%), economic reforms initiated in 1991 have resulted in the GDP growing at a rate of around 6.8% in the last quarter century (Chari & Banalieva, 2015;McCloskey, 2010). Conversely, while the pre-reform institutional environment generally underemphasized and undermined entrepreneurial and innovative activity (Bardhan, 1994; Baumol, Litan, & Schramm, 2009;Sivaraman, 1991), the post-reform period has been characterized by a much wider acceptance …

Fair Trade An Analysis Of The Effects On Poverty Alleviation And Empowerment For Women In Developing Countries, Maribel Concepcion Lora

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis approaches the economic development model of Fair Trade with a critical analysis on determining its success in alleviating poverty and empowering women of the developing world. Because international labor regulations are not consistently enforced in all producer countries, the Fair Trade model has established labor standards that ensure above all, a fair wage and safe working conditions for producers participating in the international market. As a recent strategy of economic development, Fair Trade has made great strides to empower poor producers in impoverished countries; however there has been limited analysis focused on its impact for improving the quality …

The Choice Of Technology And Rural-Urban Migration In Economic Development, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper studies a general equilibrium model of rural-urban migration in which manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose increasing returns technologies to maximize profits. Urban residents incur commuting costs to work in the Central Business District. Surprisingly a change in the size of the population or an increase in the exogenously given wage rate will not affect a manufacturing firm’s choice of technology. This helps to explain why firms in developing countries may not adopt labor intensive technologies even under abundant labor supply. An increase in the number of manufacturing firms increases both the employment rate and the …

Securing South Africa's Future Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids As A Model For Social Development Change, Savannah Lynn Eck

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on the role of elder women in South Africa as a lens to understand the central connections among HIV/ AIDS, poverty and Human Security provides a distinct approach to analyze women's contributions to community development and social change. Drawing from the theories of Gender and Development and Human Security, this research aims to highlight HIV/ AIDS as a social and political security issue, while underscoring the vitality of the inclusion of women in the processes of peace building, reconciliation, education and social development. Furthermore, the influential role of elder women in South Africa will serve as a model in …

Cooperative Strategies On Parallel Tracks: The Nepad And Agoa Initiatives, Guelmbaye Ngarsandje

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In July 2001, at the 37th of the former Organization of African Unity, African heads of states launched the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a combination of the Omega Plan from Abdoulaye Wade and The Millennium African Renaissance Partnership initiated by Thabo Mbeki, respectively presidents of Senegal and South Africa. This was an achievement of tasks given by their peers in Algiers in 1999. Previously to that, the Clinton administration initiated the African Growth and Opportunity Act passed in law in 1998. Though the two programs aim at African development, they did not take in account each other.

This …

Social Capital In Rural China: Its Impact On Economic Development, Grassroots Governance, And Democratic Participation, Min Xia

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Does social capital generate positive influences on economic development and democratic governance? This question has important theoretical and policy implications for the contemporary world, especially for the developing countries. The primary goals of this study are to investigate the stock of two types of social capital—bridging social capital and bonding social capital—in rural China, and furthermore to examine the impacts of these two types of social capital upon economic development, grassroots governance, and democratic participation in rural China.

In this study bridging social capital has been measured by the participation in inclusive social networks and general trust among villagers, and …

Inter-State Economic Development- Powered By Utilities, John R. Lombard

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

In 2000, a group of state business recruiters from New England joined to promote New England to corporate real estate and site selection consultants at IDRC’s1 World Congress in New York City. At roughly the same time, the two metropolitan areas of Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., formed the Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership (HSEP). These informal ventures that cross state borders represent coalitions of business, academic, political and policy leaders working together to foster the combined regions’ economic well-being.

The Impact Of Privatization On Economic Growth And Income Inequality In Developing Countries, Samuel Adams

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

In the 1960s and 1970s academicians, economists and politicians favored state ownership over private ownership in the production and provision of goods and services. By the end of the 1980s, however, there was a reversal of public policy from state domination of the production and provision of goods and services to private ownership and operation. This was due in part to what the World Bank referred to as "state failure”, which was characterized by inefficient service delivery, unprofitable SOEs, high government debt, and stagnant economic growth rates. Accordingly, privatization caught on in many countries as a policy tool to foster …

The Impact Of Trade Liberalization On Growth, Unemployment, And Poverty In Bangladesh, Maha Z. Mirza

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Trade liberalization has been one of the major policy components of the governments of the developing countries in the recent decades. Bangladesh as many other developing nations, has adopted different measures of trade reform policies as an element of International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), as well as to be an integral part of the world wide trend of globalization. Such policy measures include the reduction/rationalization of tariff rate, simplification of import and export trade procedures, relaxation of restrictive trade policies, and reform of financial and monetary policies. Even though, the trade reform measures were anticipated to increase …

Financing Strategies Of The R & D Firm, Lawrence Fogelberg, John M, Griffith

Finance Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the financing strategies of the R&D firm. Our hypotheses are based on Cho's (1992) game theory model where the firm develops a product but needs additional financing to bring it to market. The model generates a particularly rich set of hypotheses: 1) to fund the completion of its project and bring its product to market, the firm initiates negotiations with an established firm; 2) the majority of the acquisitions will be partial cash acquisitions through private secondary offerings. Confirming the model's hypotheses, we find that the majority of the acquisitions are partial cash acquisitions by significantly larger …

Leadership: The Missing Variable In The Economic Development Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Osei K. Bonsu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary economic theories, modernization and dependency, have overlooked the fact that the development process depends on the interaction of social factors. Specifically, the theories have ignored the role of leadership in analyzing economic development. This dissertation seeks to incorporate the importance of leadership into the analysis of development. It argues that sub-Saharan African countries have not developed economically because leaders in the region have been less than successful in establishing a culture conducive to industrialization. African leaders have failed to establish the high moral and scientific cultures necessary to promote economic progress. In place of those cultural attributes, the leaders …

Globalization And The Paradox Of Incorporation And Marginalization: An Exploratory Note On Sub-Saharan Africa, Charles R. Lartey

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Globalization has of late become the lingua franca of the study of the international political economic system. As its ideological counterpart, globalization has elevated neoliberalism to the status of an international theology. To harness the benefits of a globalizing world economy, conventional wisdom consider the dictums underlying neoliberal policies as “immutable laws” that must be adopted by both the developing and the developed world.

Utilizing a structured, focused analysis based on a case study of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this research challenges the orthodox notion that the new international context of development that is instigated by the imperatives of globalization, and …

The Regional Public-Private Civic Infrastructure Of Hampton Roads And Its Impact On The Implementation Of Economic Development Initiatives, James Andrew Probsdorfer

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study analyzes the effectiveness of a network of five regional organizations to promote economic development in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Using a case study methodology, data collected from organizational documents, media reports, and personal interviews was categorized and triangulated to determine how many regional economic proposals were implemented from 1990 to 2000. This analysis created a regional timeline from which was produced a regional inventory of economic proposals. This study concluded that the regional economic development organizations in Hampton Roads have a fragmented network and their output has been influenced by regional factors.

Specifically out of a total of nineteen …