Economics Commons^™

Estimating The Effect Of Nuclear Energy On A Country's Electricity Generation Mix: Fukushima As A Case Study, Sarah Elizabeth Zarrilli

All Theses

In this paper, I attempt to estimate the true effects of removing nuclear energy on a country’s energy portfolio, particularly how the country substitutes to other fuel sources for electricity generation and how it impacts the country’s marginal electricity prices. In 2011, anti-nuclear sentiment that arose in Japan following the meltdown of the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant resulted in the country decreasing its nuclear electricity generation from over 30% of its total supply to 0% in under two years. I use the dramatic variation across Japan’s electricity supply regions over the denuclearization period to attempt to estimate the true …

Three Essays Applying Dynamic Models In Economics, Finance, And Machine Learning, Lucas C. Dowiak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a composition in three parts. Collectively, these essays investigate dynamic methods and their application in the fields of Economics, Finance, and Machine Learning. It pulls liberally from all three. In particular, this dissertation makes repeated use of multi-state modeling frameworks popular in Economics to bring a faceted view to the underlying data and detect its hidden heterogeneity. The challenge of modeling financial assets and estimating their dependence is another focus. For stimulus, concepts in the Machine Learning field are brought in to aid or compete with established econometric techniques.

Econometric Applications of the Hierarchical Mixture-of-Experts

In this …

Essays On Weak Identification, Dennis Guo Wei Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation presents a comprehensive examination of inference techniques for weak instrumental variable (IV) models, crucial in addressing endogeneity and bias in econometric analyses. Comprising two interconnected chapters, the research explores innovative methodologies to enhance the reliability and robustness of IV regression estimations. Chapter 1 is concerned with maximizing the power of tests in the many weak IVs setting. This is done by introducing a novel approach that considers a linear combination of jackknife Anderson-Rubin (AR), jackknife Lagrangian multiplier (LM), and orthogonalized jackknife
LM tests for inference in IV regressions with many weak instruments and heteroskedasticity. Following I. Andrews (2016), …

Teaching Financial Econometrics To Students Converting To Finance, Stan Hurn, Peter C. B. Phillips, Vance Martin, Jun Yu

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Financial econometrics is a dynamic discipline that began to take on its present form around the turn of the century. Since then it has found a permanent position as a popular course sequence in both undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in economics, finance, and business schools. Because of the breadth of the subject’s foundations, its extensive coverage in applications and because these courses attract a wide range of students with accompanying interests and skill sets that cover diverse areas and technical capabilities, teaching financial econometrics presents many challenges to the university educator. This chapter addresses some of these challenges, provides …

Essays In Macroeconomics And Finance, Archil Dvalishvili

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chapter 1: (A Quantitative Analysis of Interest on Reserves and Reserve Requirements) - I construct a medium scale DSGE model with financial frictions both on the demand (entrepreneurs) and supply (banks) sides of credit to study the costs and benefits of fixed/time-varying minimum reserve requirements and interest paid by the Fed on reserves.The results can be summarized as follows: (1) An optimal time-varying minimum reserve requirement generates substantial welfare gain when compared with a fixed minimum reserve requirement when no interest is paid on reserves. (2) Paying interest on reserves is substantially welfare inferior to a policy with no interest …

Leveraging Brazilian Administrative Data To Examine The Impact Of Unobservable Factors On Earnings, Victor Gabriel Antunes Buttignon, Francis Carlo Petterini Lourenço, Edinaldo Tebaldi

Mathematics and Economics Faculty Journal Articles

This research contributes to the literature and fills a gap in the Brazilian literature on the returns to public and private education. Most research examining this differential are subject to potential bias because of the lack of controls for unobservable variables. This work accounts for unobservable traits by leveraging the methodology proposed by Dale and Krueger (2002) and data from the National Association of Graduate Centers in Economics (ANPEC) and administrative data from the Annual List of Social Information (RAIS). The findings indicate that the positive earnings differential for public education turns insignificant when controls for unobservable characteristics are accounted …

The Effect Of Monetary Policy On Housing Price In China —- A Cross-Regional Study, Joe Yang

Senior Projects Spring 2024

The paper is a cross-regional research on the effectiveness of monetary policy on the housing price in China. After conducting an overview introduction of the real estate market in China, the first section of the paper provides an in-depth literature review on the theoretical explanation of the monetary transmission mechanism. And in the second section, by implementing the Vector Autoregression (VAR), the paper performs an econometrics analysis of monetary policy on the housing price in western, middle, and eastern part of China.

Multivariate Econometric Regression Of Factors That Determine Form Of Disposition Of Human Remains Using Archival Death Certificates, Salt Lake County, Utah, Delphine T. Feigenbaum

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project considers the inescapable and burgeoning issues concerning the long-term allocation of scarce natural resources between the living and the deceased. America’s population growth will demand more space and maintenance resources used for disposition. To meet the forthcoming exigencies, economic planners need to address natural resource availability for future generations while incorporating sustainable and innovative technologies to prohibit environmental injustice.

The goals are to answer the following questions: How do demographical variables, age and sex influence the choice of disposition? How do cause of death variables influence the choice of disposition? I also evaluate the hypothesis that the average …

A Forestry Trade Data Discrepancy Analysis, Morgan Alyce Daigle

LSU Master's Theses

Trade data across multiple databases experience unavailability across some countries/forestry products, inconsistency, and unreliability; and these qualities manifest as discrepancies in the data. Literature provides evidence of discrepancies and inconsistencies within international trade statistics, including documented cases in which they are present within agriculture sector trade.

While researchers have worked to pinpoint factors to explain discrepancies, studies on the forestry trade databases are not as prevalent. Therefore, more research needs to be conducted to identify discrepancies within forest sector products trade data to understand the nature of discrepancies found between different bilateral trading partners.

The goal of this thesis is …

What It Takes To Be The Best: The Competitive Balance In Formula 1 Racing, Dylan Jung

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Competitive balance is an essential aspect of sports that ensures every team or player has a fair chance of winning, which creates a level playing field. It refers to the degree of parity between teams or players in a particular sport, and it is a critical factor that contributes to the overall excitement and engagement of fans. A lack of competitive balance can lead to decrease fan engagement and interest, which can ultimately impact the financial viability of the sport. The results of this study have provided valuable insights into the concept of competitive balance in Formula One. Maintaining competitive …

The Impact Of Subjective Risk Analysis On Real Estate Prices In The Nisqually Region Following The 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, Ryan Espedal

All Master's Theses

Earthquakes are an environmental hazard that pose great risks to communities almost every day. With earthquakes, the main cause of concern is physical destruction of property, however, there are also psychological effects that are researched and discussed much less. In 2001, the Nisqually area of western Washington experienced a substantial earthquake that produced minimal physical damage but caused a significant decrease in real estate prices. Studying single-family homes from 1986-2012, this research utilizes hedonic property models to measure the change in consumer’s subjective risk calculations with reference to real estate purchases after the Nisqually earthquake, measure the relationship between earthquake …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Occupation In The United States, Swapnil Landge

Publications and Research

This paper explores the persistence of inequality via intergenerational transmission of occupations using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data from 1968 to 2001 of 56,952 unique parent-child pairs. I find that having a father who is in the top and bottom strata† of the socioeconomic professional category has a positive and significant effect on the probability that a son will follow the same professional category as the father, which supports my main hypothesis of persistence of income inequality concerning the transmission of the occupations. The main concern that has been addressed in this paper is that the intangible …

The Effect Of The 2018 Tariffs On European Wine, Henry Johnson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This paper estimates a vector autoregression model for average wine prices across U.S. cities to assess the impact of tariff changes on the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain after they were enacted in October 2019. It uses impulse response functions to gauge how a one-unit impulse in the per-liter duty rate may effect the average wine price in the U.S. and the quantity of wine from various exporters to the U.S. It finds that a one-unit impulse in the duty rate levied against the bloc of countries impacted by the tariff results in a fall in the quantity of wine …

Essays On Machine Learning Methods In Economics, Mani Bayani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters on machine learning modeling in economics. Chapter 1 - Robust PCA Synthetic Control: In this chapter, I propose an algorithm for comparative studies called robust PCA synthetic control. My algorithm builds on the synthetic control model of Abadie et al., 2015 and the robust synthetic control model of Amjad et al., 2018. I apply all three methods (robust PCA synthetic control, synthetic control, and robust synthetic control) to answer the hypothetical question, what would have been the per capita GDP of West Germany if it had not reunified with East Germany in 1990? I …

How Federal Pollution Discharge Permits Affect U.S. Water Quality: A Study On Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Cloe C. Mueller

Theses and Dissertations

This paper uses difference-in-difference regression models to examine how state-level pollution discharge permits on concentrated animal feeding operations affect U.S. water quality. I ultimately deem the permitting to be ineffective at improving water quality, calling attention to the need to re-evaluate the ``socially optimal level of pollution."

Women Are More Likely To Use Tentative Language, I Think: A Literary And Statistical Analysis Of Ulysses By James Joyce And Debate Speech, Cozette Blumenfeld, Claire Bracken, Tomas Dvorak

Honors Theses

Language and its utilization can provide valuable information about individuals and their cultural norms. Negotiation is a major factor of the gender wage gap, perpetuated by gender bias. This paper seeks to discover—does language influence gendered cultural norms? Or reflect it? This thesis is divided into eight sections that engage the relationship between gender and language in literature and debate speech. Through critical literary and statistical analysis of the “Penelope” and “Proteus” chapters of Ulysses by James Joyce, it is evident that the female chapter’s invalidation found in literary criticism is from the reception of her speech, and not the …

Essays On Housing Market, Akash De

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation studies different aspects and phenomena of the housing market in the United States. In the first chapter, I explore the long-run relationship between housing starts and building permits along with its short-run deviations. This paper fits a pre-specified cointegration model to verify the long-run co-movement property of building permits and housing starts in the U.S., and its census regions to improve the predictability of housing starts at different forecast horizons. The out-of-sample forecasting performance of housing starts is derived from the feature of the short-run vector error correction model that suggests that only housing starts adjusts to correct …

Evaluating Short Term Effects Of Opportunity Zone Designation, Sarah M. Bennett

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 included a substantial economic development effort known as Opportunity Zones. These Zones cover 12% of the census tracts in the United States and are estimated to cost $1.6 billion in lost capital gains tax revenue. Our paper seeks to find whether this program has had an impact four years after going into effect, using an econometric analysis on changes in housing prices.

The Effect Of Female Representation On Revenue: A Study Of Gender Within The Film Industry, Riley Pranian

Honors College Theses

The art of film has captivated the world for generations — a central component of the captivation is the actors showcased on-screen. But unfortunately, the film industry is male-dominated. Since 1970, the consumption of media by adults and adolescents has increased (Vogel, 2020). This study will determine the relationship between a cast's female-to-male ratio and a film's revenue. The initial hypothesis is that the more women present in the cast, the higher the revenue - this relationship is assumed through increased demand for movies and the need for role models among women. This study’s foundation is the presence of a …

Unmasking Climate Change: How The Impacts Of Global Warming Alter Disease Spread And Discovery, Ellie Potts, Adam Wright

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

What is the relationship between global temperature increase and the number of communicable disease cases, and is this relationship stronger for denser populations? Climate change and communicable diseases are two intertwined global issues. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners, governments, and general consumers have all realized the scale of benefits and risks of an internationally integrated global economy, and how our level of urbanization can cause rapid disease spread. This pandemic has uncovered our lack of preparation for global emergencies. Climate change not only poses a global emergency but will also increase our world’s likelihood of diseases. …

Violence And Development: The Cost Countries Pay For High Rates Of Homicide, Brittany Lowe

The Cardinal Edge

Violence is one of the largest and most persistent humanitarian crises across the globe. Understanding violence’s role in economic costs and losses is crucial to informing and guiding decision makers. This study uses international panel data to conduct a log-linear regression with time and country fixed effects. It focuses on studying the causal effects of violent crime on GDP at an aggregate, international level. The results find that the homicide rate has a statistically significant, negative effect on GDP per capita. Acts of violence come not just at a humanitarian cost, but also at the cost of economic progress and …

Sunk Or Dunk?: An Empirical Analysis Of The Effect Of Sunk Cost Fallacy In Professional Basketball, Hailey Dicicco

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This project is divided into two sections. The first section is a comparison between the NBA and WNBA, using performance metrics from game statistics. Using performance characteristics, an empirical analysis was used to determine if the number of minutes played was determined by consistent parameters across these organizations. This finding showed inconsistency. The WNBA showed higher valuation for blocks, steals, and assists while the NBA showed higher valuation for three-point percentages and defensive rebounds.

The second section of the paper evaluates the sunk cost fallacy and its impacts in the NBA. The WNBA was not able to be included in …

Sunk Or Dunk?: An Empirical Analysis Of The Effect Of Sunk Cost Fallacy In Professional Basketball, Hailey Dicicco

Business and Economics Presentations

This project is divided into two sections. The first section is a comparison between the NBA and WNBA, using performance metrics from game statistics. I researched the history of women in sports and specifically read about how women first became integrated into the game of soccer. In the regression for section one, we used a few selected performance metrics and minutes in order to observe any relationships between specific skills and minutes. We also focused on the difference between the leagues in terms of what game stats are more or less significant.

In the second section of this paper, we …

Using Difference-In-Differences Analysis And The Kocyk Geometric Lag Model To Estimate Aspects Of Carbon Tax Effectiveness In Nordic Countries, Kyle Riley

Honors Theses

This paper generally looks at the connections between carbon taxes and carbon emission levels in Nordic countries over a period from the 1960s to the early 2010s. Most of the existing literature on this topic looks at and finds that carbon taxes do have a significant impact upon carbon emissions levels in some countries while not in others. In many countries which have this policy there is not a significant impact that can be seen and there is a discussion as to why this might be the case and what needs to be done to fix these potential issues to …

Cost Countries Pay For High Homicide Rates, Brittany Lowe

Grawemeyer Colloquium Papers

This research finds the economic cost, in terms of GDP per capita, to countries for increased violence using typical econometric models, and then makes recommendations to decision makers about funding allocation of violence prevention programs based off its findings.

The Effect Of Low Skill Job Opportunities On Postsecondary Enrollment, Mallory Radesic

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research examines the effect that low skill job opportunities have on the probability of enrollment in postsecondary institutions between men and women, namely the construction and manufacturing industries. The research is based on the human capital investment theory, which states that individuals will enroll in postsecondary institutions when the perceived benefits outweigh the costs. More job opportunity heightens the opportunity cost of enrollment, hence lowering the probability of enrollment. After running a probit model, there is evidence that enrollment is countercyclical and that enrollment decisions do not vary significantly between men and women. I find that a 1 percent …

Llamas No Son Ovejas The Pervasive Impacts Of Colonization On Indigenous Peoples Labor Market Choices In Peru: An Examination Of Exclusionary Institutions Through Sociohistorical And Economic Lenses, Molly Jeanne Devine

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Using historical and empirical evidence, this Senior Project looks at the long-term impacts of colonization on economic, social, and cultural institutions. This project explores impacts both immediately upon Spanish arrival in 1532, and created during the Spanish colonization of Peru. Systems of forced labor created through colonization created two separate paths of development: one for the Spanish and Spanish-selected Peruvian elite and another for the Indigenous people of Peru. Vestiges of the Spanish colonization of Peru continue to manifest themselves in modern times in many ways. This Senior Project examines the link between Indigenous individuals and their participation in the …

An Econometric Analysis Of Homelessness Risk-Factors, Zac Smith

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the issue of homelessness within the United States and seeks to create an econometric model that identifies predicting factors of homelessness at a state level which can be used to estimate the size of homeless populations. The author analyzed the role of 16 factors including income inequality, minimum wage, unemployment, rental cost, poverty, education, veteran status, and substance abuse on the 2017 state homeless populations. Using an ordinary least squares regression, the model produced five significant variables: adjusted minimum wage, percent of income spent on rent, possession of health insurance, average winter temperature, and the unemployment rate. …

An Econometric Analysis Of Bilateral Import Demand In South Africa, Christopher Smith

Dissertations

One of the most significant challenges facing any society is the allocation of scarce economic resources that have alternative uses. Though imports can streamline the allocation of scarce resources in an economy, the potency of a country’s import policies are subject to the magnitude of import elasticities with respect to income, domestic prices, foreign prices, and exchange rates. This research estimates the bilateral income, domestic price, import price, and exchange rate elasticities between South Africa and its five largest trading partners: China, Germany, the United States, India, and Saudi Arabia using quarterly data from 1998 – 2017. The bounds testing …

The Analytics Of Vulnerable Populations In Brazil, Fernanda M. Araujo Maciel

2020

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs became a popular measure to alleviate poverty in Latin American countries. The Brazilian CCT program, called Bolsa Família, is the largest social welfare program in the country, covering a quarter of all Brazilian households. The objective of the program is to reduce poverty and malnutrition, while providing low-income families access to public services, such as health, education, and social assistance. Since the program is based on conditions of maintaining health and schooling for children, my dissertation comprises two studies that examine the impact of Bolsa Família on educational outcomes and unhealthy behaviors of its participants. …