Economics Commons^™

Recession Emerges As The Most Like Scenario, Eric Thompson

Business in Nebraska

The U.S. economy faces the prospect of a second recession as the Federal Reserve Bank continues to raise interest rates to confront inflationary forces. These forces include elevated asset prices and a wage-price spiral. Further interest rate increases are likely given a challenging environment to reduce inflation. Challenges include limited migration and a slow-growing labor force, trade restrictions, regulatory restrictions that limit energy production and raise the minimum wage as well as excessive federal government spending. Federal spending through the CARES Act, Coronavirus Supplemental Appropriations Act, American Rescue Plan, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act continue to fuel excess demand. …

Essays On Inequality, Growth, And Economic Policy, Philipp E. Erfurth

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study inequality and regional economics in a historical and development context.

The first chapter examines regional inequality among Habsburg regions from the 19th century to today’s EU by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to recreate historical regions in present-day projections. The findings suggests that regional disparities are markedly higher today than in the 19th century, despite rapid convergence in the past two decades. The study thus provides evidence of retrospective determinism in the study of the Habsburg economy and suggests that, although regional EU policy has been successful over the past two …

Sales Capture Patterns Among Nebraska Counties, Eric Thompson, Spencer Cook

Business in Nebraska

Sales capture, the share of local spending power that is captured by area businesses, is an important measure of economic activity. Greater sales capture, which is typically measured using data on local taxable sales, creates multiple benefits for the economy. 1. EMPLOYMENT: Greater sales capture means more employment in retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses subject to sales tax. 2. TAX REVENUE: Taxable sales are an important part of the tax base of many city governments. 3. QUALITY OF LIFE: Retail and hospitality (restaurants, lodging, amusement, and recreation) businesses account for a significant share of taxable sales. These industries …

The Political Economy Of Accumulation In South Africa: Resource Extraction, Financialization, And Capital Flight As Barriers To Investment And Employment Growth, Seeraj Mohamed

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation uses a heterodox economics approach to explain poor levels of accumulation in South Africa. This approach to investment theory and models recognizes that many institutions are shaped to help people create stability in a world of fundamental uncertainty and irreversibility. Therefore, this dissertation examines the system of accumulation that developed in South Africa and its evolution. This approach to investment recognizes that beliefs and biases of people running institutions influence investment outcomes and shape ‘path dependence’. The corporations that grew to dominate the South African economy were formed during colonialism and apartheid. They grew around a core of …

Social Structure Of Accumulation In Turkey (1963 – 2015), Osman C. Icoz

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes capitalism in Turkey during post-1963 period from social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory perspective. The SSA theory is a theory of interaction of institutions and capital accumulation over long run. This dissertation will be the first book length study on Turkey using SSA Theory approach. It will enrich the SSA literature by adding a case of Turkey, which is a developing country; and hence it will be another example that SSA framework can be extended outside of US. I observe two different SSAs during the period of interest. The first one is Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) SSA …

Three Essays On The Macroeconomic Impacts Of Rent Seeking, Kurt Von Seekamm

Doctoral Dissertations

Chapter 1 of this dissertation focuses on the political economy of rent seeking. Using trading in financial markets, patent litigation and managerial privilege as descriptive examples from the modern economy, it identifies situations where rent seeking opportunities occur. The challenge of correctly distinguishing between productive activities and rent seeking activities demonstrate the empirical challenges of examining rent seeking. This chapter also suggests that in addition to the opportunity cost of physical capital, modern rent seeking has a significant opportunity cost in the form of the misallocation of human capital. Chapter 2 explores the relationship between increased rent seeking, aggregate demand, …

Three Essays On U.S. Household Debt And The Sources Of Systemic Financial Fragility, Thomas Herndon

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays which analyze the role of household debt in the financial crisis of 2007-2009, and weak recovery that followed. In these essays, I pursue the following research topics: 1) Estimation of the effects of mortgage fraud on losses to foreclosure, 2) Estimation of whether loan modifications increased or decreased debt, and 3) Analyzing the historical evolution of housing finance regulation to advance a proposal for reform. While formally independent, these essays share a common theoretical perspective located at the intersection of financial macroeconomics and political economy. These essays analyze how conflicts of interest and inside …

Flooding In The Kashmir Valley: Macroeconomic Effects Of A Natural Disaster In India, Danielle Cupp

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper presents India’s economic growth by comparing it to that of the United States. In addition, this paper analyzes current events in India under a macroeconomic lens as it provides the macroeconomic impacts of said events. More specifically, this paper focuses on the ways in which unexpected severe flooding have impacted Northern India in the short-, medium-, and long-run. Analyses conclude with policy recommendations based on the goals of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The Macroeconomics Of The Declining U.S. Labor Share: A Debt-Led Explanation, Alex Jianan Xu

Senior Projects Spring 2015

This paper aims to answer two major conundrums in macroeconomic theory with regards to the U.S. economy. First, standard macroeconomic models such as Harrod-Domar and Solow theoryze that factor shares are constant; however, actual measures of the U.S. labor share have been on a downward trend since the early 1980s. The second conundrum relates to the Post-Kaleckian wage-led or profit-led view of economic growth. It indicates that a fall in the labor share in a wage-led economy will result in a fall in aggregate demand (due to deceases in consumption), and an increase in aggregate demand in a profit-led economy …

Techniques, Technologies And Politics Of Crisis And Post-Crisis Economics: Anglo-American Macroeconomics And Alternatives, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper attempts a critical appraisal of one core debate and theories in economics about the 2008 crisis and post-2008 economic growth and stagnation. In addition to examining formal publications, this essay also examines serious blogs by high-profile economists who are core participants in public discourse over economic policy. Drawing on the general logic of economic sociology and political economy — in particular, an appreciation for more complex microfoundations of economic practice (e.g. power and culture) and institutions—this paper addresses three issues about theoretical frameworks and claims about post-crisis growth or lack thereof: 1) Techniques: economists’ discourses focus primarily on …

The Financial Underpinnings Of The Eu Crisis: Financial Deregulation, Privatization, And Asymmetric State Power, Nina Q. Eichacker

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation asks the following questions. How has financial liberalization affected the incidence of financial crisis in Europe? How have power asymmetries within Western Europe facilitated the process of financial liberalization, and distributed the costs and gains from this liberalization? How have these dynamics been demonstrated at the state level? It charts the institutional liberalization and privatization of European finance from the 1960s onward and presents a survey of descriptive statistics that show how different financial stability, financial flow, and macroeconomic variables have changed in Western Europe since the early 1980s, generally increasing financial and economic instability. It also demonstrates …

A Memo On Social Security, Michele Ogawa

Pepperdine Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Economic Perspectives Of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Technology Transfer And Rural Water Use In Darfur, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Civil strife, human sufferings are the signs pronounced by international media. There are political ramifications of the Darfur crisis, however, there are also the problems of water availability and methods of utilization. The current paper analyzes field data survey collected from the town of Kutum, Northern Darfur where the civil crisis started. The focus is on studying methods and utilization efficiency in the area. It is concluded here that it is important to revise technological transfer to me integrated with the indigenous knowledge for better and sustainable water use in Kutum, Darfur.

Effects Of Multicollinearity On The Estimation Of Macroeconomic Variables: Using Data From Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The problem of multicollinearity in the assessments of coefficients is well established. However, it is rarely researched in the estimations of macroeconomic variables and economic performance of developing countries. Predicatively, it has impacts on the estimations of coefficients that should be used in economic decisions, strategic planning and if researchers are more industrious estimations of monetary supplies and demands. All such parameters are very basic and essential in economic plannings and their applications should be done not only in research but in ground applications of the specialized authorities, e.g., Ministries of Finance, Central Banks, Pricing Units, etc. However, that is …

Macroeconomic Effects Of Foreign Currency Exchange Rates On Savings Attitudes In Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The impacts of fluctuations of exchange rates of foreign hard currencies are well documented in economics literature. There are measures taken over by countries to absorb their impacts on income, employment and national economies ability to function and produce. However, distortions are observed in underdeveloped and developing countries. Sudan is among those where impacts of fluctuations in exchange rates versus national currencies are strongly observed and felt on its economy. In the past three decades they represented the highest effects on real money's value, had macroeconomic impacts, affect the prices of productive inputs, produced commodities and the economy's performance. The …

Appropriate Fiscal Policy Over The Business Cycle: Proper Stimulus Policies Can Work, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Fiscal policy has become quite controversial in the post-Keynesian era, the debate over the Obama stimulus package being a contentious recent example. Some pundits go so far as to take the position that macroeconomic theory has failed to meaningfully progress in terms of providing useful recommendations for policy-makers, particularly in times of recession. Others take the laissez-faire view that policy reactions to the business cycle do not help in a rational expectations world and indeed do harm by increasing uncertainty. Still others, while not necessarily viewing themselves as in any sense ―Keynesian,‖ have a nagging feeling that sometimes doing nothing …

The Misdirection Of Resources And The Current Recession, Mario J. Rizzo

Mario Rizzo

An analysis of the deficiencies of the stimulus pakage of February, 2009 from the point of view of a microeconomist.

Voodoo Multipliers Revisited: Public Policy For Recessions And Boomtimes, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

There is no abstract for this brief column.

Economic Growth And Business Cycles: The Labor Supply Decision With Two Types Of Technological Progress, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

An informal model is described that leads to multiple macroeconomic equilibria as a consequence of random variation in the relative amounts of technological change for new and existing goods. The novel observation is that the rate of introduction and market penetration of new goods vis-a-vis technological advance for existing goods importantly affects the labor supply decision. A relatively rapid influx of new goods will generally increase labor supply, while relatively more technological advance for existing goods will reduce labor supply to the market. These impacts are seen to provide insights into Rostow's stages of growth. Short run variations in the …