Economic Theory Commons^™

Cryptocurrencies As An Alternative To Fiat Monetary Systems, David A. Georgeson

Applied Economics Theses

The recent popularity of cryptocurrencies is largely associated with a particular application referred to as Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency has a mix of properties that make it difficult to examine. These properties consist of being infinitely divisible, durable, transferable, fungible and can be controlled to be artificially scarce. Further, cryptocurrencies can act as a means of payment, a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account. This thesis will analyze the technical features underlying cryptocurrencies and find out whether or not they can function as an alternative to fiat money. Since Bitcoin is the most commonly understood application …

Are Prize-Linked Savings Accounts The Solution To Arkansas' Savings Problem?, Mckenzie Wages

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research finds that access to prize-linked savings could improve the financial security of Arkansans. Prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts are nontraditional savings products that offer depositors the chance to win cash prizes instead of a typical interest rate return. Given the low median incomes, high liquid asset poverty rates, and high levels of underbanked and undereducated individuals in Arkansas, there is a need for an innovative savings solution like PLS in the state. PLS accounts capitalize on individuals’ propensity for lottery-like risk-taking to inspire the productive behavior of personal saving. A wide range of individuals, especially those who could stand …

Essays On Wealth Inequality And Asset Pricing, Georgios Koimisis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Economic and financial theories are often found to be in conflict with empirical evidence, suggesting revisions and elaborations of existing models. There are usually many revisions proposed in response to these "puzzles", but often the true resolution may be a factor not yet realized. This dissertation consists of three chapters and contributes to the explanation of a persistent and significant anomaly, the equity premium puzzle, by taking into account the implications of wealth inequality on consumer preferences and, consequently, on asset prices.

The first chapter examines how wealth inequality affects asset prices in a complete market setting. Wealth inequality is …

Public Principles And Economic Legacy, Stanley Schwartz

Channels: Where Disciplines Meet

2018 will mark the 60^th anniversary of the publication of Public Principles of Public Debt. The Nobel-prize winning economist’s first book conflicted with the Keynesian orthodoxy of the day, and added fresh ideas to an ongoing debate over the fundamentals of public debt theory. This paper seeks to outline the dialogue among leading economists surrounding public debt since the publication of Public Principles of Public Debt, examining the major schools of thought and their development. The ideas of John Maynard Keynes, James Buchanan, and Richard Barro will receive attention, without neglecting other significant contributions. The paper will …

The Rise And Fall Of The Stock Market: A Look At Financial Professionals Suicide Ideation, Jefferson Mcclain

Undergraduate Honors Theses

On October 24, 1929, the United States stock market crashed. Will Rogers, a local newspaper writer, said of that experience, “When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and spectators were selling space for bodies in the East River” (Lowenthal 1987). Tales of ruined stockbrokers jumping from the windows of tall buildings ran across the country. These stories have prompted interest in the interaction between workplace environment and mental health. In this study, we looked at the relationship between stock market performance and suicide ideation for working …

Revisiting M&M With Taxes: An Alternative Equilibrating Process, Zhichuan Li, Kenneth J. Kopecky, Timothy F. Sugrue, Alan Tucker

Business Publications

Modigliani and Miller present an equity-quantity shifting equilibrating process to achieve an optimal firm value in the presence of corporate taxes. However, in the era in which they derived their various propositions regarding the relation between a firm’s value and its capital structure, well-capitalized takeover specialists including private equity firms and sovereign funds did not exist, at least by today’s standards. In this paper we develop a simple arbitrage strategy, made viable by the presence of takeover firms, which presents an alternative equilibrating process to achieve the same optimal firm value. This alternative process is markedly different from that of …

International Reserves And Rollover Risk, Javier Bianchi, Juan Carlos Hatchondo, Leonardo Martinez

Leonardo Martinez

No abstract provided.

The Modigliani-Miller Theorem At 60: The Long-Overlooked Legal Applications Of Finance’S Foundational Theorem, Michael S. Knoll

All Faculty Scholarship

2018 marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller’s The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance, and the Theory of Investment. Widely hailed as the foundation of modern finance, their article, which purports to demonstrate that a firm’s value is independent of its capital structure, is little known by lawyers, including legal academics. That is unfortunate because the Modigliani-Miller capital structure irrelevancy proposition (when inverted) provides a framework that can be extremely useful to legal academics, practicing attorneys and judges.

Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers - Accession 1049, Dorothy Moser Medlin

Manuscript Collection

(The Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers are currently in processing.)

This collection contains most of the records of Dorothy Medlin’s work and correspondence and also includes reference materials, notes, microfilm, photographic negatives related both to her professional and personal life. Additions include a FLES Handbook, co-authored by Dorothy Medlin and a decorative mirror belonging to Dorothy Medlin.

Major series in this collection include: some original 18th century writings and ephemera and primary source material of André Morellet, extensive collection of secondary material on André Morellet's writings and translations, Winthrop related files, literary manuscripts and notes by Dorothy Medlin (1966-2011), copies …