International Economics Commons^™

The Effects Of Trade Competition On Health, And Determinants Of Workplace Behavior, Thomas Clayton Mcmanus

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation consists of three essays related to workplace behavior. In the first paper, we design a controlled laboratory experiment to study image motives in a setting where decisions signal intelligence. The experiment results show that in some settings social scrutiny can discourage individuals from making choices that signal their intelligence, despite evidence that the signal was privately valuable. In the second paper, we study the effect of Chinese import competition on occupational safety and health at US manufacturers. We find that a change in US trade policy and Chinese import shocks significantly increases worker injury and illness rates in …

Gender Bias In Microlending: Do Opposites Attract?, Kanyinsola Adepoju

Master's Theses

This study exploits a quasi-random assignment of clients to loan officers using a unique database and survey from a large microfinance bank in Nigeria to show that opposite-sex preferences affect credit demand and supply. We find that clients matched to loan officers of the opposite gender are more likely to receive credit and are more likely to return for an additional loan with the credit lender.

An Analysis Of The Sales Cycle: A Case Of A Cloud-Computing Us Mnc, Matthew Walsh

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates sales techniques used during the sales cycle at a leading global provider of mobile workforce solutions for service-based business of all sizes. At the multi-national corporation, a publicly traded company, business solutions are delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS). This study focuses on “Enterprise” customers, fleets of over 100 vehicles, and examines how leads are converted to opportunities and opportunities to sales. Characteristics of the customer, such as, aforementioned fleet size, SIC code, number of employees, region, and annual revenue are examined in an effort to tailor the marketing process when targeting large customers. Additionally, the study looks at …

Hdi In Transition Countries: A Panel Data Analysis, Narine Hagopian

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the factors that have the ability to affect development in transition countries. The study incorporates the human development index to examine the influence of outside variables to human development within transition countries. The study looks at a variety of contributing factors such as the Gini coefficient, federal direct investment levels, world governance contributors, health expenditure per capita, personal remittance levels among a few other contributors. Focusing on transition countries, which evolved after the breakup of the Soviet Union, this study aims to understand human development in twelve of the fourteen former Soviet Republics. Using data from the …

The Role Of Fdi, Oda, Remittances, And Institutions On Economic Development In Developing Countries, William Manak

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper seeks to evaluate the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), official development assistance (ODA), and migrant remittances to economic growth in developing countries, while also taking into account the qualities of the institutions of the countries. This study uses the linear system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method as developed by Blundell and Bond (1998). Current research has been focused on adding institutions to growth models to understand how institutional quality can help improve outcomes in developing countries. This paper plans to further the discussion on how institutional quality affects FDI, ODA, and remittances. Institutional quality is measured …

Financial Deepening On Economic Growth And Productivity In Sub-Saharan Africa, Yaawa Jallow

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates impact of financial deepening on economic growth and productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. The study uses variables from various studies that are said to most likely impact economic growth and productivity in a country. This study uses a Panel Data analysis to examine the impact of these variables especially financial deepening on both economic growth and productivity. The fixed effect and random effect model both suggest that overall financial deepening has a positive impact on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The study also suggest that financial deepening has a positive effect on productivity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Evaluation Of Company Performance Post Acquisition Or Merger In The United States, Harry Waterton

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper answers the question surrounding whether or not company performance for the acquiring company improves or worsens post-merger or acquisition. This will be calculated using two separate but related financial performance tools, return on equity and return on assets. The investigation will span over a 5 year period starting the year of 2010 and end at the closing of the fourth quarter of 2014, and will contain all mergers and acquisitions between $300 million and $2 billion that took place across all sectors in America. The results conclude that acquisitions do not financially benefit the acquirer in the short …

The Impact Of Innovation And Technology On The Economic Growth In Oecd Countries, Boqian Yin

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the impacts of innovation and technology on the economic growth in the OECD countries. This study is based on the economic growth model from the previous research study from the innovation – economic growth nexus: Global evidence (L. Hasan, et al.). We tried to adjust the original model by substituting a fee variables and focusing only in the OECD nations. In addition, we expect the results to show a positive between the evolution of innovation and technology on economic development in the 34 OECD countries from time period of 1991 to 2012. Moreover, we want to analyze …

Determinants Of Fdi And Economic Integration In Sub-Saharan Africa, Lachlan Davis

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the effects of economic integration, FDI and increased trade liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is a region notorious for low human development indexes, slow economic grown and high levels of corruption. Ever since the inception of western aid and corporate interests, the region has no developed at we should expect. This paper will look to find the effects of increased “globalization” in the region and attempt to suggest reasons for the developmental challenges rampant in this region of the world. I expect to find that even though development has increased in some areas (for variables such …

Corporate Tax Rates: Causes For Tax Rate Discrepancies At The Firm Level, Matthew G. Zanotta

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the relationship between a corporation’s tax rate and a number of different variables. The variables chosen were assets, sales, property, plant, and equipment (PPE), inventory, research and development (R&D), and return on assets (ROA). The model incorporates each of these variables to find a correlation to corporate tax rates. These specific variables were chosen to represent firm size (assets at book value), financial leverage, capital structure (PPE to assets), and inventory investment (inventory to assets). The other two variables, R&D (R&D to net sales), and profitability (ROA) were chosen because of their direct value. The results from …

Monetary Policy Rules In Zero Nominal Interest Rate Environments: Exiting The Zero Bound, Sean Lambert

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The zero bound of nominal interest is known as a liquidity trap, where expansions in the monetary base no longer are effective in lowering the nominal interest rate. This takes away the main tool of traditional monetary policy, and eliminates the ability of monetary policy to stabilize economic conditions. It has been noted that monetary policy rules, such as the Taylor Rule, fail in this situation. The Federal Reserve of the United States solved this problem by massively increasing the monetary base even after the zero bound was reached. Yet another problem loomed even as the economy began to stabilize: …

Inequality, Poverty And Economic Growth In Different Income Classifications, Alexandra Zhang

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper defines the relationship between inequality and economic development, analyzes the impact of economic growth on income inequality and poverty rate. The study uses different indicators and panel data over 10 years and across 46 countries worldwide. As the Kuznets Curve suggested, a country’s inequality level and economic development share a non-linear relationship. The author applies this concept to 3 different models and found different results between low and middle-income countries and high-income countries. In result, this study confirms the Kuznets law as the author finds an unequal income distribution in low and middle-income countries.

The Effects Of Oil Shocks On Total Government Expenditure: A Var Approach, Thomas Mullally

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper aims to examine the relationship between oil price and oil revenue shocks and government expenditures in Venezuela. In order to analyze the relationship between these variables, this study uses a VAR approach. This study aims to find a positive relationship between oil revenues and government expenditures, which will show how countries adjust their public sector spending activities in order to account for changes in demand for oil.

The Impact Of Minimum Wage On Female Labor Participation Rate In The United States, Nguyen Tran-Nguyen

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study looks at the relationship between minimum wage and female labor participation rate in the recent years from 1990 to 2014. The study incorporates results from a multivariate regression model as well as other similar studies in the field to see whether or not an increase in minimum wage would benefit female labor participation. It is expecting to see a positive correlation between those two variables, as minimum wage increase would benefit teenage female workers and adult female workers.

Educational Attainment And The Impact Of Financial Crisis On European Youth Unemployment, Matthew Mcintyre

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates some of the underlying causes of the drastic increase of youth unemployment from before the 2008 financial crisis to after the crisis. The purpose of the study is to discover what determinants had the largest impact on youth unemployment before and after the crisis. The study also attempts to differentiate between youth unemployment on a primary, secondary, and tertiary level of education, and establish the extent that each group is at risk for unemployment. It is expected that the financial crisis will have a positive and significant impact on unemployment for those with lower education levels, while …

Economic Reforms, Governance And Fdi: The Case Of The Unasur, Pedro E. Rodriguez

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Since the early 2000s, member countries of the Union of South America Nations (UNASUR) have moved drastically to the left of the political spectrum and have implemented protectionist economic reforms. Contrary to what many studies and scholars have concluded, the political realignment of the region and the implementation of protectionist policies has had a positive effect on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the region. For the past two decades, total FDI inflows into the region has increased drastically from $8 billion to $150 billion. This study found that there is a combination of both economic reform and governance variables …

It's All In The Mail: The Economic Geography Of The German Empire, Florian Ploeckl

Florian Ploeckl