Other Economics Commons^™

When Good Bankers Go Bad: Is Moral Hazard Evolutionarily Stable?, Atin Basuchoudhary, Troy Siemers, Sam Allen

Atin Basu Choudhary

We apply existing theory as a preliminary analysis of whether efficient contracts can evolve naturally. Any banker could belong to one of two cultures – patient and impatient. We suggest that the interaction of patient bankers with other patient bankers is a critical element in the success of efficient contracts while the interaction of impatient bankers with other impatient bankers leads to the spread of moral hazard in the banking system. We show that the success (or failure) of efficient contracts depends on the initial proportion of bankers who are part of the patient culture. We further show that regulatory …

A Multivariate Analysis Of The Causal Flow Between Renewable Energy Consumption And Gdp In Tunisia, Ousama Ben Salha, Maamar Sebri

Ousama Ben Salha

This paper examines the causality linkages between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and domestic investment in Tunisia between 1971 and 2010. Using the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration, long-run relationships between the variables are identified. The Granger causality analysis, on the other hand, indicates that there is bi-directional causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth, which supports the feedback hypothesis in Tunisia. In addition, the quantity of CO2 emissions collapses as a reaction to an increase in renewable energy consumption. These findings remain robust even when controlling for the presence of structural break. We conclude that …

On The Causal Dynamics Between Economic Growth, Renewable Energy Consumption, Co2 Emissions And Trade Openness: Fresh Evidence From Brics Countries, Maamar Sebri, Ousama Ben Salha

Ousama Ben Salha

The current study investigates the causal relationship between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in the BRICS countries over the period 1971-2010 within a multivariate framework. The ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration and vector error correction model (VECM) are used to examine the long-run and causal relationships between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, trade openness and carbon dioxide emissions. Empirical evidence shows that, based on the ARDL estimates, there exist long-run equilibrium relationships among the competing variables. Regarding the VECM results, bi-directional Granger causality exists between economic growth and renewable energy consumption, suggesting the feedback hypothesis, which can explain …

Do Market Incentives Crowd Out Charitable Giving?, Cary Deck, Erik O. Kimbrough

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Donations and volunteerism can be conceived as market transactions with a zero explicit price. However, evidence suggests people may not view zero as just another price when it comes to pro-social behavior. Thus, while markets might be expected to increase the supply of assets available to those in need, some worry such financial incentives will crowd out altruistic giving. This paper reports laboratory experiments directly investigating the degree to which market incentives crowd out large, discrete charitable donations in a setting related to deceased organ donation. The results suggest markets increase the supply of assets available to those in need. …

Discapacidad Y Desarrollo Humano En México: El Servicio Social Universitario Como Estrategia De Mejora, Ramiro Esqueda-Walle

Ramiro Esqueda-Walle

Valuing Beach And Surf Tourism And Recreation In Australian Sea Change Communities, David Anning, Dan Ware, Michael Raybould, Neil Lazarow

Michael Raybould

Many of Australia’s iconic sandy beaches are already under pressure due to coastal development and the impacts of severe storm or flood events. These impacts are likely to be exacerbated by projected climate changes such as elevated water levels and potentially increased storm intensity. Beaches provide important recreation services for both residents and tourists but few studies in Australia have attempted to place economic values on this service. Thus, coastal authorities that are forced to make investment decisions relating to beach protection and restoration have insufficient data to conduct cost-benefit evaluations of projects where recreation values are significant. This paper …

Dynamical Structure Of A Traditional Amazonian Social Network, Paul L. Hooper, Simon Dedeo, Ann E. Caldwell Hooper, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Reciprocity is a vital feature of social networks, but relatively little is known about its temporal structure or the mechanisms underlying its persistence in real world behavior. In pursuit of these two questions, we study the stationary and dynamical signals of reciprocity in a network of manioc beer (Spanish: chicha; Tsimane’: shocdye’) drinking events in a Tsimane’ village in lowland Bolivia. At the stationary level, our analysis reveals that social exchange within the community is heterogeneously patterned according to kinship and spatial proximity. A positive relationship between the frequencies at which two families host each other, controlling for kinship and …

Patent Value And Citations: Creative Destruction Or Strategic Disruption?, David S. Abrams, Ufuk Akcigit, Jillian Popadak

All Faculty Scholarship

Prior work suggests that more valuable patents are cited more and this view has become standard in the empirical innovation literature. Using an NPE-derived dataset with patent-specific revenues we find that the relationship of citations to value in fact forms an inverted-U, with fewer citations at the high end of value than in the middle. Since the value of patents is concentrated in those at the high end, this is a challenge to both the empirical literature and the intuition behind it. We attempt to explain this relationship with a simple model of innovation, allowing for both productive and strategic …

Application Of Sgt Family Distributions In Quasi Maximum Likelihood Estimation, Samuel Dodini

Undergraduate Economic Review

In the classical normal linear regression model, ordinary least squares estimators (OLS) will be consistent and achieve the Cramer-Rao lower bound for any unbiased estimators. This paper examines the impact of several other error distributions on the properties of the OLS estimators. Several different types of example data commonly available to students and researchers in economics are used to illustrate the impact of nonnormality, because, in application, the assumption of normality may not hold in empirical testing. Using maximum likelihood, I demonstrate that flexible probability density functions better model the residual distribution of different types of data, which suggests improvements …

Capital Cost Comparisons Between Low Impact Development (Lid) And Conventional Stormwater Management Systems In Florida, Daniel C. Penniman, Mark Hostetler, Tatiana Borisova, Glenn Acomb

Suburban Sustainability

Low impact development (LID), an ecologically sensitive development strategy and stormwater management (SWM) method, is beginning to be implemented in more suburban and metropolitan projects. However, construction firms that work in Florida have been relatively slow to adopt LID. One significant reason being that many professionals in the development community believe LID practices raise the cost of construction compared to conventional, “pipe and pond” methods. Our objective for this study was to determine how specific capital costs differed between LID and conventional SWM methods. We surveyed a group of LID-experienced design professionals to collect cost data from projects that were …

The "Play-Out" Effect And Preference Reversals: Evidence For Noisy Maximization, Joyce E. Berg, John Dickhaut, Thomas A. Rietz

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we document a "play-out" effect in preference reversal experiments. We compare data where preferences are elicited using (1) purely hypothetical gambles, (2) played-out, but unpaid gambles and (3) played-out gambles with truth-revealing monetary payments. We ask whether a model of stable preferences with random errors (e.g., expected utility with errors) can explain the data. The model is strongly rejected in data collected using purely hypothetical gambles. However, simply playing-out the gambles, even in the absence of payments, shifts the data pattern so that noisy maximization is no longer rejected. Inducing risk preferences using a lottery procedure, using …

Human Economic Choice As Costly Information Processing, John Dickhaut, Vernon L. Smith, Baohua Xin, Aldo Rustichini

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

We develop and test a model that provides a unified account of the neural processes underlying behavior in a classical economic choice task. The model describes in a stylized way brain processes engaged in evaluating information provided by the experimental stimuli, and produces a consistent account of several important features of the decision process in different environments: e.g., when the probability is specified or not (ambiguous choices). These features include the choices made, the time to decide, the error rate in choice, and the patterns of neural activation. The model predicts that the further two stimuli are from each other …

Economic Effects Of Successful Sports Franchises On Local Economies, Joshua Goodrich

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Currencies: An Examination Of The Usd And The Geoeconomics Of The International Monetary System, Cullen Millikin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

What is the future of the United States dollar within the international monetary system? The dollar has certainly enjoyed supremacy as a unit of account, store of value, and medium exchange since World War II, but what about new challengers (most notably the euro and Chinese yuan)? Using “geoeconomic” analysis to determine what strategies or actions a state might pursue in the international political economy can help to begin answering these questions. Geoeconomic considerations used in this paper do not dismiss cultural, political, or military aspects of international power relations, they supplements them. The short-run status of USD preeminence within …

Patterns Of Senescence In Human Cardiovascular Fitness: Vo2 Max In Subsistence And Industrialized Populations, Anne C. Pisor, Michael Gurven, Aaron D. Blackwell, Hillard Kaplan, Gandhi Yetish

ESI Publications

Objectives—This study explores whether cardiovascular fitness levels and senescent decline are similar in the Tsimane of Bolivia and Canadians, as well as other subsistence and industrialized populations. Among Tsimane, we examine whether morbidity predicts lower levels and faster decline of cardiovascular fitness, or whether their lifestyle (e.g., high physical activity) promotes high levels and slow decline. Alternatively, high activity levels and morbidity might counterbalance such that Tsimane fitness levels and decline are similar to those in industrialized populations.

Methods—Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated using a step test heart rate method for 701 participants. We compared these estimates …

Seeds Of A New Economy? A Qualitative Investigation Of Diverse Economic Practices Within Community Supported Agriculture And Community Supported Enterprise, Ted White

Open Access Dissertations

Amidst widespread feelings that capitalism is a deeply problematic yet necessary approach to economy, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has emerged as both an alternative model for farming and as an increasingly visible and viable model for alternative economy. Using qualitative methods, this doctoral research explores and documents how CSA has become a productive space for economic innovation and practice that emphasizes interdependence, camaraderie and community well-being rather than hierarchical control and private gain. This study also examines how the many participants of CSA have built an identity for CSA--branding it via autonomous and collective efforts. This has resulted in CSA …

Age-Independent Increases In Male Salivary Testosterone During Horticultural Activity Among Tsimane Forager-Farmers, Benjamin C. Trumble, Daniel K. Cummings, Kathleen A. O'Connor, Darryl J. Holman, Eric A. Smith, Hillard Kaplan, Michael D. Gurven

ESI Publications

Testosterone plays an important role in mediating male reproductive trade-offs in many vertebrate species, augmenting muscle and influencing behavior necessary for male-male competition and mating-effort. Among humans, testosterone may also play a key role in facilitating male provisioning of offspring as muscular and neuromuscular performance are deeply influenced by acute changes in testosterone. This study examines acute changes in salivary testosterone among 63 Tsimane men ranging in age from 16–80 (mean 38.2) years during one-hour bouts of treechopping while clearing horticultural plots. The Tsimane forager-horticulturalists living in the Bolivian Amazon experience high energy expenditure associated with food production, have high …

Puppy Mill Closure: The Economic Impact On A Local Community, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

When a substandard dog-breeding facility (a puppy mill) closes, removing the dogs can drain the financial resources of a community, local animal welfare entities, and large humane organizations. Towns rarely derive any benefit from puppy mills, as they employ few staff, often don’t pay required taxes or license fees, generate much animal waste and pollution, and cause unpleasant odors and noise. Once a major puppy mill enterprise is discovered, many communities don’t have the necessary resources to handle the situation. Prevention is the key, and communities should discourage large scale breeding facilities from locating in their area.

Effects Of Shoe Donations On Children’S Time Allocation Toms Shoes In El Salvador, Flor Calvo

Master's Theses

What are the impacts of TOMS shoe donations in rural El Salvador? This paper tries to answer the question by studying the changes in time allocation among children age 6 to 12 years in El Salvador. By taking advantage of a Randomized Control Trial performed between January 15, 2012 and February 21, 2013 I study time allocation differences between baseline and follow-up periods among treatment and control groups. The primary findings of the study show that children part of treatment communities reduced the time spent on school related activities by approximately 0.657 hours per day while increasing the time spent …

Four Essays Of Environmental Risk-Mitigation, Chiradip Chatterjee

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expected damages of environmental risks depend both on their intensities and probabilities. There is very little control over probabilities of climate related disasters such as hurricanes. Therefore, researchers of social science are interested identifying preparation and mitigation measures that build human resilience to disasters and avoid serious loss. Conversely, environmental degradation, which is a process through which the natural environment is compromised in some way, has been accelerated by human activities. As scientists are finding effective ways on how to prevent and reduce pollution, the society often fails to adopt these effective preventive methods. Researchers of psychological and contextual characterization …

Different Uses Of Microfinance Among Conventional And Islamic Borrowers: Evidence From Jordan, Ngan Bui

Master's Theses

The paper focuses on investment decisions made by microfinance borrowers in Jordan. While there has been a lot of literature concentrating on the level of investment after credit access was made available, there has been very limited research on the impact of Islamic microfinance. The amount of literature comparing Islamic financing and its conventional counterpart is even more uncommon. This study will look at how conventional and Islamic borrowers differ in their decisions pertaining to business investments, home improvement projects and consumer durable goods. Results show that microfinance loan take-ups do lead to a higher probability of business investments. In …

Incentives To Improve Economic Conditions: A Field Experiment In Medellin, Colombia, Lauren Skora

Master's Theses

The motivation for this research is to replicate the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) and to test the components of this model. The FII program claims its success stems from a bottom-up approach structured around setting life-improving goals, mutual support groups, and small monetary incentives to achieve results. As the popularity of this program continues to gain momentum in the United States, we designed a field experiment to measure the impact of incentives on goal achievement and economic conditions as well as the overall impact of the FII model. We enrolled close to 200 small business owners in four …

Terrorism And Illicit Drug Prices: Does A Drug-Terror Nexus Exist? A Regression Analysis Of The Relationship Between Illicit Drug Prices And Terrorist Events, Abigail Burnette

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, global counterterrorism policies have increasingly targeted terrorist financing sources. These increased financial counterterrorism regulations have diverted the traditional sources and methods of terrorist funding, including illicit drug revenue streams. The purpose of this paper is to measure the relationship between terrorist events (both domestic and transnational) and the prices of cocaine and heroin. Using regression analysis, I find that the annual U.S. illicit drug prices of heroin are statistically significant with domestic and transnational terrorist events. These results suggest that future counterterrorism policies should continue to be used in …

Corporate Humanitarian Partnerships, Rebecca C. Keyes

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Why Risk It? The Effect Of Risk And Time Preferences On Microfinance Loan Default, Nike Start

Nike Start

Microfinance is widely recognized as a powerful method for poverty alleviation. However, little is known about the characteristics of those who default on their loans. Understanding the behavior of borrowers is an important component of mitigating adverse selection and the moral hazard of lending. Both of these concepts embody some of the greatest challenges faced by microfinance institutions, and they provide the major motivation for this study. Accordingly, the main objective of this research is to investigate whether non-delinquent borrowers and delinquent borrowers of a microfinance institution reveal any difference in their level of risk preference and time preference. This …

La Captura De Rentas Y La Defensa De Lo Público, Alfredo Bateman

Alfredo Bateman

No abstract provided.

Idaho Land Use/Regulation & Off Road Highway Vehicle Use, Johnny Whittemore, Raul Ramirez, Kellen Hill, David Welsh, Jeff Dee

College of Business and Economics Poster Presentations

In the last twenty-five years, Idaho has noticed a dramatic increase in the usage of motorized vehicles in Idaho’s backcountry. This land has mass appeal for its remote wilderness qualities that include hiking, fishing, hunting, and other recreational activities. To accommodate the increased amount of off-road vehicles, Idaho’s government agencies have found it difficult to designate cohesive usages of the land. With the expansion of ATV use in Idaho backcountry, ecological damages have progressively gotten worse. In order to address these damages, in 2005 travel management plans were implemented for future ATV usage. Because these restrictions were put in place, …

Why Risk It? The Effect Of Risk And Time Preferences On Microfinance Loan Default, Nike Start

Master's Theses

Microfinance is widely recognized as a powerful method for poverty

alleviation. However, little is known about the characteristics of those who

default on their loans. Understanding the behavior of borrowers is an important

component of mitigating adverse selection and the moral hazard of lending. Both

of these concepts embody some of the greatest challenges faced by microfinance

institutions, and they provide the major motivation for this study. Accordingly,

the main objective of this research is to investigate whether non-delinquent

borrowers and delinquent borrowers of a microfinance institution reveal any

difference in their level of risk preference and time preference. This …

The Existence Of State Dependence And Switching Costs In The Transition From Myspace To Facebook, Taryn M. Ohashi

Scripps Senior Theses

In this paper, I examine the existence and roles of state dependence and switching costs in the mass transition from MySpace to Facebook during the 2007-2008 time period. Using a dataset that compiles individual browsing behavior and a discrete multinomial logit model, I find precise, yet extremely small amounts of state dependence for users of only MySpace, of only Facebook, and users of both MySpace and Facebook. Positive state dependence directly implies the existence of switching costs for each firm. While there is an abundance of literature regarding switching costs in the brick and mortar setting with tangible products and …

Fostering The Orphaned And Vulnerable Child: Exploring Identity Economics In Relation To Orphaned And Vulnerable Children In The Eastern Cape And Cape Town, South Africa, Khaliyah Yasmeen Washington

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

According to UNICEF, 3.7 million children are orphaned in South Africa (2010). Parliament enacted the Children’s Act on April 1, 2010 to grant and protect the rights orphaned or vulnerable children (OVC). The Children’s Act aims to promote the well being of children, prevent abuse or neglect, and increase options for the care of children found to be in need or care and protection (Jamieson, Mahery, and Scott 2011). Children not receiving care and protection from a parent or guardian are placed in one of three options of alternative care. One being child and youth care centers (CYCC); also known …