Economics Commons^™

Marketing Strategy For Unusual Brand Differentiation: Trivial Attribute Effect, M. Deniz Dalman, Junhong Min

College of Business Publications

This research investigates that brand differentiation creating superior values can be achieved not only by adding meaningful attributes but also meaningless attributes, which is called “trivial attribute effect.” Two studies provided empirical evidences as following; first, trivial attribute effect creates a strong brand differentiation even after subjects realize that trivial attribute has no value. Second, trivial attribute effect is more pronounced in hedonic service category compared to the utilitarian category. Last, the amount of willingness to pay is higher when trivial attribute is presented and evaluated in joint evaluation mode than separate evaluation mode. Finally, we conclude with discussion and …

Do Increases In Oil Prices Precede U.S. Recessions?, Thanyalak Suthijindawong

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This thesis examines the relationship between oil prices and economic activity, and it attempts to address the question: do increases in oil prices (oil shocks) precede U.S. recessions? This paper also applied macroeconomics, either through the direct use of a macroeconomic point of view or using a combination of mathematical and statistical models. Two mathematical and statistical models are used to determine the ability of oil prices to predict recessions in the United States. First, using the binary cyclical (Bry-Boschan method) indicator procedure to test the turning point of oil prices compared with turning points in GDP finds that oil …

A Study On Regional Circular Economy System And Its Construction, Operation And Suggestion For Shanghai, Di Wu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The characteristics of the traditional linear economic model are high consumption, high emission and low efficiency. Economic development is still largely at the expense of the environment and requires a natural resource investment. This can realize rapid economic development but resource depletion and environmental pollution become increasingly serious. In the 1990's a new economic model, circular economics, began to enter our vision. The circular economy maximizes production and minimizes the impact of economic activities on the ecological environment through organizing the activities through the closed-loop feedback cycle of "resources - production - renewable resource". Circular economy is a better way …

Can China Use Alternative Energies Instead Of Coal To Provide More Electricity By 2030?, Yan Wu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Following the rapid growth of China's economy, energy consumption, especially electricity consumption of China, has made a huge increase in the past 30 years. Since China has been using coal as the major energy source to produce electricity during these years, environmental problems have become more and more serious. The research question for this paper is: "Can China use alternative energies instead of coal to produce more electricity in 2030?" Hydro power, nuclear power, natural gas, wind power and solar power are considered as the possible and most popular alternative energies for the current situation of China. To answer the …

The Domestic Natural Gas Shortage In China, Ting Guo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This thesis analyzes the domestic shortage in the Chinese natural gas market. Both the domestic supply and demand of natural gas are growing fast in China. However, the supply cannot catch up with the demand. Under the present pricing mechanism, the Chinese natural gas market cannot get the equilibrium by itself. Expensive imports are inadequate to fill the increasing gap between the domestic demand and supply. Therefore, the shortage problem occurs. Since the energy gap can result in the arrested development of economics, the shortage problem need to be solved. This thesis gives three suggestions to solve the problem: the …

Economic Profitability Of The Bakken, North Dakota Unconventional Oil Plays Based On A Typical Well Performance With Current Market Conditions, Mehmet Apaydin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Increases in oil prices after the economic recession have been surprising for domestic oil production in the United States since the beginning of 2009. Not only did the conventional oil extraction increase, but unconventional oil production and exploration also improved greatly with the favorable economic conditions. This favorable economy encourages companies to invest in new reservoirs and technological developments. Recently, enhanced drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been supporting the domestic economy by way of unconventional shale and tight oil from various U.S. locations. One of the main contributors to this oil boom is the unconventional oil …

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In Berwick, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Envision Berwick

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of Berwick, Maine. The event was held over the two-day period of October 14 and 16, 2015. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 16. This, the Coalition’s sixth annual design charrette. This produced conceptual designs for a mixed-use development that includes workforce housing for the charrette focus areas at the Prime Tanning and Estabrook School sites in Berwick, Maine.

The Challenge Of Occupational Safety And Health In Greece, Foster Rinefort, David Boggs, Joseph Petrick, Berkwood M. Farmer

Economics Faculty Publications

This study examines the managerial challenges and economic contexts of occupational safety and health in Greece as a dimension of national labor standards and working conditions. Empirical data is provided to document areas of Greek occupational safety and health concern. Recommended Greek occupational safety and health best practices are provided to address workplace safety issues and promote sustained economic productivity.

An Exploratory Statistical Analysis Of Nasdaq Provided Trade Data, Michael Foley

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Since Benoit Mandelbrot's discovery of the fractal nature of financial price series, the quantitative analysis of financial markets has been an area of increasing interest for scientists, traders, and regulators. Further, major technological advances over this time have facilitated not only financial innovations, but also the computational ability to analyze and model markets.

The stylized facts are qualitative statistical signatures of financial market data that hold true across different stocks and over many different timescales. In pursuit of a mechanistic understanding of markets, we look to accurately quantify such statistics. With this quantification, we can test computational market models against …

No. 67: Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective Violence And Xenophobia In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

The remarkable growth of informal migrant entrepreneurship in South Africa since 1990 would have been much lauded had it not been for the striking detail that the actors in question are seen as “foreigners” or “outsiders”. As such, they are uniformly viewed as undesirable and disadvantaging poor South African citizens. The growing presence of migrants in the informal sector has created various tensions in South Africa, including in government circles, ignoring the fact that in the free market economy of South Africa, immigrants and refugees, like citizens and commercial enterprises, would otherwise enjoy the freedom to establish, operate and expand …

No. 65: Brain Drain And Regain: The Migration Behaviour Of South African Medical Professionals, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Ivy Bourgeault, Ronald Labonté, Gail Tomblin Murphy

Southern African Migration Programme

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that …

No. 66: Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Denialism, Minimalism, Realism, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

Violent xenophobia has become a regular feature of South African life. Everyday animosity frequently spills over into violence against individual migrants and refugees and their economic enterprises. Some of these incidents reach the scrutiny of the media and officialdom, but most remain invisible and unremarked. The fact that most of the violence occurs in marginal urban locations of informal settlements, townships and inner-city suburbs in South Africa has prompted intense debate over the nomenclature and identification of the underlying causes. Explanations for the large-scale anti-migrant violence that swept the country in May 2008, and continues in more isolated and sporadic …

Determinants Of Undergraduate Gpa And Persistence At Connecticut College, Patrick Russo

Economics Honors Papers

This thesis uses a unique dataset of five class-years to determine the factors that affect the academic experience of students at Connecticut College, particularly their cumulative grade point averages (CGPA) and persistence into sophomore year. Chapter I examines how changes in high school inputs affect students’ performance at Connecticut College. This chapter finds that high school inputs (viz., pupil-teacher ratio, total expenditure per pupil, and expenditure on teacher salaries per pupil) have a significant effect on college GPA even after controlling for demographics and prior academic performance. Chapter II examines the factors affecting persistence at Connecticut College. It …

Foreign Direct Investment And Total Factor Productivity In The Mining Sector: The Case Of Chile, Prince Stanislas Ilboudo

Economics Honors Papers

This thesis investigates the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in the Mining Sector of Chile. We use the Solow model and developed a Cobb-Douglas production function to estimate total output as a function of labor, capital and productivity. Hence, TFP is the portion of output that is not attributed to labor or capital and it is derived as the Solow ‘residual’. We estimate the capital variable as a function of capital stock corrected for depreciation and utilization rate. We derive the labor variable as a function of hours worked corrected for quality (education …

Family Dynamics In Vietnam, Linh Vu

Economics Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Dialogues With The Informal City: Latin America And The Caribbean, Ariel C. Armony, Adib Cure, Carie Penabad

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

This publication, based on the symposium Dialogues with the Informal City: Latin America and the Caribbean, connects a range of fundamental themes affecting the current conditions and future of Latin America’s growing informal cities and, by extension, the rising global urban population. Informal cities can be described as settlements frequently characterized by organic physical patterns built incrementally over time as the needs and circumstances of a community change. While undeniably precarious in construction, informal cities exhibit underlying urban and architectural patterns of remarkable resilience; moreover, they reflect their inhabitants’ enduring cultural values. While seriously affected by poverty and violence, …

Crossroads Rhode Island: Proposed Social Enterprise Business Plan, Joel Cooper, Joe Brookes, Darci Lake, Victoria Fernandez, Matt Rosenfield, Arnold Robinson

Business

Crossroads Rhode Island provides their clients with a continuum of care that includes basic emergency needs, shelter, housing, case management and vocational services for individuals and families. In order to provide these services they rely on the generosity of their donors and supporters who have helped Crossroads to become the largest homeless services organization in Rhode Island. It is important to Crossroads that they stick to their core values of safety, respect, and effectiveness when helping the homeless or at-risk individuals and families secure stable homes.

Part 7: The Answer Is Always "Yes": How Our Cities Repeatedly Ignore The Evidence And Choose To Construct Unprofitable And Unneeded New Convention And Hotel Capacity, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

In a related chapter, we point out that our cities persistently ignore available evidence and choose to provide large financial subsidies for arenas, stadiums, convention centers and hotels.

Part 4: Homeless Children In Hampton Roads: Estimating The Costs To Society, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

More than 22 percent of homeless people are children under age 18. We focus on the work of the organization ForKids Inc. as a way to estimate these costs and benefits of homelessness to society.

Part 2: Mixed Signals: Migration Data And Regional Economic Vitality, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

Between 2010 and 2013, our region experienced net out-migration, after taking account of births and deaths. We are, however, attracting many new immigrants from abroad.