Digital Commons Network^™

From Productivity To Firm Growth, James Bessen, Erich Denk

Faculty Scholarship

It is widely held that more productive firms grow faster, thus reallocating resources and raising aggregate productivity. Yet little empirical research identifies the features of the mechanisms affecting this process. This paper develops and tests a general model encompassing several mechanisms used to overcome informational frictions to growth. We find that firm size, productivity dispersion, and large firm investments in intangibles are all significantly related to changes in firm growth in response to productivity. These factors can account for much of the decline in the response to productivity since 2000 (Decker et al. 2020). Also, industry concentration is directly related …

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Increase School Enrollment? Evidence From Brazil, Jeanette L. Silvernale

Master's Theses

Conditional cash transfer programs have been widely deployed across the globe. They seek to bolster human capital by providing benefits contingent upon a variety of actions such as school attendance and regular health checkups. Bolsa Familia is the most extensive conditional cash transfer program, serving 46 million Brazilian citizens. Despite its expansive size, there have been seldom large-scale micro evaluations of the program. Limited data has resulted in small sample sizes drawn from a single point in time. Our study diverges from the rest and utilizes a novel administrative dataset with an overall sample of nearly 60 million and a …

Regional Wage Inequality In Egypt: Relationships To Micro And Macro Indicators, Noha Mostafa

Theses and Dissertations

Addressing regional disparities in Egypt is of paramount importance for the country’s success in achieving the pillars of its 2030 strategy, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper focuses on examining regional disparities in wages, not only in relation to the micro level characteristics of workers such as their level of educational attainment and acquired experience, but also with regard to the overall economic conditions of the region where they work. The paper compiled a novel dataset of Egypt’s governorates macroeconomic indicators that includes the shares of public investment funds, poverty and unemployment rates and analyzed the …

Financial And Trade Relationships Between The Eurozone And China In The Age Of Resilience, Alessandro Del Ponte, Paolo Canofari, Audrey De Dominicis

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

How did the financial and trade ties between China and the Eurozone develop in the aftermath of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis? We analyze these trends until the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we examine the financial and trade dynamics between the two currency areas and analyze the related risks and opportunities. The data point to several patterns. We find that financial volatility in China has been substantially greater than in the Eurozone. Even so, the largest and strongest Eurozone economies – France and Germany- …

Towards Consumer-Oriented Mushroom-Based Product Development: An Exploratory Study In Rice-Based Farming Communities In Central Luzon, Philippines, Josefina F. Ballesteros, Rosaly V. Manaois, Amelia V. Morales, Riza Abilgos-Ramos

Journal of Economics, Management and Agricultural Development

This study determined consumers’ awareness and interest towards mushroom and mushroom-based product ideas. A survey of 222 adults was conducted in rice-based farming communities in selected provinces, namely, Aurora,
Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga. Results showed that taste, nutritional, and health benefits were the top attributes considered by both sexes whenever they buy food for household consumption. Most of the respondents (99%) liked eating mushroom because of its palatability (71%) and perceived healthiness (26%). However, the majority (76%) consumed mushrooms only once a month or seldom in a year due to its limited availability. Food supplements, coffee-like beverages, and snacks …

Is It Fair That Advanced Workers Get Paid Disproportionally More: Economic Analysis, Olga Kosheleva, Sean R. Aguilar

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

On the one hand, everyone agrees that economics should be fair, that workers should get equal pay for equal work. Any instance of unfairness causes a strong disagreement. On the other hand, in many companies, advanced workers -- who produce more than others -- get paid dispropotionally more for their work, and this does not seem to cause any negative feelings. In this paper, we analyze this situation from the economic viewpoint. We show that from this viewpoint, additional payments for advanced workers indeed make economic sense, benefit everyone, and thus -- in contrast to the naive literal interpretation of …

(Wp 2021-05) Heterogeneity In Individual Expectations, Sentiment, And Constant-Gain Learning, Stephen J. Cole, Fabio Milani

Economics Working Papers

This paper uses adaptive learning to understand the heterogeneity of individual-level expectations. We exploit individual Survey of Professional Forecasters data on output and inflation forecasts. We endow all forecasters with the same information set that they would have as economic agents in a benchmark New Keynesian model. Forecasters are, however, allowed to differ in the constant gain values that they use to update their beliefs and in their sentiments. The latter are defined as the degrees of excess optimism or pessimism about the economy that cannot be justified by the learning model. Our results highlight the heterogeneity in the gain …

The Predictive Power Of Banks' Liquidity On Profitability In Nigeria, Okonta Sunday Ukeje Ph.D

Bullion

This study investigated the predictive power of banks' statutory liquidity on their protability in Nigeria between 1990 and 2019. The vector autoregression and variance decomposition methodology were employed. The findings showed that a change in return on asset (ROA) was weakly associated with itself, with liquidity variables, liquidity risk and real gross domestic product growth rates. In a five-year prediction, a 100% change in ROA was explained by itself in the short run. Other variables showed strong exogeneity with ROA, from short to long-run, an indication that banks in Nigeria face bleak future in using statutory liquidity to positively and …

Understanding Balance Of Payments And Its Link With Monetary Policy In Nigeria, Ocheuje Leonard Pius

Bullion

Developments in the balance of payments of any country is generally of interest to national policymakers, international investors, financial and economic analysts as well as international financial institutions. In recent times, Nigeria recorded persistent current account as well as overall BOP decits and these created discomfort among policy makers with regards to its sustainability and possible implications for the economy. This paper explores some of the major developments and trends in Nigeria's BOP as well as their interrelationship with other macroeconomic accounts. It also provided clarity to the structure and components of Nigeria's BOP statistics as compiled in line with …

Financing Public Deficits In Nigeria: Groping In The Dark For Taxation, Umar Elems Mahmud Ph.D

Bullion

The objective of this study is to conduct an expository examination of the inhibitions of voluntary tax compliance and to explore prospects of leapfrogging tax contribution from its posterior position, given the lacunae in precious studies. In the descriptive research design, underpinned by the range of structural-functionalist and expectancy theories, salient among the findings of the study is the diminished contribution of taxation to Nigeria's GDP and total revenue due to weak institutional framework and “faded” enthusiasm of taxpayers. In the circumstance of the situation, and until drastic reforms are successfully executed, Nigeria may be groping in the dark, in …

Capital Formation And Economic Growth In Nigeria: An Empirical Re-Examination, Emmanuel Ating Onwiodiokit Ph.D, Gabriel Efe Otolorin

Bullion

This study re-examines the impact of capital formation on Nigeria's economic growth. The paper adopts the Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) technique on annual time series data covering the period 1981 to 2018. Infrastructure, health and skills competitiveness indices computed from the global competitiveness reports were adapted to capture key specifics of physical and human capital formation. The results from the DOLS show that gross fixed capital formation had a negative and significant impact on economic growth. The results also indicate that external debt and total labour force had a negative effect on economic growth. On the other hand, human …

Topology Identification In Distribution System Via Machine Learning Algorithms, Peyman Razmi, Mahdi Ghaemi Asl, Giorgio Canarella, Afsaneh Sadat Emami

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This paper contributes to the literature on topology identification (TI) in distribution networks and, in particular, on change detection in switching devices' status. The lack of measurements in distribution networks compared to transmission networks is a notable challenge. In this paper, we propose an approach to topology identification (TI) of distribution systems based on supervised machine learning (SML) algorithms. This methodology is capable of analyzing the feeder's voltage profile without requiring the utilization of sensors or any other extraneous measurement device. We show that machine learning algorithms can track the voltage profile's behavior in each feeder, detect the status of …

Budget Deficit And Economic Growth In Nigeria, A. D. Umaru, H. M. Aliero, M. Abubakar

Economic and Financial Review

This paper examines the relationship between budget deficit and economic growth in Nigeria, from a linear and non-linear perspective, using annual time series data from 1981 to 2019. The linear model, which involves the use of an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, was compared with a non-linear analysis, using a threshold autoregressive (TAR) model. The ARDL analysis reveals that the growth of national output is positively driven by the persistent budget deficit in Nigeria. This was substantiated by the TAR model which indicates that though budget deficit drives economic growth in Nigeria, the positive relationship holds only if the deficit …

Economic And Social Factors Of The Mexican Community In Queens, Robert Utzinger, Jose Higuera Lopez

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

In this project, we hope to better understand the educational needs of the local Mexican communities across New York. We have used data drawn from the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microsample to see how the community has changed over time. For this study, we have focused on the borough of Queens, New York, with a particular focus on several key factors such as the average individual income levels, education levels, and age. In time, this will be followed up with more detailed reports into aspects of health, poverty, and family characteristics.

Revisiting The Finance And Industrial Growth Nexus In Nigeria, E. A. Udeaja, E. O. Akanni, P. F. Offum

Economic and Financial Review

This paper re-examines the relationship between finance and industrial growth in Nigeria by including aggregate credit to the industrial sector and financial development index as additional variables into the industrial growth model. Using data spanning the last four decades, we apply the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to estimate an industrial growth model that accounts for the role of finance-related variables, while also controlling for the impact of electricity consumption and structural breaks. The key findings in the study are threefold. First, our results confirm that finance is a significant driver of industrial growth in Nigeria. Second, the …

Are Nigerian Banks Vulnerable To Oil Price Shocks? A Stress Test Approach, A. T. Odu, A. R Sanusi

Economic and Financial Review

This study empirically examines the vulnerability of the Nigerian banking industry to extreme, but plausible, adverse oil price shocks. A structural vector autoregressive (SVAR-X) is adopted to achieve this objective. The study period covers 2007Q1 – 2020Q4. The simulations assess the asset quality performance of DMBs, using the NPLs, under three scenarios (baseline, adverse and severely adverse). The findings suggest that the entire banking industry, as well as individual DMBs, are vulnerable to adverse oil price shocks. Accordingly, the study recommends, strict compliance with the single obligor limit, by commercial banks, to mitigate adverse effects of volatilities in crude oil …

On Financial Quotient: Theory And Empirical Analysis, Gang Sun

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Financial Quotient (FQ) has become a common topic of concern in the global academic, business and social communities, but at this stage, academic research on FQ and its education are still immature, theoretical depth and empirical support basis are shortage, and influence factors of FQ and the degree of influence of each factor have not been systematically studied. Therefore, there is a large gap between research and practice.

The purpose of this Paper is to construct a set of scientific and reasonable FQ index for individuals, to find factors that can influence or predict personal financial quotient (PFQ), and to …

Classical Theory Of Competitive Market Price Formation, Sabiou M. Inoua, Vernon L. Smith

ESI Working Papers

We offer an information theory of market price formation, formalizing and elaborating on an old, implicit, classical tradition of supply and demand based on buyers’ and sellers’ mone-tary valuations of commodities (formally their reservation prices) and competition as a multilat-eral higgling and bargaining process. The early laboratory market experiments, as it turns out with hindsight, established the remarkable stability, efficiency, and robustness of the old view of competitive price discovery, and not the neoclassical price theory (based on individual utility and profit maximization for given prices). Herein, we present a partial-equilibrium version of the the-ory in which wealth is implicitly …

Essays On Green Finance, Elsa Allman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chapter 1: Pricing Climate Change Risk in Corporate Bonds

Using a firm’s geographic footprint to measure its exposure to sea level rise (SLR), I find that corporate bonds bear a climate risk premium upon issuance. A one standard deviation increase in firms’ SLR exposure is associated with a 7 basis point premium, representing a 3% increase in average yield spread. This effect is more pronounced for geographically concentrated firms, within industries vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, and after the Paris Agreement. I do not find evidence that credit rating agencies account for SLR exposure at bond issuance. Results are robust …

Three Essays On Spatial Econometrics: The Matrix Exponential Spatial Specification, Ye Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis consists of three essays on the matrix exponential spatial specification. In the first essay, we study the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation of matrix exponential spatial specification(p,q) (MESS(p,q)). We extend the model to a general higher order case and derive its GMM estimator. The large sample properties are also studied. Under homoskedasticity a best GMM estimator (BGMME) is derived and shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Under heteroskedasticity an optimal GMM estimator (OGMME) is derived and shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal as well. Monte Carlo experiments that discuss the large sample properties of quasi-maximum …

Three Essays On Panel And Factor Models, Ji Feng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The dissertation includes three chapters on panel and factor models.

In the first chapter, we introduce a two-way linear random coefficient panel data models with fixed effects and the cross-sectional dependence. We follow the idea of the within-group fixed effects estimator to estimate parameters of interests. We establish the limiting distributions of the estimates and also propose the two-way heterogeneity bias test to check the desirability of the estimation strategy. The specification tests then are constructed to examine the existence of the slope heterogeneity and time-varyingness. We study the asymptotic properties of the specification tests and employ two bootstrap schemes …

Happy Lottery Winners And Lottery-Ticket Bias, Seonghoon Kim, Andrew J. Oswald

Research Collection School Of Economics

The world spends a remarkable $250 billion a year on lottery tickets. Yet, perplexingly, it has proved difficult for social scientists to show that lottery windfalls actually make people happier. This is the famous and still unresolved paradox due initially to Brickman and colleagues. Here we describe an underlying weakness that has affected the research area, and explain the concept of lottery‐ticket bias (LT bias), which stems from unobservable lottery spending. We then collect new data—in the world’s most intense lottery‐playing nation, Singapore—on the amount that people spend on lottery tickets (n = 5626). We demonstrate that, once we correct …

Institutional Investors’ Ownership Stability And Their Investee Firms’ Equity Mispricing, Hamid Sakaki, Surendranath Jory, Dave Jackson

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This study examines the impact of institutional investors' equity ownership stability and their investment horizon to determine the impact on their investee firms' equity mispricing. Mispricing represents the difference between a firm’s market and fundamental values. We treat institutional investors as a heterogenous group, i.e., dedicated, transient, or quasi-indexer as defined by Bushee, 1998, Bushee, 2001 since their categorization determines their trading strategy. Higher institutional ownership, higher stability in institutional investors' equity ownership, and institutional investors classified as long-term are all associated with lower equity mispricing at investee firms.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions And The Macroeconomy: Evidence From The Asean Region, Mari Joy M. Buenavista, Rosalina Palanca-Tan

Economics Department Faculty Publications

This paper examined the effects of income, trade, and foreign direct investments (FDI) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries for the period of 1970–2011 using the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) estimation method. The results of the study were consistent with the environmental Kuznet’s curve (EKC) hypothesis – CO2 emissions increase as per capita GDP increases up to a certain income threshold, beyond which further increase in income is accompanied by lower emissions. However, the threshold per capita GDP (estimated to be USD 20,017) is way above the income levels of …

Japanese Monetary Policy And Its Impact On Stock Market Implied Volatility During Pleasant And Unpleasant Weather, Marinela Adriana Finta

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We investigate the effect of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting releases on the intraday dynamics of the Nikkei Stock Average Volatility Index and its futures during pleasant and unpleasant weather. We show that at the time of a monetary policy release when the temperature is pleasant, there is a significant decline in Japanese equities' implied volatility and futures, which lasts for about 10 min and 5 min, respectively. This decline is longer and exhibits a greater variation when releases occur during cold days. Finally, we emphasize the achievable economic profits and losses, given the reaction of Nikkei VI futures to the …

Gender Differences In Risk, Social, And Competitive Preference. Experimental Evidence From Uzbekistan., Firuzjon Khayrulloev

Master's Theses

Most of the previous literature suggests that women are less competitive than men. However, I we hypothesize that women are as competitive as man when the incentive for winning equally matter for both genders. The option to share some of their winnings with other competitors may afford females benefit from rewards without suffering some of its potential costs. In this paper we conducted an experiment on 212 subjects and the results support our hypothesis. The gap in competitiveness between males and females vanishes when we allowed winners an opportunity to share some of their winnings. Overall, our work demonstrates that …

What Do Price Equations Say About Future Inflation?, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper uses an econometric approach to examine the inflation consequences of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Price equations are estimated and used to forecast future inflation. The main results are: 1) The data suggest that price equations should be specified in level form rather than in first or second difference form. 2) There is some slight evidence of nonlinear demand effects on prices. 3) There is no evidence that demand effects have gotten smaller over time. 4) The stimulus from the act combined with large wealth effects from past household savings, rising stock prices, and rising housing …

The Conditional Mode Estimator Of Technical Efficiency: Theory And Application To Nyc Public Schools, Yi Yang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies the properties of the conditional mode estimator of stochastic frontier models and applies it to measure technical inefficiency. It consists of two chapters. The first chapter analyzes the conditional mode estimator's closed-form expressions, convergence, near-minimax optimality when interpreted using Lasso, and selection rules. The second chapter applies the true fixed effect stochastic frontier model (Greene, 2005a,b) to analyze the persistent and transient technical inefficiencies of 425 NYC public middle schools for cohorts of students that graduated between 2014 to 2016.

The Political Economy Of Preferential Trade Agreements, Ross Castner Jestrab

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters on preferential trade agreements (PTAs). The first two chapters examine why countries sign PTAs with other countries, while the final chapter studies the effect of PTAs on imports.

The first chapter provides direct empirical evidence that PTAs are consistent with the terms-of-trade theory. In other words, PTAs internalize the temptation to increase tariffs when countries possess importer market power. Using PTAs that occur between 2001-2015, I study the formation of PTAs and the structure of first year PTA tariff cuts. I first show the likelihood of a PTA increases when both countries have …

Three Essays On The Housing Market, Tianyun Zhu

Dissertations - ALL

My dissertation comprises three essays on the housing market. The first two chapters analyze the housing market using the hedonic model. Chapter 1 estimates a semi-nonparametric hedonic regression that provides evidence for the change of bidding and sorting for job-access over time in Buffalo MSA. Based on the estimation result, a decomposition of the price change is implemented to shed light on how bidding and sorting contribute to the price change of a house with different job access respectively. Chapter 2 proposes an alternative approach which yields a likelihood-based estimator for implicit price elasticity of amenity demand. An application of …