Digital Commons Network^™

What Works In Forming A Successful Employer Resource Network?, Bridget Timmeney, Kevin Hollenbeck

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Failures In The Us Banking Industry, Joseph Trendowski

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation studies failures in the U.S. banking industry following the 2008 financial crisis. The dissertation offers an exhaustive review of the organizational failure literature, and changes in the banking industry environment over the past century. It takes three theoretical perspectives - institutional, industrial organization and resource-based view- to analyze failures in the banking industry.

The review and analysis allows me to trace the roots of recent bank failures to external (institutional, competitive) and internal (resource structure, strategy, risk) factors, and propose several hypotheses linking such factors with failures. The hypotheses are tested using a data-set that included all bank …

Developing Service Delivery Measures For Studies Of Practice Variation: The Mprove Study, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

OBJECTIVES: A growing body of evidence indicates that the delivery of public health activities varies widely across states and communities, creating missed opportunities for prevention as well as inequities in health protection. Consequently, HHS recently used a consensus-based process to develop a framework for improving quality in public health and to identify a set of nine priority areas for improvement. As next steps in operationalizing this framework, measures of quality in public health are needed to guide public health improvement initiatives and to support research on the comparative effectiveness of alternative public health strategies. This presentation profiles the methodology developed …

Technology In The Aid Of Delivering Economic Content To Teachers: Virtual Economics V. 3, John R. Swinton, Benjamin Scafidi

Faculty Articles

We examine the impact on student achievement of a face-to-face teacher workshop that also provides economics instructors with access to an electronic library of instructional and reference material for their economics classroom—Virtual Economics v. 3 (VE3), offered by the Council for Economic Education. Based on evidence using student and teacher-level administrative data from the Georgia Department of Education and controlling for students’ prior achievement in mathematics, we find evidence that the VE3 workshop experience increases student achievement in high school economics. Our difference-in-differences estimates suggest that teacher participation in the VE3 workshop increases student achievement by 0.061 standard deviations on …

2011 Economic Impact Of Jumpstart Inc. Portfolio And Client Companies, Ziona Austrian, Candice Clouse

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Simulating The Effects Of Michigan's Mega Tax Credit Program On Job Creation And Fiscal Benefits, Timothy J. Bartik, George A. Erickcek

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper simulates job and fiscal impacts of Michigan’s MEGA tax credit program for job creation. Under plausible assumptions about how such credits affect business location decisions, the net costs per job created of the MEGA program are simulated to be of modest size. The job creation impacts of MEGA are simulated to be considerably larger than devoting similar dollar resources to general business tax cuts. The simulation methodology developed here is applicable to incentives in other states.

Does Online Cross-Border Shopping Affect State Use Tax Liabilities?, Mikhail I. Melnik, James Alms

Faculty Articles

How does online cross-border shopping affect state use tax liabilities? We collect our own data on actual online cross-border shopping transactions from eBay.com, focusing upon a “representative” commodity classification and a “typical” day. These data allow us to examine the extent of actual online crossborder shopping by buyers, and the subsequent potential impact on state use tax liabilities of buyers. Our results indicate that online cross-border shopping is highly prevalent on eBay, with out-of-state purchases accounting for on average 94 percent of the volume of a state’s online purchase transactions. Even so, given the limited volume of eBay-based transactions relative …

The Full Cost Of Renewables: Managing Wind Integration Costs In California, William Savage

Pomona Senior Theses

Wind power will be an important component of California's aggressive strategies to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets by the year 2020. However, the costs of integrating wind power's variable and uncertain output are often ignored. I argue that California must take prudent action to understand, minimize, and allocate wind integration costs. A review of numerous studies suggests that for wind penetration levels below 20%, integration costs should remain modest. However, costs are heavily dependent on market structure, and I suggest numerous ways that California can optimize its market design to manage wind integration costs.

Short-Time Compensation: Factors Leading To Its Adoption And Its Success In Connecticut, William Kimball

Honors Scholar Theses

The recent financial crisis has reawakened the U.S to the possible effects of a rapid economic downturn. Poor economic conditions have forced both households and government to tighten their budgets. Still, unemployment persists and the growth rate of the U.S has not been as robust as past recoveries. Worksharing, or short-time compensation (STC), is an unemployment insurance program where a pool of workers shares a reduction in their hours to avoid layoffs. The program offers both benefits and possible issues for firms, employees and state governments alike. This paper attempts to determine why certain states have elected to adopt STC …

Behavioral Economics And Physician Behavior, Allyssa S. Ward

Honors Theses

This study seeks to answer whether the availability heuristic leads physicians to utilize more medical care than is economically efficient. Do rare, salient events alter physicians' perceptions about the probability of patient harm? Do these events lead physicians to overutilize certain medical procedures? This study uses Pennsylvania inpatient hospital admissions data from 2009 aggregated at the physician level to investigate these questions. The data come from the 2009 Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4).

The study is divided into two parts. In Part I, we examine whether bad outcomes during childbirth (defined as maternal mortality, an obstetric fistula or …

Fifa 2014 World Cup: Brazil’S Unending Headache: An Economic Investment That Challenges The Country’S Future, Bruna Almeida Lopes Barreto

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Brazil is soccer. The game is so deeply ingrained in daily life - in Brazilian identity and self-esteem- that they define each other. Soccer is so profoundly intertwined with Brazilian culture that familiarity with the sport begins early, producing a bottomless pool of talent. Year after year, soccer stars seem to roll out of Brazil like cars off a factory assembly line; it’s a natural talent that grows in almost every Brazilian child. Soccer means passion to Brazilians; it is the symbol of their nationality, as they have proven to be very the best at it.

Now, Brazil finally has …

Sports Economics - The Economic Impact Of The Nba's Thunder On Oklahoma City, David Noudaranouvong

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

What kind of significance do sports serve? This research project will investigate further into one of the many different answers to this broad question, specifically in the economic sense. Exactly what kind of impact can a single sports team have on a single city’s economy? I will investigate just what a sports team can mean for a city’s financial status as a result of its sports-stimulated economy. What is the best way to analyze this impact? For the purpose of this research project, I will take into account the economic state before and after the National Basketball Association’s incorporation into …

The Human Opportunity Index And Income Inequality In Brazil, Joseph Van Matre

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study calculates the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) proposed by de Barros et al. (2009) and a Gini Index of household income using nationally representative data from Brazil for the years 2001 to 2008. Macroregional HOIs and Gini Indexes were also calculated for the years 2001, 2005, and 2008. No statistically significant, linear trends were found over the eight year period for national HOIs. A statistically significant, linear, downward trend was found for the Gini Index of household incomes. Also, there was a statistically significant decrease in the macroregional variance of HOI scores, indicating a convergence of opportunity equity among …

Arsenic Contamination In Groundwater In Vietnam: An Overview And Analysis Of The Historical, Cultural, Economic, And Political Parameters In The Success Of Various Mitigation Options, Thuy M. Ly

Pomona Senior Theses

Although arsenic is naturally present in the environment, 99% of human exposure to arsenic is through ingestion. Throughout history, arsenic is known as “the king of poisons”; it is mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic. Even in smaller concentrations, it accumulates in the body and takes decades before any physical symptoms of arsenic poisoning shows. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the safe concentration of arsenic in drinking water is 10 µg/L. However, this limit is often times ignored until it is decades too late and people begin showing symptoms of having been poisoned.

This is the current situation for Vietnam, …

Minority Participation In Technology Based Growth Industries In Northeast Ohio, Merissa Piazza, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Securing South Africa's Future Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids As A Model For Social Development Change, Savannah Lynn Eck

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on the role of elder women in South Africa as a lens to understand the central connections among HIV/ AIDS, poverty and Human Security provides a distinct approach to analyze women's contributions to community development and social change. Drawing from the theories of Gender and Development and Human Security, this research aims to highlight HIV/ AIDS as a social and political security issue, while underscoring the vitality of the inclusion of women in the processes of peace building, reconciliation, education and social development. Furthermore, the influential role of elder women in South Africa will serve as a model in …

Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability And Corruption: Evidence From Us States, Filipe R. Campante, Quoc-Anh Do

Research Collection School Of Economics

We show that isolated capital cities are robustly associated with greater levels of corruption across US states. In particular, this is the case when we use the variation induced by the exogenous location of a state’s centroid to instrument for the concentration of population around the capital city. We then show that different mechanisms for holding state politicians accountable are also affected by the spatial distribution of population: newspapers provide greater coverage of state politics when their audiences are more concentrated around the capital, and voter turnout in state elections is greater in places that are closer to the capital. …

The Role Of Family Ties In Mitigating Moral Hazard: Firm-Level Evidence From Tamil Nadu, India, Goldie Chow

Master's Theses

Drawing on firm-level data from the district of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India, this study explores the role of family ties as a means to counteract potential moral hazard concerns. It is shown that firms will be more likely to employ family relations when faced with a higher hidden context for moral hazard. Specifically, the analysis finds that the presence of family members within the firm is higher when the firm provides general training and that firms that are more likely to do external business with family relations when it is believed that the legal system is not effective. Additionally, …

The Effects Of Interstate Speed Limit Increases: Fatality Rates And Traffic Diversion Versus Speed Spillover, Daniel L. Dillon

Honors Theses

This thesis examines two panel data sets of 48 states from 1981 to 2009 and utilizes ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effects models to explore the relationship between rural Interstate speed limits and fatality rates and whether rural Interstate speed limits affect non-Interstate safety. Models provide evidence that rural Interstate speed limits higher than 55 MPH lead to higher fatality rates on rural Interstates though this effect is somewhat tempered by reductions in fatality rates for roads other than rural Interstates. These results provide some but not unanimous support for the traffic diversion hypothesis that rural Interstate speed limit …

Contracted Job Development In Rural Communities: Vr Agency Perspectives, Catherine Ipsen, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Legislation guiding VR service delivery provides flexibility regarding how services are organized and implemented. As a result, state VR agencies provide services in the context on their own resource parameters (e.g. budget and agency size) and geography. This natural variation allows for a variety of service delivery models to emerge, each with associated benefits and drawback. To date, however, there is little comparative evidence for evaluating rural service delivery practices. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted 82 qualitative interviews with VR informants from 48 state VR agencies including 17 general agencies, 12 blind/low vision agencies, and 19 combined agencies. …

How Does Climate Change Affect Agricultural Stability In Southeast Unguja? An Assessment Of The Threats To Agriculture And Food Security From Rising Temperature And Changes In Predictability And Intensity Of Rainy Seasons., Eloise Reid

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The relationship between climate change, agriculture, and food security on the island of Unguja was studied. Informal interviews were carried out in the south-eastern coastal communities of Bwejuu, Paje, and Jambiani in order to gain perspective and awareness of local knowledge concerning changes in climate and it's affects on crop production. Formal interviews were conducted in Stone Town with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Environment, the Sustainable Management of Land and the Environment office, private climate change experts and environmental consultants, and local NGO's to gain insight on what aspects of climate change are most detrimental in the …

The Social And Economic Impact Of Mpesa On The Lives Of Women In The Fishing Industry On Lake Victoria, Danielle White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study will examine the social and economic impact of the mobile banking system, MPESA, in the lives of women in the fishing industry on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The study aims to discover what MPESA is being used for and how its use is affecting the lives of its female users. It will not only study the immediate impact on women, but also the impact on the interactions with their families and communities, as well as the fishing industry. The study aims to determine whether or not MPESA is beneficial to these women and if it is, how the …

Foreign Direct Investment In Italy 2000-2010: Spatial Patterns And Implications, Enzo Crescentini

Masters Theses

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been shown to be an important driver of economic growth as well as a source of knowledge transfer in host countries. Italy, now the tenth largest economy in the world, has a remarkable distribution of FDI characterized by a metropolitan industrial North and what is commonly referred to as an economically unfit or "backwards" South. Given these regional differences, Italy faces many interesting challenges in attracting FDI in the current global economic climate. The nation must attract capital to less-developed regions as well as to the extensive industrial clusters in the North that are …

Detroit Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, Entrepreneurship And Innovation, Merissa Piazza, Joan Chase, Chang-Shik Song, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Economic Development Strategy: The Creative Capital Theory, Zach Fairlie

Major Themes in Economics

This paper aims to identify the relationship between the Creative Capital theory and the unemployment rate. Using panel data from 370 Metropolitan Statistical Areas over a 12-year period, this study finds that talent, technology, and tolerance are not statistically significant determinants of the unemployment rate. The result is contrary to what Creative Capital theory suggests.

How Professional Service Firms Internationalise: Resource Commitments And Competencies For Internationalisation, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Conference papers

Departing from traditional economic and behavioural approaches, this study adopts a resource based lens to examine an area exhibiting exceptional growth, the internationalisation of professional service firms (PSFs). An in-depth qualitative study of the internationalisation process of five architectural firms expanding to multiple international markets was conducted. The paper’s main contribution is the identification of the interplay between PSF competencies and the firm’s approach to internationalisation. We reveal how these PSFs can be classified along a continuum ranging from artistic to engineering orientation depending on the firm’s relative emphasis on technical or management competencies when internationalising. Implications for PSFs when …

Do Voters Demand Responsive Governments? Evidence From Indian Disaster Relief, Shawn Cole, Andrew Healy, Eric Werker

Economics Faculty Works

Using rainfall, public relief, and election data from India, we examine how governments respond to adverse shocks and how voters react to these responses. The data show that voters punish the incumbent party for weather events beyond its control. However, fewer voters punish the ruling party when its government responds vigorously to the crisis, indicating that voters reward the government for responding to disasters. We also find evidence suggesting that voters only respond to rainfall and government relief efforts during the year immediately preceding the election. In accordance with these electoral incentives, governments appear to be more generous with disaster …

West Of Eden: Resource Wars And Nature-Cultures In The American West, Scout Calvert

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The richness and variety of the western landscape is what is at stake in hot political contests for the resources of the West: much of this public land is available to economic activity, including for mining, grazing, logging, and recreation. These uses threaten to outpace the land’s ability to renew these resources along with others, like air and water. Now in the first decade of the millennium with a new environmental awareness emerging partly from media coverage of global warming and peak oil, The American West at Risk offers a wide-ranging look at the degradation of the environment in the …

Eu's Common Foreign Policies Towards Russia: Past, Present And Future, Yigit Canay

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Icy/Hot: Norwegian And Finnish Policy Toward The European Union, Mia Bennett

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.