Digital Commons Network^™

The Dynamics Of Men's Cooperation And Social Status In A Small-Scale Society, Christopher Von Rueden, Daniel Redhead, Rick O'Gorman, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

We propose that networks of cooperation and allocation of social status co-emerge in human groups. We substantiate this hypothesis with one of the first longitudinal studies of cooperation in a preindustrial society, spanning 8 years. Using longitudinal social network analysis of cooperation among men, we find large effects of kinship, reciprocity and transitivity in the nomination of cooperation partners over time. Independent of these effects, we show that (i) higher-status individuals gain more cooperation partners, and (ii) individuals gain status by cooperating with individuals of higher status than themselves. We posit that human hierarchies are more egalitarian relative to other …

Measuring Impacts Of Uncertainty, Irreversibility, And Loss Aversion On The Adoption Of Crop Canopy Sensors Among Nebraska Corn Producers, Brooks Ronspies

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding barriers to adoption of Precision Agricultural Technologies (PATs) is important to the growth of agricultural productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. This thesis proposes and evaluates a model for estimating the impact of uncertainty, irreversibility, and loss aversion on producers’ adoption of crop canopy sensors in order to explain adoption behavior that contradicts previous expectations about the conditions necessary for technology adoption. The model is evaluated using estimated statistical distributions of price and field characteristics designed to match observations of actual corn and nitrogen prices, and of conventional and crop canopy sensor based nitrogen application. Results from this model using expected …

Microcredit Accessibility In Rural Households: Evidence From Indonesia, Danang Budi Santoso

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

Extant literature suggests that microcredit may improve borrowers social and economic welfare. This study aimed to investigate the microcredit accessibility of rural households in Indonesia. Binary Logistic regression was used to distinguish the characteristics of microcredit borrowers and non-borrowers, and the factors affecting the approval of microcredit application. Primary data was collected through a survey on 488 rural households in Bantul, Yogyakarta. The empirical results suggested that age, marital status and education attainment significantly affect the characteristics of clients and non-clients of microcredit. The results also revealed that age of borrowers, household income, interest rates, and loan duration are key …

Does Gender Diversity In The Boardroom Improve Firm Performance? Evidence From Indonesia, Pananda Pasaribu

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This study investigates board gender diversity in Indonesia's listed firms and its effect on firm performance from 2011-2016. After addressing the endogeneity of diversity, the results in this paper show that the proportion of female in the boardroom marginally improve firm performance. Firms with two or more female in the boardroom have a stronger impact on firm performance than firms with one female in the boardroom, consistent with the critical mass effect. Finally, certain sectors will gain more benefits of appointing females in the boardroom. The results suggest that increasing gender diversity in the boardrooms can have beneficial effects on …

Freshwater Conservation, Drinking Water Quality And Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study On Nepal, Samrat B. Kunwar

Economics ETDs

Our world today faces a myriad of unprecedented environmental challenges that transcends spatial and temporal reach. These problems involve interconnected ecological and social systems operating on multiple scales and include issues like climate disruption, water stress, food security, biodiversity loss, over-population and species declines and extinctions.These issues are more acute in rapidly growing nations like Nepal, where environmental protection is often considered a luxury. Such environmentally unsound development practices will not only create an imbalance in the ecological and the social functioning and dynamics, but it also threatens the future development of the country itself. In this dissertation, I investigate …

Optimal Vehicle Use In The Presence Of Episodic Mobile-Source Air Pollution, Arthur J. Caplan, Ramjee Acharya

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper develops a conceptual model of vehicle trips in a region plagued by weather-dependent, mobile-source air pollution, and numerically estimates optimal trips for one of the nation's perennially worst air quality regions in terms of short-term particulate matter. Based upon data-driven parameters and damage estimates, our numerical model generates optimal values for region-wide vehicle trips and associated PM_2.5 concentrations along with their corresponding time paths. Our dataset includes a host of pertinent weather variables that determine PM_2.5 concentrations both independently as well as interacted with vehicle trips. As a result, our empirical model enables us to isolate …

Out-Of-Pocket Expenditure For Home And Facility Based Delivery Among Rural Women In Zambia: A Mixed-Methods, Cross-Sectional Study, Jeanette L. Kaiser, Kathleen L. Mcglasson, Peter C. Rockers, Rachel M. Fong, Thandiwe Ngoma, Davidson H. Hamer, Taryn Vian, Godfrey Biemba, Jody R. Lori, Nancy A. Scott

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: Out-of-pocket expenses associated with facility-based delivery are a well-known barrier to health care access. However, there is extremely limited contemporary information on delivery-related household out-of-pocket expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa. We assess the financial burden of delivery for the most remote Zambian women and compare differences between delivery locations (primary health center, hospital, or home).

Methods: We conducted household surveys and in-depth interviews among randomly selected remote Zambian women who delivered a baby within the last 13 months. Women reported expenditures for their most-recent delivery for delivery supplies, transportation, and baby clothes, among others. Expenditures were converted to …

Medicaid Expansion And Diagnosis-Targeted Cost Shifting Behavior: The Case Of Diabetic Treatment And Insulin Pricing, Hayden Garff Hubbard

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Nine years after passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and five years after the Medicaid expansion roll-out, the debate and cost-benefit analysis on U.S. health reform rages on. While many impacts of the ACA remain unmeasured or inconclusive due to mixed research claims and the complexities inherent to healthcare, widespread research interest on the effects of Medicaid expansion have led to some early findings regarding cost, access and quality.

Quantitative Effects Of Two Kinds Of Robots In A Neo-Classical Growth Model, Hoang Phuong Que Vu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Advances in artificial intelligence are leading to many revolutions in robotics. How will the arrival of robots impact the growth of the economy, the workers' wage, consumption, and lifetime welfare? This dissertation attempts to answer this question by presenting a standard neoclassical growth model with two different kinds of robots, reflecting two ways that robots can transform the labor market. The first chapter introduces additive robots- a perfect substitution for human labor, while the second chapter employs multiplicative robots- a type of robots that augments human labor. The prevailing main result is that even in the case with no population …

Ostromian Lessons For Post-Disaster Resilience: Evidence From The 2015 Earthquake In Nepal, Veeshan Rayamajhee

Economics ETDs

The dissertation is organized in six chapters. The first chapter provides a synopsis of the four research articles that are comprised in this manuscript. It outlines the goals of each article and connects them to specific Ostromian insights to shed light on the empirical findings. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 are based on a field study that I conducted in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal following the devastating earthquake in 2015. Chapter 4 uses case studies from Chicago, New Orleans, Nepal, and Indonesia. The final chapter summarizes major lessons from the four papers.

The second chapter investigates household-level coping responses to the 7.8 …

Designing Single-Family Residences: A Study Of The Positive Impact Of Interior Design In Creating New Home Value, Shawn M. Falcone

Interior Design Program: Student Creative Activity

This study seeks to demonstrate that interior designers should be included as primary stakeholders in the home construction market. The market demand for new single-family homes in America is a relative constant. The primary stake and role that land developers, architects, draftsman, home builders, bankers, appraisers, real estate agents, and buyers have in the home construction market is clear. What is less clear is the role in value an interior designer has in the home construction market. This thesis examines the impact designers have on home value when their expertise is utilized in space planning (i.e.: layout, function, room utilization, …

How School Aid In New York State Penalizes Black And Hispanic Students, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

The Impact Of Bmi On Mental Health: Further Evidence From Genetic Markers, Vikesh Amin, Carlos A. Flores, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

Center for Policy Research

We examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mental health for young adults and elderly individuals using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Health & Retirement Study. While ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates show that BMI is significantly associated with worse mental health in both young adulthood and old age, they are likely to be confounded by (i) unobserved factors that affect both BMI and mental health and (ii) reverse causality. To tackle confounding, we take two complementary approaches. First, we use a polygenic score for BMI as an instrumental variable (IV) and …

Poultry Labeling: Knowledge, Perceptions, And Preferences Among Adolescents, Eleni L. Parsons

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, perceptions, and preferences of adolescents in regard to the labeling of poultry products. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) were used to display the relationship of perceptions, attitude, and behavior intentions. Quantitative data was collected in a descriptive research design. The population included youth, aged 14 – 18 years, involved in the Arkansas 4-H State O’Rama competition (N = 400). The sample (n = 80) ensured a 90% confidence interval of the population. Data was collected by administering paper surveys that addressed four product labels …

Which Credence Production Attributes Do Consumers Prefer? The Case Of Milk, Emmanouil Petrakis

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The interest of consumers for non-traditional food production attributes like antibiotics free and animal welfare have made consumer preferences more complex. These new attributes, usually non-identifiable by inspection or experience of the product are called credence attributes. The objectives of this study are to analyze consumer preferences for milk production attributes by eliciting the relative importance of these attributes for consumers, and to identify possible sources of heterogeneity related to consumer characteristics and actual purchase data. The research method used to elicit consumer preferences is Paired Comparison Method. Consumers from California and Texas were administered the online survey questionnaire in …

Should Place-Based Jobs Policies Be Used To Help Distressed Communities?, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Should policymakers seek to increase jobs in particular local labor markets? Yes, but only if these policies are well targeted and designed. Encouraging job growth in distressed places can cause persistent gains in employment-to-population ratios. But our current place-based jobs policies, under which state and local governments provide long-term tax incentives to megacorporations, are poorly targeted and designed. Such incentives are as large in nondistressed areas as in distressed areas, and they are excessively costly. What reforms are needed? First, job growth policies should target distressed areas. Second, tax incentives should be focused on high-multiplier businesses, such as high-tech firms. …

Does The Healthcare Educational Market Respond To Short-Run Local Demand?, Marcus Dillender, Andrew Friedson, Cong Gian, Kosali Simon

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased demand for healthcare across the U.S., but it is unclear if or how the supply side has responded to meet this demand. In this paper, we take advantage of plausibly exogenous geographical heterogeneity in the ACA in order to examine the response of the healthcare education sector to increased demand for healthcare services. We look across educational fields, types of degrees, and types of institutions; we pay particular attention to settings where our conceptual model predicts heightened responses. We find no statistically significant evidence of increases in graduates and can rule …

Computerization Of White Collar Jobs, Marcus Dillender, Eliza C. Forsythe

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We investigate the impact of computerization of white-collar jobs on wages and employment. Using online job postings from 2007 and 2010-2016 for office and administrative support (OAS) jobs, we show that when firms adopt new software at the job-title level they increase the skills required of job applicants. Furthermore, firms change the task content of such jobs, broadening them to include tasks associated with higher-skill office functions. We aggregate these patterns to the local labor-market level, instrumenting for technology adoption with national measures. We find that a 1 standard deviation increase in OAS technology usages reduces employment in OAS occupations …

To Extubate Or Not To Extubate: Risk Factors For Extubation Failure And Deterioration With Further Mechanical Ventilation, Jingui Xie, Guang Cheng, Zhichao Zheng, Haidong Luo, Oon Cheong Ooi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Background: Extubation is a critical step in the intensive care unit (ICU). In this study, we aim to investigate the risk factors for both extubation failure and deterioration with further mechanical ventilation (MV). Methods: Data were collected from a cardiothoracic ICU in a tertiary hospital. The risk factors for extubation failure and deterioration with further MV were investigated by multivariate logistic regression. Results: A total of 676 patients were enrolled in the study. Patients with extubation failure had a longer ICU length of stay and a higher mortality rate than patients without extubation failure. An age greater than 65 years, …

Comparative Spending Of Medicaid Dollars On Child Participants Of Kentucky’S Sobriety Treatment And Recovery Teams Program Versus A Matched Comparison Group., Matthew Thomas Walton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child protective services agencies have long observed the complicating role that parental substance use and addiction plays in cases of child maltreatment. Families who struggle with these problems present unique challenges for child welfare professionals. These families are typically more difficult to engage, more likely to have children removed from the home, and have poorer outcomes when compared to other families. These poorer outcomes often include health problems. Addiction has well-known effects on health, and the specific manifestations of these problems for parents have been documented for years in child protection casework. However, what has been less investigated are the …

Estimated Costs Of Injuries In College And High School Female Sports, Ray C. Fair, Christopher Champa

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Injury rates in thirteen U.S. women’s college sports and four U.S. girls’ high school sports are examined in this paper. The sports are categorized as high injury (H) or low injury (L) and differences in injury rates between the two are examined. Estimates are presented of the injury savings that would result if the H sports were changed to have injury rates similar to those in the L sports. The estimated college savings are 13,610 fewer injuries per year and 2,020 fewer healthy years lost-to-injury per year. The estimated high school savings are 143,900 fewer injuries per year and 24,300 …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 3, Number 8, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton, Ana Gutierrez Zubiate, Ignacio Santana

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

A Time-Varying True Individual Effects Model With Endogenous Regressors, Levent Kutlu, Kien C. Tran, Mike G. Tsionas

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We propose a fairly general individual effects stochastic frontier model, which allows both heterogeneity and inefficiency to change over time. Moreover, our model handles the endogeneity problems if either at least one of the regressors or one-sided error term is correlated with the two-sided error term. Our Monte Carlo experiments show that our estimator performs well. We employed our methodology to the US banking data and found a negative relationship between return on revenue and cost efficiency. Estimators ignoring time-varying heterogeneity or endogeneity did not perform well and gave very different estimates compared to our estimator.

Does The Decriminalization Of Prostitution Reduce Rape And Sexually Transmitted Disease? A Review Of Cunningham And Shah Findings, Lily Lachapelle, Clare Schneider, Melanie Shapiro, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In 2013, research findings by Cunningham and Shah claimed that rape and sexually transmitted diseases were reduced by decriminalized prostitution in Rhode Island. The original unpublished claims have received wide media coverage which have gone unexamined. This review finds errors in their analyses. One error is the date when prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island. Cunningham and Shah claim that prostitution was decriminalized in 2003. Our analysis finds the date of decriminalization of prostitution was 1980. The change in the start date of decriminalization significantly alters the analysis and the findings. Another error results from Cunningham and Shah using an …

Hypothesis Testing, Specification Testing And Model Selection Based On The Mcmc Output Using R, Yong Li, Jun Yu, Tao Zeng

Research Collection School Of Economics

This chapter overviews several MCMC-based test statistics for hypothesis testing andspecification testing and MCMC-based model selection criteria developed in recentyears. The statistics for hypothesis testing can be viewed as the MCMC version ofthe “trinity” of test statistics based in maximum likelihood (ML), namely, the likelihoodratio (LR) test, the Lagrange multiplier (LM) test, and the Wald test. The model selection criteria correspond to two predictive distributions. One of them can be viewed asthe MCMC version of widely used information criterion, AIC. The asymptotic distributions of the test statistics and model selection criteria are discussed. The test statisticsand model selection criteria are …

How Does Identifying As Gluten-Free Impact Information Choice Regarding The Gluten-Free Diet?, Pratiksha Baishya

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The market for gluten-free products is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States and has seen tremendous growth in the recent years. The retail sales of gluten-free foods in the United States almost tripled between 2011 and 2015, although rates of diagnosed gluten-related health problems have not risen. In addition to people who suffer from Celiac Disease, Wheat Allergy and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, there is a category or people known as PWAG (people who avoid gluten) who seem to have significantly contributed to this boom in the market for gluten-free foods. With more people choosing to adopt the gluten-free diet, …

Essays In Microeconomics, Teng Ma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays of different topics in microeconomics.

Chapter 1 investigates the effect of environmental uncertainty over the issue of resource allocation in a common pool resources setting. This chapter provides a model of how agents allocate resource among abatement technology, production, and saving with an endogenously determined uncertain damage. The results of a laboratory experiment show a negative effect of uncertain damage on abatement technology adoption and a non-linear relationship between the investment in abatement technology and the self reported risk aversion. Contrary to the “common belief” that greater risk averse agents invest more in abatement …

Should We Target Jobs At Distressed Places, And If So, How?, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Costs And Benefits Of A Revised Foxconn Project, Timothy J. Bartik

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Oppressive Pressures Of Globalization And Neoliberalism On Mexican Maquiladora Garment Workers, Jenna Demeter

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The international economic trends of globalization and neoliberalism have exposed and enabled the exploitation of Mexican workers, especially women in the maquiladora garment industry. During the 1950s, globalization gave rise to the new international division of labor and transnational corporations (TNCs) that have offshored labor-intensive phases of production to developing countries, many of which have pursued export-led industrialization. Export processing in Mexico was encouraged in the 1960s by Item 807 of the U.S. Tariff Code and Mexico’s Border Industrialization Program. Especially following the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, advanced capitalist countries and International Financial Institutions foisted neoliberal structural …