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Maternal Work Hours And Childhood Obesity: Evidence Using Instrumental Variables Related To Sibling School Eligibility, Charles J. Courtemanche, Rusty Tchernis, Xilin Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

This study exploits plausibly exogenous variation derived from the youngest sibling’s school eligibility to estimate the effects of maternal work on the weight outcomes of older children. We first show that mothers’ work hours increase gradually along both the extensive and intensive margins as the age of the youngest child rises, whereas mothers’ spouses’ work hours do not appear to be responsive. We develop an instrumental-variables model that shows that mothers’ work hours lead to larger increases in children’s body mass index z-scores and probabilities of being overweight/obese than those identified in previous studies. Subsample analyses find that the …

Are The Food Insecure More Likely To Be Obese?, Lisa Russo

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the connections between food insecurity and obesity levels throughout the United States over three years (2011-2013). The causes of obesity are often not entirely a result of poor diet and exercise, but of the presence of food deserts in impoverished areas. Changes in income trends in recent years also the poor remain poor rather than experiencing upward mobility. This study builds on previous studies conducted both within the U.S. and internationally that found that food insecurity is a determinant of obesity rates. This study uses poverty as a proxy measurement for food insecurity at the state level, …

Antecedents To The Crisis: Mandeville, Smith, And Keynes, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to present the methods of teaching about the global financial crisis (GFC) from a social economic perspective. Using primary texts from the history of economic thought, the moral underpinnings for collective social action are examined in times of economic depression. The deregulation of financial markets raises two questions: to what extent is deregulation the result of a misunderstanding about human nature and the behavioral lessons of social economics; and to what extend does deregulation ignore the moral lessons of Adam Smith’s invisible hand?

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 4, 2019, Pittsburg State University. Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 1, 2019, Pittsburg State University. Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 3, 2019, Pittsburg State University. Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 2, 2019, Pittsburg State University. Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Profile, 2019, Pittsburg State University. Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Profile is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

Unsustainable Sustainability: Do Policies That Increase Environmental Quality Exacerbate Income Inequality?, Haley K. Skinner

Gettysburg Economic Review

International pressure to meet climate and sustainability goals are mounting. Countries attempting to industrialize in the age of sustainability are tasked with industrializing using low-carbon practices. The transition to a “green” economy requires elimination of some jobs and skillsets that may upset social equality. This paper empirically examines the hypothesis that policies aimed at increased environmental performance promote increased income inequality in developing countries. Because existing literature firmly supports the hypothesis that lower income inequality leads to higher environmental performance, this paper develops a simultaneous equations model (SEM) to estimate the hypothesized endogenous relationship using two stage least squares (2SLS) …

The Best Of Both Skills: U.S. Immigration, Work Visas, And Local Labor Shortages In Missouri, Adriano Udani

Center for Applied Economics

In spite of political rhetoric condemning immigrants’ contributions to the United States, scholars have persistently demonstrated positive social and economic contributions of immigrants. Studies such as these pose important policy implications for Missouri. To what extent does immigration contribute to recent Missouri economic outcomes? How are immigrant workers distributed across Missouri? Are there positive economic outcomes associated only with immigration of high-skilled workers? My analysis shows that higher per capita personal income and higher employment in certain industrial sectors are not solely attributed to high-skill workers. The results here suggest that economic productivity in Missouri is attributed to having a …

Willingness To Pay For Wind Versus Natural Gas Generation Of Electricity, Kofi Nkansah, Alan R. Collins

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In 2009, West Virginia enacted an Alternative and Renewable Portfolio Act (APRA) to broaden its energy use for electricity beyond coal. A choice experiment survey was conducted to assess West Virginians’ willingness to pay (WTP) for 10 percent of electricity generated from wind energy versus natural gas. Results showed that residential consumers preferred electricity generated from wind, with annual per-capita WTP averaging from $19.25 to $26.75. Given the subsequent repeal of the APRA in 2015, we propose implementation of a voluntary green pricing program as an alternative policy to increase the share of renewable energy in West Virginia's energy portfolio.

Employment Disparity Grows For Rural Americans With Disability, Rtc: Rural, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Employment rates have increased since the recession, but these gains haven’t reached all communities across the country, nor has everyone benefited from these gains. While overall employment rates have improved, employment for people with disabilities in rural areas has decreased. This fact sheet uses the recently released (December 2018) American Community Survey 5-year estimates to explore changes in employment rates for people with and without disabilities across the nine divisions of the United States, and for metropolitan, micropolitan, and non-core counties. This marks the first time longitudinal trends in ACS data can be explored across the rural-urban continuum using comparable …

Corruption And South American Public Health Governance: A Panel Data Analysis, Richard Mydland

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates high income South American countries and their Corruption Perception Index ranking compared to their public health economic variables alongside other macroeconomic variables. The study takes into account that each country is different by means of economic nature due to geographic location. Countries with a natural resource curse are different from traditionalist economic countries. The model examines the implications of a corruption ranking along with health and macroeconomic data that is strongly correlated with decreasing or increasing returns to scale.

New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Program Assessment 2019, Thomas Edison State University, Pel Analytics, Anderson Economic Group, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy

Urban Mayors Policy Center

In 2019, the State of New Jersey sought an evaluation of its Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) Program to determine the program’s economic impact and make recommendations for the program’s future. The John S. Watson Institute of Public Policy of Thomas Edison State University joined with PEL Analytics and Anderson Economic Group to produce the following study. The main recommendation of this analysis is to retain the UEZ Program while instituting various changes to make it stronger. Recommended changes in brief include reinstating some form of Zone Assistance Funds (ZAFs), creating a better system to collect data and track outcomes, assisting …

Aspects Of Institutional Finance In Sustainable Development, Jordan Fanelli

Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy

Since the establishment of the Post–2015 Development Agenda and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community has considerably maintained that private sector leadership will be a crucial factor in supporting sustainable development, especially in emerging and developing economies. Since 2008 many traditional commercial banks who are crucial financial actors have retreated from the capital markets due to increased regulations and mandatory capital ratios. Additionally, government expenditure has also decreased due to budget constraints in the post-crisis years. This retraction of traditional sources of finance, combined with a significant increase in the demand for capital has created multiple financing …

Financial Innovation And The Implications For Monetary Policy And Portfolio Hedging, John Flynn

Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy

The focus of this thesis will be on three main components, namely, monetary transmission mechanisms, financial innovation and portfolio hedging. It will first discuss the different channels of monetary policy and how they affect economic and financial variables. Then, financial innovation will be analyzed from the perspective of Hyman P. Minsky and the effects on the financial system. Next, the relation of regulation to the changing financial landscape of the economy will be discussed. Finally, the use of financial derivatives will be reviewed, presenting their hedging function and speculative risks. Then, the impact of too big to fail banks and …

The Glass-Cliff And Usa Politics: Are Women Set Up For Failure?, Amber Marin

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study investigates the hypothesis that the glass cliff exists in Senate races for the United States in 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016. It compares the effects to anecdotal situations focusing on Brexit. The results of the study find validity in glass cliff hypothesis.

Short-Run Health Consequences Of Retirement And Pension Benefits: Evidence From China, Plamen Nikolov, Alan Adelman

Justice & Well-Being Studies Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines the impact of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) in China. Exploiting the staggered implementation of an NRPS policy expansion that began in 2009, we used a difference-in-difference approach to study the effects of the introduction of pension benefits on the health status, health behaviors, and healthcare utilization of rural Chinese adults age 60 and above. The results point to three main conclusions. First, in addition to improvements in self-reported health, older adults with access to the pension program experienced significant improvements in several important measures of health, including mobility, self-care, usual activities, and vision. Second, regarding …

A Study Of The Effects Of Certificate Of Need Law On Inpatient Occupancy Rates, Jomon Aliyas Paul, Huan Ni, Aniruddha Bagchi

Faculty Articles

Increasing healthcare costs and the deterioration of healthcare quality have always been major concerns to policy makers in the United States, and Certificate of Need (CON) Law has been implemented as one way to curb wasteful healthcare resource use. Theoretically, CON can lead to a reduction in the number of beds as well as in the number of inpatient days (possibly by shortening the length of patient stay). However, these two effects impact inpatient occupancy rate in opposite directions. We test empirically to find out which of these two effects dominate. In this study, we investigate the impact of CON …

Use Of Symmetries In Economics: An Overview, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Nguyen N. Thach, Nguyen Duc Trung

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In this paper, we show that many semi-heuristic econometric formulas can be derived from the natural symmetry requirements. The list of such formulas includes many famous formulas provided by Nobel-prize winners, such as Hurwicz optimism-pessimism criterion for decision making under uncertainty, McFadden's formula for probabilistic decision making, Nash's formula for bargaining solution -- as well as Cobb-Douglas formula for production, gravity model for trade, etc.

Missouri: Generation Transformation, Mark Tranel

Center for Applied Economics

While Missouri’s population has grown slowly over the past 50 years its characteristics have evolved in important ways. This paper first describes the contemporary demographic profile of who Missourian are, where and how they live. It then examines the trends over the period 1960 to 2010. The data for Missouri are compared to national characteristics and trends to provide points of similarity and contrast. The factors that have changed, and some that have not, have implications for actions that need to be taken in response to challenges Missouri faces because of these demographic dynamics.

Contrasting Chicago School And Kaleckian Theories: Industrial Organization, Income Distribution, And Historical Policy Significance In The United States, Henry Aaron Dobbs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to identify the role that long-run industry concentration plays in determining the distribution of income, particularly in the past four decades in the United States, as well as examining how industry concentration has developed during that period. The paper is especially focused on the fall in labor’s share of income. First, I examine current literature regarding trends in industry concentration and its relation to the distribution of income. Next, I examine the historical impact of the Chicago School of Economics on this subject, focusing on the school of thought’s propositions regarding industry concentration, their …

How Informational Imperfections Lead To Sub-Optimal Solutions In Health Savings Plan And Potential Remedies In A Competitive Marketplace, Jacob Gene Dengg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the growing trend of consumer-driven health insurance, more consumers than ever have access to a high-deductible health plan paired with a health savings account, where consumers can save pre-tax income for healthcare but also face higher out-of-pocket prices, in hopes that consumers will become smarter shoppers. The Health Savings Plan is successful at lowering costs, but at the expense of consumers lowering their adherence to healthcare, raising health risk. Even in a competitive market, HSP plan designs require smart shoppers and more active healthcare self-management, but without dealing with the informational imperfections that need to be overcome to encourage …

The Role Of The State In International Trade Theory And Policy: Historical Evidence From South Korea And Brazil, Sumaiya Nehla Saif

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1980s, the economic performance of individual countries has been increasingly dependent on global dynamics. Neoliberal policies, including free trade, have been fostered by the global community for both mature and developing economies, led by the view that free markets constitute the driving force of economic growth and development. Accordingly, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) - in addition to the developments within mainstream economic theory - have contributed to portray the state as the carrier of inefficiencies and market distortions, which prevent the unfolding of economic freedom and …

Stock Market Development And Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria, Obinna Franklin Ezeibekwe

2019 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity – Documents

Considerable debate exists on how stock exchanges affect economic growth. One line of research argues that stock market development is a positive and significant contributor to growth. On the other hand, other studies show that stock markets negatively affect growth or that they are not relevant contributors to economic growth. This paper seeks to identify the correlation between stock market development and long-run economic growth in Nigeria using the vector error correction modeling. Empirical results suggest that stock market development, as proxied by market capitalization to GDP ratio, does not contribute significantly to long-run economic growth in Nigeria. The implication …

Changing The Rules Of The Game: Can Voicing For Social Responsibility Influence Market Behavior Toward Greater Inclusiveness In Economic Development?, Eileen M. Hoffmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines social responsibility within a capitalist economy by investigating socially responsible investing and, tangentially, corporate social responsibility. These concepts have been at the heart of economic and legal debates for hundreds of years, with no clearly defined consensus regarding how to account for multi-stakeholder welfare inside the market system. This point is brought to life by analyzing two dominant twentieth-century economic periods, 1945-1975/79 and post-1980, through the deliberations of Keynesian economics and Milton Friedman.

This thesis postulates that since the 2008 global financial crisis, a new (i.e. third) economic period is taking shape, ushered in by both the …

Two Essays In Fertilizer Management For Improved Profitability, Shelby Dawn Wade

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Corn production in the United States has become increasingly efficient over the years. The use of nitrogen fertilizers has played a substantial role in this efficiency. Nitrogen drives biomass production which leads to increased yields. Unlike other nutrients, nitrogen is more mobile making it easier to lose through leaching and volatilization. The first part of this analysis uses an econometric model to examine the relationship between nitrogen usage and weather data. This relationship leads to farm management decisions to reduce nitrogen fertilization expenses. In addition to the use of nitrogen fertilizers, farmers in Kentucky take advantage of an abundance of …

Effects Of Private And Public Health Expenditure On Health Outcome, Hyungue Lim

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The current level of health spending in the U.S. is the highest in the world. However, the outcomes of the health spending are among the lowest for developed countries. Therefore, for policy development purpose, it is necessary to determine which direction of healthcare spending results in better output, private or public. This paper investigates the effect of private and public health expenditure on life expectancy, infant mortality at birth, and infant mortality under age 5 among 11 OECD countries. Hausman test is performed to confirm the fixed effects models. Fixed effects GLS and GMM are used for data analysis. We …

What Is Driving Up Health Care Costs? Does Pollution Play A Role: Oecd Country Panel Data Analysis, Sean Gillis

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study investigates the rising health care costs among nine OECD nations from 1990 to 2014. A panel data analysis was conducted to analyze specific causes for these rises. Total health care expenditure is the dependent variable with carbon dioxide emissions being the main variable of interest. Analysis finds that the economy has grown faster than health care expenditures, and a negative relationship between CO2 emissions, elderly populations, urban population growth rates and health care expenditure.

Causality Relationship Between Income Inequality And Life Satisfaction In European Countries: Does Income Inequality Affect Life Satisfaction?, Rodrigue Beleho Balemaken

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the interaction between life satisfaction and income inequality in European nations from 2006 to 2016. The keys finding of the analysis and the results show that countries that promote collectivism tend to have people with higher life satisfaction than countries which promote individualism. In general, individuals prefer to live in a country where they have stable disposable income, freedom in the way they are thinking, trust in their government and policies, a healthy life expectancy, and social support and generosity from peers. With this in mind, it raises the question, “where does income inequality fit into this?” …