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National Defense And The Public-Goods Problem, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Don Lavoie

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Urban Labor Markets, Randall W. Eberts

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Urban labor markets are characterized by the spatial proximity of households and businesses, which offers firms and workers advantages that lead to more efficient markets, enhanced productivity, and greater economic success. Nevertheless, the nation's city, while generating a large proportion of the nation's wealth, houses much of the nation's economic disadvantaged workers. This paper describes the current conditions of urban labor markets and outlines a national urban policy agenda that addresses these concerns by taking into account cities' spatial dimension. The paper argues that a national urban labor policy should emphasize the effects of physical and informational proximity on growth, …

Financing State Government Projects Through The Capital Market: Problems And Prospects, B. S. Adebusuyi

Economic and Financial Review

The paper discuses the problems and prospects of raising funds from the capital market to finance state government projects. The need for viable alternatives to finance government projeds had not only been a topical issue but one that had engaged the attention of policy makers. This has arisen because conventional sources of government project financing have been proving increasingly inadequate. From a short review of available options for financing government projects such as statutory allocations, internally generated revenue, bank and non-bank domestic borrowings, donations and taxation, the paper discusses the relative advantages of capital market financing of government projects, principal …

Factors Affecting The Supply Of Paper In Nigeria, A. P. Awoseyila, K. M. Obitayo

Economic and Financial Review

This study reviews the developments in the paper industry with special focus on the supply and factors affecting the supply of paper in Nigeria. The study appreciates the strategic role of paper on socio-economic activities and is concerned with the downward trend in the supply of paper to the market. The data show the low capacity utilization and heavy revenue losses sustained over the years by the local pulp paper mills as well as the declines in the import supply of paper due to the scarcity of foreign exchange. The study attributes the factors constraining the supply of paper to …

Rural Wages And Returns To Education: Differences Between Whites, Blacks And American Indians, Jean Kimmel

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Workers in rural areas earn lower wages than nonrural workers and previous evidence has attributed these differences to lower returns to worker characteristics. This paper builds on that data by examining racial and gender differences within the broader group of rural workers. While there is extensive evidence on both the structure of wages and the source of racial wage differentials between Whites and Blacks, there is no such evidence for those in either group living in rural areas. Nor is there much evidence in this literature for American Indians. This paper's contribution to the literature is two-fold. First, it broadens …

Adjustment Outcomes In Africa: Selected Case Studies, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Drawing on a World Bank study of seven countries (Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania) that undertook adjustment programs in the mid-1980s, the article evaluates outcomes across five dimensions: growth, supply response, investment, external financial flows, and poverty. It finds that countries implementing reforms consistently — particularly Ghana and Tanzania — achieved positive results, but that structural reforms remain incomplete, growth rates are insufficient to reduce poverty, and adjustment policies alone cannot lift African nations out of poverty without complementary investments in human capital, infrastructure, and governance.

Vol. 17 No. 2 (1994): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Vol. 17 No. 2 (1994): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 17, No 2 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal

Fallibility And Sequential Decision-Making, Winston T. H. Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

Individuals typically make errors in evaluating information. In this paper, we consider a project selection problem, where fallible managers screen projects sequentially, and provide independent opinions on its quality. We compare the relative performance of the hierarchy and polyarchy when η (n > 2) managers are employed to evaluate projects. In addition to generalizing the existing results on the optimal screening standards, I discuss and characterize the optimal organizational size, and how the relative desirability of the two sequential decision processes are affected by changing the project quality. Finally, I also discuss the effect of variable evaluation costs on the optimal …

New Mexico Labor Market Review 05-31-1994, New Mexico Department Of Labor

Historic Publications

The New Mexico Labor Market Review is a monthly publication presenting statistical data and analysis on labor market conditions throughout New Mexico. Issues examine statewide and regional trends in employment, unemployment, labor force estimates, industry activity, wages, occupational demand, and related economic conditions, often accompanied by feature articles on topics affecting the state’s economy. This issue covers April 1994.

The Effects Of Exports And Their Composition On Growth In Developing Countries, Franklin N. Nnebe '94

Honors Projects

Trade has often been central to many significant issues raised in the development literature. The two that have probably been the most influential and contentious are concerned with the roles of exports and their composition, for growth in developing countries.

An Empirical Study Of Covered Interest Arbitrage: Marqins Durinq The European Monetary System Crisis Of 1992, Ossi Saarinen '94

Honors Projects

Interest parity in international financial markets exists when the interest rate differential between two counties is exactly offset by the forward exchange premium/discount. If at any moment the interest parity condition is not satisfied, traders can execute covered interest arbitrage. Covered interest arbitrage entails a series of four transactions in the currency and securities markets which results in a practically riskless profit. Although traditional economic theory predicts that the opportunities will be wiped out as individuals take advantage of the situation, covered interest. arbitrage margins (ClAMs) have been observed to exist over extended periods of time.

Investments In Human Capital And The Poverty Transition, John A. Deherrera '94

Honors Projects

In 1990, almost 34 million people were living below the government's official poverty level (Hoffman, p.395). That represents 13.5 percent of the total population, or more people than live in the state of California. Thus, it should be obvious that the plight of the poor is one which warrants serious concern on all levels -political, social, and economic. Unfortunately, the question of how to alleviate this dreadful problem is one that has long perplexed even the most brilliant of minds.

The Effect Of Joint-Product Export Smuggling On Export Tax Policy, Scott Fausti

Economics Staff Paper Series (1969 - 2017)

This paper analyzes the effect of joint-product export smuggling on the revenue-maximizing export tax rate and tax revenue collection under the small country assumption. The results indicate that the effect of introducing joint product export smuggling is dependent on whether legal and illegal exports are considered a substitutable or complementary activity for the exporting firm. The results of the model are applied to the issue of cigarette smuggling in the United States. The paper concludes that if legal and illegal interstate trade in cigarettes are substitutable activities for firms in the wholesale and retail tobacco industry, then states levying relatively …

Women In Law--Equal Justice For All?, Barb Kube '94

Honors Projects

This study uses Dr. Barbara Bergmann's Model of Labor Market Overcrowding to test for gender discrimination in the legal profession. Bergmann's model suggests that stereotypes and society's perceptions about what is "normal" divide male and female lawyers into two separate labor markets such that 1) females are paid less than males and 2) male and female lawyers are segregated into different areas of practice--either by area of concentration or position within the firm. Two samples, one composed of 45 young lawyers and the other consisting of 400 lawyers (200 males and 260 females), are used to test these hypotheses. The …

Ua68/2/1 Intercambio Internacional, Vol. Xii, No. 2, Wku Latin American Studies

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by WKU Latin American Studies program regarding science, politics and economic advances in Latin America as well as cooperative projects between WKU and universities across Latin America. The newsletter is written in both English and Spanish.

Investment And Interest Rates In Ecuador During 1970-1990, Max Proano '94

Honors Projects

Today, several less developed countries are implementing liberal economic policies, such as privatization of state-own services, reduction and elimination of tariffs and trade barriers, creation of well-developed capital markets, and openness of the economy to foreign capital, among others. Their main purpose is to achieve rapid economic development, just as Mexico, Chile, and Argentina successfully have done recently. One of these countries is Ecuador, . where the new conservative government is implementing these policies. This study is motivated by the author's desire to determine how financial and monetary policy in Ecuador influence its economic development. In order to understand the …

The Evolving Corporate Board, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Due to criticisms of corporate boards in the early 1990s, reform proposals are discussed to improve corporate governance.

Policies To Promote Shipping Registration In Singapore, Sock Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh

Research Collection School Of Economics

An analysis traces the development of ship registration in Singapore and examines the underlying motivation behind changes in policies over the last 3 decades. For the better part of the 1970s Singapore was classified as a flag of convenience (FOC) country as it pursued an FOC policy that emphasized the quantitative growth of its merchant fleet. Beginning in 1979 Singapore tightened maritime standards as well as ownership disclosure rules, requiring a foreign shipowner to incorporate a company in Singapore. It is regarded today as a quasi-FOC country - a term associated favorably with countries offering tax incentives to shipowners. The …

Production Uncertainty, Enforcement And Smuggling: A Stochastic Model, Scott Fausti

Economics Staff Paper Series (1969 - 2017)

This paper merges the existing smuggling literature with the literature concerning competitive firm behavior under uncertainty. A stochastic, joint product, model of smuggling is developed. The model introduces production uncertainty, generated by enforcement activity, into a Pitt (1981) type of smuggling production function. This modelling technique allows the trade pattern and welfare results which evolve under smuggling with uncertainty to be compared to smuggling in a world of certainty. It is demonstrated that mere presence of uncertainty increases the real resource cost associated with smuggling, reduces legal and illegal trade, and welfare, when compared to smuggling in a world of …

Labor Adjustment Under Different Institutional Structures: A Case Study Of Germany And The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Katharine G. Abraham

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Like most Western European countries, Germany stringently regulates dismissals and layoffs. Critics contend that this regulation raises the costs of employment adjustment and hence impedes employers' ability to respond to fluctuations in demand. Other German labor policies, however, most especially the availability of unemployment insurance benefits for those on short time, facilitate the adjustment of average hours per worker in lieu of layoffs. Building on earlier work, we compare the adjustment of employment, hours and inventories to demand shocks in the German and U.S. manufacturing sectors. We find that, in the short run, whereas U.S. employers rely principally on the …

French Optical Telegraphy, 1793-1855: Hardware, Software, Administration, Alexander J. Field

Economics

The relatively stable contribution of technological change to aggregate growth masks technological trajectories which are, at the sectoral level, often highly discontinuous. For decades, even centuries, the capabilities used to produce a particular good or service may continue essentially unchanged or with relatively minor evolutionary modifications. Sometimes without much warning a breakthrough innovation will create a new technological paradigm, along with an accompanying "gale of creative destruction," which is then followed by a period of consolidation within a maturing framework.

Mortality Effects Of Regulatory Costs And Policy Evaluation Criteria, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Risk regulations directly reduce risks, but they may produce offsetting risk increases. Regulated risks generate a substitution effect, as individuals' risk-averting actions will diminish. Recognition of these effects alters benefit-cost criteria and the value-of-life estimates pertinent to policy analysis. Particularly expensive risk regulations may be counterproductive. The expenditure level that will lead to the loss of one statistical life equals the value of life divided by the marginal propensity to spend on health. Regulations with a cost of $30 million to $70 million per life saved will, on balance, have a net adverse effect on mortality because of these linkages.

Prediction, Filtering, And Smoothing In Nonlinear And Nonnormal Cases Using Monte-Carlo Integration, Hisashi Tanizaki, Roberto S. Mariano

Research Collection School Of Economics

A simulation-based non-linear filter is developed for prediction and smoothing in non-linear and/or nonnormal structural time-series models. Recursive algorithms of weighting functions are derived by applying Monte Carlo integration. Through Monte Carlo experiments, it is shown that (1) for a small number of random draws (or nodes) our simulation-based density estimator using Monte Carlo integration (SDE) performs better than Kitagawa's numerical integration procedure (KNI), and (2) SDE and KNI give less biased parameter estimates than the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Finally, an estimation of per capita final consumption data is taken as an application to the non-linear filtering problem.

New Mexico Labor Market Review 03-31-1994, New Mexico Department Of Labor

Historic Publications

The New Mexico Labor Market Review is a monthly publication presenting statistical data and analysis on labor market conditions throughout New Mexico. Issues examine statewide and regional trends in employment, unemployment, labor force estimates, industry activity, wages, occupational demand, and related economic conditions, often accompanied by feature articles on topics affecting the state’s economy. This issue covers February 1994.

Theoretical Explanations Of Persistent Black Youth Unemployment, Rhonda M. Williams

Trotter Review

This essay reviews and briefly summarizes three theoretical models used most often to explain two decades of persistently high unemployment among black youth and declining rates of male labor-force participation: neoclassical, Keynesian/neo-Keynesian, and radical perspectives. Based on a review of these models, it offers an alternative approach to explaining and analyzing black youth unemployment.

Myths And Realities Of Puerto Rican Poverty, Edwin Melendez

Trotter Review

The following remarks were made as the closing keynote address at the conference, "Mainland Puerto Ricans: Myths and Realities on Poverty," held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on October 22 and 23, 1993.

There are two "stories" frequently cited to explain the causes of the poverty among Puerto Ricans: the first suggests that Puerto Ricans are poor because they are going through a transition as they move toward full assimilation; the second proposes that Puerto Ricans are becoming part of an urban "underclass." Neither of these explanations stands the test of reality.

Interest Rate Variability And Manufacturing Industry Cash Flow: An Empirical Analysis, Suzette M. Lebrasseur-Serwin, Abdur Chowdhury

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

To examine the impact of floating rate loans and interest rate volatility on aggregate cash flow, quarterly data covering the period 1974 to 1990 for 14 two-digit Standard Industrial Classification manufacturing industries were analyzed. The results indicate that changes in the short-term interest rate and-or interest rate volatility have a significantly negative impact on the cash flow of a total of 11 of the 14 firms considered. Although the inverse relationship between corporate cash flow and interest rate is worth mentioning, the heterogeneity of this relationship across industries, however, is more interesting. The magnitude of the decline in cash flow …

New Mexico Labor Market Review 02-28-1994, New Mexico Department Of Labor

Historic Publications

The New Mexico Labor Market Review is a monthly publication presenting statistical data and analysis on labor market conditions throughout New Mexico. Issues examine statewide and regional trends in employment, unemployment, labor force estimates, industry activity, wages, occupational demand, and related economic conditions, often accompanied by feature articles on topics affecting the state’s economy. This issue covers January 1994.