Digital Commons Network^™

How Much And How Fast Do Investors Respond To Equity Premium Changes? Evidence From Wealth Taxation, Andreas Fagereng, Luigi Guiso, Marius Ring

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Using administrative panel data on Norwegian investors’ portfolios, we document strong but slow portfolio allocation responses to a persistent wealth-tax-induced shock to the equity premium. Short-run responses resemble the modest sensitivity documented using surveys. The longer-run responses are much larger and can be rationalized by moderate risk aversion. We document that equity premium shocks affect stock market entry but not exits, suggesting that entry costs dominate participation costs. Our finding of slow responses supports the asset-pricing literature that uses adjustment frictions to explain important asset-pricing puzzles, and has implications for optimal capital taxation when tax rates differ across assets.

Legends, Lies, & Rewritten Lives: After The Little Bighorn: Forgotten Struggles Of Those Who Walked Away, 2nd Edition, Thomas B. Davidson

DU Textbooks

This Story surrounds an event that occurred one summer on June 25, 1876, along the banks of the Little Bighorn River in what is now the state of Montana. Seen from a 21st century perch, it is a story of a collision between two very different civilizations or empires. Both empire’s military fought in the manner of their society. This narrative will attempt to balance the believable truth of what happened in that contest between the military representatives of both societies while also trying to tell an engaging story, without drifting into naked partisanship, purple prose, or sensationalism. The narrative …

Psychological Architecture: Evaluating The "Greenhouse Model" As A Structural Standard For Lgbtq+ Well-Being, Ava Lee

University Honors Theses

Traditional LGBTQ+ mental health frameworks often conceptualize psychological safety as a matter of individual endurance. This paper critiques this focus on adaptive resilience, which systematically shifts responsibility from institutions to individuals. To counter this, the study introduces "Psychological Architecture," a framework viewing social environments as constructed infrastructures that can either support or undermine queer well-being. The model contrasts performative "Glasshouses," which prioritize visibility over safety, with engineered "Greenhouses" that nurture sustainable safety through three sequential pillars: Authentic Representation (walls), Emotional Validation (insulation), and Vocal Activism (ventilation).

Grounded in the findings of a 2024 qualitative pilot study of a queer roller …

The Cleansing Effect Of Technological Investment: An Empirical Analysis Of Episodic Labor Market Polarization (2000–2010), Adam Murphy

University Honors Theses

This paper investigates the episodic nature of labor market polarization in the United States between 2000 and 2010. While the Skill-Biased Technological Change (SBTC) framework may have successfully explained the rise of inequality in the 1980s, it struggled to account for the wage stagnation and hollowing out of the middle class that followed in the 1990s and 2000s. Utilizing Task-Biased Technological Change (TBTC) as a primary lens, this study examines how the codification of routine tasks allowed for the widespread substitution of middle-skill labor by technological capital. By synthesizing IPUMS-CPS occupational data with Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) investment statistics, …

(Wp 2026-03) Fomc Forecasts, Constant-Gain Learning, And Optimism/Pessimism, Stephen J. Cole

Economics Working Papers

This paper uses an adaptive learning framework to study FOMC forecasts from the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) dataset. FOMC expectations are modeled as the sum of two components: (1) an endogenous learning part and (2) a sentiment part capturing waves of optimism and/or pessimism. The results include key policy takeaways. FOMC forecasts are responsive to incoming macroeconomic information, consistent with adaptive learning, while sentiment is persistent, correlated across GDP growth and inflation forecasts, and becomes quantitatively more important during and around recessions. FOMC participants also rely more on their endogenous/learning model to form expectations, but sentiment plays a larger …

Essays On The Economics Of Aging: Structural And Machine Learning Approaches, Alexander S. Kwon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Population aging has made the study of older workers’ economic behavior increasingly important for understanding labor markets, retirement systems, and public policy. In many advanced economies, rising old-age dependency ratios have increased the need to understand labor-supply, retirement, and savings decisions later in life (OECD, 2025). In the United States, these issues are especially important because Social Security faces long-run financing pressure, with the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund projected to be depleted around 2033 (U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary, 2025). Longer life expectancy increases the expected length of retirement and raises the fiscal importance …

News Media Coverage Of Measure Ula: How The Story Of La’S Big Project To Address Homelessness And Affordable Housing Got Sidetracked By The Story Of Big Real Estate, Christopher R. Martin

Faculty Publications

“Measure ULA,” named after United to House LA, was approved by voters in Los Angeles in 2022 to create a dedicated, long-term funding source for solutions to homelessness in LA, including funding the construction of affordable homes and preventing homelessness by helping tenants stay in their homes. The funding would come from a new tax on the most expensive real estate transactions in L.A. (i.e., mansion tax), and would affect fewer than 4% of all property transactions. At the end of three years of local news coverage about Measure ULA from the Los Angeles Times and LAist, the news audience …

The Montana Travel Industry - 2025 Summary, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

In 2025, Montana welcomed 13.2 million visitors — a 4% decline from 2024 — who collectively spent $5.6 billion across the state. Tourism supported 52,610 jobs (1 in 11 statewide), generated $360 million in state and local taxes, and saved the average Montana household over $740 in taxes. Glacier Country led regional spending at $1.79 billion, followed by Yellowstone Country at $1.34 billion. The typical visitor was 57.8 years old, traveled in a group of 2.2, stayed 5.2 nights, and arrived primarily by car (74%). Top origin states were Washington, Idaho, and North Dakota. Visitors were drawn most by mountains …

2025 Estimates - Nonresident Visitation, Expenditures, And Economic Contribution, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Montana welcomed an estimated 13.24 million nonresident visitors in 2025, generating $5.64 billion in traveler expenditures and contributing an estimated $7.11 billion in total economic output to the state's economy. Nonresident spending supported approximately 52,620 jobs and generated $360.4 million in state and local tax revenues. Fuel (21%) and restaurant/bar spending (20%) accounted for the largest shares of visitor expenditures, followed by lodging, outfitter/guide services, and groceries. Summer travel remained the dominant season, with the third quarter accounting for 45% of annual visitation and 54% of total expenditures. Vacation travelers represented the largest visitor segment (41%) and had the highest …

Montana Resident Report: Rural Montana And Tribal Communities And Activities, Q1 2026, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This study was designed to better understand residents’ perceptions of smaller, rural towns in Montana, along with their level of interest in visiting and participating in activities in American Indian communities across the state. The Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR) conducts resident studies on a quarterly basis to better understand current topics throughout the state, with resident travel routinely serving as one of those topics. Recent efforts at the state level have focused on expanding Montana’s tribal tourism industry to provide economic benefits and to inspire visitation to Indian Country.

Respondents were asked to comment on how much …

The Political Economy Of Mandatory Disclosure: A Literature Review, Hao Liang, Hanyu Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Reviewing the literature on mandatory corporate disclosure from a political economy perspective, we synthesize the classic justifications for disclosure regulations while emphasizing why voluntary disclosure often fails to achieve socially efficient transparency. We also highlight how legal institutions, enforcement capacity, and political forces shape the design, credibility, and effectiveness of disclosure mandates. Drawing on evidence from international and China-focused studies, we review empirical findings on how mandatory disclosure affects investor protection, information environments, and firm behavior, showing that similar reporting rules yield different outcomes across institutional settings. We further extend the discussion to ESG and climate-related disclosure to examine emerging …

“Megadeal” Subsidies, Local Spillovers And Corporate Innovation, Yoojin Lee, Shaphan Ng, Aruhn Venkat

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine whether the largest place-based, firm-specific corporate subsidies (“Megadeals”) awarded by state and local governments affect local firms’ innovation. First, we document that 1) subsidy firms innovate in the subsidized county and 2) subsidy firms bring inventors from other counties into the subsidized county, consistent with subsidy firms generating new knowledge locally. In our main test, we use a stacked cohort design with stringent fixed effects to document that local firms increase patenting following a Megadeal. Cross-sectionally, effects are increasing 1) in subsidy firm innovativeness, 2) in the technological closeness of subsidy firms and local firms, 3) when subsidy …

Mandates, Markets, And Megawatts: An Empirical Analysis Of The Causal Effects Of State-Level Energy Storage Mandates On Utility-Scale Battery Storage Deployment In The United States, Bill Zheng

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

Utility-scale battery storage is accelerating at an unprecedented pace as the world increasingly relies on renewable energies to power grids. Demand for data centers has produced record-high electricity demand, and utility-scale batteries are becoming crucial in supporting the grid and the variability of renewables. As a result, analysis on the efficacy of policy drivers of battery storage will provide the field with a roadmap for the most impactful policy solutions to spur battery storage deployment. This paper estimates the effect of state battery storage mandates on cumulative installed battery capacity using a staggered difference-in-differences (DiD) design following Callaway and Sant’Anna …

The Role Of Bank Portfolio Heterogeneity In The Fiscal Stimulus Policy In Indonesia, Michael Kusuma, Brigitha Mega Rebeca

BISNIS & BIROKRASI: Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi dan Organisasi

Fiscal stimulus transmission is often hindered by banking frictions from risk-averse behavior and channel specialization. To evaluate the fiscal stimulus policy in Indonesia, this study introduces a modified Input-Output (I-O) framework integrated with bank portfolio-based shock vectors. This approach captures banking frictions by incorporating institution-specific portfolio weights into the macro-simulation framework, providing a more realistic assessment than standard uniform-transmission assumptions. Three scenarios are simulated (policy design, interim realization, and expansionary response) to assess the macroeconomic impacts of credit concentration. The results reveal a significant gap between the initial policy design and its actual realization, generating an economic opportunity loss of …

The Impact Of Road Quality On Nearby House Prices, Michael Cary, Brad Humphreys

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper estimates the impact of road quality on house prices in Hamilton County, Ohio, USA which includes the city of Cincinnati. We use a hedonic regression framework using road segment level international roughness index (IRI) data as a measure of road quality. We find that rougher roads decrease house prices, with a one standard deviation increase in road roughness from the sample mean decreasing house prices by 3.5%. This equates to a $6,700 decrease in the value of an average priced home in our sample, demonstrating the importance of road quality and maintenance for local economic development.

The Effect Of State Abortion Restrictions On Female Labor Force Participation And School Enrollment, Elena T. Albano

Graduate Masters Theses

This paper examines the causal effect of state-level abortion restrictions on young women’s labor force participation and school enrollment following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Using a difference-in-differences design that exploits the cross-state variation in post-Dobbs abortion policies, I estimate that abortion bans led to a decline in combined school and labor force participation among young women by at least 1 percentage point. This effect is qualitatively robust to a triple difference specification that uses men as a within-state control group, confirming that the results do not reflect broader economic shocks specific to …

Joan Robinson Rate Of Interest Paper, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Robinson, J. (1960). The rate of interest. In Collected economic papers (Vol. 2, pp. 246–265). Basil Blackwell. (Reprinted from Econometrica, 1951, 19(2), 92–111).

The Relationship Between Government Bailouts And Risk-Taking Behavior In Banks: A Case Study From The Great Financial Crisis Of 2008-09, Derek J. Cameron

Economics Working Papers

This study seeks to determine whether the expectation of a government bailout in the event of a crisis incentivizes ex ante risk-taking in banks. Although this subject has been the subject of extensive research in both economics and finance, this specific paper differs from existing literature in that it uses a strictly empirical methodology with minimal theoretical modeling and few assumptions about the banking sector, while also considering the entire banking sector and limiting itself exclusively to ex ante bank investment decisions. This study employs data compiled from various sources about 11 American banks of various sizes between January 2002 …

Three Essays On Demand And Distribution, Alejandro Gonzalez

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation answers two basic questions: what are the effects of aggregate demand on the long-run level of economic activity, and how do exogenous changes in the bargaining power of workers affect macroeconomic performance? The first chapter, written with Steven Fazzari, extends a simple Keynesian growth model to show that demand shocks can have permanent effects on labor productivity and labor supply. Estimating the model on U.S. data, we find that positive demand shocks raise labor productivity persistently, implying that stronger demand increases the long-run level of economic activity. The second chapter shows that these results can be rationalized within …

The Disconnect In Female Labour Force Participation Policy In Egypt: Design And Implementation Gaps, Miral Mohamed Omran

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the disconnect between Egypt's ambitious female labor force participation (FLFP) policy goals in the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 and the declining indicators since its launch. Applying Van Meter and Van Horn's implementation framework, it analyzes the full policy process using qualitative interviews across government, civil society, and private sector actors involved in the national policy’s design and execution. Findings reveal structural failures, resource shortages, coordination gaps, leadership turnover, and donor-driven fragmentation, intensified by cultural norms and frontline resistance. Recommendations prioritize short-term administrative tweaks leveraging public sector downsizing for harmonization and rethinking the …

How Much Should A Conversational Recommender System Converse?, Akshit Kumar, Vahideh Manshadi, Akhilesh Tumu

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Conversational recommender systems powered by generative AI can enhance personalization by facilitating information elicitation through follow-up questions. However, engaging in these conversations imposes a communication cost on users. As platforms with different objectives and monetization models deploy these systems, a central question is: how does the platform’s objective and sellers’ strategic response shape the design of these systems in terms of their elicitation strategy? We develop a parsimonious model of conversational elicitation in which interaction generates noisy preference information and imposes a communication cost borne by the user. A user-welfare-maximizing platform elicits more information when accurate niche matching yields large …

Interest Rate Lecture, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). APE II interest rate lecture (Handwritten notes).
• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Gibson's paradox (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Interest rate patterns (Unpublished manuscript).

Open For Anti-Racism: Assignment Example, Dorina Tila

Open Educational Resources

Economists have scarcely investigated and analyzed the racial discrimination topic despite the prevalent presence of economic racism and inequality in the United States. For example, the article “Race and Racism in Economics” by Cihak, Mlachila, and Sahay (2020) present some shuttering findings. Out of 7,920 articles from the top 10 economic journals published during a decade from 2010-2020, only 0.2 percent cover issues of race, racial inequality, and racism. There is a scarcity of articles analyzing this topic that affects large communities.  However, students need to be exposed to this reality and some unintended consequences of regulations that might aim …

Art And Social Context Adorno, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Art and social context: Adorno [Unpublished lecture notes and outline]. The New School for Social Research. Unpublished.
• Adorno, T. W. (n.d.). Aesthetic theory [Unpublished excerpt or reading]. Unpublished.
• Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (n.d.). Dialectic of enlightenment [Unpublished excerpt or reading]. Unpublished.
• Adorno, T. W. (n.d.). The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception [Unpublished excerpt or reading]. Unpublished.
• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Handwritten annotations on Adorno and social context of art [Handwritten marginalia]. The New School for Social Research. Unpublished.

Crime, Economic Forces And Trucks Crossings In The Us–Mexico Border Region, René Cabral, André Varella Mollick, Eduardo Saucedo

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We investigate northbound loaded truck crossings from Mexico to the United States between 2015 and 2023. A weaker peso, exports and US industrial production positively affect loaded containers. Truck robberies at the municipal level show no statistically significant relationship with truck loadings, whereas truck robberies at the national and state levels present a negative, persistent association. Results suggest that Mexico–US trade would benefit from lower average Mexican crime rates. In addition to comparing Texas with other border states, this study documents the role of crime specific to the transportation sector as a negative relevant driver of truck crossings to the …

The Worker Voice Gap: How Much Say Do Workers Want—And How Much Do They Actually Experience?, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Thomas A. Kochan

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

•The worker voice gap—the difference between the influence that workers want and what they experience—is very large. Nearly three-quarters of American workers want more voice at work than they currently have in three key areas: 1) compensation, 2) working conditions, and3) use of new technologies at work.

• The voice deficit is largest for compensation, but majorities of workers also express voice gaps over working conditions and the use of new technologies in their workplaces.

•Although voice gaps are relatively widespread, women tend to report larger voice gaps than men, and younger and middle-aged workers tend to report larger gaps …

American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, And The Pursuit Of A More Perfect Union: An Anthology, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

Fiscal And Monetary Policies For Inclusive Growth In Developing And Emerging Markets, Collins Anosike

Journal of Global Awareness

The study examined the effects of monetary and fiscal policies in attaining inclusive growth for some developing countries and emerging markets. The study selected 20 countries and grouped them into group one and group two. The study is unique because it captures a broader range of countries compared to previous studies and shows their effect on economic growth. We use panel data and employ OLS regression and Johansen cointegration. We examine how each variable, general government expenditure, gross national expenditure, total revenue, official exchange rate, broad money, and deposit interest rate, affects the dependent variable (real GDP) from 1980 to …

Women Self-Help Groups As Drivers Of Community Development In Rural Kenya, James Kariuki, Bhoke Chacha

Journal of Global Awareness

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are informal grassroots associations of people who have similar objectives and concerns working cooperatively and collectively to meet their needs and improve their living conditions. SHGs are known to contribute towards the development and welfare of their members. This paper examines the role of SHGs in community development in Kenya with a focus on selected women groups in Migori and Makueni Counties. The study adopted a mixed research approach that provided both qualitative and quantitative data, and it was anchored on two interrelated theories of community development: empowerment theory and social capital theory. The researchers interviewed 80 …

Notes From The Editor, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.