Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Vertical Accountability Among Ministries Of State In An Emerging Economy: A Case Study Of Ghana, Joseph Ofori Acheampong, Michael K. Dzordzormenyoh, Justice Nyigmah Bawole, Albert Ahenkan, Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi

Political Science Student Research

Since 1992, Ghana has implemented several initiatives and reforms such as the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACAP), Right to Information (RTI) Act, Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with the goal of improving accountability while reducing corruption. These policies provide researchers with a lot of opportunities to examine how effective these programs have been as well as their impact on accountability. Hence, the present study seeks to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to explore the factors that facilitate vertical accountability; 2) to explore the limitations to vertical accountability; and 3) to investigate the …

Scalability And Robustness Of Feed Yard Mortality Prediction Modeling To Improve Profitability, Ryan Feuz, Kyle Feuz, Jeffrey Gradner, Miles Theurer, Myriah Johnson

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Cattle feed yards routinely track and collect data for individual calves throughout the feeding period. Using such operational data from nine U.S. feed yards for the years 2016-2019, we evaluated the scalability and economic viability of using machine learning classifier predicted mortality as a culling decision aid. The expected change in net return per head when using the classifier predictions as a culling aid as compared to the status quo culling protocol for calves having been pulled at least once for bovine respiratory disease was simulated. This simulated change in net return ranged from - $1.61 to $19.46/head. Average change …

Only 7.8% Of Eligible Vehicles In Utah Enroll In The Utah Road Usage Charge (Ruc) Program, Tyson Bomsta, Joe Davis

Research on Capitol Hill

Senior Tyson and sophomore Joe are Center for Growth Opportunity Research Fellows studying economics and finance at USU. The duo focused their research on their native Utah. The increase in fuel-efficient and electric cars has begun to impact Utah’s ability to fund roadwork, and this is likely to become a more serious problem as time goes on. Taxing gas is no longer a viable way to raise the funds necessary, and Joe and Tyson are looking at ways to reform our tax structure to keep Utahns on the road. Both students agree that research is the best way to learn. …

Two-Sided Platform Pricing And Competition Under Realistic Pricing Structure, Tongyao Jiang, Jie Chen, Zhixuan Xiang

Economics and Finance Student Research

This paper is motivated by the prevailing pricing structure and competition in Chinese food-delivery market. Currently, two oligarchs in China’s food-delivery market are Meituan-Dianping Takeout and ELEME Takeout, which accounting for more than 95% of the market share. Both of these platforms charge a percentage commission based on per-transaction price and involve per-agent fee. So far, few research has been found to make analysis under such realistic pricing structure, and we help to fill this gap by developing a model for platform competition based on the model developed by Armstrong. The results we get under the realistic pricing structure and …

Western Region Health & Wellness Programming Efforts: Qualitative Results From A Three-Part Listening Session, Cris L. Meier, Lily Ward, Anders Van Sandt, Sue Schneider, Riana Gayle

All Current Publications

The purpose of this project was to understand the programming efforts and experiences of Extension professionals in the Western Region of the United States. The Health and Wellness Working Group team held a series of listening sessions with a closed cohort of Extension professionals, hoping to learn from each other while also building the foundation for future collaborations and conversations about health and wellness programing in the western region.

The objectives were to understand: (1) the state of health and wellness work in the western region, including the gaps and challenges, (2) the programs that currently exist and ways that …

Enhanced Farming And Marketing Opportunities For Refugee And Native American Farmers In The Mountain West, Kynda R. Curtis

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Association Between Financial Education, Affective And Cognitive Financial Knowledge, And Financial Behaviors, Lucy M. Delgadillo, Yoon Lee

Applied Sciences, Technology and Education Faculty Publications

Using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study, this paper examined the relationship between financial education participation and affective and cognitive financial knowledge. Involvement in financial education yielded statistically significant associations between affective and cognitive domains. The results showed that participation in financial education was associated with both cognitive and affective financial knowledge as well as long-term financial behaviors. The findings supported the case for life-long learning of financial education for young adults, Blacks and Hispanics, and women. One important implication was the need to include both the affective and cognitive domains when teaching or researching financial education.

Public Perception Of Uas And Vertiports In The Wastach Front Survey Results, Brent C. Chamberlain, Katelynn Hall, Keunhyun Park

Browse all Datasets

This project aims to further understand the current public perception of UAS and their integration into residential areas for package delivery through the development of vertiports The survey also aims to identify evidence of NIMBY (not in my backyard) in these perceptions. The survey specifically asked participants about demographics, familiarity with UAV, perceptions of UAV, and perceptions of vertiports through 6 different potential vertiport placements in residential of community center focused areas.

Balancing Food Security And Environmental Sustainability By Optimizing Seasonal-Spatial Crop Production In Bangladesh, Man Li, Zhe Guo, Wei Zhang

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

The intensification of crop production has been identified as one of the major drivers of environmental degradation. While significant advances could still be made with more widespread adoption of sustainable intensification technologies that address the agronomic efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers, the dynamic use of agricultural land across seasons and associated crop-specific responses to fertilizer applications have so far been largely overlooked. This paper explores the potential for improving the economic-environmental performance of crop production through spatially integrated modeling and optimization, as applied to Bangladesh. Results show that per-billion-Taka nitrogen loss from soil would decline by 83% from the baseline level …

The Downfall Of Transmar Cocoa, Ryan Fuez, Joseph Montoya

Applied Economics Student Research

As a large cocoa bean trader, Transmar group ltd. bought millions of dollars’ worth of beans relying on financing from a syndicate of banks. To monitor amounts of eligible collateral, the banks required Transmar prepare periodic borrowing base (BB) reports. At some point, Transmar developed a discrepancy in collateral recorded on the BB report versus the amount of funds borrowed. The case discusses how this discrepancy grew larger as many questionable and fraudulent entries were included on subsequent BB reports. The case is written from the perspective of Peter B. Johnson, head of Transmar’s European affiliate and son of CEO …

Are Financing Constraints Binding For Investment? Evidence From A Natural Experiment, Katarzyna Anna Bilicka

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper shows that the availability of cash flows dominates the effects of cost of capital for investment at the firm level. Using an exogenous tax reform in Canada as a quasi-natural experiment, I find that a temporary and unexpected increase in the cost of capital for firms with low availability of retained earnings has no effect on investment of those firms. A subsequent direct increase in the availability of cash flows has large effects on investment. This suggests that internal financing constraints are binding for firms, as they prefer to use low cost retained earnings to finance their investment.

Information Search And Financial Markets Under Covid-19, Behzod B. Ahundjanov, Sherzod Akhundjanov, Botir B. Okhunjanov

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

The discovery and sudden spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) exposed individuals to a great uncertainty about the potential health and economic ramifications of the virus, which triggered a surge in demand for information about COVID-19. To understand financial market implications of individuals’ behavior upon such uncertainty, we explore the relationship between Google search queries related to COVID-19—information search that reflects one’s level of concern or risk perception—and the performance of major financial indices. The empirical analysis based on the Bayesian inference of a structural vector autoregressive model shows that one unit increase in the popularity of COVID-19-related global search …

Rural Transportation Conference Participants’ Opinions And Concerns Pertaining To Transit For Older Adults, James W. Mjelde, Rebekka M. Dudensing, Geoffrey Battista, Jonathan Brooks, Maria Carrillo, Blane Counsil, Anil Giri, Man-Keun Kim, V. Dimitra Pyrialakou

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Mobility remains a vital part of the well-being of rural-living, older adults and transportation disadvantaged persons. This study seeks to identify research and policy needs related to rural transit for older people and the transportation disadvantaged. To obtain this goal, the multidisciplinary study team conducted two activities as part of a 2016 rural transportation conference: a survey of conference attendees and open discussion to elicit additional information. Results suggest the attendees felt the need for rural transit for older adults would continue to increase with public and private funding being critical issues. Respondents had similar opinions about challenges and opportunities …

Disconnect Within Agriculture And Ecosystem Climate Effects, Adaptations And Policy, Anastasia W. Thayer, Aurora M. Vargas, Thomas E. Lacher, Bruce A. Mccarl

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Frequently, agriculture and ecosystems (AE) are seen as separate entities, causing entity specific solutions in response to threats. Anthropogenic climate change simultaneously stresses both agriculture and ecosystems along with their interactions. Induced increasing surface temperatures [1], altered precipitation [2], drought intensification [3], altered ground and surface water quantity/quality [4,5], and diminished soil moisture [6] force adaptations for AE, but these adaptations fail to be efficient when interdependencies are not considered. Additional adaptations will be necessary, as future projections anticipate even greater climate change [1].

Profit Shifting And Corruption, Katarzyna Anna Bilicka, André Seidel

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper introduces heterogeneous profit shifting costs induced by corrupt tax officials to the analysis of profit shifting of multinationals. Using a theoretically derived corruption weighted tax differential, we show that corruption increases profit shifting of European firms. We use our estimates to calculate the implied tax revenue elasticities for European countries and find that countries with otherwise similar tax rates face lower tax revenue elasticities when they are more corrupt. This means that corruption negatively affects the revenue gains that countries could have from increasing their tax rates.

Residential Preferences Study, Arthur Caplan, Krisopher Toll

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This study reports on estimates of residential preferences in the Mountain West region of the US. The estimates are derived from a choice experiment funded by the Utah Department of Transportation and Utah Transit Authority – an experiment based on large samples of both homeowners and renters who participated in a larger, statewide transportation study. The choice experiment and transportation study provides a rich set of household- and individual-specific demographic controls, enabling us to identify a host of factors contributing to heterogeneity in residential preferences. We leverage a percentage-change housing-cost attribute included in the experiment to obtain measures of marginal …

Comovement In The Cryptocurrency Market, Benjamin M. Blau, Todd Griffith, Ryan J. Whitby

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This study examines the comovement between 17 of the most active cryptocurrencies. We are unable to statistically reject the presence of perfect comovement between Bitcoin and six of the 16 non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies. Consistent with the friction-based explanation for the presence of comovement, once the CBOE introduced futures contracts on Bitcoin, we find that all 16 cryptocurrencies comove with Bitcoin. These results suggest that introducing futures contracts improves the informational environment of the entire cryptocurrency market, which helps explain the unusual comovement in the cryptocurrency market.

The Spillover Effect Of Marketing Discolored Beef On Consumer Preferences For Nondiscolored Beef, Ryan Feuz, F. Bailey Norwood, Ranjith Ramanathan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Consumers prefer bright, cherry-red retail beef. Retailers often mark down the price of discolored beef for quick sale. However, following this practice could result in a net loss of revenue if consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for nondiscolored beef is negatively affected by the presence of discolored beef in the consumer choice set. Through a hypothetical online survey and a controlled in-person experiment, we determine that marketing discolored beef together with nondiscolored beef increases most consumers’ evaluation of, but not their WTP for, nondiscolored beef.

Organic Wheat Prices And Premium Uncertainty: Can Cross Hedging And Forecasting Play A Role?, Tatiana Drugova, Veronica F. Pozo, Kynda R. Curtis, T. Randall Fortenbery

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We compare the volatility of organic wheat prices to that of conventional wheat prices using historical measures. To reduce uncertainty, we examine the possibility of cross hedging using conventional wheat futures and the ability of futures to forecast the organic premium. Results provide evidence that conventional futures can be used to cross hedge organic wheat price risk, but results depend on the method used to impute the missing values. We also find a long-run equilibrium relationship between organic wheat prices and conventional wheat futures prices. Finally, futures prices contain some information useful in predicting organic prices in the short run.

Comparing Uk Tax Returns Of Foreign Multinationals To Matched Domestic Firms, Katarzyna Anna Bilicka

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

In this paper, I use confidential UK corporate tax returns data to explore whether there are systematic differences in the amount of taxable profits that multinational and domestic companies report. I find that the ratio of taxable profits to total assets reported by foreign multinational subsidiaries is one-half that of comparable domestic standalones. The majority of the difference is attributable to the fact that a higher proportion of foreign multinational subsidiaries report zero taxable profits. I document how the estimated difference is related to profit shifting and show that using accounting data leads to much smaller estimates of the difference.

The Introduction Of Bitcoin Futures: An Examination Of Volatility And Potential Spillover Effects, Benjamin M. Blau, Ryan J. Whitby

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Theory in Stein (1987) suggests that introducing derivative contracts, such as futures, can destabilize underlying asset prices if the contracts attract enough speculative traders. This paper examines how the introduction of Bitcoin futures influences the underlying Bitcoin market. Consistent with Stein (1987), we find that that Bitcoin's volatility increases significantly during the post-introduction period. Perhaps more importantly, however, we observe significant spillover effects into related markets. For instance, in other cryptocurrencies, the increase in volatility in these markets is greater than the post-introduction increase in Bitcoin.

Smoothing, Discounting, And Demand For Intra-Household Control For Recipients Of Conditional Cash Transfers, Diego Aycinena, Szabolcs Blazsek, Lucas Rentschler, Betzy Sandoval

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Inter-temporal preferences are important determinants of investment decisions, including investments in human capital. Yet, little is known about these preferences for recipients of conditional cash transfers (CCTs). We simultaneously estimate utility curvature (preference for consumption smoothing), discounting, and present biasedness for such recipients. We also introduce a financially motivated method of measuring willingness to forgo funds to control household finances. We find that female participants in a CCT program in Guatemala have very high degrees of utility curvature and low discount factors, which may lead to low levels of investment by participants in the human capital of the household. We …

Bounded Rationality And The Choice Of Jury Selection Procedures, Martin Van Der Linden

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

A peremptory-challenge procedure allows the parties to a jury trial to dismiss some prospective jurors without justification. Complex challenge procedures offer an unfair advantage to parties who are better able to strategize. I introduce a new measure of strategic complexity based on level-k thinking and use this measure to compare challenge procedures often used in practice. In applying this measure, I overturn some commonly held beliefs about which jury selection procedures are strategically simple.

Is Uber A Substitute Or Complement For Public Transit?, Jonathan D. Hall, Craig Palsson, Joseph Price

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

How Uber affects public transit ridership is a relevant policy question facing cities worldwide. Theoretically, Uber’s effect on transit is ambiguous: while Uber is an alternative mode of travel, it can also increase the reach and flexibility of public transit’s fixed-route, fixed-schedule service. We estimate the effect of Uber on public transit ridership using a difference-in-differences design that exploits variation across U.S. metropolitan areas in both the intensity of Uber penetration and the timing of Uber entry. We find that Uber is a complement for the average transit agency, increasing ridership by five percent after two years. This average effect …

Career: Location-Aware Social Science For Adaptation: Modeling Dynamic Patterns In Public Perceptions And Behavior, Peter D. Howe

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Primed For Death: Law Enforcement-Citizen Homicides, Social Media, And Retaliatory Violence, Vladimir Bejan, Matthew Hickman, William S. Parkin, Veronica F. Pozo

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We examine whether retaliatory violence exists between law enforcement and citizens while controlling for any social media contagion effect related to prior fatal encounters. Analyzed using a trivariate dynamic structural vector-autoregressive model, daily time-series data over a 21-month period captured the frequencies of police killed in the line of duty, police deadly use of force incidents, and social media coverage. The results support a significant retaliatory violence effect against minorities by police, yet there is no evidence of retaliatory violence against law enforcement officers by minorities. Also, social media coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement increases the risk of …

A Note On Mitigating The Adverse Scale Effects Associated With Daily Driving Restrictions, Arthur J. Caplan, Man-Keun Kim

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the role of additional regulation in mitigating the “adverse scale effect” associated with daily driving restrictions, which has become a popular regulatory tool used to control episodic air pollution internationally, especially in developing countries. We find that although an annual vehicle registration tax reduces the incentive to purchase additional vehicles among households whose sole purpose for doing so is to “cheat” the restriction (i.e., the “adverse scale effect”), it does so with an external cost. The cost occurs because households whose purpose for purchasing an additional vehicle is not to cheat the restriction are given the same …

Using Survey Data To Determine A Numeric Criterion For Nutrient Pollution, Paul Mark Jakus, Nanette Nelson, Jeffrey Ostermiller

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We present a scientific replication of a benthic algae nuisance threshold study originally conducted in Montana, but we do so using a different sampling methodology in a different state. Respondents are asked to rate eight photographs that depict varying algae conditions. Our initial results show that Utah resident preferences for benthic algae levels are quite similar to those of Montana residents, thus replicating the Montana study. For the full Utah sample, though, Cronbach's α indicated poor internal consistency in rating the photographs, so a “monotonicity rule” was used to identify respondents providing monotonic preferences with respect to chlorophyll a densities. …

Sequestration And The Engagement Of Developing Economies In A Global Carbon Market, Reza Oladi, Arthur J. Caplan, John Gilbert

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We develop a differential game within a general equilibrium framework of carbon sequestration with and without international trade. We characterize the game's equilibrium and demonstrate how a global carbon permit market can be structured to induce the participation of developing countries through the harnessing of their potential to sequester carbon. We show that a permit market with carbon sequestration is mutually welfare improving for developed and developing nations, and that international trade in finished goods and carbon permits lowers the stock of global pollution.

Range-Based Volatility, Expected Stock Returns, And The Low Volatility Anomaly, Benjamin M. Blau, Ryan J. Whitby

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

One of the foundations of financial economics is the idea that rational investors will discount stocks with more risk (volatility), which will result in a positive relation between risk and future returns. However, the empirical evidence is mixed when determining how volatility is related to future returns. In this paper, we examine this relation using a range-based measure of volatility, which is shown to be theoretically, numerically, and empirically superior to other measures of volatility. In a variety of tests, we find that range-based volatility is negatively associated with expected stock returns. These results are robust to time-series multifactor models …