Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Political Effects Of Trade With Japan In The 1980s, Shuichiro Nishioka, Eric Olson

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

The 1974 trade act substantially increased the executive branch's authority in trade negotiations through the granting of fast-track and Section 301 authority. This paper evaluates the effect on U.S. voting behavior resulting from trade with Japan over 1976-1992 time period after the act was passed. To capture U.S. trade exposures to Japan, we develop the Bartik index from Autor et al (2013) for import competition with Japan and show that local exposure to import competition had statistically significant negative impacts on Republican presidential candidates over the 1976-1984 period. Although the second Reagan administration used Section 301 to open Japan's markets …

Economic Impact Of The West Virginia International Yeager Airport Expansion, Eric Bowen, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Kanawha County serves the largest metropolitan area in West Virginia and has the greatest amount of airplane traffic in the state. The airport has begun construction on a new terminal building and plans a variety of other construction projects in order to upgrade its facilities and handle the expected increased traffic through the area. In this report, we provide an economic impact estimate of the terminal’s expansion and associated growth in region on the West Virginia economy.

The Economic Impact Of The North Central West Virginia Airport Expansion, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The North Central West Virginia (NCWV) Airport in Clarksburg/Bridgeport has experienced rapid growth over the last decade. The number of airline passengers through the airport increased nearly four-fold between 2010 and 2019. The airport was also chosen as the primary US hub for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries airplane refurbishment facility, which services airplanes from most major airlines.

Because of this rapid growth, the NCWV Airport has begun construction on a new terminal building in order to handle the increased traffic through the area. In this report, we provide an economic impact estimate of the terminal’s expansion and associated growth in …

Municipal Finances In West Virginia, Christopher Plein, Priscila Borges Marques Dos Santos, Eric Bowen, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

West Virginia’s municipalities are part of the lifeblood of our state. From the smallest incorporated towns and villages to our larger cities like Charleston, Wheeling, and Morgantown, our state’s cities and towns often act as hubs for civic, social, cultural, and economic activity. We associate these municipalities and their surrounding communities as places to shop, work, worship, and receive services like healthcare and education. This report seeks to place West Virginia’s cities and towns in this broader context of change, challenge, and opportunity by providing an in-depth study of major features, trends, and factors in municipal finance.

Parkersburg Area Economic Outlook: 2022-2026, Connor Kelly, Lauren Moore, Glenn Whited, John Deskins, Brian Lego

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The Parkersburg Area economy experienced a substantial loss in jobs during COVID-19 recession, as the combination of public health measures and massive negative shock to economic activity globally caused employment in the area to plunge by nearly 8,000 jobs in early-2020. By some measures, the area’s recession was not demonstrably worse than what occurred at the state and national level yet was still unprecedented in terms of how fast these losses happened when compared to previous economic downturns. At the same time, the area has recovered nearly 6,000 jobs over the last six quarters, putting its overall recovery on par …

Weirton Area Economic Outlook: 2022-2026, Mackenzie Hill, Ben Sbei, Isabelle Dallaire, Brian Lego, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The Weirton Area1 suffered a sharp drop in employment during the COVID-19 recession, but the region experienced a relatively milder bout of job losses during the early phases of the pandemic compared to many areas.

Economic Impact Of A Proposed Metals Manufacturing Plant, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

In this briefing paper, we estimate the potential economic impact of a new metals manufacturing plant in West Virginia. Data for this study were provided by the West Virginia Development Office. We consider the economic impact of the plant construction and operational spending in terms of output, employment, employee compensation, and select state and local tax revenue.

Sexual Assault On Campus: The Impact Of The Women's Gymnastics Scandal On Michigan State, Bryan Mccannon, Kaleigh Strohl

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In 2017 Larry Nassar was sentenced to 60 years for assaulting over 300 women during his career as team doctor for the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team and as an osteopathic doctor and professor at Michigan State University. The university received a stream of negative publicity for their role in the scandal. We identify the impact of the sexual assault scandal on the university. Using a synthetic control method approach, we estimate the differences between the real and “synthetic” Michigan State in several university outcomes. We find significant reductions in the number of applications, changes in gender ratio of incoming …

Aacsb Accreditation And Student Demand, Bryan Mccannon, Katherine Starr, Marisa Cameron

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We ask whether AACSB accreditation has a meaningful impact on university admissions. To do this, we explore 16 U.S. institutions which first achieved this certification recently. We, first, document a modest, but nonzero, impact on university-wide undergraduate applications, without any changes in first-year enrollment, price, or quality of the incoming student body. Restricting attention to business schools, while initial evidence suggests that the accreditation is associated with a decrease in enrollments, we show that this is complicated by non-parallel trends prior to accreditation. Compared to their comparison institutions, universities who seek out accreditation were experiencing flatter business enrollments. Correcting for …

Save To Win: Using Contests To Promote Savings, Bryan Mccannon, Zachary Rodriguez, Roman Sheremeta

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We ask whether linking savings accounts to contests can promote saving. We do this by offering contest-linked accounts to individuals in rural Uganda where poverty is a serious problem. Our design builds off of results in experimental economics documenting excessive competitiveness in contests, with the goal of harnessing this behavior for the good. We find that, properly designed, we encourage savings beyond both pre-treatment levels and the control group. We explore reasonable heterogeneous treatment effects and document long lasting impacts on wealth.

Do Elections Encourage Public Actors To Be More Responsive?, Bryan Mccannon, Corey Williams

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In the U.S. many public services are provided by individuals who are selected in local elections. We ask whether elections encourage public actors to be responsive to citizens. We design a novel field experiment where we send an information request to a random sample of prosecutor offices. Whether someone replies to the request is our measurement of responsiveness. We show that offices whose head is up for re-election are more likely to respond. We also show that offices in states that appoint their local prosecutors are substantially less likely to respond than a matched set of offices with elected leadership.

The Right To Counsel: Criminal Prosecution In 19th Century London, Bryan Mccannon, Zachary Porreca

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Exploiting a novel data set of criminal trials in 19th century London, we evaluate the impact of an accused’s right to counsel on convictions. While lower-level crimes had an established history of professional representation prior to 1836, individuals accused of committing a felony did not, even though the prosecution was conducted by professional attorneys. The Prisoners’ Counsel At of 1836 remedied this and first introduced the right to counsel in common law systems. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy we identify the causal effect of defense counsel. We find the surprising result that the professionalization of the courtroom lead to an …

Expert Witnesses And Arbitration Outcomes: Insights From Public Procurement Contracts, Bryan Mccannon, Claudio Detotto, Marco Vannini, Riccardo Marselli

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We explore the use of expert witnesses in arbitration proceedings by analyzing public procurement contract disputes in Italy. Balancing cost with accuracy, participants to a contract select arbitration when speedy dispute resolution is valued highly. Arbitration mechanisms tend to give arbitrators discretion in how to proceed. Consequently, principal-agent problems can arise. Using an IV approach, we show that the use of an expert witness causes a slowing down of the case resolution, without having an effect on the outcome of the dispute nor resolving uncertainty as measured by unanimous decisions by the panel of arbitrators.

Regression Discontinuity Evidence On The Effectiveness Of The Minimum Legal E-Cigarette Purchasing Age, Jeff Desimone, Daniel Grossman, Nicolas Ziebarth

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Increases in youth vaping rates and concerns of a new generation of nicotine addicts recently prompted an increase in the federal minimum legal purchase age (MLPA) for tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21 years. This study presents the first regression discontinuity evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarette MLPA laws. Using data on 12^th graders from Monitoring the Future, we obtain robust evidence that federal and state age-18 MLPAs decreased underage e-cigarette use by 15–20% and frequent use by 20–40%. These findings suggest that the age-21 federal MLPA could meaningfully reduce e-cigarette use among 18–20-year-olds.

Ranked Choice Voting In Mayoral Elections, Bryan Mccannon

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Numerous cities across the U.S. have recently switched to ranked choice voting in their local mayoral elections. Proponents argue that, by allowing voters to fully express their preferences over the candidates, voter satisfaction and, ultimately, turnout will improve. Opponents are concerned over the number of candidates who enter the race, as it increases the chances of someone only supported by a minority taking office. To date, there has not been an empirical analysis of ranked choice voting’s effects. First, using the Synthetic Control Method on three large U.S. cities who switched relatively recently, I explore the voting rule’s causal impact. …

District Attorney Compensation And Performance, Bryan Mccannon, Morgan Stockham, Gregory Deangelo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Does prosecutor pay impact performance? We attempt to identify the causal effect of wages on a prosecutor’s effort by studying a large (41%), exogenous salary increase for district attorneys in New York state. We measure the performance of prosecutors by the likelihood that a conviction is upheld when appealed. If the efficiency wage theory accurately explains non-market actor behavior, then the exogenous wage shock should entice better performance. Alternatively, if individuals who hold public office are motivated primarily by an intrinsic desire to carry out their office duties to the best of their ability rather than strictly financial compensation, then …

Three Golden Balls: Pawn Shops And Crime, Bryan Mccannon, Zachary Rodriguez, Zachary Porreca

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We ask what the relationship is between pawn shops and crime. The dominant narrative is that pawn shops reduce the transaction costs of crime and, consequently, promote it. We explore the alternative where pawn shops address the financial distress of those in need, which reduces the incentive to engage in crime. We exploit two distinct policies affecting access to pawn shops − severe licensing fees implemented in London in the early 1800s and state variation in the classification of pawn shops as essential businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020. For each, employing a difference-in-difference identification strategy, we provide …

Carbon Emissions, Abatement, And Natural Disasters: Politics And Social Institutions, Ritika Khurana

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation empirically examines three issues related to renewable energy and international development: 1) The Political Economy of Solar Initiatives in the Sunshine State; 2) Climate Change, Natural disasters, and Institutional Integrity; and 3) Institutional Integrity and Carbon emissions.

In Chapter 2, I empirically examine the outcomes of two solar energy amendments that were on the ballot in Florida in 2016. One amendment exempts solar energy devices from ad valorem taxation of real estate property, effectively decreasing the cost of solar energy for those who adopt solar photovoltaic panels. The other amendment reaffirms the right of property owners to install …

The U.S. Coal Industry: Market Structure & Implications, Sara Elizabeth Guffey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The U.S. coal mining industry was once a booming industry which created and defined communities, particularly in Appalachia. The industry has, however, transformed significantly in the last couple of decades with the passage of environmental policies, with competition from the Shale Revolution, from changes in company ownership, and from mine safety regulation. Overall, the coal industry during this time has experienced a massive decline in production and employment. This dissertation is composed of three papers that investigate these mechanisms and their role in understanding market structure, coal transactions and prices, and mine safety outcomes. Motivated by the shutdowns of U.S. …

Essays In The Consequences Of Occupational Regulation, Noah J. Trudeau

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Occupational regulation affects many people across many aspects of life. This dissertation research investigates the consequences of occupational regulation across three different areas of study: economic history, urban and regional economics, and health policy.

The first chapter investigates the historic licensing of emigrant agents. In the period following the US Civil War, firms wished to capitalize on the availability of African American labor. To do so they hired emigrant agents, also known as labor agents, to hire and help with the migration of individuals from the South. Faced with out-migration at the hands of the labor force, some southern states …

Three Essays In Healthcare Economics And Policy Analysis, Tuyen Pham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation research consists of three essays on healthcare economics and policy analysis. Chapter 1 investigates and explains the failure of a proposition on limiting dialysis clinic profits in California in 2018. The proposition would have required dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or their payers for revenue that exceeds 115% of the direct cost of treatment. In this chapter, a conceptual framework of how voters weigh costs and benefits is developed and two different empirical approaches, simple OLS and Double Post LASSO, are employed to identify key determinants of the voting outcome. The empirical results suggest that counties …

Three Essays In Public Economics, Joylynn Michelle Pruitt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation presents three chapters related to each other in their application to public economics. In the study of how utility-maximizing or goal-seeking units achieve economic outcomes, this dissertation presents results for a diverse range of agents including prosecutors and liberal arts colleges. Co-authored with Dr. Bryan McCannon of West Virginia University, the first chapter examines an interesting feature of prosecutor elections, where the pool of potential challengers to an incumbent comes primarily from subordinates within the office. We develop a signaling model that analyzes whether entry into the political race by a subordinate provides voters with useful information. In …

Essays In Urban And Health Economics, Allyssa Ann Wadsworth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Chapter 1 analyzes the impact new hospital construction has on neighboring residential real estate prices. In 2017, the Oishei Children’s Hospital was built in downtown Buffalo, New York, representing a new era for women and children’s medical facilities. Individuals working at the old facility now faced the decision of whether to move closer to the new hospital or have a longer commute. Using property sales data, I analyze how Oishei impacts residential property prices with a difference-in-differences hedonic price model while utilizing three unique time treatments and two distance treatments. The opening of Oishei generated a statistically significant percentage increase …

Modeling Post-Crisis Monetary Policy, James Dean

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Chapter 1, co-authored with Scott Schuh, examines whether the Taylor Rule still adequately captures monetary policy despite unconventional monetary policies (UMP) and the policy rate near zero in 2009-2015. We find structural breaks at 2007:Q3 in macro models with a shadow funds rate. Taylor Rule coefficients shift back toward pre-1984 estimates and breaks occurred in non-policy parameters. Results are similar with the effective funds rate, so either breaks are not due to UMP or the shadow rate is an insufficient specification of UMP. Chapter 2 incorporates the term structure and the Fed’s average inflation targeting (AIT) framework into the model …

Is The Taylor Rule Still An Adequate Representation Of Monetary Policy In Macroeconomic Models?, James Dean, Scott Schuh

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

No abstract provided.

The Eastern Panhandle Economic Outlook: 2022-2026, John Deskins, Brian Lego

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle (EPH) has been the state’s strongest economic region for well over a decade, experiencing sustained growth in population, employment, income and a host of other major economic indicators. The three-county area has recovered nearly all the jobs lost during the COVID-19 recession and has seen its workforce return to pre-pandemic levels. In this report, we present a detailed discussion of the current state of the EPH economy along with our forecast for the likely path of economic activity over the next five years.

The New River Gorge Area Economic Outlook: 2022-2026, John Deskins, Brian Lego

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The New River Gorge Area has struggled for much of the last decade as secular declines in employment for several of the region’s traditional industries have proven difficult to overcome. More recently, the COVID-19 recession has caused significant turmoil for portions of the four-county area’s economy, most notably the tourism industry, but conditions have improved measurably over the past 18 months or so. In this report, we present a discussion of the New River Gorge Area’s recent economic performance and a forecast of the region’s economy over the next five years.

The Economic Impact Of The Longview Power Plant On West Virginia, Eric Bowen, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

In this report, we consider the potential economic impact of the Longview Power Plant’s switch to in-state coal suppliers, and the Longview Power Plant overall. In addition to increased coal purchases, we estimate the PPA would generate an additional $19.4 million in related economic activity in the state, for a total economic impact of more than $58 million annually.

The Economic Impact Of The Fort Martin Power Station On The Monongalia County And West Virginia Economies, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

In this report, we estimate the economic impact of the Fort Martin Power Station on both the West Virginia economy and the Monongalia County economy. We begin with an overview of the effects of the COVID pandemic on Monongalia County’s economy, followed by the economic impact of the power station.

The Economic Impact Of The Harrison Power Station On The Harrison County And West Virginia Economies, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

In this report, we estimate the economic impact of the Harrison Power Station on both the Harrison County economy and the West Virginia economy. We begin with an overview of the effects of the COVID pandemic on Harrison County’s economy, followed by the economic impact of the power station.