Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Regulations And The Environmental Effect Of Fdi, Mingming Pan

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper presents the hypothesis that tightening environmental regulation of a country would improve the effect of inward FDI on its environment. Estimations of a sample of 101 countries over the period 2006-2016 confirmed the hypothesis. The results also provide indirect evidence that countries with weak environmental regulations attract polluting FDI and might deter “clean” FDI.

Humanae Vitae At Fifty Years And The Economics Of The Pill, Andrew Beauchamp

Economics Faculty Publications

This article examines how economic analysis of the social consequences of the birth control pill dovetail with the predictions and pronouncements of Roman Catholic social teaching. Direct, equilibrium, and indirect consequences each, in turn, confirm that the advent of the pill has coincided with increased rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births alongside increased participation of women in the formal labor market. These findings lead to the conclusion that Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae and other papal teachings on sex, marriage, and the family deserve to be revisited and reevaluated in light of this history.

How Culture Affects Doing Business In The Global Economy, Mingming Pan, Ndem Tazifor, Benjamin Widner, Chrstina Medina, Carl Enomoto

Economics Faculty Publications

While several studies have examined the effects of culture on economic growth,
economic development, foreign direct investment, and the formation of joint ventures, few if any have analyzed the effects of culture on specific aspects of doing business such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, obtaining credit, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. Using different cultural variables, this study found that the emphasize individuals placed on religion, leisure time, family, the environment, nationality, prostitution, gender roles, power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance, had significant effects on different business activities. Due to the complex nature of culture, however, …

Differential Recessionary Impacts On U.S. Research Relative To Comprehensive University Efficiencies And Productivities: 2004-2014 Panel Data Estimates, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Using data envelopment analysis and Malmquist index decompositions this paper focuses on the impacts of the Great Recession on the efficiency and productivity changes of U.S. publicly funded prestigious research universities in comparison to their lower level comprehensive university counterparts. Do elite research relative to comprehensive universities have more political clout and resources to better ward off the financial impacts and production demands of the? Results, based on ten academic years from 2004-05 through 2013-14, are somewhat mixed, but indicate that research universities have a technological edge that acts as the primary advantage driver to total productivity gains over their …

Are American Universities Mismanaged?: Tenure Vs Non-Tenure Faculty Employment Decisions, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper empirically tests the extent to which public universities in the United States are potentially mismanaged. The focus rests with university managerial employment decisions regarding the continuing substitution of less costly non-tenure track teaching faculty for tenured and tenure track faculty and the extent to which those decisions affect student graduation success. Panel data covering ten academic years, 2004-05 through 2013-14 are employed using ordinary least squares and stochastic frontier analysis specifications. The latter provides tests of the inefficiency effects of managerial employment decisions and academic year estimates of technical efficiency. In both cases, the results provide statistically strong …

Recession And Post-Recession Efficiency And Productivity Changes In United States Public Universities: The Good, Bad, And Ugly, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper employs data envelopment analysis to investigate the extent to which publicly owned, operated, and managed universities in the United States have undergone efficiency and productivity changes in response to the financial crisis that induced the Great Recession and how post-recessionary conditions have altered those changes. The paper revisits an earlier study of like kind that used panel data covering the 2005-2008 academic years but could not, obviously, capture the dynamic changes of the 2007-2009 recession or the lingering post-recessionary financial and enrollment effects imposed on public universities. The present paper offers many improvements over that previous study by …

Exploring The Racial Divide In Education And The Labor Market Through Evidence From Interracial Families, Peter Arcidiacono, Andrew Beauchamp, Marie Hull, Seth Sanders

Economics Faculty Publications

We examine gaps between minorities and whites in education and labor market outcomes, controlling for many covariates including maternal race. Identification comes from different reported races within the family. Estimates show two distinct patterns. First, there are no significant differences in outcomes between black and white males with white mothers. Second, large differences persist between these groups and black males with black mothers. The patterns are insensitive to alternative measures of own race and school fixed effects. Our results suggest that discrimination is not occurring on the basis of child skin color but through mother-child channels such as dialect or …

Gender Dimensions Of The U.S. Consumer Borrowing Expansion, Barbara E. Hopkins, Zdravka Todorova

Economics Faculty Publications

The article calls attention to gender as a dimension of the expansion of U. S. consumer borrowing. The first section emphasizes that gender is not a dummy variable, but an evolution of habits of thought. The second section discusses how changing gender relations are connected to gendered product differentiation and market expansion. The final section connects gendered market expansion and changing gender habits of thought to the expansion of consumer borrowing. We argue that, in addition to the acknowledged role of credit, gender relations also mask the structural financial fragility of households.

The Minimum Wage And Crime, Andrew Beauchamp, Stacy Chan

Economics Faculty Publications

Does crime respond to changes in the minimum wage? A growing body of empirical evidence indicates that increases in the minimum wage have a displacement effect on low-skilled workers. Economic reasoning provides the possibility that disemployment may cause youth to substitute from legal work to crime. However, there is also the countervailing effect of a higher wage raising the opportunity cost of crime for those who remain employed. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort to measure the effect of increases in the minimum wage on self-reported criminal activity and examine employment–crime substitution. Exploiting changes in state …

The Challenge Of Occupational Safety And Health In Greece, Foster Rinefort, David Boggs, Joseph Petrick, Berkwood M. Farmer

Economics Faculty Publications

This study examines the managerial challenges and economic contexts of occupational safety and health in Greece as a dimension of national labor standards and working conditions. Empirical data is provided to document areas of Greek occupational safety and health concern. Recommended Greek occupational safety and health best practices are provided to address workplace safety issues and promote sustained economic productivity.

Connecting Social Provisioning And Functional Finance In A Post-Keynesian – Institutional Analysis Of The Public Sector, Zdravka Todorova

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper establishes connections between the frameworks of social provisioning and functional finance, and discusses a post-Keynesian–Institutionalist theory of the public sector that emerges out of these linkages. The concept of social provisioning has emerged out of Institutional economics, and has been further developed by institutional and other heterodox economists. Its potential as a methodological foundation that connects various heterodox approaches has received some growing attention. Such discussions have not referred in an analytical manner to functional finance. On the other hand, the principles of functional finance have been elaborated and developed outside an explicit grounding in a social provisioning …

Four-Stage Dea Efficiency Evaluations: Financial Reforms In Public University Funding, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Financial reforms in U.S. public higher education are well underway and are progressively replacing university enrollment based funding formulas with performance based models driven, in part, by graduation rates. Doing so, however, fails to account for the internal resource constraints and managerial efficiencies associated with production. Moreover, graduation rates are affected by external factors beyond the control of university decision-makers. This paper addresses these issues and uses a four-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate university graduation rate performance. The four-stage DEA efficiencies correct for both environmental and statistical noise effects on university operations. Efficiency estimates control for the …

Private Philanthropy In Financing Public Universities: Fundraising Stochastic Frontier And Efficiency Evaluations, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This study provides stochastic frontier analyses of private philanthropy in financing public universities in the United States. Panel data estimates of private giving –fundraising production frontiers and inefficiency effects are provided for an aggregate of 353 universities and separately for research intensive, doctoral granting, and master level institutions over the 2006-09 academic years. Inefficiency effects are modeled as set of university specific covariates, including medical schools, hospitals, executive employment and a time trend to capture potential effects of the global financial crisis on university fundraising efficiency. Efficiency scores are estimated across university levels and indicate that mean efficiencies range from …

Social Reproduction In The Time Of Neoliberalization: The Role Of The Employment Guarantee In India, Sirisha C. Naidu

Economics Faculty Publications

Privatization and informalization of production, land fragmentation and the agrarian crisis in India has forced a significant fraction of rural households to underconsume and widened the income gap at a time of relatively high economic growth. Despite the significant role of the state in precipitating and intensifying this crisis, and in vindicating Polanyi’s notion of a double movement, the state has also invested in social schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Seven years after this scheme was first implemented, there is growing evidence of a seemingly contradictory picture of the NREGS. This paper reviews current literature …

Efficiency Estimates And Rankings Employing Data Envelopment And Stochastic Frontier Analyses: Evaluating The Management Of U.S. Public Colleges, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper estimates and compares operating efficiencies of publicly owned associate degree granting colleges in the United States using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Comparisons are based on panel data for 698 colleges over four academic years, 2005-09. Included are both constant and variable returns to scale DEA estimates along with half and truncated normal inefficiency SFA estimates. The values 0.56 vs. 0.45 represent the largest mean DEA-SFA efficiency differential. DEA results indicate that 13% of colleges are fully (100%) efficient while SFA puts that percentage at only 1.7%. Comparisons of rankings based on efficiency performance …

Productivity Growth And Efficiency Changes In Publicly Managed U.S. Comprehensive Universities: Data Envelopment Analysis And Malmquist Decompositions, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper uses data envelopment analysis and Malmquist index decompositions in estimating productivity and efficiency changes of comprehensive degree granting, publicly owned U.S. universities. Panel data for 247 universities is employed for the academic years 2005-09. Results indicate that universities incurred productivity regress on the order of 4% per annum. The regress was due to declines in technological change that overpowered the efficiency gains achieved by universities. The latter derived from both university management and scale efficiency improvements. The dynamics of annual changes suggest that the financial crisis worsened productivity regress but created positive efficiency changes. It will, however, be …

Spillover Effects Of Crimes In Neighboring States Of Mexico, Mingming Pan, Benjamin Widner, Carl E. Enomoto

Economics Faculty Publications

The recent surge in crime and drug-related violence in Mexico has had a profound effect on the Mexican economy. Thousands of businesses have closed in Ciudad Juarez, a city that borders the U.S., due to the violence that has erupted between drug cartels. It has been estimated by Rios (2007) that $4.3 billion of losses occur yearly to Mexico, due to illegal drug activity in the country. Using a spatial model, this paper analyzes the determinants of crime in Mexican states. It was found that high levels of total crime and drug-related violence in neighboring states of Mexico have spillover …

Stochastic Cost Inefficiency Estimates And Rankings Of Public And Private Research And Doctoral Granting Universities, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Stochastic frontier cost and inefficiency estimates are provided for research and doctoral granting universities in the U.S. Separate sector estimates are produced for public and private non-profit universities. Panel data spanning four academic years, 2005-2009, is used to estimate underlying cost structures. Inefficiency is modeled as depending on institutionally specific environmental factors. Results indicate that public universities are on average more efficient than their private counterparts. The latter exhibit greater variability and when evaluated at the median inefficiencies there does not appear to be any statistically significant difference. Time varying inefficiency estimates point to public sector efficiency gains but private …

For-Profit College Entry And Cost Efficiency: Stochastic Frontier Estimates Vs Two-Year Public And Non-Profit Colleges, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper provides stochastic frontier cost and (in)efficiency estimates for private for-profit colleges with comparisons to public and private non-private colleges. The focus is on the two-year U.S. higher education sector where there exists the largest and fastest growing entry of for-profit colleges. Unbalanced panel data is employed for four academic years, 2005-2009. Translog cost frontiers are estimated with an inefficiency component that depends upon environmental factors defined by college specific characteristics. More experienced public and private non-profit colleges are found to be more cost efficient relative to the newer entrants. In addition, the newer for-profits exhibit greater efficiency variability …

Is The Production Of Religious Knowledge Efficient? Managing Faith Related Postsecondary Institutions, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

The focus of this paper is on the efficiency of producing and managing religion based knowledge in postsecondary institutions. Panel data is used to estimate a stochastic cost frontier and associated inefficiencies for a panel of 222 U.S. bible colleges, theological seminaries, and other faith based higher education institutions over the 2005-09 academic years. Results indicate that institutions offering undergraduate only education are on average less inefficient than graduate only or combined undergraduate-graduate education institutions. Government provided student loans and private philanthropy are efficiency improving, while institutional debt acts to increase inefficiency. Time varying inefficiencies show efficiency gains over the …

Cost Inefficiencies And Rankings Of Ivy Universities: Stochastic Panel Estimates, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper employs stochastic frontier analysis in providing estimates of the operating cost inefficiencies of private non-profit and public ivy universities in the U.S. Panel data for academic years 2005-09 is used to estimate cost frontiers under two alternative specifications that lead to estimated gross and net inefficiencies. Time varying inefficiencies are reported for each academic year and used to calculate university inefficiency rankings by sector. The results suggest that private ivy universities are less inefficient or more efficient than their public counterparts. However, public ivies appear to have made significant inefficiency adjustments perhaps in response to the global financial …

Minority Serving College And University Cost Efficiencies, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Problem Statement:

Higher education minority enrollment growth has far outstripped white non-minority growth in the United States. Minority serving colleges and universities have disproportionately attended to that growth and will continue to play a critical role in providing minority educational opportunities in a knowledge based and globally diverse economy. However, they will face new and challenging budgetary and managerial reforms induced by the global financial crisis. As a result, they will be pressured to operate in the future with greater cost efficiency.

Approach:

Panel data pertaining to minority serving colleges and universities was used along with stochastic frontier analysis to …

Does Faculty Tenure Improve Student Graduation Rates?, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

The primary objective of this paper is to determine whether tenure in comparison to non-tenure faculty employment is efficient in producing the academic success of university students. A stochastic production frontier is estimated for university graduation rates while the inefficiency specification includes measures of tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track faculty employment. Using panel data for U.S. doctoral and master level public universities, the evidence indicates that the employment status does matter and that increases in the pro- portion of tenured faculty employment lead to efficiency gains in graduation rates. Effects of tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty are somewhat mixed with …

Data Envelopment Analysis Of Productivity Changes In Higher Education For-Profit Enterprises Compared To Non-Profits, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Data envelopment analysis is used to compare private for-profit colleges to publicly owned colleges in terms of their operating efficiency and productivity. Academic year 2005-09 panel data is used for two-year institutions in the U.S. Results indicate that for-profit efficiency exceeded that of public colleges. Malmquist index results show that colleges in both sectors increased managerial and scale efficiencies, but that both were hindered by technological regress to the extent that overall productivity declined. 2007-08 created efficiency declines across the board, but for-profits managed large technological gains that produced the only annual productivity improvement for either sector. The results are …

Wright State University Regional Economic Report, Fall 2011, Thomas L. Traynor

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Publicly Vs. Privately Controlled Higher Education Costs: Panel Data Estimates, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

More so now than ever, budgetary problems and widespread reforms are generating questions regarding higher education costs among publicly controlled compared to privately controlled colleges and universities. Past studies have offered scale and scope estimates anchored in 1995 and earlier cross sectional data that could contain omitted variable biased. In contrast, this paper employs panel data spanning the 2005 through 2009 years to estimate a multiproduct cost function and scale and scope economies separately for public and private sector colleges and universities. The two-way fixed effects results indicate the presence of significant institutional and time effects. Overall, the findings suggest …

Wright State University Regional Economic Report, Spring 2011, Thomas L. Traynor

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cost Efficiencies And Rankings Of Flagship Universities, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Problem Statement:

Each state in the U.S. touts a premier university as the flagship of its publicly funded higher education system. With decreased government budgets and increased interest in public management reforms, these institutions are being pressured to provide evidence of and set examples for ever greater improvements in operating cost efficiencies. The problem, however, is that empirical measures of their efficiencies or inefficiencies can be sensitive and, therefore, vary widely depending upon the underlying model specification.

Approach:

The study used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate university cost inefficiencies over the 2005-09 academic years. Transom and Cobb-Douglas specifications were combined …

Wright State University Regional Economic Report, Fall 2010, Thomas L. Traynor

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wright State University Regional Economic Report, Spring 2010, Thomas L. Traynor

Economics Faculty Publications

Includes the article "Industry Employment Forecasts for the Dayton MSA."