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Articles 1 - 30 of 489
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
National Integration And Institution Building, Haiwen Zhou
National Integration And Institution Building, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
The mutual dependence between national integration and institution building is established in a formal model. It is shown that a decrease in transportation costs, but not necessarily an increase in population size, reduces the equilibrium number of states and the adoption of rule-based institutions. With endogenous transportation costs or endogenous population size, the unification process can feed on itself. The model is illustrated by the state of Qin's unification of China in 221 BC. During this process of national integration, transformations from relation-based governance to rule-based governance happened.
Assessing Proxies Of Knowledge And Difficultywith Rubric-Based Instruments, Ben O. Smith, Jadrian J. Wooten
Assessing Proxies Of Knowledge And Difficultywith Rubric-Based Instruments, Ben O. Smith, Jadrian J. Wooten
Economics Faculty Publications
The fields of psychometrics, economic education, and education have developed statistically-valid methods of assessing knowledge and learning. These methods include item response theory, value-added learning models, and disaggregated learning. These methods, however, focus on multiple-choice or single response assessments. Faculty and administrators routinely assess knowledge through papers, thesis presentations, or other demonstrations of knowledge assessed with rubric rows. This paper presents a statistical approach to estimating a proxy for student ability and rubric row difficulty. Moreover, we have developed software so that practitioners can more easily apply this method to their instruments. This approach can be used in researching education …
Export Capacity And Capital Stock Augmentation Through Imports: Evidence From Sub-Saharan African Countries, Catherine Y. Co
Export Capacity And Capital Stock Augmentation Through Imports: Evidence From Sub-Saharan African Countries, Catherine Y. Co
Economics Faculty Publications
This paper investigates the capital goods imports of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 2002 to 2017. The composition of capital goods imports has become less diverse over time in more than half of the countries studied. Colonial ties no longer determine the sourcing of capital goods as China is now the top source. Trade gravity regressions using the Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood estimator show that bilateral exports of non-primary products by SSA countries and their low-income peers are associated with increased net stock of imported general-purpose capital goods. Additionally, there is evidence that the net stock of some types of imported equipment …
Environmental Regulations And The Environmental Effect Of Fdi, Mingming Pan
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.
Do Lawyers Inhibit Economic Growth? New Evidence From The 50 U.S. States, James V. Koch, Richard J. Cebula
Do Lawyers Inhibit Economic Growth? New Evidence From The 50 U.S. States, James V. Koch, Richard J. Cebula
Economics Faculty Publications
Whether the activities of lawyers might hamper economic growth has been hotly contested over the past three decades. Contradictory conclusions have flowed from evidence that typically has focused on the impact of lawyers on the growth rates of countries. Disputes over definitions and samples that vary among countries have colored portions of these debates. We surmount many of these issues by adopting a 50-state panel covering the period 2005-2018 for the United States and by utilizing widely accepted variables regarding economic activity and who is considered a lawyer. Further, we utilize two distinct measures of the activity of lawyers and …
Using The Lsat As A Labor Market Thermometer For Lawyers, James V. Koch, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez
Using The Lsat As A Labor Market Thermometer For Lawyers, James V. Koch, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez
Economics Faculty Publications
We rely upon a 50-state, 20-year panel to find that the number of Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) takers is only loosely related to economic conditions—although slightly more for men than for women, who in 2020 accounted for 58% of all LSAT takers. The number of test takers rose more than 35% between 2014 and 2020. This wave accentuated an already existing downtrend in the median real income of lawyers, and thus provides support for the hypothesis that most states have more lawyers than they need.
What Type Of Central Banker Dampens The Political Business Cycle? The Case Of Africa, Christine Strong
What Type Of Central Banker Dampens The Political Business Cycle? The Case Of Africa, Christine Strong
Economics Faculty Publications
This article investigates the extent to which central bank independence can help to reduce political business cycles in Africa. Like previous studies, we find evidence of political cycles in our sample of 34 African countries for the period 1980–2018, but our findings show that politicians' ability to manipulate both fiscal and monetary policy depends on the degree of alliance between the fiscal authority and the monetary authority. Indeed, our analysis reveals that the political business cycle worsens when the central banker is an ally whereas a non‐ally central banker is associated with a decrease in the ability of the incumbent …
Unification And Division: A Theory Of Institutional Choices In Imperial China, Haiwen Zhou
Unification And Division: A Theory Of Institutional Choices In Imperial China, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
Ancient China experienced various rounds of division and unification. Unification was maintained through economic and political institutions such as low tax rates to reduce peasant rebellions and the division of authority among government officials to reduce usurpation of power. A ruler’s choice of institutions to maintain unification is studied in a theoretical model. Interactions among external threats, internal rebellions by peasants, and usurpation of power by government officials are established. A higher level of external threats induces the ruler to choose a higher level of autonomy for government officials and a higher tax rate. That is, equilibrium probability of internal …
Economic Freedom And One-Way Truck Rental Prices: An Empirical Note, Alexander Cardazzi, Robert A. Lawson
Economic Freedom And One-Way Truck Rental Prices: An Empirical Note, Alexander Cardazzi, Robert A. Lawson
Economics Faculty Publications
This study examines the one-way truck rental prices for 378 cities. There are large price differentials in one-way rental prices between city pairs. The pull of people toward higher economic freedom locales and push away from lower economic freedom locales is found to be an important determinant of the city-pair price differentials.
The Choice Of Technology In Economic Development, Lei Wen, Haiwen Zhou
The Choice Of Technology In Economic Development, Lei Wen, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
The impact of capital accumulation on job creation is an important and interesting issue in economic development. This model provides a general-equilibrium framework for studying technology choice with unemployment in a developing economy based on micro-foundations. Unemployment in the urban sector results from the existence of efficiency wages. Manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies to maximise profits. A more advanced technology uses more capital and less labour. In the steady state, an increase in the amount of capital induces firms to choose more advanced technologies and the wage rate increases. While a higher capital stock always induces …
The Personal Saving Rate: Data Revisions And Forecasts, Dean Croushore, Pedro Del Monaco Santos
The Personal Saving Rate: Data Revisions And Forecasts, Dean Croushore, Pedro Del Monaco Santos
Economics Faculty Publications
Revisions to the U.S. personal saving rate are very large and may be predictable. We decompose the revisions of the personal saving rate into those caused by revisions to income and those caused by revisions to household outlays. We use our findings to explore the forecastability of future revisions of the personal saving rate.
Why Has The Median Real Income Of Lawyers Been Declining?, James V. Koch, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez
Why Has The Median Real Income Of Lawyers Been Declining?, James V. Koch, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez
Economics Faculty Publications
The median real incomes of lawyers have been declining. In 2001, the median real income of lawyers in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia was $129,389 (July 2020 prices). Almost two decades later, in 2020, this number had fallen to $126,930, 1.90% less than in 2001. By contrast, the median real income of workers in all occupations together rose 3.93% between 2001 and 2020, while the median real income of the average family practice physician rose 20.15% and the median real income of a typical economist rose 10.9%. We examine both supply and demand influences to explain the …
Promoting Sustainable Responses To The Us Opioid Epidemic With Community-Academic Partnerships: Qualitative Outcomes From A Statewide Program, David L. Driscoll, Alison Evans Cuellar, Vinod Agarwal, Debra Jones, Kathy Hosig, Mary Beth Dunkenberger
Promoting Sustainable Responses To The Us Opioid Epidemic With Community-Academic Partnerships: Qualitative Outcomes From A Statewide Program, David L. Driscoll, Alison Evans Cuellar, Vinod Agarwal, Debra Jones, Kathy Hosig, Mary Beth Dunkenberger
Economics Faculty Publications
Background: Drug overdose deaths in the United States have continued to increase at an alarming rate. The United States is facing two devastating public health crises– the opioid epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this context, one of the most ambitious implementation studies in addiction research is moving forward. Launched in May 2019, the HEALing Communities Study (HCS) was developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM Initiative (National Institutes of Health, 2020). The goal for this research was to reduce …
Introduction To The Political Economy And Feasibility Of Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies, Spencer J. Pack
Introduction To The Political Economy And Feasibility Of Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies, Spencer J. Pack
Economics Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Pulling Back The Veil: What Determines Hbcu Campus Enrollments, James V. Koch, Omari H. Swinton
Pulling Back The Veil: What Determines Hbcu Campus Enrollments, James V. Koch, Omari H. Swinton
Economics Faculty Publications
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are among the least researched sectors of American higher education. This article addresses a portion of this knowledge deficit by focusing on the determinants of the full-time equivalent enrollments of 50 HBCUs between fiscal year FY 2005 and FY 2018 and then comparing them to a broad sample of 182 non-HBCUs. The most noteworthy specific results generated by our analyses are: (1) increased recruitment of white students by HBCUs may not hold the key to HBCU enrollment success; (2) the incomes of the households from which students emanate have a major positive influence on …
Search, Technology Choice, And Unemployment, Constantine Angyridis, Haiwen Zhou
Search, Technology Choice, And Unemployment, Constantine Angyridis, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
Technology variations among countries account for a significant part of their income differences. In this paper, a firm's technology choice is embedded in a search theoretic framework for unemployment. More advanced technology is assumed to have a higher setup cost, but it is more productive. The model is tractable and the following results are derived analytically. An increase in the unemployment benefit leads to an increase in the equilibrium wage rate, giving an incentive to firms to choose a more advanced technology. Thus, this result regarding unemployment insurance in models with wage posting carries through with Nash bargaining as well. …
The Partition Of Production Between Households And Markets, Christopher Colburn, Haiwen Zhou
The Partition Of Production Between Households And Markets, Christopher Colburn, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
The process of industrialization was accompanied by the switch from household production to firm production. The industrialization process was also a process of population growth, the appearance of general-purpose technologies, and the expansion of international trade. This paper studies the partition of production between households and firms in an analytically tractable general equilibrium model with a continuum of goods. We show that population growth, development of general-purpose technologies, and the opening of international trade increase the percentage of goods produced by firms. However, with the appearance of a technology biased toward home production, the percentage of goods produced by households …
Inferring Tax Compliance From Pass-Through: Evidence From Airbnb Tax Enforcement Agreements, Andrew J. Bibler, Keith F. Teltser, Mark J. Tremblay
Inferring Tax Compliance From Pass-Through: Evidence From Airbnb Tax Enforcement Agreements, Andrew J. Bibler, Keith F. Teltser, Mark J. Tremblay
Economics Faculty Publications
Tax enforcement is especially costly when market participants are difficult to observe. The benefits of enforcement depend crucially on pre-enforcement compliance. We derive an upper bound on pre-enforcement compliance from the pass-through of newly enforced taxes. Using data on Airbnb listings and the platform’s voluntary collection agreements, we find that taxes are paid on, at most, 24% of Airbnb transactions prior to enforcement. We also find that demand for Airbnb listings is inelastic, driving three key insights: the tax burden falls disproportionately on renters, the excess burden is small, and tax enforcement is relatively ineffective at reducing local Airbnb activity.
On Guessing: An Alternative Adjusted Positive Learning Estimator And Comparing Probability Misspecification With Monte Carlo Simulations, Ben O. Smith, Dustin R. White
On Guessing: An Alternative Adjusted Positive Learning Estimator And Comparing Probability Misspecification With Monte Carlo Simulations, Ben O. Smith, Dustin R. White
Economics Faculty Publications
Practitioners in the sciences have used the “flow” of knowledge (post-test score minus pre-test score) to measure learning in the classroom for the past 50 years. Walstad and Wagner, and Smith and Wagner moved this practice forward by disaggregating the flow of knowledge and accounting for student guessing. These estimates are sensitive to misspecification of the probability of guessing correct. This work provides guidance to practitioners and researchers facing this problem. We introduce a transformed measure of true positive learning that under some knowable conditions performs better when students’ ability to guess correctly is misspecified and converges to Hake’s normalized …
Chance Elections, Social Distancing Restrictions, And Kentucky's Early Covid-19 Experience, Charles J. Courtemanche, Joseph Garuccio, Anh Le, Joshua C. Pinkston, Aaron Yelowitz
Chance Elections, Social Distancing Restrictions, And Kentucky's Early Covid-19 Experience, Charles J. Courtemanche, Joseph Garuccio, Anh Le, Joshua C. Pinkston, Aaron Yelowitz
Economics Faculty Publications
Early in the pandemic, slowing the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) relied on non-pharmaceutical interventions. All U.S. states adopted social-distancing restrictions in March and April of 2020, though policies varied both in timing and scope. Compared to states with Democratic governors, those with Republican governors often adopted measures for shorter durations and with greater resistance from their residents. In Kentucky, an extremely close gubernatorial election immediately prior to the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 replaced a Republican incumbent with a Democrat, despite Republicans easily winning all other statewide races. This chance election result offers a unique opportunity to examine the …
Topology Identification In Distribution System Via Machine Learning Algorithms, Peyman Razmi, Mahdi Ghaemi Asl, Giorgio Canarella, Afsaneh Sadat Emami
Topology Identification In Distribution System Via Machine Learning Algorithms, Peyman Razmi, Mahdi Ghaemi Asl, Giorgio Canarella, Afsaneh Sadat Emami
Economics Faculty Publications
This paper contributes to the literature on topology identification (TI) in distribution networks and, in particular, on change detection in switching devices' status. The lack of measurements in distribution networks compared to transmission networks is a notable challenge. In this paper, we propose an approach to topology identification (TI) of distribution systems based on supervised machine learning (SML) algorithms. This methodology is capable of analyzing the feeder's voltage profile without requiring the utilization of sensors or any other extraneous measurement device. We show that machine learning algorithms can track the voltage profile's behavior in each feeder, detect the status of …
Let Them Tweet Cake: Estimating Public Dissent Using Twitter, Ben O. Smith, Ethan Spangler
Let Them Tweet Cake: Estimating Public Dissent Using Twitter, Ben O. Smith, Ethan Spangler
Economics Faculty Publications
This paper establishes a new method of estimating public dissent that is both cost-effective and adaptable. Twitter allows users to post short messages that can be viewed and shared by other users, creating a network of freely and easily observable information. Drawing data directly from Twitter, we collect tweets containing specified words and phrases from citizens voicing dissatisfaction with their government. The collected tweets are processed using a regular expression based algorithm to estimate individual dissent; which is aggregated to an overall measure of public dissent. A comparative case study of Canada and Kenya during the summer of 2016 provides …
Local Fiscal Adjustments From Depopulation: Evidence From The Post–Cold War Defense Contraction, Timothy M. Komarek, Gary A. Wagner
Local Fiscal Adjustments From Depopulation: Evidence From The Post–Cold War Defense Contraction, Timothy M. Komarek, Gary A. Wagner
Economics Faculty Publications
In this paper, we estimate the long-term causal effect of population losses on local government revenue, expenditure, and debt by exploiting a quasi-exogenous change that reduced the number of US military personnel by about 40 percent between the late 1980s and 2000. Aggregating across governmental units within commuting zones, we find that real per capita total revenues and expenditures remained unchanged for remaining citizens. At the same time, however, we note several important compositional effects. First, local governments appear to have offset reductions in state intergovernmental aid by increasing property tax revenues. Second, they significantly shifted the composition of expenditures …
"Letters", James V. Koch, Seth Forman
"Letters", James V. Koch, Seth Forman
Economics Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Fixed Costs And The Division Of Labor, Haiwen Zhou
Fixed Costs And The Division Of Labor, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
How market size and the level of coordination costs determine the degree of specialization is studied in an infinite horizon model with the amount of capital determined endogenously. Firms producing the same intermediate good engage in oligopolistic competition and choose the degree of specialization of their technologies to maximize profits. A more specialized technology is a technology with a lower marginal cost, but a higher fixed cost. Interestingly, the relationship between the level of coordination costs and a firm’s degree of specialization is ambiguous. A firm in a country with a larger market size, more patient citizens, or a higher …
Economics Of Covid-19 Reading List, Sara Gundersen
Economics Of Covid-19 Reading List, Sara Gundersen
Economics Faculty Publications
Reading list for The Economics of COVID-19, taught in Fall 2020
Economics Of Covid-19 Reading List, Sara Gundersen
Economics Of Covid-19 Reading List, Sara Gundersen
Economics Faculty Publications
Reading list for The Economics of COVID-19, taught in Fall 2020
Economics Of Covid-19 Syllabus, Sara Gundersen
Economics Of Covid-19 Syllabus, Sara Gundersen
Economics Faculty Publications
This is the syllabus for the course, The Economics of COVID-19, taught in the Fall of 2020
Economics Of Covid-19 Project 1 Macroeconomics, Sara Gundersen
Economics Of Covid-19 Project 1 Macroeconomics, Sara Gundersen
Economics Faculty Publications
This is the first project from The Economics of COVID-19, taught in fall 2020. It focuses on macroeconomics.
Economics Of Covid-19 Project 1 Macroeconomics, Sara Gundersen
Economics Of Covid-19 Project 1 Macroeconomics, Sara Gundersen
Economics Faculty Publications
This is the first project from The Economics of COVID-19, taught in fall 2020. It focuses on macroeconomics.