Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Economic Analysis Of Stormwater Management Practices, Ritu Sharma

All Dissertations

Structural stormwater management practices help reduce the quantity and improve quality of stormwater runoff. This dissertation focuses on costs and cost effectiveness of these practices. Design, construction and maintenance costs data that were collected from six different sources and adjusted for purchasing power differences over time and location are analyzed using stochastic Leontief cost functions. Effects on these costs of land prices, wages for engineering, construction, and landscaping services, water storage or treatment, and differences in designs of the SMPs and the biophysical regions in which they are located are estimated with the Leontief functions. Results indicate that all SMPs …

Regional Innovation Systems (Ris) In The U.S. South: The Role Of Local Characteristics Of Ris In Rural Development, Doohee Lee

All Dissertations

Regional innovation systems (RIS) and innovative activity are now recognized as having important roles to play in regional economic development policy. The goal of this study is to expand our understanding of the relationship between regional economic growth and the local characteristics of RIS. The research identified the existence and importance of sources of innovation, knowledge spillovers, and regional spillovers as the principal characteristics of RIS in the South. A knowledge production function approach was used to estimate the determinants of innovative activity in rural counties. A zero inflated negative binomial model was estimated to capture the influence of local …

The Competitive Effects Of Multiple Exchange Listed Options On The Us Options Market: A Look At Market Share, Jason Kunkel

All Theses

In an attempt to foster competition between financial exchanges, the Securities and Exchange Commission developed the National Market System Plan. With the exchanges competing for market share, there is potential for the loss of property rights of price quotes developed by the dominant exchange. The smaller exchanges will free ride on the dominant exchange`s price quotes and 'cream skim' the less risky trades. This research develops a model of CBOE (the dominant options exchange) market share to show evidence of 'cream skimming.' The variables in the model of market share give insight into the risk and profitability of the option …

Commercialization Of Nonprofit Organizations: A New Model, Brittana L.W. Hardwick

Economics Theses

No abstract provided.

Paying Attention To Welfare: Supplemental Security Income, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, And The Incentives Of Parents, Jason Rudbeck

All Dissertations

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is the only welfare program that extends cash benefits to children for being blind or disabled. The largest growth in the program has occurred towards children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Using in-house data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), this research measures parents` sensitivity to having their children diagnosed with ADHD given increases in real SSI payments. Children who are more likely to receive SSI benefits given income and living condition are also more elastic to increases in payments through becoming diagnosed with ADHD. In addition, parents alternate between claiming that …

An Econometric Analysis Of Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment: A Panel Data Study For Africa, Evarist Twimukye

All Dissertations

In the last two decades, foreign direct investment has become a major source of investment capital for developing countries. This study evaluates the determinants of foreign direct investment in Africa using fixed effects feasible generalized least squares model for 45 countries covering the period 1990-2003. The study finds gross domestic product, literacy rate, exchange rate and population size to have positive relationship with foreign direct investment. But, inflation rate and remoteness have negative relationship with foreign direct investment. Finally, central, eastern and western regions have lower foreign direct investment than southern region.

Are Obese People Choosing More Sedentary Jobs?, Ashley Cluley

All Theses

Throughout the developed world there are a growing number of people becoming obese. Advancing technology continues to make our jobs less physically demanding. I show that a person with a higher body mass index (BMI) does not choose a more sedentary job position.
Job strenuousness is found by using principal component analysis. The three instrumental variables used for two-stage least squares are youth health, the number of restaurants per state per thousand residents, and an indicator variable if a person plays computer games at home. I reviewed 2SLS, JN2SLS and ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and based on the testing …

Asset Welfare: A Different Approach In The War On Poverty, Renée De Voursney

Economics Theses

This thesis evaluates American asset poverty. By looking at the history of American poverty aid, it posits that asset poverty is not being addressed. Through a careful review of the literature this thesis answers a series of questions that demonstrate the import of the asset dimension of poverty. The current systems of asset based aid are evaluated, and policy recommendations are made for a more adequate national approach to this issue.

School Responses To High-Stakes Testing, Mishuk Anwar Chowdhury

Economics Theses

This paper analyzes school's responses to high stakes testing. Using a grade level panel dataset from Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) for reading and math tests for 2003 through 2006, to find schools responses to failure. I find that there is a tendency for schools to shift resources from subjects that they pass to subjects that they fail. I classify schools' responses as either substitution responses or scale responses. A school has a substitution response if, when it fails to meet the state's required passing rate threshold for one subject for one cohort of students, it shifts resources …

Evidence Of Competition Between Law Schools, Naushaba Zaman

Economics Theses

The purpose of this paper is to measure how competition affects tuition rates of law schools. I hypothesize that the tuition rates will go up as concentration of law schools increase. To examine how tuition varies with competition, I need to measure market structure. A variety of measures are available, such as C4, C8, and HHI; all of which have some relationship to the degree of competitiveness in an industry. I primarily use HHI as the concentration measure in this paper. I make two models for my thesis. In my first model I use a statewide measure of competition, assuming …

Essays On The Latin American Foreign Exchange Market, Isabel Ruiz

Dissertations

During the last decade, Latin American countries have moved towards becoming more open and financially integrated. At the same time, the region has appeared to adopt a "bipolar" position concerning exchange rate regimes. Most countries have moved towards more flexible exchange rates, while others have implemented hard pegs in the form of dollarization. This dissertation has two goals. First, to measure linkages and dynamics across Latin American foreign exchange markets. Second, to explore how exchange rate uncertainty impacts U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) into Latin America.

In order to study interactions among these markets, I focus on the level of …

Determinants And Consequences Of Workers’ Remittances, Carlos Ivan Vargas-Silva

Dissertations

In this dissertation we study the determinants and consequences of workers' remittances. It is important for developing countries to have a clear understanding of the motivations that migrants have to remit money home, in order to increase remittances inflows. It is also important to understand the impact of remittances in the receiving countries in order to develop policies that can maximize the benefits of remittances, while minimizing any possible detrimental effects. In this dissertation we concentrate on the relationship between remittances and macroeconomic variables in the receiving countries. To this end we use both individual and aggregate level data.

In …

Three Essays On International Transmission And Monetary Policy In Emerging Countries, Martha Cruz Zuniga

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates two aspects of foreign shocks that affect emerging countries: U.S. monetary shocks and workers' remittances. My attention inparticular centers on the macroeconomic impact of these foreign shocks. More specifically, in the first essay (Chapter 2) I analyze the international transmission of U.S. monetary policy to emerging economies distinguishing between a direct transmission process and an augmented international transmission. In the augmented transmission mechanism, U.S. shocks may impact leading countries in different regions, and those countries' reactions then affect smaller countries. In the second essay (Chapter 3) I investigate the effects of monetary policy on stock market returns …

Looking Good Or Learning Good? An Education Production Function With Ancillary Services As An Input, Linh Hoang

Economics Theses

Universities have been putting more emphasis on developing ancillary services in an effort to make them look better and become more attractive to both prospective students as well as financial donors. However, in making the decision as to what level of ancillary services they should administer, universities face the problem of whether they are compromising their academic quality.

The Effects Of Air Pollution On Infant Health: An Empirical Evaluation Of Georgia, Mamadou Laity Sow

Economics Dissertations

Adverse birth outcomes have many causes but there is increasing awareness that air pollution is one of them. This study examines the effects of air pollution on infant health and mortality using data from the State of Georgia. The estimation methods control for potential endogenous variables such as the length of gestation and the demand for prenatal care. Moreover dummy-fixed effects are used to control for unobserved neighborhood characteristics using the place of residence of the mother. In addition, the model uses a comprehensive framework, which considers birth weight, length of gestation, and mortality, thus allowing pre and postnatal assessment …

The Quality Of Governance, Composition Of Public Expenditures, And Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis, Paul Kagundu

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to analyze, both theoretically and empirically, the impact of quality of governance on growth by looking at various dimensions of the concept of governance. We use a dynamic panel estimator and various indicators of governance to estimate the impact of governance on growth. Our empirical results suggest a positive and statistically significant impact of governance on growth. The second part of the analysis looks at a possible transmission mechanism of the effect of governance on growth through the composition of expenditures. As such, we estimate a seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) model with shares of three functional categories …

Essays On Optimal Mix Of Taxes, Spatiality And Persistence Under Tax Evasion, Mohammad Yunus

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the optimal mix of direct and indirect taxes in an economy with multiple tax collecting authorities when both the taxes are subject to evasion and to what extent the tax compliance behavior of individuals in the United States are persistent and spatially dependent. Essay I derives and provides an intuitive interpretation of: (i) impact of the changes in the government instruments on tax evasion by firms, the expected prices they charge, and the expected tax rates they face; (ii) a generalized version of Ramsey rule for optimal commodity taxation which accounts for income tax evasion from either …

Economic Effects Of Land Value Taxation In An Urban Area With Large Lot Zoning: An Urban Computable General Equilibrium Approach, Ki-Whan Choi

Economics Dissertations

LVT (Land Value Tax), unlike other taxes, causes no distortions in economic decision-making and therefore does not compromise the efficiency of a market economy. While there have been various challenges to this conclusion, it seems that the neutrality of LVT has been proven in the literature. Although it has been established conceptually that LVT is non-distortive, it is important to empirically test the effects of LVT reform in diverse aspects. Unlike other studies, this dissertation examines the economic, spatial, and welfare effects of LVT reform in a second-best situation employing an urban (and spatial) CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model. In …

Essays On Value-Added Taxation, Asmaa Adel El-Ganainy

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the empirical relation between the value-added tax (VAT) and the level of aggregate consumption. Furthermore, it develops a theoretical framework and an empirical analysis to study the impact of the VAT, as a form of taxing consumption, on capital accumulation, productivity growth, and overall economic growth. While recent theoretical work shows that the VAT may boost capital accumulation and growth by encouraging more savings, we find that the net impact of consumption taxes on growth and its sources is theoretically ambiguous, and depends on the interaction between utility parameters, the interest rate, and the tax structure. Moreover, …

The Economics Of Child Labor, Xinye Zheng

Economics Dissertations

In this dissertation, we first develop a simple two-period model to examine the parent's optimal choice of children's time. We identify factors such as wage rate, school fees, education returns, degree of children's altruism toward their parents and the parents' discounting rate that influence the parents' optimal choice, and discuss their impacts on the optimal choice. Children's time is an important resource for rural households in developing economies, and it is typically allocated by the parents. Two basic uses for this resource are: working in the labor market and attending schools. Schooling today may make children more productive in the …

Global Corporate Tax Competition For Export Oriented Foreign Direct Investment, Jose Rene Rendon-Garza

Economics Dissertations

Economic integration and mobility of capital have set the ground for a significant competition over resources. Tax competition for internationally mobile tax bases such as foreign direct investments has become an important matter of study. Nevertheless, literature has focused on a regional or geographical neighboring condition competition through taxes. This dissertation aims to test whether tax competition for foreign direct investment has changed its regional characteristic towards a global or world-wide competition. Global or world-wide tax competition can be thought of as uncooperative tax policy reactions between governments of different countries of the world not necessarily near each other geographically, …

Pro-Poor Growth In Mozambique: An Exploration Of Its Income And Non-Income Dimensions, Jason S. Calder

Economics Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess the incidence of economic growth and social attainment in Mozambique during the 1990s. There is a growing international debate about the impact of growth on poverty and inequality. International development goals endorsed by the United Nations, the World Bank, and governments from around the world emphasize achieving quantitative targets across various dimensions of welfare including, but not limited to, income. Therefore, efforts at evaluating growth must go beyond aggregates and focus on the experience of the poor during the growth process. The methodology used here is based on growth incidence curves first …

Essays On Tax Competition, Brian Christopher Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Essay 1

This essay empirically researches the setting of multiple tax rates by county governments in the presence of tax competition and agglomerations. Previous empirical evidence outside the tax arena suggests that firms earn rents in the presence of agglomerations from external economies of scale. As a result, governments might be able to extract a portion of these rents from businesses through higher tax rates. This paper empirically examines how local governments set sales and property tax rates, the two largest taxes paid by businesses at the state and local level, taking into account tax competition pressures and agglomerations. Using …

Applications Of Time-Varying-Parameter Models To Economics And Finance, Peng Huang

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on applying time-varying-parameter models to the field of financial and monetary economics. The first two essays analyze the cross-sectional returns on the U.S. stock market by emphasizing the dynamics of risk loadings. The third essay studies the impact of a tight monetary policy on weak currencies during financial crises by examining the time-varying relationship between interest rates and exchange rates.

Motivated by the pricing errors found in small size and low book-to-market ratio portfolios in the Fama-French three-factor model, the first essay proposes a time-varying four-factor model. As small size and low book-to-market ratio firms are more …

The Determinants Of Executive Compensation In The Commercial Banking Industry, David A. Romer

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the viability of two basic theories of compensation to explain executive compensation in the banking industry. The two executive compensation motivation theories are sales/sales growth maximization and profit/shareholder wealth maximization. Overall, strong support is found for both theories. This research also seeks to significantly expand, compared to previous research, the number of banks investigated. This study succeeds, with over a four-fold increase in the number of banks analyzed, including over 330 banks not previously used in the literature. This investigation is further motivated by the paucity of banking studies on compensation …

Expanding Development Through Human Rights, Dina H. Sherif

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Foreign Direct Investment And Intellectual Property Rights Protection: Trips Economics For Developing Economies And Their Pharmaceutical Sectors, Hanan Hamed Sileem

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

South Sudan: Civil Service, Training And Development, Aggripa Wajo

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Financial Services Liberalization With Emphasis On The Egyptian Banking Sector, Noha Hatem Abdel Razek

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Corporate Governance In Egypt's Transition From Planned To Market Economy, Abdel Aziz M. Aidaros

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.