Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On The Organization And Impact Of Professional Sports, John Jasina

All Dissertations

This thesis contains a collection of essays related to economics and sports. The final essay looks at the growing controversy of publicly funded sports stadiums. Local governments are spending millions of dollars on sports stadiums as a means to spur economic development. Economic impact studies supporting public funding claim that the investment will bring thousands of jobs and additional revenue to the local community. Most of the academic literature on the subject has been less favorable. Much of the literature focused on broad measures of employment in metropolitan statistical areas. In this paper regression analysis is used to investigate the …

Risk Sharing And Consumption Insurance In Poor Urban Economies: Theory And Empirical Evidence From Household Data, Seife Dendir

Dissertations

Households in poor economies often strive to protect consumption from fluctuations in income through various mechanisms. Due to the absence or scarcity of formal insurance, however, they are often forced to rely on informal means to achieve this objective. This dissertation consists of three essays that analyze the nature, performance and instruments of risk sharing and consumption insurance in poor urban areas.

The first essay identifies the peculiar problems poor urban households face in their attempt to pool risk from idiosyncratic income swings, and derives unique results pertaining to the level of insurance and effort. Two specific problems are identified: …

The Introduction Of The Reserve Clause And Its Impact On Baseball Salaries During The 1880s: A Panel Estimation, Jennifer Ashcraft

Economics Theses

One of the most frequently studied areas in professional baseball is the Reserve Clause. Originally introduced in 1879 by the National League, the Reserve Clause indefinitely tied a player's services to his current team and was implemented in an attempt to prevent baseball salaries from increasing and reduce team expenses. However, it was also used to control player mobility as well. While the majority of economic research on the Reserve Clause focuses on the post-Reserve Clause era, this paper analyzes the Reserve Clause during its infancy in the 1880s, a period when professional baseball was just beginning, and its impact …

Aid Effectiveness, Policies And Reform, Elias Kedir Shukralla

Dissertations

Resource equalization represents the historical and theoretical basis for American school finance and its ideals continue to dominate discussion and practice. During the last decade and a half, the national aspiration for equitable distribution of school finance resources has started a transformation into a derivative notion of adequacy. This equity policy derivative embraces the idea of sufficiency, which in turn implies a standard. The concept of educational adequacy has grown to mean the achievement of high absolute standards. Equity (equalization) theorists measure resource level on a relative basis; each student relative to all others. Adequacy adherents measure student achievement against …

Beachwood's Economy: Analytical Report, Iryna Lendel, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Minimum Wages On The Employment And Earnings Of South Africa's Domestic Service Workers, Tom Hertz

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Minimum wages have been in place for South Africa's one million domestic service workers since November of 2002. Using data from seven waves of the Labour Force Survey, this paper documents that the real wages, average monthly earnings, and total earnings of all employed domestic workers have risen since the regulations came into effect, while hours of work per week and employment have fallen. Each of these outcomes can be linked econometrically to the arrival of the minimum wage regulations. The overall estimated elasticities suggest that the regulations should have reduced poverty somewhat for domestic workers, although this last conclusion …

Temporary Agency Employment As A Way Out Of Poverty?, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The high incidence of temporary agency employment among participants in government employment programs has catalyzed debate about whether these jobs help the poor transition into stable employment and out of poverty. We provide direct evidence on this question through analysis of a Michigan welfare-to-work program in which program participants were randomly allocated across service providers ('contractors') with different job placement practices. We draw on a telephone survey of contractors and on administrative program data linked with wage records data on all participants entering the program over a three-and-a half-year period. Our survey evidence documents a consensus among contractors that temporary …

An Economic Analysis Of Alternative Policies For Controlling So2 Emissions In The Yangtze River Delta's Electric Generating Sector, Daniel Dudek, Ben Zipperer, Wang Hao, Zhang Jian-Yu, Lin Hong

Ben Zipperer

Mixed-integer optimization model of emissions trading policy effects on the Chinese electric generating sector.

Compensation For Quality Difference In A Search Model Of Money, Yuk-Fai Fong, Balazs Szentes

Yuk-Fai Fong

We study an economy in which there is always double coincidence of wants, agents have perfect information about qualities of goods, and there are no transaction costs. The hold-up problem arises because efforts invested in improving quality prior to search may not be compensated in the market. Situations in which barter fails to motivate quality improvement are identified. With money, however, the extra effort in quality improvement will be compensated when high-quality good producers trade with agents holding both the low-quality good and money. Injection of money can induce almost all agents to produce the high-quality good.

Evaluation Of The Air Force’S Determination Of The Military Value Of The W.K. Kellogg Air Guard Station And The Potential Cost Savings Generated By Its Closing, George A. Erickcek, Tom Edmonds

Reports

This is an evaluation of the methodology used by the Air Force in determining the military value of the W.K. Kellogg Air Guard Station and in estimating the potential costs savings generated by its proposed closing.

Fiscal Policy And Property Values, William Hoyt, John Garen

CBER Research Report

Excerpt from the executive summary:

The purpose of this study is to inform on the current state of knowledge of the economics profession of the impacts of state and local taxes on property values. Our goal is also to suggest how to interpret some of the findings of this literature as well as to provide some conceptual background to assist in interpreting these findings.

Fiscal Policy And Local Economic Development, William Hoyt, John Garen

CBER Research Report

No abstract provided.

Triple Bottom Line Event Evaluation: A Proposed Framework For Holistic Event Evaluation, Liz Fredline, Michael Raybould, Leo Jago, Marg Deery

Michael Raybould

Although there has long been an interest in measuring the economic impacts of events, it is only relatively recently that concern about the sustainability of event tourism has driven an imperative to develop methods for evaluating and monitoring other sorts of impacts including social and environmental. This trend mirrors moves in general tourism and business more broadly where discussion about triple bottom line reporting underpins a move for enterprises to be accountable to stakeholders, not only in regard to the economic bottom line, but also with regard to their “footprint” on the environment and on society more broadly. There is …

Information And Communication Technologies And The Effects Of Globalization: Twenty-First Century “Digital Slavery” For Developing Countries—Myth Or Reality?, L. A. Ogunsola

E-JASL 1999-2009 (Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to examine the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) revolution and the concept of globalization as they effect developing countries. Globalization as one of the reasons for possible widening of the gap between the poor and the rich nations was examined and the emerging concept of “digital slavery” was carefully evaluated. The wide gap in availability and use of ICTs across the world and the influences ICTs exert on globalization at the expense of developing countries were carefully examined and suggestions and necessary policies were offered for developing countries to leap-frog the industrialization …

California’S Ocean Economy, Judith T. Kildow Dr, Charles S. Colgan

Publications

California’s Ocean Economy is the most expansive study of its kind in the nation and provides an update to the 1994 economic study conducted by the California Research Bureau and later released as part of the Resources Agency ocean strategy titled, California’s Ocean Resources: An Agenda for the Future. This report from the National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) provides a more comprehensive understanding of the economic role of California’s ocean resources than has been available to date. It also provides California with strong evidence that its unique ocean and coastal resources are important to sustaining California’s economy. This information highlights …

Have Public Finance Principles Been Shut Out In Financing New Sports Stadiums For The Nfl In The United States?, Victor Matheson, Robert Baade

Economics Department Working Papers

Over the past 15 years, new stadiums in the National Football League have been built at an unprecedented rate, and most new facilities have utilized significant public funds. This paper looks at whether the methods used to finance these new facilities honored public finance principles regarding equity, efficiency, and transparency. An examination of the 20 NFL stadiums constructed or refurbished since 1992 reveals a trend towards more voter referendums and an increase reliance on taxation of visitors through hotel and rental car taxes. Although taxation of persons living outside one’s own metropolitan area is appealing, this paper suggests that the …

Food Consumption Issues In The 21st Century, Andreas Drichoutis, Panagiotis Lazaridis

Andreas Drichoutis

No abstract provided.

Is Europe Sick?, Robert C. Shelburne

Robert C. Shelburne

Europe's economic performance has deteriorated continuously over the last two decades both in terms of its unemployment and its labor force participation rate; more recently its productivity has declined relative to the United States. This is due to a complex interaction between the how these welfare states are designed, the institutions created by the European Union, idiosyncratic factors resulting from linguistic differences, population dynamics and other cultural factors, and an increasing emphasis on non-economic objectives. Although structural reforms can provide a solution, it will be a long, difficult and costly process. A more successful approach involves a redesign of the …

Comments On Doc Notice Of Preliminary Results Of Countervailing Duty Review, Peter Cramton, Susan Athey

Peter Cramton

US-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute, On behalf of British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index -- July 2005, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

The Only Game In Town: Stock-Price Consequences Of Local Bias, Jeffrey D. Kubik, Harrison Hong, Jeremy Stein

Economics - All Scholarship

Theory suggests that, in the presence of local bias, the price of a stock should be decreasing in the ratio of the aggregate book value of firms in its region to the aggregate risk tolerance of investors in its region. We test this proposition using data on U.S. Census regions and states, and find clear-cut support for it. Most of the variation in the ratio of interest comes from differences across regions in aggregate book value per capita. Regions with low population density - e.g., the Deep South - are home to relatively few firms per capita, which leads to …

St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report, Vol. 7, No. 2, King Banaian, Richard A. Macdonald

St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report

No abstract provided.

School District Responses To State Aid Programs, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Robust Monopoly Pricing, Dirk Bergemann, Karl Schlag

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider a robust version of the classic problem of optimal monopoly pricing with incomplete information. In the robust version, the seller faces model uncertainty and only knows that the true demand distribution is in the neighborhood of a given model distribution. We characterize the optimal pricing policy under two distinct, but related, decision criteria with multiple priors: (i) maximin expected utility and (ii) minimax expected regret. The resulting optimal pricing policy under either criterion yields a robust policy to the model uncertainty. While the classic monopoly policy and the maximin criterion yield a single deterministic price, minimax regret always …

Branch Rickey’S Equation Fifty Years Later, Ray C. Fair, Danielle Catambay

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper analyzes Branch Rickey’s 1954 equation in a regression context. The results for 1934–1953 are consistent with Rickey’s conclusions, and the equation holds up well when extended 51 years. Two of the main conclusions are that on-base percentage dominates batting average and that offense and defense are equally important. Perhaps Rickey was as good as he thought he was?

Robust Monopoly Pricing: The Case Of Regret, Dirk Bergemann, Karl Schlag

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider a robust version of the classic problem of optimal monopoly pricing with incomplete information. The robust version of the problem is distinct in two aspects: (i) the seller minimizes regret rather than maximizes revenue, and (ii) the seller only knows that the true distribution of the valuations is in a neighborhood of a given model distribution. We characterize the robust pricing policy as the solution to a minimax problem for small and large neighborhoods. In contrast to the classic monopoly policy, which is a single deterministic price, the robust policy is always a random pricing policy, or equivalently, …

Robust Monopoly Pricing, Dirk Bergemann, Karl Schlag

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider a robust version of the classic problem of optimal monopoly pricing with incomplete information. In the robust version of the problem the seller only knows that demand will be in a neighborhood of a given model distribution. We characterize the optimal pricing policy under two distinct, but related, decision criteria with multiple priors: (i) maximin expected utility and (ii) minimax expected regret. While the classic monopoly policy and the maximin criterion yield a single deterministic price, minimax regret always prescribes a random pricing policy, or equivalently, a multi-item menu policy. The resulting optimal pricing policy under either criterion …

Competition, Consumer Welfare, And The Social Cost Of Monopoly, Yoon-Ho Alex Lee, Donald J. Brown

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Conventional deadweight loss measures of the social cost of monopoly ignore, among other things, the social cost of inducing competition and thus cannot accurately capture the loss in social welfare. In this Article, we suggest an alternative method of measuring the social cost of monopoly. Using elements of general equilibrium theory, we propose a social cost metric where the benchmark is the Pareto optimal state of the economy that uses the least amount of resources, consistent with consumers’ utility levels in the monopolized state. If the primary goal of antitrust policy is the enhancement of consumer welfare, then the proper …

Intraday Stock Prices, Volume, And Duration: A Nonparametric Conditional Duration Analysis, Anthony Tay

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate the distribution of high-frequency price changes, conditional on trading volume and duration between trades, on four stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The conditional probabilities are estimated nonparametrically using local polynomial regression methods. We find substantial skewness in the distribution of price changes, with the direction of skewness dependent on the sign of trade. We also find that the probability of larger price changes increases with volume, but only for trades that occur with longer durations. The distribution of price changes vary with duration primarily when volume is high.

Protection For Sale Under Monopolistic Competition, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper broadens the protection for sale model of Grossman and Helpman (1994) by incorporating the Krugman–Dixit–Stiglitz model of monopolistic competition, given its importance in explaining the prevalence of intraindustry trade. Several new results arise in this paper. First, the endogenous import tariff will never fall below zero, even in unorganized sectors. Second, the endogenous export policy for organized sectors is not necessarily an export subsidy, and can be an export tax as in unorganized sectors. Third, the level of import protection varies inversely with the degree of import penetration, regardless of whether the sector is organized or not.