Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Bandwagon, Underdog, And Political Competition: The Uni-Dimensional Case, Woojin Lee

Woojin Lee

The present paper studies the effects of bandwagon and underdog on the political equilibrium of two-party competition models. We adapt the generalized Wittman-Roemer model of political competition for voter conformism, which views political competition as the one between parties with factions of the opportunists and the militants that Nash-bargain one another, and consider three special cases of the general model: the Hotelling-Downs model, the classical Wittman-Roemer model, and what we call the ideological-party model. In the Hotelling-Downs model, where the militants have no bargaining power in both parties, political parties put forth an identical policy at the equilibrium, regardless of …

Values And Politics In The Us: An Equilibrium Analysis Of The 2004 Election, Woojin Lee, John Roemer

Woojin Lee

The CNN exit polls after the 2004 election rated ‘moral values’ the most important issue; next came ‘jobs and the economy.’ Eighty percent of the voters who rated moral values the most important issue voted for Bush while eighty percent of the voters who rated jobs and the economy the most important voted for Kerry. We study the extent to which the distribution of voter opinion on moral values influences the positions that parties take on the economic issue, which we take to be the size of the public sector, through political competition. There are at least two distinct ways …

Three Essays On The Search For Economic Efficiency, Jason J. Delaney

Economics Dissertations

The chapters of this dissertation examine efficiency failures in three areas of applied microeconomics: experimental economics, public finance, and game theory. In each case, we look at ways to resolve these failures to promote the public good. The first chapter, “An Experimental Test of the Pigovian Hypothesis,” looks at two different policies designed to reduce congestion in a common-pool resource (CPR). We present an experiment with training and a simplified decision task and find that subject behavior converges to the Nash prediction over a number of periods. A Pigovian subsidy effectively moves subject behavior to the pre-subsidy social optimum. Finally, …

Does Productivity Respond To Exchange Rate Appreciations? A Theoretical And Empirical Investigation, Yao Tang

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Although real currency appreciations pose direct difficulties for exporters and import-competing firms as they will face more intense competition, is it possible that such competition spurs firms to improve productivity? To answer this question, the paper first constructs a theoretical model to show how the competitive pressures of currency appreciations induce firms to improve productivity by adopting new technologies. In addition, the model predicts that during appreciations there will be a positive relation between market concentration and improvements in productivity for industries highly exposed to trade, because the marginal benefits of productivity improvement will be bigger for firms with a …

Default Penalty As A Disciplinary And Selection Mechanism In Presence Of Multiple Equilibria, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Electricity Pring On Phev Competitiveness, Shisheng Huang, Bri-Mathias S. Hodge, Farzad Taheripour, Joseph F. Pekny, Gintaras V. Reklaitis, Wallace E. Tyner

PPRI Digital Library

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will soon start to be introduced into the transportation sector, thereby raising a host of issues related to their use, adoption and effects on the electricity sector. Their introduction has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector, which has led to government policies aimed at easing their introduction. If their wide-spread adoption is set as a target it is imperative to consider the effects of existing policies that may increase or decrease their adoption rate. In this study, we present a micro level electricity demand model that can gauge the effects …

Ua1b Wku University Wide Committees/Events, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records regarding university wide events such as lecture and concert series. See individual departments for smaller co-sponsored events.

A Cross-Sectional Study Of Infant Mortality Rates Between Countries, Katelyn E. May

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The health status of nations has been and continues to be under debate. Although the variables that comprise such a status have not been solidified, one variable that is closely studied and is thought to have an effect on the idea of health status is infant mortality. A country’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is treated as an indicator of its health status as well as socioeconomic status. This research attempts to study the variables which are hypothesized to be significant in relation to IMR, and to find which ones truly have an effect. Data on eight independent variables were collected …

Does It Hurt A State To Introduce An Income Tax?, David J. Shakow

All Faculty Scholarship

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Arthur Laffer argued that, since 1960, the introduction of state income taxes reduced the relative size of a state’s gross state product and its relative per capita personal income. This paper criticizes Laffer’s conclusions on a number of grounds. 1. He uses incorrect figures for per capita income. In fact, relative per capita income rose in a majority of states that introduced an income tax since 1960. 2. The results are not clear when a state’s data is compared to other states in its region, rather than to the United States as …

Dominio De Las Teorías Económicas, Guillermo Arosemena

Guillermo Arosemena

No abstract provided.

Default Penalty As A Disciplinary And Selection Mechanism In Presence Of Multiple Equilibria.", Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

Proyecto De Investigación: La Primera Agencia Espacial Mexicana: La Comisión Nacional Del Espacio Exterior (1962-1977), J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

No abstract provided.

Proyecto De Investigación: Los Mexicanos En Las Operaciones De La Segunda Guerra Mundial, J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

No abstract provided.

Vertical Restraints, Dealers With Power, And Antitrust Policy, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court’s Leegin decision has now brought the rule of reason to all purely vertical intrabrand distribution restraints. But the rule of reason does not mean per se legality and occasions for anticompetitive vertically imposed restraints may still arise. Of all those that have been suggested the most plausible are vertical restraints imposed at the behest of a powerful dealer or group (cartel) of dealers.

Although a vertical distribution restraint resembles a dealer cartel in that both limit intraband competition, a manufacturer restraining the distribution of its product shuns the excess dealer profits a dealer cartel would seek. Accordingly, …

Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. …

Second-Best Tax Policy And Natural Resource Management In Growing Economies, Steven P. Cassou, Arantza Gorostiaga, María José Gutiérrez, Stephen F. Hamilton

Economics

This paper investigates the exploitation of environmental resources in a growing economy within a second-best fiscal policy framework. Agents derive utility from two types of consumption goods — one which relies on an environmental input and one which does not — as well as from leisure and from environmental amenity values. Property rights for the environmental resource are potentially incomplete. We connect second best policy to essential components of utility by considering the elasticity of substitution among each of the four utility arguments. The results illustrate potentially important relationships between environmental amenity values and leisure. When amenity values are complementary …

“Taking Up The Slack”: Penobscot Bay Women And The Netting Industry, Nancy Payne Alexander

Maine History

Between 1860 and 1900 the economy of Penobscot Bay communities changed dramatically, from the steady growth and prosperity of their natural resource-based economy to the decline in population and a painful transition to manufacturing and service industries. Both men and women had enjoyed independence in their labor in the old economy. The new cash economy made it necessary for them to seek out new ways of supporting their families, with home manufacture, or putting out work, one way of earning an income. They remained independent from an employer’s direct supervision and earned cash payment, a change from the face-to-face economy …

Book Review: Not Broke, But Badly Bent, Charles F. Angell

Bridgewater Review

Review of:

• Gary Rivlin, Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. - How the Working Poor Became Big Business
• Ellen Ruppel Shell, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture
• Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Language Acquisition Of The Children Of Immigrants And The Role Of Non-Profit Organizations, Elizabeth Whitaker

Economics Theses

No abstract provided.

Microinsurance: An Effective Risk Management Tool For The Poor?, Zachary Sherman

Economics Theses

No abstract provided.

Online Schooling: Trading In Context For Profit, Zachary Semago

Economics Theses

No abstract provided.

Going For The Gold: The United States Olypmic Committee As A Non-Profit, Gratia Ratzloff

Economics Theses

While many papers have sought to discover the specific economic factors that affect the success of the United States Olympic Committee and other NOCs, there has been little research conducted as to why the USOC operates as a non-profit organization. This paper seeks to examine this question. In the following section of this paper, the economics behind the United States Olympic Committee are evaluated and a theory about the operation of the organization is developed. Next, this theory is analyzed and discussed. Lastly, I conclude.

Environmental Water Rights Transfers In A Nonprofit Institutional Structure, Kevin W. Chambers

Economics Theses

Increased demand for diminishing water resources has created the need for creative water management strategies. One technique perused in the western United States is the purchase of water rights by non-profit organizations for environmental in-stream uses. This paper looks at the Columbia Basin as a case study of the motivations of non-profit organizations. It shows how the institutional structure reduces transaction costs associated with water rights transfers and how non-profit organizations can incentivize water conservation in the western United States.

What’S The Difference? Wage Differentials And The Donative-Labor Hypothesis In Non-Profit Firms, David Travis Freidman

Economics Theses

There are three objectives in this paper. First is to show the existence of wage differentials. The second objective is to investigate the reasons why individuals would take lower wages at a non-profit and try to show that these reasons exist empirically. Thirdly, to prove or disprove the postulate that the donative labor hypothesis is not as important as other factors when explaining wage differentials.

To facilitate achieving these goals, this paper will begin by laying out the economic theory behind wages. Then it will move to looking at the current research on the topic of wage differentials, which will …

Government Intervention And Economic Growth, Maria Sarigiannidou

Doctoral Dissertations

The first essay constitutes a theory which lends truth to the Kuznets hypothesis. The attention is centered on the role of financial markets in defining the process of knowledge accumulation, and ultimately the distribution of income earning capabilities in a population of ex ante heterogeneous individuals. The provision of credit is hindered by one-sided lack of commitment embedded in the area of educational investment. Adaptation in the legislative system to accommodate a punishment scheme conditional on default is the critical requirement for the economy to be carried on a dynamic growth path, albeit one of higher and worsening inequality. Owing …

The Performance Of Nigerian Stock Exchange Sectoral Indices: January 2009 December 2010, Alvan E. Ikoku, George Okorie

Bullion

The paper reviews the performance of the sectoral indices during the first twenty-four months of their existence, i.e., between their inception in January 2009 and December 2010. The authors seek to examine not only the raw performance of the indices but also their risk-adjusted performance. The results of the analysis will facilitate the allocation of capital by institutional as well as individual investors in the Nigerian equity market. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the transformation of the indices and their correlation. In section 3, we examine the nominal performance of the sectoral indices …

Impact Of Banking Sector Reforms On The Nigerian Capital Market (Equities)., Peter A. Adekunle

Bullion

Following the outcome of the Special Joint Examination by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), ten banks were indicted, out of which two were asked to recapitalize, while the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Directors of the remaining eight were removed by CBN based on mismanagement and poor corporate governance. In order to protect the investors as well as prevent unprecedented dumping of the shares of the listed seven banks, two weeks of full suspension was imposed on trading of their shares on the stock market at various times. This paper attempts to determine …

The Political Economy Of Currency Re-Denomination By Countries., Peter Nwaoba

Bullion

In the view of the Bank, redenomination policy for Nigeria was not to translate to revaluation, as market forces were to continue to determine the prices, including interest rates and exchange rates, with the expectation that inflation will be low while exchange rate will appreciate. The objective of this paper is to articulate the reasons and conditions under which countries embark on currency redenomination exercises, and how successful these exercises had been over the years. The paper is descriptive with presentation based on literature reviews. Under the redenomination programme, banknotes were to be issued in denominations of new 50k (old …

The Role Of Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas) In Promoting Borderless Trade In West Africa., Adam J. Akperan, Sanni Ganiyu Kayode

Bullion

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in "all fields of economic activities, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters". This paper examines the role of CBN economy and monetary policies on the heels of borderless trade amongst the ECOWAS State. ECOWAS aims to promote peace, co-operation and integration in economic, social and cultural activity, ultimately leading to the establishment of an economic and monetary union through the total integration of the …

Oil And Gas Management In Nigeria: Lessons For Ghana, Omolara O. Akanji Mrs.

Bullion

This paper is to discuss the oil and gas management in Nigeria: Lessons for Ghana. The paper is structured into five parts with part 1 being the introduction while part 2 scoops the literature on the economics of natural resources and its management globally. Part 3 will situate the Nigeria's multifaceted crisis of oil and gas governance and all related issues. Part 4 will sieve out the lessons for Ghana while part 5 summarizes and concludes the paper.