Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Resource Curse: A Look Into The Implications Of An Abundance Of Natural Resources In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Erin Nichols

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper’s purpose was to look at why the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces consistent economic and political instability despite having an abundance of natural resources. The goal was to connect the economic instability and overall downfall of the Congolese government with the notion of the resource curse which focuses on the concept that countries who have an abundance of natural resources tend to have less economic growth and experience more conflict. This has been done by examining the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s past of colonization as well as its current issues such as conflicts within and near …

Childhood Health And Household Income, Patrick Malone

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Health Economics literature is rich with studies that find a positive association between childhood health and family income. This relationship is also known as childhood health and income gradient. Several other studies also find that this gradient becomes steeper as children age. This research paper empirically reexamines this phenomenon using 2009-2012 data from the National Health Interview Survey. While the study finds the existence the gradient effects, it finds the gradient to be flatter than those found earlier studies.

“Cost – Benefit Analysis Of A Frisbee Disc Course At Ambush Park In Benson, Minnesota, Abby Fragodt

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Cost – Benefit Analysis of a Frisbee Disc Course at Ambush Park in Benson, Minnesota

Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Food-Waste Composting Program At Umm, Alicia Beattie

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

As costs of landfilling and incinerating waste rise, many campuses are beginning to consider alternatives for dealing with food waste generation. In August of 2012, the University of Minnesota, Morris began composting its food waste and food-soiled paper using the turned windrow method. While hailed as a sustainable alternative, with benefits including reduced need for chemical fertilizers, water, and pesticides, higher crop yields, revitalization of poor soils, avoidance of methane and leachate generation in landfills, pollution prevention, and extension of landfill life, many costs are also incurred with the composting alternative ranging from the need to purchase organics collection bins …

Employer Perceptions Of Work Flexibility: Role Of Skills And Wages In Job Performance, Raymond L. Raab, Pradeep Kotamraju, Maureen O'Brien

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

A programming approach, data envelopment analysis (DEA), will sort and rank occupations on the basis of maximizing skills required and minimizing that occupation's wage resulting in a set of "hiring" efficiency scores. This procedure improves Borda rankings (rankings based on the average of rankings of the individual components), fixed weight, or subjective weighting schemes. In DEA, the linear programming weights or coefficients are explicitly chosen to maximize the discrimination between the skills and wages. A rank correlation between the efficiency scores and various work and demographic variables is performed. The results show a negative correlation between the wage rate and …

The Role Of Economic, Management And Public Policy Factors On Post-Contract Conservation Reserve Program Land Use Decisions, Larry L. Janssen, Tecleberhan Ghebremicael

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Most Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts will expire from 1996 to 2001 , directly affecting land use of 36.4 million acres of highly erodible cropland enrolled in this land retirement program. The major objective of this study is to estimate the role of economic, management, and public policy factors on post-contract CRP land use decisions in South Dakota, a Northern Plains state with 2.1 million acres of enrolled land, 10% of the State's cropland base.

The major data source is a 1993 CRP survey sent to a random sample of 8.33 %of South Dakota CRP contract holders and completed by …

The Economic Value Of Water Recreation In Minnesota, Raymond L. Raab, Donald N. Steinnes

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

In recent years, increased demands for water for competing uses created a need for establishing a systematic water resource management policy. Knowledge of the value of benefits of water in its various uses is necessary for allocation decisions because this resource is in the public domain. This paper discusses several non-market methods of imputing the economic value of water, particularly recreational water use. Using Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) data, two alternative techniques for measuring value ~re evaluated and compared. These methods are used to provide empirical estimates of the recreational value that people place on Minnesota's water resources. …

Business And Economics

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Abstracts of articles on business and economics.

Economic Linkages: Greater Minnesota And The Twin Cities, Kathy Novak

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Improving Rural Minnesota Through Downsizing, Mark Threlkeld

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

It is time to take a hard look at downsizing rural Minnesota. In business, downsizing is done to improve the financial health of a company by cutting back on expenses which can no longer be justified in light of changes in the marketplace. While the term may seem odd when applied to a state, it fits the opportunities and problems now facing rural Minnesota and could help the state make the transition through some difficult times.

The Change In Factors Affecting Physician Choice Of Practice Location: A Comparison Of Younger And Older Rural And Metropolitan Physicians, Theodore M. Breu

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This study uses multiple discriminant analysis to derive the factors that physicians deem important in their decisions about where to locate their medical practices. Older physicians are compared to younger physicians both within rural areas and within metropolitan areas. Three of the top four discriminating variables for the youngest doctors were influence of the preceptorship period, preference of the spouse, and the repayment of a forgiveness loan. For the oldest group of doctors, two of the top three discriminating variables were the opportunity to join a desirable two-person partnership, and the perception of a high medical need in the area.

The Economic Value Of Water Resources: The Lake Bemidji Survey, Roderick Henry, Robert Ley, Patrick Welle

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Regional Variations In The Utilization Of Labor: Analysis Of Employment-Population Ratios For Selected Years, 1970-1984, A. Maureen O'Brien

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Consideration of the movement of jobs and people can highlight regional variations in economic performance. The employment-population ratio reflects these movements and measures the success of the economy at providing jobs. To investigate the uneven inter- and intraregional distribution of the effects of recession and recovery, this study compares employment-population ratios in the major regions of the nation, the state of Minnesota, and northeastern Minnesota with national trends. The results indicate that, relative to developments in the nation and the state, the recent recession of 1980-1982 was more severe and the recovery has been slower m northeastern Minnesota. The ability …

A Profile Of The Minnesota Angler, Wayne A. Jesswein, James A. Skurla, Patricia Q. Dalton, Michael C. Larson

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

As part of an assessment of the bait leech industry and its market potential, a survey of 5,000 Minnesota anglers was conducted in the spring of 1985. Although the survey instrument was designed to derive information about the bait leech (Nephelopsis obscura) and its use, it also included questions about angler characteristics, preferences, and fishing activities for the 1984 fishing season. Responses to these questions produced a profile of the Minnesota angler. Our survey results show that the typical Minnesota angler is male, middle-aged, has a relatively high household income, and has fished for many years. He fishes from a …

Investment Opportunities In Biotechnology: Prospects And Strategies, Arthur R. Kydd

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Investment Opportunities In U.S. Biotechnology Companies-High Upside Rewards Hand-In-Hand With Equally Great Downside Risk, Edward L. Mutsch

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Commercialization Of Biotechnology, Daniel G. Miller

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Wage Contour Determinants For Northern Minnesota, Robert D. Ley, William A. Wines

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to profile wages and employment in northern Minnesota. Because of differences in the structure of the local economy and differences in the composition of the labor force, we hypothesized that studies done for other regions as well as national studies might produce misleading information if applied to northern Minnesota. The study is based on responses to 1400 mail surveys distributed in 1983 in four cities in northern Minnesota: Bemidji, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, and Grand Rapids. We found some surprising differences between the workforces in the four cities. Our overall impression was …

The Economics Of Primary School Closings: A Cost Analysis, Raymond L. Raab, Richard W. Lichty

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Because of declining demands for a number of urban public services, public officials have had to make difficult adjustments towards more efficient levels of these services. One such adjustment of very great concern has been the modification of education services in response to declining enrollments. This study investigates the impacts of changing enrollments, enrollment scale, capacity utilization, and age of schools on per student instructional costs and per student cost of land and buildings. The resulting model has been estimated for Duluth, Minnesota primary schools and these regression estimates provide a good explanation for per student instructional costs. The residuals …

Direct Impact Of Forest Harvesting In Northeastern Minnesota, Philip L. Friest

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Direct impact of harvesting operations is examined as one segment in a survey of interrelationships between elements of the primary forest products industry in northeastern Minnesota, an area known popularly as the Arrowhead Region. This study follows classifications used in collection of data for 1977 from seven Minnesota counties. Information is based largely on responses from companies involved. An Input-Output model was employed in the study for assessing expenditures by loggers for wage payments, purchase of timber stumpage, vehicles and equipment operation, financial services, and employee benefits (FICA, etc.). Comparisons of relative proportions of expenditures by loggers within the study …

Consistent Forecasting For The 1980'S In State Iron Industry Development, Raymond L. Raab, Richard W. Lichty

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

A large-scale model, SIMLAB, was used to project the iron ore industry through the decade of the 1980's for the state of Minnesota. This forecast shows that past trends in the industry are unlikely to continue through 1990, although output is seen to increase slightly during this period. Future studies will deal with different development scenarios to estimate the impacts of alternate future assumptions from this baseline trend analysis.

Property Tax Equity: A Study Of Bemidji, Minnesota, L. E. Johnson, Robert D. Ley

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The paper seeks to evaluate the equity of property tax assessments in a rural northern Minnesota area. Criteria of both vertical and horizontal equity were examined in terms of the ability to pay and benefits measures of the intra-decile relationships. In addition, other variables affecting intra-decile horizontal equity such as age and lakeshore location were considered. The data upon which the results were based were drawn from random sampling of 1000 households in the R-31 school district at Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minnesota. The sample represented 20 percent of all such households. A total of 216 households responded to a questionnaire …

The Market For Winter Skiing In Two Minnesota Areas, Richard O. Sielaff

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Two studies of Minnesota "skiing households," one of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and one of the Duluth area, are reported. The studies were financed by the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission in an effort to determine the marketing potential for skiing and ski facilities of Spirit Mountain at Duluth. This paper presents results for one of many research objectives involved. It is indicated that skiing households represent about one-fourth of all households in the study areas; that there are boys and/or girls up to 19 years old in about half of the skiing households; income of skiing households is …

Recreation-Based Lodging Business In A Minnesota Resort Area, Gary C. Meyer

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Personal interviews with owners or managers of privately-owned outdoor recreation-based lodging enterprises in Hubbard County, Minnesota, were used to analyze this industry. Most enterprises are small, operated on a seasonal and part-time basis, and owned by individuals or families who formerly resided in other areas. It is suggested that non-economic goals are commonly the most important contributors to the decision to enter this segment of the lodging industry.

Is Classical Doctrine Relevant To Contemporary Economic Problems, S. M. Kahng, Shelley Kari

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Classical theory, especially as propounded by Adam Smith 200 years ago, is examined for applicability to contemporary economic problems. The broad scope of classical concepts is suggested as a means of adding relevance to more restricted modern approaches.

Economic Impact Of An Air Base On The Duluth-Superior Region, Wayne A. Jesswein, Richard W. Lichty

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The economic impact of the Duluth Air Base on the Duluth-Superior Growth Center was measured using an input-output table . A review of the impact results shows significant effects of the base on the area's industrial structure. A review of the results also shows the importance of the indirect effects in assessing the total impact on the region.

Comparative Analysis Of Hospital Utilization In Urban And Rural Counties, James R. Dingels

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Hospital utilization, when measured as patient days per population, exhibited generally insignificant relationships with factors concerning population characteristics, hospital resources, financial assistance, and degree of urbanization. Adjusted multivariate linear regression results indicated that number of physicians per population did possess significant effects, while other independent variables remained significant. Additional research, as well as refinement of present data, appear paramount to further validation procedures.

Here Is Where We Are, M. H. Baker

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Industrial chemistry in the Upper Midwest consists principally of compounding, formulating and specialty manufacturing rather than the production of basic chemicals. The economic position of industrial chemistry is, nevertheless, significant because many of the region's major corporations are employers of technically-trained personnel and are substantial chemical users. This paper provides a non-quantitative overview of chemical technology applications and developments in some of the area's key industries as a record of the past, a measure of current activity, and as a possible indicator for the future. The paper also notes that the large investment demands, complexity of regulations and distance from …

Grain Sales Of Russia--The Summer Of '72 Revisited, R. J. Charkins

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

A review of market conditions and price fluctuations since announcement in 1972 of large grain sales to Russia indicates that several major questions regarding the impact of those transactions still unresolved. The functioning of international grain trade is delineated and possible effects on various segments of the United States and world economy are considered.

The Minnesota Economic Environment: 1985, Bruce K. Maclaury, David Dahl, John Rosine, Thomas Supel

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.