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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

South Dakota State University

2017

Articles 1 - 30 of 36

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dual Enrollment And Its Impact On College Freshman Persistence: A Modification Of Tinto's Model Of Student Departure, Douglas L. Simon Jan 2017

Dual Enrollment And Its Impact On College Freshman Persistence: A Modification Of Tinto's Model Of Student Departure, Douglas L. Simon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which dual enrollment programs directly or indirectly influenced persistence behavior at a small, public liberal arts university in the Midwest. Dual enrollment in this study broadly refers to high school students who take college courses for college credit. The second purpose was to explore the underlying processes whereby dual enrollments programs serve as a transition bridge for matriculating students. This study employed a longitudinal case study using two survey questionnaires, four focus groups, and institutional data collected by the college. The subjects that participated in the study were first-year …

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The Fiscal Theory Of The Price Level In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Structural Break Analysis, Christian Tchamda Jan 2017

The Fiscal Theory Of The Price Level In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Structural Break Analysis, Christian Tchamda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I provide empirical evidence of the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL) using sub-Saharan African countries. While the traditional view of the inflation is driven and explained by the quantity theory of money, the FTPL argues that the government deficit has an impact on the price level. However, the empirical literature of the FTPL is not extensive. This paper adds to this literature in that it substantiates this theory. I determine using primary balance and liabilities data when available to classify a country as under either a monetary dominant regime (the traditional view) or under a …

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Factors Affecting Feedlots' Decisions On Cattle Marketing Options: A National Study, Charlotte Owusu-Smart Jan 2017

Factors Affecting Feedlots' Decisions On Cattle Marketing Options: A National Study, Charlotte Owusu-Smart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the economic implication of changing slaughter volume patterns across the cash and contract markets in the US cattle industry. Weekly time series data that spans from November 2002 to December 2015 was used in the analysis. Empirical evidence suggests that Mandatory Price Reporting (MPR) played an important role in changing slaughter volumes across the cash and contract markets. Additionally, price of feeder cattle, cattle quality characteristics (Choice-Select spread and the percentage of animals grading choice or better) among others influence feedlots’ decision to use a particular marketing arrangement.

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The Determinants Of Rural Outmigration In The United States: 2010-2014, Munia Sunjid Jan 2017

The Determinants Of Rural Outmigration In The United States: 2010-2014, Munia Sunjid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on both economic and noneconomic determinants of geographical migration out of rural areas in the United States. In line with existing studies on individual’s decision to migrate from rural to urban areas, our analysis compares expected returns in rural to those in urban areas. Using annual U.S. countylevel count data spanning the period from 2010 to 2014, Fixed Effect and Negative Binomial methods are used to evaluate the effects of both economic and noneconomic variables on geographical outmigration from rural to urban areas. Determining factors investigated include distance between place of origin and potential destination, median household …

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Rail Rebound: The Impact Of Freight Rails On Regional Development In The United States, 1970-2010, Bishal Bhakta Kasu Jan 2017

Rail Rebound: The Impact Of Freight Rails On Regional Development In The United States, 1970-2010, Bishal Bhakta Kasu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Railroads have played a critical role in economic growth and development, and they exert a tremendous impact on the distribution and redistribution of the population. However, the impacts of railroads, especially freight rails, on population change and socioeconomic development are not well understood. This study fills the gap in the literature by examining the demographic and socioeconomic impacts of freight rails using county-level data in the continental United States from 1970 to 2010. The demographic and socioeconomic changes are measured by eleven dependent variables. Of those eleven, six are demographic (population, young, old, White, Black, Hispanic) and five are socioeconomic …

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Associations Between Personality Style, Perceptions Of Health Coaching And Percent Of Starting Weight In Meal Replacement Program Participants, Anne E. Sawyer Jan 2017

Associations Between Personality Style, Perceptions Of Health Coaching And Percent Of Starting Weight In Meal Replacement Program Participants, Anne E. Sawyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To determine if personality style and an individual’s perception of their health coaching experience impact their ability to lose weight and/or maintain weight loss. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to 20,000 current and past meal replacement program participants. Personality style was assessed via the Ten Item Personality Inventory, providing individual perceptions of each of the Big Five personality domains (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience). The Working Alliance Inventory (Short Revised) was used to assess three key perceptions of health coaching: 1) agreement on the goals of coaching (goal), 2) agreement on the tasks of …

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Land Surface Phenologies And Seasonalities Using Cool Earthlight In Temperate And Tropical Croplands, Woubet Gashaw Alemu Jan 2017

Land Surface Phenologies And Seasonalities Using Cool Earthlight In Temperate And Tropical Croplands, Woubet Gashaw Alemu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s world of increasing food insecurity due to more frequent and extreme events (droughts, floods), a comprehensive understanding of global cropland dynamics is critically needed. Land surface parameters derived from the passive microwave Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on EOS (AMSR-E) and AMSR2 data enable monitoring of cropland dynamics and they can complement visible to near infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) data. Passive microwave data are less sensitive to atmospheric effects, cloud contamination, and solar illumination constraints resulting in finer temporal resolution suitable to track the temporal progression of cropland cover development compared to the VNIR data that has …

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Funny In A Man's World: Women Comedians' Use Of Political Satire At The White House Correspondents' Dinner, Jessica M. Peterson Jan 2017

Funny In A Man's World: Women Comedians' Use Of Political Satire At The White House Correspondents' Dinner, Jessica M. Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Satire and politics are typically considered masculine fields within the societal constructs of the United States. Wanda Sykes and Cecily Strong both navigate these male-dominated worlds with their addresses at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This analysis views these addresses through three rhetorical lenses: feminist standpoint theory, rhetorical citizenship, and rhetorical and political agency. This study explores the way women’s issues in society exposed to various audiences through Sykes’ and Strong’s satirical addresses. Communication scholars have not previously considered both of these addresses; this analysis furthers our understanding of feminist viewpoints being shared to audiences and encouraging audiences to take …

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Intra-Industry Trade In Agricultural Products Between The United States, Nafta And European Union Trading Partners, Shuvo Chakraborty Jan 2017

Intra-Industry Trade In Agricultural Products Between The United States, Nafta And European Union Trading Partners, Shuvo Chakraborty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study provides an overview of trends and identifies country-specific determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) between the United States (U.S.), the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) trading partners. We analyze the food and live animal industry at the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) revision 4 at the 4-digit level to calculate IIT and cover the period between 2007 and 2014. To determine the country-specific determinants of IIT, we used a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) random effect model. Results indicate that the size of an economy, the relative difference in level of economic development, the …

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Funding Of Higher Education: Variations In State Funding, Impacts Of State Funding On Differential Tuition, And Variables Impacting Differential Tuition, Michael Holbeck Jan 2017

Funding Of Higher Education: Variations In State Funding, Impacts Of State Funding On Differential Tuition, And Variables Impacting Differential Tuition, Michael Holbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public higher education in the United States has seen many changes since the Morrill Act of 1862. Specifically, the funding of higher education has changed greatly over the last half century, from very low tuition and relatively high state subsidies to an increased reliance on tuition to fund higher education. While this funding change has been the national trend, the impact on specific states and universities has varied greatly. This study examines the funding variation between university peers, normalized using state general funds per resident student FTE, to analyze the variation of state funding between states as well as the …

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The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Rhetorical Analysis Of President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, And President Donald J. Trump’S Political Discourse About Syrian Refugees, Erin Lionberger Jan 2017

The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Rhetorical Analysis Of President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, And President Donald J. Trump’S Political Discourse About Syrian Refugees, Erin Lionberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I introduce the reader to sixteen texts of political discourse about Syrian refugees from three rhetors; President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and President Donald J. Trump. As the Syrian refugee crisis continues to grow, political leaders and citizens around the world debate the appropriate way to provide aid to those fleeing Syria. I rhetorically analyze multiple texts from each of these politicians’ and their use of framing, ideographs and metaphors within their political discourse. In my research, I suggest that the framing language used by each rhetor about Syrian refugees has varying impacts on the audience. The …

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Exploring The Relationship Between Immediacy Behaviors And Student Motivation In Engineering Classrooms: Immediacy As A Cause Of Motivation, Andrea N. Barahona Guerrero Jan 2017

Exploring The Relationship Between Immediacy Behaviors And Student Motivation In Engineering Classrooms: Immediacy As A Cause Of Motivation, Andrea N. Barahona Guerrero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Instructor immediacy is an essential characteristic of effective instructors. Although instructional communication has done extensive research on the impact of immediacy behaviors on students, there is little available research observing immediacy behaviors as predictors of motivation on engineering students. As a result, this study examined the impact of engineering instructors’ use of immediacy behaviors on engineering students’ motivation. The results indicated that verbal immediacy predicted engineering student motivation. The thematic analysis revealed that when students perceived their instructors as helpful, students’ motivation to learn and ask more questions increased. The thematic analysis also observed that when instructors seemed unapproachable, students …

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Heterogeneous Nitrogen Losses: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Changes In Management Across South Dakota, Archibold Quaye Jan 2017

Heterogeneous Nitrogen Losses: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Changes In Management Across South Dakota, Archibold Quaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The loss of nitrogen fertilizer into the atmosphere and waterways is of increasing concern for citizens and policy makers. This is particularly relevant for hypoxia in rivers, lakes, and oceans, but also relevant for policy makers in reducing the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. GHGs trap heat in the atmosphere and include: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. Overall, the estimated contribution from the agricultural sector to GHG emissions was 9% in 2013 (EPA, 2013). Further, the addition of nitrogen to the soil through the use of synthetic fertilizers is a main contributor to …

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Explaining The Gender Wage Gap In Rural And Urban China, Wei Gu Jan 2017

Explaining The Gender Wage Gap In Rural And Urban China, Wei Gu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The gender wage gap is a long-standing and worldwide issue. Since the equality sense towards gender role are difference between rural and urban China, this paper will (1) compare the gender wage gap in rural and urban settings; (2) examine how the associated factors (such as education, occupation, and housework involvements) affect the wage; (3) assess and compare gender discrimination in the rural and urban labor markets. This paper utilizes the survey data from China Health and Nutrition Survey in 2011. The methods of descriptive statistics, correlation, and stepwise multiple regression models are applied in analyzing the data. The results …

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Graduate School Decisions: The Impact Of Out-Of-Class Communication On First-Generation College Students, Kaitlyn Voges Jan 2017

Graduate School Decisions: The Impact Of Out-Of-Class Communication On First-Generation College Students, Kaitlyn Voges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First-generation college students possess barriers within academics that may be unique to the population. This thesis seeks to understand how instructors and advisors can use the memorable messages framework to encourage first-generation college students to attend graduate school despite barriers the students may possess. Thirteen first-generation college/graduate students were interviewed regarding their decisions to attend graduate school. Specifically, interviewees were asked if they received memorable messages from an outside source which encouraged them to pursue a master’s degree. A majority of participants stated they had received a particular message from either an instructor or academic advisor. These messages tended to …

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Encouraging Organic Agriculture: The Effects Of Conversion Subsidies, Sarah Adams Inkoom Jan 2017

Encouraging Organic Agriculture: The Effects Of Conversion Subsidies, Sarah Adams Inkoom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the importance of conversional subsidies in accounting for an increase in organic acreage in the 12 North-Central States in the United States. Monthly time series data that spans from January 2002 to December 2014 was used in the analysis. Empirical evidence suggests that increase in organic acreage is due in part to the availability of conversion subsidies. Without government assistance, most small-scale farmers are not sufficiently motivated to switch to organic production due to the high initial costs involved in transitioning. Further, increased institutional support could facilitate organic adoption and its absence is detrimental to increasing the …

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A Comparison Of Land Use And Land Cover In Public Lands Of The Northwestern Great Plains And High Plains Ecoregions And The Implications For Grassland Birds, Dawn L. Siemonsma Jan 2017

A Comparison Of Land Use And Land Cover In Public Lands Of The Northwestern Great Plains And High Plains Ecoregions And The Implications For Grassland Birds, Dawn L. Siemonsma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Loss and degradation of grassland habitat are driving forces that contribute to widespread declines of grassland birds in the United States. Many studies have evaluated habitat needs for the conservation of grassland birds, but the relative contribution of public lands in representing and maintaining avian biodiversity remains poorly understood. Having a better understanding of the role that publicly managed grasslands play in the conservation of grassland bird habitat is important for assessing the value of the investment the American public makes in these lands. Therefore, I investigated spatial relations among variations in amounts and distributions of publicly owned and managed …

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Gender Matters: Perceptions Of Corporate Leadership, Kylie A. Braegelmann Jan 2017

Gender Matters: Perceptions Of Corporate Leadership, Kylie A. Braegelmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women remain conspicuously underrepresented at the highest levels of corporate management; thus, it seems, gender matters. Gender bias in financial markets would imply an inefficient market, which necessarily constrains economic performance and social welfare more generally. To measure gender bias, I examine the cumulative abnormal returns around CEO announcements from 1992 through 2016 using a modified event study methodology. Existing event studies in this field are inconclusive as to whether or not such a bias exists. Therefore, this research contributes to the literature by extending the data, using a larger event window, and studying bias over time and firm size. …

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Normalization Of Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites For Increasing The Temporal Resolution And Long-Term Trending, Harika Vuppula Jan 2017

Normalization Of Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites For Increasing The Temporal Resolution And Long-Term Trending, Harika Vuppula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given their low level of temporal, spatial, and spectral variability, Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) have been increasingly desired as data sources for radiometric calibration of Earth imaging satellite sensors. The temporal resolution for PICS data acquired by any sensor is limited by the amount of time required for it to make subsequent passes over the site. Consequently, for any given PICS, it can take many years of imaging to develop a sufficient amount of cloud-free data to perform radiometric calibration; this can be especially problematic for sensors in their early years after launch. This thesis presents techniques to combine Landsat-8; …

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An Analysis Of Factors Affecting Bid Of Infant-Formula Manufacturers In Wic Rebate Auctions, Raymond Opoku Jan 2017

An Analysis Of Factors Affecting Bid Of Infant-Formula Manufacturers In Wic Rebate Auctions, Raymond Opoku

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the factors that affect bid decisions of infant-formula manufacturers in WIC rebates auctions. Since its inception in 1972, the WIC program has served more than half of participating women and their infants each year. Today, Infant formula - the most expensive food item on the WIC menu - is accessible to all participants for free through the WIC rebate program. Through the rebate program, firms submit bids to solely supply their infant formula to a state WIC agency at a discount leading to fall in net prices. Yet, the firms in the infant formula market are selective …

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The Transformation Of An Agriculture-Based Economy To A Tourism-Based Economy: Citizens' Perceived Impacts Of Sustainable Tourism Development, Debra P. Laville-Wilson Jan 2017

The Transformation Of An Agriculture-Based Economy To A Tourism-Based Economy: Citizens' Perceived Impacts Of Sustainable Tourism Development, Debra P. Laville-Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many researchers have explored the perceptions and impacts of tourism development. However, no studies have included the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis where tourism has replaced agriculture as the primary driver of the islands’ economies. Furthermore, recent studies have not explored demographic factors that determine people’s perceptions of the impacts of tourism development in these islands. The purpose of this study was to investigate if citizens’ perceptions of the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and community impacts of tourism development vary by demographic factors such as age, education, gender and geographical location in relation to tourist areas. Nineteen research hypotheses …

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Monitoring Pollen Counts And Pollen Allergy Index Using Satellite Observations In East Coast Of The United States, Murat Cagatay Kececi Jan 2017

Monitoring Pollen Counts And Pollen Allergy Index Using Satellite Observations In East Coast Of The United States, Murat Cagatay Kececi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Allergic diseases have become increasingly common over the world during the last four decades, and they are affecting millions of people. Pollination is an important process in the life cycle of plants. However, pollen exposure is associated with allergic diseases such as asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever). As a result, the total annual expenditure for asthma-associated morbidity is about $56 billion in the United States, and the overall cost of allergic diseases is over $18 billion annually. For allergic rhinitis, the annual medical cost is approximately $3.4 billion. The intensity and frequency of the pollen exposures can be …

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The Effects Of The Dodd-Frank Act On Community Banks, Hoanh Le Jan 2017

The Effects Of The Dodd-Frank Act On Community Banks, Hoanh Le

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I study the effects on community banks of seven final rules associated with the Dodd-Frank Act. I use quarterly data on US bank holding companies from 1991 through 2016 to test working hypotheses that several bank performance measures—including pretax returns on assets, loans per employee, changes in the number of employees, and salaries to assets—responded to the passage of these seven final rules in ways that reflected regulatory burdens that these rules imposed on banks. I find that these seven final rules affected banks differently according to their scale. Taken together, my results imply that these seven …

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Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Crop Water Use To Improve Irrigation Water Management, Arturo Reyes-Gonzalez Jan 2017

Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Crop Water Use To Improve Irrigation Water Management, Arturo Reyes-Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Irrigation water is scarce. Hence, accurate estimation of crop water use is necessary for proper irrigation managements and water conservation. Satellite-based remote sensing is a tool that can estimate crop water use efficiently. Several models have been developed to estimate crop water requirement or actual evapotranspiration (ETa) using remote sensing. One of them is the Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model. This model has been compared with other methods for ET estimations including weighing lysimeters, pan evaporation, Bowen Ratio Energy Balance System (BREBS), Eddy Covariance (EC), and sap flow. However, comparison of METRIC model outputs to …

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Performance Of The Producer Accumulator In Corn And Soybean Commodity Markets, Chad Te Slaa Jan 2017

Performance Of The Producer Accumulator In Corn And Soybean Commodity Markets, Chad Te Slaa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research quantifies risk reduction and performance of the producer accumulator contract in corn and soybean markets. To quantify performance, we use three alternative theoretical pricing models to estimate historical producer accumulator contract specifications in corn and soybean markets. We then compare the performance of the producer accumulator to eight alternative agricultural marketing strategy portfolios that are also used in new generation grain contracts. The performance measures we compare are: average bushel price that would be received by the producer, daily portfolio risk, and the Sharpe ratio. The period we examine performance was between 2008 and 2017. We investigate performance …

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Relationship Of Stress, Sleep, Physical Activity, And Food Insecurity On Eating Behaviors And Obesity, Amy Lee Richards Jan 2017

Relationship Of Stress, Sleep, Physical Activity, And Food Insecurity On Eating Behaviors And Obesity, Amy Lee Richards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an urgent need to find effective interventions to prevent and reduce obesity as it is associated with chronic disease and decreased quality of life. Gaining a better understanding of how modifiable variables such as stress, sleep, physical activity, and food insecurity are related to eating behaviors associated with obesity is essential to guide the direction of future interventions and research. Interventions that hold promise need to be tested to determine if they have merit or not. This dissertation presents three papers. Two papers are cross-sectional studies evaluating associations between eating behaviors, obesity, and modifiable variables (stress, sleep, physical …

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Russian Real Estate Purchases In Finland, 1990-2016, Mika Hasanen Jan 2017

Russian Real Estate Purchases In Finland, 1990-2016, Mika Hasanen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Foreign real estate ownership has been a frequent topic in the Finnish public discourse in the 2010s. Real estate purchases by Russian citizens have received lots of negative attention. In this thesis, the spatial distribution of real estate bought by Russians was studied. Purchases between January 1990 and August 2016 were mapped and analyzed using Getis-Ord Gi* hot spot analysis. The home addresses of the buyers were also geocoded to find out where the majority of buyers live, and geodetic distances to their properties were calculated. Buildings on these properties were analyzed to examine motives for the purchases.

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Price Discovery And Volatility Spillover Effects: The Agricultural Etps And Their Underlying Commodities, Yu Chen Jan 2017

Price Discovery And Volatility Spillover Effects: The Agricultural Etps And Their Underlying Commodities, Yu Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the price discovery and volatility spillover effects between agricultural ETPs and commodity underlying. We analyze historical prices of five most popular grain ETPs and their underlying commodities using VEC model and BEKK model. Price discovery is confirmed by bidirectional relationships between ETPs and underlying commodity in the long term, and the WEAT_ETP and CBOT Wheat Futures December Contracts. In addition, findings show unidirectional relationships between ETPs and underlying, mostly in the short term. In the process of price discovery, the information share of ETPs is much lower than that of underlying, with a potential downward trend. Volatility …

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Measuring Central Bank Credibility From The Effect Of Inflation Shocks On Asset Prices, Junmei Xu Jan 2017

Measuring Central Bank Credibility From The Effect Of Inflation Shocks On Asset Prices, Junmei Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the early 1990s, the Bank of Canada explicitly adopted the inflation-targeting framework for monetary policy, while the Federal Reserve did not; instead, the Fed settled on an implicit inflation-targeting framework. In this study, I test whether the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve earned credibility for their respective commitments— explicit or otherwise—to maintain low and stable inflation. I model how credibility shapes the responses of asset prices to inflation shocks. And, for each country, I estimate responses of commodity and foreign exchange prices to announcements of inflation shocks during the periods of 1982 to 1991 (pre-inflation targeting period) …

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The Role Of Aid For Trade And Foreign Direct Investment In Poverty Reduction: A Panel Data Analysis Of 91 Developing Countries, Olivia Durowah Jan 2017

The Role Of Aid For Trade And Foreign Direct Investment In Poverty Reduction: A Panel Data Analysis Of 91 Developing Countries, Olivia Durowah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aid for trade (AFT) focuses on helping developing nations to overcome supplyside constraints in trade to maximize trade benefits and use trade to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction. Since its inception at the 2005 Hong Kong ministerial conference, AFT has become viewed as a crucial tool for helping developing countries and donors continue to shift their attention to AFT programs, even in times of prolonged global financial crisis. AFT programs ultimately seeks to achieve growth poverty reduction. Thus, this study focuses on assessing the role of AFT and foreign direct investment in poverty reduction using the headcount ratio (1.90 …

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