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Articles 271 - 300 of 533

Full-Text Articles in Economics

(Wp 2010-05) Exchange-Rate Pass Through, Openness, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose Aug 2010

(Wp 2010-05) Exchange-Rate Pass Through, Openness, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose

Economics Working Papers

Considerable recent work has reached mixed conclusions about whether and how globalization affects the inflation-output trade-off and suggests that the ultimate effect of openness on the output-inflation relationship is influenced by a variety of factors. In this paper, we consider the impact of exchange-rate pass through and how pass through conditions the effect of openness on the sacrifice ratio. We develop a simple theoretical model showing how both the extent of pass through and openness can interact to influence the output-inflation relationship. Next we empirically explore the nature of these two variables and their interaction. Results indicate that greater pass …


(Wp 2010-07) Examining Megachurch Growth: Free Riding, Fit, And Faith, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels Aug 2010

(Wp 2010-07) Examining Megachurch Growth: Free Riding, Fit, And Faith, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels

Economics Working Papers

Megachurches are thriving in religious markets at a time when Americans are asserting their ability as consumers of religious products to engage in religious switching. The apparent success of megachurches, which often provide a low cost and low commitment path by which religious refugees may join the church, seems to challenge Iannocconne’s theory that high commitment churches will thrive while low commitment churches will atrophy. This paper employs a signaling model to illustrate the strategy and organizational forms megachurches employ to indicate a match between what the church produces and the religious refugee wishes to consume in an effort to …


(Wp 2010-03) Subsidizing Religious Participation Through Groups: A Model Of The "Megachurch" Strategy For Growth, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels Jul 2010

(Wp 2010-03) Subsidizing Religious Participation Through Groups: A Model Of The "Megachurch" Strategy For Growth, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels

Economics Working Papers

Either despite or because of their non-traditional approach, megachurches have grown significantly in the United States since 1980. This paper models religious participation as an imperfect public good which, absent intervention, yields suboptimal participation by members from the church’s perspective. Megachurches address this problem by employing secular based group activities to subsidize religious participation in an effort to increase attendees’ religious investment. This strategy not only allows megachurches to attract and retain new members when many traditional churches are losing members, but also results in higher levels of individual satisfaction thereby allowing the megachurch to raise levels of commitment and …


Trust In Others: Does Religion Matter?, Joseph P. Daniels, Marc Von Der Ruhr Jun 2010

Trust In Others: Does Religion Matter?, Joseph P. Daniels, Marc Von Der Ruhr

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Though the recent literature offers intuitively appealing bases for, and evidence of, a linkage among religious beliefs, religious participation and economic outcomes, evidence on a relationship between religion and trust is mixed. By allowing for an attendance effect, disaggregating Protestant denominations, and using a more extensive data set, probit models of the General Social Survey (GSS), 1975 through 2000, show that black Protestants, Pentecostals, fundamentalist Protestants, and Catholics, trust others less than individuals who do not claim a preference for a particular denomination. For conservative denominations the effect of religion is through affiliation, not attendance. In contrast, liberal Protestants trust …


(Wp 2010-11) The Benefits Of Environmental Improvement: Estimates From Space-Time Analysis, John I. Carruthers, David E. Clark, Robert N. Renner May 2010

(Wp 2010-11) The Benefits Of Environmental Improvement: Estimates From Space-Time Analysis, John I. Carruthers, David E. Clark, Robert N. Renner

Economics Working Papers

This paper develops estimates of environmental improvement based on a two-stage hedonic price analysis of the single family housing market in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. The analysis — which focuses specifically on several EPA-designated environmental hazards and involves 226,918 transactions for 177,303 unique properties that took place between January 2001 and September 2009 — involves four steps: (i) ten hedonic price functions are estimated year-by-year, one for each year of the 2000s; (ii) the hedonic estimates are used to compute the marginal implicit price of distance from air release, superfund, and toxic release sites; (iii) the marginal …


Are Consumers Disadvantaged Or Vulnerable? An Examination Of Consumer Complaints To The Better Business Bureau, Dennis Garrett, Peter Toumanoff Apr 2010

Are Consumers Disadvantaged Or Vulnerable? An Examination Of Consumer Complaints To The Better Business Bureau, Dennis Garrett, Peter Toumanoff

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Questions have emerged recently about the appropriateness of defining disadvantaged consumers based on their membership in certain demographic categories, such as income, age, education, and race. This study assessed whether these traditional classifications are useful for understanding consumer complaining behavior with the Better Business Bureau. Results of analysis of more than 24,000 consumer complaints filed with a local BBB office during a 13-year period do not provide consistent support for this disadvantaged consumer perspective. Instead, the emerging vulnerable consumer perspective may provide a more promising basis for future research.


Uncertainty And Identity: A Post Keynesian Approach, John B. Davis Apr 2010

Uncertainty And Identity: A Post Keynesian Approach, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Marshall’s asset equilibrium model provides a way of
explaining the identity of entrepreneurs. Keynes adopted this model but
transformed it when he emphasized the short-period and volatile
character of long-term expectations. This entails a view of entrepreneur
identity in which radical uncertainty plays a central role. This in turn
deepens the post Keynesian view of uncertainty as ontological in that
entrepreneurs’ survival plays into their behavior. This paper explores
this role-based view of individual identity and uses the analysis to
comment on Keynes’s ideas for the socialization of investment and
euthanasia of the rentier in the last chapter of The …


Review Of Keynes And Macroeconomics After 70 Years: Critical Assessments Of The General Theory, John B. Davis Jan 2010

Review Of Keynes And Macroeconomics After 70 Years: Critical Assessments Of The General Theory, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Foreign Direct Investment And Domestic Investment In The Host Country: Evidence From Panel Study, Miao Wang Jan 2010

Foreign Direct Investment And Domestic Investment In The Host Country: Evidence From Panel Study, Miao Wang

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This article examines the impact of inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on host countries’ domestic investment. Utilizing data from 50 countries over the period of 1970 to 2004, we find that inward FDI has a negative contemporaneous effect on domestic investment, while the cumulative effect of FDI over time tends to be positive. In addition, we separately study FDI in Developed Countries (DCs) and Less Developed Countries (LDCs). The effect of contemporaneous FDI on domestic investment is negative in DCs, and the cumulative effect of FDI is neutral. Strong evidence suggests that the contemporaneous effect of FDI on domestic investment …


(Wp 2009-02) Exchange-Rate Pass Through, Openness, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose Jan 2010

(Wp 2009-02) Exchange-Rate Pass Through, Openness, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose

Economics Working Papers

Considerable recent work has reached mixed conclusions about whether and how globalization affects the inflation‐output trade‐off and suggests that the ultimate effect of openness on the output‐inflation relationship is influenced by a variety of factors. In this paper, we consider the impact of exchange‐rate pass through and how pass through conditions the effect of openness on the sacrifice ratio. We develop a simple theoretical model showing how both the extent of pass through and openness can interact to influence the output‐inflation relationship. Next we empirically explore the nature of these two variables and their interaction. Results indicate that greater pass …


The Capabilities Conception Of The Individual, John B. Davis Dec 2009

The Capabilities Conception Of The Individual, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper advances a capabilities conception of the individual, and considers some of the problems involved in developing such a conception. It also makes claims about the nature of the capability space as a whole, frames personal development in terms of the idea of moving though the capability space, and argues that people are alike in being increasingly heterogeneous. A key problem for a capabilities conception of the individual is that some capabilities, such as belonging to social groups and having social identities, can undermine individuality. The paper discusses an example in which people can have social identities but can …


Identity And Democracy: Linking Individual And Social Reasoning, John B. Davis, Solange Regina Marin Dec 2009

Identity And Democracy: Linking Individual And Social Reasoning, John B. Davis, Solange Regina Marin

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Following Amartya Sen's approach, John Davis and Solange Regina Marin look at individual and social reasoning when examining the complex relationship between identity and democracy. They characterize democracy as a process of social or public reasoning that combines the individual reasoning of all citizens. Identity is explained in terms of personal identity, social identity, and individual identity. They argue that democracy in combining the individual reasoning of all citizens responds to individuals’ different personal identity concerns and needs, reflects their shared social identity interests and goals, and accords them rights and responsibilities associated with their many different individual identities.


The Incidence Of Tobacco Taxation: Evidence From Geographic Micro-Level Data, Andrew R. Hanson, Ryan Sullivan Dec 2009

The Incidence Of Tobacco Taxation: Evidence From Geographic Micro-Level Data, Andrew R. Hanson, Ryan Sullivan

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper uses a recent increase in Wisconsin’s tobacco tax as a natural experiment to measure the economic incidence of tobacco taxation, using micro-level data on cigarette prices from retail locations in Wisconsin and states that share its border. We find that Wisconsin’s $1 tobacco tax increase was over-shifted to consumers; they pay the entire amount of the tax as well as a premium of between 8–17 cents per pack of cigarettes. We also use geo-coded data to test if the incidence of the tobacco tax is different for locations near the border of states with different tobacco taxation.


Trade Openness, Capital Mobility, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose Sep 2009

Trade Openness, Capital Mobility, And The Sacrifice Ratio, Joseph P. Daniels, David D. Vanhoose

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper develops and evaluates empirically the implications of a theoretical model of an open economy in which variations in both trade openness and capital mobility can influence the sacrifice ratio. Key predictions forthcoming from the model are that both forms of globalization can independently affect the sacrifice ratio, once the influences of the level of central bank independence and the degree of wage stickiness in nations’ economies are taken into account. Examination of cross-country data encompassing 58 disinflations for 16 countries yields evidence consistent with these essential predictions of the theoretical framework.


Peter Danner 1921-2008, John B. Davis Jun 2009

Peter Danner 1921-2008, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Identity And Individual Economic Agents: A Narrative Approach, John B. Davis Mar 2009

Identity And Individual Economic Agents: A Narrative Approach, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper offers an account of how individuals act as agents when we employ a narrative approach to explaining their personal identities. It applies Korsgaard's idea of a “reflective structure of consciousness” to provide foundations for a richer account of the individual economic agent, and uses this to explain and distinguish the concepts of personal identity, individual identity, and social identity. The paper argues that individuals’ personal identities may be in conflict with their socially constructed individual identities. Individuals’ social identities are represented as a link between personal identity, and individual identity. The overall framework is proposed as an alternative …


Manufacturing Fdi And Economic Growth: Evidence From Asian Economies, Miao Wang Mar 2009

Manufacturing Fdi And Economic Growth: Evidence From Asian Economies, Miao Wang

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Previous empirical studies on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth generate mixed results. This article suggests that the ambiguous results might be caused by the use of total FDI. We study the heterogeneous effects of different sector-level FDI inflows on host country’s economic growth. Data from 12 Asian economies over the period of 1987 to 1997 are employed. Strong evidence shows that FDI in manufacturing sector has a significant and positive effect on economic growth in the host economies. FDI inflows in nonmanufacturing sectors do not play a significant role in enhancing economic growth. Furthermore, without the decomposition …


Committee Size And Smart Growth: An Optimal Solution, Russell Kashian, Heather Kohls Jan 2009

Committee Size And Smart Growth: An Optimal Solution, Russell Kashian, Heather Kohls

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Wisconsin is one of many states that have enacted a “Smart Growth Initiative” law that requires inclusion of the public in the creation and development of a Comprehensive Plan. One implication of public participation is the strategic development of a comprehensive planning committee. Two crucial decisions occur when the committee is formed: the size of the committee and the composition of the committee. This paper models a relation between committee size and the accuracy of plan, as well as the relationship between the inclusion of experts, whether paid consultants or planners, and the quality of the outcome. Based on a …


Local Employment, Poverty, And Property Value Effects Of Geographically-Targeted Tax Incentives: An Instrumental Variables Approach, Andrew R. Hanson Jan 2009

Local Employment, Poverty, And Property Value Effects Of Geographically-Targeted Tax Incentives: An Instrumental Variables Approach, Andrew R. Hanson

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

The federal Empowerment Zone (EZ) program is a set of tax incentives targeted to areas of select cities. I estimate the effect of the EZ program on employment, poverty, and property values by comparing areas that received an EZ to areas that applied (and qualified), but were rejected. Because of endogeneity concerns, I use political representation to instrument for EZ designation. OLS results show a positive and statistically significant effect of the program on employment and poverty. IV estimates suggest the program had no effect on employment and poverty, and instead had a large statistically significant effect on property values.


Competing Conceptions Of The Individual In Recent Economics, John B. Davis Jan 2009

Competing Conceptions Of The Individual In Recent Economics, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This article characterizes the Homo economicus conception in terms of three linked properties that are central to it as an atomist conception. On the standard view, individuals: have exogenous preferences; interact only (or almost only) in an indirect manner with one another through the price mechanism; and are unaffected in these two respects by the aggregate effects of their interaction with one another. The new research programs differ in how objectionable they find each of these properties, as befits their different commitments to synchronic or diachronic forms of explanation. Furthermore, this article reviews the role of synchronic and diachronic types …


Identity, John B. Davis Jan 2009

Identity, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Individualism, John B. Davis Jan 2009

Individualism, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


(Wp 2009-01) Trust In Others: Does Religion Matter?, Joseph P. Daniels, Marc Von Der Ruhr Sep 2008

(Wp 2009-01) Trust In Others: Does Religion Matter?, Joseph P. Daniels, Marc Von Der Ruhr

Economics Working Papers

Though the recent literature offers intuitively appealing bases for, and evidence of a linkage among religious beliefs, religious participation and economic outcomes, evidence on a relationship between religion and trust is mixed. By allowing for an attendance effect, disaggregating Protestant denominations, and using a more extensive data set, probit models of the General Social Survey (GSS), 1975 through 2000, show that Black Protestants, Pentecostals, fundamentalist Protestants, and Catholics, trust others less than individuals who do not claim a preference for a particular denomination. For conservative denominations the effect of religion is though affiliation not attendance. In contrast, liberal Protestants trust …


The Turn In Recent Economics And Return Of Orthodoxy, John B. Davis May 2008

The Turn In Recent Economics And Return Of Orthodoxy, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper examines change on the economics research frontier, and asks whether the current competition between new research programmes may be supplanted by a new single dominant approach in the future. The paper discusses whether economics tends to be dominated by a single approach or reflect a pluralism of approaches, and argues that, historically, it has alternated between the two. It argues that orthodoxy usually emerges from heterodoxy, and interprets the division between orthodoxy and heterodoxy in terms of a core–periphery distinction. Regarding recent economics, the paper maps out two different types of combinations of new research programmes as being …


(Wp 2008-01) A Model Of Religious Investment To Explain The Success Of “Megachurches”, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels May 2008

(Wp 2008-01) A Model Of Religious Investment To Explain The Success Of “Megachurches”, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Joseph P. Daniels

Economics Working Papers

Despite their non-traditional approach, megachurches have grown significantly in the United States since 1980. This paper constructs a model of religious investment to examine how “seeker”-oriented megachurches succeed in attracting and retaining new members. The model illustrates that megachurches have been able to encourage additional religious investment through group-based activities. Hence, these activities may be viewed as a subsidy for religious investment. As a result, individuals associated with megachurches increase their religious investment relative to individuals associated with non-megachurches. Data from the FACT2000 survey provide evidence that megachurches employ groups to help subsidize individuals’ religious investment, and that the resulting …


Does Real Exchange Rate Volatility Affect Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence From Four Developed Economies, Abdur Chowdhury, Mark Wheeler Apr 2008

Does Real Exchange Rate Volatility Affect Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence From Four Developed Economies, Abdur Chowdhury, Mark Wheeler

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This study examines the impact of shocks to exchange rate uncertainty (volatility) on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The analysis is conducted using vector autoregressive models that contain the price level, real output, the real exchange rate, the volatility of the real exchange rate, the interest rate, and FDI. The results from variance decompositions yield public policy implications. In Canada, Japan, and the United States, innovations to exchange rate uncertainty explain significant portions of the forecast error variance in FDI at longer time horizons. The impulse response functions indicate that, to …


The Change In And State Of Recent Economics, John B. Davis Apr 2008

The Change In And State Of Recent Economics, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Openness And The Efficiency Of Fdi: A Panel Stochastic Production Frontier Study, Farrokh Nourzad Feb 2008

Openness And The Efficiency Of Fdi: A Panel Stochastic Production Frontier Study, Farrokh Nourzad

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper uses a stochastic translog production frontier to estimate technical inefficiency indices whose conditional mean is specified as a function of FDI and its interaction with openness of the economy. The model is estimated using an annual panel of 46 countries for the years, 1981–2001. The results suggest that increased FDI increases potential output in both developed and developing countries with the effect being more profound in the former. It is also found that increased FDI reduces technical inefficiencies the more open is the economy but that this effect holds only for developed economies. Thus qualified support is found …


Social Economics: An Introduction And A View Of The Field, John B. Davis, Wilfred Dolfsma Jan 2008

Social Economics: An Introduction And A View Of The Field, John B. Davis, Wilfred Dolfsma

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Urban Watershed/Water Body Restoration - The Driving Forces, Vladimir Novotny, David E. Clark, Robert J. Griffin Jan 2008

Urban Watershed/Water Body Restoration - The Driving Forces, Vladimir Novotny, David E. Clark, Robert J. Griffin

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Urban streams are used for several purposes. Some uses are conflicting and some are complementary. The use of urban water bodies and the resolution of conflicts is driven by anthropogenic and biocentric/ecocentric interests that must be optimized and the conflicts resolved. This article examines and analyzes land ethics (biocentric) and socio-economic (anthropocentric) drives for stream restoration of urban watersheds located in the Milwaukee (WI) metropolitan area. The basins experienced increased flooding, significant degradation of sediment and water quality, and loss of aquatic species, all due to urbanization. It was found that the primary drivers for restoration of urban streams are …