Economics Commons^™

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: April 7, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer confidence was strong in Nebraska in March 2017 while business confidence remained very strong. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) rose to 100.5 during March, 5.9 points higher than in February. The index value, which is just above the neutral value of 100, indicates that consumer confidence was strong in Nebraska. The outlook of Nebraska businesses is more firmly positive. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) stood at 108.2 in February, well above the neutral value. The business confidence index fell slightly, by 0.9% from February, but remains at a high level. When asked about the most …

The Russian Food And Agricultural Import Ban, Marianna Khachaturyan, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

In 2014 the United States, European Union (EU), and several other countries imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine (Nelson, 2017; Europa, 2017). Prior to the 1990s, the use of economic sanctions to challenge the behavior of foreign governments was fairly rare as the target country could easily turn to the cold-war adversary of the sanctioning country to avoid their effects. With the end of the Cold War, sanctions, usually comprehensive in nature restricting economic relations across the board, became a major foreign policy tool. Because comprehensive …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: March 17, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 rose by 2.08% during February of 2017. The indicator also rose rapidly in January. The two increases indicate that economic growth will be strong in Nebraska during the second half of 2017. Among the components of the indicator, business expectations were very strong during February. Further, initial claims for unemployment insurance declined during the month, a sign of a strengthening labor market. The value of the U.S. dollar also fell during February, which is a positive sign for Nebraska’s export-oriented businesses.

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: March 3, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer confidence improved in Nebraska in February 2017 while business confidence remained strong. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) rose to 94.6 during February, 5.4 points higher than in January. While consumer confidence improved, it remained below the neutral value of 100. The outlook of Nebraska businesses, by contrast, was positive. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) stood at 109.1 in February, well above the neutral value. The business confidence index rose slightly, by 1.3%, between January and February. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 34 percent of business …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: February 17, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 rose by 1.97% during January of 2017. The rapid increase in the LEI-N, which predicts economic activity six months in the future, reversed a drop in the indicator during November and December of 2016. The increase during January suggests that growth will improve in Nebraska in the second half of 2017. Business expectations, building permits and manufacturing hours all improved during January. There also an a decline in initial claims for unemployment insurance in January following a sharp increase during December. The value of the U.S. dollar was steady during January, a …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: February 3, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Both business and consumer confidence improved in Nebraska in January 2017, but the gap between the two measures remained. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) stood at 89.2 during January, well below the neutral value of 100. The outlook of Nebraska businesses, by contrast, was positive. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) stood at 107.8 in January, well above the neutral value. Both values were somewhat higher than in December 2016. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 30 percent of business respondents, labor availability and quality by 22 percent …

Nebraska Retailing Activity Changes Since 1990 And The Effect Of The Great Recession By Town/City Size Classes, Anil Giri, Bruce B. Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

Retailing is an important sector of our state’s economy and is watched carefully as an indicator of overall economic performance. This retailing activity, however, is not evenly distributed across different town/ city size classes. Large cities and towns serve as retail centers for larger geographic areas as well as for some nearby small towns. In other words, small trade centers experience trade leakage relative to their population and large centers experience retail gain relative to their population. Relative retail activity can be measured and hence compared using Pull Factor (PF) as a metric.

In essence, PF measures the relative market …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: January 20, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 fell by 0.50% during December of 2016. The decline in the LEI-N, which predicts economic activity six months in the future, follows a drop of 0.39% during November. The two consecutive declines suggest that economic growth will be weak in Nebraska during the second quarter of 2017. Business expectations were strong in December but other components of the LEI-N were negative. In particular, there was a sharp jump in initial claims for unemployment insurance during the month, suggesting a softening in labor market conditions. There also was another increase in the value …

Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska And Survey Of Nebraska Business: January 6, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The gap between business and consumer confidence persisted in Nebraska through December of 2016. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) stood at 88.2 during December, well below the neutral value of 100. The outlook of Nebraska businesses, by contrast, was positive with respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business expecting to increase both sales and employment over the next 6 months. In particular, 31 percent of businesses expect sales to increase over the next 6 months while just 18 percent expect sales to fall. Fifteen percent of businesses expect to expand employment while 3 percent expect to reduce it. …

2017 Updated Tables And Charts For Ec 845 Nebraska Cash Soybean Prices And Basis Patterns, Cory Walters, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

2017 Updated Tables And Figures For Ec 846 Nebraska Cash Corn Prices And Basis Patterns, Cory Walters, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

2017 Updated Tables And Figures For Ec 844 Nebraska Wheat Prices And Basis Patterns, Cory Walters, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Monetary, Fiscal And External Inflationary Sources In Nigeria, Samson A. Aladejare

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

This study focuses on evaluating the monetary, fiscal and external inflationary sources in Nigeria. The Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag estimation technique was adapted to capture these effects. Empirical findings of the study showed that overall, the main determining cause of inflation in both short run and long run periods in Nigeria, are more of monetary and external factors and less of fiscal sources. Specifically, the problem of inflation in Nigeria appears to be more of structural phenomenon than monetary in the short run. However, in the long run, combinations of monetary and external factors tend to be the major cause of …

Land Tenure, Governance And Accountability In Nigeria: The Implications On Food Production To Feed The Present And The Future, Abiodun E. Obayelu, Aisha O. Arowolo, Olatokunbo H. Osinowo

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

Land is very vital for agricultural production, and for any nation that wants to be self-food sufficient. Different land reforms have taken place in Nigeria since 1960 with the aim of facilitating access to agricultural land, and make the nation self-sufficient in food production, but little changes have only been recorded. Bureaucracy by approving authorities in practice in communities where land is situated still hinders land acquisition for agricultural investment. This study therefore analyzes land policy, governance and accountability and draw out some implications on food production in Nigeria. The percentage of arable land to the total land area was …

Internal Control Activities As A Tool For Financial Management In The Public Sector: A Case Study Of Ghana Post Company Limited, Kwakye E. Agyapong

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

The case, Ghana Post Company Limited, allows for the observation of internal control activities as a tool for financial management in the public sector. The objective of the research is to examine the control environment of the Ghana Post Company to ensure there is segregation of duties, proper information and communication between employees and management; and monitoring of the policies implemented by management. The sample size of 36 included individuals from all of the departments within the company. The departments are Auditing and Finance, Human Resource, Mail and Parcels, and Financial Services. The work established had continued lapses in the …

Empathy Conservation: Experiments Suggest A Need For More Attention In Policymaking, Natalia V. Czap, Hans J. Czap, Gary Lynne, Mark E. Burbach

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

One of the major challenges of environmental policy with regard to conservation is that it must often rely on voluntary and non-selfish actions of individuals. Traditionally policy makers rely on direct regulation and financial incentives, but both approaches face problems. Regulations may lead to resentment and the costs of perfect enforcement are prohibitively high. Financial incentives can be perverse and may lead to unintended consequences, including crowding out of intrinsic motivation. In addition, behavioral economics and economic psychology studies demonstrate that the assumptions of the neoclassical economic models (such as self-interest only, rationality, and willpower) on which the policy design …

Renewable Portfolio Standards May Reduce Green Energy Used In Electricity Production, Karina Schoengold, Suparna Bhattacharya, Konstantinos Giannakas

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

Rising energy prices, dependence on foreign oil supplies, and consequences of climate change have prompted governments worldwide to initiate policies to shift from fossil fuels to renewables for electricity generation. One of the most commonly used policy instruments is the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which requires electricity providers to procure green energy (e.g., wind, solar, biomass) for a portion of their electricity supplies. To date, RPS has been a state-mandated program in the United States. As of February 2017, 29 states, Washington DC, and 3 territories have adopted RPS policies.

Getting To Know Your Yield Response Better Through Whole-Field Randomized Experiments, Taro Mieno, David Bullock

Cornhusker Economics

Six researchers at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln are working on the USDA-NIFA-funded Data Intensive Farm Management (DIFM) project. DIFM is based at the University of Illinois, and also involves the Universities of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois State. The overarching goal of the project is to collect production data after conducting large-scale, on-farm randomized input use field trials, and then using the information to inform growers of optimal input use practices to enhance their profits. DIFM researchers hope to find a win-win situation in which more efficient crop nutrient management both increases farm profits and water quality in the …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: December 16, 2016, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 fell by 0.32% during November of 2016. The decline in the LEI-N, which predicts economic activity six months in the future, suggests that economic growth will be modest in Nebraska during the first half of 2017. Four of six components of the LEI-N were negative during November. Airline passenger counts and manufacturing hours both declined during the month. There also was another increase in the value of the U.S. dollar during November, a negative for export-oriented businesses in Nebraska. Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose during the month. Two components of the indicator …

Commodity Prices Limit Nebraska Growth, Eric Thompson, Nebraska Business Forecast Council

Business in Nebraska

Over the last few years the service sector has been the primary engine of economic growth in the United States. Supported by growth in employment and real wages, the service sector has grown steadily with increases in retail trade, business services, personal services and construction activity. Growth has been limited, however, in the industrial sector, given weakness in the energy industry, poor demand for business investment and weak overseas economies. The net result has been moderate economic growth.

Several fundamental issues continue to support an outlook for moderate economic growth. First, the pace of job growth will slow given the …

A Note On The Implications Of Brexit, E. Wesley F. Peterson, Marianna Khachaturyan

Cornhusker Economics

On June 23, 2016, the citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) voted by a narrow margin to withdraw from the European Union (EU) and on October 2, 2016, the recently chosen Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that her government would invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017 triggering the process of exiting the EU. The purpose of this note is to review the history of the EU and the procedures a country has to follow to withdraw from it. The implications of the British exit, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” for US-European trade and …

Downstream Pollution 2: Does Framing Affect Genders Differently?, Marianna Khachaturyan, Natalia Czap, Gary D. Lynne

Cornhusker Economics

About a year ago we published the article “Downstream Pollution: Do Gender and Emotion Matter” (Cornhusker Economics, September 23, 2015) reporting the gender effects with respect to expressing positive and negative emotions in the downstream pollution game. We found that expressing positive emotions does not result in higher levels of conservation and, thus, does not significantly affect the quality of downstream water regardless of the gender of the polluter. At the same time, expressing negative emotions was more effective in increasing conservation and achieving cleaner water downstream. Notably, in contrast to our expectations, men responded to negative emotions with a …

Industrial Ecology Analysis Of The Potential For An Eastern Nebraska Industrial Symbiosis Network (Enisn): A Comparative Study, Bradley A. Behne

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The area of Eastern Nebraska north of Omaha, including the municipality of Blair is host to a collection of unique companies and industries. These industries, driven by the agricultural and urban economy of the area, as well as the geographic proximity to each other, make it an advantageous area to study the potential for a network where individual entities utilize the concept of industrial symbiosis. This potential network is referred to as the Eastern Nebraska Industrial Symbiosis Network (ENISN). Industrial symbiosis, a sub-set of industrial ecology, engages separate industries in a collaborative and collective approach, concerning itself with the flow …

The Influence Of Projection Bias On Outcomes Of Healthcare Financial Incentive Programs, Jordyn M. Bader

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis contributes to the behavioral health literature and literature regarding healthcare financial incentive programs by discussing the influences of the behavioral economic concept of projection bias on programs designed to recruit healthcare providers to rural or under served areas. First, I propose an adaptation to the model of projection bias by introducing a term that captures variability in individuals’ propensity to exhibit projection bias based on the amount of effort expended in predicting future preferences. Next, I conduct a probit model regression to observe what incentive program design features and participant characteristics are likely to influence the probability of …

The 2016 Nebraska Manufacturing Report, Mitch Herian, Eric Thomspon

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The purpose of this report is to provide an economic snapshot of the Nebraska manufacturing industry. In particular, the report is designed to present contributions of manufacturing to the state economy, recent trends in Nebraska manufacturing, and considerations for the future of Nebraska manufacturing. The information contained within the report will help policy makers and stakeholders better understand the current state of manufacturing in the state, particularly in relation to recent demographic and economic trends in Nebraska and the United States. The report finds that the manufacturing sector has a significant impact on the Nebraska economy. Approximately 10 percent of …

Broadband And Mobile Internet Services In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans use their cell phone to access the Internet. Certain groups are more likely than others to use mobile/cellular Internet service: rural Nebraskans with the highest household incomes, who are younger, married, with higher education levels and with management or professional occupations.

Overall, most rural Nebraskans using mobile/cellular Internet service are satisfied with their service. Furthermore, most rural Nebraskans are satisfied with the reliability, speed, customer service, and coverage of their mobile Internet service. However, most rural Nebraskans using mobile Internet service are dissatisfied with the price of their service.

Certain groups have issues with various aspects of …

Crop Price Patterns, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

Craft Publishing: A Proposal For A Programmatic Paradigm Shift In Academic Libraries, Sue Ann Gardner, Paul Royster, Linnea Fredrickson, Brian Rosenblum, L. Ada Emmett

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

This presentation will include the parameters by which an effective, at-cost publishing program may be structured in academic libraries. With advances in technology, electronic storage, and connectivity, and contrary to the claim that such activities may result in a “race to the bottom,” libraries have proven to be natural entities within which to effect a paradigm change in scholarly publishing. Activities to date, however, have been more often than not underfunded and understaffed. Even among those that have been well supported, efforts across the community have been ad hoc. Within the context of recent initiatives and discussions, the authors will …

Ec 845 Nebraska Cash Soybean Prices And Basis Patterns, Jessica J. Groskopf, Cory Walters

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Well-Being In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

Rural Nebraskans continue to feel positive about their current situation. Just over one-half (52%) of rural Nebraskans believe they are better off than they were five years ago (holding steady from 53% last year, the highest proportion in all 21 years of this study, tied in 2008). And, rural Nebraskans’ outlook on their future continues to be optimistic. Almost one-half of rural Nebraskans (46%) believe they will be better off ten years from now. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that people are powerless to control their own lives. This year, 55 percent strongly disagree or disagree with that statement. …