Economics Commons^™

Gambling Behavior In Controlled Laboratory Experiments, Don Ross, J. Todd Swarthout

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

We designed a slot machine interface to study gambling behavior over real monetary amounts in a controlled laboratory environment. The interface allowed us to study the effect of multiple playlines compared to single playlines, the use of abstract tokens instead of allowing the gambler to see expenditures and payoffs in a natural currency, the effect of “near miss” displays on subjective beliefs about the chances of winning, and the effect of “wins disguised as losses” on gambling behavior. We measured the risk preferences of each subject, allowing for probability weighting and loss aversion, as well as the evolution of subjective …

A Schumpeterian Approach To Examine The Development Boundary Of Casino Tourism, Ricado C. S. Siu, Joey P. U. Sou

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

In The Theory of Economic Development, Joseph Schumpeter ([1934] 1983, Chapter II) explicates how the dynamic role of innovative mindset and ability of entrepreneurs, through introducing new methods of production and new economic commodities, leads up to the expansion of the boundary for economic/industrial development.

By following Schumpeter’s approach, we explore the development boundary of casino tourism. Through a post facto analysis of the hard evidences derived across the world (e.g., Las Vegas, Macao and Singapore) since the 1980s, the dimensions of innovation to the development boundary of casino tourism are scrutinized and explicated. Besides, we uncovered that the …

Charleston And The Emergence Of Middle-Class Culture In The Revolutionary Era. By Jennifer L. Goloboy, Elizabeth White Nelson

History Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Keeping Up Appearances: Spatial Spillovers And Housing Renovations, Nicholas B. Irwin

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

Spatial spillovers from renovations can bolster urban redevelopment efforts by multiplying scarce city funds, creating a reinforcing feedback cycle of redevelopment. Using spatially explicit data on renovations from Baltimore, MD, we model the extent of spatial spillovers in housing renovations and estimate the effect of previous renovations on the likelihood to renovate while controlling for underlying spatial correlation. We find strong evidence of spatial spillovers with a neighbouring renovation increasing renovation likelihood by at least 1.8% These positive feedback cycles indicate the potential for significant private market multipliers from city‐led urban revitalization policies that encourage renovation.

Model-Free Implied Volatility Under Jump-Diffusion Models, Seungmook Choi, Hongtao Yang

Department of Finance Faculty Research

The model-free implied volatility (MFIVol) is intended to measure the variability of underlying asset price on which options are written. Analytically, however, it does not measure exactly the variability under jump diffusion. Our extensive empirical study suggests that the approximation error can be as much as about 3%--5% although most samples over the data period exhibit less than 1% errors. Even with the non-negligible errors, the MFIVol may be still considered a valid volatility measure from the perspective of risk-neutral return density, in the sense that it is bounded by the two variability measures as well as reflecting the shape …

"The Great Debate" 2019 - Brookings V. Unlv Debate Team, Brookings Mountain West, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Brookings Mountain West, in partnership with the UNLV Debate Team, was proud to host the inaugural UNLV - Brookings Institution event, “The Great Debate.” Representatives from the nationally ranked UNLV Debate Team engaged colleagues from the Brookings Institution in a battle of ideas and policy positions destined to be remembered as one of the great intellectual forums of the 21st century. Featured speakers participated in a modified format of intercollegiate debate rules that allowed teams and individual members the opportunity to craft their arguments and responses in an open and respectful exchange of information to persuade, inform, and entertain audience …

The Devaluation Of Assets In Black Neighborhoods: How Racism Robs Homeowner Of The American Dream, Andre Perry

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the devaluing of black lives led to segregation and racist federal housing policy through redlining that shut out chances for black people to purchase homes and build wealth, making it more difficult to start and invest in businesses and afford college tuition. This lecture explained how much money majority-black communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias, finding that owner-occupied homes in black neighborhoods are undervalued by …

How Technology Will Change Our Built Environment, Adie Tomer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the ongoing Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presented a lecture titled, "Digital Place: How Technology Will Change Our Built Environment" by Fellow in Metropolitan Policy, Adie Tomer on February 6, 2019. Digital technologies promise to upend nearly every component of the economy, including how we work, shop, travel, and even live inside our homes. There is too little conversation about how adoption of various technologies will interact with the current built environment and the policies that guide future investment. This lecture explores how the economy currently functions, where technology will transform economic functions, and how …

Growth Volatility And Inequality In The U.S.: A Wave Analysis, Shinhye Chang, Rangan Gupta, Stephen M. Miller, Mark E. Wohar

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This study applies wavelet coherency analysis to explore the relationship between the U.S. economic growth volatility, and income and wealth inequality measures over the period 1917 to 2015 and 1962 to 2014. We consider the relationship between output volatility during positive and negative growth scenarios. Wavelet analysis simultaneously examines the correlation and causality between two series in both the time and frequency domains. Our findings provide evidence of positive correlation between the volatility and inequality across high (short-run)- and low-frequencies (long-run). The direction of causality varies across frequencies and time. Strong evidence exists that volatilities lead inequality at low-frequencies across …

The Micro-Foundations Of An Open Economy Money Demand: An Application To Central And Eastern European Countries, Claudiu T. Albulescu, Dominique Pepin, Stephen M. Miller

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This paper investigates the effect of currency substitution between the currencies of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the euro on CEE money demand functions. In addition, we develop a model with microeconomic foundations, which identifies the difference between currency substitution and money demand sensitivity to exchange rate variations. More precisely, we posit that currency substitution relates to the money demand sensitivity to interest rate spreads between CEE countries and the euro area. Moreover, we show how the exchange rate affects money demand absent a currency substitution effect. This model applies to any country in which an international currency …

A Short Note On Longevity, Lewis Karstensson

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

Certainly man will not become immortal, but will not the interval between the first breath that he draws and the time when in the natural course of events, without disease or accident, he expires, increase indefinitely?

Marquis de Condorcet Sketch for a Historical Picture Of the Human Mind (1795)

The Influence Of Opponent Strategy And Psychopathic Traits On Point Gains And Cooperation In The Iterated Prisoner’S Dilemma, Mary Baggio

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Prisoner’s Dilemma game is a paradigm used to model and measure social cooperation. Uncooperative behavior may be one manifestation of the unstable interpersonal functioning in psychopathy. I investigated the effect of opponent strategy as well as psychopathic traits of fearless dominance (FD) and impulsive antisociality (IA) on cooperation rates and total and competitive point gains in a sample of 177 undergraduates playing long, finitely iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma games against computerized opponents who varied in their interpersonal styles from very harsh to very lenient. I analyzed rates of cooperation during each game, participants’ total points gained, and the difference in …

Modeling Us Historical Time-Series Prices And Inflation Using Alternative Long-Memory Approaches, Giorgio Canarella, Luis A. Gil-Alana, Rangan Gupta, Stephen M. Miller

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

We consider two important features of the historical US price data (1774–2015), namely the data’s persistence and cyclical structure. We first consider the persistence of the series and focus on standard long-memory models that incorporate a peak at the zero frequency. We examine different models with respect to the deterministic terms, including nonlinear deterministic trends of the Chebyshev form. Then, we investigate a more general model that includes both persistence and cyclicality of the series and, thus, includes two fractional integration parameters, one at the zero (long-run) frequency and the other at the nonzero (cyclical) frequency. We model the cyclical …

Using Global Goals To Drive Progress In Mountain West, Anthony Pipa

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West invites you to a lecture titled "Using Global Goals to Drive Progress in the Mountain West" by Senior Fellow in Global Economy and Development, Anthony Pipa. This lecture will examine the state of inclusive economic progress and environmental sustainability in the Mountain West, as measured against the globally adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What cities and states are making progress? Who is being left behind? How can outcome-based goals help address the region’s challenges and spur economic progress?

The Fight For Birth, Jessica E. Brown

Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Upward Mobility In The American Mountain West, Richard Reeves

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Upward economic and social mobility is an intrinsic element of American society. Data from the Equality of Opportunity Project (EOP) demonstrates that upward mobility is a critical issue for our nation’s metros. An analysis of Mountain West metros and the performances of colleges and universities in this region reveal how the differing economic, demographic, and social characteristics affect mobility. This brief explores upward mobility rates, measures of diversity, levels of domestic and foreign migration, and students’ family household income and their eventual individual incomes. The comparison of postsecondary institutions in Mountain West metros serves as a microcosm to better understand …

Mixing The Business Of Pleasure: How Mixing Shaped The Labor And Narratives Of Female Entertainers In Mid-Twentieth Century America, Evan Maryl Casey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In mid-twentieth century America, the practice of mixing – the required visibility of performers outside of their time on stage for an economic purpose – cut across the various genres of sexualized female labor, from showgirls to exotic dancers and the professional women who occupied the space between. Mixing required performers socialize with patrons, encouraging them to buy drinks and was expected of a wide variety of female professionals in the decades following the Second World War, including burlesque performers, gogo dancers, exotic dancers, and showgirls, hostesses, waitresses, and B-girls. Women’s bodies have historically been a part of a commercialized …

Money Matters: Exploring The Financial Resources For Sports Medicine Programs In Public And Private Secondary Schools--A Qualitative Study, Natalie Mercedes Aviles Flores

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Context: Institutional funding and strained school budgets are a barrier to placing certified athletic trainers (ATCs) in secondary schools. The size and location of a school appear to be coinciding limitations (Mazerolle et al, 2015), but what is lacking in the literature is an

evaluation of how schools manage to provide adequate medical coverage. Resources are available, but there is question as to whether these schools consider or even utilize them.

Objective: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the funding techniques and budget sources of high school athletic training clinics from the perspective of both private and …

Partisan Conflict And Income Inequality In The United States: A Nonparametric Causality-In-Quantiles Approach, Mehmet Balcilar, Seyi Saint Akadiri, Rangan Gupta, Stephen M. Miller

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This paper examines the predictive power of a partisan conflict on income inequality. Our study contributes to the existing literature by using the newly introduced nonparametric causality-in-quantile testing approach to examine how political polarization in the United States affects several measures of income inequality and distribution overtime. The study uses annual time-series data between the periods 1917–2013. We find evidence in support of a dynamic causal relationship between partisan conflict and income inequality, except at the upper end of the quantiles. Our empirical findings suggest that a reduction in partisan conflict will lead to a reduction in our measures of …

The Day Of The Merchant, Lewis Karstensson

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

An examination of economic thought in a “national order.” Considered, in particular, is the economic doctrine of the seventeenth century English merchant, Thomas Mun. Remnants of this doctrine in current economic thought are also examined.

Challenges Facing Youth Entering The Labor Market, Martha Ross

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West invites you to a lecture titled "Challenges Facing Youth Entering the Labor Market" by Fellow in Metropolitan Policy, Martha Ross. Labor force participation and employment are declining among teens and young adults, suggesting that fewer young people are having the kinds of work experiences that prepare them for the world of full-time employment. Not everyone is equally affected, as there are marked differences by race/ethnicity, income, and education. This lecture will discuss employment trends among young people and the various strategies that cities and specific programs are using to …

Convergence In Income Inequality: Further Evidence From The Club Clustering Methodology Across States In The U.S., Nicholas Apergis, Christina Christou, Rangan Gupta, Stephen M. Miller

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This paper contributes to the sparse literature on inequality convergence by empirically testing convergence across states in the U.S. This sample period encompasses a series of different periods that the existing literature discusses -- the Great Depression (1929–1944), the Great Compression (1945–1979), the Great Divergence (1980-present), the Great Moderation (1982–2007), and the Great Recession (2007–2009). This paper implements the relatively new method of panel convergence testing, recommended by Phillips and Sul (2007). This method examines the club convergence hypothesis, which argues that certain countries, states, sectors, or regions belong to a club that moves from disequilibrium positions to their club-specific …

U. S. Fiscal Policy And Asset Prices: The Role Of Partisan Conflict, Rangan Gupta, Chi Keung Marco Lau, Stephen M. Miller, Mark E. Wohar

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

Fiscal policy shocks exert wide-reaching effects, including movements in asset markets. US politics have been characterized historically by a high degree of partisan conflict. The combination of increasing polarization and divided government leads not only to significant Congressional gridlock, but also to spells of high fiscal policy uncertainty. This paper adds to the literature on the relationships between fiscal policy and asset prices in the US economy conditional on the degree of partisan conflict. We analyze whether a higher degree of partisan conflict (legislative gridlock) reduces the efficacy of the effect and response of fiscal policy on and to asset …

The Day Of The Political Economist, Lewis Karstensson

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

An examination of economic thought in the “natural order.” Primary consideration is given to the economic thought of Adam Smith, the foundation of classical political economy and much of current economic thought.

The Day Of The Friar, Lewis Karstensson

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

An examination of economic thought in the “divine order” of Christendom. Considered, in particular, is the economic doctrine suggested in the theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Remnants of this doctrine in current economic thought are also examined.

The Relationship Between The Inflation Rate And Inequality Across U.S. States: A Semiparametric Approach, Mehmet Balcilar, Shinhye Chang, Rangan Gupta, Stephen M. Miller

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

This paper uses a cross-state panel for the United States over the 1976–2007 period to assess the relationship between income inequality and the inflation rate. Employing a semiparametric instrument variable (IV) estimator, we find that the relationship depends on the level of the inflation rate. A positive relationship occurs only if the states exceed a threshold level of inflation rate. Below this value, inflation rate lowers income inequality. The results suggest that a nonlinear relationship exists between income inequality and the inflation rate. © 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature

Forecasting Unlv Gpa Based On Needcd Group, Richie Abenoja, Jean-Paul Castro, Andreana Chua, Jennifer Lee

Math 365 Class Projects

The Center for Academic Enrichment & Outreach at UNLV is a service that provides university students with the resources they need in their college career. The Center has established federally-funded programs that helps low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress throughout their academic career. These programs include tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial literacy & guidance, and scholarships. With all this, the Center hopes to create a community in which every individual can fulfill their post-secondary educational objectives.

Unlv Financial Aid Forecasting, Austin-Ryan Abendanio, Cheyenne D'Cruz, Julie Jeon, Michelle Trinchera

Math 365 Class Projects

With an increasing population of students enrolling into UNLV each year, it is important to be able to predict the financial aid funding for future years. We were able to predict how many students would apply for aid and whether or not they would receive any, or enough need-based financial aid, from the years 2019-2023.

Clark County Population Vs. Unlv Student Enrollment, Gregory Goronson, John Inductivo, Joseph Copanas

Math 365 Class Projects

Year after year new high school graduates seek higher education. How does an institution like UNLV prepare for newcomers? More specifically, how will they implement such numbers into resources for incoming and returning students, also taking into account the growing population of Clark County.

Worked To Leisure: The Intersections Of Volunteerism, Work, And Leisure, Denise Nicole Cook

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Volunteerism and work are topics which academics in several disciplines research. This study is an examination of the intersection of work and volunteerism via the lens of role theory. According to role theorists, the term role refers to behaviors which are either a result of social position or expectations (Biddle 1986). Cognitive role theorists use vocabulary such as “role conflict” and “role overload” to identify incongruences sometimes found in roles individuals have in their lives (Biddle 1986). These incongruences are primarily examined as they relate to individual level consequences. This research explores volunteerism and work as they relate to role …