Economics Commons^™

Mountain Monitor - 2nd Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic growth returned to the 10 major metro areas of the Mountain West in the second quarter of 2014 after slippage in the first quarter of the year. The resumption of vitality progressed unevenly, however. Denver and Salt Lake City pulled ahead as the fastest-growing metro areas in the region. Ogden and Provo’s days of above-average growth appeared to be fading. Las Vegas’ economic recovery advanced strongly, but Sun Belt peers Phoenix and Tucson had more difficulty moving beyond the first quarter’s slowdown. Albuquerque, for its part, welcomed a return to employment and output growth.

Across the region’s 10 major …

Economic Voting In The Developing World, Rafael Oganesyan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A plethora of ink has been spilled demonstrating the relationship between economics and voter behavior. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of scholarship has concentrated on the empirical assessment of economic voting within the context of developed countries. The present thesis widens the scope of study by testing the applicability of the classic economic voting theory (CEVT) strictly within developing countries. The results suggest that while voters in developing countries do take the economy into account, they do so in a manner that's partially different from what CEVT predicts. Voters in developing countries simultaneously assume both retrospective sociotropic and prospective sociotropic characteristics. …

Mountain Monitor - 1st Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor finds that the rate of economic recovery in the major metropolitan areas of the Mountain West is no longer impervious to national trends.

The previous edition of the Mountain Monitor observed that the regional rate of recovery seemed to be converging toward that of the nation. This edition of the Mountain Monitor suggests that the trend has progressed further.

The rate of economic recovery broadly slowed across the region from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, just as it did nationally. The national headlines in the first three months of the …

The Case For A New College Governance Structure In Nevada: Integrating Higher Education With Economic Development, Magdalena Martinez, David F. Damore, Robert Lang

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

As Katz and Bradley (2013) document, the confluence of partisan politics and budget cuts have left the federal government and to a lesser extent, state governments impotent to address the countless economic and education challenges facing the United States. Out of necessity, metros and regions are taking the lead in collaborating, innovating, and governing in Post-Recession America. Instead of waiting for federal or state governments to impose prescriptive, one-size fits all “solutions,” localities are seizing opportunities to strengthen their economies by working with stakeholders to develop policies tailored to their unique and complicated needs.

Understanding Nevada's Higher Education Governance For Two-Year Colleges: Challenges And Solutions, Magdalena Martinez

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

State governance of colleges and universities is an indicator of the state’s relationship with key stakeholders, such as business leaders, elected officials, policy makers, and local residents. Accordingly, a state’s college governance structure shapes two-year public colleges’ institutional priorities and how these vital institutions respond to local workforce needs. Around the country, an important function of two-year colleges is to provide training and skills for regional workforces that align to local business and industry needs. This brief examines the origins of two-year colleges and compares Nevada’s college outcomes with those of similar states through.

Lattice Methods For The Valuation Of Options With Regime Switching, Atul Sancheti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we have developed two numerical methods for evaluating option prices under the regime switching model of stock price processes: the Finite Difference lattice method and the Monte Carlo lattice method.

The Finite Difference lattice method is based on the explicit finite difference scheme for parabolic problems. The Monte Carlo lattice method is based on the simulation of the Markov chain. The advantage of these methods is their flexibility to compute the option prices for any given stock price at any given time. Numerical examples are presented to examine these methods. It has been shown that the proposed …

Exploring The Community Factor Of Economic Resiliency, Al G. Gourrier

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Resilience takes on many different meanings, but when we speak of the resilience of a market we are generally referencing the capability of that market’s capacity to respond, regroup and move forward, usually after an event or series of events that impede or encumber a market’s economic sustainability. The outcomes of a stable and performing market are indicated by its economic performance. Using economic indicators as a base, this study analyzes three markets as they recover from destabilizing events and attempt to respond, regroup and move forward. The study analyzes the Las Vegas, New Orleans and Detroit markets from an …

Examining The Target Levels Of State Renewable Portfolio Standards, Laurence D. Helwig

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

At present 37 US states have passed Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) or have a legislative driven goal that supports investment in renewable energy (RE) technologies. Previous research has identified economic, governmental, ideological and infrastructural characteristics as key predictors of policy adoption and renewable energy deployment efforts (Carley, 2009; Davis & Davis, 2009; Bohn & Lant, 2009; Lyon & Yin, 2010). To date, only a few studies have investigated the target levels of renewable portfolio standards. Carley & Miller (2012) found that policies of differing stringencies were motivated by systematically different factors that included governmental ideology. The purpose of this study …

Three African Futures, John Page

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Africa has experienced a remarkable turn-around in economic performance since 1995. It grew at around 4.6 percent per year during the first decade of the 21st century, and the region boasts three of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries. Cheerleaders as diverse as the Economist and the World Bank have branded Africa the developing world’s next “frontier market”. But beneath the headlines lie some disturbing realities. Africa is not creating enough good jobs – those capable of paying decent wages and providing opportunities to develop skills – and it is not reducing poverty at the same rate as other parts of …

Mountain Monitor - 4th Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor finds that the pace of economic recovery in the Mountain West region’s major metropolitan areas converged toward that of the rest of the nation in the last quarter of 2013.

While quarterly performance on the Monitor’s four indicators of economic recovery—employment, output, the unemployment rate, and house prices—varied considerably across the 10 major metro areas of the region, their combined performance broadly slowed to track with the rate of national economic recovery. The quarter’s average job growth remained unchanged in the region at 0.4 percent as the national economy caught up. The gap between the national …

International Migration And Economic Development Of Global Metropolitan Areas, Neil Ruiz

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

International migration is a global and local development issue. Migrants across international borders are transformative agents with economic, social, and political ties to origins and destinations. Migrants are the agents that link local economies through global flows of knowledge, trade, capital, and production. Through their networks, international migrants serve as valuable bridges between U.S. metropolitan areas and regional economies in other countries, and can facilitate trade networks through exports, imports, or the circulation of knowledge and the production process.

Cracking The Code On Stem: A People Strategy For Nevada's Economy Executive Summary, Jessica A. Lee, Mark Muro, Jonathan Rothwell, Scott Andes, Siddharth Kulkarni

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Nevada has in place a plausible economic diversification strategy—and it’s beginning to work. Now, the state and its regions need to craft a people strategy. Specifically, the state needs to boost the number of Nevadans who possess at least some postsecondary training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or math—the so-called “STEM” disciplines (to which some leaders add arts and design to make it “STEAM”).

The moment is urgent—and only heightened by the projected worker needs of Tesla Motors’ planned “gigafactory” for lithium-ion batteries in Storey County.

Even before the recent Tesla commitment, a number of the more high-tech …

Male-Female Wage-Gap: A Comparison Of Different Employment Classes, Richard V. Foster, Jeffrey Waddoups, Heather Lynn Lusty, Thomas Mike Carroll

McNair Poster Presentations

This study is being conducted and presented in two parts. The first part, this report, is a statistical examination of the male-female wage gap. By evaluating the average (mean) differences between men and women within the workplace, pay differential trends can be ascertained and examined to support the need for additional study. The second stage, to be conducted Fall 2014 at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, will use regression analysis to differentiate between explained and unexplained portions of said pay-gap to better understand how the remaining gap is related to discrimination. The data analyzed will establish baselines for both …

Interstate Migration Among Latinos And The Foreign‐Born Latino Population In Nevada, 2007‐2011, Jaewon Lim, John P. Tuman, David F. Damore

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Over the past two decades, Nevada’s foreign‐born Latino population has grown dramatically. As a consequence, by the end of 2011, approximately 42% of Latinos residing in Nevada had emigrated from Latin America, with over three‐fourths of the foreign‐born Latino population originating from Mexico. In part, Nevada has been attractive to Latin American immigrants (and Latinos more generally) because of the relative abundance of jobs in the state that require relatively low levels of skill and educational attainment, as well as the state’s close proximity to Arizona and California. Prior to 2008, Latino employment was concentrated in Nevada’s hospitality, construction, and …

Cracking The Code On Stem: A People Strategy For Nevada's Economy, Jessica A. Lee, Mark Muro, Jonathan Rothwell, Scott Andes, Siddharth Kulkarni

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Nevada has in place a plausible economic diversification strategy—and it’s beginning to work. Now, the state and its regions need to craft a people strategy. Specifically, the state needs to boost the number of Nevadans who possess at least some postsecondary training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or math—the so-called “STEM” disciplines (to which some leaders add arts and design to make it “STEAM”).

The moment is urgent—and only heightened by the projected worker needs of Tesla Motors’ planned “gigafactory” for lithium-ion batteries in Storey County.

Even before the recent Tesla commitment, a number of the more high-tech …

A Normative Analysis Of Gambling Tax Policy, Kahlil S. Philander

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

This article surveys the application of normative tax theory to gambling tax policy. The analysis suggests that fixed license based taxes may be preferable to taxes on gross gaming revenue. Where output based taxes are used, the types of gambling whose demand is more price sensitive, and the types that have positive links to other industries, should be taxed at comparatively lower rates. Sin-based taxes are noted to increase economic welfare, but only when applied with a rate commensurate to harm that is external to the gambler and the operator. Finally, inter-jurisdictional competition is identified as an important consideration in …

Mountain Monitor - 3rd Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor marks the four-year anniversary of Brookings Mountain West's quarterly tracking of the uneven pace of recovery across the major metro areas of the Intermountain West and it finds that, although the region continues to outperform the national economy the rate of recovery slowed moderately in the region’s metro areas.

As a group, Mountain region metro areas advanced on all four indicators of economic recovery tracked by the Monitor—employment, output, unemployment, and house prices—but their progress was more restrained in the third quarter of 2013 than it was in the second.

Beneath the regional headline of moderating …

The Impact Of The Great Recession On Nevada’S Latino Community, John P. Tuman, David F. Damore, Maria J.F. Agreda

Brookings Mountain West Publications

The emergence of the Great Recession of 2008 had a profound impact in Nevada. The economic downturn generated high unemployment levels and led to turbulence in many sectors, particularly residential home construction and the hospitality industry. In the wake of the crisis, median home prices in Nevada plunged, while the residential foreclosure rate increased and remains one of the highest rates in the country. By 2009, it was evident that a tightening of commercial bank lending for new mortgages, combined with the impact of rising joblessness and plunging housing values, was hampering recovery efforts in the housing sector and Nevada’s …

The International Monetary Fund, Power Politics, And The Changing Political Economy Of The Twenty First Century, Eduardo Flores

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The governance of the global economy is in a constant state of change. Since the creation of the Bretton Woods system, the International Monetary Fund has had to pursue a series of reforms to meet the changing demands of the international monetary system. At times, the Fund's institutional design has been adjusted to reflect the rise and decline in economic fortunes of member states. Other times the Fund has been resistant to change. However, the original design has proved to be durable and has overcome a number of historical challenges. Currently, two realities are challenging the institutional design of the …

Is College A Good Investment?: An Economic And Policy Analysis, Beth Akers

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the financial returns on the investment in higher education degrees and will present the latest empirical finding on this question. The discussion will touch on the topics of rapid tuition inflation, for-profit colleges, student loan debt, and the potential for a fiscal crisis in the market for student loans.

Identifying And Describing The Network Of Health, Education, And Social Service Non-Profit Organizations In Southern Nevada, Shannon M. Monnat, Anna Smedley

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

Many of the economic, social, and demographic issues facing southern Nevada are dynamic and interrelated, requiring a coordinated approach on the part of southern Nevada’s non‐profit community. The coordination of services, skills, and talents enables community needs to be addressed in ways that exceed the scope and capacity of any single organization. With the increasing desire of funding organizations to support collaborative efforts, maintaining sustainable connections between southern Nevada’s non‐profit organizations is needed now more than ever before.

This is the first comprehensive study of southern Nevada’s health, education, and social service non‐profit network. Via a web‐based survey of nearly …

Concentration On The Las Vegas Strip: An Exploration Of The Impacts, David G. Schwartz

Library Faculty Research

Looking at two snapshots, albeit from a distance, gives an overview of how concentrated the gaming industry in Nevada has become:

• In 1998, 23 publicly held corporations owned 65 casinos that grossed more than $12 million that year from gaming. These casinos grossed 75.48% of the state’s total gaming revenue that fiscal year.

• In 2012, 22 publicly held corporations owned 70 casinos that grossed more than $12 million that year from gambling, pulling in 78.0% of that state’s total gaming revenue that fiscal year.

Attesting To Unique Attractions: The Significance Of The President's Commission On Organized Crime (1984-1986) Gambling Hearings, David G. Schwartz

Library Faculty Research

The federal government has had a curious relationship with gambling. For much of its history, the national public policy towards gambling was simple: prohibition, despite the audacity of a few laggard states in experimenting with legalization schemes. Towards the end of the twentieth century, however, the national policy shifted, at first to tolerance of legal gambling to endorsement of it. The five primary federal studies of gambling conducted in the twentieth century—the Kefauver Committee (1950–2), the President’s Crime Commission (1967), the Commission to Review the National Policy on Gambling (1974–6), the President’s Commission on Organized Crime (1984–6), and the National …

The Hidden Stem Economy: The Surprising Diversity Of Jobs Requiring Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math Knowledge, Jonathan Rothwell

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Policy and businesses leaders have argued that there is a shortage of highly educated workers in professional occupations related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Critics have countered that Ph.D scientists often face a difficult academic labor market and do not necessarily earn higher wages than other professionals. Yet, both sides of the STEM debate have been relying on an ill-defined definition of STEM work. Using a detailed survey of worker knowledge requirements, this research project redefines STEM jobs based on the level of knowledge required in STEM fields to perform occupations. The results uncover two facts previously unrecognized …

By Choice Or By Chance? Why Is Nevada Last In Federal Funding And What Can Be Done About It?, Tracy M. Gordon

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The federal government spends more than $600 billion or 17 percent of its budget each year on grants to states and localities. Nevada consistently ranks at the bottom among states in its allocation of federal dollars per capita. This presentation will examine the reasons for Nevada’s “donor state” status including state demographics, federal funding formulas, and state policy decisions. It will focus especially on Medicaid, the largest federal grant program, and Governor Brian Sandoval’s recent decision to participate in the program expansion scheduled for 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. The presentation will also discuss reasons for intergovernmental grants and …

Mountain Monitor - 2nd Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic recovery progressed steadily across the metropolitan Mountain West in the second quarter of 2013. Many of the region’s major metro areas counted among the strongest economic performers nationally, but output growth slowed over the quarter and the region‘s unemployment recovery looked to be stagnating. Moderate job growth and a fast and accelerating housing recovery buoyed the Mountain West economy in the second quarter.

Assessing Revenue Managers' Level Of Trust In Information Systems: An Exploratory Study Of Las Vegas Casino Resorts, Landon Taylor Shores

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined revenue managers' level of trust in their revenue management system (RMS) at Las Vegas casino resorts. The study utilized an e-mail interview to measure revenue managers' attitudes about their RMS's degree of reliability and dependability, the degree to which they trust their RMS's pricing recommendations, and if a revenue manager's level of trust in technology had any effect on their likelihood of trusting their RMS.

The study invited 11 property and corporate revenue managers from Las Vegas casino resorts to participate in an e-mail interview, with nine revenue managers agreeing to participate. The main findings of the …

Can State And Local Revenue And Expenditure Enhance Economic Growth? A Cross-State Panel Study Of Fiscal Activity, Christopher Arthur Clarke

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The slow economic recovery since the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession requires state and local governments to continue to make difficult decisions concerning which taxes to raise and which expenditures to decrease in order to maintain a balanced budget. As expenditures usually raise economic growth and taxes generally hinder it, seeking the optimum combination of tax structures and expenditure options is necessary to encourage prosperity in a state. In this paper I study the effects of various expenditures and revenue combinations on growth in state personal income from 1977-2010 for 49 states and the District of Columbia. I find …

On The Merits Of The Resource Curse Theory: Resource Rents And Corruption, David Paul Snyder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the breakup of the colonial empires following World War II, many newly independent states have embarked on a path of seeking political and economic development. Scholars studying this phenomenon soon became aware of an interesting puzzle. Why do the economies that have substantial natural resource endowments at their disposal tend to develop at a slower rate than economies that are less endowed with natural resources? From this question, the resource curse theory was derived. The resource curse theory has three main claims. The first claim is that resource rich economies grow at a slower rate than non-resource rich economies. …

Mountain Monitor-1st Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic recovery gained strength across the major metro areas of the Mountain West in the first quarter of 2013. Multiple metro areas achieved long-awaited full employment recoveries in the first quarter and regional production surpassed pre-recession levels of output for the first time. The region’s strong housing rebound continued to be a boon. Additionally, a special supplement to the Monitor shows that the healthcare sector has been an outsized contributor to recovery throughout the region. Despite progress on multiple fronts, though, many Mountain metro areas remain scarred with high unemployment rates, severely depressed house prices, and daunting jobs deficits.