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Economics Faculty Publications

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Articles 271 - 300 of 546

Full-Text Articles in Economics

Titles As Compensation, Kevin F. Hallock Jan 2014

Titles As Compensation, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

Wages and salaries are just part of total rewards. Insurance, vacation time, bonuses, and working conditions are other important forms of compensation. Each of these costs the organization something. But there are other attributes of jobs -- less easily measured in dollars -- that employees value. These can include colleagues, company reputation, and even job titles. At the margin it is possible to imagine a tradeoff between a higher salary and a job title. In fact, some have argued that some firms offer titles in absence of raises where salary budgets are slim. When thinking about job titles as a …

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Got Milk? The Impact Of Heifer International's Livestock Donation Programs In Rwanda On Nutritional Outcomes, Rosemary Rawlins, Svetlana Pimkina, Christopher B. Barrett, Sarah Pedersen, Bruce Wydick Jan 2014

Got Milk? The Impact Of Heifer International's Livestock Donation Programs In Rwanda On Nutritional Outcomes, Rosemary Rawlins, Svetlana Pimkina, Christopher B. Barrett, Sarah Pedersen, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

International animal donation programs have become an increasingly popular way for people living in developed countries to transfer resources to families living in developing countries. We evaluate the impact of Heifer International’s dairy cow and meat goat donation programs in Rwanda. We find that the program substantially increases dairy and meat consumption among Rwandan households who were given a dairy cow or a meat goat, respectively. We also find marginally statistically significant reductions in weight-for-height z-scores and weight-for-age z-scores of about 0.4 standard deviations among children aged 0-5 years in households that were recipients of meat goats, and reductions in …

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Do In-Kind Transfers Damage Local Markets? The Case Of Toms Shoe Donations In El Salvador, Bruce Wydick, Elizabeth Katz, Brendan Janet Jan 2014

Do In-Kind Transfers Damage Local Markets? The Case Of Toms Shoe Donations In El Salvador, Bruce Wydick, Elizabeth Katz, Brendan Janet

Economics Faculty Publications

We carry out a cluster randomized trial among 979 households in rural El Salvador to test whether shoe donations exhibit negative impacts on local shoe markets. Households in half of our communities were given a pair of children’s shoes at baseline (treatment communities), while all households were given coupons that could be used for shoe purchases at a local shoe store. Although point estimates on coupon redemption and difference-in-difference estimations indicate shoe purchases to be slightly lower among households receiving the donated shoes, we find no statistically significant difference in market shoe purchases between treatment and control households.

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Does Child Sponsorship Pay Off In Adulthood? An International Study Of Impacts On Income And Wealth, Bruce Wydick, Paul Glewwe, Laine Rutledge Jan 2014

Does Child Sponsorship Pay Off In Adulthood? An International Study Of Impacts On Income And Wealth, Bruce Wydick, Paul Glewwe, Laine Rutledge

Economics Faculty Publications

We estimate the impact of international child sponsorship on adult income and wealth of formally sponsored children using data on 10,144 individuals in six countries. To identify causal effects, we utilize an age-eligibility rule followed from 1980 to 1992 that limited sponsorship to children 12 years old or younger when the program was introduced in a village, allowing comparisons of sponsored children with older siblings who were slightly too old to be sponsored. Estimations indicate that international child sponsorship increased monthly income by $13-19 over an untreated baseline of $75, principally from inducing higher future labor market participation. We also …

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Developing Hope: The Impact Of International Child Sponsorship On Self-Esteem And Aspirations, Paul Glewwe, Phillip H. Ross, Bruce Wydick Jan 2014

Developing Hope: The Impact Of International Child Sponsorship On Self-Esteem And Aspirations, Paul Glewwe, Phillip H. Ross, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

Recent research (Wydick, Glewwe, and Rutledge, 2013) finds positive and statistically significant impacts on adult life outcomes from child sponsorship, including large impacts on schooling outcomes, the probability and quality of employment, occupational choice, and community leadership. This paper uses data from two countries to explore whether these impacts may be due not only to a relaxation of external constraints, but also to higher aspirations among sponsored children. We use survey data from Kenya and Indonesia, and psychological data from Indonesian children’s self-portraits, to test whether sponsorship significantly affects psychological variables in children that are likely to foster better economic …

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Do Risky Microfinance Borrowers Really Invest In Risky Projects? Experimental Evidence From Bolivia., Eliana Zeballos, Alessandra Cassar, Bruce Wydick Jan 2014

Do Risky Microfinance Borrowers Really Invest In Risky Projects? Experimental Evidence From Bolivia., Eliana Zeballos, Alessandra Cassar, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to test a fundamental assumption in Stiglitz and Weiss (1981) model of credit rationing, that defaulting borrowers are associated with investment in risky projects. Through an artefactual field experiment with 200 Bolivian microfinance borrowers, we observe that subjects from real-world delinquent borrowing groups do not prefer risky projects to safer ones significantly more than subjects from repaying groups. Moreover, when faced with the choice between two options framed as consumption or a relatively safe investment project, risky borrowers significantly opt more for consumption, supporting more recent behavioral theories of credit market …

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Is Us Bank Lending Sensitive To Exchange Rates? A Panel Data Investigation, Michael R. Jonas Jan 2014

Is Us Bank Lending Sensitive To Exchange Rates? A Panel Data Investigation, Michael R. Jonas

Economics Faculty Publications

The goal of this paper is to examine the sensitivity of US bank lending to movements in the exchange rate. Using a panel of quarterly bank-level balance sheet observations, I show that there exists significant and meaningful exchange rate sensitivity of cross-border lending activity and total domestic loans. This relationship operates through traditional net export channels, as well as mechanisms specific to banks engaged in international lending. Further, I show that exchange rate innovations represent a source of long run lending volatility equivalent to monetary policy shocks for small banks. Lastly, exchange rate movements are shown to be associated with …

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Institutional Quality, Culture, And Norms Of Cooperation: Evidence From Behavioral Field Experiments, Alessandra Cassar, G D'Adda, P Grosjean Jan 2014

Institutional Quality, Culture, And Norms Of Cooperation: Evidence From Behavioral Field Experiments, Alessandra Cassar, G D'Adda, P Grosjean

Economics Faculty Publications

We examine the causal effect of legal institutional quality on informal norms of cooperation and study the interaction of institutions and culture in sustaining economic exchange. A total of 346 subjects in Italy and Kosovo played a market game under different and randomly allocated institutional treatments, which generated different incentives to behave honestly, preceded and followed by a noncontractible and nonenforceable trust game. Significant increases in individual trust and trustworthiness followed exposure to better institutions. A 1- percentage-point reduction in the probability of facing a dishonest partner in the market game, which is induced by the quality of legal institutions, …

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Measuring Microfinance: Analyzing The Conflict Between Practitioners And Researchers With Evidence From Nepal, Ram D. Rajbanshi, Meng Huang, Bruce Wydick Jan 2014

Measuring Microfinance: Analyzing The Conflict Between Practitioners And Researchers With Evidence From Nepal, Ram D. Rajbanshi, Meng Huang, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

What accounts for the discrepancy between the microfinance impact claims of development practitioners and the far smaller impacts found in experimental studies? We demonstrate in a simple theoretical framework why "before-and-after" observations of practitioners overstate microfinance impacts and why estimations in some recent randomized trials understate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT). Our empirical study uses a unique data set from eastern Nepal to study the impact of microfinance in villages where microfinance did not previously exist. We find that approximately three-fourths of the apparent impact of microfinance observed by practitioners is an illusion driven by correlated unobservable …

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Does New Information Technology Lower Media Quality? The Paradox Of Commercial Public Goods, Man-Lui Lau, Bruce Wydick Jan 2014

Does New Information Technology Lower Media Quality? The Paradox Of Commercial Public Goods, Man-Lui Lau, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

We define commercial public goods as goods that are broadcast via television, radio, newsprint, or websites for which consumption is non-rival and non-exclusive, and revenue is generated mainly through advertising alongside a product in a two-sided market. With new information technology the fixed cost of entry in these markets has substantially declined. We demonstrate that as fixed costs of entry decline in a competitive media market, lower industry concentration results in lower resources to each firm for the production of commercial public goods. The counterintuitive result of new information technology is that it may result in lower quality news reporting …

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Numerical Simulation Of Nonoptimal Dynamic Equilibrium Models, Zhigang Feng, Jianjun Miao, Adrian Peralta-Alva, Manuel S. Santos Jan 2014

Numerical Simulation Of Nonoptimal Dynamic Equilibrium Models, Zhigang Feng, Jianjun Miao, Adrian Peralta-Alva, Manuel S. Santos

Economics Faculty Publications

In this paper we propose a recursive equilibrium algorithm for the numerical simulation of nonoptimal dynamic economies. This algorithm builds upon a convergent operator over an expanded set of state variables. The fixed point of this operator defines the set of all Markovian equilibria. We study approximation properties of the operator. We also apply our recursive equilibrium algorithm to various models with heterogeneous agents, incomplete financial markets, endogenous and exogenous borrowing constraints, taxes, and money.

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The Challenge Of Occupational Safety And Health In Greece, Foster Rinefort, David Boggs, Joseph Petrick, Berkwood M. Farmer Jan 2014

The Challenge Of Occupational Safety And Health In Greece, Foster Rinefort, David Boggs, Joseph Petrick, Berkwood M. Farmer

Economics Faculty Publications

This study examines the managerial challenges and economic contexts of occupational safety and health in Greece as a dimension of national labor standards and working conditions. Empirical data is provided to document areas of Greek occupational safety and health concern. Recommended Greek occupational safety and health best practices are provided to address workplace safety issues and promote sustained economic productivity.

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Intermediate Inputs And External Economies, Haiwen Zhou Jan 2014

Intermediate Inputs And External Economies, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

Is the degree of external economies (at the industry level) higher than the degree of internal increasing returns (at the firm level)? If so, what is the exact source of this difference? In the general equilibrium model in which firms producing final goods choose the degree of specialization of their technologies, external economies arise from the usage of intermediate inputs and the existence of internal increasing returns. It is frequently assumed that increasing returns are absent at the firm level while present at the industry level. In this model, the existence of increasing returns at the firm level is necessary …

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International Trade With Increasing Returns In The Transportation Sector, Haiwen Zhou Jan 2014

International Trade With Increasing Returns In The Transportation Sector, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

In this general equilibrium framework, the transportation sector is modeled as a distinct sector with increasing returns. A more advanced technology has a higher fixed cost but a lower marginal cost of production. Even with both manufacturing firms and transportation firms engaged in oligopolistic competition and optimally choosing their technologies, the model is tractable and results are derived analytically. Technology adoptions in the manufacturing sector and transportation sector are reinforcing, and multiple equilibria may exist. Firms choose more advanced technologies and the prices decrease when the size of the population is larger.

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The Wage Gap Vs. The Total Compensation Gap, Kevin F. Hallock Dec 2013

The Wage Gap Vs. The Total Compensation Gap, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

Clearly, most organizations seek to have fair and objective pay practices. And, as a check, they sometimes take a data-driven look inside their companies to consider whether employees of different demographic characteristics are paid similarly or if there is some pay gap. But most organizations only consider wages or salaries in looking for such gaps. Existing research on pay preferences, however, shows that employees can value differently different kinds of pay. There are many massive demographic surveys of individuals which record, along with wage and salary earnings, information on individuals' schooling, gender, race, work hours, occupation, geographic location, etc. These …

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Minneapolis Fed Should Expand — Not Limit — Ties With University Of Minnesota, Louis D. Johnston Nov 2013

Minneapolis Fed Should Expand — Not Limit — Ties With University Of Minnesota, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Employee Choice Over Pay Mix, Kevin F. Hallock Nov 2013

Employee Choice Over Pay Mix, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

Suppose the company set the level of pay and then let employees choose the fractions they wanted as guaranteed salary, stock options and at-risk bonus. The fraction in at-risk bonus was capped at 20% of total pay and the payout was between 0 and 2.5 times the amount put at-risk and was a function of individual and group performance. This is not a theoretical example; it's real. And, it is interesting for a variety of reasons, including that it is so extreme and because the organization invited some researchers inside to study the fascinating choices made by employees. They were …

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Latest Nobel Prize Reflects How Economics Works — And What Economists Don’T Know, Louis D. Johnston Oct 2013

Latest Nobel Prize Reflects How Economics Works — And What Economists Don’T Know, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Looking Beyond Yellen: How To Build A Strong Bench At The Fed, Louis D. Johnston Oct 2013

Looking Beyond Yellen: How To Build A Strong Bench At The Fed, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Economics Behind Orchestra Dispute: Slouching Toward The Lake Wobegon Symphony, Louis D. Johnston Sep 2013

Economics Behind Orchestra Dispute: Slouching Toward The Lake Wobegon Symphony, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Why Is The U.S. Labor Force Declining And Struggling?, Louis D. Johnston Sep 2013

Why Is The U.S. Labor Force Declining And Struggling?, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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How To Keep The Bakken Oil Boom From Becoming A Bursting Bubble, Louis D. Johnston Aug 2013

How To Keep The Bakken Oil Boom From Becoming A Bursting Bubble, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Picking The Next Fed Chair: Debate Degenerates Into A Personality Contest, Louis D. Johnston Aug 2013

Picking The Next Fed Chair: Debate Degenerates Into A Personality Contest, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Pundits: The Confidence Trick: Better Confident Than Right?, Ben O. Smith, Jadrian Wooten Aug 2013

Pundits: The Confidence Trick: Better Confident Than Right?, Ben O. Smith, Jadrian Wooten

Economics Faculty Publications

Media pundits are the supreme example of self-belief and confidence in their own opinions. Through TV, newspapers and blogs they tell us with sublime certainty what will happen. But are they right? And does it matter if they are wrong? Ben Smith and Jadrian Wooten ask what we demand from pundits – accuracy or confidence?

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Compensation Research Summer Camp, Kevin F. Hallock Aug 2013

Compensation Research Summer Camp, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

This summer, the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell's ILR School hosted its first Emerging Scholars Conference, which the author affectionately calls Comp Camp. Their conference, funded in part by WorldatWork, hosted a dozen junior scholars, three PhD students, a few senior scholars and some leaders from the practical world (including some from WorldatWork). They convened experts from fields like sociology, psychology, economics, industrial relations and business on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, NY, for robust discussions of several as-yet-unpublished research studies. The conference had three interesting papers on gender by scholars from three fields using data from three countries. …

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Compensation Tournaments, Kevin F. Hallock Jul 2013

Compensation Tournaments, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

From beach volleyball and soccer to tennis and golf to playoffs for the Little League World Series, tournament play has lessons for workplace compensation. A tournament scheme can motivate workers the same if workers are risk neutral. A rich place to study tournament pay, performance, output, effort and the like is professional golf, because so much is measured. Great data are available on the incentive structure; for example, the distance in dollars between the first place price and the second place prize, and the distance in dollars between the second place prize and the third place prize, and so on.

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Ceo Pay And Layoffs, Kevin F. Hallock Jun 2013

Ceo Pay And Layoffs, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

Whether CEO pay is linked with job loss or mass layoffs is not really a new question. The study that got the author started, and raised very interesting issues about job loss and compensation, looked at CEOs at a few dozen companies over one year. Separating companies into those that made a layoff announcement in the previous year and those that didn't, you will find that the CEOs who made at least one large layoff the previous year make a lot more than those who made no layoffs in the previous year. But, once one starts controlling for company and …

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Economic Effects Of Extending Marriage To Same-Sex Couples, Louis D. Johnston May 2013

Economic Effects Of Extending Marriage To Same-Sex Couples, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Reinhart-Rogoff Economic Study Got It Wrong, And So Did The Political Reaction, Louis D. Johnston May 2013

Reinhart-Rogoff Economic Study Got It Wrong, And So Did The Political Reaction, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Baseball And Thoughts On Pay Dispersion In Teams, Kevin F. Hallock May 2013

Baseball And Thoughts On Pay Dispersion In Teams, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

The author really likes thinking about compensation, and he really likes thinking about baseball. He loves it when he can watch baseball and think about compensation. Some baseball teams pay relatively evenly across the team and others have wide dispersion (some players are paid at the league minimum and others are earning "superstar" rewards). There is research on whether teams with one of those strategies is relatively better off (in terms of, say, wins or profits) than the other, even after controlling for total payroll, players' quality and the like. A great virtue of studying baseball -- and perhaps one …

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