Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Social identity (8)
- Openness (6)
- FDI (5)
- Field experiment (5)
- Personal identity (5)
-
- Reflexivity (5)
- Disability (4)
- Discounting (4)
- Experimental economics (4)
- Forward guidance (4)
- Inflation (4)
- Mortgage interest deduction (4)
- Transition (4)
- Adaptive learning (3)
- Capabilities (3)
- Care (3)
- Discrimination (3)
- Economic integration (3)
- Education (3)
- Elasticity (3)
- Europe (3)
- Financial development (3)
- Foreign direct investment (3)
- Health insurance (3)
- Higher education (3)
- Institutions (3)
- Intertemporal choice (3)
- Job displacement (3)
- Private savings (3)
- Pro-environmental behavior (3)
- Publication Year
Articles 1 - 30 of 415
Full-Text Articles in Economics
Building Diversity Into The Philosophy And Methodology Of Economics With Stratification Economics, Merve Burnazoglu, John B. Davis
Building Diversity Into The Philosophy And Methodology Of Economics With Stratification Economics, Merve Burnazoglu, John B. Davis
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Mainstream economics ignores who produces it and what it is about because its average man, Homo economicus ontological entry-point obscures social differences between people. Philosophy and Methodology of Economics that assumes this ontological entry point generally limits itself to epistemological analysis, and this means it fails to make diversity a fundamental concern. Taking diversity seriously entails being clear about one's ontological assumptions, and this requires being clear about the normative scope of one's analysis. This calls for giving up a value-neutral methodological reasoning and adopting a value-explicit methodological posture. To illustrate, we describe how Stratification economics with its social groups …
Coupling And Decoupling Of Ancestral Linkages And Current Cross-Border Economic Activities: Genetics And Policy, Suparna Chakraborty, Miao Grace Wang, M.C. Sunny Wong
Coupling And Decoupling Of Ancestral Linkages And Current Cross-Border Economic Activities: Genetics And Policy, Suparna Chakraborty, Miao Grace Wang, M.C. Sunny Wong
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper studies the potential link between the biological evolution of populations and present-day economic interactions by estimating the correlation of shared ancestry among populations with cross-border capital and human flows. To this end, we employ the new concept of genetic distance, based on (dis)similarity of neutral gene alleles, to quantify shared ancestry. We then incorporate the genetic distance measure into an augmented gravity model, traditionally used to analyze the effect of geographical distance on bilateral exchange. Our analysis focuses on bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) and migration across 135 countries and we use both linear regression techniques as well …
Measuring The Effects Of Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools Under Adaptive Learning, Stephen J. Cole, Sungjun Huh
Measuring The Effects Of Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools Under Adaptive Learning, Stephen J. Cole, Sungjun Huh
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
We compare the economic effects of forward guidance and quantitative easing utilizing the four-equation New Keynesian model of Sims et al. (2023) with agents forming expectations via an adaptive learning rule. The results indicate forward guidance can have a greater influence on macroeconomic variables compared to quantitative easing. Adaptive learning agents estimate a higher effect of forward guidance on the economy leading to a greater impact on expectations, and thus, contemporaneous inflation. However, the performance gap between forward guidance and quantitative easing can change. If quantitative easing includes anticipated shocks, more households finance consumption through long-term borrowing, and the central …
Remotely Sensed Imagery Reveals Animal Feeding Operations Increase Downstream Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Sarah Porter
Remotely Sensed Imagery Reveals Animal Feeding Operations Increase Downstream Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Sarah Porter
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
In this paper, we use remotely sensed imagery to identify the location and size of animal feeding operations in the Maumee River Watershed, a key drainage area to Lake Erie's Western Basin, which has recently experienced severe harmful algal blooms. We then estimate the relationship between the intensity of animal feeding operations in the watershed and surface water body concentrations of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), the pollutant most responsible for algal growth. We find that stream reaches with relatively larger increases in upstream animal feeding exposure experience significantly higher increases in concentrations of DRP. The average marginal upstream animal feeding …
The Effect Of Water Pollution Regulation On Prices: Evidence From Wisconsin’S Phosphorus Rule And Sewer Utility Bills, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff
The Effect Of Water Pollution Regulation On Prices: Evidence From Wisconsin’S Phosphorus Rule And Sewer Utility Bills, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
In this paper, we estimate the consumer impacts of Wisconsin's “phosphorus rule”, which created the most stringent statewide water quality and effluent standards for phosphorus in the country. We examine how compliance with the rule affects real billing rates at sewer utilities in Wisconsin, providing the first empirical estimates of water pollution regulation on utility billing rates. We find that compliance with the phosphorous rule increases the average real sewer utility bill in our sample by 7–12%. Our results imply that sewer utilities pass through approximately $65.8 million to residential sewer rate payers annually, which is roughly ⅔ of the …
Fostering Flexibility: How Medicare Advantage Potentially Accelerated Telehealth Benefits, Lisa M. Grabert, Grace Mccormack, Erin Trish, Kathryn L. Wagner
Fostering Flexibility: How Medicare Advantage Potentially Accelerated Telehealth Benefits, Lisa M. Grabert, Grace Mccormack, Erin Trish, Kathryn L. Wagner
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
In 2018, the US Congress enacted a policy permitting Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to cover telehealth services in a beneficiary’s home and through audio-only means as part of the basic benefit package of services, where prior to the policy change such benefits were only allowed to be covered as a supplemental benefit. MA plans were afforded 2 years of lead time for strategizing, negotiating, and capital investment prior to the start date (January 1, 2020) of the new coverage option. Our data analysis found basic benefit telehealth was offered by plans comprising 71% of enrollment in 2020 and increased to …
Legislative Redistricting And The Partisan Distribution Of Transportation Expenditure, Walter Melnik
Legislative Redistricting And The Partisan Distribution Of Transportation Expenditure, Walter Melnik
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
I show that a state representative’s political party determines transportation expenditure in the area she represents. Previous studies of this topic consider party changes through election outcomes, which may be correlated with unobservable determinants of expenditure. To overcome this issue, I identify my estimates using Ohio’s 2012 state legislative redistricting, which moved many geographic areas into districts with opposite party incumbents. The Republican party controlled the state legislature and governorship over the period I study. I find that areas moving from governing party Republican to minority party Democratic districts received $3.4M (0.18 standard deviations) less annual highway construction funding than …
Does Joining The European Monetary Union Improve Labor Productivity? A Synthetic Control Approach, Hong Zhuang, Miao Grace Wang, Imre Ersoy, Mesut Eren
Does Joining The European Monetary Union Improve Labor Productivity? A Synthetic Control Approach, Hong Zhuang, Miao Grace Wang, Imre Ersoy, Mesut Eren
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
We adopt the innovative synthetic control method (SCM) to study the causal effect of joining the European Monetary Union (EMU) on member countries’ labor productivity. Comparing labor productivity between members and their synthetic counterparts, we find that Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands experienced significant labor productivity gains from the eurozone membership. Our results are robust to a series of sensitivity checks. We also observe similar effects of EMU on members’ total factor productivity (TFP). Furthermore, we explore potential channels through which a monetary union can influence members’ labor productivity. Our results show that business cycle synchronization with …
Work-Limiting Disabilities And Earnings Volatility, Nicholas A. Jolly, Kathryn L. Wagner
Work-Limiting Disabilities And Earnings Volatility, Nicholas A. Jolly, Kathryn L. Wagner
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper examines how the onset of a work-limiting disability influences male earnings volatility as measured by the variance of transitory earnings. Using data from the 1970 to 2013 survey waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a semi-parametric error components model, we decompose annual earnings into its permanent and transitory components. Results show that the variance of transitory earnings of disabled and non-disabled men is similar before onset of a work-limiting health condition. Upon onset, earnings volatility increases significantly, and does not return to pre-onset levels until at least five years after the last reported disability. Additional …
Forward Guidance Effectiveness In A New Keynesian Model With Housing Frictions, Stephen J. Cole, Sungjun Huh
Forward Guidance Effectiveness In A New Keynesian Model With Housing Frictions, Stephen J. Cole, Sungjun Huh
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Housing markets are closely related to monetary policy. This paper studies the link between housing frictions and the effectiveness of forward guidance. A housing collateral constraint and forward guidance shocks are incorporated into a standard medium-scale New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model. Our main results produce a number of important implications. First, financial frictions emanating from the housing market dampen the effectiveness of forward guidance on the economy. Second, forward guidance shocks generate welfare gains, though the magnitude of these gains declines when housing frictions increase. Housing frictions also attenuate the effect of forward guidance at the zero …
Young Adult Substance Use Following Involuntary Job Loss, Nicholas A. Jolly, Gwendolyn J. Davis
Young Adult Substance Use Following Involuntary Job Loss, Nicholas A. Jolly, Gwendolyn J. Davis
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to study the relationship between job displacement and substance use among young adults. Results show that displacement is associated with increases in the probability of smoking cigarettes and drinking and the intensity of consuming alcohol and marijuana. Men, whites, and those who live with family/friends at the time of displacement are more likely to use hard drugs after job loss. Findings suggest that government policy designed to aid displaced workers should contain provisions to anticipate and respond to substance use disorders that may arise, particularly among younger job losers.
Political Differences In Air Pollution Abatement Under The Clean Air Act, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Jason M. Walter
Political Differences In Air Pollution Abatement Under The Clean Air Act, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Jason M. Walter
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
In this paper, we study how local politics affect state level implementation of a critical federal environmental policy, the Clean Air Act, in the electricity generation sector. The analysis focuses on the installation of capital intensive air pollution abatement technology in highly regulated “nonattainment” areas, which violate federal air quality standards. The primary research design uses a regression discontinuity in the vote share for Republican governors and event study analyses of close elections. In nonattainment areas, Republican gubernatorial control differentially decreases new air pollution abatement capital spending by 90% and the probability of installing the most effective nitrogen oxide abatement …
The Role Of Paid Family Leave In Labor Supply Responses To A Spouse's Disability Or Health Shock, Priyanka Anand, Laura Dague, Kathryn L. Wagner
The Role Of Paid Family Leave In Labor Supply Responses To A Spouse's Disability Or Health Shock, Priyanka Anand, Laura Dague, Kathryn L. Wagner
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Disability onset and major health shocks can affect the labor supply of those experiencing the event and their family members, who face a tradeoff between time spent earning income and providing care. This decision could be affected by the availability of paid family leave. We examine the role of paid leave mandates in caregiving and labor supply decisions after a spouse's disability or health shock. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we show that paid leave mandates reduce the likelihood that potential caregivers report decreasing their paid work hours to provide caregiving after a spouse's health …
Vocational Rehabilitation And Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence From World War I Veterans, Ethan Schmick
Vocational Rehabilitation And Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence From World War I Veterans, Ethan Schmick
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This article uses a linked sample of World War I Army veterans from the state of Missouri to study the impact of vocational rehabilitation on labor market outcomes for men wounded and disabled during the war. Veterans’ military service abstracts are linked to the 1940 US Census and a subset are linked to rehabilitation records. This creates a new dataset that contains information on military service, rehabilitation, and labor market outcomes. I find that 70 percent of veterans that were both wounded in action and disabled when discharged from the army participated in the rehabilitation program. These same veterans had …
Cafos And Surface Water Quality: Evidence From Wisconsin, Zach Raff, Andrew G. Meyer
Cafos And Surface Water Quality: Evidence From Wisconsin, Zach Raff, Andrew G. Meyer
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) – animal feeding operations with over 1,000 animal units in confined spaces – have proliferated over the past 30 years in the United States. CAFOs provide operational cost savings, but higher animal concentrations in confined spaces can generate external costs, e.g., non-point source water pollution. In this study, we improve on previous research designs to estimate the relationship between the growth in CAFOs and surface water quality using longitudinal data on a large spatial scale. We use a panel dataset from 1995-2017 that links CAFO intensity with nearby surface water quality readings in Wisconsin to …
Do Economic Conditions Affect Climate Change Beliefs And Support For Climate Action? Evidence From The Us In The Wake Of The Great Recession, Andrew G. Meyer
Do Economic Conditions Affect Climate Change Beliefs And Support For Climate Action? Evidence From The Us In The Wake Of The Great Recession, Andrew G. Meyer
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
I show that climate skepticism increases with negative economic shocks and that the effects are concentrated among individuals in the labor force. I primarily employ a panel of US individuals in the period following the Great Recession, but also find consistent results with an alternative instrumental variables strategy. Among labor force participants, a one‐percentage point increase in the local unemployment rate leads to a three to five percentage point decrease in the probability of believing climate change is real and requires action. I conclude that support for climate change policies could depend on labor market conditions.
Heterogeneity In Individual Expectations, Sentiment, And Constant-Gain Learning, Stephen J. Cole, Fabio Milani
Heterogeneity In Individual Expectations, Sentiment, And Constant-Gain Learning, Stephen J. Cole, Fabio Milani
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper uses adaptive learning to understand the heterogeneity of individual-level expectations. We exploit individual Survey of Professional Forecasters data on output and inflation forecasts. We endow all forecasters with the same information set that they would have as economic agents in a benchmark New Keynesian model. Forecasters are, however, allowed to differ in the constant gain values that they use to update their beliefs and in their sentiments. The latter are defined as the degrees of excess optimism or pessimism about the economy that cannot be justified by the learning model. Our results highlight the heterogeneity in the gain …
Gender Differences In The Returns To Education Over Time For Married Couples, Nikki Brendemuehl, Nicholas A. Jolly
Gender Differences In The Returns To Education Over Time For Married Couples, Nikki Brendemuehl, Nicholas A. Jolly
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Using US Census data from 1960 to 2000 and American Community Survey data from 2010, this paper analyzes gender differences in the return to education for married couples. Results from this analysis show that the return to schooling has increased over time for both genders; however, the relative return to schooling for females has fallen since the 1990s. In 2010, married women who are under age 35 and are in the top 20 percent of the income distribution had lower returns to schooling compared to men. These results are consistent with several demographic shifts that occurred during the last half …
Real Estate And Relative Risk Aversion With Generalized Recursive Preferences, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
Real Estate And Relative Risk Aversion With Generalized Recursive Preferences, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper investigates how real estate wealth affects the household’s attitude toward risk, and derives the closed-form expressions for risk aversion with generalized recursive preferences. We find three channels through which real estate wealth affects risk aversion, and these channels are absent in the traditional measure of relative risk aversion as in Arrow (1965) and Pratt (1964). First, illiquidity and fluctuations in real estate value increase consumption risk, thereby increasing risk aversion. Second, real estate as an asset provides a cushion for absorbing negative shocks to households, reducing risk aversion. Third, an increase in real estate prices lowers the profit …
Incorporating Beliefs And Experiences Into Choice Experiment Analysis: Implications For The National Park Service, Sahan T. Dissanayake, Andrew G. Meyer
Incorporating Beliefs And Experiences Into Choice Experiment Analysis: Implications For The National Park Service, Sahan T. Dissanayake, Andrew G. Meyer
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
We show that respondents' beliefs about future outcomes and prior recreational experiences affect policy recommendations from choice experiments. For New England residents, we find that willingness to pay for a new national park in Maine differs based on respondents' stated beliefs about the status quo long-term land use. We also find that respondents who do (do not) hunt or snowmobile would pay significantly more (less) for a park allowing these activities. Land managers may find a two-park solution (one allowing the activities and one prohibiting them) would be best; this insight would be missed when neglecting to model conflicting recreational …
Shifts In Precipitation And Agricultural Intensity Increase Phosphorus Concentrations And Loads In An Agricultural Watershed, Donald M. Waller, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Steven I. Apfelbaum
Shifts In Precipitation And Agricultural Intensity Increase Phosphorus Concentrations And Loads In An Agricultural Watershed, Donald M. Waller, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Steven I. Apfelbaum
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Fertilizers and manure applied to cropland to increase yields are often lost via surface erosion, soil leaching, and runoff, increasing nutrient loads in surface and sub-surface waters, degrading water quality, and worsening the ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico. We leverage spatial and temporal variation in agricultural practices and precipitation events to examine how these factors affect stream total phosphorus (TP) concentrations and loads in the Sugar River (Wisconsin), recently listed as impaired. To perform our analysis, we first collected water quality data from 1995 to 2017 from 40 sites along the Sugar River and its tributaries. Starting in …
Learning And The Effectiveness Of Central Bank Forward Guidance, Stephen J. Cole
Learning And The Effectiveness Of Central Bank Forward Guidance, Stephen J. Cole
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper examines the link between expectations formation and the effectiveness of central bank forward guidance. A standard New Keynesian model is extended to include forward guidance shocks in the monetary policy rule. Agents form expectations about future macro-economic variables via either the standard rational expectations hypothesis or an adaptive learning model. The results show that the assumption of rational expectations overstates the effects of forward guidance relative to adaptive learning during an economic crisis. Thus, if monetary policy is based on a model with rational expectations, the results of forward guidance could be potentially misleading.
The Housing Risk Premium In A Production Economy, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
The Housing Risk Premium In A Production Economy, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This article studies how the housing risk premium is determined in a simple real business cycle model. We present a consumption-based asset pricing model for the housing risk premium and evaluate whether the model is able to explain the observed housing risk premium. Our findings show that a real business cycle model with generalized recursive preferences is able to match the observed housing risk premium. We also find that the volatility of the housing demand shock plays a crucial role in determining the risk–return relationship for housing.
Growth Forecast Revisions Over Business Cycles: Evidence From The Survey Of Professional Forecasters, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
Growth Forecast Revisions Over Business Cycles: Evidence From The Survey Of Professional Forecasters, Sungjun Huh, Insu Kim
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper studies how expectations regarding current and future output growth are revised as the state of the economy evolves. We study this issue using GDP growth forecasts from the Survey of Professional Forecasters. We find an asymmetric relationship between forecast revisions and GDP growth. Forecasters make larger forecast revisions during contractions than during expansions when the deviation of the economy from its normal state is controlled for.
Foreign Aid And Adolescent Fertility Rate: Cross-Country Evidence, Hong Zhuang, Miao Wang, Joseph P. Daniels
Foreign Aid And Adolescent Fertility Rate: Cross-Country Evidence, Hong Zhuang, Miao Wang, Joseph P. Daniels
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This study examines the role of official development assistance (ODA) in affecting adolescent fertility rates in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 95% of adolescent births occur in middle- and low-income countries, and the average adolescent fertility rate in low-income countries is five times higher than in high-income countries. Aid donors typically pursue multiple objectives when providing development aid, many of which can go beyond changes in per capita GDP and include human capital factors such as adolescent fertility and infant mortality. Using data over the period from 1995 to 2015, our results suggest that total ODA has a beneficial impact …
Experiential Learning In The Jesuit Business School Context: The Agbl Program, Nicholas J. C. Santos, Heather Kohls, Jennifer S. Maney
Experiential Learning In The Jesuit Business School Context: The Agbl Program, Nicholas J. C. Santos, Heather Kohls, Jennifer S. Maney
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
In an attempt to engage Jesuit business school students in transformational learning, Marquette University offers the Applied Global Business Learning (AGBL) Program. This program embodies the Ignatian pedagogy paradigm of helping students gain an understanding of a business need in a different part of the world, engages them in action, and has them reflect on and evaluate the experience as it relates to how they take the experience to change the world. This paper discusses the program’s relation to the Jesuit tradition, the history of the program including where students go and what they do, the impact on student learning, …
The Influence Of Learning And Price-Level Targeting On Central Bank Forward Guidance, Stephen J. Cole
The Influence Of Learning And Price-Level Targeting On Central Bank Forward Guidance, Stephen J. Cole
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper examines how the effectiveness of central bank forward guidance depends on two key channels: the expectations formation process and the monetary policy regime. The results show that rational expectations relative to an adaptive learning rule amplifies the positive benefits a price-level targeting central bank creates for forward guidance. Specifically, forward guidance generates greater amounts of output and inflation under a price-level than inflation targeting monetary policy regime, but rational expectations overstates these positive benefits compared to adaptive learning. The different responses of expectations between rational expectations and adaptive learning to forward guidance are driving this performance gap. Thus, …
The Limits Of Central Bank Forward Guidance Under Learning, Stephen J. Cole
The Limits Of Central Bank Forward Guidance Under Learning, Stephen J. Cole
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper investigates the effectiveness of central bank forward guidance while relaxing two standard macroeconomic assumptions: rational expectations and frictionless financial markets. The results show that the addition of financial frictions amplifies the differences between rational expectations and adaptive learning to forward guidance. During a period of economic crisis, output under rational expectations displays more favorable responses to forward guidance than under adaptive learning. These differences are exacerbated when compared with a similar analysis without financial frictions. Thus, monetary policymakers should consider the way in which expectations and credit frictions are modeled when examining the effects of forward guidance.
Competitive Blind Spots And The Cyclicality Of Investment: Experimental Evidence, Cortney S. Rodent, Andrew Smyth
Competitive Blind Spots And The Cyclicality Of Investment: Experimental Evidence, Cortney S. Rodent, Andrew Smyth
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
We report laboratory experiments investigating the cyclicality of profit‐enhancing investment in a competitive environment. In our setting, optimal investment is counter‐cyclical when investment costs fall following market downturns. However, we do not observe counter‐cyclical investment. Instead, we see much less strategic behavior than our rational investment model anticipates. Our participants exhibit what Porter (1980) terms a competitive blind spot, and heuristic investment models where individuals invest a fixed percentage of their liquidity, or a fixed percentage of anticipated market demand, better fit our data than does optimal investment. We also report a control treatment without cost changes and a treatment …
International Trade Policy Preferences: Evidence Of The Interaction Of Socio-Tropic Influences And Uncertainty Shocks, Joseph P. Daniels, Emily Kapszukiewicz, Marc Von Der Ruhr
International Trade Policy Preferences: Evidence Of The Interaction Of Socio-Tropic Influences And Uncertainty Shocks, Joseph P. Daniels, Emily Kapszukiewicz, Marc Von Der Ruhr
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
This paper provides new evidence supporting the hypothesis that patriotism and nationalism influence personal trade policy preferences in addition to the typical economic determinants. It also examines the interaction of the 9/11 terrorist attacks along with patriotism and nationalism on policy preferences. Using the Heckscher-Ohlin model as a theoretical framework, ordered probit estimations were applied to survey responses from an International Social Survey Program survey question about preferences towards limiting imports. Extensions of the model were sequentially estimated to investigate the impact of national identity on policy preferences. The model was augmented to test how feelings of nationalism and patriotism …