Economics Commons^™

Affirmative Action In College Admissions: Examining Labor Market Effects Of Four Alternative Policies, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

A rancorous debate continues to rage over the use of affirmative action policies in college admissions. This paper uses a simple signaling model to evaluate the labor market impacts of four types of affirmative action admissions policies. Race-based preferential policies and policies guaranteeing admission based on high school academic rank may induce discrimination in labor markets when there exists strong heterogeneity in socio-economic disadvantage within the under-represented minority group. Under such conditions, it may also be difficult to realize ethnic diversity with disadvantage-based preferential policies. The paper argues instead for affirmative action policies emphasizing intensive college preparation for targeted groups.

How Efficient Are Africa’S Emerging Stock Markets?, Magnus Arni Magnusson, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

The development of financial institutions has been viewed in recent years as critical to the economic development process. This research uses recent data from the eight largest African stock markets to test whether these markets meet the criterion of weak-form stock market efficiency with returns characterised by a random walk. Results are then compared with similar tests on emerging stock markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Conclusions from the research indicate that test results for weak-form efficiency in the emerging African stock markets compare favorably with those performed on other emerging stock markets.

Marital Happiness And Family Economics, Bryan Eldon Engelhardt

Honors Papers

Economics has long been the study of maximizing production, minimizing cost, and analyzing distributions, but it was not until recently that the field of economics added the social institution of the family and subjective well being to its list. What is being expounded upon within this discussion is how marital happiness affects family economics. The question begins with how marriage affects the basic micro model of economics: utility, and in turn how marital happiness affects economic decisions made by the family, such as the amount of leisure and goods to consume.

Economic issues already analyzed within the family include joint …

The Meaning Of Property Rights: Law Versus Economics? , Daniel H. Cole, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Property rights are fundamentals to economic analysis. There is, however, no consensus in the economic literature about what property rights are. Economists define them variously and inconsistently, sometimes in ways that deviate from the conventional understandings of legal scholars and judges. This article explores ways in which definitions of property rights in the economic literature diverge from conventional legal understandings, and how those divergences can create interdisciplinary confusion and bias economic analyses. Indeed, some economists' idiosyncratic definitions of property rights, if used to guide policy, could lead to suboptimal economic outcomes.

Method To Their Madness: Dispelling The Myth Of Economic Rationality As A Behavioral Ideal, John Dobson

Finance

Although not immediately apparent, the discipline of behavioral finance is rapidly adopting an implicit prescriptive agenda. Behavioral finance does not merely describe financial market reality, it shapes it. Economic rationality is taken as the ideal toward to which individuals 'should' strive. In this paper I show that, as a behavioral ideal, economic rationality is unjustified both from a strictly economic perspective, and from a moral perspective. In short, there is nothing inherently 'wrong' with economically irrational participants in the business environment. Indeed such participants will actually enhance the efficiency, and the ethicality, of business. "rationality itself, whether theoretical or practical, …

Numerical Techniques For Maximum Likelihood Estimation Of Continuous-Time Diffusion Processes, Garland B. Durham, A. Ronald Gallant

Finance

Stochastic differential equations often provide a convenient way to describe the dynamics of economic and financial data, and a great deal of effort has been expended searching for efficient ways to estimate models based on them. Maximum likelihood is typically the estimator of choice; however, since the transition density is generally unknown, one is forced to approximate it. The simulation-based approach suggested by Pedersen (1995) has great theoretical appeal, but previously available implementations have been computationally costly. We examine a variety of numerical techniques designed to improve the performance of this approach. Synthetic data generated by a Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model with …

Comment On: "Do Sunspots Matter When Spot Market Equilibria Are Unique?", Richard C. Barnett, Eric O'N. Fisher

Economics

No abstract provided.

The Business Plan: A Road Map To Success, Nancy Arnold Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

The business plan is like a road map. The process of writing a business plan helps the business owner make good decisions and reach his or her goal or destination. The number one reason businesses fail is lack of planning! Instead of making mistakes on paper, business owners too often make them with real money and real customers. That is why many, but not all, business funding institutions and agencies require business plans and may be reluctant to fund business start-ups that cannot provide a well-developed plan.

No. 10: Criminal Tendencies: Immigrants And Illegality In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africans believe that immigrants are largely responsible for the post-1994 crime wave in the country. In a national survey of South African citizens conducted recently by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP), for example, respondents were asked what, if anything, they had to fear about people from neighbouring countries (McDonald 2000: 209). Almost half the population (48%) felt that migrants were a “criminal threat” (compared to 37% who thought they were a threat to jobs and the economy, and 29% who thought they were a health threat). The simplistic, and largely unsubstantiated, association of foreignness with criminality, job-stealing and …

A Positive Political Model Of Supreme Court Economic Decisions, Tony Caporale, Harold Winter

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We develop a positive political model of the U.S. Supreme Court. Looking at the Court's economic cases for the period 1953-1993, we find a significant larger fraction of conservative decisions under Republican presidents and more conservative leadership of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Conservative decisions are also found to be positively correlated with the fraction of the Court appointed by Republican presidents and the rate of price inflation. We argue that our findings cast serious doubt on the common view of the Supreme Court as a completely independent, apolitical institution.

How Can I Be A Smarter Online Shopper?, Karen Biers

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Types Of Lending Products, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Making An Offer And Negotiating The Price, Leona K. Hawks

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

How Much House Can You Afford?, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Refinancing Your Home, Leona K. Hawks

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Rental Housing, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Su Historia De Crédito, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay, Lucy Delgadillo

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Don't Panic-Take Control, Barbara R. Rowe

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

How Much Money Should I Have For Emergencies?, Liz Gorham

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

If I'M Having Trouble Getting Credit, Will A Credit Doctor Help?, Barbara Rowe

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

With The Holidays Fast Approaching, How Can I Keep From Overspending?, Barbara Rowe

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Completing A Mortgage Loan Application, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Four Basic Elements Of A Budget, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Housing Budget, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Closing Costs, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

How To Find A Reliable Contractor, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Your Credit History, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Home Inspection, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

When Will Your House Fall Apart?, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing Your Housing Needs, Leona K. Hawks, Tawnee Mccay

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.