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2007

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Articles 181 - 210 of 849

Full-Text Articles in Economics

Surge In Islamic Finance Service Industry, Ishrat Husain Dr. Sep 2007

Surge In Islamic Finance Service Industry, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The last five years have witnessed a huge expansion in the Islamic Finance Service Industry (IFSI). The current assets are estimated at over $ 500 billion in Islamic banking segment alone. More than 250 Shariah-compliant mutual funds are currently managing about US 11 billion dollars in assets. Corporate and sovereign sukuk bonds amounting to about $ 18 billion have been issued so far. The annual market capitalization of the stocks meeting the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index Criteria in Islamic countries is estimated at US $ 300 billion. The total assets of all the banking and non-banking financial services being …


On The Use Of Size Premiums, Arithmetic Or Geometric Average Returns, And Liquidity Premiums In Determining Discount Rates, Hal B. Heaton Sep 2007

On The Use Of Size Premiums, Arithmetic Or Geometric Average Returns, And Liquidity Premiums In Determining Discount Rates, Hal B. Heaton

Faculty Publications

In recent court cases, a number of technical issues have arisen in determining appropriate discount rates for use in the discounted cash flow approach to valuation. This article examines three issues, reviews the literature about the issues, and summarizes the key considerations.


Data Users Conference Data Abstract_2005 - 2012, University Of New Mexico Bureau Of Business And Economic Research, New Mexico Economic Development Department Sep 2007

Data Users Conference Data Abstract_2005 - 2012, University Of New Mexico Bureau Of Business And Economic Research, New Mexico Economic Development Department

Historic Publications

DATA USERS CONFERENCE DATA ABSTRACT.


Provincial Development In China: Lessons From Eu Regional Policy Experience, Phillip J. Bryson, Keren Sun Sep 2007

Provincial Development In China: Lessons From Eu Regional Policy Experience, Phillip J. Bryson, Keren Sun

Faculty Publications

Regional development in the Chinese provinces and in the regions of the EU countries are evaluated and compared. Development efforts in southern Italy, northeast England and eastern Germany are reviewed along with EU, Community-wide regional development programs. Equity concerns suggest promotion of regional policy, but the pursuit of maximum national economic growth would avoid it, since it sacrifices some economic growth. The impact of FDI and domestic investments on individual Chinese provinces is compared with their impact in Europe. There is an implicit contrast between public sector regional development programs and more effective private foreign direct investments.


Financial Development And International Capital Flows, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang Sep 2007

Financial Development And International Capital Flows, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a general equilibrium model with nancial frictions in which internal capital (equity capital) and external capital (bank loans) have di erent rates of return. Financial development raises the rate of return on external capital but has a non-monotonic e ect on the rate of return on internal capital. We then show in a two-country model that capital account liberalization leads to out ow of nancial capital from the country with less developed nancial system. However, the direction of foreign direct investment (FDI, henceforth) depends on the exact degrees of nancial development in the two countries as well as …


Inefficient Worker Turnover, Nicolas L. Jacquet Sep 2007

Inefficient Worker Turnover, Nicolas L. Jacquet

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers the efficiency properties of risk-neutral workers’ mobility decisions in an equilibrium model with search frictions, but no search externalities, when the rent accruing to a match is split through bargaining. Matches are ex ante homogeneous and their true productivity is learnt after the match is formed. It is shown that the efficiency of worker turnover depends on contract enforceability, and that in the absence of complete enforceability the equilibrium fails to be efficient. This is because without complete enforceability firms cannot credibly offer workers contracts that will guarantee them the entire future of all potential future matches.


A Hybrid Approach To Case Teaching, Swee Liang Tan, Roy Jin Hou Ng Sep 2007

A Hybrid Approach To Case Teaching, Swee Liang Tan, Roy Jin Hou Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

We structure case based teaching using a combination of computer-support technology and in-class activities. We create and design an on-line learning tool, Case Study On-line (CSOL) that enables instructor to structure the delivery of teaching resources and set up assignment tasks in the system. The tool enables tasks to be set in a way that they can be completed sequentially, and learning resources can be accessed only when required by students. Upon submission of their assignments, students can promptly receive instructor’s explanations to the tasks. Follow up activities take place in class, with the objective to promote active learning. The …


Building Social Trust: A Human Capital Approach, Fali Huang Sep 2007

Building Social Trust: A Human Capital Approach, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Much evidence suggests individuals differ in their predisposition to cooperate, which is essentially a component of human capital. This paper examines the role of individual cooperative tendencies and their interactions with institutions in generating social trust; it also endogenizes cooperative tendencies using a human-capital investment model. Multiple equilibria and inefficiencies exist due to positive externalities. An innovative finding is that, when institutions are more effective in punishing defecting behaviors, more people invest in cooperative tendencies and hence the endogenous social trust is higher, though the equilibrium cooperative tendencies are lower. This paper provides a plausible explanation for many empirical and …


Dynamic Treatment Effect Analysis Of Tv Effects On Child Cognitive Development, Fali Huang Sep 2007

Dynamic Treatment Effect Analysis Of Tv Effects On Child Cognitive Development, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether TV watching at ages 6-7 and 8-9 affects cognitive development measured by math and reading scores at ages 8-9 using a rich childhood longitudinal sample from NLSY79. Dynamic panel data models are estimated to handle the unobserved child-specific factor, endogeneity of TV watching, and dynamic nature of the causal relation. A special emphasis is put on the last aspect where TV watching affects cognitive development which in turn affects the future TV watching. When this feedback occurs, it is not straightforward to identify and estimate the TV effect. We adopt estimation methods available in the biostatistics literature …


On The Segmentation Of Markets, Nicolas Laurent Jacquet, Serene Tan Sep 2007

On The Segmentation Of Markets, Nicolas Laurent Jacquet, Serene Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper endogenizes the market structure of an economy with heterogeneous agents who want to form bilateral matches in the presence of search frictions and when utility is nontransferable. There exist infinitely many marketplaces, and each agent chooses which marketplace to be in: agents get to choose not only whom to match with but also whom they meet with. Perfect segmentation is obtained in equilibrium, where agents match with the first person they meet. All equilibria have the same matching pattern. Although perfect assortative matching is not obtained in equilibrium, the degree of assortativeness is greater than in standard models.


More Efficient Estimation Of Nonparametric Panel Data Models With Random Effects, Liangjun Su, Aman Ullah Sep 2007

More Efficient Estimation Of Nonparametric Panel Data Models With Random Effects, Liangjun Su, Aman Ullah

Research Collection School Of Economics

We propose a class of two-step estimators for nonparametric panel data models with random effects that are more efficient than the conventional least squares estimators. We establish asymptotic normality for the proposed estimators and derive the most efficient estimator in the class.


Forecasting The Car Penetration Rate (Cpr) In China: A Nonparametric Approach, Sainan Jin, Liangjun Su Sep 2007

Forecasting The Car Penetration Rate (Cpr) In China: A Nonparametric Approach, Sainan Jin, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

With strong economic growth, the auto industry has made great breakthroughs in recent years and has become a backbone industry in China, while cars play an increasingly important role, and are now the principal part of the auto industry. Both China's government and academic circles take strong interest in the prediction of CPR (i.e. car penetration rate or cars per thousand people), which will be the main guidance for the future industry policy. We summarize the existing problems in recent research and propose to use nonparametric methods to estimate the CPR and its elasticity with respect to GDP per capita …


Some Empirics On Economic Growth Under Heterogeneous Technology, Peter C. B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul Sep 2007

Some Empirics On Economic Growth Under Heterogeneous Technology, Peter C. B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul

Research Collection School Of Economics

A new econometric approach to testing for economic growth convergence is overviewed. The method is applicable to panel data, involves a simple regression based one-sided t-test, and can be used to form a clustering algorithm to assess the existence of growth convergence clubs. The approach allows for heterogeneous technology, utilizes some new asymptotic theory for nonlinear dynamic factor models, and is easy to implement. Some background growth theory is given which shows the form of augmented Solow regression (ASR) equations in the presence of heterogeneous technology and explains sources of potential misspecification that can arise in conventional formulations of ASR …


Avoiding Arbitrary Exclusion Restrictions Using Ratios Of Reduced-Form Estimates, Myoung-Jae Lee, Pao-Li Chang Sep 2007

Avoiding Arbitrary Exclusion Restrictions Using Ratios Of Reduced-Form Estimates, Myoung-Jae Lee, Pao-Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We show how to obtain coherent structural-form (SF) exclusion restrictions using the reduced-form (RF) parameter ratios. It will be shown that an over-identified SF corresponds to a group of regressors sharing the same RF ratio value; those regressors should be excluded jointly from the SF. If there is no group structure, then the SF is just-identified; in this case, however, it is no longer clear which regressor should be excluded. Hence, just-identified SF’s are more arbitrary than over-identified SF’s in terms of exclusion restrictions. This is in stark contrast to the notion that the former is less arbitrary than the …


Employee Screening: Theory And Evidence, Fali Huang, Peter Cappelli Sep 2007

Employee Screening: Theory And Evidence, Fali Huang, Peter Cappelli

Research Collection School Of Economics

Arguably the fundamental problem faced by employers is how to elicit effort from employees. Most models suggest that employers meet this challenge by monitoring employees carefully to prevent shirking. But there is another option that relies on heterogeneity across employees, and that is to screen job candidates to find workers with a stronger work ethic who require less monitoring. This should be especially useful in work systems where monitoring by supervisors is more difficult, such as teamwork systems. We analyze the relationship between screening and monitoring in the context of a principal-agent model and test the theoretical results using a …


Un-Balanced Economic Growth, Hing-Man Leung Sep 2007

Un-Balanced Economic Growth, Hing-Man Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

Since the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is not always one, and since technical progress is not always Harrod-neutral, it is desirable to have an endogenous growth model that admits all sizes of the elasticity and all known technology modes. We derive an equation to do just that, fully describing the per capita income growth rate at all times. It shows a typical economy needing hundreds if not thousands of years to reach its long term growth rate, leading to the conclusion that even the short run may be very long indeed.


The Wto Trade Effect, Pao Li Chang, Myoung-Jae Lee Sep 2007

The Wto Trade Effect, Pao Li Chang, Myoung-Jae Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

Rose (2004) showed that the WTO or its predecessor, the GATT, did not promote trade, based on conventional econometric analysis of gravity-type equations of trade. We argue that conclusions regarding the GATT/WTO trade effect based on gravity-type equations are arbitrary and subject to parametric misspecifications. We propose using nonparametric matching methods to estimate the 'treatment effect' of GATT/WTO membership, and permutation-based inferential procedures for assessing statistical significance of the estimated effects. A sensitivity analysis following Rosenbaum (2002) is then used to evaluate the sensitivity of our estimation results to potential selection biases. Contrary to Rose (2004), we find the effect …


Modeling Country Risks: An Asian Perspective, Swee Liang Tan, G. K. Randolph Tan Sep 2007

Modeling Country Risks: An Asian Perspective, Swee Liang Tan, G. K. Randolph Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the use of the Markov Regime Switching Model (MRSM) as a means to track changes in the levels of investor confidence. It also assesses the probabilities of a country switching between different regimes using the transition probability matrix. A maximum of three possible levels or regimes of risk – low, intermediate and high volatility regimes, is considered. From the smoothed probabilities calculated for different regimes, this paper makes inferences about timings of debt crisis. Comparing Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia in particular, we date the onset and subsequent dissolution of crisis-induced panic. We give interpretations of …


Improved Maximum-Likelihood Estimation For The Common Shape Parameter Of Several Weibull Populations, Zhenlin Yang, Dennis K. J. Lin Sep 2007

Improved Maximum-Likelihood Estimation For The Common Shape Parameter Of Several Weibull Populations, Zhenlin Yang, Dennis K. J. Lin

Research Collection School Of Economics

The biasness problem of the maximum-likelihood estimate (MLE) of the common shape parameter of several Weibull populations is examined in detail. A modified MLE (MMLE) approach is proposed. In the case of complete and Type II censored data, the bias of the MLE can be substantial. This is noticeable even when the sample size is large. Such a bias increases rapidly as the degree of censorship increases and as more populations are involved. The proposed MMLE, however, is nearly unbiased and much more efficient than the MLE, irrespective of the degree of censorship, the sample sizes, and the number of …


Emerging Industries: Looking Beyond The Usual Suspects: A Report To Wired, George A. Erickcek, Brad R. Watts Sep 2007

Emerging Industries: Looking Beyond The Usual Suspects: A Report To Wired, George A. Erickcek, Brad R. Watts

Reports

No abstract provided.


Contracting For Force: The Effects Of Transaction Costs On Mercenary Employment By The Italian City States Of The 13th To 15th Centuries, Jack Anderson Aug 2007

Contracting For Force: The Effects Of Transaction Costs On Mercenary Employment By The Italian City States Of The 13th To 15th Centuries, Jack Anderson

All Theses

ABSTRACT The market for force in Italy through the 13th to 15th century is examined, through the medium of contracts between city states and mercenary soldiers. The historical era is divided into three distinct periods; each period is characterized by a typical contract type. Based on historical descriptions of these periods, it appears that the transaction costs associated with hiring private force providers varied significantly from period to period and regression analysis is performed in an attempt to determine the relationship between these costs and the number of private soldiers employed by the city states of Milan, Venice, and Florence …


An Analysis Of College Basketball Conference Structure, Conference Officials, And Their Potential Effect On Revenues, Kris Mcwhite Aug 2007

An Analysis Of College Basketball Conference Structure, Conference Officials, And Their Potential Effect On Revenues, Kris Mcwhite

All Dissertations

The NCAA men's basketball tournament paid out over $122 million to athletic conferences during the 2005-06 season alone. Using data from previous basketball seasons, I formulate a theory as to the actions athletic conferences may encourage their basketball referees to take in order to enhance their share of the purse. If we consider the individual team within a group of college teams acting as a division of the larger 'firm,' that being the conference and not an individual 'firm' itself, then it is appropriate to suggest a single team would allow actions that at first glance seem detrimental. Initial research …


Economic Dashboard Supplemental Report – Other Social And Economic Indicators, George A. Erickcek Aug 2007

Economic Dashboard Supplemental Report – Other Social And Economic Indicators, George A. Erickcek

Reports

No abstract provided.


Flint, Michigan: Dashboard Indicators Report, George A. Erickcek Aug 2007

Flint, Michigan: Dashboard Indicators Report, George A. Erickcek

Reports

Provides a Dashboard of Economic Indicators for the Flint, Michigan MSA.


The Shift From Defined Benefit Pensions To 401(K) Plans And The Pension Assets Of The Baby Boom Cohort, James Poterba, Steven Venti, David A. Wise Aug 2007

The Shift From Defined Benefit Pensions To 401(K) Plans And The Pension Assets Of The Baby Boom Cohort, James Poterba, Steven Venti, David A. Wise

Dartmouth Scholarship

The rise of 401(k) plans and the decline of defined benefit plans will have an important effect on the wealth of future retirees. Changing demographic structure also will affect the aggregate stock of retirement wealth. We project the stock of assets held in retirement plans and the average retirement saving of retirees through 2040. Our projections show large increases in wealth at retirement, especially if the returns on corporate equities are comparable with historical returns. Retirement wealth will grow, however, even if equity returns fall substantially below their historical level.


Pakistan And Indian Economies – Sixty Years Later, Ishrat Husain Dr. Aug 2007

Pakistan And Indian Economies – Sixty Years Later, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Pakistan and India both achieved independence in 1947. At that time there was a great deal of skepticism among the Indians as well as the foreigners about Pakistan’s economic future. They wondered as to how a country so poorly endowed, heavily bruised by the pangs of partition, separated physically by 1000 miles across a hostile territory could survive politically and economically. It is true that the political union of the two wings of the country could not be sustained but the emergence of two independent nations out of Pakistan in 1971 did not in any material way adversely affect the …


Essays In Defense Economics: Veterans' Human Capital Accumulation And Military Procurement Choice, Sebastian Negrusa Aug 2007

Essays In Defense Economics: Veterans' Human Capital Accumulation And Military Procurement Choice, Sebastian Negrusa

All Dissertations

The first chapter estimates the effect of aid on schooling decisions by analyzing the education subsidy provided through the Montgomery GI Bill. The effects are identified by exploiting unanticipated variation in the real value of education benefits between the time an individual joins the military and the time of separation. Using micro-level panel data, we find that military veterans have an elasticity of college attendance with respect to the subsidy that ranges from 0.4 to 0.6. Recruits and veterans are allowed to form expectations under different scenarios about the real future value of the benefits. We find little effect of …


Qualitative Aspects Of Mate Availability And Their Effects On Intra-Household Bargaining Power, Brighita Negrusa Aug 2007

Qualitative Aspects Of Mate Availability And Their Effects On Intra-Household Bargaining Power, Brighita Negrusa

All Dissertations

This dissertation studies the impact of changes in outside marriage market opportunities on intra-household bargaining power. In the first chapter, I analyze the impact of the availability of healthy mates on intra-household bargaining power. I specify a marriage market matching model and test the main prediction that in marriage markets in which both healthy and frail men marry, an increase in the relative scarcity of healthy women enhances wives' bargaining power. This effect is estimated in a collective labor supply framework in which spousal bargaining power and labor supply are inversely related. I use CPS data and Census data on …


Analysis Of The China Factor Effect On The International Dry Bulk Shipping Market, Xiaoxiao Bi Aug 2007

Analysis Of The China Factor Effect On The International Dry Bulk Shipping Market, Xiaoxiao Bi

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Study On Grade Evaluation Of Port Shoreline In Jiangsu Province, Wei Li Aug 2007

Study On Grade Evaluation Of Port Shoreline In Jiangsu Province, Wei Li

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.