Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Economics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2009

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 631 - 660 of 903

Full-Text Articles in Economics

Alasdair Macintyre’S Aristotelian Business Ethics: A Critique, John Dobson Jan 2009

Alasdair Macintyre’S Aristotelian Business Ethics: A Critique, John Dobson

Finance

This paper begins by summarizing and distilling MacIntyre’s sweeping critique of modern business. It identifies the crux of MacIntyre’s critique as centering on the fundamental Aristotelian concepts of internal goods and practices. MacIntyre essentially follows Aristotle in arguing that by privileging external goods over internal goods, business activity – and certainly modern capitalistic business activity – corrupts practices. Thus, from the perspective of virtue ethics, business is morally indefensible. The paper continues with an evaluation of MacIntyre’s arguments. The conclusion is drawn that MacIntyre’s critique, although partially valid, does not vitiate modern business as he claims. In short, modern business …

Go to article

Rent-To-Own Agreements: Customer Characteristics And Contract Outcomes, Michael H. Anderson, Sanjiv Jaggia Jan 2009

Rent-To-Own Agreements: Customer Characteristics And Contract Outcomes, Michael H. Anderson, Sanjiv Jaggia

Economics

The rent-to-own (RTO) industry, by offering immediate access to household goods for a small periodic fee with no credit check or down payment, has strong appeal to low income and financially distressed consumers. An important policy question is whether an RTO agreement is used as a rental/lease with build-in purchase option or as something more akin to an installment loan. Given the embedded options to return the item or to purchase it early, the actual rent paid by RTO customers is substantially lower than the oft-reported total rent which assumes that agreements go to term. We employ a log-normal censored …

Go to article

Unintended Consequences: The Spillover Effects Of Common Property Regulations, Gordon Rausser, Stephen F. Hamilton, Marty Covach, Ryan Stifter Jan 2009

Unintended Consequences: The Spillover Effects Of Common Property Regulations, Gordon Rausser, Stephen F. Hamilton, Marty Covach, Ryan Stifter

Economics

The closure of the Hawaiian longline swordfish fishery over the period 2001–2004, which was motivated by the protection of endangered sea turtles, created the elements of a natural experiment that allows identification of the market transfer of catch (and sea turtle bycatch) to other regions. This paper exploits the fact that the vessels in the Hawaiian longline fishery sell their catch in the US fresh swordfish market to analyze the pattern of changes in US fresh and frozen swordfish consumption both before and after the closure regulation was imposed. The mechanisms by which any unintended consequences on endangered sea turtles …

Go to article

Modelling Skewness And Elongation In Financial Returns: The Case Of Exchange-Traded Funds, Sanjiv Jaggia, Alison Kelly-Hawke Jan 2009

Modelling Skewness And Elongation In Financial Returns: The Case Of Exchange-Traded Funds, Sanjiv Jaggia, Alison Kelly-Hawke

Economics

Recent studies have documented the importance of asymmetry and tail-fatness of returns on portfolio-choice, asset-pricing, value-at-risk and option-valuation models. This article explores the nature of skewness and elongation in daily Exchange-traded Fund (ETF) return distributions using g, h and (g x h) distributions. These exploratory data analytic techniques of Tukey (1977) reveal patterns that are hidden from a cursory glance at conventional measures for skewness and elongation. The g, h and (g x h) distributions provide parameter estimates that indicate substantial variation in skewness and elongation for individual ETFs; nonetheless, some trends are discovered …

Go to article

High-Versus Low-Context National Cultures: Preferences For Type Of Retailer And For Human Interaction, Gregory E. Osland, Bela Florenthal Jan 2009

High-Versus Low-Context National Cultures: Preferences For Type Of Retailer And For Human Interaction, Gregory E. Osland, Bela Florenthal

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

A purpose of this research is to investigate differences between low-and high-context national cultures in retail settings. In particular, we examined cultural differences in preference for human interaction while shopping, "emotional warmth" characteristics, perception of quality service, and retail channel preferences. As businesses more frequently employ multi-channel strategies in global settings, this topic of national culture gains importance and can shed light on key factors that shape consumers' retail preferences. Our findings indicate that national cultures differ in terms of retail channel preferences, preference for human interaction, and relationships between the two. Managerial implications and future research are addressed, as …

Go to article

Chasing Fools’ Gold: Whaling In Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Bermuda, Aldemaro Romero Jr. Jan 2009

Chasing Fools’ Gold: Whaling In Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Bermuda, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Effect Of Aging Populations On Inflation, Andrew Stone Jan 2009

The Effect Of Aging Populations On Inflation, Andrew Stone

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This research uses panel data of 66 high and middle income countries to examine the inflation effects of demographics. The primary objective of this research is to show that consumer prices change based on the amount of retired persons in a nation. The double log model used in this paper also includes interest rates and uses data from 1991-2007 in order to demonstrate the most recent demographic shifts. The results showing inflationary pressure coming from young retirees compliment the Modigliani life-cycle hypothesis that this age group consists of net consumers, while the deflationary pressures provided by the working aged population …

Go to article

Effects Of Globalization On Income Inequality In High Income Countries, Craig Bradford Jan 2009

Effects Of Globalization On Income Inequality In High Income Countries, Craig Bradford

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the relationship between technology, trade liberalization, and financial globalization in incomes inequality, focusing on high income countries. We find that technological progress has a smaller effect on income inequality in high income countries than in middle and low income countries. It is also found that increases in the percentage of workers in the services industry decreases Income Inequality by a significant amount. The GINI index is used to measure the level of income inequality, and the Chinn-Ito index is used to measure the level of openness to capital investment.

Go to article

The Relationship Between Housing Prices And Macroeconomic Factors In Spain, Garrett Fitzgerald Jan 2009

The Relationship Between Housing Prices And Macroeconomic Factors In Spain, Garrett Fitzgerald

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the effects of certain macroeconomic variables (i.e mortgages, inflation, and employment) on the price of houses in Spain. An error correction vector autoregressive (ECVAR) model is used to model the impact of the macroeconomic variables on real housing prices. Variance decompositions will be analyzed to determine the extent to which these variables have an effect on housing prices in Spain.

Go to article

State Level Comparison Of Factors Contributing To Rising Inpatient Hospital Costs, Jeff Fontaine Jan 2009

State Level Comparison Of Factors Contributing To Rising Inpatient Hospital Costs, Jeff Fontaine

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Economic Benefits Of Education As A Return To Gdp Per Capita, Jonathan Brown Jan 2009

The Economic Benefits Of Education As A Return To Gdp Per Capita, Jonathan Brown

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines many different factors of education, including the levels of education received, the expenditures per student as well as for each level of education, and the measurement of unemployed with said levels of education as to how it affects the levels of GDP per capita. What is consistent across each regression is that in fact, the average years of education received by the population will most closely have a beneficial effect on the levels of GDP per capita. What these regressions also show are tendencies to look more towards the future rather than the past. When considering unemployment, …

Go to article

Are Educated Women Less Likely To Get Married?, Qian Jiang Jan 2009

Are Educated Women Less Likely To Get Married?, Qian Jiang

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

In the past, there are some research indicate that highly educated women marry less. Because women tend to face the success penalty, however, a new analysis of U.S. census data indicates that--despite cultural messages to the contrary--the success gap, in which better educated women marry less, is actually shrinking. Using 2008 Current Population Survey, this paper utilized Probit regression to analyze how increase of women's educational attainment can influenced marriage and other aspects such as financial well-being. In addition, this study tries to estimate the best levels of education for women to be more likely to married.

Go to article

The Effect Of Tax-Burdens On Foreign Direct Investment: A Cross-Sectional Look At Developing Economies, Kevin Hauver Jan 2009

The Effect Of Tax-Burdens On Foreign Direct Investment: A Cross-Sectional Look At Developing Economies, Kevin Hauver

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the effect that certain aspects of the tax burden have on foreign direct investment in developing economies. Using data from 35 select countries, the paper uses an OLS regression model to determine the impact that various taxes, both on individuals and corporations, can have on FDI. The paper concludes that corporate tax rates are not a statistically significant factor for determining FDI inflows into a host country, but that indirect tax rates are. This is likely due to the use of ‘enterprise zones’, which offer favorable indirect tax rates to companies that choose to operate in a …

Go to article

The Impacts Of Energy Efficiency And Consumption On Gdp In The Euro Area, Justin T. Getts Jan 2009

The Impacts Of Energy Efficiency And Consumption On Gdp In The Euro Area, Justin T. Getts

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper analyzes the aggregate data of the Euro Area to determine how GDP per unit of energy is affected by the use of common energy sources. Time series data from 1980 to 2005 is used to show the change in how energy is used compared to the growth of GDP. It is revealed in this paper that the consumption of efficient forms of energy is highly correlated to GDP growth and the use of inefficient energy sources leads to less growth.

Go to article

Inequality And Human Capital In Appalachia: 1960-2000, Dan Black, Seth Sanders Jan 2009

Inequality And Human Capital In Appalachia: 1960-2000, Dan Black, Seth Sanders

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

This paper examines changes in the earnings distribution of men age 25-64 between 1960 and 2000 in Appalachia and in the remainder of the U.S. Because Appalachia is more rural than the remainder of the U.S. we also examine changes in the earnings distribution in rural vs. urban areas. Our central finding is that there have been large differences in the evolution of the earnings distribution in rural vs. urban areas and this is the principal reason that Appalachia’s earnings distribution differs to some degree from the remainder of the U.S. We find that the bottom of the earnings distribution …

Go to article

Estimating The Effectiveness Of A Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax In Reducing Particulate Matter Emissions, Jordan Larsen, Arthur J. Caplan Jan 2009

Estimating The Effectiveness Of A Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax In Reducing Particulate Matter Emissions, Jordan Larsen, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This study estimates the effectiveness of a vehicle miles travelled (VMT) tax in controlling mobile-source emissions of particulate matter (PM2.5) in a non-attainment area located in northern Utah. Using a recently updated household-level dataset, the study finds no evidence of an endogenous relationship between choice of vehicle type and VMT. VMT elasticities are also estimated with respect to cost per mile that are in some cases larger in magnitude than those reported in previous studies. Based on vehicle emissions tests performed by the Houston Advanced Research Center, the study estimates the reduction in particulate emissions that would occur with two …

Go to article

Commentary On "Efficient Inflation Targets For Distorted Dynamic Economies, Eric O'N. Fisher Jan 2009

Commentary On "Efficient Inflation Targets For Distorted Dynamic Economies, Eric O'N. Fisher

Economics

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Informative Advertising In Differentiated Oligopoly Markets, Stephen F. Hamilton Jan 2009

Informative Advertising In Differentiated Oligopoly Markets, Stephen F. Hamilton

Economics

This paper examines the welfare implications of informative advertising in differentiated product oligopoly markets. The analysis reconciles the conflicting results in previous studies that find advertising to be undersupplied in homogeneous product markets, but oversupplied in differentiated product markets when the degree of differentiation is "small". In equilibrium, purely informative advertising is undersupplied when brands are sufficiently close substitutes and oversupplied when brands are more differentiated. Product differentiation also has welfare implications for the effect of technological change in the advertising sector. In response to an advertising cost innovation, equilibrium prices fall and the market converges to the socially optimal …

Go to article

Winning, Running, And Renewing The Outsourcing Contracts, Z Perunovic, M Christoffersen, Robert Mefford Jan 2009

Winning, Running, And Renewing The Outsourcing Contracts, Z Perunovic, M Christoffersen, Robert Mefford

Finance

The paper explores how vendors deploy competences and capabilities across the outsourcing process in order to win, run, and renew outsourcing contracts. The results of a multiple-case study of three contract electronics manufacturers (CEMs) show that different combinations of capabilities are required for a vendor to win, run, and renew outsourcing contracts. Permanent capabilities are constantly present across the process, while temporary capabilities, depending on customer requirements, can be added or removed from the portfolio of capabilities.

Go to article

An Analysis Of Education Subsidy In The Presence Of Fertility Decisions, Human Capital Accumulation, And Spillovers, Woan Foong Wong Jan 2009

An Analysis Of Education Subsidy In The Presence Of Fertility Decisions, Human Capital Accumulation, And Spillovers, Woan Foong Wong

Honors Papers

The paper hypothesizes that the level of aggregate human capital in an economy affects the overall returns of an individual's human capital accumulation and fertility decision. However, the positive externalities from aggregate human capital are not internalized by households in their investment decisions. Using an overlapping-generations model, specify the household’s optimization problem in a rural developing country where parents have an old-age support motive that underlies the benefits of having and educating children. The optimal decision of parents is then contrasted with that of the social planner. They differ in that the social planner internalizes the externalities of aggregate human …

Go to article

Financial Liberalization And International Capital Flows, Nancy Neiman Auerbach, Yoonmin Kim, Thana Sompornserm Jan 2009

Financial Liberalization And International Capital Flows, Nancy Neiman Auerbach, Yoonmin Kim, Thana Sompornserm

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

It is interesting that domestic and international financial liberalization are among the most often cited causes of the 1997–98 crisis. Liberalization in the Asian crisis countries took place prior to the crisis as did large capital inflows, many of which reversed during the crisis in the classic pattern of capital flow bonanzas ending in sudden stops (Calvo, Izquierdo, and Mejía 2008; Reinhart and Reinhart 2008; Sula and Willett 2009). Furthermore, China and India, with much less general financial liberalization and a continuing array of capital controls, were little hit by the crisis. Malaysia’s experiment with increasing capital controls during the …

Go to article

Regulation With Direct Benefits Of Information Disclosure And Imperfect Monitoring, Mary F. Evans, Scott M. Gilpatric, Lirong Liu Jan 2009

Regulation With Direct Benefits Of Information Disclosure And Imperfect Monitoring, Mary F. Evans, Scott M. Gilpatric, Lirong Liu

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

We model the optimal design of programs requiring heterogeneous firms to disclose harmful emissions when disclosure yields both direct and indirect benefits. The indirect benefit arises from the internalization of social costs and resulting reduction in emissions. The direct benefit results from the disclosure of previously private information which is valuable to potentially harmed parties. Previous theoretical and empirical analyses of such programs restrict attention to the former benefit while the stated motivation for such programs highlights the latter benefit. When disclosure yields both direct and indirect benefits, policymakers face a tradeoff between inducing truthful self-reporting and deterring emissions. Internalizing …

Go to article

Hybrid Allocation Mechanisms For Publicly Provided Goods, Mary F. Evans, Christian A. Vossler, Nicholas E. Flores Jan 2009

Hybrid Allocation Mechanisms For Publicly Provided Goods, Mary F. Evans, Christian A. Vossler, Nicholas E. Flores

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Motivated by efficiency and equity concerns, public resource managers have increasingly utilized hybrid allocation mechanisms that combine features of commonly used price (e.g., auction) and non-price (e.g., lottery) mechanisms. This study serves as an initial investigation of these hybrid mechanisms, exploring theoretically and experimentally how the opportunity to obtain a homogeneous good in a subsequent lottery affects Nash equilibrium bids in discriminative and uniform price auctions. The lottery imposes an opportunity cost to winning the auction, systematically reducing equilibrium auction bids. In contrast to the uniform price auction, equilibrium bids in the uniform price hybrid mechanism vary with bidder risk …

Go to article

Health And Utilization Effects Of Increased Access To Publicly Provided Health Care: Evidence From The U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs, Melissa Boyle Jan 2009

Health And Utilization Effects Of Increased Access To Publicly Provided Health Care: Evidence From The U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs, Melissa Boyle

Economics Department Working Papers

During the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs overhauled its health care system in an attempt to increase quality and efficiency. The restructuring involved the adoption of a capitated payment system and treatment methods based on the managed care model. This reorganization was accompanied by a major expansion in the population eligible to receive VA care. Using the National Health Interview Survey and VA medical claims data, this study analyzes both the efficiency of providing public health care in a managed care setting and the effectiveness of expanding coverage to healthier and wealthier populations. I estimate that between 35 …

Go to article

Social Insurance, Commitment, And The Origin Of Law: Interest Bans In Early Christianity, Jared Rubin Jan 2009

Social Insurance, Commitment, And The Origin Of Law: Interest Bans In Early Christianity, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the historical importance of ideology-based, economically inhibitive laws, we know little about the economic factors underlying their origin. This paper accounts for the historical emergence of one such law: the Christian ban on taking interest--a doctrine that shaped the evolution of numerous financial contracts and related organizational forms. A game-theoretic analysis and historical evidence suggest that the Church's commitment to providing social insurance for its poorest constituents encouraged risky borrowing, which the Church attempted to limit by banning interest. The analysis highlights the applicability of the rational choice framework to seemingly irrational actions and laws, the role of nonmonetary …

Go to article

Market Volatility Asymmetries: The Effects Of Stock Market Returns On Realized And Implied Volatilities, Matthew M. Chestnut Jan 2009

Market Volatility Asymmetries: The Effects Of Stock Market Returns On Realized And Implied Volatilities, Matthew M. Chestnut

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Volatility is an integral and inescapable variable of financial engineering, modeling, and finance theory itself Classical financial economics proxies volatility for risk itself, as it becomes difficult to predict future price realizations of a given asset when that asset exhibits significant price volatility over a given time. However, the nature of volatility as it is explained by classical financial economics has been extensively questioned in the previous three decades, since it is characterized as a function of uncertainty aggregate market psychology-that is, as a function of fear, greed, exuberance, and other fundamental human instincts and emotions. While previous research has …

Go to article

Advances In Economic Forecasting 2009-10, Department Of Economics Jan 2009

Advances In Economic Forecasting 2009-10, Department Of Economics

Werner Sichel Lecture Series

The 2009-10 Werner Sichel Lecture Series features six nationally recognized economists whose presentations will focus on new methodologies for improving the accuracy and evaluation of economic forecasts. The series is directed by Professor Matthew Higgins and is cosponsored by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Go to article

The Effect Of Crime Rates On Home Prices: A Hedonic Study, John Paul Goncalves Jan 2009

The Effect Of Crime Rates On Home Prices: A Hedonic Study, John Paul Goncalves

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The hedonic regression model in this study is from a Florida based study that has been applied on a national level. The results of this research will indicate the most significant variables which support the overall effect on the price of a home. The emphasis of this study is to examine the overall impact of crime rates on average home prices in America’s state capitals.

Go to article

An Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Home Foreclosure On The Crime Rate: Evidence In Atlanta, Ga, Luis G. Acevedo Jan 2009

An Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Home Foreclosure On The Crime Rate: Evidence In Atlanta, Ga, Luis G. Acevedo

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Over the past 28 years the United States has seen its share of prosperity and hard times. At times there have been significant increases in the number of subprime mortgages issued in the United States. Studies have shown that the number of foreclosures is highly correlated to the number of subprime loans issued. Another main issue that seems to occur with the abundance of loans and the spike in foreclosures is that crime rates tend to also increase during these times. The two major crimes that will be taken into account are violent crime and property crimes. I use foreclosure, …

Go to article

2009-4 Level Versus Equivalent Intensity Carbon Mitigation Commitments, Huifang Tian, John Whalley Jan 2009

2009-4 Level Versus Equivalent Intensity Carbon Mitigation Commitments, Huifang Tian, John Whalley

Economic Policy Research Institute. EPRI Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last