Economics Commons^™

How Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Growth In Developing Countries? An Empirical Investigation, E. M. Ekanayake, John R. Ledgerwood

Publications

This paper analyzes the effects of foreign direct investment on the economic growth of developing countries. The study uses annual data on a group of 85 developing countries covering Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean for the period 1980-2007. We explore the hypothesis that foreign direct investment can promote growth in developing countries. We test this hypothesis using panel data series for foreign direct investment, while accounting for regional differences in Asian, African, Latin American, and the Caribbean countries as well as the differences in income levels. While the findings of previous studies are generally mixed, our results …

The Real Exchange Rate Volatility And U.S. Exports: An Empirical Investigation, E. M. Ekanayake, John R. Ledgerwood, Sabrina D'Souza

Publications

This paper investigates effects of exchange rate volatility on U.S. exports, using disaggregated sectoral data on U.S. exports to its major trading partners. In this paper, we use a generalized ARCH-type model (GARCH) to generate a measure of exchange rate volatility which is then tested in a model of U.S. exports. The analysis uses monthly trade data for the period from January 1990 through December 2007. Testing sectoral trade data allows us to detect whether the direction or magnitude of the impact of volatility differs depending on the types of goods that are traded. The results obtained in this paper …

Revitalizing The Signaling Power Of Class Rank At Colby College, Nicholas Van Niel

Honors Theses

Consistent with trends at American colleges and universities nationwide, grades have been monotonically increasing at Colby College over the past decade while controlling for student aptitude. A rich data set that describes every Colby student over three cohorts is used to predict student performance. By comparing the mean predicted grade to the mean actual grade in a department, it is seen that some departments award mean grades that are significantly higher than predicted grades warranted by explainable factors. With some departments giving significantly higher grades than other departments, the current grading system is susceptible to awarding unwarranted higher grades to …

Continuity Of Fdi: Determinants And Effects On Growth, Loredana Popescu

Honors Theses

The literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) provides evidence on the relation from FDI to growth in the presence of some absorptive qualities such as existing level of development, financial market depth, trade policies and human capital thresholds. The analysis of FDI inflows in the literature so far does not include an investigation of discontinuity, or of lack of steady positive flows. Discontinuities are expected to depend on development levels and risk factors in the host country as they proxy for attractiveness of the target to the foreign investor. This paper investigates the continuity of FDI with its determinants and …

Optimal Estimation Under Nonstandard Conditions, Werner Ploberger, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We analyze optimality properties of maximum likelihood (ML) and other estimators when the problem does not necessarily fall within the locally asymptotically normal (LAN) class, therefore covering cases that are excluded from conventional LAN theory such as unit root nonstationary time series. The classical Hájek-Le Cam optimality theory is adapted to cover this situation. We show that the expectation of certain monotone “bowl-shaped” functions of the squared estimation error are minimized by the ML estimator in locally asymptotically quadratic situations, which often occur in nonstationary time series analysis when the LAN property fails. Moreover, we demonstrate a direct connection between …

Power Maximization And Size Control In Heteroskedasticity And Autocorrelation Robust Tests With Exponentiated Kernels, Yixiao Sun, Peter C.B. Phillips, Sainan Jin

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Using the power kernels of Phillips, Sun and Jin (2006, 2007), we examine the large sample asymptotic properties of the t -test for different choices of power parameter (τ). We show that the nonstandard fixed-τ limit distributions of the t -statistic provide more accurate approximations to the finite sample distributions than the conventional large-τ limit distribution. We prove that the second-order corrected critical value based on an asymptotic expansion of the nonstandard limit distribution is also second-order correct under the large-τ asymptotics. As a further contribution, we propose a new practical procedure for selecting the test-optimal power parameter that addresses …

Uniform Asymptotic Normality In Stationary And Unit Root Autoregression, Chirok Han, Peter C.B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

While differencing transformations can eliminate nonstationarity, they typically reduce signal strength and correspondingly reduce rates of convergence in unit root autoregressions. The present paper shows that aggregating moment conditions that are formulated in differences provides an orderly mechanism for preserving information and signal strength in autoregressions with some very desirable properties. In first order autoregression, a partially aggregated estimator based on moment conditions in differences is shown to have a limiting normal distribution which holds uniformly in the autoregressive coefficient rho including stationary and unit root cases. The rate of convergence is root of n when |τ| < 1 and the limit distribution is the same as the Gaussian maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), but when τ = 1 the rate of convergence to the normal distribution is within a slowly varying factor of n . A fully aggregated estimator is shown to have the same limit behavior in the stationary case and to have nonstandard limit distributions in unit root and near integrated cases which reduce both the bias and the variance of the MLE. This result shows that it is possible to improve on the asymptotic behavior of the MLE without using an artificial shrinkage technique or otherwise accelerating convergence at unity at the cost of performance in the neighborhood of unity.

Leverage Causes Fat Tails And Clustered Volatility, Stefan Thurner, J. Doyne Farmer, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We build a simple model of leveraged asset purchases with margin calls. Investment funds use what is perhaps the most basic financial strategy, called “value investing,” i.e., systematically attempting to buy underpriced assets. When funds do not borrow, the price fluctuations of the asset are approximately normally distributed and uncorrelated across time. This changes when the funds are allowed to leverage, i.e., borrow from a bank, which allows them to purchase more assets than their wealth would otherwise permit. During good times funds that use more leverage have higher profits, increasing their wealth and making them dominant in the market. …

Examining Industry Concentration In The Plant Biotechnology Sector, Heather Renee Williams

Masters Theses

The core focus of this research is to recognize industry concentration in the plant biotechnology sector. The literature review examines institutional dynamics affecting the industry - discussing the importance of innovation, and how the government can influence the industry to remain competitive. An examination of a few key firms' history and evolution helps explain the structure of the plant biotech industry. The research also provides examples of what crops are being altered using biotechnology, and why companies are willing to spend money to gain the rights to this research. This article compiles plant biotechnology US field trial data from 2000 …

An Examination Of The Environmental Kuznets Curve For Methyl Bromide, Jordan D. Pepper

Masters Theses

This study investigates the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis with respect to methyl bromide consumption by examining a sample data for 92 countries between the years 1990-2001. The study concludes that methyl bromide consumption does not appear to exhibit an EKC type relationship, and that a number of variables significantly impact methyl bromide consumption.

Eco 104 Marx, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes.

• Anwar Shaikh. (n.d.). File folder notes for ECO 104: Marx on value, money, and price [Unpublished handwritten notes on file folder]. Author.

• Smith, H. (2010, February 7). Super-wealthy investors move billions out of Greece. The Guardian. Guardian News & Media.

• Moudud, J., Nell, E., & Shaikh, A. (2010, February 7). Sovereign debt defaults [Email correspondence].

• Shaikh, A. (1986, August). Surplus value [Unpublished manuscript prepared for The New Palgrave (final)]. Author.

• Shaikh, A. (2009, January 15). Basic structure of the classical theory of price (GECO 104) [Unpublished course document]. Author.

• …

Monitoring To Reduce Agency Costs: Examining The Behavior Of Independent And Non-Independent Boards, Anita Anand, Frank Milne, Lynnette Purda

Seattle University Law Review

Berle and Means’s analysis of the corporation—in particular, their view that those in control are not the owners of the corporation—raises questions about actions that corporations take to counter concerns regarding management’s influence. What mechanisms, if any, do corporations implement to balance the distribution of power in the corporation? To address this question, we analyze boards of directors’ propensity to voluntarily adopt recommended corporate governance practices. Because board independence is one way to enhance shareholders’ ability to monitor management, we probe whether firms with independent boards of directors (which we define as boards with either an independent chair or a …

Identification In Differentiated Products Markets Using Market Level Data, Steven T. Berry, Philip A. Haile

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider nonparametric identification in models of differentiated products markets, using only market level observables. On the demand side we consider a nonparametric random utility model nesting random coefficients discrete choice models widely used in applied work. We allow for product/market-specific unobservables, endogenous product characteristics (e.g., prices), and high-dimensional taste shocks with arbitrary correlation and heteroskedasticity. On the supply side we specify marginal costs nonparametrically, allow for unobserved firm heterogeneity, and nest a variety of equilibrium oligopoly models. We pursue two approaches to identification. One relies on instrumental variables conditions used previously to demonstrate identification in a nonparametric regression framework. …

Identification In Differentiated Products Markets Using Market Level Data, Steven T. Berry, Philip A. Haile

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We present new identification results for nonparametric models of differentiated products markets, using only market level observables. We specify a nonparametric random utility discrete choice model of demand allowing rich preference heterogeneity, product/market unobservables, and endogenous prices. Our supply model posits nonparametric cost functions, allows latent costs shocks, and nests a range of standard oligopoly models. We consider identification of demand, identification of changes in aggregate consumer welfare, identification of marginal costs, identification of firms’ marginal cost functions, and discrimination between alternative models of firm conduct. We explore two complementary approaches. The first demonstrates identification under the same nonparametric instrumental …

Leverage Causes Fat Tails And Clustered Volatility, Stefan Thurner, J. Doyne Farmer, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We build a simple model of leveraged asset purchases with margin calls. Investment funds use what is perhaps the most basic financial strategy, called “value investing,” i.e. systematically attempting to buy underpriced assets. When funds do not borrow, the price fluctuations of the asset are normally distributed and uncorrelated across time. All this changes when the funds are allowed to leverage, i. e. borrow from a bank, to purchase more assets than their wealth would otherwise permit. During good times competition drives investors to funds that use more leverage, because they have higher profits. As leverage increases price fluctuations become …

X-Differencing And Dynamic Panel Model Estimation, Chirok Han, Peter C.B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper introduces a new estimation method for dynamic panel models with fixed effects and AR( p ) idiosyncratic errors. The proposed estimator uses a novel form of systematic differencing, called X -differencing, that eliminates fixed effects and retains information and signal strength in cases where there is a root at or near unity. The resulting “panel fully aggregated” estimator (PFAE) is obtained by pooled least squares on the system of X -differenced equations. The method is simple to implement, free from bias for all parameter values, including unit root cases, and has strong asymptotic and finite sample performance characteristics …

Two New Zealand Pioneer Econometricians, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Two distinguished New Zealanders pioneered some of the foundations of modern econometrics. Alec Aitken, one of the most famous and well-documented mental arithmeticians of all time, contributed the matrix formulation and projection geometry of linear regression, generalized least squares (GLS) estimation, algorithms for Hodrick Prescott (HP) style data smoothing (six decades before their use in economics), and statistical estimation theory leading to the Cramér Rao bound. Rex Bergstrom constructed and estimated by limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) the largest empirical structural model in the early 1950s, opened up the field of exact distribution theory, developed cyclical growth models in economic …

Solving The Present Crisis And Managing The Leverage Cycle, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The present crisis is the bottom of a recurring problem that I call the leverage cycle, in which leverage gradually rises too high then suddenly falls much too low. The government must manage the leverage cycle in normal times by monitoring and regulating leverage to keep it from getting too high. In the crisis stage the government must stem the scary bad news that brought on the crisis, which often will entail coordinated write downs of principal; it must restore sane leverage by going around the banks and lending at lower collateral rates (not lower interest rates), and when necessary …

Pricing In Matching Markets, George J. Mailath, Andrew Postlewaite, Larry Samuelson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Different markets are cleared by different types of prices — a universal price for all buyers and sellers in some markets, seller-specific prices that are uniform across buyers in others, and personalized prices tailored to both the buyer and the seller in yet others. We introduce the notion of premuneration values — the values in the absence of any muneration (payments) — created by the buyer-seller match. We characterize the premuneration values under which uniform-price and personalized-price equilibria agree. In this case, we have efficient allocations, including pre-match investment decisions, without the costs of personalized pricing. We then examine the …

Is There Monopsony In The Labor Market? Evidence From A Natural Experiment, Douglas O. Staiger, Joanne Spetz, Ciaran S. Phibbs

Dartmouth Scholarship

Recent theoretical and empirical advances have renewed interest in monopsonistic models of the labor market. However, there is little direct empirical support for these models. We use an exogenous change in wages at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals as a natural experiment to investigate the extent of monopsony in the nurse labor market. We estimate that labor supply to individual hospitals is quite inelastic, with short-run elasticity around 0.1. We also find that non-VA hospitals responded to the VA wage change by changing their own wages.

What The Stock Market Decline Means For The Financial Security And Retirement Choices Of The Near-Retirement Population, Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier, Nahid Tabatabai

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper investigates the effect of the current recession on the retirement age population. Data from the Health and Retirement Study suggest that those approaching retirement age (early boomers ages 53 to 58 in 2006) have only 15.2 percent of their wealth in stocks, held directly or in defined contribution plans or IRAs. Their vulnerability to a stock market decline is limited by the high value of their Social Security wealth, which represents over a quarter of the total household wealth of the early boomers. In addition, their defined contribution plans remain immature, so their defined benefit plans represent sixty …

Geography Of Business Incubator Formation In The United States, Junbo Yu, Mark Middleton, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The geography of business incubators has seldom been examined against the public aspirations and beliefs that incubators should either inhabit economically distressed areas to alleviate unemployment and poverty (in the case of empowerment business incubators) or proliferate in technologically capable regions to adequately unleash and exploit local high-technology potentials (in the case of technology business incubators). In this paper, the geographic distribution of 719 U.S. business incubators, which are located in 465 out of the 3,141 counties, is examined drawing upon a newly built incubator population database. In addition, the location factors underlying the formation of business incubators are also …

Crisis 2008, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes,

• Shaikh, A. (2008). Notes on the 2008 crisis [Handwritten notes, folder titled Crisis 2008]. Manuscript in possession of the author.

• Fels, R. (1949, February). The long-wave depression, 1873–97. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 31(1), 27–37.

• Shaikh, A. (2010, April 1). Notes on neoliberalism, the sufficient state, class politics, and general issues related to the world economy [Handwritten notes]. Manuscript in possession of the author.

• Shaikh, A. (2010, April 1). Notes discussing caste and class in India, referencing Javeed Alam [Handwritten notes]. Manuscript in possession of the author.

• Shaikh, A. (2010). …

Section 9, Ii - Blecker Paper On International Competitiveness, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Handwritten cover note on Section 9, II and Blecker paper on international competitiveness. Shaikh, A. 2010. [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research.
• International competitiveness, relative wages, and the balance-of-payments constraint. Blecker, R. A. 1998. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 20(4). M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
• Aggregate demand and firm behavior: a new perspective on Keynesian microfoundations. Fazzari, S. M., Ferri, P., & Greenberg, E. 1998. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 20(4). M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
• The long view of China's currency. Leonhardt, D. 2010. The New York Times. …

Geco104 Trade, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection contains:

• Shaikh, A. (2000, December 5; 2010, November 30, rev.). International competition and the theory of exchange rates [Handout].

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (2010, November 30). Competition, trade, uneven development [Handwritten notes for ECO 104].

• Global patterns of trade and development [Presentation slides]. (n.d.).

Ua1b1/1 Rodes-Helm Lecture Series, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

These records were created by and about the Rodes-Helm Lecture Series which invited distinguished, and prominent individuals from the spheres of politics, economics, and the arts, to lecture at the university. The records include programs, and recordings of lectures.

Citizenship In The Humanities And Social Sciences: A Selective Bibliography, 2000-2009, Wayne State University School Of Library And Information Science, Winter 2010 Lis 7160, James E. Van Loon, H.G.B. Anghelescu

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

Citizenship in the Humanities and Social Sciences is a selective bibliography consisting of citations to works published during the years 2000-2009 on citizenship-related topics in the humanities and social sciences. Primarily consisting of books/chapters and scholarly journal articles, the bibliography also includes other materials (case studies, reports, dissertations, and working papers) for which scholarship, authority and relevance have been established. Most cited works are published in the English language, although articles published in other languages using a Latin alphabet are also included. Citations were retrieved during January-March 2010 from a variety of aggregated databases accessed through the Wayne State University …

Review Weeks Capitalexploration And Crisis, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Review weeks folder notes (Handwritten folder notes). Anwar Shaikh Papers. Collection of unpublished review materials.
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Review of John Weeks' manuscript, capital, exploitation and crises (Peer review report). Anwar Shaikh Papers. Duke University Press.

Loose Profit Notes, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Two sources of profits (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Handwritten annotations on commodity flows and pricing (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2009). Handwritten ledger on business profit and national income and product accounts calculations (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2004). The importance of working time in Marx's analysis (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Handwritten equations on linear standard prices and money (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1999). Handwritten outline on fictitious capital, capital gains, and profit definitions (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1977). Handwritten reading notes on Suzanne de Brunhoff's Marx on Money (Unpublished manuscript).
• Shaikh, A. (1978). …

Chartalism, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

Exchange, money and price — a typed manuscript draft, interspersed with handwritten annotations on Knapp and chartalist theory, an unpublished manuscript by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, dated April 19, 2010 (with an earlier draft date of March 22, 2009 noted on each page).

Shaikh, A. (2010, April 19). Exchange, money and price [Unpublished manuscript].

Notes on Knapp, as discussed in L. R. Wray's "Understanding modern money" — handwritten reading notes, an unpublished manuscript by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, undated.

Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Notes on Knapp, as discussed in L. R. Wray's "Understanding modern money" [Unpublished manuscript].

Chartalism notes — …