Economics Commons^™

Beyond ‘‘Green Buildings:’’ Exploring The Effects Of Jevons’ Paradox On The Sustainability Of Archival Practices, Mark D. Wolfe

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The sustainability of archival institutions will be greatly affected by attempts to mitigate their carbon footprint to meet the challenges of global climate change. This paper explores how recordkeeping practices may enhance or undermine the sustainability of archives. To enhance sustainability, it is a common practice to increase the efficiency of recordkeeping practices. However, increases to efficiency may lead to a phenomenon known as Jevons’ Paradox. Jevons’ Paradox occurs when improvements in efficiency to a system or process result in an increase in use (instead of a decrease) of a resource. The failure of the paperless office demonstrates Jevons’ Paradox, …

Unintended Social And Economic Consequences Resulting From The Implementation Of New Construction Technologies In The Developing World, Andrew J. South

Theses and Dissertations

One of the key components of international development is to provide adequate shelter for citizens of developing countries. This is often accomplished by governmental, non- governmental, and private organizations that seek to lower the cost, increase the quality, and expand the availability of safe, sustainable housing through the use of innovative technologies. These new technologies can affect the social and/or economic structure within communities. This paper is a case study resulting from the construction of a seventy-one-home village, including infrastructure, near Yogyakarta, Indonesia by a foreign, aid-based non-governmental organization (NGO). The village was relocated less than two kilometers from its …

Delineating Roles Within The Sector, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Talks, Speeches, & Discourse

Dr. Husain went on to speak of the role of the microfinance industry in Pakistan where the distinction between the microfinance banks and microfinance institutions was deliberately designed to maintain a wedge between deposit mobilizers and social mobilizers to safeguard the poor against charlatans. The idea was to ensure that nobody but licensed deposit-takers could take money from the poor. Incidentally, he also mentioned that Pakistan was the first to make regulation for the sector. Bangladesh and India were against regulations at that stage as it was felt that regulation would hamper the growth of the sector. The State Bank …

South Dakota 2011 Crop Forecast, Kelley Highbear, Matthew Diersen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Models Of Local Democracy Within A Federal System: The Experience Of Pakistan, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Talks, Speeches, & Discourse

I would like to divide my remarks this morning in three parts. First, I would like to focus on the reasons as to why local government system should be strengthened and made effective. Second, I would share the analysis of the Local Government system in Pakistan introduced in 2001 and finally, how can that system be improved and made more responsive to the needs of the common citizens

The Impact Of Honor Codes And Perceptions Of Cheating On Academic Cheating Behaviors, Especially For Mba Bound Undergraduates, Heather M. O'Neill, Christian A. Pfeiffer

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

Researchers studying academic dishonesty in college often focus on demographic characteristics of cheaters and discuss changes in cheating trends over time. To predict cheating behavior, some researchers examine the costs and benefits of academic cheating, while others view campus culture and the role which honor codes play in affecting behavior. This paper develops a model of academic cheating based on three sets of incentives - moral, social and economic—and how they affect cheating behaviors. An on-line survey comprising 61 questions was administered to students from three liberal arts colleges in the USA in spring 2008, yielding 700 responses, with half …

Leaving Or Staying: Inter-Provincial Migration In Vietnam, Phuong Nguyen-Hoang, John G. Mcpeak

Economics - All Scholarship

Internal migration has several policy implications for economic growth and development for developing countries in general and for the fast growing low-income country of Vietnam in particular. Little research has been done, however, on inter-provincial migration in Vietnam. This study makes two major contributions to the migration and development literature in terms of the datasets and policy-relevant estimation approach. It is the first paper to use the annual survey data on migration published by Vietnam’s General Statistics Office. This study also adopts a functional form to accommodate the flexibility of income’s elasticity. Income, together with urban unemployment rates, are endogenously …

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index — July 2011, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Quenching Thirst Through Policy And Planning, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Water is fundamental to human survival. Yet, for many people in the world, clean water may not necessarily come as easy as simply turning the tap. It is estimated that some 20 percent of the world's population do not have access to water – a reality not perpetuated by a lack of water, but rather, ineffective policies and politicians. Speaking at a SMU Social Sciences seminar, Eduardo Araral shares the story of how a city overcame the odds to supply clean water to its masses.

An Analysis Of Consumer Behavior On Black Friday, Linda Simpson, Lisa Taylor, Kathleen O'Rourke, Katherine Shaw

Faculty Research & Creative Activity until 2018 (FCS)

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the consumer behaviors and commentary of the Black Friday customer. An observational instrument documented consumer in-line behavior while waiting for the stores to open, store entry behavior, and individual behavior. Findings show that the majority of the shoppers demonstrated calmness, courteousness, and happiness during the shopping experience; however, a number of shoppers exhibited negative and potentially dangerous behaviors which pose a safety concern for store personnel and other shoppers. Implications for retailers, researchers, and family and consumer sciences educators are discussed.

An Analysis Of Consumer Behavior On Black Friday, Linda Simpson, Lisa Taylor, Kathleen O'Rourke, Katherine Shaw

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the consumer behaviors and commentary of the Black Friday customer. An observational instrument documented consumer in-line behavior while waiting for the stores to open, store entry behavior, and individual behavior. Findings show that the majority of the shoppers demonstrated calmness, courteousness, and happiness during the shopping experience; however, a number of shoppers exhibited negative and potentially dangerous behaviors which pose a safety concern for store personnel and other shoppers. Implications for retailers, researchers, and family and consumer sciences educators are discussed.

Review: Robert H. Nelson, The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion Vs. Environmental Religion In Contemporary America, Andre Wakefield

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review of Robert H. Nelson's The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion vs. Environmental Religion in Contemporary America. Nelson argues that environmentalism and economics represent competing religious worldviews. Within this framework, debates over issues like global warming and acid rain become veiled theological disputes between these two “secular religions.” Nelson paints with a broad, aggressive brush. This is both the strength and weakness of his book, as he conjures a world of epic battles between the economic faithful, who worship material progress, and the environmentally pious, who bemoan the corruption visited by humans upon the natural world. …

No. 24: South Africa's Two Diasporas: Engagement And Disengagement, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

The African diaspora is increasingly viewed as a key to realizing the development potential of international migration. At the same time, there remains considerable confusion about who exactly constitutes the diaspora and which groups should be targeted for “diaspora engagement.” For some, the diaspora consists of all migrants of African birth living outside Africa. The African Union’s definition of the African diaspora, for example, “comprises people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality.” The World Bank goes a step further to distinguish between an involuntary and a voluntary, a historical and a contemporary, component …

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 14, Number 3, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Adam G. Walke

Departmental Papers (E & F)

No abstract provided.

El Paso Downtown Perceptions: 2011 Survey, Roberto Tinajero, David Ramirez, Elizabeth K. Gibson

IPED Technical Reports

The Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED) at the University of Texas at El Paso was contracted by the El Paso Downtown Management District (DMD), Strategic Communication Consulting Group (SCCG), and the City of El Paso Economic Development Department (EPED) to conduct a survey on issues related to downtown El Paso. Accordingly, this report provides a snapshot of the attitudes and perceptions of business owners and employees within the Downtown Management District, as well as El Paso County households, regarding several issues associated with downtown El Paso. The survey and its findings are intended to guide the DMD and …

Fathers' Time Investments In Children: Do Sons Get More?, Kristin Mammen

Publications and Research

Evidence suggests that, from birth, fathers treat sons differently than daughters in the U.S., as well as in developing countries. Fathers' time investments in children are one channel through which differential treatment by gender may affect children's outcomes. This paper uses data from the 2003 American Time Use Survey to explore three questions about paternal time in married two-parent families: Does the gender composition of his children affect the amount of time a father spends with them? If so, does the gender of the individual child have an additional effect? And is a girl advantaged or disadvantaged by the presence …

From Boom To Doom To Boom: Offshore Financial Centres And Development In Small States, Richard Woodward

Articles

During the 1990s tax havens and offshore financial centres (OFCs) were subject to a string of initiatives designed to raise their tax and regulatory regimes to accepted international standards. Many commentators forecast that this would lead to the demise of OFCs, a worry for the many small states whose economic well being depended heavily on the provision of offshore financial services. Despite this regulatory onslaught many small state OFCs have prospered in the new millennium. This paper seeks to explain this apparent paradox by arguing that (1) international initiatives were riddled with loopholes and exceptions that have been gleefully seized …

Kentucky Ranks 33rd On Education Index, Michael T. Childress, Matthew L. Howell

Issue Brief on Topics Affecting Kentucky’s Economy

No abstract provided.

Decontextualizing Development: A Critical Examination Of American Popular Discourse On Foreign Aid, Jeffrey Haines

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Humanitarian foreign aid is a controversial topic, subject to much popular debate. Although there is much available polling and survey evidence about public stances on the issue, there have been significantly fewer attempts at more in-depth analyses of the public discourse. This thesis is an attempt to explore the popular discourse on aid in more depth, including its rationales, assumptions, and values.

It concludes that both sides of the American public in the debate often make use of similar types of assumptions regarding international affairs, suggesting often deeper agreement than the debate may indicate. It is argued that the set …

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

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Different markets are cleared by different types of prices — seller-specific prices that are uniform across buyers in some markets, and personalized prices tailored to the buyer in others. We examine a setting in which buyers and sellers make investments before matching in a competitive market. We introduce the notion of premuneration values — the values to the transacting agents prior to any transfers — created by a buyer-seller match. Personalized price equilibrium outcomes are independent of premuneration values and exhibit inefficiencies only in the event of “coordination failures,” while uniform-price equilibria depend on premuneration values and in general feature …

Dynamics Of Inductive Inference In A Unified Framework, Itzhak Gilboa, Larry Samuelson, David Schmeidler

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We present a model of inductive inference that includes, as special cases, Bayesian reasoning, case-based reasoning, and rule-based reasoning. This unified framework allows us to examine, positively or normatively, how the various modes of inductive inference can be combined and how their relative weights change endogenously. We establish conditions under which an agent who does not know the structure of the data generating process will decrease, over the course of her reasoning, the weight of credence put on Bayesian vs. non-Bayesian reasoning. We show that even random data can make certain theories seem plausible and hence increase the weight of …

What It Takes To Solve The U.S. Government Deficit Problem, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper uses a structural multi-country macroeconometric model to estimate the size of the decrease in transfer payments (or tax expenditures) needed to stabilize the U.S. government debt/GDP ratio. It takes into account endogenous effects of changes in fiscal policy on the economy and in turn the effect of changes in the economy on the deficit. A base run is first obtained for the 2013:1-2022:4 period in which there are no major changes in U.S. fiscal policy. This results in an ever increasing debt/GDP ratio. Then transfer payments are decreased by an amount sufficient to stabilize the long-run debt/GDP ratio. …

The Present And Future Of Game Theory, Martin Shubik

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A broad nontechnical coverage of many of the developments in game theory since the 1950s is given together with some comments on important open problems and where some of the developments may take place. The nearly 90 references given serve only as a minimal guide to the many thousands of books and articles that have been written. The purpose here is to present a broad brush picture of the many areas of study and application that have come into being. The use of deep techniques flourishes best when it stays in touch with application. There is a vital symbiotic relationship …

Tranching, Cds And Asset Prices: How Financial Innovation Can Cause Bubbles And Crashes, Ana Fostel, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We show how the timing of financial innovation might have contributed to the mortgage boom and then to the bust of 2007-2009. We study the effect of leverage, tranching, securitization and CDS on asset prices in a general equilibrium model with collateral. We show why tranching and leverage tend to raise asset prices and why CDS tend to lower them. This may seem puzzling, since it implies that creating a derivative tranche in the securitization whose payoffs are identical to the CDS will raise the underlying asset price while the CDS outside the securitization lowers it. The resolution of the …

Tranching, Cds And Asset Prices: How Financial Innovation Can Cause Bubbles And Crashes, Ana Fostel, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We show how the timing of financial innovation might have contributed to the mortgage bubble and then to the crash of 2007-2009. We show why tranching and leverage first raised asset prices and why CDS lowered them afterwards. This may seem puzzling, since it implies that creating a derivative tranche in the securitization whose payoffs are identical to the CDS will raise the underlying asset price while the CDS outside the securitization lowers it. The resolution of the puzzle is that the CDS lowers the value of the underlying asset since it is equivalent to tranching cash.

Is The Wto Quietly Fading Away?: The New Regionalism And Global Trade Rules, Stephen J. Powell, Trisha Low

UF Law Faculty Publications

While scholars and governments alike view the liberalization of international trade as a positive development, they disagree on the medium that will accomplish this objective with the highest economic returns. Some experts believe that multilateralism through the 150+ member World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only way to achieve truly open and efficient trade. Others view multilateralism as but an aspiration and find that regionalism offers the only viable prospect for the meaningful further opening of markets.

In light of what we label the "new regionalism," our paper explores in detail the positive and negative effects of regional trade arrangements …

Homeownership Boom And Bust 2000 To 2009: Where Will The Homeownership Rate Go From Here?, Stuart A. Gabriel, Stuart S. Rosenthal

Economics - All Scholarship

The increase in the homeownership rate in the middle of the last decade extended to all age groups but was most pronounced among individuals under age 30. These increases coincided with looser credit conditions that enhanced household access to mortgage credit along with evidence of less risk averse attitudes towards investment in homeownership. Following the crash, these trends have reversed and homeownership rates have largely reverted back to the levels of 2000. The drop in the homeownership rate from an all-time high of 69.2 in 2004 to 66.4 percent in the first quarter of 2011 reflects a decline from unsustainable …

In High School And Pregnant: The Importance Of Educational And Fertility Expectations For Subsequent Outcomes, Olga Yakusheva

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This study uses the High School and Beyond data (1980–1992) to examine the importance of educational and fertility expectations in explaining the achievement gap of adolescent mothers for over 5,500 young women from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Using a non-parametric local propensity score regression, the study finds that the economic disadvantage associated with having a child in high school is particularly large in poor socioeconomic environments; however, this disadvantage is a result of preexisting differences in the educational and fertility expectations and is not because of a diminished capacity of the socioeconomic environment to mediate the effect of an unplanned childbirth. …

Comment On Hoerger: Early Pilots Of Medicare Auctions Brings No Solace To Auction Experts, Peter Cramton, Brett E. Katzman

Faculty Articles

Peter Cramton and Brett Katzman stick to their guns: Medicare auctions remain fatally flawed and must be fixed. They argue that contrary to Hoerger's comment, no comfort can be drawn from the fact that the market was able to withstand price reductions in early pilots.

Is There A Link Between Money Illusion And Homeowners' Expectations Of Housing Prices?, Lucy F. Ackert, Bryan K. Church, Narayanan Jayaraman

Faculty Articles

Money illusion is a behavioral bias in which a person thinks in terms of nominal rather than real values. This article reports homeowners' responses to a survey designed to measure the extent of money illusion as well as homeowners' expectations regarding home valuations. Our survey respondents suffer from money illusion, yet they have reasonable expectations of home prices. Our analysis did not identify any unique individual characteristic that correlates with homeowners' choices and suggests that the relationship between money illusion and mispricing is subtle and multifaceted.