Economics Commons^™

Mortgage Default In Southern California: Examining Distressed Borrower's Decision Making And Market Contagion, Michael Wilkerson

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on mortgage defaults in Southern California during the housing bubble of the 2000s. The rapid decline in the housing market that precipitated the current recession has been accompanied by an unprecedented number of loan defaults and foreclosures. Recent studies have identified two major theories of default--the "double trigger" hypothesis, where negative equity and an income shock are necessary conditions for default--and "strategic default" where negative equity is a sufficient condition for default. This paper adds to the default literature by adding short sale as another possible outcome of mortgage default.

The primary goal is to analyze the …

Effects Of United States Monetary Policy On The Capital Flows To The Latin America Countries, David Rene Samayoa Gordillo

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In the latest time, the US has had an easy Monetary Policy. Because of the increasing link among the countries through interconnections on international trade, financial, and labor markets, such policy has not only had effects in the US economy, but also in the rest of the world. So many countries, especially emerging and developing countries, have suggested that such a policy has been causing an excessive flow of funds out of the US which are disrupting the exchange rate and competitiveness of those countries. An innovation of the analysis is that capital flows are divided in "Firm related" (direct …

Data Envelopment Analysis Of Productivity Changes In Higher Education For-Profit Enterprises Compared To Non-Profits, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Data envelopment analysis is used to compare private for-profit colleges to publicly owned colleges in terms of their operating efficiency and productivity. Academic year 2005-09 panel data is used for two-year institutions in the U.S. Results indicate that for-profit efficiency exceeded that of public colleges. Malmquist index results show that colleges in both sectors increased managerial and scale efficiencies, but that both were hindered by technological regress to the extent that overall productivity declined. 2007-08 created efficiency declines across the board, but for-profits managed large technological gains that produced the only annual productivity improvement for either sector. The results are …

Cost Inefficiencies And Rankings Of Ivy Universities: Stochastic Panel Estimates, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper employs stochastic frontier analysis in providing estimates of the operating cost inefficiencies of private non-profit and public ivy universities in the U.S. Panel data for academic years 2005-09 is used to estimate cost frontiers under two alternative specifications that lead to estimated gross and net inefficiencies. Time varying inefficiencies are reported for each academic year and used to calculate university inefficiency rankings by sector. The results suggest that private ivy universities are less inefficient or more efficient than their public counterparts. However, public ivies appear to have made significant inefficiency adjustments perhaps in response to the global financial …

Comment, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ethics And Critical Thinking, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

This chapter seeks to demonstrate that investigations in positive economics rely on ethical perspectives and practices, and further, that critical thinking requires a wider ethical viewpoint than normative economics generally permits. Positive economics generally relies, for example, on the unsung virtues of the investigator who demonstrates honesty and transparency in the search for truth. Ethical failures in this regard are not uncommon (DeMartino, 2011). But another unstated ethical perspective appears in the worldview from which a researcher sets out to model behavior. Modelers almost always assume that rationality requires that an economic actor undertake an action in pursuit of a …

New School, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

Handwritten notes from an executive faculty meeting on the response to Occupy Wall Street at The New School (December 7, 2011)

Handwritten notes on Laura Carvalho's discussion of Brazil's economy

An article by Erika Vaatainen from the New School Free Press titled New School Financial Forms Reveal Upward Trend in Administrative Compensation (April 25, 2012)

An article by the Editorial Staff of the New School Free Press titled Financial Transparency (March 29, 2012)

An article by Rey Mashayekhi from the New School Free Press titled Van Zandt and Schober Grilled at NSSR Town Hall (February 23, 2012)

On Persistent Poverty In A Rich Country, T.M. Tonmoy Islam, Jenny Minier, James P. Ziliak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

We examine differences in income within the U.S., and the regions of persistent poverty that have arisen, using a newly assembled dataset of counties that links historical 19th century Census data with contemporaneous data. The data, along with an augmented human capital growth model, permit us to identify the roles of contemporaneous differences in aggregate production technologies and factor endowments, in conjunction with the historical roles of institutions, culture, geography, and human capital. We allow for possible cross-county factor mobility via a correlated random effects GMM estimator that identifies simultaneously the coefficients on time varying and time-invariant determinants of income. …

Vol. 11, Issue 1- Table Of Contents

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

No abstract provided.

Can Undergraduate Students Make Optimal Decisions About Student Loans?

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This study shows that although in theory students are capable of making simple payoff calculations and choosing the optimal choice, when it comes to student loans, they are unable and/or unwilling to extend those calculations to complicated examples that incorporate uncertainty and resemble real life. A probit regression finds that academic standing, time spent at a community college and the amount of loans already taken to date influence students’ rationality to achieve the optimal payoff.

Still No Significant Difference? The Impact Of Distance Learning On Student Success In Undergraduate Managerial Economics

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

The increasing use of distance learning technologies to teach business and economics courses quickly leads to the question of the effectiveness of these approaches. This control group study examined the grade performances of 147 undergraduate managerial economics students. Some students took the course in a conventional bricks and mortar classroom, while others simultaneously received the course via three different televised modes. External student learning economies appeared. Students who had the opportunity to interact with each other face-to-face performed better than those lacking that opportunity. The results do not encourage the conclusion that student learning is unaffected by how the students …

Teaching And Experiment With Global Currency–Hedging Strategies

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This paper presents a method in teaching currency hedging, in which we incorporate a novel strategy recently published in the Journal of Finance (Campbell et al. 2010). We design a project to implement a simple and intuitive version of the strategy that can help students deepen their understanding of diversification and currency hedging. By doing the project, students will learn how to execute the strategy and understand the underlying factors that affect the results. The project also gives students good practice in data collection and analysis. It is a good example of incorporating more advanced academic findings into undergraduate finance …

Does Faculty Tenure Improve Student Graduation Rates?, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

The primary objective of this paper is to determine whether tenure in comparison to non-tenure faculty employment is efficient in producing the academic success of university students. A stochastic production frontier is estimated for university graduation rates while the inefficiency specification includes measures of tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track faculty employment. Using panel data for U.S. doctoral and master level public universities, the evidence indicates that the employment status does matter and that increases in the pro- portion of tenured faculty employment lead to efficiency gains in graduation rates. Effects of tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty are somewhat mixed with …

Vela Mail, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Velupillai, K. V. (2012, May 8). Numbers (Email).

Impact Of Work Values And Individual Attributes On Citizenship And Task Performance: A Test In A Developing Country Context, Anil Chadrakumara

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

This study examined the impact of work values and individual characteristics on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and task performance (TP). Based on the arguments of Social Capital Theory, a theoretical foundation was developed to use work values as antecedents of OCB. Analyzing 416 responses from Sri Lankan manufacturing sector employees, it was found that gender and employment category were related to citizenship performance, while level of education was related to task performance. More importantly, the impact of work values (work norms, work ethics, and intrinsic values) on OCB was found to be more significant than that of demographic factors. Overall, …

Technology And The Export Behavior Of Small, Locally- Owned Firms: New Insight, Densil A. Williams

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

This paper investigates the relationship between technology and the export performance of small, locally-owned firms in the Jamaican economy. The literature argues that technology is an important variable in influencing the export performance of small firms given its technological ability to generate competitive advantage for the firm. However, the results from empirical studies are not always consistent. To investigate this issue, the paper uses survey data collected through face-to-face interviews of 92 exporters and non-exporters to estimate a logistic regression model of the firm’s export behavior. The results revealed that firm size, is the most critical factor that determines export …

Measuring Water Poverty Index In Urban Areas Of Punjab, Kanwal Zahra, Syed Hussain Haider, Afzal Mahmood, Sami Ullah

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

The urban population of Punjab is growing rapidly. It is projected that there will be a 25 to 30 percent increase in urban population by 2020. This rapid population increase is causing major problems in the efficient provision of urban services in these cities. To evaluate the effect of this population increase, this paper tries to produce an integrated assessment of water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with socioeconomic variables that reflect poverty, i.e., a Water Poverty Index. It is understood that poor households face the problem of the accessibility of potable water, and this results …

Supply Response, Exchange Rate And Domestic Price In Nigeria, Emmanuel C. Ani, Samson Adeniyi Aladejare

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of exchange rate and domestic price on export trade in Nigeria. Firstly, based on the literature review and findings of the study in the area, the paper aligned itself within the premise of the traditionalist view which concludes that non-oil export trade in Nigeria is predicated by currency depreciation via lower export prices. Secondly, the introduction of domestic prices, alongside naira rate of exchange as major determinants of non–oil exports in Nigeria, has the implication of showing that currency devaluation could be used to improve the balance of payment …

The Us Financial Crisis, Emerging Markets And The Effects Of Imf Loans, Bridgette Bain

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

The main hypothesis of this paper is that emerging markets with outstanding debt from the IMF and their economies are more severely affected by shocks to the world than countries that do not undertake IMF debt. The effect that shocks have on these economies is also dependent upon the size of the debt borrowed. This paper analyzes the effects that outstanding IMF debt has on emerging markets. Essentially, it observes the responses of emerging markets to shocks in their economy when they are indebted to the IMF. We observe 35 emerging markets as defined by Dow Jones in 2010 and …

The Mythology Of Game Theory, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Mark Turner, Nick Weller

Faculty Scholarship

Non-cooperative game theory is at its heart a theory of cognition, specifically a theory of how decisions are made. Game theory's leverage is that we can design different payoffs, settings, player arrays, action possibilities, and information structures, and that these differences lead to different strategies, outcomes, and equilibria. It is well-known that, in experimental settings, people do not adopt the predicted strategies, outcomes, and equilibria. The standard response to this mismatch of prediction and observation is to add various psychological axioms to the game-theoretic framework. Regardless of the differing specific proposals and results, game theory uniformly makes certain cognitive assumptions …

The Informal Sector In Francophone Africa: Firm Size, Productivity, And Institutions, N. Benjamin, A. A. Mbaye, I. A. T. Diop, Stephen S. Golub, D. Haughton, B. B. Niang

Economics Faculty Works

This book is a major step towards improving the understanding of the complex reality of informal sector firms in francophone West Africa. It innovates by concentrating on informal firms rather than informal employment (as other studies do), and identifying 'large informal' sector firms whose sales rival those of large formal-sector firms but operate in ways that are similar to small informal operators. Not only is the regulatory environment facing these two types of informal firms distinct, but policies aimed at improving their productivity need to be differentiated. This study focuses on the urban informal sector in three capital cities: Dakar …

Three Essays On The Role Of Extensive And Intensive Margin In International Trade, Rishav Bista

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine the impact of various trade policies on the extensive (new trading relationships) and intensive (increase in trade of existing relationships) margins of trade, whereas past studies have been limited to aggregate trade flows. An inquiry into the extensive and intensive margins of trade reveals that total aggregate trade masks the heterogeneous trade creating effect of policy variables. Furthermore, this dissertation also takes into account the econometric issues that have plagued the traditional empirical model that analyzes the impact of these policies on trade.

The first chapter examines the impact of hosting and …

Three Essays On Fiscal Federalism And The Role Of Intergovernmental Tranfers, James W. Saunoris

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation is composed of three essays, each examining a unique question relating to the role of intergovernmental transfers in fiscal federalism. Using a panel of the 48 contiguous U.S. states along with recent advances in nonstationary panel and spatial econometric methods this dissertation offers a number of important insights into the workings of intergovernmental transfers and therefore a clearer understanding of the interactions among the different layers of government. The third chapter examines the relationship between intergovernmental revenues from the federal government and intergovernmental expenditures to local governments. As observed by Wildasin (2010), there remains remarkable stability in the …

The Challenges Of Interdisciplinary Research For Tenure Track Professors, Lesley Yang

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Interdisciplinary research is the collaboration of people fusing knowledge, theories and methodologies from two or more disciplines. Interdisciplinary collaboration can advance fundamental understanding to form a more inclusive means of examining complex issues beyond the scope of a single discipline. The increase of public monies being dedicated to interdisciplinary research is one way federal agencies like the National Science Foundation are trying to foster more collaboration among people of different disciplines. Data is collected from published articles in the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics from 1996 to 2010. Information on authors of each article— occupations, departmental affiliations, positions held, institutional …

Kentucky Annual Economic Report 2012, Kenneth R. Troske, Christopher R. Bollinger, Glenn C. Blomquist, Merl Hackbart, Michael T. Childress

Kentucky Annual Economic Report

No abstract provided.

2010 - 2011 - 2012 Department Meetings, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• The New School for Social Research, Department of Economics. (2010, October 20). Economics department meeting agenda [Meeting agenda]. The New School for Social Research.

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Department meeting [Handwritten notes]. Unpublished manuscript.

• The New School for Social Research, Office of the Dean. (2010, September 22). Memorandum on assessment and student learning outcomes [Memorandum]. The New School for Social Research.

• Sample materials regarding assessment and graduate education (n.d.). [Compiled list]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Group of Eight. (2010, September 15). Graduate education leaders issue global statement on quality [Media release]. Group of Eight.

• Council of Graduate Schools, & Group …

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Relationships Among Growth, Poverty And Inequality In Developing Countries, Mahlet Getachew Gezahegn

Masters Theses

The relationship among growth, poverty and inequality has been and remains one of the most controversial topics in development economics. Development literature suggests that they are likely to evolve in an interrelated fashion in most countries although their exact path will depend on country circumstances.

The primary objective is to explore relationships among growth, poverty and inequality. The investigation largely follows the approach taken by Lundberg and Squire (2003) who however, examine evolution of only growth and inequality. Suitable modifications to their model are made to achieve a greater understanding of the evolutionary process of the three major variables of …

The Impact Of Institutional Arrangements On Educational Efficiency, Trevor Collier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Per-pupil expenditures on education in the United States have grown immensely in recent decades, yet student achievement has been stagnant. An abundance of research has sought to solve this enigma, much of it centered on the incentive structure facing administrators. Some recent papers use TIMSS data to analyze the relationship between institutional arrangements—that typically do not vary within a single country—and student achievement. Similarly, we utilize TIMSS 1999 to determine if there is an indirect relationship between institutional arrangements and student achievement, via a relationship with school efficiency. Our results show that the specified link between institutional arrangements and student …

Trans-Boundary Movement Of Hazardous Waste: Evidence From A New Micro Data In The European Union, Mahelet G. Fikru

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The paper explores a new micro dataset on the export of hazardous waste generated in Europe. A total of 16 745 industrial facilities generated hazardous waste in 2009 out of which 1 272 exported some or all of the waste. A measure of the export intensity of facilities is introduced by using export of hazardous waste as a percentage of total hazardous waste generated. The study finds that 96% of the export stays within Europe and rarely goes to developing countries. The major driving force behind firms' decision to export hazardous waste may be the stringency of general environmental policies …

Ape Micro Lecture 5 - Real Competition, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2012, April 2). APE micro, lecture 5: Real competition II—Price cutting, profit rate equalization, and choice of technique [Handwritten notes referencing Geroski, Regibeau & Rockett, Dhawan, and J. Kucel]. Anwar Shaikh, PhD, personal archives.