Economics Commons^™

Is The Production Of Religious Knowledge Efficient? Managing Faith Related Postsecondary Institutions, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

The focus of this paper is on the efficiency of producing and managing religion based knowledge in postsecondary institutions. Panel data is used to estimate a stochastic cost frontier and associated inefficiencies for a panel of 222 U.S. bible colleges, theological seminaries, and other faith based higher education institutions over the 2005-09 academic years. Results indicate that institutions offering undergraduate only education are on average less inefficient than graduate only or combined undergraduate-graduate education institutions. Government provided student loans and private philanthropy are efficiency improving, while institutional debt acts to increase inefficiency. Time varying inefficiencies show efficiency gains over the …

Testing For Breaks In Cointegrated Panels, Chihwa Kao, Lorenzo Trapani, Giovanni Urga

Center for Policy Research

We investigate the issue of testing for structural breaks in large cointegrated panels with common and idiosyncratic regressors. We prove a panel Functional Central Limit Theorem. We show that the estimated coefficients of the common regressors have a mixed normal distribution, whilst the estimated coefficients of the idiosyncratic regressors have a normal distribution. We consider strong dependence across the idiosyncratic regressors by allowing for the presence of (stationary and nonstationary) common factors. We show that tests based on transformations of Wald-type statistics have power versus alternatives of order

Trilemma Policy Convergence Patterns And Output Volatility, Joshua Aizenman, Hiro Ito

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examine the open macroeconomic policy choices of developing economies from the perspective of the economic “trilemma” hypothesis. We construct an index of divergence of the three trilemma policy choices, and evaluate its patterns in recent decades. We find that the three dimensions of the trilemma configurations are converging towards a “middle ground” among emerging market economies -- managed exchange rate flexibility underpinned by sizable holdings of international reserves, intermediate levels of monetary independence, and controlled financial integration. Emerging market economies with more converged policy choices tend to experience smaller output volatility in the last two decades. Emerging markets with …

Borderplex Panel Evidence On Restaurant Price And Exchange Rate Dynamics, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., André Varella Mollick

Border Region Modeling Project

This paper examines prices for 32 identical menu items sold by restaurant franchises operating on both sides of the border between El Paso in the U.S. and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico from July 1997 to June 2008. The relationship between real exchange rate (RER) volatility and the degree of price convergence is examined within a panel data context. The city-pair and goods selected provide a unique experiment in which distance, tradability, and industry considerations are set aside and the extent of RER volatility is the only factor to influence price convergence. We find non-monotonic relationships between mean reversion and RER …

Containment And Virtualization Slot Technology And The Remaking Of The Casino Industry, Kah-Wee Lee

Occasional Papers

This paper examines how the casino industry was transformed by slot technology between 1950 and 1990. The criminalization of slot machines in the 1950s led to their massive evacuation into Las Vegas casinos. In this concentrated environment, slot machines revealed to casino operators an automated surveillance technology that could disassemble the player into streams of virtual data, not through any overt means, but through the very activity of play itself. Slot managers and gaming technologists found themselves empowered professionally as they experimented with ways to transform data into profits. From the 1970s to the 90s, this technological development effectively linked …

A Tilt In Favour Of The Older Generation, Less Fortunate, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant Professor of Law Eugene Tan writes that although there are generally no significant handouts, offsets or goodies, Budget 2012 addresses some of the key genuine concerns of Singaporeans during the May 2011 General Election. It is also expected to generate a surplus of S$1.3 billion at a time when many advanced economies are in recession and with significant deficits.

Warren J. Samuels (1933-2011), John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper examines the research and career of the late Warren J. Samuels (1933-2011), an influential institutionalist economist in the Wisconsin John Commons tradition and well-known historian and methodologist of economics. It discusses four main positions Samuels developed and held regarding the history of economic thought as intellectual history, the theory of economic policy, methodological pluralism, and the invisible hand doctrine. Among the views considered are: his matrix approach to meaningfulness, his characterization of intellectual systems, his emphasis on the centrality of the social order, his theory of economic policy as a neglected subject, his discourse analysis of language, his …

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditures And Economic Contribution: 2009, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report shows the economic contributions, expenditures, and average daily spending of nonresident visitors to Montana during 2009.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditures And Economic Contribution: 2008, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report shows the economic contributions, expenditures, and average daily spending of nonresident visitors to Montana during 2008.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditures And Economic Contribution: 2007, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report shows the economic contributions, expenditures, and average daily spending of nonresident visitors to Montana during 2007.

Bayesian Hypothesis Testing In Latent Variable Models, Yong Li, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Hypothesis testing using Bayes factors (BFs) is known not to be well defined under the improper prior. In the context of latent variable models, an additional problem with BFs is that they are difficult to compute. In this paper, a new Bayesian method, based on the decision theory and the EM algorithm, is introduced to test a point hypothesis in latent variable models. The new statistic is a by-product of the Bayesian MCMC output and, hence, easy to compute. It is shown that the new statistic is appropriately defined under improper priors because the method employs a continuous loss function. …

The Et Interview: A Conversation With Professor Eric Ghysels, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Eric Ghysels is the Bernstein Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Finance at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2008, Eric Ghysels and Robert Engle (2003 Nobel co-Laureate in Economic Science with Clive Granger) founded the Society for Financial Econometrics (SoFiE), establishing a global network of academics and practitioners dedicated to the fast-growing field of financial econometrics. In June 2010, Eric visited the Centre for Financial Econometrics (CoFiE) and the Sim Kee Boon Institute (SKBI) of Financial Economics at Singapore Management University. During his visit we conversed with him about SoFiE and the growing toolroom of financial …

Testing For Common Trends In Semi-Parametric Panel Data Models With Fixed Effects, Yonghui Zhang, Liangjun Su, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a non-parametric test for common trends in semi-parametric panel data models with fixed effects based on a measure of non-parametric goodness-of-fit (R2). We first estimate the model under the null hypothesis of common trends by the method of profile least squares, and obtain the augmented residual which consistently estimates the sum of the fixed effect and the disturbance under the null. Then we run a local linear regression of the augmented residuals on a time trend and calculate the non-parametric R2 for each cross-section unit. The proposed test statistic is obtained by averaging all cross-sectional non-parametric R2s, …

Beyond Catch-Up To New Growth Sources, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

SMU Professor of Economics Hoon Hian Teck gave his take on the impact of the Budget announced last Friday and wrote that the 2012 Budget, in essence, recognises that Singapore is now making a transition from a phase of catch-up growth to being a mature economy. In this mature phase, Singapore needs new sources of growth, and policy interventions are necessary to boost the employability and wage earnings of low-wage and older workers. Professor Hoon is also Associate Dean at the SMU School of Economics.

Pricing For Goodwill: A Threshold Quantile Regression Approach, Heng Ju, Liangjun Su, Pai Xu

Research Collection School Of Economics

In the absence of other effective trust systems, an agent's reputation status becomes a critical factor in online transactions. A higher reputation category may give sellers an advantage in competition on online trading platforms. It is also possible that such reputation benefits provide sufficient incentives for sellers to adjust their pricing behavior. We here propose a simple economic model in which an online seller maximizes the sum of the profit from current sales and the possible future gain from a targeted higher reputation level. We show that the model can predict a jump in optimal pricing behavior. We adopt a …

Designing And Implementing An Evaluation Of A National Work Support Program, Kong Weng Ho, Irene Y. H. Ng, Thartmalingam Nesamani, Alex Lee, Tee Liang Ngiam

Research Collection School Of Economics

Welfare reforms in the 1990s have shifted governments around the world towards financial assistance conditional on work. While large-scale rigorous research on welfare-to-work programs has demonstrated effectiveness towards employment in other countries, no such micro-level evaluation of a policy has ever been conducted in Singapore. This article describes the process of developing a large experimental evaluation of the Work Support Program, which the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports started in 2006. The lessons learned from planning and implementing the research can be helpful to future researchers in negotiating long-term rigorous evaluations in an environment where collaborators lack sufficient …

In Support Of The Trips Agreement, Amanda Jakobsson, Paul S. Segerstrom

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that the TRIPs agreement is bad for developing countries. We present a dynamic general equilibrium model of North-South trade that allows us to study the implications of stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and simultaneous trade liberalization. In our model, stronger IPR protection in the South (TRIPs) leads to more innovation in the North, more technology transfer to the South and higher long-run southern consumer welfare. The South also benefits from trade liberalization but the welfare gains from TRIPs are considerably larger.

Micro-Finance Competition With Motivated Mfis, Brishti Guha, Prabal Roy Chowdhury

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper we examine the effect of increased MFI competition, focusing on its implications for borrower targeting, both in the presence and the absence of double-dipping. In the absence of competition we find that the loans are more likely to go to relatively richer borrowers whenever inequality is not too large, and the technology is sufficiently convex. In the presence of competition, the results depend on whether double-dipping is feasible or not. In case double-dipping is not feasible, we find that the MFIs necessarily target the richer borrowers. Interestingly, it turns out that double-dipping may encourage the MFIs to …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Obama Keeps Fueling The Myth Of Manuafacturing, Nathan B. Oman

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Prior Appropriations Water Calls, Levan Elbakidze, Xiaozhe Shen, Garth Taylor, Sian Mooney

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A spatiotemporal model is developed to examine prior appropriations–based water curtailment in Idaho’s Snake River Plain Aquifer. Using a 100 year horizon, prior appropriations–based curtailment supplemented with optimized water use reductions is shown to produce a spatial distribution of water use reductions that differs from that produced by regulatory curtailment based strictly on initial water right assignments. Discounted profits over 100 years of crop production are up to 7% higher when allocation is optimized. Total pumping over 100 years is 0.3%, 3%, and 40% higher under 1, 10, and 100 year prior appropriations–based regulatory curtailment, respectively.

An Analysis Of Risk-Taking Behavior For Public Defined Benefit Pension Plans, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper investigates the determinants of public pension plan risk-taking behavior using the percentage of total plan assets invested in the equity markets and the pension asset beta as measures of investment risk. We find that government accounting standards strongly affect public fund investment risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher equity allocation and beta. Unlike private pension plans, public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in the previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing financial constraints allocate more …

Pakistan: A Tumultuous Economy And Divided Politics, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Pakistan’s economy remained sluggish in 2011 due to domestic political instability, energy shortages, deteriorating Pakistan-US relations, global climate change and internal security concerns.

For the fourth year in a row, GDP growth in 2011-12 will fall below its long-term growth rate. Per capita income will increase by around 2 per cent, in sharp contrast to the 5 per cent annual growth experienced during the 2002-07 period. The investment rate dropped to 13.4 per cent — its lowest level in the last four decades. Fiscal imbalances arising out of subsidies to loss-making public enterprises, low tax-mobilisation efforts, inefficiency and waste in …

The Ecological And Civil Mainsprings Of Property: An Experimental Economic History Of Whalers’ Rules Of Capture, Bart J. Wilson, Taylor Jaworski, Karl E. Schurter, Andrew Smyth

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This article uses a laboratory experiment to probe the proposition that property emerges anarchically out of social custom. We test the hypothesis that whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries developed rules of conduct that minimized the sum of the transaction and production costs of capturing their prey, the primary implication being that different ecological conditions led to different rules of capture. Ceteris paribus, we find that simply imposing two different types of prey is insufficient to observe two different rules of capture. Another factor is essential, namely, as Samuel Pufendorf theorized over 300 years ago, that the members of …

Industry And Labor Characteristics And Projections: The Beam And Wia Regions, Christopher R. Bollinger, Kenneth R. Troske

CBER Research Report

Executive Summary:

The Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement region encompasses the Louisville and Lexington MSAs and the corridor between them. It is an area with much of the manufacturing, medical and transportation & warehousing industries of Kentucky contained within. Over 36% of the population and 38% of the Kentucky labor force live and work in this region. This report analyzes the labor market structure within the region. We also examine the labor market structure in five Workforce Investment Act Regions: Bluegrass, Lake Cumberland, Lincoln Trail, Kentuckiana Works, and Indiana Region 10. We examine employment at the industry and occupation level and …

The Way Out, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

There is a great deal of fear and apprehension that loose economic policies and an intensified patron-client based resource allocation would put the economy at risk in 2012. To avoid this risk, it is imperative that alternative solutions should be presented that not just stop the economic rot, but also make the ruling parties look better in the eyes of the electorate. Sifting through a large number of policy measures and screening them against the criteria of economic viability and political feasibility, the following nine priorities have been identified and recommended for serious consideration and implementation.

Customer Research Helps In Applying Crm For Surviving In Recession, Syeda Rakhshanda Mustafa

Business Review

The purpose of this research paper is to come up with ideas on the, how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be used in the most effective and productive manner in order to save companies and minimize the effects of recession. The researcher has tried to focus on those strategies that are best to overcome recession and companies could adopt them in order to overcome downfall and decline in profits. This paper also explores the idea that how helpful is CRM to recover at that time. This research paper is of considerable importance as the world is experiencing global recession and …

Consumer's Willingness To Pay For Locally Produced Ground Beef: A Case Study, Kuo-Liang Chang, Keith Underwood, George Langelett, Pei Xu

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

A Household-Level Decomposition Of The White-Black Homeownership Gap, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kien T. Le, Kiat Ying Seah

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper uses a semiparametric homeownership model to estimate and to decompose the household-level white-black homeownership gap into an endowment component and a residual component across the distribution of homeownership rates. We find that the racial gap differs across homeownership rates and that studies that examine the gap only at the mean may be misleading. We also find that although household characteristics explain the homeownership gap for most households, there is a substantial portion of the gap that remains unexplained for households with a very low propensity to own homes. A comparison of the estimates from the semiparametric model and …

A Contract For The Advance Sale Of Wine, Scott Gallimore

Archaeology and Heritage Studies Faculty Publications

Edition of a sale of wine in advance from Byzantine Egypt (P.Vindob. inv. G 40267). Notable features include the guarantee clause and the supply of jars by the seller, both of which are put in a wider context.