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2014

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Articles 1201 - 1230 of 1582

Full-Text Articles in Economics

Trade Openness And Economic Growth, Anh Tung Dao Jan 2014

Trade Openness And Economic Growth, Anh Tung Dao

Mark A. Israel '91 Endowed Summer Research Fund in Economics

Trade liberalization has been central to the discussion of development policy in recent decades. In the 1990s, the Washington Consensus, a set of 10 major development policy recommendations from Washington-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), regarded trade openness as essential to the achieve higher economic growth. Trade policy, according to the Washington Consensus, should focus on lowering tariffs on imports, especially cheap intermediate inputs that give countries competitive edges in export industries. Although acknowledging the negative effects this type of policy could have on competing domestic industries, the Consensus believed that protection …


No. 65: Brain Drain And Regain: The Migration Behaviour Of South African Medical Professionals, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Ivy Bourgeault, Ronald Labonté, Gail Tomblin Murphy Jan 2014

No. 65: Brain Drain And Regain: The Migration Behaviour Of South African Medical Professionals, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Ivy Bourgeault, Ronald Labonté, Gail Tomblin Murphy

Southern African Migration Programme

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that …


No. 67: Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective Violence And Xenophobia In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran Jan 2014

No. 67: Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective Violence And Xenophobia In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

The remarkable growth of informal migrant entrepreneurship in South Africa since 1990 would have been much lauded had it not been for the striking detail that the actors in question are seen as “foreigners” or “outsiders”. As such, they are uniformly viewed as undesirable and disadvantaging poor South African citizens. The growing presence of migrants in the informal sector has created various tensions in South Africa, including in government circles, ignoring the fact that in the free market economy of South Africa, immigrants and refugees, like citizens and commercial enterprises, would otherwise enjoy the freedom to establish, operate and expand …


No. 66: Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Denialism, Minimalism, Realism, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran Jan 2014

No. 66: Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Denialism, Minimalism, Realism, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

Violent xenophobia has become a regular feature of South African life. Everyday animosity frequently spills over into violence against individual migrants and refugees and their economic enterprises. Some of these incidents reach the scrutiny of the media and officialdom, but most remain invisible and unremarked. The fact that most of the violence occurs in marginal urban locations of informal settlements, townships and inner-city suburbs in South Africa has prompted intense debate over the nomenclature and identification of the underlying causes. Explanations for the large-scale anti-migrant violence that swept the country in May 2008, and continues in more isolated and sporadic …


Elections And Asset Pricing: The Politically Sensitive Equity Of Us Military Contractors, Matthew Mark Ross Jan 2014

Elections And Asset Pricing: The Politically Sensitive Equity Of Us Military Contractors, Matthew Mark Ross

Wayne State University Dissertations

I quantify the relationship between political uncertainty and equity volatility in the months around US elections from 1989-2012. The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data are employed to measure political uncertainty faced by military contractors, capitalizing on the unique monopsony-oligopoly business environment of these firms. I employ a GARCH (1,1) model with cross-sectionally correlated moments to produce daily firm-election volatility measures. Volatility increases 11% for local, 27% for midterm, and 43% for presidential elections. These measures demonstrate that all election categories: local, federal, presidential, and midterm exhibit differential effects on equity volatility. My results …


2014 American Incentive System Almanac, Don P. Diffine Ph.D. Jan 2014

2014 American Incentive System Almanac, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Monographs

No abstract provided.


Shibusawa Eiichi, Dai Ichi Bank, And The Spirit Of Japanese Capitalism, 1860-1930, John Sagers Jan 2014

Shibusawa Eiichi, Dai Ichi Bank, And The Spirit Of Japanese Capitalism, 1860-1930, John Sagers

Faculty Publications

Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) has been called the “father of Japanese capitalism” and was associated with nearly five hundred business enterprises in his lifetime. From his main position as head of Dai Ichi Bank, Shibusawa was a strong advocate for business interests when the Japanese government was generally preoccupied with military concerns. He also consistently argued that business leaders should look to Confucian principle for moral guidance if they were to maintain the public's trust. Through an analysis of Shibusawa's public statements and his legacy in subsequent historical scholarship, particularly Dai Ichi Bank's 1957 official company history, we see that appeals …


Life In Hampton Roads Survey Press Release #2: A Tale Of Many Cities: Economy, Crime, And Politics, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Life In Hampton Roads Survey Press Release #2: A Tale Of Many Cities: Economy, Crime, And Politics, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

This report examines regional and sub-regional measures of economy, crime, and politics perceptions from the 2014 Life In Hampton Roads survey (LIHR 2014) conducted by the Old Dominion University Social Science Research Center.


Religiosity And Its Impact On Individual Support For Welfare Spending Over Time, John P. Adams Ii Jan 2014

Religiosity And Its Impact On Individual Support For Welfare Spending Over Time, John P. Adams Ii

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

In this paper, I will argue that individual preferences toward religion have a significant relationship with an individual’s level of support for welfare spending. Specifically, this research finds that as religiosity increases support for welfare spending decreases. This assessment is reached through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions using the World Values Survey (WVS). Furthermore it looks to address the potential for a temporal pattern that results from these preferences. The objective of this work is to not only establish the relationship between these two individual preferences but to also illustrate the implication they may have on federal policy toward welfare …


European Integration And Anti-Money Laundering Cooperation, Allison Blauvelt Jan 2014

European Integration And Anti-Money Laundering Cooperation, Allison Blauvelt

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This paper compares European Union anti-money laundering (AML) efforts with international efforts in scope and intensity through an analysis of the timeline of AML cooperation in Europe from 1980 to 2012, showing the creation or adoption date for relevant organizations and legislation, referred to as actions. The actors include United Nations bodies, the Financial Action Task Force, the Council of Europe, and European Union bodies. This paper also comments on the utility of different European Union (EU) integration theories in explaining the patterns in cooperation. The key finding of this paper is that international AML cooperation operates in waves, with …


The Politics And Future Of Carbon Cap-And-Trade: Lessons From The European Union, Alice H. Chang Jan 2014

The Politics And Future Of Carbon Cap-And-Trade: Lessons From The European Union, Alice H. Chang

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Economists and policy analysts recognize a well-designed cap-and-trade scheme as the premier approach to effectively reduce carbon emissions. However, politics is bound to play a major role in the policymaking process—more so with carbon dioxide emissions than other pollutants like sulfur dioxide. This paper examines the political climate in which the major trading scheme in the European Union was proposed in order to explore how politics affects the programs’ environmental integrity and ultimate policy outcome. Based on an analysis of the EU’s program, many pieces need to align within the political landscape for a cap-and-trade system to pass the policymaking …


The Political Hindrances In Solving The European Sovereign Debt Crisis, C. Cole Fairbanks Jan 2014

The Political Hindrances In Solving The European Sovereign Debt Crisis, C. Cole Fairbanks

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Once revered as a progressive supranational success story, the European Union now faces excessive public debt, unemployment, and stagnation partly due to its flawed institutional design. This has become apparent in southern Eurozone countries like Portugal and Greece, which continue to suffer from strict austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund, European Commission, and European Central Bank (Troika). This report examines the politics behind the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, including the rise of Eurosceptic populist parties. Furthermore, it analyzes austerity in southern Europe, the ‘moral hazard’ argument, and the German government’s reluctance to lead Europe out the crisis. This …


No Light At The End Of The Tunnel: Ideological And Systematic Causes Of Spain's Economic Paralysis, Taylor S. Shippen Jan 2014

No Light At The End Of The Tunnel: Ideological And Systematic Causes Of Spain's Economic Paralysis, Taylor S. Shippen

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Since 2008, Spain’s economy has suffered from an unemployment crisis. In response, voters elevated the Partido Popular (PP) to power in 2011 after becoming frustrated with the Partido Socialista Obrero Español’s (PSOE) lack of effective action. However, since the election of 2011, very little has changed in Spain’s stagnant economy. Unemployment remains high despite initially promising reforms in Spain’s labor market and a bailout for Spain’s larger banks in 2012 has done little to bring foreign investment back into the country. In this paper, I contend that the PP’s timid response to the unemployment crisis is the result of a …


Constructing Fortress Europe: Third Country Nationals As Unwelcome Guests, Robertus Anders Jan 2014

Constructing Fortress Europe: Third Country Nationals As Unwelcome Guests, Robertus Anders

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Ever since the introduction of the EU’s four freedoms, EU citizens have been promised the freedom to move freely within the confines of the EU. As the EU’s population expanded through enlargement, in conjunction with growing pressure on labor market, wages and employment, European public attitudes toward immigration seem to become more polarized. Thus, immigration, especially that of the admittance of non-EU third-country nationals, may be rendered as a highly contested issue within Europe’s two-level systems. However, what is happening inside the EU, in terms of intra-EU immigration, is rarely considered within such contestation. This paper plans to address this …


State Involvement In Limiting Textbook Choice By School Districts, Michelle Phillips Jan 2014

State Involvement In Limiting Textbook Choice By School Districts, Michelle Phillips

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Who gets to decide what textbooks are used in America's public-school classrooms varies by state. States can let each school district decide, provide standards that must be followed and make available an incomplete listing of books meeting those standards, or allow schools to choose books only from a list provided by the state. I present a model that provides an explanation for state limits on textbook selection by school districts. I examine the roles played by decision making costs, effectiveness of voters, religious composition, power of teachers, and propensity of state governments to interfere with or to help districts in …


Earnings Management And Corporate Spinoffs, Ying Chou Lin, Kenneth Yung Jan 2014

Earnings Management And Corporate Spinoffs, Ying Chou Lin, Kenneth Yung

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study we examine whether firms manage earnings before pursuing corporate spinoffs. Using a sample of 226 completed spinoffs between 1985 and 2005, we find strong evidence of pre-spinoff earnings management among parent firms involved in non-focus-increasing spinoffs. We also find higher levels of earnings management among parent firms that have a higher level of information asymmetry prior to spinoff announcements. Our regression results show a significant negative relation between income-increasing earnings management and the announcement period returns for non-focus-increasing spinoffs. In addition, a significant positive relation is found between income-increasing earnings management and the announcement period returns for …


Structural Change In The Demand For Housing Services And Policy Implications, Nhu Nguyen Jan 2014

Structural Change In The Demand For Housing Services And Policy Implications, Nhu Nguyen

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

This research paper estimates the demand for housing services across the United States and studies public policy implications based on estimation results. More specifically, the research paper examines the price and income elasticity of demand in the United States and tests for structural change in the demand for housing services between two different time periods. The empirical analysis on 33 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 2005 and 2011 suggests that the demand for housing services is inelastic with respect to price per unit of housing services, and the income elasticity of demand has a relatively larger magnitude than the price elasticity …


Crime, Income Inequality, And Density At The Neighborhood Level, Andrew Hovel Jan 2014

Crime, Income Inequality, And Density At The Neighborhood Level, Andrew Hovel

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

An economic model of crime gives policymakers a basis to understand how income inequality and population density relate to crime at the neighborhood level. This study reveals a negative and significant relationship between population density in Census tracts and both property and violent crime rates. It finds ambiguous results that vary by city for income inequality. This cross-sectional analysis of Census tracts in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas uses crime and demographic data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study. This study also yields interesting results about the importance of residential stability for crime prevention and comments on possible urban …


A Lost Opportunity? Trade Between The United States And China, 1865-1914, Kathryn Gaydos Jan 2014

A Lost Opportunity? Trade Between The United States And China, 1865-1914, Kathryn Gaydos

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

American trade with Asia rose from 10% of total imports in 1870 to 15% in 1913. U.S. exports to China relative to the population quadrupled over this period as well. Scholars have studied U.S.-Japan trade for this period but have done little work on U.S.-China interactions. I therefore developed bilateral trade data for the United States and China from 1865 to 1914 and analyzed these data to reveal trade patterns and terms of trade between these two countries. The terms of trade improved for the U.S. between 1895 and 1913. Cotton manufactures and mineral oil were the United States’ key …


Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan Jan 2014

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …


Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan Jan 2014

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …


Delayed Complementarity: How Schengen Area Membership Influenced German And Austrian Investment In Central And Eastern Europe, Romy L. Franks Jan 2014

Delayed Complementarity: How Schengen Area Membership Influenced German And Austrian Investment In Central And Eastern Europe, Romy L. Franks

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This paper considers the mutually beneficial relationship of German and Austrian foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) between 2004 and 2007, and the impact that the CEE states' belated membership in the Schengen Area had on further economic integration. It analyzes how excluding CEE member states from immediate membership in the Schengen Area upon their accession to the EU in 2004 and 2007 affected the economies of Germany, Austria, and the CEE member states. The paper argues that, in reviewing actual FDI and migration numbers following EU enlargements, fears over the potentially negative effects of labor …


Understanding The Distributional Impact Of Long-Run Inflation, Gabriele Camera, Yili Chen Jan 2014

Understanding The Distributional Impact Of Long-Run Inflation, Gabriele Camera, Yili Chen

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

The impact of fully anticipated inflation is systematically studied in heterogeneous agent economies with an endogenous labor supply and portfolio choices. In stationary equilibrium, inflation nonlinearly alters the endogenous distributions of income, wealth, and consumption. Small departures from zero inflation have the strongest impact. Three features determine how inflation impacts distributions and welfare: financial structure, shock persistence, and labor supply elasticity. When agents can self-insure only with money, inflation reduces wealth inequality but may raise consumption inequality. Otherwise, inflation reduces consumption inequality but may raise wealth inequality. Given persistent shocks and an inelastic labor supply, inflation may raise average welfare. …


Fair And Impartial Spectators In Experimental Economic Behavior, Vernon L. Smith, Bart J. Wilson Jan 2014

Fair And Impartial Spectators In Experimental Economic Behavior, Vernon L. Smith, Bart J. Wilson

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Our primary purpose in this article is to draw upon the literature of classical liberal economy to show how it informs and is informed by the results from experimental economics. Adam Smith's first great book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, serves as our chief source of insights for understanding and interpreting modern laboratory research in terms of the conventions that govern human conduct in personal exchange.~ At the same time, we wish to demonstrate how today's economic experiments elucidate a reading of Adam Smith.


Differences Between The Early Stages Of The Unemployment Rates: The Great Recession Vs. The Great Depression, Lall Ramrattan, Michael Szenberg Jan 2014

Differences Between The Early Stages Of The Unemployment Rates: The Great Recession Vs. The Great Depression, Lall Ramrattan, Michael Szenberg

Lander College of Arts and Sciences Publications and Research

We test for differences between the Great Recession and the Great Depression in the US, using unemployment rates. The test used is ANOVA. The hypothesis advanced is that the early phases of the recession and depression are non-different. At first we reject the hypothesis. But by incorporating government involvement for the two periods, we obtain moderate arguments for the acceptance of the hypothesis. The paper starts out with background ideas of the two periods, then proceeds to the testing based on actual data, deviation of actual from normal or NAIRU rates, and adjusted data for government capital injection and subsidies.


Front Matter: The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2014, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Front Matter: The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2014, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

Cover, front matter, table of contents, sponsors, and other materials for the 2014 The State of the Region report authored by the Regional Studies Institute at Old Dominion University


Part 2: Mixed Signals: Migration Data And Regional Economic Vitality, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Part 2: Mixed Signals: Migration Data And Regional Economic Vitality, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

Between 2010 and 2013, our region experienced net out-migration, after taking account of births and deaths. We are, however, attracting many new immigrants from abroad.


Part 1: Rebounding, Albeit Slowly, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Part 1: Rebounding, Albeit Slowly, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

In a nutshell, our regional economy continues to recover, but still has not regained the jobs lost in the 2008 recession.


Part 3: Megachurches In Hampton Roads, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Part 3: Megachurches In Hampton Roads, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

There are 14 “megachurches” in Hampton Roads and each enjoys an average attendance in excess of 2,000 weekly. They are redefining organized religion in our region.


Part 4: Homeless Children In Hampton Roads: Estimating The Costs To Society, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University Jan 2014

Part 4: Homeless Children In Hampton Roads: Estimating The Costs To Society, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

More than 22 percent of homeless people are children under age 18. We focus on the work of the organization ForKids Inc. as a way to estimate these costs and benefits of homelessness to society.