Economics Commons^™

Obesogenic Environmental Influences On Young Adults: Evidence From Randomized Dormitory Assignment, Kandice A. Kapinos, Olga Yakusheva, Daniel Eisenberg

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This study utilizes a natural experiment—conditionally random dormitory assignments of first-year US college students—to investigate the influence of obesogenic environmental factors in explaining changes in weight and exercise behavior during the 2009–2010 academic year. The design addresses potential selection biases resulting from the likelihood that individuals sort into built environments that match their preferences for exercise and healthy eating. We find some evidence that the food environment, specifically access to campus dining, significantly affected the weight of female students in our study. Females assigned to dormitories where the nearest campus dining hall was closed on the weekends gained about 1 …

Leisure And Happiness: Evidence From International Survey Data, Miao Wang, M. C. Sunny Wong

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

We study the statistical link between leisure and happiness. Using survey data from 33 countries in 2007, we find that (1) certain leisure activities, leisure’s role in self-fulfillment and social interaction, and leisure’s relation to work and other spheres of life are significantly linked to individual happiness; (2) the effect of leisure quantity is not as important as other aspects of leisure; and (3) some leisure activities can be negatively associated with happiness. Consistent with findings in previous studies, family income and individual demographic variables such as age and health condition are significantly associated with happiness. National unemployment and political …

Mark Blaug On The Historiography Of Economics, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Inflation And Inflation-Uncertainty In India: The Policy Implications Of The Relationship, Abdur Chowdhury

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose – Inflation and its related uncertainty can impose costs on real economic output in any economy. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty in India.

Design/methodology/approach – The methodology uses a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model and Granger Causality test.

Findings – Initial estimates show the inflation rate to be a stationary process. The maximum likelihood estimates from the GARCH model reveal strong support for the presence of a positive relationship between the level of inflation and its uncertainty. The Granger causality results indicate a feedback between inflation and uncertainty.

Research limitations/implications – …

Limiting The Mortgage Interest Deduction By Size Of Home: Effects On The User Cost And Price Of Housing Across Metropolitan Areas, Andrew R. Hanson

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper, I examine the user cost and home price implications of limiting the federal mortgage interest deduction (MID) based on the square footage of a home. I extend the standard user cost model to include a square footage-based cap on the tax-favored status of mortgage interest. I compare two policy alternatives: one that limits the marginal deduction based on home size, and another that removes the deduction on the home based on home size. There is substantial variation across metropolitan areas in both the number of homes exposed to each type of cap, the user cost increase, and …

Are Houses Too Big Or In The Wrong Place? Tax Benefits To Housing And Inefficiencies In Location And Consumption, David Albouy, Andrew R. Hanson

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Tax benefits to owner-occupied housing provide incentives to consume housing, offsetting weaker disincentives of the property tax. These benefits also help counter the penalty federal taxes impose on households who work in productive high-wage areas, but reinforce incentives to consume local amenities. We simulate the effects of these benefits in a parameterized model, and determine the consequences of various tax reforms. Reductions in housing tax benefits generally increase efficiency in consumption, but reduce efficiency in location decisions, unless they are accompanied by tax rate reductions. The most efficient policy would eliminate most tax benefits to housing and index taxes to …

Nets Or Vaccines: Malaria Vaccine Research, David Ernenwein

Pepperdine Policy Review

The global battle against malaria has seen many victories in the developed world but the undeveloped world and particularly Africa continue to suffer from this disease. The development of the RTS,S vaccine and ongoing research into additional vaccines have been touted as the solution to the crisis. However, the news of the successful RTS,S trial should be viewed with caution. Concerns over the effectiveness of the existing vaccine and the cost of further development may not be justified, especially given the known effectiveness of current treatment methods. This research must be watched carefully lest the allure of the vaccine blind …

Rust-Belt Recovery: The Cleveland Model As Economic Development In An Age Of Economic Stagnation And Climate Change, Ross Lenihan

Pepperdine Policy Review

The economic outlook of the United States is dire. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, poverty has not lessened even as U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has rebounded following the Great Recession. This paper explores the development potential of joint worker-community cooperative structures during the current economic downturn by analyzing the “Cleveland model,” a network of worker-owned cooperatives supported by local education/healthcare "anchor" institutions and financed and organized by a non-profit community development corporation. I find that while worker and community-owned enterprises hold significant promise for both workers and communities in times of economic stagnation and ecological danger, existing market …

Agricultural Patenting: A Case Study Of Monsanto, Shannon Moran

Pepperdine Policy Review

In 2012, genetically-modified crops reached 170 million hectares around the globe. The ability to patent basic forms of life such as plant properties and the legal history of those intellectual property rights gives biotechnological companies such as Monsanto immense power in the vital agricultural sector. This article outlines the concerns over genetically-modified products and the implications for follow-on advancements within biotechnology by using Monsanto as a case study. The article finds that patent policies similar to those within the United States severely restrict competition and stifle innovation in not only the agricultural sector but also within research and humanitarian projects. …

The Minimum Wage And Teen Unemployment: A Study Of The Effect Of The Fair Minimum Wage Act Of 2007, Alexander Pino

Pepperdine Policy Review

The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 increased the national minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour. We attempt to evaluate the impact of this statute on low-skill labor. We do so by analyzing the effect of the law on the teen unemployment rate in the five states with no state minimum wages (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Using the adult unemployment rate as a control in a difference-in-differences analysis we find that the 2007 minimum wage increase had a negative effect on teen employment in these states.

Race/Gender, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Race & gender (file folder). Anwar Shaikh, PhD, manuscript in progress, 2014.
• Race/gender 4/14 (file folder insert). Anwar Shaikh, PhD, April 14, 2012.
• Two bath = 2 industries w/ exponential in BDY model (Berati - Dragulescu - Yakovenko) (handwritten notes). Anwar Shaikh, PhD, April 27, 2012.
• Re: short paper on econophysics of race and gender (email correspondence). Victor M. Yakovenko, February 20, 2012.
• Fwd: econophysics book (email correspondence). Victor M. Yakovenko, February 20, 2012.
• Evidence for the exponential distribution of income in the USA. A. A. Drăgulescu and V. M. Yakovenko, The European Physical Journal B, …

The Effectiveness Of Basel Ii, Rachel Shaw

Honors Theses

The New Capital Accord, Basel II, was published in 2004. It features updated capital requirements and new ways to measure bank risk; however, the validity of these new standards was called into question during the financial crisis that began in 2008. The measures that intend to stabilize our banking system did not appear sufficient. Doubt was cast upon capital requirements, and the advantages of another system, such as contingent liability, can be seen. This thesis aims to test the effectiveness of Basel II, specifically its capital requirements, in reducing bank risk. After running a fixed effects model, one can clearly …

Measuring Benchmark Damages In Antitrust Litigation, Justin Mccrary, Daniel L. Rubinfeld

Faculty Scholarship

We compare the two dominant approaches to estimation of benchmark damages in antitrust litigation, the forecasting approach and the dummy variable approach. We give conditions under which the two approaches are equivalent and present the results of a small simulation study.

How To Improve The Financial Architecture And Its Resilience, Dirk Helbing, Eve Mitleton-Kelly, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Fabio Caccioli, J. Doyne Farmer, Steve Keen, Katharina Pistor, Dennis J. Snower, Olsen Richard, Angelo Ranaldo, Norbert Häring, Edward Fullbrook

Faculty Scholarship

This financial resilience survey was circulated on behalf of a working group of the Complexity Council of the World Economic Forum comprised of Prof. Eve Mitleton-Kelly of London School of Economics and Prof. Dirk Helbing at ETH Zurich's Risk Center. It was sent to a few dozens of financial experts with the aim to create an inventory of ideas of how the financial system might be improved and made more resilient. Unconventional ideas were also welcome.

Factors That Influence A Jewelry Brand's Globalization Process, Mohammed Ahmed Faitaihi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local retail jewelry leaders of Saudi Arabian (S.A.) small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have struggled to survive through declining profits and increasing business foreclosures, thus threatening the sustainability of the Saudi retail sector and the Saudi economy. A globalization strategy to enhance profitability for jewelry retail SMEs in S.A. is needed, given the limited options for improving profitability. Despite this acknowledged need, leaders in S.A. have refrained from such a strategy because they lack knowledge of economic attraction features to target in the globalization process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study using discriminant analysis was to examine specific countries' …

The Effect Of Macroeconomic Variables On Stock Market Returns In Ghana (2000-2013), Charles Barnor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Variations in macroeconomic indicators affect the performance of the stock markets. In Ghana, although the performance of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has been affected by macroeconomic variables from January 2000 to December 2013, the mechanisms of these relationships have not been studied. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between selected macroeconomic variables and their effect on the stock market returns on the Ghana stock market. The research questions addressed whether macroeconomic variables had significant effect on stock market returns in Ghana within the specified period. The target sample was all 36 listed firms on the …

The Eurozone: Effects On Spain After The Implementation Of The Euro, Caroline Mürer Rohde-Moe

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the current situation in the Eurozone and how the entry into the currency union has affected the member countries. I have especially focused on the consequences the implementation of the euro has had on Spain because of the deeper recession that this country has experienced compared to many of the other Eurozone countries. I wanted to figure out what has caused some nations to struggle at a different level than others. By comparing Spain to countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, and France I have tried to look into how much of the domestic problems seen in …

Two Essays On Attracting Foreign Direct Investment: From Both A National And Firm Level Perspective, Ryan Lawrence Mason

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Countless studies with a wide variety of financial and economic indicators have been conducted over the years within the context of international business research, all searching for hints or signals as to what makes the never ending process of globalization progress. Our research follows these efforts while focusing specifically on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Our first study sets out to empirically test if nations adopting the inflation targeting (IT) monetary policy are more successful in attracting inbound and outbound FDI cash flows than those nations utilizing alternative monetary policies. IT is a relatively new policy which was first put into …

The Impacts Of In-State Procurement Preference Policies On The Economy Of South Carolina, Sawsan A. Abutabenjeh

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the impact of South Carolina's in-state preference policies on the economy of the state. To achieve this purpose, the research sought to answer the question: what are the impacts of implementing the in-state procurement preference policies on the economy of the state of South Carolina? The question was answered by using seven economic indicators: jobs, personal income, real disposable income, output (sales), Gross State Product (GSP), value added and state's population. The data related to the in-state preference policies were collected from the South Carolina Procurement Services Office. The data was then analyzed using the Regional Economic …

Essays On Incentives, Economic Conditions, And Educational Choices, Gregory Brian Upton Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer two independent studies that each contribute to the literature on the college choices. The first paper examines the impact of Arizona’s merit based scholarship on college enrollment decisions. I find that both enrollment and tuition and fees increased at Arizona’s three large public institutions after the implementation of the AIMS scholarship. Enrollment effects are strongest among black and hispanic students. The second paper examines the impact of the recent 2009 housing crisis on college enrollment decisions. I find that large reductions in housing wealth lead to increases in public school enrollment and decreases in private …

Essays On Technology And International Trade, Xianliang Tian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The three essays contained in this dissertation are about technology and international trade. The first essay examines optimal intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in developing countries, while the other two estimate product quality at the sectoral level for a panel of twelve manufacturing sectors in twenty OECD countries using a novel approach and relate import competition and R&D investment to the growth of sectoral product quality. Chapter 2 is motivated by the work of Acemoglu and Zilibotti (2001), who argue that the technologies developed in the North are not appropriate for the needs of the South, due to a ``technology-skill …

Economic Inequality And Marriage Formation, Xue Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation primarily investigates the causal impact of economic inequality on marriage formation. I demonstrate how economic inequality among men affects an individual woman’s propensity to get married in both the U.S. and China. Based on the framework of Loughran (2002) and Gould and Paserman (2003), I identify the causal impact of male wage inequality on the marriage propensity among women in the U.S. using the 1990 and 2000 Censuses as well as the 2007 American Community Survey. I address the endogeneity and reverse causality problems by applying skill-biased technological shock as an instrument for the wage gap between high …

Observing Academic Performance Based On Increased Educational Spending: An Assessment Of The Fedex Center At The University Of Mississippi, Matthew Williams

Honors Theses

In 2007, the FedEx Student-Athlete Academic Support Center, a renovation from the Starnes Center, was completed at the University of Mississippi to provide student- athletes a facility to improve academic performance in the classroom. FedEx donated $2.5 million to the project, covering half of the total expenditure. This private funding presents an opportunity to study how increased spending on education affected performance amongst student athletes in the classroom. Using semester-by-semester GPA of student-athletes and graduation rates from 2003 to 2009, it is possible to identify which students were exposed to the new facilities and thus, able to assess the effect …

Payday Lending In America: Profitability And Regulation In The Payday Lending Market, Orion Wilcox

Honors Theses

Payday lending is a highly contentious form of credit. Consumer advocates often argue for strict regulation or complete banning of the industry based on the idea that payday lending rates are usurious. Providers of payday loans argue that their product offers access to credit that would not be available otherwise. In order to reconcile this debate, I analyze financial data on the largest payday lender in the country Advance America. Furthermore, I examine the 2008 Arkansas payday lending law to analyze the impact of the ban on bounced check fees, overdraft charges, and Non-Sufficient Funds charges at state chartered Arkansas …

The Currency Union Effect On Trade: The Role Of Financial Development, Walker Lee Messer

Honors Theses

The effect of currency union formation on trade growth may depend on an economy's level of financial development. Economies with lower levels of financial development have less capacity to hedge exchange rate risk, are susceptible to hysteresis, and have little to overcome the large fixed costs of entering foreign markets. These barriers may be partially overcome through the use of common currencies. Economies with high levels of financial development may already be capable of overcoming these barriers to trade and will likely not gain significant trade from common currency formation. This paper tests the hypothesis that the currency union effect …

The Dólar Blue: The Black Market Exchange Rate For Dollars In Argentina, Brad Brunson Lanier

Honors Theses

At the beginning of October 2011, Argentina saw the emergence of a black market exchange rate for U.S. dollars. This black market exchange rate is known locally as the Dólar Blue. The importance of the Dólar Blue has become so public that it even has its own websites and social media accounts to inform its users of its daily rates as well as how and where to locate the human intermediary aspect of the black market known as the arbolitos. As a whole, black market exchange rates better reflect people's expectations about the true purchasing power of their currency and …

An Analysis Of New Performance Metrics In The Nba And Their Effects On Win Production And Salary, Daniel Rust

Honors Theses

In this study I perform statistical analysis on new metrics in the NBA designed to expose information about the inputs of basketball production. These input data were collected manually for every NBA player in the 2012-13 season, along with common advanced statistics. With these new metrics regression analysis is used to separately determine their effects on existing win production metrics and salary. In this analysis I control for team and position effects. Once these effects were determined, I was able to compare them and look for specific skills or strategies that may be undervalued or overvalued by NBA teams relative …

Revisiting The Question “More Guns, Less Crime?” New Estimates Using Spatial Econometric Techniques, Donald J. Lacombe, Amanda Ross

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

In a highly debated paper, Lott and Mustard (1997) found that allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduced crime. Since then, numerous researchers have questioned the validity of the findings. In addition, ongoing work has shown there is an important spatial component to crime. In this paper, we use spatial econometric techniques to estimate the impact of adoption of concealed weapons laws by some states on crime rates across the U.S. We find there are spillover effects of concealed weapons laws and that spatial dependence plays an important role when estimating the effect of these laws on crime.

Religion And Aids In Sub-Saharan Africa: Unbundling Religious Institutions, Amanda Mandzik, Andrew T. Young

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Evidence of relationships between religious affiliation and the African AIDS pandemic is found in the medical, religion, and sociology literatures. In particular, studies have shown that predominantly Christian countries tend to have higher HIV rates than predominantly Muslim countries. These relationships have been largely unexplored by economists and we seek to identify underlying institutions using a panel of up to 43 sub-Saharan African countries for 1990- 2010. Catholic antagonism towards condom use has often but proposed, but we report that the protestant (rather than the Catholic) population share drives the Christianity/HIV correlation. (Also, condom use actually correlates positively with HIV …

State Bankruptcy Law And Entrepreneurship: Evidence From A Border Analysis, Shawn M. Rohlin, Amanda Ross

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper examines how differences in state bankruptcy laws, specifically the amount of the homestead exemption, affect business location decisions within a few miles of the state boundary. By focusing on these border areas, we are able to more effectively control for unobserved local attributes and isolate the effect of more wealth protection. We find that an increase in the homestead exemption attracts new businesses. We also find that a more generous homestead exemption has a positive impact on existing businesses, suggesting that asset protection through bankruptcy law encourages successful entrepreneurs to incur the risks. Our results indicate that the …