Economics Commons^™

Committee Decision Making In Monetary Policy, Hyungju Cha

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

One reason of the criticism about Taylor rule would be that the rule could not provide a micro foundation about the decision-making mechanism. because it is simply describing the policy process in terms of the short-term nominal interest rate. In order to reconcile the tension between critics and supporters of Taylor rule, chapter I employs the theory of team, which investigates how members in a team interact to determine optimal decisions. Using team theory, it is shown how optimal monetary policy is results from committee members' interactions.

In chapter II, if the government cannot recognizes that the monetary policy can …

The Sociology Of The Home An Autoethnography That Explores House Building In Rural Sandanezwe, Oliver Hayward

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project took me to Sandanezwe, KwaZulu-Natal, a rural village outside of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where a community member, Mpume Khanyezi, had originally asked me to design and build a new home for her family. I intended to engage in a heuristic inquiry so that I could complete a daily practice of letting go of my own opinions and immersing myself in the community in order to better act as a scribe for the mother and analyze the community objectively. I attempted to gather qualitative data through interviews, active participation, direct observations with village members and building parties. Ultimately, my …

Economic Dimensions Of The Foreclosure Crisis: A Focus On The New York City Msa, Sean P. Macdonald, Eric Doviak

Publications and Research

Employing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data on loan originations from 2004 – 2010 and 2010 New York State preforeclosure filing notices, this study seeks to identify the correlation between some characteristics of census tracts and the distribution of pre-foreclosure filing notices and high cost loans within the New York City metropolitan area from 2006 through 2012. The findings are examined within the context of the census tracts within which borrowers resided. American Community Survey data on employment-population ratios, poverty rates, and median household income were then matched to our HMDA-PFF dataset to obtain a measure of the relationship of particular …

Managing The Accounting And Finance Function – Productivity Trends And Focus, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We found that firms in Singapore, HongKong, Japan, and China tend to favourstaff-related initiatives over processrelatedones when looking to raiseproductivity, with this being relativelymore prominent in the more developedeconomies of Singapore, Hong Kongand Japan.

Raising The Bar: Trends In Implementing Productivity Initiatives In The Finance And Accounting Function, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Faced with a tightening labour supply, raising productivity has become an increasingly important issue for manybusinesses in Singapore. To understand how this impacts the finance and accounting functions of businesses,the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) collaborated with Robert Half to survey over 550senior finance executives in Singapore and also the region to understand the focus of finance and accountingfunctions of businesses regarding raising productivity of these departments or functional units.

Essays On Savings Behavior Of Low-Income Households In Colombia, Luz M. Salas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I designed and implemented a Randomized Controlled Trial to study whether relatively simple modifications to how a commitment savings product was framed and labeled could affect savings accumulations and other outcomes of low-income individuals in newly formed Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in Colombia. Motivated by hypotheses from behavioral economics, the experiment tests hypotheses that behavioral responses should vary depending on whether subjects are led to label and create `mental savings accounts' in private or public ways. Individuals in the private-labeling treatment groups were led to label their savings as earmarked for a particular purpose and to state savings …

Planetary Improvement: Discourses And Practices Of Green Capitalism In The Cleantech Space, Jesse Adam Goldstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is money to be made in saving the planet. A whole host of actors, such as investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and policy makers have mobilized around our ecological problems, seeking to innovate new `green' and `clean' technologies that can serve a rapidly changing environment. The presumption that such technologies are both necessary and necessarily profitable anchors visions of a `green' capitalism that can and must be brought into existence.

However, just as free markets have never been all that free, why should we presume that green capitalism would be all that green? Instead of attempting to arbit whether or not …

Essays On Robust Estimators For Non-Identically Distributed Observations In Spatial Econometric And Time Series Models, Suleyman Taspinar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis proposal consists of three essays on the estimation methods and applications of spatial econometric models and one essay on the generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic (GARCH)-type models in financial time series. The first essay discusses the heteroskedasticity robust generalized method of moments estimator (RGMME) for the spatial models that allow for spatial dependence in both the dependent variable and the disturbance term (SARAR(1,1)). First, we show that the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is generally inconsistent in the presence of unknown heteroskedasticity. Then, we extend robust GMM approach in Lin and Lee (2010) to SARAR(1,1). The large sample properties are …

Is Urban Food Demand In The Philippines Different From China?, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

It is essential to understand the consumption pattern of food and how it changes over time to formulate sound economic policies as well as marketing and pricing strategies. In this study, we estimate the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System with six rounds of the Family Income Expenditure Survey exploiting the conditional linearity of the demand system. We find that the Filipino diet has become westernized and that the changes in urban food demand elasticities are qualitatively similar to those in urban China, especially for meat, fruits, and vegetables.We also offer some policy and business implications.

Complementarity In Institutional Quality In Bilateral Fdi Flows, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops a theory on the complementarity in institutional qualities between the home and host countries in bilateral FDI. Firms ‘born’ in countries with poorer institutions tend to invest more in informal institutions to mitigate political risk. The marginal advantage of higher informal institution endowment is bigger when the political risk at the FDI destination is higher. Thus, all else being equal, the ranking of the MNE’s home institutions predicts the ranking of the institutional qualities of their FDI destinations. I find robust empirical evidence for this theoretical prediction using bilateral FDI for 219 economies during year 2001-2010.

Wage, Income And Consumption Inequality In Japan, 1981-2008: From Boom To Lost Decades, Jeremy Lise, Nao Sudo, Michio Suzuki, Ken Yamada, Tomoaki Yamada

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper we document the main features of the distributions of wages, earnings, consumption and wealth in Japan since the early 1980s using four main data sources: the Basic Survey on Wage Structure (BSWS), the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFIE) and the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers (JPSC). We present an empirical analysis of inequality that specifically considers the path from individual wages and earnings, to household earnings, after-tax income, and finally consumption. We find that household earnings inequality rose substantially over this period. This rise is made up …

Wage Subsidies As A Tool To Fight Recessions, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

Since 1981, MAS has used the exchange rate as the primary tool of macroeconomic stabilisation. An exchange rate-based policy rule not only describes very well Singapore’s actual conduct of monetary policy but it has also delivered reduced volatility in inflation and output. Yet, as the quotation above suggests, during the onslaught of the contagion effects arising from the 1997–98 Asian Financial Crisis when Singapore’s export demand declined precipitously, threatening a rise in the unemployment rate, exchange rate adjustment did not act alone to counteract the decline in aggregate demand (AD). Instead, the committee set up by then - Prime Minister …

Finance And Social Responsibility In The Informal Economy: Institutional Voids, Globalization And Microfinance Institutions, Hao Liang, Chris Marquis, Sunny Li Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine how different types of country-level globalization and the industry structure of microfinance institutions (MFIs) affect organization-level microcredit interest rates which crucially affect the poor's entrepreneurial opportunities. We develop an opportunity structure perspective that argues that MFI interest rates can be reduced by egalitarian-based social globalization but increased by neoliberal-based economic globalization. Moreover, stronger presence of nonprofit organizations in the microfinance industry lowers interest rates. Furthermore, these three forces can moderate the relationship between MFIs' outreach to the poor and average interest rate. Analyses of 2,559 MFI observations across 74 countries from 2002 - 2012 largely support our hypotheses.

Bound Estimator Of Hiv Prevalence: Application To Malawi, Tomoki Fujii, Denis H. Y. Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

To find lower and upper bounds of HIV prevalence in Malawi under mild and intuitive assumptions to assess the importance of the refusal issue in the estimation of HIV prevalence. Methods: We derive bounds based on the following two key assumptions: (i) Among those who have never taken an HIV test before, those who refuse to take an HIV test (hereafter “refusers”) have at least as much risk to be HIV positive as those who participate in the HIV test, and (ii) among the refusers, those who have a prior testing experience are at least as likely to be HIV …

A New Hedonic Regression For Real Estate Prices Applied To The Singapore Residential Market, Jiang Liang, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops a new hedonic method for constructing a real estate price index that utilizes all transaction price information that encompasses both single-sale and repeat-sale properties. The new method is less prone to specification errors than standard hedonic methods and uses all available data. Like the Case-Shiller repeat-sales method, the new method has the advantage of being computationally efficient. In an empirical analysis of the methodology, we fit the model to all transaction prices for private residential property holdings in Singapore between Q1 1995 and Q2 2014, covering several periods of major price fluctuation and changes in government macro …

Additive Nonparametric Regression In The Presence Of Endogenous Regressors, Deniz Ozabaci, Daniel J. Henderson, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this article we consider nonparametric estimation of a structural equation model under full additivity constraint. We propose estimators for both the conditional mean and gradient which are consistent, asymptotically normal, oracle efficient, and free from the curse of dimensionality. Monte Carlo simulations support the asymptotic developments. We employ a partially linear extension of our model to study the relationship between child care and cognitive outcomes. Some of our (average) results are consistent with the literature (e.g., negative returns to child care when mothers have higher levels of education). However, as our estimators allow for heterogeneity both across and within …

Does Market Competition Lead To Customization?, Wen-Tai Hsu, Yi Lu, Travis Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a theory of competition and customization. When firms allocate their production to both custom-made and standardized products, the fraction of sales from the former will increase in the face of increased competition. Recent surveys conducted by the World Bank on Chinese firms provide a rare direct measure of customization that allows us to test the above-mentioned prediction. We find empirical results consistent with the prediction.

Our Day Has Finally Come: Domestic Worker Organizing In New York City, Harmony Goldberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation tells the story of Domestic Workers United (DWU), an organization of Latina and Caribbean nannies, housecleaners and elder care providers based in New York City. I trace DWU's efforts from its campaign to win basic employment protections for domestic workers in New York State through its efforts to enforce those new rights and to raise working standards above the minimum.

The driving motivation behind this work is the search for new paradigms for worker organizing that respond to the political and economic challenges of our times. I argue that domestic workers and other low-wage workers of color are …

Externalities And The Saint John’S Community, Michael Hemesath

Administration Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Endogamous Marriage On Family Outcomes: Evidence From Exogenous Variation In Immigrant Flows During 1900-1930 In The United States, Ho Po Crystal Wong

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Positive assortative matching in terms of traits like ethnicity, race and personality has been prevalent in marital formation. One possible explanation for this is that husbands and wives in endogamous marriages have complementary skills and tastes that increase marital surplus. This paper aims to estimate the effects of ethnic assortative matching on a variety of household outcomes by using the exogenous variation in immigrant flows in the United States during the period 1900-1930 to disentangle the selection effect of partners. The major finding is that the complementarities in home production from same ethnic marriage enhances investment in household public goods …

Reducing The Geographic Variance In Medical Expenditures: The Benefits Of A Primary-Care-Oriented Health System, Noah Bricker

Undergraduate Economic Review

The Affordable Care Act states that a primary goal of health care reform should be to lower costs and promote fiscal responsibility. With these two goals in mind, the bill proposes a more primary-care-oriented health system by enacting a 5-year temporary Medicare fee increase for primary care physicians as a means to increase the number of physicians and incentivize more primary care services. Using county and regional level Medicare data, this paper finds that an increase in the number of primary care physicians per capita would reduce per beneficiary Medicare spending and as a consequence, lower national health expenditures substantially.

Salvaging Print: Letterhead In Post-Industrial Urban America, Nancy Sharon Collins

The Mid-America Print Council Conference

This panel will explore the link between today’s small press movement and the formal aspects of commercial printing during the American 20th century. Panelists include Christine Medley , Philip Gattuso, and Nancy Bernardo.

Using as its primary example letterhead from defunct companies in Detroit, and secondarily, specimens of business and legal letterhead from other urban centers of the industrial United States, this panel will examine and discuss: What did letterhead represent to 20th century printers in local markets such as Detroit? What is the significance of printed letterhead, and stationery, to the art of small press printing in post-industrial cities …

Digitally Mapping The Growth Of The Railroads In The United States, Michael Weaver

Yale Day of Data

As part of my dissertation, I creating digital maps of the extent of the railways in the United States during the late 19th century (1880 to 1910) on a yearly basis. While other researchers have created digital maps of the railways in approximately 10-year intervals, this misses out on the rapid change in the railways in the interim. These previous digitization attempts have relied on using detailed maps created of the railways at a given time. But accurate maps were not made on a yearly basis and only exist for roughly every 10 years. However, during the 19th century, people …

An Economic Analysis Of Housing Market Instability And Affordability In China, You Wang

Undergraduate Economic Review

Applying an intertemporal optimization model proposed by Aizenman and Marion (1991), this research quantifies instability in the Chinese housing market. Although the Chinese government established numerous real estate policies to ensure the stability of the housing market, the regression analyses indicate that housing policies had no significant impact on the stabilization of the Chinese housing market. Alternatively, macroeconomic factors are identified as significant explanatory variables to the instability of housing prices. In addition, this research computes the median multiple for major cities in China and provides an alternative means of investigating the abnormal housing price situation in China.

Remittances And Governance: Does The Government Free Ride?, Durga P. Gautam

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Through what channel and to what extent does the inflow of remittances affect the quality of governance in the recipient countries? Recent studies suggest that a rise in remittances reduces public goods provision. Scholars generally agree that remittances increase consumption expenditure of the recipient households. This implicit positive correlation between remittances and the ratio of household to government consumption indicates an increasing share of private goods in household consumption. The decreasing share of public goods, on the other hand, tends to reduce households0 incentives to monitor and hold the government accountable. As a result, the external benefits generated by household …

The Unseen Cost Of Lowering Labor Market Flexibility On Higher Education Market: Evidence From Cross-Sectional Data From Oecd, Hansol Kim

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper attempts to determine the unseen consequences of lowering labor market flexibility and its impact on individuals’ demand for higher education by using standard OLS multiple regression analysis and cross-sectional data. I examine the independent variables that are theorized to increase the percentage of college diplomas attained in the market. Independent variables are chosen based on what has been studied in the prior literature. This study finds that labor market flexibility has a positive correlation with the percentage of adult population who have a higher education diploma. The results of this study suggest that individuals’ demand for higher education …

Leadership In An Egalitarian Society, Christopher Von Rueden, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Jonathan Stieglitz

ESI Publications

Leadership is instrumental to resolution of collective action dilemmas, particularly in large, heterogeneous groups. Less is known about the characteristics or effectiveness of leadership in small-scale, homogeneous, and relatively egalitarian societies, in which humans have spent most of our existence. Among Tsimane’ forager-horticulturalists of Bolivia, we (1) assess traits of elected leaders under experimental and naturalistic conditions and (2) test whether leaders impact collective action outcomes. We find that elected leaders are physically strong and have more kin and other exchange partners. Their ranks on physical dominance, kin support, and trustworthiness predict how well their groups perform, but only where …

Why The Great Recession Was Even Worse Than You Thought, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice: A Review Essay Of Cosmopolitan Regard By Richard Vernon, Tiana-Renée C. Silva

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

While geologists may not be able to find physical proof to suggest that the world is shrinking, social scientists are convinced that this is the case. The amount of information that is shared amongst the world's citizens has grown exponentially over the years, and evidence of an increasingly interconnected world can be seen in every facet of our everyday lives from the food we eat to what we watch on television. Thousands of miles that once divided us from one another are now eliminated by telephones, the Internet, and even the ability to make telephone calls over the Internet. In …

The Perception Of The Economy Influencing Public Opinion On Immigration Policy, Jeff Sanchez

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Does the majority express interest concerning immigration on the basis of perceived personal economic circumstance and security, or on the basis of its perception of the state of the national economy? This study explains how perception of the state of the economy influences opinion on immigration policy. This study finds that an individual's preferences for varying immigration policies are rooted in his or her perception of the state of the national economy, rather than being narrowly determined by his or her perception of their own economic circumstance and security.