Economics Commons^™

The Fundamental Law Of Highway Congestion Revisited: Evidence From National Expressways In Japan, Wen-Tai Hsu, Hongliang Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The fundamental law of highway congestion states that when congested, the travel speed on an expanded expressway reverts to its previous level before the capacity expansion. In this paper, we propose a theory that generalizes this statement and finds that if there exists a coverage effect, that is, the effect of longer road length on traffic conditional on capacity, then the new equilibrium travel speed could be lower than its previous level. Given the fundamental law, the theory predicts that the elasticity of traffic to road capacity is at least 1. We estimate this elasticity for national expressways in Japan …

Business Honors Internship Final Report: U.S. House Of Representatives, Adam T. Stewart

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

From May 6^th through August 9^th of 2013, I had the choice opportunity to intern for Congressman Rob Bishop in the United States House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. I consider this experience monumental in my undergraduate career. No other experience has allowed me to utilize all of the knowledge and skills gained in my dual economics and political science degrees.

Transportation Costs And U.S. Manufacturing Fdi, Joseph P. Daniels, Marc Von Der Ruhr

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

In empirical models of foreign direct investment (FDI), distance is most often used to proxy for transportation costs and other pure-trade costs. Given that distance is time invariant but transportation costs are not, this approach is less than satisfactory when actual transportation costs rise and fall over time. The contribution of this work is to explicitly control for transportation costs and thereby better understand their impact on FDI. We explore the impact of shipping costs on total US FDI stocks abroad, manufacturing stocks and service stocks using measures of sea-shipping and air-shipping costs in a Hausman–Taylor model that controls for …

The Impact Of World Bank’S Conditionality-Ownership Hybrid On Forest Management In Cameroon: Policy Hybridity In International Dependence Development, Asongayi Venard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many developing countries depend on the World Bank for development assistance, which the Bank often provides with policy reform conditions. Resistance to World Bank’s conditionality caused the Bank to posit “ownership” as a country’s real assent to its development policies. The combination of ownership and conditionality invalidates the neocolonial, false-paradigm and dualism theses in explaining the international dependence development model. This study explains this model by investigating how the relationship between conditionality and ownership in the context of this model impacts forest management in Cameroon.

Integrating theoretical and methodological insights mainly from political science, economics, geosciences, and sociology, the study …

Handling Risk: Testosterone And Risk Preference, Evidence From Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tobias Sytsma

Master's Theses

The relationship between testosterone and risk aversion is of increasing interest in the experimental economics. Using the ratio of the second digit to the fourth digit (2D:4D) as a rough indicator of level of prenatal testosterone exposure, this study attempts to replicate recent results from Garbarino et al., (2011), which found that individuals with digit ratios above the sample average were significantly more risk averse, and individuals with digit ratios one standard deviation below the sample average were significantly more risk seeking in a subject pool of male and female Caucasian students. Here, a subject pool from Dhaka, Bangladesh, is …

Impacts Of The Open Door Policy And Globalization On Income Inequality In China Between The 20th Century And The Early 21st Century, Qili Jin

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Before economic reform, the Chinese economy experienced a long period of recession. The creation of Open Door Policy re-introduced globalization to China, modernized the country’s economy, and boosted citizens’ standards of living, especially for people who live in the Special Economic Zone and Tier 1 cities. As globalization re-emerged, extreme income inequality became one of the hottest topics. Prior research leads to the hypothesis that re-introduction of globalization led by the Open Door Policy increased income inequality in China. While international inequality focuses on the unequal distribution on a global scale, domestic income inequality is defined as the how material …

Economic Conditions In Egypt: Current And Future, Gouda Abdel-Khalek

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Gender Wage Differentials Using Oaxaca Decomposition Technique, Marwa Biltagy

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

This paper focuses on estimating wage differences between males and females in Egypt to understand the determinants of the gender wage gap and control of this variation. The methodology of this paper is based on studying and analyzing the topic of wage differentials between males and females by using the Oaxaca decomposition technique. The data used in the analysis is obtained from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2006 (ELMPS 2006), which was presented by Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in cooperation with Economic Research Forum (ERF). The findings of this paper help deepen the understanding of …

Attempts To Industrial Reforms In Algeria: Do They Fit The Logic Of Globalization?, Chérif Begga, Abdelhamid Merghit

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

Since its independence in 1962, Algeria, as an oil producing country, undertook the construction of a socialist economy supported by heavy industrialisation and substantial investment in human capital. This strategy of development was based on state-led industrialization, after it nationalized almost the whole economy in 1966. However, this policy focused on establishing large state enterprises and investing heavily in the public sector while not allowing any significant role for the private sector. This rapid industrialization resulted in severe inefficiencies in the productive capacity of various industries and generated fiscal imbalances in the mid-1970s, which constrained Algeria’s ability to continue its …

Regional Integration Effects On Investment And Growth In Algeria, Nacira Boukhezer

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

The positive effect of financial development on growth has led several authors to advocate the liberalization of the financial sector from the constraints caused by repressive policies disturbing its operation. This policy will theoretically promote financial deepening, which will positively impact growth through increased savings and its allocation to more profitable sectors. The new requirements of the global economy have made economic and financial systems more integrated and liberalized, encouraged by the formation of regional groupings. The partnership between Algeria and the European Union (EU) could be a way of convergence and development for the banking system which has long …

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditures And Economic Contribution: 2013, 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 2013.

The Benefits Of Animal Traceability Systems On A Foot-And-Mouth Disease Outbreak In Utah, Christian Michael Ukkestad

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent decades, a number of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks have occurred in countries that had been FMD-free for many years. The last FMD outbreak in the United States occurred in 1929 and the country contains a naïve livestock population, meaning it is susceptible to an outbreak. In the event of an FMD outbreak in the United States, the speed at which the source and contacts between livestock can be identified impacts both the implementation and effectiveness of mitigation strategies. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the impact of higher levels of animal traceability on the immediate welfare …

Centralized Institutions And Cascades, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Why do sudden and massive social, economic, and political changes occur when and where they do? Are there institutional preconditions that encourage such changes when present and discourage such changes when absent? I employ a general model which suggests that cascades which induce massive equilibrium changes are more likely to occur in regimes with centralized coercive power, defined as the ability to impose more than one type of sanction (economic, legal, political, social, or religious). Centralized authorities are better able to suppress subversive actions when external shocks are small, as citizens have little incentive to incur numerous types of sanctions. …

Lattice Methods For The Valuation Of Options With Regime Switching, Atul Sancheti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we have developed two numerical methods for evaluating option prices under the regime switching model of stock price processes: the Finite Difference lattice method and the Monte Carlo lattice method.

The Finite Difference lattice method is based on the explicit finite difference scheme for parabolic problems. The Monte Carlo lattice method is based on the simulation of the Markov chain. The advantage of these methods is their flexibility to compute the option prices for any given stock price at any given time. Numerical examples are presented to examine these methods. It has been shown that the proposed …

Land As Power, An Analysis Of Female Land Inheritance And Intrahousehold Bargaining In Rwanda, Eric Adebayo

Master's Theses

Do increased levels of female land inheritance lead to increases in female intrahousehold bargaining power? Analysis of an expansive Rwandan household survey dataset from 2010-2011 suggests that female land inheritances are positively associated with female intrahousehold bargaining power. The results support the relative efficacy of intrahousehold bargaining models over that of unitary household models. The findings have implications for Rwandan lawmakers debating changes to the country's “Succession law” which makes gender discrimination in land inheritance illegal. This is the first paper of its kind to estimate female land inheritance's effect on bargaining power in Rwanda.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative And U.S. Energy Markets, Kangil Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The dynamic mutual relationship between the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon permit price and energy prices in the U.S. is examined. Results show that the RGGI and electricity markets are not closely linked, although the carbon permit price is usually closely interrelated with energy prices. The loose relationship between the RGGI and electricity markets can be explained by the recent low carbon credit demand which stems from the low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions existent in the particular area covered by the RGGI. The low GHG emissions result from fuel switching due to recent low natural gas prices. Unlike the …

Analysis Of Building Resiliency In An Ethiopian Pastoral System: Mitigating The Effects Of Population And Climate Change On Food Insecurity, Brigham Forrest

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Worldwide expenditures on international development in the form of assistance or “aid” have continued to increase as developed countries look to both help and influence developing countries. In 2011, more than $140 billion in development aid was distributed globally, more than double the amount expended for international development aid in 2003. Many of the countries that are in need of aid have governments that do not have the resources, the experience, political stability, or well-functioning institutions to effect long-term structural change to bring their people out of poverty.

Ethiopia is a country receiving large amounts of development aid, and one …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Controlling Invasive Species, Yanxu Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Invasive species have caused notable economic damages in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and other industries over the past several decades. Invasive species control must therefore be designed to prevent the both the introduction and spread of invasive species. This dissertation examines the efficiency and efficacy of tariffs and inspections as a joint control mechanism at a home (i.e., importing) country's border. I find that a traditional tariff can be optimal in the short run when the invasive species level is directly related to a foreign (i.e., exporting) country's shipment size. However, in the long run a traditional tariff results in a …

Calculating Willingness-To-Pay As A Function Of Biophysical Water Quality And Water Quality Perceptions, Carlos G. Silva

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When estimating economic value associated with changes in water quality, recreation demand models typically depend upon either (i) biophysical measures of water quality as collected by natural scientists or (ii) the perception of water quality by recreationists. Models based upon biophysical metrics (such as oxygen concentration, pollutant concentrations, Secchi depth measurements, etc.) operate on the assumption that people can perceive and respond to these metrics, or respond to factors that are, indeed, correlated with the biophysical measure. Economists have often estimated willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures associated with unit changes in biophysical measures without examining the degree to which the measures are …

Wealth Management In Singapore, Francis Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As early as 2015, Singapore may oust Switzerland as the world’s top finance hub. But the path forward requires adjustments in the strategic direction of individual firms. Wealth management in Singapore is vibrant, growing, challenging.

Maximum Likelihood Estimation Of Partially Observed Diffusion Models, Tore Selland Kleppe, Jun Yu, Hans J. Skaug

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops a maximum likelihood (ML) method to estimate partially observed diffusion models based on data sampled at discrete times. The method combines two techniques recently proposed in the literature in two separate steps. In the first step, the closed form approach of Aït-Sahalia (2008) is used to obtain a highly accurate approximation to the joint transition probability density of the latent and the observed states. In the second step, the efficient importance sampling technique of Richard and Zhang (2007) is used to integrate out the latent states, thereby yielding the likelihood function. Using both simulated and real data, …

On Confidence Intervals For Autoregressive Roots And Predictive Regression, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Local to unity limit theory is used in applications to construct confidence intervals (CIs) for autoregressive roots through inversion of a unit root test (Stock (1991)). Such CIs are asymptotically valid when the true model has an autoregressive root that is local to unity (rho = 1 + c/n), but are shown here to be invalid at the limits of the domain of definition of the localizing coefficient c because of a failure in tightness and the escape of probability mass. Failure at the boundary implies that these CIs have zero asymptotic coverage probability in the stationary case and vicinities …

Analysis Of The Bric Countries Technical Efficiency Patterns Using Stochastic Frontier Approach, Alla Akimova

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the technical efficiency of BRIC-countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) at the disaggregated level of six economic activities using stochastic frontier approach. Technical efficiency scores and efficiency externalities effects of international trade and foreign direct investment inflows are estimated based on the panel of sixteen countries - G20 members - over the period from 1995 to 2009. The results suggest that foreign direct investment is a conduit of the positive technological spillovers in all sectors under analysis. Once controlling for the domestic level of the human capital that captures technology absorptive capacity, the positive effect of the international …

The Effect Of School And Neighborhood Environmental Factors On Childhood Obesity, Yiwei Qian

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three chapters exploring the effect of school program and neighborhood environment on childhood obesity outcome using individual panel data set of Arkansas public schoolchildren.

The first chapter (Section 2) investigates how the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), a program that provides funding for the distribution of free fresh fruits and vegetables to students in participating schools, affects childhood obesity. We combine matching methodology and difference-in-differences analysis to estimate the effect of the FFVP on childhood BMI outcomes. Estimates of the FFVP effect are sensitive to different matching methods. Methods that provide a good balance between …

Essays On The Changing Nature Of Business Cycle Fluctuations: A State-Level Study Of Jobless Recoveries And The Great Moderation, Jared David Reber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The behavior of several important macroeconomic variables has changed dramatically over the past several business cycles in the U.S. These changes, which began around the mid-1980s, have been viewed as somewhat puzzling given the stark contrast they exhibit to earlier post-war data. The movement of output and employment has historically been highly correlated throughout the different phases of the business cycle. However, this changed with the economic recovery of 1991. Since then, periods of output recovery have been accompanied by periods of prolonged job loss. These periods have come to be known as "jobless recoveries". Several competing explanations for this …

Ariège’S Development Conundrum, Alan Thomas Devenish

Dissertations and Theses

Since the latter half of the nineteenth century, industrialization and modernization have strongly shaped the development of the French department Ariège. Over the last roughly 150 years, Ariège has seen its population decline from a quarter million to 150,00. Its traditional agrarian economy has been remade for competition on global markets, and the department has relied on tourism to bring in revenue where other traditional industries have failed to do so. In this thesis I identify the European Union and French policies that continue to guide Ariège's development through subsidies and regulation. I explain the origins and effects of modernization …

Connecting The Dots: An Economic Study Of Parental Factors Shaping Early Childhood Cognitive Development, Bryn Alexandra O'Neill

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This study investigates how maternal and paternal employment status and educational attainment, coupled with parental time and educational inputs such as toys, books, etc. devoted to children, have impacted young children's cognitive development in the U.S. Cognitive development comprises the intellectual and conscious thinking growth that begins in infancy. It involves problem solving, reasoning and memory aptitudes and is tested for throughout each year of childhood in various ways. The impact of the use of external childcare in lieu of parental time on development is also evaluated. This paper will outline reviewed literature, a theoretical model, data discussion, model construction …

Experimental Evidence For Heterogeneous Expectations In A Simple New Keynesian Framework, Atticus David Holm Graven

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This paper is a two-dimensional analysis of agent behavior in a standard New Keynesian (NK) Macroeconomic model. On the dimension of pure mathematics, we analyze the parameters of the NK model and of possible prediction rules. On the other dimension we continue a practice of empirical study of heterogeneous expectations with an experiment. The experiment will ask participants to make predictions of future output and inflation. Their responses will create a data-set upon which analysis will be performed to illuminate and corroborate current theories of economic decision making. The literature has shown that most agents' forecasting rules can be modeled …

Is Geographic Diversification Associated With Increased Risk? Evidence From The Spanish Banking Crisis, Briana Anderson

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This paper examines the association between geographic diversification and Spanish savings bank (caja) failure. The paper focuses on the geographic expansion of cajas between 2002 and 2012 and failure of several cajas between 2008 and 2011 during the Spanish banking crisis. Employing financial statement and branch location data collected from the CECA, logit models were used to test the association between failure and geographic and cultural diversification. This paper finds that, depending on the model estimated, geographic and cultural diversification of cajas either reduced or had no effect on the odds ratio of failure, suggesting that the benefits …

Dao Selected For Economics Research Fellowship, Hannah Dhue

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.