Economics Commons^™

Why Women Don’T Run: Experimental Evidence On Gender Differences In Political Competition Aversion, Jessica Preece, Olga B. Stoddard

Faculty Publications

Women's underrepresentation in leadership positions has been well documented, but the reasons behind it are not well understood. We carry out a field experiment to test a prominent theory about the source of the gender gap in leadership ambition: women's higher aversion to competitive environments. Using politics as a context for our study, we employ two distinct subject pools – highly politically active individuals and workers from an online labor market. We find that priming individuals to consider the competitive nature of politics has a strong negative effect on women's interest in political office, but not on men's interest, hence …

Fire-Sale Fdi? The Impact Of Financial Crises On Foreign Direct Investment, Olga B. Stoddard, Ilan Noy

Faculty Publications

We analyze the evolution of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to developing and emerging countries around financial crises. We empirically examine the Fire-Sale FDI hypothesis and describe the pattern of FDI inflows surrounding financial crises. We also add a more granular detail about the types of financial crises and their potentially differential effects on FDI. We distinguish between mergers and acquisitions(M&A) and greenfield investment, as well as between horizontal (tariff jumping) and vertical (integrating production stages) FDI. We find that financial crises have a strong negative effect on inward FDI in our sample. Crises are also shown to reduce the …

Wealth And Democracy, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

The renewed debate over inequality has highlighted a set of deficits in much of the last fifty-plus years of thinking on the topic. The late twentieth-century tradition of thinking about distributive justice largely assumed (1) that market dynamics would produce stable and tolerable levels of inequality; and (2) that a relatively powerful, competent, and legitimate state could effectively redistribute to mitigate what inequality did arise. What was largely overlooked in this thought and has since risen to central attention is the prospect that (1) accelerating levels of market-produced inequality will (2) undermine the legitimacy and efficacy of the state and …

Would You Choose To Be Happy? Tradeoffs Between Happiness And The Other Dimensions Of Life In A Large Population Survey, Matthew D. Adler, Paula Dolan, Georgios Kavetsos

Faculty Scholarship

A large literature documents the correlates and causes of subjective well-being, or happiness. But few studies have investigated whether people choose happiness. Is happiness all that people want from life, or are they willing to sacrifice it for other attributes, such as income and health? Tackling this question has largely been the preserve of philosophers. In this article, we find out just how much happiness matters to ordinary citizens. Our sample consists of nearly 13,000 members of the UK and US general populations. We ask them to choose between, and make judgments over, lives that are high (or low) in …

Do Physicians Respond To Liability Standards?, Michael D. Frakes, Matthew Frank, Seth Seabury

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we explore the sensitivity in the clinical decisions of physicians to the standards of care expected of them under the law, drawing on the abandonment by states over time of rules holding physicians to standards determined by local customs and the contemporaneous adoption of national-standard rules. Using data on broad rates of surgical interventions at the county-by-year level from the Area Resource File, we find that local surgery rates converge towards national surgery rates upon the adoption of national-standard rules. Moreover, we find that these effects are more pronounced among rural counties.

Nonparametric Threshold Regression: Estimation And Inference, Daniel J. Henderson, Christopher F. Parmeter, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

The present work describes a simple approach to estimating the location of a threshold/changepoint in a nonparametric regression. This model has connections both to the time-series and regressiondiscontinuity literatures. The estimator leverages a simple decomposition, giving it the form of asemiparametric smooth coefficient model. Optimal bandwidth selection and a suite of testing facilitiesare also presented. Several empirical examples are provided to illustrate the implementation of themethods discussed here.

Wellbeing Of Singapore’S Youths, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Given Singapore’s focus on human capital investment in its residents, the nation’s youths have experienced increases in their financial, educational, and physical wellbeing. However, how have our youths fared in their emotional and mental wellbeing? Figures from the World Values Survey show reported a gradual decline in life satisfaction for both general population and youths. Data from four waves of the National Youth Survey confirms this trend. This chapter explores and examines the non-economic channels that may have countered the positive influence of economic success on the wellbeing of youths, namely, changing family structure, heightened stressors, shifting life goals, time …

Aggregate Consumption And Debt Accumulation: An Empirical Examination Of Us Household Behavior, Yun K. Kim, Mark Setterfield, Yuan Mei

Research Collection School Of Economics

The outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008 witnessed a significant contraction in US consumption spending, as households began deleveraging following a period marked by historically high levels of household borrowing. These events call into question the canonical life-cycle theory of consumption, with its benign view of debt as a neutral instrument of optimal intertemporal expenditure smoothing. This paper draws attention to an alternative, post-Keynesian account of consumption spending in which current income, household borrowing and household indebtedness all affect current consumption. Central to the analysis is an empirical investigation of US consumption spending since the 1950s. The results of …

Asian Tiger Economies' Choices, Hwee Kwan Chow-Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers the choices facing the Asian tiger economies regarding growth strategies that foster trans-Pacific rebalancing. A review of historical data spanning 2000 to 2008 reveals only a slight widening of the overall current account surplus but that there is considerable variation across the countries, with Hong Kong, China exhibiting the biggest increase in the saving and investment (S-I) balance. Meanwhile, cross-correlation coefficient estimates tentatively suggest that changes in the real effective exchange rate do not seem to exhibit a consistent negative lead over changes in the S-I gap in the short run over the past decade. Highimport leakage, …

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor, 1st Quarter, 2015, Armstrong State University Center For Regional Analysis

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor

The Coastal Empire Economic Indicators are designed to provide continuously updating quarterly snapshots of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy. The coincident index measures the current economic heartbeat of the region. The leading index provides a short term forecast of the region’s economic activity in six to nine months.

Book Review Of: Why Nations Fail, Ashutosh Mani Dixit

Business Review

The purpose of this article is to assess the contribution of Why Nations Fail about its forefront claim that institution is exclusive determinant of nation’s economic outcome. This paper will examine its findings and put forward arguments and claims of prominent studies about economic development. The paper has been organized in two more section. Immediate section presents chapter wise summary of the book highlighting strengths and key outcomes. While the third section, which is the purpose of the article, offers a critique, than sums up in final section providing some concluding comments.

Determinants Of Capital Structure Of Service And Manufacturing Sectors Of Pakistani Companies Listed In Karachi Stock Exchange, Zahid Ali Channar, Manisha Bai Maheshwari, Piribhat Abbasi

Business Review

Capital structure alludes to how an organization finances its operations whether through shareholders equity, debt or a blending of both. This study was aimed to find out the determinants of capital structure in Manufacturing and Service Sectors of Pakistan and examine which capital structure theory (Trade off theory or Pecking order theory) is relevant in Pakistani context. For study secondary data was collected from financial statements of 30 Companies and then data was analyzed through Correlation and Multi Regression analysis. Results showed that leverage has negative significant relationship with tangibility in both sectors which conformed Pecking order theory is followed …

Semiparametric Analysis In Conditionally Independent Multivariate Mixture Models, T. Wrobel, Denis H. Y. Leung, J. Qin, T. Hettmansperger

Research Collection School Of Economics

The conditional independence assumption is commonly used in multivariate mixture models in behavioral research. We propose an exponential tilt model to analyze data from a multivariate mixture distribution with conditionally independent components. In this model, the log ratio of the density functions of the components is modeled as a quadratic function in the observations. There are a number of advantages in this approach. First, except for the exponential tilt assumption, the marginal distributions of the observations can be completely arbitrary. Second, unlike some previous methods, which require the multivariate data to be discrete, modeling can be performed based on the …

Testing Linearity Using Power Transforms Of Regressors, Yae In Baek, Jin Seo Cho, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a method of testing linearity using power transforms of regressors, allowing for stationary processes and time trends. The linear model is a simplifying hypothesis that derives from the power transform model in three different ways, each producing its own identification problem. We call this modeling difficulty the trifold identification problem and show that it may be overcome using a test based on the quasi-likelihood ratio (QLR) statistic. More specifically, the QLR statistic may be approximated under each identification problem and the separate null approximations may be combined to produce a composite approximation that embodies the linear model hypothesis. …

Quantitative Study Of Housing Price Based On Huff Model And Hedonic Method, Yuan Li, Lang He, Junfeng Jiao, Guoqiang Shen

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Using Hedonic and Huff model, we conduct empirical study of the ordinary commercial housing price’s spatial pattern in Xiamen City, China. This paper mainly focus on the following three issues: (1) Exploring the 21 potential factors that influence spatial distribution of housing price; (2) The relationship between commercial size and housing price; (3) Quantitative analysis about the five primary factors’ mode of action and saliency characteristics. In the numerous variables, allocation of educational resources and the distance between housing and shopping malls and supermarkets based on Huff model have Significant impact on housing price.

Asset Price Bubbles With Specific Focus On Stock Prices In Pakistan, Nawaz Ahmad, Rizwan Raheem Ahmed, Yaseen Ahmed Meenai

Business Review

This research paper is an attempt to investigate Asset Price Bubbles (APB) with reference to Pakistan stock market. The analysis of time series graph shows a linear trend between Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Money Supply Index (M2I) whereas a nonlinear trend with stock prices. Moreover, the graph also shows an unequal spread with the stock prices, which indicate Heteroskedasticity. Then, descriptive statistics test shows high Standard Deviations for stock prices compared with CPI and M2I, which indicate a higher volatility in stock prices. Finally, the hypothesis test for equality of variance concluded the presence of Asset Price Bubbles by …

Revisiting Compensating Wage Differentials: The Evidence From Employer-Provided Health Insurance, Dan Qu

Business Review

This paper uses 1996 and 2001 Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine the evidence for compensating wage differentials associated with employer-provided health insurance (EHI) in the United States. The results provide no evidence of a tradeoff between wages and EHI coverage. On the other hand, the results do suggest that employees who work in states with income taxes are more likely to receive EHI than those in states without income taxes. Fixed effects, first differencing and instrumental variable estimation are used to address the potential ability bias and endogeneity problems in wage models with EHI as an independent …

What Lies At The Core Of Core Inflation? An Empirical Analysis To Identify The Determinants Of Core Inflation In Pakistan, Mehwish Ghulam Ali, Muhammad Ather Elahi, Qazi Masood Ahmed

Business Review

Core inflation leads to erosion of purchasing power and distorts income distribution in favor of the rich and the creditors. Further, it aggravates poverty due to its regressive effect. By targeting core inflation, the Central Bank attempts to reduce poverty and improve income distribution. The Central Bank does and should target core inflation for the aforementioned objectives, hence it becomes necessary to identify if factors apart from monetary policy affect core inflation. This paper aims to identify the determinants of core inflation in Pakistan. This study is motivated by the lack of work done in identifying the determinants of core …

Profiling Organizational Culture Of Different Sectors In Pakistan, Zaki Rashidi, Nadeem A. Syed, Sajida Zaki

Business Review

Organizational Culture is gaining importance in the modern organization theory and research. Mangers are more emphasizing to understand the culture and climate of their organization to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of the organization. Organizational development practitioners and change management flag bearers harmoniously favoring to comprehend the culture of any organization for any kind of change or transformation. Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) provides the basic tool to analyze and figure out the type and nature of cultural stream of any organization. The OCP helps to create the cultural-profile of the organization through a survey of the employees. This study encompasses …

The Ex-Dividend Day Stock Price Behavior: Evidence From Pakistan, Sana Tauseef, Mohammad Nishat

Business Review

The paper examines the ex-dividend day price behavior of the listed stocks in Karachi Stock Exchange for the period January 2009 to June 2010. During the examined period, there was no capital gain tax; however a 10% withholding tax applied on dividends. We use the standard event study methodology to examine the abnormal returns for days surrounding the exdividend day. The study reports a very low price drop ratios compared to their theoretical values. No significant excess returns are found on the exdividend day; however, significant positive abnormal returns are observed in the pre-event window and negative excess returns are …

Essays In Labor Economics, Sukriye Elif Filiz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present three distinct topics on labor economics that can be read independently from one another. In the first chapter, using matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I investigate the impact of mothers’ involuntary job loss on children’s academic achievement. In the next chapter, I examine the impact of eye and hair color on wages-at-first-job after schooling. In addition, I investigate whether hair color has an impact on the wage-at-the-first-job if the individual resides among people who have similar features. In the last chapter, I examine the impact of unemployment insurance benefit generosity …

A Bayesian Approach To Small Area Estimation Of Health Insurance Coverage, Zhengjia Sun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Small area estimation focuses on borrowing strength across area in order to develop a reliable estimator when the auxiliary information is available. The traditional methods for small area estimation borrow strength through linear models that provide links to related areas, which may not be appropriate for some survey data. We examine the empirical best unbiased linear prediction method and hierarchical Bayes method with the Louisiana Health Insurance Survey (LHIS), and a hierarchical Bayes method with probit model to fit the LHIS data by using the single year data in 2013. This approach results in a lower level of posterior standard …

The Role Of Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan In The Breakdown Of The Ussr, Ezoza Nomazova

UROP Posters

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was one of the biggest historic events of XX century. Much like the Roman Empire, the USSR breakdown was due to an aggregate of factors, some internal, and some foreign. Unlike, the Roman Empire, the Soviet Empire collapsed suddenly. Among the reasons for the fall of the Union, the invasion of Afghanistan was one of the poorest decisions that was made by the Soviet government. What factors did this event contribute to the fall of the USSR?

The Russian invasion of Afghanistan had big impact on the attitude of the developing countries …

The Doctor/Patient Relationship In End-Of-Life Care: A Game Theoretic Model, Stephan A. Castellanos

Honors Theses

End-of-life care is a sensitive subject because it deals with life and death, as well as dealing with the nature of that death. In its most basic form, end-of-life care can be divided into two distinct pathways: aggressive treatment and methods, or palliative treatment and care. This paper explores the history surrounding these two routes and the implications that surround them. A review of the literature reveals that in many cases palliative care can increase in quality-of-life. An important part of the decision between aggressive and palliative care are the patient's and the doctor's feelings towards certain aspects of end-of-life …

Introduction: Toward Voice And Reflexivity, Olivier De Schutter, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Scholarship

In their introductory chapter, De Schutter and Pistor argue that in light of increasing absolute and relative scarcity of land and fresh water there is urgent need to improve the governance of these and other essential resources. Emphasizing “essentiality” shifts the debate from allocative efficiency to normative concerns of equity and dignity. Essential resources are indispensable for survival and/or for meaningful participation in a given community. Their allocation therefore cannot be left to the pricing mechanism alone. It requires new parameters for governance. The authors propose Voice and Reflexivity as the key parameters of such a regime. Voice is …

A Critical Review Of Ontario’S Blue Box Program: Identifying And Testing Best Practices In Printed Paper And Packaging Recycling, Calvin Lakhan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation undertook a critical review of four recycling policies used in Ontario which are designed to promote household waste diversion and reduce material management costs. These policies include:

1) Municipal funding should be directly tied to program performance relative to their peer group. 2) All municipalities should make investments in recycling promotion and education, and will be reimbursed $1 per household for all recycling promotion and education expenditures

3) Where possible, municipalities should implement pay as you throw schemes for household waste as a means to minimize the amount of material being disposed of in the waste stream.

4) …

Pushing The Limits: International Land Acquisitions In Comparative Perspective, Ariane Goetz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The role of investor countries in large-scale land acquisitions is poorly understood in the contemporary “land grab” literature. Orthodox explanations largely build on deductive analyses that deviate from the emerging empirical evidence, and/or face analytical difficulties when trying to capture why large-scale land acquisitions happen. This thesis investigates the global phenomenon of “land grabbing” from the comparative perspective of two major investor countries: the UK and China. The regional focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, a major target of land-consuming investments since 2000.

The dissertation advances three arguments: Firstly, the specific details of the home country’s industrial set-up, development challenges, ideological …

Human Capital In Mexico: Estimating Externalities With The Constant-Composition Approach, Lorin D. Dawson

Honors Theses

Understanding a country's human capital externalities is an important part of understanding economic phenomena and implementing national economic policy. However, externalities are difficult to estimate. Measurement error can cause a misinterpretation of economic models and result in misguided policies. The two methods of calculating human capital externalities are the Mincer Equation and Constant-Composition approach. The author estimates human capital externalities in Mexico with the Constant-Composition approach because the Mincer approach often finds externalities where none are present. Using the Constant-Composition method, the author finds no indication of human capital externalities in Mexico.

The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership: Legislative Action And The Future Of Transatlantic Trade, Zachery Newton

Honors Theses

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a controversial free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, and is currently in negotiations as of the publication of this thesis. The TTIP seeks to remove both tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) between the EU and the US, such as environmental and food safety regulatory divergences. This paper seeks to predict the outcome of negotiations, while considering the various cultural, economic, and political factors that play into the potential success or failure of the TTIP. To accomplish this, the paper takes a broad look at the …

Say What You Want, Get What You Need: The Effects Of Media Freedom On Fdi Inflows, Hjalmar Breit

Honors Theses

As the discussion concerning economic growth has become increasingly important, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and its determinants have become a hot topic. This thesis uses 2SLS to investigate the relationship between Media Freedom, Socio-political Stability, and FDI levels, using Corruption as a robustness check. It finds that there is a positive correlation for FDI levels for both Media Freedom and Corruption, providing a theoretical framework within which they operate.