Economics Commons^™

Incense Burning During Pregnancy And Birth Weight And Head Circumference Among Term Births: The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study, Le-Yu Chen, Christine Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Incense burning for rituals or religious purposes is an important tradition in many countries. However, incense smoke contains particulate matter and gas products such as carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen dioxide, which are potentially harmful to health. We analyzed the relationship between prenatal incense burning and birth weight and head circumference at birth using the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study. We performed multivariate regression analysis on a sample of 15,773 Taiwanese babies born in 2005 and controlled extensively for factors that may be correlated with incense burning and birth outcomes. Prenatal incense burning environment was associated with lower birth weight and …

Textual Analysis And Machine Leaning: Crack Unstructured Data In Finance And Accounting, Li Guo, Feng Shi, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In finance and accounting, relative to quantitative methods traditionally used, textual analysis becomes popular recently despite of its substantially less precise manner. In an overview of the literature, we describe various methods used in textual analysis, especially machine learning. By comparing their classification performance, we find that neural network outperforms many other machine learning techniques in classifying news category. Moreover, we highlight that there are many challenges left for future development of textual analysis, such as identifying multiple objects within one single document.

Modeling Speculative Bubbles With Diverse Investor Expectations, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

We construct a model of asset market exuberance, collapse and recovery using subjective investor-based rational expectations about the impact of fundamentals on the market price. Investors are assumed to have heterogeneous market sentiments, allowing them to be exuberant, cautious, or fundamentalist via boundary conditions that describe their respective views of the market impact of the same economic fundamentals. Equilibrium solution paths of the model take varying forms, depending on the parameter settings that reflect the importance of each type of market participant. This rational expectations model of asset pricing is shown to be consistent with a simple explosive continuous time …

Asymptotic Theory For Estimating The Persistent Parameter In The Fractional Vasicek Model, Weilin Xiao, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops the asymptotic theory for the least squares (LS) estimator of the persistent parameter in the fractional Vasicek model when a continuous record of observations is available. The fractional Vasicek model is assumed to be driven by the fractional Brownian motion with a known Hurst parameter greater than or equal to one half. It is shown that the asymptotic properties depend on the sign of the persistent parameter, corresponding to the stationary case, the explosive case and the null recurrent case. The strong consistency and the asymptotic distribution are obtained in all three cases.

Climate Change And Vulnerability To Poverty: An Empirical Investigation In Rural Indonesia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Scientists estimate that anthropogenic climate change leads to increased surface temperature, sea-level rise, more frequent and significant extreme weather and climate events, among others. In this study, we investigate how climate change can potentially change the vulnerability to poverty using a panel data set in Indonesia. We focus on the effect of drought and flood, two of the commonly observed disasters there. Our simulation results indicate that vulnerability to poverty may increase substantially as a result of climate change in Indonesia.

Concepts And Measurement Of Vulnerability To Poverty And Other Issues: A Review Of Literature, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper reviews the growing body of literature on vulnerability. We first provide a survey of existing studies on the concepts and measurements of vulnerability to poverty by classifying them into welfarist, expected poverty, and axiomatic approaches. We then review a number of empirical studies on vulnerability to poverty in Asia and elsewhere. This review shows that poverty and vulnerability are related, but different, and that key determinants of vulnerability often include education and location. We also briefly review other areas of vulnerability analysis such as vulnerability to climate change and offer various policy implications arising from vulnerability analysis.

Asset Pricing With Financial Bubble Risk, Ji Hyung Lee, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper characterizes systematic risk stemming from the possible occurrence of price bubbles and measures the impact of this additional risk factor on asset prices. Historical stock market behavior and recent empirical experience have led economists and policy makers to acknowledge that price bubbles in financial markets do occur and need to be accounted for in risk analysis. New econometric tools for analyzing mildly explosive behavior (Phillips and Magdalinos, 2007; Phillips et al., 2011) have made it possible to detect the presence of bubbles in data and to date stamp their origination and collapse, providing empirical confirmation of such episodes …

Is Predicted Data A Viable Alternative To Real Data?, Tomoki Fujii, Roy Van Der Weide

Research Collection School Of Economics

It is costly to collect the household- and individual-level data that underlies official estimates of poverty and health. For this reason, developing countries often do not have the budget to update their estimates of poverty and health regularly, even though these estimates are most needed there. One way to reduce the financial burden is to substitute some of the real data with predicted data. An approach referred to as double sampling collects the expensive outcome variable for a sub-sample only while collecting the covariates used for prediction for the full sample. The objective of this study is to determine if …

Is Predicted Data A Viable Alternative To Real Data?, Tomoki Fujii, Roy Van Der Weide

Research Collection School Of Economics

It is costly to collect the household- andindividual-level data that underlies official estimates of poverty and health. Forthis reason, developing countries often do not have the budget to update their estimatesof poverty and health regularly, even though these estimates are most neededthere. One way to reduce the financial burden is to substitute some of the realdata with predicted data. An approach referred to as double sampling collectsthe expensive outcome variable for a sub-sample only while collecting thecovariates used for prediction for the full sample. The objective of this studyis to determine if this would indeed allow for realizing meaningful reductionsin …

Testing Of Non-Inferiority And Superiority For Three-Arm Clinincal Studies With Multiple Experimental Treatments, Junjiang Zhong, Koon Shing Kwong, Siu Hung Cheung

Research Collection School Of Economics

The purpose of a non-inferiority trial is to assert the efficacy of an experimental treatment compared with a reference treatment by showing that the experimental treatment retains a substantial proportion of the efficacy of the reference treatment. Statistical methods have been developed to test multiple experimental treatments in three-arm non-inferiority trials. In this paper, we report the development of procedures that simultaneously test the non-inferiority and the superiority of experimental treatments after the assay sensitivity has been established. The advantage of the proposed test procedures is the additional ability to identify superior treatments while retaining an non-inferiority testing power comparable …

Text-Based Network Industries And Endogenous Product Differentiation, Gerard Hoberg, Gordon Phillips

Dartmouth Scholarship

We study how firms differ from their competitors using new time-varying measures of product similarity based on text-based analysis of firm 10-K product descriptions. This year-by-year set of product similarity measures allows us to generate a new set of industries in which firms can have their own distinct set of competitors. Our new sets of competitors explain specific discussion of high competition, rivals identified by managers as peer firms, and changes to industry competitors following exogenous industry shocks. We also find evidence that firm R&D and advertising are associated with subsequent differentiation from competitors, consistent with theories of endogenous product …

A Study Of Claim Resolution Structured Settlement Agreements: Final Report, Marcus Dillender, Kevin Hollenbeck, H. Allan Hunt

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Endogenous Market Formation And Monetary Trade: An Experiment, Gabriele Camera, Dror Goldberg, Avi Weiss

ESI Working Papers

The theory of money assumes decentralized bilateral exchange and excludes centralized multilateral exchange. However, endogenizing the exchange process is critical for understanding the conditions that support the use of money. We develop a “travelling game” to study the spontaneous emergence of decentralized and centralized exchange, theoretically and experimentally. Players located on separate “islands” can either trade locally, or pay a cost to trade elsewhere, so decentralized and centralized markets can both emerge in equilibrium. The latter maximize trade meetings and are socially efficient; the former minimize trade costs through the use of money. In the laboratory, centralized exchange more frequently …

Certificate In Energy Economics And Policy, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Economic Costs And Benefits Of A Community-Based Lymphedema Management Program For Lymphatic Filariasis In Odisha State, India, Eileen Stillwaggon, Larry Sawers, Jonathan Rout, David Addiss, Leanne Fox

Economics Faculty Publications

Lymphatic filariasis afflicts 68 million people in 73 countries, including 17 million persons living with chronic lymphedema. The Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis aims to stop new infections and to provide care for persons already affected, but morbidity management programs have been initiated in only 24 endemic countries. We examine the economic costs and benefits of alleviating chronic lymphedema and its effects through a simple limb-care program. For Khurda District, Odisha State, India, we estimated lifetime medical costs and earnings losses due to chronic lymphedema and acute dermatolymphangioadenitis (ADLA) with and without a community-based limb-care program. The program would …

The Uses And Meaning Of Tuition, Michael Hemesath

Administration Publications

No abstract provided.

Dependency Theory Reloaded: Exploring Baseball In The Dominican Republic, Sarah Nass

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Latin America’s presence in Major League Baseball has grown rapidly in recent years. The increase of players from the Dominican Republic can no longer be ignored. But why is Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic? What has been the impact of Major League Baseball’s player development strategies and tactics on the people and culture of the Dominican Republic? Does the Dominican Republic need Major League Baseball to be successful? An ethnographic study was conducted in an attempt to answer these questions. This study examines the relationship between Major League Baseball and the Dominican Republic. Examining this relationship using the …

Do Economic Inequalities Affect Long-Run Cooperation?, Gabriele Camera, Cary Deck, David Porter

ESI Working Papers

Does inequality affect a group’s cohesion and ability to prosper? Participants in laboratory economies played an indefinite sequence of helping games in random, anonymous pairs. A coin flip determined donor and recipient roles in each pair. This random shock ensured equality of opportunity but not of results, because earnings depended on realized shocks. We manipulated the ability to condition choices on this uncontrollable inequality source. In all treatments, uncertain ending supports multiple Pareto-ranked equilibria, including full cooperation. Theoretically, inequalities do not alter the incentives’ structure. Empirically, inequality disclosures altered conduct, weakened norms of mutual support and reduced efficiency.

Is Capital Expenditure Contagious? An Analysis Of Ucc Data From Ohio And Its Neighbors, Peter Vanderhart, Zheng Zeng

The Journal of Economics and Politics

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS ARE OFTEN OBSERVED TO BE CORRELATED ACROSS SPACE AND TIME. ONE INTERPRETATION OF THIS PHENOMENON IS THAT ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IS “CONTAGIOUS.” THAT IS, GOOD OR BAD CONDITIONS IN ONE ECONOMIC AREA MAY LATER CAUSE SIMILAR CONDITIONS TO OCCUR IN NEARBY AREAS. THE PREVALENCE AND EXTENT OF THESE RELATIONSHIPS IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND FOR THOSE SEEKING TO FOSTER REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

WE FOCUS ON CAPITAL EQUIPMENT SPENDING AT THE STATE LEVEL AT A MONTHLY FREQUENCY. THIS IS POSSIBLE GIVEN OUR ACCESS TO A UNIQUE DATA SET, THE RANDALL-REILLEY CAPITAL INVESTMENT INDEX (RRCII). THIS INDEX MEASURES CAPITAL EXPENDITURE USING UNIFORM …

To Pay Or Not To Pay: An Empirical Examination Of The Effect Of Injunctive Norms On Charitable Donations, David Mcclough, Randall Ewing, Susan Schertzer

The Journal of Economics and Politics

CHARITABLE ENDEAVORS OFTEN FACE RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS AND RELY ON ALTRUISM FOR MONETARY DONATIONS NECESSARY TO PURSUE MISSION-DRIVEN OPERATIONS. IMPLEMENTATION OF AN HONOR-BASED PAYMENT SYSTEM TO ATTRACT DONATIONS ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE SOME PORTION OF THE COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY. HOWEVER, HONOR-BASED SYSTEMS ARE NOT MONITORED AND, THEREFORE, SUSCEPTIBLE TO UNDERPAYMENT AND THEFT. THIS STUDY EXAMINES HOW POSTING A MESSAGE COMMUNICATING A NEGATIVE INJUNCTIVE NORM AFFECTS CHARITABLE DONATIONS RESULTING FROM PROVISION OF A SNACK BOX USING AN HONOR-BASED PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE STUDY FINDS THAT PRESENTATION OF AN INJUNCTIVE NORM DISSUADES CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DONORS INCLINED TOWARD SLIGHT UNDERPAYMENT BUT DOES NOT DETER …

New Trade, New Politics: Intra-Industry Trade And Domestic Political Coalitions, Mary Anne Madeira

Publications and Research

Why are industries highly active in some battles over international trade policies, but in other instances, individual firms are highly active and industry groups are subdued? I argue that rising intra-industry trade in the postwar period has undermined traditional trade coalitions and created new opportunities for individual firms to become politically active. Drawing on new trade theories from economics, as well as work on firm heterogeneity and lobbying, I argue that industry associations become less active as intra-industry trade increases due to competing trade preferences among member firms. At the same time, individual firms become more politically active. My results …

Lost Boys, Michael Hemesath

Administration Publications

No abstract provided.

Downstream Pollution 2: Does Framing Affect Genders Differently?, Marianna Khachaturyan, Natalia Czap, Gary D. Lynne

Cornhusker Economics

About a year ago we published the article “Downstream Pollution: Do Gender and Emotion Matter” (Cornhusker Economics, September 23, 2015) reporting the gender effects with respect to expressing positive and negative emotions in the downstream pollution game. We found that expressing positive emotions does not result in higher levels of conservation and, thus, does not significantly affect the quality of downstream water regardless of the gender of the polluter. At the same time, expressing negative emotions was more effective in increasing conservation and achieving cleaner water downstream. Notably, in contrast to our expectations, men responded to negative emotions with a …

What Americans Should Demand From Trump And Clinton On Economic Policy, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Focality And Asymmetry In Multi-Battle Contests, Subhashish M. Chowdhury, Dan Kovenock, David Rojo Arjona, Nathaniel Wilcox

ESI Working Papers

This article examines behavior in two-person constant-sum Colonel Blotto games in which each player maximizes the expected total value of the battlefields won. A lottery contest success function is employed in each battlefield. Recent experimental research on such games provides only partial support for Nash equilibrium behavior. We hypothesize that the salience of battlefields affects strategic behavior (the salient target hypothesis). We present a controlled test of this hypothesis – against Nash predictions – when the sources of salience come from certain asymmetries in either battlefield values or labels (as in Schelling (1960)). In both cases, subjects over-allocate the resource …

Industrial Ecology Analysis Of The Potential For An Eastern Nebraska Industrial Symbiosis Network (Enisn): A Comparative Study, Bradley A. Behne

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The area of Eastern Nebraska north of Omaha, including the municipality of Blair is host to a collection of unique companies and industries. These industries, driven by the agricultural and urban economy of the area, as well as the geographic proximity to each other, make it an advantageous area to study the potential for a network where individual entities utilize the concept of industrial symbiosis. This potential network is referred to as the Eastern Nebraska Industrial Symbiosis Network (ENISN). Industrial symbiosis, a sub-set of industrial ecology, engages separate industries in a collaborative and collective approach, concerning itself with the flow …

The Significance Of Economic Significance, Dakota M. Sneed Mr.

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

According to research performed by Deirdre McCloskey two important econometric terms, economic significance and statistical significance, have begun to become confused through equivocation. McCloskey calls for the distinction of the two types of significance but never gives a definition for what economic significance is. I show that statistical significance is necessary but not sufficient for economic significance by virtue of the fact that statistical significance does not say anything about the world or the natures of relationships. Furthermore, I found that the currently existing definitions of economic significance was too inconsistent for meaningful discussion. To remedy this problem, I create …

Does Public Transit Affect Crime? The Addition Of A Bus Line In Cleveland, Morgan Neiss

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Public transportation affects crime rates in neighborhoods surrounding its implementation. It can give criminals easier access to potential targets and decrease the probability of getting caught, or it can give lower-income individuals better access to reliable transportation, which decreases the probability of those individuals getting involved in criminal activity. This paper analyzes available criminal data, property data, and public assistance data for the City of Cleveland to study the effects on property crime rate after the 2008 implementation of a public bus line. The paper's hypothesis is that there is a difference in the mean crime rate before and after …

Uncertainty And The Voluntary Provision Of A Pure Public Good In A Two-Moment Decision Model, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

In this paper, we explore the potential benefits of uncertainty that may arise in a two-moment model of the voluntary provision of a pure public good. We find that an increase in a given contributor i’s risk associated with the aggregate contribution level of the other contributors (i.e., an increase in social uncertainty) induces that contributor to increase his own contribution level if and only if the uncertainty's incremental effect on the expected value of his net marginal utility is negative. Contributor i’s welfare likewise increases when a closely related condition is met, namely that the uncertainty's marginal …

An Epigenetic Clock Analysis Of Race/Ethnicity, Sex, And Coronary Heart Disease, Steve Horvath, Michael Gurven, Morgan E. Levine, Benjamin C. Trumble, Hillard Kaplan, Hooman Allayee, Beate R. Ritz, Brian Chen, Ake T. Lu, Tammy M. Rickabaugh, Beth D. Jamieson, Dianjianyi Sun, Shengxu Li, Wei Chen, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Maud Fagny, Michael S. Kobor, Philip S. Tsao, Alexander P. Reiner, Kerstin L. Edlefsen, Devin Absher, Themistocles L. Assimes

ESI Publications

Background: Epigenetic biomarkers of aging (the “epigenetic clock”) have the potential to address puzzling findings surrounding mortality rates and incidence of cardio-metabolic disease such as: (1) women consistently exhibiting lower mortality than men despite having higher levels of morbidity; (2) racial/ethnic groups having different mortality rates even after adjusting for socioeconomic differences; (3) the black/white mortality cross-over effect in late adulthood; and (4) Hispanics in the United States having a longer life expectancy than Caucasians despite having a higher burden of traditional cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Results: We analyzed blood, saliva, and brain samples from seven different racial/ethnic groups. …