Economics Commons^™

Essays In Labor And Development Economics, Stephen Daniel O'Connell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is comprised of two chapters that investigate the long-term effects of a quota policy for women in local government in India.

In the first chapter, "Political Inclusion and Educational Investment," I investigate whether political empowerment can affect the human capital investment decisions of children. By using exogenous variation in the implementation of the policy, nationally-representative survey data allow me to estimate effects on educational enrollment in a geographic discontinuity design using adjacent areas on either side of a state border as counterfactuals receiving different levels of exposure to the quota policy.

In this paper, I find a sizable …

Better Work And Global Governance, Paul Alois

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a case study of Better Work, a program run by the International Labor Organization and the International Finance Corporation. It aims to improve working conditions and productivity in the apparel industry. The purpose of this case study is to examine the role that international organizations can play in global governance. The research presented here comes from interviews, document analysis, and an examination of quantitative data on factories’ working conditions. In-person interviews were conducted in the United States, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Indonesia; many phone interviews took place with individuals in other countries. Both publicly available documents and internal …

Essays In Health Economics, Aigbokhai Unuigbe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is motivated by changes in health and labor policies of the United States that have occurred over the last two decades. It examines how these policies as well as public programs affect behavior and outcomes. These programs and policies have the potential to impact behavior directly at the individual level and could also have indirect effects at the household level. In addition, the effects on healthcare use and health status are also examined. This dissertation consists of three chapters.

The first chapter looks at the effect of changes in Medicaid policy on legal immigrant parents in the United …

Essays On The Well-Being Of An Aging Population, Alice Zulkarnain

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine health and labor issues among the middle aged and elderly.

Chapter 1. A Delayed Retirement Policy and Male Labor Supply: Evidence from the Entire Dutch Population

This chapter examines the labor supply effects of a national delayed retirement policy introduced in the Netherlands in 2009. The policy offers a reduction in taxes on labor income for each year after the age of 62 in which a person worked. I estimate the average effect of the policy on male labor supply as well as its responsiveness to the size of the incentive. Comparing …

The Relative Impact Of Psychosocial Well-Being And Mental Health On The Relationship Between Economic Circumstance And Religiosity, Veronica Momjian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Employing Norris and Inglehart’s concept of existential security as a theoretical framework, this dissertation utilizes three data points from the Americans’ Changing Lives study (1986, 1994 and 2011) to interrogate the link between the economic circumstance and religiosity. More specifically, the mediating impact of psychosocial well-being and mental health on religiosity are explored.

This dissertation hypothesizes that individuals employ religious coping strategies to deal with the stress of economic uncertainty; and when that uncertainty subsides, so too does religiosity. The results of this study show that, on average, religiosity increases during times of economic instability, and decreases when the economy …

The Effect Of Health Information Technology On Hospital Quality Of Care, Ruirui Sun

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Health Information Technology (Health IT) is designed to store patients’ records safely and clearly, to reduce input errors and missing records, and to make communications more efficiently. Concerned with the relatively lower adoption rate among the US hospitals compared to most developed countries, the Bush Administration set up the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in 2006 to mandate the Health IT implementation with $25.9 billion subsidies to eligible hospitals starting 2009. Underlying the huge subsidy is the belief that Health IT can reduce hospital cost by improving efficiency and quality, and can help reduce total health expenditure. …

Essays On The Economics Of Health And Risky Behavior, Markus Gehrsitz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As Forrest Gump has ever eloquently pointed out: stupid is as stupid does. It turns out that most people engage in behavior that could reasonably be considered stupid, or at least risky. People overeat, chain-smoke cigarettes, drink excessively, consume harmful drugs, and drive too fast; if worst comes to worst they do some of these things simultaneously. This work evaluates three policy measures that are designed to promote health and less risky behavior: I evaluate the effects of penalties for speeding transgressions on future driving behavior, the effects of low emission zones on infant health and air pollution, and the …

Patterns Of Growth And The Economic Development Of China, Adam C. Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By looking at the historical rise of modern China, starting with the end of the First Opium War (1842) through to the start of the war with Japan (1937), and then from the beginning of Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms (1979) to the present, this work reveals the striking similarities between the earlier and the later periods of capitalist development. If the country had not been able to draw on the deep-rooted knowledge and skills which originated in Shanghai and the port cities in the mid-nineteenth century, and instead pursued only uninformed free market principles without the training to make these …

The Effects Of Globalization On An Emerging Economy: The Case Of South Africa, Oluwasheyi S. Oladipo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines how globalization influences selected aspects of an emerging economy, using South Africa as a case study. The dissertation consists of three chapters: two microeconomic studies and one macroeconomic paper on the effects of globalization on some of the factors affecting economic growth. One micro paper explores the impacts of openness on inequality (Chapter 1), another investigates the impacts of trade liberalization on manufacturing sector wages (Chapter 2), and the macro study, which is the final chapter, examines the effects of inflation targeting on exchange rate pass through to domestic prices (Chapter 3).

In 1994, apartheid ended in …

Increasing Access To Potable Water: A Question Of Economics And Governance In Bo District, Sierra Leone, Alissa M. Heiring

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper analyzes existing supply gaps that are impeding rural water access in Bo District, Sierra Leone. On a national and district level, Sierra Leone has failed to meet the target of 70% access to potable water inspired by the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. This paper focuses on Bo District due to its near total inclusion in the Sewa River basin and split urban and rural population. Given the existing political and economic constraints, this paper identifies the most feasible way to sustainably increase access to potable water in Bo. To develop the recommendations, current supply gaps in rural …

Strategic Interactions In A One-Sector Growth Model, Eric Fesselmeyer, Leonard J. Mirman, Marc Santugini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We study the effect of dynamic and investment externalities in a one-sector growth model. In our model, two agents interact strategically in the utilization of capital for consumption, savings, and investment in technical progress. We consider two types of investment choices: complements and substitutes. For each case, we derive the equilibrium and provide the corresponding stationary distribution. We then compare the equilibrium with the social planner's solution.

A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (Dsge) Model Of Exchange Rate Pass-Through To Domestic Prices In Nigeria, M. A. Adebiyi Dr, C. N. Mordi Dr

CBN Occasional Papers

This paper employed a Bayesian framework of DSGE model to estimate the pass-through effect of exchange rate to domestic inflation in Nigeria, using quarterly data for the period 1990 to 2011. The response of inflation rate to exchange rate shocks was found to be positive and statistically significant in the short-run. The pass-through was small and incomplete with almost zero in quarter 1 (0.09), rose to 0.18 in quarter 2 and declined to 0.07 and 0.01 in quarters 3 and 4, respectively. These findings were lower than those obtained elsewhere by other authors. The low pass-through reported in this study …

Grandparents: The Silent Engine Behind China’S Economic Growth, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Migrant workers leave behind children to be taken care of by the elderly in villages – it is a win-win arrangement for all involved

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index -- June 2016, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Broadband And Mobile Internet Services In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans use their cell phone to access the Internet. Certain groups are more likely than others to use mobile/cellular Internet service: rural Nebraskans with the highest household incomes, who are younger, married, with higher education levels and with management or professional occupations.

Overall, most rural Nebraskans using mobile/cellular Internet service are satisfied with their service. Furthermore, most rural Nebraskans are satisfied with the reliability, speed, customer service, and coverage of their mobile Internet service. However, most rural Nebraskans using mobile Internet service are dissatisfied with the price of their service.

Certain groups have issues with various aspects of …

الملكية والدولة الاقتصاد المتناغم أم المتناقض…؟ العراق انموذجا مع اشارة لبعض الدول مقارنة للمدة 2003-2014, غسان طارق ظاهر

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تواجه الاقتصادات النامية ضغوطا على الانفاق التشغيلي، لتلبية متطلبات البنية التحتية العامة فضلا عن ان قيود التمويل في هذه البلدان أكثر حدة منها في الاقتصادات المتقدمة، مما يجعلها عرضة لعجز دائم في موازناتها العامة، لذا دعت المنظمات الدولية الدول النامية الى ضبط الانفاق العام واحترام الحدود الموضوعة للضرائب والاقتراض بما يتناغم مع الية الرأسمالية الجديدة، فقد فرضت معاهدة الاستقرار والنمو التي عقدها الاتحاد الاوروبي “على جميع الاقتصادات غنية كانت أم فقيرة، أن توزع مواردها المحدودة بين احتياجاتها المتنافسة بما يحقق التوازن بين الاستثمار المادي والاستثمار في رأس المال البشري كالتعليم والرعاية الصحية والقطاعات الاجتماعية الاخرى مع التأكد من كفاية الموارد …

Crop Price Patterns, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

فرض الاستمرارية وإمكانية استخدام بعض المؤشرات المالية للإبلاغ عن التعثر المالي في الشركات العامة “دراسة تطبيقية في الشركة العامة للإسمنت الجنوبية”, علي عباس كريم

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

يعتبر فرض الاستمرارية أحد الفروض الأساسية في إعداد القوائم المالية. ويعني فرض الاستمرارية النظر إلى المنشاة على أنها مستمرة في مزاولة نشاطها في المستقبل القريب، وان المنشاة ليست مضطرة-كما لا يوجد لديها النية_ لتصفية او تقليص حجم أعمالها أو البحث عن وسائل للحماية من الدائنين بما يتوافق مع القوانين أو اللوائح. ويجب على المراقب دراسة مدى ملائمة تطبيق الإدارة لفرض الاستمرارية عند إعداد القوائم المالية، مع مراعاة انه إذا كان هناك شك كبير في قدرة المنشاة على الاستمرارية ان يتم الإفصاح عن ذلك في القوائم المالية .وقد جاءت هذه الدراسة لتسلط الضوء على الإلية التي يجب ان يعتمد عليها مراقب …

Development Of Utility Theory And Utility Paradoxes, Timothy E. Dahlstrom

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Since the pioneering work of von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 there have been many developments in Expected Utility theory. In order to explain decision making behavior economists have created increasingly broad and complex models of utility theory. This paper seeks to describe various utility models, how they model choices among ambiguous and lottery type situations, and how they respond to the Ellsberg and Allais paradoxes. This paper also attempts to communicate the historical development of utility models and provide a fresh perspective on the development of utility models.

Daniel Defoe’S Literary Economies: The Shifting Role Of Narrative Uncertainty, Speculation, And Providence In Robinson Crusoe And Roxana., Terese J. Swords

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In my honors project, I analyze how Daniel Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), and his last, Roxana (1724), offer shifting economic commentary regarding England’s emerging 18^th century credit economy. This shift does not come as too much of a surprise, as his first and last novel straddle the historic moment of the South Sea Bubble’s burst. Therefore, Defoe’s works, when analyzed sequentially, capture the evolving attitude towards value and credit that was occurring throughout all of England.

In my first chapter, “Crusoe’s Post Facto Journal Editing: ‘How wonderfully we are delivered when we are aware of it,’” I …

It's Not Just The Thought That Counts: An Experimental Study On Hidden Cost Of Giving, Xiaofei Pan, Erte Xiao

Economics Faculty Journal Articles

Receiving a gift can create an impulse to reciprocate, even when doing so may be inefficient and potentially harmful to a third party. This paper provides a theoretical framework for a pure gift effect on reciprocity impulses and experimental evidence that such an effect exists: that is, a gift receiver will favor an actual gift giver over an intended gift giver, even if the intended gift giver incurred the same costs and signaled the same intention to give. This result contrasts with the predictions of existing theories on social preferences. We also show that the pure gift effect is present …

دور المقارنة المرجعية الداخلية في تشخيص فجوة الأداء والتحسين المستمر ( دراسة حالة في معهد الإدارة / الرصافة ), يوسف دولاب يوسف

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

في ظل التطور السريع لمستوى التعليم تسعى المنظمات التعليمية لتحسين أدائها من اجل البقاء وتحقيق الميزة التنافسية وهذا ما دفعها الى اعتماد وتطبيق معايير للأداء التعليمي لضمان الجودة للحصول على الاعتماد الاكاديمي، وهنا تبرز الحاجة الى اعتماد أساليب وتطبيقات ادارية حديثة ومنها أسلوب المقارنة المرجعية بوصفه احد الأدوات المهمة في قياس وتحديد فجوة الأداء ومن ثم اعتماد عجلة الجودة لإجراء التحسينات التدريجية المستمرة لتقليص الفجوة أو ردمها ، وينبغي على المنظمة التعليمية اعادة اجراء المقارنة المرجعية وتقويم التحسينات باستمرار للوقوف على مدى التقدم الذي احرزته. وقد توصل البحث الى مجموعة من الاستنتاجات كان أهمها الآتي:اثبتت نتائج البحث ضعف التزام الاقسام …

A Game Theoretic Analysis Of International Justice Disputes, Mishal Ayaz

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper works toward analyzing international justice disputes, through a game theoretic lens. The result of such an analysis is an accurate working model for the international justice dispute resolution process, limiting its scope to those disputes that fall under the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction post 1986. This time limitation on the explanatory power of the model was deduced from all of the court’s findings since its inception. The game can be formed in four ways: perfect information, incomplete information, no information, and partial information, all of which have their own unique equilibria, which are formed and discussed individually.

Simple And Honest Confidence Intervals In Nonparametric Regression, Timothy B. Armstrong, Michal Kolesár

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider the problem of constructing honest confidence intervals (CIs) for a scalar parameter of interest, such as the regression discontinuity parameter, in nonparametric regression based on kernel or local polynomial estimators. To ensure that our CIs are honest, we derive and tabulate novel critical values that take into account the possible bias of the estimator upon which the CIs are based. We give sharp efficiency bounds of using different kernels, and derive the optimal bandwidth for constructing honest CIs. We show that using the bandwidth that minimizes the maximum meansquared error results in CIs that are nearly efficient and …

Doing More When You're Running Late: Applying Marginal Treatment Effect Methods To Examine Treatment Effect Heterogeneity In Experiments, Amanda E. Kowalski

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

I examine treatment effect heterogeneity within an experiment to inform external validity. The local average treatment effect (LATE) gives an average treatment effect for compliers. I bound and estimate average treatment effects for always takers and never takers by extending marginal treatment effect methods. I use these methods to separate selection from treatment effect heterogeneity, generalizing the comparison of OLS to LATE. Applying these methods to the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, I find that the treatment effect of insurance on emergency room utilization decreases from always takers to compliers to never takers. Previous utilization explains a large share of the …

Simple And Honest Confidence Intervals In Nonparametric Regression, Timothy B. Armstrong, Michal Kolesár

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider the problem of constructing honest confidence intervals (CIs) for a scalar parameter of interest, such as the regression discontinuity parameter, in nonparametric regression based on kernel or local polynomial estimators. To ensure that our CIs are honest, we derive and tabulate novel critical values that take into account the possible bias of the estimator upon which the CIs are based. We give sharp efficiency bounds of using different kernels, and derive the optimal bandwidth for constructing honest CIs. We show that using the bandwidth that minimizes the maximum mean-squared error results in CIs that are nearly efficient and …

Simple And Honest Confidence Intervals In Nonparametric Regression, Timothy B. Armstrong, Michal Kolesár

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider the problem of constructing honest confidence intervals (CIs) for a scalar parameter of interest, such as the regression discontinuity parameter, in nonparametric regression based on kernel or local polynomial estimators. To ensure that our CIs are honest, we derive novel critical values that take into account the possible bias of the estimator upon which the CIs are based. We show that this approach leads to CIs that are more efficient than conventional CIs that achieve coverage by undersmoothing or subtracting an estimate of the bias. We give sharp efficiency bounds of using different kernels, and derive the optimal …

The Downside Risk Of Climate Change In California’S Central Valley Agricultural Sector, Michael Hanemann, Susan Stratton Sayre, Larry Dale

Economics: Faculty Publications

Downscaled climate change projections for California, when translated into changes in irrigation water delivery and then into profit from agriculture in the Central Valley, show an increase in conventional measures of variability such as the variance. However, these increases are modest and mask a more pronounced increase in downside risk, defined as the probability of unfavorable outcomes of water supply or profit. This paper describes the concept of downside risk and measures it as it applies to outcomes for Central Valley agriculture projected under four climate change scenarios. We compare the effect of downside risk aversion versus conventional risk aversion …

Essays On Portfolio Choice And Risk Management, Yi-Chin Hsin

Dissertations

Globalization increases the access to financial markets and provides expanding opportunities for investors to diversify internationally. As suggested by the Modern Portfolio Theory (Markowiz, 1952), rational investors should use one of the following two strategies to achieve portfolio diversification: (1) Investing in asset classes thought to have low correlations or (2) increasing the sizes of their portfolios in multiple markets. In the early 1970s, diversification was referred to as the “free lunch” in investment. However, French and Poterba (1991) show that investors still tend to hold a disproportionate part of domestic equities in their portfolios. This phenomenon is called “the …

Monetary Policy And Financing Real Sector Growth In Nigeria., Moses K. Tule

Bullion

The study examines CBN's real sector financing initiatives and implication for real sector growth and economic development. Section 2 discusses selected CBN real sector financing initiatives. Section 3 is the implications of the initiatives for growth and economic management. Section 4 discusses challenges of implementing the policies while section 5 concludes the paper and presents suggestions on the way forward.