Economics Commons^™

The New Hires Quality Index: A Wage Metric For Newly Hired Workers, Brad J. Hershbein

Reports

No abstract provided.

Mobile Data Roaming And Incentives For Investment In Rural Broadband Infrastructure, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Mobile broadband Internet access is highly important to the American economy and millions of users. There were almost 200 million mobile broadband connections by the end of 2013 in the United States, far more than the number of fixed broadband connections (FCC, 2014a, Table 1). The economic activity created by the provision and usage of mobile broadband is sizeable, and has been documented at the national level (Gruber and Koutroumpis, 2011; Thompson and Garbacz, 2011; Katz, 2012) and specifically for rural areas (Whitacre, Gallardo, and Strover, 2014). The benefits of mobile broadband—and indeed the entire broadband ecosystem—depend on investment in …

Who’S Holding Out? An Experimental Study Of The Benefits And Burdens Of Eminent Domain, Abel Winn, Matthew W. Mccarter

ESI Publications

A substantial literature identifies seller holdout as a serious obstacle to land assembly, implying that eminent domain is an appropriate policy response. We conduct a series of laboratory experiments to test this view. We find that when there is no competition and no eminent domain, land assembly suffers from costly delay and failed assembly: participants lose 18.8% of the available surplus on average. Much of the inefficiency is due to low offers from the buyers (“buyer holdout”) rather than strategic holdout among sellers. When buyers can exercise eminent domain the participants lose 19.4% of the surplus on average. This loss …

Take Me Out To The Ball Game? The Effect Of Crime On Major League Baseball Game Attendance, Allison Jakubek

Undergraduate Economic Review

Major League Baseball attendance has been examined since the league’s establishment in 1869. Winning percentage, opponent quality, and stadium quality have all been deemed significant determinants of increasing attendance, but deterring factors have yet to be closely examined. Since a majority of professional sports stadiums are constructed in economically poor, crime ridden areas, it seems natural to assume that crime could have an impact on people’s desire to attend Major League Baseball games. Panel data collected on twenty-eight teams over the course of ten years was used to determine whether or not crime rates have a significant effect on attendance.

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: October 6, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Nebraska’s consumer confidence tumbled during September while business confidence held steady. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) fell to 93.5 in September, well below the reading of 100.9 in August and the neutral value of 100.0. Consumer confidence is now weak in Nebraska. By contrast, the Nebraska business confidence remained strong. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) stood at 105.2 in September, slightly above the August value of 104.2, and well above the neutral value of 100.0. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 37 percent of business respondents. Businesses …

Drivers Of Patient Satisfaction In Medical Clinics, Dana M. Johnson

TechTalks

Prior research was extended to model patient perceptions of behavioral dimensions of service quality and its impact on patient satisfaction in a rural health care organization. SEM was applied for three years of data and each individual year. Results suggest improved patient satisfaction and statistically significant differences existed between years.

Pkr: The Upsides And Downsides Of Devaluation, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The purpose of this article is to provide a dispassionate analysis of the issue. Instead of taking a firm or doctrinaire position, we raise several questions and argue that the answers to these questions should guide the policymakers in arriving at a decision.

An Update On The Economy, Gary A. Wagner

Economics Invited Speakers

Gary A. Wagner, vice president and senior regional officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, gave a presentation on the economy. As part of the nation’s central bank, the Cleveland Fed participates in the formulation of U.S. monetary policy, supervises banking organizations and provides payment and other services to financial institutions. With branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Fed serves Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

This presentation was sponsored by the Wright State Economics Club.

Efficiency, But At What Cost? Evidence From A Dea Analysis Of Wv School Districts, Eduardo Guimaraes Minuci, Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, Joshua C. Hall

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

West Virginia schools are consistently below the national average on the NAEP. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, we estimate the technical efficiency of West Virginia school districts. We find less variation in technical efficiency in West Virginia than in similar studies conducted in other states. This appears to be because of state policy imposing homogeneity of input usage. Due to the limited variation in technical efficiency across districts, we cannot analyze how non-school inputs such as socioeconomic factors affect technical efficiency across districts. Summary statistics organized by county economic status, however, suggest that socioeconomic status plays a role. Our results highlight …

Minimum Houses For Minimum Wages: Are Tiny Houses A Solution For Low-Wage Workers?, Edward Sauve

Social Justice and Community Engagement

No abstract provided.

The Role And Importance Of Small And Medium-Sized Businesses In The Development Of South Korea, S. Zakirova

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The article considers the formation of small and medium business in South Korea and its role in economic development, as well as importance in promoting the export of domestic goods. Particular attention is paid to the role of Government in supporting and encouraging small business. The country has formed an innovative small business, which brought the economy to a new level of development and raised its authority abroad. Some features of the development of small and medium business in South Korea can be useful for Uzbekistan in the course of modernization of the country and the formation of an innovative …

Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing Of Public Health Services In West Virginia, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

Fossil Fuel Opportunities For West Virginia: 2017 Update, Eric Bowen, Christiadi

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index -- October 2017, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Keeping Our Cool: In Defense Of Air Conditioning, Arthur M. Diamond Jr.

Economics Faculty Publications

In the last 15 years three books have been published that are critical of air conditioning (Cooper 1998; Ackermann 2002; Cox 2010). No books (or even articles) in those years have been primarily devoted to a general defense. Such a defense should make the following points. Air conditioners reduce disease and mortality, especially among the ill and aged. They reduce aggressive behavior, including road rage, assaults, and murders. They increase the quality and quantity of nighttime sleep. They improve student and worker productivity by reducing noise and increasing the ability to concentrate. They increase comfort and free choice.

Man And Land: Competing Ontologies, Colonial Legacies, And The Quest For Food Sovereignty, Savannah Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Land is an ontological reality, which is at the center of different relationships to land. These relationships are situated in and a product of historical and spatial process that have an under lying power geometry. These different understandings of land tenure can create conflict when they intersect with competing interests in the same space. In Cameroon, this is currently the case in the form of large-scale land acquisitions, which often conflict with local communities as multinational corporations and local elites acquire land concessions with facilitation by the government in the name of development. This paper aims to understand this issue …

Demand Driven Growth And Two Class Capital Distribution With Applications To The United States, Rishabh Kumar, Christian Schoder, Siavash Radpour

Economics Faculty Publications

We present a structuralist growth and distribution model of capitalists and workers. Our model highlights the role of class-differentiated savings propensities as well as an independent accumulation function in determining the dynamics of wealth distribution in the long run. At the steady state, investment parameters do not influence the distribution of wealth but there exists a long run paradox of thrift effect, which distributes wealth to capital- ists whilst simultaneously exerting downward pressure on the long run state of aggregate demand. Applied to annual US data from 1950-2015 using the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm we find that the share of capitalist wealth …

Las Consecuencias De La Propuesta No + Afp Una Investigación De Sus Impactos En Las Pensiones, El Mercado Laboral Y El Sistema Financiero / The Consequences Of The Proposal No + Afp An Investigation Of Its Impacts On Pensions, The Labor Market And The Financial System, Henry Kapp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This investigation will analyze the consequences of the proposal set forth by the leaders of the social movement “No + AFP” to structurally change the Chilean pension system. First, it will explore the historical context that led to the current system and has caused startlingly low pensions for almost 40 years. Then, it will explain the fundamental adjustments that the organization “No + AFP” suggests with regards to obligatory contributions, administration and distribution of social security. Finally, it will analyze the impact that the proposed changes will have on the Chilean economy, specifically with respect to the development of the …

Perspectives On Language From Street Produce Vendors In Cape Town: An Examination Of Education, Trading, And Development In The Informal Sector, Hannah Oldham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Language is vital for the functioning of societies, from education to economic interactions. Language of education presents challenges in Africa due to colonial linguistic legacies and the diversity of indigenous African languages. While education trains learners for work in the formal economy, the South African formal cannot absorb all the available labor. The informal economy therefore provides vital work and income to millions of South Africans and immigrants. Language use in the informal sector was studied, including the education and work traders had before working as street produce vendors.

Six interviews were conducted: two near the Cape Town taxi rank, …

New Dimensions In Economic Analysis Of Legal Issues: The Appropriate Regulatory Balance Of Antitrust Law In The Context Of The Technological Innovation, Jungmi Bang

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

The role of Empirical study in legal decision, even in the rule making, was increased by the economic development with the occurrence of economic realism. The incensement of economic implication of the law, without exception, impacted to the court’s ruling in the antitrust case and the antitrust law-making itself. Now it is one of the common way, court use concepts and theories developed by economists and weaves economic concepts into decisions to support their result.

The classical perspective of economic theories regarding antitrust law was start from early theorist Adam Smith in 1776, even it denied the economic implication. Through …

Different Profiles, Different Choices: Mid-Nineteenth Century Hessians Who Emigrated To The Southern Hemisphere, Simone A. Wegge

Publications and Research

Before 1890, German emigrants were one of the largest European groups to emigrate overseas in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most of them settled in North America, but a handful of Germans landed in countries south of the equator. This paper examines those who chose uncommon paths and settled in the southern hemisphere, focusing on Hessians who went to either Australia or South America. Those who emigrated to the Southern Hemisphere were actually quite different from the Hessians who moved to the U.S. More striking, however, are the contrasting backgrounds of the Australian-bound versus the South American-bound groups: these …

Luchadoras: Resistencias Contra La Violencia De Género Por Las Mujeres En La Región De San Ramón, Olivia "Livey" Beha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This qualitative study describes the dynamic resiliency-building process against gender-based violence in two rural coffee-producing communities in the region of San Ramon, Nicaragua. It examines the methods and efficacy of economic empowerment and educational interventions facilitated by the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives Augusto Cesar Sandino (UCA San Ramón) in addressing gender inequality, preventing gender-based violence, and increasing access to resources for women in the cooperatives of El Privilegio and Danilo Gonzales. This complex ecology, comprised of the interactions between women, their communities, available resources, and institutions, is assessed through the lens of women’s individual perspectives as they engage in three …

Formalizing Through Finances: A Case Study With Unics, Leah Kellenberger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper seeks to analyze the microfinance industry in Yaoundé, Cameroon through the lens of the microfinance institution UNICS. The main question guiding this study deals with whether or not the UNICS is encouraging a shift to the formal sector through their work with business people. Other questions relating to repayment rates and subsequently economic development also remain pertinent to the information found. In total, it is found that UNICS seeks to encourage formal sector growth through their work with businesspeople in the informal. Repayment rates however do not determine success of any aspect of a customer’s business or encouragement …

A Dirty Dilemma: Determinants Of Electronic Waste Importation, Jamila N. Glover

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

During the 1970s-1980s waste, specifically toxic waste from manufacturing, became a globally traded commodity. By the late 1980s, waste trade became a global political and environmental topic because many believed that developed countries were ‘dumping’ hazardous material on less developed nations despite knowing that less developed countries often lack adequate infrastructure to dispose of waste in an environmentally responsible manner, prompting international regulatory responses.

This study focuses on the fastest growing category of traded toxic waste – electronic waste. In 2014, approximately 41.8 million tons of electronic waste was generated globally. During this same period 1.6 million tons were traded …

Endowment Effects And Contribution Strategies In Public Good Experiments, John P. Weis, John J. Cadigan, Pamela Schmitt, Kurtis Swope

Economics Faculty Publications

We investigate behavior in a laboratory public good experiment with unique endowment schemes that allow a wider range of contribution strategies than in standard voluntary contribution mechanism (VCM) experiments. A baseline treatment follows a standard VCM design (subjects receive 10 tokens in each of 10 rounds that may be allocated between a private account and a group account). In a new carry-over treatment, any tokens not allocated to the group account in the current period are made available for contributions in future periods. Under full endowment, subjects receive 100 tokens in round one (rather than 10 tokens per …

Monopoly Regulation Under Asymmetric Information: Prices Versus Quantities, Leonardo J. Basso, Nicolás Figueroa, Jorge Vásquez

Economics: Faculty Publications

We compare two instruments to regulate a monopoly that has private information about its demand or costs: fixing either the price or quantity. For each instrument, we consider sophisticated (screening) and simple (bunching) mechanisms. We characterize the optimal mechanisms and compare their welfare performance. With unknown demand and increasing marginal costs, the sophisticated price mechanism dominates that of quantity, whereas the sophisticated quantity mechanism may prevail when marginal costs decrease. The simple price mechanism dominates that of quantity when marginal costs decrease, but the opposite may arise if marginal costs increase. With unknown costs, both instruments are equivalent.

Description Of The Albelda Clayton-Matthews/Iwpr 2017 Paid Family And Medical Leave Simulator Model, Alan Clayton-Matthews, Randy Albelda

Economics Faculty Publication Series

The basic strategy behind our approach to estimating the cost of a paid leave program was to, as much as possible, base estimates of program costs on actual known leave-taking behavior, and where this was not possible, to estimate a range of program costs reflecting a range of reasonable assumptions about unknown aspects of behavior in the presence of a paid leave program. We wanted to be able to estimate the sensitivity of program costs estimates to these assumptions. We also wanted to be able to analyze the distribution of program benefits by demographic characteristics. Furthermore, we wanted to be …

The Virtualism Of “Capacity Building” Workshops In Indigenous Amazonia, Laura Mentore

Cultural and Philosophical Inquiry Articles

Sustainable development and conservation NGOs in Amazonia often hold workshops in which they task indigenous communities with various activities in the name of “capacity building.” People tend to perform these tasks despite often finding them to be flawed, demeaning, or based on erroneous assumptions about their lifeways and perspectives. Workshop organizers, for their part, tend to view local participation in itself as a straightforward indicator of a successful workshop to the neglect of a more complex picture. These combined tendencies contribute to expectations on both sides being partially fulfilled at best, but due to asymmetrical power distributions, can have disproportionately …

The Opioid Epidemic: A Practice And Policy Perspective, Gail D'Onofrio

Center for Policy Research

I will be talking about the escalating opioid epidemic and some innovative solutions my colleagues and I at Yale University and throughout the state of Connecticut, are working on to mitigate the consequences of this public health crisis.

The Political Cost? Religious Segregation, Peace Walls, And House Prices, John A. Mccord, Michael J. Mccord, Peadar T. Davis, Martin E. Haran, Sean Macintyre

Peace and Conflict Studies

The longstanding issue of discrimination and segregation in housing markets has enveloped housing market analysis and particularly the understanding of house price determination. Whilst the relationship of segregation in residential space is diverse and encompasses numerous taxonomies, in Northern Ireland, the high level of market segregation is compounded by the addition of tactile barriers such as Peace walls. The existence of these tactile barriers serves to physically segregate communities and have the capacity to prevent the restoration of normal community interactions and market processes. This paper attempts to quantify and measure the disamenity implications and costs of these hard structures …