Economics Commons^™

Tallahassee Central City Planning Study, Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department

City and Regional Planning -- Florida

Study on Developing Downtown Tallahassee

Congenital Toxoplasmosis In Austria: Prenatal Screening For Prevention Is Cost-Saving, Andrea-Romana Prusa, David C. Kasper, Larry Sawers, Evelyn Walter, Michael Hayde, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

Background:

Primary infection of Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy can be transmitted to the unborn child and may have serious consequences, including retinochoroiditis, hydrocephaly, cerebral calcifications, encephalitis, splenomegaly, hearing loss, blindness, and death. Austria, a country with moderate seroprevalence, instituted mandatory prenatal screening for toxoplasma infection to minimize the effects of congenital transmission. This work compares the societal costs of congenital toxoplasmosis under the Austrian national prenatal screening program with the societal costs that would have occurred in a No-Screening scenario.

Methodology/Principal Findings:

We retrospectively investigated data from the Austrian Toxoplasmosis Register for birth cohorts from 1992 to 2008, including pediatric …

Tariffs, Trade And Taxation, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

According to official sources, the recent decline of Pakistani exports is due to adverse global economic conditions. Others attribute this, inter alia, to the appreciation of the Pakistani rupee. Both these factors may be partially true but defy empirical evidence as single-factor explanations. Indian exports have expanded by 62 per cent, Bangladeshi by 69pc and Sri Lankan by 21pc from 2010 to 2015. In clothing exports, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia recorded growth rates of 10pc, 6pc and 8pc respectively. Bangladesh’s nominal exchange rate has remained unchanged and the real effective exchange rate shows 54pc appreciation since FY2010-11. The rupee appreciation …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: July 7, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer confidence rose sharply in Nebraska during June 2017 while business confidence remained very strong. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) stood at 100.4 in May but rose to 104.7 during June, which is well above the neutral value of 100.0. The outlook of Nebraska businesses remained very strong. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) fell to 109.2 in June, well above the neutral value and just below its May value of 110.2. Business confidence has been very strong in Nebraska throughout the first half of 2017. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer …

Obamacare And The Fight Against Income Inequality, Perry T. Mindo Jr

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this paper, we analyze the Affordable Care Act to determine the magnitude and significance of its effects on income inequality in America. Specifically, we find that the ACA decreased the Gini coefficient by 0.67% and reduced the share of income held by the top 20 percent of income earners by 0.67% over the time period of our study. Furthermore, we estimate that the ACA accounts for a redistribution of approximately $13 billion from the top 20 percent of income earners to the bottom 80 percent of income earners.

Colleges Help Encourage Social Mixing*, Michael Hemesath

Administration Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Weather Has On Nyc Citi Bike Share Company Activity, Mark Martinez

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper seeks to figure out the effect weather has on individuals’ behavior. A more focused approach to determining this effect is seeing how different weather conditions ranging from the temperature, the precipitation, the amount of inches of snowfall and the wind speed effect the ridership of Citi Bikes throughout all four seasons. The approach of this research paper is using data from the National Climatic Data Center that focuses in on the weather found in Manhattan, New York and correlates each of the weather conditions to the total number of trips per day that is provided by the Citi …

Electricity Demand Due To Policy Change In The U.K., Kevin W. Doherty

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines United Kingdom Electricity Demand with regards to the Climate Change Act, which was enacted in November of 2008. Through actual demand data obtained from Nationalgrid, a U.K. based gas and electric utility company, this paper seeks to find out if the Climate Change Act has started to achieve its goal of reducing carbon emissions by looking at trends of electricity demand. Burning fossil fuels to produce electricity is a major contributor to global warming in the U.K. and policies enacted do not always live up to their ultimate goals. This paper tests how on track the Climate …

The Demographic Drivers Of California’S Environmental Voting, Lukas Yasuda

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This study examines the demographics of California’s 53 congressional districts and the relationship with the voting patterns on three environmentally focused propositions in the 2008 and 2010 elections. Previous literature on the topic is mixed as some studies suggest that select attributes are found among environmental voting centers, yet other research describes the relationship as more complex than simple characteristics. Previous literature on the topic is mixed, with some studies suggesting that select attributes are found among environmental vote support hubs, whereas alternative research suggests the problem is more complex than simple characteristics. I collected data on income, education, age, …

The Long-Term Effect Of State Renewable Energy Incentive Programs, Fred Bower

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Abstract: Renewable energy is praised for its environmental benefits and long run energy savings, however, for the average consumer, the up-front cost of this infrastructure deters investment. On the Federal and state level, incentive programs have been implemented to break down these initial barriers and give easier access to renewable energy. Studies have shown that these incentive programs have been successful at the consumer level (Crago, 2014). What policy makers and government officials should maybe be more concerned with though, is the long-term effect of these programs. This paper will analyze the long-term effect of renewable energy incentive programs beyond …

How Individuals React To Smog Alerts In Beijing --Evidence From Beijing Subway Volume, Hanjing Shi

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper is going to find out the impact of smog alerts on individuals’ outdoor activities in Beijing. I use the subway volume to represent the outdoor activities. There are four levels of smog alerts in Beijing – blue, yellow, orange, and, red. The blue one is the lowest, and the red one is the highest. People in Beijing in all do not react to smog alerts in all statistically significant both on working days and weekends. But when combine orange alerts and red alerts together, the results show that people react to severe alerts differently during non-weekend days and …

Nudging Neighbors: Analyzing Peer Effects Of The Lakesmart Program In The Belgrade Lakes, George A. Voigt

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Peer effects are an increasingly studied field in economics, and can have large impacts at a local level. In this research we seek to identify whether there is an impact of early adopters on their neighbors to become adopters. The scope for this study is the LakeSmart program that operate in Maine. Specifically we are focusing on the Belgrade lakes, and analyzing data from 2005 to present in addition with a survey of demographic characteristics conducted in 2011. Results suggest that the impact of a neighbor on the likelihood of a household to be LakeSmart certified is statistically significant and …

Water Restrictions And Water Use: An Analysis Of Water Restriction Effects In Norfolk County, Rebecca L. Robinson, Ashley Conley

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper aims to determine what effect water restrictions in Norfolk County, Massachusetts have on residential water usage. Using data from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, this paper analyzes subsequent municipal water usage within and across towns after water restrictions, both mandatory and voluntary, are implemented. Accounting for town fixed effects, the results indicate that for some towns, water restrictions do in fact have a significant impact on decreasing water usage.

The Epa's Air Quality Index, And Public Transportation Usage In The Chicago Metro Region, Nicholas R. Rosenberg

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper assesses whether air quality influences public transportation ridership in the city of Chicago. Urban air pollution is a serious health risk, and a priority of urban municipalities. Public transportation is an attractive option for governments attempting to curb urban air emissions. I use data from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) to explore the relationship between a day’s air quality and CTA ridership. I employ three different model specifications, rail, bus and total ridership, to test whether high AQI values (poor air quality) result in increased public transportation ridership in the city …

The Effects From Public Transportation On Property Values: A Closer Look At Scituate, Hanover, And Norwell, Massachusetts, Alexandra Taylor Perticone, Christine S. Coveney

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Prior studies have expressed the value of location in real estate, but more recent studies have explored the influence that public transportation has had on housing prices. Access to public transportation is understood to increase the value of homes. Easier access to public transportation allows for shorter and more convenient commutes into or within cities. However, other studies have found that proximity to public transportation can also have adverse effects on property values. This paper investigates whether the implementation of the Greenbush Commuter line in Massachusetts in October 2007 increased the housing prices in Scituate, Ma--the furthest town from the …

When Trash Costs Money: Analyzing The Impact Of Pay-As-You-Throw Programs In Massachusetts, Thomas W. Barry Iv

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper evaluates whether municipalities with Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) programs dispose of less trash per household than municipalities without them. Given how much trash U.S. residents produce, the negative environmental effects associated with trash disposal, as well as how much the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advocates for PAYT, it is important to closely analyze whether these programs actually do their job. This paper formally analyzes the effects of PAYT programs using the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s trash disposal data from 2011-2015. After controlling for municipality and time heterogeneity, my analysis shows that PAYT programs reduce trash per household by a …

Invited Introduction To Jerec, Matthew Kahn

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Welcome By The Editor, Nathan W. Chan

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Autonomous Vehicles: An Empirical Assessment Of Consumers’ Perceptions, Intended Adoption, And Impacts On Household Vehicle Ownership, Nikhil Menon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging automotive and transportation technologies have provided revolutionary possibilities in the way we might travel in the future. Major car manufacturers and technology giants have demonstrated significant progress in advancing and testing autonomous vehicles in real-life traffic conditions. Governmental agencies are grappling with how to plan transportation systems for a world with autonomous vehicles. Past research has shown that not all technologies are immediately welcomed by the public. Autonomous Vehicles would have to likely go through a similar phase, and would need to overcome not just technological challenges but also social barriers for successful penetration into the marketplace. Most previous …

Some Remarks On Real Estate Pricing, Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, Patrick S. Smith

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper develops a framework for addressing the omitted variable bias that plagues most real estate research. We incorporate qualitative information from text to control for property attributes that are generally unobserved. The textual information is entered by real estate agents for every property sold on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The agents, who arguably have the most local market and property specific knowledge, use the unstructured text to highlight important information that is not clearly conveyed in other areas of the listing. Although the framework can be applied universally in real estate research, we demonstrate its effectiveness in the …

Essays In Health Economics, Olga Petrova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past two decades, a growing body of literature within health economics has provided evidence of the impact of fetal conditions on individual’s health and economic outcomes over the entire life course. This dissertation contributes to the field of health economics by investigating the effects of two distinct types of public policies, antimalarial interventions in sub-Saharan Africa and medical marijuana laws in the United States, on early-life health.

Chapter 1 adds to the increased understanding of the impact of in utero exposure to large-scale interventions to combat endemic diseases by examining the effects of antimalarial interventions aimed at preventing …

Second Chance For High School Dropouts? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis Of Postsecondary Educational Returns To The Ged, Christopher Jepsen, Peter Mueser, Kenneth R. Troske

Economics Faculty Publications

We evaluate the educational returns to General Educational Development (GED) certification using state administrative data. We use fuzzy regression discontinuity (FRD) methods to account for the fact that GED test-takers can repeatedly retake the test until they pass it and the fact that test-takers have to pass all five subtests before receiving the GED. We find that the GED increases the likelihood of postsecondary attendance and course completion substantially but that the GED impact on overall credits completed is modest; the GED causes an average increment of only two credits for men and six credits for women.

Transport Aspect Of Cooperation Within Sco, A. Abdullaev

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The article deals with topical issues related to the interaction of countries within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the transport sector. The author examines the efforts of the member states of the organization aiming at strengthening cooperation; and analyzes the latest data on the topic.

Sustainable Socio-Economic Development Of Cities: World Experience Review, M. Turdibaeva

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

In this article, the author reviewed the foreign experience and research results of prominent scientists in the field of sustainable socio-economic development of cities and brought his recommendations for sustainable socio-economic development of the cities of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The Economic Impact Of Proposed New Facilities At Stonewall Resort, Eric Bowen, Christiadi, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

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

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Workforce Investment Act In Western Kentucky: An Evaluation Of Program Service Outcomes, Matt S. Luckett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Workforce development programs designed to provide individuals with the skills necessary to gain employment have been in existance for over 80 years. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was a federal workforce development program that ran from 2000 to 2014. The WIA provided three main programs: youth, adult, and dislocated worker. The focus of this research was to evaluate the individual services in the adult and dislocated worker programs in the Western Kentucky Workforce Investment Area and identify the most effective service in each program.

The adult and dislocated worker programs each offered three tiered services: core, intensive, and training. Individuals …

The Effects Of The Foreclosure Crisis On The Black And Hispanic Population In Lee County, Florida, Stenia K. Reid-Hall, Stenia K. Reid-Hall Ph. D

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

The housing foreclosure crisis of 2007-2010 in the United States disproportionately affected persons of color. Some states, such as Florida, were heavily impacted by property value losses yet little is known about the experience of losing a home and recovering from that loss from the perspective of the homeowner. Using Carlson’s conceptualization of resiliency theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the impact of housing foreclosure and the experience of recovery from foreclosure on Black and Hispanic people in Lee County, Florida. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 15 people in Lee County who experienced foreclosure …

Consumer's Guide To Regulatory Impact Analysis: Ten Tips For Being An Informed Policymaker, Susan Dudley, Richard Belzer, Glenn C. Blomquist, Timothy Brennan, Christopher Carrigan, Joseph Cordes, Louis A. Cox, Arthur Fraas, John Graham, George Gray, James Hammitt, Kerry Krutilla, Peter Linquiti, Randall Lutter, Brian Mannix, Stuart Shapiro, Anne Smith, W. Kip Viscusi, Richard Zerbe

Economics Faculty Publications

Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers.We offer 10 tips for nonspecialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers.

1. Core problem: Determine whether the RIA identifies the core problem (compelling public need) the regulation is intended to address.
2. Alternatives: Look for an objective, policy-neutral evaluation of the relative merits of reasonable alternatives.
3. Baseline: Check whether the RIA presents a reasonable “counterfactual” against which benefits and costs are measured.
4. Increments: Evaluate whether totals and averages obscure relevant distinctions and trade-offs.
5. Uncertainty: Recognize …

Investigating Strategies To Improve Health Care Labor Market, Health Outcomes, Health Care Quality, And To Reduce Emergency Department Utilization And Costs: A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Family Friendly Policies, Patient-Centered Communication, And Enhanced Access To Care, Juliette Guemmegne Tayou

Economics ETDs

This dissertation investigates three important issues in the US health care system: the low utilization of family-friendly policies by health care professionals, the sub-optimal quality of medical services, and the high level of emergency department (ED) expenditures. Chapter 2 uses a unique dataset from a choice experiment to address the first issue by exploring the impact of supervision support on the economic value of family-friendly policies. My results suggest that supervisors’ support for the use of family-friendly services significantly increase the economic value of the family-friendly benefits provided. Chapter 3 and 4 investigate the effectiveness of patient-centered care models in …