Economics Commons^™

2019 Nebraska Property Tax School Funding Issues, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Nebraska agricultural property taxes are among the highest in the United States. Over the last three years, Nebraska farmers and ranchers have paid nearly 31 percent of their net farm income as property taxes (47 percent in 2017). When state and federal taxes are factored in, this represents an effective tax rate of more than 50 percent (over 60 percent in 2017). While no one particularly enjoys paying property taxes (or any other tax), property taxes are especially burdensome for Nebraska farmers and ranchers.

The proposed 2020 constitutional amendment to provide property tax relief would require dramatic state spending cuts, …

Preparing U.S. Workers And Employers For An Autonomous Vehicle Future, Erica L. Groshen, Susan Helper, John Paul Macduffie, Charles Carson

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Payroll, Revenue, And Labor Demand Effects Of The Minimum Wage, Ekaterina (Roshchina) Jardim, Emma Van Inwegen

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We study the impact of the minimum wage hike in Seattle from $9.47 to $13 on wagebill, labor demand, and firm revenue using administrative data from the state of Washington. We show that the minimum wage affected businesses both at the intensive and extensive margins. At the intensive margin, businesses increased their labor costs and adjusted to the minimum wage by mildly reducing demand for low-wage jobs, but they largely did not pass the increase in labor costs to prices. At the extensive margin, the minimum wage led to higher rates of business exit and shifted the composition of entering …

[Job] Locked And [Un]Loaded: The Effect Of The Affordable Care Act Dependency Mandate On Reenlistment In The U.S. Army, Michael S. Kofoed, Wyatt J. Frasier

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

One concern with employer-based health insurance is job lock or the inability for employees to leave their current employment for better opportunities for fear of losing benefits. We use the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s dependency mandate as a natural experiment. Data from the United States Army overcome some limitations in previous studies including the ability to examine workers with fixed contract expiration dates, uniform pay, and health coverage. We find that the ACA decreased reenlistment rates by 3.13 percent for enlisted soldiers aged 23–25. We also find that younger veterans who leave the army are more likely to …

Austerity For All Seasons: Communicating On The Economy In Ireland, Brendan O'Rourke, John Hogan, Joseph K. Fitzgerald

Conference papers

What is clear is that in Ireland it has been a good crisis for economists, in the sense that the status and power of the profession has increased, especially in public discourse and state bureaucracy. This is not to deny that the academic critique and public questioning of the status of economics, that has followed the failure of the profession internationally prior to the crisis. It would be interesting to see if the rise of economists status has taken place in other countries and if there is a pattern to the profession’s fortunes in its different fields across, for example …

Income Redistribution, Economic Freedom, And State Growth As Considerations For Location Strategy, Dennis Pearson

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: February 20, 2019, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 1.00% during January of 2019. The increase in the LEI-N, which is designed to predict economic activity six months into the future, implies solid economic growth in Nebraska into the third quarter of 2019. Strong business expectations were the primary reason for the increase in the leading indicator. Respondents to the January Survey of Nebraska Business reported plans to increase both sales and employment at their businesses over the next six months. The value of the U.S. dollar also dropped in January for the first time in a year, providing relief …

Three Key Factors To Balance When Choosing A Calving Season Based On Profitability, Matthew Stockton, Devin Broadhead

Cornhusker Economics

Cow producers base major decisions such as calving season on expected economic outcomes which include productivity, input costs, personal capability, individual preferences, markets, and so on. Calving systems are generally categorized into three seasons, spring, summer and fall. Many producers select the spring calving season to maximize the weaned calf weight at the end of the summer grass season. Unfortunately this increases feeding costs since extra nutrition is needed in the spring, prior to pastures being opened. Also due to the widespread adoption of this early spring calving, the mass marketing in late fall often results in depressed calf prices …

Helping Our Students To Help Us, Morgan O'Sullivan

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

The risk posed to an institution by an increasing loan default rate should not be underestimated. The average student loan debt for graduating students is approximately $23,000 nationally. This interactive session will look at how different institutions have approached the topic of financial literacy, and how they have tackled the problem of student loan debt. The session will also provide attendees with a free tool to bring back to their institution to aid in the financial literacy process.

Mike Seeborg, And The Illinois Minimum Wage Increase, February 18, 2019, Mary Cullen

Interviews for WGLT

Illinois is expected to be the fifth state with a minimum wage increase to $15. Professor of Economincs Mike Seeborg dicusses the potential impact of these changes with Mary Cullen from WGLT.

Variable Mismeasurement In A Class Of Dsge Models: Comment, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This comment points out mismeasurement of variables in the DSGE model in Smets and Wouters (2007) and in models that follow the Smets-Wouters measurement procedures. The mismeasurement errors appear to be large.

Classifying Private Landowners To Improve Understanding Of Management Decisions And Conservation Opportunities In Urbanizing Forested Landscapes, Jessica A. Balukas, Kathleen P. Bell, Dana Marie Bauer

Economics

Viewed as coupled natural and human systems, urbanizing forested landscapes exhibit fascinating and complex dynamics, where landowner decisions and biophysical processes together influence conservation and development outcomes. To improve understanding of land management decisions and conservation opportunities on private lands in these landscapes, we developed a landowner typology that accounts for heterogeneity among landowners that goes beyond ownership objectives and investigated its usefulness in predicting individual private landowners' stated intentions to implement diverse land management actions. Using survey responses collected from private landowners in two metropolitan areas in Maine, USA, we focused on understanding differences in owners' stated likelihood of …

The Devaluation Of Assets In Black Neighborhoods: How Racism Robs Homeowner Of The American Dream, Andre Perry

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the devaluing of black lives led to segregation and racist federal housing policy through redlining that shut out chances for black people to purchase homes and build wealth, making it more difficult to start and invest in businesses and afford college tuition. This lecture explained how much money majority-black communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias, finding that owner-occupied homes in black neighborhoods are undervalued by …

Kentucky Annual Economic Report 2019, Michael T. Childress, Jenny Minier, William H. Hoyt, Simon Sheather

Kentucky Annual Economic Report

This report is one of the important ways that the Center for Business and Economic Research fulfills its mission as specified in the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS 164.738) to examine various aspects of the Kentucky economy. The analysis and data presented here cover a variety of topics that range from an economic forecast for Kentucky in 2019 to a broad presentation of factors affecting the economy.

Negotiating Cash Rent: What It Takes To Negotiate Like A Pro, Austin Duerfeldt

Cornhusker Economics

The number one question I receive is about cash rent prices. Many landlords and tenants are working to find an equitable arrangement before February 28, 2019. Given the constraints on both sides, real estate taxes and the farm economy finding that arrangement is difficult. Becoming creative in how you analyze and value different cash rent options is necessary. Before sitting down face to face, here are some suggestions and preparations I recommend that can help maximize success.

Neoliberal Urbanism As ‘Strategic Coupling’ To Global Chains: Port Infrastructure And The Role Of Economic Impact Studies, David Jaffee

Showcase of Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity

Abstract This paper identifies and delineates a variant of neoliberal urbanism that grounds city-region economic development on the ability to gain financial and public support for large-scale infrastructure projects advancing particular forms of capital accumulation. More specifically, the focus is on the effort of city-regions to strategically exploit and expand geographic and physical assets to capture economic benefits associated with global value chains through the expansion of maritime ports. This development strategy requires sizable public investments in port infrastructure. In order to justify and convince the public and political officials of the wisdom of such investments, port officials commission economic …

“The Current Crisis Of Us Neoliberal Capitalism And Prospects For A New ‘Social Structure Of Accumulation’.”, David Jaffee

Showcase of Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity

Wage squeeze/profit squeeze crisis theories provide a powerful framework for the historical analysis of US capitalist crises and the alternating demand-side and supply-side social structures of accumulation (SSA). However, the current neoliberal SSA would seem to defy the logic of this model in its persistence in the face of a deep financial crisis and a failure to realize its espoused objectives. This paper reviews this theoretical model of economic crises, its relationship to and viability alongside the rise and establishment of neoliberalism, and some of the political and economic obstacles that would seem to prevent the construction of a new …

Disarticulation And The Crisis Of Neoliberalism In The United States, David Jaffee

Showcase of Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity

Neoliberal policies instituted since the 1980s have transformed the United States economy in ways that have produced serious structural distortions in the basic operation of capitalism. Using Samir Amin’s concept of disarticulation, previously applied exclusively to the periphery of the world economy, this article argues that the twin and mutually reinforcing features of neoliberalism – global corporate restructuring and financialization – have now generated disarticulation in the core nations. This disarticulated structure is responsible for the economic stagnation and sharply unequal income/wealth distributional outcomes that characterize contemporary U.S. capitalism.

Counterparty Risk And The Establishment Of The New York Stock Exchange Clearinghouse, Asaf Bernstein, Eric Hughson, Marc Weidenmier

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We examine the effect of the establishment of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) clearinghouse in 1892 on counterparty risk using a novel historical experiment. During this period, the NYSE stocks were dual-listed on the Consolidated Stock Exchange (CSE), which already had a clearinghouse. Using identical securities on the CSE as a control, we find that the introduction of multilateral net settlement through a clearinghouse substantially reduced volatility of NYSE returns caused by settlement risk and increased asset values. Our results indicate that a clearinghouse can improve market stability and value through a reduction in network contagion and counterparty risk.

Do Snap Work Requirements Work?, Timothy F. Harris

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act waived Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirements nationally in 2010 and broadened the eligibility for receiving waivers in subsequent years for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD). From 2011 to 2016, many states voluntarily imposed work requirements, while other areas became ineligible for waivers because of improved economic conditions. Did the work requirements increase employment as intended, or did the policy merely remove food assistance for ABAWD who—despite an improving economy—still could not find employment? Using data from the American Community Survey from 2010 to 2016, I analyze the influence of work requirements on …

Entrepreneurial Capital, Inequality, And Asset Prices, Argyris Tsiaras

Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the contribution of entrepreneurship to increasing U.S. wealth inequality. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), I document that, since 2000, the increase in the wealth shares of the top 0.1% and 1% groups of households is almost exclusively driven by entrepreneurs, identified empirically as private business owner-managers. Additional evidence from the SCF points to an increase in the average returns to entrepreneurial ventures as a likely driver of these patterns. I develop analytical characterizations of summary measures of inequality in the context of a model of wealth accumulation featuring heterogeneity in investment returns and …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: February 8, 2019, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer confidence rose in Nebraska during January 2019. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) rose to 104.0 in January, above the neutral value of 100 and the December 2018 value of 99.1. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) stood at 107.4 in January 2019, well above the neutral level and slightly down from 109.9 in December. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, 33 percent of respondents chose customer demand while 18 mentioned the quality and availability of labor and 15 percent mentioned competition from other businesses. Fifty-five percent of responding households listed a cost …

How Technology Will Change Our Built Environment, Adie Tomer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the ongoing Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presented a lecture titled, "Digital Place: How Technology Will Change Our Built Environment" by Fellow in Metropolitan Policy, Adie Tomer on February 6, 2019. Digital technologies promise to upend nearly every component of the economy, including how we work, shop, travel, and even live inside our homes. There is too little conversation about how adoption of various technologies will interact with the current built environment and the policies that guide future investment. This lecture explores how the economy currently functions, where technology will transform economic functions, and how …

Per-Ingredient Calorie Information Reduces Calories Ordered More In A Food-Away-From-Home Setting Than Information Provided Per, Christopher Gustafson, Eliana Zeballos

Cornhusker Economics

Obesity rates in the United States have risen dramatically over the past five decades, reaching what many public health officials have referred to as epidemic proportions. A common policy response to this obesity epidemic—which is often attributed to overconsumption of highly caloric, unhealthy foods—has been to increase consumers’ access to nutrition information to help them to make healthier choices. Recently, the increasing frequency of food consumption at restaurants led to the development of nutrition labeling requirements for restaurants with 20 or more locations. The rule, requiring food retailers to post calorie amounts and to make available information about other nutrients …

Is Authoritarianism Bad For The Economy? Ask Venezuela – Or Hungary Or Turkey, Nisha Bellinger, Byunghwan Son

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Democracy is at risk worldwide. And the economy may be, too.

Seventy-one out of the world’s 195 countries saw their democratic institutions erode in recent years, according to the 2018 year-end report by democracy watchdog Freedom House, a phenomenon known as “democratic backsliding.” Signs of backsliding include elected leaders who expand their executive powers while weakening the legislature and judiciary, elections that have become less competitive and shrinking press freedom.

Analyzing The Interplay Between Public Pension Finances And Government Finances: Lessons From Linking An Economic Model To A Pension Fund Model, Yimeng Yin, Donald Boyd

Public Administration and Policy Faculty Scholarship

Public pension funds invest in stock, bonds, and other assets in an effort to keep the costs to governments of funding pensions low. Researchers have examined the investment-related risks to public pension funds, to the governments that contribute to them, and to stakeholders in pension funds and governments, using stochastic simulation models of pension fund finances.

These models generally use simple investment return assumptions, such as that returns are drawn from a normal distribution, are independent from year to year, and are not correlated with the governmental tax revenue needed to pay pension contributions. Because investment returns and tax revenue …

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index -- February 2019, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Option Strangles: An Analysis Of Selling Equity Insurance, Clemens Kownatzki, Hisam Sabouni

Graziadio Working Paper Series

Our results suggest, selling SPY strangles are generally profitable across a variety of widths. However, the payoff profile of a short option strangle exposes the contract seller to a potential for unlimited losses. Our evidence on maximum drawdowns indicates that losses on some positions can be the equivalent of the profits gained on approximately forty prior positions. This payoff profile has given rise to the metaphor of selling option contracts as the equivalent of “picking up nickels in front of a steam roller.” The goal of our paper is to analyze the full return characteristics of option strangles and to …

The Economic Impact Of The University Of Arkansas, Mervin Jebaraj, Brenna Frandson, Stephanie Galen

Publications and Presentations

As the state’s flagship institution of higher education, the University of Arkansas delivers a significant economic impact to Arkansas. In 2018, an impact in excess of $2.2 billion came from the University via operations, construction, technology transfer, student expenditures, and visitor spending. The University of Arkansas has a substantial influence on the direction of the state’s economy by fulfilling its land-grant mission of developing human capital, growing ideas, and transmitting knowledge to the public.

Economic Evaluation Of Concussion Programs In The State Of Idaho: The Collective Potential Of Prevention And Clinical Care, Susie Bergeron, Hilary Flint, Zeynep Hansen

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury especially among young children, teenagers, and young adults, is a significant problem in Ada County, Idaho, and the United States. Although much has been learned about concussion, considerable controversy and gaps in knowledge still exist in many areas of research, leading to variation in concussion assessment, treatment and management protocols. Health systems can positively impact concussion outcomes through community education and outreach, and provision of timely, coordinated, evidence-based clinical care. Collectively, these measures serve to reduce concussion incidence (primary prevention), enable more timely recognition of concussion by parents, coaches, and teachers of youth athletes …