Economics Commons^™

Economic Liberation From The Margins: The Power Of Racial Politics In Social Change, Joshua Sherman Bartholomew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Joshua Bartholomew's doctoral project is a meta-ethical research study of the relationship between economic justice and racial equality within the United States and its transnational range of influence. Bartholomew critiques the Eurocentric foundations of capitalist economic paradigms, and supplants them with community-oriented strategies of anti-racist self-determination from within the Black Panther Party's socialist praxis. By highlighting the praxis and significant intellectual contributions from arguably the most revolutionary example of racial politics for black liberation throughout the Black Power Movement, Bartholomew emphasizes the need for alternative economic models to capitalism that can support and build upon moral visions of collective racial …

50 Years Of Economic Instruction In The Journal Of Economic Education, Gail M. Hoyt, Kimmarie Mcgoldrick

Economics Faculty Publications

With 2019 marking the fiftieth year of publication of the Journal of Economic Education (JEE), it seems fitting to examine the evolution of economic instruction as portrayed in the Journal. Born of the American Economic Association (AEA), and first edited by members of the AEA’s Committee on Economic Education (Saunders 2012), it is not surprising that the Journal’s focus as chronicler, proponent, and outlet for economic education activity reflects the educational component of the American Economic Association’s mission. The creation of the Journal signaled a self-awareness in the discipline that we needed to be more deliberate in …

Stock Market Development And Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria, Obinna Franklin Ezeibekwe

2019 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity – Documents

Considerable debate exists on how stock exchanges affect economic growth. One line of research argues that stock market development is a positive and significant contributor to growth. On the other hand, other studies show that stock markets negatively affect growth or that they are not relevant contributors to economic growth. This paper seeks to identify the correlation between stock market development and long-run economic growth in Nigeria using the vector error correction modeling. Empirical results suggest that stock market development, as proxied by market capitalization to GDP ratio, does not contribute significantly to long-run economic growth in Nigeria. The implication …

Trends On Labour Migration In Pakistani Media (Media Analysis Report), Sabrina Toppa, Zaigham Abbas

CEJ Research and Publications

The purpose of this media review report is to produce a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the overall coverage of labour migration in Urdu and English-language media outlets from 2017 to 2020. Using media content analysis of print newspapers, TV clips, and social media channels, as well as qualitative interviews with journalists producing stories for the aforementioned media outlets, the report looks at how the current Pakistani media landscape has covered the topic of labour migration.

Changing The Rules Of The Game: Can Voicing For Social Responsibility Influence Market Behavior Toward Greater Inclusiveness In Economic Development?, Eileen M. Hoffmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines social responsibility within a capitalist economy by investigating socially responsible investing and, tangentially, corporate social responsibility. These concepts have been at the heart of economic and legal debates for hundreds of years, with no clearly defined consensus regarding how to account for multi-stakeholder welfare inside the market system. This point is brought to life by analyzing two dominant twentieth-century economic periods, 1945-1975/79 and post-1980, through the deliberations of Keynesian economics and Milton Friedman.

This thesis postulates that since the 2008 global financial crisis, a new (i.e. third) economic period is taking shape, ushered in by both the …

State Of The Northwest Arkansas Region 2019 Report, Mervin Jebaraj, David Sorto

State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report

The State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report is an annual publication, commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council, that serves as a tool for evaluating economic performance. In July 2018, the Northwest Arkansas Council created a new blueprint for development that outlines the peer regions and a strategic action agenda for 2018-2021. In this plan, the performance of Northwest Arkansas is benchmarked with other contemporary, high-performing regions, namely Austin, Des Moines, Madison, Durham-Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Provo-Orem. The 2019 State of the Region Report compares Northwest Arkansas with these geographies in the areas of gross domestic product, employment, unemployment, establishment …

Two Essays In Fertilizer Management For Improved Profitability, Shelby Dawn Wade

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Corn production in the United States has become increasingly efficient over the years. The use of nitrogen fertilizers has played a substantial role in this efficiency. Nitrogen drives biomass production which leads to increased yields. Unlike other nutrients, nitrogen is more mobile making it easier to lose through leaching and volatilization. The first part of this analysis uses an econometric model to examine the relationship between nitrogen usage and weather data. This relationship leads to farm management decisions to reduce nitrogen fertilization expenses. In addition to the use of nitrogen fertilizers, farmers in Kentucky take advantage of an abundance of …

How Improving Prison Systems In The United States Will Positively Impact The Economy, Jordan Laube

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the causes of high recidivism in the United States and offers a solution to theoretically bring these numbers down. This study is compiled of data over the past twenty years (1998-2018) as there have been spikes in recidivism rates during this time period. Some of the independent variables that this paper will take into account are economic and labor market freedom, race, cost, sentence length, and prison population under discretionary review. A one percent increase in state economic freedom is associated with a 0.47 % decrease in parolee recidivism. The relationship is stronger and more statistically significant …

Economic Growth As It Relates To Women’S Labor Force Participation In The Lac, John Esher

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the dependence of economic growth in the LAC and the relationship between Women’s Labor Force Participation and growth in production and total GDP. This study is the incorporation of information and data from the LAC into a Solow Growth Model to examine the influence of participation on the GDP per capita of the region. Increases in GDP per capita are modeled by using the differences in current GDP per capita against the GDP after women’s participation is increase to the same level to men’s. The results show that if women were to actively participate in the labor …

Esg Scores Impact On The Market Value Of The Stock, Michelle Quinn

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the effects of the ESG scores on a firm’s stock valuation, using the Tobin’s Q ratio. This study will incorporate both the ESG index as a whole and the individual factors: environmental, social and governance to consider the firm’s corporate social responsibility. This model uses the Tobin’s Q measurement to evaluate if the stock is over or undervalued while including the size, risk, and development within the firm. The paper found that there is little significant evidence to prove that there is a relationship between the ESG scores and the valuation of the stock, but there is …

Effects Of Private And Public Health Expenditure On Health Outcome, Hyungue Lim

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The current level of health spending in the U.S. is the highest in the world. However, the outcomes of the health spending are among the lowest for developed countries. Therefore, for policy development purpose, it is necessary to determine which direction of healthcare spending results in better output, private or public. This paper investigates the effect of private and public health expenditure on life expectancy, infant mortality at birth, and infant mortality under age 5 among 11 OECD countries. Hausman test is performed to confirm the fixed effects models. Fixed effects GLS and GMM are used for data analysis. We …

What Is Driving Up Health Care Costs? Does Pollution Play A Role: Oecd Country Panel Data Analysis, Sean Gillis

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study investigates the rising health care costs among nine OECD nations from 1990 to 2014. A panel data analysis was conducted to analyze specific causes for these rises. Total health care expenditure is the dependent variable with carbon dioxide emissions being the main variable of interest. Analysis finds that the economy has grown faster than health care expenditures, and a negative relationship between CO2 emissions, elderly populations, urban population growth rates and health care expenditure.

Causality Relationship Between Income Inequality And Life Satisfaction In European Countries: Does Income Inequality Affect Life Satisfaction?, Rodrigue Beleho Balemaken

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the interaction between life satisfaction and income inequality in European nations from 2006 to 2016. The keys finding of the analysis and the results show that countries that promote collectivism tend to have people with higher life satisfaction than countries which promote individualism. In general, individuals prefer to live in a country where they have stable disposable income, freedom in the way they are thinking, trust in their government and policies, a healthy life expectancy, and social support and generosity from peers. With this in mind, it raises the question, “where does income inequality fit into this?” …

Fdi & Crime In South America: A Panel Data Analysis, Casey Doyle

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the relationship between flows of FDI into South America and how it affects crime and how crime affects FDI. The paper incorporates a fixed effects model within an FDI model to examine how flows of FDI from foreign countries into South America impact crime in these countries. This study will use ten countries from South America in a panel data set from 2010 to 2016 that have different FDI intakes and crime rates. This is so that a well-rounded picture can be seen.

Salary Dispersion And Team Performance In Major League Baseball: A Quantile Regression Analysis, Shane Vyskocil

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the relationship between salary dispersion and team performance in Major League Baseball. Player salary data is collected to calculate each team’s annual Gini coefficient from 1998-2016, which is used to represent a team’s level of wage inequality in a given year. The study incorporates a fixed and random effects model, and distinguishes itself from previous research by employing multiple quantile regressions to analyze how the impact of salary dispersion differs depending on a team’s performance level. The results find that the fixed effects model is preferred, and that there is consistently a negative relationship between wage differentials …

Factor Model Tests Of Long-Run Price Reversals In The U.S. Stock Market, Harrison Garrett

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates whether long-run price reversals persist in stocks that have significantly outperformed or underperformed the market. Consistent with previous studies, the results show that there are sizeable positive abnormal returns to a long-term contrarian strategy of investing in stocks with significant prior underperformance. However, these positive abnormal returns are driven by low-priced stocks, and stocks with very low market capitalizations. When the investment universe is narrowed to remove very small companies and lowpriced stocks, there is no longer a statistically significant return difference between portfolios of stocks with significant prior outperformance and significant prior underperformance.

Determinants Of Life Expectancy In The Central African Republic, Taylor Rizzo

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the determinants of life expectancy in the Central African Republic. The study uses economic, social, and environmental factors to estimate a health production function. The study aims to offer suggestions on ways to target life expectancy as a method for increasing economic growth. The results show that the best way to increase longevity in the CAR and solve the mortality crisis are to increase sanitation facilities and regulation, solve the hunger/malnutrition problem, and to reduce the deadly spread of HIV. Aid was determined to be significant in improving the well-being of citizens in the CAR.

Figuring Out Aid: The Determinants Of Foreign Aid To Subsaharan Africa In The Post-Cold War Era, Soala Ekine

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

I investigate the determinants of foreign aid to Sub – Sahara African countries. I look at the post – Cold War era following Bandyopadhyay and Wall (2007). The independent variables of interest are GDP per capita, infant mortality, population, civil and political rights and also government effectiveness. I control for fixed effects to allow for political, strategic and other reasons donors have and use data from the World Bank from 1995. My results show that in the post-Cold War era, government effectiveness and population are statistically significant in explaining net official and development aid and assistance. A population bias is …

No. 81: Rethinking The South African Medical Brain Drain Narrative, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Concerns about the negative impact of the “brain drain” of health professionals from Africa have led to a dominant narrative in which those who migrate are a permanent, and costly, loss to the country of origin and a permanent, and valuable, gain for the country of destination. South Africa is often seen as an archetypal African medical brain drain story. This report finds that, while the traditional permanent-exodus model has a powerful hold and shapes policy responses, it does not adequately capture all forms of migration by South African doctors. Noting that a significant number of physicians have taken up …

Small Business Lending And Social Capital: Are Rural Relationships Different?, Robert Deyoung, Dennis Glennon, Peter J. Nigro, Kenneth Spong

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We test whether rural versus urban location, and the amount of social capital present in those locations, influence the performance of Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loans originated between 1984 and 2012. On average, we find that rural loans are about 11% less likely to default than urban loans, and that a standard deviation increase in social capital reduces default by about 5%. Surprisingly, these two effects are largely independent of each other, even though social capital is substantially higher in rural places than in urban places. Our findings advance the small business lending literature and offer insights for a …

The Effect Of Environmental Change On Gdp, Jackson V. Barliant

Writing Across the Curriculum

Climate change is one of the most debated topics of the 21^st century. Not only has it been detrimental to our eco-system, but it is beginning to redefine and reshape society. Can the U.S. economy continue to flourish while acknowledging the necessary steps that need to be taken in regard to combatting climate change? Yes, the inherent change within our environment due to climate change can not only be withstood by our economy, but it presents an opportunity to revolutionize and expand through innovation.

Be Wary Of Black-Box Trading Algorithms, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

Black-box algorithms now account for nearly a third of all U. S. stock trades. It is a mistake to think that these algorithms possess superhuman intelligence. In reality, computers do not have the common sense and wisdom that humans have accumulated by living. Trading algorithms are particularly dangerous because they are so efficient at discovering statistical patterns—but so utterly useless in judging whether the discovered patterns are meaningful.

It Is Time To Kill The Economic Theory Of Suicide, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

A seminal paper by Hamermesh and Soss modeled suicide as a rational economic decision based on a comparison of the financial costs and benefits of staying alive. Their model is fundamentally flawed and their prediction that suicide rates increase with age is wrong.

The Paradox Of Big Data, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

Data-mining is often used to discover patterns in Big Data. It is tempting believe that because an unearthed pattern is unusual it must be meaningful, but patterns are inevitable in Big Data and usually meaningless. The paradox of Big Data is that data mining is most seductive when there are a large number of variables, but a large number of variables exacerbates the perils of data mining.

The Chinese Real Estate Bubble, Gary N. Smith, Wesley Liang

Pomona Economics

China has seen extraordinary economic growth for the past two decades, coupled with a booming housing market. Following the 2008 financial crisis, however, observers began worrying that the Chinese real estate market had been gripped by a speculative bubble. We use residential rent and price data to assess whether these fears are justified. We conclude that residential real estate markets are bubbly in Beijing and Shanghai, with the Beijing housing market frothier than the Shanghai market.

Stock Splits: A Re-Evaluation, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

In theory, stocks splits do not affect a firm’s aggregate market value. Yet, firms often split their stocks in order to keep the price in a desired trading range and, perhaps, to make the stock more affordable to individual investors. Past studies have been inconclusive about whether shareholder returns are affected and whether the effects, if any, are due to affordability or signaling. Using fresh data, all since the decimalization of prices, I find positive effects on shareholder returns, but not because splits make stocks more affordable. The more compelling argument is that corporate stock splits signal a board’s confidence …

Mass Atrocities And Their Prevention, Charles H. Anderton, Jurgen Brauer

Economics Department Working Papers

Counting conservatively, and ignoring physical injuries and mental trauma, data show about 100 million mass atrocity-related deaths since 1900. Occurring in war and in peacetime, and of enormous scale, severity, and brutality, they are geographically widespread, occur with surprising frequency, and can be long-lasting in their adverse effects on economic and human development, wellbeing, and wealth. As such, they are a major economic concern. This article synthesizes very diverse and widely dispersed theoretical and empirical literatures, addressing two gaps: a “mass atrocities gap” in the economics literature and an “economics gap” in mass atrocities scholarship. Our goals are, first, for …

The Association Between Neonatal Death And Facility Birth In Regions Of India, Diane Coffey

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND Reducing neonatal mortality in India is critical to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of a global neonatal mortality rate (NNM) of no more than 12 per 1,000. Policy efforts to reduce India's NNM, including a large-scale conditional cash transfer program, have focused on promoting birth in health facilities, rather than at home. Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of facility births doubled, from 40% to 80%. OBJECTIVE We assess evidence for the hypothesis that facility births reduce NNM by using new data from the National Family Health Survey, 2015-2016. METHODS We analyze the association between neonatal death and …

Automation And Adaptation: Information Technology, Work Practices, And Labor Demand At Three Firms, Spencer J. Rockwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of information and communication technology to automate routine tasks involves two types of innovation: technological and organizational. Together, improvements in technological capabilities and complementary changes made by firms in the way they organize work and implement work practices constitute the conditions under which machines substitute for or complement human workers. Building on the prevailing model of routine-biased technical change and recent insights into organizational complementarities, I conduct three qualitative case studies in health care and real estate to assess the relationship between technology and firm-level labor demand. Unique combinations of technological innovation, organizational complementarity, and decision-making at each …

Did Dr-Cafta Affect The Exports Of The Dominican Republic To The United States?, Maria Ivanova Reyes Peguero, Asger V. Hansen

Economics Faculty Publications

This article evaluates the impact the Dominican Republic and Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) had on the exports of the Dominican Republic (DR) to the United States. We estimate a gravity model for the DR exports to the 109 trade partners of the country from 1990 to 2014. This model quantifies the effect of the DR-CAFTA since 2007, when the agreement was ratified, and finds that the DR-CAFTA negatively affected DR exports to the US. We conduct further analysis of factors that could explain the decline in exports, in spite of the ratification of the agreement. We find that …