Economics Commons^™

An Experimental Investigation Of Health Insurance Policy And Behavior, J. Dustin Tracy, Hillard Kaplan, Kevin A. James, Stephen Rassenti

ESI Working Papers

We introduce a new experimental approach to measuring the effects of health insurance policy alternatives on behavior and health outcomes over the life course. Cash-motivated subjects are placed in a virtual environment where they earn income and allocate it across multi-period lives. We compare behavior across age, income and insurance plans—one priced according to an individual’s expected cost and the other uniformly priced through employer-implemented cost sharing. We find that 1) subjects in the employer-implemented plan purchased insurance at higher rates; 2) the employer-based plan reduced differences due to income and age; 3) subjects in the actuarial plan engaged in …

Adaptive Utility: Observing The Rate Of Adaptation In Happiness As Short Run Shifts Revert To Long Run Averages, Cameron Bellamoroso

Honors Thesis

In economics, human decision-making models are based on the utility, or happiness, a person experiences from the choices they make. Individual happiness is closely tied to societal and global well-being, a common political and and research goal. Psychological studies on happiness show that people generally return to an average level of happiness after experiencing a significant positive or negative change in their life, a process known as the ``hedonic treadmill.'' Empirically, it is often difficult for people to predict the specific utility they will experience from a given choice, leading them to maintain constant preferences for only frequently experienced options. …

Fiscal Impacts: A Literature Review, Jim Robey, Kathleen Bolter

Reports

No abstract provided.

Agglomeration Economies: A Literature Review, Kathleen Bolter, Jim Robey

Reports

No abstract provided.

Strategic Reshoring: A Literature Review, Kathleen Bolter, Jim Robey

Reports

No abstract provided.

Financial Literacy And French Behaviour On The Stock Market, Luc Arrondel

Numeracy

This article looks back over the different dimensions of financial literacy: theoretical, methodological, empirical and political. The theoretical foundations of the notion of financial literacy are presented with reference to recent contributions by psychological or behavioural economics: “household finance” refers to the concept of financial literacy based on the empirical dead-ends of standard saver theory. This raises the fundamental question as to how to measure and evaluate financial literacy. Here, we are especially interested in the empirical robustness of a standard measure of financial literacy based on three straightforward questions (interest calculations, notion of inflation and risk diversification). Is this …

Enhancing Our Understanding Of A Regional Economy: The Complementarity Of Cge And Eio Models, Andrew Crawley, Geoffrey J.D. Hewings

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Economic impact models are powerful tools for the assessment of policy changes in regional economies. Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models have grown in popularity, becoming the dominant choice of practitioners and academics in this field. This popularity has been at the expense of an older class of model, the Econometric Input Output (EIO). The present paper demonstrates how both models, using the same input data, may yield different outcomes. However, the paper suggests that EIO has been underutilized even though it provides a strong complementary tool accompany that enhance analyses using a CGE approach. This paper urges regional economists to …

Jepson Forum, Flyer, Fall 2020, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Economics.

Jepson Forum

Gives the topic and the speakers for the annual Jepson Forum.

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: September 23, 2020, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

e LEI-N rose by 0.85% during August 2020. August marked the fourth consecutive increase in the leading indicator after sharp declines in March and April. The August result indicates that the Nebraska economy will grow over the next 6 months, continuing a steady recovery from large economic losses in March and April. Five of the six components of the leading indicator improved during August. Airline passenger enplanements grew modestly after seasonal adjustment, and there was a modest increase in building permits for single-family homes. There also was a drop in initial claims for unemployment insurance and the value of the …

Community Development In The Time Of Covid-19, Daniela Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

The global pandemic has driven the whole country into an unprecedented crisis. As the months passed and the death toll climbed, the pandemic did some-thing else: it unveiled deep inequities within the country. Those getting sick and dying were disproportionately low-income racial and ethnographic minorities, most of them essential workers. According to the lat-est data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus has overly affected Black people and Latinos (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html). Communities of color are also over represented among essential workers who are generally unable to work from home and more likely to come into contact with the …

An Elementary Humanomics Approach To Boundedly Rational Quadratic Models, Michael J. Campbell, Vernon L. Smith

ESI Working Papers

We take a refreshing new look at boundedly rational quadratic models in economics using some elementary modeling of the principles put forward in the book Humanomics by Vernon L. Smith and Bart J. Wilson. A simple model is introduced built on the fundamental Humanomics principles of gratitude/resentment felt and the corresponding action responses of reward /punishment in the form of higher/lower payoff transfers. There are two timescales: one for strictly self-interested action, as in economic equilibrium, and another governed by feelings of gratitude/resentment. One of three timescale scenarios is investigated: one where gratitude /resentment changes much more slowly than economic …

Introduction To The Special Issue On The Economics Of Religion, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

"The economics and political science of religion have blossomed into full-fledged fields in the last decade and a half. What was once a field on the far outskirts of economics and political science now regularly publishes in its top journals (see Figure 1).¹ By 1998, the field was large enough for Iannaccone (1998) to write a survey of the shape of the field. The field was very much at its infancy at that time, and most of the best work was done by sociologists and/or published in sociology journals. This has changed significantly in the 22 years since Iannaccone's …

Traffic Scorecard In Mountain West Cities, Kelliann Beavers, Eshaan Vakil, Katie M. Gilbertson, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Transportation & Infrastructure

This fact sheet presents congestion and mobility trends in 14 Mountain West cities as compiled by INRIX Research and author Trevor Reed, in the Global Traffic Scorecard, March 2020. The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard examines the impact of vehicle travel on 975 congested cities in the world; this fact sheet focuses on the Mountain West, providing insight on the ranking and impacts of congestion. This fact sheet also supplements INRIX’s scorecard with population data from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide context for the rankings.

Smoke Or Vapor: Regulation Of Tobacco And Vaping, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

E-cigarettes and vaping raise new questions about the risks to health from their use and how they should be regulated and taxed compared to tobacco. The latter has a long history of taxation and a more recent history of regulation in the United States. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, have only recent begun to be regulated, but by treating them as “tobacco products” the federal regulator includes them by default in the regulatory apparatus design for tobacco control and is sending the tacit message that they are just as harmful as smoking. That is not likely to be the case. …

Residential Electricity Consumption In Las Cruces, New Mexico, Usa, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Felipe F. Mejía

Departmental Papers (E & F)

This study examines how residential electricity consumption (KWHC) reacts to changes in the price of electricity, the price of natural gas, real income per capita, heating degree days, and cooling degree days. Annual frequency data analyzed are for Las Cruces, the second largest metropolitan economy in New Mexico. The sample period is 1977 to 2016. An Autoregressive-Distributed Lag model (ARDL) is employed to obtain long-run and short-run elasticities. In the long-run, residential consumption does not respond in a statistically reliable manner to any of the explanatory variables. All of the coefficient signs are as expected and those for real per …

Intertemporal Choice Experiments And Large-Stakes Behavior, Diego Aycinena, Szabolcs Blazsek, Lucas Rentschler, Charles Sprenger

ESI Working Papers

Intertemporal choice experiments are increasingly implemented to make inference about discounting and marginal utility, yet little is known about the predictive power of resulting measures. This project links standard experimental choices to a decision on the desire to smooth a large-stakes payment | around 10% of annual income | through time. In a sample of around 400 Guatemalan Conditional Cash Transfer recipients, we find that preferences over large-stakes payment plans are closely predicted by experimental measures of patience and diminishing marginal utility. These represent the first findings in the literature on the predictive content of such experimentally elicited measures of …

Assumptions (Mistakes) That Parents Make With Estate Plans, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

The main goal of many parents when writing their estate plan is for their children to continue to be a family. With this goal in mind, parents make many assumptions to “keep the peace” when planning their estate. If the family has a key fight then family activities, like holiday gatherings, no longer happen. Let’s look at these assumptions and make some observations about each. The overall goal is to think through our actions with the intent that the family stays together.

Without an estate plan, the assets are divided ac-cording to the laws of the state of Nebraska. That …

Socially Useless? The Crucial Contribution Of Finance To Economic Life, Philip Booth, Diego Zuluaga

Journal of New Finance

The value of financial markets is under-appreciated. Financial markets perform fundamental functions which are vital in reducing transactions costs in the economy for businesses and households. Without well-functioning financial markets, business would find if much more costly to raise capital and ordinary households would find retirement, protection against everyday risks and day-to-day transactions impossible. Those who criticise financial markets ignore the breadth of their functions and focus on a narrow range of activities. However, even activities such as trading, speculation and so on have social value. The evidence that they cause social problems appears more circumstantial when put under closer …

Friedrich Hayek On Monetary And Banking Systems Reforms, Adrian Ravier

Journal of New Finance

Throughout his life, Friedrich Hayek worked towards prescribing a monetary policy under which the world economy would again enjoy the stability it had known under the classical international gold standard system. This paper presents three banking and monetary systems that were pivotal in the history of banking and closely scrutinized by Hayek. The paper outlines those systems, summarizes Hayek’s comments on each and then discusses the recent literature on the subject in the light of Hayek’s influence.

Empirical Studies On Exchange Rate Pass-Through, Access To Foreign Currency And Firm Performance, Muhammed Siraj Muhammed

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This dissertation consists of two parts and each part contains two empirical studies that rely on macroeconomics, monetary policy, and international trade. The first part addresses the issue of exchange rate pass-through to domestic price developments with a focus on the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, while the second part explores constraints of manufacturing firms in Ethiopia and examines the impact of access to foreign currency on firm performance. In the first chapter, I presented an overview of the study. In the second chapter, I examined to which extent the exchange rate fluctuations transmitted into domestic inflation (ERPT) using a large …

Uncertainties Abound In Nebraska Livestock Market Forecasts, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

About one of the only things certain about forecasts this year has been the great deal of uncertainty. Numerous “novel” situations have confronted the industry making it difficult to estimate price magnitudes rather than just price direction. Clustered plant closures, government quarantine restrictions, and increasing at home phone consumption are just a few of the major issues the beef industry has had to tackle in the last six to eight months. Some things have returned to “normal” such as packing plant capacity and food service demand. Others are still in ongoing recovery.

Who knows what “normal” or “standard operating procedure” …

Technology Transfer In Spatial Competition When Licensees Are Asymmetric, Sougata Poddar, Swapnendu Banerjee, Monalisa Ghosh

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We study technology transfer in a spatial competition with two asymmetric licensees (firms) with an outside innovator who decides how many licenses to offer and the optimal licensing contract. We show the optimal licensing policy is pure royalty contract to both licensees leading to a complete diffusion of the new technology. The result holds irrespective of the cost differentials between the licensees and for innovation of all sizes, that is, drastic or non‐drastic. This robust finding although supports the dominance of royalty licensing in practice; however, consumers may not be necessarily better off. We also throw light on the situation …

Global Cities And Socioeconomic Inequality: A Pathways Inquiry, Herman Boschken

Faculty Publications, School of Management

Inequality in metropolitan areas is part of a paradoxical triangle of competing motives over resources allocation. Chief among inequality/equity rivals is the penchant for urban economic development, but in recent decades, ecological sustainability has also become increasingly important in this triangle. To understand inequality in global cities in such a context, one must recognize the intensity of economic development motives for those particular metropolitan areas seeking to maintain worldwide centrality, connectivity and command over the forces of globalization. As a comparative analysis of 53 large U.S. metropolitan areas, this paper examines the apparatus of a global city in response to …

Visualizing Income Distribution In The United States, Sang T. Truong, Humberto Barreto

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Background: Visit https://sites.google.com/depauw.edu/incomedistributionviz/home to see a novel, eye-catching visual display of the income distribution in the United States that conveys fundamental information about the evolution and current level of income inequality to a wide audience. We use IPUMS CPS data to create household income deciles adjusted for price level and household size for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1976 to 2018. We adjust for state price differences from 2008 to 2018. Plotting these data gives a 3D chart that provides a startling picture of income differences within and across states over time. Those interested …

Comparing Profitability And Management Factors Across Operation Type: Independent Vs. Contract Growing, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

First paragraph:

There is strong local and national interest in adding hog barns to existing row crop operations. Declining on farm income over the past several years has accelerated this interest. Grain operations cite diversifying farm income, adding another family to the farm operation, and/or replacing commercial fertilizer expense as the primary reasons for adding a hog barn.

A Historical Perspective On The Holcomb Fire: Differences And Similarities To The Covid-19 Situation And Other Significant Market Events, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

Copyright 2020, the author. Used by permission.

Biased Beliefs And Entry Into Scientific Careers, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaulé, Danijela Vuletić Čugalj

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We investigate whether excessively optimistic beliefs play a role in the persistent demand for doctoral and postdoctoral training in science. We elicit the beliefs and career preferences of doctoral students through a novel survey and randomize the provision of structured information on the true state of the academic market and information through role models on nonacademic careers. One year later, both treatments lead students to update their beliefs about the academic market and impact career preferences. However, we do not find an effect on actual career outcomes two years postintervention.

Brand Equity, Earnings Management, And Financial Reporting Irregularities, Ghada M. Ismail, Fariz Huseynov, Pankaj K. Jain, Thomas H. Mcinish

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Owning valuable brands enhances the financial well-being of firms not only through increased revenues and profitability but also by mitigating agency problems, earnings management, and financial reporting irregularities. Firms with high brand equity are less likely to have income-inflating discretionary accruals, announce earnings restatements, or experience SEC investigations. Brand equity reduces the likelihood of manipulation through incentive and opportunity channels, which we capture in CEO characteristics and compensation, and corporate governance measures. Brand equity reduces the likelihood of financial reporting irregularities more for durable goods firms and firms with shorter-tenured CEOs, as the latter are most vulnerable to performance pressures.

Covid-19: Working Parents And Child Care In The Mountain West, Olivia K. Cheche, Vanessa Booth, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet synthesizes data on child-care dependent parents in various Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). This synthesis is based on an original report by Brookings Research Analyst, Nicole Bateman, titled “Working parents are key to COVID-19 recovery.” Additionally, this fact sheet highlights other variables that include the race-ethnic breakdown, education attainment, and federal poverty breakdown for child-care dependent parents.

The Earned Income Tax Credit And Maternal Time Use: More Time Working And Less Time With Kids?, Jacob Bastian, Lance J. Lochner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Parents spend considerable sums investing in their children’s development, with their own time among the most important forms of investment. Given well-documented effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on maternal labor supply, it is natural to ask how the EITC affects other time allocation decisions, especially time with children. We use the American Time Use Surveys to study the effects of EITC expansions since 2003 on time devoted to a broad array of activities, with considerable attention to the amount and nature of time spent with children. Our results confirm prior evidence that the EITC increases maternal work …