Economics Commons^™

Market Efficiency: Its Economic And Theological Implications, Fan Fei

Faculty Tenure Papers

In finance, market efficiency, or equivalently, the Efficient Market Hypothesis, assumes that the market can transmit information completely, instantly, and freely so that asset prices reflect the fair value of the investment. An efficient market would imply that the prices were always right and that no group of investors should be able to consistently beat the market. In this article, I review the evolution of modern finance and the evidence for and against the Efficient Market Hypothesis. Decades of empirical research and historical events, such as dot-com bubble and the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis, resulted in a paradigm shift and …

Competition In Economic Theory And The Skew In U.S. Corporate Wealth Creation, Marc H. Pentacoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historical studies of U.S. capital markets show a dramatic skew in the distribution of corporate wealth. This thesis investigates the evolution of economic thought related to realistic models of competition, seeking to find the most suitable theory of competition to explain this skew in U.S. corporate wealth creation. The incorporation of realistic elements into the static theories of competition leads to theoretical difficulties in the early 20th century. Another line of thought developed non-equilibrium dynamic models of competition, culminating in Schumpeter. In Schumpeter, firms seek to manage the uncertainty f rom rapid change induced by innovation and increasing returns by …

Children’S Health And Maternal Work Activities, Termeh Tavangar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I estimate the effect of poor child health on maternal labor force participation. Mothers of health-impaired children may decide not to work and stay at home to take care of their children. Alternatively, mothers may choose to enter the labor force to pay for these children’s additional resources. Which action dominates is the empirical question I answer in this paper. I control for the potential endogeneity of a child’s health status by using an instrumental variables approach. I find that if mothers have a child in poor health, the probability that the mother works is decreased by thirteen percentage points, …

Trade Liberalization And Economic Performance: An Empirical Analysis, Brandon Fontaine

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Trade liberalization has long been a debated topic; free traders will argue it makes all involved parties more prosperous while protectionists say that it costs jobs and hurts countries’ economies. This paper will study the relationship between a country’s trade freedom, as measured by the Heritage Foundations trade openness metrics, and the nation’s economic performance. This study will incorporate indicators such as gross domestic product, unemployment, and investment flows across 56 countries of different income levels to determine whether free trade policies lead to greater economic performance. The three income levels analyzed will be high-income, medium-income, and low-income. The empirical …

The Effect Of Poor Working Conditions And Income Inequality On Gdp Growth, Trent Remillard

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper looks to see if there is a relationship between poor working conditions and growth in GDP annually. Many nations have historically treated their workers very poorly, and offered little in support or protection to them. Consequently, many of these same nations have seen large boosts in annual GDP growth. This paper aims to see if there is a correlation between this treatment of workers, and these subsequent boosts of GDP growth, and if there is, is it possible to predict the expected level of growth based on these factors.

Macroeconomic Drivers Of Reit Stock Prices, Nicholas Mulligan

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates several variables as potential drivers of REIT stock performance. The results show that four of the six independent variables, all of positively correlated ones, were significant. The combination of variables proved to be very predictive, yielding an R-squared of 0.9712. The two variables that were added in this study versus the benchmark Morgan Stanley study proved to be highly significant. The two negatively correlated variables proved to be insignificant.

Quality Analysis Of Lift Ticket Prices In The United States Using Logistic Regression, Jared Murphy

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the possibility of a relationship between Lift Ticket Prices and quality of resorts in the United States of America. The study incorporates information from a number of past research papers analyzing the price of lift tickets and the individual characteristics of the ski area. In recent years, the price of lift tickets has increased far greater than the rate of inflation. With over 350 companies operating in the industry in the United States, they combine for annual revenue greater than $2 billion. Consumers who enjoy the sport have seen a sharp increase in prices throughout the past …

Economic Determinants Of Within-Country Political Instability And Violence: A Panel Data Examination Of Central And South America, Michael Biskupic

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the potential impact of economic factors on withincountry violence and instability utilizing a panel data approach. More specifically, this paper examines the impact of within-country income inequality on a measure of political stability and a measure of within-country violence. Utilizing a Generalized Least Squares method, this paper finds that only in countries with a per-capita income less than $5000 is there a significant relationship between income inequality and violence. This paper concludes with a discussion of the results, recommendations for future research, and a section on policy recommendations based on the empirical results and potential risks not …

Student Achievement In Rhode Island Charter Schools: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Edward Golas

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Using standardized test results from the school year 2018-19 this study compares the performance of 3rd through 8th graders in Rhode Island charter schools to their peers in traditional public schools (TPSs). This study also uses OLS techniques to test if Rhode Island charter schools help to bridge the achievement gap between minority (black and Hispanic) students and white students. The results show that in approximately ¾ of comparable instances, Rhode Island charter schools outperform TPSs on both English and math standardized tests. Additionally, it was found that Hispanic students attending a charter school are predicted to score higher on …

A Time Series Analysis Of Determinants Of Pce Inflation In The United States, Elliot Charron

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the factors contributing to the PCE inflation rate in the United States. The study incorporates economic determinants in a time series analysis to examine the influence of economic variables on the PCE Inflation rate in the United States. The economic variables include the unemployment rate, wages, inflation expectations, the federal funds rate, the money supply, import prices, and the labor force participation rate. The ADF unit root test shows that the first difference is stationary while the Johansen test of cointegration shows that there is cointegration of 7 and that a vector error correction model (VECM) must …

Comparing Machine Learning Techniques For Predicting Bank Failure, Armen Eghian

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The study of machine learning has helped create and refine many types of predictive models. These models have been applied to countless problems, but the importance of banking stability has led many researchers to create models predicting if a bank will be active in future years. Neural networks, support vector machines, and traditional regression models, have been used to predict bank failure, but random forests have not been fully explored. This paper shows random forests can offer prediction power greater than neural networks and logit models when used to predict bank failure. This aligns with work comparing random forests and …

The Socioeconomics Of Homelessness In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Ben Hanson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Though the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky has experienced tremendous economic growth in recent years, poverty and homelessness have become a problem for residents and city officials. This project seeks to expand research on homelessness in Bowling Green, Kentucky in order to prescribe policies that could be enacted by local government entities. Construction of low-income housing, rent subsidies, rent ceilings, and tougher eviction laws are all policy measures that have been discussed by previous literature. To analyze the effectiveness of these four policies, this project proposes a regression model that explores the relationship between the homeless population and each of …

No. 83: Between Burden And Benefit: Migrant Remittances, Social Protection And Sustainable Development, Sujata Ramachandran, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

As the role of migrant remittances for poverty reduction, economic growth and sustainable development in sending countries gains increasing attention, this report reviews the evidence for the linkages between remittances and the social welfare of receiving households, communities and countries, as well as remitters themselves. In low and middle-income countries, where national social security systems have been underdeveloped, monetary and other assistance by family and community members have long constituted an important form of non-state social welfare. Rooted in social relationships and networks of family, kinship connections and social community, individual remittances offer informal mechanisms of social protection. The report …

State Of The Northwest Arkansas Region 2021 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 2018, the Northwest Arkansas Council created a strategic action agenda for 2018-2021. In this plan, the performance of Northwest Arkansas is benchmarked with other contemporary, high-performing regions: Austin, Des Moines, Madison, Durham-Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Provo-Orem. The 2021 State of the Region Report compares Northwest Arkansas with these regions in the areas of gross domestic product, employment, unemployment, establishment growth, average annual wages, research and development, and average domestic airfares. The 2020 …

Biased Technical Change, Institutional Shift, And The Functional Distribution Of Income: Who Benefits From Economic Growth?, Adam Szymanski-Burgos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Starting from the mid 1970s and early 1980’s, the US and other advanced economies observed a widening divergence between the growth of average and median real hourly labor compensation and the average growth of labor productivity. This decoupling between labor compensation and productivity indicates a decline in the labor share of national income. Opposite to movements in the labor share, the share of national income remunerated as capital income has increased with the rise of capital incomes concentrated largely in corporate sector profits. Key developments since the middle of the 20th century have coincided with the onset of medium-run fluctuations …

The Great Consensus After The Great Recession: The Case Of Jamaica, Anthony N. Iacovelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the efficacy of the International Monetary Fund’s Stabilization Program (IMFSP) as a tool for economic development. The Fund’s program utilizes an approach steeped in the Washington Conesus, which requires austere and demand side economic measures to be taken to achieve success. To determine efficacy, Jamaica was used as a case study, where special attention paid to the supply side economic consideration of human capital development in Health and Education. Additionally, this paper contrasted the IMF approach with a case study of Singapore and the Developmentalist approach to economic development. The research provided …

Plantation Economy Model As Developed By Lloyd Best And Kari Polanyi Levitt: The Case Of Jamaica, Paula-Leone Samuda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lloyd Best and Kari Polanyi Levitt created the Theory of the Plantation Economy as an analytical tool for understanding the causes of underdevelopment in the Caribbean region. The theory provides a break from the classical understanding of developing economies as simply pre-industrialized societies. Instead, the theory tracks uneven development through analysis of metropole-hinterland relations, which account for the legacy of slavery, colonialism, and mercantilism on the structure of the global economy. In doing so, Plantation Theory is able to draw a clear link between underdevelopment in the hinterland and development in the metropole. Examining the usefulness of the Theory of …

Well-Being Of Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans [Research Brief], Rebecca J. Vogt, Heather Akin, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steven A. Schulz

Nebraska Rural Poll

Provides a synopsis of the report on Well-Being of Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans by Nebraska Rural Poll researchers.

Includes details about general well-being, perceptions of powerlessness, and specific aspects of well-being.

The Nebraska Rural Poll sampled residents from non-metropolitan counties and regional trade centers in the state. The Nebraska Metro Poll sampled the seven counties that comprise the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas. Both polls sent four mailings regarding or containing the surveys in the spring of 2021 and had an online response option.

Trust In Media, Institutions And Health Information In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2021 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Heather Akin, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steven A. Schulz

Nebraska Rural Poll

Rural Nebraskans’ confidence in many institutions has not changed much during the past four years. However, more rural Nebraskans have a great deal of confidence in the public safety agencies in their community than they did in 2017. Conversely, fewer rural Nebraskans express a great deal of confidence in the presidency than they did in 2017.

Overall, most rural Nebraskans have confidence in their local institutions (public safety agencies in their community, public schools in their community, and voting and election systems in their county). However, most have very little confidence in many national institutions (the Presidency, the U.S. House …

Banking On Her: The Effects Of Microfinance On Women’S Autonomy In Developing Economies, Zena Pare

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Once applauded as a way to empower the world’s poorest, and in particular benefit women, the practice of microfinance is now perceived with a much more cautious and nuanced lens. Some perspectives state that microfinance improves women’s lives and uplifts communities, while others claim that it increases over-indebtedness and does not provide a viable path to escape poverty. In order to determine if microfinance is an effective use of resources to empower women, this paper analyzes the relationship between women’s autonomy and microfinance to provide further insight into its proposed positive and negative effects. Using ordinary least squares regression analysis, …

The Relationship Between Transportation Accessibility And Economic Development, Abigail Kiggen

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the possible relationship between transportation infrastructure accessibility and economic development in a given region. The study will incorporate data from counties in the state of Massachusetts to compare development from previous studies in the New York area. The independent variable will be transportation infrastructure accessibility, and the dependent variable will be measures of economic development. The results show that there are generally not correlations between better accessibility and economic development in a given region.

We All Want To Change The World: How Behavioral Insights Can Help Reduce Carbon Emissions, Thomas C. Gifford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented environmental crisis driven primarily by human behavior. As the world has globalized, countries have developed, and standards of living have improved, global pollution has skyrocketed and has resulted in a wide range of environmentally destructive outcomes. All paths to environmentally sustainable development involve a dramatic cut in carbon emissions from current day levels. In this thesis, I explore how the omission of behavioral factors from mainstream neoclassical models has contributed to, and can aid in reducing unsustainably high levels of carbon emissions. Throughout the history of economic thought, classical economists such …

Evaluating Nuclear Energy As A Component Of U.S. Energy Innovation Systems, Bryce Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear energy is contentious in policy discussions that evaluate its role in the current U.S. clean energy innovation system. OECD nations, on average, have begun to reduce their dependence on nuclear energy. However, the United States has remained invested in its nuclear energy infrastructure and the role that it plays within federal research and development. This thesis examines the Neo-Schumpeterian perspective and the National Innovation System’s approach, the economic history of nuclear energy in the United States, and given insight from these factors, discusses the current role of nuclear energy in the U.S. energy innovation system. The objective is to …

Looking For Better: A History Of Black Southern Migrations, Selena Sanderfer Doss

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

A broad overview of migrations affecting black southerners is presented, including the Atlantic slave trade, the domestic slave trade, colonization movements to Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Exoduster movement, the Great Migration, and the Return South migration. Emigrants convey their experiences and motivations through testimonies and personal accounts. Surviving the trauma of forced migrations, black southerners organized numerous migration movements both outside and within American polities in search of better opportunities. In the late 20th century, black southerners also initiated a return migration to the American South and have since achieved notable socioeconomic and political progress.

Investing In Entrepreneurship: The Sustainable Solution To Tunisia’S Youth Unemployment Crisis?, Hussein Noureldin

All Reports

Since the Jasmine Revolution of 2011, Tunisia’s youth unemployment crisis has worsened. As of 2020, it has the tenth highest youth unemployment rate in the world at 36.5%. Experts have long identified this as the main challenge to overcoming Tunisia’s economic woes, and reform – from the education and vocational training systems on the supply-side to the job market on the demand-side – must follow the democratic gains achieved since 2011. The failed approach in reducing regional inequality under Ben Ali had an adverse effect, creating unemployment disparities between Tunisia’s affluent coastal cities and its poorer interior regions. As such, …

Bengal Rising: Why Bangladesh & Pakistan’S Growth Trajectories Are Diverging, Sartaj Javed

All Reports

50 years after Henry Kissinger derided the nascent state of Bangladesh as an economic basket case, the country has emerged as the newest claimant to the mantle of being an Asian tiger economy. Borne out of a genocidal civil war with Pakistan, Bangladesh’s rise and Pakistan’s decline over a tumultuous half-century period necessitates a review of foreign policy orthodoxy as South Asia’s populace starts to assert its economic and political might.

2021-1 Four Decades Of Canadian Earnings Inequality And Dynamics Across Workers And Firms, Audra Bowlus, Emilien Gouin-Bonenfant, Huju Liu, Lance Lochner, Youngmin Park

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

No abstract provided.

2021-2 Why Do Couples And Singles Save During Retirement?, Mariacristina De Nardi, Eric French, John Bailey Jones, Rory Mcgee

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

No abstract provided.

2021-3 Wages, Skills, And Skill-Biased Technical Change: The Canonical Model Revisited, Audra J. Bowlus, Lance Lochner, Chris Robinson, Eda Suleymanoglu

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

No abstract provided.

2021-4 Innis Lecture: Return On Student Loans In Canada, Lance Lochner, Qian Liu, Martin Gervais

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

This paper uses new administrative data with detailed borrower information and lengthy repayment histories from the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) to measure rates of return on undergraduate student loans. We document substantial heterogeneity in returns based on information available at the time loans were disbursed, including province of residence, field of study, and institution of attendance. Field of study is a particularly important determinant of rates of return, explaining 22% of the variation in predicted returns across borrowers. We explore the implications of this variation for CSLP cross-subsidization across borrowers and potential risk-based loan limits. Given the variation in …