Economics Commons^™

Unintended Consequences Of Universal Basic Income On Living Arrangements: Evidence From The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Program, Jia Wen Liew

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper investigates the impact of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (APFD), a form of universal basic income, on family structures. Using the Synthetic Control Method and data from the Annual Social and Economic supplement of the Current Population Survey, I assess how the introduction of the APFD payments in 1982 affected children’s living arrangements, as well as how it affected adults’ marital status and living arrangements. I find that the introduction of the APFD has several significant impacts on family structures. Specifically, female children and especially those aged 13 to 18 in Alaska are more likely to be living …

The Contribution Of The South Carolina Technical College System To Human Capital, Labor Force Participation, And Employment, Justin Land

Senior Theses

This thesis assesses the economic impact of the South Carolina Technical College System by applying a counterfactual analysis method to the study of human capital development and labor force growth from 2010-2019. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) are used to estimate the average years of schooling attained by a South Carolinian during the period and the counterfactual average were the Technical College System to not exist. This result is then combined with probit regression models of labor force participation and employment to estimate the Technical College System’s contribution to the labor …

The Impact Of Monetary Policy Shocks: Do Not Rule Out Central Bank Information Effects Or Economic News, Sebastian Laumer, Italo Morais Santos

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper reassesses the impact of monetary policy and central bank information shocks while accounting for the influence of economic news. We regress a set of monetary policy surprises on a measure of economic news and incorporate these new instruments into an SVAR model. Furthermore, we distinguish between the two shocks via sign restrictions on the instruments’ impulse response functions. Our findings indicate significantly stronger and more enduring economic effects for monetary policy shocks, while the economic effects of central bank information shocks are weaker, if not vanish entirely. Nevertheless, persistent financial effects prevent us from completely dismissing the existence …

Is Asia On The Precipice Of A Currency Crisis? Exploring Regional Risks And Implications On The Global Economy, Hannah Deng

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the economic stability of Asia in the face of a potential currency crisis through drawing upon the historical context provided by the 1997 East Asian Financial Crisis. It systematically explores the characteristics and precursors of currency crises, analyzes the Asia-Pacific region’s response to past financial upheavals, and evaluates current macroeconomic vulnerabilities as well as policy frameworks. By juxtaposing the changes in Asia’s financial landscape from the late 20th century to the present, the study identifies persistent structural weaknesses and the region’s ongoing exposure to volatile global financial markets. It also considers the possibility of emerging markets establishing …

Independent Study Project: The Impact Of Digitization And Payment On Community Health Promoter (Chp) Motivation And Effectiveness In A Peri-Urban Community In Kisumu, Kenya., Fiona Yohannes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community Health Promoters (CHPs) in Kenya are the liaison between the community and higher levels of healthcare. As CHPs’ responsibility in the country has grown, stipends started being distributed, and digitization efforts have begun to support them. This ISP paper aims to investigate how recent digitization and payment of CHPs impact their motivation and effectiveness in a peri-urban community in Kisumu, Kenya. The project includes data analysis on CHP performance data from 2016 to 2021 and analyses of interviews with CHPs and CHAs in April of 2024. It was found that time was positively related to CHP performance. It was …

“Njangi Never Dies”: The Social Impacts And Non-Financial Benefits Of Njangis In Batoufam And Yaoundé, Cameroon, Georgia Schaefer-Brown

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Rotating Credits and Savings Associations (ROSCAs) are present in much of the developing world and are incredibly common in Cameroon. The financial impacts of ROSCAs have been researched extensively, but there has been less research on the social impacts and non-financial benefits. This research aims to fill this gap and add to the discussion of ROSCAs in Cameroon (called njangis), as well as demonstrate how njangis are social institutions. This project is in the specific context of njangis in Batoufam and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Interviews and observations informed the conclusion that there are extensive social impacts and non-financial benefits within the …

La Crisis Contemporánea Y Los Cuidados: Respuesta Gubernamental Al Trabajo De Cuidado Feminizado Y La Pandemia / The Contemporary Crisis And Care: Government Response To Feminized Care Work And The Pandemic, Iris Diez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este proyecto investiga cómo las respuestas gubernamentales al trabajo no remunerado de cuidado realizado por mujeres, durante la época de la crisis socioeconómica de la pandemia, impactan el uso del tiempo en trabajo no remunerado doméstico de cuidado por parte de mujeres en Argentina. Basándose en la teoría feminista y en las ideas de Verónica Gago, Lucí Cavallero y Tithi Bhattacharya, este proyecto busca crear una perspectiva critica de las interaciones entre genero, economia, deuda y el trabajo reproductivo. El método de análisis sigue descripciones de las respuestas gubernamentales con respecto del trabajo de cuidado y también presentaciones de datos …

Emprendimiento, Informalidad Laboral Y Vulnerabilidad De Los Migrantes Venezolanos En La Economía Ecuatoriana, Destiny Carlisle

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La movilidad humana, particularmente la movilidad interregional en América Latina, guarda una estrecha relación con el incremento de emprendimientos informales en la ciudad de Cuenca, Ecuador. Diversos factores y condiciones vulnerables impulsan la iniciativa de emprendimiento y la informalidad laboral entre la comunidad venezolana en Cuenca, destacando especialmente el rol de la violencia de género, la explotación laboral y la xenofobia, entre otros aspectos. En este contexto, dicha comunidad ha propiciado la creación de nuevos mercados que benefician tanto al sector formal como informal. Las organizaciones extranjeras han desempeñado un papel de particular importancia en el respaldo a la comunidad …

Impacts Of Ride-Hailing On Energy And The Environment: A Systematic Review, Tamara L. Sheldon, Rubal Dua

Faculty Publications

Ride-hailing has expanded substantially around the globe over the last decade and is likely to be an integral part of future transportation systems. We perform a systematic review of the literature on energy and environmental impacts of ride-hailing. In general, empirical papers find that ride-hailing has increased congestion, vehicle miles traveled, and emissions. However, theoretical papers overwhelmingly point to the potential for energy and emissions reductions in a future with increased electrification and pooling. Future research addressing the gap between observed and predicted impacts is warranted.

Extending Mnrega To Address The Social, Economic And Ecological Costs Of Climate Change And Create Public Sector Climate Jobs, Shriraksha Mohan

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Job Guarantee policies make public sector jobs available for those who are able and willing to work. Job guarantee schemes must work in a democratic and inclusive manner to tackle both unemployment and precarious employment, with the goal of eliminating poverty-wages and poor labor standards. In India, a social welfare measure for job guarantee, MNREGA – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, was enacted in 2005 with the aim to guarantee the constitutional ‘right to work’. MNREGA scheme guarantees employment for 100 days to one individual in every rural household. In the context of climate-related events and disasters, this …

How Academics & Policymakers Can Collaborate Effectively: Lessons From Using Behavioral Science To Improve U.S. Federal Government Policies, S. O'Flaherty, L. Martin, Syon Bhanot, C. Hall, S. Jilke, T. Simko, M. Steffel

Economics Faculty Works

The U.S. government administers many public programs and services. Creating programs that work requires an understanding of the psychological processes that influence behavior. To this end, policymakers may collaborate with academics who have expertise in behavioral science to generate ideas for improving existing programs, procedures, or policies; to test existing programs; or to design wholly new programs that address societal problems. Such collaborations also enable academics to test new or established theories in real-world settings. In this article, we draw on our collective experience in the U.S. Office of Evaluation Sciences, where we have worked on studies that evaluate various …

Accounting For The Gift: Theology And Ethics In Accounting, Daniel Sebastian

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Accounting is often assumed to be a neutral presentation of the facts of economic activities and actions. Its double-entry system means that it is always in balance and comports to the rigor of mathematical formulas, and it is taken to be a matter of empirical counting that lends it certainty as well. The dissertation argues that this description of accounting is inadequate. Accounting is better seen as a political tool and technology for producing trust that can help resolve social conflicts. As such, accounting is not value-neutral but carries within it a particular sociality that has moral implications. These moral …

Analyzing Colonial South Carolina's Trade Landscape Through The Ricardian Model, Dylan M. Peddemors

Senior Theses

The state of South Carolina existed as a British colony from its founding in 1663 until it declared independence in 1776. During this period, South Carolina operated as a plantation-based, cash-crop economy relying on two primary exports: rice and indigo. The colony displayed nearly complete specialization in its exports of these crops while importing different goods. The theory of comparative advantage in trade relationships crafted by British economist David Ricardo in the 18th century concludes that gains from trade emerge when trade partners specialize in the production and exportation of the goods of which they have the lowest opportunity cost. …

Optimistic Oracle, F. S. Aijazuddin

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Ishrat’s career is described in Sibtain Naqvi’s meticulously researched, well-structured biography Unravelling Gordian Knots: The Works and Worlds of Dr Ishrat Husain (2021). Dr Ishrat was perhaps too modest to write it himself. Naqvi is its surrogate parent. Ishrat’s family migrated from Agra in December 1947. His father established a legal practice in Hyderabad (Sindh), where Ishrat showed precocious promise by clearing his Matric exam at the age of 12. He graduated from Sindh University, then the University of British Columbia (Canada), after which he joined Pakistan’s Civil Service in 1964. That batch achieved a legendary reputation as an elite …

Exploring The Comparability Between Eq-5d And The Eq Health And Wellbeing In The General Australian Population, Peter Lee, Lidia Engel, Erica I. Lubetkin, Lan Gao

Publications and Research

Objectives

Methods

The Digital Commercial Revolution: U.S. Business Sales And The Entrepreneurial Exploitation Of Information And Communications Technology, John T. Scott

Dartmouth Scholarship

Businesses have taken the opportunities, made possible by information and communications technology (ICT), to develop and use digital platform services and other digital tools to support sales. This paper estimates a model of U.S. business sales and uses the estimated model to assess the economic impact of the digital commercial revolution of the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The estimations show that the entrepreneurial initiatives—that drove the digital revolution in commerce by capitalizing on the new technologies made available by the ICT revolution—came to fruition in the wake of the Great Recession. For 2019, the last year before …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 8, Number 4, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton, Zifeng Feng

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 27, Number 2, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Impacts Of The Us-China Trade War On Asian Economies, Ruoqing Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China have reverberated globally, sparking concerns about economic stability and growth. What are the most affected industries and economies among Asia? What will happen if the US and China further raise their tariffs? Are there any useful trade policy adjustments for the Asian economies to improve their lots under the not-so-optimistic world trade climate? This paper employs a multi-country, multi-industry, general equilibrium model to analyze the impacts of the US-China trade war and potential further tariff war on 13 Asian regions across 20 industries in the year 2017. The results indicate …

Conflict In The Congo: A Critical Assessment Of Section 1502 Of The Dodd-Frank Act, Rodney Ford

Senior Honors Theses

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the poorest and most troubled nations in the world. With a convoluted and often tragic history, a significant cause of economic underdevelopment and political instability in the Congo has been the illicit expropriation of the country’s vast reserves of high-value minerals. In the early 2010s, Congress attempted to address the “conflict minerals” dilemma through the enactment of Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act. The conflict minerals rule aimed to break the supposed link between the illegal exploitation of minerals and the perpetuation of violence. Drawing upon books, journal articles, research …

Skills, Majors, And Jobs: Does Higher Education Respond?, Johnathan G. Conzelmann, Steven W. Hemelt, Brad J. Hershbein, Shawn Martin, Andrew Simon, Kevin M. Stange

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How does postsecondary human capital investment respond to changes in labor market skill demand? We quantify the magnitude and nature of this response in the U.S. 4-year sector. To do so, we develop a new measure of institution-major-specific labor demand, and corresponding shift-share instrument, that combines job ads with alumni locations. We find that postsecondary human capital investments meaningfully respond. We estimate elasticities for degrees and credits centered around 1.3, generally increasing with time horizon. We provide evidence that both student demand and institutional supply-side constraints matter. Our findings illuminate the nature of educational production in higher education.

Remotely Sensed Imagery Reveals Animal Feeding Operations Increase Downstream Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus, Andrew G. Meyer, Zach Raff, Sarah Porter

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper, we use remotely sensed imagery to identify the location and size of animal feeding operations in the Maumee River Watershed, a key drainage area to Lake Erie's Western Basin, which has recently experienced severe harmful algal blooms. We then estimate the relationship between the intensity of animal feeding operations in the watershed and surface water body concentrations of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), the pollutant most responsible for algal growth. We find that stream reaches with relatively larger increases in upstream animal feeding exposure experience significantly higher increases in concentrations of DRP. The average marginal upstream animal feeding …

Financial Regulation Beyond Stability, Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

This essay briefly reviews the ways stability has dominated regulatory and academic discourse about financial regulation. It then uses anti-money laundering (AML) and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHL Banks) — the oldest government foray into housing policy — as case studies to show that banks and the financial system are already deeply engaged in efforts to further other important government policies. These case studies affirm just how hard it can be to promote healthy public-private coordination, while also revealing why such arrangements have become so pervasive. More than anything, the aim here is to force acknowledgment of the myriad …

“It’S A No Brainer”: Ensuring Just Transitions In Iceland’S Fishing Industry, Olivia Bowers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Iceland’s government intends to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, aiming to target various economic sectors and industries for increased renewable-energy usage. One of its most important plans revolves renewable-energy usage in the fishing industry, which accounts for almost 12% of the country’s GHG emissions. This study aims to understand the perspectives of different stakeholders concerning renewable energy in the fishing industry, using these opinions and existing literature to provide recommendations for a just, equitable, and achievable energy transition. Additionally, this study particularly focuses on the opinions of actors in Vestmannaeyjar, an island community of 4,300 with an especially vibrant, significant, …

“¡Que Se Vayan Todos!”: La Crisis Socioeconómica De Argentina En Diciembre De 2001 Y El Papel Del Fondo Monetario Internacional En Su Desarrollo / “Down With Them All!”: Argentina’S December 2001 Socioeconomic Crisis And The Role Of The International Monetary Fund In Its Development, Romita Chattaraj

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Desde su inicio en 1944, el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) ha sido objeto de controversia por su participación en algunas de las peores crisis financieras de la historia económica global. La crisis socioeconómica de 2001 que experimentó Argentina tras décadas de apoyo del FMI es uno de sus casos más destacados. A pesar del crecimiento económico explosivo que experimentó Argentina a lo largo del siglo XIX y principios del XX, Argentina cayó víctima de la inestabilidad macroeconómica durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX y finalmente llegó a declarar lo que en ese momento fue el mayor incumplimiento soberano de …

(Wp 2024-02) Stratification Economics: Historical Origins And Theoretical Foundations, John B. Davis

Economics Working Papers

Stratification economics (SE) investigates how economies are organized around group inequalities, especially by race and gender but also by ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Its historical origins and theoretical foundations have both a structural strand that addresses how and a social behavioral strand. SE's structural strand goes back to Ricardo and Marx regarding the relationship between growth and distribution, and then draws on recent economic theory of noncompeting groups and dual economy models of labor market segmentation. SE's structural strand produces an inequality-based understanding of economics' standard goods taxonomy. The social behavioral strand builds on Du Bois's psychological …

Montana Residents' Attitudes Towards Tourism - 2023, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz, Matthew Pettigrew

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

A summary of Montana residents' attitudes towards tourism from the 2023 season. Overall, results from this study show that Montana residents hold a generally positive attitude towards tourism in the state. Residents are aware of the economic benefit that tourism provides to their communities, and agree that the overall benefits outweigh the negative impacts. Perceptions of crowding at the statewide and community level appear to be easing from previous years.

The Montana Travel Industry - 2023 Summary, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

2023 summary infographic of the Montana travel and recreation industry.

2023 Estimates - Nonresident Visitation, Expenditures, And Economic Contribution, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report is a collection of estimates of 2023 nonresident visitation to Montana, expenditures by nonresident travelers in the state, and the contribution to Montana's economy of that traveler spending. Included are estimates by full year, quarter, trip purposed, and other visitor segments.

Equality In Times Of Uncertainty: Economic Downturn And Body Image Messaging Toward Women, Ritsa Giannakas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A vast body of literature indicates that the economy and the status of women are interlinked, with higher levels of economic well-being tending to correspond with advancements in women’s rights. However, little of this research has investigated the changes in the wellbeing of women as it pertains to their physical and mental health, especially as it pertains to exploring the impacts of economics on eating disorder rates and societal messaging toward women. This thesis investigates a novel theory linking economic uncertainty and downturn to the spread of pro-eating disorder content online, positing that economic uncertainty may coincide with a “conservative …