Economics Commons^™

Do Participation Rates Vary With Participation Payments In Laboratory Experiments?, Huizhen Zhong, Cary Deck, Daniel J. Henderson

ESI Working Papers

This paper reports a series of experiments designed to evaluate how the advertised participation payment impacts participation rates in laboratory experiments. Our initial goal was to generate variation in the participation rate as a means to control for selection bias when evaluating treatment effects in common laboratory experiments. Initially, we varied the advertised participation payment to 1734 people from $5 to $15 using standard email recruitment procedures, but found no statistical evidence this impacted the participation rate. A second study increased the advertised payment up to $100. Here, we find marginally significant statistical evidence that the advertised participation payment affects …

Essays In Family Economics, Margarita Podledneva

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the relationship between family structure, domestic environment, and child outcomes, with a focus on educational achievement in Russia. Chapter 1. Fertility, Marriage, and Cohabitation Across Family Types: Stylized Facts The first essay analyzes family structure in Russia, providing essential context and intuition for the rest of the thesis. Using the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), I document several stylized facts about the composition of families in Russia, with a focus on families with children. Additionally, I explore trends in cohabitation, marriage, and divorce, as well as fertility decisions among women in different family structures. I …

Projected Job Growth By 2031 In The Mountain West, Madison Dwyer, Annie Vong, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines job growth projections from 2021 to 2031 for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. This fact sheet also presents projected job growth data by educational level, and across selected occupational sectors. Data are sourced from the report, “After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031,” published by the McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University.

Biblical Choice Model: A St. Augustine-Inspired Approach To Behavioral Economics, Adebukola Adebayo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Economics as defined by Lionel Robbins (1932), is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. While human behavior relates to how wants and desires are coordinated given decision-making mechanisms, social customs and political realities of society, the natural end of individual human actions should be eudaimonia (human flourishing). However, since sin has affected both our emotive and cultural plausibility structures, thereby leading to a distortion in our wants and desires and ability to desire the good, this has led to a generation that is self-ruling, self-creating and self-evaluating. The …

Exploring The Impact Of Weekly Farmers’ Market In The City Of Carson, Ca In Promoting Equitable Access To Locally Grown Fruits And Vegetables, Daisy Lopez Valdez M.P.H.

Master's Projects and Capstones

Despite their many benefits to the community, farmers’ markets suffer from several important limitations. This paper will provide guidance on practices and interventions that can improve the effectiveness of the local Carson, California farmers’ market, known as the South Bay Pavilion Farmer’s Market, in increasing equitable access to and consumption of locally grown fruits and vegetables with the goal of reducing obesity and diabetes rates among residents.

The needs and assets assessment developed will evaluate the success of the City of Carson South Bay Pavilion Farmers’ Market and provide recommendations based on the findings. The proposed research will follow an …

How Clientelism Works: Evidence From The Barinas Special Election, Francisco Rodríguez

Global and Public Affairs: Faculty Scholarship

Do politicians target the benefits of social programs to party loyalists or to swing voters? Traditional tests of this question are clouded by an identification problem caused by the simultaneity of politician and voter choices to participate in the exchange of assistance for votes. I use the holding of an unanticipated repeat gubernatorial election in the Venezuelan state of Barinas in 2022 as a natural experiment to identify the effects of elections on the distribution of government assistance. I estimate that the holding of the election led to an increase in the probability of voters in Barinas receiving food packages …

Thinking Blue / Writing Red: Marxism And The (Post)Human, Stephen C. Tumino

Publications and Research

Thinking Blue/Writing Red interrogates contemporary culture across a range of texts, from the pandemic (‘Covid’ and ‘Trump Speak’) to high theory (Melville's narratives) and popular culture (Beyoncé's ‘Formation’ and Super Bowl performance, Twin Peaks , metamodern ‘cli-fi’ films). Inspired by Derrida’s idea of the secret, Tumino examines the significance of social movements (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, alter-globalization) and naïve art (Darger, Ryden) to argue that these texts speak of the secrets that capitalism cannot speak. Contending that the cultural surfaces narrate only the ‘nonsecret,’ that to see the social logic of the culture one must dig into what Bruno Latour …

The Influence Of Socio-Economic Constraints On Women's Economic Empowerment In Kenya: Evidence Of Wage Disparities?, Wairimu Kimani

McNair Summer Research Program

This study presents an econometric analysis of socio-economic factors which influence wage inequalities in Kenya. This study tests the hypothesis that women experience cross sectoral gender wage disparities which are influenced by cultural and social expectations. Linear, logistic, factorial regressions models and the Mann-Whitney test were utilized to identify statistical determinants of the gender-wage gap through disproportionate educational outcomes, labor outcomes, and social outcomes. The outcomes reflect that education and other demographic factors play a pivotal role in the wage and employment outcomes for women in Kenya. The results suggest that cultural implications are the main influence to the socio-economic …

The Effect Of Current Ratio, Net Profit Margin, Roa, Company Age, On Profit Growth& Stock Prices During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Gayatri Rejeki, Erwin Harinurdin

Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis Terapan

The purpose of this study was conducted to examine the effect of Current Ratio (CR), Net Profit Margin (NPM), Return On Assets (ROA), and Company Age on Profit Growth and the Effect of Profit Growth on Stock Prices on the Indonesia Stock Exchange 2018-2021. This research is a quantitative type. The population in this study are companies on the LQ45 index listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the 2018-2021 period with a total sample of 34 companies. This study used a purposive sampling method. Methods of data analysis using descriptive statistics, comparative analysis, multiple linear regression analysis, and classical …

Clinical Implementation Of Tissue-Sparing Posterior Cervical Fusion: Addressing Market Access Challenges, Morgan Lorio, Pierce Nunley, Joshua Heller, Bruce Mccormack, Kai-Uwe Lewandrowski, Jon Block

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Background: The traditional open midline posterior cervical spine fusion procedure has several shortcomings. It can cause soft tissue damage, muscle atrophy, compromise of the lateral masses and painful prominent posterior cervical instrumentation or spinous process if there is dehiscence of the fascia. Additionally, patients frequently experience the rapid development of adjacent segment disease, which can result in the reemergence of debilitating pain and functional impairment. Clinical relevance: Tissue-sparing posterior cervical fusion is an alternative method for treating patients with symptomatic cervical degenerative disc disease. However, widespread clinical adoption has been challenged by ambiguity, misunderstandings and misinterpretations regarding appropriate procedural reimbursement …

Experiments On Employer-Employee Relationships, Hang Chen

Economics Theses and Dissertations

Employer-employee relationships exist commonly in workplaces and are important for people to understand the interactions between employers and employees and also their own behavior. This dissertation presents studies of different aspects of employer-employee relationships using laboratory experiments. Chapter 1 studies how the problematic nature of many middle management positions drive middle managers to interact with their employees in a negative way in workplaces, as they are under pressure from upper management to extract high effort from their employees, but given few incentives to do so. Chapter 2 focuses on the potential peer effects of employees' performance feedback and performance. My …

Two Perspectives On Macroeconomics And Inequality, Aleph Shin

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intricate relationships between macroeconomic forces and economic inequality through two distinct but interconnected lenses. Chapter 1 examines how heightened import competition, a key aspect of globalization, reshapes the occupational structure in the U.S., highlighting the adverse effects of import competition on employment across different occupations, especially those with low and middle wages. Employing industry-level trade and technology measures to assess the impacts on eleven finely defined occupational groups, this chapter reveals that import competition serves as a significant yet often overlooked driver of job polarization and the decline of middle-skill occupations, contrasting with the polarization literature …

Nfl Franchise Departures And Nearby Home Prices, Brad R. Humphreys, Geoffrey Propheter

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Research shows that US professional sports facilities positively impact nearby house prices. New facilities typically have existing teams, complicating a separate assessment of the impact of teams and facilities. Existing research analyzed departures of pro basketball teams, but arenas host many non-sporting events. These results may not generalize. We exploit the relocation of two professional football teams to investigate the impact of team departures on home sales. Difference-in-differences and repeat sales model results indicate proximity to one team represented an amenity while proximity to the other did not. Differences in urban form likely explains this heterogeneity.

Socioeconomic Inequalities Between The Bronx And Other Counties In New York City, Mexican Studies Institute Cuny, Eliana Checo-Genaoa

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

The Bronx, despite its proximity to the other boroughs of New York City, has the highest poverty rates among them. Using data from 2010 to 2022, this study examines the socioeconomic disparities between the Bronx and Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Key indicators analyzed include poverty levels, SNAP benefits, unemployment rates, median income, educational attainment, homeownership rates, business creation, and GDP per capita. Our study reveals that the Bronx has the highest poverty, unemployment, and SNAP benefit dependency rates, lower educational attainment, and the lowest median income and homeownership rates. Our findings underscore the persistent socioeconomic challenges faced by …

Extension Efforts To Address The Current National Housing Crisis, Michael J. Dougherty, Melissa B. Hamilton, Bradley Neumann

Journal of Extension

Housing is a basic need. The National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP), Land Use Planning Community of Practice held a virtual forum in December 2021 on the national housing crisis. The session revealed common challenges communities face when addressing these issues locally. As a follow-up to that session, this paper summarizes Extension perspectives on community housing issues discussed during the session, reviews the literature on Extension programs related to housing, and makes the case for a national peer learning and communications network to address these difficult and urgent community housing challenges.

Electrifying Choices: Decoding Electric Vehicle Adoption And Policy Incentives In America, William T. Ball

Theses and Dissertations

Countries, states, and municipalities are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector by leveraging policy incentives to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption. I study the efficacy of state-level time-of-purchase rebate incentives in the United States between 2016 and 2022, and employ a generalized difference-in-difference two-way fixed effects model that enables causal inference. I find that EV rebate incentives cause an increase of 1 EV per 1,000 vehicles. EV rebate incentives also cause a decrease in gasoline powered vehicles by 3 vehicles per 1,000, and a decrease in diesel powered vehicles by 1 per 1,000. EV rebate incentives …

Research Report: Well-Being, Heather Akin, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Mary Emery, Katelyn Larson, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

This year, rural Nebraskans are more pessimistic about their current situation than they’ve been since this study began. The proportion believing they are worse off than they were five years ago was 33 percent, up from 27 percent last year and 21 percent in 2022. This is the highest level across all years of the study. This increase in pessimism was matched with a sharp decrease in optimism. This year, just over one-third (36%) of rural Nebraskans believe they are better off compared to five years ago, down from 45 percent last year.

This trend continued when looking to the …

Essays On Aging, Health, And Labor Market, Lanjie Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation consists of four chapters on aging, health, and labor economics.

In the first chapter, we investigate the short-term impacts of unemployment on older workers in Singapore, a setting without public unemployment insurance. Using monthly panel data, we analyze dynamic impacts on income, spending, health, and subjective well-being over two years post-unemployment. We find substantial initial earnings losses with incomplete recovery, with income remaining 46.5% below pre-unemployment levels after 24 months. Despite this persistent income gap, consumption responses are modest and comparable to countries with strong social safety nets, suggesting robust self-insurance mechanisms. We observe increased retirement among married …

When Hedge Funds Move In: Socioeconomic Consequences Of Single-Family Rentals, Hannah Misurati

All Theses

In this thesis I explore the effect of increased investment in the single-family rental sector on inequality and housing affordability. I measure the effect of the single family rental (SFR) share on Gini indices and median rental prices across the largest U.S. cities. I construct three non lagged and three lagged models for each of the two dependent variables. In my analysis of the relationship between SFR shares and inequality, I do not find a significant relationship after accounting for potential reverse causality. However, the relationship between SFR shares and rent prices is shown to be negative and significant once …

Estimating The Effect Of Nuclear Energy On A Country's Electricity Generation Mix: Fukushima As A Case Study, Sarah Elizabeth Zarrilli

All Theses

In this paper, I attempt to estimate the true effects of removing nuclear energy on a country’s energy portfolio, particularly how the country substitutes to other fuel sources for electricity generation and how it impacts the country’s marginal electricity prices. In 2011, anti-nuclear sentiment that arose in Japan following the meltdown of the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant resulted in the country decreasing its nuclear electricity generation from over 30% of its total supply to 0% in under two years. I use the dramatic variation across Japan’s electricity supply regions over the denuclearization period to attempt to estimate the true …

Carbon Capture And Renewable Energy Policies: Could Policy Harmonization Be A Puzzle Piece To Solve The Electricity Crisis?, Mahelet G. Fikru, Fateh Belaïd, Hongyan Ma

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electricity market crisis, driven by factors such as increased energy demand, rising fuel prices, aging infrastructure, and greenhouse gas emissions, requires a multifaceted approach including the strategic implementation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies, which despite high costs and potential adverse impact on renewable investments, can allow the use of fossil fuels to maintain grid stability, and simultaneously lower carbon footprint. Across the world, several nations are designing financial incentives and improving regulatory frameworks to reduce barriers to the deployment of CCS. However, it is not clearly understood whether and to what extent such policy support would affect …

A Non-Envelope Theorem With Linearly Homogeneous Constraints, Eduardo Dávila, Andreas Schaab

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper shows that it is possible to define an unambiguous notion of the direct effect of a parameter perturbation on the value of an optimization problem’s objective away from an optimum for problems with linearly homogeneous constraints. This notion of the direct effect relies on reformulating the optimization problem using shares as choice variables, and has the interpretation of holding choice variables — when formulated as shares — fixed. This short paper contains one formal “non-envelope” theorem and four applications to i) consumer demand, ii) cost minimization, iii) planning in exchange economies, and iv) planning in production economies.

Drink…Then Drive Away: The Effects Of Lowering The Blood Alcohol Concentration In Utah, Javier E. Portillo, Wisnu Sugiarto, Kevin Willardsen

Economics Faculty Publications

In March of 2017 Utah announced its intent to lower the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) for driving from 0.08 to 0.05 g/dL. However, this change did not take effect until 2019. We employ a difference‐in‐ differences strategy on Utah counties using neighboring states as controls to test whether this policy change significantly affected the number of traffic accidents or the severity of those accidents. Results show the policy appears to temporarily decrease the total number of accidents, limited primarily to property damage‐ only accidents. We believe these results may be partially explained by drivers who, after the policy is …

How Are Global Trade Relationships Affected By Western Sanctions?, Colin A. Martinez

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Do sanctions actually have an impact on their intended targets? This paper seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature on the effectiveness of sanctions by measuring potential impacts on the trade relationships of targeted states after the imposition of sanctions. To do so, it turns to a comprehensive dataset that combines all trade and sanctions data for each of 229 states, arranged in 23,132 dyads, from 2000 through 2019. It then examines 792 regressions using a hybrid fixed effects difference-in-difference model applied to twelve different types of sanctions, differentiated by the sanctioning state’s membership in certain groups of …

Essays On Education And Family Economics, Yue Hu

All Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three essays: the first two discuss the effect of American high school vocational education on individuals' labor market and educational outcomes, and the third essay explores the effect of unilateral divorce laws on women's labor force participation rates. In the first chapter, treating vocational class choice as a continuous variable, I used family-fixed effects to investigate the average effect of American high school vocational classes on students' labor market and educational outcomes. The findings indicate that high school vocational classes significantly decrease the likelihood of attending a four-year college but do not significantly affect other educational …

Volume 26, Issue 2 (Special Issue) -- Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Guest Editor's Note, Rajiv Thakur

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Spaces Of Progress And The Challenge Of “Mindfulness” In A Postcolonial World, M. Satish Kumar

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Progress implied both change and improvement in the colonial and postcolonial world. Such a concept of progress came to be enshrined in specific geographical places. The notions of development and underdevelopment in the postcolonial context thereafter supplanted this idea. Over time, while the structures of colonial domination dissolved, those of embedded regional inequalities came to be deeply entrenched, thereby urging for Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to “mindfulness” in a “postcapitalist,” postcolonial world. The key question is whether postcolonialism has reached an impasse in its delivery and deployment of ideas across the widening gulf between the spaces of progress and stagnancy. …

The Adaptation Wedge: Capacity-Building Scenarios For India’S Cities, Jagan Shah

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The increasing frequency and severity of floods, heat waves, and storm surges impacting global cities, combined with the growing morbidity in public health, necessitates prompt and effective climate action. Adaptation and mitigation require adequate and appropriate institutional, technical, and societal capacities—all of which are in short supply in most low- and middle-income country cities that are experiencing growth while suffering vulnerabilities. Although national governments are alerted to climate risk and the imperatives of planning, financing, and managing climate transitions, their responses to capacity constraints and approaches to capacity building display neither urgency nor scale. We use a scenario-building methodology to …