Economics Commons^™

Dictators And Lying Dictators: An Experimental Investigation Of Preference Based-Group Biases In Chinese And American Interactions, Aaron S. Berman, Saika Cer Askin, Shapeng Jiang, David Porter, Jason Shachat

ESI Working Papers

This study examines preference-based behavioral biases in social interactions between two distinct communities: students from Chapman University in the United States and Wuhan University in China. Using controlled experiments, participants interacted within or across communities in Dictator games. Two versions of the Dictator game were used: one where decisions were observable by both the experimenter and the recipient, and another where allocators could misreport outcomes with plausible deniability. Results revealed unexpected patterns, including similar allocation distributions across communities in the transparent task, and differing behaviors in the misreporting task, with Chapman allocators being more generous to out-group members and Wuhan …

Identifying Effective Corporate Financial Strategies For Overcoming Economic Shocks: A Literature Review, Selvi Permata Groda, Muazila Norisnita

Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis Terapan

The current era of heightened global economic uncertainty necessitates a thorough understanding of corporate financial strategies that enable firms to weather economic shocks. This literature review systematically identifies and analyzes financial strategies and practices that have demonstrated effectiveness in mitigating the negative impacts of events such as geopolitical instability. The methodology involves a comprehensive synthesis of existing scholarly articles focusing on corporate finance responses to global economic volatility. This study examines strategies related to funding, capital structure, cash management, and investment, evaluating their success in fostering financial resilience. Furthermore, the review integrates relevant financial theories, including the pecking order, trade-off, …

The Security Trilemma: A Critical Research Agenda, Adem Yavuz Elveren, David M. Fields

Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Home Care Workers, Immigration, And An Aging Population, Catherine Ipsen, Luke Santore

Employment

The size of the Home Care Worker (HCW) workforce has not kept pace with demand, and inadequate compensation and benefits have historically contributed to poor HCW recruitment and retention. Demographic trends put further strain on the workforce, with immigrants, naturalized citizens, and Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) individuals currently making up the majority of the HCW workforce.

Policy changes, cuts to benefits, and immigration crackdowns threaten to further weaken the supply of HCWs while the demand continues to rise. In this report, Catherine Ipsen and Luke Santore provide analysis and strategies to support HCWs and strengthen the Personal …

Can Limited Partners Mitigate Negative Externalities In Private Equity?, Teodor Duevski, Chhavi Rastogi, Tianhao Yao

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

We show how Limited Partners' (LPs) environmental and social (E&S) concerns transmit to private equity (PE) rms through capital supply. E&S incidents in portfolio companies reduce PE fundraising, as E&S-concerned relationship LPs refrain from recommitting and are not easily substituted. Using a legal reform that expands E&S-concerned public pension capital to PE, we causally show that PE rms internalise LPs' E&S concerns, reducing dirty sector portfolio allocation and increasing ESG hiring. Additionally, PE rms with E&S- concerned relationship LPs engage with portfolio companies to manage E&S risks. Limited capital substitutability enables LPs to delegate E&S preferences, shaping PE allocation and …

Marriage, Labor Supply And The Dynamics Of The Social Safety Net, Hamish Low, Costas Meghir, Luigi Pistaferri, Alessandra Voena

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The 1996 US welfare reform introduced time limits on welfare receipt. We use quasi-experimental evidence and a rich life-cycle model to understand the impact of time limits on different margins of behavior and well-being. We stress the impact of marital status and marital transitions on mitigating the cost and impact of time limits. Time limits cause women to defer claiming in anticipation of future needs and to work more, effects that depend on the probabilities of marriage and divorce. They also cause an increase in employment among single mothers and reduce divorce, but their introduction costs women 0.7% of lifetime …

Beyond The Budget: Financial Literacy In Tyler, Tx, Manuel Reyes-Loya, Cecilia Cuellar, Sara Maldonado

Hibbs Brief

In this issue of the Hibbs Brief, the importance of financial literacy in Tyler, Texas is explored as a key factor influencing household decision-making and community resilience. The brief discusses how gaps in financial knowledge and access — including budgeting, saving, borrowing, and digital financial tools — affect people's ability to build stability, with lower financial literacy linked to higher debt and limited opportunities for long‑term financial success. It emphasizes the need for expanded financial education and resources to strengthen individual financial capability and support regional economic well-being.

Shining A Light On Firms’ Political Connections: The Role Of Dark Money, Matthew Denes, Madeline Scanlon

Faculty Publications

We study the emergence of a new channel for firms’ political activity using dark money through undisclosed and unlimited contributions. After the U.S. federal court decisions in 2010, S&P 500 firms substantially increased their use of dark money. We find that dark money contributions complement political engagement through campaign contributions and lobbying. Firms disclose dark money contributions when they face heightened nondisclosure costs. Firms contributing to dark money groups benefit by receiving more procurement contracts and increased government subsidies. Our findings highlight that political connections by firms are evolving and expanding through new and largely unexplored channels. (JEL D72, …

How Local Is Local Development? Evidence From Casinos, Ari Anisfeld, Jordan Rosenthal-Kay

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

One rationale for place-based policy is that local development produces positive productivity spillovers. We examine the employment spillovers from a large local development project: opening a casino. Comparing employment in neighborhoods that won a casino license to runner-up neighborhoods that narrowly lost, we find that casinos create jobs in their immediate vicinity. However, we estimate net job losses overall when considering the broader neighborhood. Employment gains concentrate in the leisure and hospitality industry, suggesting spillovers are industry-specific or are driven by demand-side forces like trip-chaining. We develop theory to show that our estimates imply a rapid spatial decay of productivity …

Unlocking Private Equity Investing, Yin Wang, Steve Balaban

Asian Management Insights

Myths and market shifts to take note of.

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 28, Number 4, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Balancing Act: Addressing Child Quantity-Quality Trade-Off In The Philippine Households With Educational And Health Social Programs, John Andrew A. Alsol, Marie Carroline Magante

Economics Department Faculty Publications

The child quantity-quality (CQQ) trade-off has been extensively studied in economic research since it was first introduced by Becker and Lewis in 1973. Studies have argued that the current economic circumstances and the presence of government aid in education and health determine the existence and extent of the CQQ trade-off. However, there is a dearth of empirically tested research on the possible decreasing effects of social programs on the CQQ trade-off. Using the 2019 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey, this paper seeks to determine the effect of education and health social programs on the CQQ trade-off in the Philippines. Probit models …

Relu-Based And Dnn-Based Generalized Maximum Score Estimators, Xiaohong Chen, Wayne Yuan Gao, Likand Wen

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We propose a new formulation of the maximum score estimator that uses compositions of rectified linear unit (ReLU) functions, instead of indicator functions as in Manski (1975, 1985), to encode the sign alignment restrictions. Since the ReLU function is Lipschitz, our new ReLU-based maximum score criterion function is substantially easier to optimize using standard gradient-based optimization pacakges. We also show that our ReLU-based maximum score (RMS) estimator can be generalized to an umbrella framework defined by multi-index single-crossing (MISC) conditions, while the original maximum score estimator cannot be applied. We establish the n −s/(2s+1) convergence rate and asymptotic normality for …

New Measures For Richer Theories: Some Thoughts And An Example, Orazio Attanasio, Victor Sancibrian, Federica Ambrosio

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

For a long time, the majority of economists doing empirical work relied on choice data, while data based on answers to hypothetical questions, stated preferences or measures of subjective beliefs were met with some skepticism. Although this has changed recently, much work needs to be done. In this paper, we emphasize the identifying content of new economic measures. In the first part of the paper, we discuss where the literature on measures in economics stands at the moment. We first consider how the design and use of new measures can help identify causal links and structural parameters under weaker assumptions …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 9, Number 11, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

The Lexicographic Preference And The Tops-Only Property, Xinning Geng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper studies the structure of the lexicographic preference domain in the context of strategy proof Random Social Choice Functions (RSCFs). Classical sufficient conditions for the tops-only property—namely, the Interior and Exterior Properties—do not hold in lexicographic domains. Nevertheless, these domains still exhibit the tops-only property. We first provide a structural explanation of why the Interior and Exterior Properties fail in this setting. We then introduce two new structural conditions, Property 1 and Property 2, and show that any two-dimensional lexicographic preference domain satisfying these conditions is a tops-only domain. Finally, we prove that the two-dimensional lexicographic domain meets both …

Competition Through Entry Fees Between Auctions For Differentiated Objects, Massimiliano Landi, Domenico Menicucci, Domenico Colucci

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers two competing auctions with objects differentiated according to the random utility framework introduced in Perloff and Salop (1985): bidders privately observe their values for the two objects, and values are ex ante i.i.d. across objects and across bidders. For the case of uniform distribution of values, we show that competition under entry fees is less intense than competition under reserve prices in the sense that sellers are better off, and bidders are worse off when competition takes place with entry fees rather than under reserve prices. The key difference between the two settings is that undercutting under …

The Changing Landscape Of Eastern Montana: Trends And Insights 2024, Melissa Weddell, Glenna Hartman, Elena Bigart, Kara Grau, Matthew Pettigrew, Ava Worbets, Sophie Morris

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The purpose of this study is to generate a comprehensive overview of tourism trends in Eastern Montana by leveraging existing data sources and integrating new survey insights. By analyzing county-level statistics, regional tourism data, and U.S. Census information, the study aims to create a detailed picture of visitor demographics, trip characteristics, and community dynamics over the past five years (2018-2023). This multifaceted approach illuminates local tourism patterns, highlights key differences between counties, and allows for comparisons with the more heavily visited western regions of the state. Specific objectives include identifying who visits Eastern Montana, how they plan and experience their …

Price Dislocations: Insights From Trade Repository Data, Albert Menkveld, Lucas Saru, Shihao Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper identifies price dislocation events in EuroSTOXX 50 futures, i.e., periods marked by high absolute returns. Combining public limit order book data with confidential trade repository data collected under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), we analyze market conditions around such dislocations. We find that price dislocations are accompanied by an increase in trading volume, and in the number of trades. EMIR data enables us to identify who participates in these trades, which allows us to tell if the volume increase is driven by fewer investors trading more, i.e., a more concentrated market, or by more investors participating. The …

Poking Holes And Adding Points In Dictator Games, James C. Cox, Cary Deck, Laura Razzolini, Vjollca Sadiraj

ESI Working Papers

Deviations from choices predicted by self-regarding preferences have regularly been observed in standard dictator games. Such behavior is not inconsistent with conventional preference theory or revealed preference theory, which accommodate other-regarding preferences. By contrast, experiments in which giving nothing is not the least generous feasible act produce data that is inconsistent with conventional preference theory including social preference models and suggest the possible relevance of reference point models. Two such models are the reference-dependent theory of riskless choice with loss aversion and choice monotonicity in moral reference points. Our experiment includes novel treatments designed to challenge both theoretical models of …

Gmm Estimation With Brownian Kernels Applied To Income Inequality Measurement, Jin Seo Cho, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

In GMM estimation, it is well known that if the moment dimension grows with the sample size, the asymptotics of GMM differ from the standard finite dimensional case. The present work examines the asymptotic properties of infinite dimensional GMM estimation when the weight matrix is formed by inverting Brownian motion or Brownian bridge covariance kernels. These kernels arise in econometric work such as minimum Cramér–von Mises distance estimation when testing distributional specification. The properties of GMM estimation are studied under different environments where the moment conditions converge to a smooth Gaussian or non-differentiable Gaussian process. Conditions are also developed for …

Robust Implementation In Rationalizable Strategies In General Mechanisms, Takashi Kunimoto, Rene Saran

Research Collection School Of Economics

A social choice function (SCF) is robustly implementable in rationalizable strate-gies if every rationalizable strategy profile on every type space results in outcomes consistent with it. First, we establish an equivalence between robust implementation in rationalizable strategies and “weak rationalizable implementation”. Second, using the equivalence result, we identify weak robust monotonicity as a necessary and al-most sufficient condition for robust implementation in rationalizable strategies. This exhibits a contrast with robust implementation in interim equilibria, i.e., every equilib-rium on every type space achieves outcomes consistent with the SCF. Bergemann and Morris (2011) show that strict robust monotonicity is a necessary and …

Determinants Of Containership Time Charter Rates : A Hedonic Pricing Approach, Khusnul Khotimah, Thi Thu Ha Doan

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Estimating The Value Of 5c’S Of Credit Analysis In Newbuilding Ship Loans, Gwanglyong Park, Xinyi Ruan

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Case Series Overview: Analysis Of Innovation Applications And Value Driven By Aigc Technology—An Early Investment Perspective In The Chinese Market, Siyuan Ma, Mengyu Wang, Tianyi Zhang

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

This case series explores the innovative applications and value analysis driven by AIGC (AI-generated content) technology from the perspective of early-stage investments in the Chinese market. We analyse the influence of core factors such as technology progression, market demand, policy environment, industry cycles and data on AIGC-driven value creation; case studies are provided to illustrate how AIGC has varying applications across different industries depending on market conditions. This series contains four cases: first, we first explore the investment opportunities of AIGC by combining the core technological value and industrial application status of generative AI, using China’s energy industry as a …

How Fair Workweek Laws Affect Labor Markets: A New York City Case Study, Joseph Pickens, Aaron Sojourner

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Optimization Via Strategic Law Of Large Numbers, Xiaohong Chen, Zengjing Chen, Wayne Yuan Gao, Xiaodong Yan, Guodong Zhang

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper proposes a novel framework for the global optimization of a continuous function in a bounded rectangular domain. Specifically, we show that: (1) global optimization is equivalent to optimal strategy formation in a two-armed decision problem with known distributions, based on the Strategic Law of Large Numbers we establish; and (2) a sign-based strategy based on the solution of a parabolic PDE is asymptotically optimal. Motivated by this result, we propose a class of Strategic Monte Carlo Optimization (SMCO) algorithms, which uses a simple strategy that makes coordinate-wise two-armed decisions based on the signs of …

Women’S Mba Peers Affect Their Course Choices, Career Paths, And The Gender Pay Gap, Mallika Thomas

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Understanding Michigan’S Reconnect Program Applicants, Alexander W. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Brian Jacob, Kevin M. Stange, Bryan A. Stuart, Zhonghan Xie

Reports

No abstract provided.

Religious Security As A Component Of National Security In The Sphere Of Social And Economic Communication, Yevhen Kharkovshchenko, Vitalii Nitsenko, Yevhen Piletskyi, Mariia Nesterova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

National security is proposed to be viewed as a coordinated open system that, in addition to the religious, also includes military, economic, social, and other components. Considering religion as part of such an open system makes it possible to distinguish two mutually directed vectors of communication within religious communities: from church leaders to the faithful and vice versa. This presupposes feedback communication links that allow a denomination to balance interactions among the actors of church–society relations. The concept of “communication” in the context of religious and national security is thus expanded from a narrow understanding of information exchange to an …