Economics Commons^™

Natural Resources And Wealth Of The Democratic Republic Of Congo (Drc): Of Benefit To Whom?, Nicola Colbran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

When asked to discuss the humanitarian tragedy in the DRC, the question really is where to start? The article by Adam Hochschild discusses some of the most horrific events and experiences imaginable: widespread killings of unarmed civilians, rape, torture and looting, the recruitment of child soldiers, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The immediate human response is who is to blame, how did it happen and how can the world apparently do nothing?

Human Rights Law On Trial In The Drc, William Paul Simmons

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ongoing tragedy in Eastern Congo contains so many tragic lessons that it should shake to their very foundations all comfortable ideologies about human rights and politics. The atrocities in the DRC should implicate all but have so far resulted in almost limitless impunity. Here, I briefly put human rights law on trial for its role in perpetuating this tragedy.

Building A Meritocracy: The American Precedent For Wealth Redistribution, Micah D. Bobo

Undergraduate Economic Review

This work investigates the use of wealth redistribution mechanisms in establishing and promoting meritocratic practices in early United States history. From the fifteenth to eighteenth century, the reward system used in exploration, colonization incentives, and land redistribution techniques are examined. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the effects of industrialization and education on social mobility are reviewed. Finally, the social and economic factors resulting in southern secession, particularly slavery, are examined. While the concept may be unpopular in modern society, wealth redistribution mechanisms were essential to cultivating merit-based social mobility and overall societal stability throughout the period covered.

Department Of Economics Publication List 2009, Penny Stover

Economics Pamphlet Series (1985-2016)

This compilation lists published works authored by Department of Economics faculty members and other staff working on projects funded through the Department of Economics. Publications resulting from their research and academic activities are indexed by author for easy access by the public. The articles were published between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008.

Justice And Fairness In The Dictator Game, Karl Schurter, Bart J. Wilson

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This article uses a laboratory experiment to examine the question of whether justice and fairness are different motivational forces in the dictator game. "Justice" and "fairness" are often used interchangeably because their meanings and usages are so closely linked, despite their distinct connotations. Using four different treatments, our experimental design investigates the subtle differences between the two social concepts to explicate generosity in the dictator game. The results indicate that justice, not fairness, legitimizes property rights in the dictator game.

Does Unemployment Decrease Cancer Mortality?, Benjamin Torres Galick

Economics Honors Projects

Recent research indicates that healthier lifestyles during recessions decrease the most common U.S. mortalities, but not cancer. However, they combine specific cancer mortalities with different progressions into one, possibly obscuring cancer’s link to unemployment. This paper estimates a fixed-effects regression model on unemployment and the nine most prevalent cancers between 1988 and 2002 using state-level panel data. Five cancers and total cancer are procyclical, and suggest that unemployment affects both incidence and gestation for some cancers. Consistent with the medical literature, this paper contradicts previous economic research and suggests that behavioral factors significantly impact cancer mortality.

The Economics Of Fundamentalism, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Growing religious fundamentalism in Pakistan and other muslim countries has aroused a lot of anxiety particularly among the urban educated middle classes. Their lifestyles are at serious risk and the recent speculations that Taliban were about to take overPeshawarhad left a lot of chill in the spines of most of the people belonging to this class.

Why is fundamentalism despite its obscurantist and unreal view of Islam spreading so fast? Why did Hamas sweep the elections in Palestine? Why are other fringe religious organizations gaining popularity in other Muslim countries?

Most of the analyses explaining the resurgence of fundamentalism in …

The U.S. Economic Crisis: Another "Lost Decade"?, Paula Chungsathaporn

Honors College Theses

America is experiencing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression originating with problems from mortgage backed securities and seeping into every major sector in the economy. We have witnessed the downfall or government takeover of some of the most powerful companies in the country, contributing to the highest unemployment rate America has seen in decades. During the 1990s, Japan experienced what is commonly referred to as “the lost decade,” a period of prolonged stagnant growth. Many similarities can be drawn between the current U.S. crisis and the Japanese crisis of the late 90s. The macroeconomic conditions that caused the …

Bailouts, Buy-Ins, And Ballyhoo, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The bailout strategy now being pursued by Treasury under the recently authorized Troubled Asset Relief Plan, if “strategy” it can be called, remains obscure and erratic at best. All the while markets remain jittery and credit remains tight, as the underlying source of our present financial jitters—continued decline in the housing market and still mounting foreclosures—goes unaddressed. This piece proposes an interesting and novel approach to solving the financial problem. If it works out, it would eventually minimize the cost to the government.

The Economics Of Deal Risk: Allocating Risk Through Mac Clauses In Business Combination Agreements, Robert T. Miller

Working Paper Series

In any large corporate acquisition, there is a delay between the time the parties enter into a merger agreement (the signing) and the time the merger is effected and the purchase price paid (the closing). During this period, the business of one of the parties may deteriorate. When this happens to a target company in a cash deal, or to either party in a stock-for-stock deal, the counterparty may no longer want to consummate the transaction. The primary contractual protection parties have in such situations is the merger agreement’s “material adverse change” (MAC) clause. Such clauses are heavily negotiated and …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Team Payroll On Regular Season And Postseason Success In Major League Baseball, Noah L. Schwartz, Jason M. Zarrow

Undergraduate Economic Review

Major League Baseball, like other American professional sports, has become a multibillion dollar industry. The institution of free agency has led to the escalation of payrolls and altered the make-up of rosters by dramatically reducing owners’ monopsony power. The ability of large market clubs such as the New York Yankees to compete continually for the game’s greatest prize illustrates the power of the dollar. This paper examines four distinct periods from 1977 to 2008 in order to assess the influence of pecuniary advantages on regular season and postseason outcomes. Payroll exerts great influence in the regular season, but not in …

High School Graduation Rates In The Metro-Detroit Area: What Really Affects Public Secondary Education, Thomas A. Wilk

Undergraduate Economic Review

Education is essential to the future productivity of workers in the Metropolitan Detroit area, so determining what impacts high school graduation is vital to predicting the future success of our economy. This research investigates what key aspects in our society affect the high school graduation rate: poverty level, violent crime rate, student body, class size, local school taxes, and standardized test scores. Results from multiple regressions using school district and city data from the CCD and FBI suggest that poverty levels and violent crime in the Metro Detroit area significantly, negatively influence high school graduation rates. Reforms to public policy …

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: 2008, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during 2008.

Judicial Adherence To A Minimum Core Approach To Socio-Economic Rights – A Comparative Perspective, Joie Chowdhury

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

Today’s world is witness to extraordinary inequality and the most desperate poverty. Millions of people across the world have no access to adequate food or water, basic health care or minimum levels of education. There are many avenues through which to approach the issue of improving socio-economic conditions. Courts, especially recently, have in certain countries, been seeking to ameliorate these conditions, to some extent, through the means of socio-economic rights adjudication.

For courts to effectively empower people to realize their socio-economic rights, attention to implementation of judgments is essential. A strong normative base for such judgments is just as crucial, …

Tolerance, Democracy And Fundamentalism(S) : Challenges In Time Of Systemic Bifurcations, Guillermo C. Hansen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ports Of Secession: The Economics Of Florida Ports In The Secession Crisis, Michael P. Robbins

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The root of large-scale human conflict is the protection of economic interests. The economic motivations for the South to secede clashed with the interests of the North in preserving the trade relationships that existed. In choosing the path that led to conflict over peace, decision-makers leaned towards what they believed would be most profitable on the margins. The financial viability of a southern Confederacy was contingent upon the successful separation of Gulf states from the Union. The economic interests generated by Florida's Gulf ports provided a strong incentive for the state to secede, for the emerging Confederacy to support that …

Adverse Selection In Annuity Markets: Evidence From The British Life Annuity Act Of 1808, Casey Rothschild

Economics Faculty Scholarship

We study adverse selection using data from an 1808 Act of British Parliament that effectively opened a market for life annuities. Our analysis indicates significant selection effects. The evidence for ad- verse selection is strongest for a sub-sample of annuitants whose an- nuities were purchased by profit-seeking speculators, a sub-sample in which “advantageous selection” resulting from multi-dimensional het- erogeneity is unlikely to have been significant. These results support the view that adverse selection can be masked by advantageous se- lection in empirical studies of standard insurance markets. JEL N23 D82.

Moral Reasoning In Economics, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

The Teagle discussion analyzes why economics teachers have become overly narrow in their pedagogical perspectives, thus pulling back from fully supporting the liberal arts agenda. In Chapter 1, Colander and McGoldrick (p. 6) observe that the generalist approach that excites students by asking "big think" questions across disciplinary boundaries fails to generate new knowledge, while the narrow "little think" questions that can be answered often fail to develop the critical thinking skills necessary for liberal education. As one example, the authors cite the decline of moral reasoning in economics, which was once center stage in Adam Smith's analysis of society. …

Chinese Women And Economic Human Rights, Lisa Fry

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Women’s human rights in China have an intriguing history and a challenging present. In ancient China, Confucianism espoused the virtues of silent women who stayed at home. During the Maoist period, on the other hand, gender equality was prioritized by the state, and women were equally appointed to leadership positions and agricultural collectives with men. After Mao’s death, the country transitioned to a social market economic system that resulted in a loss of state support for gender equity. Today, the rights of women in China are not clearly defined, protected, or promoted. China’s patriarchal traditions have reasserted themselves, obstructing women’s …

Human Rights Abuses Along The Dominican-Haitian Border, Calla Cloud

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A 122 mile-long border separates the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Of the two countries, Haiti’s human rights abuses are much more somber than the emerging developments of the Dominican Republic. Haiti’s stagnant economic situation has contributed to perennial political instability and lack of infrastructure, having a particularly confounding affect on the rights and labor conditions of Haitian citizens. There are a myriad of reasons why Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Two of the most prominent include its violent political history and the gradual deterioration of its economy. In the context …

Hot Potato: Who Will End Up Paying For Open Access?, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Open access to scholarly content is increasing, and will continue to do so. This phenomenon is driving the economics of publishing to change dramatically. The question is: what will the economics of open access look like when this correction settles into a sustainable model? I will cover some of the ideas that have recently been articulated by economists, information professionals and others regarding retooling the evolving publishing business model, and will present some proposed solutions to the problem of “who is going to pay for it?”

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor, 1st Quarter, 2009, Armstrong Atlantic State University Center For Regional Analysis

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor

The Coastal Empire Economic Indicators are designed to provide continuously updating quarterly snapshots of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy. The coincident index measures the current economic heartbeat of the region. The leading index provides a short term forecast of the region’s economic activity in six to nine months.

Teaching Economics, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

Ethical considerations intersect with economics education on a number of planes. Nonetheless, in terms of curricula, only a handful of economics departments offer courses specifically focused on ethics. This chapter addresses the ways in which instructors can incorporate ethical components into teaching principles and field courses in order to broaden economic understanding and to enhance critical thinking. It examines three pedagogical issues: the artificial dichotomy between positive and normative analysis; the limiting scope of efficiency in outcomes analyses; and the incorporation of alternative ethical frameworks into public policy debates.

Bonds, Stocks Or Dollars? Do Voters Care About Capital Markets In Brazil And Mexico, Tony Petros Spanakos, Lucio Remuzat Renno Jr.

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

How does vote intention in presidential elections vary according to the economic conditions of a country, especially indicators of the financial market? Does the state of the economy, both its fundamentals as well as capital market, affect variation in candidates’ percentage of vote intention in national polls? This paper tests how economic indicators influence vote intention in presidential elections in two emerging markets: Brazil and Mexico. The presidential elections of 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006 in Brazil and 2000 and 2006 in Mexico are analyzed using all poll returns for each electoral period and corresponding economic data. The paper finds …

David Hume On Monetary Policy: A Retrospective Approach, Maria Pia Paganelli

Economics Faculty Research

Monetary policy is a modern idea of which David Hume is generally considered a precursor. Moreover, thanks to Milton Friedman and Robert Lucas, he is often presented as one of the first and most illustrious endorser of monetarism. This paper argues against this view, and in agreement with Joseph Schumpeter, that Hume’s contribution to economics, while not insignificant, cannot claim any real novelties. It offers an interpretation of Hume as a descendant of a pre-modern understanding of money rather than a forerunner of modern monetary ideas, and as a scholar exposing common ideas of his time rather than a prophet …

Exchange And Specialisation As A Discovery Process, Sean Crockett, Vernon L. Smith, Bart J. Wilson

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

In this article we study the performance of an economy that can support specialisation if the participants develop and follow some system of exchange. We define a closed economy in which the participants must discover the ability to exchange, implement it, and ascertain what they are comparatively advantaged in producing. Many of our participants demonstrate the ability to find comparative advantage, capture gains from trade and effectively choose production that is consistent with the choices of others. We explore various treatments to provide insight into the conditions that foster the growth of specialisation and exchange within this weak institutional framework.

Radio Spectrum And The Disruptive Clarity Of Ronald Coase, Thomas W. Hazlett, David Porter, Vernon Smith

ESI Working Papers

In the Federal Communications Commission, Ronald Coase exposed deep foundations via normative argument buttressed by astute historical observation. The government controlled scarce frequencies, issuing sharply limited use rights. Spillovers were said to be otherwise endemic. Coase saw that Government limited conflicts by restricting uses; property owners perform an analogous function via the “price system.” The government solution was inefficient unless the net benefits of the alternative property regime were lower. Coase augured that the price system would outperform. His spectrum auction proposal was mocked by communications policy experts, opposed by industry interests, and ridiculed by policy makers. Hence, it took …

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor, 4th Quarter, 2009, Armstrong Atlantic State University Center For Regional Analysis

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor

The Coastal Empire Economic Indicators are designed to provide continuously updating quarterly snapshots of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy. The coincident index measures the current economic heartbeat of the region. The leading index provides a short term forecast of the region’s economic activity in six to nine months.

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor, 2nd Quarter, 2009, Armstrong Atlantic State University Center For Regional Analysis

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor

The Coastal Empire Economic Indicators are designed to provide continuously updating quarterly snapshots of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy. The coincident index measures the current economic heartbeat of the region. The leading index provides a short term forecast of the region’s economic activity in six to nine months.

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor, 3rd Quarter, 2009, Armstrong Atlantic State University Center For Regional Analysis

Coastal Empire Economic Monitor

The Coastal Empire Economic Indicators are designed to provide continuously updating quarterly snapshots of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy. The coincident index measures the current economic heartbeat of the region. The leading index provides a short term forecast of the region’s economic activity in six to nine months.