Economics Commons^™

Investing In "Left Behind" Places: Learning From Native American Tribal Communities, Robert Maxim

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled, "Investing in 'Left Behind' Places: Learning from Native American Tribal Communities" by Brookings fellow in Brookings Metro, Robert Maxim.

Over the past decade, U.S. political and economic discourse has centered on helping “left behind” places. The federal government joined this conversation, emphasizing everything from tariffs and trade protectionism to revitalize domestic industry, to landmark industrial policy bills aimed at pouring new federal investment into lagging places. Native American tribes can serve as an important case study for understanding how federal, state, and local policies can …

Collaborative Research Report: Building Home Care Worker Capacity, Luke Santore, Catherine Ipsen, Stephen Mccall, Jiyeon Kim, Genna M. Mashinchi

Employment

RTC:Rural and PHI researchers examine the rising demand for home-based care and ways to increase the workforce and retain home care workers through worker-supportive policies such as increased wages and healthcare insurance.

Doing More Good For Less: Salvaging Development Aid, Trey Dykeman

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

In stark contrast to its peak in the Marshall Plan era, professional sentiment towards international development aid has become increasingly pessimistic as its shortcomings have become apparent. Inter alia, leading thinkers charge development aid with enabling and sustaining economic dependency, governmental corruption, political power imbalances, and paternalism. Even so, there may be diamondlike programs in the development aid rough. Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programs—a subset of development aid—have seen moderate success. In particular, as compared to other forms of aid, unconditional cash transfer programs (UCTs)—a specific type of CVA—appear economical and effective and avoid many of the above …

Skating For A Payday: Analyzing Nhl Player Performance In Contract Years, Mike Anthony Dibenedetto

Honors Projects in Economics

This research investigates the contract year phenomenon in the National Hockey League (NHL) by analyzing player performance during contract years rather than salary outcomes. Through an extensive literature review and empirical analysis, I examine whether NHL players exhibit statistically significant differences in performance during the final year of their contracts. Drawing from a broad range of studies on performance motivation, team systems, free agency, arbitration rights, and the role of advanced analytics, this paper synthesizes existing theories with new regression-based evidence.

Using a dataset of 2,717 player-season observations, I evaluate the effect of contract year status on key performance metrics, …

Beyond The Stats: Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Performance Metrics And Nationality On Major League Soccer Player Salaries: A Panel Data Analysis, Daniel Pereira

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the possibility of how player in-game individual performance and nationality shape the salary system in Major League Soccer (MLS). The objective is to evaluate the direct relationship between key performance indicators (KPIs) such as field position, goals, assists, appearances, and defensive contributions, and how these factors are different between domestic and international players.

Enhancing Cryptocurrency Security And Trend Prediction Using Xgboost: An Ai-Driven Approach, Shrenik Kamma

Honors Projects in Mathematics and Economics

Cryptocurrency, a digital currency secured by cryptography, has soared in popularity since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2009. While offering benefits like decentralization and faster transactions, it also faces challenges such as security threats and market volatility. Artificial intelligence (AI) presents a promising solution to enhance security and predict trends in the cryptocurrency market. This thesis explores how AI can be utilized to strengthen the security of cryptocurrency transactions and predict market trends. By analyzing current security measures, AI-driven approaches, and predictive models, this study aims to contribute to the development of innovative solutions for navigating cryptocurrency.

Risk And Outcomes Of Pregnancy-Related Acute Kidney Injury: A Cohort In Bronx, Ny, Erica Marnet, Mayssaa Hoteit, Isbell Crevantes, Sonail Gupta, Ladan Golestaneh

Posters

Pregnancy-related acute kidney injury (PR-AKI) has been increasing in incidence and is associated with worse maternofetal outcomes. The goal of this study is to examine risk and hospitalization outcomes of PR-AKI compared to pregnancy without AKI in a low-income, minoritized population in Bronx, New York

The Renewable Divide: Examining The Impact Of Renewable Energy On Pollution Across Development Levels, Andrea Ortiz Mieses

Honors Projects in Mathematics and Economics

This paper uses linear regression to analyze the relationship between renewable energy and environmental quality in both developed and developing countries. Developed nations often have stricter regulations and lower pollution levels, while developing nations prioritize economic growth, leading to rising pollution. Using data from the World Bank, World Health Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Monetary Fund, this research aims to identify how renewable energy consumption in these contrasting contexts impact environmental outcomes. The analysis explores the effectiveness of various environmental conditions, using regression analysis to assess the impact of renewable energy on air pollution. …

Polarization And The Decline Of Economic Voting In American National Elections, Christopher Ellis, Joseph Daniel Ura

Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Ai Adoption And Wage Growth In U.S. Industries: A Sectoral Analysis, Demitrius Andrellos

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming nearly every sector and has significant implications for workers and their wages. This paper examines the impact of the utilization of AI on wage growth across various industries in the United States. Through analysis of trends, examination of current research, and regression analysis using real industry data, the research demonstrates the disparate impacts of AI. Research suggests that AI raises wages in tech- and finance-centric sectors where it complements humans but keeps wages down in labor-intensive sectors where it replaces them. Understanding this disparity is important to build equitable workforce policies for the AI age.

Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Macroeconomic Determinants On Equity Reit Performance, Chris Morello

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates how equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) respond to key macroeconomic factors: stock market performance, interest rate changes, and inflation. Using annual data from 1972 to 2024, multiple linear regressions are conducted to assess which variables significantly explain REIT returns. The results reveal a strong and consistent relationship between equity REIT performance and S&P 500 returns, while interest rates and lagged inflation measures show no statistically significant impact. These findings suggest that REITs behave more like equities than fixed-income assets, particularly in the long term. While the models have limited explanatory power, the analysis supports the idea …

Determinants Of Wealth Inequality In Central America: A Panel Data Analysis Of Socioeconomic And Institutional Factors, Jose Manuel Fernandez Pou

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study applies a non-linear panel threshold regression model to examines the factors of economic development in Central America, with an emphasis on institutional and socioeconomic factors. Using data acquired between 2000 and 2023 the research evaluates how different variables like trade openness, FDI, financial development, education spending, inflation and population growth impacts the growth of GDP at different levels of institutional quality. The results demonstrate that institutional quality levels create a distinct threshold effect when trade openness and FDI fail to promote growth in weak institutional settings while inflation volatility strongly hinders growth. FDI and financial development show positive …

Beyond The Road Trip: Investigating The Impact Of Travel Fatigue On Nba Team Performance, Anthony Pugliese

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the impact of travel fatigue on NBA player performance. In this paper we will look at key variables such as back-to-back games and long-distance travel. By using specific team by team data on factors like game results, travel distance, and rest days. This study examined how specific factors like time zone shifts and travel length influences winning percentage and player efficiency. This paper will also show a regression analysis and visual data to back up results using real life data. The results showed that team performance decreased significantly when teams were at a higher rate of travel …

The Contemporaneous Impact Of Unemployment And Income Inequality On Violent Vs Property Crime Rates In New England: A Panel Data And Machine Learning Approach, Cora Sousa

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the possible impact of unemployment and income inequality on property and or violent crimes in the New England region in the United States from 2003 to 2022. Using a panel data analysis looking at unemployment rates and factors of income inequality in New England states, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, along with demographic factors like race and gender aim to find a relationship between unemployment and income inequality with crime rates. Economic distress, usually caused by unemployment, can cause an individual to commit crimes due to hard times. Using machine learning decision trees …

Implementation Of Performance-Based Budgeting For Public Health Care Service Delivery In An Emerging Economy, Isaac O. Randa, Christine A. Adere

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

This study investigates the determinants and implications of the implementation of performance-based budgeting (PBB) on public health care service delivery at the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) in Windhoek, Namibia. Using a cross-sectional survey research design targeting 100 respondents, this study employed a quantitative research approach involving MoHSS's budgeting and health care services departments. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Communication, bureaucratic structures, and implementers’ disposition significantly influenced PBB implementation alignment, thereby enhancing service delivery. However, resource utilisation showed no significant effect. Additionally, implementation alignment effectively mediated the relationship between latent exogenous variables and …

The Price Of Victory: A Machine Learning Analysis Of How Salary Dispersion Influences Team Success In Major League Baseball, Joseph Belsanti

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the effect of salary dispersion on team success in Major League Baseball (MLB). Using data from 29 MLB teams over eight seasons (2012-2019), this study uses multiple models, such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), panel data regressions, and Random Forest machine learning, to investigate the degree – if any – that inequalities in a team's payroll impacts success, measured by winning percentage. The study's results show that, contrary to prevailing theories, salary dispersion – measured by a Gini coefficient – is not a significant predictor of a team's winning percentage (team success). Instead, team performance metrics, such …

The Impact Of Tariffs And Institutional Quality On Economic Growth In Latin America: A Panel Data Analysis, Blaisedel Frampton

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the relationship between tariffs and economic growth in Latin American countries and how institutional quality may impact this relationship. The study will use data from the World Development Indicators Data Bank. The data used comes from 18 high- or middle-income countries within South America and the Caribbean from the years 2003 to 2023. Results from this study were found using a fixed-effects regression model. The results from this study show that overall, there is a negative correlation between tariffs and economic growth in South America. There is also a positive correlation between institutional quality and economic growth …

Passive Vs. Active Etfs: A Comparative Data Analysis Of Market Performance And Investor Behavior, Herrick Louis

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the long-term performance of passive vs active ETFs. Using a comparative analysis of historical returns from 2015 to 2024, Regression modeling, and time Series Analysis, I assessed whether passive investing offers a strategic advantage overactive management. Drawing on data from VOO Passive, SWANX active, Bitcoin, and MAG 7 technology ETFs, and the Financial Sector.

Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Gendered Happiness: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Oecd Countries, Anusha Khan

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper explores how socioeconomic factors influence life satisfaction across OECD countries and how these effects vary by gender. Using a cross-sectional dataset, the study runs three separate regressions, total, men’s, and women’s happiness to test whether factors like health, education, safety, and support networks impact life satisfaction differently for men and women. A Random Forest model is also used to validate the robustness of selected predictors. Findings show that health and support matter universally, but men’s well-being is more closely tied to educational attainment, while women’s happiness is more sensitive to feelings of safety.

Decarbonization Under Carbon Policy And Pricing Shifts: A Machine Learning-Driven Synthetic Control And Panel Data Analysis, Chanboremey Teng

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This study evaluates the effectiveness of carbon pricing instruments – Carbon taxes and Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) – in reducing CO2 emissions per capita across 152 countries from 1990 to 2023 using dynamic panel regressions with fixed effects. The analysis estimates both short-run and long-run effects while controlling economic structure, energy mix, and environmental policy stringency (EPS). The results show that ETS policies yield the strongest long-term reduction in emissions at approximately 7.35%, followed by carbon taxes at 5.6%, and EPS regulatory measures at 6.35%. However, when all three instruments are modeled together, the marginal effects of pricing mechanisms weaken, …

Effects Of Bureaucratic Corruption On Firms' Financial Constraints, Obinna Franklin Ezeibekwe

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This study provides the first empirical assessment of the causal impact of bureaucratic corruption on firms' financial constraints in Nigeria by calculating treatment effects using linear and non-linear estimators to account for potential heterogeneous treatment effects across firm groups. Formally, the theoretical framework models how corruption may facilitate or restrain firms' financial access by shaping their cost functions, which consequently influences their success or failure and ability to raise the collateral for borrowing. My analysis, using the bivariate probit method and two binary instruments, reveals that corruption significantly increases the probability of a representative MSME and firm being financially constrained …

Exploring Dynamic Extreme Dependence Of Oil And Agricultural Markets, Khalid M. Kisswani, Amine Lahiani, Mahelet G. Fikru

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines the dynamic extreme dependence between oil markets and a set of non-exploited agricultural assets (Barley, coffee, maize, rice, sorghum, sugar, wheat) prices using 1990–2023 monthly prices data. Our time-varying copula models allow us to investigate nonlinear and asymmetric dependence between pairwise assets. We find evidence of positive exceedance correlation at small and medium quantiles/thresholds and negative exceedance correlation for quantiles higher than 0.6 for five out of seven food assets. Findings also indicate a tent-shaped quantile dependence for all food assets and demonstrate a time variation in the association path between oil and food asset returns. Important …

Fhsu Students’ Economic Perceptions & Expectations, Quentin Boxberger, Kassadee Dickey, Samuel Schreyer

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Economic perceptions and expectations (P&E) held by college students influence many essential choices they make throughout college. Based on a survey administered in March 2025, our FHSU Student Confidence Index increased by nearly 2% from the previous year. Overall, most respondents remain optimistic about the competitiveness of their degree and ability to secure a job after graduation, more so than evident within 2024.

How Industrial Clusters Affect Technological Innovation: Evidence From Vanyang Small & Micro Industrial Park, Jianming Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study focuses on the mechanism through which industrial clusters enhance technological innovation among micro and small enterprises. Using the VanYang Micro-Enterprise Park in Zhejiang Province as a representative case, the research integrates perspectives from industrial cluster theory, innovation theory, and spatial economics to explore how clustered environments influence enterprise innovation performance through resource integration, knowledge spillovers, and organizational collaboration. Departing from traditional static comparative methods, this study adopts an event study approach to dynamically capture the impact trajectory and temporal structure of enterprise innovation performance, with "entry into the park" serving as the key event.

Based on panel data …

Demography, Human Capital, And Structural Change, Arjun Anand

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

This paper examines the role of demography and human capital transmission in shaping structural change during American industrialization (1860–1920). Using linked Census data, I document three stylized facts: (i) young individuals drive the transition to manufacturing; (ii) young migrants prioritize future earnings potential over current wages, whereas older workers prioritize current wages; and (iii) intergenerational income persistence is conditional on remaining in the parental sector. To reflect these findings, I incorporate overlapping generations with age-based preferences and intergenerational human capital transmission into a dynamic general equilibrium economic geography model. After calibrating the model, I conduct counterfactual experiments to quantitatively assess …

Assessing Awareness And Trade Facilitation Under The Afcfta: A Focus On Small-Scale Cross-Border Traders In The Southern African Development Community, Faith Mbakhwa

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Trade present significant opportunities for trade facilitation reforms, particularly for small-scale crossborder traders (SSCBTs). However, the success of these initiatives hinges on the awareness and participation of these key stakeholders. This study investigates the awareness levels of SSCBTs regarding the AfCFTA, and analyses their understanding of trade facilitation reforms and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of these reforms. Drawing on border reviews across 12 SADC commercial border posts and on interviews with traders and customs officials, the study identities significant gaps in …

Preparing Youth For Careers In Drone Aviation: Evaluating Washington County 4-H Drone Camps, Paul A. Hill, Aubree L. Miller, Katarina J. Aikens

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Drone technology presents growing career opportunities, yet youth access to education in this field remains limited. This study evaluates the Washington County 4-H Drone Camps, which aimed to equip youth in 4^th – 8^th graders with essential knowledge and skills in drone aviation. The Drone Camps focused on competencies such as drone anatomy, FAA regulations, and piloting skills. Evaluation results indicated youth improved in all competency areas after completing the camp. The Washington County 4-H Drone Camps effectively allowed youth to explore drone technologies and prepare them for a possible career pathway.

Strengthening Local Health Systems And Governance For Universal Health Coverage: Experiences And Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic Response In Quezon City, Philippines, Esperanza Anita Escano-Arias, Ramona Asuncion D.G. Abarquez, Rolando V. Cruz, Rosalie Espeleta, Madeline Mae Ong, Arianna Maever L. Amit, Veincent Christian Pepito, Vida Gomez, Manuel M. Dayrit

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Philippines's transition toward universal health coverage. However, some local government units in the country made use of the pandemic as a catalyst to strengthen their local health system, scale-up the provision of preventive and primary care services, and improve health governance to make it more prepared to face future pandemics and realize the aims of the country's new Universal Healthcare Act. This paper describes the response of the local government of Quezon City, Philippines, to COVID-19 and how it strengthened local health systems. We also discuss enablers such as partnerships, collaborations, and foresight to …

Crisis, Pressure, And Policy: Can Central Banks Set Boundaries?, Baba N. Yaaba Phd

Bullion

Evolving from simple entities designed to issue national currencies and manage government debt to sophisticated institutions responsible for conducting monetary policy, central banks have had a fascinating journey that has shaped the functioning of modern economies. Today, they are involved in issues outside their original roles and beyond the scope of monetary policy, which may affect credibility in the long run. This study submits that central bankers should learn to professionally resist attempts to get them to take on tasks that are outside their statutory functions. Admittedly, saying no may not be as easy as it sounds, but there is …

Competition And Financial Performance Of Insurance Companies In Nigerian, Toluwa C. Oladele Phd

Bullion

Competition among Nigerian insurance companies has intensified following the consolidation exercise, which aims to strengthen the industry and enhance its performance. Nonetheless, the capacity of insurance companies in Nigeria to compete effectively remains challenging. Hence, this study analysed the impact of competition on the financial performance of insurance companies in Nigeria. Secondary data were obtained from companies' financial reports and analysed using OLS regression. The findings indicated that competition significantly influences the performance of insurance companies. Consequently, the study recommended that regulatory authorities and insurance companies implement measures to foster healthy competition.