Economics Commons^™

Sartaj Aziz: Public Service Embodied, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

He was passionate about agriculture development, mitigation of rural-urban income inequality, absorption of new entrants to job market Very few Pakistanis have made a name for their significant contributions on national and international fronts and are admired for their personal attributes. Sartaj Aziz was one of them – an active student leader during the freedom movement, a civil servant par excellence, an international mover and shaker, a politician of integrity and stature, and an academic of high calibre.

Do Mineral Imports Increase In Response To Decarbonization Indicators Other Than Renewable Energy?, Mahelet G. Fikru, Nurcan Kilinc-Ata

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

While previous studies examine the impact of renewable energy generation capacity on mineral imports where minerals are broadly defined, this study examines the role of three decarbonization indicators (energy efficiency, energy's carbon footprint, and renewable generation) in driving import demand for four specific minerals used in multiple decarbonization technologies: copper, aluminum, nickel, and manganese. Our results, based on the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag modeling approach applied to panel data from 33 countries, suggest that imports for some minerals increase in response to (1) investments in energy efficiency (aluminum and manganese), (2) reducing energy's carbon footprint (copper), and (3) investments in …

Do Mineral Imports Increase In Response To Decarbonization Indicators Other Than Renewable Energy?, Mahelet G. Fikru, Nurcan Kilinc-Ata

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

While previous studies examine the impact of renewable energy generation capacity on mineral imports where minerals are broadly defined, this study examines the role of three decarbonization indicators (energy efficiency, energy's carbon footprint, and renewable generation) in driving import demand for four specific minerals used in multiple decarbonization technologies: copper, aluminum, nickel, and manganese. Our results, based on the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag modeling approach applied to panel data from 33 countries, suggest that imports for some minerals increase in response to (1) investments in energy efficiency (aluminum and manganese), (2) reducing energy's carbon footprint (copper), and (3) investments in …

Still Waiting For The Shoe To Drop? An Empirical Analysis Of Private College And University Financial Stress, Mary Ellen Benedict, David Mcclough, John Hoag

Pennsylvania Economic Review

This study uses the 2010, 2017, and 2018 data of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to estimate which institutional factors increase the probability that a private, nonprofit, higher education institution will face financial stress. The study first estimates enrollment and net tuition with a reduced form market model. Those estimates, endowment dollars, and college rankings are used to identify institutions that are financially stressed. Our assessment indicates that approximately 11.5 percent of the sample institutions are stressed, suggesting that the earlier predictions of a 25-50 percent reduction are overestimated, at least for private-nonprofit institutions. The study next employs a …

Internal And External Determinants Of Short-Run Inflation In Pennsylvania, Corey Williams

Pennsylvania Economic Review

Using new quarterly data on consumer price inflation for the state of Pennsylvania, we study the persistence and sensitivity of consumer price inflation to both internal and external determinants of potential pass-through. Leveraging an autoregressive distributed lag modeling framework that approximates an augmented state-specific Phillips Curve, we find that the dynamics of house price inflation, and the unemployment gap are the two strongest sources of internal inflation pass-through while producer price inflation, and money supply growth are the two strongest sources of external inflation pass-through. Relative to neighboring states, we find the persistence of inflation to be the strongest in …

The Fallacy Of Composition, Its Wide-Ranging Applications In Economics/Business And Why Systems Science Is Appropriate For Economic And Business Research, Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, Joachim Wagner, Jennifer Nightingale, Huan Guo, Jennifer Roy

Pennsylvania Economic Review

This paper explores how widely the erroneous logic of reasoning of the fallacy of composition has been employed in many areas of knowledge, especially in economic and business studies. It then shows why systems science and methodology are truly appropriate for investigating organizations, evolutions and interactions of business entities by focusing on emergent macro-level properties that are not explainable by the characteristics of micro-level individuals. To demonstrate the potentially magnificent consequence of this proposal, a theorem of general systems is displayed to confirm how unintended and uncoordinated micro-level individual desires can naturally lead to macro-level phenomena, such as racial segregation …

Female Labor Force Rates In South Asia, Shagufta Haque, Caleb Johnson

Pennsylvania Economic Review

Female labor force participation rates are an important element of emerging markets. Yet, there have been relatively few analyses of female labor force participation among countries in Asia. This study investigates the demographic, economic, and global factors that determine the female labor force participation rates (FLFPR) in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan with a panel data sample of annual data ranging from 2000-2019. Based on the results of a Hausman (1978) test, a two-way fixed effects model is estimated to account for unobserved country-specific and time-specific heterogeneity. Explanatory variables include remittances, internet access, fertility rates, inflation rates, school enrollment rates, foreign …

Budget Capping Health Care: Its Impact On Health, Susan Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of a budget cap on healthcare is to constrain total healthcare expenditure without compromising quality. This paper examines the impacts of budget capping on health and behavioral health outcomes, exploiting the completed Maryland All-Payer Model and the ongoing, extensional Maryland Total Cost of Care model, both of which capped healthcare budgets in Maryland. I use data from 2011-2021 surveys of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system and generalized difference-in-difference regression models to find that budget capping improves health and behavioral health outcomes with a greater favorable effect during the Maryland Total Cost of Care model.

Beyond Patient Care: Economic Impact Of Pennsylvania Hospitals, Ayse Yilmaz, Obaid Zaman Obaid Zaman, Sushma Sharma

Pennsylvania Economic Review

The Hospital Association of Pennsylvania’s (HAP) analysis of FY 2021 data reveals that Pennsylvania hospitals—both directly and through the ripple effects of their economic activity—benefitted their communities and the commonwealth by: Contributing $168 billion to the state and local economies; Supporting 590,000 jobs throughout the entire Commonwealth; and Generating $38 billion in wages, salaries, and benefits. In addition, the state’s hospitals attracted highly competitive federal research dollars to the Keystone State, played a crucial role in training tomorrow’s healers, and provided extensive charity and unreimbursed care to their communities.

Ode Models Of Wealth Concentration And Taxation, Bruce Boghosian, Christoph Borgers

CODEE Journal

We refer to an individual holding a non-negligible fraction of the country’s total wealth as an oligarch. We explain how a model due to Boghosian et al. can be used to explore the effects of taxation on the emergence of oligarchs. The model suggests that oligarchs will emerge when wealth taxation is below a certain threshold, not when it is above the threshold. The underlying mechanism is a transcritical bifurcation. The model also suggests that taxation of income and capital gains alone cannot prevent the emergence of oligarchs. We suggest several opportunities for students to explore modifications of the model.

Personal Lies, Gary Charness, Ismael Rodriguez-Lara

ESI Working Papers

Using the mind game, we provide experimental evidence that people are more likely to lie when they disclose non-personal information (e.g., reporting a number they thought of) compared with personal information (e.g., reporting the last digit of their birth year). Our findings suggest that the type of information is an important factor for lying behavior.

Materials For Embezzlement: How Municipal Corruption Exploited Social And Economic Conditions In Detroit, Mi, Jimmy Showers

Rushton Journal of Undergraduate Humanities Research

This paper examines how social and economic conditions in Detroit, MI, during the second half of the twentieth century were exploited in a specific instance of municipal corruption involving the city’s Chief of Police, William L. Hart. Drawing on primary source documents, this paper argues that Chief Hart corruptly exploited the city’s social and economic conditions and evaded legal intervention over a prolonged period thereby increasing the magnitude of the corruption and exacerbating negative effects on the city’s most vulnerable residents. Media coverage surrounding Hart’s conviction depicts ramifications difficult to measure highlighting a critical need for research into municipal corruption.

How Can Smes Effectively Leverage Blockchain? A Roadmap And Five-Step Approach, Naeem Bajwa, Thomas Tudor, Joe T. Felan, Otmar E. Varela Dr.

Pennsylvania Economic Review

This paper presents blockchain technology and its applications, demonstrating how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can easily engage in blockchain initiatives. We start with an introduction to blockchain technology and its business applications. For many small enterprises, engaging in blockchain transactions remains relatively novel. Nevertheless, emerging trends indicate that large enterprises are incorporating smaller business partners, broadening the application scope across the supply chain. We demonstrate how this technology is revolutionizing both supply chain and contract management. We examine how Smart Contracts can streamline complexity and enhance business transaction transparency, facilitating more efficient and effective operations. SMEs can secure strategic …

Experimental Research On Contests, Subhashish M. Chowdhury, Dan Kovenock, Anwesha Mukherjee

ESI Working Papers

Contests are situations in which agents compete by irreversibly expending costly resources in an attempt to win a prize. Due to their applications in conflict, rent-seeking, organizational incentives, sports, litigation, and political campaigns, contests are widely applied in the social sciences. In this survey we summarize some main results and recent developments of experimental studies in contest theory. We also point out their broader applications in the social sciences.

Infant Growth And Body Composition From Birth To 24 Months: Are Infants Developing The Same?, Shane A. Norris, Lukhanyo H. Nyati, Alexia Murphy Alford, Nishani Lucas, Ina S. Santos, Caroline S. Costa, Rebecca Kuriyan, V Pujitha Wickranasinghe, Shabina Ariff, Andrew P. Hills

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Given the importance of infancy for establishing growth trajectories, with later-life health consequences, we investigated longitudinal body composition among infants from six economically and ethnically diverse countries.
Methods: We recruited mother-infant dyads using the WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study criteria. We measured fat-free mass (FFM) in 1393 (49% female) infants from birth to 6 months of age (Australia, India, and South Africa; n = 468), 3-24 months of age (Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka; n = 925), and derived fat mass (FM), fat mass index (FMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI). Height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-length …

Bitcoin Bubbles And A Monetary Measure Of Fundamental Value, Paul Hallwood

Pennsylvania Economic Review

Several papers estimate the time series properties of bitcoin prices. However, to know that bubbles occur, an estimate of fundamental value is needed. Few estimates of bitcoin’s fundamental price exist, and these are either statistical in nature or based on questionable economic theory. This paper calculates the non-bubble dollar price of bitcoin using a modification to the quantity theory of money, and it is estimated to be about $54.00. At the November 2021 peak market price of bitcoin, the bubble component was more than 99%. Even at end-August 2023 after bitcoin prices had more than halved, the bubble component was …

Country Culture And Bitcoin Early Adoption, Wei Du, Z. Tingting Jia, Lei Zhu

Pennsylvania Economic Review

This paper investigates the relationship between national culture and the early adoption of Bitcoin. Utilizing a dataset comprised of Google Trends data on Bitcoin search interest for 64 countries, we construct measures of early Bitcoin adoption and examine their correlation with Hofstede's cultural dimension scores. Our findings reveal that in developed countries, lower Masculinity and Long-Term Orientation are associated with earlier Bitcoin adoption. In contrast, developing countries with lower Indulgence are found to adopt Bitcoin early. This paper contributes to the literature by highlighting how different cultural traits, moderated by a country's development status, can influence the Bitcoin early adoption.

Grads On The Go: Measuring College-Specific Labor Markets For Graduates, Johnathan G. Conzelmann, Steven W. Hemelt, Brad J. Hershbein, Shawn Martin, Andrew Simon, Kevin M. Stange

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper introduces a new measure of the labor markets served by colleges and universities across the United States. About 50 percent of recent college graduates are living and working in the metro area nearest the institution they attended, with this figure climbing to 67 percent in-state. The geographic dispersion of alumni is more than twice as great for highly selective 4-year institutions as for 2-year institutions. However, more than one-quarter of 2-year institutions disperse alumni more diversely than the average public 4-year institution. In one application of these data, we find that the average strength of the labor market …

New Data Show How Far Graduates Move From Their College, And Why It Matters, Johnathan G. Conzelmann, Steven W. Hemelt, Brad J. Hershbein, Shawn Martin, Andrew Simon, Kevin M. Stange

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Labour Force Participation And Type Of Work Older Persons In Vietnam Before And During Covid-19, Trieu Thi Phuong, Pataporn Sukontamarn

Journal of Demography

Vietnam is ageing rapidly and is predicted to enter an aged society within the next fifteen years, posing a major challenge for a lower middle-income nation with an incomplete social security system. Supporting older persons to continue working can be a reasonable strategy to ensure their life quality and reduce the burden on the national social security system. Our study aims to investigate the determinants of older persons’ participation in the labour force and their type of work. Based on the 2018 and 2020 Vietnam Housing and Living Standard surveys, health problems, pension status, and level of education significantly explain …

Taiwan’S Semiconductor Strategy: A Developmental State Model For Economic Growth, Christine Vuu

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 3, 2024, Pittsburg State University, Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

An Analysis Of New York State Education Funding As It Relates To Minority Student Achievement, Linda Elizabeth Macias

Theses and Dissertations

he purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to explore the relationship between New York State education funding for public school districts, the academic achievement of Black and Latinx students, and educational opportunity gaps that may result from a lack of access to Advanced Placement courses. These relationships were assessed with multiple linear regressions using the variables of student enrollment rates by race, English and math proficiency scores, the number of Advanced Placement, and levels of state education funding per district. The data were obtained from New York State Education Department financial reporting. The problem addressed by this study was …

Agriculture And Natural Resources Microcredentials To Support Workforce Development In Southwestern West Virginia, Hannah Blake

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The areas surrounding Marshall University (MU) in Huntington, West Virginia (WV) are underemployed and economically distressed. MU has an opportunity to support workforce development in the region, aligning with leading geographical regions in agriculture and natural resources (ANR) by offering microcredentials designed to meet the relevant needs of the current workforce. The long-term goal of this study is to inform higher education decisions that can improve ANR career workforce development, increase future growth and opportunities in ANR, and ultimately improve the quality of life in southwestern WV. To address the needs of the current workforce, a Qualtrics needs assessment consisting …

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report, Quarter 2, 2024, Pittsburg State University, Gladys A. Kelce College Of Business

Pittsburg Micropolitan Reports

The Pittsburg Micropolitan Area Economic Report is created by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Pittsburg State University.

The Sudden Escalation In Average Fastball Velocity: A Biomechanical And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Jacob Meiners

Capstone Projects

Average fastball velocity throughout Major League Baseball has increased dramatically over the previous 15 years. This research examines the factors leading to this increase and provides a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether throwing consistently at high velocities is worth the injury risks, compared to financial benefits, from the player perspective. Additionally, this analysis examines if paying hard-throwing pitchers is worth the monetary risk from a team executive’s perspective, due to increases in leaguewide throwing injury rates. The production of advanced motion capture technology to obtain real-time biomechanical data has given way to the optimization of pitchers’ biomechanics, with the goals …

Local Institutional Investors And Corporate Monitoring: Evidence From Cross-Listed Korean Stocks In The Us Market, Changhwan Choi, Chune Young Chung, Jun Myung Song

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

Using Korean firms that are cross-listed in the US market, this paper investigates whether there are standalone effects of geographic and market proximity of institutional investors on monitoring performance. We find that Korean institutional ownership is negatively associated with earnings management while the US institutional ownership has no impact on earnings management. This suggests that there is the geographic proximity advantage over the market proximity advantage in the emerging markets. Furthermore, we also show that the impact of geographic proximity is stronger for firms with high informational opacity

Reevaluating Positive Freedom Through The Philosophy Of Amartya Sen With A Focus On Education As A Catalyst For Freedom, Emilie Mathilde Vesten Haakansson

Theses and Dissertations

Education has since ancient times been used as a societal tool to develop and cultivate society’s individuals into participating members. Education which is considered a fundamental human right also holds potential transformative power to enable and empower individuals to exercise their freedom to create a life that aligns with their own values, ideas and goals. However, how effective an educational system can be, ultimately depends on the accessibility and quality of the education as well as the overall system the educational institutions operate in. This thesis explores how education can function as a catalyst for furthering individuals’ freedom through a …

Poverty And Inequality: A New Deal For America’S Most Disadvantaged Communities, Thomas St. Hilaire

Theses and Dissertations

The United States, often hailed as the most affluent nation globally, paradoxically grapples with rates of poverty, disadvantage, and inequality that surpass those of its advanced democratic counterparts. The persistence of poverty and inequality in the United States have often been justified by beliefs of welfare dependency, “free market” thinking and utilitarianism. This master's thesis explores the far-reaching moral, political, and economic consequences of America’s high rates of poverty and inequality. It contends that federal action is urgently needed on more robust social programs that target poverty, such as affordable housing, accessible healthcare, greater worker protections, and deepened social capital …

Economic Review Of Point-Of-Care Eeg., Adam Green, M Elizabeth Wegman, John P Ney

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Departmental Research

Aims: Point-of-care electroencephalogram (POC-EEG) is an acute care bedside screening tool for the identification of nonconvulsive seizures (NCS) and nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). The objective of this narrative review is to describe the economic themes related to POC-EEG in the United States (US).

Materials and methods: We examined peer-reviewed, published manuscripts on the economic findings of POC-EEG for bedside use in US hospitals, which included those found through targeted searches on PubMed and Google Scholar. Conference abstracts, gray literature offerings, frank advertisements, white papers, and studies conducted outside the US were excluded.

Results: Twelve manuscripts were identified and reviewed; results …