Economics Commons^™

Strategic Parent Meets Detached Child? Parental Intended Bequest Division And Support From Children, Christine Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Whereas the literature has found that elderly parents may use bequests to reward children who provide them with time support, there is limited evidence on whether younger less needy parents may base their intended bequest division on alternative forms of support from children. Using a large-scale dataset of middle-aged and older Singaporeans, I find that parents intend to leave larger bequest shares to coresident children and to children who provide greater material support. Parents also intend to bequeath more to children in whom they confide frequently while they bequeath more to children in whom they rarely confide when the latter …

The Intergenerational Mortality Tradeoff Of Covid-19 Lockdown Policies, Lin Ma, Gil Shapira, Damien De Walque, Quy-Toan Do, Jed Friedman, Andrei A. Levchenko

Research Collection School Of Economics

In lower-income countries, the economic contractions that accompany lockdowns to contain COVID-19 transmission can increase child mortality, counteracting the mortality reductions achieved by the lockdown. To formalize and quantify this effect, we build a macro-susceptible-infected-recovered model that features heterogeneous agents and a country-group-specific relationship between economic downturns and child mortality and calibrate it to data for 85 countries across all income levels. We find that in some low-income countries, a lockdown can produce net increases in mortality. The optimal lockdown that maximizes the present value of aggregate social welfare is shorter and milder in poorer countries than in rich ones.

Labor Market Implications Of Taiwan’S Accession To The Wto: A Dynamic Quantitative Analysis, Pao-Li Chang, Yi-Fan Chen, Wen-Tai Hsu, Xin Yi

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the effects of Taiwan’s accession to the WTO in 2002 on the labor market dynamics in Taiwan during 1995–2020. Based on the dynamic hat algebra of Caliendo, Dvorkin and Parro (2019), we modify the framework to allow for differently skilled labor inputs (low, middle, high) and sector-skill dynamic choice by workers. We map the model to the labor-market transition data in Taiwan (based on quasi-longitudinal household surveys), the country-sector-specific skill shares in production, and the bi-lateral trade flows and import tariffs, for 61 economies and 22 sectors for the period 1995–2007. We study the counterfactual dynamics if the …

Crime Reduction And Reformation In South Carolina: An Analysis Of Sb 1154, Matthew Torres

All Theses

This thesis evaluates the policy response to the criminal justice crisis of South Carolina, Senate Bill (SB) 1154, dubbed the Omnibus Crime Reduction and Sentencing Reform Act of 2010. SB 1154 adopted a series of “common sense” reforms, including new charges constituting as violent crimes, redefined sentences in the form of reduced penalties and harsher penalties for nonviolent and violent crimes respectively, mandated supervision of individuals on probation or parole, and credit programs for early release of inmates among other provisions intended to reduce inmate population, recidivism and violent crime rates.

I examine three key factors: inmate, imprisonment and violent …

Moderate, Overlooked Weather Events And Local Labor Markets, Michael Ellis

All Theses

A substantial amount of research exists on the economic effects of natural disasters and extreme weather, as well as comparatively minor variations in daily weather conditions such as precipitation, temperature, and wind. I construct a sample of over a million storms that range from intense daily weather conditions to extreme weather. I analyze written descriptions of the damages caused by many of these storms to identify 93,743 weather events within the sample that appear to be underemphasized in the existing economic literature. These storms cause more damage and disruptions to commerce than 63.5% of storms in the sample, yet do …

Can The Olympics Spur Local Socioeconomic Development? Evidence From Brazil, Alex Matandos

All Theses

Countries pledge ever increasing budgets and commitments to host the Olympics. The region whose bid emerges victorious puts in motion the reallocation of inputs, labor, and capital to build all the promised infrastructure to run the event, while the remaining areas in country remain largely unaffected by the intervention. This quasi-experiment scenario is proper for the usage of the Synthetic Control Method but few papers have exploited it. This paper fills the gap by being the first to offer an analysis at local level for a developing economy on the impact of the Olympics. Using Rio de Janeiro's winning bid …

The 2021 Nba Rule Change: Analyzing Strategic Adjustments And Changes In Worker Productivity, Jeremy Long

All Theses

The NBA introduced a rule change for the 2021/22 season to stop shooters from drawing fouls from “non-basketball moves.” This paper seeks to determine how the 2021 Rule Change has impacted productivity in the NBA and investigate whether it has caused teams to make strategic adjustments. My analysis reveals evidence that the rule change has limited offensive players’ abilities to draw fouls on 3- point shots. While the rule change has rendered non-basketball moves ineffective, there is no evidence of strategic adjustments beyond this arena. I find only limited evidence that the rule change has impacted worker productivity. The findings …

The Effect Of The Affordable Care Act On Opioid Overdose Mortality, Caleb Jordan

All Theses

The opioid epidemic is an ongoing health crisis in the United States, claiming the lives of thousands over the past two decades. In 2014, provisions of the Affordable Care Act expanding Medicaid officially came in effect, extending healthcare to millions of people in the United States. However, Medicaid expansion was optional for states, so some states greatly expanded healthcare to low-income people while others did not. People in expansion states gained more affordable access to prescription drugs and treatment centers, making opioids easier to obtain and addictions more affordable to treat. This makes the effect of the Affordable Care Act …

A Quality Systems Economic-Risk Design Theoretical Framework, Abdallah S. Thefeid

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Quality systems, including control charts theory and sampling plans, have become essential tools to develop business processes. Since 1928, research has been conducted in developing the economic-risk designs for specific types of control charts or sampling plans. However, there has been no theoretical or applied research attempts to combine these related theories into a synthesized theoretical framework of quality systems economic-risk design. This research proposes to develop a theoretical framework of quality systems economic-risk design from qualitative research synthesis of the economic-risk design of sampling plan models and control charts models. This theoretical framework will be useful in guiding future …

The Health And Socioeconomic Burdens Of Air Pollution And Public Preference For Air Quality Improvement, Niraj Khatiwada

Economics ETDs

This dissertation consists of five chapters on air pollution. Chapter 1 discusses the issue of air pollution in two regions in South Asia: the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) Region and the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Chapter 2 builds on the canonical health production function model to investigate the heterogeneity in air pollution exposure and health outcome using data from Siddharthanagar municipality of Nepal. I use a novel approach of directly measuring individual lung functions to assess respiratory health conditions. The findings reveal lower lung functions among outdoor workers and individuals from households residing near prominent local pollution sources. The use of exposure …

The Trade War Of China And The Us In 2021, And It’S Impact On The Indonesian Economy, Marthen Napang, Syaiful Rohman

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

This study will explore the trade war between China and the United States (US). The US government initially paid close attention to the principle of free and open economics; this was because the US believed that free trade was not only to develop the US domestic economy but also as a tool to generate mutual benefits between cooperating countries. This is in contrast to the US in President Donald Trump 2017-2021, which implemented a policy of protectionism against Chinese trade. Trump did this as a strategy to overcome the negative impact of free trade, which in the end, the US …

When Do Security Markets Aggregate Dispersed Information?, Brice Corgnet, Cary Deck, Mark Desantis, Kyle Hampton, Erik O. Kimbrough

ESI Publications

We attempt to replicate a seminal paper that offered support for the rational expectations hypothesis and reported evidence that markets with certain features aggregate dispersed information. The original results are based on only a few observations, and our attempt to replicate the key findings with an appropriately powered experiment largely fails. The resulting poststudy probability that market performance is better described by rational expectations than the prior information (Walrasian) model under the conditions specified in the original paper is very low. As a result of our failure to replicate, we investigate an alternate set of market features that combines aspects …

The Sri Lanka Paradox : Part – Ii, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Sri Lanka recorded a rapid increase in public debt-to-GDP ratio to 119 per cent from 42 per cent over a few years. Access to the international capital market was lost, export earnings plummeted, and import payments swelled up due to global price increases, prompting depletion of foreign exchange reserves to critically dangerous levels. Export earnings from tourism – which were $4.4 billion in 2018 or 5.6 per cent of GDP – dipped to 0.8 per cent of GDP. Remittances started drying up too, shrinking from $612 million in April 2021 to $205 million by February 2022. Petroleum prices tripled from …

Social Norms And Dishonesty Across Societies, Diego Aycinena, Lucas Rentschler, Benjamin Beranek, Jonathan F. Schulz

ESI Publications

Social norms have long been recognized as an important factor in curtailing antisocial behavior, and stricter prosocial norms are commonly associated with increased prosocial behavior. In this study, we provide evidence that very strict prosocial norms can have a perverse negative relationship with prosocial behavior. In laboratory experiments conducted in 10 countries across 5 continents, we measured the level of honest behavior and elicited injunctive norms of honesty. We find that individuals who hold very strict norms (i.e., those who perceive a small lie to be as socially unacceptable as a large lie) are more likely to lie to the …

The True Cost Of Auto Insurance In The Mountain West, 2022, Annie Vong, Saha Salahi, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Transportation & Infrastructure

This fact sheet examines data on average annual premiums, percent of income spent on auto insurance, and life events associated with the rising cost of auto insurance in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah). The original report includes data on national averages for auto insurance premiums for all fifty states.

Why Has The Median Real Income Of Lawyers Been Declining?, James V. Koch, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez

Economics Faculty Publications

The median real incomes of lawyers have been declining. In 2001, the median real income of lawyers in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia was $129,389 (July 2020 prices). Almost two decades later, in 2020, this number had fallen to $126,930, 1.90% less than in 2001. By contrast, the median real income of workers in all occupations together rose 3.93% between 2001 and 2020, while the median real income of the average family practice physician rose 20.15% and the median real income of a typical economist rose 10.9%. We examine both supply and demand influences to explain the …

Shortage Of Affordable Rental Homes In The Mountain West, Joshua Padilla, Kelliann Beavers, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This fact sheet examines data from the 2022 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes” for the Mountain West region. The original report includes data from 2016- 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to help “determine the availability of rental homes affordable to extremely low-income households.”

Student Loan Debt In Mountain West States, Zachary Walusek, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet summarizes findings on student loan debt across Mountain West states from “Student Loan Debt by State,” a report by the Education Data Initiative.

Minimum Wage As A Tool For Combatting Renter Burdens, Jack Hanson

Student Research – Stevenson Center

There is a severe shortage of affordable housing in the United States. In 2011, the number of low-cost rental units (units renting for $800 or less per month) stood around 23.5 million, but by 2017, this number dropped to 19.5 million, roughly a 17% decrease (Joint Center for Housing Studies, 2020). The result is that in 2020, only 37 affordable units exist for every 100 of the nation’s 10.8 million extremely low-income renters (those earning 30% or less of the area median income) (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2021). One contributing factor is that higher-income households are beginning to rent …

Firms And Unemployment Insurance Take-Up, Marta Lachowska, Isaac Sorkin, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We use administrative data to quantify the firm role in unemployment insurance (UI) take-up. First, there are firm effects in both claiming and appeals, and, consistent with deterrence effects, these are negatively correlated. Second, low-wage workers are less likely to claim and more likely to have their claims appealed than median-wage workers, and firm effects explain a large share of these income gradients. Third, high-claiming and low-appealing firms are desirable firms: they are higher-paying and have lower separation rates. Finally, the dominant source of targeting error in the UI system is that eligible workers do not apply. Our findings emphasize …

Masthead 2022, Dujpew Editorial Board

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor 2022, Dujpew Editorial Board

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

No abstract provided.

Volume I | Issue Iv | 2022, Dujpew Editorial Board

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

No abstract provided.

Triple (Identity) Threat: Multi-Layered National Identity Appeals In Republican Political Narratives During The 2016 And 2020 Presidential Elections, Brita Mackey

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

National identity, as a broadly constituted social identity category, has been shown to hold power both as a source of political mobilization and as an enforcer of democratic stability. In recent years, Republican voters have reported stronger national attachments than Democrats, perhaps due to national identity’s longstanding implicit associations with white racial identity – and the rising prominence of multiculturalist and globalist ideologies in recent decades. In light of such findings, I propose that the rhetoric of Republican political elites may function to further exacerbate a stronger sense of national identity among their base by appealing to conjoined national and …

Econometric Analysis Of The Relationship Between Domestic Economic Growth And Levels Of Inflow Of Remittances In Developing Countries, Mihail Naskovski

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

The international global migration has produced an exponential growth of remittances, which can be defined as the transfer of funds from one country to another. This study will inspect the macroeconomic impact of remittance inflow on economic growth using panel regression, covering the period from 1981 to 2020 and focusing on a sample of 152 countries, then filtered by 4 geographical regions for additional analysis. Like many studies before, a consensus about an overall effect of the flows on global level could not be reached from his study following the analysis of the general sample. However, on a more specific …

Identifying Potential Pork-Barrel Legislation Using Machine Learning: A Preliminary Analysis, Sunil Green

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

Pork-barrel legislation has been criticized by some as an excessive and potentially corrupt use of Congressional appropriations. The task of finding the specific parts of legislation that have been “pork-barreled”, however, requires many hours of labor by policy researchers. Using data from government watchdogs and machine learning algorithms, the research explores the idea of creating a model to flag specific line items of appropriations bills for policy researchers to further explore as potential pork-barrel legislation. The model constructed uses data from the Earmark Database by Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Congressional Pig Book by Citizens Against Government Waste to …

Conservatism, Collaboration, And Capacity: Political Explanations For Canada’S Shift In Immigrant Admissions Logic, Jaidyn Appel

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

Canada is often regarded as the United States’ friendlier neighbor to the north, but how welcoming is it really? A critical analysis of immigration and citizenship policy throughout Canadian history reveals that Canada may not be the inclusive member of the world community it is often conceptualized as. This paper examines some of the recent key changes in Canadian immigration policy and their broader contexts, while benchmarking the policies against two leading scholars' thoughts on how the relative presence of certain political ideologies in a country drives its immigration policies to the left or right of the political spectrum. As …

Studying The Economic Impact Of The Demonetization Across Indian Districts, Arnav Joshi

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

This thesis studies the economic impact of the Indian demonetization which was a unique monetary event that made 86.9 percent of the total currency in circulation illegal tender overnight. The decision to demonetize high-value currency notes was taken by the Indian government on November 8th, 2016, leading to a severe shortage of cash. This thesis tries to analyze how the impact of the demonetization differed across districts in India and how the characteristics of those districts pertaining to education, electricity and tap water access, employment, and technology access can help explain these differences. The thesis uses satellite data on human-generated …

Bias In The Jury Box: The Sociological Determinants Of Jury Selection For Capital Cases In North Carolina, Alessandra Quattrocchi

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

An evaluation of four Wake County capital cases from 2014-2018 reveals the disparate effects that the jury selection process had on Black and female potential jurors and especially on Black female potential jurors. The requirement that capital jurors be willing and able to sentence death systematically excluded Blacks and females, with Black females excused for this reason at a rate over three times higher than White males. Black potential jurors not struck for death qualification were disproportionately excluded by prosecutorial peremptory strikes at a rate nearly two times greater than Whites. Final analyses conclude that Black females had significantly lower …

Early Childhood Intervention And Income Inequality: An Analysis On The Intergenerational Mobility Of Head Start Participants, Paul Hinton

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

The Head Start program is an early childhood intervention program funded by the federal government. Designed for low-income families, it promotes school readiness among its participants. In my research, I examine the effects of Head Start on the intergenerational mobility of its participants. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the NLSY Child and Young Adult Supplement (CNLSY), I measure the degree of earnings persistence between parents and their children for students in preschool and Head Start. I find that participation in Head Start is associated with an increase in mobility, which remains true after controlling …