Economics Commons^™

Hybrid U-Net: Semantic Segmentation Of High-Resolution Satellite Images To Detect War Destruction, Shima Nabiee, Matthew Harding, Jonathan Hersh, Nader Bagherzadeh

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Destruction caused by violent conflicts play a big role in understanding the dynamics and consequences of conflicts, which is now the focus of a large body of ongoing literature in economics and political science. However, existing data on conflict largely come from news or eyewitness reports, which makes it incomplete, potentially unreliable, and biased for ongoing conflicts. Using satellite images and deep learning techniques, we can automatically extract objective information on violent events. To automate this process, we created a dataset of high-resolution satellite images of Syria and manually annotated the destroyed areas pixel-wise. Then, we used this dataset to …

One-Shot Inequality, Gini, And Redistribution Via Microsoft Excel, Humberto Barreto

School of Business and Leadership Working Papers

This paper explains how to use a macro-enabled Excel workbook, Gini.xlsm, to teach basic concepts about income inequality as a standalone, one-time class at the undergraduate level. The material unfolds in a series of steps that highlight the benefits of social cooperation and enable students to explore varying degrees of redistribution. The Gini Coefficient is explained with dynamic charts that update as the student makes changes. The Excel workbook contains 13 questions and this paper provides answers. This presentation of the material was inspired by Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia (relevant passages are included in the Excel workbook) and this …

Trade, Leakage, And The Design Of A Carbon Tax, David A. Weisbach, Samuel Kortum, Michael Wang, Yujia Yao

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Climate policies vary widely across countries, with some countries imposing stringent emissions policies and others doing very little. When climate policies vary across countries, energy-intensive industries have an incentive to relocate to places with few or no emissions restrictions, an effect known as leakage. Relocated industries would continue to pollute but would be operating in a less desirable location. We consider solutions to the leakage problem in a simple setting where one region of the world imposes a climate policy and the rest of the world is passive. We solve the model analytically and also calibrate and simulate the model. …

A General Equilibrium Assessment Of Covid-19’S Labor Productivity Impacts On China’S Regional Economies, Xi He, Edward J. Balistreri, Gyu Hyun Kim, Wendong Zhang

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

This study introduces a database for analyzing COVID-19’s impacts on China’s regional economies. This database contains various sectoral and regional economic outcomes at the weekly and monthly level. In the context of a general equilibrium trade model, we first formulate a mathematical representation of the Chinese regional economy and calibrate the model with China’s multi-regional input-output table. We then utilize the monthly provincial and sectoral value-added and national trade series to estimate COVID-19’s province-by-month labor-productivity impacts from February 2020 to September 2020. As a year-on-year comparison, relative to February 2019 levels, we find an average 39.5% decrease in labor productivity …

Examine The Effects Of Real Effective Exchange Rates On Export Growth: A Closer Look Into Asian Developing Economies, Van Tran

Proceedings of the Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics

My paper examines the impact of real effective exchange rate as well as its fluctuations on the growth of exports with a focus on the Asian region. The data is extracted from World Bank, International Monetary Fund and International Financial Statistics spanning 41 years from 1979 to 2020. Using the OLS estimator, my study finds that an increase in real effective exchange rate will lead to a decline in the exports growth rate. However, this effect is positive for Asian countries, possibly due to lower production costs. I also reach the conclusion that volatility will have no impact on exports.

Stock Market Analysis Using Linear Regression, Taran Rishi

Proceedings of the Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics

This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the closing price of a stock in the S&P 500. It uses time series data for all companies that constitute the S&P 500 index. Data on closing price, opening price, highest price, lowest price, and volume of each day is used. It turns out that the opening price, highest price, and the lowest price are the most significant variables while predicting the closing price of a stock.

Nash Bargaining In A General Equilibrium Framework: The Case Of A Shared Surface Water Supply, Arpita Nehra, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We extend the axiomatic Nash bargaining approach to the context of interregional water sharing in order to assess the approach’s normative implications in a general equilibrium (GE) framework. The GE model is applied to a water development project proposed for the Wasatch Front and Cache Valley regions of Utah — the Bear River Development Project (BRDP). We demonstrate conceptually how an allocation rule and attendant net regional welfare measures are endogenously determined as equilibrium solutions to the bargaining problem. Numerical analysis, based upon a simulation model calibrated to current data, reveals that Nash bargaining is generally infeasible as a solution …

Electrical Equipment Industry Cluster, Pragati Gautam

2022 REYES Proceedings

The growing collaboration between two or more industries in a specific region in which they work in a symbiotic relationship, providing benefits to each other and contributing in the overall development of the region, is what is popularly known as business clusters. Even though this concept is commonly known and implemented in the West, South Asian economies are unfamiliar with the advantages of this unique business strategy. There are, undeniably, many potential business clusters in these developing countries, which if tapped efficiently, could result into an industrial boom.

This research focuses on investigating the existence of a business cluster in …

Influence Of Gdp Per Capita On Birth Rates, Derek Richard Koppes

Proceedings of the Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics

his paper aims to explore the relationship between a country’s birth rate and GDP per capita. I use cross-sectional data for 108 countries from the CIA’s World Factbook and The World Bank. From the research, it is clear that countries with lower infant mortality rates and higher levels of female education have lower birth rates, but the impact of GDP per capita remains ambiguous. It appears the relationship between GDP per capita and birth rates may be mediated through factors such as female empowerment, better healthcare, contraception availability, and family planning resources.

How To Not Save The World From Covid-19: The Dire Consequences Of Giving Away The Vaccine Formula, Tristen Prouse

Proceedings of the Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics

The debate over giving away the COVID-19 vaccine formula is a political hot topic. Violating intellectual property law (patents) to give away the vaccine is a tempting option for aiding other countries in the current global health crisis. In actuality, many problems exist with this proposed solution, including violating intellectual property law, disincentivizing innovation, undermining confidence in vaccine safety, harming America’s geopolitical objectives, and inefficiencies. The United States can and should aid the world in obtaining vaccines, but it should not do so by waiving patent law and giving away the vaccine formulas.

Athletics, Academics, And The Financial Condition Of U.S. Private Colleges, Jody W. Lipford, Jerry K. Slice

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Abstract

Many private colleges in the U.S. face financial difficulty. The role of athletics in the financial condition of U.S. colleges is subject to controversy. Supporters argue that collegiate sports draw students, improve student quality, and increase donor support. Detractors argue that athletics are costly and undermine the academic mission of the institution. In this paper, we examine metrics of athletic and academic quality to determine their effects on the financial health of a sample of U.S. private colleges. Our findings indicate that higher spending on athletics reduces an institution’s financial health and that academic quality increases an institution’s financial …

3rd Annual International Conference Proceedings: Challenging Linearity, Centre For Business And Economic Research (Cber), School Of Economics And Social Sciences (Sess)

Conference Proceedings

As we live in an era where the knowledge landscape is rapidly changing and becoming more complex, answering age-old questions about our society, economy, and environment has become more challenging today than ever before. In the wake of this change and challenge, falling back on linear and myopic conclusions is sometimes all too irresistible. A fatigue of imagination that leads to easy answers seems to be prevalent within several disciplines and is sometimes driven by ideological biases. Resultantly, the progress in addressing economic disadvantage, social isolation, and discrimination, psychological distress remains suboptimal often because of linear conceptual frameworks which fail …

“No Drugs In My Back Yard:” The Ambivalent Reception Of Cannabis Retailers, L. Michelle Brujin, Rafael P. Ribas

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Can individuals’ aversion to drug markets curb the benefits of decriminalization? We investigate the effect of two policies on housing demand in the Netherlands: the distance-to-school criterion, which closed some cannabis shops in a few cities; and the zero-tolerance policy, which banned shops within municipal jurisdictions. While a small increase in the distance to retailers raised house prices by 1–5%, a substantial increase reduced them by 1–6%. Both policies reduced property crime, but the zero-tolerance was also related to fewer jobs. Our findings reveal that cities benefit from having cannabis shops, but households’ aversion to related nuisances depreciates surrounding areas.

Chinese-Backed Fintech Lending Boom: How Did Indonesia Respond?, Angela Tritto, Yujia He, Victoria Amanda Junaedi

Diplomacy and International Commerce Reports

Peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending has the potential to boost innovation and financial inclusion in emerging markets, yet it can also incur investment and borrower-related risks, such as privacy breaches.

Driven by regulation control in China, Chinese investments flocked to Indonesia, causing a rapid expansion of online lending platforms.

Similar to what happened in China prior to the regulatory crackdown, the P2P lending boom in Indonesia saw a rise in unethical and illegal business practices. The government responded by creating new regulations and institutions to mitigate risks without stifling the potential for financial inclusion.

A proactive approach towards monitoring and regulating …

Informational Intermediation, Market Feedback, And Welfare Losses, Kai Hao Yang, Wenji Xu

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper examines the welfare implications of third-party informational intermediation. A seller sets the price of a product that is sold through an informational intermediary. The intermediary can disclose information about the product to consumers and earns a fixed percentage of sales revenue in each period. The intermediary’s market base grows at a rate that increases with past consumer surplus. We characterize the stationary equilibria and the set of subgame perfect equilibrium payoffs. When market feedback (i.e., the extent to which past consumer surplus affects future market bases) increases, welfare may decrease in the Pareto sense.

Why Have Interest Rates Been Low?, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper uses an estimated interest rate rule of the Fed to argue that the low recent interest rates may be due to a change in Fed behavior. Prior to the Great Recession the Fed’s behavior is consistent with the rule. During the recession the zero lower bound was hit in 2008.4. The rule unconstrained called for negative nominal interest rates during this period, and so it became inoperative. The Fed kept the interest rate at roughly zero through 2015. This was a period of low inflation and still fairly high unemployment rates, and the rule called for essentially zero …

More Than A Safety Net: Ethiopia's Flagship Public Works Program Increases Tree Cover, Kalle Hirvonen, Elia A. Machado, Andrew M. Simons, Vis Taraz

Economics: Faculty Publications

More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularity, the environmental impacts of public works programs remain largely undocumented. We quantify the impact on tree cover of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), one of the world's largest and longest-running public works programs, using satellite-based data of tree cover combined with difference-in-differences and inverse probability treatment weighting methodologies. We find that the PSNP increased tree cover by 3.8% between 2005 …

Urban Utopia Or Pipe Dream? Examining Chinese-Invested Smart City Development In Southeast Asia, Yujia He, Angela Tritto

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

With increasing public–private partnership and international cooperation in smart city development across the Global South, Chinese firms are poised to take advantage of growing business opportunities, a situation that few studies have examined. This empirical case study of the Forest City, a Chinese-invested greenfield smart city project in Iskandar Malaysia, begins to fill that gap. This megaproject represents the coming together of overlapping economic development interests of the local authorities and the profit motivations of the Chinese investor. However, the project’s use of the ‘smart city’ discourse contrasts with the reality of limited technology adoption. Its visibility and considerable socio-economic …

Essays On Economic Geography And Development Economics, Yao Wang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation comprises two papers studying economic geography in a developing country context. Chapter 1 quantifies the effects of cultural barriers on internal migration and welfare in Indonesia. I estimate internal migration gravity using linguistic distances as a proxy for cultural barriers and instrument for current linguistic differences using data from the 1930 colonial census. I find inverted U-shaped effects of linguistic distance on migration, which are more prominent for unskilled and older populations. To quantify welfare and distributional implications of linguistic barriers, I further develop a quantitative spatial model with heterogeneous skill groups, incorporating linguistic distance as migration and …

Editor's Note, Marites Tiongco

DLSU Business & Economics Review

No abstract provided.

Foreign Ownership And Productivity, Jian Xu, Yu Liu, Hussein Abdoh

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This study examines the impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity in private firms, employing the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) dataset, which includes over 120, 000 firms from 139 countries. We find strong and robust evidence that foreign ownership is positively related to firm productivity. We then explore possible channels through which foreign ownership could impact firm productivity. Firms with foreign ownership are more likely to engage in innovation, telecommunication, and labor cost reduction, and less likely to face financial constraints. Moreover, the foreign-productivity relationship is more pronounced in medium/large firms than in small firms. Countries with medium institutional …

A Principal-Agent Approach For Estimating Firm Efficiency: Revealing Bank Managerial Behavior, Levent Kutlu, Emmanuel Mamatzakis, Mike G. Tsionas

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We consider agency-theory-based structural and reduced form models of bank performance. In the structural models, we take into account the managerial decision-making processes, and reveal underlying managerial efforts and thereby managerial behavior. In an empirical application, we estimate performance of Eurozone banks using our novel structural and reduced form approaches by Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques. Our findings show, for the first time, that bank underperformance persists in the Eurozone whereas considerable variability across Member States exists. Our agency-theory-based structural modeling would favor cooperation of all interested parties and towards higher financial integration.

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 6, Number 7, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

經濟學？講呢啲！, Sung Ming Chow

經濟學？講呢啲

劍橋大學經濟學教授張夏準曾說：人們往往覺得經濟學高深莫測，若非專家不宜評頭品足；就連不少經濟學家也這樣想，經濟學還是留給我們這些專家好了！

問題在於：每個人每日都在參與經濟活動，難道就不能用常識來了解經濟？經濟學故弄玄虛的專業術語，真能幫助我們更加認識經濟現實？抑或那只是一套「語言偽術」，一直愚弄著全世界的所有人……包括那些欠缺思考能力的決策官員？

是時候共同掃盲，齊齊走出經濟學的迷障！

Chang Ha-Joon, Reader of Cambridge University once said, people tend to think that economics is difficult, and should be left for the experts; even economists share the same mood, it should better be left to us!

Nevertheless, everybody engage in economic activities everyday. Can’t we just understand economics with common sense? Suffocated by technical jargons, can economics really help us to better grasp economic reality? Or, are they merely chicaneries misleading the whole world……including top government officials who often suffer from Intellectual disability?!

It is time to awaken, and let us demystify economics together!

The Impacts Of Ownership And Covid-19 On Firm Performance-Three Essays, Jian Xu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on finance of ownership and COVID-19. In the first essay, we investigate the effect of residual state ownership, foreign ownership, and the interaction between the two on firms' financing patterns. we find that neither firms with residual state ownership only nor firms with foreign ownership only are positively related with external finance. In comparison, firms with both state and foreign ownerships are associated with higher external finance. The increased external finance for firms with both state and foreign ownerships mainly comes from private banks and new equity. Moreover, we explore the channels through which …

A General Limit Theory For Nonlinear Functionals Of Nonstationary Time Series, Qiying Wang, Peter C. B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Limit theory is provided for a wide class of covariance functionals of
a nonstationary process and stationary time series. The results are relevant
to estimation and inference in nonlinear nonstationary regressions that involve unit root, local unit root or fractional processes and they include both parametric and nonparametric regressions. Self normalized versions of these
statistics are considered that are useful in inference. Numerical evidence reveals a strong bimodality in the finite sample distributions that persists for very large sample sizes although the limit theory is Gaussian. New self normalized versions are introduced that deliver improved approximations.

Screening With Persuasion, Dirk Bergemann, Tibor Heumann, Stephen Morris

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We consider a general nonlinear pricing environment with private information. The seller can control both the signal that the buyers receive about their value and the selling mechanism. We characterize the optimal menu and information structure that jointly maximize the seller's profit. The optimal screening mechanism has finitely many items even with a continuum of values. We identify sufficient conditions under which the optimal mechanism has a single item. Thus the seller decreases the variety of items below the efficient level in order to reduce the information rents of the buyers.

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 25, Number 3, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Review Of Human Resource Management (Hrm) Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis (1981-2019), Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, Naznin Akther, Golam Sorwar

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study reviews Human Resource Management (HRM) literature by adopting a hybrid research approach - bibliometric analaysis and content analysis - on 1802 documents from the Scopus database. Results from the bibliometric analysis shows HRM research presence in the areas of data sciences, information technology, and organizational behavior. A content analysis of 100 articles exploresd five different streams of HRM literature: (1) safety issues, (2) HRM technology, (3) business model and HRM, (4) information and knowledge management, and (5) HRM and teamwork. This study works as a lens focusing on the construction of practical issues and concepts in HRM literature. …

Women On Corporate Boards: A Systematic Literature Review And Future Research Agenda, Nufazil Ahangar

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This paper provides a current systematic literature review of the literature on women on corporate boards. The focus is on both theoretical and empirical studies on women on corporate boards. The influence of women on corporate boards on a wide range of corporate financial and non-financial performance measures is likewise explained. Additionally, this paper also provides a broad overview of a number of antecedents affecting the appointment of women on corporate boards at multiple levels.