Economics Commons^™

Cover - Table Of Contents

Major Themes in Economics

No abstract provided.

Affordable Care Act Insurance Coverage Gains In The Midwest: Evidence From The Dependent Coverage Provision, Sarah Herz

Major Themes in Economics

This paper analyzes how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Coverage Provision affected insurance coverage in the Midwestern region. The Dependent Coverage Provision allows individuals ages 19 to 25 to remain as dependents on parental health insurance plans. This provision was implemented to decrease the number of young adults who were uninsured. Using data from the American Community Survey spanning the years 2008-2013 and estimating difference-in-differences models, I test the impact of the policy implementation on health insurance coverage among a sample of Midwestern young adults. Under my preferred specification, which includes two-way fixed effects and controls for observable characteristics, …

Privatizing Social Security: Economic And Social Concerns, Sarah Madsen

Major Themes in Economics

The U.S. Social Security program is in need of reform. One of the most popular solutions to the long-run financing problem is privatization. This paper examines key economic and social concerns about a shift from a public pay-as-you-go system to a privately-funded system. While a privatized system does reduce overall uncertainty and allows for greater returns, its increased risk and high transition costs make it an unreliable strategy.

Designing Promise Programs: Decisions And Effects, Shay Slifka

Major Themes in Economics

Having gained popularity over the past two decades, promise programs are a relatively new policy tool aimed at increasing the number of people who earn two-year and four-year postsecondary educational degrees by providing partial or full financial aid. In contrast to other forms of financial aid for postsecondary education, promise programs guarantee funding to students of a specified geographic area, which is sometimes accompanied by merit or need-based requirements. Promise programs differ in design, vary in result, and potentially cause substitution and migration effects. By analyzing several mature promise programs, I identify three fundamental design decisions that policymakers must consider …

On The Decomposability Of Fractional Allocations, Shurojit Chatterji, Peng Liu

SMU Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series

A common practice in dealing with the allocation of indivisible objects is to treat them as infinitely divisible and specify a fractional allocation, which is then implemented as a lottery on integer allocations that are feasible. The question we study is whether an arbitrary fractional allocation can be decomposed as a lottery on an arbitrary set of feasible integer allocations. The main result is a characterization of decomposable fractional allocations, that is obtained by transforming the decomposability problem into a maximum flow problem. We also provide a separate necessary condition for decomposability.

The Effect Of Racial Covenants On Modern Day Foreclosures: Evidence From Hennepin County, Hannah R. Whipple

Economics Honors Projects

Between 2006 and 2015, approximately 16.2 million homes entered foreclosure, directly affecting nearly one in six American households (Hall et al., 2015). Yet, the consequences of foreclosure were not distributed evenly amongst all Americans. The foreclosure rate for Black Americans was 11%, compared to 6% for white people during the Great Recession (Hwang et al., 2015). Previous studies point to residential segregation as a driver of the disproportionate consequences of the crisis borne by minority communities. In Hennepin County, racial covenants were the first mechanized form of residential segregation. Written into property deeds, racial covenants prevented anyone who was not …

Does Foreign Direct Investment Matter For Industrialisation In Nigeria?, Obianuju Ogochukwu Nnadozie, Lotanna Ernest Emediegwu, Anthony Monye-Emina

Zambia Social Science Journal

This paper employs cointegration and error correction techniques to provide empirical evidence on the dynamic relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and industrialisation in Nigeria for the period 1981-2015. Our findings show that FDI does not have a significant effect on industrialisation in Nigeria either in the short run or the long run. Also, the empirical results reveal that trade significantly harms industrialisation in Nigeria both in the short run and the long run. Our empirical results are, however, not surprising given that FDI inflows into Nigeria have largely been resource-seeking, that is, mainly targeted at the oil sector with …

Activating Vacant Spaces: An Art And Environmental Justice Project - Assessment In Cleveland, Ohio’S Slavic Village Neighborhood, Patrick Connolly

Community Engagement Student Work

The overdevelopment of cities has caused residents to suffer from environmental and economic harm. Situated near a steel mill and a highway, and with less than 20% tree canopy, the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio is a community that may be in need of environmental justice. The movement to introduce green elements to urban environments is growing, and there are clear economic benefits to greening urban areas. Using art as a tool for education, this project proposes a series of six sustainable art installations that attempt to teach the community about environmental issues. Using this art project as a …

Developed Stock Market Integration: New Evidence From The Pre- And Post-Financial Crisis Of 2007-2009, Carol Bruce Tagoe

2021 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

No abstract provided.

Prediction Of Individual Income: A Machine Learning Approach, Michael Matkowski

Honors Projects in Economics

The use of machine learning models to improve prediction problems and handle increasingly large datasets is a rising trend in economics. Prediction plays a particularly important role in applied economics because it provides critical insights to assess market outcomes. This study builds on previous literature to showcase the relative power of these modelling methodologies in economics through the prediction of income. This research utilizes data from the Current Population Survey from 2017 – 2020, containing 467,811 observations and 264 variables. 2017-2018 data served as training data for the models and 2019-2020 served as data for the two testing sets. The …

Airline Price Dispersion Before And After The Pandemic, Caesar Garduno

Economics

This paper explores price dispersion in the United States airline industry before and after the pandemic. Using data from the Airline Origin and Destination Survey and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index the data was aggregated to the carrier-route-quarter level and combined together. While the findings were inconclusive, further research is strongly recommended due to the increasing data.

Go Books, Go Bulldogs, Go Women: Examining The Factors That Affect Female Enrollment At Undergraduate Schools, Sarah Desantis

Honors Projects in Economics

This study investigates women's underrepresentation and the declining enrollment trend in undergraduate business programs by examining New England schools between 2015-2017. The study uses a linear regression model, testing a variety of variables including student characteristics and outcomes, college characteristics, funding and faculty, and women-related experiences measured against the dependent variable of percentage of women enrolled. The study found that (1) the presence of a women's center increases women enrollment; (2) the greater diversity representation on campus increases women enrollment; (3) women are more attracted to private universities and are less likely to attend with an increase in the undergraduate …

Nebraska Recovers From The Pandemic Economy, Eric Thompson

Business in Nebraska

The COVID-19 Pandemic threw the United States economy into a severe and sharp recession during the first half of 2020. A combination of government “shutdown” restrictions and private actions led to a particularly severe decline in economic activity in late March and April. The lifting or reduction of government restrictions across the United States led to a fast recovery in subsequent months, especially as businesses and consumers learned to adapt to their new operating conditions. However, the rate of recovery has slowed recently as the spread of Covid-19 has accelerated and many businesses have curtailed travel, maintained “work from home” …

1st International Conference On Economics And Sustainable Development Conference Proceedings, Iba School Of Economics And Social Sciences (Sess), Center For Business And Economic Research (Cber)

Conference Proceedings

The IBA School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) and the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) organized the 1st International Conference themed "Economics and Sustainable Development", in the month of April, 2021. The conference brought together academics, practitioners and advocates to have a dialogue on creative ideas, local and global best practices, and evidence-based solutions for sustainable development.

Three Essays On Empirical Asset Pricing, Xueying Bian

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The dissertation consists of three essays on empirical asset pricing. The first chapter proposes a novel inter-firm link - similar employee satisfaction. Based on the employee satisfaction data on Glassdoor, the returns of similar employee satisfaction (SES) firms are documented to predict focal firm stock returns. A long-short portfolio sorted on the lagged returns of SES firms yields the Fama-French six-factor alpha of 135 bps per month. The observed predictability cannot be explained by risk-based arguments or subsumed by other known inter-firm momentums. According to the international tests, we observe stronger return predictability in countries with more flexible labor markets. …

The Lintheads' Demise: A Study In Economic Dependency For The Piedmont Region Of South Carolina, Jeremy Lewis Ward

Senior Theses

The decline of the Southern textile and apparel industries represent a unique and rich case study in rapid economic change. It is unique because of the speed and uniformity of collapse; rich, because of the geographic differences that exist even within the concentrated Piedmont textile cluster. Truly, globalization has hit this economic cluster with a brutal punch. And yet, not all cities and counties within the region have been equally harmed by the change.

This report concentrates on examining the socioeconomic variations that have taken place in the thirteen foremost textile-producing counties in South Carolina since the collapse, as well …

Space Exploration: Nasa Investment Into The Private Space Sector And Public Opinion, Brooke Ziegenhagen

Senior Theses

The space exploration industry has entered a new era with companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin leading the way to the privatization of space. This paper examines public opinion regarding the source of space exploration funding and proposes possible motivations for these sentiments. This is followed by an assessment on NASA’s investment trends into the commercial space industry. Both probes review the past decade, to reveal the public-private relationship in this new era and finally, conclude whether or not public opinion plays a role in the degree of NASA investment and what that role may be.

The Beef Industry: The Social Costs From An Ecological, Economic, And Social Perspective, Timothy Keathley

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Beef products are a staple of western diets and are quickly becoming normalized in more parts of the world. Americans from 1910 to present day have consumed an average of 60 pounds of beef each year, with total beef consumption annually over 27 billion pounds (Beef, 2005). Red meat is a tempestuous topic of discussion. Red meat is a product that has nutritional benefits, is a symbol of status, and has a favored taste for many of its consumers. It can also be said that red meat is associated with health issues, animal cruelty, and environmental sustainability concerns. Jochimsen said …

Reinvigorating Vacant Properties Through A Federal Jobs Guarantee, Derrick Busch

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Dayton, Ohio is a city currently in transition; once a technological and business hub, Dayton has gradually lost private businesses and with business left jobs, one of the most recent hits being the closure of the General Motors plant just south of the city. Over the past couple of years, a cultural renaissance has emerged within the city, with thriving bar districts and countless commercial buildings becoming residential apartment and mixed use complexes. The city is now at historically low commercial vacancy rates, however, many of the scars of fleeing residents and private businesses still remain. This urban resurgence has …

An Economic Analysis Of The Effects Of Streaming On The Music Industry In Response To Criticism From Taylor Swift, Hugh Zehr

Major Themes in Economics

Since its introduction in the early 2010s, music streaming has transformed the industry. Streaming has both fans and critics. One of the most notable critics is superstar Taylor Swift, who has questioned streaming’s ability to adequately compensate those involved in music creation. My analysis acknowledges her critique and looks specifically into how streaming services have affected all participants in the industry. While streaming initially decreased profits in the music industry as a whole, the industry has adjusted and has seen returns from this new model of music consumption. Streaming services increase benefits to all players in the music industry by …

Global Studies Initiative Faculty Report: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, V. Andreea Chiritescu

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2020 - 2021

No abstract provided.

Eco 201: Microeconomics, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

An investigation of the microeconomy as seen through the eyes of the individual consumer and firm. Economic concepts, including profits, employment and resources via supply and demand, elasticity, utility, costs, and market structures are applied to significant contemporary economics problems.

Department Of Economics Newsletter, V25, Spring 2021, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Economics.

Department of Economics Newsletter

Inside this Issue:

--- Message from Shar
--- Open Access Week
--- Virtual Jepson Forum Discusses Health Inequality
--- Lawrence M. Jepson Student Awards
--- 2020-2021 Scholarship Winners
--- Difficulties in Decision Making During the Pandemic
--- The Labor Market Impact of COVID-19
--- GDP and Jobs Recovering from COVID-19
--- Ryan Rudderham Joins Economics Faculty
--- The Transition from Administration to Faculty
--- The Retirement of KenMcCormick
--- Bülent Uyar Retires (mostly)
--- Faculty and Staff Updates

Addressing The Energy Air Pollution Within The Ohio Area, Travis Mcconnell

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Air pollution is the byproduct of the burning of fossil fuels and is a major issue within the Ohio area because of the lack of utilization of renewable and clean sources of energy. We emit tons and tons of pollutants into the environment each and every day, from when we hop in our cars or even when we simply turn on the lights in our homes. Essentially, anything that requires energy can be a cause of air pollution within the ecosystem. However, it may be the case that it is time that we change our ways and try to conserve …

The Financial Facet To Sino-African Cooperation: Analyzing Potential Motivations Behind Chinese Investment In African Countries, Jacob T. Carnevale

Political Science Theses and Capstones

China’s reputation transitioned from political isolation throughout the twentieth century to international influence in the twenty-first century. We see this in the continent of Africa, especially, where multiple countries experience political and economic hardships. Today, China invests in African countries to alleviate these hardships and strengthen foreign relations. Some scholars contend that much of China’s approach to foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa stems from China’s domestic interests, while other scholars contend it is more about relationship-building. Taking note that China does both, I ask which aspect to Sino-African relations primarily motivates Chinese lending in Africa. To analyze this question, …

The Effect Of Female Protagonists And Non-Sexist Dialogue On Domestic Box Office Revenue For Films Released Between 1995 To 2018, Chase Ochsner

Honors Projects

This research examines the correlation between box office revenue and films with female protagonists and films that pass the Bechdel Test. I extracted data from Box Office Mojo and Numbers.com for 1186 movies between 1995 to 2018 on several characteristics including the gender of the film’s protagonist, the presence of non-sexist dialogue (Bechdel Test), the genre of the movie, and the film’s box office revenue and budget. I created four OLS regression equations in SPSS and two logistic regression models in STATA to test my hypotheses. I found that having a female protagonist and passing the Bechdel Test are highly …

Protecting Ohio’S Water Quality Through Wetland Remediation, Sarah Logel

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Water reuse and reclamation is vital to the continuation of healthy crop yields, maintaining clean waterways, and for human use and consumption. Combined with the unrelenting ecological changes as a result of global warming, water stress has become ever prominent in the new age of climate change. Most often covered by news and media outlets are the rising sea levels which are undoubtably a dangerous threat. There is though, another menacing water issue, not so frequently discussed and it is the quality of water consumed by residents in America’s cities and towns and used by farmers for growing the very …

An International Comparison Of Green Building In Cities, Faith Rosenow

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Green building is a concept that has become more relevant as the world works towards creating more environmentally friendly ways to exist on this planet. As defined by the World Green Building Council, a green building is “...a building that, in its design, construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on our climate and natural environment. Green buildings preserve precious natural resources and improve our quality of life.” (What is Green Building?, n.d.). Some cities in the world have made more progress with moving forward with green building than others. While individually these buildings …

Inadequate Accounting, Commoditization, And Ceremonial Tools: The Department Of Defense’S Environmental Remediation Process, Jed Cooper

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Water on the earth is a precious resource. However, over 99% of the water on the earth is not available as drinking water. Further issues such as uneven distribution, depletion and contamination of aquifers, excess demand, and climate change challenge the current scarce resources that are currently available to humans on the earth. Thus, humans have contaminated and polluted the limited freshwater available through toxic chemicals and human waste and in many parts of the world, leading to limited availability of clean water (Robertson, 2014). One of the biggest threats in the United States and globally the chemical contamination of …

Recycling Fashion, Haley Moeder

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Americans tend to think of items they purchase as disposable, and when items become damaged or broken, they are thrown in the trash instead of being fixed or reused. Each year, Americans dispose of huge quantities of items in the trash and that trash is then sent to landfills. Ohioans alone disposed of 17.46 tons of waste in 2019 which then ended up in landfills or incinerated (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 2021). If more items were recycled, fewer items would be sent to landfills, creating more space, and reducing the chances of harmful chemicals leaking into the surrounding land. One …