Public Economics Commons^™

The Sustainability Of Child Protection Services In The Republic Of Kosovo, Shpetim Bylykbashi

Capstone Collection

Today, in Kosovo, are services provided for the children most in need sustainable? Do these services have stable and long-term funding? Did the decentralization of the Kosovo government strengthen or weaken the existing child protective environment? In an attempt to answer these questions, a review of available literature was completed, as well as direct interviews conducted with relevant stakeholders engaged in Kosovo’s child protection services at both the governmental and civil society levels. The main finding of my research is that vulnerable children in Kosovo, such as children without parental care, children with special needs, and child victims of domestic …

Do Public Program Benefits Crowd Out Private Transfers In Developing Countries? A Critical Review Of Recent Evidence, Plamen Nikolov, Matthew Bonci

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Precipitated by rapid globalization, rising inequality, population growth, and longevity gains, social protection programs have been on the rise in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the last three decades. However, the introduction of public benefits could displace informal mechanisms for risk-protection, which are especially prevalent in LMICs. If the displacement of private transfers is considerably large, the expansion of social protection programs could even lead to social welfare loss. In this paper, we critically survey the recent empirical literature on crowd-out effects in response to public policies, specifically in the context of LMICs. We review and synthesize patterns from …

An Inquiry Into Double Dividend Effects Of Carbon Taxes, Gregory Tracey

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

For my undergraduate thesis, I conducted research on the topic of carbon taxes. Specifically, I was interested in the possible existence of a double dividend effect as a method for making this public policy option more palatable to a broader audience. To that end, I first conducted a literature review on the subject, then did an empirical analysis. I chose Nebraska as the subject of my analysis because it is my home state and I experienced heated debates over tax policy firsthand as a Page for the State Legislature. To see whether a double dividend would exist in Nebraska, I …

Integration Of And Deliveries Among The World Zionist Organization, Israel, And Diaspora Countries: System Articulation With The Social Fabric Matrix, F. Gregory Hayden

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

The religious economics (not economics of religion) concern here is the relationship between the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and Israel, which is known as a geopolitical power in its region and which is also known as an economic success story. Joseph Schumpeter and Karl Polanyi explained how the political economy of medieval Europe was influenced and guided by Christian morality. This paper extends the analysis of religious economics by using the social fabric matrix of original institutional economics to define and structure the integration of the WZO, Israel, and the Diaspora countries. This allows us to observe how to conduct …

Traffic Congestion In F.C.T: Demand And Supply Approach, Ibrahim Abdul, Salihu Habibu Mohammed Gani, Ibrahim G. Umaru

Bullion

This study examined traffic congestion in Abuja metropolis, F.C.T.- Nigeria using demand and supply approach. The study adopted survey research design. Primary data was collected using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to analysed the data with the aid of tables and graphs. It was discovered that as a road reaches its capacity, each additional vehicle imposes more total delay on others than they bear, resulting in excessive traffic volumes. Congestion is mainly due to the intensive use of automobiles, whose ownership has spread massively in the F.C.T. in recent decades. The study revealed that traffic congestion causes serious consequences in …

Analysis Of The Impact Of Central Bank Of Nigeria's Agricultural Intervention Funds On The Economy, E. T. Adamgbe, M. C. Belonwu, E. R. Ochu, I. I. Okafor

Economic and Financial Review

This paper set out to investigate the impact of Central Bank of Nigeria's interventions on the agricultural sector within an economy-wide framework of general equilibrium modelling. The paper adopted a dynamic (recursive), two-sector general equilibrium model of the Nigerian economy with some modifications on the standard model developed by the Centre for Econometric and Applied Research (CEAR) and incorporated the contributions of the CBN's agricultural based interventions as increases in the stock of agricultural capital to have a more robust size of interventions into the agricultural sector. The SAM used for the CGE model analysis was derived from the updated …

A Computable General Equilibrium Modeling Of The Economic Effects Of Reducing Non-Tariff Measures In The Malaysian Food Sector, Siew Hoon Yew

Student Works (2020-2029)

The Malaysian food processing sector is highly regulated with non-tariff measures (NTMs), and particularly with standard NTMs applied to imports. Though these measures are used for legitimate reasons such as health and safety, some appear to have been instituted for political reasons and serve as “hidden” barriers to trade, given this sector is highly import intensive. This sector is therefore considered to be over regulated and it is argued that a reduction of restrictive NTMs and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) is needed to facilitate trade. Since NTMs, in general, are opaque and less transparent relative to tariffs, they pose a significant …

Basel Iii D: Swiss Finish To Basel Iii, Christian M. Mcnamara, Natalia Tente, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

After the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) introduced the Basel III framework in 2010, individual countries confronted the question of how best to implement the framework given their unique circumstances. Switzerland, with a banking industry that is both heavily concentrated and very large relative to the size of its overall economy, faced a special challenge. It ultimately adopted what is sometimes referred to as the “Swiss Finish” to Basel III—enhanced requirements applicable to Switzerland’s “too-big-to-fail” banks Credit Suisse and UBS that go beyond the base requirements established by the BCBS. Yet the prominent role played by relatively new contingent …

Basel Iii A: Regulatory History, Christian M. Mcnamara, Thomas Piontek, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

From the earliest efforts to mandate the amount of capital banks must maintain, regulators have grappled with how best to accomplish this task. Until the 1980s, regulation had been based largely on discretion and judgment. In the wake of two bank failures, the central bank governors of the G10 countries established the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and in 1988, the BCBS introduced a capital measurement system, Basel I. The system represented a triumph of the fixed numerical approach, however, critics worried that it was too blunt an instrument. In 1999, the BCBS issued Basel II, a proposal to …

Jpmorgan Chase London Whale Z: Background & Overview, Arwin G. Zeissler, Rosalind Bennett, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

In December 2011, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) instructed the bank’s Chief Investment Office to reduce the size of its Synthetic Credit Portfolio (SCP) during 2012, so that JPM could decrease its Risk-Weighted Assets as the bank prepared to adopt the impending Basel III bank capital regulations. However, the SCP traders were also told to minimize the trading costs incurred to reduce Risk-Weighted Assets, while still maintaining the opportunity to profit from unexpected corporate bankruptcies. In an attempt to balance these competing objectives, head SCP derivatives trader Bruno Iksil suggested in January 2012 …

Incorporating Macroprudential Financial Regulation Into Monetary Policy, Aaron Klein

Journal of Financial Crises

This paper proposes two insights into financial regulation and monetary policy. The first enhances understanding the relationship between them, building on the automobile metaphor that describes monetary policy: when to accelerate or brake for curves miles ahead. Enhancing the metaphor, financial markets are the transmission. In a financial crisis, markets cease to function, equivalent to a transmission shifting into neutral. This explains both monetary policy’s diminished effectiveness in stimulating the economy and why the financial crisis shock to real economic output greatly exceeded central bank forecasts.

The second insight is that both excess leverage and fundamental mispricing of asset values …

Citizen-Consumers Wanted: Revitalizing The American Dream In The Face Of Economic Recessions, 1981-2012, Gokcen Coskuner-Balli

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This article brings sociological theory of governmentality to bear on a longitudinal analysis of American presidential speeches to theorize the formation of the citizen-consumer subject. The 40-year historical analysis which expands through four economic recessions and the presidential terms of Ronald Reagan, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Hussein Obama, illustrates the ways in which the national mythology of American Dream myth has been linked to the political ideology of the state to create the citizen-consumer subject in the United States. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data demonstrates first, the consistent emphasis on responsibility as a …

State Of The Northwest Arkansas Region 2020 Report, Mervin Jebaraj, David Sorto

State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report

The State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report is an annual publication, commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council, that serves as a tool for evaluating economic performance. In July 2018, the Northwest Arkansas Council created a new blueprint for development that outlines the peer regions and a strategic action agenda for 2018-2021. In this plan, the performance of Northwest Arkansas is benchmarked with other contemporary, high-performing regions, namely Austin, Des Moines, Madison, Durham-Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Provo-Orem. The 2020 State of the Region Report compares Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA) with these geographies in the areas of gross domestic product, employment, …

Intragovernmental Autonomous Stabilizers, Alex Williams

Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy

We present a novel framework for understanding the relationship between the federal and state governments of the United States of America. Drawing on the experience of state government finances during and after the Great Recession in 2008, we propose the establishment of novel intragovernmental budgetary stabilization mechanisms. We draw out the flawed arguments of the existing fiscal federalism literature and demonstrate how the work of Michael Pettis and Modern Monetary Theory provide more usable insights when crafting public policy. We propose several potential policy responses and produce a counterfactual model of state finances after the Great Recession using the new …

The Global Child: A Roadmap For Becoming Culturally Responsive Educators, Ana I. Berdecia Med, Caitlin Kosec Mpp, Kamili O. Leath Ms, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy For Thomas Edison State College

Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children

The program strategies and the assessment tools encourage early childhood teachers to adopt 26 strategies across three competency areas: 1) classroom design; 2) teachers’ rhythm and temperament; and 3) instructional strategies during the 10-month program year. Mentors are assigned to each teaching team and through supportive site visits and assessment visits help the teams change their thinking and practices to be more culturally and linguistically responsive.

Homeownership Rate And Other House Price Determinants Impacts On New House Prices In Colombia, Hector A. Botello-Peñaloza

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

Homeownership remains a preferred form of tenancy in different parts of the world. The attractions of security, stability, investment potential and a sense of pride outweigh the fear of price instability. For this reason, the Colombian government has encouraged in recent years, various demand policies that have sought to promote the increase in the number of homeowners. However, these ideas could have a severe impact on prices in the real estate market. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the effect of homeownership rate on new house prices in an emerging country with low real estate ownership, credit restrictions and average …

Corruption, Government Effectiveness And Human Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sakiru O. Akinbode, Jayeola Olabisi, Remilekun R. Adegbite, Timothy A. Aderemi, Abimbola M. Alawode

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

Aside economic factors causing low human development which have been extensively studied in literature, the implications of high level of corruption and weak governance prevalent in sub- Saharan African (SSA) countries have not been explored. The study assessed the effects of corruption, government effectiveness and their joint effect on human development in SSA. Data collected on thirty-seven (37) countries within the period of 2005 to 2018 were analyzed using system Generalized Method of Moment which was most suitable for the dataset. Results indicated that lagged human development index (P<0.01), government effectiveness (P<0.05), economic growth rate (P<0.1) and government health spending (P<0.1) had significant positive effect on human development while corruption and its interaction with government effectiveness did not. The results of Arrelano-Bond test of first order autocorrelation and second order autocorrelation of error term as well as the Sargan test and Hansen J test for validity of instrumental variables confirmed the validity of the model. The robustness of the estimation was established as the coefficient of the lagged dependent variable fell between the values in the fixed effect and pooled ordinary least square regression. The study recommended retraining and reorientation of government employees towards the mindset of effective service delivery and strong political will to achieve it, diversification of SSA economies alongside other growth stimulating policies such as reduced lending interest rate on loans meant for the real sector, improvement in the ease of doing business, improved funding of the health sector and proper monitoring of activities in the public service by concerned agencies to curb corruption where it is present.

The Desire For Luxury In Emerging Markets: An Interactional Perspective On Consumer Motivations In Tunisia, Pranjal Gupta,, Mouna Zaghdoudi

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

The motivations underlying the desire for luxury products and services have long been the subject of academic inquiry. An understanding of these motivations is useful for the luxury market industry to help managers formulate better marketing strategies. Further, such knowledge would also be useful to public policy makers to help them mitigate societal problems that may occur as a result of such consumption. Of particular interest is the growth of the luxury market in emerging economies. This study spotlights the luxury market in Tunisia. Previous work has demonstrated that age has a significant impact both on willingness to buy luxury …

Municipal Fiscal Distress In Pennsylvania: Assessing The Municipalities Financial Recovery Act 47 Of 1987, Terry Tracy

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Department of Community and Economic Development administers a Municipal Financial Recovery program to improve outcomes in fiscally and socio-economically distressed cities. The program operates under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Municipal Recovery Act 47 of 1987.

It is designed to provide state and municipal governments the resources necessary to combat fiscal distress and economic decline, where municipalities lack the political or financial wherewithal to do so autonomously. Those resources include access to grant funding, special latitude over tax policy and fee structures not otherwise permitted by Pennsylvania’s Constitution, and developing a five-year fiscal recovery …

Legalized Sports Betting, Vlt Gambling, And State Gambling Revenues: Evidence From West Virginia, Brad Humphreys

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

A Supreme Court decision legalizing sports betting in the US led states to legalize sports betting in order to generate new tax revenues from wagering on sports events. Most states already permit other forms of gambling and receive tax revenues from these sources. The literature analyzing consumer substitution in gambling spending contains some evidence on the impact of expansions in many types of gambling, but no evidence on the impact of expanded sports betting. This paper exploits the legalization of sports betting and timing of sports book openings in West Virginia to analyze the impact of expanded sports betting on …

Time And Consumption Poverty Among Mainland Tanzanian Children: Material Conditions To Secure Stated Rights, Marokey Sawo

Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy

This paper examines the differences in how Tanzanian children across various socioeconomic axes spend their time across schooling, unpaid care work, and income-generating activities. Previous research and theory have primarily focused on child employment and its dynamics with education, neglecting a substantial amount of work borne by some children to maintain their households’ livelihoods. Using time use and consumption survey data, this paper fills the current gap in the literature by applying a multidimensional framework called the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Consumption Poverty. The results indicate that child employment is quite prevalent in mainland Tanzania across different tiers …

Environmental Governance For Whom? Examining The Political, Institutional, Fiscal, And Legal Determinants Of State Environmental Agency Budget Policy In The Us, Andrew R. Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

Budgets are a prospective tool of governance, and appropriations are a planning vehicle reflecting: bureaucracies’ values, complex interactions, collective preferences, political influences, and available resources. Research spanning 30 years finds that environmental pollution is a key determinant of environmental budgets in the US, though myriad factors, actors, and subsystems are important to consider. Due to federalism and devolution of responsibilities and authorities, environmental governance falls largely to the states. While the dynamics that shape state environmental budget policy have received scholarly interest, theoretically-driven examinations of environmental appropriations remain limited within the public budgeting and environmental policy literature.

Using panel data …

Academia In Anarchy: 50 Years On, Joshua C. Hall

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

In 1970, James Buchanan and Nicos Devletoglou published Academia in Anarchy: An Economic Diagnosis. Even though the book focuses on the industry Buchanan worked in for nearly 70 years, it is the only one of his non-autobiographical, non-textbook, books not included in his collected works. I evaluate the arguments of Buchanan and Devletoglou in light of the past 50 years of scholarship on the economics of higher education.

Home Rule, Local Autonomy, And Municipal Government Behavior, Xin Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation focuses on relationships between state and local governments. Of particular interest in this project is how the shift of power from the state to local governments changes local governments’ performance. This dissertation is comprised of four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the motivation and organization of the dissertation. The second chapter reviews the three state-imposed fiscal institutions—home rule, debt limitations, and tax and expenditure limitations, across states. While previous studies have looked at specific institutions, few studies have comprehensively reviewed the status of those institutions across states. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by comprehensively scrutinizing …

Essays On The Political Economy Of Governance, Yang Zhou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation studies the governance structure and its economic impacts in the Chinese context. Specifically, I use a public choice framework to analyze how institutions influence economic and political activities of both public officials and private sectors. Chapter 1 employs the synthetic control method to investigate the effects of institutions to regional economic development. Chongqing Municipality, a province-level region in China, had a unique leader from late 2007 to early 2012 who conducted red ideology movements and legal intervention. The empirical results reveal that although the economic policies promoted the Chongqing economy, the Maoist political policies partially undermined its economic …

Does Starting School Before Labor Day Affect High School Retention And Graduation: Evidence From Virginia's Kings Dominion Law, Timothy M. Komarek, Jay K. Walker

Economics Faculty Publications

Several states have required K-12 public schools to start after Labor Day in an effort to aid the tourism and hospitality industry. However, little is known about how these policies impact educational outcomes. We examine the impact of Virginia's post-Labor Day school start law on high school retention and graduation rates. We use a difference-in-differences model to exploit exogenous variation in school division start dates. Our results show small differences of up to three weeks have little effect on high school dropout and graduation rates. Our findings inform the debate on post-Labor Day school start laws and compulsory attendance age …

Three Essays In Law And Economics, Daniel Bonneau

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigates three relevant topics in law and economics literature. The first chapter explores the effectiveness of a crime prevention policy in Detroit, Project Green Light. This initiative began in 2016 and was aimed at reducing crime around high-risk businesses. Reductions in crime can be found in the business block that housed the green light, with a potential diffusion of benefits to their immediate neighbors. Using calls for service produces mixed results and suggest that there may be an increase in proactive policing within these areas. Lastly, response times do appear to decrease significantly. The second chapter empirically evaluates …

Three Essays On Health Economics And Policy Evaluation, Shishir Shakya

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation consists of three essays on the U.S. Health care policy. Each paragraph below refers to the three abstracts for the three chapters in this dissertation, respectively. I provide quantitative evidence on how much Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) affects the retail opioid prescribing behaviors. Using the American Community Survey (ACS), I retrieve county-level high dimensional panel data set from 2010 to 2017. I employ three separate identification strategies: difference-in-difference, double selection post-LASSO, and spatial difference-in-difference. I compare how the retail opioid prescribing behaviors of counties, that are mandatory for prescribers to check the PDMP before prescribing controlled substances …

Topics In Cultural And Entertainment Economics, Justin W. Parker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

During the first 60 years of television broadcasting, prime time programming was dominated by the "Big Three" networks--NBC, ABC, and CBS. Their dominance in the market functioned as an oligopoly, supported by longstanding regulatory structures. Beginning in the 1970s, a wave of deregulation and change from satellite technology swept the industry, making it easier for other firms to enter the market. In 1986, the premiere of FOX saw a viable fourth network break through to compete with the Big Three. This paper analyzes inefficiencies on both the cost and content production side of prime time television, using survival analysis to …

Three Essays In Public Economics, Perry Ferrell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigates policy-relevant topics in public economics and law and economics. The first chapter applies the transitional gains trap to legal land title enfranchisement in developing countries. The second chapter examines the role of US Forest Service avalanche forecasting operations in preventing human-involved backcountry avalanche accidents. The final chapter explores what extent local newspaper coverage has on traffic stop behavior by local law enforcement. In the first chapter “Titles For Me But Not For Thee: Transitional Gains Trap of Property Rights Extension in Colombia” I apply Tullock’s “transitional gains trap” to the formalization of property titles in Latin America …