Public Economics Commons^™

Modeling Genomes To Phenomes To Populations In A Changing Climate: The Need For Collaborative Networks, Nika Galic, Allyson G. Hindle, John P. Delong, Karen Watanabe, Valery Forbes, C. Loren Buck

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Condensed Abstract

Climate is changing globally and its impacts can arise at different levels of biological organization; yet, cross-level consequences of climate change are still poorly understood. Designing effective environmental management and adaptation plans requires implementation of mechanistic models that span the biological hierarchy. Because biological systems are inherently complex and dynamic in nature, dealing with complexities efficiently necessitates simplification of systems or approximation of relevant processes, but there is little consensus on mathematical approaches to scale from genes to populations. Here we present an effort that aims to bring together groups that often do not interact, but that are …

Alleviating Poverty In Sub-Saharan Africa, Owen Dubeck

CMC Senior Theses

While most of the world has been able to dramatically reduce extreme poverty rates, Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to do so and is the only region in the world with more people living in extreme poverty than thirty years ago. This thesis will develop a policy framework for alleviating poverty by drawing from countries that are performing surprisingly well and poorly in the region. The thesis concludes with an analysis of whether education, health, or agricultural sectors should be receiving more or less funding based on expected rates of return and the feasibility of policy successes.

Accounting For Agent Heterogeneity In Market And Policy Analysis, Konstantinos Giannakas

Zea E-Books Collection

doi:10.13014/K2416V8V

This book presents a multi-market framework of market and policy analysis that explicitly accounts for the empirically relevant heterogeneity in consumer preferences and producer characteristics. The explicit consideration of consumer and producer heterogeneity represents a significant departure from the representative consumer and producer that have been at the center of most of the literature on market and policy analysis, and enables the distributional impacts of changes in market conditions and policies to be fully identified. The framework is used to analyze the system-wide market and welfare impacts of a number of changes in market conditions (like changes in consumer …

Three Essays In Applied Econometrics, Collin Dean Hodges

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The body of work presented here consists of a collection of research projects developed during my time as a graduate student at West Virginia University. As will soon become apparent, this collection of research topics is quite eclectic. This is, in part, due to the to the nature of the research process itself--where one often begins by asking one question and ends by answering a completely different one--but also due to the fact that my time at West Virginia University has provided me the opportunity to gain insight into a wide variety of economic fields as well as work on …

Investment Ramifications Of Distortionary Tax Subsidies, James R. Hines Jr., Jongsang Park

Articles

This paper examines the investment effects of tax subsidies for which some assets and not others are eligible. Distortionary tax subsidies concentrate investments in tax-favored assets, thereby reducing the expected pre-tax profitability of investment and reducing payoffs to bondholders in the event of default. Anticipation of asset substitution encourages lenders to require covenants in debt contracts, which only imperfectly address asset substitution and distort investment. The result is that borrowing is made more expensive, which in turn discourages investment. Borrowing rates can react so strongly that aggregate investment may rise very little, or even fall, in response to higher tax …

The Efficient Corruption Hypothesis And The Dynamics Between Economic Freedom, Corruption, And National Income, Joshua Hall, John Levendis, Alexandre R. Scarcioffolo

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Income, economic freedom, and corruption interact in complex ways as all three variables are arguably endogenous. We explicitly model this endogeneity using a panel VAR framework. The pVAR models we estimate are able to explicitly model this endogeneity better than the single-equation panel data models previously used in the literature. Using data on corruption and income from the World Bank and economic freedom from the Fraser Institute, we provide evidence that corruption and the absence of economic freedom have a negative effect on national income.

Building A Good Jobs Economy, Dani Rodrik, Charles F. Sabel

Faculty Scholarship

Conventional models are failing throughout the world. In the developed world, the welfare state-compensation model has been in retrenchment for some time, and the drawbacks of the neoliberal conception that has superseded it are increasingly evident. Yet there is no compelling alternative on offer. In the developing world, the conventional, tried-and-tested model of industrialization has run out of steam. In both sets of societies a combination of technological and economic forces (in particular, globalization) is creating or exacerbating productive/technological dualism, with a segment of advanced production in metropolitan areas that thrives on the uncertainty generated by the knowledge economy co-existing …

Essays On Capital Structure Of Nations, Giovanni Perez

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Essays On Energy Economics And Environmental Policies, Janak R. Joshi

Economics ETDs

This dissertation contains three distinct empirical chapters in applied energy and environmental economics. Each chapter focuses on a unique set of research questions, methods, and data. The unifying motivation therein concerns the development of renewable or alternative low-carbon energy sources as a policy response to the challenges of climate change mitigation, local and regional environmental quality issues, and energy security concerns. Economic and environmental evaluation of the energy policies coupled with understanding energy use patterns is of paramount importance. Together, the empirical chapters focus on demand, supply, and policy aspects of energy markets in the United States (US).

First, Chapter …

Sports Arenas, Teams And Property Values: Temporary And Permanent Shocks To Local Amenity Flows, Yulia Chikish, Brad Humphreys, Adam Nowak

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Professional sports facilities and teams generate local amenity flows in cities that may affect property values. Previous research shows evidence of important positive and negative local amenity flows based on case studies of changes in residential property values in specific cities. We analyze changes in residential property values in Oklahoma City over a period, 2000 to 2016, where both temporary and permanent exogenous shocks to local sports-related amenities occurred. Results from hedonic price models and repeat sales regression models show that nearby residential property prices increased after the opening of a new arena and the arrival of a new, permanent …

Professional Sports, Hurricane Katrina, And The Economic Redevelopment Of New Orleans: Revisited, Victor Matheson, Robert Baade, Callan Henderschott

Economics Department Working Papers

Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in late August 2005, resulting in damage to much of the city’s sports infrastructure and the temporary departure of both of New Orleans’ major league professional sports teams, the National Football League Saints and the National Basketball Association Hornets. The city spent over $500 million restoring the sports infrastructure in New Orleans, and both teams subsequently returned to the city. In addition, New Orleans has since hosted numerous mega-sporting events including the Super Bowl, NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, and several college football national championships. This paper examines the economic impact of …

The Rise And Fall (And Rise And Fall) Of The Olympic Games As An Economic Driver, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

This paper traces the economic history of major sporting events focusing on the Olympics. Historically, the Olympic Games as well as other major sporting events have been considered costly events that place a burden on host cities. Only in relatively recent years, coinciding with the massive increases in the cost of hosting these events, have event organizers begun to claim that these events bring with them large economic benefits.

Point/Counterpoint: Is There A Case For Subsidizing Sports Stadiums?, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

In recent decades, governments have committed enormous public resources to subsidize construction of new stadiums, and the dollar value of taxpayer contributions for these subsidies continues to climb. Spending of taxpayer dollars includes both direct subsidies from state and local governments, as well as indirect subsidies from the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance construction. In granting stadium subsidies, governments claim that the stadiums are a public good that attracts tourists and businesses, thereby generating increased spending and job creation—benefits that flow to the community rather than to team owners. But do such benefits exist, and are they large enough …

Analysis Of The Economic Development Of Statesboro, Georgia’S Blue Mile: A Structural Approach For Diversification, Cadence Dwyer

Honors College Theses

The Blue Mile has become a center for Statesboro’s Economic Development plan of business diversification and downtown revitalization. Downtown revitalization is important not only to existing businesses but also to expanding the property tax base. The gauging of revitalization and diversification in the field of community development has been overlooked in favor of qualitative generalizations. Burayidi’s Scorecard is used as a basis to establish a standard for the structural analysis tests conducted to measure business diversification.

Low Income Households Investment In Energy Efficient Appliances, Jieun Chang

Faculty Articles & Research

Introduction

•Does adopting energy efficient appliances reduce electricity consumption among low income households?

•Low income households: households below 150% of the federal poverty level

•Energy efficient appliances:

energy star refrigerators and energy star room air conditioners

The Effects Rebuilding The Century Link Stadium On Residential Property Values In King County Washington, Michael Hensley

Shared Knowledge Conference

The price tags associated with building sports centers have been ever increasing over the twentieth century, and with increases in those prices come increases in the public funding and subsidies required to fund them. Sports centers have been credited with having the potential of increasing tourism, employment, and public pride in metropolitan areas. However, the research has mostly shown negligible or adverse effects. We use a hedonic difference in difference approach to determine the effect of building the Century Link Field, a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington. We find that the building of the stadium was associated with an increase …

The Critical Need For Mental Health Education To Be Mandated In New Mexico's Public Schools, Bonnie L. Murphy

Shared Knowledge Conference

Based on a review of research and best practices in mental health awareness and skills, this inquiry project argues for state legislative policies that would require mental health awareness and skills in the K-12 curriculum. Mental health affects individual accomplishments in every stage of people’s lives beginning in early childhood and throughout the life cycle. Prevention and treatment of mental illness plays a key role in the ability of an individual to cope with loss and develop resiliency and perseverance in challenging times and to make better decisions that improve the individual’s life and the lives of those around them. …

Strategic Sequential Bidding For Government Land Auction Sales – Evidence From Singapore, Sumit Agarwal, Jing Li, Ernie Teo, Alan Cheong

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies the extent to which equilibrium auction prices are pushed up sequentially due to strategic bidding behaviors in government land auction sales. Using a unique dataset that covers the universe of tendering prices submitted by all developers for all residential land auction sales in Singapore, we find that a tenderer’s bids are significantly higher where there was a previous land parcel sold within two years and located within four kilometers. The elevated price margin decreases with time and geographic distance. Tracking sequential bids submitted by same developers over time, we find that the incumbent winner of a previous …

The Impact Of In-House Unnatural Death On Property Values: Evidence From Hong Kong, Zheng Chang, Jing Li

Research Collection School Of Economics

The occurrence of in-house unnatural death could negatively affect the value of housing property. This study evaluates the geographic and temporal scope of the impact of unnatural death on property values in Hong Kong. By exploiting the spatial and intertemporal variation of the shock in a difference-in-differences approach, we find significant negative externalities of unnatural death incidence on neighborhood housing values. On average, units in which an unnatural death occurred experience a 25% drop in value following the death. Nearby units on the same floor also show a significant price drop of 4.5%. Prices of units on other floors of …

Could An Alternative Policy Design Have Produced A Stronger Mortgage Modification Outcome For Hamp?, Sean Macdonald

Publications and Research

This paper conducts a study of the relative effectiveness of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) - the primary federal mortgage loan modification program - from early 2009 through 2016. It evaluates U.S. Treasury Department and other data sources, and reviews the recent literature on the relative success of the program. The analysis suggests that HAMP’s success rate in modifying mortgage loans was likely constrained by its voluntary design, a structure that enabled lenders and servicers to prioritize the interests of investors in assessing the risks of modification. It then considers the economic issues surrounding the foreclosure issue and presents …

The Onset, Spread, And Prevention Of Mass Atrocities: Perspectives From Network Models, Charles H. Anderton, Jurgen Brauer

Economics Department Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Country/Economies At Stage Of Development With Movement In Rankings Of Countries On Global Competitiveness, Pradip K. Shukla, M. P. Shukla, Y. P. Shukla, A. P. Shukla

Business Faculty Articles and Research

With close to 200 countries in the world today, these countries are at various stages of development from less developed to more develop; these stages are often labeled in a rising numerical sequence such as Stage 1 to 3. Countries in the world compete in a global economy to benefit their domestic firms and citizens. As countries move to a higher stage of economic development they offer more global competitiveness for global businesses seeking new markets for sales, offshore outsourcing, and investments.

“The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business …

Does Manufacturing Sophistication Lead To Higher Demand For Vocational Workers? Evidence From Indonesia, Padang Wicaksono, Lionel Priyadi

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

Indonesia post-crisis manufacturing growth has been dominated by technologically sophisticated industry. Hypothetically, this development would increase the demand for skilled and more specialized workers like vocational school graduates. However, statistical evidences show that manufacturing sophistication stimulated by integration with the Global Production Network increase demand for vocational as well as general high school graduates. Moreover, higher demand does not necessarily result in sustainable career prospect, as many vocational graduates still have limited opportunity to improve their skills while climbing the seniority ladder possibly caused by shifting Global Value Chain from export-oriented toward domestic market-oriented that affect the industry's technological complexity.

The Relationship Of Vat Rate And Revenues In The Case Of Informality, Riatu M. Qibthiyyah

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This study explored relationship between tax rate and revenues in the case of VAT, one of few type of consumption taxes that is considered to be a broad-based tax. Based on a larger set of countries - in comparison to previous studies, this study shows VAT rate has an inverted U-shaped relationship to VATÂ revenues, confirming the Laffer Curve theory. Exploring further on the effect of informality to maximum VAT rate, we found that higher informality will reduce government flexibility in its effort to increase tax rate. Furthermore, openness has significant and positive effect on VAT revenues performance, and tax …

Income Inequality Between Formal-Informal Employees Based On Education Group, Dias Satria

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

Integrally, the informal sector deals with the formal sector with pro-cyclical nature or as a complementary sector. Such conditions allow for wage disparity between sectors even in the same education group. Thus, this study seeks to determine the determinants of wage inequality between formal and informal employees in skilled and unskilled workers in Indonesia in 2017 using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. The results showed that the discrimination factor had a greater influence than the endowment factor on wage inequality and the endowment factors that contributed to the increase in wage inequality between the two groups were age squared, experience, and job training.

Recent Developments In Indonesia's Macro-Economy And Trade, Q1-2018, Febrio Kacaribu

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This paper discusses Indonesia's macroeconomic and trade development in the first quarter of 2018. The macroeconomic data shows that the industrial growth was inhibited by regulatory regime inconsistency, while consumption growth still lagged overall GDP growth, and investment growth tended to rise. The trade data shows that the non-oil-and-gas commodities dominated its export, although the commodities terms-of-trade declined. Indonesia's imports were mostly used as raw and auxiliary materials for the input of domestic production. The data also reveals that the larger the firms, the stronger tendency that they have comparative advantage in capital-intensive commodities, and vice versa.

Modification Of The Regulatory Impact Assessment On Indonesia's Economic Policies, Kiki Verico

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This paper modifies the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) method in Indonesia's trade, investment, and industrial incentive policies. First, it analyses the Indonesian Bilateral Trade Agreements of Indonesia - Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) and Indonesia - Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement (IP-PTA) This paper found if the trading partner has GNI per capita higher than Indonesia's then the expected outcome was the increasing FDI inflows and if its GNI per capita lower therefore the most top foreseeable result was the rising net trade balance of Indonesia. Second, it analyses industrial sector incentive analysis and found that firms prefer supply-side than fiscal …

Traveling With Joel, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Kovel’s contributions to a critique of psychiatry, of political theory and of the ruination of the biosphere have been pathfinding, highly revered, and reviewed and debated in highly prestigious journals and publications such as The New York Times. His work with revolutionaries around the globe (including sojourns in Nicaragua during the Sandinista revolution as just one of many examples), and his achievements alongside some of the leading political activists worldwide have secured for Kovel a premier place in the history of the left. But notoriety is not what drives Kovel’s work. What drives Kovel’s work is a relentless struggle for …

Toxic Effects Of Lead Disposal In Water: An Analysis Of Tri Facility Releases, Patrick Koval

Economics Department Working Papers

Using county-level TRI data from 2003 to 2016, I find evidence that lead emissions in water adversely affect birth weights within the emitting county, especially with respect to the percentage of births considered low birth weight within that county (less than 2,500 grams). I find that a one percent increase in lead emissions per square mile increases the proportion of low birth weights by 0.27 percentage points. For a county with an average number of births in a particular year, this one percent increase in lead per square mile translates to an additional $475,000 in hospitalization costs from complications with …

Smart Sentencing Guidelines: The Effect Of Marginal Policy Changes On Recidivism, Sarah M. Estelle, David C. Phillips

Faculty Publications

Public appeals regarding criminal justice have shifted somewhat from “tough on crime” to “smart justice” that is more lenient when tradeoffs merit it. Among other considerations, smart sentencing policy depends on how sentence severity affects recidivism. Using administrative data on two common non-violent felonies committed by adults in Michigan, we measure the effect of sentences on offenders' future criminal activity. Discontinuities in the legislative guidelines that constrain sentences chosen by Michigan judges provide exogenous variation in sentence severity. Harsher sentences generated by sentencing guidelines significantly reduce recidivism by felony shoplifters but not repeat drunk drivers. Recidivism falls most for young, …