Economic Theory Commons^™

Discrete Rule Learning In First Price Auctions, Jason Shachat, Lijia Wei

ESI Working Papers

We present a hidden Markov model of discrete strategic heterogeneity and learning in first price independent private values auctions. The model includes three latent bidding rules: constant absolute mark-up, constant percentage mark-up, and strategic best response. Rule switching probabilities depend upon a bidder's past auction outcomes and a myopic reinforcement learning dynamic. We apply this model to a new experiment that varies the number of bidders and the auction frame between forward and reverse. We find the proportion of bidders following constant absolute mark-up increases with experience, and is higher when the number of bidders is large. The primary driver …

Working Paper No. 77, Deconstructing The Kardashian-Based Economy, Alec Van Rossum

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that connections can indeed be made between Thorstein Veblen's contributions towards our understanding of social stratification related to patterns of consumption, and the rise in importance of the Kardashian family. We take Veblen’s seminal and enduring book, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions [1899] and relate some of the ideas therein to what is being coined herein as a “Kardashian-Based Economy.” By drawing connections between selected ideas that Veblen's advanced, and some of the influences displayed by some members of the Kardashian family on consumer culture, we aim to understand …

Endogenous Political Legitimacy: The Tudor Roots Of England’S Constitutional Governance, Avner Greif, Jared Rubin

ESI Working Papers

This paper highlights the importance of endogenous changes in the foundations of legitimacy for political regimes. It focuses on the central role of legitimacy changes in the rise of constitutional monarchy in England. It first defines legitimacy and briefly elaborates a theoretical framework enabling a historical study of this unobservable variable. It proceeds to substantiate that the low-legitimacy, post-Reformation Tudor monarchs of the 16th century promoted Parliament to enhance their legitimacy, thereby changing the legislative process from the “Crown and Parliament” to the “Crown in Parliament” that still prevails in England.

Philanthropic Traditions In Religions; A Comparative Study Of Jews, Islam, And Christianity, Ahmad Sobiyanto, Nurwahidin Nurwahidin

Journal Middle East and Islamic Studies

The philanthropic tradition is one of the recommended acts of worship in Islam which is part of the pillar of Islam, zakat. However, it turns out that this tradition also developed in other religions and became interesting to learn. The purpose of this study is to describe qualitatively about philanthropic traditions in the teachings of major religions in the middle east, namely Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Descriptive qualitative method (using content analysis techniques) is a type of literature research through books, journals and other relevant sources used in this research. That the religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity each have …

The Application Of Transactional Fairness To The Gambling Sector, Seamus Mcgowan, Adam Rivers

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The idea of ‘fairness’ in consumer protection has been discussed for a long time. However, more recently there has been a renewed focus on the use of unfair pricing practices and terms in consumer markets and regulators and lawmakers are responding. Practices which can be considered unfair often emerge as companies develop new and innovative ways to engage with consumers including offering different prices and / or terms to different sets of customers.

Being ‘fair and open’ is an important principle for gambling regulation. In that context, this paper focusses on fairness in gambling markets and seeks to develop a …

Reproductive Inequality In Humans And Other Mammals, Cody T. Ross, Paul L. Hooper, Jennifer E. Smith, Adrian V. Jaeggi, Eric Alden Smith, Sergey Gavrilets, Fatema Tuz Zohora, John Ziker, Dimitris Xygalatas, Emily E. Wroblewski, Brian Wood, Bruce Winterhalder, Kai P. Willführ, Aiyana K. Willard, Kara Walker, Christopher Von Rueden, Eckart Voland, Claudia Valeggia, Bapu Vaitla, Samuel Urlacher, Mary Towner, Chun-Yi Sum, Lawrence S. Sugiyama, Karen B. Strier, Kathrine Starkweather, Daniel Major-Smith, Mary Shenk, Rebecca Sear, Edmond Seabright, Ryan Schacht, Brooke Scelza, Shane Scaggs, Jonathan Salerno, Caissa Revilla-Minaya, Daniel Redhead, Anne Pusey, Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Eleanor A. Power, Anne Pisor, Jenni Pettay, Susan Perry, Abigail E. Page, Luis Pacheco-Cobos, Kathryn Oths, Seung-Yun Oh, David Nolin, Daniel Nettle, Cristina Moya, Andrea Bamberg Migliano, Karl J. Mertens, Rita A. Mcnamara, Richard Mcelreath, Siobhan Mattison, Eric Massengill, Frank Marlowe, Felicia Madimenos, Shane Macfarlan, Virpi Lummaa, Roberto Lizarralde, Ruizhe Liu, Melissa A. Liebert, Sheina Lew-Levy, Paul Leslie, Joseph Lanning, Karen Kramer, Jeremy Koster, Hillard S. Kaplan, Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, A. Magdalena Hurttado, Kim Hill, Barry Hewlett, Samili Helle, Thomas Headland, Janet Headland, Michael Gurven, Gianluca Grimalda, Russell Greaves, Christopher D. Golden, Irene Godoy, Mhairi Gibson, Claire El Mouden, Mark Dyble, Patricia Draper, Sean Downey, Angelina L. Demarco, Helen Elizabeth Davis, Stefani Crabtree, Carmen Cortez, Heidi Colleran, Emma Cohen, Gregory Clark, Julia Clark, Mark A. Caudell, Chelsea E. Carminito, John Bunce, Adam Boyette, Samuel Bowles, Tami Blumenfield, Bret Beheim, Stephen Beckerman, Quentin Atkinson, Coren Apicella, Nurul Alam, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder

ESI Publications

To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited …

Feeling The Heat: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects Of Heat On Human Cooperation, Scott K. Klaus

Master's Theses

The goal of this paper is to examine how increased temperatures affect human behavior in terms of cooperation. Currently, there is an abundance of literature regarding increased aggression in humans as temperatures rise. However, there is ambiguity concerning whether a similar effect exists in altering levels of cooperation in human interactions. Additionally, people of different characteristics may be influenced by heat at varying levels. First, we run a baseline model of prosociality on different heat measurements, such as standard and wet-bulb temperatures. Included in this model are experimental specification variables, a “trigger”, and characteristics. The trigger is defined as losing …

Charity Begins At Home: Investigating How Culture Shapes In-Group Bias In Altruistic Behavior, Angira Shukla

Master's Theses

The paper builds a structural model of altruistic transfers based on identity matches with another individual and estimates the weights that people place on the characteristic matches. We also take a comparative look at the role of culture in these transfers. The culture here is trying to contrast a traditional society versus a cosmopolitan one. I run an experiment in India to examine these differences. I find that in both the urban and rural samples individuals tend to give more to girls and donate largely on the basis of the need of the receiver. I also find that the rural …

The Unique Challenges Of The Carbon Offsetting And Reduction Scheme For International Aviation (Corsia), Olajumoke Abisola Rosemary Oginni

Major Papers

Air transportation is a particularly contentious issue in climate disputes. This concern is because they emit emissions like those produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. Consequently, the aviation industry is recognized as one of the top ten emitters in the world, with emissions expected to soar. As the emissions from the industry begin to rise, the increase raises serious environmental concerns about its global impact and influence on people on the ground. When non-CO2 effects are excluded, aviation emissions began to account for 2.1% of global emissions, leading the aviation industry, national governments, civil society, and international organizations to …

Exploring The Adoption And Impact Of Bitcoin: A Comparative Analysis, Zachary S. Biedscheid

2023 Symposium

Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency, has gained significant attention recently as a potential alternative to traditional financial systems. This research project aims to explore the adoption and impact of Bitcoin by conducting a comparative analysis of its use in different countries and regions. The study will begin by examining the history and evolution of Bitcoin, its underlying technology, and its potential advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional financial systems. The project will then investigate Bitcoin adoption in different regions, including North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, by analyzing data from relevant sources such as surveys, news articles, and academic research. …

Breaking The Promise: The Burden Of Unfunded Liabilities On Future Generations, Thomas Savidge

Helm's School of Government Conference

This paper discusses the trillions of dollars in government debt accumulated by state governments as well as the costs of debt on future generations. It examines unfunded pension liabilities, unfunded other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities, as well as state bonded obligations and the crowding out effect of public debt onto state budgets. The paper also discusses opportunities for reform that can help alleviate the debt burden on future generations. Data are collected from state annual comprehensive financial reports (ACFRs) as well as public pension and OPEB actuarial valuations.

Trade, Globalism, And The American System, Johnny B. Davis

Helm's School of Government Conference

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Rule Of Law And Property Rights On Development And Economic Growth: A Comparative Analysis Of Cameroon And Côte D'Ivoire, Raoul Tayou Tayou

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The issues of economic growth and development occupy a central place in the studies of underdeveloped or developing countries. Many solutions have been proposed, including foreign aid or institutional reforms. This last aspect is the subject of this research, particularly the rule of law and the property rights.Analyzing what is the impact of these two institutions on economic growth and development is at the center of my dynamic. Over a period from 1960 to 2022, I carry out a comparative study of the growth, and development trajectories of two countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which share the same demographics: Cameroon, and …

Mediated Cheap Talk With An Uncertain-Biased Expert, Xianzheng Sun

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

When bridging between experts and audiences, media firms often have their own biases which give them the incentive to manipulate information deliveries. This paper studies a cheap talk game in which media firms(moderators) can strategically design the delivery of experts’ messages to decision makers. A moderator is allowed to affect the delivery of messages by selecting experts and informing the decision-maker about the experts’ biases. I show that moderators can in equilibrium send partition-type messages to inform the receiver of experts’ biases, and moderation can improve communication informativeness.

Government Policy And The Housing Bubble, Hannah Reynolds, Hannah Reynolds

Honors College Theses

The housing market bubble was created by market forces and exacerbated by government regulations. The government policies implemented incentivized certain behaviors by investors that exacerbated the housing bubble beyond what would have occurred “naturally.” The policy under analysis for this research is the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1995. The CRA made affordable-housing initiatives more enforceable and results-driven. These revisions produced unintended consequences in the economy in the form of incentives to give out risky loans. Statistical analysis through difference of means tests show that there is a low level of confidence in statistical significance between the CRA and increased …

Does Family Size Moderate The Relation Between Resource Transfers And Intimate Partner Violence Rates?, Paul Gramling

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual, or psychological abuse within an intimate relationship. It is a global issue, particularly for women in developing countries where data show higher rates of IPV for these women than in developed countries. IPV can lead to physical harm, chronic health problems, and even death. It also has negative effects on mental health, economic stability, and the overall well-being of the woman and their children. Family size has been shown to be a predictor of IPV risk; women from larger families face a higher risk. Cash transfer programs in developing countries have been …

Essays On The Economics Of Sports Wagering Markets, Jacob Lamb

All Dissertations

Economists have long been enamored with using wagering markets and sports data to answer various economic questions. Wagering market data are readily available to answer any number of questions relating to sports and economics. However, most studies surrounding wagering markets have focused on searching for inefficiencies and, consequently, profitable betting strategies against the house. This dissertation takes a different approach, focusing on the information that can be extracted from efficient wagering markets and using that information to answer economic questions. Rather than hunting for inefficiencies, this dissertation confirms the efficiency of wagering markets and uses wagering markets to answer questions …

Systems Thinking As A Method For Leveraging Smart Classrooms, Jazmyne V. Del Hierro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Digital technologies have revolutionized enterprises across our personal lives, and most major industries. The digital transformation can be considered a strategic response to digital trends (Vial, 2019), encompassing substantial changes in society and industry caused by technology development (Taj, et al., 2010). It is a complex journey that needs to be guided by clear strategy. Digital transformation is more about people, than it is about technology (Frankiewiczz, B., 2020). It requires organizational changes that are backed by leadership and driven by challenges to culture (Abbu, H., 2022). Digital transformation requires leaders to build trust (Mugge, Abbu, and Gudergan 2021; Gudergan …

The American Dream: Living Paycheck To Paycheck, Benjamin Henwood

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

A debate that has gained traction due to recent economic circumstances is how the United States government should raise the federal minimum wage, and if they should raise it at all. I propose the United States government should raise the federal minimum wage by implementing a living wage or tying the federal minimum wage to inflation. Implementing a living wage would benefit workers as it would cover the cost of living in their geographic area. It would also benefit employers as their employees would be getting paid according to their needs rather than being paid a blanket wage that may …

Continuous Implementation With Payoff Knowledge, Yi-Chun Chen, Takashi Kunimoto, Yifei Sun

Research Collection School Of Economics

The literature on robust mechanism design assumes players' knowledge about a fixed payoff environment and investigates global robustness of optimal mechanisms to large changes in the information structure. Acknowledging global robustness as a demanding requirement, we propose continuous implementation as a notion of local robustness. Keeping the assumption of payoff knowledge, we say that an SCF is continuously implementable if there exists a mechanism which yields the outcome close to the desired one for all types close to the planner's initial model. We show that when a generic correlation condition is imposed on the class of interdependent-value environments, any (interim) …