Economic Theory Commons^™

Working Paper No. 54, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen And Ecological Economics, Miriam Silverman

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that in his book The Entropy Law and the Economic Process [1971] (2013), author Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen provides a foundation for Ecological Economics. The Entropy Law implies that the economic process is limited because it is reliant on finite natural resources, e.g., fossil fuels and minerals, as the economic process involves relying upon low-entropy natural resources in the production of consumer goods, and then results in the discarding of high-entropy waste, e.g., heat in the form of CO₂ and other greenhouse gasses, into the environment, eventually resulting in noticeable degradation. Notably, these ideas from Georgescu-Roegen’s …

Working Paper No. 59, Cultural Imperialism And Hegemony, Maria Zavala

Working Papers in Economics

While the traditional colonial imperialism of France and Great Britain ended after World War Two, it can be argued that a new form of imperialism replaced it. What is known as “cultural imperialism” includes the art of inserting a covert idea into person's mind by use of popular culture. Herein, Antonio Gramsci’s ideas of cultural imperialism are contemplated. This paper explores the topic by focusing upon some of the effects that popular American music has had on Latin music and the changes in culturally acceptable trends that have followed. Then, American beauty standards and the Eurocentric beauty standards of Latin …

Working Paper No. 64, Ecological Economics Versus Environmental Economics, Audrey Demeaux

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the field within the Discipline of Economic Science known as Ecological Economics is based upon assumptions and methodological foundations that differ from the field of Environmental Economics. It shall be argued that Environmental Economics did not emerge as the result of a new shift in economic thinking, but rather formed around a reorientation of standard neoclassical assumptions. This was undertaken in an effort to address environmental issues emerging several decades back. In contrast, it shall be argued that the field of Ecological Economics has brought to the Economics Discipline an appreciation for novel assumptions …

Working Paper No. 66, Sir John Bowring, Trade Policies And Economic Development In Siam, Jackrit Kamudhamas

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that during the mid-19th century Sir John Bowring emerged as a proponent who formulated distinct trade policies that served to promote the economic development of Siam (Thailand). This thesis is supported with three parts. The first part investigates the trade policies of the Burney Treaty as the first step towards the initiation of a new form of foreign trade policies between Siam and the British Empire and other western countries. The second part explores further Sir Bowing’s thoughts and his mission in achieving the adjusting agreements of the Bowring Treaty. And lastly, the third part …

Working Paper No. 65, On Debt, Enclosure And Witchcraft, Anonymous

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the process of commons-enclosure taking place in 14th-16th century Europe also required an “enclosure” of the female body, which was carried out by introducing radically novel conceptions of debt. The dual processes of bodily dispossession and debt imposition acted as a single force which is paradoxically the origin and effect of capitalist accumulation. This process began in Europe during the period of “transition” between feudalism and capitalism but has remained an essential component of capitalist accumulation through to globalization in contemporary times. To support this thesis, this inquiry considers the evolution of debt; the …

Essays On Social Choice And Implementation Theory, Paulo Daniel Salles Ramos

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We present here three essays. The first two are about Social Choice Theory and explore under what domain restrictions is possible to obtain a Social Choice Function that is Well Behaved as well as Monotonic, and what other characteristics can be inferred about such functions on that domain. The last essay is about Implementation Theory and explore how to obtain a more compelling form of implementation than pure Nash Equilibrium for finite environments using finite mechanisms.

Effect Of Monetary Policy Rate On Market Interest Rates In Nigeria: A Threshold And Nardl Approach, Oluwafemi E. Awopegba, Joseph O. Afolabi, Lydia T. Adeoye, Godwin O. Akpokodje

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study examines the effect of monetary policy rate (MPR) on market interest rates in Nigeria. For parsimony, we develop two indexes called the short-term interest rate (SINT) and Lending interest rate (LINT) to represent deposit and lending rates respectively. The nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) and threshold regression models are adopted. The study uses monthly data from 2002:M1 to 2019:M12. The results of the threshold regression model indicate that the degree of the effect of MPR on SINT and LINT above the estimated threshold of 11 and 13 percent respectively is greater and significant than if MPR were to …

Social Dimension Of Inclusive Growth In Ecowas: Implication For Poverty Reduction, Toriola K. Anu, Goerge O. Emmanuel, Ajayi O. Felix

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study investigates the implication of the social dimension of inclusive growth on poverty reduction in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries. It specifically examines how social indices of inclusive growth comprising of income inequality, education, and health outcomes affect poverty reduction. The study uses a panel dataset of the six (6) lower-middle income countries in ECOWAS which was analysed via panel Difference Generalised Method of Moment (D-GMM). The results show that GDP per capita exerts significant negative effect on poverty while inequality, education and health outcomes do not show significant effect on poverty. Although, the estimates of …

Effect Of Fdi Inflows On Employment Generation In Selected Ecowas Countries: Heterogeneous Panel Analysis, Timothy A. Aderemi, Olawunmi Omitogun, Bukonla G. Osisanwo

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of FDI on employment in ECOWAS sub region between 1990 and 2019. The study utilizes a panel autoregressive distributed lag model to analyse the short run and long run relationship between FDI and employment across ECOWAS sub region. In the short run, the impact of FDI on employment is negative and statistically not significant. Meanwhile, in the long run FDI has a positive and statistically significant impact on employment rate. This implies that FDI has the capacity to generate employment in countries in ECOWAS sub region. Therefore, this study recommends …

Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On The Nigeria Stock Market: A Sectoral Stock Prices Analysis, Peter A. Adekunle, Yakubu A. Bello, Udochukwu G. Nwachukwu

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sectoral stock prices in Nigeria stock market using daily data covering from February 28, 2020 to June 26, 2020. Applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test, the study finds that COVID-19 pandemic had adverse impact on the stock market indices in the short run. Furthermore, the study documents negative response of sectoral stock prices to the pandemic while the stock prices of the banking sub-sector are the worst hit. Compared to the consumer goods, and industrial subsector indices, the speed of adjustment to long run equilibrium is faster for …

300 Anniversary Of Smith’ Birth, Vernon L. Smith

ESI Working Papers

Thousand-word brief on key quotes from Adam Smith’s two books (TMS, WN) modelling Society and Economy.

Political Legitimacy In Historical Political Economy, Avner Greif, Jared Rubin

ESI Working Papers

Political legitimacy has long been recognized in the social sciences as an integral component of governance. It encourages obedience without the threat of force, thus lowering governing costs and improving the efficacy of policies. This chapter begins by overviewing the extensive literature on political legitimacy, classifying studies by whether they are based on the beliefs (regarding the legitimacy of the authority) or effectiveness (good governance is legitimate governance). Among the studies focusing on beliefs, most take legitimacy as an exogenous element of political authority. We develop a conceptual framework to study how beliefs regarding political legitimacy form endogenously and impact …

Review Of Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism, Jared Rubin

ESI Publications

A review of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by Benjamin M. Friedman

Weak Identification Of Long Memory With Implications For Inference, Jia Li, Peter C. B. Phillips, Shuping Shi, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper explores weak identification issues arising in commonly used models of economic and financial time series. Two highly popular configurations are shown to be asymptotically observationally equivalent: one with long memory and weak autoregressive dynamics, the other with antipersistent shocks and a near-unit autoregressive root. We develop a data-driven semiparametric and identification-robust approach to inference that reveals such ambiguities and documents the prevalence of weak identification in many realized volatility and trading volume series. The identification-robust empirical evidence generally favors long memory dynamics in volatility and volume, a conclusion that is corroborated using social-media news flow data.

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

Essays In Advertising, Regulation And Consumer Naivety, Aastha Gupta

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that focus on the theoretical analysis of regulation of firm’s communication regarding the quality of its product and the impact of such regulation on market outcome.

The first essay, “Advertising Through Influencers and Disclosure Regulation”, focuses on the recent FTC regulations which require mandatory disclosure of all paid advertising content through social media influencers. This chapter investigates the impact of this disclosure policy on market outcomes when the influencer has the expertise to evaluate product quality and influence the beliefs of both potential buyers as well as the firm. In markets where the influencers …

How Do Reward Versus Penalty Framed Incentives Affect Diagnostic Performance In Auditing?, Bright (Yue) Hong, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Working Papers

Prior research examines how rewards versus economically equivalent penalties affect effort. However, accountants perform various diagnostic analyses that involve more than exerting effort. For example, auditors often need to identify whether a material misstatement is the underlying cause of a phenomenon among the possible causes. Testing helps identify the cause, but testing is costly. When participants are incentivized to test accurately (rather than test more) and objectively (unbiased between testing and not testing), we find that framing the incentives as rewards versus equivalent penalties increases testing by lowering the subjective testing criterion and by increasing the assessed risk of material …

Motives For Cooperation In The One-Shot Prisoner’S Dilemma, Mark Schneider, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Working Papers

We investigate the motives for cooperation in the one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD). A prior study finds that cooperation rates in one-shot PD games can be ranked empirically by the social surplus from cooperation. That study employs symmetric payoffs from cooperation in simultaneous PD games. Hence, in that setting, it is not possible to discern the motives for cooperation since three prominent social welfare criteria, social surplus (efficiency) preferences, Rawlsian maximin preferences, and inequity aversion make the same predictions. In the present paper, we conduct an experiment to identify which of these social preferences best explains differences in cooperation rates and …

Assessing The Impact Of Inequality On Political Activity And Class Consciousness, Matthew Prouty

Thinking Matters Symposium

Since 1980, the United States has experienced stagnating wages, higher levels of inequality, and intensifying political polarization. Despite this, U.S. domestic economic policy has not undergone the fundamental transformation needed to combat these systemic challenges. Why have these policies remained in place when they have a negative impact on the aggregate working class, and why has the working class not used American Democracy to change these policies? Could it be that the rising inequality has led to reduced political engagement with the remaining voters being more devout participants to their ideology than effective policy? Although there is an abundance of …

Sustainable Rural Development: Is It Possible To Boost Rural Economies While Protecting The Environment?, Jack M. Hempleman

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Amidst rapid depletion of our carbon budget, the need to change our practices to be more in line with Earth’s limits has become important in every sector of our economy. From advances in renewable energy generation to the growth of urban gardening, people around the world are taking action to change the way they interact with our planet. However, growing concerns have been raised that protections for the environment will disproportionately harm struggling communities. For instance, rural communities in the United States already exhibit disproportionately high poverty rates, income inequality, and unemployment, as well as lower quality healthcare and public …