Other Economics Commons^™

A Complement, Not A Competitor: How Public Markets Can Support Business Districts In Worcester, Ron M. Barron

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible economic and community development impacts of entry-level public markets (e.g. fixed location markets, farmers markets, etc.) on the communities in which they operate. While there is extensive literature around their benefits to vendors, community health and public space, there is comparative little on the interplay between these markets and more traditional brick and mortar businesses. The background and definition of these markets, the basic common characteristics that define them, and some of the benefits they can offer for economic and community development are each explored. It then examines two different …

The Relationship Between Water Shortage Concern And Age In Utah, Viviane S. Baji

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

It is unclear whether current water supplies in Utah will be able to accommodate the needs of the future. Population in the state is expected to double by 2050 and climate change models predict declines in water availability in the region. Public perceptions of the adequacy of the water supply (and concerns about potential shortages) are key factors that could influence water use behaviors and support for public policy interventions. This paper explores the research question: "Are young people in Utah more concerned about water shortages than older cohorts?" It was expected that young people would be more concerned about …

The Market Potential For Food And Agricultural Tourism In Utah, Miranda Bradshaw

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tourism is one of the largest and most economically important industries in Utah. Local businesses and government agencies may increase their tourism-related profits through targeted marketing and product development. As tourists may differ from one another in terms of trip planning, party size, the activities they participate in, and more, it is important to understand who tourists are. The primary research purpose of this study was to explore and better understand the different types of tourists who visit Utah.

Data on tourists were collected through an in-person survey. This data was then used to place tourists into groups according to …

An Experimental Investigation Of Procurement Auctions With Asymmetric Sellers, John Aloysius, Cary A. Deck, Li Hao, Ryan French

ESI Publications

Electronic reverse auctions are a commonly used procurement mechanism. Research to date has focused on suppliers who are ex ante symmetric in that their costs are drawn from a common distribution. However, in many cases a seller's range of potential costs depends on their own operations, location, or economies of scale and scope. Thus, understanding how different bidder types impact auction outcomes is key when designing an auction. This paper reports the results of the first controlled laboratory experiment designed to compare prices between first-price and second-price procurement auctions for homogeneous goods when seller cost types are asymmetric and the …

The Fair And Impartial Spectator, Vernon L. Smith

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Adam Smith’s metaphor of the impartial spectator is an essential element in understanding his model of the maturation process whereby people learn to follow general rules that honor the human sentiments of gratitude and resentment in others. Through the impartial spectator human action, subject to error, is governed by self-command. Smith’s model is presented in the form of a series of propositions.

Can Nba Teams Benefit From Losing?, Ryan P. Hallisey

Honors Scholar Theses

It has been speculated that franchises in the NBA (national basketball association) lose on purpose because of the benefits that coincide with a team having a poor overall record. Teams that perform the worst are given the highest draft selections in the following season's rookie player draft, thus theoretically improving their chances of becoming a more winning team. Previous economists have used various methodology to prove that NBA teams do in fact lose on purpose; or tank. This paper builds upon this previous methodology to examine the direct impact, negative or positive, that losing on purpose has had on various …

Salience, Framing, And Decisions Under Risk, Uncertainty, And Time, Jonathan W. Leland, Mark Schneider

ESI Working Papers

We propose a comparative model of decision making under risk, uncertainty, and time, in which large differences in payoffs and probabilities or dates of receipt are perceived as salient and overweighted in the evaluation process. The predictions of the model depend on what differences are compared across alternatives which, in turn, depends on how the choice is framed. We formalize a class of matrix-based frames which applies to decisions under risk, uncertainty, and time, and we specify two important types of frames within this class: minimal frames which provide the simplest representation of choice alternatives, and transparent frames which make …

State Dependent Price Setting Rules Under Implicit Thresholds: An Experiment, Justin Deloy Leblanc, Andrea Civelli, Cary A. Deck, Klajdi Bregu

ESI Publications

How firms make their pricing decisions is a fundamental question of macroeconomics. We use a laboratory experiment to examine individual choices in a price updating task that provide insight into how well state dependent models reflect behavior. We find that in general subjects behave as if they recognize the importance of a state dependent pricing strategy, but they are unable to ascertain this threshold with precision and they also exhibit a substantial degree of time dependence. As a result, they update prices too frequently, and perform statistically significantly fewer real effort profit-generating tasks than theoretically optimal under full state dependence, …

Ec 845 Nebraska Cash Soybean Prices And Basis Patterns, Jessica J. Groskopf, Cory Walters

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Alcohol Use On Economic Decision Making, Klajdi Bregu, Cary Deck, Lindsay Ham, Salar Jahedi

ESI Working Papers

It is notoriously hard to study the effect of alcohol on decision making, given the selection that takes place in who drinks alcohol and when they choose to do so. In a controlled laboratory experiment, we study the causal effect of alcohol on economic decision making. We examine the impact of alcohol on the following types of tasks: math and logic, uncertainty, overconfidence, strategic games, food choices, anchoring, and altruism. Our results indicate that alcohol consumption, as measured by the blood alcohol concentration (BAC), increases cooperation in strategic settings and altruism in Dictator games. We do not find any effects …

Optimal Tilts, Malcom Baker, Terence C. Burnham, Ryan Taliaferro

ESI Working Papers

We examine the optimal weighting of four characteristic tilts in US equity markets over the period from 1968 through 2014. We define a “tilt” as a positive-Sharpe-ratio, characteristicbased portfolio strategy that requires relatively low annual turnover and a “trade” as a characteristic-based portfolio strategy that requires relatively high annual turnover and liquidity demands. Size is a tilt, because of its very low turnover; high frequency reversal is a trade. This dichotomy is necessary to make practical use of Fama-French style factor regressions. Unlike low-turnover tilts, a full history of transaction costs and an estimate of capacity is critical to determine …

North Borderplex Retail Gasoline Price Fluctuations: 2000-2013, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., A. A. Jiménez, Adam G. Walke

Border Region Modeling Project

Previous studies show that a variety of different variables influence retail gasoline price fluctuations. In the case of El Paso, Texas, those variables would include wholesale gasoline prices, local economic conditions, weather, and, more uniquely, cross-border economic variables associated with Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, in Mexico. To analyze the contributions of these variables to monthly price movements for gasoline in El Paso, a theoretical model is specified. From the latter construct, a reduced form equation is extracted. That specification is then expressed within an error correction framework to allow accounting for both long-run and short-run behaviors in this metropolitan economy. Results …

Arousal And Economic Decision Making, Salar Jahedi, Cary Deck, Dan Ariely

ESI Working Papers

Previous experiments have found that subjecting participants to cognitive load leads to poorer decision making, consistent with dual-system models of behavior. Rather than taxing the cognitive system, this paper reports the results of an experiment that takes a complementary approach: arousing the emotional system. The results indicate that exposure to arousing visual stimuli as compared to neutral images has a negligible impact on performance in arithmetic tasks, impatience, risk taking in the domain of losses, and snack choice although we find that arousal modestly increases in risk-taking in the gains domain and increases susceptibility to anchoring effects. We find the …

Epistemic Considerations On Extensive-Form Games, Cagil Tasdemir

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis, we study several topics in extensive-form games. First, we consider perfect information games with belief revision with players who are tolerant of each other’s hypothetical errors. We bound the number of hypothetical non-rational moves of a player that will be tolerated by other players without revising the belief on that player’s rationality on future moves, and investigate which games yield the backward induction solution.

Second, we consider players who have no way of assigning probabilities to various possible outcomes, and define players as conservative, moderate and aggressive depending on the way they choose, and show that all …

A Panel Data Analysis On Globalization And Income Inequality, Dave Mclean-Shinaman

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The paper investigates the relationship between globalization and income inequality using a comprehensive set of variables. It uses a panel data analysis of 51 countries over the time period of 2000-2013. The independent variables included are globalization, economic growth, education, economic freedom, and urbanization. Overall, the results suggest that globalization, as well as economic freedom and urbanization, have a significant impact on income inequality within developing nations. However, they differ in their effect on income inequality. Globalization is shown to decrease income inequality while economic freedom and urbanization in turn widen the income distribution gap. Meanwhile, results also suggest that …

Revisiting Government Size And Economic Growth: Does Institutional Quality Matter?, Julio Diaz

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper revisits the relationship between government size and economic growth depending on the public sector quality. In this paper, an econometric panel study on a sample of 12 Latin American countries covering 1996-2013 period. It is important to note that the data has its limitation and may affect the quality of the study. The results show no significance in the relationship between government size and economic growth at any level institutional quality. These findings show a negative relationship between government size and economic growth. In addition, the results show a dependency between government size and corruption.

Tip-Off Titans: Hedonic Price Analysis Of Autographed Nba Memorabilia, Jeffrey Girgenti

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Studies have explored the economics surrounding the emergence of superstars, but relatively little research exists on the associated memorabilia markets. Using a sample of autographed artifacts, on sale through an internet outlet, hedonic analysis is used to gain insight into the significant characteristics of price determination. The data consists of current and former autographs of National Basketball Association (NBA) players on photographs. This study explores price differences with respect to a number of independent variables related to the artifact and player status. A notable difference emerges among framed and limited edition pieces, and pieces signed by top-ranked players.

Corruption And Economic Growth In The Brics: An Empirical Analysis, Iemanjá Dos Santos

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the relationship between corruption and economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; collectively known as the BRICS. Given the rapid rise of the BRICS and the international spotlight placed on them, this research study aims to explore the effect corruption has on the GDP growth of the states. To do this, a time-series analysis is conducted on each of the five states in order to analyze corruption’s effect on the individual countries. It is found that corruption only holds significance in Brazil and Russia, however, whilst there appears to be an inverse relationship between …

The Shadow Rate And Its Relationship With Lender And Borrower Variables, Andrei Irimia

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Since the federal funds rate reached the zero lower bound in late 2008, economists have been struggling to adapt their models to a long-term zero rate. Wu and Xia built upon previous research by Fischer Black to create a model for how the federal funds rate behaves during the ZLB period. In their model, the rate actually dips into the negative digits, which the actual federal funds rate does not do. The logic behind the model is that a negative shadow rate is a much better indicator of true economic conditions while the current zero rate merely masks the actual …

How Does Student Debt Affect Household Formation?, Robert Young

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the impact student debt has on household formation. In order to determine what the impact is, an existing model around household formation was used and that model expanded it to include additional variables in order to add student debt into the model. Overall student debt at the individual and household levels has increased tremendously in the last 30 years. With student loan debt taking up a greater share of income for individuals and households, this research seeks to demonstrate that as student loan debt increases, the rate at which households are formed decreases. The findings of this …