Monetary Policy Rules In Zero Nominal Interest Rate Environments: Exiting The Zero Bound,
2015
Bryant University
Monetary Policy Rules In Zero Nominal Interest Rate Environments: Exiting The Zero Bound, Sean Lambert
Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal
The zero bound of nominal interest is known as a liquidity trap, where expansions in the monetary base no longer are effective in lowering the nominal interest rate. This takes away the main tool of traditional monetary policy, and eliminates the ability of monetary policy to stabilize economic conditions. It has been noted that monetary policy rules, such as the Taylor Rule, fail in this situation. The Federal Reserve of the United States solved this problem by massively increasing the monetary base even after the zero bound was reached. Yet another problem loomed even as the economy began to stabilize: …
Corporate Tax Rates: Causes For Tax Rate Discrepancies At The Firm Level,
2015
Bryant University
Corporate Tax Rates: Causes For Tax Rate Discrepancies At The Firm Level, Matthew G. Zanotta
Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal
This paper examines the relationship between a corporation’s tax rate and a number of different variables. The variables chosen were assets, sales, property, plant, and equipment (PPE), inventory, research and development (R&D), and return on assets (ROA). The model incorporates each of these variables to find a correlation to corporate tax rates. These specific variables were chosen to represent firm size (assets at book value), financial leverage, capital structure (PPE to assets), and inventory investment (inventory to assets). The other two variables, R&D (R&D to net sales), and profitability (ROA) were chosen because of their direct value. The results from …
Educational Attainment And The Impact Of Financial Crisis On European Youth Unemployment,
2015
Bryant University
Educational Attainment And The Impact Of Financial Crisis On European Youth Unemployment, Matthew Mcintyre
Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal
This paper investigates some of the underlying causes of the drastic increase of youth unemployment from before the 2008 financial crisis to after the crisis. The purpose of the study is to discover what determinants had the largest impact on youth unemployment before and after the crisis. The study also attempts to differentiate between youth unemployment on a primary, secondary, and tertiary level of education, and establish the extent that each group is at risk for unemployment. It is expected that the financial crisis will have a positive and significant impact on unemployment for those with lower education levels, while …
The Impact Of Minimum Wage On Female Labor Participation Rate In The United States,
2015
Bryant University
The Impact Of Minimum Wage On Female Labor Participation Rate In The United States, Nguyen Tran-Nguyen
Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal
This study looks at the relationship between minimum wage and female labor participation rate in the recent years from 1990 to 2014. The study incorporates results from a multivariate regression model as well as other similar studies in the field to see whether or not an increase in minimum wage would benefit female labor participation. It is expecting to see a positive correlation between those two variables, as minimum wage increase would benefit teenage female workers and adult female workers.
Economic Reforms, Governance And Fdi: The Case Of The Unasur,
2015
Bryant University
Economic Reforms, Governance And Fdi: The Case Of The Unasur, Pedro E. Rodriguez
Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal
Since the early 2000s, member countries of the Union of South America Nations (UNASUR) have moved drastically to the left of the political spectrum and have implemented protectionist economic reforms. Contrary to what many studies and scholars have concluded, the political realignment of the region and the implementation of protectionist policies has had a positive effect on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the region. For the past two decades, total FDI inflows into the region has increased drastically from $8 billion to $150 billion. This study found that there is a combination of both economic reform and governance variables …
Humankind In Civilization’S Extended Order: A Tragedy, The First Part,
2015
Chapman University
Humankind In Civilization’S Extended Order: A Tragedy, The First Part, Bart J. Wilson
ESI Publications
This article is a short, scientific story of the labyrinthian human career, of humankind’s place in the natural order of the world, and of the evolution of moral rules and rule following that make the extended order of civilization possible. Drawing upon work in anthropology, biology, and linguistics, I weave a science-based narrative of how Homo sapiens came to be the only primate to convert enemy aliens into trading friends. It is a Goethean story of the human condition that postulates the common origins of and modern tension between Pleistocene and Anthropocene morality. It is also a Hayekian story of …
Further Towards A Theory Of The Emergence Of Property,
2015
Chapman University
Further Towards A Theory Of The Emergence Of Property, Bart J. Wilson
ESI Publications
This article explores the emergence of property as a moral convention. To understand this process I make use of several laboratory experiments on property in its nascence. These experiments illustrate how a rule of property arises from our knowledge of what is morally right, and not vice versa. I also argue that while the ultimate end of property is our interest in using things, the proximate end of property is not losing them, i.e., the end of a rule of property is to secure from morally unfounded harm.
Conflicted Emotions Following Trust-Based Interaction,
2015
Chapman University
Conflicted Emotions Following Trust-Based Interaction, Eric Schniter, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields
ESI Publications
We observed reports of conflicted (concurrent positive and negative) emotions activated after interactions in the Trust game. Our analyses reveal that activation of 20 emotional states following trust-based interaction is better explained by predictions derived from a multi-dimensional Recalibrational perspective than by predictions derived from two-dimensional Valence and Arousal perspectives. The Recalibrational perspective proposes that emotions are activated according to their functional features – for example, emotions help people achieve short or long-sighted goals by up or down-regulating behavioral propensities, whereas Valence and Arousal perspectives consider simpler hedonic dimensions lacking functional specificity. The Recalibrational perspective is also distinguished from the …
To Trust, Or Not To Trust: Cognitive Reflection In Trust Games,
2015
Chapman University
To Trust, Or Not To Trust: Cognitive Reflection In Trust Games, Brice Corgnet, Antonio M. Espín, Roberto Hernán-González, Praveen Kujal, Stephen Rassenti
ESI Publications
We present results from two studies that show a positive relation between cognitive reflection and trusting behavior, but no significant relation with trustworthy behavior. Our finding holds regardless of individual distributional social preferences and risk aversion. Our results add to a growing body of literature that illustrates the role of cognitive ability in helping explain outcomes in economic experiments.
Dynamic Optimization And Conformity In Health Behavior And Life Enjoyment Over The Life Cycle,
2015
Chapman University
Dynamic Optimization And Conformity In Health Behavior And Life Enjoyment Over The Life Cycle, Hernán D. Bejarano, Hillard Kaplan, Stephen Rassenti
ESI Publications
This article examines individual and social influences on investments in health and enjoyment from immediate consumption. Our lab experiment mimics the problem of health investment over a lifetime (Grossman, 1972a,b). Incentives to find the appropriate expenditures on life enjoyment and health are given by making in each period come period a function of previous health investments. In order to model social effects in the experiment, we randomly assigned individuals to chat/observation groups. Groups were permitted to freely chat between repeated lifetimes. Two treatments were employed: In the Independent-rewards treatment, an individual's rewards from investments in life enjoyment depend only on …
Measuring Happiness To Guide Public Policy Making: A Survey Of Instruments And Policy Initiatives,
2015
Happiness Alliance
Measuring Happiness To Guide Public Policy Making: A Survey Of Instruments And Policy Initiatives, Laura Musikanski
Journal of Sustainable Social Impact
This author examines subjective indicators of well-being as they relate to the happiness movement, a global effort to create a new economic paradigm. The essay focuses on the prominent international institutions that are developing happiness metrics as well as agencies exploring the use of happiness data for crafting supportive public policy. A definition of happiness metrics, based on international institutions, identifies the primary questions that compose perceived happiness and how this data can be used.
Advancing The Understanding Of Behavior In Social-Ecological Systems: Results From Lab And Field Experiments,
2015
Arizona State University
Advancing The Understanding Of Behavior In Social-Ecological Systems: Results From Lab And Field Experiments, Marco A. Janssen, Therese Lindahl, James J. Murphy
ESI Publications
"Experiments have made important contributions to our understanding of human behavior, including behavior relevant for understanding social-ecological systems. When there is a conflict between individual and group interests in social-ecological systems, social dilemmas occur. From the many types of social-dilemma formulations that are used to study collective action, common-pool resource and public-good dilemmas are most relevant for social-ecological systems. Experimental studies of both common-pool resource and public-good dilemmas have shown that many predictions based on the conventional theory of collective action, which assumes rational, self-interested behavior, do not hold. More cooperation occurs than predicted (Ledyard 1995), “cheap talk” increases cooperation …
Performance Benefits Of Reward Choice: A Procedural Justice Perspective,
2015
Griffith University
Performance Benefits Of Reward Choice: A Procedural Justice Perspective, Arran Caza, Matthew W. Mccarter, Gregory B. Northcraft
ESI Publications
Reward choice – employees' ability to exercise control over the formal rewards they receive from work – is an important part of many HRM strategies. Reward choice is expected to increase employee performance, but conflicting findings highlight the need to better understand how and when it will do so. Based on fairness heuristic theory, we predicted that procedural justice mediates reward choice's influence on performance, and that choice attractiveness moderates that influence. A field study and an experiment both had similar results, supporting our predictions. Reward choice can increase performance by as much as 40 per cent, but only when …
Sustaining Group Reputation,
2015
Simon Fraser University
Sustaining Group Reputation, Erik O. Kimbrough, Jared Rubin
ESI Publications
When individuals trade with strangers, there is a temptation to renege on agreements. If repeated interaction or exogenous enforcement is unavailable, societies often solve this problem via institutions that rely on group, rather than individual, reputation. Groups can employ two mechanisms to uphold reputation that are unavailable to individuals: information sharing and in-group punishment. We design a laboratory experiment to distinguish the roles of these mechanisms when individual reputations are unobservable. Subjects are split into groups and play a trust game with random re-matching, where only the group identity of one’s partner is known. Treatments differ by whether information about …
Firing Threats And Tenure In Virtual Organizations: Incentives Effects And Impression Management,
2015
Chapman University
Firing Threats And Tenure In Virtual Organizations: Incentives Effects And Impression Management, Brice Corgnet, Roberto Hernán González, Stephen Rassenti
ESI Publications
We study the effect of firing threats in a virtual workplace that reproduces features of existing organizations. We show that organizations in which bosses can fire up to one third of their workforce produce twice as much as organizations for which firing is not possible. Firing threats sharply decrease on-the-job leisure. Nevertheless, organizations endowed with firing threats underperformed those using individual incentives. In the presence of firing threats, employees engage in impression management activities to be seen as hard-working individuals in line with our model. Finally, production levels dropped substantially when the threat of being fired was removed, whereas on-the-job …
Disfluent Fonts Don’T Help People Solve Math Problems,
2015
Yale University
Disfluent Fonts Don’T Help People Solve Math Problems, Andrew Meyer, Shane Frederick, Terence C. Burnham, Juan D. Guevera Pinto, Ty W. Boyer, Linden J. Ball, Gordon Pennycook, Rakefet Ackerman, Valerie A. Thompson, Jonathon P. Schuldt
ESI Publications
Prior research suggests that reducing font clarity can cause people to consider printed information more carefully. The most famous demonstration showed that participants were more likely to solve counterintuitive math problems when they were printed in hard-to-read font. However, after pooling data from that experiment with 16 attempts to replicate it, we find no effect on solution rates. We examine potential moderating variables, including cognitive ability, presentation format, and experimental setting, but we find no evidence of a disfluent font benefit under any conditions. More generally, though disfluent fonts slightly increase response times, we find little evidence that they activate …
Cyber-Shilling In Automobile Auctions: Evidence From A Field Experiment,
2015
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Cyber-Shilling In Automobile Auctions: Evidence From A Field Experiment, David Grether, David Porter, Matthew Shum
ESI Publications
We run a large field experiment with an online company specializing in selling used automobiles via ascending auctions. We manipulate experimentally the "price grid," or the possible amounts that bidders can bid above the current standing price. Using two diverse auction sites, one in New York and one in Texas, we find that buyer and seller behavior differs strikingly across the two sites. Specifically, in Texas we find peculiar patterns of bidding among a small but prominent group of buyers suggesting that they are "cyber-shills" working on behalf of sellers. These patterns do not appear in the New York auctions.
Industry Career Guide: Manufacturing,
2015
De La Salle University-Manila
Industry Career Guide: Manufacturing, Kurt Gerrard T. See, Mitzie Irene P. Conchada
Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)
Manufacturing sector in the Philippines has one of the largest contributions to the growth of the economy. Throughout the years, starting from the 1970s, the manufacturing sector has been one of the driving forces behind the country’s growth. It has proven its importance in the economy because of benefits such as employment generation and technological innovation.
An Evaluation Of The Proposal To Implement A Chained Weighted Cpi,
2015
SUNY Buffalo State University
An Evaluation Of The Proposal To Implement A Chained Weighted Cpi, David Lock
Applied Economics Theses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently developed a way to view price changes in the economy called the chained consumer price index (C-CPI-U). There is much debate over this calculation because, if implemented, it would greatly affect government spending on programs such as Social Security and Veteran benefits. A quick overview of how the C-CPI-U is calculated does not appear to be anything to disagree with. A conclusion which can be drawn, and will be discussed in this thesis, is that the major controversy lies in what will happen to those who benefit from possible reduction of benefits in …
Promoting Innovation,
2015
Emory University School of Law
Promoting Innovation, Matthew Sag, Spencer Weber Waller
Faculty Articles
This Essay proceeds as follows. We briefly introduce the concept of creative destruction and its place in Schumpeter’s work in Part II. In Part III we explain why a truly Schumpeterian competition policy demands more than a laissez faire approach. We explain why the law must preserve opportunities and incentives for creative destruction at all stages of innovation and we review four key policy areas of antitrust law from this innovation-focused perspective: unilateral conduct cases (Part III.A), cases at the intersection of IP and antitrust (Part III.B), Sherman Act section 1 cases (Part III.C), and merger policy (Part III.D). In …
