Other Economics Commons^™

The Effect Of Income Inequality On Happiness Levels, Spencer Carlin

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates and presents the impact of income inequality upon general levels of happiness. The study will examine the influence of the income gap upon life satisfaction. Incorporating information from OECD databanks and the World Bank into a standard model in happiness studies, we will examine the effect on nations measured Happy Life Years (HLY). After careful examination this study provides a conclusion that reinforces past studies. Income inequality has a consistent significant and negative impact on subjective well-being and happiness levels. The study contributes to the inequality happiness literature, by examining the effects of inequality on happiness amongst …

Learning By Exporting In India, Stephanie Lizardi

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines learning by exporting, in which a firm experiences growth in productivity after entering export markets. The results of existing studies show conflicting evidence regarding whether productivity gains result from learning by exporting or whether productivity gains lead to exporting. This paper discusses the relationship between entering exporting markets and subsequent product innovation. Using data from nearly 6,000 firms in India, the results suggest that learning by exporting occurs when firms enter export markets, but only during the first year.

Determinants Of Health In South American Countries, Andres Pernia

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates, analyzes, and expands the relationship between under-five mortality and socioeconomic and health system factors. The study utilizes fixed effect panel data to estimate the determinants of under-five mortality in 12 counties across South America. As expected, the results show that GDP per capita is statistically significant and is robust in all of the estimated models. In addition, improved sanitation, gender equality, access to improved sanitation facilities, provision of primary education, and governance are also statistically significant and have positive effect on child mortality.

Infant Mortality And Macroeconomic Changes In Latam, Daniel Mujica

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper would analyze the effects that economic indicators have over mortality rates in Latin America. Hence, the purpose would be to represent the drives of changes in mortality. This will be achieved by undergoing a thorough analysis of correlated variables that will create a significant outcome over this important problem that emerging countries in Latin America need to solve in order to achieve long term economic and social prosperity.

Institutions And Economic Growth In Bric Nations, Doug Flink

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper looks at the impact of institutions on economic growth in the six largest countries in BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The study will us OLS to examine the time period between the years 2002 and 2011. More specifically, it will measure the effect of institutions through a variety of measures including democracy and regulatory related variables. Through ordinary least squares regression analysis, the variables for democracy and regulation will be significant and have a positive effect on economic growth. This study will show that quality of institution does in fact support economic growth.

The Effect Of Immigration Status On Income In Southern States Of The United States, Camila Espinal

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

According to the U.S census Bureau, in 2013 nearly a third of the U.S population are immigrants and 7.7/189 million are illegal. I will develop an econometric model to show the effect of immigration status Income. The ultimate goal of the paper will be to demonstrate the significance of immigration status on an Individual’s income. This paper will analyze if a person’s immigration status has a significant effect on the individual’s average wage and salary by focusing on three major high immigration density states: California, Florida, and Texas. The paper will focus on Hispanic immigrants to ultimately determine if immigration …

Determinants Of Healthcare Expenditure In The Organization For Economic Cooperation (Oecd) Countries, Harry Waterton

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the factors that determine the expenditure in healthcare within the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. The study will contain and be based around a regression model, using healthcare expenditure per capita as the dependent variable, for 10 of the 34 OECD countries. The data that will be analyzed ranges from 2000 to 2010 using the panel data analysis format, and will be extracted from the World Bank and OECD statistics websites.

The Relationship Between Crime And Unemployment In China, Kuan Lu

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the relationship between crime and unemployment in China. The study incorporates the information, including data of the current crime rate, unemployment rate, income level, GDP growth, Gini index and urbanization rate, into a linear regression model to examine the influence of the unemployment rate on crime in China. The crime in China is measured by crime rate, which includes six specific types of crimes: homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft and burglary. The results show that there is a positive relationship between crime and unemployment in China. When there is an increase in the unemployment rate, crime rate …

The Impact Of Fdi And Trade Openness On The Economic Growth Of The Transition Economies, Regina Castro

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines effects of FDI inflows and trade openness on economic growth of three former Soviet Union economies: Kazakhstan, Armenia and Ukraine. The study uses a regression model that incorporates data sets for the period from 1992 to 2011 obtained from the World Bank. The regression result indicates that FDI inflows are positively correlated to the economic growth of the transition economies. However, impact of FDI would vary for each specific country depending on the degree of capacity of the host country to use FDI efficiently. Trade openness has also a positive effect on the real GDP per capita …

The Predictive Power Of Commodity Futures Prices On South American Equity Markets, Aadithyan Manivannan

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the futures United States futures market the returns on the South American stock market. In particular the paper focuses on three key commodities—industrial sugar, copper, and coffee. The study looks into methods to isolate the effect of the United States commodity market from the returns of the equity exchanges in both the United States and South America. Once isolated, the relationship between the selected commodities and South American stock market returns can be estimated through quantitative analysis.

Elections And Asset Pricing: The Politically Sensitive Equity Of Us Military Contractors, Matthew Mark Ross

Wayne State University Dissertations

I quantify the relationship between political uncertainty and equity volatility in the months around US elections from 1989-2012. The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data are employed to measure political uncertainty faced by military contractors, capitalizing on the unique monopsony-oligopoly business environment of these firms. I employ a GARCH (1,1) model with cross-sectionally correlated moments to produce daily firm-election volatility measures. Volatility increases 11% for local, 27% for midterm, and 43% for presidential elections. These measures demonstrate that all election categories: local, federal, presidential, and midterm exhibit differential effects on equity volatility. My results …

Understanding The Distributional Impact Of Long-Run Inflation, Gabriele Camera, Yili Chen

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

The impact of fully anticipated inflation is systematically studied in heterogeneous agent economies with an endogenous labor supply and portfolio choices. In stationary equilibrium, inflation nonlinearly alters the endogenous distributions of income, wealth, and consumption. Small departures from zero inflation have the strongest impact. Three features determine how inflation impacts distributions and welfare: financial structure, shock persistence, and labor supply elasticity. When agents can self-insure only with money, inflation reduces wealth inequality but may raise consumption inequality. Otherwise, inflation reduces consumption inequality but may raise wealth inequality. Given persistent shocks and an inelastic labor supply, inflation may raise average welfare. …

The Sharing Economy: Exploring The Intersection Of Collaborative Consumption And Capitalism, Ellyn E. Erving

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how the sharing economy in America combines Collaborative Consumption ideas and social values with capitalist business models to make a profit. I discuss definitions of terms associated with the sharing economy, economic anthropological theories and case studies, as well as company and consumer motivations in sharing economy companies.

The Responsiveness Of Migration To Labor Market Conditions, Preston M. Brashers

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation explores how migration responds to economic conditions, particularly differences in responsiveness for various segments of the population. After a brief introduction and motivation of my work in Chapter One, Chapter Two estimates the responsiveness of households’ interstate migration to origin state labor market conditions and surrounding state labor market conditions. Each percentage point increase in origin state unemployment insurance claims leads to a 3.2 percent increase in household’s propensity to migrate interstate and each percentage point increase in the unemployment insurance claims rate of surrounding states reduces interstate migration propensity by 5.2 percent. I then examine how this …

The Costs Of Conflict, Adam Smith

Economics Department Faculty Publications & Research

Violent conflict destroys resources. It generates "destruction costs." These costs have an important effect on individuals’ decisions to cooperate or conflict. We develop two models of conflict: one in which conflict’s destruction costs are independent of individuals’ investments in "arms"—the tools of conflict—and another in which conflict’s destruction costs depend on those investments. Our models demonstrate that when conflict’s destruction costs are arms-dependent, conflict is more costly, making cooperation more likely. We test this prediction with a laboratory experiment in which subjects first choose how heavily to invest in arms and then choose whether to cooperate or conflict in an …

Historical Overview, Maksim Storchevoi, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The goal of this chapter is to discuss key values and archetypes of Russian culture that have developed over several centuries of Russian history. This fundamental introduction is important because these values and archetypes have successfully manifested themselves through various institutions of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. What are they and what are their roots? Answers to these questions can help us better understand Russian economic and business culture that shapes the behaviour of entrepreneurs, investors and employees in the current economy, and also political and legal traditions that play enormous roles in establishing and running …

Bitcoin: Is Cryptocurrency Viable?, Austin Hill

CMC Senior Theses

Bitcoin, a virtual currency invented in 2009, was created as a peer-to-peer currency that eliminated the need for a third party authority, such as banks or government, to be involved in monetary transactions. Having no intrinsic value but carrying no government guarantees relegates bitcoin and its competitors to the perpetual role of investment opportunity, deriving value not from a practical use, but from a nominal, dollar value. This will continue to be the case until the U.S. Government sanctions virtual currency as a viable store of value. Because the dollar plays such a large role in the world’s economy, other …

Teaching An Old Profession New Tricks: An Analysis On The Effects Of The Flipped Classroom Model On Student Performance, Theresa K. Lomneth

CMC Senior Theses

Abstract

When traditional lecture methods prove ineffective, some professors turn to alternative teaching styles. In particular, a flipped or inverted classroom, where students watch conceptual videos before coming to class and use class time for application and fine tuning of these concepts has become popular in recent years. However, little consensus exists on the efficacy of these strategies. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a flipped classroom structure implemented in a medical school course successfully improved student performance. To do so, I analyzed exam data from the University of Nebraska Medical Center before and after implementation of …

Predictable And Predictive Emotions: Explaining Cheap Signals And Trust Re-Extension, Eric Schniter, Roman M. Sheremeta

ESI Publications

Despite normative predictions from economics and biology, unrelated strangers will often develop the trust necessary to reap gains from one-shot economic exchange opportunities. This appears to be especially true when declared intentions and emotions can be cheaply communicated. Perhaps even more puzzling to economists and biologists is the observation that anonymous and unrelated individuals, known to have breached trust, often make effective use of cheap signals, such as promises and apologies, to encourage trust re-extension. We used a pair of trust games with one-way communication and an emotion survey to investigate the role of emotions in regulating the propensity to …

Divided Loyalists Or Conditional Cooperators? Creating Consensus About Cooperation In Multiple Simultaneous Social Dilemmas, Matthew W. Mccarter, Anya Samek, Roman M. Sheremeta

ESI Publications

The current social dilemma literature lacks theoretical consensus regarding how individuals behave when facing multiple simultaneous social dilemmas. The divided-loyalty hypothesis, from organizational theory, predicts that cooperation will decline as individuals experience multiple social dilemmas with different compared to the same group members. The conditional-cooperation hypothesis, from behavioral economics, predicts that cooperation will increase as individuals experience multiple social dilemmas with different compared to the same group members. We employ a laboratory experiment to create consensus between these literatures and find support for the conditional-cooperation hypothesis. The positive effect of interacting with different group members comes from participants having an …