Economics Commons^™

How Does Climate Change Affect Agricultural Stability In Southeast Unguja? An Assessment Of The Threats To Agriculture And Food Security From Rising Temperature And Changes In Predictability And Intensity Of Rainy Seasons., Eloise Reid

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The relationship between climate change, agriculture, and food security on the island of Unguja was studied. Informal interviews were carried out in the south-eastern coastal communities of Bwejuu, Paje, and Jambiani in order to gain perspective and awareness of local knowledge concerning changes in climate and it's affects on crop production. Formal interviews were conducted in Stone Town with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Environment, the Sustainable Management of Land and the Environment office, private climate change experts and environmental consultants, and local NGO's to gain insight on what aspects of climate change are most detrimental in the …

The Influence Of Childhood Poverty On Life Chances- The Case Of Academic Performance, Katherine Mccabe

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

The purpose of this research is to explore, identify, and address how children who grow up in poverty face greater challenges in adulthood than those who grow up nonpoor. The two main areas of interest are the differentials of child well-being and school achievement. The daily hardships that poor children face include inadequate nutrition, fewer learning experiences, instability of residence, lower quality schools, exposure to environmental toxins, family violence, homelessness, dangerous streets, and less access to friends, services, and jobs. Through a literature review and analyses of a national probability data set on high school students, I demonstrate how growing …

Gender Discrimination Across U.S. States: What Has Changed Over The Past Thirty Years?, Joshua Ballance

Honors Projects in Economics

This study examines changes in the gender wage gap and level of gender discrimination in the United States over the period1980-2010 at the national and state levels. Using data from the U.S. Current Population Survey, this study applies the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition to separate the explained and unexplained variations in the gender pay gap. The unexplained variation proxies the level of gender discrimination faced by U.S. workers. The wage equation estimated utilizes the Heckman methodology to control for sample selection bias. Results with and without sample selectivity controls are included in this paper.

This study reports the gender pay gap in …

Developing International Self-Reliance In Undergraduate Students Through Study Trips, Elizabeth Yobaccio, Ramesh Mohan, Jack Trifts

Finance Department Faculty Journal Articles

This paper reports on the development of a large scale international study trip program developed by an AACSB accredited institution to enhance the global perspective of its students. Developed collaboratively between the College of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences and the university's Student Affairs division, the program has resulted in more than 750 students participating in international experiences in one of 18 trips throughout the world. This paper documents the development of this program and provides important insights for anyone planning to offer a similar experience to their students.

No. 27: Migration And Development In Contemporary Mauritius, David Lincoln

Southern African Migration Programme

Mauritius is a society descended of involuntary and voluntary migrants. After two-and-a-half centuries of settlement as a plantation colony and by the time of its independence from colonial rule in 1968 the island nation’s population had grown to seemingly insupportable levels. But having faced the afflictions of overpopulation, social division and economic despair (and sizeable emigration) at the dawn of its independence, it took just a decade and-a-half for despondency to fade and for Mauritius to begin resembling a tropical idyll of sorts. Though poverty persisted as the small island successfully transformed its economy from colonial plantation to mostly industrial …

How One Trade Could Change The World: High Frequency Trading And The Flash Crash Of 2010, Sarah Perlman

Honors Projects in Finance

Financial markets are controlled directly by a small population of people, but have direct effects on almost every aspect of the global community. Financial markets are now flooded with computerized algorithms that have drastically changed the face of trading. As with any advances in technology, there are always unforeseen events that create new challenges, and adjustments that need to be made. In our increasingly global and technological world, one wrong click of the mouse in New York could affect the stock markets in London, Tokyo, and Brazil. On May 6th, 2010, such a situation occurred and caused the Dow Jones …

Romania's Recovery After The Economic Crisis, Claudiu Doltu, Marcel Duhaneanu

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Compared with other countries in the region, Romania reacted slowly to the recent economic and financial crisis. After eight years of strong growth (200 1-2008), Romania's economic contraction was among the most severe in the region. Significant macroeconomic corrections occurred in 2010 but at the cost of compressing the household consumption and the investment. Downward adjusting the domestic demand by rapidly decreasing nominal wages and increasing taxes also discouraged businesses by increasing uncertainty. Partially, the macroeconomic policy worked well in 2010. However a steady growth in the next years will depend on the following three conditions: 1) reducing the transaction …

The Economic Impact Of Research Activities At The University Of Texas At El Paso (Fiscal Year 2010-11), David Ramirez, Roberto Tinajero, David A. Schauer, Dennis L. Soden

IPED Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

A Semiparametric Stochastic Volatility Model, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper the correlation structure in the classical leverage stochastic volatility (SV) model is generalized based on a linear spline. In the new model the correlation between the return and volatility innovations is time varying and depends nonparametrically on the type of news arrived to the market. Theoretical properties of the proposed model are examined. The model estimation and comparison are conducted by Bayesian methods. The performance of the estimates are examined in simulations. The new model is fitted to daily and weekly US data and compared with the classical SV and GARCH models in terms of their in-sample …

What Is The Source Of The Male Marital Wage Premium?, Aaron Strike

Major Themes in Economics

The male marital wage premium is the wage difference between married and unmarried men. This paper explores the potential sources of the male marital wage premium using cross-sectional and time series regression models from previous economic research. The studies examined suggest three possible explanations for the marital wage premium: marriage makes men more productive, marriage allows men to spend more time in the labor market, and men who earn above-average wages possess certain characteristics that make them more attractive in the marriage market. The studies examined favor the theories that men are more productive after marriage and higher wages increase …

Economic Development Strategy: The Creative Capital Theory, Zach Fairlie

Major Themes in Economics

This paper aims to identify the relationship between the Creative Capital theory and the unemployment rate. Using panel data from 370 Metropolitan Statistical Areas over a 12-year period, this study finds that talent, technology, and tolerance are not statistically significant determinants of the unemployment rate. The result is contrary to what Creative Capital theory suggests.

Why Do Firms Repurchase Stock?, Jordan Voss

Major Themes in Economics

The tremendous increase in share repurchases warrants an explanation. Why have firms increasingly turned to repurchases as a payout method? Undervaluation is commonly touted as the underlying reason behind repurchase decisions. This paper identifies several possible rationales behind repurchase decisions, in addition to undervaluation, by examining the relative advantages of share repurchases over dividends and the managerial incentives associated with share repurchases. The findings indicate managerial incentives are a key factor behind the decision to repurchase stock.

Explaining Differences In Unemployment Rates Across Iowa Counties In The Early Stages Of The Great Recession, Joslyn Sailer

Major Themes in Economics

Iowa fared better than most other states in the recent recession. Yet within Iowa, there was considerable variation in how each county performed. I use a regression model to investigate the reasons for the differences. Counties that did better than average tended to have larger farm, retail trade, and real estate sectors; they also had larger percentages of both 15 to 19 year olds and Social Security recipients. Counties that fared worse than average typically relied more heavily on government employment.

The Most Influential Factors In Determining The Happiness Of Nations, Julie Lang

Major Themes in Economics

Previous research has found that the most influential factors determining the happiness of nations are the Human Development Index (HDI) and the GINI index. Using data from The World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Reports, The World Database of Happiness, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the New Economic Foundation's The (Un) Happy Planet Index 2.0, this study tests three regression models to determine what factors are most influential in determining the happiness of nations, holding everything else constant. All three models suggest that plentiful precipitation contributes to happiness. Two models imply that low corruption, a high …

Transportation: A Barrier To Successful Employment Outcomes Among Rural Vr Clients, Catherine Ipsen, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

In testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Billy Altom, Executive Director of the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) stated, "the lack of available, affordable, and accessible transportation is one of the most significant and persistent problems faced by people with disabilities...This is especially true in rural America." Lack of transportation translates into barriers in employment, health care access, and community participation among rural people with disabilities (Iezzoni, Killeen, & O'Day, 2006; Crudden, Sansing, & Butler, 2005). Recently, this was confirmed by Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency research participants, representing 48 VR agencies in 37 …

The Allocation Of A Prize (R), Pradeep Dubey, Siddhartha Sahi

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Consider agents who undertake costly effort to produce stochastic outputs observable by a principal. The principal can award a prize deterministically to the agent with the highest output, or to all of them with probabilities that are proportional to their outputs. We show that, if there is sufficient diversity in agents’ skills relative to the noise on output, then the proportional prize will, in a precise sense, elicit more output on average, than the deterministic prize. Indeed, assuming agents know each others’ skills (the complete information case), this result holds when any Nash equilibrium selection, under the proportional prize, is …

Multi-Dimensional Mechanism Design With Limited Information, Dirk Bergemann, Ji Shen, Yun Xu, Edmund M. Yeh

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We analyze a nonlinear pricing model with limited information. Each buyer can purchase a large variety, d , of goods. His preference for each good is represented by a scalar and his preference over d goods is represented by a d -dimensional vector. The type space of each buyer is given by a compact subset of R d + with a continuum of possible types. By contrast, the seller is limited to offer a finite number M of d -dimensional choices. We provide necessary conditions that the optimal finite menu of the social welfare maximizing problem has to satisfy. We …

Fair Value Accounting: How Bad Decisions Bring Blame To Beneficial Accounting Procedures, Thomas John Ciulla

Senior Honors Theses

The Great Recession has sparked a debate amongst accounting professionals and economic analysts. There has been a concerted effort to blame fair value accounting and FAS 157 as the recession’s root cause and an attempt to challenge FASB to return to the historic cost principle. This paper examines the guidelines and procedures for mark to market as established by FASB, observes the events leading up to the recession, conditions that materialized at the start of the recession, evaluates the role fair value played in the financial crisis, and considers how fair value should be used in the future.

Does Information Lead To Household Electricity Conservation?, Devon M. Kristiansen

Economics Honors Projects

This paper estimates the effect of information on residential electricity consumption. Household reading expenditure, education level of the household head, and state “green” electricity pricing program participation rate represent the probability that a household has encountered information relating the carbon emission externalities of energy consumption and human-driven climate change. Reading expenditure has a significant negative effect on household electricity consumption. Initial increases in educational attainment increase electricity consumption, but education beyond high school reduces it. The predicted social norm effect of green pricing participation is insignificant.

Halos, Alibis And Community Development: A Cross National Comparison Of How Governments Spend Revenue From Gambling, Lynn Gidluck

Occasional Papers

This paper provides a cross-national comparison of how governments around the world distribute revenues from state-directed gambling and how these choices have been justified by proponents and vilified by critics. Case studies where governments have popularized gambling expansion by “earmarking” revenues for particular good causes and where the state has collaborated with the voluntary sector to deliver programs from this revenue stream are examined. Lessons learned from challenges of various approaches are considered.