Persistent Place-Based Income Inequality In Rural Nebraska, 1979-2009,
2011
Iowa State University
Persistent Place-Based Income Inequality In Rural Nebraska, 1979-2009, David J. Peters
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)
This article addresses a current gap in the inequality literature by identifying demographic and economic factors that best explain persistent income inequality across N = 817 non metropolitan block groups in Nebraska between 1979 and 2009. Over one-half of rural places in Nebraska have average levels of income inequality, one-quarter have persistently low inequality, and one-fifth of places have persistently high levels of income inequality. Results of multinomial logistic regression suggest that persistently high-inequality places in rural Nebraska tend to be smaller, more urbanized, more ethnically diverse, more wealthy, more specialized in high-skill and low-skill industries, and have experienced fast …
Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow, Randolph Cantrell
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)
Shrinking farm numbers, population losses, and empty storefronts on Main Street have come to be seen as symptoms of an inevitable slide to oblivion for many Heartland communities. Empirical evidence of such decline is easily found, making the trend a favorite topic for journalists. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow offers a very different interpretation of the same trends. His central argument is that Middle America (defined as eight states including most of the Great Plains) has been characterized by adaptation to changing social and economic realities in a way that has made the region a "more vibrant contributor …
Health & Wellness In The Business Context,
2011
University of Kentucky
Health & Wellness In The Business Context, Michael T. Childress
Issue Brief on Topics Affecting Kentucky’s Economy
No abstract provided.
Maximum Likelihood Estimation And Uniform Inference With Sporadic Identification Failure,
2011
Yale University
Maximum Likelihood Estimation And Uniform Inference With Sporadic Identification Failure, Donald W.K. Andrews, Xu Cheng
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper analyzes the properties of a class of estimators, tests, and confidence sets (CS’s) when the parameters are not identified in parts of the parameter space. Specifically, we consider estimator criterion functions that are sample averages and are smooth functions of a parameter theta. This includes log likelihood, quasi-log likelihood, and least squares criterion functions. We determine the asymptotic distributions of estimators under lack of identification and under weak, semi-strong, and strong identification. We determine the asymptotic size (in a uniform sense) of standard t and quasi-likelihood ratio (QLR) tests and CS’s. We provide methods of constructing QLR tests …
Bayes Correlated Equilibrium And The Comparison Of Information Structures,
2011
Yale University
Bayes Correlated Equilibrium And The Comparison Of Information Structures, Dirk Bergemann, Stephen Morris
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
The set of outcomes that can arise in Bayes Nash equilibria of an incomplete information game where players may or may not have access to more private information is characterized and shown to be equivalent to the set of an incomplete information version of correlated equilibrium, which we call Bayes correlated equilibrium. We describe a partial order on many player information structures — which we call individual sufficiency — under which more information shrinks the set of Bayes correlated equilibria. We discuss the relation of the solution concept to alternative definitions of correlated equilibrium in incomplete information games and of …
Optimism And Pessimism With Expected Utility,
2011
Yale University
Optimism And Pessimism With Expected Utility, David Dillenberger, Andrew Postlewaite, Kareen Rozen
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
Savage (1954) provided a set of axioms on preferences over acts that were equivalent to the existence of an expected utility representation. We show that in addition to this representation, there is a continuum of other “expected utility” representations in which for any act, the probability distribution over states depends on the corresponding outcomes. We suggest that optimism and pessimism can be captured by the stake-dependent probabilities in these alternative representations; e.g., for a pessimist, the probability of every outcome except the worst is distorted down from the Savage probability. Extending the DM’s preferences to be defined on both subjective …
Optimally Empty Promises And Endogenous Supervision,
2011
Yale University
Optimally Empty Promises And Endogenous Supervision, David A. Miller, Kareen Rozen
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
We study optimal contracting in team settings, featuring stylized aspects of production environments with complex tasks. Agents have many opportunities to shirk, task-level monitoring is needed to provide useful incentives, and because it is difficult to write individual performance into formal contracts, incentives are provided informally, using wasteful sanctions like guilt and shame, or slowed promotion. These features give rise to optimal contracts with “empty promises” and endogenous supervision structures. Agents optimally make more promises than they intend to keep, leading to the concentration of supervisory responsibility in the hands of one or two agents.
Gmm Estimation And Uniform Subvector Inference With Possible Identification Failure,
2011
Yale University
Gmm Estimation And Uniform Subvector Inference With Possible Identification Failure, Donald W.K. Andrews, Xu Cheng
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper determines the properties of standard generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators, tests, and confidence sets (CS’s) in moment condition models in which some parameters are unidentified or weakly identified in part of the parameter space. The asymptotic distributions of GMM estimators are established under a full range of drifting sequences of true parameters and distributions. The asymptotic sizes (in a uniform sense) of standard GMM tests and CS’s are established. The paper also establishes the correct asymptotic sizes of “robust” GMM-based Wald, t; and quasi-likelihood ratio tests and CS’s whose critical values are designed to yield robustness to …
Public Goods Through Taxation In A General Equilibrium Economy: Experimental Evidence,
2011
Yale University
Public Goods Through Taxation In A General Equilibrium Economy: Experimental Evidence, Juergen Huber, Martin Shubik, Shyam Sunder
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
We use a laboratory experiment to compare general equilibrium economies in which agents individually allocate their private goods among consumption, investment in production and maintenance of a depreciating public facility. The public facility is financed either by voluntary anonymous contributions (VAC) or taxes. We find that rates of taxation chosen by majority vote remain at an intermediate level, converging neither to zero nor to 100%, and the experimental economies sustain public goods at levels between the finite- and infinite-horizon optima. This contrasts with a rapid decline of public goods under voluntary anonymous contributions (VAC). Both the payoff efficiency and production …
Correlated Equilibrium In Games With Incomplete Information,
2011
Yale University
Correlated Equilibrium In Games With Incomplete Information, Dirk Bergemann, Stephen Morris
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
We define a notion of correlated equilibrium for games with incomplete information in a general setting with finite players, finite actions, and finite states, which we call Bayes correlated equilibrium. The set of Bayes correlated equilibria of a fixed incomplete information game equals the set of probability distributions over actions, states and types that might arise in any Bayes Nash equilibrium where players observed additional information. We show that more information always shrinks the set of Bayes correlated equilibria.
Maximum Likelihood Estimation And Uniform Inference With Sporadic Identification Failure,
2011
Yale University
Maximum Likelihood Estimation And Uniform Inference With Sporadic Identification Failure, Donald W.K. Andrews, Xu Cheng
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper analyzes the properties of a class of estimators, tests, and confidence sets (CS’s) when the parameters are not identified in parts of the parameter space. Specifically, we consider estimator criterion functions that are sample averages and are smooth functions of a parameter theta. This includes log likelihood, quasi-log likelihood, and least squares criterion functions. We determine the asymptotic distributions of estimators under lack of identification and under weak, semi-strong, and strong identification. We determine the asymptotic size (in a uniform sense) of standard t and quasi-likelihood ratio (QLR) tests and CS’s. We provide methods of constructing QLR tests …
Estimates Of The Social Cost Of Carbon: Background And Results From The Rice-2011 Model,
2011
Yale University
Estimates Of The Social Cost Of Carbon: Background And Results From The Rice-2011 Model, William D. Nordhaus
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
A new and important concept in global warming economics and policy is the social cost of carbon or SCC. This concept represents the economic cost caused by an additional ton of carbon-dioxide emissions or its equivalent. The present study describes the development of the concept as well as its analytical background. We estimate the SCC using an updated version of the RICE-2011 model. Additional concerns are uncertainty about different aspects of global warming as well as the treatment of different countries or generations. The most important results are: First, the estimated social cost of carbon for the current time (2015) …
On Bartlett Correctability Of Empirical Likelihood In Generalized Power Divergence Family,
2011
Yale University
On Bartlett Correctability Of Empirical Likelihood In Generalized Power Divergence Family, Lorenzo Camponovo, Taisuke Otsu
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
Baggerly (1998) showed that empirical likelihood is the only member in the Cressie-Read power divergence family to be Bartlett correctable. This paper strengthens Baggerly’s result by showing that in a generalized class of the power divergence family, which includes the Cressie-Read family and other nonparametric likelihood such as Schennach’s (2005, 2007) exponentially tilted empirical likelihood, empirical likelihood is still the only member to be Bartlett correctable.
A Theory Of Asset Prices Based On Heterogeneous Information,
2011
Yale University
A Theory Of Asset Prices Based On Heterogeneous Information, Elias Albagli, Christian Hellwig, Aleh Tsyvinski
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
We propose a theory of asset prices that emphasizes heterogeneous information as the main element determining prices of different securities. Our main analytical innovation is in formulating a model of noisy information aggregation through asset prices, which is parsimonious and tractable, yet flexible in the specification of cash flow risks. We show that the noisy aggregation of heterogeneous investor beliefs drives a systematic wedge between the impact of fundamentals on an asset price, and the corresponding impact on cash flow expectations. The key intuition behind the wedge is that the identity of the marginal trader has to shift for different …
Gmm Estimation And Uniform Subvector Inference With Possible Identification Failure,
2011
Yale University
Gmm Estimation And Uniform Subvector Inference With Possible Identification Failure, Donald W.K. Andrews, Xu Cheng
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper determines the properties of standard generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators, tests, and confidence sets (CS’s) in moment condition models in which some parameters are unidentified or weakly identified in part of the parameter space. The asymptotic distributions of GMM estimators are established under a full range of drifting sequences of true parameters and distributions. The asymptotic sizes (in a uniform sense) of standard GMM tests and CS’s are established. The paper also establishes the correct asymptotic sizes of “robust” GMM-based Wald, t , and quasi-likelihood ratio tests and CS’s whose critical values are designed to yield robustness …
Financing Of Public Goods Through Taxation In A General Equilibrium Economy: Theory And Experimental Evidence,
2011
Yale University
Financing Of Public Goods Through Taxation In A General Equilibrium Economy: Theory And Experimental Evidence, Juergen Huber, Martin Shubik, Shyam Sunder
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
We compare general equilibrium economies in which building and maintenance of a depreciating public facility is financed either by anonymous voluntary contributions or by taxing agents on their income from private production. Agents start with an endowment of private goods and money, while the government starts with an endowment of public good and money. All private goods produced are tendered for sale in exchange for money in a sell-all market mechanism. Agents’ proceeds from sale are taxed, and they individually allocate their private goods between current consumption and investment in production for the following period. The optimal levels of supply …
Career Concerns With Coarse Information,
2011
Yale University
Career Concerns With Coarse Information, Alessandro Bonatti, Johannes Hörner
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper develops a model of career concerns. The worker’s skill is revealed through output, wage is based on expected output, and so on assessed ability. Specifically, effort increases the probability that a skilled worker achieves a one-time breakthrough. Effort levels at different times are strategic substitutes. Equilibrium effort (and, if marginal cost is convex, wage) is single-peaked with seniority. The agent works too little, too late. Both delay and underprovision of effort worsen if effort is observable. If the firm commits to wages but faces competition, the optimal contract features piecewise constant wages as well as severance pay.
Career Concerns And Market Structure,
2011
Yale University
Career Concerns And Market Structure, Alessandro Bonatti, Johannes Hörner
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper analyzes the impact of market structure on career concerns. Effort increases the probability that a skilled agent achieves a one-time breakthrough. Wages are based on assessed ability and on expected output. For any wage, the agent works too little, too late. Under short-term contracts, effort and wages are single-peaked with seniority, due to the strategic substitutability of effort levels at different times. Both delay and underprovision of effort worsen if effort is observable. Commitment to wages by competing firms mitigates these inefficiencies. In that case, the optimal contract features piecewise constant wages and severance pay.
Testing For Common Trends In Semiparametric Panel Data Models With Fixed Effects,
2011
Yale University
Testing For Common Trends In Semiparametric Panel Data Models With Fixed Effects, Yonghui Zhang, Liangjun Su, Peter C.B. Phillips
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
This paper proposes a nonparametric test for common trends in semiparametric panel data models with fixed effects based on a measure of nonparametric goodness-of-fit (R²). We first estimate the model under the null hypothesis of common trends by the method of profile least squares, and obtain the augmented residual which consistently estimates the sum of the fixed effect and the disturbance under the null. Then we run a local linear regression of the augmented residuals on a time trend and calculate the nonparametric R² for each cross section unit. The proposed test statistic is obtained by averaging all cross sectional …
Meritocracy Voting: Measuring The Unmeasurable,
2011
Yale University
Meritocracy Voting: Measuring The Unmeasurable, Peter C.B. Phillips
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
Learned societies commonly carry out selection processes to add new fellows to an existing fellowship. Criteria vary across societies but are typically based on subjective judgments concerning the merit of individuals who are nominated for fellowships. These subjective assessments may be made by existing fellows as they vote in elections to determine the new fellows or they may be decided by a selection committee of fellows and officers of the society who determine merit after reviewing nominations and written assessments. Human judgment inevitably plays a central role in these determinations and, notwithstanding its limitations, is usually regarded as being a …
