Economics Commons^™

Price Increasing Competition? Experimental Evidence, Cary Deck, Jingping Gu

ESI Working Papers

Economic intuition suggests that increased competition generates lower prices. However, recent theoretical work shows that a monopolist may charge a lower price than a firm facing a competitor selling a differentiated product. The direction of the price change when competition is introduced is dependent upon the joint distribution of buyer values for the two products. We explore this relationship using controlled laboratory experiments. Our results indicate that the distribution of buyer values does affect prices in a manner consistent with the theoretical predictions, although price increasing competition is rare due in part to overly intense competition regardless of the distribution …

The Attack And Defense Of Weakest-Link Networks, Dan Kovenock, Brian Roberson, Roman M. Sheremeta

ESI Working Papers

This paper experimentally examines behavior in a two-player game of attack and defense of a weakest-link network of targets, in which the attacker‟s objective is to successfully attack at least one target and the defender‟s objective is diametrically opposed. We apply two benchmark contest success functions (CSFs): the auction CSF and the lottery CSF. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, under the auction CSF, attackers utilize a stochastic “guerilla warfare” strategy — in which a single random target is attacked — more than 80% of the time. Under the lottery CSF, attackers utilize the stochastic guerilla warfare strategy almost 45% of …

Affecting Policy By Manipulating Prediction Markets: Experimental Evidence, Cary Deck, Shengle Lin, David Porter

ESI Working Papers

Documented results indicate prediction markets effectively aggregate information and form accurate predictions. This has led to a proliferation of markets predicting everything from the results of elections to a company’s sales to movie box office receipts. Recent research suggests prediction markets are robust to manipulation attacks and resulting market outcomes improve forecast accuracy. However, we present evidence from the lab indicating that single‐minded, well‐funded manipulators can in fact destroy a prediction market’s ability to aggregate informative prices and mislead those who are making forecasts based upon market predictions. However, we find that manipulators primarily influence market trades meaning outstanding bids …

Durability, Re-Trading And Market Performance, John Dickhaut, Shengle Lin, David Porter, Vernon Smith

ESI Working Papers

Key differential structural characteristics of environments studied in previous market experiments have documented large divergences in their observed performance, particularly discrepancies in their convergence to expected equilibrium outcomes. We investigate why this should be so.

Domestication Alone Does Not Lead To Inequality: Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Among Horticulturalists, Michael Gurven, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Paul L. Hooper, Hillard Kaplan, Robert Quinlan, Rebecca Sear, Eric Schniter, Christopher Von Rueden, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We present empirical measures of wealth inequality and its intergenerational transmission among four horticulturalist populations. Wealth is construed broadly as embodied somatic and neural capital, including body size, fertility and cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of coalitional support and field labor. Wealth inequality is moderate for most forms of wealth, and intergenerational wealth transmission is low for material resources and moderate for embodied and relational wealth. Our analysis suggests that domestication alone does not transform social structure; rather, the presence of scarce, defensible resources may be required before inequality …

Club Goods And Group Identity: Evidence From Islamic Resurgence During The Indonesian Financial Crisis, Daniel L. Chen

Faculty Scholarship

This paper tests a model in which group identity in the form of religious intensity functions as ex post insurance. I exploit relative price shocks induced by the Indonesian financial crisis to demonstrate a causal relationship between economic distress and religious intensity (Koran study and Islamic school attendance) that is weaker for other forms of group identity. Consistent with ex post insurance, credit availability reduces the effect of economic distress on religious intensity, religious intensity alleviates credit constraints, and religious institutions smooth consumption shocks across households and within households, particularly for those who were less religious before the crisis.

Valuing Intellectual Property: An Experiment, Christopher Buccafusco, Christopher Sprigman

Faculty Scholarship

In this article we report on the results of an experiment we performed to determine whether transactions in intellectual property (IP) are subject to the valuation anomalies commonly referred to as “endowment effects”. Traditional conceptions of the value of IP rely on assumptions about human rationality derived from classical economics. The law assumes that when people make decisions about buying, selling, and licensing IP they do so with fixed, context-independent preferences. Over the past several decades, this rational actor model of classical economics has come under attack by behavioral data showing that people do not always make strictly rational decisions. …

Making Mountains Of Debt Out Of Molehills: The Pro-Cyclical Implications Of Tax And Expenditure Limitations, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Ellen Moule

Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents evidence that property tax limits have detrimental effects on state and local revenues during recessions. Property tax limits cause states to rely on income–elastic revenue sources, such as the income tax or charges and fees. Greater reliance on these revenue sources results in greater revenue declines during economic downturns. We present analysis of time–series, cross–sectional data for the U.S. states for each of these conclusions. Our results suggest that states would have fewer and more modest financial problems during economic downturns if they did not enact property tax limitations.

5th Annual Economic Outlook Conference_Jan 13, University Of New Mexico Bureau Of Business And Economic Research

BBER Publications

This report presents the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research's assessment of New Mexico's economy during the Great Recession, including forecasts for employment, income, and industry growth through 2014. It also provides extensive county-level demographic and economic statistics, maps, charts, and data source references for researchers and policymakers.

5th Annual Economic Outlook Conference_Jan 13 (2), University Of New Mexico Bureau Of Business And Economic Research

BBER Publications

This report presents the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research's assessment of New Mexico's economy during the Great Recession, including forecasts for employment, income, and industry growth through 2014. It also provides extensive county-level demographic and economic statistics, maps, charts, and data source references for researchers and policymakers.

Whole Farm Modeling Of Precision Agriculture Technologies, Jordan Murphy Shockley

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigated farm management concerns faced by grain producers due to the acquisition of various precision agriculture technologies. The technologies evaluated in the three manuscripts included 1) auto-steer navigation, 2) automatic section control, and 3) autonomous machinery. Each manuscript utilized a multifaceted economic model in a whole-farm decision-making framework to determine the impact of precision agriculture technology on machinery management, production management, and risk management. This approach allowed for a thorough investigation into various precision agriculture technologies which helped address the relative dearth of economic studies of precision agriculture and farm management. Moreover, the research conducted on the above …

Forecasting Tourist Arrivals To The Bahamas Using Error Correction Models, Jacky Sharon Charles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tourism is the major domestic export for many countries in the Caribbean region. Given this, the variables which influence tourism demand in this region, as well as accurate forecasts, can assist policy makers in their planning efforts and growth strategies. This study utilizes error correction models (ECMs) to analyze tourism demand in the Bahamas. This is the first empirical attempt to estimate ECMs for tourism demand in the Caribbean region. Findings suggest that income and habit persistence/word of mouth advertising are the primary determinants of tourism demand in the Bahamas, while the cost of travel is generally insignificant. To assess …

Export Vs. Import - Led Growth In Mexico, Joseph Kababie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study concentrates on the role of imports and the impact they have for economic growth in the country of Mexico. The investigation is conducted in a time series framework using an ordinary least square method, a vector autoregressive model, and a vector error correction model to test the trade variables of exports and imports for exogenous or endogenous induced growth. The results indicate through Granger causality tests that imports are having the significant impact for economic growth. These findings are in some ways in contradiction to previous literature that has focused on exports as being the sole engine for …

A Kernel Weighted Smoothed Maximum Score Estimator For The Endogenous Binary Choice Model, Jerome Krief

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation considers a local control function approach for the binary response model under endogeneity. The objective of the Smoothed Maximum Score estimator (SMSE)(Horowitz 1992) is modified by weighting the observations with a kernel. Under some mild regularity conditions similar in nature to those of the SMSE, the consistency of this Kernel Weighted Smoothed Maximum Score estimator (KWSMSE) is established. Also, under some smoothness conditions the KWSMSE's asymptotic normality is established. Furthermore, the covariance of the limiting distribution can be estimated consistently from data permitting convenient inferences. Under stronger regularity conditions a Score Approximation Smoothed Maximum Score Estimator (SASMSE) constructed …

Productivity Growth Of Us States, Bibhudutta Panda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation makes a contribution to regional studies by constructing Multi-Factor Productivity (MFP) growth measures at the state level for the US. The first essay of the dissertation exploits a dual growth accounting technique to calculate sector-specific MFP growth for all US states from 1980 onwards. In the process, the essay contributes by constructing a data set on the state level real user cost of capital paying particular attention to inter-state variations in the composition of output, relative prices of investment goods, effective corporate taxes, and inflation rates for the manufacturing and service sectors. Some of the key implications of …

The Impact Of Monetary Regimes On International Trade Are Eu Experiences Relevant For Asia?, Apanard P. Angkinand, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We extend much research that has been devoted to the effects of the European Monetary Union (EMU) on international trade by introducing monetary regime variables in bilateral export equations with the objective of capturing the effects on trade of changes in monetary regimes relative to the pure EMU effects. To make the analysis relevant from an Asian perspective trade effects of the EU’s internal markets are also separated from EMU effects. To identify these different effects we include three groups of countries in our sample: EMU countries which are also members of the EU, EU countries outside the EMU and …

Endogenous Oca (Optimum Currency Area) Analysis And The Early Euro Experience, Thomas D. Willett, Orawan Permpoon, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Some have argued that the endogenous responses to the formation of a currency area are so strong that one need not worry about optimum currency area conditions ex ante. We argue that this is much too strong a conclusion. We draw on a number of recent studies to evaluate the endogeneity experiences of the eurozone in three major areas; trade flows, business cycle synchronisation and structural reforms to improve labour and product market flexibility. Simple before-and-after comparisons are insufficient for analysis of endogeneity. The experiences of non-euro Western European economies suggest that broader trends also had considerable influence on trade …

Essays On Economic Policy: Income Inequality And Health Insurance, Eric Doviak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation contains economic analyses of two critical social issues facing the United States at the dawn of the 21st century: income inequality and the affordability of health insurance.

The chapter on income inequality uses the Solow Model of economic growth to model the evolution of inequality over time. In steady state, differences in household saving rates generate differences in household capital income. Households that save more accumulate more capital and have higher steady-state income. Tax policy affects the distribution of income through its influence on household saving rates. Increasing the tax rate on labor income causes a greater percentage …