Public Economics Commons^™

Undominated Monopoly Regulation, Debasis Mishra, Sanket Patil

Working Papers

We study undominated mechanisms with transfers for regulating a monopolist who privately observes the marginal cost of production. A mechanism is undominated if no other mechanism gives the regulator a strictly higher payoff at some marginal cost of the monopolist without lowering the regulator’s payoff at other costs. We show that an undominated mechanism has a quantity floor: whenever the monopolist is allowed to operate, it produces above a threshold quantity. Moreover, the regulator’s operation decision is stochastic only if the monopolist produces at the quantity floor. We provide a near-complete characterization of the set of undominated mechanisms and use …

Implementing Efficiency With Equality, Sarvesh Bandhu, Ratul Lahkar

Working Papers

We consider the implementation of efficiency with minimum inequality in a large population model of negative externalities. Formally, the model is one of tragedy of the commons with the aggregate strategy at the efficient state being lower than at the Nash equilibrium. A planner can restore efficiency by imposing an externality equivalent tax and then redistributing the tax revenue as transfers to lower inequality. We characterize the payment scheme that minimizes inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, at the efficient state subject to incentive compatibility and budget balance. We then construct a mechanism that implements efficiency with minimum inequality …

Forgive Me Not? Racial And Institutional Disparities In The Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness, Vladimir Kotomin, Wyatt Frere, Ruby Morr

Faculty Publications – Finance, Insurance, and Law

Existing research establishes that minority borrowers, particularly Black small business owners, faced significant challenges in accessing funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), especially in its early stages. We find that institutional and racial disparities persist during the PPP loan forgiveness stage. Controlling for various loan- and borrower-level characteristics, we demonstrate that relationship lenders – community banks, credit unions, and farm credit institutions – are associated with higher rates of PPP loan forgiveness. In contrast, automated lenders – fintechs and fintech banks – exhibit the lowest forgiveness rates. Black borrowers experience the poorest outcomes, except for loans issued by non-depository …

How Influential Are Digital Technologies On Good Governance And Quality Institutions In Asean?, Ismail Aremu Muhammed, Ahmed Masood Khalid, Gamini Premaratne

Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking

How do Digital Technologies (DT) affect the quality of governance and institutions in ASEAN? We address this question through employing a panel data technique on 10 ASEAN countries over the period between 1996 and 2022. The findings reveal that DT are influential in the quality of governance and institutions in these countries. Specifically, fixed broadband subscriptions, individuals using the internet, and mobile cellular subscriptions are vital in promoting good governance and quality institutions in ASEAN. Moreover, government effectiveness and rule of law responded and improved more significantly with the development of DT. It was concluded that effective government policy and …

Tipflation: The Conflagration Of Inflation And Out-Of-Control Tip Requests, Gil Katzman, Lisa N. Cain

ICHRIE Research Reports

This data-supported opinion piece seeks to shed light on the growing phenomenon of tipflation, examine how this influences customers, and suggest alternatives to current tipping practices. To support the concepts highlighted, a simple survey consisting of seven pointed questions were asked of participants to discern their thoughts on current tipping trends. Participants were also asked to disclose their age and whether they had worked in a tipped position previously to determine if these factors influenced responses. Findings reveal that those who worked as tipped employees exercised different practices toward tipping than those who did not. Technological solutions, policy changes, and …

Drivers And Barriers To Financial Transparency In Georgia’S Local Governments, Min S. Kim

The Guardianship Journal

This study investigates the determinants of financial transparency in local governments, specifically measured by the availability of financial documents on official websites. Hypotheses were developed to examine the relationships between financial transparency and three categories of influencing factors: community environmental characteristics, governance structures, and financial conditions. Using empirical analysis on a sample of 159 counties in Georgia, the findings reveal varying levels of support for the proposed hypotheses. Key determinants of financial transparency include population size, median household income, and the size of the board of commissioners. Conversely, financial condition factors were not found to significantly influence financial transparency. These …

Bolstering The Startup Sector In Palestine And Its Potential Impact On Public Finance, Rabeh Morrar, Rand Jibril

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Objective: This study aimed to analyze of the ecosystem surrounding startups in Palestine in general, with a particular focus on public finance; specifically, how public authorities can enhance the regulatory framework and adopt incentive policies for startups and entrepreneurship to create a positive long-term impact on both the overall economy and public finance. Methodology: The study's methodology primarily involved conducting in-depth interviews with a sample of all stakeholders related to the Palestinian startup ecosystem. This included government entities, relevant public bodies, startups, entrepreneurs, accelerators, incubators, venture capital funds, universities, innovation centers, and legal entities. Results: The study reached several important …

Electric Commuter Rail Access In Residential Communities: A Hedonic Analysis Case Study Of Nonmarket Value Creation, Catherine A. Sunding

Scripps Senior Theses

This study quantifies the price impact on houses of a new electric commuter rail line outside of Denver, Colorado. I find a negative price impact corresponding to increased accessibility and proximity of homes to the rail stations due to the negative externalities associated with the track. I also discover an even larger negative price impact of the rail stations in the years before the stations opened to the public, indicating possible endogeneity in the location of the rail line. I attempt to account for this endogeneity using instrumental variable analysis due to a limitation of house pricing data before 2016.

Where Does The Money Go? Three Essays On Intergovernmental Transfers, Spending, And Poverty In Indonesia, Jacobus Cd Rijoly

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Indonesia allocates substantial intergovernmental transfers to local governments; nonetheless, the decrease in poverty remains limited. This dissertation posits that the binding constraint is institutional, specifically the regulations and incentives that dictate the extent to which funds are allocated from the government to designated programs. Institutional pass-through refers to the fraction of a transfer that is allocated to a program expenditure. The three essays integrate estimation, budget composition evidence, and a formal model to explain both modest average effects and heterogeneity across regions and programs.

The first essay evaluates the impact of transfers on provincial poverty from 2001 to 2022 by …

Three Essays On Education And Health Economics, Kalvin Mudrow

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The first chapter explores the impact of online education on student outcomes by comparing students pre-2020 school closures to students post-2020 school closures. Using student-level panel data from a large U.S. school district spanning 2017-2023 and two outcome variables, reading tests and end-of-level exams, I estimate the effects on different demographic groups, the dynamics of these effects over time, and how these effects differ across students ages. I find a significant decline in student performance after the move to online learning, with additional adverse effects on students who are classified as low-income, female, special education, or ELL. Mechanisms contributing to …

Women On Boards Annual Monitoring Report 2024, Center For Entrepreneurship And Innovation

Faculty Books

The AUC Egypt women on boards monitoring report is issued annually to track and monitor the presence and representation of women on boards towards meeting the goal of having 30% women on boards by 2030. The importance of improving representation of women on boards stems from the fact that it is one of the good governance pillars, in addition to the positive impact on firm performance and profitability. The National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 has accordingly promoted for increasing the leadership roles of women and holding key positions in public institutions and companies, setting the target …

A Statistical Analysis Of Southern Land Grants In Addressing Declining College Enrollment, Kallen Zhou

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

With declining enrollment of higher education, it is crucial to analyze current mechanics in order to maintain higher education’s benefits to society. Currently, research is aware that land grants serve an important historical role in promoting enrollment, yet additional research is required on their contemporary impact on enrollment and institutional aid. Specifically, this study evaluates land grants universities - institutions established under the Morrill Act of 1862 - and data collected from their respective Common Data Sets on historical enrollment and institutional aid from 2013 to 2023. A point-biserial correlation analysis and two sample t-test are used to understand the …

Potential Fiscal Stability Effects Of The African Continental Free Trade Area: An Empirical Analysis, Simon Abendin, Duan Pingfang, Umer Shahzad

Journal of African Trade

This study analyzes the potential effects of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on fiscal stability, using panel data from 54 African economies that have ratified the AfCFTA from 2010 to 2021. The study uses a dynamic system GMM model to address endogeneity, simultaneity, measurement bias, and reverse causality issues. The findings indicate that the AfCFTA agreement may reduce government revenue and spending. Furthermore, the study found that the AfCFTA could lead to an increase in government debt

The Legacy Of Housing Discrimination: Asthma Disparities In California Cities, Taylor Daetz

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the effect of discriminatory housing policy on current asthma rates in California cities. This study uses boundary design and propensity score methodologies to analyze asthma-related emergency department visits in census tracts with corresponding appraisal grades from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps. The results indicate significantly higher asthma burdens in grade D (redlined) census tracts compared to grade C tracts, even when controlling for present-day pollution concentrations, with historically redlined tracts experiencing an average of 26.88 additional emergency department visits per 10,000 residents. The analysis further reveals disparities between grade C and B neighborhoods, suggesting that even …

When Consumers See It Coming: How Anticipation Affects The Domestic Cost Of Tariffs, Pierce D. Sanderson

CMC Senior Theses

Tariffs implemented by President Trump in 2018 were unexpected and significant, incurring large costs to U.S. consumers. This study examines the effect of tariff anticipation on price, quantity, and value effect on imports in the United States. Specifically, it focuses on tariffs implemented during Obama’s second term in office from 2012 to 2016 on the automotive, technology, and manufacturing industries. The findings present a significant divergence from the literature on the effects of 2018 tariffs, finding a near full pass-through of tariffs to foreign exporter prices rather than U.S. consumers. Specifically, a one percent increase in tariffs resulted in a …

Essays On Health Economics, Yiran Han

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The first chapter examines relationships between physicians exposed to new drugs’ clinical trials and prescribing. Clinical trials benefit patients directly by providing novel treatments, but little is known about the indirect effects of clinical trials on physician prescribing through localized knowledge spillover. This study examines whether exposure to a clinical trial of a new drug in a physician’s local geographic area affects the physician’s propensity to prescribe the drug, i.e. a localized knowledge spillover from clinical trial sites to physician. Utilizing the Medicare Part D prescribing patterns of more than 10,000 physicians across 29 new cancer drugs approved by the …

Lessons Learned: Karl-Philipp Wojick, Maryann Haggerty

Journal of Financial Crises

Karl-Philipp Wojcik is the general counsel of the European Union’s Single Resolution Board (SRB), the central resolution authority within the European Commission (EC) banking union. The banking union, which as of January 1, 2023, encompasses the 20 eurozone countries, along with Bulgaria, was established as part of the financial system reforms stemming from the Global Financial Crisis and the ensuing European sovereign debt crisis. The SRB’s stated mission is to ensure orderly resolution of failing banks, protect taxpayers from state bailouts, and promote financial stability. Wojcik became SRB general counsel in November 2020. Previously, he was a member of the …

Lessons Learned: Subba Rao Duvvuri, Salil Gupta

Journal of Financial Crises

Subba Rao Duvvuri served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for five years (2008–13). Before that, he was finance secretary to the government of India (2007–08), and secretary to the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005–07). With a career spanning 35 years in the Indian Administrative Services, Duvvuri has held various positions at the state level in the government of Andhra Pradesh, and at the central government of India. Duvvuri was previously lead economist at the World Bank (1999–2004) and, after 2013, served as a visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore and the University of …

Lessons Learned: Calvin Mitchell Iii, Mercedes Cardona

Journal of Financial Crises

Calvin Mitchell III served as executive vice president of the communications group within the executive office of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) during the Global Financial Crisis. In 2008, Mitchell was tapped by Timothy Geithner, who was then FRBNY president, to head a new group charged with expanding the communications and community affairs functions. Mitchell left the FRBNY in 2009 for the private sector and returned to government in 2021 as assistant secretary for public affairs in the US Treasury Department.

International Monetary Fund: Special Drawing Rights Allocations, 2009, Ikbal S. Ahluwalia, Owen Heaphy, Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

Despite efforts by the world’s major economies to address stresses in the global financial system, by early 2009, the Global Financial Crisis caused developing and lower-income countries to experience shortages of the major reserve currencies. In August 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) distributed a general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of unprecedented size—totaling USD 250 billion (SDR 161.3 billion)—to all member countries in an effort to address these issues and provide liquidity to the world’s economies. In September 2009, it also distributed a special “catch-up” allocation of USD 33 billion in SDRs (SDR 21.5 billion) to eligible members …