Economic Policy Commons^™

Is Authoritarianism Bad For The Economy? Ask Venezuela – Or Hungary Or Turkey, Nisha Bellinger, Byunghwan Son

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Democracy is at risk worldwide. And the economy may be, too.

Seventy-one out of the world’s 195 countries saw their democratic institutions erode in recent years, according to the 2018 year-end report by democracy watchdog Freedom House, a phenomenon known as “democratic backsliding.” Signs of backsliding include elected leaders who expand their executive powers while weakening the legislature and judiciary, elections that have become less competitive and shrinking press freedom.

Final Project Report, Anand J. Puppala

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Testing For Shifts In A Time Trend Panel Data Model With Serially Correlated Error Component Disturbances, Badi Baltagi, Chihwa Kao, Long Liu

Center for Policy Research

This paper studies testing of shifts in a time trend panel data model with serially correlated error component disturbances, without any prior knowledge of whether the error term is stationary or nonstationary. This is done in case the shift is known as well as unknown. Following Vogelsang (1997) in the time series literature, we propose a Wald type test statistic that uses a fixed effects feasible generalized least squares (FE-FGLS) estimator derived in Baltagi, et al. (2014). The proposed test has a Chi-square limiting distribution and is valid for both I (0) and I (1) errors. The finite sample size …

Making Dependent Care Fsaa Work For Low- To Moderate-Income Families 5 Action Steps For Employers, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Ellen Frank-Miller, Sloane Wolter

Social Policy Institute Research

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSAs) can help workers save money on child care expenses by using pre-tax dollars, but few employees actually use the accounts, particularly low- to moderate-income (LMI) employees, because:

• DCFSAs are difficult to understand; figuring out if they are possible to use and worth the trouble is a complex task for families.

• Families face a “double-hit” if they use the accounts – they have to set aside pre-tax dollars for child care expenses and then pay out-of-pocket before getting reimbursed.

• Using a DCFSA may require certainty about a year’s worth of child care …

Dependent Care Fsas: Policy Proposals To Level The Playing Field For Low- To Moderate-Income Parents, Ellen Frank-Miller, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Sloane Wolter

Social Policy Institute Research

This research was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank them for their support but acknowl-edge that the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.The authors are grateful to Don Baylor at the Annie E. Casey Foundation for his guidance and support throughout the project. We are also grateful to Elaine Maag at the Urban Institute for offering her expertise related to interactions between the Earned Income Tax Credit and dependent care flexible spending ac-counts. Finally, we extend our sincere thanks to …

Why Is The Black Population Of Central Brooklyn, The Mecca Of Black Nyc, Diminishing?, Jamell N.A. Henderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research looks at three possible reasons that might help to explain this unfortunate exodus. The first approach is through health and examines trends in environmental, mental and physical (general) health. I will explore statistics involving the health and well-being of Central Brooklyn, how the environment plays a disparate role in the poor health and lack of access to services of its African-American residents in comparison to other regions in Brooklyn. The second task is to ask how economics or “racial capitalism” plays a role by looking at gentrification, cooperative economics, and the income inequality in Black Central Brooklyn. The …

Final Project Report, Julie Bond, Amy Lester

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Slogans Appropriate To The Legacy Of Martin Luther King Jr., Theodore Walker

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

For printing signs, banners, posters, tee shirts, and bumper stickers (and for preaching sermons) that are appropriate to the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., please consider the following slogans: ABOLISH WAR, ABOLISH POVERTY, AMEND THE CONSTITUTION, SUPPORT AN ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS, JOBS FOR ALL, GUARANTEED INCOME FOR ALL, SUPPORT UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME, and GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR - Luke 4:14-19.

Policy Brief, Center For Transportation, Equity, Decisions & Dollars

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

The Venezuelan Crisis Within The Context Of Us Interventions In Latin America, Gloria D. Bravo

2019 Symposium

Venezuela, due to economic and political sabotage, has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis since the late part of 2018. This oil-exporting nation was faced with economic decline after 9/11, the 2008 economic recession and again in 2014; as a result of oil prices tanking. Under Cesar Chavez’s presidency the Venezuelan Bolivar faced destabilizing inflation rates surged in part by the ‘economic war’ against private enterprise and the bourgeoisie class, as well as a lack of diversification of exports and a dependency on imported goods. After Chavez's death in 2013, Nicolás Maduro took office and social unrest intensified.

Since 2014:

• Over …

New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Program Assessment 2019, Thomas Edison State University, Pel Analytics, Anderson Economic Group, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy

Urban Mayors Policy Center

In 2019, the State of New Jersey sought an evaluation of its Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) Program to determine the program’s economic impact and make recommendations for the program’s future. The John S. Watson Institute of Public Policy of Thomas Edison State University joined with PEL Analytics and Anderson Economic Group to produce the following study. The main recommendation of this analysis is to retain the UEZ Program while instituting various changes to make it stronger. Recommended changes in brief include reinstating some form of Zone Assistance Funds (ZAFs), creating a better system to collect data and track outcomes, assisting …

One Step At A Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination?, Maoliang Ye, Jie Zheng, Plamen Nikolov, Sam Asher

Economics Faculty Scholarship

This study investigates a potential mechanism to promote coordination. With theoretical guidance using a belief-based learning model, we conduct a multi-period, binary-choice, and weakest-link laboratory coordination experiment to study the effect of gradualism – increasing the required levels (stakes) of contributions slowly over time rather than requiring a high level of contribution immediately – on group coordination performance. We randomly assign subjects to three treatments: starting and continuing at a high stake, starting at a low stake but jumping to a high stake after a few periods, and starting at a low stake while gradually increasing the stakes over time …

Final Project Report, Anurag Pande

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Kate Hyun, Courtney Cronley

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Mouyid Islam

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Shahereh Kermanshachi, Kelly Bergstrand

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Subhrajit Guhathakurta, Amit Kumar

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Economic Impact Of Ethanol Biorefineries In The U.S. Midwest From 2001 To 2015: A Quasi-Experimental Approach, Scott W. Hall

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the economic impact of newly operational ethanol biorefineries on rural counties in the U.S. Midwest region for the period 2001 to 2015 using a quasi-experimental approach. Rapid growth in the ethanol industry expanded the number of ethanol plants located in the U.S. Midwest from 54 in 2001 to 173 in 2015. Out of the counties with 119 new ethanol biorefineries, 97 counties met the general treatment criteria defined in this dissertation, but only 56 of those counties qualified for the rural treatment criteria. Counties with ethanol biorefineries that qualified for treatment were …

Does Medicaid Increase Emergency Room Use: Evidence From Oregon Health Program?, Md Fourkan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper strives to identify the relationship between Medicaid expansion and Emergency Department use. I use a Monte Carlo simulation for demonstrating the endogeneity problem and a copula model using the Oregon Health Program (OHP) data to show the previous literature has exaggerated the causal relation between Medicaid expansion and Emergency Department use. This paper can be divided into two parts. First, it tries to focus on the under-identification of multiple endogenous variables problem in typical econometrics papers, where researchers correct for a single endogenous variable but intentionally or unintentionally ignore the endogeneity of one or more other independent …

Market-Base Solutions To Manage The Guarani Aquifer: Pigouvian Fee And Cap-And-Trade, Julia Hayes Vieira

Master's Theses and Capstones

The objective of this case-study is to analyze the effects and the perception of different groups in possibly implementing market-based approaches of Pigouvian tax and Cap-and-Trade to manage the Guarani Aquifer, Brazil. The Pigouvian Tax is a corrective taxation that assigns a price for the negative impacts water consumption creates to aquifers, as a way to influence a more sustainable level of water consumption. Cap-and-Trade sets a maximum quantity of water allowed to be used from aquifers, and allow economic agents to trade quantities of water they have the right to use, as a way to adapt to the cap. …