bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of an Urban Farm-to-Preschool and Families Program
Authors: Carbone Elena T. , DiFulvio Gloria T. , Susi Toni , Nelson-Peterman Jerusha , Lowbridge-Sisley Joan , Collins Jessica
Published: March 2016

Over the past 30 years, the rate of childhood obesity has risen dramatically. Despite recent declines in prevalence among preschool-aged children, child obesity is still a significant public health concern. Healthy People 2020 objectives include increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among children over 2 years of age and increasing the number of schools that offer access to fresh fruits and vegetables. To reach these objectives, farm-to-school programs are being implemented across the United States. The purpose of this evaluation was to: (a) identify factors that facilitate adoption of the Farm-to-Preschool and Families program in Springfield, MA, specifically; and (b) provide recommendations and guidelines for successful implementation of Farm-to-Preschool and Families programs generally. Using a combination of classroom observations of preschoolers, teacher and food service interviews, and administrator surveys, the findings suggest that having a strong programmatic infrastructure, administrative support, and external support from families is important to sustain a Farm-to-Preschool and Families program.
Incredible Tram of Goalpara Forest
Authors: Wary Jaysagar
Published: March 2016

The tram was established to extract valuable sal timber from the reserve forest of erstwhile Goalpara district of Assam. Sal timber was in demand for its use as sleepers for railway tracks, as it was durable enough to be used to fasten the railway tracks. In the past, sal timber was brought near the river banks by elephants and bullock cart and then transported through river routes to Dhubri from where the timber was supplied to different places. The sal timber was found in inaccessible areas and, therefore, more labour was required for transporting them. Hence, the forest department set up a tram in Goalpara forest. This article deals with the basic necessity that led to the establishment of the tram in Kochugaon reserve forest of Goalpara Forest Division.
Swings of the Pendulum: A Review of Theory and Practice in Development Economics
Authors: Kondonassis A.J. , Malliaris A.G. , Okediji T.O.
Published: March 2016

The first purpose of this paper is to reveal some insights offered by our experiences in theorizing about development economics and in doing so to shed some light on the current state of economic development. The second purpose of this paper is to review some practices of economic development planning. These practices have initially followed swings in antithetical positions. Yet, it will be argued that eventually development practices have followed a synthetic or evolutionary process. Some of the findings of the paper include that theories and policies have a time and place; that development planning strategies must recognize both the economic and non economic characteristics of less developed countries; that development planning strategies should be country specific.
Normative Foundations of Introductory Economics
Authors: Northrop Emily
Published: March 2016

According to Robert Solow, the orthodox model “underplays the significance of ethical judgments both in its approach to policy and in its account of individual and organizational behavior.” This paper demonstrates that introductory texts promote, without acknowledgment or debate, the following ethical judgments and value-laden choices are equally meritorious, economic growth is desirable, consumerism, to ignore markets' sometimes coercive nature and the “non-externality” types of harm to third parties, anthropocentrism, the only unequivocal “good” is rearrangements which produce only winners, and to view humans as separate and self-serving entities. These values matter because, as Colander and Landreth write, “The simple textbook models students learn serve as an operating system for their minds … [and the] models limit students' imagination and consideration of alternatives …”
Labor Force Participation of Married Women: Do Regions Matter?
Authors: Fosu Augustin Kwasi
Published: March 2016

The paper argues that regional idiosyncratic factors may contribute to determining the labor force participation (LFP) preferences of married women. Analyzing data across metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for 1980, the study initially finds no significant regional differences in the “gross” means of reported labor force participation (LFP) rates of married women in the U.S. It reveals substantial regional disparities, however, once the usual arguments of the LFP function are accounted for. In particular, the LFP equation exhibits marked structural differences across regions, providing support for the above hypothesis of regional “social economy.”
A Study of Interest Rates in the Longer Run: Now You Know the Rest of the Story
Authors: Schnitzel Paul
Published: March 2016

Do nominal rates of interest change with inflation expectations, changes in expected real rates of interest or both? By 1996, nominal interest rates, inflation, and money supply growth in the United States and six industrial countries had significantly retreated from peak levels in the early 1980s. In explaining the rise of nominal yields, in these countries, up to the 1980s, this paper finds evidence for both higher inflation and higher real rates of interest. In contrast with the idea that variations in nominal yields are principally the product of variations in expected rates of inflation, this paper finds evidence that real rates of interest were non-constant in all countries. After 1981, lower rates of inflation in all countries were eventually manifested, sooner or later, in lower rates of interest. Simple tests of significance provide more support for the inflation-interest rate connection than do cointegration tests. While simple tests of significance suggest evidence that changes in real rates of interest contributed to changes in nominal yields, tests of cointegration provide little or no support for this position.
Dealership Competition in the U. S. Automobile Industry
Authors: Ramrattan Lall B.
Published: March 2016

This paper develops a model of dealership rivalry for the U.S. auto industry in line with the research program of Joe Bain. In Bain's research, the literature depicts the auto industry as a differentiated oligopoly with non-price competition and price collusion. It has established advertising and R&D rivalry successfully, but has focused little attention to dealership competition. Because Bain has given a dominant role to dealership competition, this paper addresses the dealership rivalry problem. We found that a competitive model allowing a firm to react to a rival's past levels of advertising, R&D outlays, and the number of dealers, represents the firms' non-price competitive behavior well for the 1970–1996 period. The hypotheses we used have captured the joint effects of advertising, R&D, and dealerships, when explicit specifications for the financial constraints facing the firms are accounted for. We are able to statistically validate the hypothesis that U.S. firms do compete in dealership systems, as Joe Bain has predicted, within the differentiated oligopoly market structure. The results also allow some inferences regarding the sequential nature of non-price competition among the firms.
The Dollar and U.S. Inflation: Some Evidence from a Vecm Process
Authors: Darrat Ali F. , Chopin Marc C. , Dickens Ross N.
Published: March 2016

Large fluctuations in the dollar value in recent years rekindled fears of increased U.S. price instability. With monthly data, we employ the cointegration and error-correction modeling technique to examine the nature of the interrelationship between the dollar and U.S. prices in a multivariate setting. The empirical results reveal strong and lasting effects of changes in the dollar exchange rate on U.S. inflation. The results also indicate that money supply exerts a potent and quick impact upon U.S. prices. Therefore, it seems that the Federal Reserve has shouldered much of the responsibility with respect to U.S. price stability in the face of the dramatic changes in the dollar value in recent years.
Economic Theory and the Interpretation of GATT/WTO
Authors: Bagwell Kyle , Staiger Robert W.
Published: March 2016

Over the past 50 years, a remarkable degree of trade liberalization has been achieved through GATT/WTO negotiations. In this paper, we describe work that provides a theoretical interpretation of this institution. We emphasize two key features of GATT/WTO: reciprocity and enforcement. We also identify important areas for future research. The work described here contributes to the fields of International Trade and Applied Game Theory.
An Active Learning Tool for the Principles of Economics: The Allocation Exercise
Authors: Christoffersen Susan
Published: March 2016

Integrating active learning exercises into pedagogy has long been recommended for its impact on student motivation, retention, and depth of understanding. Despite the well-documented literature in this area, many economics classes are still conducted in the traditional “chalk and talk” mode. To facilitate change, this paper details an active approach to understanding the allocation of goods under different economic regimes. This allocation exercise is described, examples of handouts are provided and student responses to the exercise are summarized.
Transitivity is Not Necessary to Show That Indifference Curves Cannot Intersect, a Note
Authors: Scott John
Published: March 2016

Professors in intermediate and advanced microeconomic theory courses often propose a proof that indifference curves cannot intersect that relies on the transitivity and monotonicity of preferences. In the interest of stimulating thought on the topic, we derive an elementary proof that indifference curves cannot intersect which relies on fewer assumptions than the traditional proof. We conclude that transitivity is essential in constructing a theory of rational choice; but transitivity is not essential in showing that indifference curves cannot intersect.
Ranking of Economic Journals: A Statistical Survey and Analysis
Authors: Ramrattan Lall B. , Szenberg Michael
Published: March 2016

This paper presents the results of a sample survey of economics journals and investigates the implications of unanswered questions raised in the literature especially those involving the supply side that is the production or input characteristics of journals. First, we explored the data using standard multivariate techniques. Based on the input characteristics, we were able to discern two rankings of 41 and 72 journals, respectively, depending on whether or not compensation data was included. Second, we specified a simultaneous econometric model using the Generalized Method of Moment estimator to extract significant coefficients for a priori specified parameters in the literature. The results offer newer insights on the ongoing question of the place of journals in the discipline of economics.
The Strategic use of Convertible Debt in “Deep Pocket” Predatory Games
Authors: Gottesman Aron A.
Published: March 2016

A model is developed to argue that an entrant can use noncallable convertible debt to avoid predation in a “deep pocket” predatory game. Adverse-selection problems force the entrant to enter the market heavily leveraged compared to the incumbent monopolist. The model demonstrates that there exist conversion ratios for which creditors only have incentive to convert if the entrant is high quality. The entrant can therefore issue convertible debt to signal quality to investors. Before production decisions are made, the creditors convert, preventing predation. The conclusions are relevant to both the convertible debt literature and the product market competition literature.
Micro Data, Heterogeneity and the Evaluation of Public Policy Part 1
Authors: Heckman James J.
Published: March 2016

This paper summarizes the contributions of microeconometrics to economic knowledge. Four main themes are developed. (1) Microeconometricians developed new tools to respond to econometric problems raised by the analysis of the new sources of micro data produced after the Second World War. (2) Microeconometrics improved on aggregate time series methods by building models that linked economic models for individuals to data on individual behaviour. (3) An important empirical regularity detected by the field is the diversity and heterogeneity of behaviour. This heterogeneity has profound consequences for economic theory and for econometric practice. (4) Microeconometrics has contributed substantially to the scientific evaluation of public policy.
Pros and Cons of Capital Controls in the Presence of Incomplete Markets
Authors: Orlov Alexei G.
Published: March 2016

This paper justifies the relevance of capital controls on the basis of markets' incompleteness, examines the pros and cons of restrictions on capital mobility, surveys the literature's recent attempts to assess the effectiveness of capital controls, and delineates the focal points of debate among researchers and policymakers. Additionally, the link between capital controls and financial stability is examined using frequency domain techniques. The study of the Chilean stock market and Peso-Dollar exchange rate fluctuations reveals that financial volatility due to irregular components increased after the removal of capital controls in September 1998.
A Note on Government Budgets
Authors: Kyer Ben L. , Maggs Gary E.
Published: March 2016

The standard pedagogical examination of government budgets includes the distinction between cyclical and structural deficits and surpluses and changes thereof. This paper extends the regular classroom analysis and graphically demonstrates that cyclical changes in the government budget can be decomposed and stated as the summation of the expenditure effect and the revenue effect.
How Much Will People Pay for Status?
Authors: Burkett Justin
Published: March 2016

Peoples' concerns for status may raise problems for traditional economic models. For example, concern for status leads people to have interdependent preferences. Recent empirical work has been done to determine the scope and magnitude of this concern with regard to income. This paper builds on these recent empirical findings. Using a survey, this paper shows that status-driven concerns for income are abundant and vary over a wide range. Based on information supplied by participants, women showed more concern for status than men. Family income and future expectations also were significant in an ordered probit regression.
Teacher Training and Market Attitudes in Transitioning Economies
Authors: Thomas M. Kathleen , Campbell Randall C.
Published: March 2016

One of the ancillary goals of economic education programs in transitioning economies is to foster positive attitudes toward market economies. Using a simultaneous equations model to account for the interaction between attitudes and economics knowledge, this research examines the factors that contribute to the pro-market attitudes of teachers participating in economics training programs sponsored by the National Council on Economic Education in Russia, Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Empirical results indicate that training increases the probability participants will possess positive attitudes toward market economies, but that possessing positive attitudes toward free-markets does not necessarily imply greater economics knowledge.
An Innovative Money Multiplier
Authors: Stauffer Robert
Published: March 2016

Conventional textbook treatments of money multiplier analysis are virtually devoid of any calculations of real world money supply changes, probably because the standard monetary base multiplier requires tedious calculations and is somewhat difficult to interpret. The purpose of this paper is to present a new money multiplier which is easily calculable in first differences. Applications of this new multiplier are investigated using case studies of money supply change in two periods: the Great Depression (1929–1933), and during the slow monetary growth of the early nineties (1991–1994).
Metropolitan Poverty: The Case of New York City
Authors: Mogull Robert G.
Published: March 2016

This study serves two purposes. First, it demonstrates a method of estimating and projecting annual poverty at sub-national levels. Data obtained from decennial censuses provide the benchmarks from which poverty is estimated and projected for various demographic groups. Projections are based upon curvilinear trends of rates and counts for each group. The methodology can be easily applied in a variety of jurisdictional settings and levels.

The second objective is to provide a specific portrait of poverty by demographic group within the New York City metropolitan region. The evidence indicates a substantial increase over the next decade both in the incidence of poverty and in the number of impoverished residents. There will also be major shifts among population segments in their shares of total area poverty.
Human Subjects Requirements and Economic Education Researchers
Authors: Lopus Jane S. , Grimes Paul W. , Becker William E. , Pearson Rodney A.
Published: March 2016

This paper presents the results of a web-based survey of economic educators who were asked about their knowledge and experience with human subjects research and the mandated federal protocols that govern such research at most American universities. The results indicate that while economic education researchers are experienced in conducting human subjects research and are aware of the federal regulations, they are not well informed about key details of the regulations. They are skeptical of the net benefits of the mandated protocols because of the perceived discouraging burdens of the paperwork that rarely result in significant modifications of their research projects. The authors conclude that recent calls for modifications to the federal regulations for classroom-based research projects may be justified given the opportunity costs of adhering to the regulations compared to the relatively low levels of perceived benefits.
An Empirical Analysis of Alternative Assessment Strategies in the High School Economics Class
Authors: Lopus Jane , Hoff Jody
Published: March 2016

Three different assessment methods are used to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum package Open and Operating: The Federal Reserve Responds to September 11 in improving the economic knowledge of 1291 California high school students. Student performance is found to vary by race and gender depending on the assessment method used: multiple choice questions, an essay question, or a group creative poster activity. Consistent with prior studies, white male students perform better on the multiple choice questions. However, these gender and racial differences disappear for the essay instrument, and females and Asians outperform others on the group creative activity. Economists who work training high school teachers are encouraged to recommend that teachers use different assessment methods to encourage the success of different types of students.
Cross Price Elasticity and Income Elasticity of Demand: Are Your Students Confused?
Authors: Graves Philip E. , Sexton Robert L.
Published: March 2016

The authors demonstrate that most textbooks are ambiguous at best in their treatment of cross price and income elasticity of demand. There is also no discussion of what initiates a price increase in discussions of substitutes and complements in the textbooks examined. The authors offer a remedy for these deficiencies.
Using The Simpsons to Improve Economic Instruction Through Policy Analysis
Authors: Gillis Mark T. , Hall Joshua
Published: March 2016

The analysis of public policy issues in the classroom can be a powerful tool to help students learn because it encourages students to actively apply classroom material. The television show The Simpsons provides several episodes that revolve around policy issues amenable to examination. Using The Simpsons to provide students with material for analysis has two advantages over traditional sources such as newspapers or magazines. First, a long-running and popular television show effectively engages students in a way traditional sources cannot. Second, the context of an animated television show can help students separate positive economic analysis from normative economic analysis.
Evidence on Forecasting Inflation Under Asymmetric Loss
Authors: Baghestani Hamid , Abual-Foul Bassam
Published: March 2016

This study extends previous work on the asymmetric information hypothesis by comparing the Federal Reserve and private inflation forecasts in terms of directional accuracy for 1983–2002. In support of this hypothesis, the Federal Reserve forecasts show superiority in terms of both predictive content and directional accuracy. However, both sets of forecasts are far more accurate in predicting upward moves than they are in predicting downward moves. In an environment where maintaining price stability is a top priority, we interpret such evidence as preference for over-prediction under asymmetric loss and argue that the bias in the inflation forecasts is rational.
Teaching Economic Principles: Algebra, Graph or Both?
Authors: Zetland David , Russo Carlo , Yavapolkul Navin
Published: March 2016

We find that student performance on questions posed in the standard heterogeneous combination of algebraic direct demand and graphic inverse demand is significantly worse than their performance on questions posed in homogeneous combinations. Since this performance deficit persists with advanced students, it seems that economists' canonical presentation of demand may hinder, rather than help, learning. We recommend that Principles students begin with the homogenous, direct combination of algebra and graph before turning to the standard direct-inverse combination. This modification would create benefits on the extensive margin — reducing attrition from confusion — and intensive margin — increasing comprehension for all students.
Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom
Authors: Friedman Milton
Published: March 2016

Editor’s Introduction

Originally published in Volume 16, Number 1, Spring 1972, pages 4-17. At the 1971 annual conference of the American Economic Association, Milton Friedman (1912-2006) delivered this paper as the fourth John R. Commons Lecture. It is a summary of research he was conducting with Anna Schwartz intended as a follow-up to their seminal work published nearly a decade earlier, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. Over his lengthy career, Professor Friedman became his generation’s leading proponent of the Chicago School of economic thought and the founder of modern monetarism. In 1976 he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, “for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy.” Professor Friedman was one of those rare economists whose work was as widely known by the general public as it was respected by his academic peers. In this paper, Friedman identifies, examines, and compares a variety of trends in the monetary bases of the United States and the United Kingdom using nearly a century of data. His observations on the impact of technology, such as “automatic computers” on the velocity of money and the early movements toward a “checkless society” are prescient given that they were written more than forty years before today’s age of digital commerce. The paper concludes with a transcription of Professor Friedman’s responses to questions from the lecture’s audience.
Effect of Interest Rate on Consumption under Alternative Expectations Hypotheses: Evidence from Pakistan
Authors: Pourgerami Abbas , Ghouri Salman Saif
Published: March 2016

Estimation results from the adaptive expectations PIH and rational expectations RWH consumption functions indicate that the real interest rate or expected inflation rate has no effect on consumption behavior in Pakistan. Consequently, individuals do not alter significantly their projected consumption path in response to higher rates of return on savings. A likely outcome of such insensitivity is a current account deficit due to the low income and savings ratio and limited domestic capital formation.
The Publication Incidence of Replications and Critical Commentary in Economics
Authors: Hubbard Raymond , Vetter Daniel E.
Published: March 2016

Replication is not common in the economics literature. No replications were found in a sampling of 1,698 papers from three major economics journals. Only 5.4 percent were replications with extensions, and they accounted for only four percent of journal space devoted to research reports. The replications with extensions generally produced results that conflicted with the original works. Of the 92 extensions published, 65.2 percent conflicted with the earlier results, and only 20 percent provided full confirmation.
Intersegment and Racial Differences in Nonemployment Mobility
Authors: Waddoups Jeffrey , Assane Djeto
Published: March 2016

This paper is an exploration of intersegment and racial differences in job-leaving experience, which links ideas found in mobility studies of the labor market segmentation school and the literature which describes unemployment as a dynamic process. Findings suggest that there are significant differences in nonemployment mobility patterns across the segment structure, lending support to researchers who view the labor market as segmented. In addition, after controlling for segmentation, racial differences in nonemployment mobility are revealed, suggesting that race, too, is an important theoretical category that cannot be ignored.
The Soviet Union as a Great Power: The Need for Reform
Authors: Brown Thomas G.
Published: March 2016

The reforms of perestroika took the western world by surprise. However, the application of economic analysis to the last half century of Soviet history reveals a country in economic decline. Additionally, while the country contracted economically, the Soviet political sector insisted upon increased military expenditures to preserve the nation as a great power. I propose that this combination was impossible to sustain in the long-run, and that perestroika is evidence that some members of the Soviet government have recognized this fact. I then examine the prospects of perestroika, in present form, curing the Soviet Union's economic and military woes.
Bank's Portfolio Management under Uncertainty
Authors: Samanta Subarna K. , Mohamad-Zadeh Ali H.
Published: March 2016

The major objective of this paper is to derive a set of optimal decision rules (for asset or inventory management) for a commercial bank operating under uncertain circumstances (subject to stochastic deposit loss). The bank is assumed to be maximizing the expected utility derived from it's net income. This objective is realized by the marginal conditions of the model. It shows how and under what conditions, the banker should expand loans at the expense of securities and/or excess reserves and how he adjusts to de-regulations and how the change in uncertainty about the deposit loss affects him.
Interpersonal Comparisons and Labor Supply: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Kosicki George
Published: March 2016

If interpersonal consumption or leisure comparisons affect utility, the labor supply of individuals with equal levels of non-labor income should be more similar when classified by wage rank than by the level of wages. Also, if concern for relative leisure dominates the concern for relative consumption, then at a given wage level, wage rank should be positively related to hours supplied. Evidence of a relationship between hours supplied and wage rank is found, but conflicting evidence exists on the direction of the relationship. The most recent data suggest that concern for relative leisure dominates the concern for relative consumption.
Contractual Governance in Trucking: Maislin V. Primary Steel and the Undercharge Crisis
Authors: Smith Brian R.
Published: March 2016

This paper analyzes the structure of post-deregulation contracting in the trucking industry from a transactions-cost perspective, focusing on the effects of frequent transactions, specific investment, and rate uncertainty. Contrasting the “filed rate doctrine” and “negotiated rates policy,” it examines the “undercharge crisis” and the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Maislin v. Primary Steel. The paper concludes that Maislin failed dramatically to eliminate rate uncertainty, but despite the impassioned protests of shippers, the decision reduced only slightly the incentive for them to enter into long-term freight contracts.
Sector-Specific Unemployment and Corporate Income Tax Incidence: A Geometric Exposition
Authors: Wang Leonard F. S.
Published: March 2016

This paper examines the incidence of the corporate income tax using duality theory for a two-sector general equilibrium model in which the economy experiences sector-specific unemployment and perfect capital mobility with a sector-specific rigid-wage in the corporate sector. Utilizing the simple geometry without the complicated mathematical manipulations required in the previous works, we demonstrate that capital always bears more of the corporate tax burden than does labor, while unemployment and national income unambiguously decline.
Determinants of Income Velocity in the United Kingdom: Multivariate Granger Causality
Authors: Arize Augustine C.
Published: March 2016

Using cointegration and multivariate causality approach, this paper examines the determinants of income velocity in the United Kingdom over the period, 1973Q1–1990Q2. The results suggest that changes in interest rate, interest rate volatility, real exchange rate and money growth volatility provide information that helps predict future movements in income velocity.
Replacing the Autarky Factor Prices with the Corresponding Post-Trade Prices: An Extension of Deardorff's Factor-Proportions Theory of Trade
Authors: Madresehee Mehrdad
Published: March 2016

A generalized version of the Heckscher-Ohlin model of trade (factor-proportions theory of the pattern of trade) has been developed by A. V. Deardorff for the ℓ-factor, m-commodity, and n-country case. Even though Deardorffs model does not add to the unrealistic assumptions of the simple version of the model, it seems to have a basic problem—it is untestable.

One of the reasons that Deardorffs model is not testable is due to the fact that the model measures the relative abundance of factors in a country by comparing their relative autarky prices in that country with those of the same factor in other trading countries. Since the autarky factor prices are not observable, this model cannot be tested unless further assumptions are made about the relationship between pre-trade and post-trade factor prices.

To overcome the problem concerning the unobservability of autarky factor prices, I have proved two theorems which make it possible to conduct tests to support the Deardorff model by allowing for the replacement of the autarky factor prices with the corresponding post-trade prices whenever the former ones should be used in the test. According to the corollaries which follow from these two theorems, any positive test result which is conducted based on post-trade factor prices can be used as supportive evidence to validate Deardorffs model which was formulated based on pre-trade factor price. However, unsatisfactory results cannot be used to falsify Deardorffs model due to the fact that the proved conditions are sufficient but not necessary.
External Debt, Growth and Debt-Service Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis
Authors: Scott Gerald
Published: March 2016

First the paper uses a simple neoclassical production function to show how capital imports can increase output in a low income nation. Secondly the paper shows how the increased output resulting from capital imports can potentially be distributed between debt service payments and consumption. Thirdly the paper uses data from 1980–87 for 31 countries in SSA, to provide empirical estimates of the elasticity of output with respect to capital imports, and the elasticity of the surplus with respect to output.

The theoretical model suggests that the actual surplus available for debt service may be much smaller than that suggested by the productivity of capital imports alone. The empirical estimates for SSA indicate that although capital imports into SSA have been very unproductive the marginal propensity to save seems sufficient to permit the region to generate a surplus for debt service.
The U. S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement: Impact on the U. S. Steel Industry
Authors: Williams Harold R. , Botzman Thomas J.
Published: March 2016

This study empirically estimates the impact of the U. S.-Canada FTA on specific iron and steel exports and imports using quarterly data for the period January 1981 to December 1990. A single equation multiple linear regression model is used to quantify at the industry and industry segment levels the impact of the agreement. The dependent variables are the quantities of major steel products traded between the two nations. The explanatory variables include foreign price adjusted for the exchange rate and tariff rate, domestic price, and the industrial production index. Results include calculation of price and income elasticities, which vary considerably by industry segments. The impact of free trade, as modeled, varies widely from product to product. As such it has important implications not only for government policy and employment but also for the adjustment problems faced by both the large integrated steel mill and the minimill producers.
Hyperlecturing and Linkages
Authors: Gillette David H.
Published: March 2016

Limited classroom instruction time is a binding constraint for professors teaching economics. Time requirements necessary to learn economics also impose similar constraints on students. The topic of this paper is the presentation of an environment that can both increase the economic content delivered during classroom instruction and increase the potential for students' learning economics outside the classroom. The methodology is two fold: HyperLecturing, a classroom presentation style where computer resources serve as instructional aides; and Linkages, an emphasis on interdisciplinary connections to other course material in a student's repertoire. The specific setting in this paper is Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, but the methodology generalizes to any course in economics.
New York Free Banks and the Role of Reputations
Authors: Haupert Michael J.
Published: March 2016

The era of free banking in the state of New York featured the competitive issue of money by banks. The results of this research provide support for the argument that banking during this period was not an anomaly, but an example of the effects of competition in a free market. This is done by establishing a link between bank reputations and the discount at which their notes traded. Quality is important and can be discerned through the use of reputations as a proxy, and thus can act as a stabilizing force in competitive markets where quality is difficult to recognize.
A Note on Modelling Opec Behavior 1983–1989: A Test of the Cartel and Competitive Hypotheses
Authors: Youhanna Sargon J.
Published: March 2016

The purpose of this note is to update James M. Griffin's study, “OPEC Behavior: A Test of Alternative Hypotheses” in The American Economic Review, Vol. 75, No. 5, 1985. In an attempt to empirically explain OPEC behavior, Griffin estimated four basic models (cartel, competitive, target revenue, and property rights) using quarterly data for the period 1971 to 1983. Griffin concluded that the partial market-sharing cartel model dominated all the other models in the ability to explain production behavior. Further attempts to improve model performance by the addition of lagged oil reserves to the competitive and cartel models failed to alter his basic conclusion. The objective of this note is to follow Griffin's methodology in empirically testing the competitive and cartel models, along with their respective lagged oil reserve counterparts, using quarterly data for the period 1983 to 1989 and to compare the results.1
The Stolper-Samuelson Theorem in the Presence of Domestic Distortions
Authors: Yeh Yeong-Her
Published: March 2016

This paper intends to show that in the presence of domestic distortions, the factor used intensively in the expanding industry could be worse off even though the real return to the factor in both the expanding industry and the contracting industry is increased. On the other hand, in the presence of domestic distortions, the factor used intensively in the contracting industry could be better off even though the real return to the factor in both the expanding industry and the contracting industry is decreased.
If Art is Resold, Should the Artist Profit?
Authors: Mantell Edmund H.
Published: March 2016

This paper analyzes the market adjustments to pending Federal legislation that would impose mandatory royalties on resales of works of fine art. The pending legislation is ostensibly motivated to confer economic benefits on artists who have not yet established themselves in the market. An important provision of the legislation is that it forbids the artist to waive his right to the re-sale royalty. The paper conducts a partial equilibrium welfare analysis to measure the allocative effects of the statute. Three propositions are established that demonstrate that the pending legislation will induce a net welfare loss as well as effect a redistribution of income from artists to a subset of purchasers. The policy implication of the proposition is that if the pending legislation is enacted, it will pervert the legislative intent.
Choosing the Sharing Rate for Incentive Contracts
Authors: Goel Rajeev K.
Published: March 2016

This paper analyzes the choice of the sharing rate in an incentive contract by a cost minimizing principal. Under an incentive contract, a principal pays some fraction of project costs (called the sharing rate) while the agent pays the rest. The main contribution of this work is that we are able to interpret the marginal conditions of the principal's choice of the sharing rate in terms of the equilibrium bid as a function of cost-and bid elasticities and project costs. We find that adverse outcomes from the principal's perspective arise when the bid elasticity is low and the cost elasticity is high. Using our results, a principal can predict the cost-minimizing bid before conducting an auction. The comparative static effect of a change in the exogenous number of bidders on the sharing rate is shown to depend on the market structure. Potential applications of these results are also discussed.
Twentieth Century Publication Performance in Five Leading Economics Journals, a Comment
Authors: Golden John , Carstensen Fred
Published: March 2016

This paper ranks the top thirty Ph.D.-awarding economics departments (out of a sample of over one hundred) by decade based upon both pages and numbers of articles published in five leading periodicals. These include the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Economic Journal, Journal of Political Economy, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Conclusions drawn are that several departments that have not ranked highly in recent publication studies performed strongly before 1950 and the home journal advantage of Chicago and Harvard has eroded over time. Also, only seven institutions appear in all nine publication lists.
Testing Increasing Sensitivity of Enrollment at Private Institutions to Tuition and other Costs
Authors: Hsing Yu , Chang Hui S.
Published: March 2016

This paper re-examines the demand for higher education at private institutions and tests if in recent years enrollment has become more sensitive to rising tuition and other related costs. Time series data between FY 1964–65 and FY 1990–91 are used as the sample. Major findings are interesting. The general functional form yields coefficients with smaller standard errors and larger value of the test statistics. The logarithmic form can be rejected at the 5% level. Tuition elasticities rose from −0.261 to −0.557 and income elasticities also increased from 0.493 to 1.093 during the sample period. Thus, enrollment has become more sensitive to changes in tuition and other costs. However, part of the loss of enrollment due to tuition increases can be recovered by rising income elasticities.
A Case Study of the Supply and Demand for Morning Kindergarten
Authors: Fox Nancy Ruth
Published: March 2016

This paper illustrates the gains from trade that are achieved when a modified price system is implemented to allocate a scarce resource, morning kindergarten slots in a public school system, instead of the first come, first served system that is currently used. Despite the fact that some parents are better off under this modified price system and none are worse off, parents responding to a survey of preferences for morning kindergarten were overwhelmingly opposed to such a system, regarding it as inappropriate and contrary to their values.
The Historical Continuum of Financial Illusion
Authors: Marietta Morgan
Published: March 2016

Can a clever financier outrun a diligent regulatory system? Are these recurrent excesses controllable, or are they an inevitable feature of economic life? The paper examines a representative history of financial illusions, specifically John Law's 18th century Mississippi Bubble, the original 1920s Ponzi scheme, the Investors Overseas Services (IOS) affair of the 1970s, and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) affair, illustrating the growth over time in the size and complexity of such institutions as well as some of their animating characteristics. If a certain level of entrepreneurial experimentation (deviltry) is a necessary and permanent fixture of the economy, and if we cannot successfully determine between the desirable and the undesirable before outcomes are known, we are faced with continuing growth along the continuum of financial illusion.
Do Japanese Automakers Maximize Profits? A Systems Analysis of the Pricing of Automobile Inventories
Authors: Langlois Catherine C.
Published: March 2016

This article investigates Japanese automaker pricing practices on the U.S. market and finds them compatible with short run profit maximization. The short run is here the selling time of a typical inventory holding and short run profit is defined as average per unit of time profit made over this selling time. Maximizing this concept of short run profit implies setting markup over the average cost of goods equal to the inverse of the price sensitivity of inventory selling time.

To test for short run profit maximizing behavior, estimates of this price sensitivity for each firm are compared to the actual markups applied by U.S. and Japanese automakers.
The Effect of Risk-Aversion on the Portfolio Allocation between Taxable Bonds and Non-Taxable Bonds of the Same Risk
Authors: Mantell Edmund H.
Published: March 2016

A well-known proposition found in numerous textbooks, as well as in marketing materials distributed by bond salesmen, asserts that a lower-yielding municipal bond can provide the same after-tax return as a higher-yielding corporate bond, ceteris paribus. A simple algebraic “equivalence relation” is sometimes adduced to illustrate what the before-tax yield on the corporate must be if its after-tax yield to the investor is to be equal to the yield on a municipal. A portfolio policy implication frequently suggested is that if the after-tax yield on the corporate is equal to the yield on the municipal, ceteris paribus, the “rational” investor should be indifferent to his allocation between the two.

This paper constructs a theory to demonstrate the dubious validity of that investment policy. The theory in this paper relies on the assumptions respecting the risk-aversive attitude of investors as well as the presence of risky taxable income statistically independent of the income from the bonds.

The main results of the analysis are expressed by two propositions that establish that the risk-averse investor will choose a specific allocation of his bond portfolio and will require a risk premium to induce him to hold municipals of the same risk as corporates.
Learning Techniques in Economics at the Principles Level
Authors: Quddus Munir , Bussing-Burks Marie
Published: March 2016

When a student in introductory economics approaches us for study advice, what study methods should we recommend? Economists have been vocal about their belief that their discipline is more analytical and rigorous than other social sciences and, therefore, needs special study techniques for efficient learning. However, the literature on economic education is silent on what these techniques are. This paper attempts to fill the gap in the economic literature on discipline-specific learning techniques. We discuss, in the context of an illustrative lecture on price elasticity of demand, several study tips for efficient learning of economics. We believe these study techniques, though valuable for other disciplines, are uniquely suited for economics and would enhance the chances of students in introductory economics learning the subject well.
Supplemental Instruction and the Enhancement of Student Performance in Economics Principles
Authors: Loviscek Anthony L. , Cloutier Norman R.
Published: March 2016

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of Supplemental Instruction, a formal review/lab session program developed at the University of Missouri, designed to improve student learning in courses that have typically exhibited poor student performance. Using a two-equation model and student transcript data readily available to instructors and academic researchers, we evaluate the effectiveness of the program in economics principles. The analysis explicitly considers the confounding factor of self-selection in program participation. We find that ordinary least squares significantly underestimates the positive impact of Supplemental Instruction. The results suggest that formal programs designed to increase the intensity of instruction can have a demonstrable payoff in the form of increased student learning.
On the Second-Best Foreign Investment Policy and Pattern of Commodity Trade
Authors: Firoozi Fathali
Published: March 2016

An agreement on free commodity trade often does not preclude countries from protecting their national interests through restrictive policies toward cross-border movements of production factors (e.g., capital and labor). A number of studies have suggested second-best international capital flows (welfare maximizing under free commodity trade) that officials of a country must encourage via various policy measures. However, an emerging literature indicates that policy toward foreign direct investment is being increasingly utilized as a new form of protectionism under free trade. Utilizing a generalized Heckscher-Ohlin model, this study characterizes the necessary adjustments to the suggested second-best foreign investment policies of a country when there is an extraneous protectionist objective regarding the pattern of trade in a commodity. An implication is that until all production factors can freely move internationally without policy impediments of a participating country, unrestricted commodity trade alone cannot achieve its full potential in removing protectionism and setting comparative advantage as the basis for trade. (JEL F21, F15)
Sectoral Shocks and Unemployment Rate Fluctuations
Authors: Elías Carlos G.
Published: March 2016

In some Real Business Cycle (RBC) models it is possible to generate comovement between production of different sectors even if shocks are sector specific. Although this simulates a common feature of actual business cycles, it is not in itself evidence that business cycles are actually driven by an RBC phenomenon. In this paper, a Vector Autoregressive model is estimated. Variance decomposition analysis suggests that sectoral shocks are an important determinant of unemployment rate fluctuations. However, this does not rule out the importance of aggregate fluctuations, especially during the first year after the shock.