Matching Items (16)
Description
Agent based models allow for complex results from simple parameters. The mobile agents in my model, the firms, are allocated an amount of capital, while the static agents, the workers, are allocated a range of wages. The firms are then allowed to move around and compete until they match with a worker that maximizes their production. It was found from the simulation that as competition increases so do wages. It was also found that when firms stay in the environment for longer that a higher wage is possible as a result of a larger window for drawn out competition. The different parameters result in a range of equilibriums that take variable amounts of time to reach. These results are interesting because they demonstrate that the mean wage is strongly dependent upon the window of time that firms are able to compete within. This type of model was useful because it demonstrated that there is a variation in the time dependence of the equilibrium. It also demonstrated that when there is very little entry and exiting of the market, that wage levels out at an equilibrium that is the same, regardless of the ratio between the number of firms and the number of workers. Further work to be done on this model includes the addition of a Matching Function so that firms and workers have a more fair agreement. I will also be adding parameters that allow for firms to see the workers around them so that firms are able to interact with multiple workers at the same time. Both of these alteration should improve the overall accuracy of the model.
ContributorsElledge, Jacob Morris (Author) / Veramendi, Gregory (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
Climate change is a global phenomenon that is disproportionately impacting people in developing countries. One coping mechanism that has been observed in response to climate change is migration. This paper attempts to understand the role of climate change as a driver of migration in Papua New Guinea, a complex and under-researched country in Oceania. Past research suggests a complicated story, and that migration in response to climate change is not a simple concept. In order add to the existing literature, a variety of individual, household, and community-level variables are analyzed from a survey of households in rural Papua New Guinea. These variables are analyzed in conjunction with self-reported environmental shocks to determine the impact on migration across time. The results suggest that environmental shocks increase the probability of an individual migrating, with various socioeconomic factors acting as push and pull factors.
ContributorsKirkeeng, Dylan Albert (Author) / Mueller, Valerie (Thesis director) / Fried, Stephie (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This paper looks at factors that drive economic growth and show the correlation between economic growth and economic development and how important economic growth is for a developing country because when there is economic growth then the country has potential to develop. This paper continues to explain why there is economic growth in some countries and not in others with specifically focusing on the effects of having a blessed resource endowment. Having an abundance of resources should be a comparative advantage, however as seen in Latin America, South East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa that this surprisingly does not lead to high levels of economic growth. This phenomenon is referred to as the Resource Curse and can be fully explained through assumptions derived from the macroeconomic Heckscher-Ohlin model as well as recent trends in emerging economies. Leading to the conclusion that developing countries abundant in resources are very susceptible to the Resource Curse through the increase inequality that ultimately stunts development. Literature suggests that one of the only solutions to overcoming the Resource Curse is the strengthening the effectiveness of the policies in place, which is a subsequent effect of having quality institutions.
Focusing on how to improve institutions there needs to be consideration of the fact that institutions have rent seeking behaviors because both local governments and foreign investors want to acquire a greater share of the production and the benefits. In attempt to find some solution of how countries can overcome the Resource Curse without having to totally reconstruct the political system the goal should be to be to focus on actions from the private sector. The private sector tends to magnify rent seeking behavior and to solidify any solution I performed interviews from industry leaders who have been working in economic development for the past decades. The purpose was to understand what companies are doing now to ensure sustainable development and how that has changed over the past decades.
In the end, the private industry is focusing on regulations that standardize polices for companies pursuing foreign direct investment requiring them to also focus on local economic growth and development. This requires foreign investors to understand the local culture, environment, and institutions leading to overall better choices for long term profitably, thus fulfilling their rent seeking tendencies. One of the biggest proven solutions is the Social License to Operate which is essentially an agreement created by the private investor that requires the local community to be informed and holds the investor accountable. In the end, if the private sector can positively impact a community whilst maintaining their own agenda then a country can overcome the Resource Curse.
Focusing on how to improve institutions there needs to be consideration of the fact that institutions have rent seeking behaviors because both local governments and foreign investors want to acquire a greater share of the production and the benefits. In attempt to find some solution of how countries can overcome the Resource Curse without having to totally reconstruct the political system the goal should be to be to focus on actions from the private sector. The private sector tends to magnify rent seeking behavior and to solidify any solution I performed interviews from industry leaders who have been working in economic development for the past decades. The purpose was to understand what companies are doing now to ensure sustainable development and how that has changed over the past decades.
In the end, the private industry is focusing on regulations that standardize polices for companies pursuing foreign direct investment requiring them to also focus on local economic growth and development. This requires foreign investors to understand the local culture, environment, and institutions leading to overall better choices for long term profitably, thus fulfilling their rent seeking tendencies. One of the biggest proven solutions is the Social License to Operate which is essentially an agreement created by the private investor that requires the local community to be informed and holds the investor accountable. In the end, if the private sector can positively impact a community whilst maintaining their own agenda then a country can overcome the Resource Curse.
ContributorsCortez, Sarah A (Author) / Mueller, Valerie (Thesis director) / Sheriff, Glenn (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
As health disparities among Native Americans persist, promoting better health outcomes is of paramount concern among Native populations. A variety of programs exist that try to alleviate problems resulting in higher rates of diet-related chronic diseases and premature death. Indigenous-led nonprofits have implemented a series of nutritional education courses designed to empower community members to make healthier food choices. A theoretically-based curriculum, which provides learners information in the form of sensory-based modules, e.g., food preparation, food handling, cultural awareness, and practical cooking skills, has been introduced in various communities in the Great Plains and Southwest and met with success. We present evidence of success of a series of nutritional education programs, modeled after a canonical educational learning model Bloom’s Taxonomy, whereby families received information and resources necessary to make healthier food across three tiers. As each successive module of the program challenges higher cognitive domains, participants are more likely to indicate satisfaction in the course material as well as a desired change in their behavior, which we attribute to synthesizing and evaluating information to fully master program concepts. Aspects of this programming framework have the potential to be adapted to and integrated into other Native communities striving for the successful adoption of healthier diets.
ContributorsGreen, Kelly (Author) / Chenarides, Lauren (Thesis director) / Mueller, Valerie (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This paper aims to get a snapshot of charter school and public school performance in the state of California, specifically looking at high schools. Based off of data gathered on specific variables of interest and carefully constructed regression models, we are testing whether charter schools perform differently from public schools. This paper attempts to analyze results from standard OLS regression models and random effects GLS models, both with and without
interaction effects between charter schools and ethnicity and geographic area. While discussing results, this paper will also acknowledge limitations while drawing the line between correlation and causality. Our variable of interest throughout the paper is charter school, controlling for other factors that might impact API scores such as geographic area, demographics, and school
characteristics.
interaction effects between charter schools and ethnicity and geographic area. While discussing results, this paper will also acknowledge limitations while drawing the line between correlation and causality. Our variable of interest throughout the paper is charter school, controlling for other factors that might impact API scores such as geographic area, demographics, and school
characteristics.
ContributorsValdez, Logan Taylor (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Educational inequity – derived from disproportionate levels of resource availability and school quality – warrants examination from an economic perspective. The basket of topics pertinent to education policy today, may be characterized (mostly) into three categories, all representing key theoretical concepts of economics: supply, demand, and sorting. Furthermore, funding, teacher, and capital allocation patterns could inform the potential causal relationship between increased school demand (and resulting supply) and enhanced academic performance. My paper examines the district-level impact of positive school supply shocks – modeled via new school facility openings – on sorting and student performance on a standardized test. Applying econometric estimation techniques, my paper examines whether new school openings produce differential treatment effects in districts with separate socioeconomic composition. My methodology stems from previous research done by Cellini, Riegg, Ferreira, and Rothstein (2010), and Neilson and Zimmerman (2011). I also draw from Evans, Yoo, and Sipple (2010) to investigate an estimated version of student stability as a potential mechanism driving results. All 3 papers relate to school infrastructure and student performance. I find convincingly that test score improvements are relatively higher in districts experiencing a new school facility opening in FY 2009, than in districts without an opening. Additionally, I note treatment effect magnitude to be far smaller in districts exhibiting above-average income residents. In order to examine this finding further, I explore year-to-year changes in both pupil-to-teacher ratios and geographic mobility to characterize potential mechanisms behind this distinction. My results are consistent with research predecessors in that they suggest lower SES students benefit disproportionately from treatment and that test scores are decreasing in geographic mobility. Aside from previous research, I believe my finding that new school facilities most greatly improve student test performance in schools with lower pupil-to-teacher ratios, is unique and slightly inconsistent with the objective purpose of the new school facilities I examine. By using new school openings granted by the School Facilities Board of Arizona, I model a direct product of increased demand and am able to comment on how supply-side reactions impact high and low income districts differentially.
ContributorsBonaguidi, Matt (Author) / Veramendi, Gregory (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper explores the potential impact of population aging trends on support for the financing of public education using an applied theoretical approach. As demographic projections anticipate significant increases in the relative share of elderly individuals in the population, the question of how age distribution in a population effects support for public goods such as education becomes increasingly significant. Conventional wisdom suggests that an upward shift in age distribution – increasing the share of elderly individuals relative to workers – will result in decreased support for public education due to elderly individuals’ lack of utility from investments in future productivity. This paper demonstrates that such conventional wisdom does not hold in a simple two-district overlapping generations model and shows that an increasing share of elderly individuals in the population may result in increased levels of funding for education due to changes in a district’s tax base.
The model developed in this paper builds on the work of Mark Gradstein and Michael Kaganovich who demonstrated that while increasing longevity in a two-generation OLG model with two municipal districts creates a downward pressure on tax rates, this effect is dominated by changing political incentives among workers. This paper expands upon the Gradstein-Kaganovich model by introducing endogenous migration rates between districts in the model in order to reflect households’ incentives to minimize tax burden in retirement. It can be shown that as consumers’ responsiveness to differences in tax rates increases, the difference in education funding levels between districts decreases despite the difference in the relative share of elderly individuals in each population increasing. This result stems from the changes in each districts’ tax base brought on by the endogenous migration rate. Based on this finding, this study concludes that retirees function as a positive financial externality when education funding is tied to consumption levels and reaffirms Gradstein and Kaganovich’s conclusion that increasing the relative share of elderly individuals in a population does not necessarily result in decreased funding for public education as conventional wisdom would suggest.
The model developed in this paper builds on the work of Mark Gradstein and Michael Kaganovich who demonstrated that while increasing longevity in a two-generation OLG model with two municipal districts creates a downward pressure on tax rates, this effect is dominated by changing political incentives among workers. This paper expands upon the Gradstein-Kaganovich model by introducing endogenous migration rates between districts in the model in order to reflect households’ incentives to minimize tax burden in retirement. It can be shown that as consumers’ responsiveness to differences in tax rates increases, the difference in education funding levels between districts decreases despite the difference in the relative share of elderly individuals in each population increasing. This result stems from the changes in each districts’ tax base brought on by the endogenous migration rate. Based on this finding, this study concludes that retirees function as a positive financial externality when education funding is tied to consumption levels and reaffirms Gradstein and Kaganovich’s conclusion that increasing the relative share of elderly individuals in a population does not necessarily result in decreased funding for public education as conventional wisdom would suggest.
ContributorsMerkle, Matthew Connor (Author) / Foster, William (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
There is a growing consensus that environmental hazards and changing weather patterns disproportionately affect the poor, vulnerable, minority communities. My dissertation studies the nature of risk faced by vulnerable groups of individuals, how these risks affect their labor choice, income, consumption, and migration patterns. In Chapter 1, I study how seniors of different racial and income groups respond to information about hazardous waste sites in their neighborhood and their cleanup process. I find white seniors tend to move out at a higher rate when informed about the presence of a waste site as well as when the site is cleaned up compared to non-white seniors. This suggests that neighborhood gentrification exhibits inertia in the manifestation after the cleanup of Superfund sites. I find an assortative matching of seniors to neighborhoods based on their race and income, reinforcing findings in the environmental justice literature. Chapter 2 documents the effect of drought on labor choices, income, and consumption of rural households in India. I find that household consumption, as well as agricultural jobs, declines in response to drought. Further, I find that these effects are mediated by job skills and land ownership. Specifically, I find that households with working members who have completed primary education account for most of the workers who exit the agricultural sector. In contrast, I find that households with farmland increase their agricultural labor share post-drought. Cultural norms, relative prices, and land market transaction costs provide potential explanations for this behavior. Chapter 3 builds a simple model of household labor allocation based on reduced-form evidence I find in chapter 2. Simulation of the calibrated model implies that projected increases in the frequency of droughts over the next 30 years will have a net effect of a 1\% to 2\% reduction in agricultural labor. While small in percentage terms, this implies that 2.5 to 5 million individuals would leave agriculture. An increase in drought will also increase the size of the manufacturing wage subsidy needed to meet the goals of `Make in India’ policy by 20\%. This is driven by the need to incentivize landowners to reduce farm labor.
ContributorsBasu, Sayahnika (Author) / Kuminoff, Nicolai (Thesis advisor) / Bishop, Kelly (Thesis advisor) / Herrendorf, Berthold (Committee member) / Mueller, Valerie (Committee member) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This dissertation analyzes and quantifies a subset of the benefits and costs associated with residential location decisions in the housing market, and how these benefits and costs can be altered through public policy. Chapter 1 motivates and previews how I, through three essays, empirically explore this topic. Chapter 2 focuses on the benefits that neighborhoods can provide to children. I investigate whether neighborhood exposures during childhood affect academic outcomes observed at the end of high school, and whether the effects can be explained by neighborhood schools. I find that neighborhood exposures during childhood affect high-stakes standardized exam scores, 12th grade GPA, the probability of intending to attend college and the probability of dropping out of high school. By leveraging variation in the age at which students move, I estimate exposure effects that encompass the effect of neighborhood schools and other amenities. I demonstrate that these effects cannot be fully explained by conventional school quality measures based on test scores or graduation rates, which points to the potential importance of peer effects and other neighborhood amenities as complementary mechanisms. In two interrelated essays, Chapters 3 and 4 quantify the costs of housing, and how these costs are impacted by changes to federal policy. Homeownership in the US has been supported via the mortgage-interest-deduction provision of the tax code. However, US tax policy was substantially changed with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, which, by doubling the standard deduction and capping state and local tax deductions, effectively made housing more expensive relative to other types of consumption. I estimate time-varying user-costs of housing and subsidies at a fine level of geography and show that the TCJA reduced the federal housing subsidy by over 80%. I document important heterogeneity in the impacts of the policy across racial and political lines. Finally, I show that increasing the current limit on deductions of state and local taxes would have small overall impacts on subsidies, with strongly heterogeneous effects.
ContributorsDowling, Jakob (Author) / Kuminoff, Nicolai V (Thesis advisor) / Murphy, Alvin (Thesis advisor) / Aucejo, Esteban M (Committee member) / Bishop, Kelly C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Various low- and middle-income countries deal with climate change and structural. Structural transformation is the reallocation of resources across the broad sectors of the economy. When income per capita grows, structural transformation is associated with labor moving away from agriculture and into manufacturing and services and with higher urbanization rates. However, a significant share of the labor force remains in subsistence agriculture in rural areas. With rising global temperatures and climate variability, subsistence farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate hazards due to a lack of access to coping mechanisms such as insurance or credit. At the same time, populations surrounding natural resource extraction sites often face economic opportunities but encounter risks from pollution.This dissertation studies the impact of weather shocks on subsistence farming in Nigeria and the community-level effects of industrial mining activity in Peru. The first chapter examines the impact of high temperature on total factor productivity at the farm level in Nigeria by combining nationally representative panel household surveys with satellite weather data. The second chapter studies how farmers adapt input use, crop mix, off-farm labor, and livestock sales in response to extreme heat in Nigerian subsistence farming. The third chapter estimates the impact of industrial mining activity on income, health, and subsistence farming in Peru. It uses a database linking nationally representative household and farm surveys with information on the activity of all industrial mining sites in the country.
The findings show that high temperatures adversely impact small-scale farms in Nigeria and industrial mining activity increases the income of low-skilled workers in Peru. Extreme heat decreases agricultural productivity in Nigeria, and farmers attenuate this shock by increasing the area planted and changing crop mix. In Peru, industrial mining activity increases the real income of low-skilled workers.
The dissertation provides two implications. First, policy instruments that address adverse shocks to agricultural income need to adapt to the rising frequency and duration of heat waves in Nigeria. Second, implementing policies that facilitate backward linkages in industrial mining can increase real household incomes in the vicinities of industrial mines.
ContributorsMayorga, Joaquin (Author) / Mishra, Ashok K. (Thesis advisor) / Villacis, Alexis H. (Committee member) / Mueller, Valerie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023