A Comparative Examination of International Carbon Trading Mechanisms

This paper finds an insignificant negative correlation between youth employment and minimum wages for the panel of U.S. states, 1976-2015. Such a correlation is not observed in earlier panels. The source of the new results is traced to the greatest decline in employment-population ratio since the 1970s emerging during the financial crisis of 2008. Moreover, I discuss the likely causes of the recent sharp decline in employment-population ratio and propose that more factors should be taken into account when examining the effect of the minimum wage policy.

This dissertation is composed of three essays, each examining a unique question relating to the role of intergovernmental transfers in fiscal federalism. Using a panel of the 48 contiguous U.S. states along with recent advances in nonstationary panel and spatial econometric methods this dissertation offers a number of important insights into the workings of intergovernmental transfers and therefore a clearer understanding of the interactions among the different layers of government. The third chapter examines the relationship between intergovernmental revenues from the federal government and intergovernmental expenditures to local governments. As observed by Wildasin (2010), there remains remarkable stability in the ratio of state-tolocal transfers to federal-to-state transfers despite the disparate programs being financed by each. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to examine the extent to which states serve as a conduit for funds from the federal government to local governments. In particular, the research question asks to what degree do federal transfers stimulate transfers to local governments. The fourth chapter explores the direction of causality between tax revenues and expenditures in answering the four hypotheses set forth in the literature: tax-spend, spend-tax, fiscal synchronization, and institutional separation. Furthermore, along with exploring the role served by intergovernmental transfers within the revenue-expenditure nexus, this essay also examines differences relating to the revenue-expenditure nexus between states with relatively higher debt levels and states with low debt levels, in order to better understand the fiscal causal links favorable for debt accumulation. The purpose of the fifth chapter is to ascertain the effect interstate fiscal interactions on the stimulative effect of grants on state level expenditures. The vast literature on fiscal competition suggests that states do not make decisions in isolation, therefore, spatial econometrics are used to capture spillovers and mimicking behavior across states. Following Boarnet and Glazer (2002), the effect of informational externalities arising from grants awarded to neighboring states are examined as well as the effect of spending spillovers from neighboring states. The results show that the flypaper anomaly (i.e. the stimulative effect of grants greater than a pure income effect) can be explained by interstate fiscal interactions.

This thesis is a collection of three essays. The first two study how ideas spread through a network of individuals, and how it an advertiser can exploit it. In the model I develop, users choose their sources of information based on the perceived usefulness of their sources of information. This contrasts with previous literature where there is no choice made by network users and thus, the information flow is fixed. I provide a complete theoretical characterization of the solution and define a natural measure of influence based on choices of users. I also present an algorithm to solve the model in polynomial time on any network, regardless of the scale or the topology. I also discuss the properties of a network technology from a public economic standpoint. In essence, a network allows the reproduction of ideas for free for the advertiser. If there is any free-riding problem, I show that coalitions of users on the network can solve such problem. I also discuss the social value of networks, a value that cannot be captured for profit. The third essay is completely distinct from the network paradigm and instead studies funding rules for public universities. I show that a funding rule that depends solely on enrolment leads to "competition by franchise" and that such behavior is sometimes inefficient. I suggest instead an alternate funding rule that allows government to increase welfare without increasing spending in universities. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2013-10-11 17:16:42.178

While most of the world has been able to dramatically reduce extreme poverty rates, Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to do so and is the only region in the world with more people living in extreme poverty than thirty years ago. This thesis will develop a policy framework for alleviating poverty by drawing from countries that are performing surprisingly well and poorly in the region. The thesis concludes with an analysis of whether education, health, or agricultural sectors should be receiving more or less funding based on expected rates of return and the feasibility of policy successes.

My motivation to write this thesis is based on the controversy surrounding the Social Security system that has recently infiltrated the media. Through my research, I have discovered the debate concerning Social Security is not a recent development but has existed since the 1930’s. Many sources are warning citizens to no longer count on Social Security as they most likely will not receive benefits until a extremely old age if they receive benefits at all. Current retirees are fearful of either a decrease in benefits or not receiving the money they contributed to the system through the years of employment at all. Proposals and options for overhauling the system have moved to center stage in politicians’ agendas and numbers of solutions have surfaced. Unfortunately, this debate is creating a huge divide between party lines in Congress. Some argue for more government control while others advocate privatization. The goal for this thesis is to perform a cost/benefit analysis of the two ideologies and determine which is more practical and realistic for both the government and the people.

Under current GAAP principles convertible debt is valued and accounted for using an outdated practice. Only one aspect of these complex financial instruments are valued at a time resulting in flawed financial statements. Although the Accounting Principles Board agreed with this sentiment, originally proclaiming that both the debt and equity aspects be valued together, significant resistance by the public forced the Board to amend its Opinion to the current standard. In this paper three ratios that measure company performance and health will be tested against the amount of convertible debt in selected companies in the hopes that a correlation will be found that shows the impact of the current accounting method.

This dissertation explores the effect of tax news on national and state-level economic activity. In the first chapter, I explore the effect of tax news on state economic activity. I estimate a factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) model, which allows us to consider the possibility that unobserved regional factors --such as credit and fiscal conditions-- might be relevant for modelling the dynamic response of aggregate and state-level economic activity. Tax news is identified as a shock to the implicit tax rate, measured by the yield spread between the one year tax-exempt municipal bond and the one-year taxable Treasury bond. My results suggest that an increase in the implicit tax rate raises national output over much of the anticipation period. In addition, anticipated tax increases give rise to expansions in state personal income and employment. I find that the variation in the responsiveness of economic activity across states is mostly explained by differences in industrial composition as well as by some demographic characteristics such as education attainment and median age. In the second chapter, I examine the impact and transmission of the effect of tax news on U.S. economic activity. I find that news related to higher federal income taxes raise the real GDP over the anticipation period. In addition, aggregate and disaggregate industrial production, employment per worker, hours worked per worker and capacity utilization rate respond positively to tax news in the short run. An historical decomposition shows that tax news and federal funds rate shocks have been the main source of fluctuations in real GDP. In particular, tax news associated with legislation in 1986, 1993, and 2001 contributed to the movements in the real GDP. In the third chapter, I investigate whether the effect of tax news shocks differs across periods of recession and expansion. I follow Jorda’s (2005) local projection method to estimate tax news effects on the economy. I find that news about future tax cuts reduces economic activity for about four quarters and has a significant effect on the U.S. economy in the short run. The behavior of output following tax news shocks is similar in both recession and expansion phases of the business cycle and indicates that news about future tax cuts are contractionary. However, the rebound in economic activity four quarters after the news shock is higher in the recessionary phase than in the expansionary phase. Finally, the state dependent model shows that news shocks have a stronger positive impact on consumption expenditures and residential investment in the recession phase than in the expansion phase.

The first chapter of this dissertation analyzes voting behavior across multiple elections. The voting literature has largely analyzed voter turnout and voter behavior separately, focusing on individual elections. I present a model of voter turnout and behavior in multiple elections. The assumptions are consistent with individual election preferences and decision is derived from utility maximization. Additionally, I provide necessary moment conditions for identification. The framework is applied to the 2008 California elections. The exit polls made national headlines by linking the historic turnout of African-Americans for Presidential candidate Obama in helping pass Proposition 8. The results show that the African-American turnout and voting share for Proposition 8 was lower than indicated by the exit polls. As a counterfactual, I look at the turnout and outcome of Proposition 8, without the presidential race on the ballot. As predicted, there is lower voter turnout: on par with midterm elections. I also find a lower share of Yes votes on Proposition 8 - enough that the referendum would not have passed. / Economics

This dissertation is a compilation of three studies related to public school choice issues. Chapter 2 examines whether access to public schools of choice influences a household’s decision to choose private school for their child. I employ a multistate, individual-level data-set on students and their families — for which I have been granted access to restricted geo-code information. I supplement these data by matching students with their respective school districts using geographic information systems (GIS); I then examine whether relative measures of public school choice (PSC) in a school district influence the household’s public-private school decision. I find slight evidence that households respond to general measures of choice, though the implied effects appear to be trivial. Conditional on the presence of either PSC type of school in a district, I find more consistently significant crowd-out effects for competition measures from magnet schools, while charter school measures elicit stronger private-sector crowd-out effects, roughly three times those of the respective magnet school measures. Chapter 3 examines the statewide educational policies and student, household, and school district-level attributes that influence the demand for interdistrict and intra-district public schools of choice. In the context of a multinomial probit model, I also estimate the demand for private school as a third alternative to attending an assigned school. I find evidence to suggest that households substitute between intra-district and interdistrict schools of choice.. I also find that mobility patterns may significantly increase the probability a household opts out of district. Chapter 4 is an exploratory analysis that examines the qualities that distinguish school districts as net-losers, net-keepers, or net- gainers of students in their public schools. In particular, I examine how public schools of choice affect the net flow of students across the public sector. I find that charter schools appear to locate in districts that are net-losers of students, where students are opting into private school. I also find evidence to suggest that net-loser districts may signal better quality school districts with more diverse options available to facilitate positive student-school matches.