Economics/Finance Faculty Papers
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- ItemSpecial interest group formation in the US: Do special interest groups mirror the success of their spatial neighbors?(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012-07)Special interest groups exert a great deal of influence over political outcomes in the U.S. Thus, understanding the determining factors for the formation of special interest groups is important. The literature, however, has excluded the role of spatial neighbors. This paper employs spatial econometric techniques to discriminately analyze the factors determining the number of special interest groups in a state. While geographic location is not a factor, gross state product, state general expenditures, and union membership relationships between states are crucial in the formation of special interest groups across states.
- ItemMeasuring the indirect effect: Voter initiatives and legislative production in the American states(Sage, 2010-06-24)Recent research has identified important policy differences between voter initiative states and pure representative states despite a lack of enough observable voter initiative campaigns to explain the policy differences. This paper investigates the indirect effects of the voter initiative process on legislative production by estimating the number of bill enacted in the American states. The results indicate that legislators in voter initiative states enact more legislation as the difficulty in qualifying a voter initiative for the ballot decreases, as the legislature is less able to alter the effects of successful voter initiatives, and as the average number of voter initiatives that appear on the ballot increases. These results provide some statistical evidence of the indirect effect of the voter initiative and are consistent with the theory that policy differences in voter initiative states are the result of the indirect effect of the voter initiative process.
- ItemThe voter initiative and the power of the governor: Evidence from campaign expenditures(Springer, 2011-09)Although a great deal of research examines the impact of the voter initiative process on the state legislature, the consequences for the state executive branch have been largely ignored. The voter initiative process provides the governor with a method to circumvent the legislature, which may increase the power of the governor in theory. However, it also provides citizens with a means to bypass the traditional lawmaking process and avoid the governor’s veto. This may reduce the power of the governor and lead to policies farther from the preferences of the governor. This study examines the impact of the voter initiative process on the power of the state governor by estimating total election cycle spending. Campaign expenditures are expected to reflect any sustained gain or loss in power due to the availability of the voter initiative process. The results indicate that gubernatorial campaign expenditures are significantly lower in states in which the voter initiative process is available. This finding suggests that state governors sustain a loss in political power when the voter initiative is available. Additionally, the findings imply that individuals may employ the voter initiative process as a substitute for gubernatorial support.
- ItemPrice discrimination with producer & consumer transaction costs(Economics Bulletin, 2012-01-25)This paper examines the impact of transaction costs on the social efficiency of first-degree price discrimination. Price discrimination requires the producer to expend resources and compels consumers to incur costs. The consideration of producer and consumer transaction costs alters the conditions under which first degree price discrimination enhances social welfare.
- ItemBehavior of monthly total returns of U.S. government bonds : 1926-2007(American Society of. Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), 2010-03)We explore for presence of monthly seasonality in monthly total returns of U.S. long term government bonds from January 1926 to December 2007. We test three types of effects with respect to monthly seasonality. We further partition the data into three sub-periods and explore monthly seasonality. In addition, we explore monthly seasonality based on Republican and Democratic presidencies. We look at the nature of monthly returns during contraction and expansion periods, as well as periods of crisis. The mean of monthly total returns of long term government bonds for the entire data set (0.47%) was significantly greater than zero. The mean of monthly returns of none of the months was significantly greater than the mean of the other eleven months stacked together. We find evidence of month effect with respect to variances of monthly returns. When we partition the data into three sub-periods, we do not find any discernible monthly seasonality. We also find the mean of monthly returns during the Republican presidencies to be significantly higher than during the Democratic presidencies. Government bond returns were on average significantly higher during contraction periods than during expansion periods. The Great Depression was good for the bond market; war periods were comparatively not as attractive for bond investing because governments tend to peg interest rates during such periods. Though not fully efficient, the U.S. long term government bond market exhibits a high degree of efficiency.