Economics

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An Expensive Paradox: Externalities & Implications of the Bottled Water Industry in the United States
(2011) Eiselen, Dana; Banerjee, Biswajit
In a country with access to one of the cleanest municipal water supplies in the world, the proliferation of the bottled water industry in the past twenty years in the United States has had profound impacts on the environment, consumer culture, and communities. This paper provides a survey of the literature regarding the development of the bottled water market, current industry practices, and the industry-related actions and inaction of consumers and government agencies in the United States. First, this paper provides a variety of perspectives on the reasons for exponential consumer demand and industry growth. Then, it sheds economic insight on some of the long term costs of the unsustainable practices for the industry, government agencies, and consumers. Finally, several recommendations are made regarding potential ways to restructure the market in order to slow or stop the continued costs of industry-related externalities.
Are Savings Sexy? The Role of the Sex Ratio as a Determinant of the Personal Saving Rate
(2013) Nieuwland, James; Banerjee, Biswajit
This thesis seeks to examine the role, if any, that the sex ratio plays as a determinant of the personal saving rate using a simple OLS analysis of 33 countries. Results suggest that, when included in a model with other structural determinants, the sex ratio has a positive, statistically significant effect on the personal saving rate. Further, when examined by age cohort the only the sex ratios of the older cohorts are found to be positively and significantly related to personal saving. This result contradicts some of the current available theory on sex ratios and saving. Overall, it appears that the sex ratio does have a positive effect on the savings rate and should be included as a structural determinant in future saving rate analyses.
Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis: Comparison of their Impacts and the Recovery Process in Two Asian Economies
(2011) Hwang, Yoo Sun Christine; Banerjee, Biswajit
Asian economies have experienced two devastating financial crises in the last two decades: Asian financial crisis and the recent global financial crisis. This paper investigates the case of Thailand and Korea. From being the origin of one to being the victim of the other, Thailand’s economy had ups and downs. Korea also was heavily impacted by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s despite its strong growth. A decade later, Korea fell into turmoil once again. This paper compares the cases of the two countries during the two crises, and determines the similarities and differences across nations and across crises.
College and the Economy: The Relationship Between College Acceptance Rates and Economic Cycles
(2009) Chen, Andrew; Banerjee, Biswajit
Higher education has over time, become increasingly important to success in the job market. Not only are employers looking for more ways to differentiate between applicants, but jobs are becoming more technically difficult and require advanced knowledge not attainable in high school. With the recent economic recession and credit crisis, students and colleges alike are realizing that the economy has a very real effect on the number and type of students that will ultimately gain admission. This paper will address the effect of economic cycles on college acceptance rates at the top 50 national universities and top 50 liberal arts colleges as ranked by “U.S. News and World Report.” The results indicate that colleges tend to increase their acceptance rates when the economy is in an expansion and decrease them during a recession.
Determinants of China's OFDI in European Union and North America: Are the determinants for European Union different from the determinants for North America?
(2014) Liu, Chunan; Banerjee, Biswajit
The role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is more and more critical in a globalized world. China's Outward FDI (OFDI) has received increasing interest in empirical research since it started surging in 2004. China's OFDI to European Union (EU) and North America countries has been substantially growing recently, especially during financial crisis period. This thesis investigates the key determinants of China's OFDI to EU Member States and North America Countries and compares if the determinants for EU countries are different from the determinants for North America Countries. Statistical analyses are applied to seek evidence of general considerations of FDI and specific considerations on China's OFDI, and on EU and North America Countries.
Determinants of Economic Growth in Tunisia and the Role of Women
(2009) Ekman, Diana; Banerjee, Biswajit
This paper examines economic growth in Tunisia and the role that women have played in that growth. Economic growth is evaluated by considering contributions to GDP growth, changes in productivity and employment ratio and social indicators to determine sources of growth. The results show that women did positively impact Tunisia’s economic growth through increased labor force participation, increased working age population to total population ratio, and increased consumption.
Determinants of Household Mobility in America: How Family, Dwelling, and Geographic Characteristics Affect Mobility Incidence
(2010) Daniels, T. Jordan; Banerjee, Biswajit
The purpose of this paper is to determine which family, dwelling, and geographic characteristics affect household mobility in America. The information for this analysis was collected from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results suggest that household and dwelling attributes are the strongest predictors of mobility incidence. Further, findings indicate that county-level and state-level measures are less reliable in predicting whether a household will move. While these findings are consistent across subgroups, there is evidence to support the claim that married and non-married household heads weigh relative mobility determinants differently.
Determinants of Stock Market Participation Among Elderly U.S. Households with Internet Access
(2013) Leung, Christopher J.; Banerjee, Biswajit
This study is an analysis of the determinants of stock market participation. It looks broadly at the literature concerning stock market participation determinants and limits it to the elderly population in the United States with Internet access. In addition, it looks in depth and differentiates between reduced participation costs and the accessibility of those costs by examining the specific financial activities conducted on the Internet by households. Through econometric analysis, the use of the Internet for financial market research leads to an increase in probability of stock market participation by 21.8% while the use of an online brokerage shows an increase in probability by 38.7%. And so, finance-oriented Internet usage is seen to be important due to the widespread availability of the Internet, rendering regular Internet use less meaningful in the context of stock market participation.
Economic Conditions and Presidential Elections: A County Level Analysis
(2013) Werrell, Zachary; Banerjee, Biswajit
Not since the days of FDR and the Great Depression has a president been reelected with unemployment over 7%. Conventional wisdom, history and analysts alike told us that if unemployment is high, it spells the end of an incumbent’s reelection chances. That was until Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012. Using monthly economic and Presidential voting data from 1996 through 2012 for every county in the United States in a cross-‐sectional OLS study, this paper fills in the gaps between previous studies that only looked at state or national level data. This study found that the trend in unemployment both at the national and local level is a strong determinant of voting behavior. This study shows that with the dip in unemployment seen in the months leading into November 2012, Obama’s reelection becomes less enigmatic in the face of history than it seems at first.
Growth in Guatemala: A Mixed Blessing for the Poor
(2009) Van Meter, Lucas Paine; Banerjee, Biswajit; Rock, Michael T.
One of the most important questions in development economics is: who benefits from economic growth? The present study attempts to answer this question, with regard to one country in particular: Guatemala. Some of the literature on this topic claims that its growth is not pro-poor, meaning it does not benefit individuals below the poverty line. Some of the variables held culpable for this phenomenon include the rise to power of an elite oligarchy that supposedly captures the benefits of growth. Others blame increasing inequalities in infrastructure, productive assets, opportunities and the like. But by observing data, especially that which has been collected since these studies were published, one can see that the malevolent oligarchs have actually done an excellent job of reducing poverty. However, some questions remain with regard the structure of this evidently pro-poor growth. The data suggest that growth occurs differently in different regions. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that when one lowers the poverty line, growth becomes non-pro-poor. And, finally, there is a period of non-pro-poor growth between 2000 and 2002. This paper first demonstrates the existence of this structure of growth, using data from years as recent as 2006 in the context of various mathematical tests of pro-poorness. It then suggests the variables that influence pro-poorness, including high relative inflation in consumer goods and changes in labor force activities and international commodity prices. Based on these conclusions as well as evaluations of past policies, this paper makes policy recommendations with the intent of fostering pro-poor growth in Guatemala.
IPO Underpricing and Information Asymmetry
(2014) Chen, Luyao; Banerjee, Biswajit
This paper investigates two explanations for underpricing of initial public offering (IPO), which are related to information asymmetries in different stages of the IPO. The first part of this paper argues that the marketing and signaling effects generated by IPO underpricing can facilitate post-IPO divestiture. The sharp rise of stock price on offer day attracts the market's attention and signals the quality of the firm, which alleviates potential acquirers' search costs and information asymmetries in subsequent divestiture. Empirical results show that IPO underpricing has a short-term effect on the probability of being acquired after going public. During the Internet bubble period, IPO underpricing did not have an effect on post-IPO divestiture, but during 2001-2007, IPO underpricing had a dominant effect on the probability of being acquired. The second part of this study provides empirical evidence to support the information acquisition model where firms may strategically underprice themselves to reward sophisticated investors for providing accurate valuation information to reduce information asymmetries before setting the offer price.
Measuring the Impact of Macroeconomic Indicators on the Leasing Industry
(2010) Gabriel, Michael; Banerjee, Biswajit
Leasing represents a large worldwide industry. The goal of this paper is to determine which macroeconomic indicators have an impact on the leasing industry and what the relationship is between them. Using previous literature and interviews with representatives of the industry, indicators are chosen and hypotheses are formed for each. Using an OLS regression method, certain indicators are found to be significant with leasing volume and leasing flow for specific countries in North America and Europe.
Measuring the Impact of the U.S. News & World Report College Rankings on College Admissions
(2011) Hubel, Alec Joshua; Banerjee, Biswajit
The college rankings issued by U.S. News & World Report have become of considerable concern to the field of higher education. Previous research has found significant impacts between an institution’s rank and its admissions statistics. This paper attempts to quantify the extent of those impacts. Using fixed effects econometric analysis, this paper has found a substantial link between an institution’s rank and acceptance rate, yield rate, volume of applications received, and the standardized test scores of an incoming freshmen class. These results suggest that these more impressive rankings may be correlated with more favorable admissions statistics.
On the Effectiveness of Central Bank Intervention in the Foreign Exchange Market: The Case of Slovakia 1999-2007
(2014) Riiska, William; Banerjee, Biswajit
This paper investigates the effect of the National Bank of Slovakia's (NBS) intervention in the SKK/EUR foreign exchange market from 1999 through 2007 (the time period covering Slovakia's preparation for EU accession and euro adoption) on the level of the SKK/EUR exchange rate. The study asks 2 questions. Did the National Bank of Slovakia's sterilized interventions in the market for the koruna and the euro from 1999-2007 have an effect on the level of the koruna's exchange rate with the euro? If so, for how long did this effect last? High-frequency, intraday data on both foreign exchange rates and sterilized NBS interventions in the market for the koruna and the euro is analyzed using OLS to this end. The frequency of this data allows the author to counteract the perennial endogeneity problem of studies on central bank intervention. 3 conclusions are offered. First, NBS intervention from 1999-2007 had a statistically significant impact on the level of the SKK/EUR exchange rate in the short-term. Second, this short-term effect was statistically insignificant after 2 hours and 40 minutes had passed following each NBS intervention trade, implying the effect of intervention dissipates over-time. Third, given the short-term impact of NBS intervention, this tactic could be considered an expensive policy tool for influencing the level of a country's exchange rate, as intervention can require a central bank to draw down substantially on its foreign exchange reserves.
Profitability Performance of Banks in the EU: A Cross Country Analysis from 2009-2010
(2012) Propst, Allaina K.; Banerjee, Biswajit
The 2008-2009 Financial Crisis and U.S. Postsecondary Educational Endowments
(2012) Garner, Jessica J.; Banerjee, Biswajit
This research investigates the effect of the 2008-2009 financial crisis on Pennsylvania postsecondary education endowments and how different types of schools (private, public, four year, and two year) altered their operating budgets in the year following the institution's endowment loss. The study considered tuition and fees, professor salaries, and admissions rates. Public versus private institutions, despite their different investment strategies, do not explain a cause for the percentage change in endowment value experienced. On average, most of the effects were found in fiscal year 2009, showing that the business cycle explains how institutions have altered their budgets. The investigation showed that these Pennsylvania institutions did not increase tuition and fees and professor salaries were unaffected. Only admissions rates decreased.
The Determinants of Bank Profitability Through The Global Financial Crisis: Evidence from Slovakia and Poland
(2013) Schipper, John E. IV; Banerjee, Biswajit
Using Bankscope data, this thesis seeks to analyze the determinants of commercial bank profitability in Poland and Slovakia during 1999-2011 and shed light on whether profitability was impacted differently during the financial crisis period (2008-2011). This study will utilize both OLS and a Fixed Effects estimation technique. The goal of this paper is to expand on the analysis of Ommeren (2011), Dietrich and Wanzenried (2011) and other literature to more accurately draw some conclusions about the commercial banking sector as a whole. The explanatory variables include the traditional variables used in other studies to represent bank-specific and industry-specific factors and external macroeconomic factors.
The Determinants of Regional Unemployment in Slovakia
(2011) Shifflet, Paul R.; Banerjee, Biswajit
The Republic of Slovakia experienced strong economic growth during the first decade in the 21st century. Nevertheless, this growth was unable to substantially decrease persistent unemployment in certain regions. Interestingly, changes in regional unemployment did not follow the model put forward under Okun’s Law-–a well-documented theory relating GDP growth to changes in unemployment--between 2001 and 2007. This study examines the specific economic and social determinants which impact regional unemployment in Slovakia using a standard OLS regression. The model indicates that much of the variation in changes in unemployment arise from characteristics unique to each respective region, indicating that the solution to persistent unemployment lies at the regional, not the national, level.
The Dynamics of China's Trade Composition and Trade Balance: A Comparison Across Partner Countries
(2014) Sheng, Yingying (Daisy); Banerjee, Biswajit
The Impact of Foreign Investor Flows on Emerging Market Local Currency Bonds
(2012) Maddy-Weitzman, Daniel; Banerjee, Biswajit
Driven by the desire to reduce the currency mismatch associated with foreign-currency borrowing, Emerging Market countries have developed their local currency bond markets over the past decade. As foreign investors have increased their participation in this asset class, some risks remain. This paper analyzes the impact of foreign investment flows on local-currency bond yields of 16 countries from 2006-2011. Results indicate that foreign investor inflows reduce borrowing costs, but outflows are associated with greater volatility during the financial crisis.

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