RAILROADS AND ECONOMIES OF SCALE AND SCOPE IN U.S. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES: 1850-1880. CHANDLER REVISITED
Year of Dissertation:
2010
Advisor:
Michael Edelstein
This study concerns the measurement and quantification of the relationship between railroadization in the United States in the mid-19th century and the subsequent evolution of the modern, large-scale, corporate form of industrial business organization marked by significant economies of scale and scope, as described in various writings by Alfred Chandler. Focusing on American industry as it developed from 1850-1880 using data uniquely suited to empirical analysis of economies of scale and scope, its aim is to determine whether the growth of the American railroad network, as Chandler contended, expanded markets and augmented the American financial sector such that the result was a more concentrated, large-scale mode of industrial organization characterized by extensive and increasing economies of scale and scope in sync with the growth of its extensive railroad system.
Analysis of Adult Obesity Based on New Measures of Fatness
Year of Dissertation:
2012
During the past three decades, the United States and most of the rest of the developed world have experienced a rapid and sustained rise in the obesity rate. This trend has stimulated a considerable amount of research by economists and other social scientists dealing with its causes and with policies to combat it. To date, the focus has been on obesity defined by a body mass index (BMI, weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) greater than or equal to 30. This measure has been criticized because it fails to distinguish body fat from lean body mass. It is the former that is responsible for the detrimental health effects of obesity. Therefore, in my dissertation I introduce the percentage body fat (PBF, the ratio of body fat to total weight multiplied by 100) and an obesity indicator based on PBF as alternative measures of body composition. I generate equations by gender and race to predict these measures from height, weight, and age in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and use the estimated coefficients to obtain PBF and obesity based on PBF in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for the period from 1984 through 2009. I then examine the effects of socioeconomic characteristics and state-level measures pertaining the per capita number of restaurants, the prices of a meal in fast-food and full-service restaurants, the price of food consumed at home, the price of cigarettes, and clean indoor air laws on BMI, PBF, BMI-defined obesity, and PBF-defined obesity. My results suggest that most of the determinants at issue have similar qualitative and quantitative effects on the outcomes at issue. Finally, I assume that PBF-defined obesity correctly identifies obese and non-obese individuals, but BMI-defined obesity results in error. I use these assumptions to estimate the parameters of a binary choice model by nonlinear least squares. My results show that this procedure successfully corrects the downward bias in the marginal effects of a probit model for BMI-based obesity.
ESSAYS ON EFFECTS OF THE HOUSING MARKET COLLAPSE
Year of Dissertation:
2012
Abstract
Essays in Health Economics
Year of Dissertation:
2012
Health is dened as an individual's mental or physical condition and being healthy means to be free from illness or injury. Health is relevant to both the supply and demand sides of the national economy. On the demand side, consumers derive satisfaction from being healthy. Consumers purchase goods and services to improve their health but also engage in activities that impair health such as smoking or drinking too much. On the supply side, firms produce health care goods and services to meet the market demand for health care derived from consumers' demand for better health. In addition, health augments labor inputs since the healthier the population, the larger the labor force and the higher the marginal productivity of labor, as in fewer sick days. This dissertation is comprised of three essays related to the eect of social environments and economic incentives on health and health behaviors.
THREE ESSAYS ON THE DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Year of Dissertation:
2010
At first, a literature review of over 150 articles on the determination of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposes the main determinants of FDI. A meta-analysis tests the reliability of the previous studies on FDI.
Essays on Tail Behavior and Extreme Dependence Patterns in East Asian Financial Markets
Year of Dissertation:
2011
Advisor:
Terence Agbeyegbe
Adviser: Professor Terence Agbeyegbe
A Summary of Some Estimators of Dynamic Panel Data Models and Their Applications
Year of Dissertation:
2012
Abstract
Smoking, Drinking, and Binge Drinking: An Empirical Study of the Role of Price on Consumption by High School Seniors
Year of Dissertation:
2011
In this study, I estimate time-series demand functions using Ordinary Least Squares in order to examine the effects of real cigarette and alcohol prices on their respective consumption. My targeted population is high school seniors in the United States. The data I use come from Monitoring the Future, The Tax Burden on Tobacco, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using the Ordinary Least Squares real price coefficients, I evaluate how much of the observed change in consumption is explained by the observed change in real price during a particular period of time between 1976 and 2008. Then, I repeat the same calculations for subsamples of male, female, white, and nonwhite high school seniors. Moreover, I incorporate a risk variable measuring whether or not subjects believe there is a great risk of harm when consuming cigarettes or alcohol in moderate or excessive quantities.
Essays on the Impact of Carry Trade Activity on Exchange Rate Movements & Market Volatility
Year of Dissertation:
2010
Average daily turnover in FX markets were raised to $1.9 trillion in April 2004, a rise of 54% at current exchange rates and 36% at constant exchange rates. One of the reasons for such a strong growth in turnover is carry trading where investors borrow money in a currency with low interest rates in order to invest in a currency with higher interest rates.
Essays on Firm Behavior
Year of Dissertation:
2012
The Indian economy has received considerable interest in economic research in the last decade. Economic liberalization, greater participation in world trade and the availability of long panel of firm level data has encouraged empirical work on the Indian economy. My research adds to this growing empirical literature on the behavior and performance of Indian firms post liberalization.