On the nature of credit demand and credit rationing in competitive credit markets

Conventional analyses of the credit rationing problem seek to explain that problem within the context of classic demand analysis. In this paper we demonstrate that it is generally inappropriate to apply the notion of classic demand to credit markets, consequently, conventional notions of credit rationing must be rejected. In providing a new definition of credit rationing we also establish the previously rejected characterized by credit rationing.     

Resource Curse or Not: A Question of Appropriability*

Whether natural resources are good or bad for a country's development are shown to depend on the interaction between institutional setting and, crucially, the types of resources possessed by the country. Some natural resources are, for economical and technical reasons, more likely to cause problems such as rent‐seeking and conflicts than others. This potential problem can, however, be countered by good institutional quality. In contrast to the traditional resource curse hypothesis, we show the impact of natural resources on economic growth to be non‐monotonic in institutional quality, and increasingly so for certain types of resources. In particular, countries rich in minerals are cursed only if they have low‐quality institutions, while the curse is reversed if institutions are sufficiently good. Furthermore, if countries are rich in diamonds and precious metals, these effects—both positive and negative—are larger.     

Ecoefficiency: Defining a role for environmental cost management

This study investigates the relationship between environmental performance and productive efficiency in the United States electric utility industry before and after the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), cross-sectional examinations reveal lower polluting plants are more efficient than higher polluting plants. Longitudinal analyses indicate plants can simultaneously reduce pollution and increase relative efficiency. Collectively, these results are evidence that proactive environmental management can reduce environmental costs and thus, lends support for adopting an environmental cost management system.     

Understanding consumers' in-store visual perception: The influence of package design features on visual attention

It is widely accepted that the human brain has limited capacity for perceptual stimuli and consumers' visual attention, when searching for a particular product or brand in a grocery store, should then be limited by the boundaries of their own perceptual capacity. In this exploratory study, we examine the relationship between abundant in-store stimuli and limited human perceptual capacity. Specifically, we test the influence of package design features on visual attention. Data was collected through two eye-tracking experiments, one in a grocery store using wireless eye-tracking equipment, and another in a lab setting. Findings show that consumers have fragmented visual attention during grocery shopping, and that their visual attention is simultaneously influenced and disrupted by the shelf display. Physical design features such as shape and contrast dominate the initial phase of searching. Time pressure and familiarity with the grocery store are studied and discussed.     

Price cap regulation and water quality

Journal of Regulatory Economics - A number of studies suggest that price cap regulation may reduce the quality of the regulated good. This paper analyzes the impact on drinking water quality of a...     

Examining macroeconomic models through the lens of asset pricing

We develop new methods for representing the asset-pricing implications of stochastic general equilibrium models. We provide asset-pricing counterparts to impulse response functions and the resulting dynamic value decompositions (DVDs). These methods quantify the exposures of macroeconomic cash flows to shocks over alternative investment horizons and the corresponding prices or investors’ compensations. We extend the continuous-time methods developed in Hansen and Scheinkman (2012) and Borovi?ka et al. (2011) by constructing discrete-time, state-dependent, shock-exposure and shock-price elasticities as functions of the investment horizon. Our methods are applicable to economic models that are nonlinear, including models with stochastic volatility.     

Proofs for large sample properties of generalized method of moments estimators

I present proofs for the consistency of generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators presented in Hansen (1982). Some basic approximation results provide the groundwork for the analysis of a class of such estimators. Using these results, I establish the large sample convergence of GMM estimators under alternative restrictions on the estimation problem.     

Political Economy of Course Evaluations

Professors Hansen and Kelley suggest practical guidelines for implementing course evaluation systems, drawing upon their experience at the University of Wisconsin. They develop a model to conceptualize course evaluations in the context of the professor's decision-making framework, focusing upon the allocation of time between teaching and research. Costs and benefits associated with collecting evaluations are considered, and ways of minimizing the former and maximizing the latter are suggested.