Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Weiler, Stephan, committee member"

Browsing by Author "Weiler, Stephan, committee member"

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Open Access
Agricultural manufacturing location decisions in Colorado: implications for rural economic development policy
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Sheridan, Claire, author; Jablonski, Becca, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Bonanno, Alessandro, committee member; Cabot, Perry, committee member
Many rural areas face unique challenges that put them at a competitive disadvantage relative to urban areas. State and Federal policies in the U.S. promote opportunities for value-added agriculture (manufacturing) as a means to create and retain wealth in rural places. In order to inform policies that might attract agricultural manufacturing firms to rural locations, this research explores agricultural firm location decisions using a case study of Colorado. First, this research creates a unique dataset of agricultural manufacturing firms in the State of Colorado and uses these data to assess if the traditional factors associated with neoclassical firm location theory (such as wages, tax rates and population) are correlated with agricultural manufacturing firm locations. Second, we conduct in-depth interviews with selected food manufacturing firms located in Colorado's heterogonous Western Slope. Results suggest a behavioral framework (where assets other than profit increase welfare) may better explain how agricultural manufacturing firms choose to locate in rural places. We recommend bottom-up policies that allow communities to promote entrepreneurship and take advantage of location-based comparative advantages as a means to attract agricultural manufacturing firms to rural Colorado.
Open Access
An option value analysis of hydraulic fracturing
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Hess, Joshua H., author; Iverson, Terrence, advisor; Cutler, Harvey, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Manning, Dale, committee member
Many uncertain public policy decisions with sunk costs can be optimally timed leading policymakers to delay implementing a policy despite positive expected net present value. One salient example of this is hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a recently developed oil and gas extraction technology, that has increased fossil fuel reserves in the US. However, many municipalities have seen fit to ban its use despite seemingly positive expected net benefits. We hypothesize that an option value framework that values the ability to delay and learn about an uncertain project may explain fracking bans in practice where the neoclassical net present value rule does not. We test this by developing a stochastic dynamic learning model parameterized with a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that calculates the value of learning about uncertainty over damages and uncertainty over benefits. Applying the model to a representative Colorado municipality, we quantify the quasi-option values (QOV), which create an additional incentive to ban fracking temporarily in order to learn. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify an economy-wide QOV associated with a local environmental policy decision. In Chapter 1 we argue that a numerical, option value approach is the appropriate way to examine uncertain public policy issues involving sunk costs. This method allows for an optimal timing of the public project rather than the 'now or never' approach of the ubiquitous net present value rule. We present local fracking policy as an excellent application for an option value approach as has positive expected net benefits but has been subject to local bans seemingly despite the net present value rule. We also defend our use of a CGE model to estimate the local economic benefits of fracking. Chapter 2 presents the option value model associated with epistemological uncertainty over environmental damages. Also, this chapter presents damage values parameterized to the City of Fort Collins for application in this and the subsequent chapter. With this in hand, we solve the model and demonstrate the results. Chapter 3 has a similar structure to Chapter 2. First, it discusses the literature on stochastic oil movements, then it presents the option value model associated with stochastic uncertainty over local benefits. Then, assuming the same parameterized expected damage as in Chapter 2, we solve the model and display the results.
Open Access
Community, individual, and referendum characteristics affecting support for conservation in Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Chriestenson, Chad, author; Thilmany, Dawn, advisor; Jablonski, Becca, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
This study investigates support for conservation amongst Colorado residents. It is pertinent given both the state's limited supply of natural resources such as water and the increasing demand for other agricultural resources such as open space along the rapidly expanding urban fringes. This is also the first such study performed in the Rocky Mountains and results indicate demand for environmental goods differs when compared to other regions in the United States. The research is performed in two distinct steps. First, revealed preferences are analyzed. These come from conservation referenda data. The analysis proceeds in an analogous manner to previous studies. The Heckman two-step process is used to determine factors affecting both appearance and passage of referenda at the county and municipal level across the state. Results indicate that larger population, higher educational attainment, home-rule charter, pre-existing support, and a lower proportion of white people all increase the likelihood of a referendum appearing on the ballot. A focus on wildlife conservation in addition to open space language within the referenda, increases the likelihood of passage, relative to simply focusing on open space. An unexpected finding is that language directing funds toward open space and conservation of agricultural resources or water decreases this likelihood. Second, stated preferences are analyzed via the results of a demographically representative survey commissioned by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Factor analysis is utilized to determine that most responses appear to be explained by three underlying factors: the value Coloradan's place on the continued existence of agriculture in the state, a measure of views toward human's interaction with the environment, and the perceived relationship between agriculture and the environment. An ordered probit model is used to investigate how these factors, demographic variables, and survey responses affect resident's support for using public funds to help farmers conserve agricultural resources. Results indicate support for conservation decreases with age. They also suggest that those who support conservation of these resources do not appear to care about the mechanism by which they are conserved, they only care that they are conserved. Combined results from the two components of this study show younger residents with higher levels of educational attainment are more likely to support conservation. They indicate that Coloradan's stated and revealed preferences do not fully align. For instance, residents appear to support the idea of conserving water yet don't follow through in the voting booth when language including water is in a referendum. The opposite is true of wildlife conservation. Respondents appear indifferent to connecting land conservation with wildlife in their survey responses, yet referenda results suggest they are more likely to vote for such policies.
Open Access
Environmental health risks, inequality and welfare beyond GDP
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Mensah, Angela Cindy Emefa, author; Barbier, Edward B., advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Miller, Ray, committee member; Mclvor, David W., committee member
A seemingly overlooked impact on economic well-being and inequality is the mortality and morbidity attributed to the environment, such as air, soil and water pollution, ecosystem degradation, unsafe water and sanitation, temperature balance and other environmental quality changes. These environmental health risks are impacting welfare worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that 24% of all global deaths are linked to environmental factors, or around 13.7 million mortalities per year (Pruss-Ustun et al. 2016). Air pollution accounts for 7 million of these deaths, and around 3 billion people face health risks from using polluting fuels such as solid fuels or kerosene for lighting, cooking and heating (WHO 2020). Particulate matter alone kills more than 4 million people each year, mainly in emerging market and developing economies (Nansai et al. 2021). Over half the world's population is exposed to unsafely managed water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, resulting in more than 800,000 deaths annually (WHO 2020). These exposures reduce the average life expectancy and constrain human capital accumulation, thereby reducing the quantity of human capital per person and adversely impacting income distribution, especially among poor countries who already have low human capital. This dissertation examines two channels by which these environmentally health risks impact the economy. The first chapter of this dissertation examines inequality convergence over the past three decades and asks if environmental health risks (EIH) on human capital are responsible for the slow rate of inequality reduction in countries. Though higher initial incidence of EIH simultaneously worsens the rate of inequality reduction, we find that those countries that experience faster reduction in the level of EIH tend to converge to a lower level of inequality more quickly than their counterparts. Thus, estimates that exclude the incidence of EIH may bias the speed of convergence downward. We conclude that high rates of income growth, per se, do not reduce inequality within developing countries. Instead, the level of both initial inequality and EIH are just as important as growth. As such, policies targeted at reducing inequality must also address the health impacts of the environment. The second chapter of this dissertation examines the impact of environmental health risk on welfare through its impact on average life expectancy. Employing the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) dataset of environmentally related mortality and morbidity across 163 countries over 1990-2019, we modify the consumption-equivalent macroeconomic welfare measure developed by Jones and Klenow (2016) to include these risks. We use the GBD estimates of environmentally related morbidity as a lower bound estimate of these risks to adapt the expected lifetime component of the Jones-Klenow welfare measure for each country relative to the United States. Similarly, we use the GBD's estimates of environmentally related disability adjusted life years (DALYs) as an upper-bound estimate of adjusting life expectancy for environmental health risks. Our results suggest that, across all 163 countries over 1990-2019, including environmental health risks in welfare is significant when compared to income (GDP) per capita or to welfare that excludes these risks. While welfare in advanced economies is considerably high and closer to the United States, emerging market and developing economies who suffer the most from environmentally related mortality and morbidity diverge substantially from the United States. This divergence in welfare is especially prominent among low and lower middle-income countries, who are disproportionately affected by environmental health risks. The findings of the first two chapters reaffirm the need to aggressively target and successfully implement the Paris Agreement, Agenda 2030 and its linked Sustainable Development goals. For example, achieving the target on green energy transition, not only promote energy efficiency but will also significantly cut down the number of mortality and health risks associated with polluting solid fuel and kerosene usage in developing countries. Similarly, the target on improving access to clean water and sanitation, when achieved, will improve welfare and reduce, if not eliminate, the about 827,000 deaths associated with unclean water and poor sanitation each year (see WHO 2020). Thus, the strategies for improving welfare, which is the focus of my research, are very much tied to the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The third chapter analyzes the impact of crowding and ecosystem externalities flowing from the industrial fishery sector to the artisanal fishery sector. Both externalities are the results of illegal trawling of small pelagic stock (which is the legal target stock of artisanal fishery) as bycatch by the industrial fishery sector. To explore this issue, we develop a two-sector bioeconomic model with empirical application for the case of fishery in Ghana. We demonstrate that both externalities impact the productivity and profitability of the artisanal fishery. Our empirical results show that, between 1986 and 2013, by-catch ranges from 18% - 95% of total artisanal catch except for some extreme outliers. We also found that industrial fishing effort has being increasing since 2007 but with less than a proportionate increase in legal annual catch, when compared to previous years. This seems to have coincided with significant increases in by-catch. The conjectured is that the extra increases in industrial fishing effort may have been moved toward illegal trawling of by-catch. This may explain why effort is increasing with less than a proportionate increase in industrial fishery's annual landings. We estimated the optimal tax rate to be approximately 11%. However, given the data challenges, we believe that the true optimal tax rate lies between 100% and 10%. Consequently, when the optimal tax rate is applied, the amount of by-catch chosen by the industry fishery in the decentralized equilibrium is identical to the amount chosen by the government. We conclude that if the government's priority is to increase the productivity of the artisanal fishery, then the current level of by-catch should be reduced through monitoring and effective tax structures.
Open Access
Essays on entrepreneurship and social capital in the wake of a catastrophic disaster
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Levitt, Ryan J., author; Zahran, Sammy, advisor; Iverson, Terry, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Manning, Dale, committee member
Research on the economics of disasters has seen a surge in interest in recent years following a series of high-profile events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and the 2010 Haitian Earthquake (Cavallo et al., 2011). In the United States, recent hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma, and Maria have continued to draw attention to the economic consequences associated with catastrophic natural disasters. Both global climate change and the shifting of people and economic activity towards coastal areas increase the likelihood of major climatic disasters occurring in the future (Nordhaus, 2010). This dissertation utilizes Hurricane Katrina as a case study to investigate the various ways in which disasters impact a community, and the factors that both attenuate and exacerbate these impacts. The first chapter describes a framework for identifying the effects of a disaster. Using the synthetic control method, originally proposed by Abadie and Gardeazabal (2003) and Abadie et al. (2010), the chapter identifies the long-term population effects of Hurricane Katrina across the eight most damaged counties. Results highlight significant variation in terms of the magnitude of out-migration across these areas. Cross-county differences in population outcomes are largely the consequence of the severity of housing damage. Pre-existing county characteristics, such as the percent of the population with hazard insurance, were only weakly correlated with population outcomes. Results suggest a near unit-elastic relationship between the severity of housing damage and out-migration. Notable outliers include Jefferson and St. Tammany Parish, who experienced disproportionate out-migration due to the disaster. The paper argues that this is likely due to the significant amount of commuters that work in Orleans but reside in these two counties. The decision to return and rebuild one's home is dependent on whether one's neighbors plan to rebuild, if and when the government restores utilities and infrastructure, and whether surrounding businesses return. Because of the interdependent nature of these decisions, the process of disaster recovery is often characterized as a collective action problem, in which the degree of necessary coordination increases with the extent of out-migration. The second chapter seeks to test the hypothesis advanced by Storr et al. (2016) that entrepreneurs are important first movers in post-disaster environments. The chapter expands on the framework described in chapter one and applies the synthetic control method to all counties that experienced housing damages from Hurricane Katrina and/or Rita. Using these estimated effects as a dependent variable, the chapter explores the role of entrepreneurship in disaster recovery. Results indicate positive correlations between new firm formation and disaster recovery, both with respect to initial impacts, as well as throughout the recovery period. The final chapter investigates the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on social capital in the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Previous research has found that disasters often generate "therapeutic communities," in which altruism, trust, and charity increase following an event. However, the only empirical study to examine the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on social capital finds the opposite effect, in which the concentration of community-based organizations decreased after the disaster. Building on this work, I use the synthetic control method to identify the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on a social capital index, constructed using the concentration of community-based establishments and nonprofit organizations in the New Orleans MSA. The chapter finds that this index increased significantly after Hurricane Katrina, by approximately half a standard deviation relative to the level implied by the synthetic control. Additionally, the paper shows that this increase persists through the entire sample period, even as population levels recover in the area. Decomposing the index by its various components shows that this increase was fairly uniform across included establishment sectors and nonprofit organizations.
Open Access
Essays on migration and tourism in Georgia
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Murvanidze, Elene, author; Alves Pena, Anita, advisor; Miller, Ray, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Cavdar, Gamze, committee member
In the context of the Georgian economy, migration, tourism, and agriculture are fundamental sectors, each significantly influencing the country's socio-economic structure. Migration, driven by economic opportunities and geopolitical factors, impacts labor markets, remittance flows, and cultural diversity. Although emigration has historically led to challenges such as brain drain, remittances from Georgian migrants support household incomes and contribute to GDP. Tourism leverages Georgia's cultural heritage, scenic landscapes, and urban attractions to draw international visitors, creating jobs and generating foreign exchange. Agriculture, with its deep historical and geographical roots, remains crucial for food security, export earnings, and rural livelihoods, benefiting from the diverse crops grown in Georgia's fertile soils. As Georgia progresses economically, understanding and leveraging the interactions between migration, tourism, and agriculture is essential. This requires thorough examination and expansion of existing research to gain deeper insights into their socio-economic impacts. Only through such detailed analysis can policymakers develop strategic policies and make informed decisions. This dissertation aims to represent one small step towards this goal. Since 1990, over one million individuals, comprising about 25% of the country's population, have emigrated from Georgia due to political instability, security concerns, and socioeconomic challenges. Among the 25 East European and former Soviet countries, only Albania and Kazakhstan have experienced a greater proportion of population loss through emigration. Women constitute over half of all migrants, 39% of Georgian children reside in households with at least one migrant family member, and 19% of children live in households that receive remittances. Public discussions surrounding migration have subtly evolved: the stigma attached to independent female migrants for "abandoning" their families has gradually given way to an acknowledgment of their role in ensuring household survival. The first chapter of this dissertation examines the relationship between remittances and the education outcomes of children left behind. We use the 2012 household survey collected by Maastricht University and the International Centre for Social Research and Policy Analysis and measure the impacts on education outcomes of children between 11 and 18 years old. We estimate results for being a high academic performer (probit model), and average academic scores (OLS model). Our findings show that remittances do not impact children's school performance. When we control for migrant characteristics, we find that the migration of a female household member negatively impacts the child's school performance. To further investigate the impact of migrant gender on school performance, we analyze the child's current caregiver arrangements. The results show that a child's education outcomes are negatively impacted when mother is abroad and father is a caregiver. The impact is larger for girls than for boys. We do not find statistically significant evidence of adverse effects when fathers migrate and mothers are caregivers, or when both parents migrate and grandparents are caregivers. Remittances do not have a statistically significant impact in any of our specifications (in rural or urban settings, for daughters or sons). The dissolution of the Soviet Union drastically transformed the Georgian economy. High rates of unemployment and poverty, prompted the government to reconsider its economic strategies. Recognizing the need to diversify the economy, particular emphasis was placed on boosting the tourism sector. From 2009 to 2016, Georgia had one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors in the world. The number of international visitors quadrupled, and the tourism revenue as a share of GDP increased eight-fold. Despite the pivotal role played by tourism development in Georgia's economic landscape and policy formulation, its effects have not been extensively studied. There is no research indicating that the development of tourism in Georgia leads to sustainable economic growth. The second chapter investigates the impact of tourism development on economic growth. We utilize the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing (ARDLBT) model, examining both annual data spanning from 1997 to 2019 and quarterly data from 2011 to 2019. The annual data results for the trivariate model (real GDP, tourism, real effective exchange rate) confirm Aliyev and Ahmadova's (2020) findings. Cointegration tests indicate the relationship between tourism and economic growth, a 1% increase in tourism arrivals is associated with a 0.14% decrease in real GDP. However, once we add agriculture (AGR) and foreign direct investments (FDI) as additional controls we do not find the long-run relationship between tourism and real GDP to be statistically significant. These conclusions are consistent across various model specifications and are further supported by our analysis of quarterly data. In terms of other tourism impacts, we find tourism to have a positive impact on the real effective exchange rate (REER), a 1% increase in tourism development is associated with a 0.08-0.19% increase in REER in the long-run. Additionally, tourism demonstrates short-term correlations with agriculture (AGR) and foreign direct investment (FDI), with a 1% increase in tourism development corresponding to increases of 0.11-0.49% in AGR and 1.07-1.46% in FDI. The third chapter evaluates the effects of protected areas on land use and income distribution, focusing on changes in tourism and agricultural production in a theoretical framework. Our findings show that conservation policy has economic and environmental consequences even when it does not directly intersect the agricultural frontier. The establishment or expansion of the protected area tends to attract more visitors. The growth of tourism and agricultural sectors will raise nominal wages and agricultural prices. The extent of these changes will determine whether inequality increases or decreases.
Open Access
Essays on regional economic development: finance, growth, and income distribution
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Petach, Luke, author; Pena, Anita Alves, advisor; Tavani, Daniele, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Opp, Susan, committee member
This dissertation explores the relationship between financial markets and economic activity across regions within the United States. In particular, it examines how regional variation in financial markets may affect variables that play an important role in regional economic growth and income distribution. Despite the way the Great Recession of 2007-2009 made manifest the importance of financial markets in the determination of real economic outcomes, there is still much that is not understood about the relationship between financial markets and the rest of the economy. Financial markets may affect household decision making either indirectly via their influence over institutional arrangements and social norms, or directly via their influence over who can obtain access to the credit needed to start a business, purchase a home, or invest in human capital. These changes will alter the distribution of income—both directly via the re-distribution of funds through credit markets, and indirectly via the outcomes that access to credit (or lack there-of) engender.
Open Access
Exploring the overall, distributional and resiliency implications of investments in rural outdoor tourism: the case of Fishers Peak State Park
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Schuck, Skyler, author; Thilmany, Dawn, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Hill, Rebecca, committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member
The recently christened Fishers Peak State Park offers great potential to give a much-needed boost to the economy of Las Animas County, specifically the town of Trinidad. State parks tend to draw tourism and may even improve the quality of life for current citizens or potential new workforce entrants (a benefit to employers), representing direct and spillover economic and societal benefits to the region. Yet, not all in the region may experience the same benefits. This paper seeks to estimate the overall and distributional income effect of the new state park through traditional empirical tourism expenditure modeling and input-output model analysis, with particular attention to and consideration for how different development approaches may affect outcomes. The framing and applied case study of this work is intended to serve as a toolkit for rural communities seeking to more holistically evaluate infrastructure development options to help them maximize the strength of key economic indicators that are keystones for economic resiliency. We seek to apply the same tourism and hospitality dependency methodology from Watson & Deller (2022) to assess resiliency in the region. But, to contribute to more nuanced understanding of the region's potential impacts, the analysis will apply a more focused lens by using refined location quotients for employment concentrations and data from the restricted QCEW, and by using both the Great Recession (2007-2009) and COVID-19 Pandemic (2019-2021) as shocks.
Open Access
Female participation in research and development: the role of government and defense spending
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Saxon, Tyler, author; Bernasek, Alexandra, advisor; Fisher, Ellen, committee member; Li, Hsueh-Hsiang, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
This study analyzes how defense spending has biased research and development (R&D) institutions and the path of technological change in a specifically gendered way. Military considerations have long played a significant role in the development of science, technology, and industry. The large role played by military spending in shaping R&D has biased R&D institutions towards militaristic purposes, especially in the United States. Furthermore, this relatively militaristic organizational culture in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) may affect men and women differently. Prior research indicates that women may be more likely than men to self-select out of STEM due to a greater aversion to militarism, and militaristic institutions may be more likely to discriminate against women and/or reinforce occupational segregation frameworks based on more traditional gender roles. Chapter 1 applies a difference-in-difference methodology to demonstrate how changes in Federal defense R&D spending in the U.S. can alter the gender composition of engineers in the U.S. Chapter 2 uses panel data from 46 different countries to assess the effects of defense spending on the differing gender compositions of research workers across countries. Using the institutional framework of ceremonial encapsulation of technology, Chapter 3 analyzes the broader institutional structures of STEM work and R&D, specifically the ways in which defense spending implicitly genders the institutional structures of STEM in the United States, and proposes avenues for future research on this topic.
Open Access
Foreign direct investment in developing countries: productivity growth, dual economies, and location determinants
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Ohakim, John, author; Braunstein, Elissa, advisor; Vasudevan, Ramaa, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee member
This study revisits the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in developing countries along two dimensions. First, we empirically analyze the impact of FDI on productivity growth in 30 developing countries for the period 1970 to 2010. We, however, depart from previous studies on the FDI-growth nexus because our approach allows us to focus on the contribution of FDI to aggregate productivity in a developing economy, while considering the reallocation of labor characterized by sizable differentials in the productivity of labor between sectors. When structural change is accounted for, something that previous growth models fail to do, we find interesting results for both regimes of absorptive capacities. Second, this study empirically re-examines the location determinants of greenfield FDI in developing countries. The work done here incorporates South-South FDI exchanges and empirically examines if FDI inflows from the South differ from those that originate in the North. This is done by employing a novel dataset, which is analyzed using an extended gravity equation. We find that FDI flows from the global North differs from those from the global South. On average, investors from the North enter a developing country seeking to benefit from factors that make them more competitive internationally. On the other hand, FDI from the South, on average, is motivated primarily by interests in accessing and exploiting natural resources. That is, North-South FDI is efficiency-seeking while South-South FDI is resource-seeking. We also show that geographical agglomeration plays an important role in attracting FDI from other developing countries as well. We conclude this study by discussing policy implications for home, host and regional countries.
Open Access
Gender and racial inequality in U.S. credit markets
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Wentzel-Long, Melanie G., author; Bernasek, Alexandra, advisor; Pena, Anita, committee member; Pressman, Steven, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Daum, Courtenay, committee member
Outstanding household debt in the U.S. has grown dramatically since the 1980s, and households' borrowing activity is on track to return to levels unseen since the 2008 Financial Crisis. There has been limited research in economics on how patterns of credit use reflect and reproduce inequality by gender and race. In this study, I apply an intersectional feminist lens to household finance with four empirical investigations of women's position in credit markets. The papers are situated in an historically informed theoretical framework positing that women have been subject to three interconnected phenomena as consumers of credit: stigmatization, conditional inclusion, and exclusion. Chapter 2 investigates the relationship between borrowing from friends or family and financial exclusion, motivated by work in sociology suggesting that such informal borrowing has long-run costs and may be disproportionately used by women. I find that Black women are two to three times more likely than White respondents to plan on using informal borrowing as their primary coping strategy in the case of an emergency expense. Unobserved factors such as access to bank branches appear to link financial exclusion and informal borrowing. Chapter 3 explores differences by gender and race in U.S. high school students' aversion to borrowing for college and in the impacts of debt aversion. Female students and Black students are more likely to have a low but positive willingness to borrow for college than other groups. Moderate debt aversion is linked to lower levels of college enrollment, less borrowing, and lower costs of attendance, while strong debt aversion reduces the probability of enrolling in college for men only. Chapters 4 and 5 identify gendered and racialized trends in the growth of household debt surrounding the 2008 Financial Crisis. The results provide mixed evidence that high-cost mortgage lending targeted women or Black or Hispanic respondents. These groups experienced greater growth in consumer debt levels and debt burden relative to income than other groups post-crisis.
Open Access
Making ends meet in a social context: grandparent childcare during the 2008 recession, debt of the poor and financial innovation, and relative poverty's effect on election outcomes
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Roberts, Michael, author; Pena, Anita, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Zahran, Sammy, committee member; Kroll, Stephan, committee member; Pressman, Steven, committee member
The chapters illustrate dynamics of the choices of individuals and households when facing income and time constraints in the recent United States. In the first chapter, grandparent childcare provision is studied from the supply side with a focus on the effect of the 2008 recession. Findings suggest differing effects for lower income respondents, and female respondents. In the second essay, I test a structural consumption model building on Brown (2007) and extending into recent periods using newly available data. Results suggest that Minskian effects are present in consumption in the U.S. Lastly, I test a new relative poverty measure against the more traditional form and study its relation to electoral outcomes from 2000-2016. Results suggest that state-level relative poverty decreases the likelihood of Republican victories. All of these aspects investigate the relationship between the social and the economic in the modern U.S.
Open Access
Merger and innovation: the case of the oil and gas industry
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Anindhito, Rezki, author; Kling, Robert W., advisor; Mushinski, David, committee member; Olienyk, John P., committee member; Ryan, Patricia A., committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
Many studies in the late 1990’s concerning the internet and information technology industries show that innovation is the main reasons for company mergers. This dissertation attempts to explain whether merger activities in the oil and gas industry were motivated for the same main reasons as merger activities in the internet and information technology industries. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part of the study, using the event study and panel data methodology, examines whether positive impact hypotheses dominate the merger activities. The four benchmark models for normal returns. Market Model (MM), Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Fama-French Three Factors Model and Fama-French Four Factors Model are used to calculate Cumulative Abnormal Return (CAR). The CAR results from Market Model are the same as the other three normal return models. The only difference is the magnitude of CAR on different models which tend to be smaller as more variables were included in the equation. The CAR results are also in accordance with the fourth and fifth wave theory of mergers. In the second part, using the probit and panel data method, the study tries to explain the relationship between innovation and merger activities. The result shows that innovation can have two opposite effect to merger. We believe that our findings can only explain two from several motivations for merger waves and only focus on the positive impact hypothesis of merger. Therefore, further research is still necessary to examine for other motivations and also to test whether our conclusion also applies to other industries. Additional study on the negative impact hypothesis of merger is also desired to increase our knowledge on merger theory.
Open Access
Patents, knowledge creation, and spillovers in genetics for agriculture and natural resources
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Samad, Ghulam, author; Graff, Gregory D., advisor; Maskus, Keith E., committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Hooten, Mevin, committee member
Increasing food, energy, and resource demand by growing global population is putting unprecedented pressure on agriculture and natural resource systems. Innovation in agriculture, energy, and other resource intensive industries contributes enormously to productivity and sustainability gains. Innovation in genetic resources and biological systems is a particularly promising yet controversial area of such innovation. Generally, it has been observed that regional clustering (economies of agglomeration) plays an important role in driving innovation. To what extent do we observe regional clustering to play a role in innovation in these industries? Especially given that production is highly diffused geographically, and research and technology are seen as highly globalized (global public goods vs. global monopolies by MNCs). The overarching questions address by this study are the following: (1) What do patents reveal about geographic patterns of knowledge creation and spillovers? (2) What economic and policy factors drive invention activity at the regional scale? And indirectly, (3) What is the role of regional clustering in driving innovations for food security and sustainability? To address these overarching objectives this study is mainly separated into three parts. The first part delves into three related questions: (1) How have biological inventions for use in primary resource-intensive industries been spatially distributed across the United States? And, in particular, to what degree have they been geographically concentrated? (2) What are the time-space dynamics of biological inventions for these industries? To what extent does the concentration of previous inventions effect where new inventions arise? And, (3) based on these insights, can we identify primary innovation clusters in the U.S. for these industries? This study draws on detailed information on inventor address from about 34,000 patented inventions as indicators of innovation and entrepreneurship in three closely related industries: (1) agriculture, (2) bioenergy, and (3) environmental management. To address these questions three approaches are used mapping, Moran I and regression analysis. Results indicate these biological inventions are distributed across the U.S, but highly concentrated clusters are formed in urban regions. Moreover, a spatial clustering pattern clearly exists. In term of concentration of biological inventions for these industries, a rural-urban division exists. Inventions do not tend to concentrate near production activities but tend to concentrate in urban area. The number of inventions in an area in prior years has a significant impact on the number of current year inventions. This relationship represents the localized spillover phenomenon. While we do see inventions in rural areas, rural areas do not appear to be the hotspots of innovation in agricultural, energy, or environmental biotechnologies. The second part of this dissertation explores the covariates of regional concentration of these biological inventions for agriculture, energy, and environment in the United States. First, the geographic patterns of these inventions are analyzed using negative binomial panel regression of patented inventions by region, to identify the density of inventions overall as well as the space-time dynamics of invention cumulativeness. We find that inventions have been spatially concentrated in about 30 major metropolitan clusters, and that spatial distribution has remained remarkably stable over time. Factors of population, earnings, and farm income are correlated with their invention counts. As a first rule, these inventions are created in higher population urban regions. Although, among regions of similar population inventions are more likely closer to agricultural production. Results clearly show the emergence of largely urban innovation clusters in agriculture and resource industries. The third part of this dissertation broadens the scope to explore the spatial distribution and covariates of regional invention activity across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Three approaches are used mapping, Moran I and regression analysis to analyse the spatial distribution and covariates across OECD. The results showed that while inventions are distributed across the OECD, there again appear to be concentrated clusters in larger urban regions (another broader set of top 30 clusters). Moreover, the number of inventions made in prior years has significant explanatory power on the number of current year inventions, by region. This represents the localized spillover phenomenon. In addition, region size (as measured by population) and level of economic activity (as measured by regional income) do not appear to be related to the count of inventions for these industries. R&D expenditures (regional) and an IP index (which is national in nature but is applied to regions for this study) are strongly related to biotech invention activity for these industries. A rural-urban division does appear to exist. Finally, these invention counts appear to be negatively correlated with gross value added of agriculture by region across OECD countries.
Open Access
Regional dimensions of agritourism: exploring spatial and traveler heterogeneity
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Van Sandt, Anders, author; Thilmany McFadden, Dawn, advisor; Costanigro, Marco, committee member; Jablonski, Becca, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
This dissertation employs a three-pronged approach to explore how locational, firm, and traveler heterogeneity lead to different opportunities or barriers in the budding U.S. agritourism industry. While each chapter considers a different aspect of the agritourism industry using unique empirical methods of analyses and sources of data, each chapter utilizes spatial economic methods to analyze different aspects of agritourism in the U.S. The first chapter applies firm level data and a two-stage model to test the importance of three trade theories in identifying comparative advantages in agritourism. Findings from this first essay imply that while some comparative advantages may be due to the productive and technological efficiencies of an agricultural operation, locational characteristics such as natural endowments (including natural amenities, farm production type, and proximities to other tourism attractions and population centers) are the primary source of attraction for agritourists. This essay also finds strong evidence of economies of agglomeration within the agritourism industry, signaling the need for future research to explore the potential within- and between-industry benefits from developing agritourism clusters. The second essay estimates the consumer surplus derived from agritourism in the Western U.S. using a flexible travel cost model and survey data. In addition to providing par-worth consumer surplus measures across multiple regions, agritourism activities, and travelers, the method includes a detailed examination of how sunk costs of primary travel destinations may influence consumer welfare estimates for other site visits on trips. Findings show that this mismeasurement inflicts a bias, called the multi-destination bias, that differs depending on the relative price and rurality of the recreational activity. Finally, the chapter includes a discussion on how relative elasticities may be used by agritourism operators and rural economic development practitioners to leverage their locational and site specific comparative advantages in agritourism. The third and final essay analyzes primary data from a choice experiment in a latent class logit framework to investigate how consumers' home surroundings influence their willingness to pay for various agritourism qualities when choosing among destinations. After identifying each of the market segments and how they differ in regards to their agritourism preferences, the membership covariates are used to create willingness to pay maps using kriging, a geostatistical interpolation method. Maps and willingness to pay estimates from this analysis may be used by agritourism operators and tourism development practitioners to target marketing efforts in regions with significantly higher willingness to pay values. By understanding how agritourism demand and supply factors differ, farmers and ranchers will be able to identify and leverage their natural, firm, and community strengths to develop successful agritourism enterprises. While agritourism is a relatively well-established industry in Europe, research opportunities to inform the US sector still exist. From the diversity of American agricultural producers, to exploring the potential spillover benefits to communities, and the demand shifts that may arise alongside the U.S. public's growing interest in food makes, there are several motivations for further research on this. Directions for future research are outlined at the end of each essay, as well as at the end of the conclusion.
Open Access
Rural prosperity initiative: propensity-score analysis of income and crop production effects from a comprehensive micro-irrigation program in Zambia
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Nicoletti, Christopher Kevin, author; Kroll, Stephan, advisor; Graff, Gregory, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
This study seeks to expand the current literature of the impacts of technology adoption for smallholder farmers. It does so through an empirical investigation of the relationship between micro-irrigation technology investment, farmer-group enrollment and five key income and crop-production indicators of smallholder farmer-households in four rural Zambian regions. Micro-irrigation technologies were purchased by farmer-households, and were not randomly assigned. As such, the paper utilizes a propensity-score matching methodology to reduce self-selection bias, thereby estimating the causal effects of micro-irrigation technology investment on household incomes and crop production. By stratifying the sample, impacts were estimated for six combinations of treatment using three distinct matching algorithms. Regional and gender-specific treatment effects were estimated for the impact of farmer-group enrollment with micro-irrigation investment, and for the incremental impact of micro-irrigation investment when the farmer-household is already enrolled in a farmer-group. The study finds robust and positive effects of micro-irrigation investment and farmer-group enrollment on total crop incomes and total crop revenues, for the whole sample. Regional impacts of technology investment are less robust because of sample size limitations, but remain positive and significant in two of the four intervention areas. Female- and male-headed households both had positive and robust impacts on crop incomes, but female-headed household treatment effects were larger in magnitude. The findings of this study suggest that investment in micro-irrigation technologies and enrollment in a farmer-group lead to higher crop incomes for smallholder farmers in Zambia, and may reduce gender gaps in farmer earnings.
Open Access
Socioeconomics of modern-day migration within the United States: determinants and economic implications across race and ethnicity
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Duca, Bryanna, author; Pena, Anita Alves, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Kim, Joon K., committee member
There have been, and continue to be, inequalities based on race, ethnicity, and gender. This dissertation explores the racial and ethnic gaps in internal migration within the U.S. in addition to wage outcomes as a result of these differences in internal migration decisions. It provides an overview of economic and sociology literature in addition to historical findings in order to further analyze differences in behaviors by race and ethnicity. Chapters 2 and 3 will explore how the determinants of internal migration and location characteristics differ between Black non-Hispanics, White non-Hispanics, and Hispanics using micro-level restricted-use American Community Survey (ACS) data. These chapters extend the discussion of internal migration by not only observing the relationship between economic and noneconomic factors with the propensity to migrate, but how the relationship differs across race and ethnicity within smaller geographies than have been explored in previous literature. Using the same data, the fourth chapter explores the relationship between the propensity to move or migrate and wages, in turn providing an additional explanation to the racial and ethnic wage gap.
Open Access
Spatial characteristics: improving model accuracy and providing regional research insights
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Crofton, Kevin, author; Cutler, Harvey, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Shields, Martin, committee member; Manning, Dale, committee member
The research presented in this dissertation began with an investigation of water transfers from rural Colorado to a growing urban region and how this would affect the rural economy. Chapter 1 focuses on the growing concern of water scarcity in the arid western region of the US. In this part of the country, it is widely known that water is limited, and as populations continue to increase, so will the demand for water, which is already in short supply. A multiregional Computable General Equilibrium (MRCGE) model using spatially detailed data was built to study the impact of urban growth on a rural community and is presented in Chapter 1. The construction of the MRCGE model led to consideration of how aggregation shapes output. This evolved into a comparison of a MRCGE model that utilized spatial details that explained the differences between a rural and urban economies with a single region CGE model that aggregated these regional differences. Chapter 2 discusses identical simulations in either model, demonstrates insights gained from refining the spatial details into a MRCGE model, and identifies specific elements lost when using a broader aggregated description blending different regions together. Different spatial qualities between locations are critical in expanding the understanding of skier behavior. Chapter 3 provides a skier behavior model of the US, which confirms the pull effect of destination snowfall shown in regional models of the ski industry. Additionally, this research demonstrates that skier origin weather also influences skier visitation by shifting the subjective interest of traveling to another region. The result of this model provides evidence of push and pull weather variables for a winter ski destination, filling a gap generally left by travel literature that often focuses on warm weather destinations. Chapter 1 describes a three-region CGE model that utilizes the unique spatial characteristics of urban, rural, and interface regions; the latter includes a blend of features of both the rural and urban regions. Using explicitly defined regions provides an enhanced analysis of each community's Ag and non-Ag sectors, while also describing the impact on households. This model connects the three regions via a water market, which allows for endogenous transfers of water to occur due to urban population growth. The model adds an interregional intermediate input market, allowing urban growth to demand greater domestic supply from the rural and interface industries. The interregional intermediate input market, which captures another link between the urban region and the rural region, is a new addition to the literature. These key modeling features refine the approach to investigate urban growth's influence on a rural economy by modeling multiple interregional markets and identifying regional specific characteristics. Chapter 1 allows for a more complete understanding of the dynamics between urban growth, water transfer from the rural region, and the resulting influence on the rural economy. Chapter 1 compares a model, which includes the water market and the intermediate input market, to two restricted models, either only trade water or only trade intermediate inputs, between regions to assess the impact these markets have on the rural economy. This comparison demonstrates that both markets can increase the cost of production due to greater urban demand, but when either is restricted, rural economies can expand in respond to urban growth. When water cannot be traded between regions factor prices become relatively cheaper in the rural region because there is not the greater urban demand causing higher water prices. With cheaper factors the rural economy can expand supply to meet the growing urban demand for intermediate inputs. When the water market is the only interregional market, the rural region transfers water (primarily from the agricultural sector resulting in Ag output decline), to the urban region. The rural agricultural sector subsequently reduces their demand for land and labor making it available to the rural non-Ag sector, thus expanding their output with these relatively cheaper factors. The greater output of the non-Ag sector offsets the Ag decline in output, resulting in a total domestic supply increase. The rural economy increases output in each alternative model due to different cross-regional effects but experiences a decline in output when all interregional markets are modeled. The inclusion of both markets generates higher cost of production that cannot be offset by substitution between sectors or by the greater urban demand for intermediate inputs. Past research has focused on how the rural region adjusts to water transfers with varied conclusions. For example, Berck et al. (1991) describes rural agriculture shifting to less water intensive production methods and benefitting from the combined payment for their water and the adjusted domestic supply. Alternatively, Seung et al. (2000) describes a decline in rural domestic supply in response to water transfers, relying on a Leontief factor substitution specification. Both research conclusions depended on the elasticity of factor substitution. The model used in Chapter 1 applies a constant elasticity of substitution that is similar to Berck et al. (1991) but describes a decline in rural domestic supply. This different economic outcome is due to the dynamics of markets that connect the multiple regions, rather than only modeling the rural region in isolation. The Watson and Davies (2009) model includes a water market that endogenously transfers water between sectors due to urban population growth. In their model, water is a factor input for all sectors of the economy, and as urban population expands, it shifts the demand for water to non-agricultural outputs, resulting in a higher water price. The higher price of water forces the agricultural sector to shift to less water intensive production methods resulting in less output. However, the large urban population demands greater agricultural output offsetting negative supply shift. One weakness of this model is that households and industries are not regionally identified, making it unclear how rural and urban regional economic outcomes differ. The model in Chapter 1 applies a similar endogenous water market driven by urban growth but concludes that rural domestic supply and household income both decline due to regional price variations derived from the multiregional approach. Chapter 2 compares a spatial disaggregated MRCGE model to a single region model that uses the same data to expose the importance of spatial aggregation in CGE modeling. This analysis isolates the influence of how aggregation shapes output, revealing the differences between the two models with identical simulations. The performance of the two models highlights that spatial data must be correctly leveraged by a disaggregated structure to explain unique regional output. This comparison demonstrates that qualities in the analysis are lost when CGE models use larger aggregated regions rather than a spatially sensitive MRCGE approach, which illustrates the importance of modeling spatial details. The water model from Chapter 1 is transformed into a single region model and compared to the original specification. The same data is used in each model, leaving only the regional specification as the structural difference between them. The data used in this model is based on PUMS data that describe community level labor and household characteristics, refining the disaggregated descriptions of regional economies. Additionally, county assessor's data provide parcel level descriptions of land and building values, thus improving the descriptions of residential and business in the model. Each of these data sets refine spatial details, which enhance the multiregional specification. When these details are aggregated into a single region, many of the county level insights are obscured. For example, rural labor markets have greater wage gains compared to similar labor groups in different regions in response to a total factor productivity increase. This outcome is unique to the rural region, and under the aggregated single region model, this labor group does not experience an increase in wages. The model comparison demonstrates how spatial characteristics represented by the MRCGE structure can shape output by preserving spatial characteristics, which determine unique model behaviors that enhance economic analysis. The literature has recognized the benefits of the MRCGE specification. However, the justification for the MRCGE improvements over past aggregated approaches is due to adjusting the older aggregated structure with spatially descriptive data and revealing new outputs. The problem with this approach is that the new model has both a change in structure from a single region to a multi-region, and it includes additional spatial descriptive data. This method cannot determine whether improved spatial data or the spatial disaggregation is responsible for the improvement. To address this, the model presented in Chapter 2 aggregates a disaggregated model so that the spatial data values are the same but have been transformed from spatial to aspatial. This approach allows the spatial structure to be analyzed without the influence of additional data, revealing how this uniquely impacts and shapes the output. Chapter 3 describes how weather motivates skiers to travel from one region to another in the US. It is widely known that skiing benefits from winter conditions and that skiers are willing to travel to other locations to pursue better quality ski experiences. This model considers seasonal weather variations of destination ski areas and the origin weather variables that could impact their decision-making process. Destination and origin weather variables are significant determinants of skier visits, as confirmed by the research. Snow accumulation at a destination can pull greater visits, and colder weather at the origin makes ski trips more appealing. Chapter 3 fits within the broad literature on travel that has focused on weather's influences on travel decisions. The travel literature describes the desirable weather variables that pull travelers towards those destinations. Additionally, this literature provides push variables where the weather of a traveler's origin changes their subjective demand for leaving their home for vacation. The push and pull effects of destination and origin weather have been applied extensively to warm weather destinations, but there are many fewer applications for the winter season and cold-weather destinations. This model tests the push and pull effect for ski areas in the US and confirms that colder, snowy destination weather pulls a greater number of skier visits and that colder weather at a skier origin further pushes them to ski in any region. The gap in the travel literature is also shared by the ski industry studies that have exclusively focused on how destination temperature and snowfall contribute to skier attendance. The ski industry research has not examined how the skier's origin influences attendance. This model addresses the smaller scope of the ski industry research that focuses on one ski area instead of skier behavior across the whole country. Across each of the chapters in this dissertation, spatial details motivate unique economic activity. From western water markets to the differences between rural and urban labor markets to the impact of destination snowfall on skier visits, the inclusion of spatial characteristics improves model analysis and provides key insights into regional research. The diverse application in the following chapters provides strong evidence of the importance of spatial characteristics, highlighting how they shape individual behavior and drive unique research and economic outcomes.
Open Access
Spatial dimensions of natural resource decisions: private responses to public resource decisions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Goldbach, Rebecca, author; Davies, Stephen, advisor; Thilmany, Dawn, advisor; Goemans, Christopher, committee member; Weiler, Stephan, committee member
This dissertation illustrates how the use of spatial economics, as opposed to non-spatial methods, can enrich economic research related to natural resources decision-making. This research encompasses three distinct, but complementary, papers, based on two datasets that vary in richness and scale, and one data-driven model that will detail how data will need to be collected to inform natural resource infrastructure projects in a developing economy. The first essay uses cutting-edge spatial econometric techniques to evaluate the location decisions of private outdoor recreation providers. Here, I find clustering of outdoor recreation opportunities and that private providers are attracted to areas with existing public outdoor recreation opportunities when making their own location decisions. The second essay focuses on a specific form of privately provided outdoor recreation, agritourism, and again finds that the more existing outdoor recreation, the more agritourism trips will be taken. The second essay uses a hurdle travel cost model and focuses on the demanders, as opposed to the suppliers, of private outdoor recreation. The findings reveal that agritourists gain substantial consumer surplus (with averages ranging from $93 to $465) from their trip, and that the model treatment of multi-destination agritourists impacts the estimated consumer surplus. The first two papers use author-created outdoor recreation measures that are introduced in this dissertation. These measures were created to complement the USDA-Economic Research Service Natural Amenities Index, with input from the creators of the Natural Amenities Index, and have potential to be used in many natural resource and economic development studies as the Natural Amenities Index has been. In contrast to the other essays, the third essay recognizes that spatial relationships can be important in evaluating an economic question, even when dense spatial datasets are not available. The study uses an Equilibrium Displacement Model to evaluate water management and storage policies for a canal system in Afghanistan, a country where war and poverty have damaged infrastructure and made it difficult to collect accurate data. Producers' spatial location on the canal is of key importance to understanding their decisions and the failure to account for these spatial relationships could lead to misinformed policy decisions. The Equilibrium Displacement Model results show that water management and storage policies have different impacts on producers based on their spatial location on the canal. Through the use of three very different models, this dissertation illustrates the importance of incorporating spatial impacts when evaluating policies related to natural resources.
Open Access
State correctional spending and the private prison industry
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) White, Weston, author; Pena, Anita Alves, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Mushinski, David, committee member; Suter, Jordan, committee member
The efficacy of using private contractors to house prisoners has been debated since the first private prison was built in the 1980's. Most of the previous research on private prison costs has focused on case study analysis and has failed to reach a conclusive decision on whether any savings accrue from contracting with private companies. This paper contributes to economic research by examining data over seventeen years across 50 states on their correctional expenditures and the percent of prisoners they have in private prisons to determine whether private prisons are actually cost saving for states to use. To do this, I make use of a fixed effects econometric model to examine if there are any savings associated with contracting out prison services. This paper also examines the effects of other factors have on correctional expenditures and with prison privatization. The results suggest that privatization has little effect on correctional expenditures and other factors impact correctional expenditures in a statistically significant degree such as poverty and the government ideology of a state.