Measuring the diffusion of housing prices across space and over time

How fast and how long (and to what magnitude) does a change in housing prices in one region affect its neighbors? In this paper, I apply a time series technique for measuring impulse response functions from linear projections to a spatial autoregressive model of housing prices. For a dynamic panel of California counties, the data reveal that spatial autocorrelation between regional housing prices is highly persistent over time, lasting up to two and half years. This result, and the econometric techniques employed, should be of interest to not only housing and regional economists, but to a variety of applied econometricians as well.

Credit Cards and Monetary Policy: Are Households still liquidity-constrained?

That the lending channel is alive and well for consumer lending is at first glance a compelling notion given the growth in consumer credit. However, this paper demonstrates with disaggregated monthly and quarterly consumer credit data that households are awash in liquidity. Contrary to assumptions motivating the lending channel, households are not constrained in accessing credit from any lender (or in any form) in response to a monetary shock. The findings of this paper have important implications for research on the monetary transmission mechanism beyond the lending channel and for business cycle research in general.

How the Housing and Financial Wealth Effects have changed over Time

We measure the “evolution” of the housing and financial wealth effects over time by estimating the dynamic responses of consumption to both forms of wealth in the United States over different time periods from 1952 to 2009. To understand how the housing and financial wealth effects have changed over time, we use a combination of recent time series techniques, including system structural break tests and linear projections to estimate impulse response functions over relatively short sub-samples. Our key results are that the housing wealth effect gets larger over time, with the largest effect apparent after 1998; while the financial wealth effect diminishes over the same sub-samples, even over periods that include the equities boom of the 1990s. Our results provide insight into what mechanisms may explain the differing responses of consumption to wealth.

Competing Explanations of U.S. Defense Industry Consolidation in the 1990s and Their Policy Implications

Was the consolidation of defense industry in the 1990s driven by U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) directives, or was it driven instead by the same forces that drove consolidation in many other sectors of the U.S. economy in the 1990s? To better understand the roles of DOD policy and economy-wide forces in shaping the U.S. defense industry, we test for structural breaks in defense industry and spending data and compare our findings to those relating to other sectors and the general economy. We identify structural breaks in the defense-related data in the early 1980s and throughout the 1990s, roughly consistent with changes in the U.S. economy, including broader merger trends. Overall, our results are more consistent with the view that economy-wide factors drove defense industry consolidation, largely independent of the DOD policy changes that occurred early in the 1990s.

CERCLA Apportionment Following \u3ci\u3eBurlington Northern\u3c/i\u3e: How Joint and Several Liability Still Thrives—to the Surprise of Many

Courts have generally held parties who are responsible for hazardous waste jointly and severally liable for that harm under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). On rare occasions, parties have shown a reasonable basis for apportionment of the harm and avoided joint and several liability. However, in 2009, the Supreme Court in Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. United States upheld an apportionment of harm based on a seemingly lower standard of evidence than courts have required in the past, potentially lowering the burden on parties to obtain apportionment. This article briefly summarizes Burlington Northern, as well as predictions from commentators on what standard of evidence will be sufficient for apportionment going forward. It then analyzes subsequent cases to show that courts have not lowered the standard of evidence required for a reasonable basis for apportionment under CERCLA. In fact, a few courts have held potentially responsible parties to an even higher standard than prior to Burlington Northern

Master of Science

thesisDevelopment practice in conflicted countries is conceptualized and carried out upon a shaky economic theoretical foundation. These theories were built upon research conducted on the development of European nations. This has led to a focus in the development community on investment led growth models, which state that large and small scale government grants can be targeted to touch off latent engines of economic growth. In this thesis I contest that model drawing from counterinsurgency (COIN) examples in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrating how such investments can be a source of instability through increased incentives for rent seeking behavior as well as direct theft. I propose a better focus would be to investigate and improve what I call commitment regimes: the methods whereby commitments are made and enforced in a society, be it through religious, tribal, regulatory or violent means. As these regimes are improved, reducing transactions cost and increasing stability, more investment will be made in society as returns become more certain

Immigration does not undermine public support for social policies

In several European countries, commentators have linked the rise of anti-foreigner sentiments with rising levels of immigration. But do higher levels of immigration also undermine public support for social policies? Using survey data from 17 rich democracies, David Brady and Ryan Finnigan find little evidence to support this claim. They write that immigration may even encourage public support for the welfare state

Signal Characteristics of Civil GPS Jammers

This paper surveys the signal properties of 18 commercially available GPS jammers based on experimental data. The paper is divided into two distinct tests. The first characterizes the jamming signals, and the second test determines the effective range of 4 of the jammers. The first test uses power spectra from discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) of the time series data to show that all the jammers employ approximately the same jamming method, i.e. linear frequency modulation of a single tone. The spectra also show that there are significant jammer-to-jammer variations, including between jammers of the same model, and that a given jammer’s signal may vary over time. The first test also includes measurements of signal power within frequency bands centered at the L1 and L2 frequencies, along with the sweep periods and the sweep range at both frequencies. The second test presents measurements of the attenuation of the jamming signal necessary to allow a commercially available GPS receiver to acquire and track signals from a GPS simulator. From the attenuation levels and some assumptions about the antennas used, upper limits on the effective jamming ranges are calculated for 4 of the jammers, with a resulting maximum range of 6–9 km.Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanic

Immigration does not undermine public support for social policy

In the U.S and other rich democracies, many commentators have linked the rise of anti-foreigner sentiments in recent decades with rising levels of immigration. But do higher levels of immigration also undermine public support for social policies? Using survey data from 17 rich democracies, David Brady and Ryan Finnigan find little evidence to support this claim. They write that immigration may even surprisingly encourage public support for the welfare state

Multicultural welfare politics: immigration mostly has no effect on welfare attitudes

"In den vergangenen Jahren wurde immer wieder Besorgnis über die Auswirkungen von Einwanderung auf die Sozialpolitik geäußert. Eine zentrale Frage lautet, ob zunehmende Einwanderung dem Verhältnis von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern zum Sozialstaat schadet. Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse am Beispiel von 17 entwickelten Demokratien zeigen, dass dem nicht so ist. Es gibt sogar Hinweise darauf, dass Einwanderung in einigen Fällen zu einer positiveren Einstellung zum Sozialstaat führt."[Autorenreferat²"In recent years, there has been increased concern about the consequences of immigration on social policy. One central question is whether rising immigration undermines the public’s belief about and attitudes toward the welfare state. Current research investigating 17 affluent democracies shows that immigration mostly has no effect on public support for the welfare state. There is even evidence that flows of immigration actually increase some welfare attitudes."[author´s abstract