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Browsing PERC Publications by Subject "Labor"
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Item Coronavirus Economics: The Impact of Shutting Down Meatpacking Plants(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2020-10-01) Jansen, Dennis W.; Liu, Liqun; Rettenmaier, Andrew J.Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Covid-19 infections at meatpacking plants led to shutdowns across the United States. Beef became scarcer and with higher consumer prices, while ranchers received lower prices for their beef. Meanwhile, meatpacking plants that were still operational were reported to have been raking in vast profits. ​This issue of PERCspectives on Research summarizes working paper 2006, where authors Dennis Jansen, Liqun Liu, and Andrew Rettenmaier use a simple model to study the effects of meatpacking shutdowns while focusing on the decisions of meatpacking firms.Item The Effect of Open-Air Waste Burning on Infant Health: Evidence from Government Failure in Lebanon(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2021-05-14) Hoekstra, Mark; Mouganie, Pierre; Ajeeb, RubaAn estimated 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in open-air fires, which are responsible for as much as half of the global emissions of some pollutants. However, there is little evidence on the health consequences of open-air waste burning, especially for infants. In this issue of PERCspectives on Research, PERC’s Rex B. Grey Professor Mark Hoekstra, along with coauthors Pierre Mouganie and Ruba Ajeeb, estimate the effect of in-utero exposure to open-air waste burning on birth outcomes by examining the consequences of increased open-air waste burning due to the Lebanese garbage crisis of 2015.Item The Effect of Own-Gender Juries on Conviction Rates(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2018-07-11) Hoekstra, Mark; Street, BrittanyThe right to an impartial jury is the cornerstone of the U.S. justice system and is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, but are these juries truly impartial, or do they favor defendants who are similar to themselves? In PERC working paper 1803, PERC’s Rex Grey Professor Mark Hoekstra and co-author Brittany Street study whether gender matches between jurors and defendants affect criminal conviction rates.Item Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Nonprofit Sector(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2022-12-20) Meer, Jonathan; Tajali, HediehThe nonprofit sector’s ability to absorb increases in labor costs differs from the private sector in a number of ways. We analyze how nonprofits are affected by changes in the minimum wage utilizing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Internal Revenue Service, linked to state minimum wages. We examine changes in reported employment and volunteering, as well as other financial statements such as revenues and expenses. The results from both datasets show a negative impact on employment for states with large statutory minimum wage increases. We observe some evidence for a reduction in the number of nonprofit establishments, fundraising expenses, and revenues from contributionsItem Federal Liabilities: 2023 Update(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2023-03-07) Jansen, Dennis W.; Rettenmaier, Andrew J.The 2022 Financial Report of the United States Government identifies total federal liabilities of $39 trillion as of September 30, 2022. While the federal debt, interest payments and federal employees’ accrued benefits make up the bulk of total federal liabilities, current retirees’ expected Social Security and Medicare are conspicuously absent. In PERC Policy Study 2301, Dennis Jansen and Andrew Rettenmaier argue for adding these portions of the elderly entitlement programs’ obligations – net benefits payable to current retirees – to the official liabilities of the federal government. Social Security and Medicare benefits payable to current retirees produce additional liabilities of $32.2 trillion, an amount that exceeds the debt held by the public and that is 83% of the size of the official liability measure. The liability measure presented here – based on past actions combined with the forward-looking fiscal gap and unfunded obligation measures - provide policymakers with the ability to distinguish between federal government commitments that have already been made and those that are contingent on continuing programs in their current forms.Item The Impact of College Diversity on Behavior Toward Minorities(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2017-10-01) Hoekstra, Mark; Carrell, Scott E.; West, James E.For decades, colleges and universities have focused on increasing racial diversity on college campuses through targeted policy efforts. Authors Hoekstra, Carrell and West investigate whether diversity causes members of the majority to change their subsequent behavior toward minorities by studying squadrons of freshmen at the United States Air Force Academy.Item Portfolio Choice in the Model of Expected Utility With a Safety-First Component(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2022-05-10) Jansen, Dennis W.; Liu, LiqunWhereas the majority of economists interpret risk as dispersion or variation in an outcome variable, many everyday decision makers tend to associate risk with the outcome failing to meet a certain “safety� level. Here, the spring 2022 issue of PERCspectives on Research summarizes the model used and how it takes into account a decision maker’s concern about the final wealth distribution per se is captured by the expected utility of the final wealth, and his concern about meeting a safety wealth level is captured by the probability of final wealth exceeding the safety level. The model finds that a positive expected excess return remains sufficient for investing a positive amount in the risky asset except in the special situation where the safety wealth level coincides with the wealth obtained when the entire initial wealth is invested in the riskless asset.Item Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Intertia in the Residential Electricity Market(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2016-01-01) Hortacsu, Ali; Madanizadeh, Seyed Ali; Puller, Steven L.; Meer, Jonathan; Lim, JaegeumItem Public Pension Reforms and Fiscal Foresight: Narrative Evidence and Aggregate Implications(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2021-02-15) Zubairy, Sarah; Bi, HuixiMany OECD countries have significantly increased spending on public pensions over the last half-century. As more retirees begin to draw benefits, policymakers have placed more focus on retrenchment reforms in order to keep the pension systems solvent. In this summary article of working paper 2008, Sarah Zubairy, along with coauthor Huixin Bi, construct a new data set that documents changes in pension policy spending since 1967, then studies the effects of long-term structural reforms on retirement decisions and pension spending.Item Risk and Risk Aversion Effects in Contests with Contingent Payments(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2018-01-18) Liu, Liqun; Meyer, Jack; Rettenmaier, Andrew J.; Saving, Thomas R.Firms seeking new products, investors backing competitors, and government agencies in search of design solutions are all examples of different models of contest design found in the marketplace. In PERC’s working paper 1707, Risk and Risk Aversion Effects in Contests with Contingent Payments, authors Liqun Liu, Jack Meyer, Andrew J. Rettenmaier, and Thomas R. Saving analyze contests with contingent payment of costs where only the winner pays for the resources used in the contest.Item Schools, Neighborhoods, and the Long-Run Effect of Crime-Prone Peers(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2019-10-10) Hoekstra, Mark; Billings, Stephen B.Although it is well known that childhood peers affect future outcomes, little is known about the effects of different neighborhood factors. In working paper 1909, PERC’s Rex Grey Professor Mark Hoekstra and coauthor Stephen B. Billings examine the importance of school versus neighborhood peers on adult crime. This paper also documents how school and neighborhood peers affect cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes during adolescence.Item Social Security Wealth and Federal Liabilities(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2021-02-15) Rettenmaier, Andrew J.In the U.S., wealth inequality has risen in recent years. However, past estimates of wealth inequality tend to ignore Social Security benefits – even though these accrued benefits are almost 40% of the size of conventional measures of household wealth. In this summary article on working paper 2011, authored by Andrew J. Rettenmaier, accrued Social Security benefits are imputed to households in the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances to determine the degree to which they reduce wealth inequality.Item Tax Prices and Charitable Giving: Projected Changes in Donations Under the 2017 TCJA(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2020-02-25) Meer, Jonathan; Priday, Benjamin A.The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 made significant changes to the rate structure of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States, including the near-doubling of the standard deduction. Many taxpayers who normally itemize their tax returns and deduct the amount given to charitable institutions are expected to switch to using the standard deduction. In working paper 1917, PERC’s G.R. Jordan Professor Jonathan Meer, along with co-author Benjamin Priday, investigate the Act’s effects on charitable giving using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.Item Testing Risk Dominance and Payoff Dominance in Repeated Global Stag Hunt Games(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2015-01-01) Van Huyck, John; Viriyavipart, AjalavatThis article was published as part of the PERCspectives on Research Newsletter, Winter 2015 Edition.Item What Happened to Rosie?(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2015-02-01) Carr|, Jillian Beaugez|Rettenmaier, Andrew J.Identifying the relationship between wartime work and women’s lifetime outcomes is difficult due to scant work histories from the 1940s. This study identifies “Rosie the Riveters� using data from the 1973 Current Population Survey matched to Social Security earnings records. Relative to women who did not work during or immediately after the war, Rosies had greater labor force attachment later in life, but had similar earnings. Their husbands’ earnings were also higher. The Rosies’ outcomes were less distinguishable from the women who worked during and/or after the war, though they were more likely to be married as of 1973.Item What Happened to Rosie?(Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, 2015-01-01) Rettenmaier, Andrew J.; Carr, Jillian B.