http://hdl.handle.net/2104/4782 2013-05-19T13:27:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/2104/8581 The determinants of Chinese housing price inflation. Lin, Fangshi, 1988- Housing prices in major Chinese cities have been soaring since 2003. Some economists believe that this represents a dangerous speculative bubble while others argue that Chinese housing price inflation is a normal consequence of supply and demand adjustments in a rapidly-developing economy. This study attempts to explain the movement of housing prices in 35 large and medium-sized Chinese cities between 2002 and 2010. Here, we review many of the causal relationships that have been explored in previous research, but we uncover some interesting evidence on the financial side of the Chinese housing market that has received little attention in previous studies. We find, for example, a reciprocal relationship between local housing prices and the revenues of local governments. A strong housing market provides rising revenues for a local government, and rising revenues, along with personal saving, seem to feed back into the financial base of the local housing market. 2013-05-15T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2104/8436 What did you say? The effect of language distance on international service trade. Hulyk, Cristin K. Service trade is more heavily dependent on communication than commodity trade because its production and consumption occur simultaneously. "Linguistic distance," a measure of how closely the majority languages of two nations are related, is negatively correlated with the quality of communication between countries. I show that linguistic distance has a significant nonlinear effect on the level of service trade. For example, a change from communication between majority languages Russian and Danish to Russian and Czech, a decrease in linguistic distance, corresponds to a 17.1% increase in service exports. Additionally, the linguistic distance to English has a significant effect on service trade and points to the use of English as a vehicle language for trade. The data show that linguistic distance has a larger effect on service trade while physical distance has a larger effect on commodity trade. 2012-08-08T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2104/8266 Unintended consequences : how agricultural subsidies are fueling the drug trade. Johnson, Austin Phillip. The United States has historically subsidized its farmers directly and indirectly through a variety of different methods. In recent years, there has been evidence that OECD agricultural subsidies are leading farmers in certain nations to begin growing illegal plants that contain alkaloids for the production of narcotics. In this paper, I use narcotic seizure data from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency as a proxy for narcotics supply levels. Regression results strongly suggest a link between U.S. subsides and drug production, but no link between U.S. subsidies and methamphetamine or marijuana production. 2011-12-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2104/8085 Determinants of faculty salaries at elite liberal arts colleges. Konsor, Kellie J. In this paper we focus on the determinants of faculty salary levels at elite liberal arts colleges for specific years over the past decade. We address the role regional personal income per capita and endowment play in average salary determination. Other variables we consider include ranking, enrollment, tuition, discipline concentration, the professor to student ratio, the concentration of female professors among faculty and the ratio of research to instructional expenses. We find that regional personal income and endowment have a positive effect on average salaries, while ranking has a negative effect. Research has a positive effect on salaries in the later years, and tuition is not a consistent determinant of salary. Results also seem to be stable over time for most years and professor rankings. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). 2011-01-05T19:40:17Z