Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Micro-Foundations Of Intertemporal Price Discrimination, Winston T. H. Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the optimality of intertemporal price discrimination for a durable-good monopoly in a model where infinitely-lived households face an intertemporal budget constraint, and consume both durable goods and non-durable goods. We prove that the optimal price of the durable good is not constant, and may decrease or increase over time. Some households may choose to purchase the durable good at a later date, and pay lower or higher prices, since the gain in discounted utility of consuming more of the non-durable good more than compensates for the loss in utility from delaying the consumption of the durable good.

The Creation And Economic Regulation Of Housing Markets: A Comparison Of The Experiences Of Singapore And Korea, Sock-Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Privatization, creation of markets and economic regulation are terms that few would immediately associate with the housing sector. Mainstream housing markets in most of the free market economies of the developed world are regarded as competitive markets, with little need for economic regulation of the market. Regulations that attempt to control behavior directly are generally limited to policies relating to rent control, the provision of rental housing or rental allowances for lower income groups, as well as land use regulations and building controls.

The housing sectors of Singapore and Korea are highly unusual in the extent of government involvement and …

Future Job Prospects In Singapore, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

What forces have shaped our nation’s employment and remuneration record so far? Where is Singapore’s unemployment rate headed? What should policy-makers do about it? These are the questions tackled in this paper.

Education, Technological Progress And Economic Growth, Winston T. H. Koh, Hing-Man Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

An important role of education – and the resultant accumulation of human capital – for a less-developed economy is to facilitate technology diffusion in order for it to catch up with developed economies. This paper presents a model linking education, the accumulation of physical capital and technological progress. In the model, investment in education and the accumulation of physical capital are complementary, and intertwine with the technology progress through related effects on technology diffusion and the expansion of the technology frontier. The allocation of effort to education, the optimal savings rate and the technology gap are endogenously determined in the …

Comment: A Selective Overview Of Nonparametric Methods In Financial Econometrics, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

These comments concentrate on two issues arising from Fan’s overview. The first concerns the importance of finite sample estimation bias relative to the specification and discretization biases that are emphasized in Fan’s discussion. Past research and simulations given here both reveal that finite sample effects can be more important than the other two effects when judged from either statistical or economic viewpoints. Second, we draw attention to a very different nonparametric technique that is based on computing an empirical version of the quadratic variation process. This technique is not mentioned by Fan but has many advantages and has accordingly attracted …

An Analytical Framework Of Science Parks And Technology Districts With An Application To Singapore, Francis Koh, Winston T. H. Koh, Ted Feichin Tschang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper analyzes the question: What does it take for science parks and technology districts to evolve and grow? We propose an analytical framework to examine the gestation, evolution, and sustainability of science parks and related but broader regional phenomena such as technology districts. The framework comprises three aspects of a science park's development: growth mechanisms, level of technological capabilities, and nature of its integration with national or global markets. The main growth mechanisms we identify are government-led infrastructure provision, agglomeration effects, and continual self-renewal through the creation of new businesses. We apply this framework to analyze Singapore's science park …

Bank Lending And Real Estate In Asia: Market Optimism And Asset Bubbles, Winston T. H. Koh, Roberto S. Mariano, Andrey Pavlov, Sock-Yong Phang, Augustine H. H. Tan, Susan M. Wachter

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the Asian real estate price run-up and collapse in the 1990s. We identify financial intermediaries’ underpricing of the put option imbedded in non-recourse mortgage loans as a potential cause for the observed price behavior. This underpricing is due to behavioral causes (lender optimism and disaster myopia) and/or rational response of lenders to market incentives (agency conflicts, deposit insurance, or limited liability of bank shareholders). The empirical evidence suggests that underpricing occurred in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Consequently, these countries experienced a more severe market crash than Hong Kong and Singapore, where underpricing was kept under control by …

Effects Of Electronic Trading On The Hang Seng Index Futures Market, Joseph K. W. Fung, Donald Lien, Yiuman Tse, Yiu Kuen Tse

Research Collection School Of Economics

This investigation of the switch from open-outcry trading to electronic trading on the Hang Seng Index (HSI) futures contract reveals that the bid–ask spread narrows and the futures price plays more of a role in information transmission. Factors, such as anonymity in trading and fast order execution in electronic trading, attract informed traders to the futures market, enhancing the information flow. Our results provide support for the worldwide trend of transforming open-outcry markets into electronic trading platforms

Simultaneous Equations In Ordered Discrete Responses With Regressor-Dependent Thresholds, Myoung-Jae Lee, A. Kimhi

Research Collection School Of Economics

The parameters of ordered discrete response (ODR) models are identified only up to a positive scale. In this paper, we examine the identification issue for simultaneous equations with ODR, where the well-known identification problem in simultaneous equations of recovering structural-form parameters from reduced-form parameters is compounded with the ODR identification problem. We allow the thresholds in ODR to be regressor dependent as well as constant; the former is particularly challenging because threshold parameters get mixed with regression parameters, adding one more dimension to the identification problem. We also explore a cross-equation restriction on threshold differences, under which the structural form …

The Structuralist Perspective On Real Exchange Rate, Share Price Level And Employment Path: What Role Is Left For Money?, Edmund S. Phelps, Hian Teck Hoon, Gylfi Zoega

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Ham-Tmc Library Strategic Plan 2005-2010, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Strategic Plans

No abstract provided.

Exam Master Online, Vol.3 (1) January - February 2005, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

The Insider (2003-2008)

No abstract provided.

Annual Report 2004-2005, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the Annual Report for the library from 2004-2005.

The Rise And Fall Of Law And Economics: An Essay For Judge Guido Calabresi, Ugo Mattei

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach To Compare And Contrast The Websites Of China-Based And U.S-Based Hotels, Rob Law, Kathy Liang

Hospitality Review

The improvement in living standards and the development of telecommunications have led to a large increase in the number of Internet users in China. It has been reported by China National Network Information Center that the number of Internet users in China has reached 33.7 million in 2001, ranting the country third in the world. This figure also shows that more and more Chinese residents have accepted the Internet and use it to obtain information and compete their travel planning. Milne and Ateljevic stated that the integration of computing and telecommunications would create a global information network based mostly on …

South Beach Wine And Food Festival - Why Participate?, Henrik Lilleheim, Reidar J. Mykletum, William J. Quain, Christer Engstom

Hospitality Review

This paper studies why restaurants, wineries, and other exhibiters participate in Wine & Food festivals. We hypothesized [hat the purpose was to acquire new customers thru promotional involvement in the festival. A secondary outcome was to ascertain if there were differences in motivation between the three groups. A survey was conducted of participating companies in one of the largest Food & Wine festivals. We found differences in what motivated winery participants from restaurants or other exhibitors. A discussion of these differences and how festival organizers may aid participants in achieving their goals is presented.

Psychometric Characteristics Of The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale For Children In Adolescent Samples, Nicole Carlson

Honors Program Theses

Most children and adolescents, on any given day, experience some levels of anxiety. They worry about school, about friendships, and about their physical appearance. For most children and adolescents, these worries are considered a normal part of growing older. ln some cases, these worries take control over the child's life and seriously affect the normal developmental process. When the symptoms of anxiety become excessive and debilitating, a person may be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. ln the child and adolescent literature, the three primary internalizing disorders are anxiety disorders, somatization disorders, and depressive disorders. This paper focuses on the anxiety …

The Moxee City (Washington) Mammoth: Morphostratigraphic, Taphonomic, And Taxonomic Considerations, Karl Lillquist, Steve Lundblad, Bax R. Barton

Geography Faculty Scholarship

A nearly complete, but highly fractured, proboscidean tusk was unearthed during parking lot construction near Moxee City in central Washington in May 2001. Schreger angle analysis revealed that the tusk was from a mammoth. AMS radiocarbon dating of the tusk established that the mammoth died 14,570 14C yr BP. The age, combined with the biogeography of proboscidean finds in the Pacific Northwest, suggests the tusk is from a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). The condition of the tusk and its association with basalt and crystalline erratics suggest that a locally derived tusk was swept up in the advancing flood and transported …

香港老年保障制度改革模式, Xuemei Wang

Lingnan Theses

1971年，香港已經建立了綜合援助計劃，以幫助貧困長者，並在2000年12月開始執行強積金計劃。從目前的情況來看，香港已經建立多支柱的老年保障體系，SSA和CSSA為長者提供基本生活保障，MPF制度為正規部門的就業人員提供年金保障，ORSO制度為正規部門就業人員提供額外保險。但此體系還相當的不完善，並不能給長者提供足夠的、可承受和可持續的養老金。

因此，面對日益嚴重的人口老齡化和老年貧困問題，香港老年保障制度也面臨極大的資金壓力，並處於老年保障支出越來越多，老年貧困問題制度越來越嚴重的尷尬局面。本次研究針對這些突出問題，結合國際老年保障制度改革的經驗，並根據香港實際情況，提出適合香港本身的老年保障制度模式，即提高MPF繳費率，擴大繳費基數，改革個人賬戶積累發放辦法，並將SSA由全民平均津貼制改為收入調查津貼制。

本文運用世界銀行開發的PROST軟件，從精算的角度進行具體成本分析。通過對未來70年的成本預測，以及與現制度的成本比較，以判斷此改革模式是否具有長期財務可持續性和可行性。通過此次研究，希望能為香港的老年保障制度提供一個雙嬴的方案，既可提供長期的老年保障資金支持，又可促進經濟持續發展。

Japan : Regime Change In The "Lost Decade", Shuk On, Fiona Tang

Lingnan Theses

The shift in both the political and economic situations of Japan in the post- 1993s caught the attention of observers because the abrupt changes were unparalleled in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Politically, a single conservative party had dominated Japan’s electoral and government spheres in a way unmatched in any other industrialized democracy two-to-one majorities over the next largest party; complete control of all cabinet posts; and a relatively large influence of government over the economy. Economically too, Japan’s rapid growth had also been without parallel and had put it at the head of the countries …

Parent-Teacher Collaboration For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role Of Teacher Training, Amber Hays '05

Honors Projects

Over twenty years of research has demonstrated that collaborative relationships between parents and teachers are invaluable in enhancing the educational success of all students and are especially meaningful when students have ASD (e.g., Ruble & Dalrymple, 2002). However, collaborative relationships are often difficult to develop because many educators remain uninformed about ASD (Helps, Newsom-Davis, & Callias, 1999) and untrained in working with parents (Lazar & Slostad, 1999). The present study evaluated the ability of an intervention to (a) encourage more positive attitudes toward parent-teacher collaboration, (b) increase general knowledge about ASD, and (c) boost comfort, competence, and confidence levels with …

Ethanol Effects On Reward Value Judgment Following Infusions Into The Amygdala: Implications For Emotional Processing, Stephanie M. Brewer '05

Honors Projects

Alcohol, when delivered systemically, leads to impaired performance on a variety of tasks, including emotionally-laden or reward value tasks. It is also known that lesions to the amygdala produce emotional or reward value deficits. However, it is unknown whether the emotional deficits observed after alcohol ingestion are due to alcohol's direct effect on the amygdala. The present study examined the effects of alcohol when infused directly into the amygdala on emotional memory and judgment. Eight male Long-Evans rats were trained on a behavioral task to associate one sweetness level with a reward and another sweetness level with no reward. Once …

Concepts Of Addiction: Assessing The Beliefs Of Addiction In University And Treatment Center Populations, Krystle M. Balhan '05

Honors Projects

This study sought to identify differences in the beliefs about addiction between a sample of university students (N=81) and a sample of clients diagnosed with substance abuse or dependence from a drug/alcohol treatment center (N=14). It was hypothesized that treatment center clients would present beliefs that correspond to the disease concept of addiction (Jellinek 1960), while members of the university sample would express more personal or environmental attitudes towards addiction. To assess these potential differences, a survey questionnaire based on the Addiction Belief Inventory (ABI) was administered to both samples (Luke, Ribisl, Walton, and Davidson, 2002). Results of t-tests showed …

An Investigation Of The Influence Of Hope On The Relationship Between Racial Discrimination And Depressive Symptoms Among African American College Students, Jennifer L. Vanderzee '05

Honors Projects

The relationship between perceived racial discrimination, hope, and depressive symptoms among African American college students was investigated. The first supported hypotheses were that racial discrimination, hope, and hope's two components, agency and pathways, would each significantly affect depressive symptoms. Hope and pathways, but not agency, were each found to moderate the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms and the moderation models were found to explain as much or more variance the models examining direct effects. Also, the interaction of pathways and racial discrimination explained more variance than any of the other models. These results suggest that hope and pathways …

Review Of Critical Pedagogies And Language Learning, Edited By Bonny Norton And Kelleen Toohey., Eva Núñez-Méndez

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Review of Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning, edited by Bonny Norton and Kelleen Toohey (2003),

Analogical Modeling And Morphological Change: The Case Of The Adjectival Negative Prefix In English, Don William Chapman, Royal Skousen

Faculty Publications

This article examines the usefulness of Skousen’s Analogical Modeling (AM) for explaining morphological change. In contrast to previous accounts of analogy, AM constitutes a general unified model of language that accounts for both sporadic and systematic changes. AM also provides explicit constraints on analogy that allow explanation of how morphological changes begin, which forms most likely serve as patterns for analogy, and which forms are most likely to change.

AM is then tested on the case of the adjectival negative prefix in English (in-, un-, dis-, etc.), using the Middle and Early Modern English portions of the Helsinki corpus as …

Pricing In The New Economy: Lessons From The Period Of The E-Commerce Bubble, Phillip J. Bryson

Faculty Publications

The New Economy increased U.S. productivity sharply after 1995. The latest economics literature on the topic, which generally forecasts a secure future for the information economy, is reviewed. The down side of the New Economy were the strategies, especially the pricing strategies of NASDAQ and virtual firms. The critique of Michael Porter regarding the non-strategic price cutting common to those firms is reviewed. Traditional models by Sweezy and Baumol, which focus on pricing in imperfectly competitive industries, are applied to provide a cogent theory as to why those firms made mistakes that were once viewed as common for neophyte industries.

Maternal Education And Child Nutritional Status In Bolivia: Finding The Links, Michelle Bellessa Frost, Renata Forste, David W. Haas

Faculty Publications

This study models various pathways linking maternal education and child nutritional status in Bolivia, using a national sample of children. Pathways examined include socioeconomic status, health knowledge, modern attitudes towards health care, female autonomy, and reproductive behavior. The data come from the 1998 Bolivia Demographic and Health Survey. Logistic regression results suggest that socioeconomic factors are the most important pathways linking maternal education and child nutritional status, and that modern attitudes about health care also explain the impact of education. Health care knowledge accounts for less of the effect of maternal education on child nutritional status, with autonomy being the …

The Integration Of Spiritual And Religious Issues In Racial-Cultural Psychology And Counseling., Timothy B. Smith, P Scott Richards

Faculty Publications

A new movement has begun. Spirituality and religion are being integrated into racial-cultural psychology and counseling. This chapter will review the literature that is the basis of that movement. We first describe the historical forces alluded to by Trimble (2000) that until only recently have minimized the relevance of religion and spirituality to psychological research and practice. We then summarize the potential benefits and concerns about incorporating spiritual and religious perspectives into research and practice that have been suggested in publications of the past 30 years. To demonstrate that religion and spirituality are central to racial-cultural psychology and counseling, literature …

Shared Experience Building Around The Family Crucible Of Cancer, W. David Robinson, Jason S. Carroll, Wendy L. Watson

Faculty Publications

This study was designed to gain a greater understanding of the effects cancer has on families while simultaneously developing family therapy interventions that are helpful for families experiencing the crucible of cancer. On the basis of an action research paradigm, the authors designed an intensive case-analysis protocol involving reflective interviewing to learn about the personal perspectives of family members who participate in therapeutic treatment for cancer. An integration of reflective insight by the families, their therapist, and the research team ultimately revealed that cancer families face an ongoing struggle (a) between feelings of isolation and connectedness, (b) to make meaning …