Vassar College Digital Library

Vassar Scholarship

Vassar Scholarship, the institutional repository formerly known as Digital Window, reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community.  It provides access to a variety of collections, including senior theses and projects across a wide range of disciplines.

A classroom experiment on exchange rate determination with purchasing power parity

Publication Date
2007-February-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

We develop a classroom experiment on exchange rate determination appropriate for undergraduate courses in macroeconomics and international economics. Students represent citizens from different countries and need to obtain currency to purchase goods. By participating in a sealed bid auction to...

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A general-equilibrium analysis of public policy for pharmaceutical prices

Publication Date
2005-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

Retail sales of prescription drugs totaled $154.5 billion in 2001. The National Institute for Health Care Management estimates annual sales will exceed $400 billion by the year 2010. This paper analyzes the welfare and distributional effects of two policy families...

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Cosmopolitans and locals among rural emergency service volunteers

Publication Date
1994-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

In rural regions, trained volunteer firefighters and medics provide emergency services, often with considerable personal risk and without financial reward. However, these Volunteers exhibit two different latent orientations: firefighters are more localistic in their outlook than medical volunteers. These latent...

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Intergenerational strategic behavior and crowding out in a general equilibrium model

Publication Date
2005-October-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

The return of large government budget deficits should encourage us to resume analysis of their effects. Two topics deserving further attention are the importance of correctly modeling the form of intergenerational relationships and clarification of the extent to which deficits...

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Ricardian equivalence survives strategic behavior

Publication Date
2004-October-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

Robert Barro (1974) showed government debt has no real effects when generations are linked by altruistically motivated intergenerational transfers, a result now known widely as the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem.
An important condition for debt neutrality is believed to be the...

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The sexual division of leadership in volunteer emergency medical squads

Publication Date
1992-August-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This article reports on theoretical and empirical research that explored the hypothesis that there is a sexual division of leadership in volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) squads. This hypothesis was tested against survey data obtained from 216 current members of...

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Unproductive expenditure in manufacturing

Publication Date
1990-August-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

A behavioral model is developed to explain the magnitude of surplus and the division of surplus into unproductive and profit for oligopoly firms in the manufacturing sector of advanced capitalist economies. Particular attention is focused upon the determinants of interfirm...

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Using NAICS to identify national industry cluster templates for applied regional analysis

Publication Date
2006-December-16
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

Whereas FESER and BERGMAN, 2000, developed the concept of national-level cluster templates and introduced a systematic methodology to identify such clusters, their technique and results were based on the now-outdated Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system for categorizing industries. We update...

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Volunteer emergency squads and their communities: A demographic comparison

Publication Date
1992-December-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This research compares the personal, household, and professional characteristics volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) providers in Ulster County, NY with those of the general population of this rural upstate county, using a survey instrument implemented by the author in conjunction...

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Volunteers and their communities: A comparative analysis of volunteer firefighters

Publication Date
1992-August-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This article explores the multifaceted relationship between volunteer fire companies and their communities by examining a broad range of socioeconomic characteristics of volunteer fire fighters and general residents in rural New York State. The two data sets are generated by...

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Work without wages: The motivation for volunteer labor

Publication Date
1991-December-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This is a theoretical and empirical exploration into the motivation of volunteer firefighters. After a brief discussion of methodology, the activities in which these volunteers engage are described and a theoretical model of volunteer motivation is presented. The central hypothesis...

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