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.

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Vassar Scholarship

Convergence among the U.S. states: Absolute, conditional, or club?

Publication Date
2003-October-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Johnson, Paul A.
Takeyama, Lisa N.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

This paper attempts to ascertain which of the convergence hypotheses – absolute, conditional, or club – best describes the economic development of the U.S. states since 1950. We use regression tree analysis to identify convergence clubs among the states and...

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Vassar Scholarship

Do fringe benefits cause layoffs?

Publication Date
1990-October-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Jehle, Geoffrey A.
Marc O. Lieberman
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

It is commonly believed that firms prefer layoffs to worksharing, in part, because layoffs economize on fringe benefit costs. We find that when labor markets are characterized by optimal implicit contracts, layoffs will never occur in equilibrium, regardless of the...

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Vassar Scholarship

How budget deficits cause trade deficits: The simple analytics

Publication Date
1989-November-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Marc O. Lieberman
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

The traditional classroom presentation of international macroeconomic issues obscures the link between budget deficits, exchange rates, and the trade deficit. The article offers a simple supply and demand framework to clarify the role of budget deficits in creating trade deficits...

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Vassar Scholarship

Optimal implicit contracts and the choice between layoffs and work sharing

Publication Date
1989-October-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Marc O. Lieberman
Jehle, Geoffrey A.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

Implicit contract models of labor market equilibrium under work sharing and layoffs are constructed to examine several common explanations for the observed market bias in favor of layoffs. We first establish the optimality of work sharing in the absence of...

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