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

Does Speculation Make Commodity Spot Markets More Volatile?

Publication Date
2022-May-02
Authors
Cao, Yixiao Carl
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Senior Capstone Project
Access Level
Open
Abstract

This paper examines how increased speculator participation in the commodity
futures market affects spot price volatility. Consistent with results from the
majority of existing literature on this subject, I find no evidence that speculators
destabilize the commodity spot market. More...

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Vassar Scholarship

Private school choice and the returns to private schooling

Publication Date
1996-June-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Smith, John Z., Jr.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

This paper analyzes the magnitude of earnings differentials and differences in the rates of return to education for individuals who attended private and public high schools in the U.S. from 1976 to 1983, controlling for self-selection into school sector, as...

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Vassar Scholarship

Share-price reaction to supervisory goodwill litigation: The Cal Fed case

Publication Date
2000-February-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Smith, John Z., Jr.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

More than 100 savings and loans are currently involved in supervisory goodwill litigation against the federal government, with total claims approach fifty billion dollars. These claims arise from a provision in the 1989 Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act...

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Vassar Scholarship

The determinants of private high school attendance

Publication Date
1996-May-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Smith, John Z., Jr.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

This paper develops a model of private school choice that incorporates measures of the availability and costs of private schooling, as well as the quality of existing public schools, in the local market for secondary education. Using data from the...

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Vassar Scholarship

The determinants of private school attendance

Publication Date
1996-May-01
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Smith, John Z., Jr.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

This paper develops a model of private school choice that incorporates measures of the availability and costs of private schooling, as well as the quality of existing public schools, in the local market for secondary education. Using data from the...

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Vassar Scholarship

Wealth effects of supervisory goodwill litigation: A portfolio approach

Publication Date
2000-March-18
Document Type
working paper
Authors
Smith, John Z., Jr.
Beauregard, Joshua M.
Department or Program
Economics Department
Document Type
Working Paper
Abstract

Using a unique set of publicly-traded litigation certificates, we measure the wealth effects of (largely) unanticipated damage awards in the ongoing supervisory goodwill litigation between thrifts and the federal government. Estimating abnormal returns for portfolios of litigation certificates and retained...

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