Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item Finance and Productivity(2019) Sever, Can; Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Financial crises are associated with large and persistent output losses, pointing to productivity losses. A potential channel for this phenomenon is the negative impact of disruptions in financial markets on innovative activity, since innovation is the key driver of productivity and economic growth. Throughout three chapters of my dissertation, I provide evidence for this channel. Using data from advanced, emerging market and European economies, following different financial crisis episodes, I show that financial crises lead to a persistent decline, not only in the economic output, but also in innovation. The findings in this dissertation have implciations for macroeconomic policies such as monetary and fiscal policies, structrucal reforms, crisis prevention policies and policies that can shelter productive investment projects from financial frictions.Item Urbanization and Advantages of Large Cities: Three Essays on Urban Development in China(2016) Li, Zhi; Ding, Chengri; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation, consisting of three essays on the urban development in China, provides empirical evidence for three related but different topics: urban growth pattern, agglomeration effects in production (production-side benefits of cities), and agglomeration effects in consumption (consumption-side benefits of cities). The first essay examines the growth pattern of Chinese cities at prefectural level or above by applying a non-parametric analysis. The kernel regression reveals the coexistence of a divergent growth pattern for large cities and a convergent growth pattern for small cities. The analysis comparing two different kinds of population data shows that excluding migrant workers in the count of urban population would underestimate the size and growth of large cities, which implies that rural-urban migrants move to large cities disproportionately. The results suggest that policies trying to control the growth of large cities have been ineffective in the past two decades. Using plant-level data in China, the second essay finds that the mechanisms of agglomeration economies vary with industry groups, and there is strong evidence supporting that regional industrial dominance would limit localization economies and diminish the productivity of firms. However, the negative effects of regional industrial dominance seem to be mitigated by a large and diverse urban environment. The conclusion points to the productivity-enhancing effect of agglomeration, and a competitive industrial structure is crucial for the success of the on-going industrial transformation and upgrading in China. Using survey data from China, the third essay reveals a positive relationship between city size and various categories of household consumption expenditures in China. By addressing several potential econometric issues, the analysis finds strong evidence of the agglomeration effect in consumption, which points to the important role that large cities play in enhancing household consumption. Taken together, this dissertation concludes that large cities in China have been dominant during the rapid urbanization and tend to keep growing disproportionately. Large cities in China are more productive and provide higher consumption amenities than small cities. Therefore, a market-driven urbanization process would be more efficient and effective for enhancing both productivity and consumption in China.Item VIRTUAL AND COLLOCATED PROJECT TEAMS IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY IN MEDICAL DEVICE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT(2014) O'Connor, Michael; Baecher, Gregory B; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Two project management environments, virtual and collocated project teams, were researched and analyzed in this dissertation to determine the impact in productivity in medical device research and development. The relationship between virtual and collocated project teams and project management levers was also explored in this dissertation using four case studies. This case study methodology was performed based on the lack of past research to explore virtual and collocated project teams in four research and development medical device environments. The following project management levers were integrated into the research: environment (virtual and collocated project teams), leadership, meetings, team maturity (knowledge and experience/expertise), continuous process improvement, and information communication technology processes. The research contributes to medical device research and development organizations that utilize virtual and collocated project teams and suggests best practices to improve productivity. This also provides project team members potential ideas into improved productivity. Both project team environments were viewed as effectively achieving productivity. The results of the four case studies indicated no significant differences between virtual and collocated project teams productivity. Minor differences were found across the project management levers in the case studies. The following major recommendations are made for improving productivity in future virtual and collocated project team environments: medical device research and development organizations should give additional attention to more up-front planning to determine risks, resources, continued process improvement, information communication technology, and leadership needed to complete the project; leadership and project management training should be provided, they should continue to seek a balance in project team resources and the level of project team maturity (knowledge and experience/expertise); meetings need to be performed efficiently and have an agenda and information communication technology tools need to be fully utilized and integrated across medical device research and development project teams.Item Essays on the impact of conflict and regulations on the private sector in developing countries(2013) Tran, Trang Thu; Alberini, Anna; Agricultural and Resource Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)My dissertation explores the effect of ethnic conflict, or regulations meant to avoid ethnic strife, on firm employment and productivity in developing countries. The first chapter investigates the impact of the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire that began in 2000, using a census of all registered firms for the years 1998-2003. We use structural estimates of the production function and exploit spatial variations in conflict intensity to derive the cost of conflict on firms in terms of productivity loss. The results indicate that the conflict led to an average 16-23% drop in firm total factor productivity and the decline is 5-10 percentage point larger for foreign firms. These results are consistent with anecdotal evidence of attacks on and looting of foreigners and their businesses during the conflict. We also find evidence to support the hypothesis that firms responded by hiring less foreign workers. The second chapter studies affirmative action policies in Malaysia, focusing on a specific policy in the private sector. In particular, I examine the impact of a regulatory change which no longer requires foreign-owned manufacturers above a certain size to reserve 30% equity for (ethnic) Malay shareholders. I set up a theoretical model to show that the original policy results in a range of firms to stay inefficiently small. Removing this equity requirement for foreign firms leads to two effects: (i) foreign firms become less likely to be sized constrained, and (ii) their average size increases relatively to other firms. These predictions are supported by empirical evidence from difference-in-difference estimations, based on firm-level data from the Malaysia Productivity and Investment Climate Survey in 2002 and 2007. Finally, chapter three examines the relationship between labor standards and market power in imports in a cross-country context. The hypothesis is that since labor standard policies can act as a substitute for import tariffs, all else equal, bigger importers would have lower labor standards. IV estimation with geography-based instruments finds evidence consistent with theory. In general, countries with higher market shares in labor intensive imports tend to have weaker Free Association and Collective Bargaining rights. Moreover, the effect is stronger among GATT members.Item ESSAYS ON DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS(2013) Palacios Lopez, Amparo; Lopez, Ramon; Agricultural and Resource Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Chapter 1 shows the implications of credit and labor market imperfections on gender differences in agricultural labor productivity, especially highlighting how both imperfections negatively affect female productivity by discouraging off-farm income generating activities and restricting access to inputs. The paper theoretically models the relationship between gender differences in agricultural labor productivity and market imperfections and it provides empirical evidence consistent with our theoretical model by decomposing the contribution of different factors to such gender differences. We find that agricultural labor productivity is on average 44 percent lower on plots belonging to female-headed households than on those belonging to male-headed households; and that 34 percent of the agricultural labor productivity gap is explained by spillovers from labor market gender differences and 30 percent is explained by gender differences in the use of purchased inputs. Chapter 2 provides a decomposition analysis of the observed reductions in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone concentrations, in the twelve richest European countries. It quantifies the proportion of the reductions that can be attributed to fiscal policies, trade, and energy taxes. We find that increasing the share of fiscal spending in GDP and shifting the emphasis towards spending in public goods and against non-social subsidies significantly lower the concentrations of sulfur dioxide and ozone but not nitrogen dioxide. At the same time, energy taxes reduce nitrogen dioxide concentrations but have no effect on ozone and sulfur dioxide. Finally trade openness has a direct effect on sulfur dioxide but no effect on nitrogen dioxide or ozone. Our estimates account for time-varying unobserved heterogeneity. Chapter 3 is the first paper that uses the nationally representative Malawi 2009/2010 dataset. Its purpose is the initial statistical verification of the obtained data and provides a first assessment of agricultural productivity and gender in Malawi. We find that while female-managed plots are, on average, 25 percent less productive, 82 percent of this mean differential is explained by differences in inputs, assets and household characteristics, mainly due to high-value crop cultivation and household adult male labor inputs.Item BALD EAGLE (HALIAEETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS) POPULATION PRODUCTIVITY AND DENSITY DEPENDENT EFFECTS IN MICHGAN, 1961-2010(2013) Simon, Kendall Lyn; Bowerman, William W; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) population in Michigan has undergone a significant recovery following the ban of the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and its subsequent derivatives, mainly dichlorodiphenyl-dichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE). This recovery however, has not been uniform throughout the state. Michigan is a heterogeneous habitat, causing the best-fit, experienced breeding pairs to settle in high quality breeding areas first. This high quality habitat mainly occurs in the inland regions of Michigan. These areas experienced the greatest productivity until the 1990's, quickly recovering from the detrimental effects of DDT. Great Lakes breeding areas, particularly Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, are now more productive than inland breeding areas. These Great Lakes breeding pairs however, are the least efficient breeders with greater amounts of changeover between nesting pairs within one breeding area in comparison to inland pairs. A constant turnover of breeding pairs may overshadow any underlying effects causing decreased reproductive fitness in Great Lakes adults.Item Product Differentiation in International Trade(2009) Gervais, Antoine; Limao, Nuno; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is concerned with the role of product quality in explaining observed price and trade patterns. The first chapter introduces the topic, summarizes the main findings of the dissertation and contrasts them to other results in the literature. The second chapter develops a tractable general equilibrium model that includes quality differentiation among heterogeneous firms. The theory explicitly demonstrates how heterogeneity in a single exogenous parameter, productivity, can produce dispersion in product quality and price. The framework predicts that relatively productive firms will choose to produce high quality varieties. This finding accords well with the observation that the unit value of exported varieties increases with exporter's income, capital- and skill- abundance. The model is used to analyze how international trade policy and quality differentiation interact to shape patterns of production and trade flows. In particular, the model predicts a positive relationship between product quality and export status at the firm level and that trade liberalization decreases the average quality of a country's exports. The third chapter evaluates the importance of vertical product differentiation in explaining price and export status patterns observed in microdata on U.S. manufacturing plants. The main difficulty in exploring the impact of vertical product differentiation is that product quality is not directly observable. The analysis tackles the problem from two angles. First, the chapter develops a novel empirical strategy to obtain a proxy for quality, which is then used to evaluate important conditional correlations. The results show that both quality and productivity are important determinants of price and export status pattern. Second, the simulated method of moments is used to obtain structural estimates of the parameters of the model and to assess the importance of quality differentiation. The estimates suggest that quality differentiation plays an important role in explaining the variation in price, size and export status across U.S. manufacturing plants. The fourth chapter briefly concludes by summarizing the main findings and suggesting avenues for future research. Overall the analysis presented in this dissertation implies that vertical product differentiation, or quality, plays an important role in explaining dispersion in producer output price and export status.Item Employee Health: A Value Creating Organizational Resource(2009) Kiyatkin, Lori; Baum, J. Robert; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)U.S. businesses have overwhelmingly approached employee health from a cost management, rather than investment, perspective. This singular focus on costs is likely due to lack of clarity regarding the potential of employee health to be a value creating organizational resource and the underlying mechanisms by which health may be subject to organizational influence. In this dissertation, I outline the `resource potential' of employee health from an organizational perspective. First, I draw upon the resource-based view and past research on health promotion and health care cost management to outline the significant organizational performance implications of employee health as a source of value generation in organizations. In so doing, I propose a model that explains the process by which employees' health risks, health motivations, and healthy behaviors impact organizational outcomes. Next, I develop a model that explains how two distinct categories of healthy behaviors - `healthy consumption' and `physical/mental fitness' uniquely impact medical costs and organizational productivity. To test these models, I employ structural equation modeling to examine a dataset of 152 and 149 organizational level outcomes regarding models 1 and 2, respectively. I find support for my assertions that employee health is a value creating organizational resource and that health motivations are an important means by which this resource may be built. I also find that healthy consumption behaviors have a stronger relative impact on costs whereas physical/mental fitness behaviors strongly promote productivity. Based on these findings, I argue that minimalistic cost management approaches to employee health are unwise from both organizational social and financial performance perspectives. In particular, this research demonstrates the crucial importance, and potential, of employee health and its components as value creating resources from a strategic organizational management perspective. Further, this research suggests that employee healthcare may be `strategic' social performance as organizational health promotion can simultaneously address both financial and social performance interests. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.Item Productivity Dispersion, Plant Size, and Market Structure(2008-06-16) Bakhtiari, Sasan; Haltiwanger, John C; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Ample evidence from micro data suggests that productivity at establishment level is dominated by idiosyncratic factors. The productivity differences across establishments are very large and persistent even with the narrowest definition of industries. There is an attempt to identify sources of frictions that cause such productivity dispersion and negatively affect the average productivity of industries. This dissertation contemplates a non-monotonic relationship between productivity and input size and studies its importance in shaping the relationship between productivity dispersion and the producer size, a fact that is presented along with supportive empirical results. The role of market structure is then elaborated in creating the observed behavior. The US Census of Manufactures reveals significant productivity dispersion at any employment level. Moreover, this productivity dispersion falls with employment size within most manufacturing industries. This pattern is considerably strong for establishments in industries whose products are primarily locally traded. It will be shown that general approaches such as industry selection and simple statistical aggregation do not explain this pattern convincingly, while sector-specific factors such as market localization can mimic this behavior much more closely. Based on these results, a market structure model is introduced that uses demand size and market localization as constraining forces to generate a bell-shaped relationship between input size and productivity within a market and for locally traded goods. The non-monotonicity of the relationship is a clear departure from most economic models where input size of plants is monotonically increasing with their productivity in the long-run. Because of the bell-shaped relationship, the proposed model predicts significant long-run productivity dispersion at any level of input size. Also this dispersion decreases with input size, in the same way as is observed in the data. The model is calibrated and then simulated using data on Ready-Mix Concrete. First, the relationship between productivity and input size in the data is of a similar bell-shaped form. The effect of market size is also shown to be consistent with model predictions. Second, simulated results produce productivity dispersions that fall with input size with almost the same slope as observed in the data. This, in turn, suggests that the difference between simulated and actual productivity dispersions, summarizing the effect of other frictions, is almost uniform across sizes. Finally the robustness of the results is demonstrated through various tests. Throughout the discussion, a distinction is made between physical and revenue productivities and the theoretical implications of both measures are shown to be qualitatively the same.Item The Three Faces of Trade Liberalization: Unilateral, Preferential, and Multilateral(2006-05-30) KARACAOVALI, BAYBARS; Limão, Nuno; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is a growing number of studies that investigate the effect of trade liberalization on productivity and nearly all assume that trade policy is independently determined of productivity, hence it is exogenous. I show that this assumption is generally invalid both theoretically and empirically. In Chapter 1, I demonstrate that under a standard political economy model of trade protection, productivity directly influences tariffs. Moreover, this productivity-tariff relationship partly determines the extent of liberalization across sectors even in the presence of a large exogenous unilateral liberalization shock that affects all sectors. In Chapter 2, I examine total factor productivity (TFP) estimates obtained at the firm level for Colombia between 1983 and 1998 and find that more productive sectors receive more protection within this period. In estimating the effect of productivity on tariffs, I control for the endogeneity of the inverse import penetration to import demand elasticity ratio and productivity. Finally, I use a system of equations to illustrate that the positive impact of liberalization on productivity grows somewhat stronger when corrected for the endogeneity bias. In Chapter 3, which is joint with Nuno Limão, we analyze the effect of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on multilateral trade liberalization (MTL). PTAs are characterized by liberalization with respect to only a few partners and thus can potentially retard multilateral trade liberalization (MTL). Despite this important concern, there is almost no systematic evidence as to whether PTAs actually affect MTL or not. We model the effect of PTAs on MTL and show that PTAs slow down MTL unless they involve a common external tariff and allow for internal transfers. Next, we use detailed data on product-level tariffs negotiated by the European Union (EU) in the last two multilateral trade rounds to structurally estimate our model. We confirm the main prediction-the EU's PTAs have clashed with its MTL-and find that the effect is quantitatively significant. Moreover, we also confirm several auxiliary predictions of the model and provide new evidence on the political economy determinants of MTL in the EU.