Scholarship & Research
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Item The effects of anti-price gouging laws in the wake of a hurricane(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2015) Tarrant, Michael Steven; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Randal R. RuckerThe southeastern coast of the United States is vulnerable to hurricanes and the destruction they cause. Previous literature has explored hurricanes' impacts on growth in coastal counties of the United States, but not the inherently linked effects of anti-price gouging (APG) laws, which prohibit firms from significantly increasing prices during a declared state of emergency. The relationship between APG laws and economic growth following a hurricane is estimated with a fixed effect model and county-level quarterly wage data for the period 1990-2012. Results suggest that hurricane-stricken counties are worse off in the presence of APG laws, with the most pronounced negative effects in the accommodations industry. The deleterious effects of APG laws, however, are short-lived; affected counties appear to rebound once the laws are no longer in effect. As the first paper to empirically examine the economic effects of APG laws, these results counter common political thinking and provide empirical support of standard economic theory regarding price ceilings.Item Does being nice have a price? : an investigation on socially responsible funds' performance(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2009) Omelyukh, Inna Vasylivna; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: James R. Brown.Are lower returns a cost of socially responsible investing? Financial theory presents opposing views on that account and empirical studies have yielded mixed results. This study evaluates the relative performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) mutual funds and tests whether the difference in financial performance of SRI funds and their benchmarks is related to the intensity of the screens and to the different types of screens employed by SRI funds. The results show that there is a curvilinear relationship between the number of exclusionary screens and fund performance, the use of environmental and alcohol screens is negatively related to fund performance, and the use of gambling and employment screens is positively related to fund performance.