James McDonald

Nov 14, 2024 | mdpi.com | Irina M. Harris |Thomas Crowther |James McDonald |James Mcdonald |Bermudez Bermejo

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Oct 26, 2024 | scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Brad Larsen |James McDonald |James Mcdonald |Brigham Young

Keywordsgeneralized qualitative response, GQR, EGB2, exponential generalized betaCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractQualitative response (QR) models are used by economists, biometricians, epidemiologists, statisticians, and others to estimate the effect of certain variables on a binary (“yes” or “no”) response. For example, economists use QR models to answer the question, “What factors influence a woman’s decision to work?

Oct 26, 2024 | scholarsarchive.byu.edu | David J. Mauler |James McDonald |James Mcdonald |Brigham Young

KeywordsInverse Hyperbolic Sine distribution, IHS, price formulaCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractMy BYU ORCA grant provided valuable funding which allowed me to spend significant time on an interesting research question Dr. McDonald and I had considered late last year. We wanted to investigate whether the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine (IHS) distribution would allow for a more accurate option-pricing formula, extending the Black-Scholes formula which assumes a lognormal distribution.

Oct 26, 2024 | scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Randall Lewis |James McDonald |James Mcdonald |Brigham Young

Keywordscensored regression, flexible distributions, OLSCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractIn the field of economics, the estimation of causal relationships is fundamental. The economist formulates a model or mechanism through which human behavior affects outcomes. Then, by using real-world data, economists can estimate these relationships. For example, one simple relationship that has been a subject of study is the causal effect of education on income.

Oct 26, 2024 | scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Jeff Sorensen |James McDonald |James Mcdonald |Brigham Young

Keywordsacademic salary compression, labor, high demand, low supply, moving costsCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractSalary compression is common in many fields with high demand for or low supply of a specific type of labor. In order to attract new recruits in such fields, employers sometimes must offer them wages higher than those of more senior employees. Unlike in most labor markets, there is evidence that returns to seniority for college professors are negative.