
Donald L. AlexanderWestern Michigan University | WMU · Department of Economics
Donald L. Alexander
Ph.D. Economics
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21
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Publications
Publications (21)
A sizable literature related to the efficiency of the U.S. hospital sector has been produced over the past 30 years. Much of this research is based on stochastic frontier analysis. This approach is problematic for a number of reasons. For one, a functional form for a hospital’s cost function must be assumed, and a limited number of forms are tracta...
Taxing goods whose consumption has an adverse impact on the consumer’s health appears to be gaining support. But the social benefit from taxes on these goods is debatable. This paper considers what the corrective tax on such a good is and applies this theory to one good whose health effects are well established. More specifically, we produce a form...
It is usually argued that market concentration leads to higher prices. This well-known proposition has led to concern about the level of concentration in state health-insurance markets, since the largest insurer in many states has a market share greater than 50 %. Moreover, the data compiled by the American Medical Association indicates that insura...
State supported universities have been investing considerable sums in intercollegiate athletics in the hope that such investments will pay off in terms of increased enrollments, improved student quality, and economic benefits such as revenues from ticket sales and bowl and tournament appearances. Does athletic success also yield returns in the form...
This paper explores the impact of intercollegiate athletic performance on tuition rates. A number of recent studies have examined the advertising effect generated by participation in intercollegiate sports. These studies have attempted to ascertain whether athletic performance improves student quality, graduation rates, and state appropriations. On...
This article examines the determinants of the earnings of PGA Tour golfers from the period 1992-2001. Our goal is to determine whether the returns to various golf skills have changed over time. In recent years, golf analysts have claimed that driving distance has become the preeminent skill in professional golf, and thus they believe that the old a...
This article examines the effect of team nomenclature, team relocation, and new stadiums on franchise values for the four major professional sports. The results indicate that market size, team performance, and the presence of a new facility increase a team’s franchise value, as many would expect. Moreover, the authors find that the use of a regiona...
Over the past twenty years real wages have stagnated despite substantial technical progress. This runs contrary to the widespread belief that technological change increases real wages. This paper presents a theoretical model showing that technical progress could reduce wages. This hypothesis is then tested using data from the U.S. steel industry.
In this paper, we explore the determinants of recent entry into local exchange service, and the role that regulatory policies have had in aiding this policy objective. Our results suggest that the 1996 Telecommunications Act did lead to some entry, but that strategic non-price behavior by incumbents may have offset this impact to some extent. We al...
This article presents evidence that team owners in Major League Baseball (MLB) set ticket prices as profit-maximizing monopolists. However, the evidence also indicates that the cost of other forms of entertainment affects the demand for baseball tickets as economic theory would predict. The interpretation is that team owners face negatively sloped...
A number of studies have used the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to integrate product market and financial theories of the firm. We reexamine the relationship between product market structure and systematic risk at the firm and industry level. We show that theory yields no testable implications at the firm level. We show, however, that there is...
In this paper, we estimate two empirical models using a pooled, cross-section sample of international pharmaceutical firms for the period 1987 to 1989. The first model tests the relationship between R&D productivity and a vector of firm-specific characteristics. The second model tests the determinants of global market share. The empirical analysis...
This paper examines how product-market competition affects the level and composition of executive compensation. The results of our theoretical and empirical models suggest that the incentive component of an executive's compensation tends to be higher in more competitive markets.
The aggregate demand for ethical pharmaceutical drugs using country-level data for seven countries pooled across an eight-year period is estimated. The regression analysis reveals that the net price paid by consumers has a negative effect on the average number of prescriptions per capita while income has a positive effect. Moreover, the parameter e...
Recent studies argue that the spread-adjusted Taylor rule (STR), which includes a response to the credit spread, replicates monetary policy in the United State. We show (1) STR is a theoretically optimal monetary policy under heterogeneous loan interest rate contracts in both discretionay and commitment monetary policies, (2) however, the optimal r...
The exchange of price information via formal trade associations has been viewed as an attempt by competitors to fix prices. Indeed, an early manifestation of this view was revealed in the Hardwood case. This article argues that the price association formed in the hardwood lumber industry was an attempt by producers to minimize the problem of costly...
Recent theoretical research indicates that diversification may affect industry profitability for reasons (e.g., improved efficiency and increased entry) other than the exercise of marketpower by conglomerate firms. This paper examines empirically the relationship between diversification (as an element of market structure) and industry profitability...