Podvysotskiy, Yuriy
(2021)
Essays in Financial and Applied Economics.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three independent essays in financial and applied economics. Essay One analyzes the impact of common ownership concentration on corporate payouts, investments, and markups. The evaluated hypothesis is that a set of investors who own significant equity stakes in two or more firms within the same industry (common ownership) are able to decrease competition, raise markups, and increase payouts. The results confirm a statistically significant increase in corporate payouts following an increase in industry-level common ownership. I further show that the effect of common ownership concentration on payouts is larger in industries that face relatively less competition from Chinese imports, and is also larger in industries with low values of their Herfindahl indices.
Essay Two estimates the implications of divorce between individuals aged 50 and above (`gray divorce') for all components of their wealth. The results suggest that gray divorce negatively impacts net worth, especially components such as housing equity and financial assets. There is no evidence of higher decline in net worth for females as compared to males. However, divorcing females experience higher decline of their individual retirement account balances, and, are more likely to re-enter the labor force. Wealth is also shown to be a key (negative) predictor of the probability of gray divorce.
Essay Three tests the so-called `modernization hypothesis', a positive effect of income on democracy, examining the case of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after communism's collapse. I show that a highly important influence on the relation between income and democracy in some post-socialist country is its initial political disruption: time between collapse of the communist system and emergence of a new post-communist government. In particular, I verify that the positive relation between income and democracy is significantly weakened, or even reversed, for the countries that experienced prolonged periods of initial political disruption.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Podvysotskiy, Yuriy | yap7@pitt.edu | yap7 | |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
20 January 2021 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
23 November 2020 |
| Approval Date: |
20 January 2021 |
| Submission Date: |
3 December 2020 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
137 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Economics |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Competition, corporate payouts, Marital dissolution, Household wealth, Transition economies, Economic growth, Democracy |
| Date Deposited: |
20 Jan 2021 19:06 |
| Last Modified: |
20 Jan 2021 19:06 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/39900 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}