Digital Commons Network^™

Agriculture In Sub-Saharan Africa, Troy M. Null

Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal

According to the World Food Programme, with the exception of Haiti, all of the world’s countries that experienced a malnourishment rate of 35% of the population or higher last year are located in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the nearly one billion hungry people in the world, one quarter of them are of them are Africans. Why is it that they are not better-able to feed themselves (or others, for that matter) with their vast amounts of undeveloped land? The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the historical and developing influences of globalization and gender on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, and …

Interest Rate Policy In China: The Impact Of Suppressed Deposit Rates On Household Income From 2000-2007, Zhuliang James Zhang

Undergraduate Economic Review

An often-overlooked impact of China’s policy of maintaining low interest has been the suppression of household interest income, which has increased the propensity of households to save while decreasing their consumption rates. This paper posits that from 2000 to 2007, deposit rates in China were suppressed annually by around 720 basis points, imposing an implicit tax on annual per-capita income of 12.8% on average. Raising deposit rates will increase household income and boost consumption in the medium-term if the Chinese government is able to initiate policy shifts that distribute the gains of economic growth more equitably to households. Research advised …

The Historical Background Of The Communist Manifesto, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] The Manifesto of the Communist Party, published 150 years ago in London in February 1848, is one of the most influential and widely-read documents of the past two centuries. The historian A. J. P. Taylor (1967, p. 7) has called it a "holy book," and contends that because of it, "everyone thinks differently about politics and society." And yet, despite its enormous influence in the 20th century, the Manifesto is very much a period piece, a document of what was called the "hungry" 1840s. It is hard to imagine it being written in any other decade of the 19th …

The Poor Law, Migration, And Economic Growth, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

The loss to the English economy caused by decreased migration resulting from relief payments to agricultural laborers is estimated. I conclude that, at worst, the Poor Law had a small negative impact on national product. If poor relief and wages were substitutes, the Poor Law may have had a positive impact on capital formation and economic growth.

New Estimates Of British Unemployment, 1870-1913, George R. Boyer, Timothy J. Hatton

George R. Boyer

We present new estimates of the British industrial unemployment rate for 1870- 1913, which improve on the Board of Trade's prior estimates. We use similar sources, but our series includes additional industrial sectors, allows for short-time working, and aggregates the various sectors using appropriate labor-force weights from the census. The resulting index suggests a rate of industrial unemployment that was generally higher, but less volatile, than the board's index. We then adjust our series to an economywide basis, and construct a consistent time series of overall unemployment for 1870-1999.

The Massachusetts Environmental Industry: Facing The Challenges Of Maturity, Betty J. Diener, David Terkla, Erick Cooke

David G. Terkla

For most of the past 20 years, the environmental industry has been a very significant one, both in Massachusetts and across the country. Some have placed it alongside the electronics, computer hardware, software, biotechnology, fiber optics, and composite materials industries as part of the high-technology sector that has diversified and strengthened the state’s economy. Nationally, environmental industry employment exceeded that of several major manufacturing industries, including chemicals, paper, and aerospace. In the late 1990s, however, the momentum of the environmental movement began to wane. A decline in both employment and sales suggests that many of the most pressing environmental concerns …

How Can Open Source And Closed Source Software Business Structures Mutually Exist, Yugank Goyal, Padmanabha Ramanujam

Yugank Goyal

The phenomenon of producing Open Source Software based on unconstrained access to source code and the swift growth of the open source business structure of producing software fuelled by Linux Operating System and Apache Web Server have raised important questions, which are of immense scholastic interest. Accordingly many scholars in the last few years have endeavoured to clarify as to why thousands of top-quality programmers contribute freely to an open source product which is a public good. However, there has hardly been any attempt to explain how open source and closed source business structure of producing software can coexist. This …

Analysis Of Biomass/Coal Co-Gasification For Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (Igcc) Systems With Carbon Capture, Henry A. Long Iii

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Technology (IGCC) has become more common in clean coal power operations with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Great efforts have been spent on investigating ways to improve the efficiency, reduce costs, and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study focuses on investigating two approaches to achieve these goals. First, replace the subcritical Rankine steam cycle with a supercritical steam cycle. Second, add different amounts of biomass as feedstock to reduce emissions. Finally, implement several types of CCS, including sweet- and sour-shift pre-combustion and post-combustion.

Using the software, Thermoflow®, this study shows that utilizing …

Tripartism In Ireland, Jon Foster

Jon Foster

Over the past few years, the term “PIIGS” has become synonymous with economic concerns and fears of collapse. The acronym, which currently refers to the European countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain: was originally just ‘PIGS’ , used to group the similar economies of Southern Europe when considering them for acceptance into the European Monetary Union. Nevertheless, as a result of the global financial crisis, this term soon came to identify economically weak and overly indebted nations. However, unlike Italy, Greece, and Portugal, who had before the crisis demonstrated relatively slow growth, modest unemployment, and a propensity to …

A Health Care Autopsy, Marc Gans

Marc Gans

This paper analyzes each of the factors responsible for the rapid rise in health care spending in this country. This includes an in-depth analysis of prescription drug expenditures, which has been the fastest growing component of health care costs. Lastly, this paper will address whether there is anything particularly unique about health care spending in California.

The Impact Of Surface Coal Mining On Residential Property Values: A Hedonic Price Analysis, Austin M. Williams

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The use of certain surface mining techniques is currently a heavily-debated environmental issue and one where consideration of non-market values is likely to lead to the creation of better public policy. This study uses the hedonic pricing method to investigate the impact that surface coal mines have on residential property values. The results of this statistical analysis show that as the number of surface mines and their average production increases, the median value of housing units in a county significantly decreases. In particular, for the three model specifications explored, it is estimated that the addition of a surface mine to …

The Economics Of Partial Artemia Replacement Using Two Commercially Available Feeds In The Diets Of Litopenaeus Vannamei From Z3/M1 – Pl10, Monique A. Giguere

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to identify commercially available feeds that could serve as suitable replacements for newly hatched Artemia in the diets of L. vannamei from Z3/M1 to PL10 without significantly affecting survival, final length and weight, and quality of the larvae and 2) to identify an ideal substitution rate between live Artemia and a replacement feed that maximizes feed and labor costs savings, survival, and PL quality. In Experiment 1, two commercially available Artemia replacement feeds, Zeigler EZ Artemia and Bernaqua Vitellus, were administered according to manufacturer’s guidelines in order to identify which feed served …

The Historical Industrial Development, Regional Economic Analysis, And Household Livelihood Strategies Of A Rural Pennsylvania Community: A Case Study, Amanda. L. Krugh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation research focuses on the case study area of Mount Union, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. This three part dissertation research project includes analysis of the historical industrial development, current economy, and household livelihood strategies of this rural community. The regulation approach is utilized in this paper to analyze the historic economic development associated with manufacturing, specifically brick manufacturing, in the case study area. Quantitative techniques are used to indentify the economic structure of a region and used to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Huntingdon County economy. Qualitative methods are utlized to examine what economic and social adjustments and …

Rethinking A Carbon Tax In An Era Of Budget Deficits, Chad Covert

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Plus Factors And Agreement In Antitrust Law, William E. Kovacic, Robert C. Marshall, Leslie M. Marx, Halbert L. White

Michigan Law Review

Plus factors are economic actions and outcomes, above and beyond parallel conduct by oligopolistic firms, that are largely inconsistent with unilateral conduct but largely consistent with explicitly coordinated action. Possible plus factors are typically enumerated without any attempt to distinguish them in terms of a meaningful economic categorization or in terms of their probative strength for inferring collusion. In this Article, we provide a taxonomy for plus factors as well as a methodology for ranking plus factors in terms of their strength for inferring explicit collusion, the strongest of which are referred to as "super plus factors."

Rethinking A Carbon Tax In An Era Of Budget Deficits, Chad Covert

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Imperial Ignition: Ecological Debt, Greenhouse Development Rights And Climate Change, Jonathan Stribling

Jonathan Stribling

This paper argues for legal principles to remedy the harm done to those least responsible for yet most affected by climate change. It examines approaches to developing the concepts of ecological and climate debt in U.S. law. This paper argues for the importance of understanding ecological debt and particularly “climate debt” in order to sustainably remedy climate change. The paper also argues that the principles of capacity and responsibility, which are the basis of the Greenhouse Development Rights (GDR) framework, are critical to remedying climate debt and should be included in global climate negotiations and U.S. environmental law.

The Role Of Science In The Uruguay Round And Nafta Trade Disciplines, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

The central theme of this article is the necessity for deference to decision-making processes of national regulatory authorities in the application of these new trade disciplines and the need for trade-based reviews of national regulatory measures to operate within clearly defined limits. Accordingly, this article first examines and summarizes the relevant texts, including the original 1947 GATT, the Uruguay Round, and the NAFTA texts on standards. Next, the article considers the role of science in the standard-setting process with reference to the copious literature on this topic. Finally, the article takes up the difficult question of the application of the …

At War With The Environment, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

In this Article, Professor Wirth reviews the book National Defense and the Environment by Stephen Dycus, a recognized expert in both environmental and national security law. The emphasis of the book is on containing and remediating the environmental excesses of the American defense-industrial complex, with a domestic policy focus. While Professor Wirth considers Dycus’ work an intellectually rewarding and refreshing new entry into the ongoing environment-as-security colloquy, he does not consider the book to be accessible to a general audience given the book’s fundamentally legalistic nature.

Cointegration Of International Stock Markets: An Investigation Of Diversification Opportunities, Taimur A. Khan

Undergraduate Economic Review

Abstract: This paper examines the long-run convergence of the United States and 22 other developed and developing countries. I use daily data and run the Johansen (1988) and the Gregory and Hansen (1996) test to show that stock markets of most countries have become cointegrated by 2010. I also look at short-run diversification opportunities across the countries by comparing their daily returns to the daily returns of the global index (S&P 1200). China, Malaysia and Austria stand out as countries with highly favorable diversification opportunities as they are not cointegrated about with the US and are insensitive to the global …

Improvement Of Farmers' Incomes Through Improved Processing Of Sorghum And Millets In West Africa, Ababacar Sadikh N'Doye, Bruce Hamaker, Roy L. Whistler

INTSORMIL Presentations

Purdue University and ITA are very active in the USAID INTSORMIL CRSP Program for promoting the production and the consumption of millet and sorghum in West Africa. Countries involved in this program are : Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Sénégal.

Market-oriented objectives of the INTSORMIL Program on millet and sorghum in West Africa:

Objective 1: Increase the supply of high quality grain through the introduction of new production technologies at the farmer level in West Africa.

Objective 2: Contribute to the development of the processing sector through technologies improvement , more effective technology transfer to processors, and better links …

Risk Classification And Health Insurance, Georges Dionne, Casey G. Rothschild

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Risk classification refers to the use of observable characteristics by insurers to group individuals with similar expected claims, compute the corresponding premiums, and thereby reduce asymmetric information. An efficient risk classification system generates premiums that fully reflect the expected cost associated with each class of risk characteristics. This is known as financial equity. In the health sector, risk classification is also subject to concerns about social equity and potential discrimination. We present different theoretical frameworks that illustrate the potential trade-off between efficient insurance provision and social equity. We also review empirical studies on risk classification and residual asymmetric information.

R&D Investment Link To Profitability: A Pharmaceutical Industry Evaluation, Lawrence J. Nord

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper is an in depth analysis of the influence that investment into research and development has on a firm’s profitability in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. The pharmaceutical industry is chosen due to its high intensity of research and development expenditures. The top 16 companies in the pharmaceutical industry are analyzed through regression analysis. The argument made is that as more funds are invested into research and development a firm in the pharmaceutical industry will experience a higher market value. Theoretically as firms spend more on research and development they are increasing the likelihood of innovation, which …

Deepwater Drilling: Law, Policy, And Economics Of Firm Organization And Safety, Mark A. Cohen

Vanderbilt Law Review

Nathan Richardson 64 Vand. L. Rev. 1853 (2011) Although the causes of the Deepwater Horizon spill are not yet conclusively identified, significant attention has focused on the safety-related policies and practices-often referred to as the safety culture-of BP and other firms involved in drilling the well. This Article defines and characterizes the economic and policy forces that affect safety culture and identifies reasons why those forces may or may not be adequate or effective from the public's perspective. Two potential justifications for policy intervention are that: (1) not all of the social costs of a spill may be internalized by …

Efficient Breach Of International Law: Optimal Remedies, 'Legalized Noncompliance,' And Related Issues, Eric A. Posner, Alan O. Sykes

Michigan Law Review

In much of the scholarly literature on international law, there is a tendency to condemn violations of the law and to leave it at that. If all violations of international law were indeed undesirable, this tendency would be unobjectionable. We argue in this Article, however that a variety of circumstances arise under which violations of international law are desirable from an economic standpoint. The reasons why are much the same as the reasons why nonperformance of private contracts is sometimes desirable- the concept of "efficient breach," familiar to modern students of contract law, has direct applicability to international law. As …

What Makes People Infidel? An Analysis Of The Influence Of Demographics On Extramarital Affairs, Saheli Nath

Undergraduate Economic Review

People in most cultures view sexual fidelity as one of the key foundations of a strong marital relationship. When a person engages in extramarital affairs, irrespective of the length of involvement in such an activity and whether or not the spouse is aware of it, the mutual 'trust' in 'sexual fidelity' takes an intrinsic blow. This paper explores the causes behind extramarital affairs from an economic perspective by statistically testing the hypothesis that the numbers of extramarital affairs people have depend on demographic characteristics of the population.

Restoring The Natural Law: Copyright As Labor And Possession, Alfred C. Yen

Alfred C. Yen

In this Article, Professor Yen explores the problems associated with viewing copyright solely as a tool for achieving economic efficiency and advocates for the restoration of natural law to copyright jurisprudence. The Article demonstrates that economics has not been solely responsible for copyright’s development and basic structure, but has rather developed along lines suggested by neutral law, despite modern copyright jurisprudence. The Article considers the consequences of extinguishing copyright’s natural law facets in favor of the blind pursuit of efficiency and concludes by exploring the implications of restoring natural law thinking to copyright jurisprudence.

Damages To Business Interests, R. Steven Thing

R. Steven Thing

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Economic Growth On Poverty Levels In Putin’S Russia, 2000-2008., Sergey Maltsev

Undergraduate Economic Review

Devastating economic performance of the first years of Russia’s transition seemed to have reversed since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s presidency. This work investigates whether the economic growth which occurred in Russia between 2000 and 2008 benefited all and the poor in particular. With the panel data from Rosstat we commence OLS, Fixed Effect and Random Effect regressions to find significant evidence that economic growth of the analysed period was pro-poor, however it was also associated with rising income inequality. Besides, we find that economic growth accounted for little variation in some other indicators of social welfare (education, housing, healthcare).

Justice, The Bretton Woods Institutions And The Problem Of Inequality, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

The Bretton Woods Institutions are, together with the WTO, the preeminent international institutions devoted to managing international economic relations. This mandate puts them squarely in the center of the debate concerning development, inequality and global justice. While the normative analysis of the WTO is gaining momentum, the systematic normative evaluation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is comparatively less developed. This essay aims to contribute to that nascent inquiry. How might global justice criteria apply to the ideology and operations of the Bank and Fund? Political theory offers an abundance of perspectives from which to conduct such …