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 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 …

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."

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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).

Financial Development And The Mdgs For Education, Gender Equality, And Health, Benjamin N. Rosner

Undergraduate Economic Review

Recent research has found that financial development reduces poverty in developing countries. This paper shows that it also improves education, gender equality, and health. Specifically it has 3 key findings. First, financial development helps achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for education, gender equality, and health by increasing the amount of private credit, money, and deposits in the economy. Second, increasing opportunities to deposit savings is the most significant way that financial development affects the MDGs. Third, the least financially developed countries benefit the most from financial development. These results are robust to omitted variable and reverse causation biases.

The Effects Of Workplace Smoking Bans On Smoking Prevalence: A State Level Analysis, Chelsea R. Stanley

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study investigates the effects of workplace smoking bans on smoking prevalence. Using a unique panel data set on state-wide smoking prevalence in all U.S. jurisdictions, while controlling for fixed and lagged effects, I find that smoking bans decrease overall smoking prevalence. The magnitude of this impact, however, makes the federal government’s goal of reducing the national smoking rate from its current level to 12 percent by 2020 a hopeful aspiration. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that workplace smoking bans, especially in conjunction with other statewide governmental initiatives, are a worthwhile endeavor in decreasing smoking prevalence.

Theology Of The "Real Economy": Christian Economic Ethics In An Age Of Financialization, Charles A. Mcdaniel Jr.

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

“Financialization” is a term that has come to describe the process by which economic activity shifts from the “real” production of goods and services to ever more complex forms of financial transacting. Religious critics of practices that led to the financial crisis admonish behaviors commonly associated with financialization, yet these criticisms offer incompletely articulated ideals of what constitutes real economic production from the perspective of their faith traditions. This paper contends that Christianity has the potential to transform the nature of finance and investment but only if theologians and ethicists provide more tangible definition to what is real in economic …

A Journey, Not A Destination, James L. Phelps

Educational Considerations

Closing Essay: Much of the motivation and ideas for the articles in this special issue originated with my dear friend, Maris Abolins, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Michigan State University. We started as neighbors and, as our kids grew up together, we socialized frequently. He is responsible for my interest in physics. I would read a physics book, which would become the subject of our next dinner conversation (while our wives talked about other, more social topics). Instead of a compilation of facts, physics became a way of thinking about problem solving. The “unified field” theory was the start of …

Generic Wish-Lists For State-Centric Policies, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Central America depicted in the article under review resembles a region visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—colonial Conquest, civil War, Famine and other natural disasters, and poverty, disease and Death. Added to this list of woes are the recent drug-fueled conflict, democratic instability, weak state capacity, and the socio-economic fallout of the economic recession in the United States. While the first half of the article records these problems, the author shifts gears in the second half and provides an array of responses to these challenges, with a forceful recommendation that states in the region focus their efforts …

What Drives Financial Literacy Among The Young?, Jacqueline Bartley

Undergraduate Economic Review

Existing studies find that young people have the lowest levels of financial literacy when compared to other ages. I argue that this low financial literacy is driven by a lack of experience with financial decision making. I designed and administered a survey that measures students’ financial literacy and financial experience. I find that students know more about the products they use. For example, students with loans know more about loans than students without them. These results suggest that knowledge is driven by need and experience. The implication is to increase financial literacy among students by involving them in financial decisions.

The Impact Of Rising Corn Prices On The Conservation Reserve Program: An Empirical Model, Davide Gill-Austern

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper examines the relationship between corn prices and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollment within the Corn Belt Region. While this paper places particular emphasis on corn prices, other variables are examined which could have an impact on enrollment, such as corn yield, corn acreage, gross state product and the 2008 Farm Bill. Five empirical models are constructed to estimate the results. This paper finds that a rise in corn prices leads to a reduction in CRP acreage. Specifically, if corn prices rise by $1, CRP land in the Corn Belt will decline by 135,263 acres over a three-year period.

Income Elasticity Of Demand For Large, Modern Rapid Transit Rail Networks, Brian J. Asquith

Undergraduate Economic Review

In spite of evidence to the contrary, there is a common perception inside of academia and out that rail transit is an inferior good. This paper proposes a demand model for radial subway networks utilizing the monocentric city model in order to quantify the income elasticity of demand. This model is tested against extant data from the 2000 Census, and controls for spatial variability, demographic and economic factors, and commuter costs. This paper concludes that while the factors that drive demand vary across urban areas, the results suggest that rail transit may in fact be a normal good.

Reassessment Of The Weather Effect: Stock Prices And Wall Street Weather, Mitra Akhtari

Undergraduate Economic Review

Recent research in behavioral finance has investigated whether investors’ mood fluctuations induced by hours of sunshine affect investment decisions in a significant manner such that equity mispricing follows. Some research in this area has concluded that there is a systematic relationship between security markets and local weather, while other research has found no relationship between investment decisions and hours of sunshine. This paper aims to study the weather effect and its possible evolution over time in an effort to consolidate the different findings in the field.

The Wealth Effect In Equity And Fixed Income, Jason K. Boldt

Undergraduate Economic Review

Individual consumption and saving decisions are integral to aggregate economic growth, demonstrated in economic theories such as the exogenous growth model. Behavioral economists have posited that a “wealth effect” plays a factor in individual consumption patterns. In this paper, I use the 1999-2007 cohorts of the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics to explore evidence of a wealth effect in stock equity and fixed income. Using panel data estimation techniques, I find no evidence of a wealth effect stemming from equity or fixed income gains among individuals with concentrated financial wealth.

The Most Efficient Tax Policy: The Federal Tax System Vs. The Fair Tax Policy, Quynh T. Nguyen

Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal

Throughout the history of every society, there has always existed some form of an organized government. The goal of the government is to protect the individual freedoms and promote well-being of society as a whole. In order to carry out these tasks, the government needs revenues, which is successfully raised through taxes.

The development of the U.S. Federal Tax System spans from the colonial times to the tax cuts of the Bush Administration. The U.S. federal government relies primarily on income taxes, state governments depend mainly on income and sales taxes while county governments mostly use property taxes for their …

The Economic Problem, Luke L. Berg

Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal

This article attempts to answer the economic problem, which is the production and distribution of society's resources. It focuses especially on the United States.

Title Page

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

The Park Place Economist

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Alumnus Headlines Ode Banquet, Paige Maynard '11

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, Paige Maynard '11

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

A Year In The Life Of Iwu Professors

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

The Class Of 2011

The Park Place Economist

No abstract provided.

Do Happier People Make More Money? An Empirical Study Of The Effect Of A Person’S Happiness On Their Income, Michael Como '11

The Park Place Economist

Does happiness affect workers’ incomes? More specifically, do workers who are happier make more money because their happiness levels are higher? Employees who are happy are an asset to their company. Happy employees who become ill recover faster and stay home from work an average of 15 fewer days a year than unhappy employees (Achor, 2010). Happier employees can live up to 10 years longer than their unhappy counterparts. However, statistics indicate that there are a lot of unhappy employees in the work force today (The Economist, 2009). America’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that work-related suicides increased by 28% …