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Seniorpreneurs: The New Aspect Of Retirement, Valentina Cordero

Capstones

In the U.S., entrepreneurs ages 55 to 64 increased by almost 5 percent in the last decade, while the young generation saw a decline. People 55 and older want something new than a traditional employment. They feel more confident in their ability to open businesses.

Task-Specific Human Capital Accumulation And Wage Outcomes Among Young Men: An Empirical Analysis, Morgan Holland

Theses and Dissertations

Existing literature suggests that investment in different kinds of task-specific human capital may have significant effects on wage outcomes and overall economic wellbeing of individuals. To examine this claim, the accumulation of task-specific human capital in young male workers with no college education and its effects on wages is measured. Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth panel data merged with six task-specific human capital measures derived from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles task contents data, fixed effects regression was utilized to measure how workers’ taskspecific human capital develops over time. This process shows that among the task measures used, accumulation …

Labour Law And Triangular Employment Growth, Timothy John Bartkiw

LLM Theses

This thesis is concerned with understanding the relationship between labour law and triangular employment growth, and particularly in "staffing services" contexts. A review of alternative explanations for growth in triangular employment within three theoretical paradigm (neoclassical, institutionalist, and critical) illustrates the theoretical space for conceiving of a relationship between the particularities of labour law and triangular employment growth. To this end, the thesis develops the concept of a regulatory differential, or ways in which a legal regime may produce differential regulatory effects as between direct and triangular forms of employment. A typology of regulatory differentials is outlined. Further, a discussion …

Production Of Hydrocarbons From Gasified Biomass Using Bifunctional Catalysts, Jason Tyler Street

Theses and Dissertations

The following chapters deal with the chemistry, catalytic poisoning, newer catalyst technologies, and possible future solutions to increase the efficiency of creating high-value products by thermochemically converting gasified biomass (producer gas). Chapter 1 puts emphasis on multifunctional catalysts containing transition metals that are used for renewable fuel production. High-value products such as gasoline-range hydrocarbons, dimethyl ether (DME), aldehydes, isobutane, isobutene and other olefins can be produced with gasified biomass due to the gas containing syngas (H2 + CO). The chemistry and production of these chemicals is discussed in the review. Chapter 2 describes the reactor design of a bench scale …

Essays In Pro-Social Behavior, Joshua R. Foster

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines individuals' actions to improve social outcomes when unrecoverable investments are necessary. Situations involving non-pecuniary and pecuniary investments are considered. In the former, the prerequisite of real effort - a non-pecuniary, unrecoverable investment - is examined when said effort determines an individual's ability to procure their preferred social outcome. Theoretical predictions over an individual's effort provision are based on their revealed preferences for the social distribution of wealth according to the general axiom of revealed preference (GARP). Laboratory experiments reveal that individuals' effort provisions do not support the assumption of stable preferences (transitivity) of wealth distribution. Specifically, individuals …

Economic Voting In The Developing World, Rafael Oganesyan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A plethora of ink has been spilled demonstrating the relationship between economics and voter behavior. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of scholarship has concentrated on the empirical assessment of economic voting within the context of developed countries. The present thesis widens the scope of study by testing the applicability of the classic economic voting theory (CEVT) strictly within developing countries. The results suggest that while voters in developing countries do take the economy into account, they do so in a manner that's partially different from what CEVT predicts. Voters in developing countries simultaneously assume both retrospective sociotropic and prospective sociotropic characteristics. …

Contemporary Slavery: A Historical Perspective, Keilah Creedon

Honors Theses

While awareness is spreading about the 29 million people around the world who are currently enslaved, there is often a lack of understanding about what slavery is like today versus our common conception of slavery under the transatlantic slave trade. After exploring the connection between the abolition of slavery in the past and the introduction of coercive labor practices under colonial rule, I explain how slavery never truly ended and elaborate on the most common forms of contemporary slavery found today. This includes a case study focused on coercive labor in cocoa production. Using a solution oriented approach, I address …

Intra-Firm Trade From U.S. Multinational Enterprises To Emerging Market Economies: An Assessment Of The Impact Of The Global Recession And Intellectual Property Rights, Trang Nguyen

Honors Theses

The level of US intra-firm imports from Emerging Markets, EM, (i.e., imports of MNEs from their foreign affiliates) has increased from 149 billion USD in 2002 to 347 billion USD in 2012. A similar magnitude is observed for US arm’s length imports (i.e., imports of MNEs from third parties in foreign countries). This thesis estimates the responsiveness of US intra-firm and arm’s length imports to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection indicators, “Doing Business” indicators, and to the Global Recession. I use two panel data sets, one covering 332 industries (3-digit NAICS) and 43 emerging countries from 2002 to 2012, the …

Labor And Individual Differences: Their Influence On Product Value Perception, Trang Thi Thuy Nguyen

Honors Theses

The current research examined the impact of self-monitoring propensity on the “IKEA Effect”, in which labor induces greater liking for the products of one's labor, and as a result overvaluation of one’s creation. Whereas there was some research, such as those on toolkits or the “IKEA Effect”, which investigated valuation of self-created or self-build products, there is still little on personality traits influencing such valuations. In the experiment, students evaluated their self-assembled origami crane, cranes made by other participants, or cranes made by someone with high experience doing origami. The valuations made by the groups in different conditions are then …

Innovation And Finance: A Firm Level Analysis On Emerging Markets, Emily Zangrillo

Honors Theses

Economic theory suggests that the more financially constrained a firm, the lower its ability to allocate resources for innovation. I test this theory using firm-level survey data that covers 29 Eastern European and Central Asian countries. The survey is conducted in 2002, 2005, and 2009, and covers nearly 12,000 enterprises. I construct two baseline probit models to test the impact of financial constraints on firms’ ability to innovate a new product or upgrade an existing product. Existing literature suggests that the more financially constrained a firm, the less likely they are to innovate. Previous studies have also noted the reverse …

Typhoons And Lower Birth Weight In The Philippines, Sarah Morrow

Master's Theses

Do typhoons impact birth weights of infants exposed to a typhoon while in utero? This research exploits the exogeneity and randomness of typhoons in the Philippines to estimate the impact of typhoon exposure as determined by wind speed on birth weights. Using four waves of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from the Philippines combined with temperature, precipitation, and rainfall data from the Philippines, I can empirically estimate the impact of a 1 m/s increase in wind speed on birth weights. I find that for certain subgroups of the population, specifically children born to mothers with primary education or …

If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls: The Truth Behind The History, Economics, And Ethics Of Factory Farming, Deanna Ripley

2014 Student Theses

In recent years, the awareness of factory farming has raised many questions regarding the treatment of animals, the health risks towards humans, and the affects it has on the environment. In the United States today, factory farming is the largest form of food production, where it is estimated that over a billion animals each year are killed to meet the high demand in the meat industry. The goal of factory farming is to maximize the amount of meat and dairy in a given amount of time through the cheapest forms of production. Thus, animals continuously live in inhumane conditions and …

Handling Risk: Testosterone And Risk Preference, Evidence From Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tobias Sytsma

Master's Theses

The relationship between testosterone and risk aversion is of increasing interest in the experimental economics. Using the ratio of the second digit to the fourth digit (2D:4D) as a rough indicator of level of prenatal testosterone exposure, this study attempts to replicate recent results from Garbarino et al., (2011), which found that individuals with digit ratios above the sample average were significantly more risk averse, and individuals with digit ratios one standard deviation below the sample average were significantly more risk seeking in a subject pool of male and female Caucasian students. Here, a subject pool from Dhaka, Bangladesh, is …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Controlling Invasive Species, Yanxu Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Invasive species have caused notable economic damages in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and other industries over the past several decades. Invasive species control must therefore be designed to prevent the both the introduction and spread of invasive species. This dissertation examines the efficiency and efficacy of tariffs and inspections as a joint control mechanism at a home (i.e., importing) country's border. I find that a traditional tariff can be optimal in the short run when the invasive species level is directly related to a foreign (i.e., exporting) country's shipment size. However, in the long run a traditional tariff results in a …

Mountain Top Eco-Industrial Park: An Eco-Industrial, Renewable Energy Approach For Industrial Park Development, Jing Chu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This project applies the concepts of industrial ecology and recreational gateway development to the redesign of an existing industrial park - Mountain Top Industrial Park in Grant County, West Virginia. The location of the existing industrial park, in close proximity to the CSX railroad and the future Corridor H expressway corridor, lends itself to eco-industrial development and may function as a touristic gateway to the region. The site is at the center of an `energy' complex: Mount Storm Power Plant and former surface mines. Extractive industries and energy production will be a theme within the design project. An Eco-Industrial Park …

Essays On Industrial Agglomeration And Input-Output Linkages, Zheng Tian

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Industrial agglomeration is an important subject in the field of regional economics. It is an economic phenomenon with two dimensions---space and industry. These two dimensions call for research that can take both spatial and industry factors into consideration regarding industrial agglomeration. Despite the advance of economic theories on agglomeration, empirical studies that satisfactorily incorporate spatial and industrial dimensions are very few. My research aims to enrich the existing methodology for empirical studies by combining spatial econometrics and the input-output model to investigate the effects of input-output linkages on industrial agglomeration.;In this research I propose two methods to integrate spatial econometrics …

Three Essays On Institutions And Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, Amanda M. Mandzik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

As a region, sub-Saharan Africa lags behind the rest of the world in both human development and economic growth. However, a portion of the development literature suggests that institutions may play a role in explaining, and perhaps changing, the outcomes that are observed in these countries. Therefore, this dissertation explores how institutions have shaped and continue to shape the health and economic outcomes of this region. In Chapter 2, jointly with Andrew Young, we seek to explain the correlation between high HIV prevalence rates and the Christian share of the population that contrasts with low HIV prevalence rates observed with …

Treasure In Heaven: Economics And Christian Monasticism In Late Antiquity, Benjamin Wade Harman

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In the 3rd century CE a new variety of Christian practice emerged to popularity that took a marked turn from traditional practice. It was an ascetic movement that led many people to deny themselves bodily pleasures, and even some to self-inflict pain. There were some who chose to live a solitary life in the desert or in caves, and others lived in monasteries or isolated on top of stone pillars. This movement encouraged individuals to sell all of their belongings and rely on others' charity, or even God's grace, to survive. While asceticism had previously existed in other cultures and …

Structural Change Of The Western United States Alfalfa Hay Market And Its Effect On The Western United States Dairy Industry, Joseph Patrick Cann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alfalfa is the fourth largest commodity grown in the Western U.S., representing 20% of the crop acreage over the past twenty years. In the last five years alfalfa hay price has doubled from what it was previously, indicating a possible structural change in the market. This research project was completed to test for this structural change using econometric analysis of the important demand components of alfalfa price. In addition to this, simulations of an average Utah dairy were completed to examine which ratio of forage crops provided the highest economic return to the operation.

To analyze the structural change of …

Single Mothers And Religiosity, Natalie J. Sheets

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines single mothers compared to coupled mothers and the differences in their public and private practices of religiosity. Data come from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. The study explores the influence of marital status between single and coupled mothers by using regression models to control for income, age, education, and race. Findings suggest that, while there are differences in single and coupled mothers in both their public and private practices of religiosity, the cause of these differences is being driven by other social factors rather than marital status alone. Income, …

Three Essays On Trading By Members Of Congress, Serkan Karadas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

My dissertation examines the information content of stock trades by members of Congress (politicians) in three separate essays. In my first essay, based on approximately 62,000 common stock transactions over the 2004--2010 period, I present evidence that past firm-level trading activity by politicians predicts future firm-level stock returns, and this prediction is stronger for the pre-recession period and for small firms. By constructing buy-minus-sell transactions-based portfolios, I document that the portfolios of Republicans outperform those of Democrats. Also, being a powerful member of Congress is associated with substantially higher abnormal returns for Republicans, but not for Democrats. Among powerful Republicans, …

Olympic Caliber Countries: How Macroeconomic Factors And Previous Performance Impacted The 2012 London Olympic Games, Adam C. Watkins

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Pricing Strategy For Cloud Computing Services, Jianhui Huang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The cloud computing services market exhibits unique characteristics such as instant accessibility, fluctuating demand and supply, and interruptible service provision. Various pricing mechanisms exist in current industry practice. None of these pricing mechanisms, however, is comprehensive enough to capture all these features in a way that allows the vendors to optimize resource allocation. This dissertation identifies key factors related to cloud computing pricing, and examines their interplays. This research uses multiple approaches, including a market survey, game theory modeling, simulation, lab experiments and econometric modeling, to analyze the pricing strategy of cloud services vendors. A field study of a representative …

Development Of Practical Applications For Reprap Style 3-D Printers In Engineering, Benjamin T. Wittbrodt

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The current rise in popularity of consumer level 3-D printers introduces a need to understand the application and material property capabilities of the technology. Presented here is data demonstrating the ability for the average U.S. consumer to recuperate the cost of a 3-D printer within one year of ownership. Additionally, using a consumer level 3-D printer, multiple photovoltaic (PV) racking systems were printed and produced with much lower cost compared to commercially available aluminum racking. Additionally, mechanical testing on 3-D printed components showed a temperature dependence on both percent crystallinity and ultimate tensile strength. Conclusions are drawn using the information …

A Comparative Study Of Patent Infringement Remedies Related To Non-Practicing Entities In The Courts Of Canada, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Aleksandar Nikolic

LLM Theses

This work examines the scope of non-practicing entity behavior and whether the debate on remedies can lead to changes that encourage the goals behind a patent system. Innovation is often the stated goal but the significance of innovation commercialization is often ignored. Furthermore, there has been an increase in business models that involve alternate means of monetizing patents, not all of which were contemplated in the purpose of the patent system. Using the goals of the patent system as a backdrop, this work provides an overview of the impact of remedies available to courts in Canada, the United Kingdom, and …

Novel Interdisciplinary Approaches To Understanding Kidney Transplantation Outcomes, Neel Butala

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

This thesis details 2 studies using novel approaches to understand kidney transplant outcomes: instrumental variables and social network analysis. Together, these studies demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary approaches to advance the field of kidney transplantation.

While some studies have found an association between delayed graft function (DGF) after kidney transplantation and worse long-term outcomes, a causal relationship remains controversial. In our first study, we investigate this relationship using an instrumental variables model (IVM), a quasi-randomization technique for drawing causal inferences. We identified 73,714 adult, deceased-donor, kidney-only transplant recipients from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) between 1997 and 2010. …

Alienation In Capitalism: Rediscovering Fulfillment, Gregory Lee Carter

Honors Theses and Capstones

Many Americans are pessimistic about their country's medium or long-term economic outlook. A century ago, Big Business was born as an economic force, but it has powerfully infiltrated the realm of politics now. The corporate scramble for natural resources has caused global disharmony and domestic economic conflict in the U.S. The capitalist system, which many have come to realize is unsustainable and oppressive, has thus come to fulfill some of the predictions made by earlier critics from Kierkegaard, Rousseau, to Marx. Each believed that a society which is forced to accommodate an oppressive system will inherently display alienation. That …

Implementing Green Roofs On Movie Theaters And Shopping Centers: Business Cases In Profitable Sustainability, Ryan J. Miller

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis presents the business case for installing green roofs on movie theaters and shopping centers. These businesses can then derive increased profits from the environmental benefits of reduced energy use and increased stormwater retention. After presenting the basic design and benefits of a green roof, the thesis develops stand-alone business plans for a movie theater and shopping center. The author finds that green roofs are a profitable sustainability solution for the commercial enterprise.

Compost Bedded Pack Barns For Dairy Cattle: Bedding Performance And Mastitis As Compared To Sand Freestalls, Elizabeth A. Eckelkamp

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Lameness and mastitis are the two most costly diseases in the dairy industry. Reduction of these diseases through housing and management is beneficial. Compost bedded pack (CBP) and sand freestall barns were compared in a long-term, on-farm study to assess the effect of housing on each disease. Another research objective was to evaluate the effects of ambient weather conditions on moisture and 20 cm internal temperature of CBP. Compost bedded pack moisture, C:N ratio, and internal temperature effects on cleanliness, mastitis, and bedding bacterial counts were also considered. The last research objective was to evaluate the economics of bedding material …

From Adele To Zedd: The Consumption Of Popular Music In The United State, 2006-2013, Madeline K. Ripley

Scripps Senior Theses

The entertainment industry is an impactful part of the U.S. economy. My thesis explores the way Americans consume popular music and how the U.S. economic environment affects the permeability of the music industry to new artists. I use discrete-choice probit models to examine the top 10 weekly singles from the Billboard Hot 100 between 2006 and 2013. I analyze the economic factors and artist characteristics that affect an unestablished artist’s entry into the top 10 of the chart and achievement of the number one chart spot. I also use a Cox proportional hazard model to examine the effects of economic …