Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Job Diversity And Its Impact On Intergenerational Mobility At The County Level, Derek Olson

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on whether or not the diversity in industries within a county has an impact on the income mobility of children within that county. Data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to construct variables measuring job diversity and the degree of industry specialization of a county. Building on Chetty (2017a, 2017b), I find that for children with parents at the 25th percentile of the national income distribution, a one standard deviation increase in a county being less diverse in the presence of industries increases a child’s expected rank in the national income distribution by 2.19% while a …

Labor Trends In Nuclear Energy And Developmental Obstacles In Nuclear Energy, Ryan D. Greensfelder

Honors Theses

The idiosyncrasies that exist in the United States independent system operator’s structure poses many unique challenges to wholesale energy markets. The array of energy production solutions is one of these challenges to understanding energy markets. Numerous tools have been used to measure the quantitative complexity of energy markets. Few tools and indices exist to track macroeconomic fluctuations in US employment and wage for United States relative to the cost of energy delivery. In modelling the derived labor demand for energy employment, we should be better able to explain markets and allow for predictions in fluctuations in the labor market. This …

Mortgage Discrimination And District Manipulation: Deterrents To Minority Mobility, Megan M. Rice

Honors Theses

This paper explores the relationship between gerrymandering and home loan discrimination. Gerrymandering, the process of manipulating district plans for political gain, and discrimination in mortgage lending are both illegal; and yet, they still occur in today’s society. By using individual loan application data from the HMDA’s website, a series of regressions will be run using applicant characteristics to measure loan discrimination at the state level. Once a state level model has been constructed, a measure of gerrymandering called the Efficiency Gap will be added into the regression in order to explore the relationship between home loan discrimination and gerrymandering. Regression …

Fiscal Citizenship: How Can Tax Efficiency And Isonomy Aid In The Promotion Of Economic Rights, Social Participation, Political Accountability, And Cultural Diversity?, Gustavo Voeroes Dénes

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

According to the World Inequality Report 2018 (WID 2017), Brazil is one of the few countries that has not recently displayed an increase in income inequality, having instead sustained it on persistently very high levels, actually composing the world’s “inequality frontier”. While such levels of inequality may be partly attributed to poor distribution of property rights, human capital endowments, and specificity of labor relations, a significant part of it is undoubtedly due the national fiscal system’s reduced distributive capacity, compromised by one the worst taxation systems in the world. Occupying the 184th position out of 190 countries in the World …

Innovative Collaboration To Further Community Self-Determination, Matthew Currie, Amaha Sellassie

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The built urban environment is the product of more than a century of policy decisions that have both intentionally discriminated and have had the effect of discriminating, against African Americas, immigrants, the work class, low income individuals and other undesirables. While more than fifty years have passed since the passage of civil rights legislation in the United States, individuals in today’s cities are living out our discriminatory legacy.

In Dayton, Ohio, a new movement has risen from the community to disrupt the legacy of de jure and de facto discrimination by the collaborative efforts of the impactive individuals, neighborhood leaders, …

Human Rights And Economic Democracy: Reinvigorating The Human Rights Movement, Curtis T. Kline

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

A 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that in order to avoid a seemingly inevitable ecological collapse that would bring intense suffering especially on the most marginalized and excluded sectors; the world needs to develop “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”. There are many local experiences which demonstrate the possibilities of achieving these needed changes. There are a number of community organizations and associations, social movements, and municipal efforts, among others, with creative visions on this front. In Jackson, Mississippi, for example, Cooperation Jackson strives to be a means …

Lending Club’S Note Trading Platform Facade: An Examination Of Peer-To-Peer (P2p) Lending Secondary Market Inefficiency, Stephen Harvey

Honors Theses

The original objective of the study was to monitor and analyze the inefficiencies in Lending Club’s Peer-toPeer (P2P) secondary market, in order to exploit these inefficiencies for a risk-free return. Upon a threemonth examination and analysis of the secondary market, the findings indicate that arbitrage conditions do not exist as a result of the observed volume of the marketplace being vastly lower than initially believed. Only 0.44% of note listing instances on Lending Club’s secondary market over the three-month period resulted in successful trades. As a consequence, investors assume a purported level of liquidity that is never met, thus they …

Teaching About Modern Slavery: Highlighting Human Rights Principles In Evaluating Economic Systems, Barbara E. Hopkins

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Evaluating economic systems relies on several different criteria, but the current public discourse places a great deal of emphasis on efficiency, which students generally understand as producing at lower cost.

By using the extreme example of modern-day slavery, I am able to introduce students to the human rights framework for thinking about freedom and encourage students to question whether producing at the lowest possible cost is good for human beings and the environment.

The Economic Concept Of Exploitation And Economic Justice, Hee-Young Shin

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper explores the concept of exploitation — how it has been interpreted and used in different schools of thought in economics and what it means to abolish exploitation in our contemporary capitalist market economies.

Economic Rights In Catholic Social Teaching, Andrew Beauchamp, Jason Heron

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Catholic social teaching has a vision of the economy that is very closely aligned with the tradition of civil humanism, dating at least from the Italian Renaissance. In the course of contemporary discussion of economic concerns, Catholic social teaching often asserts human rights in and related to the economic sphere. However, it regards these economic imperatives not in terms of an autonomous, rights-bearing individualism, but rather within the thick web of relationships characterized by civil virtues, including reciprocity and gratuitousness.

Thus the Church conceptualizes the economy as part of a larger social ambit that includes fundamental social virtues. This vision …

2017 Conference Program, University Of Dayton Human Rights Center

Human Rights Program Documents

We come together at a challenging time. Sixty-five million forcibly displaced persons. More than forty million slaves. Democracy under attack. Nuclear weapons, ethnic cleansing, ecological disasters and racial injustice headlining the news. The resurgence of a hardline, nativist intolerance around the world. While there are many threats to the realization of universal human rights, there are many powerful tools we can use to confront these dangers. Chief among these is our growing ability to come together, to communicate, to collaborate.

The University of Dayton — a Catholic, Marianist research university — long has been a center of programming, dialogue and …

Mothers As Career Leaders: Do Maternity Leave Laws Make A Difference?, Briar Rose Smith

Honors Theses

On a national level, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 is the only law that provides certain qualifying individuals with 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected maternity leave, although some states and private firms have implemented forms of paid maternity leave. Previous research indicates that female employees, regardless of their parental status, receive fewer promotions due to information asymmetry after the FMLA (Thomas 2015). In addition, some research finds that particular industries are more family friendly due to access to flexible work schedules for mothers (Goldin 2014). This thesis expands on both findings using data from the …

2017 Conference Brochure: Confronting Advocacy Challenges In The Age Of Intolerance And Indifference, University Of Dayton

Human Rights Program Documents

Brochure for biennial conference that provides a space for scholars, practitioners and advocates to engage in collaboration, dialogue and critical analysis of human rights advocacy — locally and globally. The 2017 conference features:

• Research panels
• Roundtables
• Keynote addresses
• Sustainable development goals-focused plenaries

The Integrity Of Financial Analysts: Evidence From Asymmetric Responses To Earnings Surprises, Rui Lu, Wenxuan Hou, Henry Oppenheimer, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the integrity of financial analysts by examining their recommendation responses to large quarterly earnings surprises. Although there is no significant difference in recommendation changes between affiliated and unaffiliated analysts in response to positive earnings surprises, affiliated analysts are more reluctant than unaffiliated analysts to downgrade stock recommendations in response to negative earnings surprises. The evidence implies that conflicts of interest undermine the integrity of financial analysts. We further examine the effects of reputation concern and the Global Research Analyst Settlement as informal and formal mechanisms, on restoring analysts’ integrity. The results show that the positive bias in …

Market Matters: How Market-Driven Is 'The Newsroom'?, Patrick Ferrucci, Chad Painter

Communication Faculty Publications

This study examines whether the award-winning news show The Newsroom depicted on HBO practices what John McManus defined as market-driven journalism. McManus posited that organizations practicing market-driven journalism compete in the four markets he describes in his market theory for news production. This study found that The Newsroom depicts an organization that does indeed practice market-driven journalism, with results interpreted through the lens of market theory for news production.

2015 Conference Program, University Of Dayton Human Rights Center

Human Rights Program Documents

In late September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which sets out a vision for transforming our world. Pope Francis, in addresses before Congress and the United Nations, reiterated the appeals in his apostolic letters The Joy of the Gospel and On Care for Our Common Home for the global community to think of one world with a common plan. This is our agenda for SPHR-’15.

SPHR reflects the University of Dayton Human Rights Center’s mission to advance the theory and practice of human rights advocacy, promote dialogue, forge collaborative partnerships, and focus on the …

2015 Conference Poster: Be A Part Of The Global Action, University Of Dayton Human Rights Center

Human Rights Program Documents

Join our conference to take stock of the human rights, environmental and development communities’ achievements over the past decade and plan advocacy strategies to advance the post-2015 UN sustainable development goals.

Register today.

Questions? Contact us at hrc@udayton.edu

• OCTOBER 1-3, 2015
• UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
• 1700 SOUTH PATTERSON BUILDING

2015 Conference Brochure: Be A Part Of The Global Action, University Of Dayton Human Rights Center

Human Rights Program Documents

This biennial conference provides a unique space for scholars, practitioners and advocates to engage in collaboration, dialogue and critical analysis of human rights advocacy — locally and globally. The 2015 conference features:

• Research panels
• Roundtables
• Keynote addresses
• Sustainable development goals-focused plenaries

We hope you will join us in this endeavor.

Impact Report 2015: University Of Dayton Human Rights Center, University Of Dayton

Human Rights Program Documents

It is time for new thinking about human rights advocacy. This is the challenge for the global human rights research and advocacy community.

The University of Dayton Human Rights Center creates positive change through research, education and dialogue. As a leader in the global human rights community, we search for transformative solutions to systemic patterns of injustice that will bring about real change in the lives of poor people. We are committed to addressing the gap between theory and practice, between scholars and practitioners. Advocates need information to be able to develop evidence-based strategies that bring about real change. We …

An Analysis Of Risk-Taking Behavior For Public Defined Benefit Pension Plans, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper presents the first comprehensive study on the determinants of public pension fund investment risk and reports several new important findings. Unlike private pension plans, public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in the previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing fiscal constraints allocate more assets to equity and have higher betas. There also appears to be a herding effect in that CalPERS equity allocation or beta is mimicked by other pension funds. Finally, our results suggest that government accounting standards strongly affect pension fund …

Teacher Qualifications And Student Achievement: A Panel Data Of Analysis, Trevor Collier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Recent academic research suggests that teacher quality plays an important role in student achievement: however, empirical research on the efficacy of policies requiring teachers to obtain certain degrees is inconclusive, particularly in elementary education. This paper models a panel data production function with fixed effects using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) to asses the relationship between different undergraduate and graduate majors and elementary student test scores. Specifcally, we aim to discern if there is a difference in teacher efficacy within the different education related majors (e.g. early childhood education and elementary education) and between education and non-education related majors.

2013 Conference Brochure: Be A Part Of The Human Rights Movement's New Frontier, University Of Dayton Human Rights Center

Human Rights Program Documents

Why must we explore the social practice of human rights?

In the 65 years since the U.N.’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the human rights community has become a standard-bearer of normative behavior, influencing development and humanitarian organizations, multinational corporations and philanthropists. Though the movement is viewed as honorable and admirable, the certainty of its mission can inhibit introspection; a natural tendency is to prioritize rather than challenge prevailing assumptions.

Are the good intentions of human rights advocates enough? No. Research and dialogue can help propel the human rights community forward by facilitating introspection to improve both advocacy and action: …

2013 Conference Report: The Social Practice Of Human Rights, Mark Ensalaco

Human Rights Program Documents

Universities have new importance in the global human rights movement.

This was the resounding message the University of Dayton heard at its global conference on human rights advocacy in October 2013. The human rights movement is experiencing dramatic changes. Dynamic new NGOs in the global South are resetting the human rights agenda. Popular movements inspired by human rights ideals are arising around the world to demand justice. New information technologies are creating the possibility of real global solidarity. The movement must adapt. Human rights organizations must imagine new strategies to address poverty and other root causes of human rights violations. …

What Determines Public Pension Investment Risk-Taking Policy, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

State public pension plans, mostly defined benefit plans, cover pension benefits for 12.8 million active public employees and 5.9 million retirees and other annuitants. However, by the end of 2009, public pension plans had accumulated a total funding deficit of $697 billion (measured by the difference between actuarial pension assets and liabilities). On average, public pension funds cover 75 percent of their liabilities, but individual state results vary greatly.

The 2008 stock market crash strongly affected pension asset value in that equity allocation on average accounted for 56 percent of invested assets. The average 2009 pension asset beta of 0.63 …

Upjohn Institute Policy Paper: Public Pension Crisis And Investment Risk Taking: Underfunding, Fiscal Constraints, Public Accounting, And Policy Implications, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Public pension funds that cover retirement benefits for almost 20 million active or retired employees have been significantly underfunded. An important, though largely overlooked, issue related to pension underfunding is the excessive investment risk levels assumed by public plans. Our analysis suggests government accounting standards strongly affect public fund investment risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher investment risk.

Public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing fiscal constraints allocate more assets …

The Impact Of Institutional Arrangements On Educational Efficiency, Trevor Collier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Per-pupil expenditures on education in the United States have grown immensely in recent decades, yet student achievement has been stagnant. An abundance of research has sought to solve this enigma, much of it centered on the incentive structure facing administrators. Some recent papers use TIMSS data to analyze the relationship between institutional arrangements—that typically do not vary within a single country—and student achievement. Similarly, we utilize TIMSS 1999 to determine if there is an indirect relationship between institutional arrangements and student achievement, via a relationship with school efficiency. Our results show that the specified link between institutional arrangements and student …

Government Ideology, Democracy And The Sacrifice Ratio: Evidence From Latin American And Caribbean Disinflations, Tony Caporale

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This study uses a sample of 34 disinflations undertaken by thirteen Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations to test if political institutions impact the cost of policy induced disinflations. We find, after controlling for several of the most important covariates in the literature, that disinflations are less costly for right vs. left governments and that sacrifice ratios are lower for more democratic vs. authoritarian governmental regimes. This is robust to different measures of government ideology as well as to alternative ways of computing the sacrifice ratio and lends support for political economy literature which argues that political institutions have significant …

Caveat Emptor: Lessons From Volkswagen's Lemon Purchase, Terence Lau

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

This article traces Volkswagen's mis-steps in the botched acquisition of Rolls Royce, and solutions are offered for counsel engaged in international transactions with the hope that the practitioner with little experience in the area can avoid similarly embarrassing and costly errors. The article also offers recommendations on how to draft contract clauses for international licensing use, and provides a brief overview of export control regimes counsel should be aware of when engaging in international transactions.

A Positive Political Model Of Supreme Court Economic Decisions, Tony Caporale, Harold Winter

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We develop a positive political model of the U.S. Supreme Court. Looking at the Court's economic cases for the period 1953-1993, we find a significant larger fraction of conservative decisions under Republican presidents and more conservative leadership of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Conservative decisions are also found to be positively correlated with the fraction of the Court appointed by Republican presidents and the rate of price inflation. We argue that our findings cast serious doubt on the common view of the Supreme Court as a completely independent, apolitical institution.

A Political Model Of Monetary Policy With Application To The Real Fed Funds Rate, Tony Caporale, Kevin B. Grier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We construct an empirical model of U.S. monetary policy assuming that the Federal Reserve is an ordinary federal bureaucracy. We use the real Federal Funds rate as our policy measure and show the existence of significant executive, legislative, and bureaucratic influence on the real rate of interest from 1961 to 1996. We find that presidential party is an adequate statistical measure of executive influence and that the voting scores of the Senate Banking Committee leadership best represent legislative influence. We argue that political changes cause systematic and predictable changes in monetary policy.