Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Team Success And Personnel Allocation Under The National Football League Salary Cap, John Haugen '06

Honors Projects

A pre-Super Bowl article published in the Wall Street Journal labels the personnel spending and business model of the Seattle Seahawks, the National Football Conference representative to Super Bowl XL, as "extraordinary." Much to the surprise of the author, "they plucked their entire defense from the discount bins" and still made it to the Super Bowl (Walker 2006). Seattle spent far less on its defense in comparison not only to their Super Bowl opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, but compared to every single other NFL team. They valued "underpriced or underappreciated players who were as long on character and potential as …

Effects Of The Federal Income Tax Structure And Social Security On The Changing Us Family Composition, Adam M. Gray '06

Honors Projects

From dual-earner, married couples, to opposite and same-sex cohabitation, America's family structure, lifestyles, and attitudes have been changing in recent years. This paper provides a framework of understanding how families interact and make economic decisions. It examines whether external and internal benefits to family formation exist. The government should develop policies are both equitable and efficient depending on what benefits exist for society, if any. Currently, one of the biggest gains married partners make occurs within the Federal Income Tax and Social Security Systems. However, this structure was created at a time when families were very traditional-a working husband and …

Economic Development And The Gender Wage Gap, Sherri Haas '06

Honors Projects

Economic inequality between men and women is an important problem deserving of in-depth study because of the large number of people it affects. Not only do current gender wage gaps affect women, they also likely affect their children and future generations. A number of studies have found evidence that women tend to spend income differently then men, with greater shares being put back into the household and more equally allocated between children of both sexes (Blau, Ferber, and Winkler, 2001). This in tum improves equality between genders if both girls and boys receive similar benefits and education.

This study will …

The Gender Wage Ratio: Does It Differ Between Races?, Britanny Kirkpatrick '06

Honors Projects

In 1964 the Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin (Coleman, 2003). This act was passed to help bring equality to men and women of all races; however, a gender wage gap still exists. Up until the 1970s it was estimated that women made only 60% compared to their male counterparts in earnings. Since then the wage difference between men and women has continually decreased due to the large number of women entering the labor force, the outlawing of gender discrimination, and an increase …

High School Dropout Determinants: The Effect Of Socioeconomic Status And Learning Disabilities, Adrienne Ingrum '06

Honors Projects

Considering the growing importance of higher education due to increased global competition, one might wonder why some students still opt to drop out of high school. Previous literature has focused on a number of determinants of high school dropouts, such as socioeconomic status and learning disabilities. However, this literature has not systematically explored the interaction between these two variables. Therefore, my research extends past literature by focusing on this interaction. A logit model is used to predict the dichotomous variable, high school dropouts, and to run simulations with varying values of the independent variables. The results show that low socioeconomic …

The Effects Of 9/11 On The Fire Fighter Labor Market, Kathleen E. Frawley '06

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study is to look at this apparent increase in demand for fire protection services in the theoretical framework of derived demand. The theory of derived demand tells us that the demand for labor in a certain field is determined by the demand for the goods or services produced by that labor (Freeman, 1972). More specifically, we should expect to see a shift to the right of the demand curve for fire fighters from the increased demand for fire protection services since September Eleventh. This should lead to greater employment levels and higher wages in the labor …

The Effect Of Oil Prices On Exchange Rates: A Case Study Of The Dominican Republic, Jennifer C. Dawson '06

Honors Projects

Oil imports represent a significant fraction of the trade balance for energy-dependant economies. In the case of small open economies with floating exchange rates, the variability in oil prices is expected to have a large impact on the relative value of the currency. Since oil contracts are denominated in US dollars, changes in the price of oil have significant implications for the demand and supply of foreign exchange. This relationship between the price of oil and the exchange rate has been established by the literature for oil-producing countries but not for oil-importing countries. This paper uses the case of the …

The Effect Of Financial Ratios And Market Hype On Short Term Stock Prices, Adam F. Turk '06

Honors Projects

This paper considers possible sources of short term changes in stock price. By predicting these changes, analysts can learn about the forces that drive the stock market enabling investors to earn greater returns. Studies conducted throughout the twentieth century have provided a conclusive basis for stock market analysis. The concept behind these studies is the use of intrinsic ratios to determine a change in stock price. Unfortunately, few studies have produced truly relevant results. This failure led to the introduction of a new variable into stock market analysis: hype. Hype consists of non-market factors that can affect the price of …