Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Recessions Or Partisanship: What Explains Climate Skepticism In The U.S.?, Abhishek S. Sambatur

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates the variations in public mood pertaining to climate skepticism and attempts to empirically assess whether economic recessions or partisanship help explain aggregate-level trends and movements across a 16-year time horizon. Public survey data from the iPoll and Gallup Organization were used to construct the Climate Change Skeptic Index (CCSI) that served as a proxy to capture public opinion trends in skepticism across the U.S. A two-part vector autoregressive model suggests that while economic recessions might be causally linked to climate skepticism, partisanship plays a more influential role in explaining it over time. The key result is that …

Learning Consequences Of School Improvement In Mexico: Evidence From A Large Government Program, Carlos Alejandro Noyola Contreras

Undergraduate Economic Review

I study the impact of investment in infrastructure of already existing poor schools and increased school based management on learning outcomes, as measured by student achievement in standardized tests. To that end, I implement a difference-in-differences design to compare schools that received money from a large government program to improve their physical conditions with those that do not, before and after program implementation. Unlike previous studies, I focus on the effect of improving schools that already exist, to see whether the impact is different from that of building schools. I find no evidence of positive impacts on test scores at …

Is Diamond A Resource Curse For Africa?, Karli Hamrick

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates the resource curse in diamond exporting industry in African countries. The empirical evidence about the “resource curse” is mixed in literature and almost none has been done regarding diamond. Our study aims to bridge that gap. The results suggest that diamond export is positively correlated with well-being in a group of African countries. In other words, the “resource curse” may not occur in diamond mining industry after the Kimberly Process (KP) was put in place in 2002. We argue that the KP serves as a good institution and has created good incentives for firms in the industry. …

A Data Analysis Of The World Happiness Index And Its Relation To The North-South Divide, Charles Alba

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this document, we perform a detailed data analysis on the World Happiness Report with its relation to the socio-economic North-South Divide. In order to do so, we perform some extensive data cleaning and analysis before querying on the World Happiness Report. Our results based on Hypothesis Testing determines the happiness of the Global North is greater than that of the Global South. Furthermore, our queries show that the mean happiness score for the Global North significantly outweighing that of the South. Likewise, the 10 'Happiest' nations all belong to the Global North whereas the 10 'least happy' nations belong …

Is Our Coal-Onial Era Ending Anytime Soon?, Hadiqa Faraz

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this paper, I estimate the long-run co-integrated relationship between energy demand and economic growth for 20 countries from the year 2000 to 2016. I use panel unit-root and heterogeneous panel co-integration tests to test for non-stationarity of the panels and to determine whether there is a long-run link between energy consumption and GDP per capita. The estimated model uses a first-difference OLS model to estimate income elasticity of energy demand; the empirical results of this model show that there is a long-run relationship between energy consumption per capita and GDP per capita. In the long-term, on average, with 1% …

The Relationship Between College Expansion And Income Inequality, Aidan J. Wang

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper examines the relationship between college expansion and income inequality within a country. Researchers have identified a “composition effect,” “compression effect,” and “dispersion effect.” However, the shape and magnitude of the net relationship remains unclear. I construct a country panel using inequality data from the World Inequality Database and college share data from Barro and Lee. From 0% to 27% college share, the bottom 50% and middle 40% income shares decrease linearly while the top 10% income share increases linearly. The trend shape holds for a sample of only OECD countries, but the magnitude changes, suggesting country-specific factors matter.

Understanding The Characteristics Of Remittance Recipients In Venezuela: A Country In Economic Crisis, Nicole A. Degla

Undergraduate Economic Review

This essay analyzes household surveys from the World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Database for the years 2011, 2014, and 2017, as a means to distinguish individual level characteristics of remittance recipients in Venezuela. Remittances are defined as “crossborder, person-to-person payments of relatively low value. The transfers are typically recurrent payments by migrant workers to their relatives in their home countries (World Bank, 2015). Through the use of a linear probability model and probit regressions, I examine the variables age, gender, education level, and income quintile. Results of the analysis find that age has a statistically significant negative effect on the …

The Shifting Dynamics Of International Reserve Currencies, Robert J. Righi

Undergraduate Economic Review

With the recognition by the IMF of the Chinese renminbi as an international reserve currency in 2015, it is important to understand the modern influence of reserve currencies. We use currency exchange rate data and apply modified workhorse regression models to assign each country’s gross domestic product at purchasing power parity to a reserve currency bloc in order to obtain a global sphere of influence for each reserve currency. We find that the United States retains its dominance but faces challenges from the renminbi and the euro in recent years as the international monetary system becomes tri-polar.

How Do Interest Rates Affect Market Capitalization Growth Rates In The Us?, Philip Carolin

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates how interest rates affect the market capitalization growth rate of individual companies in the US. The research will distinguish itself from previous literature as it analyzes company and macroeconomic data after the 2008 recession. This is particularly interesting as interest rates have been historically low in this time period. Previous research suggests that since the Great Recession the effects of interest rate changes have decreased. On the contrary I will argue that the effects of interest rates still appear to be significant and substantial when explaining the market capitalization growth rate.

Measuring The Black-White Dissimilarity Index In Williamsburg And James City County Public High Schools, Sylvia Greer

Undergraduate Economic Review

In 2007, the Williamsburg-James City County (WJCC) School Board chose to open a third high school and redistrict the attendance of their public high schools.

I used a measure of racial unevenness to assess what this decision did to racial segregation in the school district. Using the black-white dissimilarity index, I found that the high schools have had increasing racial segregation from 2000 to 2015, with a significant increase due to the new school.

As the WJCC school board, students, and families move forward, they should be careful to measure and address the levels of segregation in the district.

The Argentine Great Depression, Laira Aggarwal, Francois Ries, Alejandro Salvador

Undergraduate Economic Review

The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the business cycle of the Argentine Crisis (1998-2002). The following paper will outline the crisis, starting off with a comprehensive literature review on the topic, analyzing its causes and consequences, followed by a survey on the policy-responses undertaken by the Argentine government to combat the recession. The crisis will then be analyzed in the context of the IS-LM model of macroeconomics.

A Statistical Analysis Of Economic Perceptions In The 2015 United Kingdom General Election, Amarvir Singh-Bal Mr.

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper characterises the vote which took place in the United Kingdom's (U.K.) 2015 General Election as an ‘accountability instrument.’ In doing so, the research interrogates which sections of the electorate hold the incumbent government more accountable for economic outcomes between the 2010 and 2015 U.K. General Elections. The Rational Choice Theory and the Michigan Model are used in this study to present two interlinked, and yet distinct, hypotheses – that less politically informed and non-partisan voters are more likely to hold the government accountable for economic performances; compared to the politically informed and partisan voters within the electorate. Implementing …

How Deep Is Your Love? Loss Aversion In Dating Markets, Genevieve B. Gregorich

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study uses experimental evidence to examine the existence of loss aversion in the dating market. Applying a valuation gap experiment, this study finds that people are loss averse when it comes to dating opportunities, meaning people weigh the loss of a dating opportunity more heavily than an equivalent gain. The results also support the hypothesis that people experience more loss aversion when they have fewer dating opportunities available. This finding provides preliminary evidence that the existence and growing prevalence of online dating, which dramatically increases peoples’ access to dating opportunities, reduces loss aversion, therefore increasing turnover in the market.

The Economics Of Weight Loss, Shivani Pandey

Undergraduate Economic Review

Obesity is now being considered one of the biggest health concerns globally. Ironically, while India records the largest no. of underweight population in the world along with China, it has also been placed in the top five countries in terms of obesity as per a new study by the Lancet Journal. Obesity entails various direct and indirect costs in terms of lower productivity and higher medical expenditure and has the potential to lower economic growth. This paper analyses the need for strengthening government regulations in the weight loss industry. After analyzing the causes of obesity and its negative effects on …

Impacts Of Contraception On Women’S Decision-Making Agency In Indonesia, Michaela J. Fogarty

Undergraduate Economic Review

Increasing access to contraception has the potential to empower women and improve the economic standing of families across the globe. Many researchers have explored the impacts of contraception on families and the determinants of women’s level of empowerment, but little scholarship exists on their direct relationship. This paper explores the impacts of contraceptive use on women’s empowerment, measured by a sum of women’s household decision-making agency. Panel data from three rounds of the Indonesian Family Life Survey is used to run multiple regressions with household fixed effects. Results suggest that women who use contraception have input on two additional types …

The Impact Of 2018 Tariffs On U.S. Trade Values Across Relevant Categories, Lydia Murray

Undergraduate Economic Review

The Office of the United States Trade Representative, under the direction of President Donald Trump, has implemented protectionist tariffs to an extent not seen in the past several decades. This paper explores data from the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze how the values of U.S. imports and exports have differed from what would have been expected for 2018 in the absence of tariffs. This is done by using past years’ data to create a predictive curve for 2018 trade values across several different product categories, which have been subject to tariffs. The general finding of this paper is that the …

International Migration And Fdi: Can Migrant Networks Foster Investments Toward Origin Countries?, Trang Heidi Luu

Honors Projects

With the growing trends of international migration, the literature looking at the economic impact of migrants has also expanded, focusing on both the perspectives of the host and the origin countries in regard to various aspects such as labor force growth, GDP growth, and poverty rates. In the specific literature investigating the impact of migrants on origin countries, FDI is a key factor that cannot be overlooked, as it can play an essential role in the economic development of origin countries. Studies in this area have hypothesized that migrants’ impact on FDI is positive, since the information about the origin …

A Cge-Model Analysis Of U.S. Imposed Automotive Tariffs, Angela Li

Undergraduate Economic Review

Using a computable generable equilibrium (CGE) model, this research paper evaluates the effects of a U.S. imposed 25% automotive import tariff on NAFTA countries and the European Union, the greatest U.S. automotive trade partners. Three simulations were conducted: the implementation of tariffs with no retaliation, equivalent retaliation on the same products, and retaliation on the top exports of politically significant states, with sensitivity analysis applied in the final scenario. The results demonstrate that the EU is marginally affected while the NAFTA countries experience the greatest increases in prices and reduction in total wages.

Belgium’S 2008 Recentralization Of Wage-Setting Mechanisms And The Decentralization-Unit Labor Costs-Net Exports Link: Chronicle Of A Death Foretold?, Ines Pedro Fernandes

Undergraduate Economic Review

Anchored on scholarly literature on international competitiveness and the classical definition of competitiveness as net exports, policy making institutions support decentralized wage-setting mechanisms. The rationale is that decentralized wage-setting systems lower wages and unit labor costs (ULC) and, therefore, increase net exports. This paper contains a literature review on the wage-setting–ULC–net exports link and challenges conventional rationales by examining the co-evolution of Belgium’s real wages and net exports across wage percentiles and sectors. Belgium is a case in point, since the country experienced both increasing real wages and increasing net exports after recentralizing wage-setting mechanisms in 2008.

Hedge Funds In The Periphery: An Analysis Of Structures Influencing Fund Behavior In The Icelandic And Cypriot Financial Crises, Jameson K. Mah

Undergraduate Economic Review

Hedge funds are often viewed from a positive or negative lens in the public and academic forum. However, both of these perspectives neglect structuralist factors. This paper analyzes the effect of these antecedent economic, political, and legal structures. I argue that these structures are at the root of hedge fund behavior, particularly during financial crises. The financial crises of two peripheral countries, Iceland and Cyprus, are used as case studies to illustrate how hedge fund involvement diverges as a result of structural factors.

Sleep, Salary, And Successful Occupational Negotiation: Evidence From A Labor Market Survey, Jerrick Tram, Philip Wesley Routon

Undergraduate Economic Review

We examine the relationship between sleep and wages and then ask a follow-up question: might occupational negotiation be one intermediate factor? That is, are workers of a certain sleep pattern more likely to successfully (re)negotiate the terms of their employment? Popular press, non-economic research articles, self-help guides, and websites often purport relationships between sleep patterns and one's ability to successfully negotiate. Results point to sleeping hours having a statistically significant, positive, and strong relationship with both salary and successful negotiation, though the latter relationship is only apparent for workers in about their 4th or 5th year on the job.

Mike Seeborg, And The Illinois Minimum Wage Increase, February 18, 2019, Mary Cullen

Interviews for WGLT

Illinois is expected to be the fifth state with a minimum wage increase to $15. Professor of Economincs Mike Seeborg dicusses the potential impact of these changes with Mary Cullen from WGLT.

Second-Generation Mexican Immigrants: How Do They Fare In The U.S. Labor Market?Second-Generation Mexican Immigrants: How Do They Fare In The U.S. Labor Market?, William Gustafson

Mark A. Israel '91 Endowed Summer Research Fund in Economics

In 1977, Chiswick came to the general conclusion that second-generation immigrants in the United States have experienced upward income mobility, earning higher wages than their parents. This paper will attempt to explain why this is and how the specific parental combinations making up each second-generation immigrant affects their labor market potential. While there is plenty of research on the first generation of Mexican immigrants, there is not as much research on the assimilation of the second generation. We cannot know the full effect of immigrants on the economy without knowing how their children, who would not be here if not …