Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Neighborhood Effects And The Development Of Cognitive Ability: A Re-Examination Of The Bell Curve, Amber Munday '01

Honors Projects

"The average black and white differ in IQ at every level of socioeconomic status..." state Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray in 1994's controversial book, The Bell Curve (269). Implicit in this statement is the idea that blacks are genetically less intelligent than whites, and it is because of this, that the gap in black and white median incomes persists. Herrnstein and Murray believe that the portion of IQ, as measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), that is influenced by environmental factors is virtually irrelevant. This is due to the fact that less intelligent people live in less desirable …

Development Of Human And Physical Capital And Change In The Structure Of Exports In Developing Countries: An Analytical Study, Pritam Banjeree '01

Honors Projects

The objective of this paper is to look at how development of physical and human capital affects the structure of exports from developing countries. As a country becomes increasingly developed, it moves away from production in primary goods to production of manufactures. This structural change will also be reflected in its exports. The more developed a country is in terms of human and physical capital the higher will be its manufacturing exports. This hypothesis is tested empirically. Factors like education, per capita income, infrastructure and capital investment are used to capture human and physical capital development, while the percentage of …

A Case Of The Phillips Curve In The Formation Of A Monetary Union, Yuet Wen Wan '01

Honors Projects

The European Monetary Union was established in 1992 as part of an effort to bring economic integration to new levels by creating a common currency area for Europe -a monetary union that would abolish transaction costs of converting one European currency to another, and eliminating exchange rate variability and uncertainty among traders and investors. Since the formation of the European Monetary System in 1979, lowering inflation had become the main monetary policy priority. My research centers on the Phillips Curve, which implies that decreasing inflation rates would always be coupled with increasing unemployment rates. This study uses the trends of …

Explaining The Wage Gap Between Contingent And Noncontingent Workers, Nicole Skalski '01

Honors Projects

An important labor market trend is the rapid increase of the contingent workforce. Contingent workers are members of the workforce who do not perceive themselves as having an explicit or implicit contract for continuing employment. Under this definition, it is estimated that 6 million workers are classified as contingent. Researchers have discovered a pay gap between contingent and noncontingent workers. Hipple, in his 1998 study, argued that median earnings were $266 per week for contingent workers, compared with $444 for the noncontingents. The purpose of this project is to explore what causes this income differential by using the National Longitudinal …

Misery And Militarization: High Military Expenditure And Minimal Development In India, Michelle L. Stone '01

Honors Projects

Considering its large and consistent allocations to defense over time, India has been noted to be a predominant military power in Asia. Concurrently, India can not claim to have reached notable levels of economic and social development. Minimal levels of development thwarts the ability of the population to attain basic needs such as food, health care, and education. Therefore, by examining economic and social variables over the 1974 to 1995 period within a recursive model, this paper determines that, in India, while economic development is not affected by military spending, social development is negatively affected by military spending. Moreover, the …

The Economics Of Dowry: Causes And Effects Of An Indian Tradition, Tonushree Jaggi

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

I argue that dowries exist because of a combination of two reasons. First, there is an excess supply of women in the Indian marriage market that results in the use of dowry as an equilibrating mechanism. Secondly, a differential in the patterns of human capital accumulation of men and women have led to a larger positive benefit from marriage for women than for men, the net difference of which is theoretically equivalent to the amount of the dowry. Both these explanations for the existence of dowry are fundamentally grounded in the powerful social and cultural ideologies of marriage held by …

The Effects Of Fiscal Decentralization On Health Care In China, Emily Yee

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

From my analysis, I conclude that decentralization has not been detrimental to health care when health care performance is measured by the number of doctors per 10,000 people, mortality rates, and local health care expenditure. However, the effects of decentralization on health care are inconclusive when health care performance is measured by the number of hospital beds per 10,000 people.

This paper is divided into five sections. The first section discusses theories of federalism. The second section presents an overview of China’s economic reforms since 1980. The third section discusses the current state of health care in China and its …

The Great Divide: A Comparison Of Kentucky And Ohio Counties Along The Ohio River (1840-1860), Jennie Berry

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper operates under an opposite assumption and, instead, argues that the Kentucky-Ohio border is an ideal test case for the null hypothesis that the institution of slavery per se had no significant economic effects. Kentucky and Ohio counties tracing the Ohio River are composed of the same soil and face similar weather conditions (Blanford, 2001; Barnhisel, 2001; Foster, 2001). Both regions likewise claim the same geographical access to outside markets.

Relationships Among Wine Prices, Ratings, Advertising, And Production: Examining A Giffen Good, Carol Miu

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

It has become increasingly popular for statistics to be used in the prediction of wine prices. In fact, the prices of mature wines produced in the Bordeaux region of France have been accurately predicted by vintage growing-season characteristics. This paper analyzes the relationships among wine prices, ratings, advertising, and production, using data obtained from a wine ratings magazine, Wine Spectator. It presents a model of wine price based on information about production quantity, vintage, country of origin, and wine type. This paper then examines the scoring method of Wine Spectator by evaluating the effects of wine price on wine rating. …

A Case Of The Philips Curve In The Formation Of A Monetary Union: A Glimpse At High Inflation Countries Of The European Monetary Union, Yuet Wen Wan

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper examines how disinflation in high inflation economies affects unemployment levels. According to Keynesian macroeconomic theories, a decrease in inflation will cause an increase in unemployment in the short run. Due to high inflation over the years among countries like Italy and Ireland, their expected inflation rate is significantly high. As a result, when the government starts a process of disinflation though restrictive fiscal and monetary policies, economic activity declines, and significant short run increase in unemployment follows.