Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Travel To Cuba: A Case Study Of Media Branding In A Politicized Context, Yaneisis Infante

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to detail a case study of U.S. tourism to Cuba in a politicized context; specifically, to compare and contrast the Obama and Trump administrations. This study seeks to examine how the Cuban “brand” and the island’s overall tourism strategy is formulated, circulated, shaped and reshaped by various actors and the public in the changing context of the newly antagonistic bilateral U.S.-Cuba political relationship. The research questions explore issues of how diplomatic relations impact Cuban tourism and advertising messaging. This paper also discusses the changes in the U.S. news media coverage of Cuba as a …

The Future Development Of Reits In China, Jia Sun

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is a type of trust fund or corporation that pools the funds of a large number of investors by issuing a certificate of income and invest the raised funds in real estate projects that are managed by a specialized investment institution. The real estate investment risk is moderate, and the rent is stable, but the capital threshold is high, and it is difficult for small and medium investors to enter the market. The invention of REITs aims to solve this problem, through the collection of funds, so that small and medium investors can enter the …

Dimensions Of Us Global Financial Power: Essays On Financial Sanctions, Global Imbalances, And Sovereign Default, Mariam Majd

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how U.S. capabilities in the global financial arena enable it to affect outcomes to its advantage. The first essay presents theoretical support for the hypothesis that holdings of U.S. sovereign debt collateralize public and private dollar borrowing in developing and emerging market economies. The second essay empirically tests the theory presented in Chapter 1 and provides evidence that, indeed, a statistically significant relationship exists between a country’s official holdings of US Treasury securities and its level of outstanding dollar credit. Our results demonstrate that even after controlling for a persistence effect (i.e., inertia) in US Treasury security …

The Interplay Between Real Estate Prices In Shenzhen, Dongguan And Huizhou, Zhituan Su

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, the Chinese government has proposed a national development strategy for the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which has been beefing up the trend of integrated development of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou, frontiers of the reform and opening up. Among many other topics, the evolution of the real estate prices in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou has become a front-burner topic.

In this dissertation focusing on the real estate price in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou, we have conducted in-depth analysis of the interplay between the real estate price in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou from such perspectives as …

Essays On The Economic Consequences Of Capital Controls, Richard J. Nugent Iii

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters. In Chapter One, we review the literature on the economic consequences of capital controls. Capital controls are advocated as second-best policy in the presence of a pecuniary externality. Restricting capital inflows as a prudential tool during economic booms may distort the efficient allocation of capital but it invokes precautionary saving behavior so that agents do not overborrow. The financial crises that are fueled by capital market distortions can be mitigated by the use of prudential capital controls, heightened during the boom and released during the bust. The empirical evidence on capital controls has revealed …

The Origins Of The Jones Act Of Puerto Rico, Stephanie Mercedes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

After the Spanish-American War that ended in 1898, Puerto Rico was given to the United States by Spain as a war booty, becoming a US colony. The first law ever created by the United States to control Puerto Rico was the Foraker Act (also known as the Organic Act of 1900). This established a civilian government in Puerto Rico. It also extended the federal government rulings to the island. After its creation, the Puerto Rican population began to wonder what their political status was since nothing was concretized until the Jones Act was signed. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, …

International Trade, Fdi And Agency Problems, Yuting Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation comprises three papers that separately study product quality in international trade, the governance’ effect on FDI and the agency problems in firms’ exporting decisions.

The first chapter quantifies the contribution of differences in quality preferences to the differences in gains from trade across countries. The quantification demonstrates that variations in the strength of quality preferences across countries add to heterogeneities across countries in market competitiveness. If the quality channel is shut down, countries with stronger preferences for quality have larger degrees of underestimations in their losses from the trade barrier. Finally, gains from a universal rise in quality …

Cooperative Development Of International Port In Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Yunwei Du

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Study On The Port Classification Of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road West Line, Jiawen Wang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Correlation Analysis Between Container Shipping Market And Sino-Us Trade Under The China-Us Trade Conflict, Changqing Lu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Sino-Us Trade Conflict On International Dry Bulk Shipping Market, Yuefeng Lyu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Comparative Analysis Of International Bulk Freight Index, Wenbo Gu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Risk And Strategies Of China's Oversea Port Infrastructure Investment Under "One Belt One Road" Initiative, Jingshun Ke

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Shifting Dynamics Of International Reserve Currencies, Robert Righi

Honors Theses

Throughout most of post World War II period, the United States dollar has been globally accepted as the dominant reserve currency. This dominance comes with “exorbitant privilege” or special benefits such as not having a balance of payments problem. Therefore, with the shifting of global geopolitical balance of power in the age of Trump, along 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 provide an updated study of the status of the dollar, the euro, and in particular, the …

Public Authority And Private Prisons: How Private Prison Labor Contributes To National Employment Precarity, Kaitlyn Oder

International Political Economy Theses

Private uses of prison labor are illegal internationally, and not without reason. A lack of public oversight and regulations of wages mean that prison labor is often exploited in exchange for increased profitability for private prisons and sometimes the private companies they contract with. This paper will explicate the ways in which private uses of prison labor contribute to wage and employment precarity and ultimately cost numerous non incarcerated low wage individuals in the United States their jobs and livelihoods. It offers potential policy solutions and paths forward for new research to better link the sociological and economic considerations of …

Are Menstrual Cycles A Biological Determinant Of Well-Being Amongst Sierra Leonean Schoolchildren?, Ashwini Shridhar

Master's Theses

The influence of hormones and biology on behavior is a topic that is rife with controversy, especially when it comes to sexual hormones. There is even more murkiness when it comes to the topic of menstruation and knowledge about women’s menstrual cycles. Recent research on this topic have seen a link between the hormonal fluctuations during menstrual cycles and various behavioral implications on competition, cooperation, and risk behavior. This study tries to expand existing knowledge by examining whether there is a link between hormonal fluctuations during menstrual cycles and risk preferential behavior using economic experiments in the largely understudied context …

Empowering Female Entrepreneurs Through Mentorship In Medellin, Colombia: Results From The Field, Theresa Solenski

Master's Theses

Utilizing the power of local knowledge and peer networking, this study attempts to quantify the impacts of mentorship among female micro-entrepreneurs in Medellin, Colombia on empowerment. Developing countries such as Colombia have disproportionately high rates of unprofitable micro-businesses, many of which are managed by women. Internal constraints, such as disempowerment, play a central role in perpetuating poverty. We implement a 6-month mentoring intervention by pairing 18 successful entrepreneurs with 52 disadvantaged female, micro-entrepreneurs in Medellin, Colombia to measure the additional benefit of localized knowledge to micro-borrowers. Using a process of random assignment, I measure the change in female empowerment, measured …

The Long-Run Effects Of Tropical Cyclones On Infant Mortality, Isabel Miranda

Master's Theses

In the United States alone, each tropical cyclone causes an average of $14.6 billion worth of damages. In addition to the destruction of physical infrastructure, natural disasters also negatively impact human capital formation. These losses are often more difficult to observe, and therefore, are over looked when quantifying the true costs of natural disasters. One particular effect is an increase in infant mortality rates, an important indicator of a country’s general socioeconomic level. This paper utilizes a model created by Anttila-Hughes and Hsiang, that takes advantage of annual variation in tropical cyclones using annual spatial average maximum wind speeds and …

Demystifying Poverty In Tourism: Looking Into Pro-Poor Tourism In India, Sara Burke

International Political Economy Theses

Poverty and tourism have a unique relationship; poverty can serve as a form of tourism or poverty can create barriers that hinder the development of the tourism sector. There is no better example of the complicated interplay between poverty and tourism than India. The use of Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) as a methodological lense that can be applied to any form of tourism shows howthe poor can benefit from the sector. This International Political Economy thesis is broken into three parts: a context section, a case study, and a policy proposal. The first part will focus on Pro-Poor Tourism in an …

Essays On Convex Weighting For Global Vector Autoregressive Models, Garrison Leach

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on studying the impact that weighting schemes can have on forecasting performance and dynamic analysis in global vector autoregressive (GVAR) models. The first chapter discusses an existing gap in the literature regarding weighting scheme choice and develops a simple, yet powerful method for defining richer spatial linkages in a way that doesn’t sacrifice economic context. The new technique called convex weighting, extends the set of available options for defining spatial linkages in models that handle the curse of dimensionality via compression and offers a justifiable approach to alleviating uncertainty. The second and third chapters apply the newly …

Toward A More Universal Currency: The Impact Of The Clearing Mechanism On Developing Economies, Evan Ross Kaderbeck

Applied Economics Theses

Toward a More Universal Currency:

The Impact of the Clearing Mechanism on Developing Economies

As part of a broader plan to reform the system of international finance, experts have indicated the need to modify the system of international money. They point to problems such as the difficulties faced by developing countries in obtaining hard currency needed for imports, or the flows of hot money which make the financing of long-term development projects difficult. Some have called for a form of universal currency, used only in international trade. Developing nations especially need access to a clearing mechanism which would eliminate the …

Empirical Analysis Of China’S Exchange Rate And Macroeconomic Policy, Jia Ji

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the effects of exchange rate and macroeconomic policy in China. It consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 explores the dynamics of monetary transmission mechanism. As China’s domestic financial markets deepen and develop further toward a market-based system, the country’s monetary policy transmission should continue to improve in the sense that the policy instrument’s influence on economic conditions increases in magnitude and stabilized across time. Using a short-term key interest rate as a standard monetary policy tool and time-varying parameter techniques, this study empirically demonstrates that China’s monetary policy framework is in the midst of transitioning to a …

Are You Happy? Local Economic Development In Northern Thailand, Katherine Sorensen

Master's Theses

Thailand has had a long history of economic development. In recent years, Thailand began to focus on economic development initiatives a local level. The implementation process has been slow, but the introduction of social enterprise programs has proven a promising strategy in local economic development. Successful examples of economic development can be found in Thailand wherein this paper argues through collaboration between government agencies and local communities lies the key to success.

Qualitative techniques including a two months of fieldwork in Thailand, first hand observations, and appreciative inquiry interviews are used to analyze economic development initiatives in the communities of …

Perceptions Of The North American Free Trade Agreement And Mexican Migration: “What Is The Relationship Between Trade Liberalization And Labor Mobility?”, Colin Gonzalez

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In an effort to understand the effectiveness of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the author uses previous academic literature to assesses the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s primary and peripheral goals. To understand how North American citizens, perceive NAFTA and their future relationship with one another, the author uses survey data to analyze attitudes of American and Mexican citizens towards trade liberalization (NAFTA) and labor mobility. Regression analysis reveals that there is a positive relationship between labor mobility and trade liberalization for Mexican citizens but not for American citizens. This is a significant finding that contributes …

The Post-9/11 Lgbtq Human Rights Struggle In Egypt, Donna K. Huaman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the struggle for LGBTQ human rights has become a leading standard that depicts whether or not a state can be considered modern and progressive. Yet, while this new criterion seems to be supported by Global North states, other nations in other regions, like Egypt from the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) has criticized the international pressure to implement this standard as neo-imperialist and inauthentic to its Muslim-Arab culture. Egypt claims to be the universal Arab-Muslim voice for the MENA region and has become one of the greatest challengers to the international campaign for …

The Effect Of Outward Foreign Direct Investment On Exports In Japan During The Lost Decade, 1985-2005, Alexandros Ladas

Dissertations and Theses

This study will utilize an OLS analysis of the panel data coming from various databases such as the World Bank, Federal Reserve and etc. to determine if there exists a significant correlation between the exports of Japan and its foreign direct investment (FDI) in the period of 1985-2005 with nearby trading partners of which include the countries of ASEAN, China and South Korea. In addition, a selection of supplemental factors will be used to determine if they also possess any significance with exports. These factors include: the exchange rate of the Japanese yen with the currency of the trading partner …

The Importance Of Property Rights In The Developing World: A Study And Comparison Of Zimbabwe And Botswana, Luke A. Scarpa

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Governments' Adoption Of Native Cryptocurrency: A Case Study Of Iran, Russia, And Venezuela, Rose Mahdavieh

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The emergence of digital currency is becoming prevalent in the age of globalization – specifically, cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are two recently discovered concepts currently being explored by researchers and developers. Cryptocurrency is a subset of digital currency that encompasses revolutionary technology, shifting political and economic spheres in nation-states. Certain governments are more prone to the adoption of cryptocurrencies and three comparative case study countries, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, have shared attributes that result in adoption. Observed factors that result in the adoption of cryptocurrencies include corruption, GDP level, economic volatility, and Western sanctions. These factors will be applied in …

Testing The Determinants Of Stock Exchange Index Comovement In Thailand Stock Exchange, Nuntapat Asavaroengchai

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

A study into the effects of different macroeconomic variables on the comovement between the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index and the Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500). These effects are tested using OLS regression in an annual and quarterly frequency. Real Interest Rate Difference between the two countries is found to have a significant negative effect, likely due to investors turning to Thailand when it has higher real interest rate. Income Level is found to be a significant positive effect, as countries with higher income are more integrated with the US. As the economy naturally grows, it is likely …

Institutional Factors And Cross-Border Merger And Acquisition : Evidence From Selected Asian Countries, Haneeta Phuriputranonth

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of institutional factors on cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) inflows by using a panel data of 18 selected Asian countries from 2002 to 2016. This study contributes to the existing literatures by using various measures of institutional factors as the determinants of cross-border M&A into selected Asian countries and examining at the disaggregated level according to country’s income level. There are two main results from this study. First, two institutional factors, namely control of corruption and voice and accountability, have significant effect on cross-border M&A into selected Asian countries. Higher …