Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Foreign Direct Investment In Eastern Europe: Applying Traditional Models Of Fdi To The Transitional Countries Of Eastern Europe, Jonathan Austin Kerr

Honors Papers

An empirical analysis is used to determine whether the factors that normally explain FDI flows to developing countries are also suitable to explain FDI flows to the developing countries of Eastern Europe for the years 1988-1992. It was found that a typical set of explanatory variables which explain FDI flows to non Eastern Europe developing countries very well, is not a useful set of determinants for FDI flows to Eastern Europe. Conclusions are drawn concerning the extent to which these results reflect the current state of political and economic transition taking place in Eastern Europe.

Viability Of Traditional Banking Services: Evidence From The Regional Level U.S. Banking Industry, Sofia Xinchen Lou

Honors Papers

My study focuses on testing the conduct of banks in their traditional activities, loans and demand deposits provision. The twenty-one year period runs from 1972 to 1992. A relatively recent econometric model is employed. The model takes a set of two-equation system that contains one demand function and one reduced-form supply equation. A parameter that references the deviation in the conduct of banks from the competitive equilibrium level can be estimated using the model. When the parameter has a value that is not significantly different from 0, banks' conduct is said to be competitive. A positive value indicates market power …

Urban Squatting: An Adaptive Response To The Housing Crisis, Rimma Ashkinadze

Honors Papers

From introduction: Urban squatting is the unauthorized occupation of empty buildings. Squatting is usually thought to be a Third World phenomenon associated with urbanization, poverty, and rural-urban migration. However, there is a history of squatting in the US and Europe as well. Squatting has been reported in New York, San Francisco, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Since World War II and particularly in the last thirty years, urban squatting has received much attention in Europe. The major European centers for squatting have been London, Amsterdam, and Berlin.' In Britain, the squatting of buildings scheduled for renovation or demolition …

Meat And Potatoes: Recipes For A Range Of Egalitarianism In Three Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Amy Vlassia Margaris

Honors Papers

Throughout most of human history our ancestors lived by hunting and gathering. Only within the last ten to fifteen thousand years have alternative forms of social organization developed, duly labeled by anthropologists and archaeologists: agricultural, pastoral, and complex state societies, lineal tribes, and a host of other terms which pass in and out of favor in our ongoing (and inescapably human) attempts to categorize our own kind.

Classification lies at the heart of science, and anthropology is certainly no exception. However, categorization of any degree (which requires generalization) runs the risk of obscuring important differences between cultural groups. The trick …

Feminist Social Research: Epistemological And Methodological Implications, Molly Moloney

Honors Papers

In this paper I examine some of the primary debates in feminist epistemology, with a particular emphasis on postmodern epistemological positions, asking what these mean for doing research. One central question I ask is 'what role should the concept of objectivity have in feminist sociological research?' I argue for a reformulation of the concept of objectivity that, sympathetic with feminist postmodernism, rejects the ideal of value-neutrality in research, but that also rejects relativism and subjectivism. Keeping these debates in mind, I will examine debates regarding feminist methodology and the question of whether or not there is a specific feminist method …

An Analysis Of Foreign Direct Investment And Portfolio Investment Into Developing Countries, Sunaina Kilachand Patel

Honors Papers

This paper attempts to understand what motivates and determines private capital inflows in developing counties. I intend to examine whether different types of flows (in this paper I will focus only on FOI and PFI as they dominate private investment flows today) depend on different factors, whether these factors are domestic or international and which of these factors are within the scope and reach of the host developing countries. In my paper, after providing some background information on FOI and PFI, I will then review previous studies and work based on the subject of FOI and PFI flows. I will …

"Nyatiti Is My People": Music And The Reconstruction Of Culture Among The Luo Of Western Kenya, Ian Eagleson

Honors Papers

In this thesis I contend that experiencing music is a fundamental activity in the realization of cultural identity. Music reinforces cultural identity by enacting significant forms and practices that embody meaning, meaning particular to the identity of a culture. When people hear music that is significant in their culture it excites certain feelings in them which reinforce and regenerate their identity with that culture. Participation in music is a condition that evokes a vivid impression in the participant like no other activity in social life. Functionally, this impression may reinforce themes impressed on actors in other ways; however, the way …