Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Thorstein Veblen And His Underlying Philosophical Influences, John Battaile Hall

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This inquiry recognizes Thorstein Veblen first and foremost as a philosopher who advanced a literature in Social Sciences, generally, and Economic Science, in particular. Veblen’s thinking and writing were supported by rich traditions drawn from notable philosophers that included among several: Charles Sanders Peirce, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Relying upon his strong background in Philosophy, he then sought to challenge mainstream, neoclassical economics, especially. As his career developed, he would turn his talents and energies towards advancing ideas that would ultimately prove foundational for heterodox economics and, relatedly, American Institutionalism.

Journal of Economic Literature Classification Codes:
B15 – Historical, …

Anticipatory Impacts Of The Repeal Of Roe V. Wade On Female College Applicants, Janna Wisniewski, Brigham Walker, Jillian Torres, Rajiv Sharma

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examined the relative impact of the anticipated repeal of Roe v. Wade on the share of female applicants to universities in states where abortion was banned compared with universities in states where abortion remained legal. Using the Common Data Sets from 71 of the top 100 institutions in the United States spanning 27 states from academic years 2018–2022, we found that there was a nearly one percentage point relative decrease in the share of female undergraduate applicants to institutions in ban states compared with states in which abortion remained legal. This suggests that undergraduate applicants are sensitive to state …

Extension Event Attendance Increases Adoption Of Weed Management Practices By Sports Field Managers, George Frisvold, Chandrakant Agme, David Ervin, Shawn W. Askew, Rebecca Grubbs Bowling, Jennifer Allen, James T. Brosnan, Multiple Additional Authors

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Data from a national survey of 348 U.S. sports field managers were used to examine the effects of participation in Cooperative Extension events on the adoption of turfgrass weed management practices. Of the respondents, 94% had attended at least one event in the previous 3 yr. Of this 94%, 97% reported adopting at least one practice as a result of knowledge gained at an Extension turfgrass event. Half of the respondents had adopted four or more practices; a third adopted five or more practices. Nonchemical, cultural practices were the most-adopted practices (65% of respondents). Multiple regression analysis was used to …

International Labour Migration, Farmland Fallowing, Livelihood Diversification And Technology Adoption In Nepal, Karki Nepal, Mani Nepal, Randall Bluffstone

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article investigates the effect of temporary international labour migration on farmland fallowing, adoption of agricultural intensification technologies and livelihood diversification. Using nationally representative data, combined with empirical methods that allow causal inference, the authors find that households with international migrants are over 50 per cent more likely (based on propensity score matching estimates) to have fallow land than those without. Temporary international migration promotes the adoption of some agricultural intensification technologies and causes rural households to diversify their livelihoods. Land fallowing may increase food insecurity, while agricultural intensification may improve it, for an uncertain net effect.

Private Benefits From Ambient Air Pollution Reduction Policies Evidence From The Household Heating Stove Replacement Program In Chile, Adolfo Uribe, Randall Bluffstone, Carlos Chávez, Walter Gómez, Marcela Jaime

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We estimate the key private benefits from a program to improve ambient air quality during winter in central Chile by replacing inefficient wood-fired home heating stoves with more efficient pellet stoves. We are interested in the private benefits to households because they represent the additional value of the program and likely drive private adoption. Combining electronic stove surface temperature and air pollution monitoring with household surveys, we estimate the effects of adoption on household fuel expenditures, indoor temperatures, and indoor air pollution concentrations (PM2.5). We also explore heterogeneous effects of the program by income group and energy poverty status. Our …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And Primary Care Appointment Availability By Physician Age And Gender, Janna Wisniewski, Sarah E. Tinkler, Brigham Walker, Miron Stano, Rajiv Sharma

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using data generated through simulated patient calls to a national random sample of primary care physicians between February and July 2020, we examine the effects of the first wave of COVID-19 on the availability of the U.S. primary care physician workforce for routine new patient appointments. As states enacted stay-at-home orders, physicians overall became less selective by insurance, and there was a 7 percentage-point increase in acceptance of patient insurance. Telemedicine appointment offers increased 10.2 percentage points from near zero. However, relative to younger counterparts, physicians older than the sample mean (53.1 years) became 18.1 percentage points less likely to …

Mitigating Sex Trafficking: Preventative Methods For Reducing Sexual Exploitation, Autumn Rain Monroe

University Honors Theses

In recent years, sex trafficking has become more well-known in the public sphere, generating activism and legislation in an effort to combat this human rights issue. With this increased awareness comes challenges in appropriately understanding sex trafficking. The general public and even lawmakers often do not understand the complete dynamic or complexities of sex trafficking. Definitional inconsistencies make it difficult to provide a universal definition of sex trafficking, contributing to misconceptions involving the methods of entry and the barriers to exiting. Ultimately, this prevents proper identification of victims, hinders the protection of victims, and the implementation of survivor-oriented legislation, meaning …

Similarities, Commonalities And Parallels In The Contributions Of Thorstein Veblen And Friedrich Nietzsche, John Battaile Hall

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This inquiry seeks to establish that similarities, commonalities, and parallels can be identified in selected contributions advanced by Thorstein Veblen and Friedrich Nietzsche. In the main, their commonness is noted to appear in the critical approaches that also includes expressing deep-seated skepticism regarding the course to modernity, singling out institutions ruling society, and especially the economy—in the case of Veblen. Specialized in Philology, as Nietzsche extolls his Dionysian orientation this inquiry introduces the idea that Veblen’s foundation for his distinctly critical approach to ruling institutions also reflects a Dionysian perspective. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-85) Nietzsche introduces a character whom …

Cognitive And Economic Development, John Luke Gallup

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A burgeoning literature has found that early childhood health conditions of individuals have large causal effects on their cognitive development, education and earnings. How much does early cognitive development contribute to the national economy? Although researchers have long studied the role of worker health for economic growth, they have not assessed the role of early cognitive development.

Cognitive ability is the foundation of human capital, affecting both educational attainment and economic growth. The risk factors for poor cognitive development are very high in many countries. Each risk factor also causes child mortality, making child survival a viable proxy for good …

Changing The Paradigm For Pesticide Resistance Management, David R. Shaw, Amy Asmus, Jill Schroeder, David Ervin

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaborative action on the part of all stakeholders in pest management is essential to effectively address the challenges of pesticide resistance. The US Environmental Protection Agency, through its Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee, recently posted a report on pesticide resistance management and the role the Agency can play in these efforts. In this perspectives piece, we commend the Agency for acknowledging these needs, and encourage implementation of the recommendations. We urge all stakeholders to follow the example set by EPA to engage openly, listen to other stakeholders, and determine their role as part of the broader community that is needed to …

Valuing Ecosystem Services From Restoring Ancient Irrigation Systems: An Application Comparing Labor Vs. Monetary Payments For Choice Experiments, Sahan Dissanayake, Shamen Vidanage

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The use of stated preference methods in developing countries is growing with the increasing concern about the environment as economies develop. At the same time using monetary payment vehicles and estimating a Willingnessto Pay (WTP) can be problematic in rural or low incomes areas in developing countries. Many respondents in these areas regularly engage in barter and paying with labor and do not use monetary payments for all transactions. This distinction from urban areas with a monetary economy and with most settings in developed countries can impact results from valuation studies as the WTP elicited from rural and low-income areas …

The Past, Present, And Future Of The Latino Paradox, Sheila Flores

University Honors Theses

The Latino/Hispanic paradox has left scholars and researchers puzzled as to how Latinos, despite facing socioeconomic challenges, show better health outcomes when compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The emergence of this phenomenon can be traced back to the 1980s/1990s when researchers first noticed Latinos in the United States having characteristics of lower mortality rates and improved health compared with non-Hispanic whites despite having a better socioeconomic status. Performing a literature review of scholars analyzing the past, present, and future of the Latino Paradox will thus allow for an understanding of its origin, current state, and the possible potential trajectories that …

Assessing Visitor Preferences And Willingness To Pay For Marine National Park Hikkaduwa: Application Of Choice Experiment Method, Chamathi Jayaratne, U.A. D.P. Gunawardena, J. C. Edirisinghe, Sahan Dissanayake, D. Rajapaksa

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Eco-tourism all over the world is threatened by the fact that the coral reefs and associated ecosystems are in a process of disappearing at an accelerated rate due to several natural and anthropogenic causes. In this context, the Marine National Park Hikkaduwa (MNPH), one of the four marine national parks in Sri Lanka, that features a fringing coral reef with a high degree of biodiversity, reports a decreasing trend in visitation mainly due to a condition of coral bleaching caused by an El Nino effect. Unfortunately, the regeneration of the corals is found to be slowed by continuous anthropogenic activities. …

Proxies Of Design: A Case Study And Analysis Of Place And Commercial Real Estate In Seattle, Nicholas Miranda

University Honors Theses

What kinds of relationships exist between individual buildings and greater society in Seattle? Focusing on the role of design in shaping the value and desirability of commercial properties, the study examines and utilizes a large temporal and spatial dataset to test price analogs between common building attributes and metrics. By employing a hedonic pricing model, the study seeks to identify the impact of these attributes on property values and ultimately relate them to architectural and contextual design, from a micro to a macro level. The empirical findings are not necessarily novel or groundbreaking, but rather, they shed light on the …

Exploring The Relationship Between Green Space And Academic Performance, Audrey Demeaux

University Honors Theses

A growing body of literature is exploring the possibility that the presence of green spaces near schools can work to improve academic performance. Research to date on the relationship between green space and academic performance has shown mixed results. However, some see incorporating green spaces into school layouts as a key alternative strategy for improving academic achievement in the United States. This paper adds to the emerging discourse on the relationship between green space and academic achievement by using open-source data to conduct a regression analysis exploring the possible relationship between green space near K-12 schools and SAT scores in …

Working Paper No. 75, The Utopian Socialists Reconsidered, Aden Quenemoen

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that efforts to formulate utopian solutions to societal challenges are deserving of reconsideration, especially when the national and international solutions influenced by one Karl Marx and his followers appear to have reached their nadir as the Soviet experiment ended by the start of the 1990s. Such requires us to look back in time prior to Marx by considering contributions advanced by the likes of: Henri de Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, and Charles Fourier. What is stressed is that all three of these authors advanced novel ideas, with some of their ideas deemed important and enduring, while …

Working Paper No. 77, Deconstructing The Kardashian-Based Economy, Alec Van Rossum

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that connections can indeed be made between Thorstein Veblen's contributions towards our understanding of social stratification related to patterns of consumption, and the rise in importance of the Kardashian family. We take Veblen’s seminal and enduring book, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions [1899] and relate some of the ideas therein to what is being coined herein as a “Kardashian-Based Economy.” By drawing connections between selected ideas that Veblen's advanced, and some of the influences displayed by some members of the Kardashian family on consumer culture, we aim to understand …

Working Paper No. 83, The New Focus On Mexico, Maria Zavala

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that China’s falling into unfavorable relations with Washington has contributed to a new focus on Mexico. China’s aggressively competing with America for technological supremacy has indeed elicited a U.S. response. Over recent years and months, the U.S. has implemented a host of measures intended to mitigate China’s competition. Along with disruptions to the supply chain and growing political concerns, company leaders have found it increasingly difficult to continue manufacturing in China. Relatedly, investment flows are streaming towards Mexico in what is now termed as “nearshoring.” This tendency comes with a set of workable challenges. With …

Working Paper No. 78, On Lenin, And The State As A Necessary Tool, J.P. Trafford

Working Papers in Economics

In his The State and Revolution [1918], Vladimir Illich Ulyanov—also known as Lenin—singles out the organ of the “State” as the institution essential for realizing a successful communist revolution. Lenin’s draws his thinking on the State from Karl Marx, who in his writings expresses the view that a State emerges in order to mitigate class conflicts. From this perspective, the State becomes an organ for class rule. History teaches us that the State occupies a position above society and is utilized as a special coercive force for exerting the wills of members of the ruling class upon the working class. …

Working Paper No. 84, Designing The Future: The Influence Of Lloyd J. Reynolds On American Product Innovation, Bander Qadan

Working Papers in Economics

This research inquiry shall explore how critical advances in American design products and consumerism can be traced back to the late Lloyd J. Reynolds and the silent yet powerful influence he has had on a generation of students, such as the innovative pioneer, Steve Jobs. Lloyd J. Reynolds was a renowned calligrapher and teacher at Reed College. The inquiry is structured chronologically, leading to Apple's 2022 valuation of about two trillion dollars. Four significant areas shall be examined to trace this trajectory. Firstly, the paper examines the effects of calligraphy/typography on Lloyd J. Reynolds. Secondly, it delves into Steve Jobs’ …

Working Paper No. 80, On W. Stanley Jevons And Britain’S “Coal Question”, Matthew Phan

Working Papers in Economics

Nineteenth century Britain emerged as the center for the industrial world; with coal serving as the energy carrier which would prove itself as a key resource for powering Britain’s industry and for generating her prosperity. At the same time, coal served as a sector in which innovations were also being devised and introduced. This inquiry seeks to establish that one W. Stanley Jevons, an academic lecturing at the University of Manchester, expressed concerns regarding what he and some others phrased as Britain’s “coal question,” and took to addressing issues associated with its depletion. In so doing, Jevons’ writings would offer …

Working Paper No. 82, The Importance Of The Cold War And Its Ending, Abraham Escudero

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the citizenry inhabiting the two superpowers derived benefits from the Cold War; advantages that appear to have diminished with the start of the Post-Cold War Era. In the 1930s the Great Depression brought into question the efficacy of the Western capitalist system. As a challenge, a Soviet model running on a revolutionary zeal associated with establishing a new society underscored Joseph Stalin’s super-industrialization drive. The citizenry of both superpowers, as well as citizenry around the world, would ultimately benefit from the competition for dominance, albeit with certain costs, especially for human rights. Shifts in …

Working Paper No. 79, On The Emergence Of And Failures Of Cybernetics In The Soviet Union, Leah Herrera

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that despite potentially offering significant efficiency gains leading to an era of intensive economic growth, cybernetics in the USSR fell short in being implemented because of a) lack of coordination between competing ministries; b) inadequate policies; and c) insufficient funding. Though the structure of government in the USSR appeared to be centralized and hierarchical, with economic and government plans and policies traveling from the top down, in practice, ministries acted more like heterarchies, leading to ministerial competition over the large cybernetic projects meant to reform the administrative command economy—from the mid-1950s through to the late …

An On-Ramp To Financial Inclusion: Measuring The Impact Of Mercy Corps' Community Investment Trust Program On Minority Investors, Lexi Yokote

University Honors Theses

Mercy Corps' Community Investment Trust (CIT) was launched in 2017 as a low-risk real estate investment and education initiative. The program is now working to replicate this in cities across the United States. However, it has not been able to collect much feedback from existing investors about their experiences and needs. This paper will use primary and secondary research in the form of a literature review and original surveys to collect information about investor demographics, attitudes toward the CIT and investing, risk perceptions, and future investment plans. The results show that U.S.-born versus foreign-born status, ethnicity, and gender affect the …

Deciphering French Decentralization Efforts And Economic Attractivity Through The Evaluation Of France's Lyonnaise Region, Magwyer Grimes, Kimberley Brown

University Honors Theses

France has long been a country politically and economically dominated by its largest city: Paris. This dynamic seemed natural for an absolute monarchy and a subsequent empire that sought centralized administration, but in the second half of the twentieth century there were increasing calls for regional solidarity and a more active industrial policy to develop metropolitan France beyond the Paris basin. The objectives of the French government seem two-fold: to lean on and expand the economic strength of the Paris region while increasing the economic dynamism of the various other large agglomerations. But in an economy already so dominated by …

Designing The Future: The Influence Of Lloyd J. Reynolds On American Product Innovation, Bander Qadan

University Honors Theses

This research inquiry will explore how critical advances in American design products and consumerism can be traced back to the late Lloyd J. Reynolds and the silent yet powerful influence he has had on a generation of students, such as the innovative pioneer, Steve Jobs. Lloyd J. Reynolds was a renowned calligrapher and teacher at Reed College. The inquiry is structured chronologically, leading to Apple's 2022 valuation of about two trillion dollars. Four significant areas will be examined to trace this trajectory. Firstly, the paper examines the effects of calligraphy/typography on Lloyd J. Reynolds. Secondly, it delves into Steve Jobs’ …

Developing And Implementing A Sustainable, Integrated Weed Management Program For Herbicide-Resistant Poa Annua In Turfgrass, James D. Mccurdy, Rebecca G. Bowling, Edicarlos De Castro, Alec R. Kowalewski, Clint M. Maddox, James T. Brosnan, Shawn W. Askew, Clebson G. Goncalves, David Ervin, Multiple Additional Authors

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ability of Poa annua L. to adapt to most turfgrass environments extends to its ability to develop resistance to commonly used herbicides. Herbicide resistant P. annua is of almost epidemic proportions. The loss of once viable chemical-based treatments pushes practitioners towards more expensive, and often less effective, control strategies. This management guide focuses on integrated weed management (IWM) practices for P. annua control and herbicide resistance—what it is and how to overcome it. Also discussed are resistance mechanisms and documentation of common occurrences of field-level resistance within much of the United States. Finally, a summary of some of the …

Feeling The Heat: Climate Change Is Becoming A Big Factor In Business Decision-Making, Risk Assessment, Candace Beeke, Sahan Dissanayake, Jennifer Price, Moss Adams

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland Business Journal Publisher and President Candace Beeke spoke recently with PSU’s Sahan Dissanayake and Jennifer Price, with Moss Adams, about the direct and indirect effects of climate change on business, along with the physical impacts and economic hazards. Here are their insights.

Working Paper No. 63, On Karl Polanyi And His Conception Of Fascism, Serene Mistkawi

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the writings of author Karl Polanyi offered insights into key variables and historical conditions that gave rise to the system we know of as “fascism.” Integral to his insights, Polanyi describes economic conditions attendant for fascism to emerge, with one condition noted as widespread and persistent unemployment. Polanyi stresses that fascism needs to be understood as reactionary, a responding to features integral to classical liberalism. Considering a broad historical context Polanyi teaches us of the political conditions necessary for fascism to emerge and take form as political movements wielding power. He considers conflicts in …

Working Paper No. 71, Max Weber: On Religion And Economic Outcomes, Celeste Aiu Taber

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that early sociologist Max Weber advances a view that religious faith could indeed affect economic outcomes. In his analysis of Reformed faiths, Weber determines that “the calling” inspired by Martin Luther transformed the work ethic of believers, instilling in them a spirit suitable for the advancement of modern capitalism. The Reformed work ethic observed by Weber served as a basis for individual Protestants to accumulate wealth. Weber also considers the developments of religious asceticism among the faiths of Calvinism, Pietism, Methodism, and the Baptist movements. The ascetic character of these religious communities assisted in generating …