Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Assessment Of Hydroelectric Feasibility At Colonel Charles D. Maynard Dam In Tucker, Arkansas, Connor Quigley

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary purpose of this report is to analyze the economic feasibility of converting the Colonel Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam to a hydroelectric facility. This report takes a traditional cost-benefit analysis approach and includes a sensitivity and scenario analysis.

Innovation, Markets, And Evolution, Mitch Green

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper approaches innovation from an evolutionary perspective. Literature spanning a broad range of traditions in economics is considered, to include Institutionalist, Schumpeterian, post-Keynesian, and growth theorists. Key systemic changes are examined in the context of prevailing technological and social institutions. It is argued that expectation-fixing effects such as path-dependence in investment and innovation provide structure to a social network of market institutions that seek to validate money contracts. The institution of money is considered as a center of power in the system and affects the course of innovation. Money as the unit of account becomes the object of …

Financial Illiteracy: Prevalence, Consequences, And Solutions, Gerald Matasy

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

As Americans have become increasingly responsible for their own financial security their ability to make financial decisions in their best interests has certainly grown in importance. The focus of this paper is to determine what role financial literacy plays in making optimal financial decisions and maintaining economic stability. Using mostly research from other studies and some original research, this paper seeks to examine the level of financial literacy among the general population and what the implications are for the general lack of literacy. What I find is that individuals who have lower levels of financial literacy generally make poorer financial …

Thirlwall's Law And Krugman's 45-Degree Rule: Mathematically Identical, Mutually Exclusive, Karl Garbacik

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Thirlwall's Law and the 45-degree rule, originally formulated by Krugman, are radically different interpretations of the same statistical regularity. This statistical regularity is that a country's long-run growth rate will approximate to the ratio of that country's export growth to its import elasticity of demand. Thirlwall's Law falls under a Post-Keynesian framework which is primarily a demand-side model. The 45-degree rule relies on a supply-side interpretation, a result of its neoclassical origins. This thesis seeks to answer two questions. The first is, are the members of the Post-Keynesian and neoclassical communities working on each of these theories aware of the …

The Impact Of Corruption On The Timing And Mode Of Entry By U.S. Firms In China, Jacob Billings

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since 1979 when China opened its economic borders, it has seen an influx of foreign direct investment that gradually snowballed into enormous annual inflows of capital. Researchers have taken advantage of this event as an incredibly useful testing ground of theories regarding FDI. Using this new data from China, along with data from countries already open to outside investment, many variables, such as GDP, wage, and distance, have been found to consistently correlate in one way or another to particular aspects of FDI inflow, including amount, location, timing, and type.

One such variable that has had some attention is corruption. …

The Science Of Persuasion In Recent Discourse On T.R. Malthus: An Exercise In The Analysis Of Rhetoric In Economics, Laila Winner

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Of all the dour portraits lining the august halls of Economics, it is that of Thomas Robert Malthus which seems perhaps to scowl the most grimly. Describing an approach or policy as Malthusian in everyday conversation conjures a host of disturbing images, bare fields and squalling babies chief among them. Such allusions provoke even stronger reactions within the discipline Malthus helped to found, ranging from Keynes's fervent championship to the sneering dismissal of Samuelson. Neither the more famous Smith nor Ricardo nor even Marx can claim to have gained in their lives what the comparatively less prolific Reverend did with …