Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Heat & Social Cooperation: The Effects Of Thermal Stress On Altruism, Alexander J. Courtman

Master's Theses

Recent literature has highlighted the effects of temperature on economic outcomes and violence in humans, on both the interpersonal and intergroup levels: as temperatures rise, humans are more likely to exhibit increased aggression and agitation. However, little research has been done on how pro-social behaviors like cooperation and altruism among humans might respond to increased temperatures. As extreme heat events increase in frequency, will humans and communities work together in the face of adverse shocks and crises? Leveraging experimental data collected randomized controlled trails held in 4 locations across the world, this paper seeks to establish a relationship between thermal …

Climate & Conflict: View Into A Warming World, Faelynn Carroll

Master's Theses

Unlike weather patterns, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a large-scale, cyclical climate system that is now predictable for up to a year and a half in advance. ENSO cycles occur every two to seven years for approximately two years at a time, affecting large swaths of the globe with plausibly random variation in the exact location and strength of local effects. However, its systemic nature allows for aggregate effects to be accounted for by its outcomes. This research uses novel 0.5 x 0.5 degree ENSO teleconnection analysis for precipitation and temperature to uncover environmental mechanisms that underly the …

An Empirical Evaluation Of Neural Process Meta-Learners For Financial Forecasting, Kevin G. Patel

Master's Theses

Challenges of financial forecasting, such as a dearth of independent samples and non- stationary underlying process, limit the relevance of conventional machine learning towards financial forecasting. Meta-learning approaches alleviate some of these is- sues by allowing the model to generalize across unrelated or loosely related tasks with few observations per task. The neural process family achieves this by con- ditioning forecasts based on a supplied context set at test time. Despite promise, meta-learning approaches remain underutilized in finance. To our knowledge, ours is the first application of neural processes to realized volatility (RV) forecasting and financial forecasting in general.

We …

Feeling The Heat: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects Of Heat On Human Cooperation, Scott K. Klaus

Master's Theses

The goal of this paper is to examine how increased temperatures affect human behavior in terms of cooperation. Currently, there is an abundance of literature regarding increased aggression in humans as temperatures rise. However, there is ambiguity concerning whether a similar effect exists in altering levels of cooperation in human interactions. Additionally, people of different characteristics may be influenced by heat at varying levels. First, we run a baseline model of prosociality on different heat measurements, such as standard and wet-bulb temperatures. Included in this model are experimental specification variables, a “trigger”, and characteristics. The trigger is defined as losing …

Tempers Rising: The Effect Of Heat On Spite, Jake C. Cosgrove

Master's Theses

The relationship between heat and harmful outcomes is well documented, with research connecting various adverse economic outcomes to the climate. In the presence of increasing global warming and climate change, understanding why the climate leads to negative economic outcomes is essential for forming peaceful institutions of the future. We study how behavioral economic outcomes change in the presence of heat through a lab experiment involving 1,110 observations conducted in five different countries. This paper specifically focuses on the social preference outcome of spite. We find that increased time exposure to the treatment effect of heat is required to elicit an …

Impacts Of Rising Temperatures On Human Behavior With A Focus On Gender Differences, Stephanie Marie Emilia J. Hermoso

Master's Theses

Climate change is one of the biggest and most pressing issues the world is facing today. While its economic implications are substantial, it is also important to investigate the effects of climate change on human behavior. This paper examines the relationship of rising temperatures and its effect on an individual’s cooperative behavior – specifically egalitarianism, generosity, selfishness, and spite. This study will focus on the differences between how males and females react to the temperature. Research indicates that there are substantial behavioral differences between men and women. How do the economic decisions of men and women differ when interacted with …

The Labor And Educational Effects Of Daca: Evidence From California, Oscar A. Alonso Guerra

Master's Theses

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implemented in 2012, has been a subject of intense debate. While much research has examined the early effects of DACA, this study contributes to the literature by analyzing more recent data on the labor and educational outcomes of DACA recipients in California. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I aim to uncover significant changes in the labor market and educational outcomes of DACA recipients over time. I find those eligible for DACA experienced noteworthy effects compared to those who were ineligible. Specifically, they exhibit a significant 3.1 percentage point increase in the likelihood of …

Sweet And Timely Insurance: The Role Of Honey In Reducing Coffee Producer Food Insecurity Exposure In Mexico, Grant Xavier Storer

Master's Theses

Smallholder coffee producers face a combination of pre- and post-harvest risk factors that leaves them particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. A popular form of on-farm diversification is honey production through beekeeping, that has both nutritional and commercial value. This study investigates the role of honey production as means of food security management due to the heightened pollinating activity during the coffee flowering stage that follows the annual coffee harvest provides an additional non-contemporaneous source of income. Using primary data collected in coffee-producing regions of Chiapas, Mexico, I find that during the honey harvest months, which occurs during the early stage …

Ties That Bind: Allomaternal Care And Cooperation Among Matrilocal And Patrilocal Northeast Indian Tribes, Shreeja Guha

Master's Theses

Why do humans cooperate? Given the extensive range of literature from various disciplines on the puzzle of human cooperation, there is no one answer to that question. In this paper, I look at whether childcare provided by individuals other than the genetic mother, i.e. allomaternal care, can be one possible explanation for the evolution of human cooperation, especially in small communities with no formal childcare. The data for this study comes from field experiments & surveys conducted with a sample of 416 mothers and fathers from matrilocal and patrilocal tribes in North-east India. I present evidence that allomaternal care plays …

The Child Nutrition Cost Of Weather Shocks In Nigeria, Danielle M. Abaya

Master's Theses

Child malnutrition is alarmingly high in Nigeria with the highest number of malnourished children, the second highest population of stunted children worldwide and 17 million Nigerians facing food insecurity. According to the World Health Organization, children are predicted to suffer about 80% of weather-related illnesses and deaths. As climate change continues to pose the greatest health threat and while scientists predict its irreversible effects in the next 10 years, countries such as Nigeria are already experiencing the burden of climate change today. This study uses total rainfall to measure precipitation and two Enhanced Vegetation Index variables, total change in greenness …

Charity Begins At Home: Investigating How Culture Shapes In-Group Bias In Altruistic Behavior, Angira Shukla

Master's Theses

The paper builds a structural model of altruistic transfers based on identity matches with another individual and estimates the weights that people place on the characteristic matches. We also take a comparative look at the role of culture in these transfers. The culture here is trying to contrast a traditional society versus a cosmopolitan one. I run an experiment in India to examine these differences. I find that in both the urban and rural samples individuals tend to give more to girls and donate largely on the basis of the need of the receiver. I also find that the rural …

Charcoal, Droughts, And Deforestation: Evidence From Mozambique, Kaitlin N. Paull

Master's Theses

Mozambique is prone to harsh weather conditions due to its geographic location, and these conditions are expected to worsen in the face of ongoing climate change. Many of Mozambique’s farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, meaning their livelihoods are highly vulnerable to worsening weather trends. Some farmers have diversified their incomes with charcoal production, making use of Mozambique’s abundant forest resources. This study measures how reliance on charcoal as an income diversification strategy affects forest loss, and found inconclusive effects of rainfall on deforestation. However, the study does find that a one-unit increase in hot degree days increases the probability of …

Heating Systems And Households’ Expenditure, Svitlana Holyk

Master's Theses

The heating energy expenditure has been frequently taken to the consideration across different studies of poverty reduction. However, there is an unresolved question related to understanding how households’ expenditures might be distinct due to the heating system characteristics. This research implements matching methods to investigate the causal effect of the heating system on households’ gas and electricity expenditure in Ukraine. The result indicates that there is a significant difference in the utility expenditure between the District heating system (DHS) and the Individual heating system (IHS) households. The inherited from the past the Soviet District heating system Model in Ukraine doesn’t …

Motives For (In)Effective Giving: Comparing Rural And Urban Groups In South Africa., Luvuyo Bulelani Magwaza

Master's Theses

Different cultures have their own set of norms and values that not only shape people’s motives but also influences their decision making. What may be viewed as logical and ethical in one culture, may be seen as illogical or unethical in another. One area that is consistently affected by cross-cultural differences in motives is charitable giving. Recently, there has been an increase in interest around effective altruism— a social movement and philosophy that argues, people should give to charities that do the most good. Prior research that has found that people do not give based on efficiency; instead, people give …

The Modern-Day Effect Of Holc Redlining On Neighborhood Development, Liubov Ivashov

Master's Theses

Racial segregation, which happened more than one hundred years ago in the U.S., is a fundamental cause of economic inequality for people living in historically segregated neighborhoods today. Redlining was one form of federal policy that forced to separate communities by race even more after the Great Depression. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps are widely used in economic research papers as one of the most comprehensive sources of data available to measure the effect of residential segregation. In this paper, using the Historical Redline Score (HRS) method, the author measured the association between modern-day population distribution, rent prices, …

Using Machine Learning To Analyze Children’S Drawings As Indicators Of Mental Well-Being, Nicholas R. Lawrie

Master's Theses

Human figure drawings are a well-studied diagnostic tool for emotional distress in children. Cleft lip/palate is one of the most common birth defects in the world, and has been shown to negatively impact emotional well-being in childhood which can have negative economic consequences in adulthood. Utilizing a dataset of human figure drawings from children in India and survey data on mental health, this paper will assess the impact of corrective surgery on mental health outcomes, as well as assess the validity of the drawing emotional indicators themselves. The results indicate that while the emotional indicators may not be valid in …

Does My Skin Tone Really Matter? A Socioeconomic Analysis In Nigeria., Mutiu O. Fakorede

Master's Theses

Abstract: Does my skin tone really matter? If it does, to what extent and direction does skin tone predict socioeconomic outcomes, especially amongst people of color who have experienced colonial rule with its white supremacy agenda? In this research, we examined if skin tone measured in individual typology angle (ITA) does not affect employability, income, partner selection, and political representativeness. With a focus on Nigeria, the most populous black nation, a former British colony, we addressed this broad question through a survey. Using the iterative capability of Qualtrics which randomly picks a set of three pictures with known ITA and …

Impact Of Climate Variability On Child Nutrition In Ethiopia, Juan S. Gomez

Master's Theses

Changes in precipitation and temperature due to climate change have caused a shortage in food productivity leading to an increase in malnutrition outcomes, especially among children in developing countries that are more susceptible to undernutrition outcomes. This study contributes to existing literature studying the impact of climate variability measured by temperature, precipitation, and vegetation index on wasting. Wasting is measured by the weight for height score during the main growing season (Meher) using Demographic and Health Surveys data for five different periods in Ethiopia. Results suggest that lower NDVI outcomes are associated with an increase in the risk of acute …

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

Degrowth And Catholic Social Thought: Rethinking Socio-Economics For A Planet In Crisis, Chad G. Baron

Master's Theses

It is assumed within both degrowth literature and the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church (CST) that socio-economic transitions and transformations are needed due to the failings of the dominant capitalist paradigm. Both bodies of thought engage with issues of socio-economic transitions by considering what constitutes globally just development, and by outlining key principles they espouse to be foundational to global justice. By highlighting these principles, and locating the affinities between the two, these theories of socio-economic development can benefit from engaging with the other’s promoted framework. What could follow is a more coherent and holistic approach to development, …

Can Social Support Ameliorate Burnout?, Timothy Finney

Master's Theses

Mental health provides different areas of interest compared to physical health when looking at general health. Social support decreases the negative impacts of burnout while positively influencing productive components of the economy. Social sciences other than economics such as sociology and psychology take notice of the impact of social support on burnout. Pronto Soccorso e Medicina d’ Urgenza Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria in Parma, Italy provides high quality health care services before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic while anticipating continuing to administer care well into the future. Here we show social support effecting workers in the health care industry. Work colleagues influencing …

A Pandemic Of Greed And A Disease Of Poverty In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque Of The Red Death", Benjamin Herrick

Master's Theses

The breakers tripped. Again. The breakers, a mandatory halt to trading on the floor of the stock exchange in response to the S&P falling more than 7% from the previous close. This was instituted after the Crash of 1987 to calm the markets before trading is allowed to resume. They are supposed to mitigate a drastic crash. They have only ever triggered once before, in 1997. Not for the tech bubble. Not even in the crash of 2008. All trading stops for fifteen minutes when the Level One breaker trips. If it drops further in the same day, the Level …

The Effect Of Foreign Direct Investment On Colombia’S Economic Growth And The Role Of Human Capital: Does Foreign Direct Investment Foster Growth?, Jean K. Plantin

Master's Theses

Abstract: Since the pioneering work of John H. Dunning on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economic growth of the United Kingdom, many experts have debated the growth effect of FDI in an economy. This study investigated the impact of FDI on Colombia’s economic growth from 1990 to 2019. Moreover, it explored whether the Colombian economy has benefited from positive spillover from FDIs. Additionally, the paper examined how the stock level of human capital conditioned the effect of FDI on GDP per capita growth. To this end, the analysis separated tertiary enrollments from the human capital …

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Increase School Enrollment? Evidence From Brazil, Jeanette L. Silvernale

Master's Theses

Conditional cash transfer programs have been widely deployed across the globe. They seek to bolster human capital by providing benefits contingent upon a variety of actions such as school attendance and regular health checkups. Bolsa Familia is the most extensive conditional cash transfer program, serving 46 million Brazilian citizens. Despite its expansive size, there have been seldom large-scale micro evaluations of the program. Limited data has resulted in small sample sizes drawn from a single point in time. Our study diverges from the rest and utilizes a novel administrative dataset with an overall sample of nearly 60 million and a …

Gender Differences In Risk, Social, And Competitive Preference. Experimental Evidence From Uzbekistan., Firuzjon Khayrulloev

Master's Theses

Most of the previous literature suggests that women are less competitive than men. However, I we hypothesize that women are as competitive as man when the incentive for winning equally matter for both genders. The option to share some of their winnings with other competitors may afford females benefit from rewards without suffering some of its potential costs. In this paper we conducted an experiment on 212 subjects and the results support our hypothesis. The gap in competitiveness between males and females vanishes when we allowed winners an opportunity to share some of their winnings. Overall, our work demonstrates that …

Police Union Membership And Lethal Use Of Force, Scott Barger

Master's Theses

I examine the Fraternal Order of Police union presence in cities as an explanation for the lethal use of violence. Using a novel dataset of FOP union presence, I utilize a simple log OLS linear model to explore the relationships between FOP unions and lethal use of force. I find robust evidence that FOP unions have higher incidences of death at the hands of police, compared to cities without a FOP union. Exposure to FOP leads to an increase in baseline risk of death by police by 17%. This effect increases for larger cities.

The Role Of Learning Styles In The Uptake Of Index Insurance: Evidence From Kenya, Yibekal Abebe Tessema, Andrew Hobbs, Nathaniel Jensen

Master's Theses

Index insurance has a huge potential to increase the income of households in developing countries by shielding them against various shocks and by facilitating technology adoption. Despite this theoretical promise, however, the uptake of insurance has turned out to be disappointingly low. One of the key barriers in the adoption of this financial technology has been learning difficulty. Index insurance can be considered a relatively complex product especially in the context of low financial literacy in developing countries. Despite the relevance of learning in the diffusion of the product, however, previous studies on the subject have been quite limited. This …

Do Letters And Gifts From International Sponsors Affect Child Outcomes? Evidence From Colombia, Ghana, And Haiti, Mai Moua

Master's Theses

Past research has found child sponsorship results in higher aspirations, mental health, and educational outcomes. In this research, I explore the extent to which these outcomes can be influenced by letters and gifts sent from the sponsor to the child. However, there is limited research on the effects of direct relationship between sponsor and child. Using 1142 sponsor letters and a 2017 survey from Compassion International, an international child sponsorship organization, we find that letters and gifts from sponsors have a statistically insignificant impact on outcomes including education, mental health, aspirations, social connectedness, nutrition, religiosity, hygiene, and views on drugs, …

Temperature Effects On Prevalence Of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among At-Risk Female Sex Workers In India, Rajshri Suresh

Master's Theses

Vulnerability to climate change varies depending on the baseline climate, sensitivity to given exposure, and the presence of social, political, cultural, and institutional inequalities that influence access to essential resources of livelihood, particularly among informal labor market participants. Within the risky informal labor market, the transient nature of sex work implies that sex workers suffer disproportional losses in health, income, protection, and other aspects of general well-being as a result of the effects of climate anomalies. In this paper, I investigate the effect of temperature on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in a high-risk population of female sex workers …

Does Prize Sharing Close The Gender-Based Gap Of Competition In Nepal?, Supriya Adhikari

Master's Theses

Past research has shown that even when women perform
equally as men, they are less competitive when cash is provided as
incentive. Using the experimental design of Cassar and Rigdon
(2021), where in a real effort tournament a social incentive
motivates women to compete more and closes the gender gap in
competitiveness, we examine if this will be found in a Nepal
sample. Following the evolutionary literature that suggests women
need each other’s support for child care, participants are given an
option to share the prize they win to help them earn friendships and
bonds in a competitive game. Our …