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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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2002

Theses/Dissertations

Colby College

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Role Of Venture Capital Financing In Inflating The Technology Stock Market Bubble, Jessica Rosenbloom May 2002

Role Of Venture Capital Financing In Inflating The Technology Stock Market Bubble, Jessica Rosenbloom

Honors Theses

Comprising nearly one-third of the nation's gross domestic product from 1995 to 1999, the growth of the Information Technology industry took a backseat to dot.com mania. Its companies, however, were just as influential in creating the stock market bubble. Characterized by high technology, high research and development, high profits, and high risk, the Information Technology industry had always been attractive to venture capital investors. This study will find that a Telecommunications Deregulation Act passed in 1996, in conjunction with an eight percent capital gains tax cut in 1997, flooded venture capitalists with business plans pertaining to the Information Technology industry. …

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Asymmetric Wealth Effect : American Consumption And The Stock Market, Jonathan Greene May 2002

Asymmetric Wealth Effect : American Consumption And The Stock Market, Jonathan Greene

Honors Theses

Conventional estimates of the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of changes in net worth average about 4 cents on the dollar. If this is true, the $14 trillion rise in household net worth between 1995 and 2000 created an additional $567 billion in household consumption. This increase in net worth was driven almost entirely by the rising values of security prices in the contemporary bull market. This study presents evidence that this "wealth effect" is in fact asymmetrical and that this asymmetry reversed some time during the 1970's or 1980's. Prior to this reversal point positive changes in slock …

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Suits Or Pajamas: An Economic Analysis Of The Causes And Consequences Of Telecommuting, Jonathan Marlow May 2002

Suits Or Pajamas: An Economic Analysis Of The Causes And Consequences Of Telecommuting, Jonathan Marlow

Honors Theses

While the concept is not new, the popularity of telecommuting has increased with the expansion in telecommunications and technology througb the last twenty years. Telecommuting, or the ability to work away from one's regular office site, is now easier than ever to do with the advancements in reliable telephone systems, personal computers, and internet access that allow one to go to the office virtually rather than physically. This concept has gained the attention of policymakers and public planners because of its potential to address various issues, possibly leading to a better quality of life, increased productivity, and improved air quality. …

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Cognitive Model Of New Data On Human Problem Solving, Eric Fleischman May 2002

Cognitive Model Of New Data On Human Problem Solving, Eric Fleischman

Senior Scholar Papers

During the educational process there are a multitude of strategies that educators may employ in order to maximize learning among their pupils. For symbolic problem-solving skills (such as mathematics), a particularly effective technique is to have students study worked-out example problems and unworked practice problems. Research shows that students who explain parts of worked examples to themselves learn more effectively than students who do not. This is called the self-explanation effect (Chi et al., 1989; Fergusson Hessler & de Jong, 1990; Pirolli & Bielaczyc, 1989). In summary, this research proved that students learn most effectively by studying examples when they …

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Ecuador's Indigenous University Movement, Uinpi: Reconstructing Identity In The Search For Equality, Joshua Gerber May 2002

Ecuador's Indigenous University Movement, Uinpi: Reconstructing Identity In The Search For Equality, Joshua Gerber

Honors Theses

The following chapters address Ecuadorian history, identity politics. and the education system to analyze UINPI's role in the reformation of indigenous identity. To provide a backdrop for UINPI's identity project, chapter one establishes a historical framework of the development of racialized constructions of indigenous identity in Ecuador. It utilizes Plumwood's hierarchical dualism to address the ways in which identity ideology justified and motivated the often-brutal socio-political domination of euro-mestizo peoples in Ecuador. Chapter two addresses the role of identity at UlNPI, arguing that the university's identity project is oriented towards the reformation of indigenous identity, rather than the representation of …

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Medicine Men Of The Anti-Progressive Party : Sacred Sites, Public Lands, And The Construction Of Religious Liberty, Jacob Culbertson May 2002

Medicine Men Of The Anti-Progressive Party : Sacred Sites, Public Lands, And The Construction Of Religious Liberty, Jacob Culbertson

Honors Theses

On December 29, 1890 the United States Seventh Calvary descended upon a group of practitioners of the blossoming Ghost Dance religion and killed more than 300 Indians belonging to multiple Northern Plains nations. The massacre at Wounded Knee Creek was the apex of the United States government's violent campaign to win the American west from its original inhabitants, and it marked a transition in strategy in the young republic's assault on Native America. Having essentially won the land battles to annex the bulk of the economically valuable Native territory, the United States turned its attention away from the physical disposal …

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Integrated Test For Exploitation And Discrimination In The National Basketball Association, Kathleen Carney May 2002

Integrated Test For Exploitation And Discrimination In The National Basketball Association, Kathleen Carney

Honors Theses

Over the past thirty years, economists have become increasingly interested in the labor market for professional sports. These studies have focused primarily on exploitation, the difference between marginal revenue product and salary, or discrimination, salary differentials based on race, or ethnic background. This paper attempts to combine both areas of research, that is, to explain the systematic deviation of marginal revenue product from salary as a function of race, or ethnic background. Using NBA data collected over three seasons 1995-98, we specify a three-equation model, an enhancement of the Scully two-step method presented in 1976. We then ask if players …

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Analysis Of The Colby Quarterly Econometric Model Of The U.S. Economy Using The Economic Effects Of September 11th, Alison Culpen May 2002

Analysis Of The Colby Quarterly Econometric Model Of The U.S. Economy Using The Economic Effects Of September 11th, Alison Culpen

Honors Theses

The economic repercussions of September 11th are unique in that never before have economists needed to forecast and examine the impact of an event of such magnitude. This paper explains many of the economic effects of September l Ith, from the initial aftermath to recent developments. These effects are used to analyze the Colby Quarterly Econometric Model of the U.S. economy by simulating the model with actions taken by the government, such as an increase in spending, as well as other economic consequences resulting from September 11th. These simulations are then examined in more detail through multipliers that ultimately reveal …

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Study Of Area Deprivation In Connecticut And Maine, Jonathan H. Ryder Jan 2002

Study Of Area Deprivation In Connecticut And Maine, Jonathan H. Ryder

Honors Theses

This paper accounts the development of an area deprivation index for two New England states, Connecticut and Maine. The index incorporates data from the 1990 U.S. Census. By applying methodology used in previous projects that created similar indices for area in Britain, an area deprivation index is created at the 5-digit zip code level for these two states in the year 1990. This project provides an example of how such a study can be applied to and completed in the United States. Foremost, it is an attempt to evaluate the relative merits of examining a comprehensive measure of area deprivation, …

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Above And Beyond The Rim: An Examination Of Customer Discrimination In The National Basketball Association, Carl E. Tugberk Jan 2002

Above And Beyond The Rim: An Examination Of Customer Discrimination In The National Basketball Association, Carl E. Tugberk

Honors Theses

I present a study of customer discrimination in the NBA by examining total annual attendance for all 29 teams for the five-season period from 1996 to 2001. Several previous studies have been conducted on this issue and seldom have found evidence of discrimination by measuring the racial composition of a team as the percentage of _white players on the roster. However, using this measure and several alternative measures of racial composition, I find that fans do discriminate against black players, and this discrimination occurs in a variety of ways. Specifically, spectators alter their decisions to attend games based on the …

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Attributes Of A Successful Confederacy: A Comparative Analysis Of The Political Institutions Of The Articles Of Confederation And The European Union, Kim Victor Jan 2002

Attributes Of A Successful Confederacy: A Comparative Analysis Of The Political Institutions Of The Articles Of Confederation And The European Union, Kim Victor

Honors Theses

Following the devastation and instability in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, six of the continent's nations entered into the European Coal and Steel Community. The agreement to enter this organization provided the impetus for the modern day European Union (EU)I. Although its relatively short history may not be sufficient to consider the relationship perpetual, the European Union shows promise of continual integration. While these two political systems are fundamentally different in a number of respects, the basic structure of each organization be categorized as a confederacy. Using the notion of a confederacy as a point of comparison, …

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Time Of Pachakutik: An Examination Of The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement, Eliza Cooke Kittredge Jan 2002

Time Of Pachakutik: An Examination Of The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement, Eliza Cooke Kittredge

Honors Theses

The Ecuadorian indigenous movement has emerged in the last decade as the most important social and political movement in the country. The driving organizations behind the movement, CONAIE (Confederadon de Nacionalidades Indigenas del Ecuador), a social organization. and Pachakutik Movimiento Pluri-Nacional (Pluri-national movement), a political organization, have taken different approaches to fortifying indigenous identities, challenging the policies of the Ecuadorian government, and uprooting the subtle but persistent racist ideologies that have been discriminatory and exclusionary for over 500 years. I argue that Pachakutik's involvement within the political system has a greater chance of effecting long-term change for indigenous peoples in …

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