Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cross-Country Evidence Of Corruption Spillovers To Formal And Informal Entrepreneurship, Aziz N. Berdiev, James Saunoris

Economics Faculty Journal Articles

Using cross‐country data this paper examines the spillovers of corruption to formal and informal entrepreneurship in neighboring countries. Whereas research has shown that entrepreneurs move underground to escape corruption, we argue that entrepreneurs may also seek refuge in neighboring countries. Indeed, the empirical results show that in response to a ceteris paribus increase in corruption in neighboring countries formal entrepreneurship increases in the home country with no effect on informal entrepreneurship. This is consistent with entrepreneurs circumventing corrupt public officials by immigrating to countries with presumably less corruption. These results withstand a battery of robustness checks. (JEL D73, L26)

Corporate Social Responsibility And Likelihood Of Financial Distress, Ying Zheng, Yong Wang, Crystal Jiang

Finance Department Faculty Journal Articles

Does doing good to society make firms less likely to have financial trouble? This paper looks at the benefit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and examines whether firms’ CSR engagement affects their chance of falling into financial distress. After analyzing a broad U.S. database spanning 25 years from 1991 to 2015, we find that CSR engagement indeed reduces the likelihood of firms falling into financial distress, and the results are statistically robust and economically significant. Further, we find the impact of CSR on the likelihood of financial distress is more pronounced in economic downturns and for firms with high levels …

Cryptocurrencies: Applications And Investment Opportunities, A. Can Inci, Rachel Lagasse

Finance Department Faculty Journal Articles

Purpose

This study investigates the role of cryptocurrencies in enhancing the performance of portfolios constructed from traditional asset classes. Using a long sample period covering not only the large value increases but also the dramatic declines during the beginning of 2018, the purpose of this paper is to provide a more complete analysis of the dynamic nature of cryptocurrencies as individual investment opportunities, and as components of optimal portfolios.

Design/methodology/approach

The mean-variance optimization technique of Merton (1990) is applied to develop the risk and return characteristics of the efficient portfolios, along with the optimal weights of the asset class components …

Survival Strategies: A Study Of Working Families In New York City, Kafui Gozey

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

The main focus for this project was to find out how working families survive life in New York City which is known to be one of the most expensive places to live on earth. In effort to find answers to this, I visited the city for a period of two weeks to observe the lives of locals and also to interact with them. After days of interactions and gathering information, it was evident that there is a huge population of working families in New York who struggle to make ends meet. It was also made clear that these families do …

What Affects Academic Performance In Bryant University Students?, Emilio Avalos

Honors Projects in Economics

Looking at a student’s Grade Point Average (GPA) has been the main way of measuring academic success for many years. Of course, GPA is not the only success measure for every person after college, but it is highly relevant. The purpose of this study is to find the strongest factors that affect the academic performance of undergraduate students in Bryant University. The main objective is to provide undergraduate students with information that will help them better understand the variables that positively or negatively affect their GPA. The data for this study was gathered by sending out a questionnaire that contained …

A Panel Data Study Of The Determinants Of Life Expectancy In Low Income Countries, Taylor Rizzo

Honors Projects in Economics

This study attempts to determine the impact of several socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy for 34 low income countries using ordinary least squares linear regression. Most explanatory variables were statistically significant, implying that the socioeconomic variables of interest, including government health expenditures, access to basic sanitation facilities, HIV prevalence, urbanization, education, and sex, are important measures in influencing life expectancy. Foreign aid, corruption, and undernourishment, were determined insignificant when determining life expectancy. Based on the analysis results, it has been suggested that these developing countries implement appropriate policies and programs to increase HIV education and preventative measures, increase women’s rights …

Assessment Of Economics Education In Korea's Higher Education, Jinsoo Hahn, Kyungho Jang, Jongsung Kim

Economics Faculty Book Publications

No abstract provided.