Economics Commons^™

Everybody Wants To Belong: Comparing The Relative Impact Of Social Capital On Happiness At An International Level, Elana Lambert

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Subjective well-being has become increasingly more important as a guide for policy and welfare. This paper uses data from the World Bank Indicators and the World Values Survey to look at the intricate relationship between subjective well-being data, social capital, and the relative nature of human happiness. Subjective well-being data has recently become widely accepted in economics research and analyzed using econometric methods. In this study, I look at specific aspects of social capital across countries to easily compare individuals within countries with a standardized scale. I look at economic determinants and social capital determinants and their impact on happiness. …

Development Of Utility Theory And Utility Paradoxes, Timothy E. Dahlstrom

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Since the pioneering work of von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 there have been many developments in Expected Utility theory. In order to explain decision making behavior economists have created increasingly broad and complex models of utility theory. This paper seeks to describe various utility models, how they model choices among ambiguous and lottery type situations, and how they respond to the Ellsberg and Allais paradoxes. This paper also attempts to communicate the historical development of utility models and provide a fresh perspective on the development of utility models.

Daniel Defoe’S Literary Economies: The Shifting Role Of Narrative Uncertainty, Speculation, And Providence In Robinson Crusoe And Roxana., Terese J. Swords

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In my honors project, I analyze how Daniel Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), and his last, Roxana (1724), offer shifting economic commentary regarding England’s emerging 18^th century credit economy. This shift does not come as too much of a surprise, as his first and last novel straddle the historic moment of the South Sea Bubble’s burst. Therefore, Defoe’s works, when analyzed sequentially, capture the evolving attitude towards value and credit that was occurring throughout all of England.

In my first chapter, “Crusoe’s Post Facto Journal Editing: ‘How wonderfully we are delivered when we are aware of it,’” I …