Economics Commons^™

The Populist Wave: Unpacking The Global Drivers Of 21st Century Right-Wing Populist Support, Ellie Fallon

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the underlying causes of the global rise in right-wing populism support in the twenty-first century. I will examine both the origins of these shifts in public opinion and their consequences for political systems and global interactions. My analyses will take two forms: (1) a cross-national analysis of the rise in right-wing populism in 34 of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to explore the demographic factors that exhibit a relationship with populist attitudes and (2) case studies of right-wing populism in the contemporary United States (with particular attention to former …

Redlining And Opioid Overdose Outcomes: Do Historical Housing Policies Still Impact Health Today?, Sahana Paravantavida

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between historical housing policies and current health outcomes, specifically the impact of redlining on opioid overdose rates. Using data collected from the state of New Jersey, neighborhoods with a history of redlining have higher rates of opioid overdose deaths. My findings suggest that historical housing policies, which systematically excluded certain populations from accessing affordable housing and resources, continue to impact health outcomes today.

The Labor Share In The Post-1980 Economy: An Analysis Of The Contributing Factors, Mia Bellucci

Honors Theses

During the Neoliberal period, which roughly began in the early 1980s in the U.S., there was a substantial slowdown in the growth rate of real hourly compensation, while productivity had continued to grow. The last two decades of the Neoliberal period (2000 – 2020) also experienced somewhat of a substantial decline in the labor share. In recent decades, there has been a growing amount of literature attempting to explain the major factors that have contributed to these recent labor market developments. This study provides a means of investigating the changes in the labor share and its components (i.e., real hourly …

Earnings Gap Between Urban And Rural Migrant Workers In Vietnam, Kristen Le

Honors Theses

This thesis studies whether there is an earnings disparity between urban and rural migrant workers in Vietnam’s urban areas and whether that earnings gap is due to individual characteristics and human capital levels or other unobserved factors. In this paper, urban workers, or urban residents, are workers who have household registration status in the urban cities where they work. On the other hand, rural migrant workers, or rural-to-urban migrants, are defined as workers who live and work in urban cities but have their registered household statuses in other rural areas. Using the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) in 2008, …

An Analysis Of Demand-Pull Inflation In The United States Post-Pandemic, Isabella A. Moynihan

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a global shutdown of the economy resulting from both demand and supply shocks. Also, the significant decline in output and employment in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic led to a fast reaction from the government in the form of large fiscal rescue packages. At the end of 2021, the acceleration of inflation, which had been dormant for more than four decades, became the main topic of macroeconomic debates. The debate has revolved around the influence of cost-push versus demand-pull causes of inflation. The dominant view in the United States has been that inflation resulted …

Where Girls Rule The World: Lessons For Pakistan In The Bangladeshi Educational Phenomenon, Chanze Ahsan

Honors Theses

In tune with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal and the widespread acceptance of education as a fundamental human right, the deprivation of female education in Pakistan presents an alarming assault on its female population. With this, the historical accident that was the separation of Pakistan and Bangladesh serves as a natural experiment into differences between the countries before and after partition. Despite facing two colonizations, Bangladesh has emerged on the other side of history with promising results regarding the elimination of gender disparities in education. How has it managed to do so? And what can Pakistan learn from its journey? …

Graduating Greener: Analysis Of A Non-Price Intervention To Encourage Pro-Environmental Behavior Among College Students, Jillie Santos

Honors Theses

According to the Yale Program on Climate Communication, a majority of Americans report worrying about climate change, yet the proportion of Americans who discuss climate change often with friends and family is around half of the worried percentage. This discrepancy illustrates a habit of climate avoidance and climate inaction. Drawing upon psychology and human-centered design, I assisted Dr. Michael A. Smyer in developing Graduating Greener, a workshop aimed at disrupting climate avoidance and promoting pro-environmental behavior through a sequence of social, environmentally-based activities. In this thesis, I investigate concepts from the field of behavioral economics which inform and align with …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Corporate Financial Fragility In The Vietnamese Manufacturing Industry, Trang Nguyen

Honors Theses

In the past decades, under the government’s export-led growth strategy, the Vietnamese manufacturing sector – the backbone of the whole Vietnamese economy – has established a deep tie with the international market and the reliance on foreign buyers has fueled the growth of this sector before COVID-19. However, during the pandemic, when the global market contracted at -3.5 percent and demand slumped globally, this existing growth model and the manufacturing sector’s reliance on foreign buyers induced significant risks to this sector from both the demand and supply side. Using the firm-level data on 41 manufacturing exporting companies from the Vietstock …

The Leveling Spirit: Violence And Inequality In Postwar Iraq, Griffin Perrault

Honors Theses

The Iraq War (2003–2011) constitutes by some estimates one of the deadliest and most destructive conflicts of the 21st century (Hagopian et al., 2013). In addition to the disputed figures of excess violent civilian casualties––generally ranging from 180,000 to 210,000 deaths––the war has created one of the major refugee crises of modern times, with 1 in 25 Iraqis estimated to have been displaced from their homes by the 2003 invasion (Costs of War, 2021). While much of this violence has been wrought by American and Iraqi coalition troops, violence against civilians has also been perpetuated by insurgent groups and paramilitary …

Explaining International Donor Rates: The Effects Of Policy-Based Incentives, Elizabeth Laverty-Smith

Honors Theses

Chronic kidney failure is a global health issue that can often require a kidney donation. The supply of available kidneys, however, is limited, leading to a massive international kidney shortage that is growing rapidly each year. In responding to these shortages, perhaps, several countries have implemented policies that incentivize living kidney donation. Estimating the impact of these incentive policies on living kidney donations is important if we are to understand this global health crisis. Although previous studies have discovered a correlation between the incentivizing policies and living kidney donations, there has been little attempt made to control for confounding variables. …

Biking At Bucknell: The Evaluation Of The Built Environment, Societal Environment, And Individual Behavior And Attitudes In Relation To Biking At Bucknell University, Makenna Cerney

Honors Theses

A biking market in this thesis is defined by three major contributors: (a) the built environment such as the engineering and construction of bike lanes, parking corrals, and other aspects of the physical infrastructure for biking, (b) the societal environment which includes the norms and communal acceptance of biking, and (c) individual beliefs, behaviors and attitudes toward biking. These three areas form the foundation of the factors that stimulate the demand for biking in the biking market, which in turn drives the supply of biking and biking services. This thesis intends to conduct research on the built environment, societal environment, …

The Effects Of Higher Education On Socioeconomic Mobility: A Comparative Analysis Of Outcomes At Bucknell University, Katrien Weemaes

Honors Theses

Income inequality and the lack of higher-education opportunities across the United States often correlate with families' socioeconomic status. In this honors thesis, the following questions will be examined: How does the social mobility of Bucknell Students compare with students from other national universities? How do a student’s race and financial aid status affect their ability to achieve social mobility? How has the rate of social mobility through Bucknell changed in recent years? How does a student’s current family socioeconomic status affect their ability to achieve high-income success upon graduation? Does the level of accessibility to Bucknell change when socioeconomic status …

Analyzing The Impact Of Home Locales On Access To Tertiary Education; Trends In Students’ Access To Bucknell University, Emily Tevebaugh

Honors Theses

Access to postsecondary education has been found in previous studies to be correlated with socioeconomic status as well as with various other indicators, such as parents’ education levels and cultural expectations. However, addressing the impact of home locales and geographical proximity to colleges in addition to these individual characteristics is a crucial part of understanding college access. In this honors thesis, the following questions will be examined: how has access to college and the decision to matriculate changed in recent years? How does distance from colleges and differing characteristics of home locales influence acceptance to a university and the decision …

Analyzing Access To Higher Education: Through The Lens Of Socioeconomic Factors At Bucknell University, Autumn J. Patterson

Honors Theses

Access to higher education in the United States greatly varies depending on numerous characteristics; especially an applicant’s race and financial status. This thesis aims to answer the following questions regarding access to higher education at Bucknell University: How have socioeconomic factors affecting access evolved in the past twelve years? Has this change increased or decreased access for Bucknell students? Does the level of access change when gender and race are analyzed? Is Bucknell successfully leveling the playing field for all students regarding their earning potential after they graduate? Lastly, does the mismatch hypothesis apply to Bucknell? By utilizing data from …

Globalization And Immigration: How A Changing Demographic Landscape Influenced The 2016 Presidential Election, Jacob Rusnock

Honors Theses

The 2016 presidential election results varied significantly from many forecasts. The media proposes that the radically atypical candidacy of Donald Trump motivated pockets of the electorate to support the Republican Party more so than they had in past elections. This paper examines the following questions: Which traditional predictors of the election failed to foresee a Republican victory? If the traditional predictors were unsuccessful, can the results be explained using county level economic and demographic data? Is there evidence to support the media’s proposed explanations of the results? By utilizing the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, this paper examines some …

The Euro Effect On Trade In The Emu Core And Periphery: A Pre And Post-Crisis Analysis, Kerri Harner

Honors Theses

As the world financial crisis hit Europe in 2008, the financial shock had asymmetric effects across the eurozone; by 2010, its effects led to a sovereign debt crisis in the euro area. The shock created a clear distinction between strong, core economies in the European Monetary Union (EMU), and a struggling indebted periphery that fared worse in the period of crisis. The sovereign debt crisis revealed inherent fragility in the EMU. In light of recent populist movements, the common currency is under unprecedented scrutiny. This study seeks to assess the euro effect on exports for a clearly distinguished EMU core …

Behavioral Economics And Physician Behavior, Allyssa S. Ward

Honors Theses

This study seeks to answer whether the availability heuristic leads physicians to utilize more medical care than is economically efficient. Do rare, salient events alter physicians' perceptions about the probability of patient harm? Do these events lead physicians to overutilize certain medical procedures? This study uses Pennsylvania inpatient hospital admissions data from 2009 aggregated at the physician level to investigate these questions. The data come from the 2009 Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4).

The study is divided into two parts. In Part I, we examine whether bad outcomes during childbirth (defined as maternal mortality, an obstetric fistula or …

The Effects Of Interstate Speed Limit Increases: Fatality Rates And Traffic Diversion Versus Speed Spillover, Daniel L. Dillon

Honors Theses

This thesis examines two panel data sets of 48 states from 1981 to 2009 and utilizes ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effects models to explore the relationship between rural Interstate speed limits and fatality rates and whether rural Interstate speed limits affect non-Interstate safety. Models provide evidence that rural Interstate speed limits higher than 55 MPH lead to higher fatality rates on rural Interstates though this effect is somewhat tempered by reductions in fatality rates for roads other than rural Interstates. These results provide some but not unanimous support for the traffic diversion hypothesis that rural Interstate speed limit …

Challenges Of The Cooperative Movement In Addressing Issues Of Human Security In The Context Of A Neoliberal World: The Case Of Argentina, Stefan Ivanovski

Honors Theses

The response of some Argentine workers to the 2001 crisis of neoliberalism gave rise to a movement of worker-recovered enterprises (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores or ERTs). The ERTs have emerged as former employees took over the control of generally fraudulently bankrupt factories and enterprises. The analysis of the ERT movement within the neoliberal global capitalist order will draw from William Robinson’s (2004) neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony. The theoretical framework of neo-Gramscian hegemony will be used in exposing the contradictions of capitalism on the global, national, organizational and individual scales and the effects they have on the ERT movement.

The …

Government Influence And The Failure Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac, Aravind Mohan

Honors Theses

In 2008 two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were placed into conservatorship due to insolvency. The financial bailout of the two publically traded corporations came at the expense of the American tax payer. This study investigates the relationship between direct and indirect government influence and the increasing risk taking of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the late 1990’s through their conservatorship in 2008. As government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have many special advantages that other publically traded companies did not possess. These advantages allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their profitability. Theoretical literature …

Comparative Study Of Informal Health Care Networks And Elderly Health Status In Argentina And Cuba, Ava Ginsberg

Honors Theses

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of informal care support networks on the health status, life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety of elderly individuals in Argentina and Cuba. Recent economic changes, demographic changes, the structure of families and changes in women?s labor participation have affected the availability of informal care. Additionally, the growing number of elderly as a percentage of total population has significant implications for both formal and informal care in Argentina and Cuba. Methods: The SABE - Survey on Health, Well-Being, and Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2000 was used as the data …

Mobile Goes Global: The Effect Of Cell Phones On Economic Growth And Development, Tracy Lum

Honors Theses

This study investigates the effect of cell phones on economic development and growth by performing an econometric analysis using data from the International Telecommunications Union and the Penn World Table. It discusses the various ways cell phones can make markets more efficient and how the diffusion of information andknowledge plays into development. Several approaches (OLS, Fixed Effects, 2SLS) were used to test over 20 econometric models. Overall, the mobile cellular subscriptions rate was found to have a positive and significant impact on countries’ level of real per capitaGDP and GDP growth rate. Furthermore, the study provides policy implications for the …

Impact Of Various Insurance Types On Level And Appropriateness Of Health Care Consumption, Allison Mary Janda

Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which insurance type, or method of care management, impact the appropriate delivery of health care. Previous studies indicate a relationship between insurance type and patterns of consumption but do not directly link the incentives or disincentives inherent in each plan with trends inconsumption of health care. This study explores how different types of health insurance coverage affect the location, the degree, and the frequency of health care consumption in order to gain insight into which plans promote appropriate delivery and consumption ofcare.