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Positive Economic Freedom: An Enabling Role For International Labor Standards In Developing Countries?, Tonia Warnecke, Alex De Ruyter

Faculty Publications

Approaches to economic development have overemphasized negative economic freedom for multinational corporations at the expense of a majority of the population in developing countries. An inevitable outcome has been the growth of informal sector and “vulnerable” employment in developing countries and entrenchment of existing inequalities. We argue that rather than an emphasis on negative freedom, an emphasis on using labor standards to facilitate positive economic freedom must occur. Labor standards do this not only through the “core” rights of union membership and collective bargaining, but also in addressing substantive (“non-core”) rights at work (wages, working-time, etc.), thereby facilitating positive freedom.

Innovation, Markets, And Evolution, Mitch Green

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper approaches innovation from an evolutionary perspective. Literature spanning a broad range of traditions in economics is considered, to include Institutionalist, Schumpeterian, post-Keynesian, and growth theorists. Key systemic changes are examined in the context of prevailing technological and social institutions. It is argued that expectation-fixing effects such as path-dependence in investment and innovation provide structure to a social network of market institutions that seek to validate money contracts. The institution of money is considered as a center of power in the system and affects the course of innovation. Money as the unit of account becomes the object of …

Why You Should Care About The Threatened Middle Class, Jill Littrell, Fred Brooks, Jan Ivery, Mary L. Ohmer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the last two decades, the income and security of the individual middle class worker has declined and the gap between the middle class and the wealthy has widened. We explain how this is bad for democracy, the economy, and the aggregate health of the nation. We examine the governmental policies and interventions that increased the middle class following the depression and maintained its vigor through the post-World War II period. The impetus for these changes in governmental policies in the 1930s was to end the Great Depression. We pose the question of whether a nation can recover from a …

Skew Selection Theory Applied To The Wealth And Welfare Of Nations, Susan F. Allen, Deby L. Cassill

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

According to skew selection theory, working citizens who build wealth and, at the same time, share portions of their wealth with those in need are more likely to survive economic downturns than citizens who hoard wealth. In this article, skew selection is employed as a theoreticalframework to support governmental efforts to develop social policies that protect the income of working citizens and, at the same time, provide for vulnerable, non-working children and elders. To illustrate its applicability, the social policies of Japan, Sweden and the United States-all of which are challenged by decaying ratios of working to non-working citizens-are compared …

Economic Growth And Social Development, Janelle Jones

Master's Theses - Economics

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic growth and social development. The paper looks at the effect of changes in national income in a country on social development of the citizens. Other factors like democratic characteristics and government stability are also considered at a secondary level. Although the main focus is on annual cross-country data for the period 1996-2006, estimates for shorter subperiods are also considered. The role of income relative to 16 proxies for social development is studied, and simple regression models are estimated through the fixed-effects format and also by using instrumental variables. …

Solid Waste Management In The Caribbean, Thomas C. Kinnaman

Faculty Journal Articles

Increases in population, urbanization, and per-capita incomes in the Caribbean over the past century have magnified the traditional challenge of managing household refuse. This paper will discuss the historical evolution of solid waste management practices, summarize the current state of waste management in the Caribbean, consider the future growth of waste production, highlight options for future waste management, and finally consider policies available to change current household waste disposal practices. Solid waste planners might find this information useful to prepare long-term strategies for waste management in the Caribbean.

Policy Suggestions For Emissions Trading In The U.S.A., Nathaniel Wallshein

Honors Scholar Theses

This honors thesis will examine current and theoretical "cap and trade" emissions trading schemes in an attempt to make recommendations on how to improve this regulated commodity market. The various control mechanisms available to regulators will be discussed: including allocation methodology, benchmarking, banking, variation in design frameworks, etc. To aid and support the proposed policy recommendations, this paper will investigate the design framework of the SOx emission trading scheme in the US, the Kyoto Protocol, and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The political, social, and economic context of these schemes will be taken into account when considering the …

Are Residents Who Are Displaced By Gentrification Better Or Worse Off After Relocating?, Alice M. Anigacz

Economics Honors Projects

This honors thesis examines how individuals displaced by gentrification fare after relocation, with changes in wage and income as the primary measures of well-being. Geo-coded Panel Study of Income Dynamics data is used in conjunction with decennial census tract-level neighborhood data to evaluate nationwide occurrences of gentrification and their effects on the displaced between 1990 and 1995, with a focus on whether changing neighborhood effects can account for the change in well-being. Standard OLS regressions not accounting for neighborhood effects find that compared to a nationwide sample, a sample of movers, and a sample of displaced residents, residents displaced specifically …

At The Intersection Of Neoliberal Development, Scarce Resources, And Human Rights: Enforcing The Right To Water In South Africa, Elizabeth A. Larson

International Studies Honors Projects

The competing ideals of international human rights and global economic neoliberalism come into conflict when developing countries try to enforce socio-economic rights. This paper explores the intersection of economic globalization and the enforcement of 2nd generation human rights. The focus of this exploration is the right to water in South Africa, specifically the recent Constitutional Court case Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg. While a right to water can be constructed at the international level, the right disappears in the face of neoliberal development measures such as those that are instituted by democratic governments in developing nations faced with limited resources.

Volume 1, No. 1 (May 2010) Masthead

Zambia Social Science Journal

No abstract provided.

Singhealth Ceo Says Leadership Is About Compassion And The 'Cha Cha Cha', Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

That a leader ought to choose compassion over profits is a position unlikely to be popular with shareholders. However, that may well be the only kind of leadership that will command a following – because people gravitate towards ethical leadership. Leaders can attempt to inspire with a show of record profits and shareholder value. Yet, such successes can still seem somewhat empty. According to Prof. Tan Ser Kiat, Group CEO of SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare group, leaders that possess and display compassion inspire at a different level. They tap right into the heart.

Are Conditions On Cash Transfers Necessary To Improve Rural Education Outcomes? Evidence From Nicaragua, Zachary Mcdade

Economics Honors Projects

Across Latin America, conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs), in which governments pay poor families conditional on their children attending school, have successfully increased enrollment and attendance rates. No empirical evidence supports the need for costly conditionality, however, and I compare the effect of Nicaraguan unconditional remittances to the effect of CCTs to determine which more strongly influences educational investment. I test the outcomes of school enrollment and attendance and find that unconditional transfers more strongly impact enrollment, while conditional transfers more strongly increase attendance.

The Economic Impact Of Medicaid Spending In Arkansas, Katherine A. Deck, Viktoria Riiman

Publications and Presentations

Arkansas Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides necessary medical services to needy and low-income persons that is administered through the Arkansas Division of Medical Services at the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The Medicaid program is designed to provide the baseline health outcomes that are necessary for the state’s economy to function. The expenditures that are made through the Arkansas Medicaid program significantly affect the Arkansas economy. This report details the economic impacts of the direct expenditures of the Medicaid program on the Arkansas economy.

Renewed Growth And Poverty Reduction In Zambia, Arne Bigsten, Sven Tengstam

Zambia Social Science Journal

The Zambian economy has grown relatively fast over the last decade. This article discusses the challenge of using these growing resources effectively to improve the welfare of the population and reduce poverty. The poverty head count index is found to have declined between 1998 and 2004 by about 5.4 percentage points. This change can be decomposed into a 6.6 percentage point reduction due to growth and a 1.2 percentage point increase due to inequality change.

Since poverty is most severe in the rural areas, it is important to make agriculture more efficient by expanding access to electricity and improving roads, …

Determinants Of Child Nutritional Status In Zambia: An Analysis Of A National Survey, Felix Masiye, Chitalu Chama, Bona Chitah, Dick Jonsson

Zambia Social Science Journal

Malnutrition affects many children and is a leading cause of childhood mortality and non-fatal health loss. Zambia has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world. About half of the Zambian children are stunted while one in five is underweight. Prevalence of wasting is much lower. This article examines the determinants of nutritional status among children aged below five years in Zambia using data from a national cross-sectional survey conducted in 2006. Multivariate analysis is used to quantify the effects of several household and child-specific socioeconomic and demographic factors on nutritional status, as well as a geographic context …

Hospital Performance Evaluation In Uganda: A Super-Efficiency Data Envelope Analysis Model, Bruno Yawe

Zambia Social Science Journal

Standard Data Envelope Analysis models result in a large fraction of the observations becoming 100 percent efficient. The article measures the technical efficiency of 25 district referral hospitals from three regions of Uganda over the 1999-2003 period. It applies a super-efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis model. The application of a super-efficiency model was occasioned by the failure of standard data envelopment analysis models to rank the efficient set of hospitals which attain an efficiency score of unity. The results of the standard data envelopment analysis models indicate the existence of different degrees of technical and scale inefficiency in Uganda’s district referral …

Applicant Screening And Performance-Related Outcomes, Fali Huang, Peter Cappelli

Research Collection School Of Economics

A fundamental problem faced by employers is how to elicit effort from employees. Most economic models suggest that employers meet this challenge by monitoring employees carefully to prevent shirking. But there is another option that relies on heterogeneity across employees, and that is to screen job candidates to find workers with a stronger work ethic who require less monitoring. We might therefore expect employers who screen candidates more intensively to monitor them less. Using data from a national sample of US employers, we find that employers who screen applicants more intensively for factors that should predict work ethic also monitor …

Economic Implications Of Anti-Americanism, Brenda Jennifer Bee

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This capstone project is a multidisciplinary investigation into a problem that has surfaced with the rise of globalization. It explores the negative sentiments in Europe towards Americans, their recent history, and future implications. It was designed to be multidisciplinary because of the complexity of the issue at hand. It stretches from political to anthropological, both in the context of communications and economics and finally their synergistic affect in fostering certain feelings in different European nations about the American way of life. I show how certain negative feelings can change behavior and preferences for American goods and services and how it …

The Influence Of New Medications On Prescribing Behavior By Practice Type: A Regression Analysis, Rita M. Pattarini

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To determine whether the type of practice to which physicians belong influences the types of medications they prescribe

Methods: The study used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) to conduct a series of regressions for two pairs of medications. The first pair was for the treatment of high cholesterol. Advicor was the new medication and Lovastatin was the competitor. The second pair was for the treatment of arthritis. Humira was the new medication and Remicade was the competitor. For each pair, there were two sets of regressions that consisted of an unrestricted regression with all patients …

Chinese Job Growth And Workers’ Injury Compensation In China, Ann O'Neill

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Over the past decade, the PRC has made dramatic changes to its labor contract laws, corporate laws, and social welfare system in an effort to improve workers' wellbeing and decrease the impact of rights violations on the public healthcare system and national budget. This paper seeks to determine the effect of changes in social welfare policy made in 2003 on workplace injuries and illness in light of the domestic job growth that took place at that time. In 2003, changes in marketplace behavior, corporate law, and enterprise management policy led to a trend break in employment, wages, and insurance coverage …

Do Ct Scans Help Prevent Cancer-Related Deaths?, Auyon J. Ghosh

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper uses a region-level estimation approach associated with medical procedures to identify the effectiveness of X-ray Computed Axial Tomography (CT) scans as a diagnostic tool in preventing cancer-related deaths. In order to measure the effects of the CT scan on cancer-related deaths, I use data from both the National Health Interview Survey and the Vital Statistics of the United States. For all four regions, we observe an increase in CT scan use after 1979 or, as illustrated specifically in the figure, from 1975 to 1980. All four regions exhibit marked increases in lung cancer-related deaths, very little fluctuation in …

America In Recovery: Tracking And Analyzing The Obama Stimulus During 2009, Gregory Cassel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper tracks and analyzes the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, better known as the Obama stimulus plan during the 2009 year. As one of the most expensive public policies in history, the ARRA was designed to turn around an ailing economy by creating and preserving jobs, investing in key areas, providing relief to States and individuals, and tax cuts. Thus, it is important and useful to track the policy in order to see if it is doing what it is supposed to. Using federal agency Financial and Activity Reports, I create detailed graphs showing where the …

Booms, Busts, And Gambling: Can Gaming Revenues Reduce Budget Volatility?, Brad R. Humphreys, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

Over the past 20 years, state and provincial governments in North America have expanded legal gambling opportunities to consumers. One of the primary policy goals of this expansion of gambling opportunities has been to increase government revenues. Gambling is an attractive source of new government revenues because consumers are relatively insensitive to the implicit “tax” rate imposed on gambling activities and gambling is a voluntary activity, only those who chose to gamble are subject to this implicit tax. In this paper, we document the contribution that gambling revenues make to state and provincial tax receipts, and the extent to which …

Three Essays On Environmental- And Spatial-Based Valuation Of Urban Land And Housing, Lu Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation attempts to provide a comprehensive examination on the non-market valuation of the effect of open space amenities and local public infrastructure on the value of urban land and housing with both spatial heterogeneity and project heterogeneity. The demand for raw land is a derived demand for housing built on it. Therefore, we need to examine the land market and the housing market together. On the one hand, we estimate the value of urban land in a market that does not satisfy the usual assumptions of a competitive market structure as well as incentive incompatibility issues for transaction participants, …

Useful Government Information Resources For Public Librarians, Bert Chapman

Libraries Research Publications

Provides a descriptive overview of selected government information resources and the nationwide Government Information Online digital reference chat service for public librarians.

The Effects Of Marital Status & Gender On Health Care Insurance Coverage In The United States, Jessica S. T. Kong

Honors Projects

Having health insurance is a crucial factor for many to sustain life in America. This study examines the demographic determinants of health care coverage within the United States with a focus on how gender and marital status influence the likelihood of having health insurance. Using the human capital theory and the theory of statistical discrimination, it is predicted that married females will have a higher probability of being insured than divorced and separated females. Also, divorced males are predicted to have a higher probability of coverage than divorced females. The data for this research is retrieved from the United States …

White Flight And Urban Decay In Suburban Chicago, Lindsey Haines

Honors Projects

White flight and urban decay are issues typically analyzed in the context of the inner-city. This study builds on previous literature to test whether these phenomena have affected the Chicago suburbs in the same way as other urban areas. In particular, this study focuses on the effects of changes in racial composition, household income, and the age of the housing stock on changes in home values, the vacancy rate, the homeownership rate, unemployment, the single parent household rate, and the college completion rate. Overall the study supports the theories of white flight and filtering in the suburban Chicago context. The …

Assessing The Productive Efficiency Of Us Health Care: Comparison Of Analytical Methods, Amanda C. Clayton

Honors Projects

In 2006, the US spent approximately 15.8% of its GDP on health care, more than any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country and considerably larger than the 9.1% average of the 23 other peer nations included in this study (OECD Health Data, 2009). The US also had the lowest female and male life expectancies at birth compared to the same 23 OECD nations (OECD Health Data, 2009). This raw and partial evidence suggests that the US health care system may be performing inefficiently. The purpose of my research is to assess the efficiency of the US health …

The Eternal Flame: Politics Of The Olympic Games, Alyssa Gunstrom

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Twin Themes Of Theodore W. Schultz, Larry Janssen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.