Digital Commons Network^™

Redefining The Relevant Market: Abandonment Or Return To Brown Shoe, Daniel A. Hanley

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Defining a relevant market is arguably the most important requirement in antitrust litigation. Between the 1890s and the 1940s, defining a relevant market was a simple and generalized process, typically undertaken by courts as a cursory matter. However, in the 1960s, defining relevant markets became a centerpiece of antitrust litigation. The modern method originates from the Supreme Court’s landmark 1962 decision in Brown Shoe v. United States. The method commonly known as the Brown Shoe test requires judges to construct relevant markets by carefully analyzing accessible and understandable qualitative data, such as internal corporate documents and consumer surveys. Since the …

Overconfidence Bias Amongst Student Investors, William Winship

Economics Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Sex Work As Modern Day Slavery, Clifton Carragher

Economics Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

The Game Of Going Public: Market Timing, Information Asymmetry, And The Signaling Effects Of Initial Public Offerings (Ipos) In The Technology Industry, Kiana Seva

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis explores the game of going public in the technology industry, specifically the strategic decision-making process of issuing an initial public offering (IPO), the advantages a company may gain from its market timing, and the signaling effects of its IPO. Existing research on this subject is vast but fragmented into areas that focus on the decision to go public, game theoretical analysis of the advantages, analysis of the advantages using quantitative data, and signaling effects. To address this gap, I developed and analyzed three game theoretic models which account for all these factors that affect the success of an …

Reporting And Underreporting Of Sex Harassment In United States Public Schools: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Erica S. Matthisen

Scripps Senior Theses

Using mixed methods, I assess the factors that contribute to the underreporting of sex harassment in elementary and secondary educational environments. I first use regional Title IX data to assess the impacts of Title IX resource access on several indicator variables, finding a positive impact on allegations and discipline cases when a harassment/bullying policy was made available online. Next, I seek to identify other factors that contribute to reporting or underreporting. To that end, I conduct organizational analysis and informational interviews. From the organizational analysis, I identify factors that contribute to the normalization and underreporting of sex harassment and strategies …

Where Does The Money Go? Three Essays On Intergovernmental Transfers, Spending, And Poverty In Indonesia, Jacobus Cd Rijoly

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Indonesia allocates substantial intergovernmental transfers to local governments; nonetheless, the decrease in poverty remains limited. This dissertation posits that the binding constraint is institutional, specifically the regulations and incentives that dictate the extent to which funds are allocated from the government to designated programs. Institutional pass-through refers to the fraction of a transfer that is allocated to a program expenditure. The three essays integrate estimation, budget composition evidence, and a formal model to explain both modest average effects and heterogeneity across regions and programs.

The first essay evaluates the impact of transfers on provincial poverty from 2001 to 2022 by …

Impact Of Geography On Institutions In Agricultural And Nomadic Societies, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

How geography affects the choice of institutions is studied in a theoretical model. In this model, nations are located around a circle. Rulers compete through choosing tax rates, the level of military spending, and the degree of formality of institutions. Geographic condition is captured by population density. It is shown that societies with higher population densities choose lower tax rates, establish more formal institutions, and give government officials lower levels of autonomies than those with lower population densities do. A higher level of external threats induces a ruler to choose a higher level of autonomy for officials. The model is …

Politicians As Persuaders: A Field Experiment On Messenger Effects And Social Program Uptake, Syon Bhanot

Economics Faculty Works

Accessing public sector programs often involves onerous administrative processes for citizens, which can demotivate program applicants and discourage uptake. In this study, I worked with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC) to test an intervention to boost uptake of PHDC’s Basic System Repair Program (BSRP) by using local political leaders to persuade citizens to complete the program’s onboarding process. Specifically, I randomly assigned 2,575 BSRP applicants to either receive a motivational mailer from PHDC directly, or from the office of that citizen’s representative on the Philadelphia City Council. While I find that the average response rate for individuals who received …

The Implications Of A Rise In The Minimum Wage: Evidence From Female Workers In Mexico, Isabella Cardenas Padilla

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the 2019 minimum wage reform in Mexico, evaluating its impact on female labor market outcomes, including labor force participation, formal employment, and informal employment. This reform introduced a new geographic minimum wage zone along municipalities bordering the United States, accompanied by fiscal incentives, creating a natural experiment for analysis. Using difference-in-differences regression specifications, the study finds that the minimum wage increase was associated with a rise in formal sector employment and a corresponding decline in informal employment among women with low educational attainment. This study finds a magnitude of 6 percentage points in each direction, an economically …

Synthetic Statocracy - Pakistan’S Self-Created Inferno: Examining The Causes And Consequences Of Military Dominance In Pakistan, Umer Lakhani

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the history of military rule in Pakistan. Applying the framework of Johannes Gerschewski in The Three Pillars of Stability: Legitimation, Repression and Co-Optation in Autocratic Regimes, this paper looks to explain how military rulers who presided over the three periods of military rule in Pakistan consolidated and maintained their power, as well as the effects that these periods of rule had on Pakistani society. This paper will also supplement Gerschewski’s general framework by applying the findings of various established authors who have been published extensively on Pakistan’s political history, economy and relationship with the military. Such authors …

Unconventional Philosophies And Practices: Vietnamese Family Firm Performance In Multiple Countries, Amon Simba, Mai Thi Thanh Thai, Aymen Ammari, James V. Koch, Paul Jones

Economics Faculty Publications

The diversity of business philosophies and practices across family firms suggests their performance is influenced by factors that can be hard to isolate or understand. Based on 215 observations of Vietnamese firms operating in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis techniques to discern the configurational relationships underlying their performance pathways. Of the 64 possible configurations, three pathways with a high consistency (95 percent) for high performance are distinguishable. These three pathways are characterized by varying degrees of family labor involvement, social network-based labor sourcing, and capital contributions from partners. They reveal how cultural factors, …

Institutionalisation And Institutional Evolution: A Model Of Selecting Government Officials In Ancient China, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

The evolution of institutions in selecting government officials in ancient China reflected efficiency considerations and increased power concentration in the hands of the ruler. Selecting government officials in ancient China became more rule‐based over time, and standardisation and centralisation were some key features of this process. In this dynamic model, a higher volume of transactions, shown as the number of candidates needed to be evaluated, leads to institutionalisation, which has a higher fixed cost but a lower marginal cost in processing each transaction. In the steady state, a ruler with a more encompassing interest chooses a higher level of institutionalisation. …

What Role Do Finance Ministers Play In Political Business Cycles? Evidence-Based On A New African Dataset, Christine Olivia Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

This study investigates how the personal characteristics of finance ministers influence political budget cycles in Africa. Using a new dataset covering 300 finance ministers across 23 countries from 1980 to 2020, we find that political budget cycles primarily take the form of increased government consumption during election years. Ministers with prior central banking experience are less likely to amplify spending in election years, effectively curbing political budget cycles. These results remain consistent after accounting for institutional quality, ministerial tenure, and other confounding factors. The findings contribute to the literature by showing that the appointment of finance ministers in African countries …

Ethnic Politics And Fiscal Dominance: Implications For Currency Union Formation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Benjamin D. Keen, Christine O. Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

Numerous currency unions have been proposed in Africa over the past 50 years, but none have succeeded. This paper asserts ethnic favouritism is a crucial yet often overlooked feature that strongly influences an African government’s willingness to join a currency union. We use a Barro and Gordon (1983) style model that incorporates fiscal dominance, political business cycles and ethnic favouritism to assess the benefits and costs to African households and governments of joining a currency union. Our results show that ethnic alignment between the head of state and central bank governor amplifies fiscal dominance, which reduces an African government’s desire …

A Geopolitical Economy Analysis Of China And India’S Approaches To Transnational Data Governance, Yujia He, Ka Zeng

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Recent literature on the behavior of rising powers in digital trade and data governance highlights their discourses of data sovereignty and desire to preserve domestic policy autonomy. This article contributes to the literature by employing a political economy lens that shifts the focus from the nation-state/inter-state framework towards the dynamics of state–capital relations, allowing for a more historical and contextual understanding of the geopolitics of data governance in emerging economies. Using China and India—two of the largest emerging economies—as comparative cases, and drawing on secondary data from government documents and other sources, the article argues that the interplay between the …

Editor-In-Chief's Note, Surekha Rao

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Bruce Bigelow, 1943 - 2025, Kenneth Colburn

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

George C. Roberts Award Recipients

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Us Unconventional Monetary Policy And International Capital Flows To Emerging Market Economies, Tianyuan Zhang

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the spillover effects of US monetary policy on international capital inflows to emerging market economies (EMEs) from 2003Q1 to 2019Q4, with a focus on quantitative easing (QE) and its normalization phases, including both tapering and quantitative tightening (QT). Using a panel data model with fixed effects, this dissertation finds that the spillover effects of US monetary policy during the QE period have a more pronounced effect on EME capital inflows than do those during the normalization period, where the effects are relatively muted. Second, decomposing the normalization phase into tapering and QT periods reveals that the impact …

One Of The Magnificent Seven Is Coming: Amazon Arrives In East Texas, Manuel Reyes-Loya, Cecilia Cuellar

Hibbs Brief

In this issue of the Hibbs Brief, the arrival of Amazon in East Texas is examined, detailing the company's plans to build a new delivery station in Tyler and estimating its potential economic impact on the region. The brief explains how Amazon's logistics infrastructure works and highlights that the new facility — a roughly 140,000‑square‑foot delivery station — is expected to generate more than 100 full‑time jobs, several hundred part‑time positions, and significant construction‑related employment and economic activity, while broadening the local tax base. By embedding Amazon's presence in the East Texas economy, the analysis shows promising prospects for job …

Exploring Perceived Value: An Analysis Of Belmont University's Dining Options, Joshua Schonland, Delaney King

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Belmont University has a number of dining options available for its students, faculty, staff, and the public. These on-campus dining options include well-known fast food restaurant chains in the United States such as Starbucks Coffee, Chick-fil-a, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Members of Belmont University who pay for a specific 'meal plan ' have full access to these on-campus options in addition to an all-inclusive dining hall, which is also open to the public for $12.50.

The available meal plans for students, faculty, and staff vary in value and offerings. Some variations offer a fixed number of ‘swipes’, which is a …

Determinants Of Remote Suitability Of Jobs And Residential Distance From The Workplace After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abizer Mamnoon

CMC Senior Theses

Immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic, workers performed 14% of their paid hours from home, but this figure increased to 38% after the pandemic (Chen et al. 2023). This thesis contributes to our understanding of the determinants of remote work and the factors affecting how far an individual lives from the workplace in the post-pandemic period.

I use 1.95 million observations of worker-specific LinkedIn data from August 2023. I construct a measure of remote suitability using Dingel and Neiman’s (2020) method to assign each job title a remote suitability score based on the associated occupation. I use a Tobit regression to …

Beginner's Luck: The Impact Of Early Wins On Long-Term Gambling Patterns, Jasmine Tan

CMC Senior Theses

The legalization of online sports gambling has rapidly expanded access to gambling platforms, raising concerns about its potential impacts on gambling behavior and addiction. This study investigates whether early wins in online sports gambling predict sustained gambling engagement. Using longitudinal data from 46,339 subscribers to online gambling site bwin Entertainment, we analyzed the gambling activity of new sports bettors over 18 months. Gamblers were categorized based on early outcomes (losses, break-even, small wins, and big wins), and engagement was measured by total bets placed, total gambling days, total stakes after the first three days, and frequency of play. Interaction terms …

Assessing The Impact Of Medicaid Expansion On The Labor Market, Healthcare Access, And Health Outcomes During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kaavya Narayan

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the impact of Medicaid expansion status on labor market outcomes, healthcare access, and health outcomes during COVID-19. Using data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) model, I estimate the effects of Medicaid expansion on unemployment, financial barriers to care, obesity, and poor health before and after the pandemic. The analysis also accounts for state-level political and demographic characteristics, gender, marital status, and education level. My results show that non-expansion states, relative to expansion states of similar political and demographic breakdowns, are significantly more disadvantaged in terms of obesity, poor health, financial …

Move Fast And Get Sued: Uber's Entry Strategy And The Role Of City Regulation, Leonora Willett

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the impact of Uber's entry into U.S. cities on federal court case filings, particularly focusing on how this disruptive platform influenced litigation patterns and regulatory responses. My analysis seeks to understand whether Uber’s entry into cities significantly affected the frequency and types of legal cases filed, including personal injury, contract disputes, and labor claims. Using an event study model and federal court data from the Federal Judicial Center spanning 2009 to 2023, my analysis evaluates changes in case filings before and after Uber's entry. Additionally, I analyze the impact of city-level regulations in five major cities on …

The Legacy Of Housing Discrimination: Asthma Disparities In California Cities, Taylor Daetz

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the effect of discriminatory housing policy on current asthma rates in California cities. This study uses boundary design and propensity score methodologies to analyze asthma-related emergency department visits in census tracts with corresponding appraisal grades from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps. The results indicate significantly higher asthma burdens in grade D (redlined) census tracts compared to grade C tracts, even when controlling for present-day pollution concentrations, with historically redlined tracts experiencing an average of 26.88 additional emergency department visits per 10,000 residents. The analysis further reveals disparities between grade C and B neighborhoods, suggesting that even …

Abortion Access And The Economy: How The Dobbs V. Jackson Decision Impacted Female Economic Outcomes, Mia Kathleen Nelson

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis will aim to understand the economic impact of removing access to abortion by comparing economic outcomes in states that banned abortion with those that did not ban abortion following the Dobbs V. Jackson Supreme Court decision. By using data from the Consumer Population Survey, I created a model to estimate the impact of banning abortion on metrics such as unemployment rate and labor force participation rate. My model indicated that banning abortion in these states did have a statistically significant impact on female economic outcomes, indicating that banning abortion decreased female labor force participation rate and increased the …