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Essays In Household And Labor Finance, Avantika Pal

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation focuses on two broad questions. First, what is the role of financial regulation in alleviating financial distress of households? Second, how do labor markets shape individual financial outcomes? In Chapter 1, I document a positive impact of foreclosure delays — a widely used measure of foreclosure prevention — on labor income. I present novel evidence showing that foreclosure delays can foster sustained economic recovery through local labor markets by allowing borrowers to re-evaluate their employment decisions and address the root causes of their financial distress. To conduct this study, I leverage a temporary rule introduced by the Consumer …

Cross Section Analysis Of Factors Affecting Interstate Migration In The United States, Kasey Thomas

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the factors influencing interstate migration in the United States of America. This study incorporates political affiliations and income and property tax policy into an existing migration determinants model. This is done to examine the influence of policy or potential future policies on an individual’s decision-making in addition to household factors. The greatest factors influencing an individual's decision to move are the average January temperature, the income tax rate, and the number of hazardous waster sites in the state.

Case Studies In Financial Accounting, Martina C. Gratz

Honors Theses

The thesis is a combination of four case studies that were completed in the 2023-2024 academic year under the supervision of Dr. Victoria Dickinson. The first two cases look at the impact of Chinese markets entering the New York Stock Exchange and the effect Environmental, Social, and Governance legislation will have on Americans and the accounting profession. The third case looks at the beliefs of Dr. Sowell and Dr. Carson and how the implementations of these beliefs can positively impact the United States economy. Finally, in the last case we focus on the Mississippi economy and a project that can …

Bargaining On The Nile: Modeling The Impact Of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) On Egyptian And Ethiopian Negotiations, Madeleine Rachel Dotson

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the role of dams in bargaining and analyzes the current conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Dams are analyzed using a strategic competitive market model. The model demonstrates the asymmetrical power balance between an upstream and downstream state. Ultimately, the model shows that the upstream state can reduce its quantity with relatively less lost potential than the downstream state’s benefits. Thus, upstream- downstream cooperation can generate positive net gains from trade. In the context of Egypt and Ethiopia, bargaining failures are certainly possible. However, a quota could increase the net gains …

Essays In Behavioral And Experimental Economics, Yves-Paul Auffray

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three self-contained articles in the field of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. Chapter one and three investigate the implications of non-standard preferences, i.e., social preferences for economic decision making. Another common theme in Behavioral Economics is that of bounded rationality. In chapter two, I look at correlation neglect, which is one example of bounded rationality. The first chapter "Circumstances, effort choice and redistribution," investigates the effects of differences in personal circumstances on individual effort choice and on income redistribution. I construct a model in which a worker’s production depends on a combination of circumstances, effort and unknown …

Essays In Macroeconomics, Development, And Entrepreneurship, Alexandros Loukas

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters that contribute to the fields of macroeconomics, economic development, and entrepreneurship. In the first chapter, "Entrepreneurship Selection and Performance in the U.S. and Across Countries: The Role of Human Capital," I seek to establish a set of stylized facts related to entrepreneurship and human capital, the latter being proxied by years of formal education. Analyzing individual-level survey data from nearly 100 countries unveils new empirical facts: there is a strong positive link between the mean-adjusted rate of entrepreneurship for higher educated individuals and output per worker or estimated total factor productivity (TFP). Further focus …

Essays On Intellectual Property Strategy, Byung Uk (Charlie) An

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Different forms of institutions have been devised by human beings throughout history, either as informal constraints or formal rules. Although emerging in various forms, institutions play a pivotal role in structuring interactions in our societies. These institutional assets significantly affect firms’ environment and have a substantial impact on the economic growth of different regions and countries. This dissertation is about one of the important institutions, intellectual property (IP). IP has been designed to address the fundamental challenges in protecting innovative ideas and knowledge. That is, Arrow’s information paradox ─ for an idea to be evaluated, one has to disclose the …

Climate Change And Environmental Crises In Coastal Cities: Charleston Vs New York City, Nolan Rodriguez

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the increasing vulnerability that coastal communities face regarding climate crises and rising sea levels. Specifically, this paper investigates the environmental crises facing Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City. The geographical location of these cities places a more severe threat upon their environment, as opposed to urban collectives removed from the immediate effect of rising sea levels. A cross-examination of politics and economics is discussed in order to determine the causal relationship of each city’s engagement with its surrounding environment. This paper examines how each city is affected by climate change, what measures are in place to …

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

A Hierarchical Decision Model For Evaluating The Strategy Readiness Of Quantitative Machine Learning/Data Science-Driven Investment Strategies, Mohammadsaleh Saadatmand

Dissertations and Theses

Big data and computational technologies are increasingly important worldwide in asset and investment management. Many investment management firms are adopting these data science methods and technologies to improve performance across all investment processes. Researchers actively use these methods to develop more effective systematic investment strategies and produce more reliable outcomes less vulnerable to human decision-making biases. However, the success of such a strategy depends heavily on the scientific rigor applied throughout the process. "Best practices involve understanding how to make better decisions in the research design process. A good question is whether we can make better decisions in developing quantitative …

Place Distress And Job Growth: Are Recent Job Growth Trends Significantly More Favorable For Distressed Counties?, Timothy J. Bartik, Kathleen Bolter, Kyle Huisman

Reports

This paper examines whether recent job growth trends have become more favorable toward counties with greater baseline economic distress. Job growth trends are “competitive job growth,” which is defined as growth that exceeds what would be expected based on how a county’s industries are growing nationally. Baseline county distress is measured by the county’s “prime-age employment rate,” the employment to population ratio for 25–54-year-olds. The core findings are fourfold. First, for the most distressed counties, job growth trends have become more favorable since 2019, compared to the 2001–2007 and 2007–2019 periods. The timing of this recent improvement is consistent with …

Projecting The Demand For Workers In The Production Of Lithium-Ion Batteries In The United States, Erik Vasilauskas, Dakota Mccracken, Michael Horrigan

Reports

No abstract provided.

Essays In Macroeconomics And Financial Economics, José Martínez Gutiérrez

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three independent articles in the fields of Macreconomics and Financial Economics. Chapter one investigates the determinants of the demand for bonds of different maturities and the relationship with differences in idiosyncratic risk in an heterogeneous agent framework. Chapter two studies the effect of policy instability on the risk-return trade-off of different financial assets. Chapter three studies macroeconomic risk in an incomplete market economy. In the first chapter "Heterogenous Liquidity Demand and the Term Structure of Interest Rates" I study what determines differences in the demand for bonds of different maturities. I focus on the effect of …

Income Differences Among Nations: Measuring The Effects Of Human Capital On Total Factor Productivity (Tfp), Ashley Tarrolly

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

In the past two centuries, long-term economic growth has been defined by The Great Divergence, where the gap of income distribution has widened as a result of some nations experiencing modern economic growth while others have remained stagnant in their economic well-being. This panel data research examines differences in income across countries by applying development accounting to analyze differences in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and predict each country’s total factor productivity (TFP). Data from the Penn World Tables were collected and categorized into groups based on GDP per capita to create a sample of 144 countries in 10-year …

Beer, Bourbon, And Bertrand: An Experimental Economics Analysis, Noah Cameron Dixon

Honors Thesis

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect that binge drinking has on economic performance in a standard Bertrand-style game. Results indicate that binge drinking, when paired with poor protective behavioral strategies, increases cooperative pricing in a Bertrand-style game, with this result persisting across various contextual frameworks. In the aggregate, this study contributes to the literature by being the first of its kind to evaluate the effect of observational binge-drinking meta scores on performance in a Bertrand-style game. To measure economic performance in the market, participants play the 2/3 average game and a standard Bertrand game with zero …

The Effects Of Pre-Abortion Restrictions On Women's Well-Being, Reesa Sooklall

Theses and Dissertations

Eleven states require women seeking abortions to undergo mandated ultrasounds prior to the procedure while twenty-four states require women to wait either 24, 48 or 72 hours between receiving state mandated counseling and the procedure. I examine the effects of abortion restrictions on health behaviors and health care of women. I apply staggered difference-in-differences to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to estimate the causal effects of the two-trip mandatory waiting period (MWP) law and mandatory ultrasounds (MUS) law on women’s mental health, use of alcohol and tobacco, and whether women are obtaining routine mammograms and pap smears. The …

Impact Of Exposure To Coal Plants On Birth Weight: Evidence From India Coal Plant Capacity, Deborah Nakkungu

Theses and Dissertations

Air pollution in developing nations presents a significant health threat; India's reliance on coal to meet increasing electricity demands and the non-compliance of coal plants with emission regulations worsen air pollution, resulting in considerable health risks. In this paper, I estimate the effect of exposure to coal plants on birth weight using data from the 2019-21 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and the Central Electricity Authority's data on coal plants in India. A linear regression controls for confounding factors, including village and birth cohort effects, as well as birth and household variables. I find that an additional gigawatt (GW) increase in …

Effects Of The Automatic Enrollment Provision Of The Pension Protection Act Of 2006 On Labor Market Outcomes Of Older Americans, Yannis Giannoulakis

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 is to protect pension plans, reinforce individual savings and prepare Americans for retirement. A provision of the act strengthens the 1998-2000 IRS ruling that allows firms to automatically enroll their employees in 401(k) plans by superseding state written permission requirements. Prior to the Pension Protection Act of 2006, several states required written permission from employees to authorize wage deductions and 401(k) enrollments. Single-event difference-in-difference regressions estimate the effects of the Pension Protection Act of 2006’s auto-enrollment provision on labor market outcomes in states that had written permission requirements in the years …

State Antitrust Enforcement: Politics Or Economics?, Nickolas Remish

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Antitrust enforcement on the federal level has clear partisan influences; Democrats usually support expansive enforcement regimes while Republicans oppose them. On the state level, the ideological divide appears muddled. State attorneys general, who are mostly elected officials, are responsible for initiating lawsuits. This study seeks to determine whether state attorneys general mirror their federal counterpart in enforcing antitrust law on a partisan basis or whether unique state variables such as economic factors overwhelm ideological motivations. Public choice theory dictates politicians prioritize re-election and will adhere to constituent interest, thus providing the theoretical foundation for why politicians may tailor antitrust enforcement …

Presidential Influence On The Bureaucracy: The Curious Case Of Lina Khan, Nickolas Remish

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

How effective can a president be in promoting his or her policies through the bureaucracy? Most theories postulate the president has influence – via appointees, budgeting, and executive orders. This paper unpacks the president’s influence on the bureaucracy by analyzing President Biden’s effect on antitrust, particularly with regards to addressing labor concerns. Biden appears to depart from previous presidential administrations due to his heightened emphasis on labor’s need for protection and antitrust law as the optimal vehicle for helping workers. The data, pulled from federal and state court antitrust cases since 2000, relies on textual analysis with regards to the …

Keynote Address Delivered At The Mediation Seminar, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Talks, Speeches, & Discourse

One of the pillars of good governance is the rule of law and administration of Justice. The main plank of market economy is property rights and enforcement of contracts. Among several determinants of Foreign Direct Investment and International Trade flows the mechanisms by which disputes are resolved among the contracting parties features prominently. Inclusive development in which the majority of the population shares the benefits also requires Financial inclusion i.e access to capital. I would like to begin with Article 37 (d) of the constitution i.e provide inexpensive and expeditious justice. This in turn implies Affordability and Access. The world …

Teaching The New Deal: 1932-1941 – Review And Analysis, Susan M. Foster, Brian Walker Johnson

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Teaching the New Deal: 1932-1941 is a text of crucial and timely importance for students and teachers of middle and high school social studies. Through the lenses of four major themes, authors demonstrate inquiry-based pedagogy to intentionally provoke students to consider non-binary conclusions that closely examine the purported heroes, villains, and martyrs of traditional historical narratives. Rather than presenting a factual or ideological approach to teaching disciplinary standards, this text depicts the New Deal Era as a period in history that can be used to critically and creatively discuss the politics of personal identity and to explore the legacies of …

Overcoming Disparities In The Treatment Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Christian Gamboa, Tribhuvan Lanka, Elaine Flowers, Nayarith Lopez

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Deaths due to Alzheimer’s have been increasing at an exponential rate for the last 24 years, with an astounding 145% increase between the years 2000-2024. Early detection is key to slowing down the rate of decline. Unfortunately, Latino and African American individuals delay seeking care, which predisposes them to worse outcomes. To date, socioeconomic limitations are the main factors leading to delayed care in Latino and African American communities. A service project was developed with the aim of addressing limitations that result in delays to seeking care within Latino and African American communities.

Methods: A systematic review of available …

Exploring Hypertension Prevalence Among Ill-Housed Individuals In Urban Environments, Lia Summer Goldberg, Sameer Shah, Nikhila Archakam, Murod Khikmatov, Kesha Choksi, Anddee White

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

This study explores the interrelations of hypertension, homelessness, and access to healthcare in urban ill-housed populations. It was found that conditions such as heart disease and diabetes significantly exacerbate hypertension, which remains highly prevalent due to the population's limited access to consistent medical care. Homelessness further complicates the management of hypertension due to unstable living conditions, making adherence to treatment and follow-up with healthcare providers challenging. Additionally, factors like higher rates of substance abuse and malnutrition among homeless populations contribute to worsening hypertension, which, if untreated, can lead to severe health crises including heart attacks and strokes.

The research underscores …

Pros, Cons, And The Barriers To Implementing A Universal Healthcare System In The United States, Arpun Shah

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: The United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. Despite that, it also has worse health outcomes than that of several other countries. The United States is also the only wealthy/developed country without universal healthcare. Universal healthcare, also known as a single-payer healthcare system, refers to the concept that the government finances and governs healthcare for most, if not all residents of the country. The United States currently has a multi-payer system, which means that healthcare is financed through various sources such as the public and private sectors. Purpose: The purpose of this is …

Addressing The Black Maternal Mortality Rate, Kennedy Sanders, Venkateswar Venkataraman, Kate Whelihan

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Introduction: As of 2021, the Black maternal mortality rate in the United States was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births as compared to the national average of 32.9 and the White American average of 26.61. It has been demonstrated that this discrepancy is not fully explained by socioeconomic status. Doulas are professionals who provide support and guidance throughout pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. Encouraging the use of doulas may be an effective approach to improve the birth experience for Black mothers. Methods: A literature review was performed using PubMed and the following search strings: maternal mortality rate (+race, +race +ethnicity, …

Sunscreen Cost And Its Effect On Skin Cancer In Low-Income Communities: A Systemic Review, John Sauer

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

This research examines the pivotal connection between sunscreen affordability and its impact on skin cancer prevalence, especially in low-income communities. Despite universal dermatological recommendations for daily sunscreen use, stringent criteria contribute to elevated prices, averaging around $10 for a 6 oz unit. This financial strain is compounded for families adhering to recommended application rates, leading to significant economic burdens. Outdoor laborers, less likely to follow guidelines, face heightened risks. Government programs' excluding sunscreen costs further exacerbate challenges for low-income communities, contributing to increased skin cancer incidence. This review aims to establish a correlation between sunscreen cost and skin cancer rates, …

Beneath The Mask: The Performance Of Blackness And Economies Of Caricature In American Fiction, Terri Bowles

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

In American Fiction (2023), written for the screen and directed by Cord Jefferson, satire, drama and comedy frame a knife-sharp examination of America’s cultural reproductions of stereotype and caricature. The film, based on Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, explores the fraught professional position of Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a professor-author pressed to write a bestseller amid family upheaval and financial strain. Monk’s resulting novel, a gritty send-up of urban tropism drafted in a fit of fury and frustration, exploits America’s fixation on commodifying and flattening Blackness—and becomes an instant hit. This review explores the film’s interrogations of race, class and …

Can Marketing Transcend Entrenched Gender Biases?, Thinh Nguyen

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Through a feminist lens, Maclaran and Chatzidakis (2022) challenge conventional assumptions about gender, emphasizing its performative nature shaped by social practices rather than inherent traits. This commentary extends analyses of key themes such as gender performativity, the male gaze, and subject-object binaries within marketing. It critiques how marketing strategies reinforce existing power imbalances and systemic biases rooted in historical narratives. The writing also reflects on media interpretations of gender issues through films like 'Turning Red' and 'Barbie'. By contextualizing gendered marketing within broader societal frameworks, this writing contributes to ongoing dialogues in media studies, sociology, and gender studies, highlighting the …

Toils, Troubles, And Travesties Of Representation, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.