Digital Commons Network^™

A Multi-Group Public Goods Game Experiment, Aaron S. Berman

Behavioral and Computational Economics (MS) Theses

People belong to many different groups, and few belong to the same network of groups. Moreover, people routinely reduce their involvement in dysfunctional groups while increasing involvement in those they find more attractive. The net effect can be an increase in overall cooperation and the partial isolation of free-riders, even if free-riders are never punished, excluded, or recognized. We test this conjecture with a multi-good extension of the standard finitely repeated public goods game. Our results from four treatments suggest that the multi-group setting indeed raises overall cooperation and dampens the impact of free-riders.

Llms Can’T Be Trusted For Financial Advice, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) do not understand the text they input and output. When three prominent LLMs were tested with 11 financial-decision prompts, the LLM responses were seemingly authoritative but riddled with arithmetic and critical-thinking mistakes. Financial planners are unlikely to be replaced by LLMs anytime soon.

Financial Self-Efficacy Among Puerto Rican Women In The United States: An Ethnographic Action-Based Research Study, Melinda Jimenez Perez

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnographic action research study was to better understand the financial self-efficacy of Puerto Rican women in the United States. There is a gap in the literature in identifying the relationship between middle-class Puerto Rican women and financial literacy. In a pilot study, four major findings emerged from the survey about Puerto Rican women and their relationship with finances: (a) as children, mothers taught them to save, and as adults, they rely on the male figures in their families; (b) the traditional education systems did not provide financial education; (c) the childhood culture of poverty and scarcity …

Uganda’S Parish Development Model In Practice: Rationale, Impact And Relevance For Bottom-Up Economic Development In Africa, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

The Parish Development Model (PDM), launched by the Ugandan authorities in early 2022, is the country’s latest attempt at making devolution work for local development, financial and social inclusion at the national level, and growth-enhancing economic transformation more broadly. The introduction of the PDM in Uganda raises the question of whether state-led local development initiatives, when undertaken in partnership with the private sector and civil society are feasible in a resource-constrained country. To succeed, the PDM will require a “whole-of-government” approach and strong institutions, both are still in the making. The paper looks at four specific challenges of PDM implementation: …

Evaluating The Applicability Of Hernando De Soto's Theories In Context Of Bangladesh's Informal Housing Sector, Md Mohotasim R. Khan

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

This research project examines Bangladesh's urban informal housing sector, aiming to understand the dynamics considering Hernando de Soto's theories, as articulated in "The Other Path." With 52% of urban residents living in slums, the study adopts a mixed-method approach, analyzing De Soto's framework, conducting literature reviews, case studies, and utilizing secondary data on urban informal housing. The objective is to identify structural and operational aspects of informal housing in Bangladesh and compare these with De Soto's observations in Peru. The significance is underscored by its focus on socio-economic perspectives, offering insights into the informal housing sector's impact on development indicators. …

Urban Harmony: Exploring The Interplay Of New Urbanism Qualities On Economic Prosperity And Psychological Wellbeing In Contemporary Cities, Crew T. Borgeson

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Now that most people live in urban places, answering which urbanism best provides citizen well-being becomes increasingly important. After nearly a century of suburban development, the significant drawbacks of urban sprawl are widely documented, namely the unsustainability and social impacts they incur. Many American cities, however, continue to chiefly expand in this way. What if cities were to make decisions not based on the status quo of today’s building codes but instead drew inspiration from great historical cities, applying their lessons to the unique challenges of the 21st century?

The New Urbanism movement aims to identify and incorporate the elements …

How Do Immigration And Technological Growth Affect One Another? Providing Guiding Principles For Policymakers, Nate Karren

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The relationship between immigration and technological growth is more nuanced than a simple statement of positive or negative correlation. How one affects the other varies depending on the skill level of the immigrant and the field where they work. Conclusions drawn by the literature form patterns that can be used to best understand the relationship between immigration and technology. High-skilled immigration boosts technological development through a complementary relationship, but low-skilled immigration can be a complement or a substitute with technological growth depending on the sector. Policymakers interested in promoting long-term economic growth through technological growth should have a clear picture …

Drip Irrigation And Water Conservation In Onions; An Economic Analysis, Jenny De Boer

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Water diversions for irrigated agriculture have contributed to increased water stress in drought prone areas across the globe. Previous research finds that farmers increase irrigation intensity per unit of product grown, increase total area under irrigation, and switch to more water intensive crops to increase yields and compensate for the cost of drip irrigation installation. Other studies have shown that drip irrigation can produce yields that parity surface irrigated yields or even surpass them using less water and increasing profits. Ultimately this plot trial showed drip irrigated onion yields were 6.31% greater than surface irrigated onion yields using an average …

What Impact Did The Tcja Tax Cuts Have On The Manufacturing Sector?, Ryan Parker

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Throughout this paper I will examine positive effects the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 had on the manufacturing sector. To do this I begin by outlining the key provisions in the TCJA that directly benefit the manufacturing sector. This includes the corporate tax rate reduction from 35 percent to 21 percent, the changes to the repatriation tax for foreign funds, and the treatment for capital assets. I then analyze key metrics including pre-tax income, income tax provision, dividends, changes in retained earnings, and spending on property plant and equipment. I will show the interactions between the increase in …

How Did The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017 Effect Small Businesses?, Jackson Pittman

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 marked a significant overhaul of the United States tax system, promising to stimulate economic growth and enhance the competitiveness of American businesses. Amidst its broad-reaching reforms, the TCJA introduced several provisions directly impacting small businesses, aiming to alleviate their tax burdens and foster entrepreneurial activity. This thesis endeavors to evaluate the multifaceted effects of the TCJA on small businesses, examining its implications for their financial performance, investment behavior, and overall economic contribution.

Preliminary findings suggest that the TCJA has produced a generally positive result for small businesses. On one hand, reduced …

The Effects Of Short-Term Rentals On Communities And How To Legislate Them: An Expanded Literary Review, William Cherry

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

A literary review of the economic and socioeconomic effects of short-term rental properties, specifically the commercialization of the industry based upon other research studies. An in-depth look at how commercialized short-term rentals effect the younger generation, hospitality industry, housing market, communities they reside in, and other externalities. A further review of different legal case studies of short-term rental legislation in major cities across the globe and their varying degrees of effectiveness.

Dreams And Livelihoods In Rural Areas Require Capital, Too: An Investigation Into The Role Of Diminishing Community Banks, Financial Education, And Access To Capital In Rural Areas, Jackson Walton

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Individuals in rural communities face unprecedented economic challenges due to a lack of financial education and a decline in the prevalence of community banks. These problems have continuously grown exponentially without successful attempt at remedy. The community banks that once served as the center of economic activity and prevalence in rural communities are leaving these communities quickly- leaving many without access to lines of credit, personal relationship banking, and without necessary financial education in a world with more financial options than ever. Access to banking and higher financial literacy proficiency rates are almost directly linked to better financial outcomes like …

The Economics Behind The Legalization Of Sports Gambling And Financial Market Relations, John Bassham

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the recent legalization of sports gambling, it has become a popular spectacle among sports fans and financial analysts pursuing an understanding of it. This thesis dives into the meticulous relationship between sports gambling and economic factors/financial market relations using academic literature to understand the relationship.

The thesis explores sports gambling from an economic standpoint using incentives to understand the market participants and economic advantages and disadvantages. It also uses academic literature and analytics to make a case for market efficiency while also delving into particular inefficiencies.

Furthermore, this thesis uses characteristics of the stock market in comparison of the …

A Red Awakening: An Analysis Of China’S Quest For Global Dominance Through Economic Alternative Warfare Methods, Sarah Beddingfield

Senior Honors Theses

In the 2023 annual meeting of China’s parliament, Chinese President Xi made it clear to his political leaders and the world that he was preparing for war. This should come as no surprise after analysis of China's grand strategy points clearly to the intent to surpass the U.S. as the premier global superpower in all respects. China has been building towards this goal for years through untraditional methods of warfare, forcing the national security community to reevaluate its own strategy and assess the Chinese threat through a different lens. This thesis seeks to address one specific area in which China …

Risk Perception, Dread, And The Value Of Statistical Life: Evidence From Occupational Fatalities, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

In a model of occupational safety, biased perceptions of risk decrease welfare, which may justify government regulation. Bias is examined empirically by the correlation between subjective and objective risk, the former measured by self-reported exposure to death on the job. The correlation is negligible among workers with no high school diploma, consistent with underestimating risk in more dangerous occupations, and strongest among more educated workers when objective risk is specific to harmful and noxious substances, which in psychological studies rank high in dread. Biased perceptions of risk may also lead to biased estimates of value of statistical life. VSL estimates …

Mergers And Acquisitions In The Us Nursing Home Industry, Wenqing Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation provides a comprehensive exploration of the strategic formation and outcomes of horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) in the US nursing home industry. We delve into two central themes that underpin the strategic decisions and implications of M&A activities in the U.S. nursing home industry.

Social Security Disability Applications: Seasonality, Cross-Sectional Correlations, And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Yimeng Yin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation investigates three important topics related to the time pattern and the inter-state heterogeneity of the application volumes of the two public disability programs run by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) — Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

The Lottery Colonel Blotto Game With Draws, Jingzhi Liu

Behavioral and Computational Economics (MS) Theses

This study presents a novel exploration of the lottery Colonel Blotto game. This adaptation introduces the possibility of draws or ties, moving beyond the traditional winner-take-all framework. The inclusion of the possibility of a draw allows for a more realistic depiction of contests where players may arbitrarily split the value of a battlefield in the absence of a decisive victory. Our model is characterized by the number of battlefields, battlefield values that may vary across battlefields, but are symmetric across players, the distinct player shares of each battlefield value captured in the event of a draw, the potentially asymmetric budgets …

Do Unions And Collective Bargaining Impact Economic Inequality In Oecd Nations?, Brady D. Crosby

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The decline of unionization has coincided with a dramatic increase in income and wealth inequality within countries across the world. Many theories in the existing literature have been proposed to explain both trends, including technology/automation, globalization and shifts in public policy. I analyze the impact of collective bargaining rates and union density on economic inequality. To test the connection between collective bargaining, labor unions and inequality, I use a series of statistical tests, including basic correlation tests, as well as a series of linear regression tests with Gini, union density, collective bargaining among other variables. The results show a moderately …

Persuasion As A Function Of Celebrity, Argument Complexity, And Need For Cognition, Stratton Stave, Blair T. Johnson Dr., Lisset Martinez-Berman, Matthew B. Jané

Honors Scholar Theses

With advertising commanding so much money as an industry, it is critical to determine what people like or do not with ads. Our focus was on three main factors within advertising, two dimensions within how the advertisement is presented, one based on the person reading the ad. The two dimensions based on presentation were the complexity of the ad, done the first time by omitting letters from the ad and the second time by swapping letters within words, and celebrity endorsement, comparing popstar Taylor Swift’s to Alicia Steele, an AI-generated celebrity. We also measured Need for Cognition (NFC), the level …

Get Smart About Your Money, Sharonda Singleton Brown, Imani Beverly, Jacquelyn J. Daniel

Georgia Library Quarterly

“Get Smart About Your Money” was an event held at the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library for Money Smart Week 2023. The goal of the event was to introduce the new business librarian, promote financial literacy in the Atlanta University Center community, and participate in National Money Smart Week.

Essays On The Labor Market Outcomes And Location Choices Of Military Veterans, Brian Bifulco

All Dissertations

The economic outcomes of military veterans are a persistent source of interest for economists, policy analysts, and the public in the United States. Veterans' outcomes bear directly on the decision of prospective recruits to join the military and current service-members to exit the military, informing policymakers about the long-term sustainability of the all-volunteer force. This dissertation focuses on veterans' economic outcomes by examining their relationship with market entry conditions and the location decisions veterans make when they exit the military.

Chapter 1 examines the earnings and employment outcomes of new military veterans associated with market entry conditions. This chapter intersects …

The Emerging Impacts Of Tourism On The Economy Of The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study Of Oil And Tourism, Dania Abu Jabal

Master's Theses

Saudi Arabia was heavily dependent on oil, which caused an economic crisis due to the collapse of global oil prices. In 2016, the Saudi government launched Vision 2030 to diversify the Saudi economy and avoid dependence on oil revenues. One aim of Vision 2030 is to initiate numerous tourism initiatives to boost the tourism industry's economic impact, elevating its contribution from 3% of GDP to 10% by 2030.

This paper provides the necessary assessment to understand tourism's role and contribution to the Saudi economy and to determine whether the industry's growth is on the right track. Also, this paper also …

How To Get Away With Insider Trading And How To Stop It?, Blade H. Kisler

Honors Theses

The realm of investing, while promising, is often clouded by complexity and opacity, exacerbated by the prevalence of insider trading. This unethical practice allows select individuals to amass vast fortunes by exploiting confidential information unavailable to the public. Particularly alarming is the possibility of insider trading within Congress, where lawmakers wield privileged access to non-public information and could possibly engage in lucrative stock transactions. This paper delves into specific coincidences of Congressional stock trading to underscore the systemic nature of this phenomenon among influential figures.

De-Escalating The United States-China Trade War Using A Global Conflict Resolution Methodology Framework, Angelina Kapp

Undergraduate Honors Theses

How can the United States and China collaboratively de-escalate their current trade relationship using a conflict resolution methodology to foster economic growth and foreign investor confidence in the evolving landscape of global trade? This paper will serve as a guide to those wanting to gain a comprehensive understanding of the macroeconomic causes and impacts of the contentious trade war between the U.S. and China. The year 2018 can be attributed to the start of the war when then-President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Chinese goods and products. These back-and-forth financial and economic measures have been continually imposed to this day …

To Tip Or Not To Tip: An Analysis Into Prompted Tipping, Jared Dingman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Giving tips (or gratuities) in restaurants in the United States has been and is currently a hotly debated and discussed topic. Concerns regarding proper compensation have been raised, but there is a need for empirical evidence to investigate and solve potential issues of compensation. This honors thesis aimed to answer two questions: Whether restaurant patrons tip more when prompted with tipping percentages, and whether those who have worked in the tipping industry tip more than those who have not. I administered a brief survey with tipping scenarios to gauge prompted and unprompted tipping behaviors. With these scenarios, demographic information was …

The Digital Pivot: Exploring Credit Card And E-Payment Utilization In Direct-To-Consumer U.S. Agriculture, Amanda Thomsen

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the adoption of electronic payment systems within direct-to-consumer (DTC) transactions in U.S. farmers' markets to draw broader implications for small business strategy. Through primary and secondary data sources, this paper assesses the impact of electronic payment integration on consumer behavior and market dynamics. The analysis reveals significant disparities in payment system adoption across different geographic and demographic landscapes. Regions with higher adoption of credit card systems at farmers' markets are predominantly urban and higher-income areas, suggesting a correlation between market access to technology and economic status. Consumer data further indicates that the availability of electronic payment options …

Bull Spit, Sirena Nieves, Sirena M. Nieves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

BULL SPIT, formally known as “It’s Bullshit!!”, is an exhibition consisting of seven sculptures, four installations, and one performance. The sculptures are informed by my research on low-income, working-class communities of color, analogous to the one I grew up in. The materials for my work include domestic objects such as bedsheets, hardware, uniforms, and miscellaneous items that reflect the contemporary dysfunctional dynamics between families and communities of low-income backgrounds. Cardboard, plastic bags, Styrofoam, and paper are disposable materials manipulated into abject forms to integrate the survival practice developed from the poverty culture of “making the most out of nothing.” …

Exploring Farmers' Willingness To Accept Payment For Agricultural Conservation In Utah, Asif Ahmed Khan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In view of Utah’s drought situation and the need for conservation of water use, this thesis tries to calculate the compensation required for farmers to switch from cultivating alfalfa-which requires a lot of water, to less water-consuming crops like wheat, hay and even pasture. It proposes a new technique for this calculation using big data, including satellite images from National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), agricultural statistics from National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), climate data from Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) climate group and land use data from the state of Utah. These data are integrated into a …

Teaching Financial Econometrics To Students Converting To Finance, Stan Hurn, Peter C. B. Phillips, Vance Martin, Jun Yu

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Financial econometrics is a dynamic discipline that began to take on its present form around the turn of the century. Since then it has found a permanent position as a popular course sequence in both undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in economics, finance, and business schools. Because of the breadth of the subject’s foundations, its extensive coverage in applications and because these courses attract a wide range of students with accompanying interests and skill sets that cover diverse areas and technical capabilities, teaching financial econometrics presents many challenges to the university educator. This chapter addresses some of these challenges, provides …