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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Reassessing The Linkages Among Entrepreneurship, Institutions And Growth, Edinaldo Tebaldi, Joilson Giorno
Reassessing The Linkages Among Entrepreneurship, Institutions And Growth, Edinaldo Tebaldi, Joilson Giorno
Mathematics and Economics Faculty Journal Articles
This article examines the role of institutions and entrepreneurship to foster economic development under increasing complex economic structures caused by structural changes. The empirical work utilizes data from several sources including the Penn World Table 9.1, The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) at the MIT, and The International Country Risk Guide (ICRG). The empirical work circumvents the endogeneity and heterogeneity problem that plague cross-country regressions by using the Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998) system GMM estimator. The results show that while entrepreneurship is positively correlated to economic development, this correlation …
The Discriminatory Effects Of Monetary Policy Among Different Labor Market Demographics, Darren Stanton
The Discriminatory Effects Of Monetary Policy Among Different Labor Market Demographics, Darren Stanton
Honors Projects in Economics
While great strides have been made in America’s pursuit of racial and gender equality, there is still a clear gap in terms of economic success (Carpenter & Rodgers, 2004). Current research has shown that one factor that could be contributing to this is the adverse effects that contractionary monetary policies designed to achieve a 2% average inflation rate has on these groups in the labor market (Seguino & Heintz, 2012). Existing literature suggests this is because of their lower attachment rate to their jobs, jobs that are more likely to be eliminated when interest rates increase. This research will seek …
Economic Growth And Cultural Attitudes Towards Women: An Empirical Investigation, Jake Barlow
Economic Growth And Cultural Attitudes Towards Women: An Empirical Investigation, Jake Barlow
Honors Projects in Economics
This study explores the relationship between cultural attitudes towards women and national GDP growth, across several countries. Data from the World Values from 2017 through 2020 wave has been utilized to determine cultural attitudes, and data from the World Bank and USAID has been utilized for building the economic growth model. The purpose of this study is to inform policy makers regarding the effects of policies that are pro gender equality and to identify the effects of gender inequality on economic growth, independent of other economic factors. In addition, this study also investigates the relationship between cultural attitudes towards women …
Team Incentives And Lower Ability Workers: An Experimental Study On Real Effort Tasks, Richard B. Freeman, Xiaofei Pan, Xiaolan Yang, Maoliang Ye
Team Incentives And Lower Ability Workers: An Experimental Study On Real Effort Tasks, Richard B. Freeman, Xiaofei Pan, Xiaolan Yang, Maoliang Ye
Economics Faculty Working Papers
Team incentives are important in many compensation systems that pay workers according to the output of their team as well as to their own output, with team bonuses often depending on whether the team meets or exceeds specified thresholds. Yet little is known about how team members with different abilities respond to compensation rules and thresholds. We contrast the performance of lower ability participants and higher ability participants in an experiment with three distribution schemes – equal sharing, piece rate sharing, and tournament style winner-takesall – in settings with and without a team threshold. Workers randomly assigned to equal sharing …
Natural Disasters And Government Size: A Cross-Country Analysis, Justin Hainse
Natural Disasters And Government Size: A Cross-Country Analysis, Justin Hainse
Honors Projects in Economics
re have been multiple studies within the field of economics concerning the various effects that natural disasters have on countries. The goal of the present study is to address the seemingly forgotten area of how natural disasters affect the size of a government. Using data from both the Emergency Events Database and the World Bank, a cross-country panel data analysis is performed to test the impact of natural disasters on government size. The results show that more deaths from a natural disaster is associated with countries having a larger government. These results aim to be useful for allowing governments to …
Disparities Within The Housing Market: Determinants Of Homeownership With An Emphasis On Sex And Race, Olivia Lemire
Disparities Within The Housing Market: Determinants Of Homeownership With An Emphasis On Sex And Race, Olivia Lemire
Honors Projects in Economics
A home is one of the wealthiest assets an individuals can hold and serves as a major indicator of economic wellbeing. The decision for someone to rent or buy a home is based upon many factors. Similar, to Hood (1999), this paper analyzes the relationship between determinants of homeownership and the probability that an individual owns their home using regression and probability models. The focus of this paper is the relationship between sex and race on homeownership. Results suggest that White males have the highest rate of homeownership, while Black females have the lowest rate of homeownership even after all …
Investing In Democratic Countries: An Investigation Of Democracy And Fdi, Maxwell Lajeunesse
Investing In Democratic Countries: An Investigation Of Democracy And Fdi, Maxwell Lajeunesse
Honors Projects in Economics
In this paper, the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and democracy levels of upper-middle income nations using three different measures of democracy is investigated. An empirical analysis across the years 2010 through 2018 was conducted, using the democracy indicators and data from the United States Agency for International AID (USAID). These democracy indicators are the EIU Democracy Index, Polity5, and IDEA Global State of Democracy Indices. The importance of this research revolves around the benefits of FDI inflows and how countries may capitalize on these benefits. Additionally, FDI has increased rapidly in the past 20 years and democracy …
Footballer Valuations: Valuing World-Class Football Players Against Transfer Fees, Louis Diblasi
Footballer Valuations: Valuing World-Class Football Players Against Transfer Fees, Louis Diblasi
Honors Projects in Economics
This paper aims to create a model to value European football players. It will do so by comparing a player's transfer fee and then measuring their value based on performances in the season after the transfer has occurred. The model will be applied to Europe's top five leagues: the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, and the German Bundesliga. This study takes variables from multiple past studies to be used in the model, and adds a valuation for goalkeepers, which has never been done before. The goal of this study is to measure the variables that contribute …
Movin’ On Up? A Survey Experiment On Mobility Enhancing Policies, Jared Barton, Xiaofei Pan
Movin’ On Up? A Survey Experiment On Mobility Enhancing Policies, Jared Barton, Xiaofei Pan
Economics Faculty Journal Articles
We use a nationwide survey experiment in the United States to measure whether information on intergenerational economic mobility or policy-specific arguments influence support for six pro-mobility policies advocated by political entrepreneurs. We find the information treatments do not affect support, but the argument treatments significantly increase support for three of the policies. We also include a behavioral measure by allowing respondents the opportunity to write their U.S. Senators. We find argument treatments significantly increase the likelihood that letters address economic mobility and significantly promote advocacy for that policy in the letter, but no increase in advocacy from the information treatments. …
The Effect Of Task Choice And Task Assignment On The Gender Earnings Gap: An Experimental Study, Kai Ou, Xiaofei Pan
The Effect Of Task Choice And Task Assignment On The Gender Earnings Gap: An Experimental Study, Kai Ou, Xiaofei Pan
Economics Faculty Journal Articles
Previous studies explain the gender earnings gap by gender differences in choosing competitive and higher-paying jobs. However, little is known about whether and how women’s earnings are affected when they choose more challenging jobs. In this study, we use a novel identification strategy to investigate 1) how the gender earnings gap arises from individuals’ self-selecting into different tasks and 2) whether mobilizing women to work on the tasks typically preferred by men increases women’s earnings and decreases the earnings gap. Our results show that men who prefer the hard and higher-paid task are more likely to obtain higher earnings regardless …
Does Student Performance In Introductory Economics And Business Courses Impact Ets Scores?, Peter J. Nigro, Laura Beaudin, David C. Ketcham, Michael A. Roberto
Does Student Performance In Introductory Economics And Business Courses Impact Ets Scores?, Peter J. Nigro, Laura Beaudin, David C. Ketcham, Michael A. Roberto
Finance Department Faculty Journal Articles
This study examines the impact of economics education on student performance on the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test in Business. We demonstrate that grades in introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics courses have a positive relationship with overall exam performance as well as sub-scores in most content areas of the test. Furthermore, we use a measure of “extranormal” ability in economics and demonstrate its positive relationship to test performance. “Extranormal” ability represents the portion of course grades that cannot be explained by prior academic achievement. Finally, we show that the relationship between “extranormal” ability and exam performance is much more limited …
Go Books, Go Bulldogs, Go Women: Examining The Factors That Affect Female Enrollment At Undergraduate Schools, Sarah Desantis
Go Books, Go Bulldogs, Go Women: Examining The Factors That Affect Female Enrollment At Undergraduate Schools, Sarah Desantis
Honors Projects in Economics
This study investigates women's underrepresentation and the declining enrollment trend in undergraduate business programs by examining New England schools between 2015-2017. The study uses a linear regression model, testing a variety of variables including student characteristics and outcomes, college characteristics, funding and faculty, and women-related experiences measured against the dependent variable of percentage of women enrolled. The study found that (1) the presence of a women's center increases women enrollment; (2) the greater diversity representation on campus increases women enrollment; (3) women are more attracted to private universities and are less likely to attend with an increase in the undergraduate …
Prediction Of Individual Income: A Machine Learning Approach, Michael Matkowski
Prediction Of Individual Income: A Machine Learning Approach, Michael Matkowski
Honors Projects in Economics
The use of machine learning models to improve prediction problems and handle increasingly large datasets is a rising trend in economics. Prediction plays a particularly important role in applied economics because it provides critical insights to assess market outcomes. This study builds on previous literature to showcase the relative power of these modelling methodologies in economics through the prediction of income. This research utilizes data from the Current Population Survey from 2017 – 2020, containing 467,811 observations and 264 variables. 2017-2018 data served as training data for the models and 2019-2020 served as data for the two testing sets. The …
Are Community Banks A Driver Of New Business Formation? Empirical Evidence From The United States From 2005 To 2015, Christopher Dodd
Are Community Banks A Driver Of New Business Formation? Empirical Evidence From The United States From 2005 To 2015, Christopher Dodd
Honors Projects in Economics
The number of small banks in the U.S. has dropped drastically since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC], 2018). Small businesses, which are essential to a well-functioning economy, often rely on banks as a source of financial capital. This study helps explain if the number of community banks in a state impacts new business formation and whether financial regulation passed following the GFC, specifically the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, moderates the significance of the relationship. This thesis contributes to the literature in a few major ways. First, it provides a …
Millennials And The Alcohol Industry: Expenditure Variations Among Generations, Anthony Murray
Millennials And The Alcohol Industry: Expenditure Variations Among Generations, Anthony Murray
Honors Projects in Economics
This paper explores the relationship age cohorts, or generations, have had with regards to alcohol expenditure over time. Articles from popular publications such as Business Insider claim Millennials are “killing” the alcohol industry due to their lack of consumption (Taylor, 2017), but provide little empirical analysis of any academic rigor to make such claims. These claims do matter, as they have implications for the alcohol industry itself as well as investors, law enforcement, the healthcare industry, and policy makers. This paper uses four cross-sectional decadal datasets spanning from 1986 to 2016 from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer …
Cross-Country Evidence Of Corruption Spillovers To Formal And Informal Entrepreneurship, Aziz N. Berdiev, James Saunoris
Cross-Country Evidence Of Corruption Spillovers To Formal And Informal Entrepreneurship, Aziz N. Berdiev, James Saunoris
Economics Faculty Journal Articles
Using cross‐country data this paper examines the spillovers of corruption to formal and informal entrepreneurship in neighboring countries. Whereas research has shown that entrepreneurs move underground to escape corruption, we argue that entrepreneurs may also seek refuge in neighboring countries. Indeed, the empirical results show that in response to a ceteris paribus increase in corruption in neighboring countries formal entrepreneurship increases in the home country with no effect on informal entrepreneurship. This is consistent with entrepreneurs circumventing corrupt public officials by immigrating to countries with presumably less corruption. These results withstand a battery of robustness checks. (JEL D73, L26)
Hospital Cost Accounting: Saving Lives And Saving On Costs, Amanda Whitehouse
Hospital Cost Accounting: Saving Lives And Saving On Costs, Amanda Whitehouse
Honors Projects in Accounting
Within an industry constantly pursuing accuracy, a cost accounting system that addresses the ongoing concerns of saving money and increasing efficiency is a must. Now more than ever, hospitals require reliable information to combat the conflicting relationship between an increase in spending on new instruments and specialized staff, but a decrease in funding. This project explores potential avenues to find a successful cost accounting method using past research, analysis of hospitals’ current environments, and expert opinions from hospital and healthcare personnel. Each hospital is different based on their environment, surrounding population, type of services provided, and personal demands. This study …
An Examination Of Sectoral Growth’S Impact On Income Inequality In The United States, Josh Paton
An Examination Of Sectoral Growth’S Impact On Income Inequality In The United States, Josh Paton
Honors Projects in Economics
This paper is threefold in purpose; it aims to explore the relationship between the growth of manufacturing and service sectors and income inequality, determine if GDP growth helps reduce income inequality, and establish the existence of the Kuznets Curve from 1967-2017. The data supports an inverse relationship between growth in the manufacturing sector and income inequality however is not sufficient enough to conclude growth in the manufacturing sector impacts income inequality. Growth of GDP is shown to decrease income inequality which supports the notion that “a rising tide lifts all boats” and makes everyone better off than before. The positive …
Explaining Excess Stock Return Through Options Market Sentiment, Michael Gough
Explaining Excess Stock Return Through Options Market Sentiment, Michael Gough
Honors Projects in Finance
Option markets are a fascinating area of study and in recent years research has indicated that information obtained from the options market can be used to explain price returns in the underlying stock market. Building on existing asset pricing models such as the Fama-French Three Factor, Carhart Four Factor, and Fama-French Five Factor Models, this research tests if the put to call ratio can be used as an additional factor in explaining excess returns. Ordinary least squares models are run on all Dow Jones 30 stocks using more than ten years of data and the model results are compared. The …
Exploring Investor Attention In Financial Models, Anna Rodier
Exploring Investor Attention In Financial Models, Anna Rodier
Honors Projects in Finance
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether stock prices are influenced by investor attention and how this, in turn, can be used to better advise the financial decisions of the everyday investor. Using weekly adjusted close data, weekly traded volumes, and weekly company searches using Google Trends, I tested my hypothesis that including the frequency of company searches, found through consumers using Google, in financial models will help better predict stock returns. Using S&P 500 company data from February 2012 to February 2017, frequency is a better predictor of price in comparison to trading volumes. But, to maximize …
Ex-Dividend Price Behavior In Spanish Speaking Markets: Do Stocks Behave Differently In Spain, Mexico, And Chile?, Kayla E. Nikosey
Ex-Dividend Price Behavior In Spanish Speaking Markets: Do Stocks Behave Differently In Spain, Mexico, And Chile?, Kayla E. Nikosey
Honors Projects in Finance
The main focus of this thesis is to analyze the behavior of stock price on ex-dividend day of ADRs in Spain, Mexico, and Chile. Announcement date, and ex-dividend date for each ADR is collected to be analyzed against the other ADRs. One would expect different behaviors in the different markets because of different tax treatments in Chile, Mexico, and Spain. Traditional event testing is being used to analyze the stock price behavior on and around ex-dividend days. The event test measures the impact of regulatory events and allows for abnormal changes in stock prices that occur in conjunction with dividend …
Weather Variability And The Tourism Industry: A Panel Data Analysis, Carmela Coppola
Weather Variability And The Tourism Industry: A Panel Data Analysis, Carmela Coppola
Honors Projects in Economics
Increasing weather variability around the world has led to many researchers examining the impacts of weather variability on vulnerable industries. For example, the tourism industry can make up a large portion of an economy’s growth, with some of the most dependent countries relying on tourism for over 40% of GDP (World Travel & Tourism Council 2014). In an attempt to better understand the relationship between weather variability and the tourism industry at the country level, this study employs a series of fixed effects panel regression models to analyze the impact of rainfall and temperature on tourism levels and growth rates …
Determinants Of Health Expenditures In Oecd Countries, Giang Phi
Determinants Of Health Expenditures In Oecd Countries, Giang Phi
Honors Projects in Economics
Around the world, governments are coping with spiraling health care spending. This spurs the need for further insight in the determinants of such expenditures. This study investigates the determinants of health care expenditures for a sample of thirty five countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2000 to 2013 in order to understand the impact of different factors on health care spending growth. Besides Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the study accounts for many different driving forces such as demographics, medical progress, health system characteristics, public financing, and other non-medical determinants of health spending such as alcohol …
Does Academic Performance Predict Workplace Productivity?, Jodie-Gaye Hunter
Does Academic Performance Predict Workplace Productivity?, Jodie-Gaye Hunter
Honors Projects in Economics
This research examines if college GPA affects productivity and compensation in the workplace. It uses data collected from a survey of approximately 23,000 Bryant University graduates in different stages of their career. About 10 percent of the alumni surveyed completed the survey. The econometric model used in this study allows estimating the effect of GPA on income after controlling for various demographic and socioeconomic variables, including education, major, occupation, gender, among others. The empirical work provides evidence that GPA has a positive and statistically significant impact on workplace productivity for females, but GPA seems to be a weaker predictor of …
Global Economic Expansion And The Prevalence Of Militarized Interstate Disputes, Lucas Hahn
Global Economic Expansion And The Prevalence Of Militarized Interstate Disputes, Lucas Hahn
Honors Projects in Economics
Over the past several decades the entire world has experienced both the positive and negative effects of globalization. The question that this report will address is whether or not global economic expansion has led to a decline in the prevalence of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) and what factors influence the prevalence of MIDs. This report will take an in-depth look at Thomas Friedman’s “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”. It also includes a quantitative analysis in which regression techniques were used to see how different economic factors influence the prevalence of MIDs, while also introducing a previously unused independent variable …
Innovation And Institutional Quality On Economic Growth In Asia, Nguyen Tran-Nguyen
Innovation And Institutional Quality On Economic Growth In Asia, Nguyen Tran-Nguyen
Honors Projects in Economics
When looking at the different effects of institutional quality on economic development, namely control of corruption, there are two different hypotheses that explain such effects. One is the “grease the wheel” hypothesis, which predicts that corruption is beneficial for growth, and the other one is the “sand the wheel” hypothesis, which says the opposite. Corruption is normally blamed for the slow economic growths in some countries, but some Asian countries’ exponential growths have proven the “grease the wheel” hypothesis otherwise. The “Asian experience”1 phenomenon occurs when corruption does not seem to hamper business activities in some Asian countries. This research …
The Rhetoric Of Ben Bernanke: A Grounded Theory Approach, Andrew Langellier
The Rhetoric Of Ben Bernanke: A Grounded Theory Approach, Andrew Langellier
Honors Projects in Communication
The objective of this Capstone project is to determine how Ben Bernanke used rhetoric during his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 to 2013. The scope is limited to testimony delivered as opening statements to the Federal Reserve’s semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to Congress and his prepared testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing. The research will attempt determine how Bernanke used rhetoric while testifying before congress, in particular how that rhetoric changes over the course of his tenure. While there is a substantial amount of research on the use of the …
The Discreet Trader, Seth Wing
The Discreet Trader, Seth Wing
Honors Projects in Finance
This paper examines insider trading, specifically trades by corporate insiders around quarterly earnings announcements. Announcements were broken up into three categories: earnings above analyst expectations, earnings below expectations, and earnings in line with expectations. Trade data was collected from the thirty companies of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 2012-’13. The trades were sorted by purchases and sales by date and analyzed with the earnings report of which the trades were made. Only trades in the interval from twenty days before the announcement date to twenty days after the announcement date were considered. The prediction was that corporate insiders would …
Valuing “Green” How “Going Green” Affects A Company’S Stock Price, Alexia Bayer
Valuing “Green” How “Going Green” Affects A Company’S Stock Price, Alexia Bayer
Honors Projects in Finance
Environmentally conscious decision making has become a prominent topic in business that has the potential to affect the public opinion and performance of companies. This project seeks to identify whether or not positive changes in excess return might offer an incentive for companies to adopt green initiatives. It examines the ways in which companies’ green initiatives, as measured by their annual Carbon Disclosure Project S&P 500 Climate Change Report score, impact their stock price. In other words, is there value in “going green”? It is hypothesized that companies exhibiting greater variance in their environmental initiatives from one year to the …
Financial Literacy And College Students: An Exploration Of College Students’ Attitudes, Behaviors, Influences And Preparedness For Financial Decisions After Graduation, Kerry Quirk
Honors Projects in Finance
Financial literacy is the level of understanding an individual has for different financial topics, including but not limited to, investment vehicles, retirement accounts, saving, budgeting, credit and taxes, and the use of such knowledge to change one’s financial behavior to create a more positive financial position for the future. Past research has shown that college students consistently have low levels of financial literacy. They also lack knowledgeable influences on their financial education. Because many college students will soon enter the workforce after graduation and will be responsible for managing their own salary, retirement accounts and investment options, they can be …