Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Proposal To Make Grain Storage Financially Feasible, David L. Garrett

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The United States has a National Oil Reserve but not a food reserve. Just as the oil reserve is designed to buffer unforeseen disruptions in the critical supply, the nation should also have a food reserve for the same purpose.

The United States and other developed nations have little or no food reserve beyond the typical demands between growing seasons. Marvelous production achievements in agriculture beginning in the early 1960s and known as the “Green Revolution” are now leveling off. Food production, suffering from such negative side effects as reduced water tables, is being outstripped by population growth (Bourne, 2009).

Ncaa Division I Football Bowl Subdivision: The Importance Of Recruiting And Its Relationship With Team Performance, Nathan S. Lloyd

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Talent wins college football games. Wins bring in money. Colleges, fans and media hype up the recruiting season as the key to success in the college football season. Is it though? Athletic programs spend large sums of capital and resources to recruit the most talented players possible. This paper explores the relationship between recruited talent and team performance using a simultaneous equations model. Higher players’ talent leads to better team performance and a recruiting class has its biggest impact immediately following signing. A team’s performance, especially of the most recent season, impacts its ability to recruit. Talent and success experience …

Natural Resource Curse In Nepal With Emphasis On Deforestation And Violence, Abhinav Pathak

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

For many decades, economists have discussed the role of agricultural productivity and natural resources in economic development. By the late 20th century, various studies showed the poor growth experience of resource-rich countries in the post- world war-II period. Doppellhofer (2000) concluded that none of the countries with extremely abundant natural resources in 1970 grew rapidly for the next 20 years, with the exception of Malaysia, Mauritius and Iceland. Other studies that yielded similar conclusions include Auty (1990), Gelb (1988), Sachs and Warner (1995, 1999), and Gylfason et al. (1999). This phenomenon of lower economic growth among resource abundant countries is …

Structural And Reduced-Form Models: An Evaluation Of Current Modeling Criteria In Econometric Methods, Ashley M. Funk

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper evaluates the structural form model of John Rust's 1987 paper, Optimal Replacement of GMC Bus Engines: An Empirical Model of Harold Zurcher, by using reduced-form models to evaluate the same data and interpret the results. The question is whether reduced-form modeling such as probit and logit models can be as useful as structural models for prediction.

Donor-Side Determinants Of Disaggregated Foreign Assistance: A Sur Approach To Understanding U.S. Economic, Military, And Food Aid Commitments, Stephanie Hugie

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study addresses whether the absolute and relative impact of economic, political, and humanitarian variables that restrain or boost U.S. foreign assistance varies for different types of aid, from a strictly domestic decision-making framework. Using a SUR analysis for U.S. economic, military, and food aid obligations, the various aid budgets indeed behave differently with respect to the explanatory variables. GDP growth, the military budget, and Congressional orientation are more suitable predictors for economic assistance than for food or military assistance. Food aid is less likely to be correlated with the ideological orientation of the Congress and President, and is not …

Cultural Compatibility: Economic Development In Eastern Europe, Daniel Brilliant

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The objective of Daniel Brilliant’s research is to explore the relationship between culture and economic prosperity in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. Learning why some of these countries do better than others is of interest in discovering what causes a country’s economy to grow in general. Knowing the causes of economic growth helps in determining what policies, if any, can be adopted by a country to help promote economic growth. Some have theorized that government policies are at the heart of prosperity. Others have speculated that cultural factors play a large role in determining if such policies will …