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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Economics

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Major Themes in Economics

Journal

2014

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Cover - Table Of Contents Apr 2014

Cover - Table Of Contents

Major Themes in Economics

No abstract provided.


Introduction, Ken Mccormick Apr 2014

Introduction, Ken Mccormick

Major Themes in Economics

No abstract provided.


The Final Four Formula: A Binary Choice Logit Model To Predict The Semifinalists Of The Ncaa Division I Men’S Basketball Tournament, Cameron Fuqua Apr 2014

The Final Four Formula: A Binary Choice Logit Model To Predict The Semifinalists Of The Ncaa Division I Men’S Basketball Tournament, Cameron Fuqua

Major Themes in Economics

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament is one of the most popular sporting events in America. This paper dissects the tournament and attempts to accurately predict the four semi-finalists (“the final four”) using a binary choice logit model. The model does better than any current rating system at predicting these four teams. This paper also examines some common issues about predicting college basketball as a whole. Overall, this paper provides a insights for selection committees, participants in office pools, and coaches to help them achieve their own individual goals.


What Motivates U.S. Food Aid Donations? Characteristics Of Countries That Received Food Aid From The U.S. In 2012, Beth Monnier Apr 2014

What Motivates U.S. Food Aid Donations? Characteristics Of Countries That Received Food Aid From The U.S. In 2012, Beth Monnier

Major Themes in Economics

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) claims the purposes of U.S. food aid are “to reduce hunger and malnutrition and assure that people everywhere have enough food at all times for healthy, productive lives” (USAID 2014). In this paper, the researcher uses ordinary least squares regression analysis to test how accurately this mission statement reflects food aid allocations in the year 2012. The dependent variable is metric tons of food aid donated to each country by the United States. This study finds that recipient countries with high malnutrition death rates and large populations received a higher percent of …


Automation And The Labor Force, Loren Nerhus Apr 2014

Automation And The Labor Force, Loren Nerhus

Major Themes in Economics

Technological progress has been the catalyst behind the increases in living standards across time. One aspect of technological progress is automation. Automation, more than other technologies, has significant effects on the labor force. From World War II until now, routine tasks have largely been automated. Perceptive tasks have belonged mainly to the domain of human labor until very recent innovations. These innovations may change the labor force, as new employment opportunities will not replace jobs as quickly as the old ones are automated. The number of labor hours needed to produce the goods in the U.S. economy will soon decrease …


Were Revenues Of National Basketball Association Franchises Affected By The Tim Donaghy Gambling Scandal Of 2007?, Travis Buhrow Apr 2014

Were Revenues Of National Basketball Association Franchises Affected By The Tim Donaghy Gambling Scandal Of 2007?, Travis Buhrow

Major Themes in Economics

In 2007 the National Basketball Association (NBA) endured one of the biggest scandals in the history of professional sports. Tim Donaghy, a referee in the National Basketball Association, pleaded guilty to providing inside information on NBA games to gamblers and receiving money from their winning bets. Through econometric analysis, this paper investigates if the Tim Donaghy gambling scandal of 2007 had an effect on the revenues of NBA franchises. All the statistics and data used in this paper are from the 2002-2003 through the 2011-2012 NBA regular seasons, a total of ten seasons. This paper finds that there is strong …


Royal Flush Or Just A Bluff: Casinos And County Unemployment In The Midwestern United States, Amber Irlmeier Apr 2014

Royal Flush Or Just A Bluff: Casinos And County Unemployment In The Midwestern United States, Amber Irlmeier

Major Themes in Economics

Legislators and community members alike have discussed the pros and cons of opening casinos. A frequently mentioned benefit of opening casinos is that they will bring jobs and thus reduce unemployment. Past studies have looked at the effect casinos have on unemployment over a period of a few years; this is the first study to look at data from over two decades (1990-2012). This study uses an ordinary least squares regression to look at the effect that 56 commercial casinos in the Midwestern United States have had on county unemployment. A significant correlation is found between the presence of a …