Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Plastic Bags And Bamboo Stools, Grace R. Bithell

Marriott Student Review

This paper conducts a critical analyses of microfinance institutions. It gives an overview of the complexities of credit in developing countries and shows how microfinance fits into the equations. It discussed the successes and failures of microenterprises in trying to alleviate poverty. It also delves into best practices pertaining to lending to the poor and how microfinance is impacted by culture in developing nations.

Back To Beijing: The Future Of The Olympic Games, Jennifer Maynard

Marriott Student Review

Just four years ago, the IOC made an unprecedented decision to award Beijing with the 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid, making China the first Asian country ever to host both the Summer and Winter Games. What’s more, prior to this second visit to China, the Olympics will have been held in Pyeongchang (2018) and Tokyo (2020). At the same time that this national superpower has the opportunity to capitalize once again on the all eyes-on-China phenomenon, the IOC has the chance to truly go global.

The Long Run Economic Effects Of The Dustbowl Migration, Julie Hollenbaugh, Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this project we explore the long-run economic effects of the dustbowl migration on children in families that moved out of the Oklahoma dustbowl region in the 1930’s relative to children in families that stayed in the region. My primary contribution to this ongoing analysis was the creation of a data set that links individuals across the 1930 and 1940 federal censuses. This allows us to determine which children moved away from the dustbowl region and which stayed, and compare characteristics across the two groups.

Forced Labor In Hong Kong, Kylan Rutherford

Marriott Student Review

Domestic workers are among the most exploited groups, composing 24% of the estimated 45.8 million forced laborers worldwide. The market for domestic workers has expanded especially rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region; in Hong Kong alone, there are currently 360,000 domestic workers—about 10% of Hong Kong’s workforce—mostly originating from the Philippines and Indonesia (Hincks, 2017). 94% of these workers show signs of exploitation or forced labor (Kang, 2017). The nature of their work in a foreign country limits their access to government protection, forces them to comply with illegally high recruitment fees, and can push them to submit to abuse in …

Synopsis: Tourism In Utah As An Economic Development Tool, Jhana Aristondo

Marriott Student Review

Tourism in Utah is largely driven by seasonal recreation at its variety of natural-heritage resources all year round. Traditionally, in order to measure the impact that tourism has had on economic growth, income variables such as the nominal and real GDP have been used, but these only give a one-sided economic approach. If we look at the distinct concept of economic development instead of economic growth, what can be said about the impact that tourism has on the former?

This study will use and test variables that explain economic development and tourism behavior in the state of Utah. To measure …

Tourism In Utah As An Economic Development Tool, Jhana Aristondo

Marriott Student Review

Tourism in Utah is largely driven by seasonal recreation at its variety of natural-heritage resources through all its seasons. This study uses empirical evidence and empirical testing to explain different variables to examine if there is a long run relationship between economic development and tourism in the state of Utah. Traditionally, in order to measure the impact that tourism has had over economic growth, variables such as the nominal and real GDP among other income variables have been used and just give one-sided economic approach. However, what can be said about tourism as an economic development tool?

This study will …

Implementation Of Recurrent Neural Nets In Forecasting Macroeconomic Indicators, Christ Rytting, Dr. Kerk Phillips

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Drivendata.org says “In the year 2000, the member states of the United Nations agreed to a set of goals to measure the progress of global development. The aim of these goals was to increase standards of living around the world by emphasizing human capital, infrastructure, and human rights.”

Gdp And Refugees: An Economic Argument For Accepting Refugees, Michael Jarman

Marriott Student Review

This paper examines both the costs and benefits associated with accepting refugees and purports to show that accepting refugees is economically beneficial; increasing GDP in the long run. There is a substantial cost associated with accepting and sustaining refugees, both in providing necessities and in the impact that refugees have on local job markets. However, longitudinal data pulled from Denmark, Germany, and Turkey has shown that local markets do recover from the initial shock. Over time as refugees integrate into their host communities, they provide dividends in the form of increasing demand, greater mobility and wage increases for locals, and …

It’S No Accident: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Vehicle Safety Inspections, Alex Hoagland, Trevor Woolley, Dr. Lars Lefgren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As technology improves, vehicle manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to make and distribute vehicles that are far safer and more reliable than in previous years. In fact, traffic fatalities are on a steep decline in the U.S., with a total of only 32,850 deaths related to motor-vehicle accidents last year as compared to 43,510 recorded in 2005¹. As the pool of vehicles on the road gradually shifts to newer models, this decline will become more pronounced—according to Consumer Reports, drivers of vehicles made before 2000 are 71% more likely to die in a motorvehicle related accident than …

The Implementation Of A Basic Income Guarantee, Parker Rogers, Dr. Kerk Phillips

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to model the implementation of a basic income guarantee, by repealing all existing government benefit programs and implementing a monthly lump sum transfer to all working individuals in the US economy; we repealed and implemented these policies using our model in order to observe the labor supply effects.

Is Loss Aversion Costing You Money?, Tanner Eastmond, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Loss aversion is a well-documented behavioral phenomenon originally proposed by Kahneman and Tversky (2013). The idea is that people value losses more than they do commensurate gains. Many researchers have examined the effects of loss aversion on an individual level, but many economists think that these effects evaporate in highly competitive situations and when professionals are involved. This study seeks to examine whether individual loss aversion is reflected in aggregate stock prices.

Investigating The Gender Gap In Grade Sensitivity For Economics Majors, Brittany Farnsworth Russell, Dr. Eric Eide

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For my research I used institutional data from Brigham Young University as well as survey data from students to investigate the effect of gender and grade in Econ 110 on the probability of choosing economics as a major. This topic is of interest because the percentage of female economics majors at BYU is 16%, well below the national average. The aim of this project was to determine whether female students react differently to grades than male students. Previous research has documented a gender gap in grade sensitivity that leads women with lower grades to drop out of economics while men …

How Drug Treatment Availability Affects Child Abuse, Michael Ricks, Dr. Lars Lefgren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The consumption of illicit drugs is on the rise. In 2013 the number of people in the United States who admitted that they had used an illegal drug in the last month rose to an all-time high of 24.6 million (NIDA). As drug use spreads across the nation, so do efforts and initiatives to curb its rampant negative effects, ranging from stricter law enforcement, more comprehensive treatment, and broader inoculation efforts. While it seems that few of these interventions have proven to be effective—let alone cost effective—Swensen (2015) demonstrated that more available significantly reduces the number of drug related deaths …

The Price Of Scottish Independence: Why Remaining A Part Of The Uk Still Makes Sense In The Wake Of Brexit, Lincoln Wilcox

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Sigma: Journal Of Political And International Studies

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Mid-Season Coaching Changes In The Nba, Kenan Spruill, Adam Roberts, Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“When the going gets tough, we fire the coach”, this quote from former coach and current ESPN analyst Jeff van Gundy represents part of the current trend in sports. Management fires the coach in the hope that the new one can lead the team to glory. Replacing coach’s midseason does not happen often, but when it does, it is the best choice for the team? We are attempting to see if there is a legitimate reason for firing a coach midseason. Considering the fact that changing coach’s mid-season requires the team to pay for both the old and new coaches’ …

Dynamic Multi-Industry Firm Computational Model, Donald Rex Mcarthur, Rick Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My ORCA Grant allowed me to spend my time building a Macroeconomic Tax Policy scoring model that was used in open source research with the Tax Policy Center. I used the money to fund my time coding and contributing to the project found on the github repository at https://github.com/OpenSourcePolicyCenter. My focus was especially in developing the tax analysis on the side of the firms in the model. Under the direction of Rick Evans, we made some progress in that development, but it soon became apparent that the needed work was more based around the heterogeneous agents, and their respective income …

Effective Modeling Of The Distribution Of Wealth, Justin Gardiner, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many macroeconomic models have trouble matching the high end of the distribution of wealth in the economy. To correct this problem, we set out to build a model that includes individual agents experiencing stochastic changes to their income levels. These stochastic changes thus model real life risk and encourage precautionary saving. We built the theoretical framework for a large scale macroeconomic model in which individuals take into consideration the possible variability of their future income and alter their saving behaviors accordingly. We have made significant progress in creating a computer program that will allow us to calibrate our model to …

The Distribution Of Inheritances And Its Impact On Wealth Inequality, Parker Rogers, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to estimate a function that describes who are the recipients of inheritances among different age and income groups and to incorporate that function into a dynamic macroeconomic model to simulate the effects of inheritances on wealth inequality in the United States.

International Trade Simulation, Jeff Clawson, Kerk Phillips

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For the past year, this project has involved taking a trade simulation model, recreating it in a modern programming language and making it freely available through the Open Source Policy Center (OSPC). The program takes real world population data provided by the user and then simulates trade between countries. Unlike the natural sciences, Economists cannot always study their subjects in a controlled environment. Models like this project allow us to get an idea of what would happen, for example, in trade between the US and EU if there were to be a change in China’s taxes. Our project is still …

Exact Nonparametric Inference For A Binary Endogenous Regressor, Joseph Cooprider, Brigham Frandsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When there is endogeneity in an economic model, basic ordinary least squares regression analysis breaks down. Our assumptions for the model collapse so we cannot infer causality without bias in our estimations. Therefore, use of an instrumental variable is necessary. However, if instruments are weak, sample sizes are small, or assumptions about error terms are invalid, then our analysis is biased as well. We developed an exact, finite-sample approach to instrumental variables estimation and inference that remains valid for weak instruments, small samples, and other settings where large-sample approximations are poor. This approach imposed no parametric model for causal effects …

Overcoming Under-Reporting: Known Measurement Error, Adam Shumway, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project evaluates the feasibility of overcoming measurement error by using predictors for participation. Several national surveys under-represent actual program participation; some actual participants in government welfare programs, for example, fail to truthfully report participation when asked. Using data from these surveys to evaluate these programs’ effectiveness is inherently problematic due to the bias caused by misclassification of these participants.

Integration Of Microsimulation Model Into Dynamic Scoring Model, Christ Rytting, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We integrated individual tax rates produced by a microsimulation tax policy model with a dynamic general equilibrium tax policy model. We can use this to conduct macroeconomic analysis or score hypothetical tax policies. This approach captures the rich heterogeneity, realistic demographics, and tax-code nuance of the microsimulation model and includes this nuance to increase the accuracy of a general equilibrium model with an elevated level of heterogeneity. Furthermore, we derive a functional form which suggests that tax rates depend both on capital income and labor income. Applying this approach to a canonical example of tax policy change—a cut of 10% …

The Effect Of The Nsf Grant On Future Academic And Career Outcomes, Tanner Eastmond, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 with the stated mission “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare.” This institution supports scientific research in various scientific fields primarily by funding promising research and researchers. Our investigation focused on the NSF grant for prospective graduate students in the field of economics. Specifically, we examine those who won the award and those who received an ‘honorable mention’. The applicants who only received an ‘honorable mention’, have very similar qualifications to those who were offered the grant. The …

In Defense Of The Self-Help Book, Owen Barrott

Marriott Student Review

"In Defense of the Self-Help Book" explores the relationship between behavioral economics and the effects that self-help and management books have. It explores loss aversion and the optimism bias paradox and applies it to those who use success literature to improve their own abilities.

Flexible Censored Interval Regression With Experimental Applications, Daniel Walton, James Mcdonald

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Interval censored data, or grouped data, appears in well-established measurement techniques employed in many economic situations, including experimental economics. Estimation of parameters of models using these data de- pends critically on the model specification and method of estimation. Some methods can yield inconsistent and biased estimators when the distributional assumption of the model is misspecified. Our approach using partially adaptive estimation methods with flexible probability distributions mitigates such issues, including in the presence of heteroskedasticity (nonconstant variance in the explanatory variables) and skewness. In addition, we show that partially adaptive estimation applied in such settings increase the accuracy of estimates …

A Macroeconomic Model For Dynamic Tax Scoring Analyzing Income Tax Cuts, Evan Magnusson, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to analyze the consequences of income tax cuts on government revenues. We did so using a large overlapping generations (OLG) model. This model was calibrated to closely match the distribution of labor, income, and wealth in the U.S. economy across both heterogeneous age and ability groups. By using a dynamic model, we were able to take into account the macroeconomic feedback effects that are absent from some analyses of tax proposals. We found that while our income tax cut was not completely self-financing, about forty three percent of a ten percent decrease in the …

The Distributional Effects Of Redistributional Tax Policy: A Dynamic Tax Scoring Model, Isaac Swift, Kerk Phillips

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2013 French economist Thomas Piketty, one of the leading experts on inequality, published a book titled Capital in the Twenty-First Century. This book quickly became a bestseller and received worldwide attention. In his book Piketty described data that he had carefully collected on income and wealth inequality over a few hundred years. From the data he noted that inequality has been on the rise in the U.S. for the last forty years, and he predicted it would continue to rise. He gave several policy proposals to combat this inequality. Among these proposals was a progressive wealth tax. My …

Quantile Treatment Effects With Endogeneity: A Monte Carlo Comparison Of 3 Quantile Iv Estimators, Alexander Poulsen, Brigham Frandsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Quantile instrumental variables estimators are a relatively new development in the econometric literature. Modern quantile regression was introduced in Koenker and Basset (1978), and has been used in many important applications in which researchers are interested in learning about the effects of variables on the distribution of an outcome variable, rather than just mean effects. Examples of these applications include changes in U.S. wage structure (Buchinsky 1994), the effect of school quality on student performance (Eide and Showalter 1998), and the relationship between innovation and firm growth (Coad and Rao 2008).