Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 15 of 15
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Impact Of Information Shocks And Partisanship On The Evolution Of Covid-19 In Connecticut, Joslin Valiyaveettil
The Impact Of Information Shocks And Partisanship On The Evolution Of Covid-19 In Connecticut, Joslin Valiyaveettil
Honors Scholar Theses
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of life within the United States since early 2020. How people decided to behave during this time heavily influenced the trends that followed, triggering both health and behavioral economic concerns. Those trends seemed to vary based on the area and the beliefs of those constituents. This paper explores how partisan beliefs had an impact on the changes in case rates that occurred within the top 30 most populated towns in the state of Connecticut. In July 2020, former President Donald Trump sent out a tweet publicly endorsing face masks for the first time. …
Incentivized Learning And Libraries: A Comparative Study Of Summer Reading Programs In Connecticut, Andrew Morrison
Incentivized Learning And Libraries: A Comparative Study Of Summer Reading Programs In Connecticut, Andrew Morrison
Honors Scholar Theses
With digital forms of entertainment and media more inescapable than ever, it has become increasingly difficult to encourage children and teens to read. Simultaneously, despite an overwhelming amount of literature demonstrating the educational benefits of reading, especially as a necessity in the summer between academic years, library budgets are shrinking as federal funding nears its end. How do libraries promote summer reading amidst declining interest and decreased funding? Using data from public libraries across Connecticut, this paper investigates how libraries are adapting their children's summer reading programs to a changing landscape, how programs are designed to incentivize reading without eliminating …
Does A Better Running Back Mean More Rushing? Game Theory And The Nfl, Eric Lofquist
Does A Better Running Back Mean More Rushing? Game Theory And The Nfl, Eric Lofquist
Honors Scholar Theses
In this paper I attempt to answer the question of whether or not teams in the National Football League (NFL) rush less with a better running back. This seems counterintuitive, but game theory supposes that this is true. Defenses facing a better running back will generally expect the offense to rush more and therefore defend the run more often. The offense, foreseeing the defense’s actions, will choose to pass more to counteract the run defense. This is the basis of the difference between the strategic effect and the direct effect in mixed strategies. The direct effect is when a player …
The Retirement Strategy Of Supreme Court Justices: An Economic Approach, Kayla M. Joyce
The Retirement Strategy Of Supreme Court Justices: An Economic Approach, Kayla M. Joyce
Honors Scholar Theses
Previous research has identified strategic behavior in the nomination, confirmation, and retirement processes of the Supreme Court, each independently. This paper analyzes the interaction between the justices, the president, and the Senate in these processes. I constructed a game theoretic model to consider the nomination and approval process of Supreme Court justices and the change in dynamics that might result from an impending election. I hypothesize that sitting justices take into account the party affiliations of the president and the Senate when they are deciding whether it is the optimal time to retire to achieve their own strategic objectives. The …
Can Nba Teams Benefit From Losing?, Ryan P. Hallisey
Can Nba Teams Benefit From Losing?, Ryan P. Hallisey
Honors Scholar Theses
It has been speculated that franchises in the NBA (national basketball association) lose on purpose because of the benefits that coincide with a team having a poor overall record. Teams that perform the worst are given the highest draft selections in the following season's rookie player draft, thus theoretically improving their chances of becoming a more winning team. Previous economists have used various methodology to prove that NBA teams do in fact lose on purpose; or tank. This paper builds upon this previous methodology to examine the direct impact, negative or positive, that losing on purpose has had on various …
Urban Parking Economics And Land Consumption: A Case Study Of New Haven, Connecticut And Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bryan P. Blanc
Urban Parking Economics And Land Consumption: A Case Study Of New Haven, Connecticut And Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bryan P. Blanc
Honors Scholar Theses
It has become increasingly apparent that providing copious off-street parking has deleterious effects on urban form and function. This study compares parking policy in New Haven, Connecticut and Cambridge, Massachusetts that have pursued very different types of parking policies that have resulted in different outcomes in terms of land use. Since 1951, off-street parking provision has increased by nearly 400% in New Haven, meanwhile both employment and residential population have declined in the city. In contrast, off-street parking provision in Cambridge has risen around 140% since 1952, while employment and residential populations in the city have increased by 50% and …
Policy Suggestions For Emissions Trading In The U.S.A., Nathaniel Wallshein
Policy Suggestions For Emissions Trading In The U.S.A., Nathaniel Wallshein
Honors Scholar Theses
This honors thesis will examine current and theoretical "cap and trade" emissions trading schemes in an attempt to make recommendations on how to improve this regulated commodity market. The various control mechanisms available to regulators will be discussed: including allocation methodology, benchmarking, banking, variation in design frameworks, etc. To aid and support the proposed policy recommendations, this paper will investigate the design framework of the SOx emission trading scheme in the US, the Kyoto Protocol, and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The political, social, and economic context of these schemes will be taken into account when considering the …
Voting In Kenya: Putting Ethnicity In Perspective, Michael Bratton, Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Voting In Kenya: Putting Ethnicity In Perspective, Michael Bratton, Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Economics Working Papers
Do Kenyans vote according to ethnic identities or policy interests? Based on results from a national probability sample survey conducted in the first week of December 2007, this article shows that, while ethnic origins drive voting patterns, elections in Kenya amount to more than a mere ethnic census. We start by reviewing how Kenyans see themselves, which is mainly in non-ethnic terms. We then report on how they see others, whom they fear will organize politically along ethnic lines. People therefore vote defensively in ethnic blocs, but not exclusively. In Decem- ber 2007, they also took particular policy issues into …
From Tranquility To Secession And Other Historical Sequences: A Theoretical Exposition, Paul Hallwood
From Tranquility To Secession And Other Historical Sequences: A Theoretical Exposition, Paul Hallwood
Economics Working Papers
A model is developed explaining many common historical sequences: inter alia, the rise and fall of empires, expansion or contraction in the geographic size of nations, wars of secession, non-contested secessions, and growth of supra-national unions. The basic unit of analysis is a transaction in international (or national) law that verifies and legitimizes transformations from one organizational entity to another. Decision-makers for national, or super-national entities as well as those at sub-levels are assumed to be welfare maximizers under cost constraints. Potential secessionists face dispute costs, and decision-makers for the higher-level entity incur persuasion costs. Both costs may include military …
Is The Compensation Model For Real Estate Brokers Obsolete?, Thomas J. Miceli, Katherine A. Pancak, C. F. Sirmans
Is The Compensation Model For Real Estate Brokers Obsolete?, Thomas J. Miceli, Katherine A. Pancak, C. F. Sirmans
Economics Working Papers
This study examines the traditional compensation model for real estate brokers under which both the listing and buyer brokers are paid by the seller based on a percentage of the property sales price. We argue that this model has not evolved to reflect contemporary legal agency relationships and technology-driven information availability. It therefore creates substantial transactional inefficiencies for buyers and sellers at both the matching and bargaining stages of a transaction. While there is evidence that market forces are pushing for a change in the status quo, there is also evidence that the brokerage industry is resisting this change by …
Efficiency And Efficacy Of Kenya's Constituency Development Fund: Theory And Evidence, Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Efficiency And Efficacy Of Kenya's Constituency Development Fund: Theory And Evidence, Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Economics Working Papers
Kenya's Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is one of the ingenious innovations of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Government of Kenya. Unlike other development funds that filter from the central government through larger and more layers of administrative organs and bureaucracies, funds under this program go directly to local levels and thus provide people at the grassroots the opportunity to make expenditure decisions that maximize their welfare consistent with the theoretical predictions of decentralization theory. Increasingly, however, concerns about the utilization of funds under this program are emerging. Most of the concerns revolve around issues of allocative efficiency. In this note, …
Determinants Of Poverty In Kenya: A Household Level Analysis, Alemayehu Geda, Niek De Jong, Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Germano Mwabu
Determinants Of Poverty In Kenya: A Household Level Analysis, Alemayehu Geda, Niek De Jong, Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Germano Mwabu
Economics Working Papers
Strategies aimed at poverty reduction need to identify factors that are strongly associated with poverty and that are amenable to modification by policy. This article uses household level data collected in 1994 to examine probable determinants of poverty status, employing both binomial and polychotomous logit models. The study shows that poverty status is strongly associated with the level of education, household size and engagement in agricultural activity, both in rural and urban areas. In general, those factors that are closely associated with overall poverty according to the binomial model are also important in the ordered-logit model, but they appear to …
The Past, Present And Future Of Community Reinvestment Act (Cra): A Historical Perspective, Akm Rezaul Hossain
The Past, Present And Future Of Community Reinvestment Act (Cra): A Historical Perspective, Akm Rezaul Hossain
Economics Working Papers
This paper takes a historical approach to understand the evolution of one of the most controversial banking regulations in recent history, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1978 and its effects on access to credit and banking services to community borrowers. The paper lays out the historical milieu of credit markets in the late seventies and describes the early justification of this legislation. The paper explores the implementation of the act through regulations on lending institutions and the effects of the regulations on depository lenders and community borrowers. Detailed description of the reactions to CRA regulations by different parties involved …
Continuous Lexicographic Preferences, Vicki Knoblauch
Continuous Lexicographic Preferences, Vicki Knoblauch
Economics Working Papers
Under what conditions are lexicographically representable preferences continuously representable? This question is actually two questions, since there are two natural definitions of continuity for lexicographic representations. A complete answer is given for one of these questions, and the other is answered for two-dimensional lexicographic representations.
Words That Kill? Economic Perspectives On Hate Speech And Hate Crimes, Dhammika Dharmapala, Richard H. Mcadams
Words That Kill? Economic Perspectives On Hate Speech And Hate Crimes, Dhammika Dharmapala, Richard H. Mcadams
Economics Working Papers
This paper analyzes the conditions under which the level of hate speech (expressing hostility towards racial and other minorities) in society can influence whether individuals commit hate crimes against minorities. More generally, we explore the conditions under which speech can influence behavior by revealing social attitudes. We propose a model in which potential offenders care not only about the intrinsic benefits from the crime and the expected costs of punishment, but also about the esteem conferred by like-minded individuals. The number of such individuals is uncertain, but can (in certain circumstances) be inferred from the level of hate speech. We …