Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Starting Early: Returns On Kindergarten Attendance In Indonesia, Daniel Posthumus

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Indonesia is a rapidly developing economy, having averaged 5.26% economic growth from 2000 to 2019; over the same time, it has achieved near-universal primary school attendance. However, there are concerns about the quality of Indonesian education, with no improvement in standardized test scores between 2012 and 2022. Early childhood interventions are a critical part of human capital accumulation and skills- building, and the efficacy of interventions such as kindergarten in developing countries like Indonesia is under-studied. Using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and Village Potential Statistics (PODES), I examine the effects of kindergarten on educational outcomes in …

The Effects Of Snap’S Abawd Work Requirement On Food Security And Work Outcomes, Thomas Cronin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the leading anti-hunger government assistance program in the United States. Included in SNAP is an 80 hour per month work requirement on Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs), designed to counteract the work disincentives that are inherent to the program’s means-tested nature. In this paper, I leverage a two-way fixed effects triple differences model and ample variation in the policy’s implementation from temporary waivers in high-unemployment areas to estimate the ABAWD work requirement’s effects on low-income ABAWDs’ food security and work outcomes. I find that the work requirement is associated with substantial increases in …

Fdi And Environmental Externalities In Southeast Asia, Kevin Bloodworth

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this paper I explore the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and deforestation in Cambodia. Through an event study framework, I show that economic land concessions have a negative relationship with tree cover, over time, having stronger and stronger negative effects. This relationship is more pronounced in foreign economic land concessions when compared to domestic economic land concessions. Through the use of a difference in differences research design I examine the relationship between foreign and domestic concessions through the implementation of a ELC concession ban. The ban only led to worsening levels of deforestation within the borders of foreign …

Voting Rules And Properties, Zhuorong Mao

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis composes of two chapters. Chapter one considers the higher order of Borda Rules (Bp) and the Perron Rule (P) as extensions of the classic Borda Rule. We study the properties of those vector-valued voting rules and compare them with Simple Majority Voting (SMV). Using simulation, we found that SMV can yield different results from B1, B2, and P even when it is transitive. We also give a new condition that forces SMV to be transitive, and then quantify the frequency of transitivity when it fails.

In chapter two, we study the `protocol paradox' of approval voting. In approval …

The Effect Of Subsidies On Small Exporting Sectors In Chile, Leah Damelin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper measures the impact of a widespread trade subsidy program on the exporting sectors in which Chile faces comparative disadvantages (i.e., small exporting sectors). More specifically, I analyze the effect of export subsidies on the changes in exports experienced by these sectors in Chile between 2002 and 2013. My regression analysis utilizes data on Chilean exports from Chile’s National Customs Service. It also uses information on the eligibility requirements for receiving the aforementioned subsidies — which are worth three percent of the value of an export — from the Chilean government. This information is provided by annual legal documents …

The Boys Are Back In School: Increased Chinese Import Exposure’S Effect On Community College Enrollments, Georgiana Reece

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I analyze how Chinese import competition impacts community college enrollments in US commuting zones by using the variation of import exposure across the United States. After controlling for broader changes in the US economy, the findings show that there is fairly large and positive effect on enrollments for men between the years 1990 and 2007. The results for female enrollments are small or negative. However, these results for both men and women are imprecisely estimated. The findings of this paper resemble previous findings in the literature, namely Greenland and Lopresti (2016), Ferriere et. al (2021), and Lee (2021) which demonstrate …

On The Impact Of Social Spending On Long-Term Economic Performance In The Usa, Jiayong Lu

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the dynamics of social spending and long-term economic performance in the United States from 1949-2019 using vector autoregression models. It breaks down social spending into six disaggregate programs to identify if different social programs have similar effects on the economy. Overall, the study finds that social spending increases private savings and the unemployment rate. Due to its dominant distortionary effects on the labor market, social spending decreases GDP. These effects are mostly short-term effects. The economic effects of the different social spending programs on the economy are similar in direction but different in magnitude. The effects of …

True Price Of A Pack: Tobacco Expenditure And Height-For-Age In Indonesia, Madeline Helfer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While the negative impact of tobacco on the health of smokers is well known, the ways in which smoking impacts the health of the smoker’s children is less understood. This study explores whether tobacco expenditure increases the risk of stunting among children under the age of five in Indonesia, where smoking and stunting rates are among the highest in Southeast Asia. Given the severe income constraints faced by poor Indonesian households, large tobacco expenditure potentially “crowds-out” spending on nutrition, worsening the nutritional health of children in smoking households. To examine this relationship, I use a sample of children under the …

Economic Impact Of The Western Africa Ebola Outbreak--A Holistic Approach, Xufeng Liu

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The 2014 Western Africa Ebola Epidemic was one of the most severe epidemics in the region’s history, creating considerable health and economic burdens on the affected countries. The first part of this paper relies on several macroeconomic databases from 2009 to 2019 to evaluate the aggregate economic impact of Ebola both in the short- and medium-run. We also use household surveys to assess the microeconomic effects of Ebola on employment and household non-farm enterprises (HNFE) at different phases of the outbreak in Sierra Leone. Our primary estimation method is the Difference-in-Differences approach with the canonical specification where we compare outcome …

The Role Of Homeownership In Taiwan's Low Fertility Story, William Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With one of the lowest fertility rates on record, Taiwan is at the forefront of the global lowest-low fertility phenomenon. Policymakers in Taiwan and researchers around the world have a considerable interest in the reasons driving Taiwan’s depressed fertility and possible ways to alleviate the associated economic concerns. Properties of the housing market represent one suggested factor that may be contributing to this trend. Using individual panel data from Taiwan’s Panel Study of Family Dynamics, I test the correlation between homeownership and fertility outcomes. I find that other variables, such as marriage, age, generation, and socioeconomic status, can explain much …

Out-Of-Pocket Healthcare Costs And Undesirable Healthcare Expenditures, Cody Sanford Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare costs in the U.S. have risen over recent decades, and this issue was a focal point of the last several national election cycles. I investigate the relationship between out-of-pocket healthcare costs and incidences of catastrophic and impoverishing healthcare expenditure. I also explore whether other important factors, such as demographic, personal health, and those related to the healthcare system change the likelihood of such healthcare expenditures. Lastly, I use a difference in means method and logistic regressions to analyze the probability of incurring undesirable healthcare expenses and the impacts of relevant factors for certain subsections of the U.S. population. I …

Examining Labor Market Recovery During The Covid-19 Pandemic Using Occupational Lousiness Indicators, Wm. Brennan Merone

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted the United States labor market, and many commentators have interpreted the ongoing labor dynamics as evidence of a "Great Resignation", emphasizing workers' dissatisfaction with their employment situation as a significant instigator of labor market uncertainty. In this paper, I develop an indexed "lousiness" score for a given occupation based on occupational survey data. I then track the rebound in employment and labor force participation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic for workers within "lousy" and "non-lousy" occupations, revealing a sizable gap between their respective rates of return throughout 2020 and 2021. I then …

International Trade And Revenue-Based Total Factor Productivity: A Firm-Level Analysis, Dongyang Wang

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Economists concur that international trade is conducive to economic growth. However, at the firm level, variation exists. In this article, my goal is to conduct economic analysis on firm- level data and study the productivity effects of trade. With the comprehensive World Bank Enterprise Surveys data, I first explore trade patterns across different firms, controlling for industry, firm size, and the legal status of the firm. I then conduct regression analysis to identify characteristics of firms that participate in trade. Finally, I use an instrumental variable regression to study the causal relationship between a firm’s productivity and its participation in …

The Catalytic Effect And The Imf: The Relationship Between Capital Inflows And Imf Program Characteristics, Matthew Levinson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Interventions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are believed to impact external capital inflows to recipient countries, which has the potential to amplify the overall effectiveness of IMF programs. However, the true extent of this catalytic effect remains debated. While previous studies have examined the catalytic effect of the IMF at the aggregate level, this research isolates specific types of IMF programs and analyzes their relationship with specific types of financial inflows for a better understanding of the heterogeneity in program effectiveness with respect to the catalytic effect. I find that program type plays a significant role in the strength …

Concentration And Nurse Staffing Outcomes In The Healthcare Labor Market, Lizzy Crotty

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I investigate impacts to the nursing occupation from a perspective of market concentration. I measure the concentration of healthcare employment opportunities across the U.S. with a Herfindahl-Hirshman Index, finding moderate levels of concentration that vary greatly in markets with different population sizes and different locations. I use a Weighted Least Squares model to investigate how changing market concentration is affecting nurse employment. Analysis across different regions and different levels of urbanicity finds statistically insignificant heterogeneous effects with noisy zero estimates. The results are inconclusive evidence against monopsony presence in the nursing labor market.