Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Brute Force Branding: Variations & Repetitions Of The Almighty Dollar Banknote, Rui-Long Monico

Artl@s Bulletin

Abstract: This paper examines the U.S. dollar as a global brand and mythic icon, revealing how its stable aesthetic asserts dominance and infiltrates daily life. Through visual analysis and global comparison, it shows how banknotes are battlegrounds where art, identity, and geopolitics collide—currency as a weapon of soft power and cultural hegemony. The dollar’s visual inertia—ritualized, repeated, reappropriated—cements its supremacy as a symbolic force, where repetition enforces authority and variation sparks both resistance and conformity. Banknotes emerge as tools of statecraft and vessels of collective memory, as reflected in the author’s bespoke creation accompanying this study.

Résumé: Cet article analyse …

The Influence Of Nurse Union Size On Nurse Practitioner Full Practice Authority In The U.S., Yusuf Khan

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

The scope of practice for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) is a critical issue in healthcare policy, influenced by both demand for healthcare services and legislative action. This paper examines the impact of nurse union size on a state having full practice authority for nurse practitioners across the United States. Utilizing data from the Nurse Unionization Data Tool and controlling for several variables (right-to-work laws, physicians per capita, and personal healthcare expenditures per capita), this study employs multivariate logistic regression to analyze the relationship between the proportion of unionized nurses and the extent of practice authority granted by state laws. …

Military Service During The Vietnam War Hurt Veterans’ Long-Term Health, Xintong Wang, Carlos A. Flores, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

The Long Goodbye Of The History Of Economic Thought Course In Liberal Arts Colleges In The United States, Humberto Barreto

School of Business and Leadership Working Papers

Economists of a certain age will remember a world in which the history of economic thought (HET) was alive and flourishing. Today, that is not the case. One little-noticed consequence of the elimination of HET from graduate programs in the United States is that the HET course is an endangered species at the undergraduate level. It is not, however, extinct. This paper offers a brief history of HET as a course and explores the extent of the diminution in HET courses in the undergraduate liberal arts college curriculum in the United States. Roughly 40% of 146 schools have a HET …

Wedges: A Microeconomic Perspective On Misallocation, Lauren Falcao Bergquist, Daniel Lashkari, Eric Verhoogen

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This chapter, prepared for the Handbook of Development Economics (Vol. 6), reviews recent microeconomic evidence on the causes of resource misallocation in developing countries. It distinguishes between “technological” and “distortionary” wedges, develops a unified theoretical framework linking market power, taxes, financial frictions, and firm dynamics, and summarizes empirical findings from the “direct approach” to misallocation. The authors emphasize how wedges vary by firm size and discuss policy implications for improving allocative efficiency.

Airbnb And The End Of The Local, Nadia Beyersdorf

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how second-home ownership and self-catered tourism reshape community life in Tenby, Wales. While gentrification research often focuses on permanent displacement, less attention has been given to the movement of temporary residents that erodes local culture, social ties, and transforms everyday relationships in coastal towns.

Retroactive Eligibility Waivers: Innovative Or Ineffective?, Mohamed Kacem Benyamine

Theses and Dissertations

Medicaid’s retroactive eligibility provision covers medical expenses for beneficiaries up to 90 days before the application date. Retroactive eligibility insulates uninsured, low-income households from expensive healthcare emergencies. New Hampshire, Arkansas, and Iowa recently obtained waivers to end retroactive coverage. Using a difference-in-differences design and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, I evaluate whether changes in retroactive coverage affect enrollment rates and self-reported health. Removing retroactive eligibility has no statistically significant effects on insurance enrollment or self-reported health. However, it does increase rates of access to a doctor by 1.0% overall and by 1.6% for women. Removing retroactive eligibility …

The Effect Of Medical Aid In Dying On Health Outcomes And Risky Behavior Of The Elderly, Jacky Wu

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) legalization on health outcomes and behavior among elderly U.S. adults using BRFSS data from 2005-2022. Using staggered difference-in-differences, this paper finds that MAiD increases exercise, lowers BMI, and reduces blood pressure medication use.

The Long Run Effects Of A Teacher-Focused School Reform On Student Outcomes, Sarah R. Cohodes, Ozkan Eren, Orgul Ozturk

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the effects of a teacher-focused school reform program — combining performance pay with teacher observation and feedback — implemented in high-need schools on students’ longer-run educational, criminal justice, and economic self-sufficiency outcomes. Using linked administrative data from a Southern state, we leverage the quasi-randomness of the timing of program adoption across schools to show that the school reform improved educational attainment and reduced both felony criminal activity before age 19 and dependence on government assistance in early adulthood (ages 18–22). We find little scope for student sorting or changes in the composition of teacher workforce to explain …

Cognitive And Economic Development, John Luke Gallup

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A burgeoning literature has found that early childhood health conditions of individuals have large causal effects on their cognitive development, education and earnings. How much does early cognitive development contribute to the national economy? Although researchers have long studied the role of worker health for economic growth, they have not assessed the role of early cognitive development.

Cognitive ability is the foundation of human capital, affecting both educational attainment and economic growth. The risk factors for poor cognitive development are very high in many countries. Each risk factor also causes child mortality, making child survival a viable proxy for good …

The Economic Impact Of Coal And Coal-Fired Power Generation In West Virginia, John Deskins, Brandon Frazier, Brianna Guarnieri, Mason Sheppard, Will Turman

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Taiwanese Monetary Policy: Augmented Taylor And Mccallum Rules, Yu-Chi (Yunnie) Cheng

CMC Senior Theses

This study examines how price-based and quantity-based monetary frameworks explain the policy actions of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) within the context of a trade-dependent, small open economy. Utilizing a comparative empirical analysis of Taylor and McCallum rules from 2000 to 2025, the research finds that Taylor rule’s superior fit is contingent upon the inclusion of the augmented variables, such as federal funds rate, Financial Stress Index, and sovereign credit premiums, revealing a policy stance that is deeply reactive to international financial conditions. In contrast, the McCallum rule demonstrates remarkable parsimony, explaining 45% of the variance …

Air Pollution And Intimate Partner Violence In India, Siddharth Kishore, Magda Tsaneva, Uttara Balakrishnan

Economics

We combine individual-level data from the Demographic and Health Survey for India with high-resolution spatial data on air pollutants to investigate how exposure to high levels of PM2.5 influences spousal violence. For identification, we use atmospheric wind directions as an instrument for local pollution concentrations. We find that a 10 increase in PM2.5 levels has a statistically significant impact on intimate partner violence, raising the incidence of any violence by 4.7% over the sample mean. Heterogeneity analysis shows the effects are concentrated among rural households and poor households. We also find that air pollution in rural areas is associated with …

Environmental Degradation And Food Systems In Ghana: Gold Mining And Synthetic Pesticides, Da'mirah Vinson

Honors Theses

This research examines the relationship between environmental degradation and food systems in Ghana. Although sociological research has explored how extractive practices like gold mining dispossesses farmers of land (Gilbert and Albert 2016; Agariga 2021; Kwang and Blagogie 2025), the consequences for food sovereignty and security remain understudied. Research that considers food and land from a sociocultural perspective is even more limited. My research addresses these gaps by asking: How do environmental degradation practices—specifically gold mining and chemical use—affect food production, distribution, and security in Ghana? And how does the decline of arable land reshape cultural food identity? To explore these …

Consumer Responses To Ethical And Privacy Concerns In Ai Chatbots: Evidence From Offensive Language, Gender Bias, And Digital Privacy, Jikhan Jeong

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Due to the rapid innovation of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, AI chatbots have become increasingly influential computational social systems (CSS) in everyday life. However, the expansion of interactions between AI chatbots and consumers has raised significant ethical and privacy concerns. Using data from an online survey, this study empirically examines how consumer concerns about AI ethics and privacy influence their intention to use AI chatbots. These concerns are categorized into three types: 1) offensive language (generated by AI chatbots or users); 2) gender-biased language (from either source); and 3) digital privacy violations. The findings suggest that prior experience …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Development In Preventing Violent Extremism, Caelan Stewart

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Reviewer Heterogeneity Between One-Time And Multi-Review Reviewers, Price Sentiment, And Pre-Purchase Information On Star Ratings For Amazon Subscription Boxes, Jikhan Jeong

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines the presence, prevalence, and negative polarity of one-time reviewers compared to those who have left multiple reviews across all categories, based on an analysis of 571,544,746 Amazon product reviews. Since sellers and consumers may be interested in specific products relevant to their business or purchasing interests within a category rather than across all categories, this research focuses on the Subscription Boxes category for econometric analysis. This category exhibits an unusual rating distribution, likely presents fewer incentives for promotional reviews, and faces fewer constraints. However, price data is unavailable in this category. Therefore, this study develops price sentiment …

West Virginia Pre-K-12 Enrollment Projections, John Deskins

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

No abstract provided.

Board Attributes, Firm Performance, And The Moderating Role Of National Culture: A Meta-Analysis, Matthew Farrell, Chris H. Willis, Nathapon Siangchokyoo, Ryan L. Klinger, Jamil Kreugel, Hami Usta, Timiry R. Tian, Ying Thaviphoke, Samuel Wilson

Management Faculty Publications

Research Question/Issue

The impact of board structures on firm performance remains a contentious governance topic with competing theoretical paradigms and inconclusive empirical support. Scholars propose that national culture could reconcile contradictory evidence; yet, argumentation is fragmented and direct tests are rare. We meta‐analyzed 513 samples across 54 countries to examine relationships between board structures (i.e., board size, board independence, and CEO duality) and firm performance. We model national culture, using Hofstede's six cultural dimensions, as moderators to test whether these relationships align with agency or stewardship theory across different cultural settings.

Research findings/insights

Findings indicate a substantial moderating role of …

The Impact Of Michigan's Public Act 308 On Foster Care Outcomes: A Synthetic Control Analysis, Maruis D. Martello

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This paper evaluates the impact of Michigan’s 2014 Public Act 308 on foster care adoption outcomes. By converting traditional adoption subsidies into dynamic, redeterminable contracts, the policy aimed to reduce the financial uncertainty associated with adopting children with latent or evolving special needs. Using data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) from 2000 to 2022, we implement a generalized synthetic control method to account for unobserved time-varying heterogeneity. We find that the policy had no statistically significant impact on the aggregate adoption rate. However, it generated significant gains within targeted subpopulations, increasing the probability of …

Plastic Waste Imports & Coastal Litter: Evidence From Citizen Science Data, Rebecca L.C. Taylor, Hebe Williams, Shan Zhang

Economics Faculty Publications

Plastic waste is an internationally traded commodity, where importing countries recycle plastic waste into usable materials. However, there are concerns that the importation process creates plastic litter - a negative externality - in importing countries. While this concern has received much media and policy attention, quantifying the magnitude of this externality has been hindered by a lack of data on plastic litter across countries and over time. To this end, we use unconventional citizen science data on litter from Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, together with the United Nations Comtrade Database, to estimate the correlation between traded plastic waste and …

Exploring Dominican University Nursing Students’ Perceptions Of Economic Barriers To Accessing Essential Women’S Health Products, Annabelle E. Burke

Nursing | Senior Theses

Period poverty is defined as inconsistent or inadequate access to feminine hygiene products, and it has been shown to negatively impact physical and mental health, academic performance, and dignity across diverse populations. Existing research highlights financial strain, social stigma, and insufficient support as key barriers to menstrual equity among individuals experiencing homelessness, adolescents living in low-resource environments, low-income women, and general undergraduate students (Brinkley & Niebuhr, 2023; Dave et al., 2022; Gruer et al., 2021; Lahme et al., 2018; Parkinson et al., 2024; Gilchrist et al., 2024). However, no studies have examined these issues amongst Dominican University nursing students who …

A Panel Quantile Model Via Correlated Random Effects Approach For Testing Pecking Order Theory, Zongwu Cai, Meng Shi, Wuqing Wu, Yue Zhao

Student Publications

This article investigates the relative importance of internal and external sources of funds in financing activities across different levels of investment activities by proposing a panel data quantile regression model with correlated random effects, accounting for heteroscedasticity in both firm-specific individuals and distribution of investment. A new estimation method, which takes the influence of disturbance into account, is proposed by using the integrated quasi-likelihood function for the conditional quantile model and Laplace approximation. The large sample theory for the proposed estimator and the corresponding asymptotic χ² test are investigated. A Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to examine the finite …

Sovereign Cat Bonds: Evaluating Issuance, Matthew Sharretts

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

Fiscal Decentralization, Foreign Capital, And Economic Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kwadwo D. Frempong

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been shaped by two transformative policy shifts: widespread fiscal decentralization reforms transferring revenue and expenditure authority to subnational governments, and the pursuit of foreign direct investment to supplement domestic capital. Despite the breadth of these reforms, their effectiveness in promoting sustainable economic development remains empirically contested. This dissertation examines three interconnected questions about fiscal governance and capital flows in Sub-Saharan Africa: what determines the extent to which governments decentralize fiscal authority; how county fiscal composition and revenue autonomy shape subnational economic performance; and how foreign direct investment interacts with domestic investment and growth.

The …

Can A Curator Influence Their Nation’S Art Market Value? Adriano Pedrosa, The 60th Venice Biennale, And The Global Repositioning Of Brazilian Art, Maria Joana Ventosa

MA Theses

The 60th Venice Biennale (2024), curated by Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa, the first Latin American curator, and the first curator based in the Global South to lead the Venice Biennale, revived long-standing debates concerning visibility and marginalization, who controls canon formation and, in a market where visibility directly affects value, the power of dictating the market. The curator furthered this discussion by curating a show literally titled “Strangers Everywhere”, focused on representations by artists who identify as “othered”, through, for example colonisation and erasure of native cultures, immigration or queerness.  This thesis examines the evolving role of biennials as platforms …

High-Resolution, Fast-Response Optical Fiber Temperature Sensor With A Large Measurement Range Based On Fiber-Tip Alumina Fabry-Pérot Interferometer, Ruimin Jie, Chen Zhu, Robert Abbott, Michael Davis, Xiong Zhang, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present an alumina-tip optical fiber Fabry-Pérot interferometric temperature sensor exhibiting high-temperature performance, rapid response, and high resolution. Fabricated by fusion splicing an alumina micro disk directly to a single-mode fiber, the sensor achieves robust, stable operation without complex fabrication processes or adhesives. Experimental evaluation confirms a measurement range extending to 1000°C, with sensitivity of 28.66 pm/°C, a resolution of 0.042°C, and a rapid response time of approximately 13 ms. Compared to state-of-the-art optical fiber FPI sensors, our alumina-tip sensor offers superior overall performance, effectively addressing critical demands for high-resolution, fast-response temperature measurement in extreme environments including aerospace, structural monitoring, …

Beyond The Meter: Frameworks For Evaluating The Broad Spectrum Of Microgrid Benefits, Elias Henderson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Community-scale microgrids can create a range of social benefits. These include resilient electricity, cleaner air, decarbonization, and economic development, alongside more qualitative values like energy sovereignty and community self-determination. Many such benefits, however, are illegible to California’s market and regulatory frameworks. This thesis traces this disconnect, with particular attention to grid-edge communities in Northern California.

Microgrid benefits are classified as monetized, modeled, or incommensurable according to their inclusion/exclusion in existing regulatory and revenue mechanisms. To explore each category, a mixed-methods analytic approach is employed, pairing Tribal and stakeholder interviews with the development of a microgrid valuation calculator. This tool is …

Labor Market Impacts Of Immigration Enforcement: Evidence From The Second Trump Administration, Rachel Letts

Economics Honors Papers

The onset of the second Trump Administration saw a stark immigration policy shock in the U.S. with record numbers of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions. This paper seeks to understand the labor market impacts of this immigration enforcement that have disproportionately affected the risk of being detained for non-white individuals. To estimate the effect of this policy shock, a triple difference model is used comparing non-white individuals to white individuals living in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with above or below average concentrations of immigration detentions before and after this immigration shock. The regression analysis finds that since the beginning of …

The Economics Of Accountability: Learning From German Holocaust Reparations, Grace I. Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing on microdata from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, this study compares European Holocaust survivors who received reparations with similar Europeans who did not. It finds that, decades on, recipients are not systematically better or worse off on core outcomes like life satisfaction, savings, and debt. This is consistent with the argument that reparations restore parity rather than create new advantages. Where differences emerge, they point to stabilization in more vulnerable settings (e.g., lower likelihood of high debt in parts of Eastern Europe). The main takeaway from effective reparations is applicable to the United States debate: …