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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Effect Of New York City Sports Outcomes On The Stock Market, Nir Levy Oct 2015

The Effect Of New York City Sports Outcomes On The Stock Market, Nir Levy

Undergraduate Economic Review

This thesis investigates whether sports outcomes for New York City based teams affect the daily returns, volatility or trading volume of major stock indexes in the United States. I research whether events that affect local mood in a major financial center can influence national stock indexes by swaying the sentiment of workers in the financial sector. By performing an event study I found evidence that returns are abnormally high following championships won by New York City professional sports teams. Returns are abnormally low and volume is abnormally high following elimination from a championship round.


International Trade In Telecommunication Services: A Cross Sectional Gravity Regression, Justin C. Doty Sep 2015

International Trade In Telecommunication Services: A Cross Sectional Gravity Regression, Justin C. Doty

Undergraduate Economic Review

The gravity model has been successful in measuring the effects of institutions, trade barriers, and other characteristics on trade in goods. Kimura and Lee [2004] find the gravity model is also suitable for measuring trade in services. The Organization for Economic Co-Development [2009a] develop gravity models for pilot service sectors such as construction, computer, professional, and telecommunication services. The purpose of this paper is to extend the findings of the OECD paper for telecommunication services. The paper finds that a 10 percent increase in distance between countries will decrease imports by 11.77 percent. Imports of telecommunication services are influenced by …


Kafkas Das Urteil Und Die Philosophie Des Strafsystems, Amelia Smith Jun 2015

Kafkas Das Urteil Und Die Philosophie Des Strafsystems, Amelia Smith

CrissCross

No abstract provided.


Text To Screen Adaptation: Examining Reverse Ekphrasis In Joe Wright’S Films Adapting For, Hannah Dhue Jun 2015

Text To Screen Adaptation: Examining Reverse Ekphrasis In Joe Wright’S Films Adapting For, Hannah Dhue

CrissCross

Adapting for the screen is an arduous task – one that never seems to fulfill readers’ expectations. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman expertly illustrated this phenomenon with his award-winning script, Adaptation (2002). In the film, Nicholas Cage plays both Charlie, a scatterbrained but devoted screenwriter, and Donald, Charlie’s laid-back twin. Charged with adapting Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, Charlie lets his fear of failing to meet his audience’s expectations turn his work into a nightmarish, insurmountable task. When Charlie’s boss suggests that he make the book’s two main characters fall in love in the film version, he challenges the deviation from the …


Art Arbitrage - Violations Of The Law Of One Price Created By Fine Art Auctions, Amy Liu Jun 2015

Art Arbitrage - Violations Of The Law Of One Price Created By Fine Art Auctions, Amy Liu

Undergraduate Economic Review

Although fine art is becoming increasingly popular as investment, its price determination is relatively opaque. This paper expands upon the work of Pesando (1993) and Pesando and Shum (2007) concerning the law of one price in the art auction industry. By examining the sale history of silkscreen prints from Andy Warhol’s 1970 series Flowers, this paper controls for the physical characteristics of particular artwork and seeks to determine the likelihood of sale and price differentials created by specific auction environments. This paper further examines the extent to which auction houses take into account these auction environments when setting presale …


Cost - Benefit Analysis Of The German High Speed Rail Network, Martin Dorciak Jun 2015

Cost - Benefit Analysis Of The German High Speed Rail Network, Martin Dorciak

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study undertakes a cost-benefit analysis of the German railway market looking specifically at the effects of high-speed rail development on railway passenger subsidies. Using OLS regression analysis, I estimate a demand curve for the German railway network at the route level; this is combined with cost curve estimates to yield a required subsidy for rail development assuming a natural monopoly market structure. I find that an increase in demand as a result of the introduction of high-speed rail technology causes a 23.9% decrease in required rail subsidies.


Is All Foreign Aid The Same? : An Empirical Comparison Of The Effect Of Multilateral And Bilateral Aid On Growth, Scott B. Jeffrey May 2015

Is All Foreign Aid The Same? : An Empirical Comparison Of The Effect Of Multilateral And Bilateral Aid On Growth, Scott B. Jeffrey

Undergraduate Economic Review

Despite decades of research on foreign aid, there is little to no consensus on foreign aid’s effect on growth. While most in the field study recipient country characteristics, such as institutional quality, this paper also breaks down foreign aid by donor characteristics, specifically by bilateral and multilateral donors. Since about 75% of foreign aid is bilateral, my bilateral findings are in line with previous literature that finds high institutional quality key (Burnside and Dollar 2000; 2004), but I find that multilateral aid works best in low-income countries with poor policy environments, due, perhaps, to lacking political goals of donor countries.


Education And Women In The Informal Sector: A Cross-Country Analysis, Linh T. Nguyen May 2015

Education And Women In The Informal Sector: A Cross-Country Analysis, Linh T. Nguyen

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study investigates the effects of education on the participation of women in the informal sector of 40 developing countries using OLS linear regression. Through some econometric adjustments, the final model suggests that education, represented by years of schooling, is correlated with a 2.74% increase in women’s chances of being employed in this sub-sector of the economy. This means that the better educated still end up doing the jobs that do not require such knowledge. An implication of the result is that the current way which schooling is delivered to the poor might not be the most efficient way.


The Determinants Of Gasoline And Diesel Fuel Excise Tax Rates, Nicholas R. Jenkins May 2015

The Determinants Of Gasoline And Diesel Fuel Excise Tax Rates, Nicholas R. Jenkins

Undergraduate Economic Review

As Goel and Nelson (1999) show, fluctuations in fuel prices prompt politicians to alter fuel taxation policies. The goal of this paper was to examine the determinants of both gasoline and diesel fuel excise taxes. The diesel model builds on the work of Decker and Wohar (2006) and is extended to construct a model for gasoline fuel excise taxes. In addition to replicating results of prior research, the results suggest that states with colder weather have higher fuel tax rates. Additionally, findings demonstrated that increased funding from the Highway Trust Fund is associated with lower fuel tax rates.


Curiosity Or Manners: The Values That Shape American Political Mindsets, Ryan Winter May 2015

Curiosity Or Manners: The Values That Shape American Political Mindsets, Ryan Winter

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the late 1990s, political analyst and linguist George Lakoff proposed an intriguing new way to understand what separates liberals from conservatives in American politics. His theory was based on the premise that there are two opposing frames through which Americans view politics, and that parenting values determine which frame one chooses. Those who adhere to the strict father model hold conservative beliefs on a wide range of issues, while nurturant parents are more liberal. Lakoff's writings have since become widespread and his parenting theory has convinced many political strategists and activists, despite the fact that his hypotheses lacked empirical …


No Smoking: Policy Diffusion And Its Prevailing Factors, Brad Gresik May 2015

No Smoking: Policy Diffusion And Its Prevailing Factors, Brad Gresik

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past few years, many states have taken steps to ban smoking in public areas. The process of specific polices spreading across state lines is called policy diffusion. Statewide anti-indoor smoking bans are utilized to demonstrate what the most prevailing factors in policy diffusion are. A two-step approach to analysis is implemented, first looking only at simple policy adoption among the 50 states, and secondly the rate at which the policy expands across the country. A strong presence of local ordinances, nearby neighbors with statewide bans in effect, and a history of smoking preemption laws are found to be …


The Myth Of The Clash Of Civilizations: Confucian Values And Democratic Support, Xinlin Xu May 2015

The Myth Of The Clash Of Civilizations: Confucian Values And Democratic Support, Xinlin Xu

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Literature on political culture claims Confucianism is incompatible with modern liberal democratic values. However, little empirical evidence has been presented to prove the validity of this statement. This paper quantitatively studies the relationship between Confucian values and democratic support in East Asian society and finds no negative correlation between the two.


The Least Dangerous Branch: The Dark Horse In American Democracy, Lexi Baltes May 2015

The Least Dangerous Branch: The Dark Horse In American Democracy, Lexi Baltes

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This research examines the extent to which the Supreme Court has the power to influence public opinion. There is a good deal of consensus in the literature regarding the influence of public opinion on the Supreme Court. However, a relatively small pool of contradictory research attempting to turn the casual arrow from the Court to the public underscores the fact that the question of whether or not a dynamic, back-and-forth relationship exists is still open for debate. Using a portion of the work done by Erikson, MacKuen and Stimson in The Macro Polity (2002) as a model, and relying heavily …


Mass Shootings, Mass Media, And Mass Opinion: An Examination Of How The News Media Affects Public Opinion In The Aftermath Of Mass Shootings, Patrick Cavanaugh May 2015

Mass Shootings, Mass Media, And Mass Opinion: An Examination Of How The News Media Affects Public Opinion In The Aftermath Of Mass Shootings, Patrick Cavanaugh

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This research looks at how newspaper mentions of mass shootings correlate with the percentage of people in the U.S. who view gun control as the most important issue facing the country. While the agenda-setting effect of the news media has been theorized and demonstrated for a number of different issues, scholars have yet to consider how the news media may set the agenda for the public’s view on the importance of gun control through its coverage of mass shootings. Utilizing designs put forth by Smidt (2011), Tan and Weaver (2007), and Winter and Eyal (1984), this paper seeks to fill …


Vicious Cycle Or Business Cycle?: Explaining Political Violence In Northern Ireland After The Troubles, Lauren Burke May 2015

Vicious Cycle Or Business Cycle?: Explaining Political Violence In Northern Ireland After The Troubles, Lauren Burke

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are currently two schools of thought that seek to explain the persistence of political violence in Northern Ireland, one with a sociopolitical focus and the other with an economic focus. Expanding on past economic theory, this paper utilizes several multiple regression models to test the applicability of the economic school's relative deprivation theory in the fifteen years since the Troubles were formally ended with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The basis of this theory is that as economic conditions worsen in a given area, the number of acts of political violence should also increase. This study specifically …


Authors' Biographies May 2015

Authors' Biographies

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Radical Right Populist Parties In Britain And The Netherlands: Explaining Electoral Success, Casey Plach May 2015

Radical Right Populist Parties In Britain And The Netherlands: Explaining Electoral Success, Casey Plach

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Radical right-wing populist parties have recently emerged throughout Europe, but the electoral success among these parties is incredibly inconsistent. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) has become established in the country’s political system, while the British National Party (BNP) and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) struggle to gain even a single seat in British parliament. Models outlining a formula for the rise and success of populist parties can help explain why some parties achieve an electoral breakthrough and others do not. Researcher of radical right populism Pippa Norris’ model of electoral success is divided into …


Editors' Introduction, Nick Desideri, Ryan Winter May 2015

Editors' Introduction, Nick Desideri, Ryan Winter

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Letter From The Department Chair, James Simeone May 2015

Letter From The Department Chair, James Simeone

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Table Of Contents May 2015

Table Of Contents

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Res Publica Xix May 2015

Res Publica Xix

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Complete copy of the 2014 volume of Res Publica.


Explaining Legislative Productivity: Evaluating The Effects Of Polarization And Divided Government In A Cross-Sectional Study Of State Legislatures, Mike Kistner '15 May 2015

Explaining Legislative Productivity: Evaluating The Effects Of Polarization And Divided Government In A Cross-Sectional Study Of State Legislatures, Mike Kistner '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Despite a wealth of literature on the causes of gridlock in Congress, there is a lack of comparative work at the state level exploring whether lawmaking in state legislatures functions similarly. Operating under a theoretical framework assuming polarization and divided government are the primary obstacles to legislative success, and controlling for majority seat share, I test the determinants of legislative productivity with an original dataset consisting of 31 states. I operationalize legislative productivity using a content analysis of editorials from each state during the 2009-2010 legislative sessions to identify pressing political issues, and then determine how many of these issues …


Dollars And Sense: Does Economic Self-Interest Or Emotional Attachment Better Explain Vote Choice?, Daniel M. Truesdale '15 May 2015

Dollars And Sense: Does Economic Self-Interest Or Emotional Attachment Better Explain Vote Choice?, Daniel M. Truesdale '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper seeks to understand voter choice using a dichotomous model differentiating between economic self-interest and emotional attachment. Using survey data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) database, this paper first utilizes a unique scaling technique and then a pseudo R-Square method to determine which independent variable, economic self-interest or emotional attachment (affect), contains more explanatory power in predicting voter choice. The findings support the hypothesis that economic self-interest contains the most explanatory power in predicting voter choice, though the degree of difference varies across elections.


Judicial Practice Makes Perfect: Explaining Asylum Recognition In The European Union, Casey Plach, '15 May 2015

Judicial Practice Makes Perfect: Explaining Asylum Recognition In The European Union, Casey Plach, '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Vast disparities in asylum recognition rates have persisted in the European Union despite legislative efforts to standardize the asylum determination process. National judiciaries play an important role in this process and scholars mostly agree that differences in judicial practice pose a challenge to the harmonization of recognition rates. However, no study has specifically analyzed the relationship between these two variables. The aim of this research is to determine whether differences in judicial practice account for the variation in asylum recognition rates in the EU. To observe these differences, precedent relating to three areas of the refugee determination process is identified …


Do The Means Change The End? The Effect Of All Mail Ballot Systems And Same-Day Voter Registration On Turnout, Annie Kehler '15 May 2015

Do The Means Change The End? The Effect Of All Mail Ballot Systems And Same-Day Voter Registration On Turnout, Annie Kehler '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This research examines the effects of certain institutional mechanisms on voter turnout, in order to provide a possible policy prescription for the ever-decreasing voter turnout in the United States. The voter turnout of general elections from 1994-2012 was measured state by state, comparing those that have instituted same-day registration and/or all mail ballot systems to those that have not, using an ordinary least squares regression model. There was an additional control variable of the number of top-of-ticket races on the ballot in each year, in addition to the institutional variables. The results suggest that the use of same-day registration and …


Can’T Buy Our Love: Prime Minister Harold Wilson And His Attempts To Woo The Beatles, Austin Aldag '15 May 2015

Can’T Buy Our Love: Prime Minister Harold Wilson And His Attempts To Woo The Beatles, Austin Aldag '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

The monumental influence of the Beatles, their music, and “Beatlemania” deeply penetrated into many facets of British lifestyle during a substantial portion of the 1960s, and the dynamic political landscape of this waning world power was no exception. The resurgence of the Labour Party in Parliament, following fourteen long years of being situated in the opposition, simultaneously materialized during the reign of the Beatles. Subsequent to the 1964 General Election, the Labour Party narrowly achieved a legislative majority in Parliament despite achieving a total net gain of fifty-six seats.1 Leading this movement and a man who advocated for a …


Authors’ Biographies May 2015

Authors’ Biographies

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Letter From The Editors, Mike Kistner '15, Sarah Bergman '15 May 2015

Letter From The Editors, Mike Kistner '15, Sarah Bergman '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Letter From The Department Chair, Greg M. Shaw May 2015

Letter From The Department Chair, Greg M. Shaw

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.


Table Of Contents May 2015

Table Of Contents

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.