Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Economic Crisis To Reform: Imf Programs In Latin America And Eastern Europe By Grigore Pop-Eleches (Book Review), Aleksandra Sznajder Lee

Political Science Faculty Publications

Grigore Pop-Eleches’s book on the interaction of international and domestic determinants of IMF-style reforms in developing countries makes a significant contribution to international and comparative political economy literature. His effort to capture the dynamics of the contentious and complex relationship between the IMF and developing countries/emerging markets inLatin AmericaandEastern Europerepresents mid-range theorizing at its best. The author combines insights from international and comparative political economy literatures to pursue complementary questions. From the international effect perspective: what role do economic crises play in the initiation and implementation of IMF-backed economic reform? Is the IMF impartial in its policy and financial support …

Commentary, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

It is a pleasure to discuss Richard Anderson and Charles Gascon’s (2009) article on their attempt to develop a state-space model to measure potential output growth in the face of data revisions. They use the methodology of Cunningham et al. (2007) applied to real output, to see if they can develop a better measure of potential output than other researchers. Such an approach seems promising, and they develop a unique method to study the data.

Measuring The Effect Of Family Income On Undergraduate Behavior, Lindsey Brewer

Honors Theses

Educational equality has been an important and relevant issue in recent years, especially as tuition increases at colleges and universities make it increasingly difficult for low and middle-income families to afford education for their children. There are even more issues of educational equality that come into play once a student matriculates at a chosen school. This paper focuses on this area, expanding on existing literature that details family income’s impact on undergraduate behavior. Academic pursuits have been a topic for prior research in this area, but this paper also models extracurricular behavior as a function of family income. Results show …

Can Scouts And Nfl General Managers Predict Future Quarterback Performance At The Time Of The Nfl Draft?, Cain Montgomery

Honors Theses

Every year the National Football League has a draft selection process to recruit new talent. Despite the overwhelming amount of analysis performed on players, bad draft picks happen every year. Little research has previously been done to determine whether player performance is predictable at the time of the NFL Draft. Rafferty and Johnson chartered new territory in 2008 with their study entitled Is the NFL Draft a Crap Shoot? The Case of Wide Receivers. The purpose of this paper is to help fill the void of literature on performance prediction by extending the study by Rafferty and Johnson to …

Forecasting Utility Of Uk Consumer Sentiment Indexes In Real Time : Do Consumer Sentiment Surveys Improve Consumption Forecasts In Real Time?, Bradford M. Smith

Honors Theses

This paper builds on recent research utilizing real time datasets in order to assess the forecasting utility of consumer sentiment indexes in the United Kingdom. Academic researchers have consistently found that consumer confidence indexes accurately predict consumer spending in the near term. Few of these examinations, however, have utilized out of sample forecasting and only one has incorporated real time data. In an effort to recreate the exact dataset that is available to economic forecasters in real time, this paper utilizes the recently published Gross Domestic Product Real-Time Database from the Bank of England in order to produce forecasts of …

The Impact Of Social Pressures On Referee's Sanctions In Professional Soccer : A Case Study Of Penalty Kicks In The Mls, Mariano Harari

Honors Theses

This paper examines referee bias in the Major League Soccer (MLS), particularly looking at referees’ decisions regarding penalty kicks. After analyzing the 520 penalty kicks sanctioned since the inception of the MLS, this study ascertains that referees’ display a considerable bias favoring the home team when awarding the initial penalty kick of a game. Additionally, this study demonstrates that in matches with more than one penalty kick, the penalties are disproportionately awarded to each team, suggesting that referees are compensating or atoning for their initial calls. Moreover, when sanctioning a second penalty kick, there is a bias effect of 5.4% …

Teaching Economics, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

Ethical considerations intersect with economics education on a number of planes. Nonetheless, in terms of curricula, only a handful of economics departments offer courses specifically focused on ethics. This chapter addresses the ways in which instructors can incorporate ethical components into teaching principles and field courses in order to broaden economic understanding and to enhance critical thinking. It examines three pedagogical issues: the artificial dichotomy between positive and normative analysis; the limiting scope of efficiency in outcomes analyses; and the incorporation of alternative ethical frameworks into public policy debates.

Moral Reasoning In Economics, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

The Teagle discussion analyzes why economics teachers have become overly narrow in their pedagogical perspectives, thus pulling back from fully supporting the liberal arts agenda. In Chapter 1, Colander and McGoldrick (p. 6) observe that the generalist approach that excites students by asking "big think" questions across disciplinary boundaries fails to generate new knowledge, while the narrow "little think" questions that can be answered often fail to develop the critical thinking skills necessary for liberal education. As one example, the authors cite the decline of moral reasoning in economics, which was once center stage in Adam Smith's analysis of society. …

The Influence Of Campaign Expenditures On Virginia House Of Delegates Electoral Success, Christopher Jones, James Monks

Economics Faculty Publications

For decades economists and political scientists have sought to identify variables that influence the electoral success of public officials. Most of the existing literature focuses on the determinants of federal elections. This study examines elections to the Virginia House of Delegates and finds that campaign expenditures, incumbency status, party affiliation, and district voting tendencies all are significant predictors of electoral success. Additionally, this study finds that the returns to campaign expenditures, in terms of the additional votes that they generate, vary based on incumbency, party affiliation, number of opponents in the race, and over time.

Job Loss And The Fraying Of The Implicit Employment Contract, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

Most workers have one employment contract that is explicit and another one that is implicit. The explicit employment contract specifies working hours, compensation, and job tasks. The implicit contract involves expectations about the extent to which the employment relationship is not just a payment for labor on the spot market but instead is likely to continue over time. The possibility of a longer-term commitment between an employer and its employees in turn has a number of implications: for example, whether firms will seek to avoid mass layoffs unless or until absolutely necessary; whether firms may cushion the wages and compensation …

Adam Smith And The Place Of Faction, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Our approach to faction focuses on Smith’s account of the interrelation between social distance and small group cohesion. We make the case that social distance is not necessarily constant in Smith’s system. As social distance shrinks, sympathy becomes more habitual and the affection we have for others increases (Peart and Levy, 2005b). Factions reduce social distance, and this gives them power and makes them dangerous. By modifying social distance, they created a disconnect between behavior of which we approve (cooperation) and consequences of which we disapprove. It is in this context that we find virtuous behavior with deleterious consequences. The …

2008 Hes Presidential Address: We're All "Persons" Now: Classical Economists And Their Opponents On Marriage, The Franchise, And Socialism, Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

My purpose is to paint a broad brush narrative—it will have some visual representations as well—of how nineteenth-century political economists and their critics confronted a set of basic and related questions: Are men and women equally capable of self governance? Are they equally able to decide when and whom to marry and how many children to have? Can they be trusted equally to cast a ballot? Is their right to property inviolate or might new arrangements be designed and adopted for the production and distribution of wealth?

This is a story interwoven with extraordinary characters: John Stuart Mill will be …

The Effects Of Market Sentiment On Crude Oil Futures Markets, Nathan Somayaji

Honors Theses

This paper uses a behavioral finance approach to examine the effect of psychological factors on pricing in futures markets. Specifically, I assess the impact of the contemporaneous market sentiment on price discovery in crude oil futures markets. A considerable amount of previous research has shown that futures prices in crude oil markets lead spot prices, as futures act as a mechanism for determining spot prices. My analysis addresses whether the lead-lag relationship between futures and spot varies with differing market sentiment. I hypothesize that futures pricing will lead in times of increased uncertainty due to lower transactions costs and greater …