Economics Commons^™

When Europe Hits Home: How Europeanization Triggers The Conflict Of Capitalism In The German System Of Corporate Control, Alexander El Alaoui

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Cohesion Policy Of The European Union: Facilitated By Supranational Institutions And Regional Autonomy Or Hindered By National Sovereignty?, Caitlin Daw

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

The Economic Crisis And Esdp: Friends Or Foes?, Amelia Adams

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Government Policies On Access To Broadband, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

With a new focus for federal universal service programs on broadband and the NTIA BTOP funding for broadband adoption projects, recent years have been “exciting times” for those interested in broadband policy aimed at stimulating adoption. While most of the recent programs are still too new to be evaluated rigorously, lessons from older academic study can inform our expectations and lend guidance toward evaluating program success. In this brief work, I review what we know from the last decade and a half of literature on the impact of regulation on broadband adoption, discuss the (mostly woeful) attempts at evaluating adoption …

Glorious Revolution As Financial Revolution, John David Angle

History Faculty Publications

Conventionally appreciated as simply a religious and political event, this paper presents a re-appraisal of the Glorious Revolution based on the economic and commercial motivations. Scholarship has long accepted the narrative that the revolution was prompted by religious concerns, however this fails to fully examine the economic conditions of the time and the interests of the so-called "Immortal Seven." The paper then examines the financial reforms wrought by William III, including the establishment of the Bank of England, creation of a national debt, and resolution of the Currency Crisis. Ultimately this paper places the Glorious Revolution into its proper economic …

Inclusive Business: Using For-Profit Business Models To Address Global Poverty, Samuel James Conner

Senior Honors Theses

Due to the rise of globalization, modernization, and the Internet revolution, awareness of global poverty has expanded, making its eradication a chief goal of the global development community for the twenty-first century. Though corporations are often expected to participate in social and community development initiatives without regard for profits, this paper presents inclusive business as a way for businesses to profitably engage impoverished segments of society. Inclusive businesses seek to expand their consumer bases or strengthen their supply chains by moving into new markets among the poor that have limited access to global markets and remain largely untapped. The research …

Incentives And Improved Economic Conditions: A Field Experiment In Medellin, Colombia, Lauren Skora

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The motivation for this research is to replicate the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) and to test the components of this model. The FII program claims its success stems from a bottom-up approach structured around setting life improving goals, mutual support groups, and small monetary incentives for achieved results. We enrolled close to 200 small business owners in four experimental treatments (group, no-group, incentives, no-incentives) and a fifth external control group. The experimental data shows that incentives have the strongest overall impact in improving the likelihood of goal achievement and economic performance. Furthermore, the interaction of goal setting, groups, …

Why Risk It? The Effect Of Risk And Time Preferences On Microfinance Loan Default, Nike Start

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Microfinance is widely recognized as a powerful method for poverty alleviation. However, little is known about the characteristics of those who default on their loans. Understanding the behavior of borrowers is important to mitigate default for microfinance lenders. This study investigates whether non-delinquent and delinquent borrowers reveal any difference in their level of risk and time preference through an artefactual field experiment. The results reveal that non-delinquent borrowers are more likely to be risk-seeking individuals and are more impatient than delinquent borrowers, contradicting current literature on risk-aversion and time preference.

Does Child Sponsorship Have A Positive Impact On The Quality Of Life And Social Behavior Of Sponsored Children? Evidence From Indonesia, Mario Carrillo

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Relaxing internal constraints of individuals at early stages of life is an approach that complements traditional policy interventions aimed to alleviate poverty. The Compassion International child sponsorship program focuses their work on the emotional, social, and spiritual development of sponsored children. This study uses age-eligibility as an instrument for sponsorship to investigate the impacts of child sponsorship on self-esteem, aspirational reference points, aspirational capital, reciprocity and patience. It also implements an innovative way of constructing summary indices using a method proposed by Anderson, M (2008). Results reveal child sponsorship does not have an effect on the sponsored children. In fact, …

Impact Of Hathaway Scholarship On Wyoming Higher Education, Jason Despain, Dr. Eric Eide

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A commonly repeated axiom states, “Life is what happens when you make other plans.” In other words, most endeavors in life rarely go as planned or according to proposed timelines, although the end result is most often positive and desirable. Such has been the case with this research assignment. It continues to go forward, and I continue to learn about the overall researching process, but it has not yet gone according to plan. This final report details the last six months of the project, its current state, and the expected future.

Examining The Relationship Between Graduation Rates And Minority Rates In Utah High School, Stephen Richards, Dr. Eric Eide

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The humorist Dave Barry has said, “The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.”

The Picky Eater Premium?: The Effect Of Product Portfolio Size On The Price Consumers Pay For Fresh Produce, Wayne Sandholtz, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to examine whether consumers who buy a wider variety of distinct fresh fruits and vegetables pay lower average prices for fresh fruits and vegetables, by substituting away from fruits and vegetables during price shocks. In order to answer this question, I used Nielsen Homescan data, which records all grocery purchases of a nationally representative sample of households. Using regression analysis, I found little direct evidence that households which buy a wider variety of fresh fruits and vegetables pay lower prices for them. In fact, I was surprised to find that in general, higher-variety household …

Religious Preferences And Inventory Decisions: Evidence From Movie Rentals, Craig Palsson, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For a long time, there has been a significant gap between the standards of movie goers and the standards of Hollywood. Walsh and Gentile (2001) show that though parents usually agree with Hollywood when it says something is inappropriate for children, they often disagree with Hollywood over what is deemed appropriate. In some of our previous research, we find that R- rated movies make about 20% less than PG-13 movies of similar content (Palsson, Price, & Shores, 2011). Also, 69% of parents say they always check the rating before allowing their children to see a movie (Walsh & Gentile, 2002). …

Options And Distributional Characteristics, David Mauler, Dr. James Mcdonald

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My BYU ORCA grant provided valuable funding which allowed me to spend significant time on an interesting research question Dr. McDonald and I had considered late last year. We wanted to investigate whether the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine (IHS) distribution would allow for a more accurate option-pricing formula, extending the Black-Scholes formula which assumes a lognormal distribution. The project widened in scope as we worked on it during the summer. We eventually expanded our original proposal and included a number of other flexible distributions (GB2, g-and-h, Burr-3, Burr-12, Weibull). We derived price formulas specific to each assumed distributional form. The IHS …

The Remittance Intentions Of Second-Generation Ghanaian-Americans, Kirstie Kwarteng

Capstone Collection

Remittances have become an integral part of economies all over the Global South and Ghana is no exception. Official accounts estimate that remittances to Ghana have been as high as US $1 billion a year, although the true number is likely to be much higher as funds are also remitted through informal channels. This is a significant inflow of foreign currency, sent almost completely by first generation Ghanaian immigrants abroad. To maintain this level of inflows over the long run, however, would require that second-generation Ghanaian immigrants continue to remit at the same level as their parents. This study examines …

Gender And The Hindsight Bias: An Economic Experiment, Jacqueline Andros, Dr. Joseph Price

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Hindsight bias, or the psychological tendency to think that we “knew it all along,” has been studied for over fifty years but no study has yet thoroughly documented the specific role that gender plays in an individual’s susceptibility to this effect. This is somewhat surprising, since the existing literature on gender differences in other potentially related respects, such as competitiveness and overconfidence, is extensive. I conducted a questionnaire-based behavioral experiment to test two hypotheses: first, that male subjects are more prone to hindsight bias than female subjects; and second, that male subjects are better at correcting for their personal level …

Socioeconomic Effect On Crime In The Southwest United States Pre- And Post-Great Recession, Kristina Donathan, Jaewon Lim

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Facing the Great Recession, the Southwest megapolitan cluster in the United States including Las Vegas, Southern California and Sun Corridor in Arizona had a massive negative economic shock. Skyrocketing unemployment, massive foreclosures and other socioeconomic factors may negatively affect our safe environment with changing patterns in crime. This study aims to investigate the impacts of socioeconomic factors on different types of crimes committed in the megapolitan cluster of the Southwest United States. Using annual crime datasets, we look at the three years before the Great Recession and subsequent three years (2005-2010). The metropolitan areas, Los Angeles, CA, Las Vegas, NV, …

Idaho Land Use/Regulation & Off Road Highway Vehicle Use, Johnny Whittemore, Raul Ramirez, Kellen Hill, David Welsh, Jeff Dee

College of Business and Economics Poster Presentations

In the last twenty-five years, Idaho has noticed a dramatic increase in the usage of motorized vehicles in Idaho’s backcountry. This land has mass appeal for its remote wilderness qualities that include hiking, fishing, hunting, and other recreational activities. To accommodate the increased amount of off-road vehicles, Idaho’s government agencies have found it difficult to designate cohesive usages of the land. With the expansion of ATV use in Idaho backcountry, ecological damages have progressively gotten worse. In order to address these damages, in 2005 travel management plans were implemented for future ATV usage. Because these restrictions were put in place, …

Inconvenient Truth About Boise Public Transportation, Benjamin Case, Kellen Hill, Lexy Leahy, Morgan Porter, Jesse Sonoda

College of Business and Economics Poster Presentations

The Boise-Nampa metropolitan area is growing rapidly, and its transportation system must expand to account for this growth. However, in order for a public transportation system to be effective, citizens must have both the ability and the incentive to make use of it. Our research will focus on the demand for public transit in the Boise-Nampa metropolitan area. First, we will determine current ridership on the existing public transit system, frequency of use, reasons for using mass transit over other alternative modes of transportation, and what attributes of the system make it an attractive option. Next, we will determine what …

Essays On Nonlinearities And Structural Breaks In The Relationships Between Macroeconomic Variables, Irina B. Panovska

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The dissertation is set out in three chapters, focusing on the structural changes that led to jobless recoveries in following the past three recessions, the asymmetric effects of fiscal stimulus over the business cycle, and the asymmetric effects of fiscal cuts and stimulus respectively. In the first chapter, I examine the three leading theoretical explanations for the recent jobless recoveries using a correlated unobserved components model of aggregate data for output, sales, employment, and hours. The main finding is that employment now respond to demand shocks in a way that is consistent with just-in-time utilization of labor resources. The second …

U Should Separate From Fairview And Hook Up With Mayo, Louis D. Johnston

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Do Minimum Wage Laws Affect People Who Are Not Covered? Evidence From Documented And Undocumented, Hourly And Piece Rate Workers In U.S. Agriculture, Anita Alves Pena

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

While a stated goal of minimum wage increases is to benefit low-income workers, some employers are not obligated to provide at least minimum wages to all employees. U.S. farm employers comprise one of these groups. Employees of large farms and H2-A workers (temporary nonimmigrant workers lawfully admitted to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural services) are protected by minimum wage legislation, while other migrant workers (especially those who are paid piece rate) are exempt. Furthermore, U.S. agriculture is characterized by a large percentage of illegal migrants, and workers who are illegal may or may not receive wages above minimum levels. This …

Library Publishing And Undergraduate Education: Strategies For Collaboration, Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Michael Seeborg, Isaac Gilman

Scholarly Publications

Library-based publishing services are increasingly common as libraries seek to provide alternatives for the dissemination of scholarly and creative work. Connecting these services to the educational mission of libraries' institutions is vital for publishing programs' success and sustainability. This panel of librarians and faculty from liberal arts colleges will discuss the educative and advocacy roles that their library publishing programs have developed, and suggest best practices for librarians wishing to implement their own publishing programs.

Isaac Gilman's slides are available via CommonKnowledge.

Upham’S Corner Main Street: Developing Ideas For Promoting Arts And Businesses In Upham’S Corner, Werner Kunz, Barbara Lewis, Upham's Corner Main Street

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Dorchester’s Upham’s Corner neighborhood is home to a diverse mix of neighborhood residents, many historical landmarks, and a commercial district. At one point, Upham’s Corner was one of the top five market hubs for New England. It was because of this market history that the Strand Theater was built as a community home, as a community connection, and as a network. UMass Boston’s College of Management undergraduate students have developed ideas for promoting the arts and bringing businesses to the Upham’s Corner neighborhood. Assistant Professor of Marketing, Werner Kunz, coordinated the project with students in his “Services Marketing” class to …

Explaining Political Activeness And Attitudes Toward Unionization Among Nurses In The United States., Crystal L. Lesmeister

Political Science Theses and Capstones

There is no question; nurses play a key role in healthcare. Nurses provide direct care, coordinate health promotion activities, educate, and provide support and advocacy to patients. Today, there are over two million registered nurses in the United States. My research aims to determine the variables that influence some nurses to be more politically active and more engaged in unionization than their counterparts. I analyze The National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses 2004 looking at a variety of potential explanations for union participation. Findings show a strong regional variation in the percentage of unionization, however, some of the conventional explanations …

Economics And Attitude: The Effects Of Happiness On Economic Development, Chris Pace

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

A Skeptic’S Case For Sovereign Bankruptcy, Anna Gelpern

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay describes fundamental flaws in the sovereign debt restructuring regime, but questions the prevailing arguments for sovereign bankruptcy. The author concludes that efficient debt outcomes may well come about without bankruptcy, but that a statutory regime is necessary to achieve sovereign autonomy and political legitimacy.

Vital Statistics: The State Of The Public Health Pbrn Program, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Public Health PBRN Program has continued to expand during the 2013 program year with new networks, new research projects, and expanded translation and dissemination initiatives. The program plays an increasingly powerful role in helping to transform the U.S. public health enterprise into a rapid-learning system for health improvement.

The Effect Of Foreign Direct Investment On Economic Growth And Its Implications, Mark Tolley '13

Honor Scholar Theses

My thesis paper examines whether or not foreign direct investment promotes economic growth in the host country. Looking into a prior study, by Li and Liu (2005), they found that FDI does spur growth; however, there has been contrasting studies that show that FDI has a negative effect on host country’s growth. I argue that, after researching conflicting arguments, foreign direct investment is correlated to positive economic growth. My econometric model takes a panel data set from 82 different countries from 1970-2011. The growth model concludes that FDI does promote positive economic growth. This is significant because it confirms my …

Testing Integrated Primary Care And Public Health Models For Prevention Delivery, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Improving the delivery of evidence-tested prevention interventions to populations at greatest risk requires strong coordination between primary care providers and public health organizations. This presentation reviews current research on models for integrated delivery of primary care and public health services, and identifies emerging research needs and opportunities. Of particular interest are the roles that practice-based research networks (PBRNs) can play in building this evidence.