Econometrics Commons^™

Does Academic Performance Predict Workplace Productivity?, Jodie-Gaye Hunter

Honors Projects in Economics

This research examines if college GPA affects productivity and compensation in the workplace. It uses data collected from a survey of approximately 23,000 Bryant University graduates in different stages of their career. About 10 percent of the alumni surveyed completed the survey. The econometric model used in this study allows estimating the effect of GPA on income after controlling for various demographic and socioeconomic variables, including education, major, occupation, gender, among others. The empirical work provides evidence that GPA has a positive and statistically significant impact on workplace productivity for females, but GPA seems to be a weaker predictor of …

Gender Discrimination Across U.S. States: What Has Changed Over The Past Thirty Years?, Joshua Ballance

Honors Projects in Economics

This study examines changes in the gender wage gap and level of gender discrimination in the United States over the period1980-2010 at the national and state levels. Using data from the U.S. Current Population Survey, this study applies the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition to separate the explained and unexplained variations in the gender pay gap. The unexplained variation proxies the level of gender discrimination faced by U.S. workers. The wage equation estimated utilizes the Heckman methodology to control for sample selection bias. Results with and without sample selectivity controls are included in this paper.

This study reports the gender pay gap in …

A New Stock Index To Better Predict The United States' Real Gdp, William Nette

Honors Projects in Finance

The relationship between the United States’ real GDP and the overall stock market has been acknowledged by researchers and investors alike. This research paper will document a newly created composite index that will try to more accurately predict the overall U.S. economy through the proxy of GDP than the current S&P 500 index. Success will be determined if the composite index representing the addition of a service sector component to the S&P 500 is more correlated to U.S. real GDP than the S&P 500 alone. The results suggest that the service sector is not quite adequately in the S&P 500. …