Econometrics Commons^™

From The Ground To The Stars: How Research And Development In Aerospace Plays A Massive Role, Bryan Sohan

Honors College Theses

Aerospace technology is a long-standing field of innovation, yet it has experienced renewed momentum in recent years due to increased public and private investment. This study analyzes how changes in budget allocations to aerospace-related firms and government organizations influence the pace and scope of technological development within the aerospace sector. By examining historical trends in aerospace innovation alongside recent funding initiatives and policy decisions, this research evaluates the relationship between financial investment and technological advancement. This analysis focuses on Hypothesis 1 (H1): that higher aerospace R&D expenditure is positively correlated with innovation output. Using a two-period state-level panel (FY2021 and …

Supporting Those Who Serve: The Impact Of Peer Support On Law Enforcement Suicide, Emily N. Warren

Honors College Theses

Individuals working in law enforcement face daily stressors that far exceed those experienced by the general population. This elevated exposure to stress has been associated with increased rates of mental health disorders and suicide among law enforcement officers. In response, peer support programs have gained recent attention, with new state and federal legislation promoting peer support as a strategy to address the mental health crisis within law enforcement. This paper examines the impact of statewide peer support programs on law enforcement suicide rates through statistical analysis. A difference-in-differences analysis is used to compare state-level law enforcement suicide rates before and …

Mortgage Default Classification Modeling For Variable Analysis, Brendan R. Goggins

Honors College Theses

The financial crisis of the early 2000’s is a prime example of the severe consequences that mortgage default and borrower insolvency can have on economies at large. Mortgage default specifically is a prime case with the popularization of mortgage backed securities and the commonality of this loan structure. Multiple hypotheses and models have been formed to understand the reasons, causes, and consequences of mortgage default. This paper uses both machine learning and statistical classification models to inform an understanding of the variables most significant and impactful to the default outcome of mortgages. Consideration is given to both loan-level microeconomic variables …

Per Capita Gdp’S Potential Effect On The Percentage Of Children In Foster Care, Jenna Mcclain

Honors College Theses

Few studies have been conducted on the presence of a direct connection between per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and the percentage of children in foster care in a given region. GDP is a known indicator of economic growth (Powers, 1995; Roshaniza & Selvaratnam, 2015), as is a child’s potential for foster care placement associated with a parent or family’s financial status (Bald et. al, 2022; Barth et. al, 2010). Poverty is the bridge in many of these scenarios – low GDP can be indicative of higher poverty rates, and financial hardship under poverty classification can lead to child maltreatment …

Measuring Palatability As A Linear Combination Of Nutrient Levels In Food Items, Jeffrey S. Young

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

It well known that palatability and nutritional quality of foods and/or diets are viewed as being in tension with one another. While there exist multiple measures of healthiness, there are no such measures for tastiness. This gap limits the degree to which researchers can investigate this tension and its implications for dietary behavior and hence public health and nutrition policy. The scope of future work concerning the dietary behavior of Americans would expand greatly if researchers better understood consumers’ willingness to eat certain foods, which matters as much as recommending those foods for them to eat in the first place. …

The Chow Test With Time Series-Cross Section Data, James K. Binkley, Jeffrey Young

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

The Chow test is a standard method to test for differences in regression response across groups. In some cases, the groups being tested are composed of a time series of cross sections. If the individual units within the groups have systematic differences, the Chow test is compromised: individual and group effects become confounded. This can cause rejections in the absence of the group effect of interest. We illustrate the problem with Monte Carlo analyses, and propose an alternative bootstrap-like testing procedure that helps eliminate excessive Type I errors.

Determinants Of Parking Fees On College Campuses, Hannah Huckeby

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The price of parking has recently been a hot topic around the Murray area, especially among the college students. Due to the drastic increase in parking pass prices there has been an abundant amount of discussion surrounding this idea of parking being a public good. Many individuals have been outraged which has brought up the questions of why there is a price tag on something that many people consider a public good. With that being said, this paper is going to take a deeper look into parking specifically pertaining to college campuses but also in the cities surrounding these institutions. …

Disaster And Recovery: The Effects Of Post-Disaster Aid On Economic Development, Joshua M. Drouin

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

The effects of aid on economic development is topic typically studied from the perspective of corruption and allocative efficiency. We examine aid to less developed nations from a different viewpoint; assuming aid reaches the intended recipients, does it actually benefit them? We utilize Indonesia and the 2004 earthquake and tsunami as a natural experiment to observe the influx of aid, and compare the regions development before and after the disaster. By establishing a baseline before the disaster, and utilizing a new start point after the destruction, we can gauge the reconstruction efforts and observe whether aid is beneficial or harmful. …

The Effects Of Review Prohibition Periods On Video Game Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Richard J. Applin

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Video game developers typically prohibit media outlets from publishing reviews of upcoming video games until some specified date. This study hypothesizes that review prohibition periods that give consumers relatively little time to digest reviews result in consumers being more likely to have a negative perception of an upcoming game – thus, resulting in lower initial sales. To test this, a number of video game releases from the past decade are considered in order to model the extent to which initial sales of a game are a function of review prohibition periods while holding a variety of other variables constant. The …

Inorganic Growth In The Organic Food Industry: Examining Barriers To Entry And Economic Rents, Jaime Elizabeth Staengel

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Recently in the organic food industry, more lines of organic food are being introduced in stores as demand for organic products continues to grow. The organic food industry has witnessed high price premiums in the past which, according to economic theory, would in a perfectly competitive market attract entry until those price premiums decreased to the point where economic profits were zero. However, the USDA’s National Organic Certification Cost Share Program, or NOCCP, was introduced in its current form in 2009 and offers reimbursement for farmers who are already certified with certification or recertification costs for their organic farming operation. …

The Effects Of Charities On Rural Economic Development, Joshua Drouin

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The Effects of Charities on Rural Economic Development: An Analysis of the Outcomes of Charity Involvement and the Reduction of Local Economic Growth

Joshua Drouin Dr. David Eaton

This research examines the impact of charities and NGOs on economic development in areas served by the charitable groups. We will look at both long term NGO and charitable involvement, as well as disaster related efforts. By drawing on the comparisons we can empirically test the Samaritan’s Dilemma put forth by James Buchannan. This hypothesis suggests that while charity actions can help in the short term, they can lead to long term …