Other Economics Commons^™

Food Security In Mauritius, Luke Hubbard

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

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Located over 600 miles off the East coast of Madagascar, Mauritius is an island nation with a population of over 1.2 million people. In the summer of 2023, I had the opportunity to travel to Mauritius and conduct a representative food insecurity survey alongside other University of Arkansas and University of Mauritius students and professors. With more than 400 surveys in over 80 locations, we gathered data in every district on the primary island of Mauritius. The group used a survey based on the standard USDA question list and compiled the results to find that the population of Mauritius had …

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Optimal Contest Design When Policing Damaging Behavior, Scott M. Gilpatric, Ye Hong

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

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Abstract

We consider the design of a contest in which the prize may motivate not only productive efforts, but also some damaging aggressive behavior by contestants. The organizer must choose prizes and an enforcement regime defined as a limit on how much aggressiveness will be tolerated and the probability of inspection. When the value of contestants’ output is low, it may be optimal to motivate much less effort than first best because the prize spread necessary to induce higher effort necessitates a high level of enforcement, which is not worth the cost. On the other hand, when the output value …

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What Are The Economic Barriers For A More Efficient Adoption Equilibrium? Analyzing The Perceived Challenges Lgbtq+ Persons Face In The Adoption Process, Andrew Schoonover

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

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From understanding why adoption matters to drilling down why same sex male couples are not adopting at high rates, more questions are raised than answers found. But all of the complexities and intricacies boil down to one umbrella question: How can the economy shift the equilibrium (i.e., current state of adoption in America) to be more equitable, empowering, and efficient for everyone? Specifically, how can policy choices help increase the demand of gay couples to adopt -- helping to close the gap between gay and lesbian adoption rates? The “lowest hanging fruit” policy remedy for this problem is to alleviate …

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Mental Illness Economics In The United States: A Comparison With Foreign Countries, Christopher Odum

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

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In 2018, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, claiming the lives of over forty-eight thousand people.1 Globally, eight-hundred thousand people die from suicide every year, which is twice the number from homicide.2 For years, there has been a stigma around mental illness causing it to be a taboo topic, but recently there has been more of a focus and acceptance in our society. Along with the stigma, throughout most of history there has not been a focus on innovating and curing mental health diseases. In many cases, these diseases left unchecked lead to irrational …

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The Effects Of Religiosity On Gender-Differentiated Household Decision-Making In Indonesia, Juliann Phillips

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

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Religion is a dominant influence in household decision-making and is an important factor in understanding intra-household bargaining power, especially within developing countries. It is important to understand the extent to which religious beliefs affect decisions made within the household when designing interventions to improve women’s agency. This paper examines the fourth wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey using the difference-in-differences method to analyze the impact of Islamic religiosity on the likelihood of allowing women within the household to make certain decisions in eight critical categories. While stereotypical beliefs may negatively correlate women’s bargaining power and high levels of religiosity …

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An Analysis Of The Factors That Influence Success Rates Of Honors College Students, Braden Bateman

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

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University honors programs provide students with challenging yet rewarding opportunities. Pursuing honors often offers students opportunities (such as access to uique coursework or specialized mentorship) that are not available to the general student popultion. However, honors programs also hold students to more or higher educational milestones in order to graduate with honors. Data from the University of Araksas Fayetteville (UAF) suggest students who start in honors as new freshmen typically graduate at rates much higher than students who were not honors freshmen. However, the percentage of those honors freshmen who complete their honors requirements is much lower than those who …

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Human Trafficking In The Wake Of Natural Disasters: Is The United States Any Different Than Third World Countries?, Samantha Stout

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

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This research compares the impacts of devastating natural disasters on levels of human trafficking in developed countries to the impacts experienced in third world countries. The two disasters selected for this study were Hurricane Isaac in Louisiana and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Factors selected to measure the impacts of the natural disaster include income level, homelessness, and unemployment rates.

Human trafficking is a crime that touches nearly every country around the world. It is known that human trafficking levels are impacted by factors including poverty levels of regions, political unrest, and even natural disasters. There is …

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Does Context Information Affect Perceptions Of The Intrinsic Value Of Visual Art?, Kelsey Ferguson

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

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This study is an application of cultural economic value theory within the context of visual art. Current literature supports an incompatibility between objective, empirical economic research and the subjectivity of artistic expression. While variables affecting the intrinsic value of art are difficult to identify and measure, this study quantified the effect of context information on university students’ perceptions of visual art. For this study, 118 randomly assigned University of Arkansas students viewed four identical works of art and answered identical questions designed to measure perceptions of intrinsic value. Despite a hypothesis that context would positively affect participants’ reports, when significant …

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Information Propagation In Financial Markets, Garrett A. Mcbrayer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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This dissertation consists of three essays which examine information flows through financial markets and across firms, and investigates the factors affecting the process of information dissemination. The first essay examines whether the announcement of a credit rating change for a given firm contains information pertinent to the valuations of intra-industry peer firms. I identify an information spillover effect on peer firms surrounding credit rating downgrades. Further, I find that the post-announcement spillover effects are indicative of an overreaction in the market’s response to the downgrade announcement. Peer firms exhibit predictability in their post-announcement returns as a function of their relative …

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Arkansas Gray Fox Fur Price-Harvest Model Revisited, Peta Elsken-Lacy, Amy M. Wilson, Gary A. Heidt, James H. Peck

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

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Peck and Heidt (1985) proposed a linear model that demonstrated that for gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Arkansas; total fur harvests from 1966-1982 were highly correlated with mean pelt values. Single variable models using linear regression analysis of current season pelt values (CSPV) and previous season pelt values (PSPV) were designed to predict total fur harvests. These models demonstrated high correlations (r =0.93 and 0.89, respectively). In the past 15 years, markets for fur have undergone many perturbations within Arkansas and overseas resulting in great changes in mean pelt prices. In an attempt to evaluate the continued performance of the …

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