Other Economics Commons^™

Turkey: Another $1 Trillion Emerging Economy?, Murat Doral

Faculty Articles

The strategic location of Turkey makes it a very important country in terms of geopolitics as well as economics. Turkey is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. It is where East meets West without clashing with each other but merging with each other. Even though, industry, trade, and finance are all dominated by the expansive and crowded Istanbul, other cities and towns in Anatolia –the Anatolian Tigers- are industrializing rapidly and now participating in the global economy. Today, Turkey has the largest economy in the greater Middle East. Depending of the source, Turkey …

Blood Lipids, Infection, And Inflammatory Markers In The Tsimane Of Bolivia, Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn, Eileen M. Crimmins, Jung Ki Kim, Jeff Winking, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Caleb Finch

ESI Publications

Objectives—Little is known about blood cholesterol (blood-C) levels under conditions of infection and limited diet. This study examines blood-C and markers of infection and inflammation in the Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon, indigenous forager farmers living in conditions that model preindustrial European populations by their short life expectancy, high load of infections and inflammation, and limited diets.

Methods—We use multivariate models to determine the relationships between lipid levels and markers of infection and inflammation. Adult Tsimane (N = 418, age 20–84) were characterized for blood lipids, cells, and inflammatory markers in relation to individual loads of parasites and …

Are Residents Who Are Displaced By Gentrification Better Or Worse Off After Relocating?, Alice M. Anigacz

Economics Honors Projects

This honors thesis examines how individuals displaced by gentrification fare after relocation, with changes in wage and income as the primary measures of well-being. Geo-coded Panel Study of Income Dynamics data is used in conjunction with decennial census tract-level neighborhood data to evaluate nationwide occurrences of gentrification and their effects on the displaced between 1990 and 1995, with a focus on whether changing neighborhood effects can account for the change in well-being. Standard OLS regressions not accounting for neighborhood effects find that compared to a nationwide sample, a sample of movers, and a sample of displaced residents, residents displaced specifically …

The Influence Of New Medications On Prescribing Behavior By Practice Type: A Regression Analysis, Rita M. Pattarini

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To determine whether the type of practice to which physicians belong influences the types of medications they prescribe

Methods: The study used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) to conduct a series of regressions for two pairs of medications. The first pair was for the treatment of high cholesterol. Advicor was the new medication and Lovastatin was the competitor. The second pair was for the treatment of arthritis. Humira was the new medication and Remicade was the competitor. For each pair, there were two sets of regressions that consisted of an unrestricted regression with all patients …

The Effects Of Winning A Basketball National Championship On Admission Factors, Daniel Weistrop

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Collegiate sports attract a lot of attention and money. Many universities are sponsored by high powered sportswear and equipment companies including Nike and Adidas. Furthermore, CBS, Fox, and Disney participate in multimillion dollar media deals to exclusively cover a variety of sporting events featuring mainly collegiate basketball and football.

This is best demonstrated by the television coverage that respective sports receive. For example, CBS is in the midst of an 11 year, $6 billion contract that will pay the National Collegiate Athletic Association approximately $545 million per year to carry the NCAA basketball tournament. The NCAA basketball tournament is held …

Homo Economicus: Alive And Diversified In The Economic Research Program, Bradley R. Turner

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper seeks to (1) offer a conceptual overview of the methodology of science research programs (MSRP) of Imre Lakatos; (2) apply the framework of that methodology to the neoclassical theory of Gary S. Becker; and (3) explore a quantitative-driven, atheoretical alternative, which challenges the view that there can be or should be any body of theoretical economics. The MSRP framework is used in an instrumental manner in the pursuit of a lucid and interesting historical analysis. The pros and cons of Becker’s approach are presented in the tradition of instrumentalism, and in light of recent discussion of economics imperialism. …

Examining Success At The Domestic Box-Office In The Motion Picture Industry, Patrick Topf

Honors Projects

The movie business is a multi-billion dollar industry involving production crews, marketing crews, actors, directors, distribution companies, movie theaters, and movie rental companies, but while each movie created follows the same routine, why do some perform so much better than others at the box-office? Why did Juno become a smash hit, while Poseidon is regarded as a major box-office bomb? This study investigates the impact of production cost, star power, professional reviews, release date, sequels, genre, age-rating, and distribution company on total domestic box-office revenue of the widely released films from January 2006 to December 2008.

Assessing The Productive Efficiency Of Us Health Care: Comparison Of Analytical Methods, Amanda C. Clayton

Honors Projects

In 2006, the US spent approximately 15.8% of its GDP on health care, more than any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country and considerably larger than the 9.1% average of the 23 other peer nations included in this study (OECD Health Data, 2009). The US also had the lowest female and male life expectancies at birth compared to the same 23 OECD nations (OECD Health Data, 2009). This raw and partial evidence suggests that the US health care system may be performing inefficiently. The purpose of my research is to assess the efficiency of the US health …

The Green Revolution Of The 1960'S And Its Impact On Small Farmers In India, Kathryn Sebby

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The Green Revolution was initiated in the 1960’s to address the issue of malnutrition in the developing world. The technology of the Green Revolution involved bio-engineered seeds that worked in conjunction with chemical fertilizers and heavy irrigation to increase crop yields. The technology was readily adopted in many stated in India and for some was a great success. However, there were many farmers who could not afford the inputs necessary to participate in the Green Revolution and gaps between social classes widened as wealthy farmers got wealthier and poor farmers lagged behind. This paper discusses how small farmers were affected …

Creating A Comprehensive Profile Of The Academic Competitiveness Grant, Kelsea Klein

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The recent push for more Americans to attend postsecondary institutions has led to the development of numerous and far-reaching government student financial aid programs. These programs have aimed at supplying the whole of the population with financial assistance regardless of color, gender, or age. However, the distribution of the aid has encountered many problems as critics argue that the recipients of the aid are primarily limited to a narrow subgroup of the population. A new program created under the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 called the Academic Competitiveness Grant is no exception. Preliminary logit analysis of the reception rates …

Taking Money: The Politics Of Asset Forfeiture In The State Of Minnesota, Chad Hedman

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Is there a reason why a particular county might use asset forfeiture more than others? Asset forfeiture, in short, is law enforcement confiscating any items used in the act of committing a crime. As many governments face more budget crunches and deficits all means of revenue will become more vital to everyday operations. Everything gets reported back to the Minnesota State Auditor, where I was able to get complete data on every county. For variables such as education, race and others I drew from numerous government websites. I wanted to see if certain variables correlated with higher incidence of forfeiture. …

Microeconomic Study Of A Labor Union: An Econometrics Analysis Of How The Nhl Salary Cap Has Affected The Competitive Balance Of The Nhl And Determinants Of Team Revenue, Lauren Grossman

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This thesis is a microeconomic study of labor unions and a business analysis of a professional sports industry. It will examine the effects of the salary cap in the National Hockey League. The 2004-05 NHL season was cancelled due to a lockout because the National Hockey League Players' Association and the team owners could not come to an agreement on salaries. As a result, the Players' Association and the owners came to an agreement that included the implementation of a salary cap and revenue sharing. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether or not the implementation of the …

Determinants Of Housing Prices In Pittsylvania County, Jason Hall

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to determine the implicit factors influencing housing prices in Pittsylvania County, a rural county in Southside Virginia. Currently in Pittsylvania County there is a debate over whether or not to mine what is believed to be the largest deposit of uranium in the United States, containing approximately 119 million pounds of uranium ore at an estimated value of $7 billion to $10 billion. The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission issued its final approval for the National Academy of Sciences to study the debate from a socio-economic standpoint. The $1.2 million study is currently taking …

Microeconomic Analysis Of Hours Of Informal Care Per Week For Alzheimer's Disease Patients, Elizabeth Eckert

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

As more Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the demand for treatment and care has been increasing. One of the most critical issues of caring for an Alzheimer's disease patient is the number of unpaid hours that many Americans are contributing to the care for Alzheimer's disease patient Providing unpaid care can cause issues for the caregivers such as high stress levels, financial problems, and difficulties at work, and thus can result in the patient not receiving the best possible care. Based on previously collected survey data, this econometric study evaluates the determinants of the average number of hours of …

The Social Strategy Game: Resource Competition Within Female Social Networks Among Small-Scale Forager-Horticulturalists, Stacey L. Rukas, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Jeffrey Winking

ESI Publications

This paper examines social determinants of resource competition among Tsimane Amerindian women of Bolivia. We introduce a semi-anonymous experiment (the Social Strategy Game) designed to simulate resource competition among women. Information concerning dyadic social relationships and demographic data were collected to identify variables influencing resource competition intensity, as measured by the number of beads one woman took from another. Relationship variables are used to test how the affiliative or competitive aspects of dyads affect the extent of prosociality in the game. Using a mixed-modeling procedure, we find that women compete with those with whom they are quarreling over accusations of …

Method Of Measuring The Economic Impact Of A Radiological Dispersal Event Within An Urban Environment, Antoine N. Munfakh

Theses and Dissertations

A radiological dispersal event (RDE) is the result of a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) or a dirty bomb. An RDD is a low‐yield conventional bomb surrounded by radiological material (RM) such as Cesium‐137 or Cobalt‐60. Upon detonation, the blast of the conventional explosive is designed to spread the RM over a wide area. The RM will then be inhaled or ingested by people, or otherwise absorbed into the environment. An RDD is an affordable, feasible, and economically devastating option for terrorist groups. Possible RM could be stolen or acquired cheaply from the millions of radioactive sources used worldwide in industry, …

A Model Of Voluntary Turnover For New Hires In State Government, Reese M. Thompson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Why do new hires have a tendency to voluntarily quit their jobs more than tenured employees? This question has important implications for organizations and human resource managers who have to develop and implement human resource management (HRM) strategies that are designed to recruit and retain the best employees. An underlying theme of turnover research is that voluntary turnover is a negative outcome for an organization. While it has been suggested and established that job tenure affects turnover (Lewis, 1991; Cohen, 1993), very little research has been undertaken regarding the specific factors that drive retention of new hires (Shipp, Payne, & …

Economic Outlook 2010: Innovation, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

This article discusses the importance of innovation to individuals and the overall economy.

Determinants Of Rental Rates In Major Cities In The United States, Roy Ruivo

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

The focus of this paper is to determine variables that contribute to rental rate pricing. Using U.S. Census data pertaining to all cities in the United States with populations over 100,000 in 2005, this paper furthers a study of inter-city rent determinants within New York City provided by Marco (2008) using additional variables provided by Gilderbloom and Pan (2002) in their inter-city study. This report studies the impact of variables, including vacancy rates, median family income, population growth rate, and average housing costs. The population variable will be manipulated so that it represents density, which provides an accurate representation of …

Determinants Of Hyperinflation: An Analysis Of Argentina, Eric Fudge

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the history of inflation rates in Argentina compared to other economic factors, including: GDP, national budget, money supply, exchange rate, and unemployment levels. Using data from the World Bank and Centre of International Economics this paper will give insight into some of the causes of high inflation levels that were evident in Argentina throughout the 1980s, peaking with hyperinflation in 1989 and 1990. Results from analyzing statistics pertaining to Argentina’s economy from 1980 to present suggest that perpetual budget deficits led the government to print money more rapidly, causing a significant decrease in currency valuation and thus …

Economic Growth And Emissions In China And India: A Comparison With The Other G5 Emerging Nations, David Niles

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the possibility of different modes of production affecting the emission levels of developing nations. China and India have experienced substantial economic growth of the past few decades. Past economists have found emission levels positively correlated with GDP growth. Nonetheless, China has significantly higher emission levels than India, given their respective growth in GDP. Whether a country bases their growth on agriculture, industry, manufacturing or services has an effect on their subsequent emission levels. Comparing these results with the other G5 nations indicate the relative importance of GDP level in comparison with economic structure. This paper finds that …

Endogenous Oca (Optimum Currency Area) Analysis And The Early Euro Experience, Thomas D. Willett, Orawan Permpoon, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Some have argued that the endogenous responses to the formation of a currency area are so strong that one need not worry about optimum currency area conditions ex ante. We argue that this is much too strong a conclusion. We draw on a number of recent studies to evaluate the endogeneity experiences of the eurozone in three major areas; trade flows, business cycle synchronisation and structural reforms to improve labour and product market flexibility. Simple before-and-after comparisons are insufficient for analysis of endogeneity. The experiences of non-euro Western European economies suggest that broader trends also had considerable influence on trade …

The Crime Rate In America: How Influential Is The Economy In Affecting The Level Of Crime?, Joseph Kuhar

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper explores the determinants of the crime rate, and whether or not the economy and its many indicators play a substantial role in affecting this rate. Many factors affect the crime rate in a given country/state/area including the number of police, the rate at which crime is reported, as well as the population. This paper will explore the following variables: the crime rate (dependent), number of police, conditions that affect the crime rate, the reported crime rate, and the reporting rate. It will also analyze the following economic conditions and whether or not they have a substantial effect on …

The Effect Of Education On Property Crime Across State, Wes Andrews

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the effects/importance of these independent variables (High School Graduation Rate, GDP growth Rate, GDP per capita, expenditures per capita in terms of police force, expenditures per capita in terms of the court system, employment rate, percentage of people with college degrees, and the average wage rate) on property crimes across the 50 states. The study will use OLS in order to examine the influence of these variables. Based on reviews of other similar studies it is expected that there is a negative correlation between the amount of schooling and property crime.

The Long-Run Relationship Between Inflation And Unemployment In Malaysia, Matthew Tremblay

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the long-run relationship between inflation and unemployment in the economy of Malaysia between 1972 and 2004. Basing my model off of an investigation by Fair (1997), this study will attempt to quantify the relationship between inflation rates, unemployment, wage rates, changes in production, and a measure of demand pressure. Using macro-level data from various sources, it is expected that the results will suggest periods of high inflation are directly related to high unemployment, decreased wage rates, lower production levels, and substantially weak demand pressures.

The Impact Of Socioeconomic And Environmental Factors On Infant Mortality In The U.S., Tai Abukasis

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines socioeconomic and environmental agents that may affect infant mortality rates among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the United States. Data was collected at the state level from both federal and private databases. Three separate ordinary least squares regressions were taken for each of the aforementioned demographics. The correlations between the independent variables and infant mortality were examined from a racially-based perspective to further evaluate potential underlying causes regarding geographic, financial, and environmental constituents. Analysis of the regressions revealed that particular variables affect the rate of infant deaths among races differently and that racial disparity continues to exist …

The Impact Of An Economic Recession On Etf Sectors: Which Etf Sectors Are Most Recession-Proof?, Salvatore Galbo

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates which ETF sectors are most recession-proof by focusing on sector performance and finding the possibility of a positive or negative correlation between specific sectors and the overall market performance during such recessionary times. The study compares the percentage gain or loss by each ETF sector with regression analysis to determine which sectors perform better than the overall market performance during an economic downturn. The study incorporates the most recent recession and the recession during 2001, when the technology bubble burst occurred, to find any relevance and/or consistency in my study. The results show that out of all …

Labor Productivity, Inflation, And Unemployment's Relationship With Wage Formation In The United States, Peter Longhi

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper discusses unemployment, labor productivity and inflation’s effect on wage formation in the United States. This paper looks at a very well researched topic of wage formations relation to unemployment and labor productivity to see if there is a long term homogenous relationship between the wage levels and the dependent variables. By using quarterly data from 1996 to 2009, I will attempt to observe if wages are following the classical theoretical relationship in the United States. The specified time period will allow us to observe a distinct boom and bust in the economy. I expect to find a long …

What Drives The United States Housing Starts, Myles Ojala

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the determinants of new housing starts within the United States. Using recent monthly data, this study will consider factors such as residential building permits, long and short-term mortgage rates, savings rates, and mortgage availability, to show how each of these variables influence the U.S housing market in the form of residential housing starts. Using a VAR model, this paper will show the impact that the vector variables have on each other, and especially, housing starts. By using a split set of data, this paper will also show the impact of the vector variables on housing starts during …

Factors Effecting Gdp Growth In Member States Of The European Union, Kris Mortimer

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the GDP growth in member states of the European Union from 1978 until 2007. As most people are well aware of, GDP is calculated by the sum of consumption, government expenditure, investment, and net exports. The research conducted for this paper intends to discover what other variables have affected GDP growth in the past 30 years. The variables used in this paper include the public expenditure on education, total population, inflation, percentage of population who are adolescents (0-14), adults (15-64), or elderly (65+). Today there are twenty-seven member states in the Union from which I have compiled …