Economic History Commons^™

Are There Differences In Household Borrowing Across Religions?, Seth Dunn

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

This study explores the relationship between religion and economic behavior, specifically asking whether variations in household borrowing can be attributable to identification with different Christian religious traditions across the United States. The hypothesis of different borrowing behaviors across religions is motivated historically and theoretically. Historical data from l967 and 1971 are used in ordinary least squared and logistic regression analyses. Density of religious affiliations and relevant controls are used to predict households’ debt and attitudes towards different reasons for borrowing. Some differences across religions are found. This research contributes to a broader literature exploring the impact of religion on economic …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

Economic Factors And Theories Of Decline And Reform In The Late Ottoman Empire C. 1789–1911, Peter S. Gomori

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Tribes of Turkish speaking people (“Turks”) migrated in the 11th century from the Central Asian Steppes to what we consider the Middle East. Over the next two centuries this community would expand north, west and south to form a vast empire: the Ottoman Empire. Possibly the peak of the size of this empire would probably occur during the 16^th century under the rule of the Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent (1494- 1566) where the population of the Ottoman Empire was estimated to be up to 30 million. Yet there would be rivals. To the East was the Safavid Empire (today …

Intricacies Of Agency: Rational Choice, Behavioral Economics, And Our Normative Commitments, Max Hendrix

Fenwick Scholar Program

This project undertakes a philosophical analysis of the intricacies of agency found in rational choice theory - the mainstream economic theory that agents are fundamentally rational and utilize their rationality to identify and pursue their self-interest. Recent experimental evidence within and outside of economics has cast doubt on the psychological accuracy and predictive prowess of the theory, laying the foundation to discuss the strengths and limitations of the theory as well as the impacts that this paradigm of agency has on our society today. I argue that rational choice theory struggles as a holistic conception of agency both from an …

Exploring The Adoption And Impact Of Bitcoin: A Comparative Analysis, Zachary S. Biedscheid

2023 Symposium

Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency, has gained significant attention recently as a potential alternative to traditional financial systems. This research project aims to explore the adoption and impact of Bitcoin by conducting a comparative analysis of its use in different countries and regions. The study will begin by examining the history and evolution of Bitcoin, its underlying technology, and its potential advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional financial systems. The project will then investigate Bitcoin adoption in different regions, including North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, by analyzing data from relevant sources such as surveys, news articles, and academic research. …

Pursuing Antiracist Public Policy Education: An Example Connecting The Racist History Of Housing Policy To Contemporary Inequity, Craig W. Carpenter, Tyler Augst, Harmony Fierke-Gmazel, Bradley Neumann, Richard Wooten

The Journal of Extension

We review the antiracism concept and contextualize it in Extension public policy education and the Extension system itself. Despite public policy education having a long history in Extension on a wide variety of issues, missing from this programming is the pursuit of antiracism. As a programmatic example, we review some historical causes of present-day housing inequities and an associated example approach for pursuing antiracism in housing policy education. Finally, we conclude by noting additional opportunities to pursue antiracism in Extension public policy education. In doing so, we emphasize that public policy education cannot be “nonracist” if it is not antiracist.

Understanding Romania's Poverty: A Historical Overview Of Economics And Politics And Their Implications On Poverty Today, Benjamin Bucur

Senior Honors Theses

Romania is a country with a high-income economy that is experiencing considerable growth following its economic reforms of earlier decades. With growth, tendencies for an unequal society are prevalent. Therefore, appropriate economic policies that are specifically targeted toward bottlenecks are essential. This thesis seeks to outline the major types of poverty in Romania while also offering actionable entrepreneurial and educational insights that practically combat poverty at its roots.

How Do Economic Conditions Affect How The Environment Is Treated, Hogan Thomas

Honors Projects

This paper focuses on how economic conditions affect how the environment is treated. It creates a correlation between the ease of doing business ranking, human freedom index, economic freedom index, Real GDP growth, inflation, and environmental ranking to see how they impact each other. It also looks into historical changes in environmentalism and finds how the changes correlated with changes in economic conditions.

Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses, Hollis B. Kegg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNI) are a long-standing category of financial instruments used to transfer large amounts of money in ways that may not be subject to regulation, reporting, tracking, review, or oversight. There is limited information available on BNIs, and no evidence that any studies have been undertaken on BNIs alone, much less reported. Increasingly, BNIs are being used for illegal purposes including money laundering. This study gathers information about their characteristics, nature, purpose, legal status, and numbers. It also focuses on the crime risks associated with BNIs, the crime opportunities they facilitate, and the criminal weaknesses in the financial …

U.S. Energy Information Administration Information Resources, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides information about the resources produced by U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. These resources cover energy statistics for U.S., states, the United States, and foreign countries. They also cover energy products as varied as coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, petroleum, and renewable energy.

The Methodology Of Multiple Regressions For Gdp Per Capita For Nations In The World Between 0 Ce And 1940, Robert Rogers

The Journal of Economics and Politics

A reduced-form model of GDP per capita is estimated using the classical econometric method and two Bayesian techniques, Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) and Bayesian Analysis of Classical Estimation (BACE) for the two millenniums. For several variables, such as the impact of colonialism, the Goldstone hypothesis of efflorescence increasing economic growth, and the impact of technology, this paper lends support, especially when the Bayesian methods are applied. Other results are mixed. Generally, the results support use of Bayesian methods by eliminating hypotheses that are not consistently supported over all models.

From Solidarity To Shock Therapy: Examining The Role Of Neoliberalism In The Transition From Socialism To Capitalism In Poland, Benjamin Murphy

History Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Is The Stable Preference-Based Utility Maximization A Good Account Of Economic Rationality?, Ayana Shirai

Joseph Wharton Scholars

This philosophical paper asks whether the economic account of rationality captures the essence of practical rationality, or what is rational for human agents to do. The paper develops an argument to show that the economic account of rationality, or an understanding of agents as rational on the condition of preference axiom fulfillment, does not capture rationality adequately. The argument comprises overinclusiveness, underinclusiveness, and high context-dependency. The paper then compares the economic account with a philosophical alternative, which is shown to overcome the problem the economic account faces. The paper concludes with responses to counterarguments and the relevance of this topic …

The Labor Share In The Post-1980 Economy: An Analysis Of The Contributing Factors, Mia Bellucci

Honors Theses

During the Neoliberal period, which roughly began in the early 1980s in the U.S., there was a substantial slowdown in the growth rate of real hourly compensation, while productivity had continued to grow. The last two decades of the Neoliberal period (2000 – 2020) also experienced somewhat of a substantial decline in the labor share. In recent decades, there has been a growing amount of literature attempting to explain the major factors that have contributed to these recent labor market developments. This study provides a means of investigating the changes in the labor share and its components (i.e., real hourly …

“As If”: Equifinality, Institutional Work, And Accounting In The Eastern Mail Service Arbitrations 1866-1905, Alan J. Richardson

Odette School of Business Publications

I examine the negotiations among the UK and its colonies to allocate the cost of operating the Eastern Mail Service (UK to India, Hong Kong and Australia) among national post offices benefitting from its service. Four key sets of negotiations are identified during the period 1866 – 1905. I consider how negotiations were affected by the changing institutional context of the postal system and relationships between the UK and its colonies during this period; in particular, the negotiations capture the confrontation between the liberal social and economic philosophies that had risen to prominence within the UK and the existence of …

Analytic Narratives In Accounting History: Combining Formal Models And Small Sample Research., Alan J. Richardson

Odette School of Business Publications

Purpose The paper provides an introduction to the “analytic narratives project” in political science that argues for the use of formal models as a basis for narrative history. The approach is illustrated in an accounting context by reinterpreting the timeline of Scottish professionalization presented in Lee’s (2006) innovative counterfactual history.

Design/methodology/approach Analytic narratives use formal models to create expectations that can be contrasted with actual events. The use of formal models provides a bridge between theory and small sample research that allows theory to inform case analysis and case analysis to contribute to theory development. Lee’s (2006) timeline is reinterpreted …

The Road That Never Existed: Orientalist Myth Making Within The Historiography Of The Silk Road, Margaret Kathryn Curtin

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………………………....4

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………....28

III. Textbook Critique……………………………...40

IV. New Textbook Entry………………………......45

V. Bibliography…………………………………....48

Uncovering The Effects Of The Freedman's Bank Failure On Personal Property: An Analysis Of Newly Obtained Data From Kentucky And Georgia, Hannah Fowler

Scripps Senior Theses

The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company (the Freedman’s Bank), collapsed in 1874, resulting in the loss of savings for many African American depositors. This study uses a difference-in-difference analysis to investigate the impact of the closure of the Freedman's Bank on the economic well-being of African American taxpayers in Georgia and Kentucky during the Reconstruction era. The analysis did not identify a statistically significant treatment effect; however, it highlights the potential of previously unused archival data sources for future research. The study also draws attention to the need for more comprehensive and rigorous research in this area, in order to …

National Integration And Institution Building, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

The mutual dependence between national integration and institution building is established in a formal model. It is shown that a decrease in transportation costs, but not necessarily an increase in population size, reduces the equilibrium number of states and the adoption of rule-based institutions. With endogenous transportation costs or endogenous population size, the unification process can feed on itself. The model is illustrated by the state of Qin's unification of China in 221 BC. During this process of national integration, transformations from relation-based governance to rule-based governance happened.

Unification And Division: A Theory Of Institutional Choices In Imperial China, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

Ancient China experienced various rounds of division and unification. Unification was maintained through economic and political institutions such as low tax rates to reduce peasant rebellions and the division of authority among government officials to reduce usurpation of power. A ruler’s choice of institutions to maintain unification is studied in a theoretical model. Interactions among external threats, internal rebellions by peasants, and usurpation of power by government officials are established. A higher level of external threats induces the ruler to choose a higher level of autonomy for government officials and a higher tax rate. That is, equilibrium probability of internal …