Other Economics Commons^™

Why Do Women Have More Children Than They Want? Understanding Differences In Women's Ideal And Actual Family Size In A Natural Fertility Population, Lisa Mcallister, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Jonathan Stieglitz

ESI Publications

Objectives—We develop and test a conceptual model of factors influencing women’s ideal family size (IFS) in a natural fertility population, the Tsimane of Bolivia. The model posits affects of socioecology, reproductive history, maternal condition, and men’s IFS. We test three hypotheses for why women may exceed their IFS despite experiencing socioeconomic development: (H1) limited autonomy; (H2) improved maternal condition; and (H3) low returns on investments in embodied capital.

Methods—Women’s reproductive histories and prospective fertility data were collected from 2002 to 2008 (n = 305 women). Semistructured interviews were conducted with Tsimane women to study the perceived value of …

Fatty Acid Composition In The Mature Milk Of Bolivian Forager-Horticulturalists: Controlled Comparisons With A Us Sample, Melanie A. Martin, William D. Lassek, Steven J. C. Gaulin, Rhobert W. Evans, Sheela S. Geraghty, Barbara S. Davidson, Ardythe L. Morrow, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

Breast milk fatty acid (FA) composition varies greatly among individual women, including in percentages of the long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LCPUFA) 20:4n-6 (arachidonic acid, AA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), which are important for infant neurological development. It has been suggested that owing to wide variation in milk LCPUFA and low DHA in Western diets, standards of milk FA composition should be derived from populations consuming traditional diets. We collected breast milk samples from Tsimane women at varying lactational stages (6–82 weeks). The Tsimane are an indigenous, natural fertility, subsistence-level population living in Amazonia Bolivia. Tsimane samples were matched by lactational …

From The Womb To The Tomb: The Role Of Transfers In Shaping The Evolved Human Life History, Michael Gurven, Jonathan Stieglitz, Paul L. Hooper, Cristina Gomes, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Humans are the longest living and slowest growing of all primates. Although most primates are social, humans are highly cooperative and social in ways that likely co-evolved with the slow human life history. In this paper we highlight the role of resource transfers and non-material assistance within and across generations in shaping low human mortality rates. The use of complex cooperative strategies to minimize risk is a necessary precursor for selecting further reductions in mortality rate in late adulthood. In conjunction with changes in the age-profile of production, the impacts of resource transfers and other forms of cooperation on reducing …

Female Labor Force Participation In Argentina, 1980-2003: Gendered Trends And Responses To Crisis, Natalie Butterfield

Scripps Senior Theses

How do the experiences of women in the labor market differ from the experiences of men? Do economic crises affect their labor market decisions differently? Economists have investigated the responses of women to specific moments of crisis in Argentina – the country lends itself well to this analysis, as the last three decades of its history have seen both economic growth and financial collapse. With the crisis literature in mind, I investigate trends in female labor force participation rates in Argentina between 1980-2003, finding that while some evidence supports the “added worker effect” hypothesis, more research must be done to …

Does Gender Inequality In Education Affect Educational Outcomes?, Kevin Sheehan

Honors Scholar Theses

There is little doubt that education has a major effect on economic growth. Studies have traditionally used years of schooling (a quantitative variable) to measure education, but there has a shift towards using qualitative measures of education when trying to test the relationship between education and growth. In fact, there is strong evidence that the quality of education is much more important for economic growth than the quantity of education. The best way to measure the quality of education in a given country is to measure educational outcomes, and the best way to measure outcomes across countries is to look …

Managerial Turnover In The English Premier League And The Subsequent Results, Jarrod Connally

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Efficient productivity often relies upon the matching of managerial skills and the resources available for production. Often, poor production outcomes can be attributed to those not directly involved in the production: the managers. Similarly, poor results in professional sports are often attributed to the men and women who never play a minute of a game: the managers/coaches. Managers are routinely blamed for performance and are often the first change an owner or a club will make to improve results. This paper will attempt to determine the performance effects of changing a club’s manager in soccer’s English Premier League (EPL). Further, …

The Effects Of Property Rights On Ocean Resources: Two Possible Solutions To The Tragedy Of The Commons, Nathan David Miller

Honors Program Theses

Property rights affect how people use resources. Enforcement regimes are able to set clear laws with well-defined property rights. Governments set laws for conservation and economic success. Ocean resources suffer from overuse. Industry and the environment both benefit from regulations that promote ocean conservation. This paper will analyze how the current state of ocean property rights leads to the depletion of ocean resources. Though there are many possible solutions to overfishing, I will analyze two potential solutions to overexploitation in the commercial fishing industry: marine protected areas (MP As) and individual transferable quotas (ITQs ). A synthesis of previous research …

The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment On Sovereign Debt Sustainability In Latin America, Oriana I. Fuentes

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Sovereign debt has been a central political issue in Latin American nations for many years, especially considering the region’s long history of defaults and restructurings. Finding ways to grow sustainably at manageable levels of indebtedness has certainly been a challenge, especially with the large number of factors that play into how a nation finances itself and its growth. One of these factors, foreign direct investment (FDI), has attracted significant attention after countries became more politically stable and protective of investor interests in the early 1990s. As a result, inflows of FDI have grown at record levels reaching over $112 billion …

The Settlers Of Catan And A Study Of Trade In Non-Cooperative Games, Dmitriy Ioselevich

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Free trade has long been hailed as the world’s answer to increased competitiveness, greater overall wealth and a higher standard of living. Adam Smith’s ideas on the foundations of capitalism assert that open market policies lead to global economic growth, and conversely that protectionist measures stunt growth and inflate prices. Critics argue that protectionism helps protect developing markets and industries and prevents unfair competition. But in the debate over trade which economic policy is actually best?

To answer this question I conducted an experiment using the board game, The Settlers of Catan, as an economic model. I isolated trade …

Beyond Race Cards In America's Pastime: An Appreciative Reply To Findlay And Santos, Robert Muñoz

Chicano/Latino Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this reply, I salute the correction, replication, and extensions carried out by David Findlay and John Santos (2012) based on my jointly authored paper Hewitt, Muñoz, Oliver, and Regoli (2005). I expound briefly on why, even though we and they have found no statistically significant race-discrimination effect in baseball card prices, we should not be quick to diminish the role of racial thinking and racial preference—especially as the sample was restricted to Hall of Famers.

Simple Ecosystem Service Valuation Can Impact National Forest Management, David E. Ervin, Gary Larsen, Craig Shinn

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay is about how a relatively simple application of the ‘new scarcity’ paradigm for non-market ecosystem services (Simpson, Toman and Ayres 2005) changed the management plan for a national forest. We identify lessons from our experience for AERE members.

A Study Of The Determinants Of Transfer Fees For French Ligue 1 Soccer Players, Reid Barrett Taylor

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In light of the increasing flow of millions of dollars into the sports industry during the last two decades, notably the international soccer market, the repercussions from the wave of economic activity have come under scrutiny by economists. In France alone, while the real Gross Domestic Product for the country has grown at an annualized rate of 2.75%, the soccer industry in France has experienced a 500% growth in ticket sales, 3,300% growth in sponsorship income, 122,000% increase in income from television contracts overall during the same time period (Bourg and Gouget, 2005). Sports have become such a pivotal facet …

The Health Care Debate And Health Care Coverage In The U.S. A. Today, Antonio Giraldi

Honors Theses

The health care system in the United State has struggled during the past few decades. This has been accompanied by many controversies and debates among U.S. policy makers and health insurance providers. Dissatisfaction with health care in the United States today can be divided into three main aspects of health care; coverage, cost, and quality. The first problem, coverage, is a major issue because about 15 percent of the population of the U.S. (45 million) is uninsured today. The first and second problems, coverage and cost, are somewhat related since the rising cost of obtaining health services is one of …

Does Information Lead To Household Electricity Conservation?, Devon M. Kristiansen

Economics Honors Projects

This paper estimates the effect of information on residential electricity consumption. Household reading expenditure, education level of the household head, and state “green” electricity pricing program participation rate represent the probability that a household has encountered information relating the carbon emission externalities of energy consumption and human-driven climate change. Reading expenditure has a significant negative effect on household electricity consumption. Initial increases in educational attainment increase electricity consumption, but education beyond high school reduces it. The predicted social norm effect of green pricing participation is insignificant.

(Review) A Short History Of Ethics And Economics: The Greeks, Spencer J. Pack

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Infidelity, Jealousy, And Wife Abuse Among Tsimane Forager-Farmers: Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses Of Marital Conflict, Jonathan Stieglitz, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Jeffrey Winking

ESI Publications

What causes marital conflict, and which marital conflicts are more likely to result in men’s violence against their wives? It has long been argued that men’s jealousy over women’s infidelity is the strongest impetus to men’s lethal and non-lethal violence against female partners. Less is known about the extent to which women’s jealousy over men’s infidelity precipitates men’s violence against female partners. Husbands are more likely than wives to commit infidelity, and men and women report a similar frequency and intensity of jealous emotions during recalls of potential infidelity. If men are likely to use time and resources for pursuit …

The Steady-State Economy As A Solution To The World’S Problems: A Theoretical Examination Of The Greatest Environmental Problem Facing Human Society, Brianna L. Besch

The Macalester Review

This paper is a theoretical exploration of the questioning, if you were given a magic power to solve one, and only one, of the worlds problem outlined by a classic environmental author, which would you solve, and why? While the field of environmental studies is relatively new, since the publishing of Malthus’ An Essay on the Principles of Population environmental scholars have been debating what should be considered the greatest environmental problem facing humanity. This paper explains how the creation of a steady-state economy to replace our current economic system, as described by Herman Daly, offers a holistic solution to …

Why Do Corporations Donate? An Analysis Of Factors Affecting Corporate Philanthropy, Patrick Luensmann

Honors Program Theses

The purpose is to determine the influence of measureable economic variables on corporate philanthropy among the top 30 American companies between 2007 and 2009. The significant variables in the model, with a 10% significance level, are Net Income, Assets, Financial Leverage, PE Ratio, and Profit Margin. The model can account for 87.41% of the change between the two years.

Effect Of Nutrition Merchandising And Consumer Preferences On Willingness To Pay For Local Tomatoes And Strawberries In Kentucky And Ohio, Lyudmyla Kompaniyets

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This project investigates the impacts of nutrition merchandising on consumers’ willingness to pay for local tomatoes and strawberries. The data come from survey of Kentucky and Ohio residents in June 2011. Two thousand one hundred twelve individuals from Kentucky and Ohio were surveyed, to find out the impact of selfawareness of health benefits and health benefits information on their willingness to pay. The consumers were offered one of the three survey versions. The versions varied by how much nutrition information was provided to the consumer related to both strawberries and tomatoes – otherwise identical. A had the most, B had …

Examining The Role Of Immigration In Crime Decline Across United States Cities, Brianna J. Losoya

CMC Senior Theses

Despite previous research in this area, the relationship between immigration and crime in the United States remains ambiguous and surrounded by misconceptions. However, recently, scholars have suggested that, despite the claims of policy-makers and popularized sociological theories, large immigrant concentrations may be linked with lower as opposed to higher crime rates. In the past, research in this area has been imprecise due to it its implementation of cross-sectional analyses for a limited selection of geographic regions. However, through the implementation of time-series procedures and the use of annual data for metropolitan statistical areas during the 2005–2010 periods, the present study …