Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Department of Economics
Description
The passage of 2007's Legal Arizona Workers Act, which required all new hires to be tested for legal employment status through the federal E-Verify database, drastically changed the employment prospects for undocumented workers in the state. Using data from the 2007-2010 American Community Survey, this paper seeks to identify the impact of this law on the labor force in Arizona, specifically regarding undocumented workers and less educated native workers. Overall, the data shows that the wage bias against undocumented immigrants doubled in the four years studied, and the wages of native workers without a high school degree saw a temporary, positive increase compared to comparable workers in other states. The law did not have an effect on the wages of native workers with a high school degree.
ContributorsSantiago, Maria Christina (Author) / Pereira, Claudiney (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake, which hit Port-au-Prince in the late afternoon, was the cause of over 220,000 deaths and $8 billion in damages \u2014 roughly 120% of national GDP at the time. A Mw 7.5 earthquake struck rural Guatemala in the early morning in 1976 and caused 23,000-25,000 deaths, three times as many injuries, and roughly $1.1 billion in damages, which accounted for approximately 30% of Guatemala's GDP. The earthquake which hit just outside of Christchurch, New Zealand early in the morning on September 4, 2010 had a magnitude of 7.1 and caused just two injuries, no deaths, and roughly 7.2 billion USD in damages (5% of GDP). These three earthquakes, all with magnitudes over 7 on the Richter scale, caused extremely varied amounts of economic damage for these three countries. This thesis aims to identify a possible explanation as to why this was the case and suggest ways in which to improve disaster risk management going forward.
ContributorsHeuermann, Jamie Lynne (Author) / Schoellman, Todd (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Government and news outlets everywhere preach that trade is hurting their domestic economy. However, trade is supposed to be beneficial to all theoretically. So where is the disconnect? This thesis was created to gather understanding about trade in the real world and how it can be accurately portrayed. First, I looked at the basics of bilateral and multilateral trade to show that trade imbalances will always exist and show that this idea that countries have that trade surpluses are best is incorrect. Second, I compared the accuracies of the two measures of trade that exist: balance of trade and current account measures. I conducted this research to show that the common measure of trade (balance of trade) is inaccurate and the stronger, more accurate measure is the current account measure. After coming to this conclusion, I began to see what factors in countries affect their current account balance. I looked at five categories: demographics, investment climate, level of economic development, existence of a technology boom, and current trade policy, and looked at theoretical explanations for how each one affects the current account. In the end, I was able to create a theory based on these five factors to predict the current account balance in any country and describe its trade health. In conclusion, I found that the issue of trade misconceptions lies in which measurement someone uses, and this simple misunderstanding can lead to things such as trade wars and global economic degradation.
ContributorsBuch, Saager Rajesh (Author) / Hill, John (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Through a literature review, this thesis investigates the United States corporate tax policy and how it relates to U.S. competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the corporate income tax policy in the United States, analyze the impact of the tax rate on the national and international economy, compare the U.S. competitiveness relative to OECD nations, and explore reform proposals. It is found that the U.S. tax policy's complex structure, coupled with its high stated tax rate, diminishes the competitiveness of the U.S., and that the adoption of tax policy reform proposals, such as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, would promote future growth and ensure that America is a tenacious competitor.
ContributorsNowicki, Kaitlyn Ann (Author) / Roberts, Nancy (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Boyes, William (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Blockchain technology is becoming the new platform for the future of money as a means of payment. It was originally developed to support the cryptocurrency (bitcoin) functionality and improve the way of doing business. However, with its versatility, it has evolved into a multifunctional innovation that can be being applied in different non-business sectors that have a great impact on the economy. I will review some aspects of the economy that are likely to be impacted like the role of a centralized monetary system, need for regulation in business and role of business innovation in the economy. Moreover, I will investigate its impact in emerging markets because unlike the developed economies, emerging markets have greater potential to expand as they still have increasing returns to scale and rapidly growing. Some of the ways that this occurs include cost reduction in financial market and cross-border payments, faster international remittances, and curbing problems like corruption. The paper concludes that there are no much prospects on the expectations of the technology in the African economy because of the challenges in adopting it like scalability, conservativeness of the society to incubate new technology, and lack of infrastructure to support the new technology.
ContributorsJohn, Teresia Mawia (Author) / Pereira, Claudiney (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
We develop a unique model for household preferences in a three good market of television content (cable), internet content (Netflix), and income spent on any other good or activity. Utility is a function of the time spent viewing television content, time spent viewing internet content, and income spent otherwise. Preferences are determined by the complementarity (or substitutability) of television and internet content, the complementarity of viewing content and spending income otherwise, and individual preference for income. Consumers maximize utility subject to time of viewership and budget constraints. We analyze the comparative statics of the model by varying the complementarity between television and internet content and the complementarity between viewing content and spending income otherwise. We develop a model of firms, in which there are two firms offering one product each who compete on price. They charge a flat-fee for their product (either television or internet content) and have a fixed cost. Their revenue is determined by the number of consumers who choose to purchase their product multiplied by the price they charge. We find a collusive outcome for the firms. We analyze the Nash Equilibrium of the model. We only found symmetric Mixed Action Nash Equilibria (MANE), with the following interesting feature: Bertrand Competition causes firms to choose low prices very often, but firms price significantly higher should the price drop too low. Thus, the MANE places high probability mass on the lowest and highest prices of each firm but has little mass elsewhere.
ContributorsWeser, Daniel James (Author) / Leiva Bertran, Fernando (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Much of the community in Rocky Point, Mexico, faces chronic poverty and limited economic development. However, using an asset-based community development model, a local non-profit organization is working to empower the people to take the community's development into their own hands. 1MISSION, through its community-driven projects and programs, is helping bring sustainable and meaningful development to Rocky Point.
ContributorsHubert, Sara (Author) / Datta, Manjira (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
This paper intends to examine topics related to Chinese financial policy and
institutions mainly in the early 21st century. China has gone through enormous changes in the late 20th century and early 21st century, and financial policy reforms and adjustments have been at times instrumental to aiding that growth, and at other times have served as impediments to the country’s success. As China’s clout has grown both economically and politically in the wider world, it has become evermore important to understand the Chinese financial system, particularly as other authoritarian regimes may seek to emulate it in the perhaps recent future. The paper will examine the institutional elements of Chinese finance, including the broader structure of the party state apparatus and the role of legislative and executive authorities in determining financial policy. Next, the paper will go through both the legal-regulatory environment of the country and the structure of the preeminent Chinese banks. Finally, issues in Chinese monetary policy, particularly exchange rate system reforms, and the developing stock and bond markets will be addressed.
institutions mainly in the early 21st century. China has gone through enormous changes in the late 20th century and early 21st century, and financial policy reforms and adjustments have been at times instrumental to aiding that growth, and at other times have served as impediments to the country’s success. As China’s clout has grown both economically and politically in the wider world, it has become evermore important to understand the Chinese financial system, particularly as other authoritarian regimes may seek to emulate it in the perhaps recent future. The paper will examine the institutional elements of Chinese finance, including the broader structure of the party state apparatus and the role of legislative and executive authorities in determining financial policy. Next, the paper will go through both the legal-regulatory environment of the country and the structure of the preeminent Chinese banks. Finally, issues in Chinese monetary policy, particularly exchange rate system reforms, and the developing stock and bond markets will be addressed.
ContributorsFeatherston, Ryan (Author) / Hill, John (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Today, we are experiencing a world where Net Neutrality exists in most of the countries around the world except a handful. Who knows if this will be the case in 10 years? An economy shifting from net neutrality to non-net neutrality could have an effect of wiping out an entire industry of start-ups and innovation. The main stakeholders in this industry are the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who provide services to access, use and participate in the Internet such as AT\&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The other main stakeholders are the Content Providers (CPs), who provide information or content to the end users through websites such as Netflix, Google, Wikipedia, etc. Before diving into the effects it has on the economy, let's discuss a little about what net neutrality and non-net neutrality really means and their pricing strategies. Typically in an economy where net neutrality exists, the ISPs charge a fixed price to the CPs and the end-users. The ISPs tend to compete on price in order to attract the CPs to use their service for content due to tight competition among the ISPs to capture profits. Thus, these costs to the CPs would be minimal, encouraging individuals from all over the world to innovate and provide content to the end users. The price burden in this case would fall not on the CPs but on the end users. But, ISPs may not be able to over charge the end users either, as they would lose their demand due to competition from other ISPs. Therefore, in spite of being the bearers of heavy investment costs to improve network quality, the ISPs haven't been enjoying profits for a long time. Meanwhile, the CPs are gaining large profits with minimal investment costs thanks to their market power over the ISPs.
ContributorsKosaraju, Sreya (Author) / Bertran, Fernando Leiva (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This study attempts to reconcile the gap in literature between the abundant research in the social consequences of sanctions but a consistent lack of information regarding its economic effectiveness. I apply a modified neoclassical growth model to analyze the extent that sanctions imposed by the US and UN impact real per capita GDP growth rate. Using the original data, I modify the model employed in the Neuenkirch and Neumeier (2015) study by replacing a fixed effect model with time trends. The results are more aligned with previous economic research on sanctions where sanctions imposed by the US have a moderate but significant 1.5 percent decline effect on GDP growth rate. On the other hand, sanctions imposed by the UN are similarly negative, imposing about a .9 percent decline in GDP growth, however are not statistically significant. While I cannot reject the conclusion by the original authors, I feel that this model provides a more fitting analysis of the impact sanctions impose on GDP growth.
ContributorsHendricks-Costello, Caitlyn (Author) / Silverman, Daniel (Thesis director) / Mendez, Jose (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05