Barrett

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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Origins, Economics, and Significance of Trade Imbalances in a Modern, Globalized World

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…

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
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The Economic Effectiveness of Sanctions Imposed by the US and UN

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…

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