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- Creators: Silverman, Daniel
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Description
“Health and Wealthness” is a podcast where your hosts, Emily Weigel and Hanaa Khan, discuss pressing and trending topics about health and wealth that everyone should know about. Our thesis focuses primarily on the opioid epidemic - the science and business sides.
ContributorsWeigel, Emily Elizabeth (Co-author) / Khan, Hanaa (Co-author) / Olive, Foster (Thesis director) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Health and Wealthness is a podcast where your hosts, Emily Weigel and Hanaa Khan discuss pressing and trending topics about health and wealth that everyone should know about. Our first four episodes focus on the opioid crisis. Both the science and healthcare sides. We then go on to talk about burnout and mental health in a conversational episode.
ContributorsKhan, Hanaa S (Co-author) / Weigel, Emily (Co-author) / Olive, Foster (Thesis director) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The relationship between the European Union and Britain has been long and contentious. It has been dominated by Britain's skepticism towards the EU and a hesitation to participate in an integrated Europe. This paper outlines the costs and benefits of Britain's membership in three areas: trade and foreign direct investment, financial contributions, and immigration. In addition to analyzing the effect of a British exit in these three areas, alternatives are also discussed.
ContributorsLeon, Monique Briana (Author) / Mendez, Jose (Thesis director) / Kenchington, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This project was organized to analyze a multitude of data in order to determine the economic impact of a professional sports team starting in a particular location, or “market”. The thesis group (“group”) collected historical data on professional sports teams from 1975 to present, state economic data as applicable, and data indicating sports fan preferences and behavior. This data was collected, cleaned, and analyzed in order to understand trends and impacts of sports teams in local economies. The group looked at a number of statistical factors including team performance, championships, state GDP and employment, and digital trends regarding the sports teams. Using economic models and statistics, the group was able to derive insights on the factors that cause sports teams to influence the economy they are located in. Additionally, the group analyzed reporting on teams in particular markets, as well as the financing surrounding stadiums to provide a diverse perspective on the topic. At a high level, starting a professional sports team in a new market does not have a significant impact on the economy: the data did not demonstrate statistical significance and qualitative analysis proved that the impact of a new team is negligible. The following serves as documentation and explanation of the group’s analysis on this topic.
ContributorsFriedman, Jared Davidson (Co-author) / Conner, Joshua (Co-author) / McClain, Jacob (Co-author) / Foster, William (Thesis director) / Lee, Christopher (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The purpose of this analysis is to determine the economic impact that the distribution of the SolarSPELL digital library system to Peace Corps volunteers in Vanuatu will have on the citizens of Vanuatu by quantifying the potential for SolarSPELL and its health education content to reduce rates of certain illnesses and thereby reduce the demands on the Vanuatu healthcare system. The research was carried out by researching the most prominent non-communicable diseases in Vanuatu that could be affected by lifestyle changes as a result of exposure to the health education content on the SolarSPELL and determining the expected changes in rates of each non-communicable disease as well as the expected changes in the individual and hospital costs, the loss of income due to missed work, transport costs within Vanuatu, and international medical evacuation costs. Ultimately, these costs were collectively reduced by approximately 2.046% due to SolarSPELL intervention, a reduction of approximately $7,000. However, given the limited scope of available information within the healthcare system of Vanuatu, it can be inferred that the impact of the distribution of the SolarSPELL is likely significantly larger. Consequently, it is recommended that the Vanuatu Ministry of Health, the SolarSPELL team, and the Peace Corps implement policies to increase the volume of healthcare data collected in Vanuatu in order to assist in future analyses of the healthcare system.
ContributorsErspamer, Brett Thomas (Author) / Ross, Heather (Thesis director) / Silverman, Daniel (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Minimum wage legislation has always been a controversial topic within the fields of politics and economics. There are those who support it under the belief that those affected will be better off, seeing increased wages, greater efficiency, and overall economic prosperity, whereas its opponents argue against it under the belief that it could lead to negative effects such as decreased employment, higher prices, and loss of productivity. This is something that has recently come up in Arizona after the enactment of Proposition 206 (Prop.206), a law which is set to raise the state minimum wage from $8.05 in 2016 to $12.00 by 2020. In this paper, rather than taking a political stance, however, we seek to find answers about the real effects that this minimum wage law has had on wage earners through the manner in which it has affected the state’s wage distribution, meaning the percentage of earners making a certain hourly rate, or between a certain wage range (i.e. $10.00 to $10.50). We begin this search by looking at May Wage Estimates offered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). From that data, we created wage distributions for the state of Arizona for the years 2011-2018. These showed us what percentage of workers in the state are making a certain hourly rate based on the total number of employees in Arizona. By summarizing this through tables and histograms, we can also visually see the way in which AZ wage distributions have changed over time. However, we also sought to visually compare the AZ wage distributions with that of nearby states, so we also used wage distribution data from Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. Finally, we also wanted to quantify the fixed effects of enacting the legislation in the state of AZ. To do so we ran a difference-in-differences analysis that gave us an actual value measuring how recent minimum wage increases have affected the percentage of total wage earning less than $11.40 per hour. We discovered that our results, although not extremely significant (due to available data), do strongly indicate that the recent minimum wage legislation in AZ has increased the percentage of workers earning more than that amount per hour. Following that, we also give recommendations that could improve the results found in this report.
ContributorsPerez Noyola, Manuel A. (Author) / Silverman, Daniel (Thesis director) / Cordova, Luis (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The Medicaid expansion policy that was introduced during the Obama administration has been a political point of controversy. The expansion aimed to increase health insurance coverage for those who are unable to afford health insurance for themselves.
This analysis aimed to determine the economic effect of the Medicaid expansion on real GDP per capita. The expansion is believed to result in greater worker productivity and increases in healthcare service consumption and consumption of other goods. As health insurance coverage may increase real GDP per capita due to healthier workers being more productive, an analysis was first done on the effect of the expansion on health insurance coverage, then the effect of the health insurance coverage on real GDP per capita. The data used was in the time frame of 1999 to 2016 and organized by state, and gathered from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S Census Bureau, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The analysis was structured as a 2-stage multivariable linear regression. These regressions were modeled as a fixed-effects regression so states may be compared to itself over time. The first regression was of health insurance coverage on proportions of industry output from the agriculture, resources, manufacturing, and finance sector, median income, employment rate, poverty rate, Medicaid expansion status, and year. The predicted values of this regression were then used as an instrumental variable in the second regression. The second regression was of real GDP per capita on proportions of industry output from the agriculture, resources, manufacturing, and finance sector, median income, employment rate, poverty rate, the instrumental variable, and year. Regressions were also done on the expansion’s effect on per capita personal consumption expenditures and healthcare consumption expenditures using the instrumental variable.
The results of the regressions show that the expansion had a positive effect on health insurance coverage and real GDP per capita. It also increased personal expenditures per capita and healthcare expenditures per capita, suggesting that the lower price of healthcare results in increased overall consumption. The data was constrained by time, as the expansion was only implemented recently, and some states are still deciding whether or not to. Thus, the results of support expectations, but more time would need to pass to more accurately estimate the effects of the expansion on these states.
This analysis aimed to determine the economic effect of the Medicaid expansion on real GDP per capita. The expansion is believed to result in greater worker productivity and increases in healthcare service consumption and consumption of other goods. As health insurance coverage may increase real GDP per capita due to healthier workers being more productive, an analysis was first done on the effect of the expansion on health insurance coverage, then the effect of the health insurance coverage on real GDP per capita. The data used was in the time frame of 1999 to 2016 and organized by state, and gathered from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S Census Bureau, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The analysis was structured as a 2-stage multivariable linear regression. These regressions were modeled as a fixed-effects regression so states may be compared to itself over time. The first regression was of health insurance coverage on proportions of industry output from the agriculture, resources, manufacturing, and finance sector, median income, employment rate, poverty rate, Medicaid expansion status, and year. The predicted values of this regression were then used as an instrumental variable in the second regression. The second regression was of real GDP per capita on proportions of industry output from the agriculture, resources, manufacturing, and finance sector, median income, employment rate, poverty rate, the instrumental variable, and year. Regressions were also done on the expansion’s effect on per capita personal consumption expenditures and healthcare consumption expenditures using the instrumental variable.
The results of the regressions show that the expansion had a positive effect on health insurance coverage and real GDP per capita. It also increased personal expenditures per capita and healthcare expenditures per capita, suggesting that the lower price of healthcare results in increased overall consumption. The data was constrained by time, as the expansion was only implemented recently, and some states are still deciding whether or not to. Thus, the results of support expectations, but more time would need to pass to more accurately estimate the effects of the expansion on these states.
ContributorsSmoudi, Senan (Author) / Silverman, Daniel (Thesis director) / Baldwin, Marjorie (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Soccer is a global phenomenon that is played, watched, and enjoyed all over the world. Players and fans are quick to point out that soccer is an international language that unites people of all ethnicities and backgrounds together. However, there has been little research done to find out why, how, or if this is true. In this paper I will demonstrate how soccer is an effective means of communication when barriers of culture, geography, and language exist. To do this I conducted a survey, ultimately across 147 regular soccer players, and took field notes on one on one conversations to gather experiences and opinions regarding how soccer has helped people connect when other means of communication were not viable. By surveying and speaking with regular players, I was able to determine just how effective and in what ways soccer facilitates communication and brings people together. This research is a viable starting point into exploring how a global society can learn from soccer players to break down communication barriers and cooperate better with one another.
ContributorsFuller, Joseph (Author) / John, Eaton (Thesis director) / Mary, Ingram-Waters (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Executive compensation is broken into two parts: one fixed and one variable. The fixed component of executive compensation is the annual salary and the variable components are performance-based incentives. Clawback provisions of executive compensation are designed to require executives to return performance-based, variable compensation that was erroneously awarded in the year of a misstatement. This research shows the need for the use of a new clawback provision that combines aspects of the two currently in regulation. In our current federal regulation, there are two clawback provisions in play: Section 304 of Sarbanes-Oxley and section 954 of The Dodd\u2014Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This paper argues for the use of an optimal clawback provision that combines aspects of both the current SOX provision and the Dodd-Frank provision, by integrating the principles of loss aversion and narcissism. These two factors are important to consider when designing a clawback provision, as it is generally accepted that average individuals are loss averse and executives are becoming increasingly narcissistic. Therefore, when attempting to mitigate the risk of a leader keeping erroneously awarded executive compensation, the decision making factors of narcissism and loss aversion must be taken into account. Additionally, this paper predicts how compensation structures will shift post-implementation. Through a survey analyzing the level of both loss- aversion and narcissism in respondents, the research question justifies the principle that people are loss averse and that a subset of the population show narcissistic tendencies. Both loss aversion and narcissism drove the results to suggest there are benefits to both clawback provisions and that a new provision that combines elements of both is most beneficial in mitigating the risk of executives receiving erroneously awarded compensation. I concluded the most optimal clawback provision is mandatory for all public companies (Dodd-Frank), targets all executives (Dodd-Frank), and requires the recuperation of the entire bonus, not just that which was in excess of what should have been received (SOX).
ContributorsLarscheid, Elizabeth (Author) / Samuelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Casas-Arce, Pablo (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
An ethical dilemma is not a matter of “right” versus “wrong,” but rather it is a situation of conflicting values. A common ethical dilemma is that of honesty versus loyalty—is it better to tell the truth, or remain loyal to the company? In the Japanese culture, truth is circumstantial and can vary with different situations. In a way, the Japanese idea of honesty reflects how highly they value loyalty. This overlap of values results in the lack of an ethical dilemma for the Japanese, which creates a new risk for fraud. Without this struggle, a Japanese employee does not have strong justification against committing fraud if it aligns with his values of honesty and loyalty.
This paper looks at the Japanese values relating to honesty and loyalty to show how much these ideas overlap. The lack of a conflict of values creates a risk for fraud, which will be shown through an analysis of the scandals of two Japanese companies, Toshiba and Olympus. These scandals shine light on the complexity of the ethical dilemma for the Japanese employees; since their sense of circumstantial honesty encourages them to lie if it maintains the harmony of the group, there is little stopping them from committing the fraud that their superiors asked them to commit.
In a global economy, understanding the ways that values impact business and decisions is important for both interacting with others and anticipating potential conflicts, including those that may result in or indicate potential red flags for fraud.
This paper looks at the Japanese values relating to honesty and loyalty to show how much these ideas overlap. The lack of a conflict of values creates a risk for fraud, which will be shown through an analysis of the scandals of two Japanese companies, Toshiba and Olympus. These scandals shine light on the complexity of the ethical dilemma for the Japanese employees; since their sense of circumstantial honesty encourages them to lie if it maintains the harmony of the group, there is little stopping them from committing the fraud that their superiors asked them to commit.
In a global economy, understanding the ways that values impact business and decisions is important for both interacting with others and anticipating potential conflicts, including those that may result in or indicate potential red flags for fraud.
ContributorsTabar, Kelly Ann (Author) / Samuelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Goldman, Alan (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05