Matching Items (6)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: risk
- Creators: Economics Program in CLAS
Description
Economists, political philosophers, and others have often characterized social preferences regarding inequality by imagining a hypothetical choice of distributions behind "a veil of ignorance". Recent behavioral economics work has shown that subjects care about equality of outcomes, and are willing to sacrifice, in experimental contexts, some amount of personal gain in order to achieve greater equality. We review some of this literature and then conduct an experiment of our own, comparing subjects' choices in two risky situations, one being a choice for a purely individualized lottery for themselves, and the other a choice among possible distributions to members of a randomly selected group. We find that choosing in the group situation makes subjects significantly more risk averse than when choosing an individual lottery. This supports the hypothesis that an additional preference for equality exists alongside ordinary risk aversion, and that in a hypothetical "veil of ignorance" scenario, such preferences may make subjects significantly more averse to unequal distributions of rewards than can be explained by risk aversion alone.
ContributorsTheisen, Alexander Scott (Co-author) / McMullin, Caitlin (Co-author) / Li, Marilyn (Co-author) / DeSerpa, Allan (Thesis director) / Schlee, Edward (Committee member) / Baldwin, Marjorie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper examines the qualitative and quantitative effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the current landscape of the investment banking industry. We begin by reviewing what occurred during the financial crisis, including which banks took TARP money, which banks became bank holding companies, and significant mergers and acquisitions. We then examine the new regulations that were created in reaction to the crisis, including the Dodd-Frank Act. In particular, we focus on the Volcker Rule, which is a section of the act that prohibits proprietary trading and other risky activities at banks. Then we shift into a quantitative analysis of the changes that banks made from the years 2005-2016. To do this, we chose four banks to be representative of the industry: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America. We then analyze four metrics for each bank: revenue mix, value at risk, tangible common equity ratio, and debt to equity ratio. These provide methods for analyzing how banks have shifted their revenue centers to accommodate new regulations, as well as how these shifts have affected banks' risk levels and leverage. Our data show that all four banks that we observed shifted their revenue centers to flatter revenue areas, such as investment management, wealth management, and consumer banking operations. This was paired with fairly flat investment banking revenues across the board when controlling for overall market changes in the investment banking sector. Additionally, trading-focused banks significantly shifted their operations away from proprietary trading and higher risk activities. These changes resulted in lower value at risk measures for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley with very minor increases for J.P. Morgan and Bank of America, although these two banks had low levels of absolute value at risk when compared to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. All banks' tangible common equity ratios increased and debt to equity ratios decreased, indicating a safer investment for shareholders and lower leverage. We conclude by offering a forecast of our expectations for the future, particularly in light of a Trump presidency. We expect less regulation going forward and the potential reversal of the Volcker Rule. We believe that these changes would result in more revenue coming from trading and riskier strategies, increasing value at risk, decreasing tangible common equity ratios, and increasing debt to equity ratios. While we do expect less regulation and higher risk, we do not expect these banks to reach pre-crisis levels due to the significant amount of regulations that would be particularly difficult for the Trump administration to reverse.
ContributorsPatel, Aashay (Co-author) / Goulder, Gregory (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Campaign finance regulation has drastically changed since the founding of the Republic. Originally, few laws regulated how much could be contributed to political campaigns and who could make contributions. One by one, Congress passed laws to limit the possibility of corruption, for example by banning the solicitation of federal workers and banning contributions from corporations. As the United States moved into the 20th Century, regulations became more robust with more accountability. The modern structure of campaign finance regulation was established in the 1970's with legislation like the Federal Election Campaign Act and with Supreme Court rulings like in Buckley v. Valeo. Since then, the Court has moved increasingly to strike down campaign finance laws they see as limiting to First Amendment free speech. However, Arizona is one of a handful of states that established a system of publicly financed campaigns at the state-wide and legislative level. Passed in 1998, Proposition 200 attempted to limit the influence of money politics. For my research I hypothesized that a public financing system like the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) would lead to Democrats running with public funds more than Republicans, women running clean more than men, and rural candidates running clean more than urban ones, and that Democrats, women, and rural candidates would win in higher proportions than than if they ran a traditional campaign. After compiling data from the CCEC and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, I found that Democrats do run with public funds in statistically higher proportions than Republicans, but when they do they lose in higher proportions than Democrats who run traditionally. Female candidates only ran at a statistically higher proportion from 2002 to 2008, after which the difference was not statistically significant. For all year ranges women who ran with public money lost in higher proportions than women who ran traditionally. Similarly, rural candidates only ran at a statistically higher proportion from 2002 to 2008. However, they only lost at higher proportions from 2002 to 2008 instead of the whole range like with women and Democratic candidates.
ContributorsMarshall, Austin Tyler (Author) / Herrera, Richard (Thesis director) / Jones, Ruth (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This paper examines infrastructure spending in a model economy. Infrastructure is subdivided into two types: one that makes future production more efficient, and another that decreases the risk of devastation to the future economy. We call the first type base infrastructure, and the second type risk-reducing infrastructure. Our model assumes that a single representative individual makes all the decisions within a society and optimizes their own total utility over the present and future. We then calibrate an aggregate economic, two-period model to identify the optimal allocation of today’s output into consumption, base infrastructure, and risk-reducing infrastructure. This model finds that many governments can make substantive improvements to the happiness of their citizens by investing significantly more into risk-reducing infrastructure.
ContributorsFink, Justin (Co-author) / Fuller, John "Jack" (Co-author) / Prescott, Edward (Thesis director) / Millington, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
RISE Tutoring is an ASU student organization which helps refugee youth achieve academic and personal success through tutoring and mentorship. As a member of RISE Tutoring for three years, the researcher sought to document and analyze the program’s impact on the Phoenix refugee community. It was determined that video documentation, with its ability to capture both visual and verbal testimony, was the ideal holistic approach to assess and share this impact. The researcher hypothesized that RISE Tutoring adds value to the lives of its tutors and students through the multidimensional growth––educational, personal, and cultural––it facilitates for all. Methods of data collection were limited to video and audio, but approval from the Institutional Review Board and consent from all participants were obtained prior to the project’s start. The final video, filmed and edited with the help of a professional videographer, was 20 minutes and 21 seconds in length. The findings derived from the recorded interviews with students, tutors, and community leaders, and from the footage of tutoring and group activities, validated the researcher’s hypothesis. Viewers of the video can witness the bonding of tutors and students; hear the pride in the voices of the tutors and see the passion in their eyes when they speak of their students; and feel the joy and excitement that the program brings to its students’ lives. This project transformed the personal experiences of participants into a collective RISE Tutoring identity which can now be presented, for the first time, to the public. The video also aimed to help RISE Tutoring share its meaningful work and improve its marketing efforts, thereby enabling the organization to recruit more tutors and students, build new partnerships, and fundraise. Through the fulfillment of these goals, the video will empower the organization to effect greater change in the community.
ContributorsMarkowitz, Brenley Paige (Co-author) / Markowitz, Brenley (Co-author) / Klimek, Barbara (Thesis director) / Long, Elenore (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
REACT is a student-led venture which strives to address the healthcare disparities from geographic, linguistic and cultural isolation of the refugee community in Arizona/Phoenix. We will achieve this by Understanding the needs of the community, Engaging the community directly, Educating through the use of culturally appropriate materials, and providing access to supplemental Patient Care.
This venture is unique in that it is an interdisciplinary fusion between students, health professionals, and non-profit organizations empowering underserved refugees. A refugee is an individual forced to leave their country because of persecution, war, or violence. Once they arrive in the United States, they are forced to restart their lives, often with little to no financial assets, minimal English literacy, and a lack of transferable skills from their previous occupations in their home countries. In addition to these socioeconomic disparities, it is common for refugees to face health disparities. Consequently, refugees are one of the most vulnerable populations in our society.
Our organization provides value to the refugee community through our three key services. These are made up of supplemental resources, educational workshops, and clinical services. Our supplemental materials include resources that our clients will use after they have left our care to further improve their health and quality of life. These items include personal hygiene kits, informational pamphlets, and nutritional foods.
The educational workshops we provide specifically address identified knowledge gaps that impede the autonomy of our clients’ health and wellbeing. Several of the topics that we cover (but are not limited to) are diabetes, postpartum depression, nutrition, dental hygiene, AHCCCS, and nutrition. The clinical services that the clinic will provide will be supplementary primary care services that will encompass basic physical exams, A1C blood pressure checks, and vaccinations. These services all are aimed at alleviating the barriers to health that refugees face and ultimately improve their quality of life.
Our venture seeks to maintain positive and sustained relationships with our client segments through continuous community engagement. In conjunction with providing educational workshops and clinical care in the future, REACT continually engages the community by planning formal and informal programming with the refugees based on the needs and wishes of individual communities.
REACT generates these services through the work of medical students from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and undergraduates from Arizona State University. Our team brings together the experience from hundreds of hours of work in the community, collaborations with refugee community leaders, and the insight of professionals in the healthcare/social-work industry.
Further, our members have had extensive experience working with refugees, training in culturally sensitive practices, and delivering care to those that need it most. With the cost of healthcare exponentially rising, there is little hope for refugees to find adequate culturally competent healthcare. This leads to an increase in chronic diseases, preventable health issues, and increased hospitalization costs. Supporting REACT is not only an investment in the health of the refugees but the health of our entire healthcare system.
This venture is unique in that it is an interdisciplinary fusion between students, health professionals, and non-profit organizations empowering underserved refugees. A refugee is an individual forced to leave their country because of persecution, war, or violence. Once they arrive in the United States, they are forced to restart their lives, often with little to no financial assets, minimal English literacy, and a lack of transferable skills from their previous occupations in their home countries. In addition to these socioeconomic disparities, it is common for refugees to face health disparities. Consequently, refugees are one of the most vulnerable populations in our society.
Our organization provides value to the refugee community through our three key services. These are made up of supplemental resources, educational workshops, and clinical services. Our supplemental materials include resources that our clients will use after they have left our care to further improve their health and quality of life. These items include personal hygiene kits, informational pamphlets, and nutritional foods.
The educational workshops we provide specifically address identified knowledge gaps that impede the autonomy of our clients’ health and wellbeing. Several of the topics that we cover (but are not limited to) are diabetes, postpartum depression, nutrition, dental hygiene, AHCCCS, and nutrition. The clinical services that the clinic will provide will be supplementary primary care services that will encompass basic physical exams, A1C blood pressure checks, and vaccinations. These services all are aimed at alleviating the barriers to health that refugees face and ultimately improve their quality of life.
Our venture seeks to maintain positive and sustained relationships with our client segments through continuous community engagement. In conjunction with providing educational workshops and clinical care in the future, REACT continually engages the community by planning formal and informal programming with the refugees based on the needs and wishes of individual communities.
REACT generates these services through the work of medical students from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and undergraduates from Arizona State University. Our team brings together the experience from hundreds of hours of work in the community, collaborations with refugee community leaders, and the insight of professionals in the healthcare/social-work industry.
Further, our members have had extensive experience working with refugees, training in culturally sensitive practices, and delivering care to those that need it most. With the cost of healthcare exponentially rising, there is little hope for refugees to find adequate culturally competent healthcare. This leads to an increase in chronic diseases, preventable health issues, and increased hospitalization costs. Supporting REACT is not only an investment in the health of the refugees but the health of our entire healthcare system.
ContributorsMarostica, Chance William (Author) / Ferry, Lara (Thesis director) / Smith, Diana (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05