Matching Items (16)
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- All Subjects: Economics
- Creators: Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Economists, policy-makers, and various intellectuals have consistently debated the strongest way to support citizens. Lately, however, the simplest idea has managed to gain an unbelievable amount of traction. Maybe, rather than a complex policy solution targeted towards to certain demographics and with various work requirements we should simply give people money. The beauty of the idea is in its simplicity – and it is a key reason for its growing popularity. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a policy proposal that has been steadily gaining momentum throughout the United States and across the world. Recently, it has been viewed as a stimulus to the economy in the wake of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as well as a solution to labor-displacing technological advancements. Additionally, many economists, politicians, and various thought-leaders have portrayed basic income as a one-stop solution to many challenges facing the world. The idea behind UBI comes down to this idea – basic income will not solve all your problems – it makes your problems easier to solve. Many UBI advocates use that phrase to argue in favor for a basic income, but it is important to ensure that it doesn’t add to most people’s problems by discouraging work and encouraging seemingly unhealthy habits.
ContributorsRamesh, Neel (Author) / Hill, Alexander (Thesis director, Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The purpose of this paper is to explore and minimum wage and whether it serves its purpose of fighting poverty. After extensive research on the origin and purpose of minimum wage laws in the US via reading different studies and weighing its positive and negative effects, I have found that minimum wage is not the most effective tool to fight poverty. There exist programs that would be more beneficial in fighting poverty such as earned-income tax credit (EITC) or training programs.
ContributorsHarvey, Vanessa Nicole (Author) / Douglas, Kacey (Thesis director, Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This paper proposes that voter decision making is determined by more than just the policy positions adopted by the candidates in the election as proposed by Antony Downs (1957). Using a vector valued voting model proposed by William Foster (2014), voter behavior can be described by a mathematical model. Voters assign scores to candidates based on both policy and non-policy considerations, then voters then decide which candidate they support based on which has a higher candidate score. The traditional assumption that most of the population will vote is replaced by a function describing the probability of voting based on candidate scores assigned by individual voters. If the voter's likelihood of voting is not certain, but rather modelled by a sigmoid curve, it has radical implications on party decisions and actions taken during an election cycle. The model also includes a significant interaction term between the candidate scores and the differential between the scores which enhances the Downsian model. The thesis is proposed in a similar manner to Downs' original presentation, including several allegorical and hypothetical examples of the model in action. The results of the model reveal that single issue voters can have a significant impact on election outcomes, and that the weight of non-policy considerations is high enough that political parties would spend large sums of money on campaigning. Future research will include creating an experiment to verify the interaction terms, as well as adjusting the model for individual costs so that more empirical analysis may be completed.
ContributorsCoulter, Jarod Maxwell (Author) / Foster, William (Thesis director) / Goegan, Brian (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper analyzes responses to a survey using a modified fourfold pattern of preference to determine if implicit information, once made explicit, is practically significant in nudging irrational decision makers towards more rational decisions. Respondents chose between two scenarios and an option for indifference for each of the four questions from the fourfold pattern with expected value being implicit information. Then respondents were asked familiarity with expected value and given the same four questions again but with the expected value for each scenario then explicitly given. Respondents were asked to give feedback if their answers had changed and if the addition of the explicit information was the reason for that change. Results found the addition of the explicit information in the form of expected value to be practically significant with ~90% of respondents who changed their answers giving that for the reason. In the implicit section of the survey, three out of four of the questions had a response majority of lower expected value answers given compared to the alternative. In the explicit section of the survey, all four questions achieved a response majority of higher expected value answers given compared to the alternative. In moving from the implicit to the explicit section, for each question, the scenario with lower expected value experienced a decrease in percentage of responses, and the scenario with higher expected value and indifference between the scenarios both experienced an increase in percentage of responses.
ContributorsJohnson, Matthew (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Foster, William (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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
In this paper, I cover the background and economic history of green buildings, including four case studies. Based on this exploration, I find that green roofs and walls are best suited to dense, highly paved cities with little capacity to expand their sewer systems. Green infrastructure is best suited for stormwater management to avoid combined sewer overflow (CSO) pollution and managing urban heat island (UHI) effects, while at the same time providing many positive externalities for people and the environment. Green buildings take those benefits and fit them into a smaller area (on roofs and walls), which is most applicable where tearing up pavement to provide more ground-level green space and expanding the sewer systems would be too costly.
ContributorsBoudrie, Gemini (Author) / Hanemann, Michael (Thesis director) / Hill, Alexander (Committee member) / Wong, Kelvin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2022-05