Matching Items (28)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Economics
- Creators: Department of Finance
- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
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
In a season that spans 162 games over the course of six months, MLB teams that travel more face additional fatigue and jetlag from travel. This factor could negatively impact them on the field. To explore this issue, I tested the significance of different variables by creating four models, which compared travel with a team's ability to win games as well as its ability to hit home runs. Based on these models, it appears as though changing time zones does not affect the outcome of games. However, these results did indicate that visiting teams with a greater time zone advantage over their opponent are less likely to hit a home run in a game.
ContributorsAronson, Sean Matthew (Author) / MacFie, Brian (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
An integral part of the financial system, the evolutionary history of commercial banking remains largely uncharted and is often grouped into banking development as a whole. Previous research on banking has primarily relied on economic analysis or has placed banking in a larger social context. This work aims to bridge the two by classifying commercial banking growth into four cycles of expansion, application, and decline. Drawing from historical accounts and growth cycle theory, this framework for classification is developed to better synthesize its progress and the fundamental innovations that changed the banking system. Beginning in 1150 with the foundation for deposit banking, the next three cycles of 1500, 1750, and 1933 mark periods of great innovation and a push toward the regulatory environment, technology, and globalization that define modern commercial banking. Paralleling the economic, financial, and political development of the Western World, its evolution is guided by three themes: the increased accumulation and flow of capital, regulation, and market expansion.
ContributorsSinger, Andrea Cayli (Author) / Licon, Wendell (Thesis director) / Hoffmeister, Ron (Committee member) / Brooks, Dan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The situation in the Euro-Zone is fluctuating daily with various efforts to curb the contagion of certain Euro-Zone member states. In the effort to focus on the greater macroeconomic and social impact of the Euro-Zone, this paper concentrates on the history of the Euro-Zone, the causes of the crisis, outlines potential solutions, discusses individual perspectives on the issue, and describes a prediction for the future of the Euro-Zone.
ContributorsTom, Bryan (Co-author) / Smith, Kelley (Co-author) / Mendez, Jose (Thesis director) / Datta, Manjira (Committee member) / Roberts, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Entrepreneurs represent the engine for economic change in the nation. By interviewing and studying student entrepreneurs, I could explore the inspiration creating the changes seen in the environment around us and characterize the student entrepreneur. Specifically, by studying the similarities and differences among student entrepreneurs at ASU, I could identify traits that made entrepreneurs unique from each other. After in-depth interviews and surveys, I found that entrepreneurs could be categorized into one of four primary motivations and further distinguished by perceptions of money, responsibility and family environment. At the end of this paper, I conclude that student entrepreneurs can be empowered by the insights taken from this research. With further understanding, the survey may have practical applications to existing ventures and entrepreneurial college students.
ContributorsMcclure, Bethany Lee (Author) / DeSerpa, Allan (Thesis director) / Baldwin, Marjorie (Committee member) / Petroff, Chris (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The U.S. Automobile industry was once the crown jewel of America's industrial empire, nothing symbolized American industrial might like the auto plants of Detroit and the millions of cars it put on the road. However, after a spectacular rise in power and wealth after the Second World War, the Big 3 of the automotive industry, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, have declined to the point of needing a government bailout to continue operation. This paper examines this decline by examining two narratives that describe its fall, and examines the theoretical and empirical evidence for both stories.
ContributorsHartman, Alexander Ray (Author) / Lagakos, David (Thesis director) / DeSerpa, Allan (Committee member) / Baldwin, Marjorie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
With aggregate background knowledge and best methodology practices from the literature review, this exploratory study seeks to further gather and advance knowledge on the subject of birthrate trends with respect to the economic conditions affecting the decisions to reproduce. The scope of the study particularly investigates the possible effects of the 2008 downturn of the economy and the concurring home mortgage crisis on birthrates in Arizona.
ContributorsGuseynov, Ruslan Saidovich (Author) / Fey, Richard (Thesis director) / Reesing, Amy (Committee member) / Hayford, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
According to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) will provide 26 million households with 60 billion dollars of reduced taxes and refunds in 2015 \u2014 resources that serve to lift millions of families above the federal poverty line. Responding to the popularity of EITC programs and recent discussion of its expansion for childless adults, I select three comparative case studies of state-level EITC reform from 2005 to 2013. Each state represents a different kind of policy reform: the creation of a supplemental credit in Connecticut, credit reduction in New Jersey, and finally credit expansion for childless adults in Maryland. For each case study, I use Current Population Survey panel data from the March Supplement to complete a differences-in-differences (DD) analysis of EITC policy changes. Specifically, I analyze effects of policy reform on total earned income, employment and usual hours worked. For comparison groups, I construct unique counterfactual populations of northeastern U.S. states, using people of color with less than a college degree as my treatment group for their increased sensitivity to EITC policy reform. I find no statistically significant effects of policy creation in Connecticut, significant decreases in employment and hours worked in New Jersey, and finally, significant increases in earnings and hours worked in Maryland. My work supports the findings of other empirical work, suggesting that awareness of new supplemental EITC programs is critical to their effectiveness while demonstrating that these types of programs can affect the labor supply and outcomes of eligible groups.
ContributorsRichard, Katherine Rose (Author) / Dillon, Eleanor Wiske (Thesis director) / Silverman, Daniel (Committee member) / Herbst, Chris (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis details the impact of sustainable practices, or lack thereof, among IKEA and Chanel. It takes these principles and analyzes the effectiveness of them and works to implement them across industries and companies of different sizes and organizational structures.
ContributorsL'Heureux, Kendall James (Author) / Foote, Nicola (Thesis director) / Alcantara, Christiane (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
As temperatures increase across the United States, some populations are more at risk for heat-related death and illness than others. One of these at-risk demographics is mobile home and trailer park inhabitants, who are disproportionately represented among indoor heat-related deaths (Solís, “Heat, Health”). In this paper, we outline a cost-benefit analysis that was used to calculate the net present economic value of projects related to reducing heat burden on mobile home owners and parks in Maricopa County. We use this model to assess solutions developed by student teams under the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience’s Summer Heat Resilience Challenge. We find that one of the seven solutions has a positive net present value (NPV) even in the lowest effectiveness (10%), while three more solutions have a positive NPV in the mid-level (50%) effectiveness scenario, showcasing their economic viability.
ContributorsRobinson, Jacob (Author) / Solís, Patricia (Thesis director) / Markolf, Samuel (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05