The Duke Journal of Economics is published each year to showcase outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates. This volume contains both honors theses and essays. The essays are examples of research written by Duke Undergraduates at various stages of their economics education at Duke. Honors theses which were presented at the 2006 undergraduate research symposium and are to be published in the special edition of the Duke Journal of Economics devoted to that symposium are not included here.

Four undergraduate and masters students wrote book reviews in the spring of 2006, which have been scheduled for publication in scholarly journals. We are delighted that their critical skills are being appreciated by the profession. These are:

• Karl Boulware, The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Survive When Oil Costs $200 A Barrel, by Steven Leeb with Glen Strathy, Warner, 2006.Indian Journal of Economics and Business.

• Daniel Hughes, Capital and Collusion: The Political Logic of Global Economic Development, by Hilton Root, Princeton, 2005, Development Policy Review .

• Carly Knight, The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn’t Working, by Robert Calderisi, Palgrave MacMillan, 2006, Review of Social Economy .

• Phuong H. Nguyen, Globalization for Development, by Ian A. Goldin and Kenneth A. Reinert, Palgrave MacMillan and World Bank, 2006, Journal of International Logistics and Trade .

We congratulate the authors of the research presented in this issue.

For support of the journal we thank the Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Endowment Fund and donors to the Harvrilesky Fund, as well as Jennifer Socey, who put the journal online.

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Part I

The CNOOC Bid for Unocal and US National Security: Was the Political Outcry in Congress Justified? by Genevieve Ding

A Century of Economic Thought as Examined through American Trade Unionism by Christian Bonilla and Kathryn F. Fortunato

Complementary Currencies: Mutual Credit Currency Systems and the Challenge of Globalization by Clare Lascelles

Infrastructure and Urban Primacy: A Theoretical Model by Jinghui Lim

Separating the Bulls from the Herd: Race Distribution and Median Household Income in Durham County by Ryan Mattison

Continuity and Change in American Economic Thought Regarding Immigration: 1890-1950 and 1985-1995 by Russell Miller and Chinedu Okpukpara

Implications of Transnational Terrorism on International Trade by John McKenna

Part II

Price Discrimination and the Internet: A look at the changing face of the college textbook industry by Jeffrey Alan Ackermann

Did Unilateral Divorce Laws and No-Fault Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? by Michael Joseph Horowitz

Efficiency of IPO Offering Techniques: Semi-theoretical Framework and Empirical Results for US and Chinese Issues by Xinfeng Hu

Public Policies and Private Decisions: An Analysis of the Effects of Abortion Restrictions on Minors’ Contraceptive Behavior by Leland M. McNabb Jr.

Understanding the Role of the Arts and Women in the Economy: The Contributions of Creative Literature by Danielle P. Petrilli

Could the Kaminsky-Reinhart Model Have Predicted the 2002 Uruguayan Currency and Banking Crises? by Steven R. Vickers