The tenth annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was held in May 2012 in the Social Sciences building. Congratulations and thanks to all the authors, who wrote outstanding papers and gave polished presentations.

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Articles

Unitization of Oil Reserves in Alaska and the Supply Elasticity of a Common Pool Resource by Emily Bailey, Duke University

Cross-Stock Comparisons of the Relative Contribution of Jumps to Total Price Variance by Vivek Bhattacharya, Duke University

Price Partitioning and Consumer Rationality in Internet Retail Markets by Katharine Bodnar, Duke University

Understanding the Value of Amenities: A Study of the Land Value Determination Process in Hangzhou, China by Ching-Ching Chen, Duke University

After the Storm Impacts of Natural Disasters in the United States at the State and County Level by Danjie Fang, Duke University

The Effect of Single-Sex Education on Short and Long Term Extracurricular Participation by Grace Foster, Elon University

Policy in Competitive Insurance Markets: Incentivizing Risk Sharing and Cost Efficiency by Ross Green, Duke University

The Influence Effect of Critic Reviews on Foreign and Domestic Movies by Jayoung Jeon & Luxuan Jiao, Duke University

The Effect of Time Discounting on Flu Vaccinations by Greg McNamara, Davidson College

Foreign Exchange Responses to Macroeconomic Surprises: Playing “Peek-a-Boo” with Financial Markets by Vignesh Nathan, Duke University

Empirical Analysis on the Effects of Jumps on Realized Beta and the Disentanglement of Jump Beta1 by Hao Sun, Duke University

The Duke Journal of Economics is published each year to showcase outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates. Additional pieces will appear after their authors revise them.

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

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Articles

Neighborhood Effects and School Performance: The Impact of Public Housing Demolitions on Children in North Carolina by Rebecca Agostino

The Lobby That Cried Wolf: Restrictive Immigration Reform Does Cost
the American Agricultural Industry by Jonathan Amgott

Taming the Dragon: The Modernization of the Chinese Equity Markets and its Effects on IPO Underpricing by William Benesh

Taking Another Look at Multilateral Aid Flows: Reconsidering the Dynamics of the U.S.’s Strategic Use of Development Aid by Jared Goodman

Trailer Park Economics by Caitlin Gorback

The Comprehensive Optimal Business Location Model by Mitchel Gorecki

Time-Varying Beta: The Heterogeneous Autoregressive Beta Model by Kunal Jain

The Marital Wage Premium for Men: What is it today, and what is the cause behind it? by Hans Kist

Decision-Making With Potentially Biased Advisors by Kevin Kupiec

Contagion in Emerging Market Equities by Richard Li

Matching Offer in the Provision of Public Goods by Chengyu Li

The Economic Penalty of Dengue by Yamini Misra

Extending the Possibilities of Kidney Exchange with Compatible Pairs by Karna Mital

The Nurture Effect: Like Father, Like Son. What about for an Adopted Child? by Suanna Oh

Winner-Take-All Economics: Professional Inquiry and Public Discourse on Material Inequality by Johnathan Pryor

Beta Estimation Using High Frequency Data by Angela Minwoo Ryu

Incentives in Professional Tennis: Tournament Theory and Intangible Factors by Steven Seidel and Joshua Silverman

Market Power & Reciprocity Among Vertically Integrated Cable Providers by Jeffrey Shih-Kai Shen

Market Entry, a Vehicle for Innovation? by Maxim Sirenko

Contagion in Emerging Market Equities by Yiwen Zhu

The ninth annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was held in May 2011 in the Social Sciences building. Congratulations and thanks to all the authors, who wrote outstanding papers and gave polished presentations.

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Articles

An Exploration of Multimedia Multitasking: How Television Advertising Impacts Google Search by Celeste Clipp

Openness to Ideas and Long Run Economic Growth by Sarah Freitas

Consumer’s Willingness to Pay a Price Premium for Living Wage Products by Rachel Fussell, Warren Wilson College

A Game-Theoretic Approach to Group Classroom Interactions by Elliott Isaac, Wake Forest University

Welcome to the United States: Self-selection of Puerto Rican Migrants by Kathryn Haiying Li

How Effective is Global Financial Regulation? The Basel Accords’ Role in Mitigating Banking Crises by Robert Nowak

How will they fare on “Judgment Day”? Reputational Herding in Professional Communities by Alexandra Oprea

The Principal Agent Problem, Asymmetric Information and Leveraged Buyouts: How Who Does the Buying Affects Who Gets Bought by Evan Kershaw Rose, UNC-Chapel Hill

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? (To the Hospital) Modeling the Impact of Introducing a Telemedicine System in a Remote Amazonian Community by Rollin K. Say

The Influence of School on Childhood Weight Gain by Kaylyn Swankoski, Elon University

Optimizing Rainwater Harvesting Installation in Kashongi, Uganda: Sustainable Water Supply, Collective Action and Institutions by Jason Wong

Do Recessions Improve the Teenage Obesity Rate? by Amy Xiaoyue Zhang

The Duke Journal of Economics is published each year to showcase outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates. Additional pieces will appear after their authors revise them.

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

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Honor’s Theses

Foreclosure Effects on Neighborhood Property Values in Durham County by Andrew Abraham

The Relationship Between Trading Volume and Jump Processes in Financial Markets by Pongpitch Amatyakul

Agricultural Suicides in India: The Role of Rainfall and Relation to Economic Theory by Rashmi Bhat

Forecasting Global Commodity Prices Using South-American Exchange Rates by Gabriela Borges

Improving the Business of Risky Business: An Ex-post Evaluation of VaR’s Statistical Input Assumptions by Michael Dechert and John Martin

The Downfall of Durham’s Historic Hayti: Propagated or Preempted by Urban Renewal by Frederick E. Ehrsam

Equity-Infused Microfinance: A Collaborative Success by Julia Garces

Heterogeneity in the Adverse Incentive Effect of Unemployment Insurance by  Caroline Hanson

Valuation of NFL Franchises by Sam Hill

The Effects of Common Obesity Indicators on the BMI of Durham’s Youth: A Case Study of Kestrel Heights Charter School by Ifran Husain

Performance Variation in the NBA: Guaranteed Contracts and the Contract Year Phenomenon by Neal Jean

Effects of Medicaid Coverage of Preventative and Diagnostic Care on Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations by Zachary Kazzaz

A Study of Risk Aversion: Comparing Contestant Behavior on Deal or No Deal by Ren Yu Ku

Cracking Down on Cartels: An Examination of United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division Behavior in its Criminal Sentencing of Convicted Corporate Executives of Private International Cartels by Kristen E. Manderscheid

Applied Mechanism Design: Solving for the Optimal Collusive Mechanism for First-Price Auctions by John Min

Is Defense Decisive? An Examination of the National Football League Salary Structure and Game Outcomes by Eric Ness

Resolving the Problem of Poverty: A Comparison Between the Ideas of Milton Friedman and Alfred Marshall by Paul Pan

The Effect of IT Hack Announcements on the Market Value of Publicly Traded Corporations by Nishant Patel

Decision-Making and Optimal Foraging: Norepinephrine and the Exploration-Exploitation Tradeoff by Matthew Pease

Solar Photovoltaic Installation in California: Understanding the Likelihood of Adoption Given Incentives, Electricity Pricing and Consumer Characteristics by Emily Rothfield

The Influence of Malpractice Insurance Premiums on Physician Location Decisions by Kurtis Shuler

The Distortionary Effects of Market Microstructure Noise on Volatility Forecasts by Derek Song

Portfolio Patents and the Survival of Public Software Firms by Alexander Trahey

Sex, Crime and Real Estate: How Sex Offenders Affect Property Values in Durham, N.C. by Eugene Wang

Tort Reforms and Defensive Practices in Obstetrics by Rebecca Wu

An Analysis of the Effects of Public School Quality on the Housing Prices in Durham, North Carolina by John Wulsin

Energy Efficiency Through Demand-Side Management: An Examination into the Residential Sector by James Zahniser-Word

The eighth annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was held in April 2010 in the Social Sciences building. Congratulations and thanks to all the authors, who wrote outstanding papers and gave polished presentations.

Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal

Articles

The Dynamics of Health Care Demand During an Illness Episode by David Benson

Collusion with Three Bidders at First-Price Auctions by Andrew Born

Do Teenagers Exhibit Rational Expectations About Mortality, Fertility and Education Outcomes by Nikolay Braykov

Entering the Campus Courtship Culture: Factors that Influence College Students’ Relationship Types by Scott Casale

Measuring the Likelihood of Small Business Loan Default: Community Development Institutions and the Use of Credit-Scoring to Minimize Default Risk by Andrea Coravos

Female Surname Choice: Historical, Cultural, and Branding Influences at Duke University by Corinne Grzybowski and Andrea Coravos

Oil Prices and Monetary Policy: Counterfactual Monetary Policy Responses to Oil Price Shocks by YingTe Tony Huang

Forecasting Existing Home Sales Using Google Search Queries by Brian Humphrey

Currency Crisis Early Warning Systems: Robust Adjustments to the Signal-Based Approach by Andrew Kindman

Spurious Jump Detection and Intraday Changes in Volatility by Matthew Rognlie

Rebalancing, Conditional Value-at-Risk, and t-Copula in Asset Allocation by Irvin Wang and Perry Zheng