Vol. XVII, Spring 2005
The Duke Journal of Economics is published each year to showcase outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates.
This volume contains three honors theses and four essays written under the guidance of Professor Craufurd Goodwin in his class, “The Uses of Economics.” These essays are preceded by Craufurd’s introduction.
We congratulate the authors of the papers presented in this issue.
Some honors theses lead ultimately to publication. Justin Knowles (Duke BA 1996 & MA 1997) coauthored with Omer Gokcekus and Ed Tower a revised version of his honors thesis, “Sweetening the Pot: How American Sugar Buys Protection,” as chapter 8 of The Political Economy of Trade, Aid and Foreign Investment Policies, edited by Devashish Mitra and Arvind Panagariya, Elsevier, 2004.
For support of the journal we thank the Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Endowment Fund and donors to the Havrilesky Fund as well as Molly Brown, who put the journal on line, Kevin Campbell, and Jennifer Socey.
Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal
Articles
Time Well Spent? An economic rationale for the negotiation of confidentiality agreements during corporate mergers and acquisitions by Roy Ben-Dor
Another Pricey European Import? An Economic Analysis of the Artist’s Resale Right by Yuanshu Deng
The Demographic Determinants of Savings, Investment, and Foreign Capital Dependence: An Inquiry into Latin America, 1960-2000 by Steve Poliner
Essays
Introduction by Craufurd Goodwin
Is a Full Scholarship Enough? How various segments of American society have debated whether college athletes should be paid by Jeffrey Ackermann
The Economics of Space Tourism: NASA and the Entrepreneur by Christopher Carr
Should Executive Compensation Be Regulated? An investigation of the economics involved in the societal discussion of this topic by Lauren Kellis
How Wealthy is Our Intellectual Estate, and Does It Really Matter? Assessing Economic Knowledge and Its Diffusion in the Immigration Debate by Jeffrey K. Lee
Symposium Edition 2005
This special issue of the Duke Journal of Economics features papers presented at the Third Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on April 8-9, 2005. The Symposium is an economics research conference open to all undergraduates studying at North Carolina institutions, initiated in 2002 in order to recognize the accomplishments and contributions that undergraduate research represents.
The Symposium is organized much like a competitive professional conference. Paper proposals were due in mid-February, and then reviewed by a committee of Duke undergraduates and faculty. The Selection Committee invited nine authors to present their papers at the Symposium, offering constructive criticism on the proposals in order to help the authors write or revise their papers. In addition to completing their papers, the authors also prepared 20-minute Powerpoint presentations for the Symposium, which were followed by audience discussion.
Over half of the papers this year had an international focus or international aspect, primarily dealing with the economics of developing countries. These papers included studies on the returns to education in South America, the effect of race on wage disparity in Bolivia, a growth model for sub-Saharan Africa, and the relationship between financial liberalization and corporate governance reform. A final internationally focused paper examined economic influences on the voting behavior of the Palestinian minority in Israel.
Two other papers had a local focus, including one paper on “Amenity-Led Development” in the Asheville area, and one on the relationship between socioeconomic status and exposure to fine particulate air pollution in North Carolina. Papers on the motivations for corporate philanthropy and on the history of the concept of “the good life” in economic thought rounded out the Symposium.
We commend all of the authors for the hard work and dedication that they demonstrated in producing such high quality research papers. Special congratulations go to Ailian Gan of Duke University, whose paper “The Impact of Public Scrutiny on Corporate Philanthropy” won the Best Paper Prize. Congratulations also go to Rachel Heath of Duke, whose paper “Explaining Racial Wage Disparity in Bolivia” was the Runner-Up.
Many people contributed to the success of the Symposium and they have our sincere gratitude. We begin with the Paper Selection Committee, particularly Wendy Wang, Aisha Taylor, and Will Hinckley, who served as Session Chairs. The staff of the EcoTeach Center was equally essential to the success of the Symposium. Dorothy Armento, Molly Brown, and Jennifer Socey did a great job of planning the logistics and the leaders of the Economic Student Union, Phil Neuhart, Mac Conforti, and Ravi Patel, executed those plans flawlessly.
Special thanks go to Professor Marek Gora of the Warsaw School of Economics, who traveled to Duke and gave an outstanding keynote address at the Symposium Recognition Banquet. Finally, our thanks go to the Allen Starling Johnson Jr. Fund, the EcoTeach Center, and the Department of Economics for their financial support of the Symposium.
We invite you to enjoy all of the Symposium papers in this issue, and we look forward to next year.
Connel Fullenkamp
Articles
The Influence of Class and Ethno-religious Identity on Voting Strategies: A Case of the Palestinian Minority in Israel by Wifag Adnan
The Good Life in the History of Economic Thought by Antoine P.J. Artiganave
Measuring the Value of Place: A Case Study of Recent College Graduates by Kate Fuller
The Impact of Public Scrutiny on Corporate Philanthropy by Ailian Gan
Explaining Racial Wage Disparity in Bolivia by Rachel Heath
Financial Market Development: Does financial liberalization induce regulatory governance reform? by Shiying Lee
Explaining Rates of Return to Schooling in Three South American Countries by Daniel K. McCready
A Growth Model of Sub-Suharan Africa by Anna Ramsey
Vol. XVI, Spring 2004
This volume is the sixteenth annual publication of the Duke Journal of Economics. The Journal is a showcase for outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates.
We dedicate this issue to Professor Juanita Kreps. As Professor Robert Clark writes in his biography of her, which we reproduce in this volume, “Juanita Kreps has been one of the leading economists and policymakers of the last three decades. Her illustrious career is notable for its many successes and great diversity of experiences. Juanita has been a scholar, academic administrator, government policymaker, business leader and community leader. In each of these roles, she has attained the highest levels and left her mark on society.” We are grateful for her leadership in the economics department and in the Duke administration for many years.
Thanks go to Professors Robert Clark and Allen Kelley for their recollections of Juanita and to Profiles in Gerontology for permitting us to reprint Clark’s bibliography.
We congratulate the authors of the papers presented in this issue. Many of these papers began as undergraduate honors theses.
Duke undergraduates have also copublished in other scholarly journals. Joshua Phillips Duke BA 2002, Omer Gokcekus and Ed Tower published “School Choice: Money, Race and Congressional Voting on Vouchers,” in the spring 2004 issue of Public Choice. Ken Reinker, Duke BS 2003, and Ed Tower drew from Reinker’s honors thesis to publish “Predicting Equity Returns of 37 Countries: Tweaking the Gordon Formula,” in the Summer 2004 issue of the Journal of Investing and “Index Fundamentalism Revisited,” in the Summer 2004 issue of the Journal of Portfolio Management; Gretchen A. Phillips, Duke BS 2000, and Ed Tower drew on her honors thesis to publish “Labor PAC Contributions and NAFTA Legislators: Rhetoric or Retribution?” in Michael Plummer (ed.) Empirical Methods in International Trade: Essays in Honor of Mordechai E. Kireinin, Edward Elgar, 2004.
The Journal would like to thank the Allen Starling Johnson,Jr.Endowment Fund and donors to the Havrilesky Fund as well as members of the staff of the Duke University Economics Department and in particular Molly Brown, who put the journal on line, Kevin Campbell, Jennifer Socey, Masibuwa MacFarlane, and Ryan Millner.
Charles Becker & Ed Tower, Faculty Advisors to the Journal
Articles
Das Maynard Keynes Problem: Rethinking Rationality by Ailian Gan
Compensation, Free Agency, and Future Performance in the NFL: A Market Analysis by Wagish Bhartiya
Diversifying Among the Most Concrete of Assets; An Analysis of the Optimal Direct U.S. Real Estate Investment Portfolio by Paul J. Izzo
The Euro’s Impact on France’s Trade with Adopting and Non-adopting Countries by Julie DeRoo
Horizontal Licensing: A Strategic Tool for Joint Profit Maximization by Lauren Randa Hasson
High Frequency Autocorrelation in the Returns of the SPY and the QQQ by Scott Davis
Essays
Does Robert Barro’s Model Forecast Growth? by Michael Suher
Book Reviews
“The Roaring Nineties: Seeds of Destruction” by Joseph Stiglitz, reviewed by Michelle Robinson
Nothing Is Sacred: Economic Ideas for the New Millennium By Robert J. Barro, reviewed by Federico Siviero (Ca’ Foscari University)
Symposium Edition 2004
This special issue of the Duke Journal of Economics features papers presented at the Second Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The Symposium, which was held on April 16-17, 2004, is a forum in which undergraduates from North Carolina institutions present their original research on economic topics, and discuss their findings with other students and researchers. It has the flavor of a professional academic conference, in that papers are selected on a competitive basis and authors are given a limited amount of time to present their main ideas and findings. On the other hand, each presentation is followed by a generous amount of time for audience discussion of the papers so that the authors can receive constructive criticism and continue to improve their work. Presenters and audience members agreed that this was an enjoyable and productive experience.
The Symposium was initiated last year because we believe that there is a great deal of high-quality undergraduate research taking place at Duke and other universities in the region that deserves recognition. The papers selected for the 2004 Symposium support this belief. Their topics are diverse, interesting, and timely. On the first day of the Symposium, papers were presented on the compensation of professional athletes, the impact of housing segregation on earnings, the effectiveness of AIDS awareness campaigns in Africa, and the effect of the Euro’s introduction on France’s foreign trade. The following day’s session included papers on the economic determinants of Congressional voting, the degree of rationality of college students, the factors that influence female crime, and the effect of charter schools on student achievement.
We commend all of the authors for the hard work and dedication that they demonstrated in producing such high quality research papers. Special congratulations go to Douglas Sue of UNC-Chapel Hill, whose paper entitled “Cognitive Anomalies and the Assumption of Economic Rationality: An Empirical Investigation of UNC Students” won the Best Paper Prize.
Many people contributed to the success of the Symposium and they have our sincere gratitude. We begin with the Paper Selection Committee, which included the following students: Jonathan Kirkland, Susan Wolff, Stacy Seely, Jared Toothman, Jamie Kleinerman, Stephanie Mata, Amir Khan, Peri Kadaster, Ailian Gan, and Shiying Lee. Several faculty also served on the Committee, including Lori Leachman, Emma Rasiel, Genna Miller, and Ed Tower. Paul Dudenhefer gave an excellent training session for the students on the Selection Committee. The staff of the EcoTeach Center was equally essential to the success of the Symposium. Ryan Millner, Jennifer Socey, and Dorothy Armento did a great job of planning the logistics and made sure the event ran smoothly.
Special thanks go to Steve Pagliuca, Managing Partner of Bain, for agreeing to speak at the Recognition Banquet, as well as to Professors Lori Leachman and Tom Nechyba, who welcomed the attendees on behalf of the Economics Department. Finally, our thanks go to the Allen Starling Johnson Jr. Fund, the EcoTeach Center, and the Department of Economics for their financial support of the Symposium.
We invite you to enjoy all of the Symposium papers in this issue, and we look forward to next year.
Connel Fullenkamp
Articles
Housing Segregation and Earnings: Identifying Regional Differences Over Time by Andrew T. Foerster
Women and Minor Forms of Property Crime by Johannes Norling
Cognitive Anomalies and The Assumption of Economics Rationality: An Empirical Investigation of UNC Students by Douglas R. Sue
The Euro’s Impact on France’s Trade with Adopting and Non-adopting Countries by Julie DeRoo
The Effect of Charter Schools on Academic Achievement in North Carolina by Katie Newmark
The Role of Special Interest Groups in the Debate over Prescription Drug Importation By Mike Adams
Patterns of AIDS Awareness in Southern Africa: Examining the Role of Social Capital by Ruth Carlitz
Vol. XV, Spring 2003
This volume is the fifteenth annual publication of the Duke Journal of Economics. The Journal is a showcase for outstanding research in economics by Duke undergraduates. We dedicate this issue to Professor Jack Blackburn. Jack led the Duke Economics Department as Chair and Duke University as Provost and Chancellor. Since retiring from Duke he has written two books on energy and natural resources. We are grateful to him for his wisdom, energy and warmth.
Our former colleague, Professor Emeritus Tom Naylor, sends his “congratulations and best wishes to Jack Blackburn – a first rate economist, an excellent teacher, a gentleman and a scholar, a conscientious environmentalist, and a compassionate citizen of Duke, Durham and the planet earth.”
Professors Roy Weintraub, Allen Kelley, and William Yohe wrote reflections on Professor Blackburn.
I wish to add my gratitude for help from Jack when I was Treasurer of the Carolina Friends School in Durham and Jack was a member of the board. Thanks also to Professors Allen Kelley, Roy Weintraub and Bill Yohe for their recollections of Jack.
We congratulate the authors of the papers presented in this issue. Many of these papers are undergraduate honors theses. Several of our undergraduates and graduate students have begun to publish their research and deserve congratulations.
Justin Bledin and Sharon Shewmake, Duke BA 2002, have received a revise and resubmit from the Journal of Economic Methodology on an article titled “Research Programmes and Model Building: Reassessing the Leontief Paradox,” which builds on their joint 2002 honors thesis.
Seth J. Wechsler, Duke BA 2001 and MA 2003, will publish his masters’ thesis “A Malthusian Take on Government Intervention in Fertility Decisions” in the September 2003 issue of the International Review of Economics and Business.
Five students wrote book reviews in the spring of 2003, that have been scheduled for publication in scholarly journals. We are delighted that their critical skills are being appreciated by the profession.
Richard Griffin, Review of Kyle Bagwell and Robert Staiger’s The Economics of the World Trading System, MIT Press, 2002, forthcoming in Kyklos.
Pia Jean Kristiansen. Review of Noreena Hertz’s The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy, Arrow Books, 2001, forthcoming in Development and Change.
Fernando Lohmann, Review of Sara Schoonmaker’s U.S.-Brazilian Conflicts in the Global Economy, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002, forthcoming in The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development.
Chad Nicholson, Review of Amy Chua’s World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Doubleday, 2003, forthcoming in Development and Change.
Liane Schubert, Review of Daniel Litvin’s Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility, Texere, 2003, forthcoming in Kyklos.
Kristiansen earned her B.A. in economics from Duke in May 2003. Griffin and Nicholson are earning their J.D. degrees and their master’s degrees in economics from Duke.
Lohmann and Schubert are master’s students at the Stanford Institute of Public Policy.
It continues to be a joy to research with undergraduates. Ryan Gibbs, Duke B.A. 2002, Omer Gokcekus, Duke Ph.D. 1994, and I published “Is Talk Cheap?” as the lead article in the December 2002 Journal of Policy Reform, and much to our delight our calculations of what it costs in campaign contributions to buy a word on your industry’s behalf in the Congressional Record was the subject of Richard Morin’s “Unconventional Wisdom” column in The Washington Post, April 13, 2003.
The Journal would like to thank donors to the Havrilesky Fund and Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Endowment Fund as well as members of the staff of the Duke University Economics Department, especially Ryan Millner. He designed the layout and worked with all the journal’s authors to polish their contributions. We continue to be grateful for the ideas that Priscilla Lane introduced as editor of the journal from 1999 through 2002.
Ed Tower, DJE Faculty Advisor
Articles
Diversifying Among Hedge Fund Strategies: An Alternative Frontier by Emily Perskie
An Empirical Devaluation Model of the Mexican Peso by Henry Eng
Women & Quality in American Public Education by Jasi Kamody
Still Ama$$ing Funds by Jason Levine
The Increased Risk in CEO Pay: A Response to Paul Krugman by Jason Liebel
Modeling the Model Minority: Educational Investments & Returns for Asian Americans by Jennifer T. Wang
Realizing the Potential of Crop Substitution: An Analysis of the Andean Coca Trade by Jessica E. Doerr
Real Estate Investment Trusts & Seasonal Volatility: A Periodic GARCH Model by Marc Winniford
Low-Wage Women: The Demographic Determinants of their Wages by Molly Jacobs
Does the Dividend Yield Predict International Equity Returns? by Navid K. Choudhury
The Panorama of the East Asian Crisis & the IMF’s Role Therein by Serdar Topak
Does Corporate Giving Raise Firm Value? by Christina Chang
