The Impact of State and Local Government Spending on Charitable Giving in the United States
By Lynn Vandendriessche
This paper seeks to further understand how government spending impacts private giving to charitable organizations. It considers giving and spending in the United States in 2008 with a focus on government spending on education, welfare, healthcare, and hospitals. Government spending is looked at at the state and local levels. The results indicate that the impact of government spending depends not only on the category of spending, but also on the income level of the giver. Increased welfare spending is shown to cause incomplete crowding-out across all income groups. Results consistently show education spending to cause crowding-out as well. The impact of both healthcare and hospital spending is more ambiguous, with differing results for different government levels (state and local) and income brackets.
Advisor: Michelle Connolly, Peter Arcidiacon | JEL Codes: L3, L31, L38 | Tagged: Altruism/Philanthropy, and Education, Charitable Giving, Health, Non-profit Institutions, Welfare
The Impact of Greek Affiliation on Grades and Course Selection
By Andrew De Donato
We seek to understand how affiliating with a Greek organization impacts both grades and course selection. This research provides a novel addition to the literature due to a unique situation at the sample university, in that the first opportunity for freshmen to join Greek organizations occurs in the spring semester rather than the fall, as is more common. This situation allows us to control for otherwise unobserved characteristics that may be common to those who affiliate with Greek organizations. For men, joining a Greek organization is associated with a .07 point decrease in the grade received for an average class, while, for women, it is associated with an increase of .02 points in the fall semester and a decrease of .06 points in the spring semester. Joining a Greek organization is also associated with a decrease in the difficulty of selected courses, such that the average course selected provides grades that are .03 points higher than the average course, controlling for enrolled student characteristics.
Advisor: Michelle Connolly, Peter Arcidiacon | JEL Codes: I, I21, I23, I24 | Tagged: Course Selection, Fraternity, GPA, Grades, Greek, Sorority
Is the Blind Side Tackle Worth It?: An Analysis of the Salary Allocation of the NFL Offensive Line
By Kelly Froelich
The importance of the left tackle position in comparison to the other offensive line positions in the National Football League (NFL) has been widely debated amongst sports commentators, as the left tackle is traditionally the second highest paid player on a football team behind the quarterback; yet, this debate lacks empirical findings. This paper aims to quantify the impact of the individual offensive linemen on the chance of winning a game on a game‐by‐game basis and then compare the impact of the left tackle to the other offensive line positions. Using a conditional logistic regression and the marginal effects from that regression, the results do not dispute the NFL’s current trend in spending more on the left tackle in comparison to the other offensive line positions. The results show that optimal spending for the left tackle could extend to 15.976 percent of the salary cap. Thus, the possibility remains that the optimal spending for the left tackle can range up to fifteen percent of the
salary cap, seven percentage points above the next highest optimal offensive lineman spending.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon | JEL Codes: J3, J31, J44 | Tagged: Football, Left Tackle, NFL, Offensive Line, Salary
Capturing a College Education’s Impact on Industry Wages Across Time: An Analysis of Academic Factors that Affect Earnings
By Ian Low
Studying how a college education can impact one’s wages has always been an area of interest amongst labor and education economists. While previous studies have stressed using single academic factors (i.e. college major choice, performance, or college prestige) to determine the effect on wages, there has not been a focus on predicting wages given industries and a combination of these academic factors across time. Therefore, the crux of my thesis seeks to provide a new model which incorporates college major choice, GPA, industry selection across time, college type (private or public), natural ability (standardized test scores), and several demographic variables in order to predict percent increase/decrease in wages. My results show that college major choice, academic performance, natural ability, and industry selection (together) do have a significant impact on earnings, and they are appropriate measures to predict post-graduation wages.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon | JEL Codes: A2, A22, J3, J31 | Tagged: College, Industry, Wages
How Do Different Parental Beliefs and Parenting behaviors Affect Students’ College Academic Performance?
By Zifan Lin
I examine the differences between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans with respect to parental beliefs, parenting behaviors, and college academic achievement. The results suggest that 1) there is a strong causal effect of study time on college performance, 2) parental strictness and emphasis on education distinguish Asian American students from Caucasian American students in their choice of a major, study effort, and self-motivation, all of which determine college GPA, and 3) an expanded list of parental control measures and self-motivation measures should be introduced in future research to effectively explain the ethnicity effect on study effort and college academic outcomes.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon | JEL Codes: I2, J10, J15, J22 | Tagged: Academic Achievement, Asian, Education Economics, Instrumental Variables Regressions, Study Time
The Determinants and Social Benefit of Student Summer Activity: An Analysis of the Determinants of Summer Activity Participation by Elementary and Secondary Students, and the Resulting Social Benefit of Summer Activity Participation on Crime
By Elad Gross
Using data from 1996, this study first identifies the socioeconomic determinants of a child’s participation in an organized summer activity. Models are produced for summer activity in general and for different types of summer activities. The results indicate the importance of caregiver supervisory capability in choosing whether to send a child to a summer program. In the second stage of the project, actual state values of summer activity participation are related to state crime statistics, controlling for the state demographic profile. The results indicate that participation in summer activity is related to a reduction in crime rates under certain conditions.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon
Movements in the Digital Divide
By Benjamin Berg
I explore how the “Digital Divide” in the United States manifests during the
period from 2000 to 2007. I find that the digital divide is decreasing with home computer
and Internet use. But a new divide has emerged with high-speed Internet. Even though
the income gap is closing with home computer use, the evidence suggests that an
important income bottleneck is occurring at the computer acquisition level. Many never
have the chance to adopt the Internet at home because they do not have a computer.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon
The Effect of Exchange Rates on the Performance of Professional Sports Franchises in International Competition
By Nick Elliott
Exchange rates are a very important factor for businesses that operate internationally, especially when franchises are in international competition for the same talent pool. As an international league, this paper seeks to analyze how teams’ performance in the NHL is affected vis-à-vis a fluctuating value of currency. This analysis is extended to Champions’ League soccer, where over 50 countries with different currencies compete in the same international context. Results indicate that currency value has a significant effect on success in international competition.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacon
