Analysis of the Impact of Gender and Age of Protagonists in Top-Grossing Films from 2000-2019 on Film Success
By Daniella Welton
Abstract
The gender wage gap is prominent in many fields of work, but it is especially prevalent among actors in the film industry. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of 2019 female annual workers were earning about 82.3% of their male counterparts. In a study of feature films released from 1980 to 2015, females were making only 56% of their male counterparts on average; this gap also has been shown to increase as female actors get older (Blau & Kahn, 2017; De Pater et al., 2014; Izquierdo Sanchez & Navarro Paniagua, 2017). In this paper I investigate the relationship between the gender and age of protagonists in the film industry and film success through a series of three regressions with film success defined as film total gross, critic reviews, and audience reviews. My data set is composed of 100 top-grossing films from each year 2000-2019. Through my statistical analysis I did not find any evidence that the gender or age of the protagonist influences film success. Thus my results do not show any evidence that the gender wage gap could be related to differences in film success.
Professor Genna Miller, Faculty Advisor
Professor Kent Kimbrough, Seminar Advisor
JEL Codes: J16, J30, J70, J71
The Effect of Workforce Participation and Household Income Contribution on Women’s Healthcare Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh
By Hannah Wang
Abstract
Women in Bangladesh have gained increased access to paid work in the past decade yet
still experience limited choices and access to resources, which threatens their ability to exercise
control over healthcare for themselves and their children. Several collective household
bargaining theories hypothesize a link between women’s workforce participation and
empowerment. This paper uses a cross-sectional approach and survey data collected at the end of
a randomized trial field experiment in rural Bangladesh from 2007 to 2017 to examine health
empowerment outcomes for 7,151 young women ages 14 to 32. The results show that women
who work for income are expected to be more health empowered, specifically due to an
increased ability to make their own health decisions. As a woman contributes more income to her
household, her health empowerment is expected to increase, through increased abilities to make
her own health decisions, purchase medicine for herself, and seek medical treatment
independently. Greater mobility and stronger female-positive attitudes towards gender norms are
potential mechanisms through which paid work and household income contribution can translate
into health empowerment. Furthermore, higher total household income, having children, and
being more educated than her husband are expected to increase a woman’s health empowerment.
These results are significant while controlling for the effects of various individual and household
characteristics.
Professor Erica M. Field, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle P. Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: J1; J16; I15
Peer Effects & Differential Attrition: Evidence from Tennessee’s Project STAR
By Sanjay Satish
Abstract
This paper explores the effects of attrition on student development in early education.
It aims to provide evidence that student departure in elementary schools has educational
impacts on the students they leave behind. Utilizing data from Tennessee’s Project STAR
experiment, this paper aims to expand upon the literature of peer effects, as well as attrition,
in public elementary schools. It departs from previous papers by utilizing survival analysis to
determine which characteristics of students prolonged participation in the experiment. Clustering
analysis is subsequently employed to group departed students to better understand
the various channels of attrition present in STAR. It finds that students who left Project
STAR were more likely to be of lower income and lower ability than their peers. This paper
then uses these findings to estimate the peer effects of attrition on students who remained
in the experiment and undertakes a discussion of potential sources of bias in this estimation
and their effects on the explanatory power of peer effects estimates.
Professor Robert Garlick, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Classification: I, I21, I26, H4, J13
The Case for Clemency: Differential Impacts of Pretrial Detention on Case and Crime Outcomes
By George Rateb
Abstract
About half-million of individuals in US jails are detained pretrial while legally presumed
innocent. Using data on quasi-randomly assigned bail judges in the third-largest court system in
the U.S., we study the impact of pretrial detention on defendants’ court and crime outcomes
between 2008 and 2012. We supplement our primary analysis to document patterns on bail
amounts and how they differentially impact Black defendants relative to their white and Hispanic
counterparts. Instrumental variable estimates suggest that pretrial detention increases the
likelihood of being found guilty, mainly driven by the uptake of guilty pleas, especially for
minorities. By linking court and jail data, we provide mechanistic evidence that jail time is
positively correlated with the uptake of these guilty pleas. To the best of our knowledge, these
findings have not been empirically documented due to a lack of previous data availability.
Professor Bocar Ba, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: C26; J15; K14
Tale of Two Cities An Econometric Analysis of East & West Coast Fine Art Galleries
By Daniella Victoria Paretti
Abstract
In a 2021 report published alongside Art Basel and UBS, renowned cultural economist Dr.
Clare McAndrew posited that the value of art sales in 2020 amounted to an impressive $50 billion
(although this actually marks an over 10-year low). It is no secret that the global art markets are
extremely lucrative, attracting the interest of industry magnates and business tycoons alike.
Though it is important to note that art markets are historically quite distinct from their normal good
counterparts — the sector is laden with issues regarding transparency, high barriers to entry, and
hiding of wealth. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the tides began to turn; online
platforms for museums, auction houses, and galleries were employed more than ever before,
effectively modernizing the antiquated industry and expanding its reach to new consumers. How
has this trend of digitalization changed and improved art markets? More specifically, how can data
analytics and other technological resources serve the interests of private galleries? Using sales data
from a parent gallery with multiple locations across the United States (each displaying similar
works/artists), I have conducted a number of qualitative and statistical analyses to identify key
differences between the West and East coast locations. In short, the gallery on the West coast sold
more works and at a lower average cost than its counterpart, providing key insights into this local
market’s consumer base. Beyond this, factors like size, medium, and artist gender were found to
have statistically significant effects on the ultimate sale price and turnover rate of works. My
findings suggest that means of data analytics should be utilized by all actors in the art markets to
optimize their approach to business, as well as understand their consumers better than ever before.
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
Professor Hans Van Miegroet, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: Z11, C10, J11, O33
Subprime’s Long shadow: Understanding subprime lending’s role in the St. Louis vacancy crisis
By Glen David Morgenstern
Abstract
Using loan-level data, this analysis attempts to connect the events of the subprime home loan boom to the current vacancy crisis in St. Louis, Missouri. Borrowers in Black areas in the north of St. Louis City and St. Louis County received subprime home loans at higher rates during the subprime boom period of 2003-2007 than those in White areas, with differences in balloon loans especially stark. Specifically, borrowers in Black neighborhoods received subprime loans more frequently than those with equal FICO scores in White neighborhoods. As a result of these differential loan terms, North City and inner ring “First Suburb” areas saw more foreclosure and
borrower payment delinquency, which in turn were highly associated with home vacancy, controlling for other risk factors. However, foreclosure was no longer a significant predictor of home vacancy
after controlling for demographic factors and FICO score, indicating that the unequal loan terms may have driven much of the increase in home vacancy in the St. Louis area since the Great Recession.
Professor Charles Becker, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: R1; R3; R11; R31; J1; J15
Withdrawal: The Difficulty of Transitioning to a Cashless Economy
By Praneeth Kandula
Abstract
In 2021, modern payment methods such as mobile pay have increased nearly fivefold since their introduction in 2015. This shift to an increasingly cashless, digital economy has been marked by inequitable financial and technological divides. Historically, Black and Latino adults have had less access to financial systems and are less likely to own traditional computers and home broadband. Without rectifying these issues, a cashless, digital economy only serves to widen divides. Using data from the Diary of Consumer Payment, this study descriptively examines the use of cash and alternative payment methods by different racial and ethnic groups from 2015 through 2020. I also extend this effort to address the effects of COVID-19. I find that racial differences not only exist but also the gap between Black and Latino adults and White adults grows between 2015 and 2019. Still, this paper finds that in 2020 the likelihood to employ cash for a transaction falls for Black adults but not for Latino adults. COVID-19 has been a critical driver of change, forcing both consumers and corporations to shift to a more digital-centric economy. While there have been positive shifts for Black adults, policy ensuring that all racial groups have access to the necessary financial and digital networks will be critical in establishing an equitable economy moving forward.
Professor Lisa A. Gennetian, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle P. Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Classification: D1 D31 G20 I24 J11
Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India
By Nehal Jain
Abstract
On August 14th, 2014 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the largest ever
financial inclusion scheme to date known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The
program aimed to bank all of India’s unbanked population. Prior to the program, India had one of
the highest rates of unbanked citizens. The program also included measures that prioritized women’s
access to these financial institutions given the gender gap in financial inclusivity. This paper aims
both to understand the effectiveness of PMJDY on granting women equal access as men to financial
institutions and whether financial inclusion results in increased economic empowerment, I find that
PMJDY was successful in increasing access to bank accounts and separately, that access to bank
accounts economically empowers women.
Pengpeng Xiao, Faculty Advisor
Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: J1; G28; I31
The Russian Maternity Capital Policy: Two Models
By Jackson Cooksey
Abstract
Between 1991 and 2007 the Russian Federation experienced a decrease in population
and a drop in total fertility rate below population replacement levels. In 2007 the
government, citing the importance of forestalling this decline, implemented the Russian
Maternity Capital Policy, a one-time subsidy to those families who have a second or
higher order birth. Study aims to analyze the impact of this policy on the total fertility
rate of the Russian Federation to better understand post-Soviet trends in fertility and
gain insight into how effective similar policies will be in the future if implemented
elsewhere. This study uses two models to assess the policy. First, a novel difference-indifference-
in-difference model is developed to add to existing literature on the policy.
Second, a synthetic control model is developed generate a counterfactual to measure
causal effects of the policy on total fertility rate in Russia. Difference-in-difference-indifference
estimations show the policy having a 0% to 3.5% positive effect on fertility,
and the synthetic control model results show that the policy had a large impact on
fertility in the mid-2010s but this change has declined since 2019.
Professor Charles Becker, Faculty Advisor
JEL Classification: J, J1, J11, J12, J13
Where You Live and Where You Move: A Cross-City Comparison of the Effects of Gentrification and How these Effects Are Tied to Racial History
By Divya Juneja
This thesis compares the effects of gentrification on school and air quality in ten cities to see whether cities with larger amounts of white flight post-World War II exhibited worse gentrification effects on renters. I find that renters in high white flight cities more consistently experience school quality downgrades—likely attributed to moving from gentrifying neighborhoods to worse neighborhoods. High white flight meant widespread de-investment across neighborhoods which could have lowered the school quality experienced by displaced renters. Gentrification did not consistently affect air quality in any way related to white flight, meaning confounding variables could have influence.
Advisors: Professor Christopher Timmins, Professor Alison Hagy | JEL Codes: R2, R3, J11
