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Purchasing Policy: The Effect of Political Action Committee Campaign Contributions from the Agribusiness Sector on Support Mechanisms for Individual Crop and Product Producers

By Rebecca Sobel, Princeton University -- In this paper, I analyze data on agricultural producer support mechanisms and agribusiness Political Action Committee campaign contributions from 1998 to 2016 to deter- mine the extent to which lobbying on behalf of any particular crop or agricultural product is translated into government transfers back to its producers. I proceed with ...

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The Economic Impact of Psychological Distress on Former Child Soldiers

By Jonathan Kaufmann, American University -- While previous research demonstrates a significant negative relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and earnings among adult veterans in the United States, a similar connection for children in developing nations has not been established. The literature indicates that both endogeneity and sample-selection biases are inherent in this relationship. This paper used

Macroeconomics

BLOG: Market Distorting Moral Hazard of Dodd-Frank’s Title II: The Costs of Inefficient Capital Markets

By Charles LeSueur, Vassar College -- The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether Title II of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) effectively fulfills the stated goals of ending “too big to fail”, “no more taxpayer-funded bailouts”, and decreasing systemic risk.  I argue that Title II institutionalized taxpayer-funded bailouts under different language and increased systemic risk ...

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BLOG: Expert Opinion and Restaurant Pricing: Quantifying the Value of a Michelin Star

By Carly Shin, The George Washington University. -- This paper investigates the relationship between expert ratings and the restaurant market. Specifically, this paper aims to broaden our understanding of the experience goods markets by looking at the effects of both having an expert-awarded Michelin star and earning or losing a Michelin star on New York City restaurant prices.

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The Influence of Collectivism on Microfinance in Senegal

By Cole Scanlon (Harvard University), Keaton Scanlon (Warren Wilson College), and Teague Scanlon (Pomona College). --- Microfinance, despite its mixed results in economic literature, continues to proliferate in many developing countries (Rooyen et al., 2012). This research project investigates the relationship between collectivism and microfinance.