The American dream—an ideological framework wherein anyone can achieve their goals through hard work and determination—is the backbone of American society and economics. As a heterogeneous nation composed of diverse backgrounds, people need a common denominator; the American Dream serves this purpose, but how sustainable is this idea in the face of reduced mobility? Economic…
Tag: research spotlight
Honors Thesis Spotlight: The Effects of U.S. Foreign Aid on Recipient Countries’ Economic Development
While the U.S. has a long history of giving foreign aid to developing countries, recent scholars are asking if foreign assistance is advantageous to recipient countries. The quest to measure the effectiveness of foreign aid is ongoing and increasingly fixates on outcomes of support rather than the amount provided. Congress and the Paris Declaration—which seeks…
Honors Thesis Spotlight: The Impact of the 2019 Excise Tax Reduction on the Coal Industry
Public concern about the environment and sustainable energy is escalating; however, the United States remains dependent on fossil fuels for approximately 62% of its overall energy generation. A shift to alternative energy sources is underway, but the transition is slow. The slow pace is linked to the high level of political influence the coal industry…
Honors Thesis Spotlight: Economic Globalization and Within-Country Income Inequality
Economic globalization is an opportunity to exchange culture, resources, and wealth, while other disciplines see it as an exchange of self and even an exchange of order. Additionally, economic globalization can be perceived as a “zero-sum game,” with only winners and losers. The primary debate surrounding this topic is that economic globalization will increase a…
Honors Thesis Spotlight: End of Year Spending: The Use-It or Lose-It Dilemma: A Case Study of the U.S. Department of State’s Costly Habit
Use-it or Lose-it spending is a tendency that is widespread in many forms of government that utilize the expiring budget fiscal year model to handle finances. From the immense U.S. Government to the relatively small Florida State University Student Government, we can observe this trend in spending behavior occurring at the end of the fiscal…
Research Spotlight: Constitutional Innovation and Imitation in the American States
Today virtually all sovereign countries have written constitutions, but such documents are only a recent innovation. A century ago, roughly 60 written constitutions existed and 250 years ago there were none. While the US Constitution serves as a prominent early example of these documents, it was far from the first written constitution. By the time…
Insights from Experiments for Public Economics and Public Policy
Recently, I had the honor of serving as a coeditor on a special issue of Public Finance Review with two incredible colleagues: Prof. James C. Cox of Georgia State University and Associate Professor Abhijit Ramalingam of Appalachian State University. “Public finance” can be defined narrowly as the study of the taxation and expenditure policies of governments at…
Research Spotlight: Diversion and Deception: Dudley Clarke’s “A” Force and Allied Operation in World War II
Most British and Americans have some understanding of D-day, even if the extent of their knowledge is that the Allied invasion was a success. While history makes the Allied victory at Normandy seem like a foregone conclusion, Allied planners never enjoyed such confidence. In 1943 when Allied leadership began making their initial plans for the…
Wicked Problems, Wicked Solutions 