Twenty-three students presented individual comprehensive research projects on economic issues.
Senior economics and international economics majors successfully presented their research theses to faculty members in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business’ Department of Economics.
The senior thesis serves as the culmination of the students’ required comprehensive evaluation in economics. Students work individually with a faculty mentor to research further topics and ideas that were discussed in class.
The 2018 theses:
The Rise of Incarceration in the U.S.: The Burden of Crime on Society
Evan Becht (mentor: Brandon Sheridan)
Federal Reserve Transparency and its Effect on the Financial Markets in the United States
Nicholas Berntsen (mentor: Vitality Strohush)
Do Student Loans Affect the Decision to Have Children?
Claire Donnellan (mentor: Vitality Strohush)
The Effects of Universal and Free Healthcare on Entrepreneurial Environments: An international analysis
Jonathan Eves (mentor: Tina Das)
Are Prisons the New Asylums? A Look at Transinstitutionalization and the Effects of Mental Illness on Crime within New York State
Amanda Feldman (mentor: Steve Bednar)
Impact of Presidential Elections on Gun Sales
Matthew Furlong (mentor: Brooks Depro)
The Impact that Playing Sports in High School has on Future Earnings
Julie Gibbons (mentor: Katy Rouse)
The Effect of NAFTA on U.S. Manufacturing Employment
Parker Holbrook (mentor: Casey Dirienzo)
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind: The Effect of Child Body Weight on Academic Achievement
Brooke Hunziker (mentor: Katy Rouse)
The Effects of Corporate Taxes on Economic Growth: A U.S. State Empirical Study
Nicholas Kyle (mentor: Brooks Depro)
The Impact of Table Position on English Soccer Spending in January
Bennett Lemanski (mentor: Doug Redington)
Changes in high school start times and teen traffic crashes
Stephan Marsh (mentor: Andrew Greenland)
Exploring the Effect of International Wage Differences on Brain Drain
Austin Martin (mentor: Brandon Sheridan)
The Impact of the Severity of Worldwide Natural Disasters on U.S. Immigration
Marianne Michael (mentor: Vitaliy Strohush)
The Effect of the Estate Tax on the Distribution of Wealth and Income Across States
Calvin Mincer (mentor: Steve Bednar)
Studying what economic factors affect college attendance rates in North Carolina
Andrew Murray (mentor: Tonmoy Islam)
Bilingualism and earnings
Adrian Pomeroy (mentor: Tonmoy Islam)
The Relationship Between Income Inequality and Life Expectancy
Christian Reese (mentor: Mark Kurt)
Health and Economic Growth in Developing Countries: An Analysis of Infant Mortality Rates in OECD-Classified Least Developed Countries in 2014-15
Megan Ross (mentor: Tonmoy Islam)
Assessing the Impact of U.S. International Sugar Trade Policy on America’s Drug Epidemic: Evidence from U.S. Counties
James Setzer (mentor: Andrew Greenland)
The Unlikely Determinants of Player Salaries in Premier League Soccer
Patrick Silk (mentor: Doug Redington)
Corporate Tax Rates and Gross Fixed Capital Formation
Adam Wanstall (mentor: Brandon Sheridan)
Migration and Educational Outcomes
Sean Webber (mentor: Brooks Depro)