Past Student Research Projects
Individual and Team Performance in Real Effort Tasks
Erica Schultz, 2019
Majors: Economics & Mathematics
Collaborate Summer Research Project
A laborer's willingness to exert effort is affected by a number of factors such as relative compensation, coworkers' effort levels, and level of monitoring by the employer. This study explores how an individual increases/reduces the level of effort exerted in response to the performance information revealed. Data collected from an economics experiment, which features a real-effort team task introduced by Benndorf et al. (2014), asymmetric information, and induced heterogeneity in abilities, will shed light on an individual's true nature when working on a team and whether disclosing information about team members could lead to more efficient and equitable outcomes.
The Effectiveness of Finance Labs in Higher Education
Eshani Bhalla, 2016
Majors: Economics & Finance
Senior Honors Project
As the technology era takes over textbooks are becoming more obsolete to young Wall Street hopefuls and other financial professionals. Wall Street and other top financial firms are utilizing computer based programs and software every day. Questions are arising as to how best equip college graduates for their future careers. High technology labs and software packages are being installed across the globe at colleges and universities. These labs have the capacity to house programs like Bloomberg terminals, ticker tape, world clocks and data boards. This study explores the effectiveness of finance labs in preparing students for finance careers, with specific attention on liberal arts institutions. Survey results indicate that Muhlenberg is one of only 45 liberal arts Colleges that offers a finance degree. In addition, survey respondents view the lab as an extremely effective mechanism for improving student outcomes both inside the classroom and on the job market. These results support the construction of a finance lab at Muhlenberg. However, the mixed responses on the effectiveness and use of Bloomberg Terminals suggests that these terminals are not cost-efficient.
An Analysis of Virtual Economies: Understanding and Utilizing Massively Multiplayer Online Games as Economic Models
Max Safran, 2016
Majors: Economics & Chemistry
Senior Honors Project
Over the past three decades, video games have evolved to a significance beyond being a simple form of entertainment. Due to many advancements in technology, many video games have become a medium through which millions of players can simultaneously interact in the same virtual world. These such games have been defined as massively multiplayer online games (MMO’s for short). A key feature of many MMO’s is a persistent virtual world that is driven by player-player interactions in an open market economy. The virtual economies within MMO’s have become of great interest to the video game industry as a means of increasing profits and user satisfaction, private investors, and academia as potential models for studying human behavior, testing/evaluating economic theories, and for furthering the understanding of various economic systems. Despite the study of them being in its infancy, MMO’s and virtual economies have the potential to be invaluable tools to economists as models for exploring real-world economic behavior. This analysis focuses primarily on how an imbalanced faucet to sink ratio can lead to a wide multitude of problems such as hyperinflation and trivialization within the virtual economies of World of Warcraft, Blade & Soul, and Entropia Universe.
An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Israeli Natural Gas Deposits
Michele Freesman, 2015
Majors: Economics & Political Science
Senior Honors Project
The potential of Israel’s natural gas resources could help alleviate many of the problems associated with the country’s following challenges: economic costs of defense, international market isolation, the balance between liberalized and heavily state controlled economic and fiscal policy, rapid surges of population growth, and shortages of foreign capital investment. Integration into the world markets has, in the past, strengthened the Israeli economy. A partnership between European and Middle East markets that allows these nations to sell and export Israeli natural gas could help alleviate different challenges. Suring up relations with Middle Eastern neighbors, like Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan through the sale of natural gas could help integrate Israel into regional markets, as well as reducing defense anxieties, and lessening potential risks on Israel’s borders, which could translate to lessening defense spending. The integration into the European markets would also increase the increase of capital investment, like the Cyprus pipeline. Furthermore, the sales revenue from natural gas would change Israel’s economic situation by greater integration into European markets, fighting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (B.D.S.) campaign against Israel that is sweeping Europe, while also opening other Middle Eastern markets.
