Each year, graduating Honours Economics students present their capstone research projects (Honours Theses) to faculty, staff, alumni, and fellow students. This year, the presentation was hosted at Iona Building on March 25, 2022. Some of the Honours students’ presentations will be displayed virtually here.
Each project makes use of the empirical, data science and analytical tools our students have developed over their studies. The VSE congratulates them on this milestone and we look forward to seeing what they continue to accomplish after graduation. We invite you to check out their projects below.
Interested students can learn more about the Honours program here.
Click on the poster’s image for the full PDF. Click the play button to hear an audio clip from some of the students.
Internet Access, Campaign Spending, and Election Outcomes: Evidence from Peruvian Municipal Elections
by Bruno Belevan
Since 2007, Peru has experienced an exponential and unequal increase in internet infrastructure and connectivity across districts. My research explores the effect of an increase in internet access on the level of competition in municipal elections. I constructed a novel panel data set with electoral, mobile internet infrastructure, and census data from 2010 to 2018. I find that higher levels of internet penetration led to tighter competition, an increase in electoral participation, and a reduction in the positive effects of campaign spending on vote share.
Gender Inequality in Working from Home during the COVID-19 pandemic
by Jessica Zhong
One of the most obvious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor force is the dramatic increase in employees working remotely. As many nations placed lockdown orders, K-12 schools temporarily shut down, and the children’s education was relocated to the internet. As a result, working parents who worked from home had to care for their children during working hours. My thesis explores the impact of living with children on the efficiency of working from home in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, using survey data from the U.S residents.
Sanctuary Policy and Higher Education: Evidence from the United States
by Jin Wang
Can sanctuary policy shield Hispanic residents from education interruptions amid uncertainty? From 2007 to 2019, the immigrant community in the U.S. experienced various degrees of tension and hostility due to racial profiling and the political atmosphere, culminating during the 45th presidency. Many states cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies (ICE) to identify and deport undocumented residents via the transfer of data and information on their residents. Sanctuary states have passed local laws prohibiting the transfer of such information and collaboration with ICE on deportation matters. I found that state-level sanctuary policy can effectively encourage Hispanic non-citizens to attend higher education.
The Long-Run Impacts of Hurricanes on Educational Attainment in Puerto Rico
by Felipe Grosso
Are there long-term negative educational effects that stem from hurricanes? Does living through hurricanes during key educational years (6 to 9 yrs.) entail worse long-term educational outcomes? In my honors thesis, I explore these questions focusing on Puerto Rico, an understudied territory subject to extreme climate risk. I found that, on average, hurricanes have little impact on the long-run highest grade completed in Puerto Rico; I also find no statistically significant results that those individuals ages 6 to 9 are more at risk than other cohorts
The Impact of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Protests on the 2020 US Presidential Election
by Joyce Law
Can protests lead to political change by influencing voting behaviour in subsequent elections? My thesis examines whether the ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) protests helped the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 US election. Using an instrumental variables strategy with rainfall, I find that non-violent BLM protests increased the Democratic vote share in swing states in part by discouraging Republican voter turnout. Simple model predications also suggest that the BLM protests had an impact in three states that flipped Democrat in the 2020 election.