The blind in China face the difficult challenge of learning to read Chinese. The current Braille system has a number of shortcomings, causing several communication problems between the blind and the sighted. A proposed system based on the Japanese Braille system could help the blind better their opportunities and way of life.
Health care in Massachusetts ranks exceptionally well but suffers from high hospital costs. This study examines why prices for similar services vary so much among Massachusetts hospitals.
This paper aims to determine whether discrimination theory or human capital theory better explains the historical underrepresentation of women in Congress.
Behavioral economists challenge the assumption that humans are economically rational consumers. When faced with complicated situations (such as navigating the health insurance system) or uncertainty (such as not knowing whether one will become sick in the future), people do not always make the optimal decisions that traditional economic theory assumes.
This paper evaluates the impact of the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s soft salary cap and luxury tax system, and showed that talent and payroll are linked within the league, causing unbalanced team competitiveness.
An analysis of methods for detecting tacit collusion in FCC spectrum auctions.
In this paper, we study the magnitude of coattail effects in the 2008 election, or the impact of the presidential election on congressional elections. We utilize data from electronic prediction markets to measure these effects.
This paper analyzes scapegoatism from the perspective of the individual members of a social network, their social utilities, and the decisions that result. Using basic psychological descriptions of the effects of a scapegoat event on the members of a social group, this paper formalizes an economic model to describe this dynamic social process. Furthermore, the model’s results lead to several general conclusions about the factors that increase the likelihood of scapegoat events.
By Jen Gong ’12, THURJ Staff Many of us believe we are more impartial than our historic predecessors, whether it be in matters of race, gender or ethnic equality. Landmark achievements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the end of apartheid or the rise of a black president to the highest office in America might seem like enough reason [...]
This study analyzes the issues of identity within a community to understand the issue of who retains the right to define a place socially and culturally.
