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Hitting the Books: An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Education Expenditure on GDP per Capita and Economic Growth
Get PDFThis paper investigates the link between education spending in Mexico and Central American countries and illegal immigration to the United States. Despite challenges like poverty and governance issues, these nations experience significant migration to the U.S., underscoring the need for deeper insights. Analyzing economic motivations and migration costs, the study emphasizes education expenditure\u27s role in economic growth. Through empirical analysis, it highlights the importance of addressing root causes and offers policy recommendations. Overall, this research contributes to understanding the intricate relationship between education, immigration, and economic development
Time and Imagined Futures in Eastern African Art Forms
Get PDFThis article introduces the NJAS special issue “Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa”, edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed. Artists in eastern Africa use songs, poems, fiction, cartoons, and other artistic forms to explore their lived experiences and future possibilities. Through their art they can envision alternatives to their current experiences, contest social and political problems, and reveal the dangers of complacency. They can also grapple with regret at missed opportunities or develop a sense of longing for a future that could or should have been had different decisions been made. Through these processes of envisioning and challenging future trajectories, artists illuminate diverse human attitudes toward time, encompassing hopes, aspirations, fears, anger, resentment, and nostalgia. Recognizing the role that artists have in empathizing with and validating the experiences of others, this article provides a framework for comprehending artistic orientations to time that are often fluid, contested, and uneven. It reveals that individuals, including both creators and consumers of art, orient themselves toward different future possibilities as they negotiate their present circumstances and daily struggles. Thus, art serves as a medium through which individuals explore, challenge, critique, and imagine future possibilities, as well as deal with regret at unexplored past opportunities
How Cultural Intelligence Facilitates Employee Creativity: The Roles of Intercultural Citizenship Behavior and Perceived Disharmony
Get PDFEmployee creativity is widely recognized as a pivotal factor for organizational innovation. Despite the known benefits of cultural intelligence (CQ) in enhancing task performance in intercultural environments, little research has examined the relationship between individual CQ and creativity. Drawing from the interactionist perspective, where creativity arises from the dynamic interaction between individuals and their environments, this research explores how individual CQ dimensions (metacognitive and motivational) enhance creativity through social interactions and cultural environments in multinational corporations (MNCs). Using a sample of 116 employees from three multinational companies, this study examines the relationship among individual CQ, intercultural citizenship behavior (intercultural OCB), perceived intercultural disharmony, and creativity. A moderated mediation model was tested with the PROCESS SPSS macro analysis. Results show that the positive relationships between the two types of CQ, metacognitive and motivational CQ, and creativity are mediated by intercultural OCB. Furthermore, the mediated association between CQ and creativity is moderated by perceived disharmony within the organization. This research extends the study of organizational innovation by focusing on specific CQ through an interaction approach, which has not been fully explored. It enriches our understanding of how MNCs can leverage employee cultural differences to facilitate innovation
Let\u27s Move! An Analysis into the Relationship Between Physical Activity, Work-Related Outcomes, and Mental Health
Get PDFThe Affordable Care Act of 2010 subsidized the use of Corporate Wellness Programs (CWPs) as a way to combat the growing obesity problem currently plaguing the United States. Despite this subsidization, these CWPs offered by employers are still lacking in both quality of programs and the number of programs that are offered to employees. 52% of all companies in the United States sponsor a CWP, and these numbers decline to approximately 28% of all companies offering a physical activity program for employees. Current literature highlights the benefits of physical activity, but there is lack of research on CWPs and their effects on mental outcomes in employees. The purpose of this research study is to examine the effects of exercise on mental outcomes of productivity, stress, and depression, as well as investigate the effectiveness of CWPs in office workers and students. A survey was conducted assessing the desired outcomes and distributed to Bryant students, faculty & staff, and Bryant alumni.109 responses were collected with 88 being used in the analysis. Once results were collected, regressions were used to interpret the data. The results indicated that lifestyle and age were significant predictors of productivity, having a positive and inverse relationship respectively. There were no significant predictors for stress. Stage of Physical Activity (PA) and Occupation were both significantly related to depression. The effects of CWPs on measured outcomes appeared to be minimal. Further research exploring the key drivers for success in CWPs would be beneficial to the current literature
Effects of Climate Change on the Agricultural Supply Chain in the American Northeast
Get PDFThe purpose of this project is to investigate the effects that climate change will have on the agricultural supply chain in the Northeast United States. The goal is to provide risk mitigation methods to farmers and supply chain professionals for how to combat the rapidly changing environmental status quo. This was investigated by surveying 21 farmers about their opinions about the current state of farming and their optimism or pessimism on the future of farming. The findings reflected a great concern for the future of farming despite many alarming signals about the increasing intensity of storms. The conclusion was that supply chain managers should prioritize climate change risk indicators when selecting suppliers to combat risk and give a competitive advantage against unprepared competition. By taking a more proactive approach, many companies will be more prepared to “weather the storm.
The Impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. Life Insurance Industry: A Study of Pandemic Mortality Rates
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial and widespread impacts around the world that are not yet completely understood but will likely be experienced for years to come. This research seeks to analyzed and quantify the pandemic’s effects on the life insurance industry in the United States through the use of mortality models. Because the life insurance industry relies on the ability to accurately predict an individual’s mortality, it is necessary to investigate the impacts of the pandemic on mortality predictions and accuracy. Impairment factors were developed using pandemic mortality data and applied to existing mortality tables to compare expected and actual mortality throughout the pandemic. It was found that mortality was higher than expected for 2020, 2021, and 2022, leading to subsequent declines in life expectancy. This increase in mortality and decline in life expectancy depicts the inaccuracy of prior models for the pandemic. Additionally, higher mortality rates means that insurance companies likely were not charging enough in premiums to offset the mortality risk they were facing, likely resulting in substantial financial losses for the life insurance industry throughout the pandemic. Through the creation of more accurate mortality models for the pandemic, subsequent insurance products can be more accurately priced and reserved. Future insurance products should be designed to consider clients with heightened risk of mortality due to COVID-19 and potential widespread increases in mortality overall
