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High School Financial and Economic Education: An Exploration of Predictors of Effective Program Outcomes
No full textThis research was conducted to further explore predictors of effective high school financial and economic education programs, focusing on student and volunteer instructor variables. This study used Junior Achievement’s Economic for Success program, with content covering concepts in financial literacy and economic literacy, correlated with national standards established by the Jump$tart Coalition and the Center for Economic Education. Primary data was collected from 337 students from five high schools located in Western Massachusetts, and included pretests, posttests, and demographic information. Additional information was collected from the 31 volunteer instructors who taught the program. A multiple regression (gain score based) model was used, with change scores (difference between pretest and posttest) as the dependent variable, and with specific high school student and volunteer instructor variables used as the experimental independent variables. The gain score model resulted in a statistically significant intercept, indicating an overall effectiveness of the program. While the hypothesis related to volunteer instructor variables was not met, the hypothesis related to high school student variables was met. The positive and significant high school student predictors of increased financial and economic knowledge were the high school students’ perceived likability of their volunteer instructor and the high school students’ grade point average. A supplemental regression analysis was performed in order to further understand the pretest results, whereby pretest scores were regressed onto student-level variables from the primary analysis. Findings, supported by the literature, indicated the presence of baseline differences in financial and economic knowledge as a function of racial identification and socioeconomic differences based on high school attended
Spatial Ecology of Sympatric Carnivores in a Mixed Grass Prairie Ecosystem, South Dakota
No full textModeling the Economic Impact of Trade Liberalization Comprised of Tariff and Non-Tariff Measures Under Cafta-Dr in Costa Rica
No full textAccording to theory, free trade and open markets bring about prosperity for both developed and developing member countries under free trade agreements. It has become commonplace among econometric modelers, seeking to determine the impact of trade reform, to construct general equilibrium models. However, in doing so, the existence and impact of Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) have been a consistently overlooked aspect of the domestic economic impact of systemic shocks to trade. This research addresses the impact of tariff and non-tariff measure reductions, agreed to under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), on the household in Costa Rica since its inception. To this end, a modified Static Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model for the economy of Costa Rica, with a base year of 2007, coupled with a point-in-time linear regression comparison for 2016, has been developed and considered. Following ECORYS 2006, Gruebler (2016) and Francois (2013), the reform measures will be trade tariff reductions simulated at the macro level with the CGE model in conjunction with a point-in-time review of the NTMs. This study concludes that with decreases in the price of traded commodities due to tariff elimination, consumer welfare increases, owing largely to increased consumer surplus and decreased producer rents and government revenues. This also bodes well for overall aggregate welfare as determined by equivalent variation analysis. With respect to non-tariff measure analysis, the results reveal significant additional welfare efficiency gains across factor and sector returns, in much the same direction as the original equivalent variation
The Effect Media has on Juror Bias
Get PDFThe purpose of the study was to illustrate the problems associated with juror bias and how the media contributes to it. The way the media portrays individuals, the language they use, and the pictures seen as affecting potential jurors when they determine verdicts of the people they hear about on the news. The study further investigates whether or not these jurors are influenced enough by the media to cause a bias detrimental to the defendant. The design of the study used multiple peer-reviewed sources, documentaries, and semi-structured interviews. Through these, information was gathered and analyzed. I found through the interviews and sources that there were sentiments that jurors cannot help but be biased by the media through news stories, newspaper publications, etc. Instances in the past such as Amanda Knox and the Central Park Five were victims of juror bias. However, for the most part, jurors will disregard evidence not presented in court (e.g. media coverage, inadmissible evidence). If certain aspects of a case, such as the suspect’s face were to be left out of the news, juror bias could decrease and maintain trials based on evidence. Overall, bias is not a significant enough issue in the courts for it to affect verdict deliberation amongst jurors
Microgrids: Legal and Regulatory Hurdles for a More Resilient Energy Infrastructure
Get PDFNatural disasters and climate change have made it apparent that energy infrastructure needs to be modernized and microgrids are one type of technology that can help the electricity grid become more resilient, reliable, and efficient. Different states have begun developing microgrid pilot projects including California, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the first city to propose implementing “energy districts” of microgrids that will serve as critical infrastructure, in the first phase, and then expand to commercial and community settings. This large project involves many shareholders including public utilities, government agencies, and private entities. Utilizing microgrids on such a large scale raises issues regarding its classification, as energy generation or energy storage, and whether it should be regulated by public utilities, private entities, or municipalities. In a state like Pennsylvania where the energy market has been deregulated, there is strong concern on what the public utilities involvement will be with microgrid projects.
This Note focuses on the regulatory issues that are raised with the construction and operation of microgrids at such a large scale in Pittsburgh. It addresses the difficulties that arise when implementing microgrids in a deregulated energy market state such as Pennsylvania, where little to no statutory language exists regarding microgrids. It will give an overview of proposed Pennsylvania legislation that may impact a public utilities’ control over microgrid technology and the benefits and costs when examining the extent of the public utilities’ role regarding ownership and control of microgrids in a deregulated energy market
Freedom of Religion and Belief in India and Australia: An Introductory Comparative Assessment of Two Federal Constitutional Democracies
Get PDFThis article considers the freedom of religion and belief (“free exercise”) in two secular federal constitutional democracies: India and Australia. Both constitutional systems emerged from the former British Empire and both continue in membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, which succeeded it. However, the similarities end there, for while both separate church and state, and protect free exercise, they do so in very different ways. On the one hand, the Indian Constitution contains express provisions which comprehensively deal with free exercise. On the other hand, while one finds what might appear a protection for free exercise in the Australian Constitution, that protection is far from comprehensive. Instead, unlike its Indian counterpart, the Australian federal democracy depends upon a piecemeal collection of Constitutional, legislative, and common law provisions which, when taken together, seem to achieve plenary protection for free exercise. Still, while India protects free exercise within a comprehensive constitutional framework, and while Australia does so in a disjointed and fragmentary way, both arrive at the same place: a constitutionalism characterized by secularism/separation of church and state combined with a corresponding comprehensive protection for free exercise
Rights of Creditors to Collect Marital Debts After Divorce in Community Property Jurisdictions
Get PDFThe primary thrust of this Article is to address the post-divorce liability issue outlined in Part III from the perspective of debtor-creditor law. The rules adopted in most of the community property jurisdictions with respect to this issue appear to be primarily focused on the perspective of marital property and family law without regard to general debtor-creditor law principles and policies. For example, basic fraudulent transfer law has been ignored in those jurisdictions and not applied in the usual manner. As a result, the rules developed in those jurisdictions with regard to the post-divorce liability issue are not consistent with the basic principles and policies of debtor-creditor law. Part IV of this Article will discuss basic debtor-creditor law as it relates to this issue, and will propose a set of rules which could and should be adopted by the community property jurisdictions consistent with debtor-creditor law as it applies generally