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Real Estate and Monetary Policy: The Varying Response of Housing Markets and Commercial Property Markets to Expansionary Monetary Policy Shocks
No full textThe motivations of this research paper stem from the economic and social implications of the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. The subprime lending crisis in the United States, and the way in which the Federal Reserve responded to a deteriorating housing market frame the way in which the real estate market function today. Throughout the rest of this research paper, I attempt to discern the impact of expansionary monetary policy announcements on the real estate markets in the years following the financial crisis. I also explain the way in which Federal Reserve announcements were manifested in the commercial and residential property market respectively, and some of the underlying rationale why the responses differed. The analytical models used in my approach have been used in prior research by Gabriel & Lutz (2014), and Wright (2011). I use a factor-augmented vector auto-regression in order to ascertain price responses in commercial and residential markets to Fed announcements on a daily frequency. The results of my research are somewhat inconclusive as in all of the generated impulse response functions, the confidence intervals include zero thereby rendering these results statistically insignificant. I believe that part of this result is attributable to the complexity of the financial securities as some of the time series variables are not directly indicative of underlying property prices. The lack of comparability across variables in both the commercial and residential data sets make it difficult to infer the strength of the response to Fed announcements in each respective market. However as I discuss in the results sections, the individual IFS frame a larger trend which is that the property markets on aggregate respond favorable to expansionary policy announcements. The shortcomings of this research paper on a higher level, stem primarily from the fact that there are no daily price indices that monitor asset values in the United States. Thus while one can use derivatives and more complex securities to infer price responses, it is difficult to make definitive conclusions void of a daily price series
An Analysis of the Effects of Long-Term Contracts on Performance in Major League Baseball
No full textThis study explores the effects of long-term contracts in Major League Baseball on players’ performance. By predicting performance of individual players using past performance, among other variables, this paper measures whether players perform as expected, or under/over-perform after signing a long-term contract in the free-agent market from the seasons 2006-2015. This paper analyzes pitchers and position players separately. It is expected that players with long-term contracts will underperform do to a disincentive to work hard based on the job security of a long-term contract. The results show that position players and pitchers do not underperform in the year after signing a new long-term contract, but there is a positive relationship between underperformance and total value of a contract. There may be a disincentive to perform after signing a contract for a specific amount of guaranteed money
Linking Policy to Real World: Exploring Policy Objectives of HIV Program Funders in Nigeria
No full textThis thesis explores the national and transnational climate that informs and influences Nigerian policy and approaches to combatting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It seeks to draw the connections between the historical, political, social, and economic factors that have produced the current reality of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. By exploring this issue within the context of HIV clinics in Lagos, Nigeria, I ultimately aim to demystify the notion of Africa, more specifically Nigeria, as an illness-ridden region that is inherently incapable of caring for its citizens as well as debunk half-truths of corruption and leadership deficits as the root-cause of Nigeria’s weak health system
Divergent Responses to a Shared Past: Transitional Justice Choice Formation in the Post Armed-Conflict States of Serbia and Croatia
No full textLaboratory in Cultural Psychology
No full textThis course is designed to accompany the Cultural Psychology lecture (PSYC 242) and provides students with in-depth study of various methodologies and data analytic strategies used in cultural psychological research. Students will develop two projects over the course of the semester and will gain hands-on experience using different methods to address questions relevant to the study of culture and psychological processes. Students will write APA-style research reports on their projects and give oral presentations to the class
The Yoga Tradition in South Asia and Beyond
No full textThis course surveys the history of yoga practice and thought from the earliest textual discussions of yoga until the present day. We investigate the development of the bodily and spiritual disciplines that come to be associated with yoga, in their social and political contexts. During the semester we also trace the expansion and transformation of yoga through its interaction with Buddhist and Muslim religious cultures. We examine orientalist representations of yoga, as well as the influence of colonialism and modern physical cultures on the evolution of modern yoga. The course concludes by looking at modern debates around questions such as “Is Yoga a religion?” and \ud
“Is Yoga Hindu?” Topics examined include the body, cosmology, cross-cultural interactions, colonialism and orientalism
Madness and Wine in Classical Literature
No full textThe ancient Greeks founded Western Civilization as an exercise of reason and rationality, but their writings show an equal fascination with the irrational: for every Apollo a Dionysus. Their poetry, their religion, their philosophies...all pay equal honor both to reason and to madness and intoxication. This course will sample some foundational Western writings on madness in order to \ud
examine this apparent paradox. A close reading of Plato's Phaedrus will inform our exploration of the fragmentary poets of the archaic period in order to understand the complexity of the ecstatic experience. Nietzsche's false Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy will be deconstructed in our readings of Athenian tragedy. We will consult scientific theories of mental illness and the effects of \ud
psychoactive intoxicants. Topics to be discussed will include the importance of wine in Greek and Roman culture, the role of irrational thought in Greek mythology, the Eleusinian cult mysteries, the roots of drama in Dionysian religious observance, and the presence of madness at the heart of all personal poetry.\ud
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Class time will focus heavily on analysis and discussion, with lectures devoted mainly to putting the readings into their historical, cultural, and literary contexts. All readings will be in English, but many ancient Greek terms will be learned.\ud
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The primary objective of this course, however, is to sharpen your analytical and communicative skills.Your writing will improve both in its basic syntax and in its precision in analysis
Los peces y los pájaros: Cómo se entiende SIDA y la construcción de la identidad enferma en las novelas Salón de belleza por Mario Bellatin y Pájaros de la playa por Severo Sarduy
No full textPor su propagación rápida y origen desconocido, SIDA sorprendió todo el mundo en los años 1980s. SIDA se descubrió en 1981 después de un patrón de hombres jóvenes homosexuales de repente muriéndose de un tipo ESPECIFICO de neumonía que es común en personas viejas (Stolley 7). Es importante notar que el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) causa el síndrome del inmunodeficiencia adquirida (SIDA) pero en este ensayo uso SIDA y enfermedad indistintamente. Desde su principio, SIDA causo mucha confusión incluyendo el origen de los primeros casos de SIDA (Stolley 8) a las personas en riesgo de la enfermedad (Treichler 46). El misterio y la gravedad de SIDA produjo estigma que resultó en productos culturales, como literatura, a un nivel mundial. Novelas como Salón de belleza de Mario Bellatin y Pájaros de la playa de Severo Sarduy son ejemplos de la diversidad de textos sobre SIDA que cuestionan la incertidumbre y las respuestas fallidas. Analizo las novelas para entender el estigma y vidas de personas con SIDA