Last week I posted on a chapter in Freakanomics about the relationship between abortion and crime rates. While the chapter provides a “user friendly” approach to the results, the chapter does not have much evidence supporting the claims made. The research presented in that paper was based on paper written by Donahue and Levitt. Their … Continue reading
Where have all the Criminals Gone?
In chapter 4 of Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner discuss the drastic decrease in crime in the early 90s. They go though the basic reasons why people believe that crime has dropped such as increase in imprisonment or new crime laws. What they actually came to find was a correlation between the legalization of abortions, aging … Continue reading
Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child
My research discusses the correlation between aggression and the use of corporal punishment in children. The research stemmed from the Scandinavian view against corporal punishment which I learned of when studyed abroad in Denmark. The Danes were against any sort of corporal punishment which fit my beliefs quite well. The growing concern of bullying in … Continue reading
In Chapter 5 of Poor Economics the authors discuss the reasons behind why families choose to have a lot of children in developing countries. It would make sense that the less money a family had, the fewer children they would conceive but instead the opposite problem has occurred. Banerjee and Duflo offer several possible reasons … Continue reading
Kony 2012
Today I went to a talk on the Republican Party and the primary given by two of my favorite professors on campus. I found it very informative and both individuals had very interesting things to say. I think it is easy to see during election time how screwed up the political system can seem. I … Continue reading
Happy Tuesday
Just an interesting article I stumbled upon… http://www.care2.com/causes/how-finlands-education-system-succeeds-and-americas-is-at-war.html I definitely can relate to the Race to Nowhere, a film about overworked high school students. I was one of those kids who strived for good grades and participated in too many after-school activities. Finland’s approach seems quite odd to me because their approach began a classroom … Continue reading
Effects of Corporal Punishment
The more research I do on my topic the more I realize how much information is already out there in regards to parental use of corporal punishment on children. In basically every paper I have read, there has been some link between spanking and aggressive behavior when older. In the following article that I found … Continue reading
Poverty and Education- A positive Approach
In Chapter 4 of Poor Economics, the authors discuss the problem with education for those in poverty. Banerjee and Duflo discover something that goes completely against what we are used to in the way of education. Whereas it seems to be common knowledge that children should be educated, what the authors found were low attendance … Continue reading
Targeting Customers
Last year in my GIS class we discussed how many companies track their customers purchases. It seemed creepy enough at the time but I recently was sent an article about how Target is not only tracking customers purchases, but sending them coupons in order to gain more business: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/ My initial thought was “CREEPY” but … Continue reading
Econ 350 Research
When I was in Denmark last semester, one thing I found quite different was the attitude toward children. Whereas in the US, dealing with children is left up to the parents, Danes tend to have more of a community feel. When it comes to punishment most Danes would never even think about using any sort … Continue reading
Lauren vs. Econ 