Congratulations to the following CBA FUSE grant recipients.
Joseph Conrad
Has the ‘Everything But Arms’ Initiative Led to an Increase in Trade From LDCs into the EU?
In 2001, the European Union extended tariff and quota free entry to all products, except arms and munitions, from least developed countries (LDCs). This non-reciprocal trade preference is often referred to as the ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative. This paper examines the history of the ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative and the trade effects of the program more than ten years after its initiation. Specific interest will be paid to the impact on bananas, sugar, and rice because of their unique status within the agreement. An analysis is also conducted over total agriculture exports. The results showed that, in the long term, the trade increased for all four investigated areas. However, many other confounding factors could be the cause for the growth in trade. This paper evaluates these findings, while acknowledging some of those outside factors.
Award: Honorable mention undergraduate oral presentation at the 7th annual Student Research and Creative Activity Fair, 2015
Kevin Kwak
An Analysis of the Dodd-Frank Act: Before and After
In 2010, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was made into law in order to combat problems caused by the 2007 recession. This project is to examine whether the Dodd-Frank Act’s reform of federal financial regulation was successful in improving the prediction of audit qualification with financial variables. Through the use of the DirectEdgar database, financial information was compiled on forty-seven randomly selected industries from 2008 to 2009, before the act, and from 2011 to 2012, after the act. A logit model is developed with the dependent variable indicating whether the firm received a qualified opinion, and the independent variables including publicly available financial variables. The findings suggest that Altman’s Z-score is negatively associated with auditor qualified opinion and such negative relationship is more pronounced in the post act period. In addition, the predictive accuracy of the estimated model is improved in the post act period. The findings of this project shed light on the benefits of the Dodd–Frank.
Samantha Woracek
Notorious: A Case Study of Marketing and Management in Two Violent Extremist Organizations
Violent extremism is a complex issue that demands examination from multiple frameworks. By applying empirical research from marketing and management literature to two historical cases of violent extremist organizations, we were able to understand much more about the business of violent extremism. Although knowing what keeps violent extremist groups going is important, uncovering what led to their downfall is equally, if not more, important. In this study, we used a dataset of historical information previously collected through a grant funded by Department of Homeland Security to add to our own research into the Weathermen Underground and the Japanese Red Army. Using a case study design we applied notoriety (i.e., firm reputation) variables to these violent extremist organizations to determine the similarities and differences in their rise and fall from their height of power. For both organizations, we found that organizational branding was the greatest source of success; however, by creating a highly centralized structure the Japanese Red Army was better able to direct members to a strategic goal. Ultimately, the deterioration of their organizational structures led both groups to collapse. By examining these organizations, we determined that organizational strategies such as creating a unique “brand,” as well as hierarchical structure of operations play significant roles in the overall success of a violent extremist organization.