There is extensive analysis previously done on the US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Mainly, the literature investigates biases, topical attention shifts, and changes in the content and length of the reports over time. In aggregate, findings indicate that the State Department reports institutionalized, standardized, and converged with other reports. This honors thesis applies the expectations set by the previous literature to the analysis of reports from a singular country, Venezuela. Two Venezuelan presidential transitions and one US presidential transition provided the opportunity to qualitatively observe changes in reporting and potentially contextualize those changes with the effects of the presidential transitions. The prominent changes observed in the reporting during these periods include topical attention shifts related to democratization and elections in Venezuela and changes in reporting for minority communities.

The goal of this study is to test the assumption that an AP score of 3 is equivalent to a C and gain an understanding of how AP-3 students are performing academically at ASU and how to interpret a 3 when evaluating ASU AP credit acceptance policy. Of primary interest is comparing the performance of AP-3 students to those non-AP students that got a C or higher in the corresponding course. To accomplish this, a tabular analysis of academic performance by AP score is conducted using aggregate student data from the ASU 2012-2014 cohorts. Among the performances considered are GPA, time to graduation, performance in the corresponding and following course at ASU, and more. Following this, a model is estimated for the impact that a 3 has on a student’s time to graduation when compared to non-AP students that got a C in the corresponding course.

This paper examines infrastructure spending in a model economy. Infrastructure is subdivided into two types: one that makes future production more efficient, and another that decreases the risk of devastation to the future economy. We call the first type base infrastructure, and the second type risk-reducing infrastructure. Our model assumes that a single representative individual makes all the decisions within a society and optimizes their own total utility over the present and future. We then calibrate an aggregate economic, two-period model to identify the optimal allocation of today’s output into consumption, base infrastructure, and risk-reducing infrastructure. This model finds that many governments can make substantive improvements to the happiness of their citizens by investing significantly more into risk-reducing infrastructure.

Sanctuary jurisdictions are jurisdictions that do not enforce one or more aspects of federal immigration policy in regards to unauthorized immigrants. Some states maintain state-wide sanctuary policies while others are adamantly against them. Estimates of taxes that unauthorized immigrants pay and estimates of the amount of state funding that unauthorized immigrants can access (education, financial aid, corrections, and welfare) reveal that regardless of sanctuary status, unauthorized immigrants may “pay in” more than they “take out” from the system. The status of “sanctuary jurisdiction” does not appear to have much if any effect on the net state budget. However, unauthorized immigrants are able to access more welfare programs in sanctuary states.

This study estimates the effect of district wealth on Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account program participation using data from the Arizona Department of Education. We find that students from poor districts are not more likely to participate as school performance decreases.Conversely, those from wealthy districts do increase participation as school performance decreases. We briefly try to explain the observed heterogeneity through survey results and commenting on the program design.

This project analyzed the utilization rates of respective factories for Company X compared to the Manufacturing Utilization Policy to identify discrepancies in the policy baseline trigger and when the factories are ramped to full utilization. The current policy bases three different factory types, ATM, DS/DP, and FSM all on the same baseline of FSM. This was originally set in place from a lack of sufficient data for the other factories and now that there is enough data to identify the utilization rates of each factory type, a more suitable baseline for each can be determined. If continuing to use the FSM baseline, Company X will be designating certain factories as underutilized, triggering the manufacturing utilization policy and inefficiently allocating the building expenses, thus increasing the cost per unit of products produced.

With unforeseen shocks to supply chains around the world happening as a result of COVID-19, humanitarian aid organizations like Feeding America struggled to keep up with the added demand placed on their warehouses. Many facilities struggled with getting accurate estimates of their capacity, as they fluctuate greatly with demand and supply, and most smaller facilities don’t have ERP systems to track their operations. Through the utilization of a user-friendly spreadsheet program and a basic warehouse diagram, this model offers a simple means of quantitative capacity estimation that is available to foodbanks across the nation.

This thesis analyzes the relationship between diversity within U. S. boards of directors and overall firm performance. In the summer of 2020, various political and social movements erupted, fighting against police brutality and racial violence. These events were followed by an influx of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks across corporate America. It was becoming increasingly clear that diversity within company leadership was lacking. A company’s board of directors, who is responsible for creating value for shareholders, was not an accurate representation of the people it served. First, I will begin by discussing the current state of diversity in corporate boards by discussing reasons firms diversify, benefits and risks of a diverse board, and major barriers to diversification efforts. A main goal of directors is to maximize shareholder return, which prompts the question: is there a financial benefit to having directors of different backgrounds, skills, and perspectives? In the second part of my thesis, I explore the correlation of board compositions and the company’s financial performance through a study of 45 Fortune 500 companies. Previous studies have mixed results; some studies concluded that there is a positive correlation, some found a negative correlation, and others were inconclusive. While the results of my study did not demonstrate that a relationship between firm performance and diversity exists, I want to emphasize that it does not mean that diverse boards do not contribute at all to the success of the board. There are various factors that contributed to my results, but regardless of my findings, I believe that further research of this topic is necessary and will be beneficial for those in corporate governance.