This paper attempts to introduce analytics and regression techniques into the National Hockey League. Hockey as a sport has been a slow adapter of analytics, and this can be attributed to poor data collection methods. Using data collected for hockeyreference.com, and R statistical software, the number of wins a team experiences will be predicted using Goals For and Goals Against statistics from 2005-2017. The model showed statistical significance and strong normality throughout the data. The number of wins each team was expected to experience in 2016-2017 was predicted using the model and then compared to the actual number of games each team won. To further analyze the validity of the model, the expected playoff outcome for 2016-2017 was compared to the observed playoff outcome. The discussion focused on team's that did not fit the model or traditional analytics and expected forecasts. The possible discrepancies were analyzed using the Las Vegas Golden Knights as a case study. Possible next steps for data analysis are presented and the role of future technology and innovation in hockey analytics is discussed and predicted.

Since 2014, the legal marijuana industry has flourished in Colorado, the first state to ever legalize its recreational use in the United States. It is necessary to fully understand the economic impact of the implementation of the recreational system as well as the characteristics of the market for lawmakers, business owners, and voters to make educated decisions on future legislation. This report will delve into these matters in an objective manner to provide all the stakeholders in any present or future recreational marijuana market (users, business owners, legislators) with accurate information on the current state of the industry. Starting with an introduction of the history of marijuana in the United States, as well as the factors that led to its illegality, offers insight into the past and current laws currently impacting the recreational marijuana market in Colorado, with special emphasis on the state regulatory framework in place at this time. The analysis will include an in-depth examination of the current market forces at play in the recreational marijuana market, including technological, sociological, and economic factors, with a look at current business-level strategies for marijuana businesses and the threats arising from alcohol and tobacco, the drug's main substitutes. This report will explain the tax framework in place in Colorado, and investigate trends in market sales and tax revenues, including detailed statistics on the distribution of tax revenue throughout the state. A comprehensive analysis of the legislative issues the market faces, both in Colorado and across the country, will thoroughly indicate the major problems the industry must overcome in the future, or whether it can do so at all. These will include difficulties in the banking, taxation, insurance, and bankruptcy systems that marijuana-related businesses currently face.

Grade inflation in modern universities across the United States has been documented since the 1960's and shows no signs of disappearing soon. Responses to this trend have ranged from mild worry to excessive panic. However, is the concern justified? How significant are the effects, if any, of grade inflation on students? Specifically, does grade inflation on the aggregate level have any effect on how much an individual will learn from their courses? This is precisely the question my project hoped to address. Grade inflation in U.S. colleges has played a central role in student-teacher relationships and the way university classrooms run. Through teacher interviews, student surveys, and a literature review, this paper investigates the nuanced effects grade inflation is having on student motivation and learning. The hypothesis is that the easier it is for a student to obtain their desired grade, the less they will end up engaging in and learning from a given course. Major findings of the literature include: grade inflation has robbed grades of their signaling power, grade inflation has helped create students are too grade-oriented, student evaluations of teaching have prompted higher grades, higher expectations for high grades induce greater study times, and open dialogue can help reverse grade inflation trends. The student surveys and faculty interviews agreed with much of the literature and found that professors believe grade inflation is real but do not believe its effects are significant, students admit to being primarily motivated by grades, and students find grades critically important to their future. The paper concludes that grade inflation is not as detrimental to student outcomes as ardent critics argue and offers practical ways to address it.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the most anticipated, inspiring, and intense sporting events in the world. Soccer has integrated itself not only in sports circles, but also in politics, commerce, and society as a whole. The sport has about two hundred million active players and is still growing, especially in areas such as North America and Asia. As of mid-2007, FIFA’s membership included 208-member associations, making it not only one of the largest and most powerful sports governing bodies, but also one of the most popular in the world.

Since 1930—with the exception of the break for World War II—every four years, the world’s best national teams face off in a soccer tournament. The last two tournaments hosted by South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014 will be the emphasis of this paper. Each tournament featured the thirty-two countries and captured a television audience of over three billion people throughout the month-long tournament, one billion of which tuned in for the final. For comparison, the Super Bowl XLIX where the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28 to 24 was the most watched event in United States’ history with a viewership of 114.4 million people.

Countries spend years planning and preparing to win a bid to host one of these mega events. Bids are often times awarded eight to twelve years in advance. There has been a recent trend of developing countries hosting the FIFA World Cups and the future bids already awarded follow that trend. Many people ask the question of whether all the money spent on infrastructure, construction, and tourism to host this tournament and gain international exposure are really worth it? Simply put, the 2010 FIFA World Cup was valuable to South Africa while the 2014 FIFA World Cup was not worth the costs to Brazil.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the factors leading to the valuations of professional sports teams, with a focus on three of the largest professional sports by revenue: soccer, baseball, and basketball. The main goal of this report is to analyze historical growth rates in the total price paid for professional sports teams and the value-added activities that lead to increased sales prices well above the Forbes yearly valuation. Additionally, we will incorporate statistical analysis and data sets highlighting different approaches and valuation tactics used when determining a proper sales price for a team that can be incorporated in future research and provide a basis for explaining the high price many are willing to pay to acquire a sports franchise.

Gendered products are prevalent in the modern consumer products market. This paper provides historical context for the change in the consumer products market which started as a genderless product market and shifted to a female consumer-centric market reflecting the economic needs of the United States through World War I and II. This female consumer-centric market results from the rise of consumer research and many household products are created to satisfy female consumer preferences. But as the consumer demographics change with more women entering the labor force, the types of products being sold change to appeal to the increasing number of male consumers who begin shopping for themselves. This increase in male products is what leads to the booming men's personal care products market that we see today. With an increase in gendered products, there has also been an increase in the number of backlash companies face for creating specific gendered products. This paper outlines the history of gendered products and the potential future of products in the United States.

This paper intends to analyze the National Football League (NFL) and the role stadiums play within it. The NFL, being the nation's largest professional sports league, has experienced a large amount of volatility over the past couple of decades. Teams have relocated a significant number of times and stadium projects have grown in size, cost, and frequency. Because of these observations, we chose to focus in on this particular sports league in order to answer our many questions surrounding the role of a professional sports stadium in the economics of a city. We seek to understand the economics these sports stadiums impact on the league and the cities they reside in. To do this, we compiled data of NFL franchise wins, average ticket prices, stadiums, and franchise values, while researching the stadium building process and referencing the opinions of leading sports economists across the nation. Next, we discussed the process of building a stadium, which entails the core steps of design, construction, cost, and funding. We discuss tax-exempt municipal bonds, and explain what an impact economic analysis is and how teams use them to get cities to support their projects. Moreover, we discuss the threats of relocation and how the NFL can exert pressure on stadium project decisions. Finally, we talk about the future of the NFL, with a new trend of empty stadiums and make predictions for upcoming relocation destinations. Based on these findings, we draw conclusions on the economics of sports stadiums and offer our opinion on the current state of the NFL.

The goal of this thesis project is to provide insight into the lives of Syrian refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants who have left Syria for the United States within the last 6 years, after the start of the conflict there. I have interviewed individuals who come from different regions of Syria, are members of different religious groups, and who have different opinions in regard to the conflict in Syria. One of the questions that I was most curious to ask and have answered was why America was selected as the final destination for their immigration. Along with their backstories from their time in Syria up until their arrival in the United States, I did research into the immigrants' acclimation process, and whether they feel that private organizations or that our government have helped them in that regard. I also collected data to see what the average amount of time to find a job and become self-sufficient in the United States is for these persons and their families. Although most educated Syrians know French, English, and Arabic, I was proven right in my hypothesis that many refugees have come to the United States knowing little, if any, English. Research was done into the programs that are offered to these people and their personal efforts to learn English were also documented. The primary purpose of this thesis was to find the economic and social effects of Syrian immigrants in the state of Arizona, and hopefully, on a larger scale. It was very challenging to get exact numbers on the amount of refugees and impossible to get specific details in regard to their economic impact on the economy. In order to get an approximation, I read David Card's research into the Mariel Boatlift, which documented the economic effects of Cuban immigrants on the Miami labor market, and Semih Tumen's work, titled, "The Economic Impact of Syrian Refugees on Host Countries: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Turkey" which provides research-based analysis of the specific effects of Syrian refugees on the economy of Turkey. Conclusions for both the economic and social impact of Syrian refugees in the state of Arizona were made. Due to the current low numbers of Syrian refugees living in Arizona and the mentality that many of them possess, there is a net neutral economic impact. In regard to social impact, I was surprised to learn that the acclimation process for Syrian immigrants is relatively rapid, particularly when compared to other immigrant and refugee populations.

On September 11, 1973, Augusto Pinochet became the leader of Chile after a violent coup d’état, which left the economy in shambles. The previous president and ruling party, Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity coalition respectively, were moving the country towards socialism and in doing so increased the government presence in the economy, nationalized copper and other industries, and redistributed agricultural land. Soon after nationalizing the copper industry, prices fell and the large expenditures being made by the government lead to a recession characterized by shrinking GDP, failing nationalized businesses, US economic sanctions, high inflation, and unfavorable exchange rates. Pinochet turned to the Chicago Boys, Chilean economists educated at the University of Chicago’s School of Economics by Milton Friedman, to formulate an economic plan that would reduce inflation as well as limiting government involvement in the economy. This paper will examine the neoliberal free market principals instituted by the Chicago Boys, the immediate and delayed effects in the Chilean government, and how these principals have been and can be utilized to provide stabilization and growth in other Latin American economies.

This thesis project provides a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the golf industry in Arizona. We begin by examining the economic, environmental, and social costs that the industry requires. One of the largest costs of the industry is water consumption. Golf courses in Arizona are currently finding ways to reduce water consumption through various methods, such as turf reduction and increasing the usage of drip irrigation. However, even at current levels of consumption, golf only consumes 1.9% of water in Arizona, compared to the 69% consumed by agriculture. Of the water consumed by the golf industry, 26.3% is wastewater, otherwise known as effluent water. Since the population in Arizona is projected to grow significantly over the next decade, the amount of effluent water produced will also increase. Due to this, we recommend that the golf industry move towards using as much effluent water as possible to conserve clean water sources. Additionally, we examine land allocation and agricultural tradeoffs to the state. Most golf courses are built in urban areas that would not be suitable for agriculture. The same land could be used to build a public park, but this would not provide as many economic benefits to the state. Many courses also act as floodplains which protect the communities surrounding them from flooding. These floodplains have proven to be crucial to protect from occasional flash floods by diverting the excess water away from homes. We also discuss golf's primary social cost in terms of its perception as being a sport played exclusively by privileged and wealthy people. This is proven to be false due to many non-profit organizations centered around the game, as well as municipal courses that provide affordable options for all citizens who want to play. We provide an in-depth analysis of the benefits that the industry provides to the state and its citizens primarily through business and tax revenue, employment, and property values. Including multiplier effects, the golf industry contributed 42,000 full- and part-time jobs, $3.9 billion in sales, $1.5 billion in labor income, and $2.1 billion value added in 2014. An estimated $72 million in state and local taxes were generated from golf facilities alone, without including taxes from indirectly impacted businesses. This tax revenue provides a great benefit to the public sector and increases Arizona's GDP. Also, much of this economic contribution is from the golf tourism industry, which brings new revenue into the state that would otherwise not exist. Golf courses also increase the surrounding real estate prices anywhere from 4.8% to 28%, providing a positive externality to community members in addition to scenic views. Finally, we provide a case study of the Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMO) to illustrate the impact of Arizona's single largest golf event each year. In 2017, the event brought an estimated $389 million into Arizona's economy in one week alone. Also, it regularly hosts massive crowds with a record-breaking 719,179 people attending the event in 2018. The WMO has also taken a "Zero Waste Challenge" to promote eco-friendly and sustainable practices by diverting all of the waste and materials produced by the tournament from landfills. The WMO has been dubbed both the "Greatest Show On Grass" and the "Greenest Show On Grass" due to the entertainment value provided as well as its effort to improve the environment.