RAE'JOHNESMITH
"Critique of Quantitative Easing Program"
My junior year I took a course entitled "Money & Banking", where I had a chance to learn about the Federal Reserve and how it conducts monetary policy. As my end-of-semester term paper assignment, I decided to write about the Fed's current quantitative easing program and what adverse effects it could have on long-term growth. (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pictured left.)
JUNIOR-YEAR COMPOSITIONS
"How Does Growing Up in a Single-Parent Household Affect Educational Attainment?"
This writing sample is actually the first full-fledged econometric analysis I did as an economics major. Along with my partner Lauren Hawkins, I analyzed various factors (mainly the effect of growing up in a single-parent household) to understand by how much (if at all) such household formation could impact a child's level of education attained. (Fortunately) We found that it does not.
"ANALYSIS OF THE IMMEDIATE REPERCUSSIONS OF THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION"
During the time period of the Haitian Revolution, Haiti was the most profitable island in the Western hempisphere--and now it is the poorest. To better understand this transition, I chose to write an end-of-semester term paper in my History of the Caribbean course on the immediate repercussions of the Haitian Revolution, and if there was anything differenty Haiti could have done afterwards to secure its place in the global marketplace.
Journal of Written Critiques for Macroeconomic Theory Course
In my intermediate macroeconomics course, all students were required to critique four scholarly journal articles on macroeconomic topics. I chose to critique articles which focused on aggregate labor market behavior, output aggegates, economic growth, and the business cycle.
Journal Summary of "Statistical War on Equality"
In my econometrics course, we had to read a number of scholarly journal articles to better understand the rationale for using econometric methods in research. One of these articles focused on ethics, and how statistics has been used to unethically encourage racial stereotypes (The Bell Curve) and to create public policy beneficial only to the white majority. I summarize this article here. and an
Financial Statement Analysis
In a course on business management, I worked with a group of five Spelman students to create a business plan for an on-campus salon called Barbee Doll House. As a member of this team, I was responsible for coming up with the financials. I have provided them as a sample of my work in financial statement formulation.
