RESEARCH
At Samuel DuBois Cook Center’s Spring 2023 Capstone Conference
Wealth Transformations and Racial Wealth Gap between Majority and Minority Groups in the United States
Advisors: Prof William (Sandy) Darity Jr., Prof Adam Hollowell
Institute: Samuel DuBois Cook Center, Duke University
Brief: The method to evaluate the racial wealth gap in the US is subject to debate. This independently designed study aims to analyze the direction, magnitude, and significance of racial wealth gap between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics using different transformations, including logarithmic and inverse hyperbolic sine (IHS), both with and without a log-likelihood parameter. Policy and research implications of these methods and findings are discussed.
Status: Paper under review at a peer-reviewed journal
Optimizing Budget Allocations of Eswatini to Improve HIV Prevention and Treatment
Advisors: Prof Osondu Ogbuoji, Prof Gavin Yamey
Institute: Duke Center for Policy Impact in Global Health
Brief: Eswatini has the highest HIV prevalence in the world and HIV/AIDS remains the leading cause of death in the country. At the same time, decreases in health budget remain a real possibility as donor investment have declined and are expected to continue to decline in the future.This brief highlights anomalies in allocations towards preventive and curative care and outlines key efficiencies to be leveraged to optimally invest the available resources.
Status: Policy Brief drafted as part of the Center's annual Bass Connections project
Optimized allocations for varying HIV budget levels compared with baseline. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235664.g001
Business Case Study of Ryanair DAC
Advisor: Prof Grace Kim
Institute: Duke Department of Economics
Brief: Founded after the European airline industry deregulation of 1978, Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier, infamous for its "no-frills" business model. The airline's unique pricing and revenue model makes it Europe's largest budget airline by scheduled passengers flown, carrying more international passengers than any other airline. This case study does a comprehensive analysis of Ryanair's business model (revenue streams, production chain, pricing strategies etc.) and highlights concerns of product commoditization and externality effects.
Status: Case Study submitted as a class assessment