Kent Economics Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 1, 2022

This Journal’s mission is to showcase the great research work which the University of Kent’s Economics undergraduates produce in their final year at Kent. These works are typically the first exploration into Economics Research for our Students but the standard of work they produce is high and the intellectual content impressive. Kent students are free to research any topic in Economics and the range of research questions exampled in this first edition of the Journal illustrates this breadth.

The Journal, and the papers herein, are an excellent example for potential applicants to Kent to understand how far Kent Economics can take you – if you try. The Journal is also a “must read” for our current students who are about to embark on their own Dissertation, in order to see what they should aim for.

For our Staff, helping our students to produce their first piece of research is a real highlight of our work. Even if you don’t have time to read every paper there should be a piece here that motivates, sparks your interest or imagination.

In this issue:

This first issue of the Kent Economics Undergraduate Research Journal features contributions from 14 of the final year dissertation students from the class of 2022. These papers were selected by those staff who had sight of all of the year’s Dissertations. Papers were chosen for inclusion because of their clear merit, based on objectivity and quality of the work and the intellectual novelty displayed in the work.

Three of these papers, by Tayla-Lea dos Santos, Thomas Dawkins and Niamh Dunlea, apply discrete choice experiments to answer question about the value of differing work and home environments and the provision of urban green space (both topical in our post-covid world) and uncover workers potential ‘self-handicapping’ behaviour, a concept borrowed from psychology, in the context of readiness to volunteer in workplace situations. Lewis Powel ask whether experience of the pandemic has changed investment in our own health. Other papers focus on macro and finance questions, Khereddine Adeyemi considers how social media can impact crypto currency values while Mihai Leolea asks whether exchange rate theory really hold at the base rate lower bound. William Morgan provides evidence of the impact of the UK Stamp-Duty “Holiday” on house prices. Emmanuel Begah looks at the wage/productivity puzzle in the UK economy. Oliver Micallef if cap and trade pollution policy can really alter population health. Lucy Watson ask questions about whether individual’s sexuality imparts workplace & pay disadvantage. Victoria Evans considers the impact of worker safety legislation across India while Sophie Knott asks whether mobile technology can enhance education in remote Africa. Aliye Osman considers the impact on host communities of the relatively recent refugee influx in Turkey.

Each of these authors have been given the opportunity to revise their final Dissertation paper in the light of written feedback provided by staff who marked their paper. Each has taken this opportunity to varying degrees but readers should be aware that these works are the product of the students’, now graduates’, efforts and not of faculty. They are published here as an example of the excellent research our students can produce but should not be considered as peer reviewed research on which decisions can or should be based.

Editors:

Professor Alastair Bailey and Dr Amanda Gosling (August 11th, 2022)

Kent Economics Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 1, 2022

Kent Economics Undergraduate Journal

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