Some of the more exciting papers that I’ve had the opportunity to write also coincides with my interests in those topics. Throughout my undergraduate experience, I tried to emphasize my papers to include original, creative arguments supported by extensive research. Papers that I had the opportunity to create span fields across Public Economics, International Relations, Statistics and History. Enjoy!
“Effectiveness of Social Distancing Policies – A Comparative Study of Canadian Provinces” Written from January-April 2021;
In this paper, we make four broad contributions. First, we provide an introduction and literature review regarding prior economic and social science research on mobility patterns, Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions, and policy responses during the first phase of the pandemic. Next, we introduce a discussion of the data sets and policies to be included in our paper that may be useful in examining the effectiveness of NPIs on human mobility patterns. In addition, we analyze a number of data visualizations that graphically demonstrate the impact of social distancing policies on mobility. Lastly, we utilize our difference-in-difference regression equation to analyze policies during both closing and reopening regressions, in both the first and second waves. Our results indicated that the policies for restaurants, schools and recreation did have a significant impact on the decline in mobility, with an emphasis on mobility in the first wave.
“The Interrelation between a Nation’s Energy Security and the shifts in Balance of Power”; Written from September-December 2020;
This research studies critical aspects of the global energy security equation regarding shifts in the balance of power over the last half-century. It attempts to utilize quantitative analysis and comparative case studies to find a relationship between countries’ changing power dynamics (through a changing global energy economy) and the energy security of nations affected by this change. It also discusses the implications of such a relationship to the overall global security and stability of nations.
“A New Age of Hong Kong Nationalism: How have nationalistic elements expressed in the 2019 Hong Kong protests ordered international relations?”; Written from September 2019-April 2020;
For this paper, I utilized arguments made by Benedict Anderson’s idea of “imagined communities” in attempting to understand how nationalistic elements expressed in the 2019 Hong Kong protests ordered international relations. My essay made the original argument that nationalistic sentiments expressed in the demonstrations directly impacted the state of international diplomacy through the context of the US-China trade deal. More specifically, the crisis in Hong Kong is also a crisis of International Relations because it directly involves one of the most pressing economic issues in the world, and disruption of any kind undoubtedly has an impact on world trade everywhere.
“The Influence of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Principle on Late 20th century Hong Kong society”; Written from September-December 2020;
After writing my paper on Hong Kong Nationalism, I wanted to explore the territory’s history in more depth and detail. During the first semester of my last undergraduate year, I examined the political influence of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle from the People’s Republic of China on late 20th century Hong Kong society. In effect, a large portion of my research focussed on democratic development and the introduction of anti-PRC sentiment, and could be considered as an extension of my “New Age” research paper. The conclusions I made were multifold; through increased support towards democratic processes, as well as increased emigration from Hong Kong towards more developed regions around the world, and significant protests/social unrest following the 1989 Tiananmen incident, it is apparent that the “one country, two systems” policy had an unprecedented and unforeseen social impact on Hong Kong citizens and their society.
“How did Modernization Theory influence US foreign relations during the Kennedy administration” Written from June-July 2020;
The final paper I’ve attached to this personal page is from a history course on 20th Century American Foreign Relations that I was grateful to be a part of, during the summer of 2020. Throughout the 35th President of the United States’ time in office, John F Kennedy’s administration faced a multitude of complex issues, both domestic and foreign. From navigating the Cuban Missile Crisis to managing Cold War tensions, Kennedy’s time in office was also notable for bold proposals to contain Communist expansion in Asia, focusing on ensuring rapid economic progress in “Third World” developing countries. My paper makes the argument that Modernization theory was utilized to solidify John F. Kennedy’s emphasis on international and economic development through foreign policy, as evidenced by the creation of the Peace Corps and the USAID. His State of the Union address and thoughts on anti-communism pre-Presidency, however, also reveal that modernization theory was used as an aggressive policy tool to target Communism, shown through the inner workings of the Alliance for Progress program and the Strategic Hamlet Program.