News
Pattison Wins Political Science and International Relations Outstanding Paper Award, Student Summer Scholars Grant
June 08, 2020
Jordan Pattison's paper, "Democratic Governance and Economic Growth Rates,” was selected by the PLS/IR Student Awards Committee as the Political Science and International Relations Outstanding Paper written for a PLS/IR course for 2020. Jordan is a Political Science major who plans to graduate in April 2021. Written for PLS 315 International Political Economy, his paper evaluates the effects of democratic governance on positive economic outcomes.
Jordan was also awarded a 2020 Student Summer Scholar (S3) grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship to further pursue this research this summer. The S3 program provides grants for students to pursue an original research or creative project with the guidance of a faculty mentor. Jordan has teamed up with Professor Constantelos to explore the causal factors of economic growth, using multiple linear regression models that consider the role of political institutions, regime types, levels of economic development, and other factors. The models will be used to conduct case studies of selected country-pairs to evaluate the real effects of these factors in actual political and economic environments, with the goal of better understanding what structural factors explain variations in economic outcomes between countries. The findings of this research project will be presented at the Summer Scholars Showcase 2020 and at Student Scholars Day 2021.
Thanks to those students who submitted their papers for consideration for the Outstanding Paper Award, and congratulations to Jordan on the award and S3 grant!