News
Zac Thiel Wins PLS/IR Outstanding Paper Award
April 14, 2016
Zac Thiel's paper, "Exploring the Causes of Inequality in Developed Countries" was selected by the PLS/IR Student Awards Committee as the Political Science and International Relations Outstanding Paper written for a PLS/IR course in 2015. Zac wrote his research paper last fall while taking PLS 315 International Political Economy. There were a total of five submissions, and Zac will receive a $200 monetary award. Thanks to those students who submitted their papers for consideration, and congratulations, Zac!
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in December, Zac continued in his internship with the City of Grand Rapids and recently was selected to fill a permanent leadership development position with the City. In the future he plans to pursue a graduate degree and continue his career in public service.
Here is the abstract to Zac's excellent paper:
Existing observations of the nature of inequality fail to fully explain this problem. This paper explores the nature and potential causes of inequality, as measured using the GINI coefficient, in order to identify policy areas that offer promising solutions. Relationships between inequality and three variables (Gross National Income, Size of Government, and Labor Regulations) in 18 OECD countries are explored using visualizations of cross-sectional time series data.