A Behavioral Economics Analysis Presidential Rhetoric and Stock Market Investment During the 2003 Conflict in Iraq

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Elliott, Catherine

Keywords

Presidential Rhetoric, Behavioral Economics, Stock Market

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

This thesis investigates the use of presidential rhetoric by President George W. Bush during the 2003 Conflict in Iraq as an attempt to incite short-term investment in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The thesis begins by discussing numerous political science studies testing the correlation between presidential rhetoric and public thought. Following, a time series regression model is used to examine the correlation between the Dow Jones Industrial sales volume and index value and presidential rhetoric (coded as insecurity and security) for a ten-month time period (September 2002 to June 2003). The results of the Case Study were statistically insignificant. The remainder of the thesis, then, carefully reviews the methodology used in the Case Study, while also using the fields of behavioral economics, cognitive psychology and persuasion literature to obtain a better sense of the different variables that are connected to a political attempt to persuade economic action.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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