In 2014, Colorado and Washington legalized the cultivation, sale, and consumption of recreational marijuana for anyone over the age of 21. In doing so, the two states presented the first opportunities for marijuana-specific tourism in the United States. Direct benefits of legalization to these first movers, namely tax revenues generated through the sale of marijuana, have been quantified, but the indirect benefits in the tourism sector are as of yet unquantified. Although there is a large body of informal literature and popular media on marijuana tourism, academic study of the subject is scant. Working with a panel composed of 47 of the contiguous United States over the years 2005-2016, this study utilizes a synthetic control methodology to construct hypothetical time series for various tourism indicators for the cases of non-legalization in Colorado and Washington. Comparison of these hypothetical time series to the actual time series reveals the effects of legalization. A similar methodology is applied to all states to find the “placebo effects” and to establish significance. In traveler expenditures, traveler-generated taxes, tourism industry employment, and tourism industry payroll, Washington shows effects of legalization of greater magnitude and significance than those in Colorado. Only 8% of other states show an effect on tourism revenues as large as that of Washington. Additionally this study finds that each state can be approximated with a weighted average of a small group of peers and that weather, price, and an interacted migration and political orientation variable have low predictive power on tourism indicators. Lastly, this study suggests possible causes and policy implications of the discrepancy between the states.

1 Master Thesis Proposal Institute of Political Studies, IEPS programme Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University in Prague Date: 16.10.2020 Author: Ceren Küçükkayıkcı Supervisor: doc. Ing. Tomas Cahlik, CSc. E-mail: 91064497@fsv.cuni.cz E-mail: cahlik@fsv.cuni.cz Phone: +420773924728 Phone: Specialisation: IEPS Defense Planned: September 2021 Proposed Topic: The Impact of Political Determinants on Economic Growth : Analysis of AKP Era Registered in SIS: Yes Date of registration: 30.05.2019 (in case of No give an expected date) Topic characteristics / Research Question(s): The general question of this thesis is how the change in political determinants have an impact on economic growth in Turkey during the AKP era between 2002 and 2019. We would like to demonstrate the reason for the economic failure of AKP in line with the political and economic institutions and political and civil rights. AKP era will be analyzed into three sections, which are 2003-2007, 2007-2011, and 2011 and 2019. Economic growth will be measured by GDP per capita. Working hypotheses: 1. Hypothesis #1: There is an indirect relationship between political determinants and economic growth. 2. Hypothesis#2: Economic institutions and political institutions are endogenous and are defined by the collective choice of society. 2 3....

This paper explores the effects of the influence of China on the development of African countries, focusing on the case study of Angola. The term development is understood as a multidimensional concept that can be operationalised as a combination of per capita GDP, human development index (HDI) and GINI index. While HDI and GINI index have been analysed from a much more qualitative manner, this study uses the synthetic control method (SCM) to estimate the effect of China on the per capita GDP of Angola. This method compares the trajectory of per capita GDP of Angola after the engagement with China with the trajectory of per capita GDP of a synthetic counterfactual, created by a linear combination of similar countries. Results show that while Angola’s engagement with China has a substantial positive effect on per capita GDP and it has no apparent effect on HDI and GINI index.

Legalizing marijuana for recreational use has been a hot political topic in recent years. Different conclusions have been drawn from the literature on this subject, but one conclusion is that the tactic is an effective instrument in combating the black market. On the other side, it has also been demonstrated that it has a negative effect on neighbouring regions that still view marijuana as an illicit drug.  This study examines the evidence of any causal link between the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and its consequences on neighbouring regions. The legalization of marijuana in Washington state in 2012 and spillover effects on drug-related crime rates in British Columbia served as the foundation for this study. With the help of nine Canadian provinces, a synthetic British Columbia has been created that attempts to simulate how crime rates may have developed had Washington not legalized marijuana.  The legalization of marijuana has had both positive and negative spillover impacts on the neighbouring territory, according to empirical data. As a "gateway" substance, marijuana possession rates rose after the implementation of the policy. Results on the supply side show that because of increased competition and legal supply from the neighbouring region, marijuana suppliers are switching to other drugs. This essay also addresses other potential social effects of marijuana legalization, such as a decline in the prevalence of sexual assault and marijuana possession among young people. Based on the empirical data, the study offers improvements in aiding neighbouring regions who are considering the implementation of RML in creating preventative measures against illicit usage of marijuana.

Left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles share higher road accident risks under left-hand traffic because of blind spot areas. Due to low import prices, the number of wrong-hand drive vehicles skyrockets in emerging countries like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. I identify the causal effect of wrong-hand drive vehicles on road safety employing a new “backward version” of the synthetic control method. Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffic in 1967. Before 1967, however, almost all Swedish vehicles were LHD for reasons of international trade and Swedish customer demand. I match on accident figures in the period after 1967, when both Sweden and other European countries drove on the right and used LHD vehicles. Results show that right-hand traffic decreased road fatality, injury and accident risk in Sweden by approximately 30 percent. An earlier switch would have saved more than 4,000 lives between 1953 and 1966.

States merge local governments to achieve economies of scale. Little is known to which extent mergers of county-sized local governments reduce expenditures, and influence political outcomes. I use the synthetic control method to identify the effect of mergers of large local governments in Germany (districts) on public expenditures. In 2008, the German state of Saxony reduced the number of districts from 22 to 10. Average district population increased substantially from 113,000 to 290,000 inhabitants. I construct a synthetic counterfactual from states that did not merge districts for years. The results do neither show reductions in total expenditures, nor in expenditures for administration, education, and social care. There seems to be no scale effects in jurisdictions of more than 100,000 inhabitants. By contrast, I find evidence that mergers decreased the number of candidates and voter turnout in district elections while vote shares for populist right-wing parties increased.

Left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles share higher road accident risks under left-hand traffic because of blind spot areas. Due to low import prices, the number of wrong-hand drive vehicles skyrockets in emerging countries like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. I identify the causal effect of wrong-hand drive vehicles on road safety employing a new “backward version” of the synthetic control method. Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffic in 1967. Before 1967, however, almost all Swedish vehicles were LHD for reasons of international trade and Swedish customer demand. I match on accident figures in the period after 1967, when both Sweden and other European countries drove on the right and used LHD vehicles. Results show that right-hand traffic decreased road fatality, injury and accident risk in Sweden by approximately 30 percent. An earlier switch would have saved more than 4,000 lives between 1953 and 1966.

This master thesis analyses the impact of the euro on the German economy. The research is conducted through the examination of German export, GDP level, and labor market. It is also supplemented with the evaluation of the past, current and future stages of the Eurozone. The thesis provides a detailed theoretical background, which explains the motivation for the creation of a common currency. As a tool to prove the validity of my hypotheses I use the synthetic control method, where I model a hypothetical case, in which Germany did not adopt the euro. The validity of my results will be tested by using the confidence intervals and comparing the RMSPE ratio. By using this unique approach, I aim to contribute to the series of academic papers about the validity of the euro. In my research I have come to the conclusion, that the euro has positively influenced Germany's economy.

The purpose of this thesis is to conduct a comparative study in order to estimate the impact of the financial crisis to the GNI of Greece and Iceland. By applying synthetic control matching (a relatively new methodology) the study intends to compare the two countries, thus deducting conclusions about good or bad measures adopted. The results indicate that in both cases the adopted measures were not the optimal ones, since the synthetic counterfactual appear to perform better than the actual Greece and Iceland. Moreover, it is shown that Iceland reacted better to the shock it was exposed. However, different characteristics of the two countries impede the application of Icelandic actions in the Greek case.

Recently the topic of the future of Ukrainian economy has been attracting great attention among economists and politicians. The way how it should develop is widely discussed on the international arena. Economists and politicians cannot reach an agreement to which direction it is better to move for Ukraine. Nowadays a lot of special institutions have been created on both sides: in Ukraine and in Europe. The main goal of those is to control all the processes of transformation to be transparent on all levels; as well as prevent unlikely events. Of course, there are proponents and opponents of the moving to the free trade with the EU as for every global process. Among the young generation it is very clear, that possibilities, which gives us European Union are much more valuable and gainful. Even now, majority of students and researchers seek to apply or acquire some knowledge in European countries. I'm not an exception and for this reason, being a representative of young generation, I will try to determine potential impact on Economy of Ukraine assuming integration to European Union. It is very important to consider both threats and benefits of such processes as they are taking place on very high level. Therefore, in this work it will be considered both contours of development for Economy of Ukraine....