Brian Morgan and Dr. Lee Radebaugh, International Relations and Business
The grant I received has helped me write an honors thesis entitled, “The Effects of Inflation on Businesses in Brazil.” For many years now, Brazil has been plagued with high levels of inflation. Although small amounts of inflation can help an economy grow, inflation in Brazil has often exceeded such small amounts. Now, a new economic plan has been introduced which has cut inflation dramatically. My honors thesis focused on the effects of the constantly changing economic environment on businesses within Brazil.
In order to find out what some of the effects have been on businesses in Brazil, I went through several steps. First, I prepared a section involving an explanation of inflation in general. This section discussed both causes and effects of inflation. By learning about inflation in general, it was much easier to see the many effects that inflation could have upon businesses.
After learning some of the basics facts about inflation, it was important to understand the history of inflation specifically in Brazil. This was done through a combination of graphs portraying the levels of Brazilian inflation ranging from the years 1952 to 1996. A political history was also included to help see some of the reasons for the fluctuations in levels of inflation.
An additional section of the thesis included an explanation of the new economic plan, entitled the Real Plan. This plan has had a more prolonged effect on reducing inflation than any previous plan. Understanding this new plan was an important step in understanding how businesses have reacted to the constant changes in inflation.
The final section of the honors thesis dealt directly with the question of how inflation affects businesses in Brazil. I created a questionnaire, and with the help of my faculty mentor, I was able to send this questionnaire to a variety of managers of different businesses in Brazil. I received responses from large, international companies as well as small, privately owned companies.
All of these sections combined to help prove my hypothesis, which was: businesses in Brazil have learned how to survive with or without inflation by quickly adapting to an ever changing environment. The results or the paper certainly supported my hypothesis. The successful businesses used different tools to help them adapt to the ever-changing economic environment in Brazil. Those who were most flexible have survived the large reduction in inflation rates, while those who could not adapt quickly have folded.
I eventually finished my paper, and I was able to support my hypothesis, but that is not to say I never encountered problems. As everyone who has preceded me in writing a large paper has learned, writing such a paper is a greater challenge than I first expected. Some problems I encountered included paper content and length, as well as time-lines and scheduling conflicts. Let me explain each of these in a little greater detail.
First, the problem with the paper content. Once I began doing research about the topic of inflation, I found out how little I really knew about inflation. So many books and articles I encountered had many formulas and theories that were difficult to work through. The first section of my paper, the one about inflation in general, was a result of my long hours of research. This section seemed to help me solidify some of the things I learned during my research.
A second problem was dealing with length. My thesis ended up being just over fifty pages long. In my entire undergraduate career, I don’t know if I ever wrote anything over half that long. I soon came to realize that I could not possibly print a hard copy of the thesis every time I wanted to proofread carefully before I printed.
Third, time-lines. I knew I had a long time to write this paper. I tried to discipline myself to work on it a few hours every day, but that seldom happened. I was hoping to finish it in February so I could graduate in April, but it ended up taking me an additional five months before it was ready for print. If I had created better time-lines with rough draft deadlines and due dates, I could have saved myself many months of long nights.
Similar to the time-line problem was my scheduling problem. My faculty mentor was out of town for quite a bit of the summer. In addition, I was working full time from January through July. Between our two hectic schedules, it became very difficult to meet with my professor. We eventually got around that problem through e-mail and various other solutions, but planning in advance could have saved many long distance phone calls, and early morning visits.
Although I encountered many problems during my creative project, each problem became a success. I learned so much from the process of encountering problems and overcoming them. Many times I would be exhausted almost to the point of tears, but the joy that came the next day was worth the momentary suffering.
I would have to say that the biggest success resulting from this paper, was the opportunity it created for me to graduate with University Honors. My undergraduate experience was wonderful, and graduating with honors was truly the capstone of my undergraduate career. The honors’ experience allowed me to work closely with some of the University’s best professors. In this creative project alone, I have been able to spend many, many hours with a professor at the top of his field. What a wonderful opportunity it has been for me to work so closely with Dr. Radebaugh and other professors in the Honors Department. A joy, such as none other comes from finishing such a lengthy project. I have learned a great deal about inflation in Brazil, but I have learned even more about myself and what I can accomplish.