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Examining The Aggregate Economic Impacts Of Criminal Record Expungement In Marion County, Indiana, Zane Callison

Lux et Fides: A Journal for Undergraduate Christian Scholars

This article investigates the individual economic effects of criminal record expungement identified in a previous article as they appear in the aggregate, particularly rates of unemployment and wages. As interest around the effects of overincarceration increases, criminal record expungement offers a possible solution to the economic woes faced by justice-involved individuals. To that end, this article examines unemployment rates and per capita personal income in Marion County, Indiana, where implementation of the state of Indiana’s criminal record expungement statute has been exceptionally effective. After an analysis, we find that criminal record expungement bears only a light or unclear causal relationship …

The Safest Suburbs In The Mountain West, 2023, Ivan Sun, Zachary Billot, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Cities & Metros

This fact sheet presents data from the Smart Asset report, “America’s Safest Suburbs – 2023 Study,” which examines the 370 safest suburbs in the United States and the 35 most affordable safest suburbs. This fact sheet focuses on data for the nine safest suburbs and most affordable safe suburbs in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah ranking among the top 100 safest suburbs in the United States.

Taking The Bang Out Of The Gang: The Impact Of Catholic Schools On Gang Homicides In El Salvador, Ann Jillian Villanueva Adona

Master's Theses

This study explores the impact of Catholic presence on homicide rates in El Salvador, specifically focusing on the role of Catholic schools in reducing violence in gang-afflicted municipalities. Analyzing municipality-level data from various years, I used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Instrumental Variable (IV) regressions to study the association between school enrollment and homicide rates. Results show that higher enrollment in Catholic schools is linked to a reduction in homicide rates in gang-affected areas, contrasting with an increase in homicides for non-religious schools. This research sheds light on the importance of investing in Catholic education as a strategy for violence …

Exploring The Relationship Between Load Shedding And Crime In Gauteng, Bhavesh Ram

Master's Theses

This study investigates the impact of load shedding, a recurring power outage phenomenon in South Africa, on crime rates in the densely populated Gauteng province. Using a novel dataset that combines Eskom's load shedding schedules with detailed crime statistics from 2015 to 2022, a fixed-effects regression model is employed to examine the relationship between blackout hours and various crime categories. Findings reveal that while load shedding does not significantly affect overall crime rates, it significantly increases the incidence of contact crimes and sexual offenses, particularly during daylight hours. Additionally, our results provide evidence that load shedding diminishes the ability of …

An Economic Advocacy Approach To Empower Rural Victims Of Gender-Based Violence: A Review Of The Literature, Loganne Ditter, Ziwei Qi

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

Gender-based violence (GBV) has devastating effects on survivors’ mental, emotional, psychological, physical, and financial well-being. In rural communities, cultural stigma, isolation, lack of services, economic deprivation, and poverty can create additional barriers for survivors to seek help and leave their abusive relationships. Economic advocacy is a survivor-centered approach that addresses poverty and economic insecurity in ending GBV and empowers individuals and communities with the necessary resources and skills. In this review article, the researchers aim to identify survivors’ unique challenges in rural communities, especially in economic hardship and financially dire situations. While the empirical research examined in this review has …

Interviews In Global Catholic Studies: Matthew Eggemeier And Peter Fritz, Mathew N. Schmalz, Matthew Eggemeier, Peter Joseph Fritz

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Editors' Note, Nirupama Devaraj, Bharath Ganesh Babu

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Essays In Microeconomics, Michael Charysh

Doctoral Dissertations

\chapter*{Abstract}\label{ch:abstract} The first chapter evaluates the effect of the passage of the Campus Save Act (as part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization in 2013) on reported incidents of crime on college campuses in the United States. This piece of legislation required colleges and universities to provide sexual assault awareness training and preventive education programs for all new students, faculty, and staff. I collect survey data from colleges and universities on their historical training efforts and available resources from 2010 to 2020. While previous studies have examined the relationship between sexual violence and future earnings or labor market …

Investment Fraud In The Mountain West, Riley Ruff, Vanessa Booth, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet focuses on investment fraud data in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The original report includes data from “The 2023 State of Investment Fraud” study conducted by Carlson Law.

Book Review: Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander To Hitler To The Corporation, Tim Bakken

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The book Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths is a survey of a vast amount of human wrongdoing. It lays bare the motivations of aggressors who wish to subjugate nations or groups of people and corporate executives and government bureaucrats who make discretionary decisions that harm people. Along with cataloging mass killings by despots and soldiers, the book includes stories about Ponzi-schemers and the deaths of automobile drivers and passengers who were killed by vehicle defects known to the manufacturer. The book posits that “[p]owerful, elite forces are trying to force us backward toward a non-democratic state, one where power, wealth, and prerogative …

Mitigating Sex Trafficking: Preventative Methods For Reducing Sexual Exploitation, Autumn Rain Monroe

University Honors Theses

In recent years, sex trafficking has become more well-known in the public sphere, generating activism and legislation in an effort to combat this human rights issue. With this increased awareness comes challenges in appropriately understanding sex trafficking. The general public and even lawmakers often do not understand the complete dynamic or complexities of sex trafficking. Definitional inconsistencies make it difficult to provide a universal definition of sex trafficking, contributing to misconceptions involving the methods of entry and the barriers to exiting. Ultimately, this prevents proper identification of victims, hinders the protection of victims, and the implementation of survivor-oriented legislation, meaning …

Sociocultural & Leadership Transmission In The Somali Diaspora: Community Values, Cohesion, Family Unity & Patriarchal Leadership, Farhia A. Abdi

The Journal of Social Encounters

This research explores the Somali Diaspora community in Ottawa, Canada’s intercultural understanding between their homeland and their host country. The task of this limited study is to assess the changes occurring in the contemporary Somali diaspora culture and changes in leadership perceptions, particularly those of male leadership, and changes in family integration, community cohesion and solidarity, and the transmission of cultural values across generations. This research confirms that changes did occur in the Somali Diaspora community in various ways, including family dynamics, community cohesion and the concept of transmitting cultural values to their younger generation. Themes are identified by the …

An Analysis Of Capital Flow To Construct An Economic Typology In A Comparative Case Study Of Three Ancient Cities: Third Kingdom Of Ur, New Kingdom Of Thebes, And Classical Athens, Darrell Gremillion

Dissertations

This dissertation adds to the literature on Economic Development through the development of a Typology of Economy applicable to the earliest cities. Understanding the evolution of these early economies is a crucial step in understanding the past to assist in the establishment of policies for the future. This is especially important in the light of the environmental and sustainability challenges facing the globe today.

The cities in the comparative case study include the Third Dynasty of Ur in Mesopotamia, the New Kingdom of Thebes in Egypt, and Classical Athens in Greece. These cities are chosen for the case study for …

Privacy Preserving Signals, Philipp Strack, Kai Hao Yang

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A signal is privacy-preserving with respect to a collection of privacy sets, if the posterior probability assigned to every privacy set remains unchanged conditional on any signal realization. We characterize the privacy-preserving signals for arbitrary state space and arbitrary privacy sets. A signal is privacy-preserving if and only if it is a garbling of a reordered quantile signal. These signals are equivalent to couplings, which in turn lead to a characterization of optimal privacy-preserving signals for a decisionmaker. We demonstrate the applications of this characterization in the contexts of algorithmic fairness, price discrimination, and information design.

Temperature And Convictions: Evidence From India, Terry Ann Craigie, Vis Taraz, Mariyana Zapryanova

Economics: Faculty Publications

High temperatures have been shown to affect human cognition and decision-making in a variety of settings. In this paper, we explore the extent to which higher temperatures affect judicial decision-making in India. We use data on judicial decisions from the Indian eCourt platform, merged with high-resolution gridded daily weather data. We estimate causal effects by leveraging a fixed effects framework. We find that high daily maximum temperatures raise the likelihood of convictions and these results are robust to numerous controls and specifications. Our findings contribute to a growing literature that documents that the negative impacts of rising temperatures are often …

Black And Battered: The Impact Of The Violence Against Women Act On Women Of Color, Antonia D. Adams

Senior Theses

Domestic violence is the intentional act of someone exerting control to harm another person. Domestic violence can impact individuals of all genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. However, domestic violence has a disproportionate impact on Black women over their white counterparts. By analyzing raw SLED data, as well as peer-reviewed articles and personal interviews, this paper will explore whether the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) helped Black women, or if it failed to protect them. The hypothesis is that VAWA did not address the unique needs that Black women faced in domestic violence. Due to the myriad of circumstances that Black women …

Economic Thought: A Biblical Perspective, Williams Kwasi Peprah, Lucile Sabas, Carmelita J. Troy, Quentin Sahly, Delynne Shepard

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

The research contributes to the ongoing debate of capitalism or socialism as a Christian's economic thought. Following Jesus Christ's exemplary life, the research concludes that Jesus Christ is variously portrayed as a social reformer, revolutionary socialist and compassionate capitalist. Therefore, Christians must have the same economic thought.

Equalizing Postsecondary Transition For At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services: A Chance To Succeed, Karla R. Sanchez

Dissertations

Postsecondary transition can be difficult for At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services (APYRSES). Special educators supporting postsecondary transition often manifest traditional and institutionalized forms of oppressive education while dismissing collective values and beliefs.

This qualitative case study examined the beliefs and attitudes shared by three special education teachers after being introduced to a justice-focused, humanizing intervention to facilitate postsecondary transition for APYRSES. The conceptualized intervention was grounded in liberatory educational frameworks and drew from critical, culturally affirming, sustaining, and humanizing theories that foster cultural reciprocity, self-determination skills, and antiracist social–emotional justice learning to afford opportunities for APYRSES to succeed. The …

The Correlation Between Traumatic Brain Injury And Incarceration Among Adult Males In The United States, Shadi Shams

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

The United States has one of the largest growing prison populations in the world. A large amount of social and economic resources go towards the cost and maintenance of correctional facilities each year. Additionally, the current correctional programs are insufficient in assisting inmates with getting back to society; especially those with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who often remain undiagnosed and are usually treated unfairly in the prison system instead of receiving the appropriate help. Prior scholarly work has shown that patients in the post-TBI stage are more likely to enter the judicial system. In the recent population-based cohort study, the …

The Effect Of The Minimum Wage On Crime, Abbie Natkin

Economics Honors Projects

Evidence shows that education, labor market conditions for ex-offenders, and wages influence crime rates. The relationship between wages and crime specifically, has interesting potential policy implications, especially in arguments for increasing the minimum wage. Economists speculate that increasing the minimum wage may help reduce crime by increasing wages and thus increasing the opportunity cost of committing crime, making it riskier and less necessary for people to supplement their incomes through illegal avenues. Using crime data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports and minimum wage data from Vaghul & Zipperer (2016), I employ a two-way fixed effects framework to analyze the …

Analyzing The Impact Of Automation On Employment In Different Us Regions: A Data-Driven Approach, Thejaas Balasubramanian

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Automation is transforming the US workforce with the increasing prevalence of technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. As a result, it is essential to understand how this shift will impact the labor market and prepare for its effects. This culminating experience project aimed to examine the influence of computerization on jobs in the United States and answer the following research questions: Q1. What factors affect how likely different jobs will be automated? Q2. What are the possible effects of automation on the US workforce across states and industries? Q3. What are the meaningful predictors of the likelihood of …

Essays On Labor Market Size And Job Match Quality, Lan Lan

All Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two essays that delve into the construction of a major-related labor market and its correlation with college graduates’ job match quality. Investigating the job match quality of college graduates for different majors in large cities is crucial, as it provides evidence on which majors tend to yield better job matches. This contributes to the study of the return on major while also shedding light on how city size impacts individuals’ ability to find jobs that align with their educational level and major, thereby enriching the study of the benefits of agglomeration.

The first chapter examines …

The Discriminatory Effects Of Monetary Policy Among Different Labor Market Demographics, Darren Stanton

Honors Projects in Economics

While great strides have been made in America’s pursuit of racial and gender equality, there is still a clear gap in terms of economic success (Carpenter & Rodgers, 2004). Current research has shown that one factor that could be contributing to this is the adverse effects that contractionary monetary policies designed to achieve a 2% average inflation rate has on these groups in the labor market (Seguino & Heintz, 2012). Existing literature suggests this is because of their lower attachment rate to their jobs, jobs that are more likely to be eliminated when interest rates increase. This research will seek …

Vertical Accountability Among Ministries Of State In An Emerging Economy: A Case Study Of Ghana, Joseph Ofori Acheampong, Michael K. Dzordzormenyoh, Justice Nyigmah Bawole, Albert Ahenkan, Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi

Political Science Student Research

Since 1992, Ghana has implemented several initiatives and reforms such as the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACAP), Right to Information (RTI) Act, Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with the goal of improving accountability while reducing corruption. These policies provide researchers with a lot of opportunities to examine how effective these programs have been as well as their impact on accountability. Hence, the present study seeks to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to explore the factors that facilitate vertical accountability; 2) to explore the limitations to vertical accountability; and 3) to investigate the …

Political Regimes And Firms' Decisions To Pay Bribes: Theory And Evidence From Firm-Level Surveys, Shuichiro Nishioka, Sumi Sharma, Tuan Le

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper makes the most of the observed actions of bribe takers and givers from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and studies how a taker’s action influences a giver's decision to pay bribes. To motivate our empirical study, we consider Kaufmann and Wei's (1999) Stackelberg game between a tax authority and a firm that undergoes tax inspection. The model predicts that, when the authority can use its action as a credible threat for the firm's profitability, the authority disturbs the firm by inspecting more, and the firm is more likely to pay bribes. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, we find …

Fenway And Crime: Opportunity, Geographic Differences, And Team Rivalry At Boston Red Sox Games, Cole Mcgovern

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Although hosting professional sports are often seen as a financial benefit for cities, there are also associated costs. This paper investigates the possibility of interdependence between a variety of crimes and home game days of the Boston Red Sox. When adjusting for game attendance and length, minor assaults charges such as disorderly conduct and simple assault increase city-wide during game days. Despite this, all crime around the immediate stadium area decreases in volume. Additionally, this study examines differences in geographical impacts and crime levels, when a game was played, and games played against the New York Yankees, their historic rival.

An Empirical Exploration Of U.S Healthcare Discrimination And Obesity Prevalence, Arinzechukwu Maduka

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper offers an empirical exploration of the discriminatory nature of the US healthcare system using obesity prevalence as a primary lens. The study involves an analysis of time series data sets to examine the impact of an array of both economic and lifestyle factors on obesity rates across a statewide level. In addition to discussing the current realm of literature surrounding obesity, this paper expounds upon existing empirical models. Results show that inequality and race are significant influencers of anti-black discrimination that is ever present within society.

The Economics Of Mass Incarceration: How Imprisonment Due To Drug Offenses Impacts The Economy Of Texas, Leah N. Letterhos

Senior Theses

I begin by addressing drug use and how it impacts individuals’ economic outcomes, through psychological substance abuse disorders, income, and employment, where I discuss how each factor is impacted by drug use. Next, I undergo the same process for how incarceration and how it affects economic outcomes of individuals, through the debt cycle, the drain of household resources, limited/lack of pay while in prison, and difficulty in finding employment after release from prison. I follow this by connecting incarceration to drug use by writing about the background on the United States’ incarceration rates and link to drug enforcement and systemic …