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Research Brief: "Women Service Members And Veterans Returning To Colleges And Universities: An Exploratory Analysis", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which analyzes the impact of being a transitioning woman veteran entering the student veteran sphere.

Research Brief: "Military Children And Families: Strengths And Challenges During Peace And War", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research describes the positive and negative affects of deployment on military families, such as resilience and depression respectively. The data shows that when military families establish strong and supportive relationships, they display more resiliency and tend to be active, optimistic, and self-reliant. These families would benefit from programs that focus on social stability and reducing the stigma associated with mental health care. Future research should focus on identifying the specific strengths and assets that help military children function well during a deployment, as well as studying these effects after deployment.

Addressing Trans-Boundary Challenges Through Collaboration: How Organizations "Harmonize" Actions And Decisions Across Problem Landscapes, Rachel Fleishman

Dissertations - ALL

Collaborative governance- or collaboration- has become increasingly important for the design and implementation of public policy in the United States. This dissertation explores concrete and unique policy-related benefits emerging from collaboration, and the processes by which they emerge.

Collaboration is defined broadly as "any interaction between two or more organizations undertaken with the intention to cooperate." This definition is applied in the context of water quality management, where the physical nature of watersheds and the lack of regulatory authority available to policy-makers leads to a variety of collaborative arrangements.

A survey of literatures addressing collaboration from different theoretical angles revealed …

More Trouble For The New York State Education Finance System, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Hedonic Housing Prices In Paris: An Unbalanced Spatial Lag Pseudo-Panel Model With Nested Random Effects, Badi H. Baltagi, Georges Bresson, Jean-Michel Etienne

Center for Policy Research

This paper estimates a hedonic housing model based on flats sold in the city of Paris over the period 1990-2003. This is done using maximum likelihood estimation taking into account the nested structure of the data. Paris is historically divided into 20 arrondissements, each divided into four quartiers (quarters), which in turn contain between 15 and 169 blocks (îlot, in French) per quartier. This is an unbalanced pseudo-panel data containing 156,896 transactions. Despite the richness of the data, many neighborhood characteristics are not observed, and we attempt to capture these neighborhood spill-over effects using a spatial lag model. Using Likelihood …

Health Information And Social Security Entitlements, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

This study examines whether new health information, obtained through medical screening, affects entitlements to Social Security benefits. Random assignment of information is derived from a unique feature of the Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. To examine the effect of information on entitlements, the survey data are matched to administrative data from the Social Security Administration. The results suggest that new health information leads to delayed entitlements, particularly among workers near the early retirement age.

Research Brief: "Soldiers To Citizens: The Link Between Military Service And Volunteering", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research examines the relationship between military service and political engagement, such as voting and volunteering. This study found that older and married veterans were more likely to volunteer than their younger and unmarried counterparts, and therefore veterans who are suffering from depression or loss of purpose might benefit from programs that encourage volunteering. Future research should further investigate the links between individual socioeconomic characteristics, family, social support, and engagement in volunteer work.

Research Brief: "Beyond Yellow Ribbons: Are Employers Prepared To Hire, Accommodate, And Retain Returning Veterans With Disabilities?", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief focuses on analyses on employers' policies and accommodations for hiring veterans with disabilities, and the effect on recruiting rates for these veterans. In practice, veterans with disabilities can increase their chances of finding suitable employment by consulting supporting agencies such as the VetSuccess Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Wounded Warriors program. Suggestions for future study include everyday work life, as well as utilizing mixed methods to further examine the relationship between implementation and impact of diversity plans and accommodation practices.

Research Brief: "Peer Mentoring And Financial Incentives To Improve Glucose Control In African American Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about whether peer mentoring and financial incentives given to African American veterans with diabetes improves their glucose levels. In policy and practice, African American veterans should join peer mentoring programs to help them control their diabetes and consult with their physician about peer mentoring; the VHA should create a peer mentoring program for veterans with diabetes to help with diabetes management. Suggestions for future research include using a larger, more diverse sample, looking at how the peer mentoring helps veterans, and looking at the ways in which veterans lowered their glucose levels in addition to taking part …

Research Brief: "Combat-Related Parental Deployment: Identifying The Impact On Families With Preschool-Age Children", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a qualitative study on how combat-related parental deployments affect preschool-aged children.

Health Promotions 2.0: The Future Of Wellness Programs In America, Rajiv Kumar

Center for Policy Research

In no small part because of technology, the way we live and work is being transformed. I believe that those of us who are interested in health policy can play an important role in guiding that transformation. I submit to you that unhealthy living is a social issue; that conditions such as obesity and diabetes are social diseases and that their prevalence is a social problem. If we have a social problem, then we need a social solution. I believe part of that solution can be found in the worksite health promotion and wellness programs that have taken root across …

Introduction: Education Finance In New York State, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Spatial Lag Models With Nested Random Effects: An Instrumental Variable Procedure With An Application To English House Prices, Badi H. Baltagi, Bernard Fingleton, Alain Pirotte

Center for Policy Research

This paper sets up a nested random effects spatial autoregressive panel data model to explain annual house price variation for 2000-2007 across 353 local authority districts in England. The estimation problem posed is how to allow for the endogeneity of the spatial lag variable producing the simultaneous spatial spillover of prices across districts together with the nested random effects in a panel data setting. To achieve this, the paper proposes new estimators based on the instrumental variable approaches of Kelejian and Prucha (1998) and Lee (2003) for the cross-sectional spatial autoregressive model. Monte Carlo results show that our estimators perform …

The Allocation Of Time In Sleep: A Social Network Model With Sampled Data, Xiaodong Liu, Eleonora Patacchini, Edoardo Rainone

Center for Policy Research

We analyze peer effects in sleeping behavior using a representative sample of U.S. teenagers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. The sampling design of the survey causes the conventional 2SLS estimator to be inconsistent. We extend the NLS estimator in Wang and Lee (2013a) to estimate network models with sampled observations on the dependent variable. When accounting for sampling, we find that the sleeping behavior of the friends is important to shape own sleeping behavior, besides the impact of individual, family and friend characteristics.

Research Brief: "Investing In Vets: Strategies To Help Returning Gulf War Vets Enter The Civilian Work Force Successfully", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study found that corporate leadership, veteran-specific training, and a long-term commitment to veterans’ employment were all significant factors in diminishing barriers to veteran employment and reintegration. In practice, social workers who understand business and organizational change can be leaders in supporting veterans in the workplace, and also in advocating for positive social change for veterans and their families. For employers, increased cultural competence concerning military populations would be helpful. In policy, organizations should work on creating coalitions of corporate leaders who have the power to change policies, programs, and practices, and who will monitor the success of these policy …

Research Brief: "Student Veterans In Transition: Re-Enrolling After War Zone Deployments", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines the individual-level transitions encountered by student veterans (National Guard and Reserve members) as they re-enroll in college post-deployment, while also attempting to account for the complexities of student and veteran identities. In practice, service members who are re-enrolling in college at the undergraduate level should seek out support groups for student veterans, and most universities have focused attention on ensuring that veterans understand their available benefits, which is a significant step forward; however, universities should also implement support services for veterans in the form of student veteran organizations and support groups. Suggestions for future study include having …

Measuring Social Unrest Based On Income Distribution, Yoonseok Lee, Donggyun Shin

Center for Policy Research

This paper develops a social unrest measure by revising Esteban-Ray (1994, Econometrica) polarization index. For the purpose of measuring more effectively the level of social unrest that is generated by separation of income classes, the new index allows for asymmetry between the rich and the poor groups’ alienation feeling against the other, and it constructs a more effective group identification function. To facilitate statistical inferences, asymptotic distribution of the proposed measure is also derived using results from U-statistics, and an easy-to-implement jackknife-based variance estimation algorithm is obtained. Since the new index is general enough to include the Esteban-Ray index and …

Model Selection In The Presence Of Incidental Parameters, Yoonseok Lee, Peter C.B. Phillips

Center for Policy Research

This paper considers model selection in nonlinear panel data models where incidental parameters or large-dimensional nuisance parameters are present. Primary interest typically centers on selecting a model that best approximates the underlying structure involving parameters that are common within the panel after concentrating out the incidental parameters. It is well known that conventional model selection procedures are often inconsistent in panel models and this can be so even without nuisance parameters (Han et al, 2012). Modifications are then needed to achieve consistency. New model selection information criteria are developed here that use either the Kullback-Leibler information criterion based on the …

Research Brief: "Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans’ Experiences Living With Their Parents After Separation From The Military", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research examines the experiences of veterans who live with their parents after separation from the military and prepares parents and family to be more knowledgeable and meet the needs of returning veterans. It was found that veterans were better suited to life after military duty with proper emotional support from family, and that providing support and educations for families would aid this transition. In future research, an emphasis on studying a more diverse cohort of male and female veterans as well as their parents is beneficial.

Research Brief: "Substance Use Among Military-Connected Youth: The California Healthy Kids Survey", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research studies the correlation between youth with deployed family members in their lifetime and recent substance use in youth, and found substance use positively correlated with the number of family member deployments. Implications of these findings suggest that monitoring behavior could potentially lead to providing the emotional support necessary to prevent adolescents from turning to substance use, and policy should reflect this by implementing emotional support programs for adolescents with deployed family members. Future research in this area should investigate alternative coping mechanisms for youth dealing with the deployment of a family member, as well as the efficacy of …

Research Brief: "Cultural And Ethical Considerations When Working With Military Personnel And Veterans: A Primer For Va Training Programs", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The study addresses the cultural differences when working with veteran populations compared to civilian populations, specifically regarding training people to work for VA programs. This is applicable to understanding military related cultural competence through mental health, history, terminology, and culture. Future research proposed includes exploring the benefits of cultural competence training.

Casinos Would Not Help New York’S Schools, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

The Effects Of School Desegregation On Teenage Fertility, Robert Bifulco, Leonard M. Lopoo, Sun Jung Oh

Center for Policy Research

The school desegregation efforts following the historic Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) represent one of the most important social policy initiatives of the 20th century. Despite a large research literature on desegregation and educational outcomes, its effects on the lives of individuals are still not fully understood. In this paper we examine the effects of desegregation on the fertility of teenagers. Our findings suggest that desegregation increased the fertility of African American teens and is unrelated to the fertility of white teens.

Peer Effects In The Demand For Housing Quality, Eleonora Patacchini, Giuseppe Venanzoni-Sapienza

Center for Policy Research

Using detailed data on friendship networks within neighborhoods, we investigate the importance of social interactions in one's own residential neighborhood in the demand for housing quality. We find evidence consistent with the presence of peer effects, especially for households living in urban areas. Our findings are in line with the prediction of a model where conformity preferences are the key element underlying economic outcomes that involve interactions with peers.

Research Brief: "Prospectively Assessed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Associated Physical Activity", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the connection between physical activity and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans. In policy and practice, service members who experienced combat should have high levels of physical activity in order to reduce the possibility of developing PTSD, clinicians should mention the importance of physical activity for mental health to service members, as well as recommend alternatives for veterans who are unable to do high levels of physical activity. The VA should implement and promote fitness programs for service members and veterans to lower the possibility of developing PTSD, and policymakers should fund physical activity programs …

Research Brief: "Predictors Of Psychiatric Disorders In Combat Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the predictors of mental health diagnoses within a sample of Marines who experienced combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In policy and practice, support networks should be implemented for servicemembers to share with their peers, clinicians should give female servicemembers and others who have a higher likelihood of developing a mental health disorder after combat information on how to prevent certain psychiatric disorders, and families should know the signs of psychiatric disorders to help servicemembers in their re-adjustment period after deployment. Military branches and policymakers could improve counseling for servicemembers returning from combat and encourage servicemembers to …

Research Brief: "Mental Health Diagnosis And Occupational Functioning In National Guard/Reserve Veterans Returning From Iraq", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the employment or enrollment in school of recently returned National Guard and Reserve OIF/OEF veterans who have a mental health diagnosis compared to those veterans without a mental health diagnosis. In policy and practice, the US military should implement pre- to post-deployment programs to help adjustment into work/school role functioning, and policymakers should partner with universities to help veterans cope with academic stress. Suggestions for future research include using a larger and more comprehensive sample of National Guard/Reserve OIF veterans and studying the effectiveness of programs and support for veterans.

Research Brief: "Patterns Of Multimorbidity In Elderly Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which discusses strategies for managing the care of elderly veterans who have multimobirdity in clinical and primary care healthcare facilities.

Medicaid Expansion, Long-Term Care Financing In Retirement States And The Post World War Ii Birth Cohort, Toni P. Miles

Center for Policy Research

This policy brief contains a formal consideration of ideas discussed during a presentation to the 2012 Syracuse Seminar on Aging. Like most briefs, it will appeal to policy makers and academics craving detailed demographic, fiscal and policy data. Before diving into this brief, I would encourage readers to view the presentation video (available at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bsv8K7DdJFY). As you will see, the seminar was informal and the discussion was wide ranging. In contrast, this brief focuses on limitations faced by states as they finance longterm care. It is primarily concerned with the Medicaid expansion and growing need for care as the …

Research Brief: "Managing Behavioral Health Needs Of Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury (Tbi) In Primary Care", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which evaluates how veterans with TBI might be cared for by primary care towards managing behavioral health needs.