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Essays In The Economics Of Long-Term Care Utilization, Jonathan Robert Hurdelbrink

Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines three factors – macroeconomic conditions, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and inter-vivos transfers – that influence both the availability of long-term care services and the use of these services. The first essay explores how changes in the macroeconomy, specifically the 2007-2009 “Great Recession,” affect the utilization of paid and unpaid long-term care services. It is theoretically unclear how long-term care use should be affected by such downturns, as an individual’s health status, wealth, insurance coverage and access to care are all likely to change during a significant downturn such as the “Great Recession.” Using data from …

Non-Market Valuation Methods: Evaluation And Applications, Wei Shi

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the methodological development, evaluation and applications of non-market valuation techniques in environmental economics. The first essay reviews 38 studies on the valuation of beach proximity using hedonic property value models since the 1980s. I find that choice of control variables and site characteristics are significant determinants of the value estimates. Therefore, the meta-analysis benefit transfer that incorporates site characteristics is much more preferred than the other benefit transfer methods, such as the direct value transfer and function transfer.

The second essay seeks to address the sampling bias in the analysis of on-site survey data. I propose …