Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Public Retirement Systems: An Examination Of Governance Characteristics And Their Impact On The Funded Ratio, Chris Groves

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

By almost all accounts, the fiscal health and stability of the United States public retirement system at all levels is in peril. Collectively, local and state public retirement systems are underfunded at a rate of $700 billion as a low estimate to $3 trillion as a higher estimate. While plenty of research has been conducted to identify the reasons that programs are underfunded, the system would be best served if more attention were paid to identifying program characteristics that improve performance. In turn, these characteristics could be evaluated and implemented if not already present. If programs do not want to …

Study Of Thoroughbred Workers: Physical Health, Mental Health, And Income, Marina Byrd

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Horse racing is a well-known sport and the part of the horse industry best known to the public; however, there is little information on the health status and health needs of people who work in this business. Past research shows that the thoroughbred worker population faces a myriad of health challenges. Swanberg et al. (2013) studied demographics, working conditions, and health of Latinos who work on thoroughbred farms in the United States by analyzing phone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and injury logs. The majority of injuries in this study are general injuries such as getting kicked or injuring fingers.

This study …

Letting Teams Walk: Exploring The Economic Impact Of Professional Sports Franchises Leaving Cities, Jesse Stephenson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Cities often use public funding to help construct and renovate the facilities of large, private sports franchises. As the major sports leagues grow in popularity and revenue, cities have had to offer increasingly competitive incentive packages to owners in order to keep their team from relocating to more profitable markets or cities willing to issue public funding for new facilities. Much literature has been conducted on the economic impact of sports teams with a general consensus that there is usually no positive economic effect for cities that serve as homes for these teams from the largest leagues (NFL, MLB, and …

The Effect Of Adopting Right To Work Laws: A Paired State Approach, Johnny Xu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The issue of unionization is an enduring one both politically and economically. A major subset within union studies deal with so-called “right-to-work laws.” States with right to work laws are concentrated heavily in the South and in the Plains states and have been that way since the 1940s or 1950s. The most recent additions of right-to-work states are Indiana and Michigan both in 2012. This paper will contribute to the debate by creating a new and novel dataset to analyze what the effects of adopting right to work laws are for a state over time as well as between a …

Preventing Underage Drinking: A Salvadoran Program Evaluation, Fransheska Quijada

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Through the direct effects on brain development, social choices, and changes in experiences, underage alcohol drinking is a problem that causes long term damage to psychological, social, and economic outcomes. While this is problematic for all underage drinkers, it is especially damaging for middle school students.

Through the direct effects on brain development, social choices, and changes in experiences, underage alcohol drinking is a problem that causes long term damage to psychological, social, and economic outcomes. While this is problematic for all underage drinkers, it is especially damaging for middle school students.

In this study, I evaluate the success of …

Does Overhead Spending Affect Fiscal Performance Of Nonprofits?, Shan Sandee Huang

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Overhead spending has been used to view nonprofits for decades. Donors consider overhead cost as extra “price” of a donation’s impact and would like to apply limits on overhead costs, thus improving impact ratios. However, nonprofit practitioners and researchers claim that constraints on overhead spending may hinder organizational development. This paper aims to analyze whether overhead spending affects positive fiscal performance.

The research employs the NCCS (National Center for Charitable Statistics) database containing all the data reported on IRS 990 Forms from 1,397 arts, culture and humanities organizations from 2000 to 2003. This paper uses two regression models to evaluate …

Crossing The Border For The Pill: An Analysis Of The Decision To Purchase Oral Contraceptives Over-The-Counter From Mexican Pharmacies, Nadine Johnson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published an opinion statement in which they acknowledged that oral contraceptives were safe to be sold over the counter. Although there are several arguments that the lack of insurance of over the counter birth control would create a bigger cost barrier, research shows that women are in fact willing to pay for contraception if it is available over the counter. Some countries, such as Mexico, have this option available and because of the proximity to the United States, many women who live on the southern border take advantage of this. However, …

Postsecondary Instruction: Changes In The Academic Workforce And State Appropriations For Community Colleges, R. Ryan Kendrick

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Over the last 30 years continued decline in state appropriations for public institutions has been accompanied by an increase in the use of part-time instruction. Community colleges have been particularly susceptible to both of these problems. Two-year institutions have less freedom than their larger counterparts to raise tuition rates and part time instructors constitute a larger percentage of their workforce. Less revenue has resulted in fewer resources to devote to instruction and student support. Part-time time instruction, on the whole, results in lower student retention and graduation rates.

This analysis intended to establish a connection between cuts to state appropriations …

Riding In Real-Time: Estimating Ridership Effects Of The Adoption Of Mobile Real-Time Transit Tracking Applications, Kendrick Vonderschmitt

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Advances in technology, and declining costs of adoption have permitted local transit agencies to provide real-time tracking information to their customers. The customers through the use of a mobile phone can find up-to-the-minute wait times for transit stops. This is enabled through the use of GPS technology and modern mapping software to account for networked distance and traffic impedance. This technology is a service upgrade in strict economic terms, but it is important to inquire whether such an improvement would have an effect on service utilization. This study analyzes the relationship between ridership and adoption of this service upgrade.

The …

The Relationship Between Teacher Training Institutions And Student Performance, Shelby King

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study intends to contribute to the literature by seeking evidence of a relationship between teacher characteristics and their high school students’ academic success in college. In this study, average college success is defined by six outcomes. The outcomes consist of the average first-year college GPA, average hours completed, percentage of students returning for a second year, percent of students receiving a GPA above a 3.0, percent of students completing 30 plus hours in their first year, and the average college math GPA. The analysis uses aggregated data at the school level from both the 2013 Kentucky High School Feedback …

Influences On Reported Nonprofit Lobbying Efforts, Alyson Partain

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The nonprofit sector holds an interesting role in democracy, as this segment balances the powers of government and business by providing a way to cultivate social justice and afford people a means of acting and promoting interests outside of the government and private sectors. Nonprofit organizations therefore allow people to join together in providing services and programs that strengthen the communities in which they act. Advocacy involves identifying, embracing, and promoting a cause, especially by educating the public about their organization, whether this is through public engagement, coalition building, or lobbying.

Lobbying is a specific but critical component of general …

Does Kentucky’S Merit-Based Scholarship Program, Kees, Improve College Completion?, Alex E. Combs

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

College completion is a complex process involving numerous socioeconomic factors at the individual, institutional, and governmental levels. One important factor is the way in which financial aid is disbursed so that affordability does not serve as a barrier to completion. Awarding scholarships on the basis of merit is one aspect of financial aid structure that has grown in popularity over recent decades, in turn, receiving considerable attention from policy researchers with the intent to assess how they affect an array of postsecondary education outcomes. To date, research of merit-based aid’s effect on college completion has been relatively sparse, yielding contradictory …

The Socioeconomic Impact Of Coal In The Appalachian Region Of Kentucky, Laura Oxley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The coal debate seems to be in a state of inertia. Proponents of coal claim the industry brings economic benefit to Kentucky. Environmentalists claim the industry creates irreparable harm to the Appalachian Mountain region. While these opinions are not unfounded, seldom do stakeholders explore the impact incurred directly in the Appalachian communities that mine coal. Moving the debate to a discussion about coal’s direct impact in the communities that support the industry may broaden stakeholders’ perspective. Determining whether the industry helps or harms the Appalachian community may be the break in the debate’s stalemate. Thus, this paper explores the socioeconomic …

Assessment Of The Quality Of Public Data Reporting By Nonprofit Social Service Agencies Receiving Funding From The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government In Fy 2013, Yuanyuan Song

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In 2012 and 2013, Lexington Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) Department of Social Service requested a “Social Service Needs Assessment Project” in Fayette County, Kentucky. In Aug, 31, 2012, Social Service Department established the “Needs Assessment Budget”. During Mar-Oct, 2013, two teams from The University of Kentucky College of Social Work (COSW) and the Martin School of Public Policy and Public Administration worked together to accomplish this project.

One of the tasks of this project is to assess the quality of data reported by the social service partner agencies of Lexington. “Partner organization” is the name government officials give to …

Family Support Caseloads--Determinants Of Kentucky's Division Of Family Support Personnel Allocation, David Bachert

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This paper is an examination of the determinants of Family Support employee allocation. Specifically, related to Kentucky, the goal of this research is to determine if public assistance caseloads are equitable across nine geographic regions. A review of relevant literature provides a larger context to this topic. Literature primarily suggests three mechanisms by which Family Support resources might be allocated: legal regulations, postcode lottery, and Tiebout migration.

Supported by literature the larger context for this paper leads to the examination of five independent variables: (1) percent of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients \, (2) total population, (3) percent of the …

Deep And Chronic Poverty In The P.S.I.D. - Assessing The Panel Survey Of Income Dynamics Using Pα And Kα Indices, Paul G. Metzler

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Poverty, while an intuitive concept, proves harder to specify and measure, especially over time. Foster, Greer and Thorebecke (1984) introduced an axiomatically sound, and commonly used poverty index Pα that is later developed by Foster (2009) to include time spent in poverty. I use their dual-cutoff spells approach to determine the occurrence, depth, and severity of poverty in a longitudinal dataset.

Using the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics over the timeframe 1990-2010, high-risk populations are explored further, especially African Americans, unmarried females, and those without a high school diploma. I explore the proportions of poverty incidence to find head of …

Measuring Academic Achievement Of University Of Kentucky Student Athletes: Helping The Center For Academic And Tutorial Services Better Allocate Resources, Chatham Penrod

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The NCAA requires its member institutions and student athletes to maintain certain academic requirements to remain eligible for competition. To ensure academic success, many institutions establish academic centers for their student athletes. The University of Kentucky was the first institution to develop a facility of this type. The Center for Academic and Tutorial Services (CATS) provides academic enhancement for its student athletes.

After a brief overview on current NCAA academic eligibility requirements, this paper looks at the organization of CATS and at the current literature on student athlete academic achievement. Then a few analyses were conducted on the academic achievement …

Teacher Compensation And Student Outcomes: A District Examination In Kentucky, Logan Rupard

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Teacher effectiveness is an often examined topic in our educational policy arena today, especially when it comes to its effects on student outcomes. Teachers are often considered one of the most important factors in affecting student outcomes. Because the quality of teachers attracted to the teaching profession is presumed to be influenced by their compensation, we are interested in measuring how teacher compensation and student outcomes are related. This study will examine not only current compensation, but include pension compensation as well. By combining both current salaries and pension payments as a unit for total compensation, this paper will examine …

Do Municipal Stat Programs Improve Services And Reallocate Resources? Evidence From Louiestat, Jamie Giles

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Performance metrics and municipal stat programs are becoming increasingly popular to measure performance of city departments in order to improve services and save taxpayers’ dollars. The intent of this research is to give decision makers a better understanding to what extent municipal stat programs make an impact on the departments being measured, using an analysis of Metro Louisville’s LouieStat as evidence. Understanding the effect of PerfomanceStat tools will provide insight for the Louisville Administration and for other cities considering using a similar tool.

The literature finds performance management tools to be more widely used as a management tool to influence …

Myscouting: An Assessment Of User Satisfaction And Suggestions For Improvement, Donald H. Combs Iii

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Boy Scouts of America was established as a non-profit organization in 1910 and now has over three million active volunteers in the United States. Since the organization was founded in America, the program has grown not only in membership, but also in complexity with many new awards, training requirements, and programs. Originally the organization tracked this information via paper submission. After the development of the disk operation system (DOS), the organization started tracking and storing information in this data system. Yet, while today the DOS-based databases are outdated, the Boy Scouts of America still continues to use this technology …

Environmental Justice In Kentucky: A County-Level Study Of Enforcement Of The Clean Air Act, Katherine Meade

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Not available.

Academic Asset Or Instructor’S Indulgence? The Effect Of Arts & Cultural Institutions On Academic Achievement, Hank Harned

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Across the country arts and cultural institutions seek to preserve our past and use it to educate our future. As their exhibits expand these institutions have become treasures in their own rights; places like the Smithsonian Institute are landmarks that attract visitors from around the world. In addition to travelers they also attract school groups. For decades schools have been using “field trips” to museums as a way to supplement their curriculum. But do these trips actually benefit the students or are they a waste of resources? This project aims to evaluate whether these institutions are an asset to academics …

The Modern Streetcar In The United States: Do Cities Have The Information Needed To Make Informed Choices?, Elle Hull

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Streetcars have made a comeback in cities in North American in the last several decades; there are now over 45 cities operating, building, or planning streetcars. The majority of these streetcars are viewed primarily as catalysts for economic development, rather than as a means of public transportation. However, the streetcar’s claim of promoting development is backed by surprisingly little evidence.

Although carrying out an analysis of the impact of streetcars on economic development is beyond the scope of this paper due to problems with data availability, methods of performing such an analysis are discussed. This includes a list of cities …

Cost Analysis Of A Pharmacy Intern Program At A Tertiary Academic Medical Center, Bridgette Kanz

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In the modern world of healthcare, the role of the pharmacy intern is growing as hospitals look to decrease cost and increase care. The University of Kentucky Pharmacy Intern Program (UKPIP) employs pharmacy interns as pharmacist extenders to help complete the clinical task of medication reconciliation (med recs). The purpose of this study was to quantify the value of completing this task and determine whether it is cost effective to have interns or pharmacists in this role.

The Institutional Review Board approved this study. UK’s electronic medical record database identified admission med recs completed by pharmacy interns and pharmacists in …

Does Tax Revenue Diversification Help States Weather Economic Downturns? Evidence From The Great Recession, Nick Kilby

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This capstone seeks to build on previous research to assess the validity of the claim that revenue diversification is an effective policy tool for states to use during recessions in order to stabilize their revenue flow. Revenue diversification is defined as the degree to which states take advantage of various tax sources, rather than reliance on a few or one in particular. Previous research, especially by Carroll (2005) and Suyderhound (1994), has shown that states with higher revenue diversification rates experience lower revenue shortfalls during recessions and other economic downturns on average.

This paper will reassess these claims in terms …

The Effect Of Direct Payments To Rice Farming Households In Korea, Jaehyung Kim

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

1) Background

Rice farming is a very important agricultural policy issue for the Korean government not only because rice is a staple food for the Korean population but because rice production is also an important source of income for those involved in rice farming. The importance of rice production to the agricultural sector of Korea is indicated by the fact that 49% of Korea’s agricultural land is devoted to rice production. Therefore, Korean agricultural policy has focused on rice production issues as well as the income of farmers involved in rice production.

To support rice farming income, the Korean government …

Analyzing Perceptions Of Barriers To Self-Sufficiency Of Local Social Service Officials And Their Priorities For Local Government Funding, Zheng Li

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Self-sufficiency means a family can adequately meet their basic needs without repeated assistance from public or private social service organizations. However, there are many barriers preventing Fayette County residents from becoming self-sufficient. Because Lexington Fayette Urban County officials wanted to consider a new way to allocate local government resources, a needs assessment was conducted to assess the barriers to self-sufficiency for residents in Fayette County. As one part of the needs assessment, my research was to design and analyze a survey instrument to assess the perceptions of barriers to self-sufficiency of local social service providers and their priorities for local …

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act’S Effects On Patterns Of Coverage In A Ryan White Funded Hiv Clinic: What Are The Implications For The Bluegrass Care Clinic?, Jacqueline Wagner Mccuddy

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Ryan White CARE Act of 1991 implemented a federal grant program to help individuals in the US with HIV/AIDS get access to healthcare and diminish barriers to care. Since its enactment, there have been many changes in the environment of HIV/AIDS, including a demographic shift in those most affected by the disease and a growing number of new infections, the introduction of Antiretroviral therapy, and most recently, the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The PPACA is expected to have a positive effect on patients with HIV in the US by increasing access to care, …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Formula Funding Project In The Korea Higher Education System, Kyungsoo Park

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In 2008, the Korean government launched a funding project that used formulas to select which four-year universities received funding from the government. The aim of the project was to improve university performance and educational quality, particularly with respect to undergraduate student outcome. However, there were few empirical studies on the project's actual impact. This study is an examination of three effects of the project. First, I analyze whether the project itself, regardless of funding, can bring about change in five formula indicators of all universities: employment rate, enrollment rate, full-time faculty rate, educational expenses per student, and scholarship rate. Second, …

Utilization Of The Kentucky Aids Drug Assistance Program Versus Kentucky Medicaid Using Medication Possession Ratio: Policy Implications For Public Program, Jenna Parrett

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Uninsured and underinsured people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are able to utilize federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) to cover the price of their HIV-related medications. In Kentucky, this program also provides support services through social workers, a dedicated pharmacist, and medications by mail order. With the Affordable Care Act, many patients previously covered by the Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program (KADAP) will be newly eligible for Medicaid and will no longer receive services through KADAP. There is concern that people in this situation will be at a disadvantage without these services and, in …