Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Increasing Odds: The Impact Of Casino Gaming Size, Location, And Economic Stream Style Differences On County Revenue In Pennsylvania, Brandon W. Koch

Dissertations

As county administrators seek new revenue streams, casino gaming becomes a valuable local revenue production mechanism. Recently, Pennsylvania has been vastly successful with developing a conunercial casino market. The American Gaming Association in 2017 found that Pennsylvania has the largest sole commercial casino industry and highest effective tax rate in the United States. The case study of the Pennsylvania gaming industry is utilized to investigate plannable casino born factor impacts on county revenue. State and local regulations dictate the method and location (plannable factors) of permitted casino gaming via quotas and licensure. Casino born factors created as a result of …

Food Insecurity: A Closer Look At How Households Cope With Food Insecurity And How This Phenomenon Affects Their Overall Health, Burak O. Tan

Dissertations

This study focused on the lived experiences of low-income households who coped with food insecurity and explored their worldview on the health impacts of battling with this phenomenon in the Grand Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). While the main research question focused on how low-income households coped with food insecurity, the following were the focus of the research analysis and served as the empirically testable framework: a) addressing the impact of poverty on affordability of nutritious food, b) addressing the impact of food deserts on accessibility and availability of nutritious food, c) addressing the coping strategies used to battle food …

Three Essays On Financial Markets And Monetary Policy, Abeba Siraj Mussa

Dissertations

The global financial crisis triggered by fallout from the sub-prime mortgage market in the U.S. has led economists to focus attention on the role of monetary policy in the crisis. The question of how monetary policy affects the financial sector is the key to the current debate over the role financial stability should play in the monetary policy decisions. As a contribution to this debate, my dissertation examines the link between monetary policy and three main financial sectors - the banking sector, the stock market, and the housing market.

The first essay examines whether the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) …

Empirical Essays On The Impact Of Health-Aid On Health Outcomes, Elsy Thomas Kizhakethalackal

Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that empirically explore the impact of multilateral health-aid on health outcomes like infant mortality rate (IMR) and incidences of an infectious disease, Tuberculosis, in developing economies. The first essay uses parametric and semiparametric mean regressions (additive and non-additive specifications) to capture the impact of education and health-aid on the IMR, after controlling for other covariates. Both specifications confirm education as an important factor in reducing IMR. However, the effect of health-aid on IMR is not significant. In our additive model, we do see a threshold level of health-aid after which the impacts of health-aid …

On The Battleground Of Environmental And Competition Policy: The Renewable Electricity Market, Matyas Tamas Meszaros

Dissertations

Renewable energy resources have become increasingly important in the effort to provide energy security and to fight global warming. In the last decade environmental policy has increased the support for renewable electricity. At the same time the electricity sector was often subject to antitrust investigation because of relevant market concentration and market power. This dissertation looks at the renewable electricity market to analyze the effect of environmental policy on competition.

The first chapter provides a short introduction to the regulatory schemes employed in electricity markets. The second chapter analyzes the demand side of the electricity market. The estimations show that …

An Analysis Of The Level Of Union Membership In The United States Since The Implementation Of Nafta, David D. Westcot

Dissertations

Union membership in the United States has been in a state of decline over the last two decades and international trade has been cited as one of the reasons. As such, U.S. labor unions perceived the 1994 implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as an assault on organized labor. This perspective is based on the belief U.S. capital and jobs would move jobs south in an effort to take advantage of Mexico's low-wage differentials. With this in mind, the objective of this research was to determine if the percentage of union membership in any of the 22 …