Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

The Effects Of Uncertainty On Local Government Budgeting: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Kentucky Counties' Responses To Budgetary Uncertainty, Alyshia Powell

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Congress must pass twelve separate appropriations spending bills by October 1st to enact the annual federal budget. Since 1974, Congress has only passed the federal budget by the beginning of the fiscal year four times (Draper and Pitsvada 1984). Continuing resolutions are utilized to help fill the gap until Congress and the President can agree upon a budget, but they often come with delays in funding of federal programs. Because the appropriations process also funds many state and local revenue sources, any delays or cuts caused by a continuing resolution can have significant effects on their budgeting processes as well. …

The Determinants Of Successful Angel Investors, Hu Guen Sohn

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Angel investors are wealthy individuals who provide capital for business start-ups in return for an ownership stake. The outcomes of angel investments are not high for all angels and not evenly distributed among all investors. I examine what characteristics of angel investors affect the outcome of their investments.

This research is based on a North American survey data set. I use the internal rate of return to measure the performance of angel investments. More specifically, I use three different standards to code it as success or failure: median standard, mean standard, and higher standard. Then, I use OLS and a …

Perspectives On The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee: A Survey Of State Air Agencies, Cassandra Yannelli

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) was created in 1977 under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The role of CASAC is to provide technical and scientific advice to the EPA Administrator on National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), required under the CAA. The standards themselves and the science upon which the standards are established for the six “criteria” pollutants included in the NAAQS are reviewed periodically by CASAC. The committee also exists to bridge new research developments to current environmental requirements.

Section 109(d) of the CAA requires the chartered CASAC to …

A Review Of University Responses To Informal Queries And Open Records Requests For Aggregate Hiring-Related Data, Sheila Brothers

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Open records (OR) laws ensure that members of the public, including public managers, directors of nonprofit organizations, and individual citizens, have access to the records created by public agencies. Local government and state government agencies are generally recognized to be subject to OR laws, but so are Kentucky’s public universities. The author created a survey to review the responses to both an informal query and a formal open records request made of Kentucky’s eight public, four-year universities (Eastern Kentucky University; Kentucky State University; Morehead State University; Murray State University; Northern Kentucky University; University of Kentucky; University of Louisville; and Western …

From Bail Bondsmen To Risk Assessments: Assessing Kentucky's Pretrial Release Approaches, Ismaila Ceesay

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

As one of only four states that ban bail bond companies, Kentucky is an experiment in the “laboratory of democracy,” which is made even more interesting because the state has tried three different approaches to pretrial release—the Pre-1976 approach, the 1976 to 2011 approach, and the 2011 to present approach. An assessment of these approaches show s how state actions and inaction can affect the right to pretrial release and underscores the importance of adopting appropriate state pretrial release policies.

Does The Mentors & Meals After School Program Have An Effect On Student Grades?, Lisa Caswell Johnson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

While technology continues to progress and the United States continues to be considered one of the most privately wealthy nations in the world, the education gap for African American and Hispanic students continues to be a concern for teachers, school administrators, state and local politicians, and all who study public education policy. School districts persistently look for ways to improve student achievement in traditional as well as non-traditional ways, while aligning with state and local education goals and staying within budget.

This study examines a new mentoring model for middle school students. The program, Mentors & Meals (M&Ms), was the …

The Impact Of Increased Cigarette Prices On Cigarette Consumption, Bohyun Yoo

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The objective of this study examines whether the way to raise cigarette prices drastically and discontinuously is effective in reducing cigarette consumption. We use monthly data for cigarette consumption to measure the price elasticity of cigarettes’ demand and adopt real cigarette prices, real individual income, education level, and unemployment rate as independent variables. We consider how consumers adjust their consumption practices in response to the increased prices. After examining the result of regression, we conclude that cigarette real price has a significant association with the reduction in cigarette consumption. If we divide the last twelve years into periods when prices …

Determinants Of Student Engagement In Undergraduate Research At The University Of Kentucky, Tricia Coakley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

The Impact Of Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (Bos) Program: School Operational Assistance To The Household Expenditures In Education: A Case Study Of Indonesia, Anton Abdul Fatah

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (BOS) Program was launched in 2005 as a grant directly from the government to each school’s bank account based on the number of the students. The main goal of BOS is to cover school tuition in the public schools, lighten operational expenses in the private schools, and to provide free education for poor students, both in public and private schools. Since the BOS Program has been implemented nationally and the funding is granted based on the number of students, this study hypothesizes that the BOS Program will have an impact on the household expenditure in education. …

Measuring A Big Bold Goal, Jonathan Kohn

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

Financial Implications Of The Medicaid Expansion For Academic Medical Centers, Madeleine Oritt

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), with the goal of reforming the United States health care system and providing insurance for millions of uninsured citizens and residents. One component of the legislation was the expansion of Medicaid eligibility, which would extend to include all individuals “under age 65 whose family income is at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty guidelines ($14,484 for an individual and $29,726 for a family of four in 2011)” (NCSL, 2015). This provision was challenged in the United States Supreme Court, which ruled …

American Obesity: Rooted In Uncertainty, Institutions And Public Policy, James Woodward

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Despite the efforts of policymakers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders, obesity and related health problems show no signs of receding from their record-high rates. Public policy has largely taken the form of consumer advice, (e.g., USDA’s Dietary Guidelines). Since consumers bear most of the costs associated with their obesity, the goal of obesity prevention appears to be incentive-compatible, prima facie. That is, there is no a priori case for much further policy intervention unless existing advice is deficient or consumers’ exhibit systematically poor decision-making.

My review of the literature shows that scholars have long conveyed a consistent narrative regarding …

Applying A Positive Theory Of Organizations: A Closer Examination Of State Environmental Protection Agencies, Emily Bedwell

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Why do American states organize as they do for environmental protection? According to Moe (1990), “a positive theory of organizations has two goals: 1) explain where institutions come from and why they take the forms they do, and 2) understand their effects for political and social behavior.” This paper will examine Moe’s question in terms of state environmental agencies: What influences state adoption of a comprehensive environmental structure? To address this question, I develop a theory of state adoption of organizational structure drawing on organizational theories of public organizations. The latest comprehensive examination of state agency structure in the literature …

Examining The Strain-Crime Relationship Among African American Women: An Empirical Test Of Agnew's General Strain Theory, Nathan Lowe

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Agnew’s (1992; 2006) general strain theory (GST) has become one of the foremost theories to explain crime in contemporary criminology. While it has undergone several empirical tests over the years, there remain many understudied aspects of the theory. The current study addresses some of these aspects by longitudinally exploring the relationship between multiple types of strain and drug and non-drug crime among a sample of African American women.

Data for this study were collected as part of a larger study on how drug use and criminality are related to health disparities, particularly HIV, and service utilization among African American drug-using …

Construction And Validation Of A Holistic Education School Evaluation Tool Using Montessori Erdkinder Principles, Anthony Philip Setari

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The purpose of this study was to construct a holistic education school evaluation tool using Montessori Erdkinder principles, and begin the validation process of examining the proposed tool. This study addresses a vital need in the holistic education community for a school evaluation tool. The tool construction process included using Erdkinder literature to justify the development of each item through the use of an item matrix, ultimately leading to the development of the 23 item formative Montessori Erdkinder School Evaluation Survey. The validation process included a series of three Rasch Rating Scale Model analyses with data from a sample school. …

Is There A Trade-Off? Infant Health Outcomes And Managed Care Competition, Shana L. Moore

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This study offers insights into the impact of competition among Managed Care organizations (MCOs) on infant birthing charges and birth outcomes. Kentucky provides one of the nation’s first case studies to determine successes and failures of Medicaid MCOs, and by doing so, provides a prediction of the impact of Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) competition on healthcare costs and birth outcomes. An analysis of a natural policy experiment in the state of Kentucky reveals that infants insured by a Medicaid MCO stay longer in hospitals, are less healthy, and cost more than those insured under Traditional Medicaid prior to …

Web Of Ties: The Effect Of Relationship Ties On Government Funding For Nonprofit Organizations, Anthony Heath Rico

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Chapter 1 raises the research question guiding this study. Do relationships that board members of nonprofits have to officials in other agencies affect the likelihood of acquiring grants? The objective of this study was to examine the role that relationship ties played in the nonprofit sector’s ability to receive grants.

Chapter 2 ties the research agenda to existing research. Nonprofit organizational and financial behavior was explained in terms of resource dependence. Since nonprofit organizations face uncertainty in resource allocation, the behavior of the organization and the board members change in reaction to uncertainty. The relationships that board members possess serve …

Essays On Farmer Willingness To Participate In Best Management Practices In The Kentucky River Watershed, Hua Zhong

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation explores the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Kentucky River watershed. Through a survey of farmers in the Kentucky River watershed, chapter two investigates farmers’ current BMP adoption and their willingness to engage in additional adoption incentivized through a proposed Water Quality Trading (WQT) program. This chapter includes two parts: the first part is to investigate the factors influencing farmers’ current usage of BMPs; the second part is to estimate farmers’ willingness to implement BMPs given different levels of compensation specified in the survey. Farmers’ experiences about BMPs are more likely to persuade them to adopt …

Competitive Food Policy Implementation In Kentucky Schools, Paula Gisler

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

This study was designed to explore the literature on competitive food policy implementation (CFPI); examines demographic and school factors associated with CFPI; and explores the experiences of school leaders and staff in CFPI using a proposed theoretical framework to guide the research. Competitive foods are those sold in vending machines, a la carte settings, fundraisers, class parties and other venues which compete with foods offered through the national school lunch and breakfast programs. Competitive foods have traditionally been of low nutritional value and high energy density. CFPI may be effective in reducing student calorie intake and BMI. However, evaluation of …