Digital Commons Network^™

Origins And Evidence Of The Fed's Fiscal Effects From Coronavirus Response, Haynes A. Mcdaniel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The year 2020 introduced modern American society to viral pandemic conditions not seen in over a century. By ravaging human health and spreading fear, the Coronavirus (Covid) period of 2020 to 2022 significantly impaired interpersonal economic transactions as it transformed beliefs about economics, politics, and social wellbeing. This research focuses on the Fed’s economic policy decisions during the early months of the Coronavirus pandemic when effects of the 2008 financial crisis still lingered as long-term government programs. It was an extraordinary time when policymakers were forced to meander prior policy effects of astonishing reach while considering new policies intended to …

The Impact Of Property Tax Exemptions On The Hospital Real Estate Utilization, Howard Allen Levine

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation analyzes the effects of property tax exemptions on real estate utilization by hospitals in the production of medical services. Economic theory suggests that differential taxing creates inefficiencies causing destruction of wealth from deadweight loss. Property taxation is done by state and local governments. State and local governments spend 4.5 trillion dollars annually in the United States (Pustejovsky & Little, 2023, p. 2). Although only spending on services using real estate has efficiency effects due to real estate taxes, every 1% gain in overall efficiency is 45 billion dollars saved annually if the results can be generalized to all …

The Nexus Between Sino-African Economic Engagement, Us-African Security Cooperation And Foreign Direct Investment: National Security Implications Using A Comparative Analysis Of Nigeria And Other Selected African Countries, Chine Sp Logan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines the intricate interplay between the United States-African Security Partnership, China’s African Economic Partnership-Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI), and the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa. It delves into the nuances of the US-African Security Partnership, focusing on US military training and security assistance through the United States African Command (AFRICOM) and the China-Africa BRI initiative, which centers on loan funding. Moreover, it analyzes how national security considerations influence FDI inflow. By scrutinizing the roles of robust institutions, the study evaluates how these factors impact the long-term achievement of the United Nations' sustainable development goals for …

Prenatal Care, Pregnancy Risk, Birth Outcomes And The Role Of Neighborhood Characteristics, Monica Garcia-Perez Phd, Randy Huard Phd, Christopher Thoms Phd, David Tilstra Md

InnovateHER Meeting 2026

This study links 2024 CentraCare Health birth records with neighborhood census tract conditions from the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA, 2020/2021) to examine how place, prenatal care, and clinical risks influence birth outcomes in Central Minnesota. Neighborhood factors are standardized and paired with measures of prenatal-care adequacy and pregnancy-risk indicators in a series of multivariate linear models to explore their effect on birth outcomes. Analyses adjust for maternal demographics and clinical risks to identify independent neighborhood effects. A privacy-preserving, tract-linked dataset is also created to help local partners target high-need prevention areas.

Uneven Ranks: Geographic Deepening Of The All-Volunteer Force, Christine Hogestyn

Master in Public Policy Theses

Who is enlisting in Fiscal Year 2025, and what state-level characteristics are associated with military enlistment rates, service selection, and recruit quality? This study documents the geographic landscape of U.S. military accessions during a period of recruiting recovery, filling a gap in the literature by providing a current, empirical description of who enlists and from where in today’s All-Volunteer Force. Drawing on personnel data from the Department of War, the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, and a federal dataset of military installations, I analyze 203,987 new accessions across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps from …

Economic Drivers Of International Migration To Türkiye: A Regional Comparison Study, Bekir Gündoğmuş, Musa Bayir, Ahmed Yusuf Sarihan

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study investigates the macroeconomic determinants of registered international migration to Türkiye by employing panel data regression techniques at the NUTS-2 regional level for the period 2016–2022. The results reveal that per capita income, employment, and the share of industry, services, and construction sectors in total production have a statistically significant and positive impact on migration inflows, while inflation exhibits a negative effect. However, agricultural production proportion and export performance do not appear to significantly influence regional migrant preferences. Causality tests further support the existence of both bidirectional and unidirectional relationships between economic indicators and migration. The findings underscore the …

Essays On Development Economics, Environmental Economics, And Political Economy, Weihong Li

Economics Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 explores the strategic behavior of provincial leaders in China in response to visits by central government leaders. I find that such behavior is correlated with provincial leaders’ personal characteristics and their connections with the visitors. Meanwhile, acting strategically during these visits has a positive and significant effect on overall promotions, but a positive and insignificant effect on promotions to the most important positions in the Politburo.

Chapter 2 examines the impact of the Confucian norms on the spatial heterogeneity of fertility rates and sex-selective abortions in contemporary China. To overcome the challenge of quantifying cultural norms, I construct …

Bayesian Spatiotemporal Model For Counterfactual Estimation In Socioeconomic Studies, Duwani W. Gonzalez

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Impact evaluations of regional development programs often require estimating counterfactual outcomes for a small number of treated regions using survey-based areal data. In practice, evaluators typically rely on two-group quasi-experimental methods such as propensity score matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Differences (DiD). These approaches perform poorly when only a few regions receive treatment, and when the set of observed covariates is limited or only partially relevant. Moreover, they typically do not explicitly exploit the spatial and temporal dependence present in survey-based areal data such as in ACS (American Community Survey). This dissertation develops a family of Bayesian spatial predictive models for directly …

Fueling Reactions: Three Empirical Essays On Behavioral Responses, Economic Shocks, And Energy Markets, Euclides Coelho De Medeiros Correia

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how shocks in energy and commodity markets propagate through local economies and reshape human behavior, spanning three empirical essays that connect energy markets to electoral behavior, commodity price dynamics, and criminal violence.

Shelter From The Storm: Public Library Value And Community Adaptive Capacities, Margo Gustina

Economics ETDs

This dissertation contributes to theoretical framing within the discipline of library science, while building out empirical methods for quantitatively valuing broadly loved public libraries. Chapter 1 lays the foundation for understanding how analysis public libraries must always be set within regional contexts. Chapter 2 demonstrates that positive voter valuation of public libraries is driven by proximity to a library building by using data from public funding referendum events. Chapter 3 estimates a reduction of 0.75 percentage point (p=0.002) in graduation rates where public libraries were closed (but school instruction was in-person) from COVID closures. Chapter 4 builds on the previous …

Perception, Payment, And Pollution- Examining The Effects Of Air Quality On Health And Healthcare, Colin Sleeper

Economics ETDs

Abstract

This dissertation examines how air quality and public attention to environmental shock affect perceived health status and healthcare utilization. The first chapter uses publicly available survey data from BRFSS and a triple difference framework to analyze the effects of the 2018 wildfire season in Oregon on self-reported mental and physical health. Findings indicate that those in Oregon in 2018, during the period of heightened attention to wildfire smoke, experienced approximately 1.4 additional poor mental health days, on average. The second chapter includes Merative MarketScan commercial insurance claims data to test whether these changes translate into a behavioral response. Results …

Agricultural Water Management, Farmer Decision-Making And Climate Adaptation In Dryland Agriculture: A Case Of The Middle Rio Grande Basin, Oluwatosin A. Olofinsao

Economics ETDs

Agriculture in dryland regions faces mounting pressure from climate change, water scarcity, and shifting land-use demands. The Middle Rio Grande Basin (MRGB) of central New Mexico exemplifies these challenges, where irrigated agriculture relies on increasingly variable surface water supplies. This dissertation examines agricultural water use, farmer decision-making, and adaptation strategies across farm types and climate conditions in the MRGB. The first study presents a spatial descriptive analysis of farm size, crop patterns, groundwater access, evapotranspiration (ET), and effective ET, revealing a landscape numerically dominated by smallholder farms that account for a substantial share of irrigation water use. The second study …

Boundaries Of Inequality: The Political Economy Of Redlining And Modern Mortgage Credit, Kyle Guo

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

This paper investigates the legacy of historical redlining on contemporary access to mortgage credit across three distinct urban policy environments: Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Manhattan. I find that while historical redlining is associated with a statistically significant negative effect on mortgage approval rates, the magnitude of this direct effect is relatively small. In comparison, applicant race, particularly for Black applicants, is a stronger predictor of mortgage approval rates across cities and models. This study utilizes 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) residential security maps and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data from 2007 to 2017, and uses ordinary least squares (OLS) …

The Effects Of Food Insecurity And Child Health On Educational Achievement In Virginia Counties, Peyton T. Randall

Honors Projects

This study examines the relationship between county-level socioeconomic and demographic factors and student performance on Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) math and reading assessments in 2023. Using data from 127 of Virginia’s 133 independent counties and cities, this study conducts an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The analysis shows a strong negative association between food insecurity, measured by the Identified Student Percentage eligible for free school lunch (ISP), and chronic absenteeism with SOL pass rates. These findings show food insecurity and absenteeism as key drivers for achievement disparities, suggesting a need for further interventions and broader research using school-level and …

Upjohn Regional Economic Outlook, Iryna V. Lendel, Chloe Wieber, Sevrin Williams, Gerrit Anderson, Lee Adams, Emily Petz

Reports

No abstract provided.

Early Detection Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias From Spontaneous Speech Using Foundation Speech And Language Models: Comparative Evaluation, Jingyu Li, Lingchao Mao, Xi Mao, Hairong Wang, Zhendong Wang, Xuelei Sherry Ni

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Background: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are progressive neurodegenerative conditions where early detection is critical for timely intervention and care planning. However, current diagnostic methods are often inaccessible, costly, and delayed, especially for underserved populations. There is a growing need for scalable, noninvasive tools that can support timely diagnosis. Spontaneous speech contains rich acoustic and linguistic markers that can serve as noninvasive behavioral markers for cognitive decline. Foundation models, pretrained on large-scale audio or text data, generate high-dimensional embeddings that encode rich contextual and acoustic information.

Objective: This study benchmarks open-source foundation language and speech models to evaluate their …

Solving Affordability Challenges In Education, Housing And Childcare, Brad J. Hershbein, Michelle Miller-Adams, Brian J. Asquith, Chloe R. Gibbs

Presentations

These three presentations emphasize that affordability challenges across education, housing, and childcare stem from structural market and policy frictions, and that effective solutions require coordinated public investment, simplified systems, and attention to both supply and demand. The first presentation argues that while college tuition growth has slowed and aid has increased, affordability challenges persist due to complexity, misperceptions, and uneven costs, and it advocates for simple tuition-free programs combined with investments in advising, streamlined pathways, and stronger school-to-work connections. The second presentation highlights a growing housing affordability crisis in the Rust Belt driven by aging housing stock and limited supply, …

The "Missing Self-Employed": How Better Data Change The Picture Of Self-Employment In The United States, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

How economically secure are self-employed workers? Accurate answers to this question depend on data that capture the full range of self-employed people, including business owners, independent contractors, and those working on an informal, often cash basis. Using data from the 2025 American Job Quality Study, we demonstrate that, because of the way standard survey questions are worded, a substantial number of self-employed people are likely miscoded as employees in existing surveys. Correctly including these “missing self-employed” increases the share of workers who are self-employed on their main job by nearly 50 percent. Compared to the self-employed captured by standard survey …

Undertaking Short-Term Finance Transactions In Brazil - An Historic And Modern Look At The Brazilian Economy And Associated Risks, Shawn M. D'Aversa

Student Research

The following report discusses the risks and construction of a hypothetical short-term trade finance transaction involving the five parties: Citibank N.A., Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Banco Do Brasil, Paracatu Gold Mine and EXIM Bank. Fair warning: this is a long paper for a short-term transaction.

For the deal, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) has approached Citibank N.A. in New York regarding a financing transaction for five 797F-400 short-ton haul trucks. The trucks are worth $5mn each, including the costs of training and spare parts, for a total of $25mn. Put simply, the trucks are beasts for mining. They will then be shipped to …

Resilience In Place Names: German-Hehe War Memories And Cultural Identity In Iringa Toponyms, Claudio G. Kisake, Sophilini M. Yisega, Spemba E. Spemba

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Toponyms, or place names, act as vital markers of historical memory, cultural identity and resilience. In Iringa, Tanzania, toponymy offers valuable insights into the enduring impacts associated with the German-Hehe War (1890–1898), and colonial encounters on indigenous communities. This study explores how place names—such as Kitanzini (‘a place with a noose for hanging people’), Ilundamatwe or Lundamatwe (‘a collection of slaughtered heads’), and Gangilonga (‘the speaking stone’)—convey narratives of Hehe war superiority, resistance, and survival. Using a qualitative approach, the research incorporates archival sources, oral histories, and linguistic analysis to investigate the stories behind naming and renaming, the role of …

Solid Waste Management In Greater Khartoum City, Sudan, Roba Mahmoud

Student Theses 2015-Present

This study investigates the rising solid waste management (SWM) dilemma in Greater Khartoum City (GKC), a critical environmental and public health issue caused by fast urbanization and inadequate infrastructure, with historical linkages to Sudan's colonial and postcolonial growth. Chapter 1 describes the current problem using quantitative and qualitative data, demonstrating that GKC produces approximately 3,340 tons of waste each day, with 56% organic matter, 8% plastics, and 16% paper. Collection efficiency remains severely poor, at 31.5%. Informal recyclers known as Nakasha or Barkata collect approximately 7% of total waste, supporting roughly 3,900 people, whereas filthy open dumps and unsorted medical …

Controlling Fiscal Destiny: Evaluating The Effect Of State Tax Composition On Resilience During Defined Shock Period, Calloway R. Bills

Honors Theses

State governments operate under strict fiscal constraints that limit their ability to respond to economic downturns through borrowing or monetary policy, making tax composition a key determinant of fiscal stability. This paper evaluates how variation in state tax revenue composition affects fiscal resilience during economic shocks, focusing on the Great Recession. While prior research shows that individual tax instruments differ in cyclicality, less is known about how overall tax structure shapes revenue performance during and after shocks. Using a panel dataset of U.S. states from 1988 to 2024, this study measures resilience through two outcomes: the magnitude of revenue decline …

Assessing College Tuition And Wage Prospects For Careers In Archaeology, Angelina H. Gutierrez

Honors Capstones

The pressures of rising college tuition are raising questions about whether a degree in higher education is worth the return on investment in today's society and economy. This study aims to acknowledge the issues of affording college and the opportunities granted in the face of college wealth premiums from the perspective of the field of archaeology. The college wealth premium is understood as additionalopportunities and increased salaries offered to those with a degree in higher education compared to those without. Using the Midwestern United States as a case study, I discuss the gender/race wage gap, college debt, loan inequity, and …

How Changes In Mexican Immigration To The United States Affect Mexican Labor Markets, Gonzalo Ares De Parga-Regalado, Marta Prato

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

How Do Minimum Wages Affect Workplace Injuries?, Michael Davies, R. Jisung Park, Anna Stansbury

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Essays In Household And International Finance, Tatiana Vdovina

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In my first essay, I study whether U.S.-Mexico dual residents borrow in pesos or dollars, using both theory and survey data. I attempt to understand the microeconomic and behavioral foundations of the actual and theory-predicted currency choice by households. I also attempt to reconcile the export- and import-related theory of currency choice proposed in the corporate finance literature with behavioral tests. Finally, I test the nominal uncovered interest parity condition established in McBrady & Schill [1] in a household setting by analyzing if there can be any cost savings from borrowing in dollars over pesos and vice versa. Theoretically, I …

The Effects Of Government Policies On The Stock Market, Samruddhi Somani, Dr. Holger Kern

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

What is the most effective government policy to boost stock returns and, subsequently, to foster economic growth, especially during an economic crisis? This paper examines the effects of various government actions on stock market performance during the global financial crisis of 2007. As expected from rational investors, nearly all of the variation in index levels is explained by the variation in index futures levels, which reflect market expectations. Index and future levels were collected for June 2007-December 2009 using Bloomberg, which tracks data for various financial instruments. The financial crisis timeline furnished by the New York Federal Reserve Board on …

What Is Happening In Major League Baseball? A Structural Snapshot In An Evolving Economic Landscape: A Case Study, Max K. Shilstone

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This qualitative case study examines the most visible business and economic factors currently impacting Major League Baseball (MLB). Specifically, it analyzes how current labor and collective bargaining issues, the changing media and broadcasting landscape, and the league’s reliance on locally generated revenue are shaping the league’s current and future business environment. Using a multi-method qualitative approach, this case study draws from academic scholarship, contemporary industry reporting, league documents, existing interviews, and six semi-structured interviews with professionals working in or around MLB. The evidence was analyzed through thematic coding and triangulated across sources to identify recurring themes and validate emerging findings. …

Ticking Time Bomb: The Economic Ramifications Of Mlb's Pitch Clock, Katie Ciuffreda

Business and Economics Honors Papers

In recent years, Major League Baseball has been challenged with declining engagement and attendance, particularly with younger audiences, with the long duration of games most commonly cited as the reason for disinterest. In response to this, MLB implemented a pitch clock that worked its way through the minor league system until it was introduced to the majors for the 2023 season. The goal for the clock was to reduce game times by increasing pace of play. While early evidence shows that the clock has been successful in that regard, its impact on player performance remains to be explored. This study …

When Wedding Bells Stop Ringing: An Economic Analysis Of The U.S. Fertility Crisis, Mia Sideris

Business and Economics Honors Papers

Fertility in the U.S. has been in steady decline since the Great Recession. Surveyed opinions suggest this trend stems less from changing attitudes in ideal family size, and more from tangible barriers preventing people from having as many children as they desire. This paper explores several economic and social pressures that may have contributed to this discrepancy, with an emphasis on marriage. Marriage is considered to be the infrastructure that enables childbearing by minimizing both monetary and time costs. Using fixed effects and random forest regression, we estimate the impact of these measures and their relative importance on fertility decisions. …