Digital Commons Network^™

Accounting For Student Performance In Online Higher Education, Mengdi Hao

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This paper uses a novel data on both students’ and teachers’ online participation with students’ administrative academic records and characteristics. The first chapter provides evidence that pre-pandemic lower-achieving students benefitted of the extra time they got during the Spring 2020 lockdown by doing more homework and completing the work assignments that counted towards the final grade, improving their academic performance relative to their pre-pandemic performance (relative to the change observed among higher-achieving students). Using difference-in-differences models and event-study analyses, both with individual fixed effects, we find that lower-achieving students’ Spring 2020 GPA improvement relative to their pre-pandemic academic performance (relative …

Semiparametric Distributional And Quantile Models Applications In Health, Labor And Banking, Li Lu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The first chapter study the medical expenditure on prescription drug utilization on racial/ethnic disparities using a partially linear quantile treatment effects (QTE) model. We consider the quantile treatment effect inequity from race conditional on other covariates. We find that people tend to spend more depending on prescription drug use as growing old, especially those with insurance coverage. In addition, females spend more than males generally, and the male minority groups have higher treatment effect values, compared to that White female usually spends a lot on medical expenditure. From a racial disparity perspective, we observe that the male Hispanic group QTE …

Informal Migration Resilience And Response To External Shocks : Evidence From India, Jayanta Talukder

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores facets of inter-state migration in India through the lens of various external shocks. The first chapter aggregates descriptive and economic statistics from primary surveys conducted in India in response to COVID-19 lockdowns in the form of a survey paper. The second chapter utilizes the survey data to provide detailed empirical contexts on the migration patterns and occupational choices of informal migrant workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The third chapter investigates long term changes in inter-state migration flows as a response to extreme climate events in India.

Hoarding Lifesaving Knowledge While Millions Die: The Political Economy Of Global Covid-19 Vaccine Apartheid, Kenneth Stancil

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Coronavirus vaccines saved millions of lives, but experts estimate that the suboptimal production and inequitable distribution of shots resulted in nearly 3 million preventable Covid-19 deaths in 2021 and 2022 as well as millions of indirect deaths during the pandemic. These avoidable fatalities are inseparable from the grotesquely unequal vaccination rates between rich and poor nations. Dose hoarding by high-income countries contributed to vaccine inequality, but the “vaccine apartheid” inflicted on low-income countries reflects an even more fundamental injustice: knowledge hoarding by profit-maximizing pharmaceutical corporations—aided and abetted by wealthy governments—which deprived generic manufacturers of the right to produce additional lifesaving …

Economic Impact Of Land Use Planning (Transit-Oriented Development): A Comparative Analysis, Sam M

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The problem explored in this mixed-method research is that many cities are unprepared for urban growth, which can only increase poverty and crime. The traditional transportation system is inadequate to support the increase of urbanism; it is responsible for polluting the air, increasing greenhouse gases, and losing thousands of lives annually due to car crashes and road-related accidents. The transportation sector is responsible for 28% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions (Environmental Protection Agency, 2018), and the economic costs of vehicle crashes in the United States totaled $340 billion (Department of Transportation, 2019).

This study aimed to measure how Transit …

Desert Locust Invasions And Farmers’ Adaptation, Cheikh Fall

Economics Honors Projects

This study measures behavioral changes of Ethiopian farmers after experiencing desert locust invasions in 2014. I use an air-mass dispersion model to predict wind patterns that could transport locust swarms and combine the wind trajectories with a panel household survey data to identify affected households. Exploiting the spatial and timing variation of locust invasions, I find that a marginal exposure to locust swarms during the harvesting season causes farmers to delay planting by 4 days and expand their crop portfolio by 0.115 staple/subsistence crops.

Three Essays In Behavioral Economics And Macroeconomics: Unraveling Celebrity Influence On Philanthropy, Racial Disparities In Donation Decisions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, And The Impact Of Foreign Direct Investment On Economic Growth In Saudi Arabia, Rawan Khalid Alothaim

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation encompasses three chapters. Two delve into behavioral aspects of charitable donations during the COVID-19 pandemic, investigating celebrity influence and racial disparities, as well as risk preferences. The third chapter shifts to macroeconomics, examining the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth in Saudi Arabia over a long-term horizon. The first chapter investigates the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements on charitable giving during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants' donation decisions were compared after exposure to celebrity and non-profit expert endorsements. Logistic regression and Ordinary Least Squares regression were used to analyze the impact of independent variables on the likelihood …

Lived Experiences Of African American Women Encountering Barriers In Executive Level Advancement In The Business Services Industry, Sheriley Yvonne Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

It is unknown how African American Women (AAW) perceived experiences involving the experience of the barriers faced when attempting to advance to executive levels in their corporate jobs. Existing literature showed that AAWs experienced several forms of discrimination, including racism, oppression, and limitations which were critical to examining their work experience and progressing up the corporate ladder. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of lived experiences of AAWs when they apply for and fail to reach executive positions in the business services industry. The glass ceiling theory (GCT) and intersectionality theory (IT) were used …

Monitoring The Philippine Economy Fourth Quarter Report For 2022, Mitzie Irene P. Conchada, Natasha Amber Y. Cabiltes, Brendan Emmanuel A. Miranda, Edgar Desher P. Empeño

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The Philippine economy grew 7.2 percent, featuring robust growth despite facing domestic challenges. Fourth quarter growth reflected a more optimistic consumer sentiment as the economy continued to open up. Economic growth in Q4 2022 was 7.2 percent year-on-year and 17.1 percent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q), showing the Philippines’ consistent effort to create a positive growth outlook for the economy (see Table 1). Year-on-year growth exceeded the median analyst forecast of 6.8 percent despite accelerating inflation and growing food security issues. Revenge spending continues to drive consumption on the demand side while service sector growth remains headstrong on the supply side amid stunted …

Sexed Propensities And Gendered Penalties?: An Analysis Of The Economic Outcomes Of Transgender People, Jiwon Chung

CMC Senior Theses

Recent research has indicated the adverse economic outcomes of transgender people. The titular question of this paper refers to the effect on gendered economic outcomes that differences related to sex assigned at birth has for a sample of transgender individuals that is plausibly correlated with being at an early stage of their gender affirmation processes (e.g. social or medical transition). For this group of plausibly early-in-transition transgender individuals, I hypothesize and test a theory that draws the following account: assigned female at birth (AFAB) transgender individuals encounter significant economic penalties as a result of labour market decisions (i.e. industry sorting) …

Finding Answers In Gaps: The Relationship Between Drugs And Mexico's Economy, Mariela Centeno

CMC Senior Theses

This paper sets out to understand the economic conditions that paved the way for the evolution and resilience of a powerful and resilient drug economy in Mexico. To do this, I examine the relationship between a proxy for drug movement from Mexico and large economic variables in the country. I use a dataset that incorporates the drug seizures from 1997 to 2022 to understand whether privatization and the resulting rising economic inequalities in Mexico paved the way for a growing drug economy. This paper builds on current literature regarding drug market estimates and drug economy interactions. Using an OLS regression …

Understanding Financial Inclusion: A Comparative Analysis Of Financial Mechanisms In Uganda, Amari Huang

CMC Senior Theses

Financial inclusion is a critical means of empowering individuals to improve their own lives, and Uganda provides an excellent case study for examining various financial mechanisms in a developing country context. This thesis investigates four such mechanisms: formal banks, microfinance institutions, mobile money, and contribution clubs. The analysis is conducted using five criteria to evaluate their level of inclusion: (1) quantitative coverage, (2) standard of living, (3) gender, (4) education, and (5) social capital. The findings of this research suggest that the examined financial institutions can be seen as steppingstones, with each leading to the next, from contribution clubs to …

Guns And Fatal Police Shootings: Accuracy Of Firearm Prevalence Proxies In A Panel Data Analysis, Corin Elmore

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores the relationship between gun prevalence and fatal police shootings in the United States. Specifically, the study assesses the validity of using FSS (Firearm Suicides Per Total Suicides) as a proxy for gun prevalence. It examines whether FBI background check data can be a more reliable alternative. Through a panel data analysis, the study provides moderate evidence that FBI background check data performs better than FSS as a proxy for gun prevalence and that the relationship between firearm prevalence and fatal police shootings is positive. Additionally, the study finds that instrumenting FSS with background check data to account …

Assessing The Health Effects Of Burn Ban Policy Implementation: Evidence From Texas Counties, Jatin Suri

CMC Senior Theses

I exploit county-level variation in burn ban policies to estimate the effect of burn bans on respiratory disease mortality rates in Texas counties from 2008 to 2020. Using a fixed effects regression model that controls for year and county fixed effects, as well as drought index, firefighting resources, and aging population, I find that burn bans decrease respiratory disease mortality rates by 7 people per 100,000 in the year when the policy is implemented and reduced mortality rates, due to burn ban implementation, persist over a 3-year period. This result is statistically significant (p-value <.05) and provides a novel contribution to an area largely overlooked in previous literature. While previous studies have mainly focused on the economic and environmental effects of burn bans, this research specifically investigates the health outcomes associated with county-level burn bans. Additionally, this study provides evidence of the persistence of the benefits of county-level burn bans over a 3-year period. This contribution to the literature sheds light on the sustained benefits of implementing and enforcing burn bans, which has not been previously explored in prior research.

The Economic Impact Of H1b Visa Approvals On Industry Specific Gdp, Tarika Dorairaj

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between H1B visa approvals by industry and industry-specific GDP in the U.S. To example the economic impact of H1B visa approvals, a fixed effects model has been used on a panel dataset comprising of the top 10 employers in each NAICS industry, over the period 2010 to 2022. The results indicate that an increase in Industry H1B visa approvals is associated with a significant and positive increase in Industry GDP. In particular, an increase in H1B approvals in Finance and Insurance, Healthcare, Information, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, and Real Estate have a positive and …

A Comparative Study On How Governments And Outside Entities Responded To Natural Disasters: Haiti 2010, Ecuador 2016, And Japan 2011 Earthquakes, Cindy Burga-Romero

CMC Senior Theses

With the world becoming more susceptible to natural disasters on account of climate change, it is important to better see and understand the relationship between a country’s economic and political stability to its ability to provide resources and take care of their people and their institutions. This paper looks at 3 earthquake events in the 21st century that have had large disastrous impacts on the country’s infrastructure, economy, and livelihood of people. The events that occurred in Haiti in 2010, in Ecuador in 2016, and in Japan in 2011 have all had major negative impacts on the vastly different countries. …

Contagion: China Evergrande Group’S Collapse And Its Impact On Belt And Road Stock Indices, William Han Wang

CMC Senior Theses

The Evergrande Group is a giant: a company that has liabilities proportional to 2% of China’s overall GDP. While there is evidence that Evergrande’s collapse harmed China and its surrounding economies, this thesis analyzes Evergrande’s default within the context of China’s central foreign policy: the Belt and Road Initiative. Through four selected event dates, a difference in means and medians test and standard panel regression is conducted to analyze differences in impacts for Belt and Road and non-Belt and Road participating countries’ stock indices. This paper’s hypothesis implies that Belt and Road countries would see comparatively more negative impacts on …

Renewable Portfolio Standards: Effectiveness And Carbon Implications, Alexander S. Albrecht

CMC Senior Theses

A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policy is a popular regulatory tool implemented within the U.S. and abroad to limit energy sector emissions and incentivize renewable energy. Assessing their effectiveness and efficiency is a key component of achieving further reductions. We assess an energy market under an RPS using fixed-effects panel and 2SLS regression models to lend empirical credence to common theory-based concerns about RPS policy, namely (1) that they leave emissions unregulated once the RPS requirement is met and (2) that they do not incentivize full use of renewable energy resources. Our results show these to be valid concerns that …

A Comparative Analysis Of 14 Central Banks’ Monetary Responses Before And After The Covid-19 Pandemic In Relation To Central Bank Independence, Emelle Stottele

CMC Senior Theses

In theory, during periods of economic downturn, economic policy should follow a countercyclical pattern. In this light, following the recent COVID-19 pandemic, monetary policy is expected to be contractionary. However, prior research shows that the cyclical nature of monetary policy can vary significantly across different countries. Research also suggests that these monetary responses differ based on the level of independence a central bank has for decision-making from government influence. This thesis studies the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the monetary responses across a panel of 14 countries from January 2018 to August 2022, capturing the impacts of the pandemic. …

Did Demonetization Have A Bigger Impact On Ppis (Prepaid Payment Instruments) Or Mobile Banking In India?, Ansh Vora

CMC Senior Theses

On November 8, 2016, Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, tele-advertised the entire nation and announced that India's highest value banknotes, the 500 and 1000 rupee “Rs” notes would be demonetized and taken out of circulation, effective midnight. Modi stated that this is an effort to reduce the large economy of black money, transition India into a digital economy, abolish funding of terrorist groups and illicit circulation of counterfeit notes. In this study, I choose to analyze the impact of demonetization on two digital payment methods - Prepaid Payment Instruments, “PPI” and Mobile Banking. The data used in this study …

Impact Of Demand For H1b Visas In The Us On The Performance Of Listed Indian Firms, Jayaditya Shekhar Maliye

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between Indian firm performance and the demand for H1B visas in the US. To test this relationship, a fixed effects model has been used on a panel dataset of 104 Indian firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) over the period 2009 to 2021. The results show that an increase in H1B visa demand is negatively and significantly associated with Indian firm performance. These findings suggest that the US’s demand for high skilled labor overseas has consequences for firms in the home country.

A Job Guarantee: Student Ideas, Zdravka Todorova, Shannon Parisi, Patrick Lockhart, Brad Kerry, Jeremy A. Ocampo, Divya Sharma, James Curlis, Tristan Walters

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

This paper presents students’ ideas for job guarantee public service projects, developed in a Master's level course, Economic Social and Ecological Systems. Seven student proposals address local issues and their economic, social, and ecological aspects. The proposals build on social costs, stratification, and commodification; and identify locally needed public service jobs not provided by the business sector. As part of a federally funded, locally designed, and administered job guarantee program, they expand and improve public and non-profit sectors. The article describes the course and its focus on integrated systems, as well as the pedagogy of building on students’ interests, concerns, …

Assessing The Impact Of Financial Obstacles On Manufacturing Firm's Capacity Utilization: Bayesian Approach, Arab Dahir Hassan, Razim Ozcan

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study aims to investigate the relationship between financial obstacles and the capacity utilization of manufacturing firms. This study departs from previous studies in the literature by employing Bayesian linear regression analysis. The results demonstrate that financial constraints have a considerable negative effect on the capacity utilization of manufacturing enterprises, but access to credit lines has a positive effect. The sample consists of 1,494 private manufacturing firms in 31 Europe & Central Asian countries. Financial obstacles were perceived as the major impediment to business operations by 65% of the enterprises in the survey. Furthermore, 52% of enterprises in the sample …

Equity In Maternal And Child Health In Myanmar: Benefit Incidence Analysis On Utilization Of Health Services, Myint Si Thu

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Utilization of maternal and child health services plays a crucial role in preventing pregnancy related deaths and child deaths. High levels of maternal and child mortalities are remaining as public health problems in Myanmar. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of socio-economic and geographical factors on utilization of maternal and child health services at public health facilities in Myanmar, and analyze the levels of benefit that go to the people in different wealth status. Secondary data analysis is conducted using maternal and child health data from Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) 2015- 16. Marginal effects of multinomial …

The Economic Impact Of Bell’S Iceman Cometh Challenge 2022 Mountain Bike Race, Christian Glupker, Paul Isely

Other Faculty Publications

The 2022 Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain bike race is estimated to have generated or supported economic benefits for Grand Traverse County in the following ways:

• 16,569 total visitors, with 88% visiting from outside of Grand Traverse County. Over 36 states and four countries were represented.
• There were 38,047 total visitor days, with 95% coming from nonlocal visitors. These nonlocal visitors spent on average 2.5 days in the Traverse City area.
• Direct spending of all visitors was $4.7 million, with nonlocal visitors spending $4.5 million.
• The total economic impact of nonlocal visitors is estimated at $5.6 million in economic output supporting …

The Price Of Fairness, Christopher Buccafusco, Daniel Hemel, Eric Talley

Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic led to acute supply shortages across the country as well as concerns over price increases amid surging demand. In the process, it reawakened a debate about whether and how to regulate “price gouging”—a controversy that continues as inflation has accelerated even as the pandemic abates. Animating this debate is a longstanding conflict between laissez-faire economics, which champions price fluctuations as a means to allocate scarce goods, and perceived norms of consumer fairness, which are thought to cut strongly against sharp price hikes amid shortages.

This Article provides a new, empirically grounded perspective on the price gouging debate …

Hubungan Antara Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Dan Infrastruktur Transportasi Di Indonesia, Ida Kade Sukesa, Elissaios Papyrakis

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Indonesia

Given the mixed results of the existing research on the relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth in Indonesia, this study, which aims to examine this relationship, uses two approaches, first using time-series data and second using panel data. From the first approach, this study concludes that there is a unidirectional relationship from economic growth to road infrastructure, while between economic growth and air and sea transportation infrastructure there is no relationship. Similar results were also found using the second approach. The growth of three types transport infrastructure does not have a significant effect on economic growth.

Three Essays On Health, Food, And Agricultural Economics, Saber Feizy

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation comprises three distinct but interrelated projects that explore the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, and economics. The first project investigates the impact of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food programs on the health outcomes of its participants. Using fixed effects models and a matching algorithm, the study finds that while conventional fixed effects models indicate a significant effect of CSA participation on diet-related medical expenditures, our modified time-heterogenous fixed effects model did not find a meaningful effect. The results of the matching method are consistent with those of our modified model.

The second project examines racial disparities in the prevalence …

Capital Controls And Banking Crises In Emerging Markets, Xizhen Huang

CGU Theses & Dissertations

There is limited research studying the relationship between capital controls and banking crises and the existing research has mixed results. We argue that the results may depend on the measurement of capital controls. Previous research used a broad index of capital controls, but this may lead to imprecise results due to their inability to account for the possible differences in the effects of different types of capital controls and capital flows. We also argue that the relationship may depend on political and institutional factors, such as institutional quality and other economic policies like macroprudential policies and exchange rate regimes. In …

Integrating Feminist Approaches In Counseling Work With Adult Women, Kristen M. Toole

Adultspan Journal

The scope of ‘women’s issues’ in counseling is an ever-evolving landscape. Recent events such as the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women serve as powerful reminders of the necessity of this focus while underscoring a deep-rooted history of oppressive patriarchal structures. Therefore, counselors must remain informed of the unique considerations surrounding adult women in counseling and acquire proficiency in versatile techniques to meet this population’s nuanced needs. This article examines the complexity of contemporary womanhood and explores the fundamentals of Feminist Counseling Theory (FCT), a holistic, multiculturally conscious, social justice theory in counseling. …