Digital Commons Network^™

Displacement, Social Justice, And The Right To The City: A Review And Critical Reflections In The 21st Century, Tara Fitzgerald, Brij Maharaj

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper aims to review the literature and themes relating to displacement, social justice, and the right to the city in the 21st century. Displacement, in its various forms, is central to understanding the human rights abuses and livelihood implications when urban rights are revoked, forcing inhabitants to the periphery, and is the focus of this paper. Whereas the city’s services, resources, and opportunities should be a collective right advanced by local authorities for all who occupy urban space, displacements lead to resettlement and impoverishment, especially as livelihoods are disrupted. Urban renewal, through mega-projects, clean-up campaigns, and speculative gentrification processes, …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 8, Number 8, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton, Christopher A. Erickson

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Linking Risk Preference, Women’S Empowerment, Farm Investment And Household Well-Being, Samuel Olusesi Olumide

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A nuanced understanding of intra-household dynamics can inform the design of more effective empowerment and agricultural investment policies. By integrating household risk preferences and empowerment dynamics, this work offers valuable insights into the complex mechanisms driving household welfare and provides a framework for future interventions to promote gender equality and economic development in rural settings. This thesis addresses three core hypotheses: first, that the spouses of risk-seeking male heads are more likely to be disempowered compared to those of risk-averse male heads; second, that households with risk-seeking male heads and disempowered spouses are likely to invest more in farming activities; …

Essays On Education And Labor Market Outcomes, Ishita Ahmed

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation focuses on the labor market or educational outcomes using applied microeconomic methods. Chapter 1 investigates the impact of waiting an additional year to start kindergarten on the socioeconomic achievement gap in Nebraska using longitudinal administrative data from the Nebraska Department of Education. I utilize fuzzy regression discontinuity design to find the effect of waiting on test scores. I find waiting a year to improve the test score, and this impact fades away over time. This fading pattern shows a considerable amount of heterogeneity across different demographic groups, suggesting an acceleration of the achievement gap. The study also investigates …

Measurement Reliability For Intentions To Change Behavior, Emily Schlichtig

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is common for researchers to ask participants to associate probabilities with words, often using tools like the Likert scale to measure behavioral intentions and attitudes. However, it remains unclear what specific probabilities participants assign to the response options on a Likert scale, how much variation exists across these options, and whether these probabilities differ across various behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to explore the numeric probabilities that participants associate with different Likert scale points, to understand their perception of the variation at each point, and to compare these perceptions across three behaviors: eating more vegetables, exercising more, …

Design Of Engineered Nanomaterials For Pfas Adsorption And Catalytic Degradation From Relevant Environmental Conditions, Sheng Yin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of artificially made chemicals whose carbon chains are fully or partially fluorinated. Due to their persistent and pervasive distribution and their adverse effects on human health, the removal of PFAS from the environment has been the focus of current research. This project explores the use of engineered nanomaterials for the effective removal of PFAS through various adsorption and catalytic degradation methods. First, a comprehensive review of recent studies highlights the significant potential of various nanomaterials, including carbon-based, non-metal, single-metal, and multi-metal nanomaterials, for PFAS remediation. These materials are evaluated for their performance, …

Identity And Access: Gender-Based Preferences And Physician Availability In Primary Care, Brigham Walker, Janna Wisniewski, Sarah Tinkler, Jillian Torres, Rajiv Sharma

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Patient preferences for physicians may be influenced by shared characteristics such as gender. We analyzed experimental data from a survey of US adults in which respondents were asked to choose between physician profiles that on average varied only by gender. We find that female patients prefer female physicians to male physicians by 51.8 percentage points (95 % CI: 0.470 to 0.566, p < 0.01), and that result holds across Black, White, and Hispanic sub-groups. With no countervailing preference among male patients, this result holds in the overall sample at 26.8 percentage points (95 % CI: 0.228 to 0.307, p < 0.01). We also analyzed data from a simulated patient field experiment concerning access to primary care appointments and find that female physicians, on average, offer appointments 7.1 days later than male physicians (95 % CI: 5.1 to 9.1, p < 0.01), consistent with the finding that female physicians are preferred. Female physicians’ offices appear to favor female patients, offering appointments to them 2.6 days earlier compared to male patients (95 % CI: -5.3 to 0.195, p = 0.07). However, Hispanic female patients were offered 4.2-percentage-points fewer appointments compared to Hispanic males (95 % CI: -0.069 to -0.014, p < 0.01) by female physicians’ offices. Similarly, Black female patients were told that the physician is “not taking new patients” 3.5 percentage points more often (95 % CI: -0.004 to 0.073, p = 0.08) and were offered appointments that were 2.6 minutes shorter compared …

Two Essays On Corporate Finance, Yongdong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on corporate finance. In my first essay, I investigate the effect of the top management team (TMT) political heterogeneity on the CEO’s ability to implant her/his ideology onto the firm’s CSR policies. We present evidence that a CEO’s ideology can shape CSR policies only in the existence of a politically homogeneous TMT. This result is robust to the use of the propensity score matching (PSM) approach to address selection bias, the instrumental variable (IV) approach to address endogeneity, and Oster’s test to address omitted variables bias. Further analysis shows that the association between CSR …

Western Australian Regional Development Trust Annual Report 2023-24, Western Australian Regional Development Trust, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Western Australian Regional Development Trust Annual Reports

The Trust is an independent statutory advisory body to the Minister for Regional Development, established under the Royalties for Regions Act 2009 (Act).

The functions of the Trust are to provide advice and make recommendations to the minister:

• for the purposes of sections 5(2) and 9(1) of the Act; and
• on any other matter relating to the operation of the Fund that is referred to it by the minister.

In addition to its monitoring and advisory role, the Trust also works to engage and enhance relationships with key regional stakeholders and influencers to promote greater collaboration and innovation in the …

Inflation Expectations, Price Equations, And Fed Effects, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper makes three main contributions. First, inflation expectation equations are estimated using quarterly time series data. Second, a price equation in level form is estimated that is consistent with the data, unlike Phillips-curve equations. Third, the case is considered in which an expectation variable in an inflation or price equation is not causal.

The results suggest that household inflation expectations are mostly affected by current and past inflation. The Fed through interest rates has a modest effect. In the estimated price equation a measure of the expected future price level is significant, although it may not be causal. Whether …

The Reallocation Effects Of Domestic Outsourcing, Mayara Felix, Michael B. Wong

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper estimates the wage, employment, and reallocation effects of non-core activity outsourcing using Brazil’s unexpected 1993 court-ordered outsourcing legalization. We leverage North-South variation in pre-legalization court permissiveness and compare security guards to less affected occupations. We find that older incumbent security guards were adversely impacted through occupational layoffs, loss of firm-level wage premia, and exit from the occupation. At the same time, increased numbers of younger workers entered the formal sector and became employed at contract firms. On net, legalization increased guard employment by 5%, led by a 50% increase in employment for guards aged 18-24, and had no …

Exploring The Motivations And Determinants Of Farmer’S Market Consumers And Organic Specialty Crop Producers, Jane Arnold

All Theses

This two-chapter thesis evaluates the motivations and determinants of the central figures in farmers’ markets and organic markets. The first chapter explores the rise of farmers’ markets popularity through an in-person survey that was designed and distributed to 274 farmers' market consumers. Logit and ordered logit regressions were used to identify the motivations and characteristics that affect the likelihood of being a frequent farmers’ market customer (visiting 5 times or more per season) and spending over $50. The second chapter investigates the organic markets for cucumber and kale, which are dominant specialty crops on today’s grocery shelves. To identify the …

American Rescue Plan Act (Arpa) Local Government Investments In Nevada, Sean Curry, Madison Dwyer, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data from the Brooking Institution’s Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker, an online database that tracks the spending of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund dollars at the local government level. This fact sheet examines ARPA spending data from six Nevadan cities and counties: Washoe, NV; City of North Las Vegas, NV; City of Las Vegas, NV; City of Reno NV; City of Henderson, NV; and Clark County, NV.

A Cross-Country Analysis Of China’S Belt And Road Initiative, Leah Shoff

International Studies (MA) Theses

China established The Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to unite the global economy as well as bolter their own political and economic interests. Though the initiative is relatively new, it is important to understand how the Belt and Road Initiative could impact the global economy. This program is open to any country in the world that seeks to improve its infrastructure. However, critics of China’s proposal have questioned whether countries participating in the program gain economically. Through evaluating the relationship between GDP, time, and other significant data provided by the IMF, a cross-country comparison between Pakistan and the Philippines …

How Can Cbdcs Be Designed To Drive Financial Inclusion?, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As a new form of national currency, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) hold the potential to be a transformative innovation that can enhance financial inclusion. However, the realization of this potential is very much contingent on their design. The realization of the benefit is also influenced by the barriers to financial inclusion that were identified in our first blog such as financial literacy, digital divide, and complexity.

More Autonomy For Frontline Workers Supports Higher-Paying Jobs, Dylan Nelson, Nathan Wilmers, Letian Zhang

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Covid-19: Change In Adjusted Gross Income From Net Migration In Nevada, 2020-2021, Ayda Atici, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on changes in taxable income and net average income as a result of net migration for each county in Nevada during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2020 to 2021). The data illustrate which Nevada counties experienced increases in taxable income and average income, and which counties experienced losses. The data are retrieved from “Tax Data Reveals Large Flight of High Earners from Major Cities During the Pandemic,” an interactive data report by the Economic Innovation Group.

Coupling And Decoupling Of Ancestral Linkages And Current Cross-Border Economic Activities: Genetics And Policy, Suparna Chakraborty, Miao Grace Wang, M.C. Sunny Wong

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper studies the potential link between the biological evolution of populations and present-day economic interactions by estimating the correlation of shared ancestry among populations with cross-border capital and human flows. To this end, we employ the new concept of genetic distance, based on (dis)similarity of neutral gene alleles, to quantify shared ancestry. We then incorporate the genetic distance measure into an augmented gravity model, traditionally used to analyze the effect of geographical distance on bilateral exchange. Our analysis focuses on bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) and migration across 135 countries and we use both linear regression techniques as well …

A Robust Optimization Approach To Mechanism Design, Jiangtao Li, Kexin Wang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the design of mechanisms when the mechanism designer faces local uncertainty about agents’ beliefs. Specifically, we consider a designer who does not know the exact beliefs of the agents but is confident that her estimate is within ϵ of the beliefs held by the agents (where ϵ reflects the degree of local uncertainty). Adopting the robust optimization approach, we design mechanisms that incentivize agents to truthfully report their payoff-relevant information regardless of their actual beliefs. For any fixed ϵ, we identify necessary and sufficient conditions under which requiring this sense of robustness is without loss of revenue for …

Geographic Links And Predictable Returns, Zuben Jin, Frank Weikai Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using establishment-level data of U.S. public firms, we construct a novel measure of geographic linkage between firms. We show that the returns of geography-linked firms have strong predictive power for focal firm returns and fundamentals. This effect is distinct from other cross-firm return predictability and is not easily attributable to risk-based explanations. It is more pronounced for focal firms that receive lower investor attention, are more costly to arbitrage, and during high sentiment periods. The cross-firm information spillovers and return predictability are also stronger for geographic peers with economic linkages and with positive information. Our results are broadly consistent with …

Essays In Industrial Organization And Regulation, Micah D. Thomas

All Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two essays; in the first, I develop a model to show that when there is a sufficiently large segment of uninformed consumers and an existing norm regarding the advertising of bundled good prices that price obfuscation through base good advertisements can be both: (1) profit maximizing, and (2) result in an equilibrium where only some firms obfuscate. I provide the first empirical evidence of this setting by estimating the increase in prices charged by retail gasoline stations, finding a statistically and economically significant obfuscating premium of 5-7 cents per gallon. I also provide evidence of …

Introduction To The Special Issue

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 26, Issue 2 (Special Issue) -- Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Spaces Of Progress And The Challenge Of “Mindfulness” In A Postcolonial World, M. Satish Kumar

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Progress implied both change and improvement in the colonial and postcolonial world. Such a concept of progress came to be enshrined in specific geographical places. The notions of development and underdevelopment in the postcolonial context thereafter supplanted this idea. Over time, while the structures of colonial domination dissolved, those of embedded regional inequalities came to be deeply entrenched, thereby urging for Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to “mindfulness” in a “postcapitalist,” postcolonial world. The key question is whether postcolonialism has reached an impasse in its delivery and deployment of ideas across the widening gulf between the spaces of progress and stagnancy. …

Notes On The Future Possibilities Of Engaged Anthropological Research: Why Decolonizing Anthropology Needs Black Diasporic Feminist Theory And Methodologies, Meryleen Mena

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

While in the past decade there have been more ethnographic accounts that shed light on minoritized stories and demystify the specific challenges that women and femmes experience during their research, much is desired to prepare students and junior scholars from marginalized identities for fieldwork research. Reflecting on a moment of precarity in the context of pre-impeachment São Paulo, I explain why the integration of Black diasporic feminist thought, method, and praxis is critical to further decolonizing efforts in anthropology. Beyond reflection, this narrative calls for sustained politically active engagement to establish an anthropology of liberation.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Essays On Networks And Gender Dynamics In Corporate Finance, Xiaonan Wei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, I explore the effect of networks and gender dynamics on corporate finance. In my first essay, I examine the effects of personal network on insider trading decisions. Using COVID-19 as a shock to test personal network effect, I find individuals were influenced by information about COVID-19 provided by the members of their personal networks. S&P 1500 insiders whose personal networks contained higher fractions of socially connected individuals from countries affected by early stages of COVID-19 were more likely to sell shares of their firms in the period preceding the U.S. stock market decline, and they are less …

Gradient Wild Bootstrap For Instrumental Variable Quantile Regressions With Weak And Few Clusters, Wenjie Wang, Yichong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the gradient wild bootstrap-based inference for instrumental variable quantile regressions in the framework of a small number of large clusters in which the number of clusters is viewed as fixed, and the number of observations for each cluster diverges to infinity. For the Wald inference, we show that our wild bootstrap Wald test, with or without studentization using the cluster-robust covariance estimator (CRVE), controls size asymptotically up to a small error as long as the parameter of endogenous variable is strongly identified in at least one of the clusters. We further show that the wild bootstrap Wald test …

The Interaction Effects Of Fintech And Bank Lending On Growth: Evidence From The Asean Region, Tan Swee Liang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This study examined the interaction effects of traditional bank lending and emerging fintech credit on economic growth in six ASEAN economies from 2013 to 2020. Using a two-way fixed effects (FE) model and the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) method, the study found a statistically significant and positive interaction effect between bank lending and fintech credit. Specifically, fintech credit became increasingly important in shaping economic growth as bank lending ratios exceeded a certain threshold. Countries with high bank lending ratios experienced greater GDP per capita growth when accompanied by greater fintech credit. These findings suggest that policies supporting fintech development alongside …