Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of The Effects Of County Characteristics On College Enrollment, Patrick La Mar

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

For the past 100 years, policy analysts studied college enrollment at the individual level. Yet little research has been performed on whether the surrounding community characteristics contribute to enrollment rates. This is in part due to seeing college attendance as an individual choice whereas K-12 enrollment is typically predetermined by place of residence. However, this ignores the potential impact economic and social characteristics a community has on students while growing up. This paper attempts to add to the literature by testing county level variables with a panel regression with high school fixed effects.

The results show higher averages of KEES …

Factors Associated With Intervention By Bystanders In Sexual Violence Crimes, Kathy Chang Liu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Kitty Genovese’s case in 1964 remains the classic example in discussions of bystander intervention. In recent years, people heard similar cases where bystanders act indifferently or are slow to report the crime. This made me ask the research question of this Capstone: What factors are associated with intervention by bystanders?

The data set I used here is the incident data file from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data, which covers the years 1992-2013. I pulled out 11 explanatory variables including victim characteristics, offender characteristics, and external/environmental factors. I used a regression model with robust standard errors to examine the …

The Emerge Difference: Effects Of Encouragement By Political Organizations On Women's Political Ambition, Ashleigh Hayes

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Substantive representation of women in elected positions is an area where The United States is lacking. Within the United States Congress, women are disproportionately less likely to be elected to office and it is much of the same at the state level. Nationally, women hold only 104 (19.4%) of the 535 seats in the United States Congress as of 2015 (8). At the state level, women fare somewhat better. Women comprise 24.2 percent of state legislatures nationwide (9). In the state of Kentucky, women hold 25 seats in the state legislature or 18.1 percent. This is far from equal or …

An Examination Of Gender Income Gaps In And Out Of Government, Elisha Comer

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

Reducing Depression Among Older Adults: Informal Helping Versus Volunteering, Salih Salihoglu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Volunteerism is an unpaid productive activity that is exercised within a formal organization to benefit others that are not part of family or friends (Musick & Wilson, 2008). Alternatively, individuals could engage in informal helping which would be an activity undertaken outside a formal, structured organization. This paper addresses whether informal helping is also effective in reducing depression for older adults alongside volunteering. I hypothesize that informal helping is effective in reducing depression only when exercised for short durations. On the other hand, I hypothesize that volunteerism is only effective when exercised for long periods of time. I try to …

Effect Of Mass Media On Family Planning Choices In Indonesia, Beta Ardiansyah

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Realizing the necessity of family planning, the Indonesian government started family planning programs in the late 1960s, long before the global Program of Action from the International Conference of Population (ICPD) in 1994.

Many studies have tried to draw plausible explanations for the prevalence of family planning focused mainly on socio-economic factors but few studies have approached the issue from the perspective of mass media influence as the variable of interest. This study attempts to fill this gap created by the lack of empirical evidence about mass media effects of family planning choices by examining the contraceptive behavior of Indonesian …

The Determinants Of Childbirth Grants Of Local Governments In South Korea, Gi-Jung Kim

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Declining fertility is one of the top policy issues in South Korea. To increase the birth rate, the government of South Korea has been enacting several fertility encouragement polices. Although almost all of the birth encouragement policies have been led by the central government, a childbirth grant program was developed by primary local governments themselves. The grant levels vary significantly between local governments.

I examine what explains the differences in the childbirth grant level by analyzing twelve years (2004-2015) of panel data with a fixed-effects model. Prior studies indicate that the extent of demand for a policy and the availability …

Measuring A Big Bold Goal, Jonathan Kohn

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.