Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays In Applied Microeconomics, William Cunningham

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to three interconnected areas of economic research: microeconomics, behavioral economics, and urban economics. Each chapter examines how individual decision-making processes may produce more pronounced economic patterns, while highlighting the role of psychological factors and spatial considerations in shaping outcomes. Chapter 1 studies the causes and dynamics of segregation in US neighborhoods. A conditional instrumental variables estimator allows for unbiased estimation of preferences for past neighborhood minority shares by addressing endogeneity concerns present in my theoretical model. I use estimated preference parameters to simulate neighborhood population dynamics for Texas. I regress measures of racial animus and xenophobia on …

Proceedings Of The 19th Facet Theory Conference, Samuel Shye

International Facet Theory Conference

No abstract provided.

Tracking Impact: Leveraging Pre-Existing Monitoring Tools For Assessing Indonesia’S Free Nutritious Meal (Makan Bergizi Gratis) Programme, Putu Geniki Lavinia Natih

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

Indonesia’s Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) programme is among the largest school feeding initiatives globally, yet its rapid scale-up has outpaced the development of a robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework capable of assessing welfare-relevant outcomes. This paper examines whether pre-existing national survey instruments can be leveraged to strengthen outcome monitoring in the absence of MBG-specific microdata. Focusing on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) collected through Indonesia’s National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), the study first situates experiential food insecurity within Indonesia’s broader food security landscape. It then applies a propensity score matching framework using participation in the Bantuan Pangan Non-Tunai …

The “Sweetest Sounding” Words Of Civil Rights: A Labor Origin Story Of The “Right To Work”, Thomas A. Castillo

History

This essay revisits the idea of “right to work” by offering historical context of Florida’s passage of its 1944 right to work constitutional amendment. A brief overview of the history of the term right to work and its contested nature indicates how the phrase likely led to confusion especially in the arena of political economy. A close evaluation of the amendment and its incongruent nature reveals the intent of its proponents was to deceive voters with the “sweetest sounding” words of civil rights while weakening their ability to organize labor unions. The history of safeguarding the free market entailed disciplining …

Bankruptcy, Ownership Turnover And The Fate Of U.S. Coal Mines, Sara Guffey, Shuichiro Nishioka

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper examines the survival dynamics of U.S. coal mines following ownership turnover, with particular attention to the role of financial distress and bankruptcy procedures. Using mine-level data on production, employment, and ownership from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, we show that mines transferred through private workouts are substantially more likely to close within a few years. In contrast, court-supervised transfers reduce the likelihood of rapid shutdown relative to private transactions, but their survival rates remain indistinguishable from mines without ownership turnover. These results speak to the efficiency of bankruptcy institutions: private transactions, in line with White’s (1994) model, …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Health: Evidence From Indonesia, Fatima Khan

Theses and Dissertations

This study estimates the causal transmission of health from mothers to their children. Intergenerational associations in health and other human capital outcomes are well established, but those associations may not be causal due to common unobserved factors between a mother and her child. This study employs two-stage least squares, using weather variation as an instrument, to causally identify the relationship between maternal health and child health outcomes in five dimensions: height-for-age, self-reported health, blood pressure, lung capacity, and hemoglobin levels. The data are from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (1993--2014), a longitudinal survey that provides a 21-year look into the …

Estimating Price Responsiveness For Service Of A Luxury Transportation Company: A Zero Inflated Poisson Approach, Sydney Butenhoff

All Theses

Estimating price sensitivity is crucial for premium service providers who face inconsistent client engagement. In this study, I investigate both observed ride demand and periods of client inactivity among ABC Transfer’s customers, meaning individuals who may not book rides in a given period but are not necessarily disengaged. ABC Transfer is a luxury ground transportation firm headquartered in upstate South Carolina. Using an unbalanced panel dataset spanning 2012 to 2024, I estimate a Zero-Inflated Poisson (ZIP) model to distinguish between individuals who might still be clients from those who are not likely to be clients any longer. The model accounts …

Empowerment Through The Sisters Lifting As We Climb Network: Examining The Organization’S Impact On Black Women, Sharnay Hearn Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological case study examines the role of empowerment within the “Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network” through the experiences of Black women participants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Utilizing in-depth semi-structured interviews, the research investigates the organization's origins, evolution, and social support mechanisms that foster empowerment, as well as participants' experiences with programs and activities over the past nine years. Additionally, the study identifies areas for organizational improvement to further enhance participant empowerment.

The findings of this research support the empowerment theory framework by clarifying the preconditions, processes, and outcomes of empowerment within the Network, which fosters sisterhood and enhances participants' …

Rooted In Roses: The Blossoming Legacy Of Tyler's Floral Economy, Manuel Reyes-Loya, Cecilia Cuellar

Hibbs Brief

This brief examines Tyler, Texas's rose industry and its impact on the local economy and culture. Once the “Rose Capital of America,” Tyler transitioned from large-scale rose production to a focus on processing, distribution, and community traditions like festivals. The rose industry has played a key role in regional employment, economic growth, and maintaining Tyler's cultural identity.

Do The Theoretical Frameworks Surrounding Union Wage Negotiations Align With Empirical Data?, Sajid Bin Hasnat

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This paper investigates whether the strategic bargaining models developed in game theory align with outcomes observed in laboratory and field settings. We aim to synthesize theoretical literature with experimental and field data to assess the predictive power of game-theoretic models in labor-union wage negotiation contexts. We analyze Rubinstein's bargaining model and its extensions, focusing on how relaxed assumptions affect equilibrium behavior, gains from trade, and dispute occurrence. The theoretical analysis reveals that many bargaining failures stem from asymmetric information between both parties, where delay, transaction costs, deadlines, and reputational effects lead to distinct equilibrium predictions. To test these theoretical predictions, …

Soft Infrastructure And The Location Choice Of Multinational Firms:Evidence From Japanese Investment In The United States In The 1980s, Shuichiro Nishioka, Eric Olson, Haoyu Wang

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

We examine whether culture-specific educational infrastructure influenced the location decisions of multinational enterprises by analyzing Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States during the 1980s. Using the quasi-natural experiment of politically-driven Japanese FDI following Reagan-era trade tensions, we test whether pre-existing Japanese Studies programs in U.S. universities predict subsequent Japanese investment across 722 commuting zones. We find that zones with Japanese Studies programs in 1980 were 21-29% more likely to receive new Japanese manufacturing investment by 1992, controlling for traditional determinants likemanufacturing infrastructure, agglomeration, and market access. Our results suggest that "soft infrastructure"—culture-specific human capital pipelines—represents an overlooked …

Constructing A State: Canals And The Transformation Of The Economy, Politics, And Finance In Nineteenth-Century New York, Youwei Xing

All Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays in economic history, unified by a focus on one of America's earliest transportation infrastructures, the canal system, in nineteenth-century New York. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the state's transformation: its economy, politics, and finance, each of which helped construct New York as the Empire State.

The first chapter studies the economic impact of canals on economic modernization from three aspects: sectoral transition, urbanization, and banking development. Contrary to much of the modern literature finds transportation infrastructure leads to decentralization, I find the opposite-evidence of centralization. Specially: (1) canal towns experienced a transition …

Evaluating The Tvr-Set: Insights Into Self-Employment From Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, Catherine Ipsen, Luke Santore

Employment

This report examines the impact of pilot training on the use of the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Self-Employment Toolkit (TVR-SET), developed to support American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS) programs. Of the 574 federally recognized Tribes in the U.S., 93 administer AIVRS programs aimed at improving employment outcomes for American Indians with disabilities. Self-employment is a vital pathway in reservation communities, promoting economic independence and cultural preservation. However, AIVRS programs face challenges in staff training and resources. The TVR-SET and its accompanying training address these gaps, enhancing counselors’ capacity to guide consumers in self-employment exploration and business development.

Evaluating Consumer Preference And Willingness To Pay For Low Emission Electricity: Evidence From A National Choice Experiment In The Us, Bruktawit M. Ahmed, Mahelet G. Fikru

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines consumer preferences for renewable energy and carbon capture technologies through a choice experiment involving 1200 nationally representative respondents in the US. The analysis estimates willingness to pay (WTP) for increases in renewable energy content, carbon capture, and strategies for managing captured carbon, such as geological storage or industrial utilization. Results reveal a strong preference for low-emission electricity products, with WTP estimates ranging from $2.9 to $4.1 per month for a 10 % increase in renewable content and $0.50 to $2.3 for a 10 % increase in carbon capture. Respondents most preferred carbon capture and utilization for managing …

Where Intangibles Travel: Essays On The Tax-Motivated Geography Of Innovation And Capital, Xuerui Kou

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

This dissertation explores how taxation and institutional environments shape the global strategies of United States multinational enterprises (MNEs), with a particular focus on intangible assets and the cross-border allocation of innovation. Positioned at the intersection of international trade, public economics, and innovation studies, the three chapters collectively examine firm responses to international tax incentives and regulatory asymmetries.

Chapter 1 introduces the motivation and theoretical foundations of the dissertation, reviews related literature, and outlines the core research questions and empirical strategies. It highlights the increasing policy and academic interest in the geographic mobility of intangible capital, particularly in the context of …

Draining Development: The Changing Nature Of Corruption In Post-Independence India, Chandra Tiwari

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The economic growth of emerging economies, particularly India’s, stands at a crossroads as the fight against corruption intensifies. Corruption poses a significant threat to the overall development of a country, necessitating the convergence of technological advances with national and global initiatives to combat the issue. Despite several ongoing efforts taken by international bodies to enforce regulations, challenges persist in curbing this issue due to the fundamental behavioral and structural factors at play. This dissertation investigates the dynamic evolution of corruption within a cash-based economy, a period of trade openness, and the contemporary digitalized age in India through a comparative case …

Outsourcing, Labor Market Frictions, And Employment, Mayara Felix, Michael B. Wong

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We estimate the labor market impacts of Brazil’s 1993 outsourcing legalization us-ing North-South variation in pre-legalization court permissiveness, and comparing security guards to less-affected occupations. We find that outsourcing legalization persistently reallocated jobs from older incumbent guards to younger entrants. Total employ-ment of guards and their entry from informality persistently increased, while average demographic-adjusted wages remained constant. Meanwhile, a wave of occupational layoffs displaced some incumbent guards from high-wage firms. The evidence suggests that the rise of non-core activity outsourcing reduced labor market frictions, facilitated by firm-level economies of scale in human resources and spillovers to non-adopting firms.

College Application Mistakes And The Design Of Information Policies At Scale, Tomás Larroucau, Ignacio A. Rios, Anaïs Fabre, Christopher Neilson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We examine whether large-scale information interventions can improve college application outcomes in a centralized admissions system. Using nationwide surveys from Chile, we document widespread information frictions and frequent application mistakes, such as omitting attainable preferred programs or failing to include safety options. To address these frictions, we partnered with the Ministry of Education to implement a large-scale field experiment that provided applicants with personalized information on admission probabilities and program characteristics through customized online platforms. The intervention increased the probability that previously unmatched students received an assignment by 44% and improved placement into higher-ranked programs by 20%. Building on these …

Decision Field Theory For Human-Multi-Robot Collaboration: Human-Centric Decision-Making For Multi-Robot Systems, Ryan Mbagna Nanko

All Theses

At first glance, choosing between an apple and an orange appears to be a straightforward matter of personal taste; however, this seemingly simple preference opens a window into the multifaceted world of decision-making, revealing the complex interplay of cognitive processes, psychological, and behavioral-economic principles that guide our choices \cite{bandyopadhyayRoleAffectDecision2013}. By unpacking these nuanced perspectives, we uncover insights that can drive more effective human-robot interaction and collaboration.

Modeling human cognition requires understanding the evolution of choice utility and the influence of emotions. Decision Field Theory (DFT) stands out by capturing the fluctuating nature in human preferences over time, explaining why choices …

The Effect Of Tort Liability For Prescribed Burns On Wildfire Severity: Evidence From Georgia’S 2000 Policy Reform, John Patrick Phillips

All Theses

This paper aims to estimate the effect of Georgia’s shift in its prescribed fire tort liability standard from simple negligence to gross negligence on the area burned by wildfires on privately owned land. In response to wildfire damage, some states in the Southeast relaxed their liability standards, aiming to promote more prescribed burns and to better control future wildfires. Using the variation of these policy changes, I construct difference-in-difference models to estimate the treatment effect of Georgia’s policy change in July 2000, using counties in North and South Carolina as the control group. I stagger my regressions, adding covariates and …

Criminal Behavior Responses To Changing Penalties: Estimating The Impact Of Felony Theft Threshold Changes, Ezra R. Simmons

All Theses

This study estimates how criminal behavior changes in response to shifts in felony theft thresholds, contributing to broader evidence on the deterrent effects of criminal penalties. Using detailed incident-level crime reports, this study applies econometric techniques to evaluate how offenders responded to reduced penalties. Analyzed within is California’s Proposition 47, which raised the felony threshold for theft-related offenses from $450 to $950. The results show a significant increase in low-level shoplifting (approximately 21%) and more substantial rises (approximately 24% to 30%) in crimes within the threshold overlap ($450 to $950). Additionally, the value stolen in crimes below the $450 threshold …

The Social Dimensions Of Aquaculture: Food Sovereignty And Indigenous Rights In Ketchikan, Alaska, Morgan J. Davis

Capstone Collection

This research project asks how the growing commercial aquaculture industry in Ketchikan, Alaska, functions to alleviate or exacerbate local food insecurity; reinforce or undermine food sovereignty among Indigenous communities, and enhance or restrict community participation in the control of marine resources. Global initiatives have responded to food insecurity through agricultural inputs and technology to create higher yields; however, conventional agricultural production has contributed to and is increasingly vulnerable to climate change. To address higher demands for food, government agencies and development experts have looked towards Blue Growth and aquaculture as a solution for food insecurity and environmental concerns. While aquaculture …

Three Essays In The Economics Of Disagreements: Incentives, Measurement And Persistence, Mustafa W. Alam

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents three chapters that contribute to the study of economic forces shaping disagreements in society.

In Chapter 1, I demonstrate that political polarization can intensify due to innovations in the information market even if a population's ideological distribution is fixed. Viewership-maximizing news firms cater to a diverse audience who assess source accuracy using noisy private signals that vary in precision and ideological bias. If better-informed consumers disproportionately migrate to newer platforms for news (e.g., the Internet), traditional media firms increase news slant to appeal more to less-informed partisans on both sides of the ideological spectrum. This leads to …

Essays On Healthcare Regulation And Industrial Regulation, Vitor C. Melo

All Dissertations

The first chapter explores differences in incentives and consequent behavior between for-profit and not-for-profit firms. I investigate a terrible choice nursing homes faced during the pandemic: isolating residents prevents deaths from COVID-19, but increases non-COVID deaths by aggravating mental illnesses such as dementia. I explore how ownership structure led to differences in isolation measures taken and in resultant health outcomes. I model decisions regarding isolation measures as a trade-off between profits and satisfying staff's demands, with not-for-profit managers more constrained in how they consume profits. The model predicts that not-for-profit facilities will have more restrictive isolation measures and, consequently, lower …

Essays On The Impact Of Childbirth On Parenthood And Childcare, Titir Dey

All Dissertations

This dissertation studies the impact of childbirth and parenthood on the labor market outcomes and decisions of parents. Of the three chapters, the first two talk about how childbirth affects the labor supply decisions of the parents and the subsequent impact on earnings. The third chapter talks about the effect of disruption in the childcare arrangements on the employment outcomes of parents during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

The first chapter measures the short- and long-run declines (penalties) in annual earnings associated with the first childbirth for parents in the United States by exploiting the heterogeneity in their gender, educational attainment …

Is R&D Rivalry Slowing The Growth Of Productive Firms?, Yoshiki Ando, James Bessen, Xiupeng Wang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The reallocation of jobs to more productive firms is a substantial component of aggregate productivity growth, yet job reallocation rates have declined substantially in the United States. This paper explores the hypothesis that greater technological rivalry has exacerbated adjustment costs, slowing reallocation. Using microdata at the US Census and estimates of technological rivalry in firm growth regressions, we find that technological rivalry slows firm responses to productivity shocks. Firms do not expand as rapidly in the face of higher obsolescence risk. Estimating counterfactual firm growth from 1997-2018, we find that growing technological rivalry accounts for most of the decline in …

Bridging Generations: Intergenerational Transfers And Time Use In A Changing World, Christine Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

This Special Issue brings together nine papers that examine how families allocate time and money across generations. Spanning aging societies in East Asia to informal settlements in the Pacific, the contributions employ diverse methodological approaches, from natural experiments and policy variation to administrative data linkage and cross-generational panel surveys. The findings converge on a central insight: intergenerational transfers of time and money are not merely cultural practices, but systematic responses to changing economic environments and institutional frameworks. Family decisions are critical to the provision of long-term care, investment in children’s human capital, and the transmission of preferences, opportunities, and well-being …

(Wp 2025-04) Individual And Collective Behavior, John B. Davis

Economics Working Papers

Compares the mainstream and Institutional and evolutionary economics views of individual and collective behavior. Describes the methodological assumptions for each. Distinguishes the two opposed approaches conceptions of time they employ. Explains the role social identity applies in explaining two opposed approaches adopt different conceptions of time. Closes with an explanatory dilemma the subject creates.

Montana Resident Report: Participation In Outfitted And Guided Outdoor Recreation And Sports Tourism Within Montana, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

While nonresidents play a significant role in outdoor recreation and travel across the state, the contribution of residents is not to be underestimated. This report sheds light on two important topics from the Montana resident perspective: 1) their participation in outfitted or guided outdoor recreation activities in Montana, and 2) their participation in travel for sport across Montana.

Impacts And Insights: Assessing The Aftermath Of Yellowstone’S 500-Year Flood In Montana, Melissa Weddell, Kara Grau, Patrick Holland-Stergar, Christina S. Barsky, Lauren K. Mckeague

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Tourism is shaped by many elements, including natural disasters and unexpected events, which can profoundly affect visitor patterns and destination choices. While disasters typically reduce tourist numbers, occasionally they can have a positive influence. The purpose of this report is to document the flood event, analyze its impact, recovery process, and the economic losses to the region, particularly in terms of tourism visitation and revenue to the area and its gateway communities. The project was a coordinated effort among researchers from the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR), the Department of Public Administration and Policy, and …