Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrating A Stakeholder-Centric Approach Into Dynamic Adaptation Policy Pathways For Equitable Coastal Flood Risk Management In East Boston, Shailee M. Desai

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This research aims to illustrate a methodology incorporating diverse stakeholder values in adaptation planning to promote equitable outcomes using a hypothetical case study of the Lower Border Street area in East Boston, using the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) framework for managing coastal flood risk. It offers three significant contributions to the field of adaptation planning: (i) It demonstrates how to integrate a stakeholder-specific assessment within the DAPP framework and illustrates individual impacts to a variety of stakeholders, including high- and low-income residents, commercial actors, government actors, and coastal landowners hoping that the planning process remains transparent and motivates local …

Bruni And Sugden On Market Virtues, Luís C. Calderón Gómez, Robert Talisse, John A. Weymark

Articles

According to classical liberalism, markets are instruments for the mutually advantageous voluntary exchange of goods and services among individuals who have conflicting interests. Some critics have used a virtue ethics understanding of behavior in markets to call for moral limits to markets because this classical view does not respect the internal value of human practices and the intrinsic motivations of individuals. In response, Luigino Bruni and Robert Sugden have offered a virtue ethics defense of markets, thereby “reclaiming virtue ethics for economics.” We argue that their account needs further elaboration and clarification before it is possible to assess the soundness …

Power And Progress, Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology And Prosperity, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

Jeepney Modernization Program: Agencies And Constraints Of Informal Transport Sector In Cebu City, Philippines, Katrina Lerma A. Rapada, Herald Shalom R. Vallente, Giena Marie U. Canoy

Journal of Global Awareness

In the quest to provide a better public transportation system in the Philippines, the government has implemented Department Order 2017-011, the major basis for the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program, which requires single jeepney operators to join transport cooperatives and limits jeepneys not older than 15 years to operate. However, up to the present, this policy initiative has yet to improve Cebu City's public transport system significantly, and it has already created various forms of exclusion. Anchored on Mayer’s (2014) theory on the problems of collective action and Mosca’s (1939) elite theory, this study assesses the collective agencies of jeepney …

College Degree Attainment In The Mountain West, 2010-2020, Isabelle G. Graham, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents data on the gaps in college degree attainment in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data appear in “Learning and Earning by Degrees: Gains in College Degree Attainment Have Enriched the Nation and Every State, but Racial and Gender Inequality Persists,” report published by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), a research and policy institute within Georgetown University that focuses on the connections between education, career qualifications, and workforce demands.

The Digital Economy And Equitable Access To Jobs In The Mountain West, 2023, Isabelle G. Graham, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents data from a Brookings Institution report, “The future of the US digital economy depends on equitable access to jobs,” which compares the share of 2023 employment in highly digital jobs among women and minority groups for select U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). This fact sheet reports data for nine Mountain West MSAs: Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV; Albuquerque, NM; Colorado Springs, CO; Denver-Aurora- Lakewood, CO; Tucson, AZ; Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Salt Lake City, UT; Provo-Orem, UT; and Ogden- Clearfield, UT.

South Carolina And The Blue Ridge Rail Road, 1852 To 1873: Dreams Of Linking The South And West, Steve E. Gibson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

While the 1850s were productive and railroading did innovate with the initial adoption of steel, the embrace of the telegraph, the use of coal as a fuel, and the opening of generally long railroads, particularly in South Carolina, the railroads themselves generally remained conservative (almost timid) in their business models and strategic thinking. This was especially true in the South. Northern railroads recognized the need to connect major cities, connect seaports with crop productive hinterlands, and generally understood that railroad mobility, mixed economic development, and prosperity were intertwined and mutually reinforcing with the prosperity of both the railroad and the …

Cost-Effective Solutions For High-Throughput Enzymatic Dna Methylation Sequencing, Amy Longtin, Marina M. Watowich, Baptiste Sadoughi, Rachel M. Petersen, Sarah F. Brosnan, Kenneth Buetow, Qiuyin Cai, Cayo Biobank Research Unit, Vanderbilt University, Michael D. Gurven, James P. Higham, Heather M. Highland, Yi-Ting Huang, Hillard Kaplan, Thomas S. Kraft, Yvonne A. L. Lim, Jirong Long, Amanda D. Melin, Michael J. Montagne, Jamie Roberson, Kee Seong Ng, Michael L. Platt, India A. Schneider-Crease, Jonathan Stieglitz, Benjamin C. Trumble, Vivek Venkataraman, Ian J. Wallace, Jie Wu, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Angela Jones, Alexander G. Bick, Amanda J. Lea

ESI Publications

Characterizing DNA methylation patterns is important for addressing key questions in evolutionary biology, development, geroscience, and medical genomics. While costs are decreasing, whole-genome DNA methylation profiling remains prohibitively expensive for most population-scale studies, creating a need for cost-effective, reduced representation approaches (i.e., assays that rely on microarrays, enzyme digests, or sequence capture to target a subset of the genome). Most common whole genome and reduced representation techniques rely on bisulfite conversion, which can damage DNA resulting in DNA loss and sequencing biases. Enzymatic methyl sequencing (EM-seq) was recently proposed to overcome these issues, but thorough benchmarking of EM-seq combined with …

Essays In Corporate Governance And Financial Intermediation, Renping Li

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Antitrust regulations in banking have historically targeted commercial banking activities. In the first chapter, I ask does the consolidation of investment banks have competitive effects? Using the geographically fragmented municipal bond underwriting market as a natural laboratory and employing a stacked difference-in-differences specification, I find that the underwriting spread increases by 4.8% of its sample mean following within-market consolidation. The effects double for larger M&As or in more concentrated markets and do not dissipate over time. These M&As do not generate efficiency gains that manifest as lower bond yields or substitution of other issuer-paid services. The findings remain robust when …

Essays In Empirical Asset Pricing, Jiaen Li

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation explores two broad questions. First, what is the role of intangible forces like ideological narratives in belief formation and asset prices? Second, how can we understand the systematic components in asset pricing? In Chapter 1, using cryptocurrencies as a laboratory, I examine the role of ideological narratives in asset prices—an area remains underexplored. Leveraging social media data and large language models to measure ideology dynamics, I find that fluctuations in two ideological narratives—anarchism and decentralization—are priced in the cross-section of cryptocurrency returns. Consistent with the view that factors proxy for state variables, ideology factors contain distinct information about …

General Education Assessment Report Form: Basic Macroeconomics, Oguzhan Batmaz

May Institute

No abstract provided.

Explaining The Satisfaction Of The Religious Tourist: The Case Of Maimonides In The City Of Cordoba, César Mora Márquez, Angelo Puccia

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism was one of the most severely affected sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even religious tourism, traditionally less susceptible to market fluctuations, is now compelled to adopt innovative strategies in response to these effects. This article analyses the satisfaction of religious tourism, specifically its relationship with the figure of Maimonides, who is considered to be an important religious thinker and is included within the Pantheon database of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A questionnaire was distributed and completed by 720 tourists in the city of Cordoba, Spain, which has close links to Maimonides. The findings indicated that the spirituality …

Intergenerational Mobility In Ottoman Istanbul: Evidence From Court Records, Metin M. Coşgel, José-Antonio Espín-Sánchez, Emre Özer

Discussion Papers

We use data from the Istanbul court registers spanning from the 16th -19th centuries to establish, for the first time, long-term trends in intergenerational mobility in a major premodern city. The dataset contains information on over 270,000 individuals who appeared in court in various roles, including litigants, witnesses, and representatives. Crucially, it records the honorific titles (if any) of individuals and their fathers, which we use as measures for socioeconomic status. Our goal is to trace long-term changes in Istanbul’s social structure, analyze the relationship between fathers’ and sons’ titles to assess shifts in intergenerational mobility, and determine whether these …

Tulsa Remote’S Benefits For Other Tulsa Residents: Results And Implications, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Tulsa Remote On Inducing Moves To Tulsa: Estimates And Implications, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

Tulsa Remote is one of the largest of over 100 remote worker attraction programs in the United States. Since its beginning in 2018, the program has provided generous incentives ($10,000 for moving to Tulsa and staying one year), along with accompanying networking services and incentives to encourage entrepreneurship, to over 3,000 Tulsa Remote member households, selected out of tens of thousands of applicants. Tulsa Remote’s purpose is to promote economic development in Tulsa. Tulsa Remote members spend more locally and generate fiscal benefits, as well as start up businesses and help make Tulsa more attractive for high-tech job growth. These …

The Price Of Intelligence: How Should Socially-Minded Firms Price And Deploy Ai?, Nils H. Lehr, Pascual Restrepo

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Leading AI firms claim to prioritize social welfare. How should firms with a social mandate price and deploy AI? We derive pricing formulas that depart from profit maximization by incorporating incentives to enhance welfare and reduce labor disruptions. Using US data, we evaluate several scenarios. A welfarist firm that values both profit and welfare should price closer to marginal cost, as efficiency gains outweigh distributional concerns. A conservative firm focused on labormarket stability should price above the profit-maximizing level in the short run, especially when its AI may displace low-income workers. Overall, socially minded firms face a trade-off between expanding …

Does A Star Player’S Jewelry Matter? An Analysis Of Nba Real Team Value, Brandon C. Penticoff

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study dives into the financial and sport factors that impact team market value and revenue. This study's results confirm that star players significantly enhance team value, with NBA Superstars adding nearly $500 million annually. This study discovered the prominence of a Principal-Agent Problem between star players and NBA front offices over the issue of championship pursuit. The analysis also identifies an optimal style of play for revenue generation, but that could oppose longer-term team value. These findings have critical implications for NBA front offices, owners, and coaching staffs.

Hospitality Operators And Cannabis Tourism In The South: Insights On Policy & Regulations, Nick E. Johnston, Kelly Way, Chloe Tyner, Betsy Garrison

ICHRIE Research Reports

Cannabis tourism offers new opportunities for U.S. hospitality, although regional adoption is limited and complex due to diverse legal frameworks. Through qualitative document analysis (QDA) of regulatory frameworks in 14 Southern U.S. states, this study compares policies on consumption, sales, and employment in states with limited or emerging cannabis programs. Findings reveal that hospitality operators can enhance guest experiences by creating private, wellness-focused cannabis environments and advocating for gradual policy adjustments. However, compliance with strict consumption, licensing, and workplace rules is essential to mitigate legal risks. This study highlights the South's cannabis tourism potential within politically conservative markets, suggesting that …

Goodness Of Fit Tests In Spatial Autoregressive Stochastic Frontier Models, Ming-Yu Deng, Yue Fu, Levent Kutlu, Minxian Wang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This article mainly considers goodness of fit tests for the inefficiency in spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier (SARSF) models by utilizing the characteristic function of the centralized composite error term. As a prerequisite of the tests, we propose easy-to-compute moment estimators for distributional parameters of such a term, showing the consistency based on spatial near-epoch dependent properties. Meanwhile, the asymptotic distribution of the estimators is derived by generalizing the central limit theorem (CLT) in Kelejian and Prucha (Citation2001) from linear-quadratic forms to polynomial-trigonometric forms. Then, the cosine and sine tests, being simple to implement in SARSF analysis, are established …

"Artificial Intelligence And Economic Development In Ghana: Assessing The Role Of Government Policy And Regulation", Sebastian Sharma

Senior Theses

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming economies worldwide, with profound implications for economic development in the Global South. Various questions arise regarding whether these changes will positively or negatively impact the economy and individuals worldwide. In this thesis, I examine how Ghana has implemented AI and utilized it to generate economic growth for all members of its society. I argue that through government regulation and framework Ghana was able to maximize the benefits AI has to offer while also minimizing the various risks it may bring. Ghana is a perfect example of how a country in the Global South despite …

Econometric Analysis Of Social Interactions And Decision-Making, Shuo Qi

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the econometric analysis of social interactions and decision-making. The first two chapters advance econometric methodology by addressing key challenges in identifying and estimating peer effects, specifically tackling issues related to partial network data and endogenous link formation. The third chapter presents an empirical analysis of parental over-aspiration and its impact on children's academic outcomes, using monotone instrumental variables constructed from social network structures.

Chapter 1 is "Identification and Estimation of Discrete Choice Models with Spillovers Using Partial Network Data". This paper investigates peer effects in discrete choice models with incomplete data on social links. We consider an …

Analyzing Immigrant Pay Gaps & The Policies That Influence Them, Rebeca Perez, Prachi Jain

Honors Thesis

Despite making up 14% of the US population, little research has been done on pay gaps for immigrants, the majority of whom are Latin American immigrants. I analyze the effect of immigration on immigrants’ wages, specifically looking at the effects of region of birth, citizenship, and state immigration policies. I find that even when compared to natives with similar education, Latin American immigrants earn significantly less. Furthermore, while noncitizens earn less than natives and naturalized citizens earn more overall, Latin Americans face a larger penalty for noncitizenship and lower returns to citizenship. Finally, while living in Sanctuary and Anti-Sanctuary States …

Mitigating Agricultural Income Volatility: Evidence From Crop Insurance Adoption In India, Annoushqa Bobde

Master's Theses

Income volatility resulting from crop loss presents a significant threat to rural livelihoods in India, where nearly half of the workforce is employed in agriculture. This study examines the causal impact of crop insurance uptake on farm income using nationally representative data from the 70th and 77th rounds of the National Sample Survey, merged with satellite-derived climate data and Harmful Degree Days (HDD), which is used as a proxy for crop-damaging temperature. To address selection bias in insurance enrollment, Propensity Score Matching, Inverse Propensity Weighting, and a Two-Way Fixed Effects model are used. Results show that insurance uptake is associated …

First Annual Advances In Business Education Conference 2025 Proceedings, Kelsey Metz, Joshua Ray

Advances in Business Education (ABE) Conference Proceedings

Conference Overview: The First Annual Advances in Business Education (ABE) Conference was held on May 16, 2025, at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. Hosted by the LMU School of Business, the ABE Conference was established to promote teaching excellence through innovation and collaboration in business education. With a focus on fostering meaningful dialogue among educators, researchers, and students, the conference welcomed participants from across disciplines and institutions. The event was structured around three key tracks:

Pedagogy & Teaching Excellence: Showcasing innovative teaching methods and strategies for enhancing student learning and engagement.

Business Research: Presenting research focused on advancing knowledge …

Who Owns The Wind: The Absence Of Community Wind Farms In California, Sky Berry-Weiss

Master's Projects and Capstones

Community ownership structures for wind farms have been around for decades, particularly in European countries, due to high socioeconomic benefits. Given these significant benefits, one might expect community wind to thrive in the United States—especially in a state like California, which prides itself on progressive climate policy and renewable energy leadership. Yet utility-scale community wind remains largely absent from research on California’s energy system, raising questions about its existence in the state. To pinpoint how many utility-scale community owned wind farms are in California, this study surveys every operational wind turbine in the state. After classifying each wind farm by …

Downstream Delays: Effects Of Flooding On Childrens Education And Time Use In Peru, Miki Robert Izu

Master's Theses

Flooding is a major cause of destruction and economic loss affecting over 80 million people annually. Flooding during childhood can lead to educational setbacks with long term economic impacts. This study investigates the causal impacts of flood shocks on educational achievement and children's time use using the Young Lives Survey, a panel dataset surveying children in Peru over 19 years of childhood. This study finds that flooding causes a temporary positive "spike" in girls hours of labor immediately after a flood which subsides by three to six years after flooding. The additional hours of labor does not reduce hours of …

Unequal Shocks: The Heterogeneous Impact Of Earthquakes, Claire Marie James

Master's Theses

What effect does neighborhood wealth have on disaster outcomes and disaster induced migration? Using the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake in Southern Türkiye and Syria as a natural shock, I examine how the short term migration response to building damage and earthquake exposure differs by average neighborhood home prices. Using a panel dataset of population by bing tile, from Meta’s Data for Good Project, I employ time series and cross sectional regression analysis. I find that wealthy neighborhoods are better able to retain population than non-wealthy counterparts.

Weather Impacts On Migration And Food Insecurity In Bangladesh, Brendon M. Wong, Andrew Hobbs

Master's Theses

This paper analyzes the impact of weather shocks on household migration and food insecurity, and the mechanisms in which they do so. As climate change continues to impact weather patterns, subsistence farmers remain extremely vulnerable and can experience decreases in welfare. Using the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey, we construct a panel dataset to measure the effects of temperature and rainfall on remittance amounts, food consumption scores, and child wasting z-scores. We observe that weather has strong impacts on these outcomes but are dependent on the rice variety and growing season. We do not find strong evidence that the mechanism in …

Effective Altruism, In-Group Favoritism, And Urban And Rural Values Across Cultures, Brian Chu

Master's Theses

Effective altruism has become an increasingly fashionable philosophy in recent years, with ardent supporters in Silicon Valley and other echelons of power. This study investigates to what extent people in urban and rural settings in the U.S., South Africa, and India act as effective altruists by employing an experiment in which participants must decide how to divide a $100 donation between two charities, one benefiting 10 people in their in-group and the other, more “effective” charity, benefiting 100 people in their out-group. The results show some areas in which U.S. urban populations act much more effectively altruistic than others, perhaps …

Climate Shocks, Crop Yields, And School Enrollment In Rural Ethiopia, Mallika Matharu

Master's Theses

This study investigates how climate-induced shocks to agricultural productivity affect school enrollment in rural Ethiopia. Using five waves of panel data from the Ethiopia Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) and satellite-derived weather indicators, I estimate the causal effects of crop yields, specifically Teff, Sorghum, and Maize, on children’s school attendance. To address the endogeneity of agricultural output, I instrument crop yields with agro-climatic measures such as growing degree days (GDD), harmful degree days (HDD), and soil moisture during the Meher growing season. The main empirical strategy uses a two-stage instrumental variable approach with region and wave fixed effects. Results suggest …