Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays In Macroeconomics And Finance, Archil Dvalishvili

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chapter 1: (A Quantitative Analysis of Interest on Reserves and Reserve Requirements) - I construct a medium scale DSGE model with financial frictions both on the demand (entrepreneurs) and supply (banks) sides of credit to study the costs and benefits of fixed/time-varying minimum reserve requirements and interest paid by the Fed on reserves.The results can be summarized as follows: (1) An optimal time-varying minimum reserve requirement generates substantial welfare gain when compared with a fixed minimum reserve requirement when no interest is paid on reserves. (2) Paying interest on reserves is substantially welfare inferior to a policy with no interest …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Essays On Trade Shocks And Firm’S Location, Dan Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation analyzes how firms can mitigate the influence of trade shock and benefit from openness and diversification. It is composed of three chapters. Chapter 1 and 2 analyze the impact of U.S. import tariffs on the export value of Chinese firms and the differential response of firms that vary in market sizes outside of the U.S. In Chapter 1, I develop a model assuming fixed capital for each firm and fixed cost of entering into new markets. This model shows that the negative impact of a U.S. tariff on the total export value of Chinese firms exporting to more …

Fund Reconciliation Strategies For Improving Financial Accountability And Effectiveness In Nonprofit Organizations, Amma Tabirih

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Budget Capping Health Care: Its Impact On Health, Susan Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of a budget cap on healthcare is to constrain total healthcare expenditure without compromising quality. This paper examines the impacts of budget capping on health and behavioral health outcomes, exploiting the completed Maryland All-Payer Model and the ongoing, extensional Maryland Total Cost of Care model, both of which capped healthcare budgets in Maryland. I use data from 2011-2021 surveys of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system and generalized difference-in-difference regression models to find that budget capping improves health and behavioral health outcomes with a greater favorable effect during the Maryland Total Cost of Care model.

The Sudden Escalation In Average Fastball Velocity: A Biomechanical And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Jacob Meiners

Capstone Projects

Average fastball velocity throughout Major League Baseball has increased dramatically over the previous 15 years. This research examines the factors leading to this increase and provides a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether throwing consistently at high velocities is worth the injury risks, compared to financial benefits, from the player perspective. Additionally, this analysis examines if paying hard-throwing pitchers is worth the monetary risk from a team executive’s perspective, due to increases in leaguewide throwing injury rates. The production of advanced motion capture technology to obtain real-time biomechanical data has given way to the optimization of pitchers’ biomechanics, with the goals …

Effect Of Acute Care Discharge Delays On Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (Irf) Utilization, Eric Garrard

Student Dissertations

Discharge delays present hospitals with challenges in managing costs for Medicare admissions. Meanwhile, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRF) are subject to strict pre-admission requirements that can complicate efficient transitions of care for patients with intensive rehabilitation needs. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative correlational study was to examine any relationship between acute care discharge delays and IRF utilization. This study investigated whether length of stay (LOS) and Medicare Advantage prior authorization requirements impact IRF referrals by reviewing 3,747 medical records of acute stroke patients aged 65 years and older at a regionally integrated healthcare system over a 3-year period (2020- 2022). …

Revolutionizing Lithium Extraction: Analysis Of Factors Affecting Commercialization Timelines With Insights From The Shale Gas Boom, Bilge Tayyar

CMC Senior Theses

This study draws parallels between Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) and hydraulic fracturing to highlight the transformative potential of DLE technology in the lithium industry. The comparative analysis supports the hypothesis that DLE might expedite commercialization timelines, similar to the effect hydraulic fracturing has had on traditional shale gas extraction. The study includes a regression analysis to determine the factors affecting the commercialization of conventional lithium brine extraction methods, thereby better understanding the potential changes DLE will create. The regression model, based on data from 11 projects, examines the impact of variables such as temperature range, tax rates, royalty rates, regulatory …

Capturing Value In Emerging Markets: A Real Options Perspective On Resilience And Risk, Alexander Castillo

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the evaluation of investment opportunities in emerging markets (EMs) through real options analysis, against the backdrop of their unique risk profiles and the recent trend of EMs exhibiting resilience in economic performance. While EMs are associated with high growth rates and infrastructure gaps, they have shown adaptability, particularly in monetary policy responses to inflation. This paper explores the sensitivity of net present value (NPV) and real options (RO) to changes in the capital asset pricing model, adapting the yield spread to capture default risk and local risk-free rates. Utilizing oil benchmark price data, the paper constructs a …

Analysis Of Government Stimulus During Covid-19 And The Bank Distress Of 2023, Kara Hagler

CMC Senior Theses

Due to the hardships that small businesses were facing from the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, the government created the Payment Protection Program (PPP). This program used banks as the initial lenders for small business loans to facilitate loans from the government to small businesses. In this article, I study how participation in the PPP lending program contributes to the Bank Distress of 2023 by using a bank-level quarterly panel data set from 2019-2023. Estimation of difference-in-difference specifications reveals banks that opted into the PPP program experienced an increase in held-to-maturity securities relative to non PPP banks. The mechanism …

Is Green The New Gold? Esg’S Influence On The Financial Performance Of The Energy And Mining Industries, Alexa De Vegvar

CMC Senior Theses

The demand for Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting has increased in recent years. As the concern for climate change has moved to the forefront of the investment process, companies have needed to prioritize ESG in their operations. Previous literature addresses how ESG has benefited companies’ financial performance and increased shareholder value. The pandemic has proven to have positively impacted ESG reporting as social priorities shifted. However, studies have also shown that ESG reporting is too ambiguous to concretely display any relationship with financial performance. This thesis will analyze the impact of ESG and environmental data reporting on the Return …

More Than A Feeling: Exploring The Drivers Of Music Catalog Values, Emily Nutting

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines which characteristics of songs affect transaction price in the sale of artist’s music catalogs. My analysis tests many variables, including the number of years between the song’s release its catalog’s sale (age); the natural log of the number of Spotify streams the song has (popularity); the genre of the song; themes in the song, such as dating, violence, romance, obscenity, sadness, and feelings; and elements of the song like danceability, energy, loudness, instrumentalness (the prevalence of instrumentals relative to vocals in a song), and acousticness (the measure of sound made using instruments as opposed to electronic means). …

Economic Entanglement: The Quantum Race Between The United States And China, Isabella Willhite

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The United States and China are both currently home to the strongest economies and militaries in the world. Despite their interdependence, trade wars have escalated between the two countries in the past few years. While past trade wars have been focused on purely economic protectionism or ideological stances, the trade wars of today signify a shift towards protecting critical emerging technologies. The important emerging technology of today is quantum computing, which will forever change the way that computers encrypt, process, and decode information. The United States and China are on the eve of the “quantum race,” in which they will …

Senior Mental Health Clinicians’ Understanding Of Their Self-Efficacy While Providing Services At Community-Based Agencies, Rukiya Symister

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many mental health clinicians strive to provide their clients with rehabilitative and psychotherapy services resulting in a client gaining stable income and housing. However, the role of a senior mental health clinician (SMHC) is not without its challenges of trying to balance their well-being while dealing with increased coworker turnover, demanding caseloads, and limited access to community resources to provide clients with getting their lives back on track, thereby impacting clinicians’ understanding of their self-efficacy. Much of the research on self-efficacy has focused on mental health clients, mental health graduate students, and mental health trainees, often leaving out the lived …

The Populist Wave: Unpacking The Global Drivers Of 21st Century Right-Wing Populist Support, Ellie Fallon

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the underlying causes of the global rise in right-wing populism support in the twenty-first century. I will examine both the origins of these shifts in public opinion and their consequences for political systems and global interactions. My analyses will take two forms: (1) a cross-national analysis of the rise in right-wing populism in 34 of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to explore the demographic factors that exhibit a relationship with populist attitudes and (2) case studies of right-wing populism in the contemporary United States (with particular attention to former …

Determinants And Effects Of Offset Usage Within The California Cap-And-Trade System – A Firm-Level Analysis, Adarsh Srinivasan

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the determinants of the usage of carbon offsets within the California cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions. It also investigates the relationship between a firm’s investment in offsets and its financials for publicly traded companies. Entity-level data from 2013 to 2020 was used, which was sourced from the California Air Resources Board. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate factors that correlated with offset usage and whether offset usage correlated with EBITDA. Dummy variables indicating geographic location and economic sector of each entity were used as controls. The analysis found that total covered emissions and privately owned …

Mobile Food Displacement And Formalization: A Case Study Of Portland’S Block 216, Marcello Ursic

Pomona Senior Theses

Portland has been on the cutting edge of American mobile food for over fifteen years, becoming a critical darling in the popular and academic press for its role in trailblazing progressive mobile food policy buttressed by broad-based civic engagement. In recent years, Portland’s mobile food landscape has begun shifting as downtown development has picked up post-recession, displacing some of the oldest and most prominent city center food cart pods with others likely to follow. Meanwhile, a new breed of formalized, purpose-built food cart pods has gained ascendancy. Called “food courtyards,” their armored, insulated, and bourgeois character is distinct from traditional …

The New Landscape Of Online Sex Work, Anna Dostalik

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Debates surrounding sex work are nothing new. Decades have been spent arguing that it’s misogynistic, liberating, exploitative, none of your business. There is a distinct shift in the field, though, one that warrants new analysis. The technological advancements of the past decade have resulted in a significant development: OnlyFans. This website combines certain aspects of in person sex work with pornography, and adds in new layers of parasocial connection. In order to understand both the issues with this mode of sex work and its implications, I employ a Marxist analysis of labor to understand commodification and wage slavery. Additionally, I …

Non-Market Food Practices Do Things Markets Cannot: Why Vermonters Produce And Distribute Food That's Not For Sale, Sam Bliss

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Researchers tend to portray food self-provisioning in high-income societies as a coping mechanism for the poor or a hobby for the well-off. They describe food charity as a regrettable band-aid. Vegetable gardens and neighborly sharing are considered remnants of precapitalist tradition. These are non-market food practices: producing food that is not for sale and distributing food in ways other than selling it. Recent scholarship challenges those standard understandings by showing (i) that non-market food practices remain prevalent in high-income countries, (ii) that people in diverse social groups engage in these practices, and (iii) that they articulate diverse reasons for doing …

Chinese Economic Behavior In Southeast Asia: A Historical And Cultural Overview Of The Migration Patterns, Culture, And Business Practices Of The Chinese Diaspora In Southeast Asia, Zachary Szklarz

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

For hundreds of years, ethnic Chinese have set sail in hopes of peace and economic prosperity in Southeast Asia. Over time, these immigrants became paramount to the culture, economies, and politics of their newfound homes. The immense success of these Chinese migrants and their descendants is based on two main factors: maintaining in-group preference in business and social life without explicit discrimination towards outsiders and holding individuals who have achieved wealth through ethical Confucianist means in high esteem. Unique among diaspora groups, the emigrants from China managed to become fully integrated in their adoptive homelands, while still maintaining traditional customs, …

Driven By Change: The Impact Of Macroeconomic Shifts And Covid-19 On New Vehicle Sales, Jackson Aldrich

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the impact of macroeconomic factors and the COVID-19 pandemic on new vehicle sales. In order to address these two topics, a two-pronged approach was used with separate regression models. The macroeconomic variables include monthly supply of new homes, CPI for urban public transportation, unemployment rate, disposable personal income, inflation expectation, consumer sentiment, average gas prices, and total vehicle miles traveled which were regressed on total vehicle sales from 1978-2022. The regression results confirmed and supported current literature and highlighted the importance of the housing market and unemployment rate on new vehicle sales. The COVID-19 pandemic model variables …

How Climate Change Is Altering Energy Finance And Governance In China And The United Arab Emirates, Hans Gebauer

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Climate change is an environmental problem with catastrophic ecological, economic, social, and political impacts. The dramatic scale of the problem has appropriately earned it the name of “climate crisis.” As a protracted crisis, climate change will dominate national and international agendas while transforming institutional politics. Conflicts within policy communities, new interest alignments, social pressure on governments, and ecological collapse could conceivably transform the norms and institutions through which economics, policy, and politics are conducted. Nowhere is this clearer than the energy sector, which is responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions and wherein massive institutional shifts are just beginning to occur. …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Food And Economic Development In The Community Of Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Canada, Laura Rodriguez Reyes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

For Indigenous Peoples, the land embodies a source of cultural and spiritual well-being that is linked to their way of life and identities through divine and traditional connections. Unfortunately, colonial powers, the global food system, socioeconomic inequalities and environmental degradation are impacting northern Indigenous lands and food systems, leading to food insecurity. Nevertheless, communities are still thriving in the face of adversity. In the Northwest Territories, on the lands of Ka’a’gee Tu First Nations (KTFN) in the community settlement of Kakisa, people are growing food through vegetable gardens and greenhouses to support their vision of a resilient food system.

Through …

Heat & Social Cooperation: The Effects Of Thermal Stress On Altruism, Alexander J. Courtman

Master's Theses

Recent literature has highlighted the effects of temperature on economic outcomes and violence in humans, on both the interpersonal and intergroup levels: as temperatures rise, humans are more likely to exhibit increased aggression and agitation. However, little research has been done on how pro-social behaviors like cooperation and altruism among humans might respond to increased temperatures. As extreme heat events increase in frequency, will humans and communities work together in the face of adverse shocks and crises? Leveraging experimental data collected randomized controlled trails held in 4 locations across the world, this paper seeks to establish a relationship between thermal …

Insights Into The Challenges Posed By Climate Change And Land Competition To Brazil’S Midwest Pulpwood Market, Roberto Hajime Sant Anna Kimura

Theses and Dissertations

I investigated the effect of climate change in one of the few expanding markets in the world in Brazil. In the last decades the demand for pulpwood increased from zero to 11 million tons, leading to an expansion of 700 thousand hectares of Eucalyptus plantation. In 2024, a new mill will start operating increasing the consumption of wood fiber by 8.2 million tons (+49%). I used mathematical programming to investigate how different scenarios of productivity and land will affect the market. My results showed that around 946,000 hectares (+124%) of additional timberland will be necessary in the upcoming decades. The …

An Analysis Of The Factors That Affect Self-Employment, Stefani Broome

Dissertations

This dissertation research identifies the factors that affect self-employment in a three-essay format. Essay one builds a foundation on analyzing the determinants that affect self-employment in the United States through a country-level time-series analysis. Essay two includes a time-series panel analysis and comparative analysis between the United States and United Kingdom by expanding on Meager’s (1992) study of the relationship between unemployment and self-employment. This analysis focuses on the United Kingdom, an outlier in Meager’s (1992) study, which included a structural change to the motivation to enter self-employment after an economic shock in the late 1970s. Essay three utilizes a …

The Spectrum Of Federal Funding's Impact: A Texas-Vermont Case Study, Nicholas Lupone

Washington Semester Program

This multivariable analysis of the Economic Development Administration’s allocation decisions examines the EDA’s post-pandemic impact through cross-state funding discrepancies. This research uses a comparative case study design focusing on two states, Texas and Vermont, that have different economic characteristics and receive varying levels of EDA funding. The key variables analyzed include the amount and programmatic category of EDA funding received, and the relationship between funding and broad economic indicators, such as employment statistics, economic output, and industry growth. Additional variables will be impact-based and include private leveraged funding, jobs created or retained, and industrial base pre- and post-funding. The study …

Economics In Transition: Issues Applicable To Climate Change, Odysseus Bostick

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents three essays on topics that characterize the challenges of the energy transition. The first two focus on mitigating the worst impacts of climate change while the final hones in on adapting to climate change.

The first essay estimates willingness-to-pay (WTP) of electricity customers for rooftop solar within the Tennessee Valley Authority. Applying a conditional logit model, the probability of adoption rises with utility rates and emissions-reductions and declines with costs. Evidence of social contagion exists with adoption probabilities increasing 55 − 57% when respondents know someone with panels. WTP also rises. Comparing aggregated to regional WTPs confirms …

Essays In Microeconomics, Michael Charysh

Doctoral Dissertations

\chapter*{Abstract}\label{ch:abstract} The first chapter evaluates the effect of the passage of the Campus Save Act (as part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization in 2013) on reported incidents of crime on college campuses in the United States. This piece of legislation required colleges and universities to provide sexual assault awareness training and preventive education programs for all new students, faculty, and staff. I collect survey data from colleges and universities on their historical training efforts and available resources from 2010 to 2020. While previous studies have examined the relationship between sexual violence and future earnings or labor market …

Bitcoin's Technical Foundation And Its Potential For A Decentralized And Environmentally Friendly Future, Iqtiar Md Siddique

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research examines a systematic analysis of Bitcoin, employing a Coefficient of Variation (CV) approach to gauge its degree of decentralization. Bitcoin, an innovative decentralized digital currency, has received much attention for its potential to revolutionize traditional financial systems. This study employs the Coefficient of Variation (CV) to acquire insights into the wealth distribution and concentration among Bitcoin users. This research demonstrates how decentralized the network of Bitcoin is. The methodology uses real data on Bitcoin addresses and their holdings to compute the Coefficient of Variation (CV). This approach provides valuable insights into the ongoing discourse surrounding Bitcoin's decentralization, offering …