Economics Commons^™

Three Essays On Student Enrollment Responses To General Household And Education-Specific Assistance Programs, Usamah Wasif

Economics ETDs

Greater educational attainment is associated with an increase in expected income, lowering of internal discount rates, and improved financial and health literacy. Income transfers have the potential to positively impact educational attainment by either reducing the direct cost of college attendance or by inducing an income effect that nudges students to decrease labor supply and devote greater time to studies. Whether assistance leads to more education depends on the circumstances, particularly the educational stage and assistance type. High school students may react differently to assistance relative to college students and both may react differently to general household income transfers compared …

Three Essays In Risky Health Behavior And Racial Discrimination, Aakrit Joshi

Economics ETDs

This dissertation consists of three applied essays that empirically explore questions related to understanding the implication of public policy, practices, and interventions for vulnerable populations. The first chapter outlines the scope of the dissertation.

The second chapter examines the contemporary effects of historical redlining, practices that restricted access to mortgage financing for racial minorities, on residential property values. Using “redlining” geographical boundaries created in 1930s for Seattle, WA and Richmond, VA, and detailed housing data, econometric analysis finds that properties just inside a redlined boundary continue to sell at significantly discounted price compared to similar houses in non-redlined areas. These …

Nature Of Health Insurance Demand In India, Brijesh C. Purohit Ph.D

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

In this study an attempt is made to explore elasticity of health insurance demand in India. It is important to note that both the Central and state governments have been trying to help people through their budgetary policies. Keeping in view their efforts and rural urban disparities in the country, we have tried to make an attempt to evaluate whether the people have been provided appropriate information about these governmental policies and how other socio economic factors are influencing the individual household choices to adopt a particular type of health insurance scheme.

This is based on latest National Family Health …

An Anatomy Of Nepal's Remarkable Export Decline, Rishi Sharma

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

This paper documents and breaks down a remarkable decline in Nepal's exports over the 2000-2019 period. This decline is due to a collapse in the country's top export products and is largely uniform across destinations and products. Furthermore, it is not on account of the poor global performance of the sectors Nepal was specialized in but is something more specific to Nepal. Industry-level statistics show that gross output increased in major exporting industries while value-added grew slower or declined. The increase in gross output together with the decline in exports implies a movement towards producing for domestic consumption using more …

An Exploration Of Unintended Effects Of Education Policies In The United States, Kevin Estes

Economics ETDs

The work in this dissertation examines unintended consequences from various public policies in education. The first policy examined is the adoption of the four-day school week schedule by public-school districts across the United States. Concerns over the additional weekend night for students are explored by examining teen traffic safety within the school district before and after adoption of the four-day schedule. The second policy examined is the usage of academic probation by universities. Student responses to being placed on academic probation vary, and financial implications for the student are a potential mechanism behind these responses. Student responses segmented by Pell …

Essays On Human Capital, Soumyajit Chakraborty

Economics ETDs

The first essay: Agriculture in Nepal is the most critical sector for economic growth – it directly benefits the poor, and a considerable proportion of the population derives their livelihoods from agriculture. This essay uses the 2017–2018 baseline survey data from Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project funded through the USAID’s “Feed the Future” program. The essay explores a causal relationship between agronomical knowledge and productivity-enhancing farming decisions. Evidence indicates that there are significant, consistent, and positive returns to agronomical knowledge via engaging in advisory contact through traditional agricultural extension. Given the drawback of the institutional irregularity of advisory services, …

Recruitment Machines, Community Power And Political Return On Investment (Proi): Economic Development Policy In The Age Of Amazon, Eric G. Griego Montoya

Political Science ETDs

ABSTRACT

A fundamental policy choice in economic development among local policy makers is the appropriate mix of “outside” strategies that use incentives to attract companies, and “inside” strategies that invest in smaller and local businesses. Using a mixed-methods research design, including national and state surveys along with qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with policy elites, I examine the role of ideology, elites, community, competition, social capital (trust and influence), and electoral politics in these policy decisions. I use new descriptive theoretical frameworks called “recruitment machines” and “Political Return on Investment (PROI)” to describe how and why local elected officials support …

Three Essays In Development And Environmental Economics, Michael Benjamin Goodwin

Economics ETDs

This dissertation explores three unique topics in development and environmental economics. The first paper looks at the value people place on clean air in Mexico City using an alternative air pollution measure to the typical ground measurement. Research and policy addressing air pollution remains hampered by a lack of ground level air quality data. This study attempts to overcome this issue using aerosol optical depth from satellite imagery as a proxy for air pollution. Using a hedonic framework and least squares estimation, results show that Mexico City residents place a significant value on clean air as demonstrated by their choices …

Assessment Of Preference, Health Issues, And Spatial Dependence In A Solid Waste Management System, Mohammad Mashiur Rahman

Economics ETDs

The insurmountable population growth in developing countries, specifically in the urban cities, has posed numerous socio-economic and environmental challenges. The growth of household solid waste is one of them, creating environmental disruption and climate change from a broader perspective. This dissertation investigates three issues related to a solid waste management system; the health risks from improper waste management behavior, household's preference to participate in a waste management system, and the solution to a municipality for optimal allocation of waste disposal by multiple techniques. The first paper uses a primary survey data collected in 2016 to investigate the association between health …

Stronger Transition: Coping With Natural Disasters, And Health-Economic Investment For Adolescents In Developing Countries, Mengqi Liu

Economics ETDs

This dissertation investigates the period of adolescence as another important window for human capital development. The first chapter provides the introduction of my three research papers, highlighting the research motivation, goals, and contributions. The final chapter summarizes the conclusions and discusses the future research trajectory. The first paper examines the long-term health and socioeconomic implications of exposure to natural disasters during adolescence and childhood. In the second paper, I survey the current awareness of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccine in Nepal and test the different indicators for HPV vaccination, precisely the mother’s intention to vaccinate their adolescent girls against …

An Impact Evaluation Of Covid-19 Training Program: Knowledge And Awareness Of Public Health Professionals Of Province Five, Nepal, Alok K. Bohara, Swati Thapa, Siobhan K. Yilmaz, Spencer H. Mcbee

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

With the declaration of a worldwide pandemic in March 2020 (World Health Organization 2020), COVID-19 has become a primary focus of governments and public health systems across the world with increases in infection and death rates. By mid-April 2020, more than 80% of countries had imposed containment and mitigation measures. But for developing nations, the threats of this global pandemic are more acute given the lack of resources and the capacity to deal with a shock of this magnitude (Loayza 2020). Despite calling for a lockdown on March 24th, 2020 (Pradhan 2020), Nepal faces several public health challenges including limited …

Three Chapters On Transportation And Its Impact On Employment And Health Visits For Low-Income Adults In The Southwest, Michael Hensley

Economics ETDs

Many barriers to employment and healthcare access in the United States exist. Barriers to employment include lack of education, homelessness, or a criminal background. Barriers to healthcare include lack of insurance, lack of medical knowledge, and the inability to pay for service. This dissertation examines the role of transportation access and if transportation access is a burden for employment and healthcare access in the Southwest United States. This dissertation also examines if those differences are different based on gender, race, and ethnicity. The 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) serves as the data source for this dissertation.

Chapter 1 gives …

Chad: Human Fertility, Crop Production And Changing Weather Patterns, Jake Organ

Economics ETDs

The subject of this dissertation is the effect of changing weather patterns on human fertility in Chad, Sahelian Africa. There is a body of literature on the effect of extreme weather events-usually associated with large-scale mortality-and human fertility. However, there is less of a body of literature on the effects of less extreme changing weather patterns and human fertility. Chad has known substantial warming since the late 1960s, hence I use rising heat as a proxy for changing weather patterns. Using GIS-coded fertility and weather data, I look for correlations between the birth rate and the number of days in …

Covid-19 Pandemic And Nepal: Issues And Perspectives, Basu Sharma, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Asta-Ja USA and Asta-Ja RDC published the book “Issues and Perspective on the Covid-19 and Nepal” in December 2020. Edited by Basu Sharma and Ambika P. Adhikari, the book contains 12 papers by 17 authors. The 173-page book is a part of Asta-Ja’s Occasional Paper Series and addresses some of the key impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Nepal, and proposes some policy recommendations to mitigate those impacts. The book covers the areas of how agriculture, food production, employment, urban planning, economy, public health and research activities are impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors review the pandemic’s impact …

Assessing The Environmental Impacts Of Urbanization In Siddharthanagar, Nepal, Bishal Raj Khanal

Economics ETDs

Rapid and haphazard infrastructural expansion often contributes to large negative externalities in cities. Environmental problems like air pollution and degradation of quality-of-life elements in an urban settlement are attributed to urban sprawl. Evidence based planning tools need to be developed which can help manage the rapid urbanization that is taking place in the developing world. In this context, we examine the relationship between health outcomes and the different spatial- temporal aspects of an urban-built environment in Siddharthanagar Metropolitan City which is a major settlement in southwestern Nepal. We attempt to identify the aspects of built environment which are closely associated …

Essays On Emotional Well-Being, Health Insurance Disparities And Health Insurance Markets, Disha Shende

Economics ETDs

This dissertation has three research papers. First paper looks at the effect of social networks on emotional well-being of cancer patients by studying the response of social networks on their depression symptoms. Using the data from a primary survey conducted in Nepal, the study finds that social networks significantly reduce depression symptoms among cancer patients. The results strongly advocate for the importance of the social networks in improving their emotional well-being. Second paper examines the health coverage disparities among Hispanic and non-Hispanic young adults in five southwestern states of the United States. Using the pooled data from American Community Survey …

Expanding The Economic Approach To Public Policy: An Analysis Of Health And Labor Market Outcomes, Joaquin Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba

Economics ETDs

The approach used to answer many public policy questions is firmly rooted in the empirical and theoretical frameworks developed in the field of economics. The proposition of the economic approach to public policy has provided the foundation in which policy makers and practitioners design policies and investigate outcomes. The purpose and scope of this dissertation is to explore health and labor market outcomes within in the economic framework, while proposing two separate and novel analytical approaches. The theme connecting the sections of this dissertation can be characterized as a development of the economic approach to public policy analysis. In Chapter …

Impact Of Political Action Committee On Government Contracts, Bibek Acharya

Economics ETDs

This research aims to determine whether politically active corporations are more likely to get government contracts or likely to get more massive deals than corporations that are not politically active. The research question is, to what extent is the increase in government contracts due to the presence of corporate PACs or the amount spent by corporate PACs? In sum, we expect that the existence of PACs and the higher the corporation contributions in support of candidates for federal offices, the higher their chances of getting a contract or a more massive contract. We find that corporations that have a PAC …

Adolescent Mental Health In The Developing World: Three Economic Analyses On Stressors, Coping, And Support, Siobhan K. Yilmaz

Economics ETDs

Adolescents are slowly being recognized as a generation, worldwide, that may require different policy approaches to improve staggering statistics on their failing wellbeing, including mental health. By providing the support to allow the next generation to achieve better mental health outcomes, they are going to be more economically successful and the future economic growth of nations can be better assured. In face of such a need, this dissertation approaches the evaluation of a number of key stressors and elements of coping and support. Each chapter produces results which overcome limitations throughout existing literature in terms of the simultaneous consideration of …

How Do Farmers Experience Agroecology In Rural Communities Of Northern Ecuador?, Neil Michael Ayala Ayala

Latin American Studies ETDs

Agroecology, a concept in continuous evolution embraces science, practice and sociopolitical aspects. Its meaning is gaining space of debate and global interest as an alternative for building sustainable food systems and resilient communities, not only from the environmental perspective, but from all the dimensions of sustainability. The Andes region is recognized for its agrodiversity and for its history of agricultural activity; nevertheless, the effects of unsustainable agricultural practices inspired in the principles of the so called “Green Revolution” are evident. Conventional agriculture has decreased the capacity of resilience of the agroecosystems and their associated communities. Agroecology is often perceived as …

Labor Market Implications On The Uptake Of The Earned Income Tax Credit In New Mexico Post Great Recession: 2008-2015, James Kaminsky

Economics ETDs

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the most successful poverty alleviation programs in the US tax code. In New Mexico tax filers may apply for a refundable credit – the Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC) – that is predicated upon receipt of the EITC on their federal return. However, the preponderance of research examining the efficacy of the EITC is premised upon two hypotheses: economic conditions are expanding and those seeking work can find it.

Subsequent to the Great Recession, it is not clear that these hypotheses hold. The Great Recession began in Q4-2007 and continued into …

Essays On Agricultural Water Pollution And Human Health, Na Lu

Economics ETDs

This dissertation mainly focuses on agricultural policies, water pollution and human health. Chapter.2 examines the causal impact of agricultural water pollution on individual health outcomes. The findings suggest that agricultural water pollution worsens health outcomes and these adverse health effects appear to be largely due to contaminated drinking water. Chapter.3 explores both of the intended wealth effect and unintended pollution effect on human health caused by China’s agricultural support polices. I find that although the income effect dominates on reducing the overall sickness, the pollution effect is more substantial on the diarrhea incidence and adult BMI. Income affects slightly higher …

Essays On Nutrition And Cognitive Production In Developing Countries: Evidence From Ethiopia & Nepal, Mohammad Ali

Economics ETDs

This dissertation is comprised of five chapters. The first chapter provides an outline of the three separate research papers that are combined in this dissertation. It highlights the goals of each paper, discusses their importance to the field of economics, and outlines their contributions to the existing literature. The final chapter summarizes the main conclusions from the three research articles and points to how my future research trajectory is shaped by my dissertation research.

The second chapter explores the effect of current health (denoted by BMI for age scores) on cognitive test scores directly and indirectly, through time allocated to …

Perpetual Affordability Covenants: Can These Land Use Tools Solve The Affordable Housing Crisis?, Elizabeth Elia

Faculty Scholarship

Approximately 3.8 million privately-owned residential housing units in America today contain affordability covenants recorded in their chains of title. State and local agencies and the District of Columbia use these covenants to ensure that publicly-subsidized properties are actually used to provide affordable housing. With rents at all-time highs and stagnant wages, the affordable housing crisis has reached a fever pitch. House Democrats are proposing billions more in housing subsidy. To the extent those funds subsidize privately-owned housing development they, too, will be secured by affordability covenants. In response to this crisis, a new trend in high cost markets is to …

Fourteenth Annual Himalayan Policy Research Conference (2019), Nepal Study Center

Himalayan Policy Research Conference

Proceedings and paper abstracts of the Himalayan Policy Research Conference (Twelfth Annual) from the Nepal Study Center. Thursday, October 17, 2019, Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club, Preconference Venue of the 48th South Asian Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Freshwater Conservation, Drinking Water Quality And Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study On Nepal, Samrat B. Kunwar

Economics ETDs

Our world today faces a myriad of unprecedented environmental challenges that transcends spatial and temporal reach. These problems involve interconnected ecological and social systems operating on multiple scales and include issues like climate disruption, water stress, food security, biodiversity loss, over-population and species declines and extinctions.These issues are more acute in rapidly growing nations like Nepal, where environmental protection is often considered a luxury. Such environmentally unsound development practices will not only create an imbalance in the ecological and the social functioning and dynamics, but it also threatens the future development of the country itself. In this dissertation, I investigate …

Ostromian Lessons For Post-Disaster Resilience: Evidence From The 2015 Earthquake In Nepal, Veeshan Rayamajhee

Economics ETDs

The dissertation is organized in six chapters. The first chapter provides a synopsis of the four research articles that are comprised in this manuscript. It outlines the goals of each article and connects them to specific Ostromian insights to shed light on the empirical findings. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 are based on a field study that I conducted in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal following the devastating earthquake in 2015. Chapter 4 uses case studies from Chicago, New Orleans, Nepal, and Indonesia. The final chapter summarizes major lessons from the four papers.

The second chapter investigates household-level coping responses to the 7.8 …

Interdependencies Between Energy, The Environment, And Stakeholder Choices, Saleh Nur Muhammad Al Mamun

Economics ETDs

This dissertation contributes to the field of energy economics by expanding the knowledge of energy stakeholders’ decisions amid the interdependence of energy and environmental policies. I analyze three specific energy development decisions from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Chapter 2 introduces a broader state-level policymakers’ decision on renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The renewable portfolio standards is a state-mandated obligation that requires electric load-serving entities to distribute a certain percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources. I investigate the public preferences of RPS for residents in New Mexico in 2017. I find that households are willing to pay for an increase in RPS …

The Impact Of Exogenous Shocks And Heterogeneity On Demand And Preferences Environmental And Resource Goods In The Southwestern United States, Kara A. Walter

Economics ETDs

The 2018 IPCC report declared damages from climate change rapidly approaching. This dissertation consists of three empirical studies employing unique data sets and three econometric methods. First, I consider energy portfolios; I find that political affiliation is not the strongest driving factor of heterogeneity. Second, I examine the impact of observable characteristics in explaining preferences for the environment and regulation; I find opinion on climate change is an important factor and that omitting it results in changes to the significance of other factors. Finally, I study the impact of wildfires on visitation to national parks; I find that in the …

Dynamic And Integrated Models Of The Energy-Water-Land Nexus: Economic And Environmental Evaluation Of Policy Decisions, Elmira Kalhor

Economics ETDs

This dissertation contributes to the field of environmental and natural resource economics by employing data and hybrid simulation models to assess the economic and environmental outcomes of policy instruments applied to the complex systems of humans and the physical environment. Three integrated and dynamic models are developed to measure short- and long-term outcomes of price scenarios and resource capacity constraints.

The first chapter examines the balancing problem faced by a state-level policymaker. The Permian Basin is a source of significant revenue to the state of New Mexico; however, unconventional oil and gas production in this highly productive field requires large …