Economic Policy Commons^™

The Economics Of Accountability: Learning From German Holocaust Reparations, Grace I. Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing on microdata from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, this study compares European Holocaust survivors who received reparations with similar Europeans who did not. It finds that, decades on, recipients are not systematically better or worse off on core outcomes like life satisfaction, savings, and debt. This is consistent with the argument that reparations restore parity rather than create new advantages. Where differences emerge, they point to stabilization in more vulnerable settings (e.g., lower likelihood of high debt in parts of Eastern Europe). The main takeaway from effective reparations is applicable to the United States debate: …

Stacked Risks, Unequal Returns: Stratified Risk Allocation In Housing And Higher Education, Regina M. Lewis

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States, public policy does more than distribute resources. It distributes risk. The same policy can create profoundly different consequences for different people because policies operate on landscapes shaped by generations of unequal investment and opportunity.

To explore this process, I introduce the Stratified Risk Allocation (SRA) Framework to demonstrate how facially neutral policies reproduce inequality by allocating risk across populations with unequal capacity to absorb it. Drawing on risk society theory, historical institutionalism, critical race theory, intersectionality, and stratification economics, the SRA framework distinguishes between Exposure, the likelihood of encountering policy-generated risk, and Capacity, the resources available …

Diagnosis And Proposal For Addressing The Depopulation In Northern California Towns, Cahal T. Connolly

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines population decline in small Northern California towns as a process of functional depopulation. Demographic loss becomes most damaging when it weakens the institutions that make communities livable. Focusing on rural towns facing aging populations, economic contraction, climate risk, housing instability, and service erosion, the thesis argues that sustainability cannot be measured by population change alone. Instead, towns must be evaluated according to their ability to maintain municipal services such as schools, healthcare, emergency services, infrastructure, local governance, and civic life. The thesis develops a stabilization framework that distinguishes among stabilizable, transitional, and structurally declining communities based on …

Analyzing Critical Mineral Supply For Lithium-Ion Battery Demand To 2050, Shaely Sullivan

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Battery storage is fundamental in the global initiative to mitigate anthropogenic climate change by decarbonizing the electric power grid and transportation sector. Battery storage stabilizes intermittent energy sources, such as solar and wind, and enables clean transportation through electric vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used battery chemistry globally due to their performance capabilities. Therefore, demand for lithium-ion batteries is projected to increase exponentially over the next several decades, driven by the growth of electric vehicles. This thesis projects global demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage, to assess the supply risks for critical minerals essential to lithium-ion batteries. …

The Economics Of The U.S. Student Loan Market And The Case For The Education Development Financial Institution, Ian Akers

CMC Senior Theses

The United States student loan market is shaped by a variety of market failures–credit constraints, positive externalities, behavioral frictions including myopia, debt aversion, and misperception–that together justify government intervention in the market. Yet the design of federal intervention is just as important as its existence. This thesis details the economic theory underpinning the market for student loans, evaluates three historical federal student loan programs (the Perkins Loan Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, and the Federal Direct Loan Program) through the lens of that theory. The thesis then proposes a novel institutional model as a targeted response to the …

China-U.S Relations: Techno‑Nationalism, Strategic Entrapment, And Taiwan., Prince Y. Munya Mr.

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

This thesis examines how China–U.S. relations evolved from a manageable strategic rivalry into a more rigid and increasingly difficult form of competition after the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia.” It argues that traditional explanations such as power transition theory alone cannot fully explain the deterioration of the relationship. Instead, the study introduces the concept of techno-nationalism, where technological leadership becomes tied to national identity, economic security, and geopolitical power, particularly in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and supply-chain security. Through historical analysis and policy tracing, the thesis develops the concept of strategic entrapment to explain how both Washington …

Beyond Interests And Ideas: Institutions And The Persistence Of Trade Protectionism In Brazil, Samo Sérgio Gonçalves Tosatti

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Despite decades of economic reforms and growing international integration since the 1990s, Brazil has remained one of the most protectionist large economies in the global trading system. Tariff levels remain relatively high, the country maintains a limited network of trade agreements, and non-tariff barriers play a significant role in shaping market access. Existing explanations for this persistence have focused primarily on the influence of organized interests, particularly import-competing industries, and the enduring influence of developmentalist ideas rooted in Brazil’s import-substitution industrialization (ISI) legacy.

This dissertation argues that these explanations are incomplete without accounting for a third explanatory dimension: institutions. It …

From Coverage To Care: Evaluating The Effects Of Aca Medicaid Expansion On Birth Outcomes, Bailey R. Lengfelder

Economics Honors Projects

I examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion on maternal and fetal health outcomes using National Center for Health Statistics Natality data from 2006 to 2023. I exploit staggered state adoption as a quasi-experiment, and the staggered differences-in-differences estimates indicate an increase in the share of Medicaid births but broadly no impact on maternal prenatal care, maternal health, and fetal health. The absence of statistically significant effects is consistent across heterogeneity groups. These null findings indicate that expanded insurance access through the Affordable Care Act may be insufficient to improve health outcomes. I do find a statistically …

Examining Challenges For Sociology Master’S Degree Students At California State University, David Ortuno

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to identify the lived experiences of CSU sociology graduate students pursuing a master’s degree. Seven sociology graduate students from six of the eight (75%) total sociology MA programs throughout the entire CSU system were interviewed. Their responses were designed to analyze the support systems and challenges they face while pursuing a master's degree, as well as to investigate whether their experiences correlate with or fail to correlate with the promises in the CSU mission statement, and to answer the study’s research questions and achieve the purpose of this qualitative study.

Four themes emerged from …