Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Welcome Tilly Norwood: Forecasting Hollywood’S Ai Policy Futures, Samuel P. Rooker

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

In late 2025, weekly trade publication Variety Magazine reported on the announcement of a new acting talent in Hollywood: Tilly Norwood. Norwood is an industry outsider and the pet project of Eline Van der Velden, who unveiled the actress’ existence to the world at the Zurich Film Festival. The announcement quickly gained media coverage while Van der Velden has since faced cyclical backlash from Hollywood trade unions, which does not seem entirely without reason. Tilly Norwood is a digital persona, a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) program, designed by Van der Velden’s novel AI talent studio, Xicoia, to become the next …

Protection Vs. Progression: A Macroeconomic Approach To Military Expenditure Direct Effects On Social Outcomes Using Ihdi Measures, Connor Graham

Global Tides

This study examines whether military expenditure reduces inequality-adjusted human development and how national governance quality moderates these effects. Using panel data covering 121 countries from 2010-2023, two-way fixed effects models are employed to estimate the relationship between military spending and the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). Three key findings emerge from the analysis based on the resulting data. First, a one percentage point increase in military spending reduces IHDI by 0.0012-0.0015 points. Second, the effects prove seven times larger in developed countries than in developing ones, which runs contrary to expectations and prior literature. Lastly, political stability emerged as a …

H.B. 22-1326: Analysis Of Colorado’S Fentanyl Policy, William Morris

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Fentanyl is one the most potent drugs on the market, its synthetic nature makes it is one of the deadliest at the lowest quantities. Many of its injectors are entirely unaware of its existence when they consume cocaine, methamphetamine, Xanax, ecstasy, and heroin. Nationwide and within Colorado, the use of synthetic fentanyl has perpetuated a crisis that threatens the health and safety of numerous communities, with both fatal and non-fatal overdoses continually on the rise. In 2022, Colorado passed H.B. 22-1326, aimed at curbing fentanyl deaths and non-fatal overdoses, by further criminalizing fentanyl possession. Understanding the effectiveness of felony-heavy drug …

Policymaking And Pretrial Fairness: Evaluating Illinois' Ban On Cash Bail Beyond Chicago, Kaitlyn M. Sims

Global and Public Affairs: Faculty Scholarship

Over 400,000 people are incarcerated awaiting trial each day in the United States. Many of these individuals are held because they are unable to post cash bail, generating substantial economic inequality between those who are able to be released and those who must wait. Illinois's Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) banned cash bail in 2023 to reduce economic inequity and remove judicial discretion in pretrial decisions. I use daily roster data from multiple suburban and rural Illinois jails and a regression-discontinuity-in-time (RDiT) approach to test for changes to jail composition after the law went into effect. Jail population sizes decreased, though …

Changing Contours Of Policy Communications In India, Abhishek Ranjan, Siddhartha Nath

Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking

Using the keyword frequencies in the headlines of press releases issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, this article quantifies the shifting focus of India's public policy communications. Our analysis suggests that in the aftermath of the 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis, India's public policy communications shifted from international trade to innovation and competitiveness, while the emphasis on large infrastructure development, employment, investment, and policy incentives remained. A similar analysis using newspaper headlines from India's three leading newspapers and Google search intensity using data from Google Trends indicates that the discussion about international trade and the institutions that promote it …

The Hidden Toll Of Crowd Control: Rethinking The Use Of Kinetic Impact Projectiles In American Policing, Hayley Knudsen

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis critically examines the use of Kinetic Impact Projectiles (KIPs) by law enforcement in the United States, highlighting the discrepancy between their intended function as “less-lethal” crowd control tools and the severe injuries and fatalities they frequently cause. Spurred by widespread police violence during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, this study explores the physical, legal, and policy impacts of KIP deployment. Drawing on public health data, legal case outcomes, and international human rights reports, the research identifies significant risks associated with KIPs, including high rates of head and ocular injuries, and a troubling lack of training and regulation. …

Social Media And Mental Health: The Public Health Impact And Future Policy Directives, Renae A. Merrill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between social media use among young people and the increasing concerns of mental health problems in the U.S. and globally is on systemic agendas. Furthermore, research on social media use and mental health indicate reasons to suspect a causal relationship, but more work needs to be done. Therefore, this three-article dissertation seeks to explore (1) associations between social media use, personality, and depression; (2) associations between social media emotional support, anxiety, and personality; and (3) the relationship between social media use and mental health using Deborah Stone’s causal stories framework. Findings from this study provide an improved understanding …

Political Rhetoric And Civility: A Challenge To “The Legacy Of ‘Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness’”, Timothy P. O'Brien, Melissa O. Stewart

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

“As you stand for your values do so with gentleness and respect—that’s how we move our country forward.”

Mike Pence, 48^th Vice President of the United States of America (2017-2021)

Since the founding of the United States of America, political discourse has often taken an unpleasant and nasty tone. Partisan disagreement concerning public policy is normal and policy should be the subject of vigorous debate. Disagreement, bickering, and even fights on the floor of Congress, are not new phenomena. However, today there is a growing sense in the country that civility and intolerance are on the rise. This study …

Twenty-One Years Later: Reflections On 9/11, Bessie Blackburn, Shaddi Spencer, Hayden O'Connor

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Twenty-one years ago, one of the greatest attacks on the American republic occurred. On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flights 11, 77, 93, and 177 were hijacked by Islamic extremists and crashed in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. The atrocity of these incidents and the extensive loss of life impacted not only the United States but the entire world. Nevertheless, in light of this tragedy the American people found unity in patriotism, rekindling a sense of national purpose in the form of the “Global War on Terrorism.” This document is a compilation of reflection articles written by individuals …

Employing A Public Policy Evaluative Framework: An Analysis Of Domestic Theme Park Development, Anthony Gray Houser

Honors Theses

The intention of the thesis is to examine the relationship between the development of the Walt Disney Company’s theme parks and public policy. Using the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and the Walt Disney World Resort outside of Orlando, Florida as case studies, this thesis will execute a comparative analysis to better understand the relationship between the Walt Disney Company’s theme parks and public policy. Using an evaluative framework, this thesis will provide a deeper understanding of how public policy affected the development and the current operations of these theme parks. The driving research question in this thesis is, ‘what …

Deterioration Of The Tenth Amendment: Why Federalism’S Hierarchy Must Be Restored, Giana Depaul

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Lgbt Film Exposure On Policy Preference, Grant Baldwin

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

The Eviction Landscape In South Carolina, Ethan Magnuson

Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the South Carolinian eviction crisis from the perspective of radical geography. South Carolina was chosen for the severity of its crisis and the lack of research at a sub-state level. Court records of eviction filings from 2019 were geocoded and tested for spatial clustering, which was clearly visible. Plaintiff names were used to identify the most frequent filers and distinguish landlords by type. At the census tract level, eviction filing counts were compared with neighborhood characteristics using negative binomial regression, and most were found to be significant in South Carolina. …

Políticas Públicas Locales, Un Caso De Estudio Sobre La Cultura Ciudadana, Santiago Silva Jaramillo, Juan Diego González Rúa, Andrea Arroyave Mejía

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

El estudio de las políticas públicas locales guarda importantes lecciones y aprendizajes sociales para los tomadores de decisión que se encuentran inmersos en procesos de diseño, implementación o evaluación de intervenciones y acciones dirigidas a resolver problemas colectivos. Las contribuciones de estos análisis resultan fundamentales para la consolidación de las perspectivas de la disciplina en Colombia y América Latina, y aportan a la consolidación del conocimiento sobre las políticas públicas pensadas, construidas y desarrolladas desde la localidad.

Esta tarea resulta particularmente relevante al revisar políticas públicas locales desde el enfoque de cultura ciudadana o dirigido a identificar los efectos sobre …

Developing Monitoring And Evaluation Dynamic Systems For Alternative Families With Fostered Children/ تصميم أنظمة ديناميكية للمتابعة والتقييم للأسر البديلة للأطفال بالكفالة, Basma Mahmoud, Dina Refaei, Hend Ahmed, Khadiga Embaby

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Since 2016, the Egyptian Government has made many improvements to the Alternative Families System that aims to provide children without parental care with families. Yet, these families still face some obstacles in the monitoring and follow-up system after adoption. The paper sheds light on these obstacles; the roots and solution. We depend on qualitative methodological approaches, based on a purposive sample of key informants consisting of governmental officials, national and international entities, using in-depth interviews as the main tool for data collection, and surveys. As a result of our research, we found that there are limitations that affect the increasing …

Increasing The Retention Of The Health Workforce In Egypt: Improving Work Environments/ الاحتفاظ بعاملي الرعاية الصحية في مصر: تحسين بيئة العمل, Ebaa El-Kalamawie, Eman Gamal, Hoda Hassan, Nagui Salama

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Egypt faces an urgent public health crisis which is a shortage in its health workforce capacity. The main reason for the lack of health workforce retention is the working environment. The Ministry of Health has multiple options to improve the quality of the working environment for health workers. Three interrelated policy options are proposed in this brief: 1) Enhancing organizational trust, 2) providing financial and non-financial incentives, 3) Developing a digital human resource system providing multiple services.

Acknowledging the economic constraints, the suggested options are tailored to be cost-effective. Policymakers can start immediately with their trust repair and trust-building initiatives …

Addressing Food Insecurity In Egypt: Towards Sustaining Food Access For All/ الأمن الغذائي في مصر نحو استدامة وصول الغذاء للجميع, Alaa Mazloum, Abdelrahman Rizk, Norhan Muhab, Zainab Asal

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This policy paper sheds light on the current challenges that Egypt faces to ensure food access for all. In attempts to underscore the root causes of food insecurity in Egypt, this paper looks at the country’s geographical and agricultural national policies, food pricing, household expenditures on food as well as the challenges imposed on the country by climate change. These factors directly challenge the country’s ability to achieve food security for all by 2050. Although the Government of Egypt (GoE) launched pro-poor policies that aim at reducing the economic burden on vulnerable groups, the government needs to explore other feasible …

Making Small Families A Social Notion In Egypt/ ترسيخ مبدأ الأسر الصغيرة كمفهوم اجتماعي في مصر, Alaa Abdelaziz, Menna Roshdy, Omar Zein, Souraya El Assiouty

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Population growth and fertility rates have witnessed fluctuations over the years in Egypt. The government’s efforts to manage the rising trend were not sustainable, leading the total population to 101 million in October 2020. Such a rising trend risks aggravating the pressure on the country’s resources threatens to undermine improvements in overall economic progress and decrease opportunities for prosperity. Although Egypt is currently enjoying a demographic window with a youth bulge with 60% of its population being below the age of 30, this age group requires tailored services which translates to high demand for health and family planning services, education, …

Combating The High Prevalence Of Obesity Among Egyptian Households: A Pilot Study: Port-Said Households/ مكافحة السمنة في المجتمع المصري: دراسة تجريبية في بورسعيد, Asmaa Sedky, Marwa Gaber, Noha Magdy, Shaimaa El Safoury

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Obesity is a major public health issue in Egypt and its repercussions are not only limited to the health dimension but also extend to affecting the productive capacity of the citizens. This adversely affects the overall fundamentals of the Egyptian economy. Moreover, there is a current political interest in promoting the health and well-being of the citizens which is reflected in the recent 100 Million Seha massive campaign that measured the weight and height of millions of Egyptians.

By applying the decision-making rule which has to do adhere to the equity, administrative, and political criteria, we recommend adjusting the Egyptian …

Post Covid-19 Tourism: Promoting The Holy Family Trail As A Niche Religious Tourism Destination/ الترويج ل مسار العائلة :Covid- السياحة بعد 19 المقدسة كوجهة للسياحة الدينية, Hend Elbehary, Mona Elsayed, Nada Abdelghany, Yasmine Mandour

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The tourism sector constitutes significant importance for the Egyptian economy, with a contribution of 11.9% to the GDP and total employment of 2.49 million in 2018. The sector has different segments including both mass and niche tourism, where Egypt is heavily dependent on the former. Over the past 10 years, the sector was hammered by several internal and external intermittent hits, resulting in instability in the sector and fluctuations in its revenues that have consequently pulled down the foreign currency reserves. The current challenge of COVID-19 has introduced a new global norm that hurdled the mobility of mass tourist groups …

Water Security In Egypt Issues And Perspectives/ الأمن المائي في مصر: المشاكل والآفاق, Kareem Mostafa, Mariam Allam, Sarah El-Fiky, Seba Issa, Sherif Mohyeldeen

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Under the looming threat of water scarcity, the government of Egypt (GoE) must impose effective policies that promote water conservation to ensure water security for the future of its population. This policy paper seeks to define, survey, evaluate, and recommend prospective policies that can address the problem of current water scarcity and achieve water security. This paper focuses on two research sub-questions: 1) How can the government implement policies that can help Egypt's water conservation? 2) How can Egypt create alternative water sources?

Pathways, Not Punishment: An Annotated Snap Employment And Training Advocacy Toolkit For Policy Newbies, Angela Eastlund

Student Research – Stevenson Center

For someone brand new to public policy advocacy, the concept can seem broad and putting it to practice can seem vague. In part, this is because the spectrum of public policy advocacy is broad and contains a vast variety of actions under its umbrella. The Chicago Jobs Council’s policy advocacy strategies around SNAP Employment and Training that are recounted in this toolkit are shared in context with the intent of shedding some light on the why, how, and when particular strategies are utilized. Our hope is that the examples shared here can be used to inform anyone that is a …

Youth Voice And The Promise And Peril Of Affirmative Governmentality: An Analysis Of New York City’S Borough Student Advisory Councils, Hillary R. Donnell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study addresses civil society and the state’s shifting approach towards the incorporation of youth in governmental decision-making since the 1990s, and the recent ascendance of youth voice councils as a method of civic engagement. It uses the New York City Youth Leadership Council Initiative and the Borough Student Advisory Councils as case studies. Relying on the author’s ethnographic participant observation and youth-voice frameworks, the paper provides an analysis of the individual, organizational and systems level effects of the New York Department of Education’s BSAC program. Further, the paper discusses affirmative governmentality as a lens through which to critically examine …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Examination Of Crowdsourcing As A Tool For Policy Making, Araz Taeihagh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Crowdsourcing is rapidly evolving and applied in situations where ideas, labour, opinion or expertise of large groups of people are used. Crowdsourcing is now used in various policy making initiatives; however, this use has usually been focused on open collaboration platforms and specific stages of the policy process such as agenda- setting and policy evaluations. Moreover, other forms of crowdsourcing have been neglected in policy making with a few exceptions. This article examines crowdsourcing as a tool for policy making and explores the nuances of the technology and its use and implications for different stages of the policy process. The …

American Obesity: Rooted In Uncertainty, Institutions And Public Policy, James Woodward

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Despite the efforts of policymakers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders, obesity and related health problems show no signs of receding from their record-high rates. Public policy has largely taken the form of consumer advice, (e.g., USDA’s Dietary Guidelines). Since consumers bear most of the costs associated with their obesity, the goal of obesity prevention appears to be incentive-compatible, prima facie. That is, there is no a priori case for much further policy intervention unless existing advice is deficient or consumers’ exhibit systematically poor decision-making.

My review of the literature shows that scholars have long conveyed a consistent narrative regarding …

The Influence Of A Juvenile's Abuse History On Support For Sex Offender Registration, Cynthia J. Najdowski, M. C. Stevenson, J. M. Salerno, T. R. A. Wiley, B. L. Bottoms, K. M. Farnum

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …