Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

An Audio-Visual Ethnographic Case Study Of International, Rural, Nonprofit Public Relations Geared Towards Sustainable Development, A. Chase Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes nonprofit public relations and its relationship to development communication. It evaluates previous attempts to integrate the two fields for development purposes. The author then offers an alternative approach, a so-called public relations for community development (PRCD) model.

The PRCD model is then tested in the form of a case studyùincluding digitally recorded video interviews and observationùon Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. (WHW), an American-founded and operated nongovernment organization (NGO) in Phrao District, northern Thailand. The study aims to identify which elements of the PRCD approach WHW adheres to, and perceived efficacy of community development as a result. …

What Is The Optimal Subsidy For Exercise? Informing Health Insurance Companies' Fitness Reimbursement Programs, Molly E. Frean

Economics Honors Projects

Health care costs account for 17% of US GDP and many programs and policies seek to reduce these costs. This paper focuses on exercise as preventive care due to its immense physiological benefits. I model the profit-maximizing choice of health insurance companies to subsidize exercise and the utility-maximizing choice of individuals to engage in exercise using a traditional principal-agent framework. I then use principles from behavioral economics and psychology to critique these models and provide further insight into understanding our underconsumption of such preventive services. I end with an evaluation of current programs and suggestions for improvement using empirical findings.

Collaborating To Build Futures The Role Of Non-Governmental Organizations In Creating Education Opportunities For Migrant Workers’ Children In China, Emerson A. Gale

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project examines how informal and legal relationships between the Chinese government, migrant communities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are useful for educating migrant workers’ children. Market reforms have increased internal migration of Chinese families and have sparked a growth in non-profit NGOs which assist under-privileged migrant youth. Contemporary Chinese urban education literature notes legal and financial obstacles which prevent millions of migrant students from being entitled to the same education opportunities as their non-migrant peers. I note that creating equitable schooling for migrant youth is highly important for the political, economic, and social health of the Chinese state. By drawing …

The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (Case) Act: A Case Study In Policy Advocacy, Bailey Mannisto-Ichés

Capstone Collection

In any given year in the United States of America at least 100,000 domestic youth are sexually exploited through the commercial sex industry. Current national and state laws do not adequately protect these children from being groomed, pimped, and exploited over and over again in their young lives. A majority of these children are trafficked from, into or within the nation’s most populated state of California. In 2003 the FBI identified three of the country’s 13 high-­‐intensity child sex trafficking cities as being in California. The cycle of violence these children endure is not being brought to justice through the …

What Is Influencing Renewable Energy Infrastructure Deployment? A Multi-State Study Of U.S. Wind Generation Deployment Efforts, Laurence D. Helwig

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Recent research has determined what influences the adoption of state renewable energy policy instruments. At present, nearly all of the U.S. states have deployed or have begun to deploy infrastructure that derives energy from renewable resources. This multiple U.S. State study represents an effort to determine the factors that are influencing the wind renewable energy infrastructure deployment efforts in thirty-eight U.S. states that have widely varying wind power potential capacities, different capacities of wind generation infrastructure deployed and varying Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) policy goals. This study utilizes the internal determinants and regional diffusion theoretical models of government policy innovation …

Less Serious Offenses Account For 90 Percent Of The Growth In Juvenile Placements, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

The largest increases in juvenile placements were seen in cases involving obstruction of justice, simple assault, drug law violations, vandalism, and disorderly conduct. This databit looks at the percentage and change in placement cases for juveniles from 1985 to 2008.

Violent Crime Rates Continue To Fall Among Juveniles And Young Adults, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

Violent crime (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault based on the FBI Violent Crime Index) declined per capita for ages 10 – 17 after 2004. This databit looks at the arrest rates for these four offenses between 1994 and 2004.

Jordan’S Political Public Sphere: Understanding The Youth’S Awareness And Perceptions Of The Constitutional Reforms In The Post-Arab Spring Era, Krista Vendetti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study evaluates Jordanian youth’s awareness and perceptions of the constitutional amendments of 2011 and explores the youth’s main sources of political news. I hypothesized that a majority of young Jordanians are largely uninformed about the amendments and expected that the main source of news for most young Jordanians were official media sources. My research data consists of survey responses, given by 65 students from the University of Jordan, as well as five interviews with young Jordanians. My findings proved that the Jordanian youth has a low level of awareness about the recent political reforms, and the main news sources …

Do No Harm: Perceptions Of Short-Term Health Camps In Nepal, Dena Seabrook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Short-term health camps are a growing form of delivering health care services to needy populations. Often these camps, usually lasting around 2 weeks, are led by I/NGOs in developing nations like Nepal and are staffed with volunteers from the Global North. These camps are largely ungoverned, and there are no evaluative techniques in place to monitor the effectiveness of the work done, raising concerns about the unintended consequences of short-term health camps camps. Nepal is particularly vulnerable to this issue because of the vast number of I/NGOs currently operating within its boundaries.

This research sought to expand the conversation surrounding …

Take Back Rondebosch Common: A Case Study On Discontent With The Da And Urban Land Reform In Rondebosch, Cape Town., Kyle Dallman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In late January of 2012, undercurrents of dissatisfaction with Cape Town’s ruling political party, the Democratic Alliance, and their pace of development and service delivery came to a head as aggrieved citizens marched through the southern suburbs of the city to a green known as Rondebosch Common. The citizens had planned on protesting the lack of opportunities for Cape Town’s non-white citizens while at the Common in a “Land, Housing and Jobs Summit,” but were met with police batons and armored vans that quelled the movement in an astonishing show of force. This paper will investigate the motivations of the …

Impacts, Issues, And Challenges Associated With Using A Performance Measurement System In New York State Counties, Jeremy Pelletier

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The Broome County Legislature is currently comprised of nineteen legislators representing over 200,000 citizens. The legislatures is trying to find a way to maintain the same quality of services without raising taxes and is exploring the possibility of implementing a performance measurement system in order to achieve this goal. The purpose of this capstone project is to identify the impacts, issues, and challenges other New York State Counties have experienced using performances measurement.

Mandatory Reporting: A Study On The Effect Of Universal Mandated Reporting, Amanda Regis

Honors Theses and Capstones

Scandals at Penn State and Syracuse University have the world talking about mandatory reporting. There no debate in the academic community concerning the detrimental effects of child maltreatment and neglect, but the debate concerning mandatory reporting is ongoing. This study looks at the effectiveness of universal mandatory reporting of child maltreatment versus the current statute of mandated reporting for only certain professions in the states of New York and Pennsylvania. When Pennsylvania changed its legislation to a universal mandatory reporting law, it experienced a great increase, of 500%, in the number of substantiated reports of child maltreatment. While this increase …

Community-Engaged Decision Support For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment In Boston, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

This project develops decision tools and analytical methods to help non‐profit community development corporations (CDCs) acquire and redevelop foreclosed housing for neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. Interviews and direct observations at partner CDCs have helped us identify current practices, data and requirements for our decision models. Problem‐structuring methods through CDC focus groups have generated core operational and organizational objectives. Spreadsheet‐ and optimization based decision models generate policy and operational alternatives that address multiple resident and community outcomes. Our research will support efficient responses to the recent foreclosure crisis, especially in distressed neighborhoods, and suggest policy implications at local and national levels.

Local Economic Benefits Of Early Childhood Programs: Investing In Kids, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Where Are The Jobs? Employment Stagnation After The Great Recession, Gary Burtless

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Great Recession of 2008-2009 was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Unlike most other recessions in the post-war era, however, the recovery has brought back only a small fraction of the almost 9 million jobs lost in the downturn. Gary Burtless will explain the puzzling absence of an employment rebound in his talk. Why has the rebound been so slow? What can we do to speed it up?

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

Incorporating Lower Mississippi River Port Assets Into Emergency Preparedness And Response Initiatives, James R. Amdal, Jay Jayawardana, Stanley L. Swigart

UNOTI Publications

The Lower Mississippi River (LMR) and its 5 deep water ports represent a significant national asset as well as a critical portion of a major transportation corridor from the heartland of the country to the Gulf of Mexico. The lower portion of the Mississippi River is particularly subject to major disruptions caused by both manmade and natural disasters. In light of recent events of national significance (Hurricane Katrina of 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010) researchers at UNOTI questioned: 1) what assets at the LMR ports are available to respond to these events; 2) what agreements either …

The Staffing Of Presidential Assistants: Their Effect On Presidential Success In The House Of Representatives, Nicholas R. Jesteadt

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper examines the Congressional success of United States Presidents based on the reported Congressional Quarterly Presidential Box Scores. Their individual success is examined as an effect of the senior staff member a President chooses and whether they are chosen from the campaign, personal experience, or previous administrations. It is important for a President to consider the origins of these staffers as these Assistants to the President act as the body of the President’s administration. The econometric analysis presented reveals several interesting results. First, the predominance of a President to choose staff members from his campaign shows no significant impact …

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

A Human Rights-Based Approach (Hrba) In Practice: Evaluating Ngo Development Efforts, Hans Peter Schmitz

School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

Human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) promise greater alignment of development efforts with universal norms, as well as a focus on the root causes of poverty. While HRBAs have been widely adopted across the development sector, there is little systematic evidence about the actual impact of this strategic shift. Evaluating the effectiveness of HRBAs is challenging because various non-governmental and other organizations have developed very different understandings of how to apply a rights-based framework in the development context. This essay takes a step toward the rigorous evaluation of HRBAs by offering a comprehensive review of rights-based programming implemented by Plan International, a …

The Role Of Assertive Outreach In Ending 'Rough Sleeping', Rhonda Phillips, Cameron Parsell

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Measuring Human Rights: A Review Essay, David L. Richards

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Measuring Human Rights. By Todd Landman & Edzia Carvalho. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010. 163pp.

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: Planning For Our Aging Society, Alan Kenneth Delatorre, Tomoko Delatorre, Margaret Neal, Paula C. Carder, Jenny Weinstein, Michael Deshane, Keren Brown Wilson

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

The fact that the U.S. is aging is not new; many headlines in 2011, while not heralding the coming of the Boomers, were related to the demographic phenomenon of population aging, including those concerning the government's failed efforts to find solutions to budget deficits, questions pertaining to the future solvency of Social Security, and the extended debate over our nation's health care system. The aging population presents both challenges and opportunities for our region, state, and country in the coming years. The challenge for leaders and policymakers now is to better understand the dynamics that we are facing and to …

Nutrition Policy, Nonmarket Failure, And The Obesity Epidemic, James Woodward

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are based on the Dietary Goals for the United States, represent the federal government’s first attempt to improve the nation’s health by recommending that Americans avoid certain foods. The Guidelines were based on what was perceived, by the government and nutritionists alike, to be solid scientific evidence that consumption of fat and saturated fat in particular, increase the risk of developing heart disease. They also emphasized, and continue to emphasize, the importance of exercise and calorie restriction as the primary means of maintaining a healthy weight. In short, the Guidelines sought to …

Corporate Income Tax Credits: Examining The Relationship Between Tax Credits And Employment, Elena Yatskovskaya

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Tax incentives - in particular, corporate tax credits - have been a prominent topic of discussion among government administrators, public economists, and political scholars. This capstone project will contribute to the discussion by addressing the relationship between tax credits and employment, and provide an empirical analysis to aid in determining the effect that tax credits may have on employment.

The study uses aggregate data spanning ten years, from 1999 to 2008, and representing 18 industrial sectors with 180 observations. The data are analyzed with the help of the two panel data regression models: Fixed Effects and Between Effects. The …

Federal Tax Policy And Charitable Giving: Revisiting The 1985 Study By Charles T. Clotfelter, Mary Catherine Tinnon

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study was inspired and given its basic research design by a study conducted in 1985 by Charles T. Clotfelter, which sought to explain charitable giving by both individuals and corporations in relation to federal tax policy. Clotfelter determined that federal tax policy did influence charitable giving by corporations. The issue to be addressed here is, do the Clotfelter findings still hold true today?

The focus of this current study is on charitable giving by corporations only and the dataset was built from the same IRS Statistics of Income that Clotfelter used. Additional data were added from the Bureau of …

Do Political Contributions Purchase Regulatory Discretion In Mining Inspections?, Neil K. Malani

CMC Senior Theses

A vast literature acknowledges the corruptibility of regulators; however, empirical tests on the matter have been limited to two-agent models examining the rulemaking process and price regulation of natural monopolies. It remains an open question whether political contributions, by driving legislative pressure, can entice laxity from regulators in their application of the rules. To remedy this issue, I observe the highly-regulated coal mining industry for which there exists several points for inspector discretion. By comparing the outcomes with Congressional coal mining contribution levels, I am able to ascertain capture across several dimensions. Specifically, I find that contributions are associated with …

The Eu Polity And Foreign Policy Coherence, Clara Portela, Kolja Raube

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present article examines the character of the European Union (EU) as a polity by looking at the mechanisms it employs to ensure the coherence of its foreign policies. It first contrasts three ideal polity types. The methods chosen to ensure coherence in foreign policy actions differ according to each of the three polity types. The article then explores how the EU ensures coherence through institutional reform, and subsequently looks in detail at two illustrative policy fields: aid sanctions and civilian crisis-management. The investigation concludes that the organisation of EU foreign policies combines elements from different polity types.