Public Administration Commons^™

Exploring The Relationship Between Media Influence And Policy Output: A State Comparative Study, Stephanie Savas Joannou Menefee

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Through the years, various forms of media have become political institutions able to influence the public policy agenda. Analyzing policy helps to promote a better understanding of how the policy process works, how problems appear on the political agenda, and why governments choose to act or not to act on particular policy problems. This research utilizes Baumgartner and Jones’s (1993) Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium (PET) to examine the ways in which media attention influenced public policy on marijuana in the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Vermont between 1996 and 2016.

Using qualitative research methods, the researcher conducted an exploratory, comparative …

Obesity Policy Stringency Over Time: A Four State Policy Design, Luisa M. Lucero

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Over the past several decades obesity rates in the United States have increased exponentially, reaching epidemic proportions and placing heavy financial and health-related burdens on states. States could reduce their obesity-related spending by billions of dollars, however, if they reduced their obesity prevalence by five percent by 2030, which would reduce medical costs, loss of productivity, and loss of life. Despite the incentive to improve obesity rates, not all states are taking advantage of obesity-related policy as a means to combat obesity. Using a multiple case study design and policy design as the theoretical foundation, this study explores whether or …

Factors Influencing Health Outcomes Across The Least, Average And Healthiest States In America, Somayeh Hooshmand

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Although there is a growing literature that uses national and international data to investigate health outcomes and their link to the determinants of health, empirical studies on whether or not there is a causal relationship between health outcomes and the determinants of health, to our knowledge, has not been generally done previously. To fill this gap, the main focus of this dissertation is to empirically analyze the relationship existing between health determinants and health outcomes among the least healthy state (Mississippi), the middle ranked state (Virginia) and the healthiest state (Hawaii) as measured by American Health Ranking (AHR). This study …