Public Policy Commons^™

The Impact Of Purchasing Power Parity (Ppp), Infrastructure, And Decentralization On Pandemic Restrictions, Liam Hansen, Veronica Taraskina, Jennifer Weng

Working Papers Series

This research compares a country's mandate to shift to remote work between the federal and regional levels in comparison to PPP. We focus on how economic factors determine a country's ability to move to remote work and at what level of government the decision is made. The findings suggest that while there was variation in which level of government issued work-from-home requirements, there were strong trends for most mandates to come from the federal level. Moreover, an overwhelming majority of countries issued such federal mandates regardless of PPP. We then compare PPP per capita and the stringency of public transportation …

The State Of Mental Health In The Mountain West, 2023, Ayda Atici, Freddy Nie, Jesse M. Fager-Larsen, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

This fact sheet examines the state of mental health for both youth and adults and availability of mental health care in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are retrieved from Mental Health America’s (MHA) 2023 report, The State of Mental Health in America.

Trust In Government And Policies Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Before And After Comparison In The European Sample, Julia Match

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research explores the relationship between COVID-19 policies and mortality rates and the level of trust in government in Europe. This study looks at the stringency of measures, as well as their effectiveness as shown through high or low mortality rates, to see if there is a relationship between those factors and increases or decreases in trust in 2020. The Eurobarometer is the dataset for trust in government, with a focus on the data from Summer 2020, the first Eurobarometer after COVID-19 began. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center was used for cumulative mortality, and Shvetsova et al., 2022 provided …

Tax Incentives, Foreign Direct Investment, And Tourism Sector Employment Creation In Botswana, Ndinaye Sekwi Charumbira

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Unemployment is a major challenge for policymakers in Botswana. Past efforts by government officials to create employment have included diversification away from raw diamond mining and export by offering tax incentives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the manufacturing sector, among other strategies. It was unknown whether this strategy might be successful in the tourism sector, which is more labor-intensive than the manufacturing sector. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the impact, if any, of tax incentives offered in the tourism sector on FDI and employment. The theoretical foundation for the study was Keynesian economic theory, …

Impact Of Medicaid Redetermination On Underserved Populations In Region 7 States: A Review, Brianna Parr

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

When the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ended in May of 2023, Medicaid began the process of redetermination across the states and returned to its original eligibility rules. Because of this, the healthcare status of many Americans was affected, resulting in the loss of healthcare coverage for millions of people. Of those who have lost coverage, children make up almost half of the total. This paper assesses the negative effects of Medicaid redetermination on children and other underserved populations in communities across the four states in Region 7 (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas) and identifies programs that these states can implement …

Risk Perception, Dread, And The Value Of Statistical Life: Evidence From Occupational Fatalities, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

In a model of occupational safety, biased perceptions of risk decrease welfare, which may justify government regulation. Bias is examined empirically by the correlation between subjective and objective risk, the former measured by self-reported exposure to death on the job. The correlation is negligible among workers with no high school diploma, consistent with underestimating risk in more dangerous occupations, and strongest among more educated workers when objective risk is specific to harmful and noxious substances, which in psychological studies rank high in dread. Biased perceptions of risk may also lead to biased estimates of value of statistical life. VSL estimates …

State Policies On Maternal And Infant Health In The United States, Heeun Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In the United States (US), state-level policies are critical structural determinants of maternal and infant health outcomes. State policies profoundly affect prenatal care utilization and pregnancy outcomes, particularly among marginalized pregnant persons with stigmatized health conditions. In this three-paper dissertation, I focus on two closely interrelated policies that aim to address significant public health concerns in the US: prenatal syphilis screenings and the criminalization of prenatal substance use. My research revolves around two central questions: First, do these policies effectively improve the pregnancy outcomes of high-risk populations, or do they cause unintended consequences? Second, if challenges in policy design and …

The Opioid Epidemic In Virginia: Comparing Case Studies Of County-Level Implementation Of Opioid Response Plans, Sydney Elyse Fox

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This project entails a mixed method review of the implementation of opioid policies in the 133 cities and counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia using van Meter and van Horn’s (1975) Model Theoretical Framework as a guide. This study focuses upon understanding how the characteristics of successful implementation intersect with the components of opioid policy, controlling for education, poverty, and health insurance coverage, and how that interaction may lead to reduced overdose deaths. According to van Meter and van Horn, political agreement is necessary to create a policy with an administrative mechanism to implement. This administrative mechanism, along with resources, …

Word Choice, Deep Core Beliefs, And Unlikely Alliances: Increasing The Distance Traveled By The Narrative Policy Framework, Dalten Warren Fox

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation expands the use and capabilities of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) by utilizing the framework across three projects that address prevailing knowledge gaps. Since 2010, the NPF literature has produced significant evidence for the importance of understanding the roles of narrative language in public policymaking. Moreover, the NPF’s creators have consistently called upon other policy narrative scholars to challenge, refine, and expand the framework. To contribute to this endeavor, this collection of studies examines language components previously unconsidered by the NPF, leverages the framework in untested belief areas, and examines atypical policy subsystem dynamics using the framework. The …

“Bona Fide And Sincerely-Held”: How Deep Core Beliefs Inform And Influence Policy Engagement At The Institutional Level, Grant Miller

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Developing, fine-tuning, and implementing policy in a pluralistic society includes several potential pitfalls as policy actors engage and represent divergent interests. While much work has been done to explore the possible benefits to the policy process that could come from understanding the intrinsic motivations of individual policy actors, this study is an effort to account for the impact of the core beliefs of institutions as a whole when they engage in the policy process. Drawing from the concepts of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) regarding deep core beliefs, this study applies Moral Foundations Theory to process and analyze the language …

Exploring Creative Economy Policy Change In United States Cities: An Interconnected Theoretical Approach Framing An Emerging Field And Practice, Matilda Rose Bubb

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The creative economy is a relatively new policy arena focusing on the consumption and production of culture and cultural products, urban development and placemaking, intellectual property protection, entrepreneurship and innovation, tourism, sustainability, and social impact. Despite its documented growth in U.S. cities in the past twenty years, we know very little about how these policy innovations spread, or about who advocates for them. To contribute to public policy research and the creative economy sector, I ask the following overarching question: How are emerging creative economy policy innovations spread, adopted and implemented in cities identified as highly creative in the United …

The Impact Of Policy And Perception On Women’S Health Since 2010, Eryn Busenbark

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This project tackles the complicated relationship between policy and perception of women’s health in the last decade. This was achieved through research on existing literature and semi-structured interviews with five professionals in various areas of women’s health: mental health, public policy, sexual health education, and research. Literature reviews were conducted using University of Nebraska at Omaha Criss Library’s databases, with dozens of articles analyzed. The goal of this research was to gain an understanding of how public opinion and perceptions can sway policy, which has created challenges and consequences for women and their health.

States’ Covid-19 Restrictions Were Associated With Increases In Drug Overdose Deaths In 2020, Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily E. Wiemers, Elyse Grossman

Population Health Research Brief Series

Drug overdoses surged in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts raised concerns in the pandemic’s early months about how the pandemic and the policies enacted to stem it might increase overdose risk. This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic. Results show that counties located in states that adopted more aggressive in-person activity restrictions experienced larger increases in 2020 than counties located in states with fewer limitations. State economic support policies …

Policy Solutions For Juvenile Cyber-Deviant Behaviors: Insights From Criminological Theory, Holly Verity Williams

All Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of online deviance as a phenomenon among juveniles, both in terms of engagement and victimization, by applying Attachment Theory, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Control Theory. Throughout the literature, Attachment Theory, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Control Theory have been attributed as key criminological theories in the explanation of juvenile deviance offline, but little research has been applied to online deviance in this way. This thesis seeks to apply the same criminological theories to the phenomenon of online deviance among juveniles and compare outcomes to both online and offline deviance among …

Examining Policy Diffusion Mechanisms In The Contemporary Local Government Landscape Of A Politically Polarized United States, Jacob Mccauley

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the nuanced relationship between political polarization and policy diffusion within local governments in the United States, a topic of considerable relevance given the country’s increasing political divide. By examining the diffusion of COVID-19 policies, historical marker modifications, and the implementation of eGovernment services, this research identifies a novel mechanism of policy diffusion that is significantly influenced by political party lines. The study employs a comprehensive methodological approach, incorporating case studies and quantitative analysis to examine policy implementation across politically diverse local governments. The findings reveal that political affiliation profoundly impacts policy choices, with distinct patterns of policy …

Voices Of Change: Oral Histories Of Ethnic Studies Leaders In Racialized Organizations, Bucket Manyweather

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study of implementing California Assembly Bill 1460, or mandatory Ethnic Studies (ES) in the California State University System (CSU), investigates the leadership decisions made within a set of self-governing campuses with varied institutional resources and responsibilities. This research uses an Oral History methodology, which situates personal experiences in history to illustrate how Ethnic Studies staff, faculty, and administrators navigate a racialized organization as they institutionalize a critical race curriculum and mandate within the context of individual campus histories, cultures and governances.

I reviewed the literature and documented the history of the first College of Ethnic Studies, the movement's impact, …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Transportation? Results From Year Fifteen Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report summarizes the results from the fifteenth year of a national public opinion survey asking U.S. adults questions related to their views on federal transportation taxes. A nationally representative sample of 2,522 respondents completed the online survey from February 7 to March 12, 2024. The questions test public opinions about raising the federal gas tax rate, replacing the federal gas tax with a new mileage fee, and imposing a mileage fee just on commercial travel. In addition to asking directly about support for these tax options, the survey collected data on respondents’ views on the quality of their local …

Outcome Measures Or Graduation Rates, That Is The Question, Miran Kang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study compared the Outcome Measures (OM) to the traditional Graduation Rates (GR) to ascertain if OM portrayed the performance of higher education institutions differently than GR and to determine which of the two metrics aligned better with accountability policy objectives. GR refers to the percentages of first-time, full-time students who obtain a degree or certificate within 150% of the normal time. OM presents the award status of all degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students on four cohorts: first-time, full-time (FTFT); first-time, part-time (FTPT); non-first-time, full-time (NFTFT); and non-first-time, part-time (NFTPT). OM was a more comprehensive indicator than GR, particularly for 2-year institutions, …

Standing At The Back Of The Bar, Lawrance Cuellar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Standing at the Back of the Bar is a collection of semi-autobiographical literary pieces, a hybrid of lyrical essays, poetry, and short stories, that are based on life experiences of the author, Lawrance Cuellar. The book begins with stories of the narrator growing up as a gay Latino in the very conservative, West Texas town of Amarillo in the 1960s and 1970s. The narrator describes and expresses the normalized and internalized homophobia and racism he experienced in the city. As the title for the manuscript implies, he is expected to “stand at the back of the bar” in deference to …

How And Why Foster Care Impacts Maltreated Youths' School Performance, Mallory Constantine

Lincy Institute Events

Youth mistreated within the foster care system are more likely to miss school as compared to non-maltreated peers. A single report of child maltreatment has a rapid and negative effect on school attendance and causes serious, long-term effects on school performance. A report of maltreatment substantiated by the department of family and child services removes a youth from a foster home and places the child in an alternative setting. These disruptions in foster care often result in additional problems with school behavior, achievement, and attendance. This lecture will explore how disruptions in foster care affect school behavior and performance and …