Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics

My dissertation research seeks to advance our understanding of the link between local communities, educational attainment, and mobility in the United States and to inform policymakers working to increase educational attainment and improve labor market outcomes for Americans. Gentrification has reshaped many of America's largest cities in recent decades. While it has been linked to improvements in neighborhood consumption and environmental amenities, the extent to which these positive effects spill into local public schools is an open empirical question. After matching Census tracts to attendance zones for public elementary schools in New York City, I use school-, grade-, and tract-level data and a natural experiment that spurred gentrification in part of the city to estimate the causal effects of gentrification neighborhood school outcomes in the first chapter of this dissertation. Using an instrumental variables approach to address the endogeneity of gentrification, I find that gentrification reduces math test scores, but I find no statistically significant effects of gentrification on class sizes, school expenditures per pupil, or student demographic characteristics. Most of the effect on performance can be explained by a 5 percent increase in absence rates conditional on changes to school and student characteristics. Lastly, I provide evidence that decreased access to healthcare in gentrifying attendance zones is a possible mechanism for the increased absences. In the second chapter, using individual-level, geocode data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's 1997 cohort, I identify the extent to which business dynamism in local labor markets relates to the location decisions of labor force participants, and I examine how the effect differs for individuals with varying levels of educational attainment. I find that increases in business dynamism in local labor markets are associated with an increase in the probability college gr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mark Partridge (Advisor); Audrey Light (Committee Member); Elena Irwin (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics; Education; Labor Economics; Public Policy; Regional Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2018, Geography

In 2013 the constitutional court of the Dominican Republic (D.R.) issued the controversial ruling TC 168-13, retroactively stripping away the citizenship of all Dominicans born to undocumented immigrants going back to 1929. TC 168-13 denationalizes tens of thousands of Dominican citizens. Given long-established patterns of migration, the majority affected by the ruling were Dominicans of Haitian descent, many of whom had never been to Haiti. My research aims at historicizing the denationalization event, focusing mainly on the sentiments of antihaitianismo that emerged with the genesis of the Dominican nation-state in 1844 and how capitalist transformations experienced from 1875 to 1924 set the stage for contemporary politics around Haitian migration and citizenship policies. My claim is that only through an analysis of the formation of the capitalist state in this period can we grasp the essential role of Haitian labor to the D.R. Sentiments of antihaitianismo date to the genesis of the Dominican nation-state in 1844. The processes that consolidated capitalist relations and the ensuing need for labor that led en masse Haitian migration to the D.R. intensified these sentiments. I contend that denationalization is in effect a stubborn drive to garner a coherent national identity while upholding a labor model instituted during the process of capitalist state formation in the D.R.—one where the elite profits from racialized Haitian bodies. The materialization of Dominican national narratives in opposition to Haiti and the constitution of a national labor force at the expense of Haitian bodies do not indicate a contradiction for the Dominican capitalist state, but drive its operation. Indeed, the real problem for the Dominican state lies in the processes that can potentially disrupt the racialized composition of labor in the D.R. In this case: citizenship.

Committee: Mathew Coleman (Advisor); Joel Wainwright (Committee Member); Stephanie Smith (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1983, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Economics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1976, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Economics

My dissertation explores topics in macroeconomics related to labor markets. In the first chapter, "Parental Time Investment and Human Capital Formation: A Quantitative Analysis of Intergenerational Mobility," I study economic mobility across generations. A large literature has documented low intergenerational mobility in the U.S. over the last few decades, prompting a growing interest in understanding mechanisms underlying intergenerational mobility. In this paper, I construct a quantitative general equilibrium model that explores parental time investment in preschool-aged and younger children as a channel through which economic status can be transmitted intergenerationally. Altruistic parents differ in their own human capital and assets, and in the human capital of their children. They each decide how to split their time across investment in their child's human capital, market work, and leisure. My calibrated model reproduces the quintile transition matrix of income as well as the lifecycle inequality seen in U.S. data. Decomposing its results, I find that heterogeneity in the amount of parental time investment accounts for nearly 20 percent of the observed persistence in intergenerational income. Despite their higher opportunity costs of time, more skilled parents choose to invest more time in their young children. This force significantly amplifies the intergenerational correlation of human capital. Policy experiments suggest that interventions targeted at the college decision have little effect on intergenerational mobility. By contrast, I find that those targeted at parental time investment decisions, such as a proportional subsidy for such investments, may be an effective way to increase intergenerational mobility as well as social welfare, since they disproportionately raise investment in the children from disadvantaged families. In the next chapter, "Indivisible Labor with Endogenous Hours: Micro and Macro Labor Supply Elasticities," I study a long- (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Julia Thomas (Advisor); Aubhik Khan (Committee Member); David Blau (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2015, Film (Fine Arts)

This thesis studies the cinematic representation of transnational women workers in contemporary American and European fiction films including Bread and Roses (2000), Dirt (2003), Spanglish (2004), and Amreeka (2009). The research considers this representation as it articulates issues in the current state of global migration, immigration laws, and women's reproductive labor. Since the early 2000s, the growing numbers of women from the so-called `developing' countries have been immigrating, alone or with their children, to `developed' countries. Most often they are destined for employment in low-wage service jobs. This process, termed as the “feminization of migration” in the United Nations study (2006), has been addressed by filmmakers such as Ken Loach, Gregory Nava, Nancy Savoca and many others who have made films centered on the immigrant women protagonists. I argue that the cinematic impulse to portray the lives of underrepresented women and to appropriate their marginalized point-of-view signals a necessary turn to a transnational subjectivity determined by contemporary global economic and power relations.

Committee: Ofer Eliaz (Committee Chair); Katarzyna Marciniak (Committee Member); Louis-Georges Schwartz (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Fine Arts; Gender; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, History

Between 1910 and 1960, nearly nine million southerners left the South for other regions of the country. The vast majority of the historical scholarship on this “Great Migration” has focused on the out-migration of African Americans from the South. “Industrial Voyagers: A Case Study of Appalachian Migration to Akron, Ohio, 1900-1940,” examines the migration of an often overlooked element of this migration—Southern Appalachians who moved to the industrial centers of the Midwest. Akron is a significant case study for this process. Migration to Akron began in the early twentieth century as the emergence of the rubber industry attracted thousands of newcomers who sought jobs in the city's expanding factories. The duration of this in-migration presents the opportunity to examine this movement as it evolved and changed over decades. This study focuses on the regional economic disparities that encouraged out-migration from Appalachia; the ways migration streams became established between Appalachia and Akron; the experiences and reception of newcomers; and the evolving relationship between southerners and the labor movement in Akron. The southerners who arrived in Akron during this period were encouraged to move by Akron manufacturers who suffered recurring periods of labor shortages. Unfortunately, when recessions hit the industry, the city would find itself with thousands of unemployed rubber workers. During such hard times southerners had to decide whether to return home or try to make ends meet in the city. Furthermore, local residents had mixed attitudes toward these newcomers whom they sometimes blamed for a host of problems. In particular, labor organizations in the city blamed the new arrivals for driving down wages and inhibiting unionization efforts. It took several decades for this wave of newcomers to establish roots in the city. By the 1920s, this process was underway. More newcomers became homeowners and considered Akron their permanent home. Many new churches (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Warren Van Tine (Advisor) Subjects: History, United States

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2010, Mass Communication (Communication)

This dissertation presents two frameworks of what drives the ICT workers' decisions to terminate their employment with their employers, using in-depth interviewing of 38 ICT participants in different industry sectors in South Africa. The findings show external labor markets (ELMs) and internal labor markets (ILM) turnover factor across information and communication technology sectors and demographic attributes.ELM factors were especially complex, with AA forcing employers to increase race and gender representation with individuals from South Africa's historically disadvantaged groups. Affirmative action puts a premium tag on hiring women and Black people. AA therefore, provided mobility for these groups and restricted mobility for White males. Despite the shortage of skilled ICT professionals in the sector, AA gives preferential treatment which dissatisfied the undesignated groups, thus forcing them to have intentions to leave their jobs or the country. ILM factors were less complicated than ELMs, with general dissatisfaction with internal company policies about pay, promotions and the scopes of their jobs causing them to terminate their jobs. Compensation was the most influential turnover, with professionals always looking for more money and promotions. If there was perceived lack of commitment by the employee from the organization, they were highly likely to leave. Some ICT professionals chose to leave their permanent jobs to work on short-tomedium term projects which were flexible. Across demographic groupings, Black men were the most hoppers but preferred workers in the ICT sector, as described by some managers and other male workers. The corporate ICT culture was still a barrier for female workers and caused women not to stay long because of unwelcoming environment. The preferential employment of Black males increased their mobility and slowed down the entry of women in core ICT work and managerial positions. The voluntary turnover of the ICT professionals was (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Drew McDaniel PhD (Committee Chair); Phyllis Bernt PhD (Committee Member); Roger Cooper PhD (Committee Member); Mary Tucker PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African History; Information Systems; Mass Media; Technology

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2013, Latin American Studies (International Studies)

This study explores the experiences of expatriates in Brazil through the cross-cultural studies literature. It aims to assess how expatriates of various nationalities perceive the host culture in comparison to their own culture. In addition, this research seeks to identify what work-related and non-work related factors influence expatriate adjustment in the host country. Through a triangulation process of qualitative and quantitative methodologies this study identifies elements representative of adjustment and test their impact for a larger number of sojourners. Five expatriates were interviewed and the qualitative analysis of responses show that there are elements influencing expatriate adjustment in Brazil other than cultural transition. These elements are infrastructure, prices of goods and services, safety, bureaucracy, relationship with local people, language proficiency and family presence and satisfaction. Each of these elements was then tested in a larger sample through an online survey along with work-related variables taken from extant research on Cross-Cultural Studies. A total of 47 expatriates completed the survey and the results of the quantitative analysis show that among the non-work related variables, the variables infrastructure and safety are elements influencing adjustment to the living conditions in the host country. Amongst the work-related variables, the variables team work, relationship building, work-related attitudes and behaviors, conflict resolution style, motivation, company policies, negotiating and leadership styles are all correlated with the expatriate's perception of the overall host culture, meaning that the more similar they perceive the overall host culture to their own culture, the more similar they perceive these work-related variables. In addition, this study found that while culture divergence in Brazil can be perceived through the variables selected from the literature on cross-cultural studies it also concluded that perceiv (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Catherine Axinn (Advisor); John Schermerhorn (Committee Member); Julia Paxton (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Comparative Literature; Cultural Resources Management; Economics; International Relations; Labor Relations; Latin American Studies; Management; Organizational Behavior; Social Psychology; Social Research