Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2021, Economics

The use of exclusionary discipline to mitigate students' bad behavior in schools has been associated with numerous undesirable outcomes for students subjected to these practices. Moreover, links between family economic stability and child socio-emotional and academic performance have been well documented and are implicitly associated with a student's behavior in school. The establishment of the relationship between an economically destabilizing event and changes in disciplinary incidence is of utmost importance for education and social policymakers. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to consider how layoff events affect disciplinary incidence when also considering the stabilizing impact of unemployment insurance (UI). Through use of administrative panel data on discipline for grades 6-12 and on layoff events in 20 states, we estimate the effects of layoff events on school disciplinary incidence in both the presence and absence of UI benefits in a two-way fixed effects model. We find that in the absence of UI benefits, disciplinary incidence increases by 40 to 112 percent with a one standard deviation increase in layoff prevalence. These undesirable effects, however, are successfully mitigated and even reversed as UI benefits become more generous, suggesting that these benefits are essential for stabilizing students in otherwise destabilized families.

Committee: Austin Smith (Advisor); Riley Acton (Committee Member); Deborah Fletcher (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1915, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1946, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, Instructional Technology (Education)

This study sought to provide an examination of the instructional design strategies used in an entrepreneurship clinic (EC) and determine their influence on the post-graduation outcomes of its alumni. The conceptual lens for the study comprised Merrill's (2002) first principles of instruction and Lent et al.'s (1994) social cognitive career theory (SCCT). Merrill's first principles provided a standardized set of instructional principles to examine the instructional strategies used within clinic and the SCCT examined the influence of these strategies on building the necessary competencies for participants to pursue entrepreneurship after graduation. The case for this study was the EC organized by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This case is bounded geographically on the KNUST campus in Ghana. This case is situated contextually in the larger issue of graduate unemployment and how entrepreneurship education and training can be used to address it. Data sources for the study were interviews and documents (Patton, 2015). The data was analyzed a priori through the lenses of Merrill's (2002) first principles of instruction and Lent et al.'s (1994) SCCT constructs--self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and personal goals. Also, the data was analyzed inductively to discover emergent patterns, categories, and themes to arrive at the findings (Patton, 2015). There were three key takeaways from the study. The first is the importance of an entrepreneurship ecosystem to fill the gaps in entrepreneurship knowledge. The second is the temporal nature of entrepreneurship education and the importance of life-long learning. The third is the personality of the participant is important in pursuing entrepreneurship. The study has implication for scholarship in that it extends research by identifying the possibility of building self-efficacy through observation of role-models or mentors. An implication for practice is to provide a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Arthur Hughes (Committee Member); David Moore (Committee Chair); Dwan Robinson (Committee Member); Greg Kessler (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Entrepreneurship; Instructional Design

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1939, Sociology

Committee: Samuel H. Lowrie (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

This study aims to compare and analyze the changes and recent trends of ALMPs in OECD countries and explain the politics of job creation in shaping those changes. The main puzzle explains the different pathways of job creation before and after the 2008 economic crisis. This study will quantitatively explore cross-national variations in total expenditures and changes in the distribution of spending on the different types of ALMPs over time. This study also examines several potential causal factors to explain the factors that resulted in differences in the expenditures on ALMPs, including partisan control, bargaining system, union density, and neoliberal influence. This study argues that these OECD countries may be more likely to enter the low-road policies of short-term job creation instead of the high-road, such as training and human development policies. The case study of Sweden, Germany, and Korea analyzes how and why domestic partisan politics shaped the type of ALMPs adopted. This study concludes that variations on the expenditures of ALMPs in these OECD countries were more specific and conditional per the politics of job creation in each country.

Committee: Michael Ensley (Committee Chair); Andrew Barnes (Committee Member); Casey Boyd-Swan (Committee Member); Dong-Hun(Austin) Kwak (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Economics

Wealth inequality has always been part of American life, but not until recently has it risen to a level not seen since the Great Depression. In this dissertation, I present three essays in which the wealth gap issue is investigated in depth from three different perspectives. The first essay deals with entrepreneurs, a group of people significantly more affluent than the rest of the population. Inspired by vastly different results from Hurst and Lusardi [2004] and Fairlie and Krashinsky [2012], I examine how liquidity constraints affect business entry using a new dataset. My essay not only resolves the conflict between these two studies, but most of all, delivers a unified message about the topic. In the second essay, I incorporate a non-parametric estimate of earnings into a two-asset model to explore how much wealth owned by the richest 1% and 5% of the households can be accounted for. By relaxing the normality assumption imposed on earning shocks, my model can better fit the upper tail of the wealth distribution and generate fewer households with negative or zero wealth. The third essay explores two other wealth-generating channels: differential returns and intergenerational link in returns on assets. By building them into an overlapping generations framework, my model can almost perfectly match the wealth of the top 5% of the households and well replicate the wealth of the top percentile.

Committee: Pok-sang Lam (Advisor); Hijame Miyazaki (Committee Member); Lucia Dunn (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, Anthropology

This research investigates political and economic issues of inequality and unemployment in Uganda, as manifested in one informal settlement in Kabalagala, and the effect of these issues on HIV. Uganda is one important site to study the intersections of inequality, formal sector unemployment, urbanization, and HIV/AIDS. Contemporary inequality and formal sector unemployment are driven by colonial policies that shaped urban stratification, and postcolonial policies that privileged economic growth over job creation. A central goal was to understand men's risk of HIV in the context of these and other structural and social drivers of risk. This research used an explanatory sequential mixed methods study design, including a pilot study (2016), survey pre-test (2017), and 12 months of fieldwork that began with survey data collection (N = 292) and ended with in-depth interviews (n = 54, a subset of the survey sample). Survey data were analyzed using multiple linear regression, and interview data and field notes were analyzed through thematic analysis. Quantitative data described the patterning of risky sexual behavior (e.g. HIV risk), while qualitative data expanded on these relationships and helped to clarify areas of contention. Men in this study have lower rates of HIV testing, compared to national averages. Men also frequently report defaulting on ART, once they do receive a positive diagnosis and begin treatment. Inequality and unemployment impact their daily lives through experiences of uncertainty that must be managed. Economic instability is important, and when men cannot access resources, they are likely to engage in a variety of strategies to improve their economic status. Men also face myriad vulnerabilities driven by the political-economic context, from housing instability to incarceration. This work contributes to the anthropological literature on the political economy of health, HIV, vulnerability, and social resilience. Men's experiences of HIV and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Janet McGrath Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lee Hoffer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jill Korbin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aloen Townsend Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Public Health

BA, Oberlin College, 2019, Economics

This paper examines different machine learning methods to project the U.S. unemployment rate one year ahead. The forecasts include a naive forecast equal to the current unemployment plus the change of unemployment over the last year, along with forecasts from a Lasso regression and a neural network model. The last two models, which can be quickly run using an SQL database, select data from the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED) and are fitted (trained) in-sample from 1970 to 2000 to forecast quarterly unemployment rates over 2001 to 2018. The training window is updated in each forecast quarter to include new data. A rolling-window and non-rolling window period are tested for the training window. This paper finds that a non-rolling neural network model forecasts bests and outperforms the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) across all time periods as does our Lasso regression model, though to a lesser extent. From experiments dropping broad categories of FRED, international data were the most important in forecasting the unemployment rate, followed in order by data from the FRED categories: Population, Employment, Labor Markets; and Money, Banking, and Finance.

Committee: John V. Duca (Advisor); Edward F. McKelvey (Advisor); Barbara J. Craig (Advisor) Subjects: Economics

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Industrial/Organizational Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

The present study explores relationships between work-family conflict and turnover via affective mechanisms, expanding beyond organizational turnover to also examine occupational turnover. Extant theories of turnover also highlight the importance of the labor market in both organizational and occupational turnover processes, such as alternative opportunities that are available to the individual (e.g., Mobley et al. 1979), yet the labor market is often not included in empirical tests of turnover theory. The present study expands this literature by examining occupation-specific unemployment (N=328) and projected occupation growth (N=347) in both the organizational and occupational turnover processes. Results indicate that occupation-specific unemployment rates may play a role in both forms of turnover, providing evidence that researchers and practitioners should measure and assess labor market characteristics in future practical, empirical, and theoretical endeavors. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research directions, are also discussed.

Committee: Ryan Johnson Dr. (Committee Chair); Jeffrey Vancouver Dr. (Committee Member); Lindsay Dhanani Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, Weatherhead School of Management

This integration paper provides the amalgamation for three research studies completed over three years in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Management Program's dissertation requirement for Case Western Reserve University. These studies all incorporated the underlying theme, dealing with career maintenance and development during times of severe U.S. and global macro-economic disruption. Our first study developed a conceptual framework enabling us to model a cohesive theoretical structure and study design dealing with emergent phenomenon, the consequences related to the 2008 U.S. and global economic crisis. We then conducted a qualitative study that provided insights via grounded theory interviews of 42 participants; this resulted in our Promethean Life Engagement Practices Framework. This framework provided a mapping of mental models, skills sets and practices that resulted in better outcomes throughout the five years following 2008. In our final quantitative study we conducted research via a specifically designed instrument utilizing 510 survey participants, this research tested components of the Promethean Life and Career Measurement Instrument. This integration paper evolved our research program by identifying six fundamental modifications / shifts that we believe happened in the social, workplace and economic landscape in the past five years (post 2008). The paper also highlighted nine mental frameworks and practices that we feel will help individual's better position themselves for the tumultuous and convulsive decades to come.

Committee: Peter Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., (Advisor); James Gaskin, Ph.D., (Advisor); Eugene Pierce, D.M., (Advisor); Paul Hedlund, Ed.D., (Advisor) Subjects: Economics

Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

Robots are becoming social actors in organizational systems. For robots to integrate into an organization's team, their human coworkers must first be able to accept their presence. Research has supported that those who self-reported higher levels of anxiety and negative attitudes toward robots were more hesitant to interact with a robot when given the opportunity. Despite this, limited research has addressed variables that could be related to increased levels of anxiety and negative attitudes toward robots, especially in the workplace. A sample of 132 online participants completed a battery measuring technology exposure, technological unemployment, extraversion, neuroticism, employee industry, and employment status. Results indicated that the average length of exposure to technology was predictive of negative attitudes and anxiety toward robots. Further, neuroticism and thoughts of technological unemployment were predictive of higher levels of negative attitudes and anxiety, and there was not a difference in negative attitude or anxiety toward robots across industries. Lastly, hourly employees' average anxiety toward robots was significantly higher than their salaried counterparts. Implications for both researchers and practitioners, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Committee: Morrie Mullins (Advisor); Dalia Diab (Committee Member); Mark Nagy (Committee Member) Subjects: Occupational Psychology; Psychology; Robotics; Robots; Technology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2019, Leadership and Change

Blind and visually impaired people in the United States face a dire employment situation within professional careers and corporate employment. The purpose of this research study was to gain insights into the phenomenon of employment of blind people through analyzing the lived experience of successfully employed blind adults through ethnographic interviews. Previous research has shown that seven out of ten blind adults are not in the workforce, that a large percentage of those who are employed consider themselves underemployed, and that these numbers have not improved over time. Missing from previous research were insights into the conditions leading to successful and meaningful employment for blind adults. My top research questions were: what experiences and relationships were most significant in the lives of successfully employed blind adults in U.S. corporations, and what the most significant factors were, from employers' perspectives, leading to these successes. Based on semi-structured interviews of 11 blind adults who self-identified as successfully and meaningfully employed in corporate America, I found successfully employed blind adults have largely forged their own paths, with family support, valuable knowledge, skills, and abilities, and a strong sense of agency playing crucial roles. Corporate inclusion of blind employees is in its infancy. The implications for social change revolve around changing societal perceptions of the capabilities of blind people, transforming corporate cultures to ones of integration rather than differentiation, and building family, school, community, and service provider mechanisms to instill a strong sense of agency in young blind people. My recommendations to others are to focus on a leveraging difference framework of diversity and inclusion, in which every individual is valued for their unique characteristics, and make sure that blind people are positioned to be part of this societal transformation. This dissertation is availa (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Aqeel Tirmizi PhD (Committee Member); Heather Wishik JD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biographies; Business Administration; Business Community; Business Costs; Business Education; Education; Educational Leadership; Families and Family Life; Individual and Family Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Personal Relationships; Public Administration; Public Health; Public Health Education; Public Policy; Rehabilitation; Social Work; Special Education; Vocational Education

Master of Financial Economics, Ohio University, 2018, Economics (Arts and Sciences)

Economic Problems in Saudi Arabia: a Study on Determinants of Economic Growth and Youth Unemployment. The current thesis analyzes the economic problems in Saudi Arabia with a special focus on economic growth and youth unemployment. The economic growth of Saudi Arabia is measured in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product (PCGDP), which are considered as two dependent variables in the research. Additionally, various economic factors such as Gross Capital Formation (GCF), Labor Force (LF), Human Component (HC), Oil price, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are used as independent variables for identifying the reasons behind slow economic growth in Saudi Arabia. The research also includes a discussion on proposed models, choosing one under the basis of regression analysis. The current research indicates that the GDP of Saudi Arabia depends significantly on the rate of youth unemployment and the FDI. Therefore, it is evident that the economic issues in Saudi Arabia can be mitigated by reducing the rate of unemployment and increasing the FDI.

Committee: Roy Boyd Ph.D. (Advisor); Khosrow Doroodian Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics; Finance

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, Economics

Using federal and state-level monthly minimum wage and seasonally adjusted unemployment data, I compare Autoregressive and Distributed Lag models to determine if minimum wage can improve forecasts of unemployment. I also employ Granger-Causality tests in the Distributed Lag models to determine if lagged values of minimum wage have a statistically significant impact on current values of unemployment. Utilizing the metric mean absolute squared prediction error (MASPE), I find inconclusive results that Distributed Lag models generate better forecasts than Autoregressive models, indicating that minimum wage may not be a uniformly useful addition to the out-of-sample forecast of unemployment. Additionally, through Granger-Causality testing, I do not find consistent statistically significant effects of lagged minimum wage on unemployment. However, when evaluating the long-run propensity of minimum wage from the Distributed Lag models, I find statistically significant results across a subset of states with average wages that rank in the bottom half of all states. This indicates that states with low average wages may have a labor market comprised of more minimum wage jobs, thus leading to a significant relationship between minimum wage and unemployment.

Committee: Jing Li (Advisor); Bill Even (Committee Member); George Davis (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Sociology

Over the past few decades, imprisonment and contact with the criminal justice system have become normative experiences for some groups in the United States, particularly African Americans of lower socioeconomic status. Using data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) the present study will examine the associations between skin color, a criminal record, and employment outcomes. More specifically, this study will examine the moderating effect of skin color on the relationship between a criminal record and unemployment. Three different measures of unemployment are used, as well as multiple measures of criminal justice contact. Further, this study also includes analyses stratified by race and ethnicity to examine the role of skin tone within-African American and within-Hispanic subgroups. Logistic Regression results indicate that individuals with a dark skin tone and a criminal record have an accentuated risk of unemployment compared to those with light skin. Moreover, this pattern holds when analyzing within African American differences.

Committee: Raymond Swisher Ph.D (Advisor); Stephen Demuth Ph.D (Committee Member); Jorge Chavez Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2017, Applied Behavioral Science: Criminal Justice and Social Problems

This study examined relationships between work ethic and welfare dependency. The 65-item Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) (Miller, Woehr, & Hudspeth, 2002) and the 28-item MWEP (Meriac, Woehr, Gorman, & Thomas, 2013) with attached socioeconomic surveys were administered to n=338 and n=247 adult subjects, respectively. A negative correlation between the two variables was anticipated, so that as levels of agreement with work ethic increase, reported use of welfare benefits decrease. After running correlation matrices to examine Pearson's r, hierarchical regressions were conducted, culminating in a model which partially predicts the connection between the variables. Bivariate analyses for the 65-item MWEP data indicated that marital status, age, sex, centrality of work, waste time, delayed gratification, self-reliance, morality/ethics, hard work, and leisure were statistically significantly correlated. Bivariate analyses for the 28-item MWEP data indicated that centrality of work and hard work were statistically significantly correlated. These findings could be used in the design of a comprehensive assessment tool to be utilized at the point of entry into the welfare system.

Committee: Gary Burns Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jacqueline Bergdahl Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Jonathan Varhola M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Demographics; Labor Economics; Public Policy; Social Research; Social Structure; Social Work; Sociology; Statistics; Welfare

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1987, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Sociology