Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Economics

This dissertation studies the relationship between the U.S. aggregate housing price index and the macroeconomy. The contributions are two-fold. On the one hand, I quantify the effect of the aggregate housing price on the U.S. economy through two mechanisms —— the wealth channel and the collateral channel. To make the model- implied housing price dynamics more empirically appealing, I introduce two new elements into the model. First, I model the expectations of future housing price as a convex combination of conventional rational expectations and irrational extrapolations. Second, I introduce a new structural shock that perturbs the households' expectations on future housing price. On the other hand, this dissertation also makes contributions on computational algorithm. First, I formalize an algorithm that incorporates exotic information set (EIS) into a nonlinear DSGE model. Second, I develop a variant of the conventional Sequential Monte-Carlo sampling by replacing the likelihood tempering with model tempering to reduce the computational cost due to occasionally binding constraints. In the first chapter, I estimate a three-shock New-Keynesian macro-housing model aug- mented with endogenous growth and housing price extrapolation. Estimation shows that both channels are indispensable in matching the model impulse response functions (IRFs) with the empirical IRFs implied by vector autoregression (VAR). The estimated model matches well the empirical standard deviations of several key macro variables. Housing price extrapolation explains nearly 90% of housing price variance. Spillover of extrapolation into the macro business cycle exclusively occurs in the medium run. Quantitatively, the spillover effect is non-trivial and is similar in magnitude as the effect of endogenous growth. An exception is aggregate investment, where the spillover is minimal. The reason for the exception —— sectoral shift of investment from physical capital to adoption c (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics

My three essays are designed to explore household food security, food demand, and food waste. These three topics are related because understanding food demand and food waste can support achieving food security. This dissertation consists of three essays and explores critical dimensions of food economics and policy, emphasizing the intersection of social programs, consumer behavior, and waste management. The first essay evaluates the associations between Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and food security in rural Southeast Ohio, and also explores the relationship between SNAP participation and fruit and vegetable consumption. We use novel household-level data on food insecurity and SNAP participation in rural Southeast Ohio, collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. To correct for self-selection bias, we employ the nearest neighbor matching method to match treated (SNAP participants) and untreated (SNAP nonparticipants) groups on observable characteristics. We find that participating in SNAP is associated with a significant increase in the probability of being food secure by around 26 percentage points after controlling for primary food shopping patterns. We do not find any significant association between SNAP participation and estimated intake of fruits and vegetables. The second essay calculates local apple price premiums, estimates the elasticity of demand for local apples, and uses a structural model with the estimated elasticity to simulate the impacts of increasing demand for local apples on the price and consumption of local and undifferentiated apples. Consumers often perceive locally grown foods as fresher and of higher quality. The Farm to School (F2S) program significantly increases demand for local food commonly purchased by School Food Authorities (SFA) and provides a reliable market for local farmers. We employ SFA transaction data and data from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to calculate the local apple price pre (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Public Policy and Management

How government delivers public services can have broad societal effects, beyond the impact on programmatic outcomes. Such societal effects are particularly likely in the delivery of public education, as educational concerns drive residential and school choices, and public schools are the second largest public employer in the United States. My dissertation explores how innovations in the way we administer public education may affect societal inequities by race, gender, academic ability, and socioeconomic status. The first essay examines how the emergence of online “virtual” public schooling, which families within a state can access regardless of where they live, has affected school-based segregation by race and poverty. The second essay examines the impact of the sudden closure of a large virtual charter school on district segregation by race and academic ability. Finally, the third essay estimates the impact of introducing teacher collective bargaining—which empowers teachers in the management of public schools—on the diversity of staff and employment and pay of women. Overall, this dissertation explores how education administration affects with whom students interact in school and who has access to quality public sector jobs—all of which, in turn, have well documented long-term impacts on children.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch New England: Marriage and Family Therapy

Navigating parental biases within White affluent homes assumes family dynamics as yet unexplored within family therapy praxis. This dissertation examines parental biases directed toward domestic laborers employed in affluent White homes and how these biases might affect the parent-child relationship and the emerging values of children in these homes. Research from other fields demonstrates that domestic laborers experience social bias within the workplace; what this highlights is the likelihood that children in these settings are navigating unspoken subtleties of racism and classism in the context of developing socio-emotional maturity and family relationships. The first article within this dissertation critically reviews relevant literature to illuminate for the reader the lives of children in the care of domestic laborers in affluent White families. Themes from this review discussed in detail include social hierarchy and the symbolic boundaries of race and class, narrative cloaks to racial and class biases, parental attitudes about race and class and the effects of these on the socialization of their children, and the significance of the relationship between the child and the domestic laborer in the home. The literary review portion of this dissertation succeeds in emphasizing the value of continued research on this underexplored context of racial and class tension and the nuanced interactions that affect family relationships and the socialization of affluent White children. The second article within this paper incorporates evidence from two rounds of data collection–an open-ended questionnaire and a Likert scale questionnaire–surveying a panel of White adults (n = 9) who grew up in affluent White households employing domestic laborers. Items endorsed by participants within the study reveal that parents' views on race and class affect the parent-child relationship and the children's emerging values about race and class. The findings indicate that perceptions of (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2024, Honors

Currently, in the world of investing, the accurate classification grade for Bitcoin has become a current debate. Due to Bitcoin being incapable of having a bottom line and no real demand, many argue that it should not be considered an investment-grade or speculative-grade asset. As a result, this study calls for the creation of a third investment grade, called the greater fool grade, to be created to appropriately classify Bitcoin. The goal of this study is to provide sufficient evidence that shows Bitcoin is unlike any investment and speculative asset, supporting the creation of the greater fool grade to accurately categorize the asset. This was done by analyzing the risk and return characteristics of Bitcoin through three different analyses. The first analysis conducted was a comparative analysis of Bitcoin's continuous bubble cycle. In this analysis, Bitcoin was compared to the five most notorious bubbles in history and displayed comparable traits to the studied historical asset bubbles. An applied analysis of statistical significance was also conducted. In this analysis, Bitcoin and a combined 18 different investment-grade and speculative-grade assets' financial measurements were analyzed and compared over multiple time periods, which showed that a majority of Bitcoin's financial measurements were vastly different and more volatile than those of the other studied assets. Lastly, a statistical hypothesis test with 110 regressions was conducted to see if Bitcoin's total risk was statistically distinct from the investment and speculative assets. These regressions compared the total risk of Bitcoin to the total risk of a combined 18 different investment-grade and speculative-grade assets. Upon completion of this model, it was found that there was no significance in correlation of Bitcoin's total risk when compared to the total risk of the other measured assets. The results of this study show overwhelming support surrounding the creation of the greater fool grade for (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic thoroughly disrupted the U.S. food supply chain, ushered in a new set of social norms, and reoriented how individuals interacted with each other. A need to find how severely these phenomena changed during and since the pandemic continues to exist. Existing literature suggests significant shifts in social norms and social exchange occurred because of the pandemic. But a gap in research exists in understanding the nuances of these shifts and their continued alterations. This study sought to understand food purchasing behavior changes during the pandemic and how social exchange and adherence to pandemic-time social norms were valued. This study also created a comprehensive chart creating a timeline through the pandemic of how social exchange and social norms shifted through the pandemic. Through this study, an investigation of food purchasing trends and experiences from before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. To examine social exchange and social norms, a non-experimental quantitative study was conducted using Social Exchange Theory and Social Norms as guides. A convenience sample of 419 primary U.S. household food purchasers was taken via online survey offered on Amazon's Mechanical Turk service. The results of this study indicate a significant relationship between time during the pandemic and adherence to social norms and willingness and desire of social exchange. Findings of this study suggest the pandemic caused temporary higher adherence to social norms and an eventual drop in social exchange. This study supported SN and SET through its findings of social norms adherence and social exchange changes in relation to social norms. Further research of the relationship between SET and SN during the pandemic and other crises should be conducted.

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2023, Business Administration

This research explores the impact of zero-commission stock trading on individual stock market participation across a spectrum of demographic and socioeconomic factors. The advent of online platforms offering commission-free trades has potentially democratized stock market access, which this study investigates against the backdrop of traditionally low individual engagement in stock investments. The research was a quantitative cross-sectional survey, collecting data from a diverse American demographic. A significant 41% response rate was achieved, resulting in the completion of 495 questionnaires. The analysis reveals that income is the dominant factor influencing stock market involvement, accounting for 21% of the variance in participation rates; higher earners are more likely to invest. The allure of zero-commission trading stands out as a strong predictor of SMP accounting for 15% variance in participation while widespread adoption of smartphones and trading apps accounting for (4%). Financial knowledge and awareness was equally a significant predictor, contributing to 6% variation in SMP. Additionally, gender and age accounted for 3% and 4% variance respectively. The research underscores critical areas for policy and educational interventions, such as increasing financial literacy to bridge the gender gap and extending market access to lower-income groups. By shedding light on these factors, the study provides a comprehensive understanding of the recent shifts in stock market participation dynamics, highlighting the transformative potential of zero-commission trading in an increasingly digital financial landscape.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2023, Economics

The video game industry is a unique example of an industry with network goods. Firms can decide whether to produce a network good or a non-network good (i.e., a single-player or multiplayer game). In this paper, we show how this choice changes based on game quality and the strength of network effects. Using a Hotelling line with network effects, we find that if the difference in value is sufficient, the firm producing the lesser value game will choose to always produce a single-player game. Furthermore, with sufficient difference in value, an increase in network effect strength increases profits for the firm producing the higher value game. We conclude that competition can bar game developers from entering the multiplayer space if they are unable to produce games with sufficient quality relative to potential competitors. Using data from the video game platform Steam, we provide some insights into our model results, however significant issues in our datset prevent us from reaching a definitive conclusion.

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2023, Honors Theses

It is crucial to analyze the relationship between formal institutions and the informal sector to gain a better understanding of the challenges that certain informal industries face. Given the wide-ranging nature of the informal economy, this paper will focus on the food sector, specifically street food vending in three Colombian cities–Barranquilla, Bogota, and Medellin–which has garnered considerable social and cultural significance over time. This paper will employ a political economy research approach. A surveying method will be the primary source of data collection. Insights obtained from first-person accounts provide invaluable information regarding the reality of the challenges that small-scale informal vendors face. This study posits that the majority of the businesses surveyed surpass the upper-middle income economy poverty line and minimum wage. The majority of businesses responded that they have attained education up to the secondary level. Additionally, the tenure exhibited spans from 8 years of age to someone who has been informally operating for a period as short as 5 months. The study highlights that women in the informal sector face higher financial barriers, especially in regard to the low supply of microcredits. Finally, the data suggest that males are more likely to become formally recognized businesses compared to females, although both genders present a high disposition toward formalization. This exploratory research may furnish policymakers with pertinent information on how to introduce incentives to expand the economic activities of the informal food sector while improving the transition process from informality to formality.

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2023, Economics

This thesis evaluates the impact recycling policy incentives have in motivating circular economy transitions using a three-agent model of waste generation and disposal. The model of consumer sorting reveals that educated, environmentally concerned citizens may unwittingly contribute to recycling contamination through a phenomenon known as "aspirational recycling."

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2022, Economics

An old, signed baseball mitt or your first tickets to a concert often hold more personal value than you originally spent on them. Nostalgia is a powerful force that can drive a consumer to purchase a product for the sole purpose of remembering a past time. This paper posits that one of the ways businesses in the video game market can utilize nostalgia is by timing the release of remakes. Using observational data on video game sales with information on genre, sequels, and remakes for each observation, I estimate that the length of wait time that generates the most sales for the release of a remake is between 9 and 20 years.

Master of Arts in Economics, Cleveland State University, 2022, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

I examine changes in Medicaid coverage and insurance status surrounding a work requirement policy implemented within the Arkansas Medicaid demonstration waiver. The policy applied to able-bodied, childless adults, aged 30 to 49, not enrolled as students, and was effective from 2018 to 2019. Eligibility was conditional on policy compliance. Taking a sample from the IPUMS American Community Survey database, I use triple-differences modeling to compare Arkansans subject to the policy with unaffected Arkansans and individuals from a set of control states. I find that the policy pilot group in Arkansas was less likely to be insured or have Medicaid coverage in the two years after the work requirement took effect, compared with controls. In 2018 and 2019 respectively, I estimate increases in uninsurance for the pilot group, compared with non-pilot Arkansans, were 7.3 and 10.8 percentage points greater than those experienced by the hypothetical pilot and non-pilot groups from the control states. Similarly, I estimate declines in Medicaid coverage for pilot versus non-pilot-group Arkansans were 6.2 and 10.2 percentage points greater in magnitude, compared with the hypothetical pilot and non-pilot groups from the control states in 2018 and 2019 respectively. In tandem with a series of robustness checks, I outline how asymmetric information, unobservable government intervention, and contemporaneous policies could affect my results.

BA, Oberlin College, 2022, Economics

The United States lags far behind other developed countries in terms of preschool provision and access. Because subsidized preschool effectively serves as childcare for enrolled students, preschool policies have ramifications in the labor market; namely, whether or not parents return to work after having children. This paper investigates the only two state-wide universal pre-k programs in the country, those of Florida and Vermont. I use a synthetic controls approach in order to address the impact these programs have had on maternal labor force participation rates in each state. I find that while Vermont's pre-k policy may have produced a significant increase in maternal labor force participation, the results from Florida's policy are insignificant. This outcome suggests that differences in how the policies have been implemented drive whether or not the policy has meaningful impacts on mothers' decisions to rejoin the labor force. Vermont offers more full-day options than Florida, although both programs are only free for half-day provision; additionally, Florida offers programming for children ages 4 and up, while Vermont offers programming for children 3 and up. Finally, I suggest other routes to explore which may aid pre-k policies in making it more accessible for mothers to return to work: these include more targeted programs, more full-day options, and subsidized (rather than free) provisions.

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2022, Business Administration

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine how entrepreneurs who start new businesses can mitigate business decision risk while exploring how their business experience plays a role in their decision-making process. Previous meta-analysis of Ultimatum Game bargaining has shown that student populations do not follow a Nash Equilibrium. Based on a review of literature, the author's study explored if entrepreneurs would make offers closer to the Nash Equilibrium, (risker) based on their business background. While entrepreneurs did not make statistically different offers than the student group, their unique background and experiences did play a significant role in how they approached the problem with several significant findings: 1) Entrepreneurs ($4.76, average offer) did not make different (p = .805) offers than those of the students ($4.86 average offer). 2) There was not a significant difference (p = 0.846) between the acceptance rates of the entrepreneurs (88%) and the students (91%). 3) There was a significant difference (p = <0.001) between how entrepreneurs (3.85 on a Likert scale) viewed their background's role in decision making, and that of the student group (2.90). 4) There was a significant (p=0.017) medium negative correlation (-0.348) between entrepreneurs' feelings of risk and the size of their offer amounts. The qualitative results found that the decision making of the entrepreneurs was influenced by key themes of: Responsible Risk Taking, A Sense of Fairness, Altruistic Outlook, Application of Business Experience, and A Nash Mindset.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Economics

My research revolves around financial institutions. In this essay, I aim to further our understandings of the internal workings of financial intermediaries, how they interact in financial networks, and how they affect monetary policy and the macroeconomy. In the first chapter, James Peck and I study a bank run model where the depositors can choose how much to deposit. In the many years and many published articles following the bank runs paper of Diamond and Dybvig (1983), only a few papers have modeled the decision of whether to deposit, much less the decision of how much to deposit. The questions we address here are, how does the opportunity for consumers to invest outside the banking system- in investments that do not provide liquidity insurance- (1) affect the nature of the final allocation, (2) affect the nature of the optimal deposit contract, and (3) affect the fragility of the banking system? We extend the Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model so to incorporate sequential service constraint and the opportunity of outside investments and show that under certain conditions the equilibrium entails partial deposits, thus arguing for the optimality of limited banking. One might think that when depositors are allowed to invest a fraction of their endowments outside the banking system, they would be hedging against the risk of a run occurring, but losing out on some of the services provided by banks. Thus, one might think that this would improve the stability of the financial system at the expense of lost efficiency. However, we show that the opposite could be true, with reduced stability (runs more likely) but higher efficiency! In the second chapter, I study the strategic behavior of heterogeneous banks in a network and its implications on the stability of the financial system. I construct a model alas Allen and Gale (2000) wherein banks differ in whether they are hit by an uninsurable excess liquidity demand. I show that in such a framework banks that are alr (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, American Culture Studies

This dissertation is rooted in the general question: How do contemporary TV series featuring Black queer and trans representation highlight and address sociopolitical questions often found circulating within queer and cultural studies? Employing three programs, The Prancing Elites Project (2015), Empire (2015), and Pose (2018), this study argues that recent upticks in Black queer characters on TV provide room to move beyond traditional analyses often predicated on critical suspicion to instead engender readings revealing themes related to Black futurity, worldmaking, and coalition building, prominent topics within the fields of queer and cultural studies. Building from both Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's articulation of reparative reading and prior scholarship often critical of Black queer televisual representation, this dissertation's interventions are both theoretical and methodological, presenting a recalibrated approach to gleaning the richness in Black queer media. Black Queer TV: Reparative Viewing and the Sociopolitical Questions of Our Now invigorates and broadens critical scholarship on media through nuancing programs depicting a range of Black queer people's represented experiences.

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2021, Business Administration

This dissertation studies how institutions of higher education occupy a unique space that can add to the discourse of business studies by relating how consumers can simultaneously function as products. This is substantiated by defining the word “student” beyond the traditional meaning of a student as learner when considering the higher education business model. As such, the student as defined in this research co-exists as both consumer and product, shifting institutional culture and power dynamics while influencing senior-leadership decision-making. Given current research on the topic shows a one-sided view, concentrating on students as consumers rather than products or both, this study addresses gaps in the current research, with a focus on how the concept of higher education has not only two products (the curriculum and the student), but also two consumers (the student and the corporate structure who seeks to employ graduates at the lowest value, but the most productivity). A further gap in the research that served to benefit this study considered low-resourced, minority serving institutions with business models that depend on student enrollment, particularly Full-Time Equivalencies (FTE), to meet institutional budget constraints. Such a definition of the student binary that exists at tuition-driven, mission focused institutions create challenges that exist with accommodating and somewhat acquiescing to student socio-economic needs, organizational behavior, and institutional culture. Thus, using grounded theory, this qualitative study identifies semiotics as a business practice that not only creates symbolic meaning of the word “student”, but also identifies how that definition shifts depending on function, influencing the institutional power structure and decision-making practices of institutional leadership particularly at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In particular, this study used a sample of nine senior-level administrators at the 37 s (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Environmental Science, Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Sciences

Although frequently overlooked or omitted, ecosystem services provide an environment for the survival of life on earth, including humans. Soil is a critical compartment for ecosystem services composed of solids, gasses, water, and micro and macro flora and fauna. Soil functions include water holding capacity, nutrient holding and cycling, support for microbial life, carbon capture, and other many other unseen benefits. Within society a main use of soil is agriculture for growth of food, fiber, and other necessities for civilization. Agricultural practices can consist of different techniques, two common categories are conventional and conservation methods. Conventional tillage utilizes turning of the soil to prepare the seedbed and remove unwanted plants. In conservation methods the use of no tillage or reduce tillage is used, where the soil is minimally disturbed, and the seeds are inserted into small slits or openings. Aggressive tillage can affect soil ecosystem function and limit the quality of soil health by decreasing porosity, reducing microbial processes, and increasing erosion. Seven farm fields in Trumbull County, OH, were sampled to investigate the connection between agricultural method and soil quality characteristics that contribute to overall soil health and productivity. Composite soil samples consisting of 2.5 cm soil cores separated into top 15 cm layer and bottom layer were evaluated for organic matter, bulk density, soil texture, plant available phosphorus, pH, total nitrogen, salinity, and percent porosity using standard methods. The data composed of 32 samples, with 16 samples from the top layer and 16 from the bottom layer. The fields were ranked one to four, with a ranking of one indicating conventional methods to ranking of four with the highest amount of conservation practices applied. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, mean comparison, one-way ANOVA, Principal Component Analysis, and backwards linear regressions using S (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

The purpose of this study is to better understand how to influence capitalist attitudes and drive more capital towards social good. This is why we must explore the prospect of emancipating the capitalists from capitalism. This study identifies capitalism as a form of oppression that is contributing to a newly developed ethics of capital, a term introduced in this study. Emancipatory action research and general systems theory were employed as the primary approaches to engaging a group of venture capitalists and finance professionals in activities and dialogues. Value2 is the theory of action I use to influence the attitudes of the participants in the study. I developed the Emancipatory Action Map as a tool for capturing the epistemological process catalyzed by Value2. The findings identified common themes and contrasts, such as how participants rationalized their problem-solving, how they responded to the isomorphism between systems operating within capitalism, and how they experienced their own agency in relationship to the problem of driving more capital towards social good. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd.

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Computer Science

Mutual aid groups often serve as informal financial organizations that don't rely on any central authority or legal framework to resolve disputes. Rotating savings and credit associations (roscas) are informal financial organizations common in settings where communities have reduced access to formal financial institutions. In a Rosca, a fixed group of participants regularly contribute small sums of money to a pool. This pool is then allocated periodically typically using lotteries or auction mechanisms. Roscas are empirically well-studied in the development economics literature. Due to their dynamic nature, however, roscas have proven challenging to examine theoretically. Theoretical analyses within economics have made strong assumptions about features such as the number or homogeneity of participants, the information they possess, their value for saving across time, or the number of rounds. This work presents an algorithmic study of roscas. We use techniques from the price of anarchy in auctions to characterize their welfare properties under less restrictive assumptions than previous work. We also give a comprehensive theoretical study of the various Rosca formats. Using the smoothness framework of Syrgkanis and Tardos [46] and other techniques we show that the most common Rosca formats have welfare within a constant factor of the best possible. This evidence further rationalizes these organizations' prevalence as a vehicle for mutual aid. Roscas present many further questions where algorithmic game theory may be helpful; we discuss several promising directions.