Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Public policy analysis'

The intent of this thesis is to apply policy design analysis to federal forest policy in the United States. This thesis describes alternative policy analysis frameworks and argues that a policy design approach is the most useful for analyzing federal forest policy and for understanding the intense social conflict which surrounds forest policy today. This paper will argue that present conflicts stem from the inability of past forest policy designs to simultaneously pursue the important social goals of economic development, ecological sustainability and social democracy. What is needed is an approach to forest policy which can address and ameliorate these conflicts. This will require several changes in the underlying assumptions of natural resource management. Ecosystem management, as an alternative approach to forest policy, will be discussed and analyzed in order to identify in what ways forest policy may change and to speculate about the implications of these changes.

Political Science
Ph.D.
This study investigates the political, personal, and policy issues that drive citizens to seek unpaid, elected positions on Pennsylvania's public school boards. This research examines whether school board members are recruited to run for office and considers the role of various recruitment agents such as political parties, interest groups, and non-political community organizations. Trends in political and community engagement among school board members, their potential ambition to seek higher office, and the relationship between elected board members and appointed district superintendents are also examined. The study relies upon a unique dataset gathered through a survey distributed to all of Pennsylvania's nearly 4,500 school board members and a series of interviews with current state legislators who began their political careers by serving on their local school boards. Findings suggest that school board members are enormously engaged in the political and non-political life of their communities. It is also determined that school board members are principally self-starters who do not intend to use their positions as springboards to higher office. These findings are analyzed to help determine the implications for governance at the local level as well as to better comprehend the dynamics of party organizations, interest groups, and other community organizations within Pennsylvania school district politics and elections.
Temple University--Theses

The overall aim of this study was to explore the reciprocal impact of health policy on public health nursing and public health nursing on policy. This study uses a new approach to considering public health nurses’ engagement in policy: one which puts public health nurses, as actors in the policy process, at the centre of the investigation. The overall philosophical lens through which the research was conducted was critical social theory and the methodology was a grounded theory influenced research design. The study adopted a three stage data collection and analysis process: primary data (questionnaires and interviews), detailed policy analyses of two specific White Papers and secondary data (extant documents). The data were collected and analysed through a grounded theory approach in order to answer four research questions: 1. What do public health nurses know about policy, specifically in relation to two English Department of Health White Papers: Creating A Patient-Led NHS (DOH 2005) and Our Health, Our Care, Our Say (DOH 2006)? 2. How do they engage in the policy process? 3. What affects their implementation of policy? 4. Is there a policy-practice gap? A triangulated approach to data collection and analysis was used. Primary data were collected through questionnaires and follow up telephone interviews with public health nurses (health visitors and school nurses) in four PCTs and one social enterprise in five different geographical areas of England. Further data from detailed policy analyses using frameworks by Popple and Leighninger (2008) and Walt and Gilson (1994) were also considered. Finally, secondary data from extant documents including newspapers, websites and organisational documents were reviewed. At the end of the research process, it was possible to answer the four research questions. In addition to this, new knowledge and theory emerged around three main themes: i) A proposal for a new combined framework for policy analysis which leads to a comprehensive and analytical account of policy content and context combined with a detailed consideration of the role of public health nurses as actors in the policy process. ii) Theories as to why and how public health nurses lack influence in the policy process. iii) Analysis of the effect of lack of resources on inhibiting practice innovation in response to policy agendas. Consideration of these theories led to several recommendations for practice. Throughout the research process, there was continued interaction between the three phases of data collection, analysis and theory development.

The past two decades have seen tremendous efforts by International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) and the UK government to increase UK public support for international development. Yet hopes of increasing support for development have not materialised. When measured, poll data indicates that levels of public support have barely shifted, from 1999 to present, remaining around 70% (OECD, 2003; TNS UK, 2010). The most recent polling asserts that UK public concern for global poverty has significantly declined, from 70% in 2011 to 46% in 2014 (Bond, 2016). Findings also demonstrate that levels of support are not commensurate with increased awareness (Glennie et al., 2012; Hudson and van Heerde-Hudson, 2012; Lindstrom and Henson, 2010). This suggests a significant disconnect between public support and public understanding, and the public awareness campaign agendas of INGOs, and the UK government’s policy endeavours to build public support. This thesis is an attempt towards understanding part of this disconnect by focusing on the UK Department for International Development's (DFID) policy endeavours towards public support. My research conducts a critical policy analysis, employing a discourse analytical approach, departing from the existing attitudinal data approaches. Specifically, I apply Bacchi's (2009) ‘What's the Problem Represented to Be' (WPR) framework, together with Foucault's governmentality insights. I look at two time periods, 1997-2003, following the establishment of DFID, and 2010-2015 under the Con-Lib Coalition government's leadership and examine how public support is constructed as a ‘problem', as a means of shedding light on possible reasons for the lack of increased public support. The findings show that public support is constructed as a ‘problem' meriting attention in three main ways: as a ‘problem' of public ignorance; of public accountability; and of emotions. The analysis reveals strikingly, that a number of the discourses operating that comprise the ‘problem of public support' target DFID policy workers, rather than ‘the public'. In fact, the actual public remain out of sight. I demonstrate how this construction of public support as a ‘problem' is an extension of governmental power, which serves to among other things, depoliticise development objects, ‘recipients' and ‘donors', and reinforce existing inequalities, rather than challenge them. In turn, this means these three components of problematisation legitimise the role of DFID. My findings show that these problematisations of public support promoted in DFID's work, if embodied, at best, may stifle public support, and at worst, may reduce it. Therefore, these problematistions require urgent attention if future efforts at building public support are to ‘succeed'.

The research was designed to give additional insight into the public policy process. Specifically, the focus of the study was on environmental public policy and the assumed relationship between public opinion on environmental issues and environmental legislation. A secondary emphasis of the research was to review environmental quality and consider the environmental quality as a function of legislative and regulatory impact. The study was restricted to the state of North Carolina and used a public opinion survey, legislative record review, and environmental quality data as the primary indicators. The results of the study showed that (a) citizens in North Carolina have a high degree of concern and personal responsibility for environmental issues, (b) a significant volume of environmental legislation is introduced and ratified in the state's General Assembly, and (c) the state's environmental quality has improved or held its level of quality over the past 5 to 20 years. The conclusions and directions for future inquiry should be of benefit to students of the public policy process, politicians, regulatory agencies, and environmental advocacy groups. Public opinion on environmental issues appears to be reflected in the introduction and ratification of environmental legislation. The relationship between public opinion and environmental legislation has been examined and the impact of the environmental legislation analyzed from the perspective of the state's environmental resources.

Public involvement in primary care has gained increasing acceptance through a sustained position in government policy since New Labour began in 1997. When Primary Care Groups (PCGs) were introduced (Department of Health 1997), they were seen as vehicles for public involvement, reflecting devolution of power and local decision-making. During the process of this study (1999 - 2006) policy directives have highlighted a number of paradoxes, with the potential to impact on public involvement. Detailed development was left to local discretion, set against a national agenda that emphasised citizenship and consumerism. The purpose of this study was to explore, interpret and understand how public involvement policy was interpreted and implemented within the new organisational structures. The study was designed to address the research question `How is public involvement defined and operationalised within PCGs'. Due to the pace of organisational change, the research expanded to track lay experiences within Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The research methods included case study, national survey, telephone interviews and the development of a conceptual framework for public involvement in primary care. From the analysis of the national survey and two in-depth case studies, the study provided a detailed profile of lay members across England. Issues regarding representativeness and the identification of a potentially discriminatory appointment system were raised. Despite inadequate training lay members were strongly represented in public involvement and health-related issues but less so in financial and operational areas. There were widespread difficulties with individual capacity and a minority of members identified themes relating to isolation, exploitation and lack of skills recognition. There was little evidence of strategic and organisational development in implementing and responding to involvement initiatives. The majority of approaches to public involvement within this study focused on information exchange and therefore, were tokenistic in relation to power sharing. The impact of the national agenda was evident and the lack of specific central directives relating to involvement led it to remain a low priority. As the move to PCT status became central, public involvement was reclaimed as a management prerogative. The analysis showed that the concept of citizenship, so central to Third Way politics was poignantly missing. The study reflected a focus on service users and the different roles of citizen and user were not clearly demarcated. The use of Foucault's concepts of governmentality and discipline provided an explanatory framework for elucidating the study's findings. The effects of governmentality embedded in policy directives and disciplinary mechanisms within NHS organisations were identified as crucial factors for the lack of significant progress of public involvement over the period of the research study.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.
The focus of this research is on the analysis of Namibian land reform policy. The primary objective is to identify the prevailing values behind the land reform, formulate precise objectives that reflect the inherent values, and analyse the existing options with a view to identifying the delivery mechanism(s) most appropriate to meeting the land reform objectives and to delivering the desired outcomes in a sustainable way. Namibia inherited skewed land ownership. The land reform debate focuses mainly on the redistribution of commercial farms, which are mostly owned by whites, and the tenure reform in the communal areas. The Namibian land reform rests on a tripartite scheme: Resettlement, Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS) and the Development of Communal Areas (DCA). These approaches are governed by a number of policies and laws. Land reform is a very complex and emotion-laden phenomenon with multiple dimensions, which include moral, historical, social, economic, environmental and technical aspects. The land question in Namibia is a race question. While politicians argue publicly that land reform is important to boost the economy and reduce poverty, in reality the focus is on having more black Namibians own more of Namibia’s commercial farmland. This discrepancy between public pronouncements and actual motive may be responsible for the lack of clear objectives for the land reform policy. The analysis of Namibian land reform policy will require formulation of precise objectives. Because Namibia is the driest country south of the Sahara, sustainable management of land is imperative. Finding ways of achieving a politically acceptable racial balance of commercial land ownership and sustainable utilisation of redistributed land within an optimum time span is a challenge. The formulation of Namibian land reform policy was not preceded by any attempt at prior policy analysis. An ad hoc and crisis-management approach prevailed. A policy issue analysis approach has been used in this study. It is based primarily on a literature review augmented with questionnaires and interviews with selected key stakeholders. A stratified sampling technique was applied in the selection of the key stakeholders. The three groups identified were the policy-formulation and implementation group, the commercial farmers and the emerging farmers. VISA, a multi-criteria decision analysis package, was used to analyse and compare the three land reform approaches, while PolicyMaker software was used to analyse political actors and suggest strategies that can enhance the policy’s feasibility. The literature review and questionnaires revealed that the objectives of the land reform policy include correcting the skewed ownership of commercial farmland to reflect the demography of Namibia, alleviating poverty and achieving social and economic equity for all citizens. The programme should be sociologically, economically and environmentally sustainable. Combining all these objectives as criteria for evaluation, VISA demonstrates that the affirmative action loan scheme has the greatest potential for meeting the objectives followed by resettlement and development of communal areas respectively. Using the PolicyMaker software, stakeholders were categorised into supporters, opponents and non-mobilised; opportunities and obstacles were identified and strategies devised to harness opportunities and diffuse opposition.
cmc2010

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) and agencies that work with veterans experiencing posttraumatic stress and substance use disorders have been unable to provide evidence-based treatment that includes veterans' families in recovery and treatment. This limitation has resulted in treatment gaps that appear to have had an adverse impact on veterans and their families. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to examine the formulation of AB 2371, a 2012 legislative amendment to California code PC 1170.9, and evaluate whether lawmakers considered family-oriented treatment in passing the amendment. Schneider and Ingram's theory of social construction of target populations constituted the theoretical foundation. The focus of the central research question was on the consideration given during the formulation and implementation of AB 2371 that resulted in exclusion of families from eligibility for treatment in VTCs. Data consisted of publicly available documents from 4 years before and 2 years after enactment of AB 2371. Data were collected and analyzed in a manner consistent with Dunn's policy analysis framework. Data were analyzed through selective coding using a continuous, iterative process and were critically evaluated to determine whether legislative and administrative considerations may have affected the social construct of care for veterans and their families. Findings show that children and families were not considered in the initial policy inputs related to the formulation of AB 2371. A recommendation stemming from this study includes advising policy makers, VTCs, and service providers to support the inclusion of families and children in the VTC service matrix, which may result in positive social change by improving recovery and treatment for veterans.

Demographics are changing for the young elderly population in America, and poverty is a growing concern among this population. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between young elderly demographics and income level, and between government programs and economic status. Rawls's theory of justice was useful to examine the relationship between predictor variables and the outcome variable. Secondary data came from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey from March 2016. The results of multiple and logistic regressions indicated no statistically significant linear correlation. There was no statistical linear correlation between income level and region, race, education level, occupation status, sex, marital status, or employment status. Moreover, there was no statistically significant linear correlation between income level and medical equipment expenditures, health insurance payments, medical out of pocket expenses, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) status, and housing. Finally, the independent variables social security, supplemental security income (SSI), Medicare, Medicaid, public housing, and SNAP were not statistically significant in predicting the dependent variable of economic status. Implications for positive social change are to provide information to policymakers and researchers about the changing needs and demographics of the young elderly so that they can develop policies and programs that focus on their needs. Although the findings of this study revealed no new information to researchers or governmental policymakers, the work taken as a whole, highlights the need for continued study and policy consideration related to this generation of the American population.

Networks are increasingly used by policy practitioners to implement public policy. However, evidence that network approaches to implementation are actually beneficial for policy performance is inconclusive. Only recently studies incorporate Social Network Analysis, allowing for the inclusion of specific structural network conditions and their relationship for performance. This research contributes to this growing area of study by exploring the relationship between network position and the performance of projects implemented under European Union Cohesion policy, the EU's regional policy instrument. A mixed methods approach is adopted, including quantitative analysis of all the projects and their performance - financial and physical, and semi-structured interviews. The conclusion is that the inclusion of more actors is not automatically beneficial for performance. Instead the research identifies specific conditions under which organisational actors can improve the probability of better performance.

Military conflicts have become nonlinear and the interrelated political and socio-economic changes within these conflicts have created new challenges for American policymakers. A tool called Wallis' Propositional Analysis (PA) suggests a new paradigm that includes thinking about complexity and robustness/systemicity in a policy. The purpose of this single case study was to determine how the PA paradigm adds heuristic value to complex policy decision-making. A backdrop of Wallerstein's complexity theory and complex adaptive systems (CAS) guided this study. This study examined policy statements from the Obama administration on the Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts in late December 2009. Data were coded and analyzed using Wallis' specific methodological approach that includes a systematic analysis of the policy's propositions and complexity and robustness/systemicity. Key findings indicated that the PA paradigm offers a heuristic method for how to think about the interrelated propositions within a policy that reflect the expected changes the policy intends to make. Specifically, this study demonstrated that an interwoven PA structural approach to policymaking affords the policymaker a method to consider the complex and nonlinear changes in the policy environment. By applying the PA paradigm, policymakers can positively impact social change by exploring policy options that consider a range of possible outcomes from the policy proposal, prior to policy implementation.

This quantitative research was conducted to identify and examine what variables contributed to Kentucky Medicaid Region Three physicians’ experience of policy alienation (PA) and subsequently influenced their willingness to implement Kentucky’s 2013 Medicaid policy strategies (WI). This research was a modification and expansion of the original study of policy alienation (PA) conducted by Tummers (2012a) testing the concept on another segment of healthcare professionals (Medicaid participating physicians) in Kentucky. Giddens’ structuration theory (1984) provided the theoretical foundation for this study. Findings indicated top down and bottom up (“street-level”) structural and material constraints influenced physician willingness to implement. Results supported all hypotheses and were consistent with the previous findings of Tummers (2012a). Finding in regards to physicians, what needs to be considered in the strategic management of Medicaid policy change are: 1. The influence of personalities, 2. The often unique aspects of Medicaid policies, 3. The often changing healthcare environment in which the policy is developed and implemented, and 4. Those unforeseen events that occur often disrupting even the best thought out strategies. Policy developers need to tailor and adjust strategies for policy implementation at each level of the hierarchy, acknowledging and recognizing a combination of factors influence successful policy strategy implementation and realizing strategies with the goal of instituting behavioral change at the “street-level” may not be effective in all regions.

In 1974 the Australian Government decided that from 1975 all education on its Territory of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, would be integrated into a single service. It further decided that all schools would be staffed by Australian teachers from its recent1y established Commonwealth Teaching Service and would implement a curriculum closely reflecting those on the Australian mainland. These were decisive shifts from the previous system of separating the 'Asian' education system from the 'European' (Australian) system. This thesis sets out to find the reasons for these decisions and the expectations, or objectives, of those who made them. The changes to education had many Impacts on the Christmas Island community - both intended or unintended. These impacts are used to assist in evaluations of the policy objectives. The thesis uses the methodology of public policy analysis to examine the links between the government's education policy and its other broader policies regarding the Island. It thus examines operational decisions in the context of strategic considerations. The mid 1970s saw rapid changes in many Australian Government policies. Its new Christmas Island policies were responses to a range of complex, interrelated problems which emerged in the early 1970s - only 15 years after it assumed sovereignty. At the centre of these policy responses was Resettlement. The government's education decisions are examined in the light of the objectives and implications of its Resettlement policy as well as other inputs to the policy problem.

This compilation dissertation consists of four essays with the common theme of welfare analysis of long-term public investments. The first two essays focus on analysis of climate change mitigation, i.e., the social cost of carbon dioxide. The third essay focuses on cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of transport investment projects, while the last essay takes a broader perspective on welfare analysis. Essay 1: The Temporal Aspects of the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases. The purpose of Essay 1 is to investigate the temporal aspects of the social cost of greenhouse gases. I find that the calculation period should ultimately be modeled to be consistent with the discount rate and that the “global-warming potential” concept is unsuitable for calculation of the social cost of GHGs other than carbon dioxide. Essay 2: Avoiding path dependence of distributional weights: Lessons from climate change economic assessments. In Essay 2, I explore shortcomings in income weighting in evaluation of climate change policy. In short, in previous versions of two of the most important existing models, regional economic growth is double counted. The proposed alternative approaches yield about 20–40% higher values of SCCO2 than the old approach. Essay 3: Does uncertainty make cost-benefit analyses pointless? In Essay 3, the aim is to investigate to what extent CBA improves the selection decision of projects when uncertainties are taken into account, using a simulation-based approach on real data of infrastructure investments. The results indicate that, in line with previous literature, CBA is a rather robust tool and considerably increases the quality of decision making compared with a random selection mechanism, even when high levels of uncertainty are considered. Essay 4: Household Production and the Elasticity of Marginal Utility of Consumption. In Essay 4, I develop a new model to show that omission of household production in a previous model leads to bias when the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption, EMUC, is estimated. I further offer new, unbiased estimates based on current evidence of the included parameters, suggesting a lower bound of EMUC at about 0.9.

This compilation dissertation consists of four essays with the common theme of welfare analysis of long-term public investments. The first two essays focus on analysis of climate change mitigation, i.e., the social cost of carbon dioxide. The third essay focuses on cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of transport investment projects, while the last essay takes a broader perspective on welfare analysis.

Unaccompanied children arrive at the U.S. border in seek of refugee from the gang activity, abuse and/or poverty from their country of origin. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the values, intentions, objectives and effects of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 with connection to unaccompanied children. There will be an analysis of how the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and other related policies have affected the care, processing, treatment and apprehension of unaccompanied children.

Equity agency costs are important to the firm and the management of these costs is a critical element of corporate governance, yet empirical research that focuses on the magnitude and impact of agency costs is limited. This thesis sets out to furnish empirical evidence in the area of corporate ownership with a particular focus on the magnitude of equity agency costs as well as the relation that exists between the largest shareholder in a firm and equity agency costs and between the largest shareholder and the dividend policy that a firm adopts. This thesis provides an empirical analysis of the effect of corporate ownership, together with other governance mechanisms on equity agency conflicts for the largest 500 Australian listed firms. The results from this analysis provide strong support for the view that equity agency costs are related to corporate ownership. Specifically, there is evidence of a significant non-linear relation between inside ownership and the proxies for agency costs. Further, the results demonstrate that other governance mechanisms, particularly board size, board leadership and short-term debt financing, are effective in improving the use of firm assets, yet they do not seem to restrain firm management from incurring excessive discretionary operating expenses. This thesis also extends the investigation of the corporate ownership-equity agency cost relation by focusing on the largest shareholder for 9,165 listed firms drawn from 43 countries around the world. The results suggest that cross-sectional variation in equity agency costs can be partly attributable to corporate ownership. Specifically, there is evidence of a statistically significant non-linear relation between the shareholding of the largest shareholder and the agency cost proxies. The type of the largest shareholder, i.e. whether the largest shareholder is an insider or a financial institution, is also important in analysis of this relation. Further, debt financing, dividend policy and legal origin vary in their impact on the agency cost proxies. This thesis also investigates the interaction between the largest shareholder and dividend policy for 8,279 listed firms drawn from 37 countries around the world. Consistent with previous studies, the results suggest that firms are more likely to pay dividends when profitability is high, debt is low, investment opportunities are limited, or when the largest shareholder is not an insider. It is also apparent that largest shareholding and dividend payout are related and that, consistent with the extant literature, legal system does matter in dividend policy decisions. Together, the results imply that equity agency costs vary with corporate ownership though this relation remains, of course, the subject of continuing investigation in finance. A major contribution of this thesis is demonstrating that corporate ownership, particularly the largest shareholder, plays a pivotal role in controlling agency costs. Accordingly, this suggests the following policy implication: by improving the legal environment and regulatory constraints imposed on large shareholders as well as legal protection for minority shareholders, the efficiency gains generated from large shareholder control can be translated into higher firm valuation to the benefit of all shareholders in the firm.

This thesis analyses narratives associated with the development of public policy in telecommunications from the advent of telegraphy to Australia in 1854 to the end of 2000, with particular emphasis on concepts of universal service. The history of public policy development in telecommunications universal service obligations is analysed to gain an understanding of how different narratives are used to frame policy within particular material contexts. The study demonstrates that narratives in telecommunication development reflect national public policy agendas. In addition the thesis analyses how policy narratives are used to underwrite and legitimise assumptions, values and statements that influence the agendas and expectations of diverse social actors and interpretive communities. Furthermore, the thesis examines the interaction between policy narratives and the barriers and opportunities created by dynamic material environments such as economic, legislative and technological arenas. The study analyses five narratives that influence telecommunication policy and the agendas and expectations of diverse social actors and interpretive communities. National development, technocratic, rights, competition and charity narratives are used to frame different approaches to telecommunication policy, with particular reference to universal service. The study demonstrates how national development and competition narratives compete to dominate policy. Furthermore, diverse technocratic narratives provide scientific reinforcement to underwrite and legitimise the dominant narrative as well as discredit alternative perspectives. In addition, social rights and charity narratives respectively provide moral support to underwrite and legitimise national development and competition policy narratives. A key focus of this study is a narrative analysis of more than a thousand submissions to an independent inquiry in 2000 into telecommunication service levels with particular reference to universal service. The Telecommunications Service Inquiry was a forum that provided examples of the narratives analysed in this study from a cross-section of the Australian community. Submissions came from diverse social actors and institutions that included governments and state bodies, the telecommunication industry, unions, the farming industry, other business groups, community groups and individuals. The research demonstrates that changes in material environments and social expectations of universal service produce tensions within dominant narratives that require greater support from secondary narratives to provide scientific and moral legitimacy. Furthermore the research indicates that, in part, universal service policy functions to stabilise and legitimise the dominant policy narrative. However, the diverse social expectations associated with universal service produce continuing tensions within the dominant narrative that keep the policy in a state of flux. Consequently, government and industry policy makers find telecommunications policy a problematic area to reconcile with expectations of universal service.

On October 1, 2013, the most visible component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) (ACA) went live. Health insurance marketplaces provided residents with a place to shop and receive subsidies for insurance plans that contained the essential health benefits required by the ACA. The ACA required each state to establish an exchange, but it also provided flexibility so if a state elected not to (or could not) build its own, the federal government would implement the marketplace. A handful of states chose a hybrid implementation, which used the federal HealthCare.gov website but left certain decisions to the states. In the end, twice as many states chose to use the federal HealthCare.gov website compared to states that created a state-based marketplace and website. This trifurcated approach to implementing the health insurance marketplaces where residents were either served by a federally-facilitated, state-based, or hybrid marketplace, provides a unique situation for comparison and analysis relating to federalism and public policy implementation.

This policy analysis examines the implementation of the ACA’s health insurance marketplaces in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It discusses enrollment success during the first five open enrollment periods across all three marketplace types.

Among the federally-facilitated, state-based, or hybrid marketplaces, was one type more successful than the others at enrolling residents in health insurance? What factors may have played a role in success or failure? This study discusses the ACA marketplaces as a case study in federalism and public policy implementation.

Since the mid 1970s student experience of gender at school has been the focus of intense media scrutiny, academic research and policy development for schools in Australia. This study took as its focus the role of the school principal as a leader for gender equity in schools. It set out to determine the response of 35 Catholic K-6 schools to gender policy directions as contained in gender policy documents published for Australian schools between 1975 and 1997 and to use these findings to determine implications for school leadership for gender equity. The study encompassed three interlinked research phases which contributed to specific learnings about leadership for gender equity. The first research phase entailed a critical analysis of gender policy documents for Australian schools leading to the development of a Policy Analysis Template. Utilisation of the template resulted in a synthesis of gender policy implications which formed the basis for examination of school practice in a sample of K-6 Catholic schools in the next two research phases. The second research phase examined student experience of gender at school using a questionnaire and the third research phase studied teacher and principal experience of gender reform utilising questionnaires. Data analysis methods included content analysis of policy documents, statistical analysis of questionnaire responses to determine particular connections and to identify emerging trends in the data and analysis of the qualitative responses to provide validation and further insights. The research tools developed for this study provide possibilities for future work in gaining insights into policy implementation in schools. The research results confirmed the findings of the implementation literature in terms of leadership. The response of schools to gender policy directions was strongly influenced by a principal who could not only articulate a vision of gender equity but who also had a commitment to translating this vision into practice. The findings also demonstrated a clear link between a school’s commitment to its proclaimed values, formed and shaped by its Catholic ethos and its response to gender equity issues through actual practice. Thus school responses to gender policy directions were seen to be informed and influenced by their articulated vision and mission. Furthermore, results demonstrated that specific gender policy directions had been adopted by schools whereas others had resulted in little or no impact at all. It was beyond the scope of this study to investigate the factors that enabled or inhibited school response to particular gender policy directions although specific gender policy reform priorities were signalled for principal attention. The focus of this study was on the emerging connections and relationships between gender policy directions, student experience of gender at school and teacher and principal experience of gender reform. The recommendations of the study addressed the role of the principal in fostering school commitment to equity practices. The study which utilised a sample of 35 Catholic K-6 schools demonstrated the significant role of the principal in gender reform. The impact of gender policy directions on actual school practice was seen to be dependent on the vision for gender equity and commitment to implement this into practice that the school principal brings to the role of leadership for gender equity.

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 led to a large increase in the government debt of all advanced economies. In the United States, the debt burden reached levels not seen since the Second World War. In Europe, high fiscal stress evolved into a sovereign debt crisis. My thesis focuses on debt dynamics in advanced economies and the design of policies that can stabilize their fiscal burden. In the first chapter, I provide new evidence and theory on US debt dynamics and their relation with long-term growth forecasts. In the second chapter, I document a novel dataset on the maturity structure of sovereign debt of Euro Area (EA) countries and study the effect of the maturity composition on debt dynamics. Finally, in the third chapter, I analyze empirically the role of debt management in stabilizing the fiscal burden of countries in the EA.

Chapter 1: Sovereign Debt in the US and Growth Expectations

This chapter studies the effect of changes in expectations of long-term GDP growth on US government debt and deficits. Long-term growth expectations are an essential determinant of expected future revenue growth and fiscal solvency. I present evidence that US government debt and deficits are positively correlated with long-term GDP (and revenue) growth forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office between 1984 and 2012. This is robust to controlling for current growth and to using à-la-Kalman estimated forecasts for a longer time span. This stylized fact is novel in the macroeconomics literature and I develop a new model of government behavior that explains it.

My model features endogenous (forward-looking) purchasing behavior for the government. This distinguishes my model from standard macro theories that assume exogenous government purchases, or ad-hoc backward looking policy rules for government purchases. It builds on the recent ‘long-run risks’ literature by assuming shocks to the trend growth rate of total factor productivity. The model matches the observed positive correlation between fiscal deficits and the trend growth rate, based on the government’s desire to smooth public consumption over periods of higher (or lower) long-run productivity growth.

Chapter 2: Government Debt Maturity and Debt Dynamics in EA Countries

This chapter presents a new comprehensive database on sovereign debt stocks and yields, at all maturities, for six EA countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain between 1991 and 2013. I constructed this database by combining information from different sources (treasuries, national central banks and statistical offices), on a security-by-security basis. A recent literature has shown the importance of debt maturity management in the US - e.g. Hall and Sargent (2011) - however, due to lack of data, this key issue remained unstudied for the EA. Thus, I use my database to study the effect of debt maturity management on the evolution of government debt in EA countries.

My main finding is that debt maturity also had an important effect in debt dynamics of the EA. The debt maturity structure affects debt dynamics because longer maturity shields the government budget from changes in interest rates. In general, interest rates in the EA have fallen since 1991 while treasuries in the region extended debt maturity. Thus, an increasing number of long-term bondholders experienced large capital gains. Counterfactual simulations show the impact of a different maturity structure on the evolution of debt and suggest that extending debt maturity in 2014 and 2015 would result in lower debt ratios by 2022. I also estimate the debt-to-GDP erosion induced by higher current and future inflation and find that inflation would lower the fiscal burden in EA countries much more than in the US.

Chapter 3: Quantifying the Role of Debt Management for Fiscal Self-Insurance in the EA

The last chapter provides evidence of debt management being an effective tool for protecting the government budget from fiscal spending shocks in the EA. In particular, I document that sovereign bonds of EA countries had a significantly lower real return in response to government spending shocks between 1991 and 2013. Importantly, longer bond maturity generally implied a larger drop in returns. This is in line with theories claiming that long-term debt provides fiscal self-insurance. However, my finding suggests that medium-term debt is more effective in hedging against spending shocks.

I identify government spending shocks in a Structural VAR model estimated with both aggregated quarterly fiscal data for the EA and stacked data from individual countries. I also use a simple FAVAR model to distinguish between common and idiosyncratic (country-specific) shocks and document that the former risk was hedged more effectively. The introduction of the Euro reduced the absorption of idiosyncratic shocks (relative to common shocks) by bond returns. However, the European debt crisis brought the degree of fiscal self-insurance against country-specific shocks back to pre-Euro levels. Finally, debt maturity seems to play a minor role in the absorption of country-specific shocks by the return on sovereign bonds.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The rapid growth of the shale gas industry has inspired questions concerning attendant apparent and potential short- and long-term health and environmental risks. My research examined three potential environmental and health risks. (1) For the last half-century the Northeast natural gas market was supplied from major producing areas in Texas, the Gulf Coast, and Canada. Because radon has a short half-life of 3.8 days, the time required to transport the natural gas from these areas to the Northeast resulted in a low-radon product being delivered to homes. As the Northeast gas market transitions to locally-produced natural gas the potential for radioactive decay will diminish and the natural gas being delivered to homes will contain radon at higher levels. I assess the lung cancer risk for people living in homes with unvented gas cooking (approximately half of the homes in the Northeast) and heating appliances, which are in fewer homes. Data on the locally-produced natural gas radon concentration are limited, but for the modeling assumptions considered the radon exposure is predicted to be small compared to typical residential exposures, and additional annual population-level risk will likely be much less than the error in the estimate of annual radon-induced lung cancers. An excess lifetime lung cancer risk >10-4 is possible for high gas usage in poorly ventilated settings. (2) High volume and locally-concentrated surface water withdrawals for Marcellus Shale development may pose a risk to water quality, aquatic and riparian ecosystems, and other uses of water resources. State environmental and interstate water authorities take different approaches to managing these water withdrawals. In the Upper Ohio River Basin, which covers the western third of Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection requires that all water used for shale gas development be covered by a water management plan. These plans stipulate the amount and timing of surface water withdrawals from each source as a function of annual stream flow statistics. Neighboring regulatory authorities and some environmental groups favor the use of monthly flow statistics instead, but implementation of these statistics in western Pennsylvania would require more data than are currently available. Because hydrologic data in the Upper Ohio River Basin are sparse, the use of the annual flow statistics is more likely than use of monthly flow statistics to prevent water withdrawals when aquatic ecosystems are under the greatest stress. The annual flow statistic might also result in fewer and smaller occurrences of computed ecodeficits under scenarios of development-related water demands in the future. (3) Improperly abandoned and orphan gas wells threaten human health and safety as well as pollute the air and water. Pennsylvania currently requires production companies to post a bond to ensure environmental reclamation of non-productive well sites, but the cost of plugging horizontally drilled wells and reclaiming well pads is estimated to be at least a factor of 10 greater than the current well bonds. The economics of shale gas development favor transfer of assets from large entities to smaller ones. With the assets go the liabilities, and without a mechanism to prevent the new owners from assuming reclamation liabilities beyond their means, the economics favor default on well-plugging and site restoration obligations. In addition to increasing the bond amounts, individual well trust accounts are proposed based on a model from the coal industry. Pre- and delayed-funding options (a fee and severance tax, respectively) to pay for future reclamation are examined from the perspective of the taxpayer. The exposure of the taxpayer to these financial liabilities and to a future orphan well problem can be minimized with minimal impacts to the profitability of gas production regardless of which funding option is used.

Few policies carry more controversy than voter photo identification requirements. First passed in 2003, these laws require voters to present government-issued ID’s, such as a driver’s license, state identification card, military ID, or qualifying student ID. This paper examines the discursive politics in Wisconsin’s photo ID, seeking to understand how state policymakers justified the law against accusations of voter suppression. Put broadly, this paper seeks to understand the intersection of politics and policy, exploring how irrational policies are formed, implemented, and evaluated.

This research critically analyses reforms undertaken in Zambia's water sector. Its main focus however, is on the corporatisation of Zambia's urban water services. The objective is to apply some selected indicators of water services improvement to establish whether the commercialisation of urban water services has improved water service delivery. The research uses qualitative and quantitative literature and generally relies on secondary data. Therefore, it is an exhaustive literature review of the available electronic and hard copy sources. Of particular relevance to the research are the National Water and Sanitation Council's (NWASCO) sector reports, which are comprehensive records of the performance of Zambia's Commercial Water Utilities (CUs).

This thesis explores the environmental politics surrounding agricultural biotechnology innovations and diffusion. Recent developments in agricultural biotechnology are accompanied by growing social concerns that such innovations pose risks to the environment and to human health. Biosafety is a term used to discuss the possibility of such risks. Currently, the regulation of agricultural gene-technology and biosafety are contentious environmental issues for national and international policy communities. However, detailed studies of the conflicts and complexities generated by biotechnology for environmental governance are scarce. In particular, little is understood of the ways in which biotechnology issues emerge on regulatory agendas, and research gaps remain on how differing perspectives of biotechnological risks impact on policy outcomes. This thesis makes a significant contribution to these outstanding research issues. My contribution is a new analytical framework that unearths the discursive role biotechnology plays in constructing international environmental policy regimes. I develop this framework on the understanding that the use of language resources like storylines, metaphors and other rhetorical devices are critical in shaping environmental policy in general and biotechnology governance in particular. This analytical framework couples a language analysis to an investigation of the practices of institutional power. The result is a discourse analysis that provides important and useful insights into the theory and practice of biosafety policy. In other words, my thesis explores both the ‘talking’ and the ‘doing’ of policymaking and thereby provides new insights into the contested and uncertain environmental policy area of international gene-technology regulation. Specifically, I undertake a discourse analysis of international biosafety politics within the Convention on Biological Diversity. I apply my discourse analysis to a case study: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2000. My research provides a different reading of international gene-technology politics, one that questions the constructed nature of biotechnology as a policy problem and reveals the power relations involved in producing particular policy options and outcomes on biosafety. There are a number of key research findings that emerged from the application of my discursive analytical framework to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. I find that biosafety is a highly fluid concept. It can enlarge or contract depending on the way in which language resources are mobilised by policy actors and interest groups to secure definitions and generate consensus around their preferred understandings of biosafety. Moreover, my research indicates that the more radical texts for biosafety can be recast by dominant interest groups into scripts for shallow reform agendas. Institutionalised policy practices also effect policy outcomes. My research finds that the use of Expert Panels, for example, is important in shaping international policy communities’ understanding of the policy problems posed by biotechnology risks. In the light of these findings, my thesis argues that the ability of interest groups and policy actors to win language games within institutional settings also enables them to secure their preferred policy outcomes. I import the concept of authorship as a new policy concept to discuss the ways in which such groups exercise social power to secure their understanding of biosafety, which thereby effect the ‘writing’ of the dominant accounts of what constitutes an acceptable international biosafety standard within the Cartagena Protocol. In short, my thesis is a new account of biosafety politics that fills some of the current knowledge gaps about how biotechnology is emerging onto regulatory agendas. It also demonstrates the mechanisms of power and the language struggles that determine biosafety policy outcomes within multi-lateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.

This thesis studies multi-sector macroeconomic models suitable for policy analysis. The first and second chapters use a variety of empirical and theoretical macroeconomic models allowing for the consumption of goods with different durability, and analyze which modeling assumptions and features of the economy are crucial for the conduct of monetary policy. The third chapter focuses on the role of fiscal and monetary policies in the Euro Area, thus providing insights about the joint policy stance that have the potential to inform future policy choices. In the fi rst chapter, we challenge a crucial assumption made in the literature of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models with durable and nondurable goods about their relative price stickiness. We start with a thorough empirical analysis by estimating a Structural Vector Autoregressive model of the US economy, in which we find that the response of the relative price of durables to a monetary policy contraction is either flat or mildly positive. It signi cantly falls only if narrowly de ned as the ratio between new-house and nondurables prices. These findings are then rationalized via the estimation of two-sector New-Keynesian (NK) models. Durables prices are estimated to be as sticky as those of nondurables, leading to a flat relative price response to a monetary policy shock. Conversely, house prices are estimated to be almost flexible. Such results survive several robustness checks and a three-sector extension of the NK model. These findings have implications for building NK models with durable and nondurable goods, and for the conduct of monetary policy. This chapter is based on an article co-authored with Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund) and published in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. The second chapter adds imperfect labor mobility to a two-sector New- Keynesian model with durable and nondurable goods and estimates it with Bayesian methods. We use the model to design optimal monetary policy and find that an inverse relationship between sectoral labor mobility and the optimal weight the central bank should attach to durables inflation arises. Moreover, we show that the combination of nominal wage stickiness and limited labor mobility leads to a nonzero optimal weight for durables inflation even if durables prices were fully flexible. These results survive alternative calibrations and interest-rate rules and point toward a non-negligible role of sectoral labor mobility for the conduct of monetary policy. This chapter is co-authored with Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund). The third chapter of the thesis focuses on the role of shocks and policies in the Euro Area business cycle. We consider the long-term structure of government debt and introduce a financial sector. These features allow the model to account for both the recent nancial and sovereign debt crises, and the effects of the unconventional monetary policy implemented by the European Central Bank. We then determine the joint fi scal and monetary policy stance in the Euro Area and find that it has been expansionary in the aftermath of the financial crisis but has turned to be contractionary after the sovereign debt crisis. The joint effect of the austerity measures taken by governments of European countries and the zero-lower-bound constraint on the monetary policy rate caused the reversion of the policy stance, which was prevented to be even more contractionary only by the quantitative easing implemented by the European Central Bank. This chapter is based on a paper co-authored with Dr. Nicoletta Batini (International Monetary Fund), Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund) and Dr. Stefania Villa (Bank of Italy).

A review of literature suggests that train derailments are a statistically relevant concern. While not all train derailments involve hazardous materials, those that do release chemicals pose a public health threat. This study challenges the decision-making mainstay tool of the hazardous materials response community – the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) – and its default strategy of evacuation through quantitative research that evaluates data from train derailments involving the release of hazardous materials. It explores whether there are correlations between a derailment’s variables and evacuation, as well as correlations between the number evacuated and the number of those injured or killed. Secondary data on train derailments from the Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration revealed 358 incidents involving the release of 876 substances between October 12, 1989 through August 10, 2016. The resulting data analysis confirms a certain level of predictability between causal factors and worsening outcomes supporting expansion of decision-making tools in the ERG.

This analysis evaluates three tax and expenditure limitation (TEL) policies in Colorado: the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (TABOR), the Statewide Limitation on Property Tax Revenue (SLPTR), and the Gallagher Amendment (GA). It extends previous research in two novel ways. First, it enables analysis of overlapping policies while incorporating county-specific characteristics, by abstracting away from specific policies. Rather, the focus rests on the impacts of these policies on property tax levies. Second, it incorporates spatial dependency to account for overlapping populations and economic activity. Econometric and machine learning techniques are employed to analyze county-level panel data from Colorado over the 1993-2009 time period. Within this framework, the revenue and expenditure implications of TEL policies are evaluated, and TELs are found to have material impacts in both cases. TELs are associated with depressed revenues and measurable changes in expenditure behavior. With this context, the final empirical section evaluates the drivers of successful "deBrucing" efforts, in which localities are able to exempt themselves from components of TABOR and SLPTR. The analysis demonstrates that socioeconomic factors are the dominant determinant of voting outcomes.

The major purpose of this study was to ascertain how needs assessment findings and methodologies are accepted by public decision makers in the U. S. Virgin Islands. To accomplish this, the following five different needs assessments were executed: (1) population survey; (2) key informants survey; (3) community forum; (4) rates-under-treatment (RUT); and (5) social indicators analysis. The assessments measured unmet needs of older persons regarding transportation, in-home care, and sociorecreation services, and determined which of the five methodologies is most costly, time consuming, and valid. The results of a five-way comparative analysis was presented to public sector decision makers who were surveyed to determine whether they are influenced more by needs assessment findings, or by the methodology used, and to ascertain the factors that lead to their acceptance of needs assessment findings and methodologies. The survey results revealed that acceptance of findings and methodology is influenced by the congruency of the findings with decision makers' goals and objectives, feasibility of the findings, and credibility of the researcher. The study also found that decision makers are influenced equally by needs assessment findings and methodology; that they prefer population surveys, although they are the most expensive and time consuming of the methodologies; that different types of needs assessments produce different results; and, that needs assessment is an essential program planning tool. Executive decision makers are found to be influenced more by management factors than by legal and political factors, while legislative decision makers are influenced more by legal factors. Decision makers overwhelmingly view their leadership style as democratic. A typology of the five needs assessments, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses is offered as a planning guide for public decision makers.

With its central role in the development of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts, procurement structure has a significant influence on the economic and policy success of privately-financed toll roads throughout their lifecycle. Following a review of PPP fundamentals and the public-policy differentiation between public interest and public objectives, several approaches for establishing the key contract strategies of toll pricing, concession length, and risk mitigation are explored. These underpinnings motivate the central research question: Given specific policy objectives for road pricing, how should public owners select PPP contract strategies which support these outcomes? Through qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a recently-developed method for evaluating qualitative data quantitatively, patterns of PPP contract strategies which correspond to three common policy objectives--achieving a specific toll rate, managing congestion, and minimizing state subsidy/maximizing revenue--are identified through evaluation of 18 domestic and international projects. Three practical decision-making tools resulting from this work are illustrated through application to current PPP procurements: (1) a traffic-risk worksheet, which provides a rapid estimate of a toll-financed projectâ s viability; (2) analytical QCA results, which offer guidance for structuring PPP contracts based on the desired pricing objectives; and (3) case-library comparisons, which enable drawing parallels between proposed procurements and established PPP projects. Additional insights explore the nature of risk in this study, which concludes with thoughts on the appropriate role of PPPs in infrastructure delivery.
Ph. D.

Aquesta tesi presenta una anàlisi teòrica i empírica de l’acceptabilitat dels nudges com a eines de política pública. La primera part de la tesi discuteix la caracterització dels nudges com a instruments de política pública, considerant qüestions conceptuals, ètiques i teòriques. La tesi revisa la noció original de nudge, les seves bases teòriques i empíriques i les principals crítiques en els dos sentits. Exposant els problemes amb la noció de nudge de Thaler i Sunstein, proposa una definició alternativa del concepte que defensa deixar de banda les connotacions i intencions normatives i centrar-se en el seu valor pràctic com a eina de política pública. La segona part inclou tres estudis empírics d’actituds cap als nudges: una enquesta representativa (n = 617, i = 3,88) de l’acceptabilitat pública dels nudges a Espanya, i dos estudis experimentals que exploren l’acceptabilitat de dos tipus de nudges, els nudges automàtics, que són menys perceptibles i funcionen sense deliberació o consciència, i els nudges reflexius que són perceptibles, inclouen deliberació i produeixen una resposta conscient. La part empírica aborda les qüestions discutides en el debat teòric i emfatitza que la discussió sobre l’acceptabilitat dels nudges en política pública ha de considerar la seva acceptabilitat pública i, en particular, quins nudges es prefereixen i en quins contextos s’accepta la seva implementació. Els resultats indiquen tres qüestions principals. En primer lloc, l’acceptabilitat pública dels nudges és alta, els ciutadans aproven l’ús de diferents nudges en diferents àmbits i no s’oposen categòricament a la seva implementació. En segon lloc, el tipus de nudge és important. Les persones reconeixen diferències entre nudges i tendeixen a preferir els nudges reflexius als nudges automàtics. Tanmateix, els resultats dels tres estudis indiquen que l’oposició a la implementació de nudges automàtics no és categòrica i es recolza el seu ús en diversos casos. En tercer lloc, l’acceptabilitat dels nudges automàtics depèn del context en què s’apliquen; les persones donen suport al seu ús quan estan d’acord amb el seu objectiu i quan afecten decisions en àmbits de baix risc. Per contra, s’oposen a la seva implementació quan afecten decisions en dominis d’alt risc, per exemple, quan es fan servir en decisions que involucren assumptes sensibles o morals o decisions que involucren pèrdues econòmiques. En general, la tesi explora arguments a favor i en contra de l’ús de nudges i ofereix idees sobre com poden ser eines útils i acceptables per a la formulació de polítiques públiques.
Esta tesis presenta un análisis teórico y empírico de la aceptabilidad de los nudges como herramientas de política pública. La primera parte de la tesis discute la caracterización de los nudges como instrumentos de política pública, con atención a cuestiones conceptuales, éticas y teóricas. La tesis revisa la noción original de nudge, sus bases teóricas y empíricas y las principales críticas en ambos sentidos. Exponiendo los problemas con la noción de nudge de Thaler y Sunstein, propone una definición alternativa del concepto que aboga por dejar de lado las connotaciones e intenciones normativas y centrarse en su valor práctico como herramienta de política pública. La segunda parte incluye tres estudios empíricos de actitudes hacia los nudges: una encuesta representativa (n = 617, e = 3,88) de la aceptabilidad pública de los nudges en España, y dos estudios experimentales que exploran la aceptabilidad de dos tipos de nudges, los nudges automáticos, que son menos perceptibles y funcionan sin deliberación o conciencia, y los nudges reflexivos que son perceptibles, incluyen deliberación y producen una respuesta consciente. La parte empírica aborda las cuestiones discutidas en el debate teórico y enfatiza que la discusión sobre la aceptabilidad de los nudges en política pública debe considerar su aceptabilidad pública y, en particular, qué nudges se prefieren y en qué contextos se acepta su implementación. Los resultados indican tres cuestiones principales. En primer lugar, la aceptabilidad pública de los empujones es alta, los ciudadanos aprueban el uso de diferentes nudges en diferentes ámbitos y no se oponen categóricamente a su implementación. En segundo lugar, el tipo de nudge es importante. Las personas reconocen diferencias entre nudges y tienden a preferir los nudges reflexivos a los nudges automáticos. No obstante, los resultados de los tres estudios indican que la oposición a la implementación de nudges automáticos no es categórica y, en varios casos, se apoya su uso. En tercer lugar, la aceptabilidad de los nudges automáticos depende del contexto en el que se apliquen; las personas apoyan su uso cuando están de acuerdo con su objetivo y cuando afectan decisiones en ámbitos de bajo riesgo. Por el contrario, su uso no está respaldado cuando afectan decisiones en dominios de alto riesgo, como decisiones que involucran asuntos sensibles o morales o decisiones que involucran pérdidas económicas. En general, la tesis explora argumentos a favor y en contra del uso de nudges y ofrece ideas sobre cómo los nudges pueden ser herramientas útiles y aceptables para la formulación de políticas públicas.
This thesis is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the acceptability of nudges as policy tools. The first part of the thesis discusses the characterisation of nudges as a policy instrument, paying attention to conceptual, ethical and theoretical issues. The thesis looks at the original notion of nudges, their theoretical and empirical bases and the main criticisms of both dimensions. It goes on to outline the problems with Thaler and Sunstein’s notion of nudges and proposes an alternative understanding of nudges, advocating dropping the normative connotations of nudges, and focusing on their practical value as a policy tool. The second part includes three empirical studies on attitudes towards nudges: a nationally representative survey (n= 617, e=3.88) of the public acceptability of nudges in Spain, and two experimental studies that explore the acceptability of two types of nudges, automatic nudges that are less noticeable, work with no deliberation and awareness, and reflective nudges that are noticeable, work by engaging deliberation and produce a more reflective response. The empirical part addresses some of the concerns discussed in the theoretical debate and emphasises that the discussion on the acceptability of nudges as policy tools should include considerations about whether people like nudges, which nudges they prefer and the contexts in which they accept their implementation. The results outline three main themes. Firstly, the public acceptability of nudges is high, people favour the use of different nudges applied to both pro-self and pro-social domains and the indication is that people do not categorically oppose nudges. Secondly, the type of nudge is important. People recognise differences between nudges and tend to preferer reflective nudges to automatic nudges. At the same time, the findings in the three studies indicate that people do not categorically oppose the implementation of automatic nudges and support their use in several cases. Thirdly, the acceptability of automatic nudges depends on the context in which they are applied; people support their use when they agree with the aim and when they affect behaviour in low-stake domains. By contrast, their use is not supported when they affect decisions in high-stake domains, such as decisions that involve sensitive or moral issues or decisions that involve economic losses. Overall, the thesis explores arguments in favour of and against nudges and offers ideas and conclusions to give an idea of how nudges could be useful and acceptable tools for policymaking.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Sociologia

Over 59 million US residents live in rural areas where they cannot easily access healthcare services. Well-documented disparities between rural and urban healthcare access led the federal government to certify and financially support Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), which offer rural healthcare services and 24/7 emergency care. Many CAHs are in dire financial distress, and some are looking to increase their patient population volume to improve financial health and ensure continued operations. It is a well-known business truism that satisfied customers are return customers. Today many patients' first encounter with a hospital is with the emergency department (ED). Thus, it is likely that increasing patient satisfaction with their ED visits in a CAH can be expected to increase the chance that they will return for additional care.

All hospitals engage in quality improvement (QI) activities. Many papers outline efforts by QI teams to implement one or a few predetermined interventions with mixed results. Because patients in an ED are subject to a variety of processes in the ED and other hospital departments, improving patient satisfaction in the ED demands a comprehensive approach. This paper focuses on the QI processes and tools used by the QI team in a CAH that developed a comprehensive list of (56) short- and long-term interventions to take place over five years to improve patient satisfaction in the ED. For this hospital, two aspects of the project deserve mention:

1. The use of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA): The FMEA is a QI tool developed by the military to address complex problems. Although it has been adapted for use in healthcare QI, in the author's experience, it has not always been fully implemented. The QI team completed a traditional, full, two-part FMEA. In completing both parts of a traditional FMEA, the team first identified and individually analyzed each known or potential failure in the care of an ED patient and potential interventions that could prevent each failure. Then, after careful analysis of all potential interventions, the QI team chose those most likely to succeed and began implementing a sequenced schedule of interrelated interventions deemed most likely to improve care and patient satisfaction.

2. Learner-Centered Teaching: QI projects typically use learner-centered teaching methods that, according to Social Cognitive Theory, improve participants' general self-efficacy, which is the likelihood of choosing difficult problems to solve and persisting when faced with challenges. The hospital's project team members' self-efficacy scores increased after participating on the team. Post-project interviews with team members indicate they feel better equipped to solve other problems and have begun to plan other QI projects because they understand other areas' processes, they know who should participate on projects, and they better understand QI processes and tools.

In response to reports alleging an alarming decline in student knowledge and achievement during the last two decades, America has witnessed a revival-like call for higher standards in public education. Driven by a public desire to measure schools and educators based on student achievement, policymakers have moved quickly to create politically expedient accountability reform laws. Research into early attempts show significant difficulties with regard to their political and legal viability. There is evidence to suggest that policymakers must develop a better understanding of the complex issues that surround both the development and implementation of such policies if those policies are to survive inevitable scrutiny and challenge and bring meaningful reform. This study is a descriptive policy analysis tracing the evolution of Floridaâ s efforts since 1989 to bring accountability to public schools and educators based on measured student performance. A rich description of the political, educational, social, and legal issues that have helped shape efforts to craft such legislation is presented. Based on an analysis of the evolution of these reform efforts, implications for policymakers in Florida and other states, as well as the educational community at-large are reported.
Ed. D.

This thesis concerns an investigation of the tripartite arrangements between the government, the nursing and the medical sectors in New Zealand over the period 1984 to 2001 with a particular focus on primary health care. The start point is the commencement of the health reforms instituted by the Fourth New Zealand Labour Government of 1984. The thesis falls within a framework of critical inquiry, specifically, the methodology of depth hermeneutics (Thompson, 1990), a development of critical theory. The effects of political and economic policies and the methodologies of neo-liberal market reform are examined together with the concept of collaboration as an ideological symbolic form, typical of enterprise culture. The limitations of economic models such as public choice theory, agency theory and managerialism are examined from the point of view of government strategies and their effects on the relationships between the nursing and medical professions. The influence of American health care policies and their partial introduction into primary health care in New Zealand is traversed in some detail, together with the experiences of health reform in several other countries. Post election 1999, the thesis considers the effect of change of political direction consequent upon the election of a Labour Coalition government and concludes that the removal of the neo-liberal ethic by Labour may terminate entrepreneurial opportunities in the nursing profession. The thesis considers the effects of a change to Third Way political direction on national health care policy and on the medical and nursing professions. The data is derived from various texts and transcripts of interviews with 12 health professionals and health commentators. The histories and current relationships between the nursing and medical professions are examined in relation to their claims to be scientific discourses and it is argued that the issue of lack of recognition as a scientific discourse is at the root of nursing�s perceived inferiority to medicine. This is further expanded in a discussion at the end of the thesis where the structure of the two professions is compared and critiqued. A conclusion is drawn that a potential for action exists to remedy the deficient structure of nursing. The thesis argues that this is the major issue which maintains nursing in the primary sector in a perceived position of inferiority to medicine. The thesis also concludes that the role of government in this triangular relationship is one of manipulation to bring about necessary fundamental change in the delivery of health services at the lowest possible cost without materially strengthening the autonomy of the nursing or the medical professions.