This dissertation examines the spatial distribution of park access by type in relation to trajectories of gentrification in Seattle from 1990 to 2010. The dissertation includes 5 Chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the literature that motivated this research. The second, third and fourth chapters are research papers that seek to address the overall question: What is the relationship between park access and trajectories of gentrification? Chapter 5 is an overall conclusion. This study tests how the urban parks, shape the communities around them and focuses on three main objectives: (1) To gain a better understanding of socioeconomic and racial factors that are associated with gentrification in Seattle, Washington, (2) To develop a transferrable approach for assessing trajectories of gentrification in urban areas, and (3) To determine how the spatial distribution of different park types and community investment in parks are associated with gentrification. The research is motivated by the environmental justice literature and seeks to explore issues as they affect where people live and how they interact with parks in a large urban area. Little is known about how environmental amenities such as parks interact with socio-economic and racial characteristics of neighborhoods over time...

This paper examines how health insurance affects labor supply by exploiting a quasi-experimental change in health insurance provision under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) early Medicaid expansion in Connecticut implemented in 2010. Applying an instrumental variables approach to a difference-in-differences-in-differences strategy, I find remarkable labor supply impacts of the ACA early Medicaid expansion in Connecticut. I show evidence that Connecticut's Medicaid expansion increased Medicaid coverage for low-income childless adults by 5.9 percentage points, and as a result reduced the employment rate by 3.8 to 4.5 percentage points among those low-income childless adults.

Now that over 90% of U.S. adults have cellphones,1 survey researchers are considering whether it is necessary to continue dialing landline numbers in random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone polls. A new Pew Research Center study finds that, for polls already conducting a substantial share of interviews with cellphones, the answer is generally “no” – at least if data quality is the only issue of concern. According to the study, poll results look nearly identical whether based only on those adults reached on cellphones or on a combination of cellphone and landline respondents. Analysis of more than 250 survey questions shows that . . .

This study examines the unique effects of alcohol outlets on street robbery in a Southeastern city in the United States from 2010 to 2011. Although previous studies generally support the criminogenic effects of alcohol outlets, the implications of their findings are limited because they have not adequately addressed three theoretical and methodological issues. Using routine activity theory and environmental criminology, the current study demonstrates the need to consider the three issues related to different types of alcohol outlets, time of day, and various covariates of alcohol outlets such as other property . . .

Previous studies have shown that wars restrict the acquisition of human capital. We expand this literature by exploring how the stock of human capital is affected by wars. Applying a “missing people” approach to the 1994 Rwanda genocide we find that the size of the educated cohort --those with completed primary school or more-- shrunk by 39 percent relative to their less educated counterparts and compared to its size in 1991. This excess missing rate for the educated is not due to outmigration and contrasts with the patterns observed in other countries of the region and also with the pre-genocide trends in Rwanda. When the spatial variation in the intensity of the genocide is exploited there is no evidence of statistically significant differences, suggesting an aggregate effect from the genocide. We discuss how this reduction affects labor markets post-conflict and the returns to education.

Kenosha County is located in one of the largest labor markets in the countrythe Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Areawhich affords its citizens access to metro-city amenities and its industries access to suppliers and national and global markets. The county has a history of production and a workforce that has transitioned and re-skilled as industries changed. The workforce that was trained a half century ago or more for the manufacture of carriages and wagons, brass, hosiery, automobiles, and engine parts is now trained at Kenoshas educational institutions for jobs in food, lighting, plastics, and paper products manufacturing (to name a few), as well as for jobs in warehousing, distribution, and health care. The county offers acreage for business expansion as well as industrial space to accommodate location/relocation decisions. Kenoshas quandary, like so many other areas, is whether it will have the labor supply to sustain and grow its industry base. The purpose of this study is to provide an assessment of the current labor market environment in Kenosha County and, based on this analysis, recommend actions that the countys economic development and workforce development community can take to attract and grow tomorrows workforce

Between July, 2014 and July, 2015, the city piloted a program in which City-owned vacant lots could be sold for $1 to adjacent homeowners exclusively in the 15th Aldermanic District. The focus of this research was to determine the effectiveness of the $1 lot program in revitalizing the neighborhoods within that District. Using a visual assessment, this research observed the condition of 26 vacant lots sold approximately one year prior to the assessment and scored them based on a unique set of factors including the presence of a fence (a proxy for defensible space) the presence of gardens, whether any improvements had been made, and a maintenance score of 1-3. The findings showed that the majority of new purchased vacant lots were unfenced and without gardens. The average maintenance score was 1.7 indicating the general maintenance level was good. Most vacant lots were not markedly improved, but were maintained at a level similar to, or better than, when they were owned by the City. Additionally, this research conducted telephone interviews with 18 of the 26 first program participants. Through these interviews, this research ascertained the motivation for the purchase, future plans for the lots, and if owners perceived benefits to themselves and/or their community. Significantly, the findings showed residents viewed the additional land as beneficial and appreciated being a stakeholder in the development options around them. The interviewees wanted the responsibility and control of adjacent vacant land. Expanded ownership incentivized continued investment in the area and reduced blight conditions. The increased space expanded territoriality, an aspect of defensible space, as well as decreased perceived crime rates, especially dumping and loitering. Program participants spoke of plans to utilize the additional land in unique and beneficial ways. The residents of the area are essential components of this grassroots revitalization effort, especially in the absence of top-down development plans. This research also examined the financial benefits of the program for the City of Milwaukee in the form of increased property taxes and decreased maintenance fees. Using the total number of vacant lots sold from July 1, 2014 through February 29, 2016, the total increase in property taxes was between $10,800 and $21,600. Total savings in maintenance fees was $46,080. Other benefits of the program include increased housing code compliance and increased payment of delinquent property taxes due to the programs requirements. Overall, the program represents a small step in the right direction for revitalization efforts in the 15th Aldermanic District. However, the $1 Vacant Lot Pilot Program cannot alone solve the problem of land vacancy. More could be done by the City of Milwaukee to ensure there is an increase in homeownership in order to better absorb present and future vacant lots and incentivize further yard improvements.

Providing the most comprehensive examination to date of Asians in the Centennial State, William Wei addresses a wide range of experiences, from anti-Chinese riots in late nineteenth-century Denver to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans at the Amache concentration camp to the more recent influx of Southeast Asian refugees and South Asian tech professionals. Drawing on a wealth of historical sources, Wei reconstructs what life was like for the early Chinese and Japanese pioneers, and he pays special attention to the different challenges faced by those in urban versus rural areas. The result is a groundbreaking approach that helps us better understand how Asians survived-and thrived-in an often hostile environment.

In my research, I am interested in better understanding the determinants of fertility. My dissertation presents three chapters focusing on different aspects of American fertility. Chapter II focuses on the demand side, using a natural experiment to investigate the effects of an exogenous income and child price shock on the demand for children among women in Alaska. The Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) is a program that distributes a share of Alaskan state oil revenues to every resident of Alaska, including newborn children, beginning in 1982. Using Vital Statistics and decennial census data, I employ a difference-in-differences methodology to compare the period fertility rates of Alaskans with those of other Americans before and after the introduction of the PFD. Overall, I find that the fertility effects of the PFD are statistically significant but relatively modest and short-lived, consistent with the Easterlin relative-income hypothesis, suggesting that subsequent cohorts of Alaskan women adjusted their material aspirations to include PFD payments. I calculate a short-run price elasticity of demand for children of -1.6, in line with other estimates in the literature.

In this brief, we present U.S. Census Bureau data to compare recent migration trends for young and college/ educated (YCE) individuals for the largest 50 U.S. metro areas (see Appendix 1) i 2012/2014 relative to the pre/ recession (2005/2007) and Great Recession (2008/2010) periods.

Women have made significant progress in the U.S. labor market throughout the past century; as a result, a "grand gender convergence" has occurred in human capital investment and economic outcomes, such as labor force participation and earnings relative to men. There is, however, little doubt that gender inequality still exists in the U.S. labor market and society. The evidence of recent years shows that progress for gender inequality has "slowed down or even stalled in some respects".

Objectives; To estimate differences in annual income of physicians in the United States by race and sex adjusted for characteristics of physicians and practices. Design: Cross sectional survey study. Setting: Nationally representative samples of US physicians. Participants: The 2000-13 American Community Survey (ACS) included 43213 white male, 1698 black male, 15164 white female, and 1252 black female physicians. The 2000-08 Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) physician surveys included 12843 white male, 518 black male, 3880 white female, and 342 black female physicians. Main outcome: measures Annual income adjusted for age, hours worked, time period, and state of residence (from ACS data). Income was adjusted for age, specialty, hours worked, time period, years in practice, practice type, and percentage of revenue from Medicare/Medicaid (from HSC physician surveys). Results: White male physicians had a higher median annual income than black male physicians, whereas race was not consistently associated with median income among female physicians. For example, in 2010-13 in the ACS, white male physicians had an adjusted median annual income of $253042 (95% confidence interval $248670 to $257413) compared with $188230 ($170844 to $205616) for black male physicians (difference $64812; P<0.001). White female physicians had an adjusted median annual income of $163234 ($159912 to 166557) compared with $152784 ($137927 to $167641) for black female physicians (difference $10450; P=0.17). $100000 is currently equivalent to about 69000 (89000). Patterns were unaffected by adjustment for specialty and characteristics of practice in the HSC physician surveys. Conclusions: White male physicians earn substantially more than black male physicians, after adjustment for characteristics of physicians and practices, while white and black female physicians earn similar incomes to each other, but significantly less than their male counterparts. Whether these differences reflect disparities in job opportunities is important to determine.

Previous studies have identified mean temperature as an important factor in household location choice, but no study has measured the impact of extreme weather on U.S. interregional brain drain. We estimate a residential sorting model to examine the effects of extreme weather on heterogeneous household location choices across the United States. We find that college graduates are more sensitive to extreme temperatures and are willing to pay more than other demographic groups to avoid hot weather. In light of predicted increases in extreme heat days in the West and Southwest, these areas may be at risk of significant human capital loss.

We endogenize the degree of randomness in the matching process by proposing a model where agents have to pay a search cost to locate potential matches more accurately. The model features a tension between an agent's desire to find a more productive match and to maximize the odds of finding a match. This tension drives a wedge between the shape of sorting patterns and the shape of the underlying match payoff function. We show the empirical relevance of the latter prediction by applying the model to the U.S. marriage market. JEL: E24, J64, C78, D83.

The researchers utilize the individual-level World War I Draft Registration Cards matched to latenineteenth century hurricane paths and the 1940 U.S. Census to explore whether fetal and early childhood exposure to stress caused by hurricanes affects human capital development and labor market outcomes in adulthood. Difference-in-differences estimates indicate that white males who were born in the South and experienced a hurricane either in utero or as infants had lower income at ages 42 to 53. They are robust to alternate specifications of either the treatment or outcome variables, as well as changes in the tolerance for imperfectly matched historical data.

We construct a unique individual-level longitudinal dataset linking preschool blood lead levels with third grade test scores for eight birth cohorts of Rhode Island children born between 1997 and 2005. Using these data, we show that reductions of lead from even historically low levels have significant positive effects on children's reading test scores in third grade. Our preferred estimates use the introduction of a lead remediation program as an instrument in order to control for the possibility of confounding and for considerable error in measured lead exposures. The estimates suggest that a one unit decrease in average blood lead levels reduces the probability of being substantially below proficient in reading by 3.1 percentage points (on a baseline of 12 percent). Moreover, as we show, poor and minority children are more likely to be exposed to lead, suggesting that lead poisoning may be one of the causes of continuing gaps in test scores between disadvantaged and other children.

In this paper we propose a household sorting model for the 50 largest US metropolitan regions and evaluate the model using 2010 Census data. To approximate residential locations for household cohorts, we specify a Cohort Location Model (CLM) built upon two principle assumptions about housing consumption and metropolitan development/land use patterns. According to our model, the expected distance from the households residential location to the city centre(s) increases with the age of the householder (as a proxy for changes in housing career over life span). The CLM provides a flexible housing-based explanation for household sorting patterns in US metropolitan regions. Results from our analysis on US metropolitan regions show that households headed by individuals under the age of 35 are the most common cohort in centrally located areas. We also found that households over 35 are most prevalent in peripheral locations, but their sorting was not statistically different across space.

Individuals decisions about eating and food choice are complex. Eating is not just for nutrition and sustenance as there are individual preferences involved, as well as environmental, convenience, cultural, and other factors influencing decisions on what to eat, when to eat, and where to eat. Americans eating patterns have changed dramatically over the last few decades and, in particular, food away from home has grown as a meal or snack option. In addition, food has become ubiquitousmany food options are available in a variety of retail outlets; eating in a variety of venues such as at workplaces and in vehicles has become acceptable; and eating takes place at all times of day (Hamrick et al. 2011). In fact, a variety of food companies are now offering their products in packaging designed to fit in a vehicles cup holder (Perimeter Brand Packaging 2013). Chicken wings, mini cookies and crackers, and candy are sold in cups and pouches that fit in cup holders, facilitating on-the-go eating while driving. The number of fast-food outlets in the United States has grown tremendously, 1 facilitating both in-restaurant and carryout options for consuming prepared food.

Occupational licensing is intended to protect consumers. Whether it does so is an important, but unanswered, question. Exploiting variation across states and municipalities in the timing and details of midwifery laws introduced during the period 1900-1940, and using a rich data set that we assembled from primary sources, we find that requiring midwives to be licensed reduced maternal mortality by 6 to 7 percent. In addition, we find that requiring midwives to be licensed may have had led to modest reductions in nonwhite infant mortality and mortality among children under the age of 2 from diarrhea. These estimates provide the first econometric evidence of which we are aware on the relationship between licensure and consumer safety, and are directly relevant to ongoing policy debates both in the United States and in the developing world surrounding the merits of licensing midwives.