This study analyzes the effects of political stability, political quality, and political shocks on 1-year, 10-year, and 30-year local currency bonds, as well as their influence on the slope of the yield curve. The data were collected from Bloomberg, I . . .

In 1938 the first minimum wage was imposed (Fair Labor Standards Act) in the United States. It was $0.25 an hour. It had an immediate impact on low wageworkers across the country, particularly African-American women employed in the tobacco industry. T . . .

The first-time emigration of nearly five million African Americans from the American South between 1940 and 1970 is among the most transformative demographic events in US history. Knowledge of the economic incentives and social mechanisms that drove t . . .

In recent years, state and local government officials have responded to rising public support for a higher minimum wage by introducing legislation that would boost the wage floor in their respective jurisdictions. These recent minimum wage increases m . . .

This thesis seeks to estimate the impact of internet availability on international trade using a theoretically consistent model of international trade and statistically sound estimation techniques. Specifically, it is hypothesized that an increase in . . .

For some terrorism has become the daily part of their lives. This thesis attempts to find a relationship as to why some would be motivated to commit such acts. We present an argument of relative economic deprivation (REDI), leading to anger frustratio . . .

This thesis analyzes the effect of foreign and domestic oil demand and supply shocks, global economic activity shocks, and monetary policy shocks on U.S. macroeconomic aggregates. A factor augmented vector autoregressive (FAVAR) model is used to maxim . . .

Retirement is an expensive proposition and wealth preservation becomes an important concern for those nearing retirement age. Using capital market volatility as a proxy, this study analyzes the potential impacts of wealth instability on the probabilit . . .

The traditional commercial office space in the US wastes up to 35% of the energy that it consumes. Green buildings have proven to be very effective in reducing energy waste and lowering energy costs for their owners and tenants. The number of green bu . . .

The impact of contagion between countries and international banks continue to grow in importance as localized shocks are more consistently translated into global crisis. By employing the Dees, di Mauro, Pesaran, and Smith – Global Vector Autoregressio . . .

The thesis examines the effect of total healthcare spending and government healthcare spending on health outcomes (infant mortality and child-under 5 mortality) using panel data from 48 African countries for the period from 2003 to 2015. Data show tha . . .

The volatilities of financial asset markets are important components of asset allocation and portfolio management decisions made by financial market participants. For policy makers, market volatility influences the effectiveness of policies. This thes . . .

Current Population Survey data from 1976 to 2016 are used to answer the question of whether Millennials are less likely to participate in the labor force compared to previous generations. A multinomial logit analysis finds Millennials are less likely . . .

This analysis uses data from a California solar PV incentive program to investigate the effect of solar installation on the price of new homes across multiple California counties. The price effect of solar installation was estimated using hedonic pric . . .

In this thesis, the problems of forecasting the market clearing price (MCP) in California electricity markets and the optimizing bidding strategies of a generator owner are studied. The MCP forecasting helps producers and consumers of electric power t . . .

Although many previous studies have addressed the impact of drinking and driving laws on motor vehicle related deaths, less attention has been paid to what determines such laws. Accordingly, this study examines factors affecting the probability that a . . .

Consumer debt has risen at an average annual rate of 4.1 percent over the last 20 years and while that is not in itself shocking, when compared to the average annual growth of the family household income which has only grown by an annual average rate . . .

California is currently in the midst of an ongoing water crisis. Agriculture in central California and urban centers in the southern parts of the state rely on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to deliver water to them. However, the Delta as a water co . . .

This study examines the own price elasticity of demand for electricity in the Greater Sacramento Area. Data corresponded to customer billing information from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Summer 2012. Both linear and logarithmic functi . . .

This thesis revisits the effect of public higher education spending on economic growth. The data used covers all 50 U.S. States over the time period from 1989-2006. Unlike previous studies, we have included the variation in the composition of the mark . . .

Medicare accounts for 17% of the United States (U.S.) annual budget, a total of $585.7 billion (California Health Care Foundation, 2013). Within that, there are large geographical variations in per capita Medicare spending. Two aims are pursued relate . . .

The 2007-2009 financial crisis rendered the Federal Reserve’s primary policy tool, the federal funds rate, ineffective once it reached its lower bound. This gave rise to unconventional monetary policy now known as quantitative easing. This new tool al . . .

Catastrophic events and the damages they cause have recently been paid more attention due to their increased severity and frequency. For society to better prepare for and ameliorate the consequences of these events, it is important to understand how p . . .

In 2000, Burnside and Dollar wrote a seminal paper declaring their finding that international economic aid works to increase economic growth in less developed countries where there is good policy. However, in 2003, Easterly, Levine and Roodman, disput . . .

Profanity in popular music has been blamed for causing an increase in adolescent violence following recent mass shootings. Using Visual Basic for Application scripts, I compile a dataset that includes profanity counts from 2688 songs (1970-2012) and 2 . . .

Guns are used in the commission of many violent crimes and gun controls are the legislative attempt to reduce crimes by reducing access to guns. Crime has a significantly negative effect on the economic productivity of high crime areas and diminishes . . .

This thesis studies the determinants of price-cost margins for U.S. manufacturing industries in the periods between 1967 and 1992 using SIC labeled industries and 1997-2002 using NAICS labeled industries. Aside from investigating the relationship betw . . .

Sugar-sweetened beverages have been pinpointed as a major contributor to adolescent obesity; the rates of obesity have dramatically increased over the past twenty years. This study investigates the effects of California’s SB 965, which banned certain . . .

The United States has taken some action to reduce carbon emissions through a voluntary carbon credit market. This is a start, but other policies, such as increased gasoline taxes, are likely needed to reduce carbon emissions to levels that have the po . . .

This paper examines knowledge spillover theories and municipal bond issuance impacts on establishment and employment growth. It is a regional study that focuses on counties that are located within metropolitan statistical areas that compete with the S . . .

Investing in higher education via federal financial aid programs has been an avenue for the U.S. government to generate potential economic growth as well as reduce income inequality. While federal financial aid programs have been shown to increase acc . . .

This thesis examines the effects of infrastructure improvements on income inequality. It provides an empirical evaluation based on the regression estimations, using data for a sample of 137 countries over 1960 to 2009 periods. The empirical analysis i . . .

Each semester, students withdraw from one or more of their classes, increasing their time to degree and impeding the progress of other students who might have been able to complete courses if the seats were available. In the literature on retention an . . .

This thesis explores household savings responses to income shocks in the context of liquidity constraints. Using log and linear specifications, we implement a two stage least squares state and time fixed effect model. The first stage estimates unexpec . . .

The high volatility of the price of natural rubber (NR) posts a significant risk to producers, traders, consumers, and others involved in the production of NR. Thus, it is crucial for decision makers to statistically and accurately project the price o . . .

Sacramento Regional Transit has many plans to expand its light rail system. Understanding where the light rail is valued and where it is not valued should be beneficial in guiding future expansions. For this research, hedonic price models estimate how . . .

This thesis revisits the effect of exchange rate regimes on inflation and growth in developing countries under the most recent financial crises. The data used in this paper covers 102 developing countries over the period 1970-2009. This paper finds th . . .

Using a bank lending channel framework, this study investigates how securitization affects the efficacy of monetary policy. The effectiveness of expansionary and contractionary policies is evaluated separately on the loan growth of banks divided by as . . .

This study examines the link between household income and specific health indicators, namely body mass index, total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure. Data was taken from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey condu . . .

Against the backdrop of The Great Moderation, The Great Recession is a remarkable departure. Economic losses have been severe. The U.S. business cycle is decidedly not dead and the justifications for continued research into U.S. recession forecasting . . .

This study uses the National Educational Longitudinal Study from 1988 to assess whether the probability a teen girl becomes pregnant is related to sex education taught in school. It is an important question. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at l . . .

Morning commuters congest central business district roadways as they search for parking. A survey of studies suggests that on average 30% of downtown congestion is attributed to drivers searching for parking. This imposes great commuting costs. Driver . . .

Obesity is a major public health problem with associated economic costs that may include academic costs incurred by obese grade school students. Previous research has indicated that gender, discrimination, and self-esteem play prominent roles. Early C . . .

Previous research has found that state-level election outcomes in U.S. presidential elections display an “income-contingent” pattern: voters in high-income states are influenced by economic factors like inflation, while voters in low-income states are . . .

This study examines empirically the potential causal link between financial development and output growth in each of sixteen countries that have experienced sustained economic growth in the postwar period within a multivariate vector autoregressive (V . . .

Obesity in the United States has become an epidemic with both health and economic consequences. Research has shown that being obese can lead to serious health consequences such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, various types of cancer and more (Kuchl . . .

The lack of perfect rationality among economic agents is an issue economists have been struggling with since the 1950s. While much progress has been made in understanding behaviors that deviate from perfect rationality, there remains a lack of empiric . . .

This thesis examines the relationship between an animal welfare measurement (per capita hunting license sales) and economic growth in the framework of an Animal Welfare Kuznets Curve (AWKC). The data covers all 50 states over the period 1963-2009 yiel . . .

This thesis examines the relationship between obesity and its related health risks. This analysis accounts for the impacts of economic, socio-demographic, and lifestyle and behavioral factors on five obesity related mortality outcomes. The data includ . . .

This thesis uses data from twelve emerging markets economies (EMEs) to explain the determinants of EMEs dollar-denominated sovereign bonds spreads by using an econometric model that estimates the fair value of sovereign debt. This model employs macroe . . .