How people perceive risk or threats is important to many disciplines that seek to assist policy makers in developing policies, regulations and laws. Using the previous work of Slovic et al. (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read and Combs, 2000; Slovic P., 1992; Slovic, Fischhoff, and Lichtenstein, 2000) in development of the psychometric paradigm, a sample of residents (n=600) from a region with a large number of nuclear reactors was surveyed. The question set was expanded to include demographic questions to determine if they impact risk perception. Two aspects of risk perception were examined, perception of overall risk and perception of riskiness along specific dimensions of concern identified previously in the literature. For both risk and riskiness, respondents’ perceptions of nuclear power were compared to three other perceptions of technologies including use of modern farming methods using chemicals, railroad transportation and coal-generated electricity. The recent increase in public concern about nuclear power following the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant led to the expectation that nuclear power would be rated higher in overall risk and riskiness than the other three technologies consistent with Slovic’s earlier work on risk perception. This expectation was generally supported although respondents tended to perceive modern farming methods using chemical as similar in overall risk and riskiness to nuclear power. The research specifically tested five hypotheses concerning the impact of five demographic factors: gender, race, income, education and political orientation on the overall perception of risk and riskiness. Subsequent analysis using analysis of variance and linear regression found that select demographics only explained 2% of the risk perception for nuclear power generation.

“The Political and Cultural Economy of Sightseeing” examines how personnel within the state tourism bureaucracy struggled to balance the use of foreign tourism as a form of political, historical, and cultural representation with the demands of developing a revenue-generating service industry in a socialist economy. I argue that tourism, particularly the practice of sightseeing, played an important role in the creation of the “New China”: a re-imagination of the Chinese nation-state as a political, economic, social, and cultural entity under socialism. By focusing on particular elements of the state’s production of the tourist experience, including the formulation of itineraries, the regulation of tourist photography, and changing notions of customer service, this dissertation reexamines the ways the political and economic goals of the state converged during the Mao era (1949-1976) and through the early period of market reforms under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. This dissertation traces the development of tourism infrastructure in the first three decades after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, locating this history at the intersection of public diplomacy and economic development. It will help further our understanding of modern Chinese political and economic history, as well as the broader history of socialism in the twentieth century. “The Political and Cultural Economy of Sightseeing” focuses on the production of tourism rather than the consumption of it. It follows three main groups of actors in the tourism industry of the New China: tourism industry officials; the rank-and-file workers who fed, transported, and guided the tourists; and, to a lesser extent, the tourists themselves. Tourism officials, tourism workers, and tourists all had their own conceptions of the New China and the place of tourism in it. Tourism officials needed to know what the tourism industry meant for the politics and economy of the New China before they could show that new nation to others. Tourism workers needed to understand where their labor fit into the narrative of the New China in order to serve the tourists and serve “the people.” Finally, foreign tourists gazed upon the landscape of the New China in ways that tourism planners, guides, and service workers often struggled to anticipate and manage. Together, these three groups built a tourism industry and contributed to the establishment of a new national narrative.

Governments play a key role in modern economies. However, modern-day governments face several challenges that limit their functioning. Some examples include inadequate conduct of elections, tax evasion, and market failures. Each chapter in this thesis explores a key challenge faced by government and policy intervention that helps address it. Chapter 1 explores the poor turnout of women in India and tests whether increasing security at the polling booths increases women's representation. Chapter 2 explores the role of tax evasion by firms in low revenue collection under a Value Added Tax (VAT) in India. Chapter 3 examines the current housing crisis in major cities across the United States and evaluates the effects of tax incentives designed to encourage new residential investment. To provide robust causal evidence, I use natural experiments combined with novel microdata. Chapter 1 uses a regression discontinuity design arising from the rule used to assign security measures to polling booths during a major state election in India. In particular, polling booths which received more than 75% of votes in favor of one candidate in the previous election received security measures with a higher probability. I use the regression discontinuity design to estimate effects on women's share in total turnout and political outcomes. Chapter 2 uses the staggered roll-out of VAT across states in India to estimate the effect of VAT adoption on vertical integration in firms. Chapter 3 uses a natural experiment in New York City where a delayed implementation of the property tax increase on new construction led to a short-term boom in residential investment as developers rushed to claim expiring tax benefits. I estimate effects on nearby rents, demographics, businesses. The end result is a set of robust policy conclusions. Chapter 1 finds that strengthening security at the polling booths increased women's turnout, which in turn had consequences for political outcomes. For instance, suggestive evidence indicates that non-incumbent and educated candidates received more votes whereas corrupt candidates received fewer votes. Chapter 2 finds that firms integrated vertically to evade taxes under a Value Added Tax. This suggests that low revenue collection in developing countries is possibly a combination of both evasion and real production response of firms. Chapter 3 finds that new tax-exempt residential investment increased rents in existing buildings within 150 meters. This happened because new building attracted high-income residents who increased demand for local businesses, reflected in the entry of businesses that cater to high-income residents. The result highlights potential negative spillover effects of new construction on incumbent low-income residents and suggests that optimal tax policy must incorporate such spillovers when designing incentives that encourage investment.

While the need for knowledge utilization in policy development has become greater than ever in an era of evidence-based policymaking, there has been considerable disagreement over what and whose knowledge have an actual impact on agenda setting and policy decisions. Contributing to this ongoing debate, this study investigates what counts as policy knowledge in education and explores how and why particular bodies of knowledge are selected and utilized in the policy process. The study examined the most recent school reforms in three countries with distinctive political and institutional arrangements: the Every Student Succeeds Act in the US, the 2015 Curriculum Reform in South Korea, and the Renewal and Improvement Reform in Norway. In total, 3,873 texts cited in expert reports prepared for the reforms were used as data for the bibliometric network analysis, and interviews with 45 policy experts in three countries, cued by network findings, were analyzed. The results showed differences in the institutionalized expertise-seeking arrangements, reflecting each country’s political contexts. The so-called “pluralist US model” sought expertise predominantly from interest group members, and both the expert and reference networks were fairly decentralized. In particular, think tanks and advocacy groups such as the Education Trust, the Center for American Progress, and the Brookings Institution served as important sources of knowledge in policymaking. By contrast, knowledge production and utilization in the “state corporatist system” of South Korea were mainly centralized in and steered by government actors and institutions. The “societal corporatist system” of Norway placed a greater emphasis on consensus building among diverse yet organized interests. Nevertheless, this study also found that the actual practice of expertise-seeking in the policy process did not always align with institutionalized norms due to local political contexts with regard to who has more access, resources, and power. In addition, the norms are changing along with two seemingly contradictory trends in today’s policymaking: the academization of expertise and increased demands for application-driven mode 2 knowledge. Overall, this study highlights the transferability of knowledge and the role of intermediary actors and organizations that bridge different systems and facilitate the transfer process. Furthermore, it makes a methodological contribution by employing bibliometric network analysis and network-cued interviews to understand policy knowledge utilization networks and coalitions within and across boundaries. The former demonstrates the structural position of policy actors and bodies of knowledge in a network, and the latter explains why particular actors or bodies of knowledge have greater influence, power, or prominence than others.

This dissertation consists of three essays on Health Economics. Chapter 1 analyzes the effects of abortion costs for minors on abortions, sexual behavior, and births. We exploit a 2015 change in parental involvement (PI) laws in Spain as a natural experiment in costs, together with rich population-level data on abortions and births. Using the exact date of teenager birth, we first document a decrease in abortions by 17-years-olds using a difference-in-difference comparison with 18-years-olds, consistent with the law that targeted Spanish minors. Using bunching methods from the Public Finance literature, we show evidence of temporal displacement. Some 17-years-old delayed their abortion and waited until they turned 18 and thereby avoided involving their parents. Second, we consider how the law change may have influenced health-related behaviors, finding implicitly that sexual behaviors changed so as to reduce the likelihood of becoming pregnant before turning 18 (and thereby internalized the cost of parental involvement). This is seen in the permanent shift in the number of abortions at age 18 that exists after removing the temporal displacement abortions around the age 18 threshold and an increase in the number of births to mothers who were pregnant at age 17. This paper finds that an important dimension of risky youth behavior responds to incentives contained in parental notification laws. Chapter 2 analyzes the effects of abortion costs on sex-selection by exploiting a 2010 abortion liberalization in Spain and the difference in son-preferences by nationality and child order documented in the literature. We show using a difference-in-difference comparison a significant increase in the fraction of boys for Chinese parents giving birth to their third child or above relative to children born of Spanish parents. Consistent with the literature, we do not find any effect on the fraction of boys for the first or the second child. Using the provincial number of abortion centers per person as a measure of access to abortion, we show, at the correlation level, that the effects come from those provinces with higher access to abortions. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that birth outcomes of Chinese girls who are the third children, and thus are now more likely to be ``wanted'' after the reform, improve. Gestational weeks increase, and the chance of being born prematurely decrease although our evidence suffers from lack of power. Finally, chapter 3 analyzes the effects of a universal, unconditional cash transfer announcement on birth outcomes by exploiting the 2007 cheque bebé policy in Spain that provided 2,500 euros per child to all mothers giving birth immediately after its announcement (Jul 2007). We use a difference-in-difference analysis comparing those born before and after the announcement. By exploiting the timing of the policy announcement we can avoid the composition effects caused by the incentives to have children generated by the policy. We show that the birth weight of those children born after the policy announcement (Sept-Dec) significantly improved relative to those born before (Apr-Jun) using previous years to control for the seasonal effects. Moreover, we provide suggestive evidence that those who are more vulnerable, as measured by the average municipality income level, parents' marital status, or parents' age, experience the most substantial improvements on birth weight.

Tourism industry plays an important role in developing countries like Thailand. An acccommodation is a key expense of almost every trip, therefore accommodation development need to be taken into account in order to attract target tourists from other countries. The long-stay tourism is important since the longer the tourists’ stay means the more receipts spent. Subsequently, many studies have been focused both on the tourism and real estate sides about long-stay accommodation in various types. Long-stay tourism in Thailand is an outstanding tourism alternative. Tourists from high cost of living, cold countries and aging population are the target market as we can see from the Americans, Europeans and Japanese tourists. Accordingly, future demographic structure is expected to increase so that cause emerging niche market called retirement home as a sub-set of the long-stay tourism. This thesis analyzes the attributes of the long-stay tourism in Thailand. The Scandinavian tourists are selected case studies according to their qualification and potential to be prospective customers. The opinions from the demand side, Scandinavian tourist-investors, were collected. Currently many projects of the Scandinavian are in the markets and will continue more as a consequence of predictions following tourism trend. In contrast, the study shows that there are some obstacles, which decelerate the growth of this market. Government policy is key to drive tourism and real estate sector to get along together. Until now, there is no exact solution but some alternatives from relevant market in sample countries were exemplified in order to develop tourism accommodation with the long-stay tourism in Thailand later on.

This study created the new Collateral Consequences Survey on Marijuana-Related Stop, Question, and Frisk Experiences tool. The tool was administered to a sample (N = 73) 65.8% (N = 48) male, 31.5% (N = 23) female, 68.5% (N = 50) Black, 31.5% (N = 23) Latinx, with 90.4% (N = 66) born in the United States—with a mean age of 30.04 years (min =18, max = 55, SD = 9.42). Some 46.6% (N = 34) completed a Bachelor’s degree or higher, while 63% (N = 46) were employed—with a mean annual household income of $40,000 to $49,000 (mean = category 4.23, min = 1, max = 11, SD = 1.899). Participants suffered multiple long-lasting damages as collateral consequences from Stop, Question, and Frisk. Pearson Correlations showed the higher the global collateral consequences scores, then lower Age (r = -.572, p = .000); darker Skin Color (r = .281, p = .016); lower Income (r = -.269, p = 023); lower Life Satisfaction (r = -.469, p = .000); more Negative Impact on Physical Health (r = -.264, p = .024); more Negative Impact on Mental Health (r = -.413, p = .000); lower BMI (Body Mass Index) (r = -.439, p = .000); greater frequency of various types of marijuana-related police contact (r = .580, p = .000); and greater extent of invasive experiences with police (r = .117, p = .000). While controlling for social desirability, the significant predictors of the study outcome variable of the Global Collateral Consequences Score (GCCS-8) were as not born in the US (β = -.607, SEB = .294, p = .044); lower life satisfaction (β = -.141, SEB = .044, p = .002); lower Body Mass Index (β = -.042, SEB = .010, p = .000); more positive attitudes on marijuana equity and reparations (β = .347, SEB = .099, p = .001); greater frequency of various types of marijuana-related police contact (β = -.232, SEB = .099, p = .024); and greater extent of invasive experiences with police (β = .324, SEB = .084, p = .000). This model accounted for 62.4% of the variance (R2 = 0.669 and Adj R2 = 0.624). Qualitative data expanded on the quantitative data findings. Implications and recommendations covered how the new tool created for this study may be used in future research and for screening purposes to identify those needing interventions from police stress and trauma.

A broad and poorly focused debate has, for quite some time, raged across the range of social science disciplines and policy related professions. This debate has dealt, in different ways, with the question of the proper role of the government in a mixed economy. Current debates over the appropriate role of government in a mixed economy are largely constrained by a basic set of 'market failure' concepts developed in economics. This dissertation interrogates the histories of the automobile, electrical and aircraft industries in the six decades spanning the turn of the 20th century with a theoretical framework that draws on recent theorizing on the co-evolution of technologies, industrial structure, and supporting institutions. In highlighting institutional and technological aspects of industrial development, this dissertation informs a basis for science and technology policy making that moves beyond 'market failure' analysis.

This project analyzes drug use in Mexico City between 1960 and 1980, the decades when the Mexican state began criminalizing common drugs like marijuana, and prosecuting the consumers of legal drugs such as toxic inhalants. In order to explain this contradiction, this dissertation assesses more than 3,000 Juvenile Court records, police files, health department and hospital documents, journal articles, drug legislation, and personal anecdotes. It argues that consumption and prosecution trends largely corresponded to socioeconomic class. Furthermore, these class-based consumption trends affected Mexican drug policies. According to the Mexican health department and penal reports examined in this dissertation, the Mexican state responded to the rise in drug use by pushing legislation to further criminalize marijuana. Yet the inner workings of that legislation tell a different story. Police records and Juvenile Court cases expose a rise in the detention and arrest of children who consumed toxic inhalants, a legal substance. The Mexican state found it more difficult to punish the children of middle-class government employees and professionals than the poor. In criminalizing poor, young drug users, the government could demonstrate its active efforts to address rising drug use. Consequently, the state created a new criminal class out of lower-class children who inhaled toxic legal substances in Mexico City. From a criminal and health perspective, this dissertation emphasizes the need to consider the impact of Mexican drug use trends on drug policy from the 1960s to the 1980s.

This dissertation proposes and tests a theory that investigates the political process of modern property formation in land in postcolonial societies of the New World. Specifically, it examines how land tenure systems of private property -- that is, a statutory tenure in which individual property rights are specified, allocated, arbitrated by the state -- are designed and executed in contexts of limited state capacity and land abundance. It draws on extensive, under-tapped archival evidence from Imperial Brazil (1822-1889), the largest postcolonial state of the southern hemisphere. The data, collected over a year of rigorous and systematic archival research, include original ledgers of rural estates surveyed and recorded at the parish (i.e., sub-municipal) level; church inventories of slaves; economic and health-related data of slaves populations; agricultural and land prices; roll call votes and transcripts from parliamentary sessions; and biographical information on Brazil's most prominent elites. My dissertation argues that exogenous, disruptive events that abolish labor-repressive relations of production, such as slavery or the slave trade, open up an opportunity for central governments to bargain for the creation of systems of freehold tenure with local traditional elites. Many countries of the New World were unable to pursue liberal reforms that commodified land and dismantled land-related colonial privileges because of the lack of professional surveyors and cadastral technologies to survey, title, and register parcels accurately. Moreover, high land-to-man ratios turned land into a factor of production with little commercial value and did not offer clear incentives to local elites to demand secure and complete property rights. My dissertation argues that, when local elites' depend on forced or servile labor for production, abolition can make them prone to support a statutory yet highly stringent system of freehold tenure that legally blocks access to land to wage laborers. A system of freehold tenure in times of abolition can attain two goals. First, to close off alternatives to wage labor in the agricultural sector by assembling ownership statutes that exacerbate conditions of tenure insecurity. Second, as local elites controlling servile labor have higher stakes in the survival of labor dependence in agriculture, it can enhance quasi-voluntary compliance with new property rules that intend to avert squatting and keep rural labor inexpensive and abundant. By willingly demarcating boundaries, titling, and paying taxes, local elites cooperate with the new land statutes. In turn, central state officials can secure the logistical resources they need (i.e., fiscal revenue, documentary evidence of ownership, spatial coordinates of rural estates) to distinguish occupied from unoccupied tracts, police the hinterlands, carry out evictions, and formulate policies (e.g., employer subsidies) that would bias labor markets in favor of elite interests. I test these propositions by examining how a powerful class of plantation owners in Imperial Brazil supported the creation of, and quasi-voluntarily complied with, the Land Law of 1850 (the country's first modern property law in land) in response to the exogenous abolition of the Atlantic slave trade in 1831. I show that parliamentarians who were also planters favorably voted for the bill that introduced the Land Law in the Chamber of Deputies. Moreover, I show that, once the new law had been approved, local parishes that had a greater proportion of slaves were more likely to experience higher rates of regularization. Untaxed and unbounded plantations that long benefited from Portuguese medieval traditions ended up being regularized as self-demarcated, taxable private freeholds. My analysis of Imperial Brazil yields three main insights about how property formation in the New World was carried out. First, and in contrast to the European experience, the advent of private property in land in polities of Australasia or Latin America was not a top-down phenomenon but the result of an arduous political negotiation and patterns of societal co-production between rulers and traditional landlords from the colonial era. Second, land abundance, not scarcity, threatened landlords' material wealth: by promising independent, small-scale cultivation to free rural workers, it threatened landlords with labor shortages. Finally, and even though individual and absolute proprietorship was made the hegemonic form of tenure, national policymakers enacted provisions that neglected property rights to marginalized populations such as freed slaves, immigrants, convicts, or peons. Therefore, the recognition of individual property rights in these societies was highly selective and did not follow the liberal, egalitarian principle of equality before the law.