Thesis (D. Min.)--Bethel Theological Seminary, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-181).

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1998. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #029-0440. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-65).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152). Also available on the Internet.

Project report (D. Min.)--Besson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Ala., 1998. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-65).

Thesis (M.A.)--Johnson Bible College, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122).

Thesis (D. Min.)--McCormick Theological Seminary, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references.

In this dissertation, I explore how economic decisions diverge for different age groups. Two essays address the location decisions of older households while the third examines why different age cohorts donate to charities. The first essay estimates how the age distribution of the population across cities will change as the number of older adults rises. I use a residential sorting model to estimate the location preference heterogeneity between younger and older households. I then simulate where the two household types will live in 2030. All MSAs end up with a higher proportion of older households in 2030, and only eight of 243 MSAs experience a decline in the number of older households. The results suggest that MSAs in upstate New York and on the west coast, particularly in California, will have the largest number of older households in 2030. Florida will remain a popular place for older households, but its relative importance may diminish in the future. The second essay explores whether the basic motivations for charitable giving differ by age cohort. Using the results from a randomized field experiment, I test whether benefits to self or benefits to others drives the charitable giving decision for each age cohort. I find limited heterogeneity for benefits to self. Individuals between the ages of 50 and 64 increase average donations more than any other age cohort in response to emphasizing warm glow, and this heterogeneity is exclusively driven by larger conditional gifts. The third essay is preliminary joint work with H. Spencer Banzhaf and Carlianne Patrick. We build a unique data set of local homestead exemptions, which vary by generosity and eligibility requirements, for tax jurisdictions in Georgia. Using school-district-level Census data since 1970 along with the history of such exemptions, we will explore the impact of these exemptions, particularly exemptions targeting older households, on the demographic makeup of each jurisdiction and consider the impact of these laws on the relative levels of housing capital consumed by older and younger households.

This dissertation addresses the intersection of rhetoric and material exchange in the construction of political alliance and conflict between the Waraos indigenous population and the non-indigenous institutions and political actors in the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela. It deals with the discursive and material strategies used to construct political reality at the moment of the emergence of one of the so-called new South American left wing populist governments (Hugo Chavez presidency since 1998). These historical circumstances present an opportunity to open a discussion bringing together the recent developments of discourse-centered approaches to culture, language ideologies, and the most classical theories on material exchange. This research's aim is to understand how multiple sign systems (in this case language and material gifts) interact, contradict, and support each other. In sum, this dissertation uses the advances of discourse-centered approaches to culture and the anthropological theories of exchange to understand how language and gift giving has shaped history and political imagination in the Orinoco Delta and Venezuela.