Thesis advisor: Philip E. Strahan / The dissertation consists of two essays on corporate finance, banking, and political economy. The first chapter studies how partisan-driven views about climate change affect institutional investors’ investment in assets that are exposed to climate risk. The second chapter examines how unexpected political chaos can affect politically active companies in a negative way. In “Climate Change, the Partisan Divide, and Exposure to Climate Risk”, I study how partisan-driven beliefs about climate change affect the distribution of climate risk across mortgage lenders. Using wildfires to capture climate exposure, I find that Republican-leaning lenders are more likely to approve mortgage applications in high wildfire risk areas than Democratic-leaning lenders. This difference in approval rates is only evident among second-lien and jumbo mortgage applications, highlighting how securitization affects risk-taking incentives. Lastly, Republican-leaning lenders originate more climate-exposed second-lien and jumbo loans and thus hold more wildfire risk. The findings suggest that dispersion over climate change beliefs affects how institutional investors hold climate risks, potentially affecting financial stability. In “Downsides of Corporate Political Spending: Evidence from Mass Shootings”, I study the negative impacts of corporate political spending on firm outcomes. Using data from 20 years of mass shootings, I find that when mass shootings take place, companies that primarily donate to pro-gun-rights politicians experience negative stock price reactions and worse operating performance. The negative impacts on companies’ bottom line are stronger when incidents are deadlier. The decline in operating performance reverses within a couple of years. The findings are not driven by firms contributing to Republican politicians. Similarly, using Summary of Deposits data from FDIC, I find that banks primarily donating to pro-gun-rights politicians also experience higher deposit outflows around mass shootings. After incidents, firms significantly reduce corporate political donations to pro-gun-rights politicians. Overall, my findings highlight negative impacts on companies resulting from their political spending being disapproved by stakeholders. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Mass shootings have been a persistent issue in the United States, and the underlying factors that continue to influence this crime are not yet evident. This study explored the effects of social media as an influence on mass shootings in the United States. Its purpose was to address the role of social media in spreading opinionated ideologies. The research question addressed the role of social media in influencing the actions of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States. The study framework was based on the social-ecological model to facilitate classification of the susceptibilities of social media users to adverse ideologies; 7 experts on mass shootings were interviewed in the study. Findings revealed that social media tend to influence mass shooting in 4 capacities: as enablers of the conceptualization process of the crime until the final act of mass violence; as facilitators of the individual or personal agenda of the mass shooter; as platforms that harness emerging technology for knowledge building during the planning phase and create operational efficiency for the final act; and as coordinators of group or symphonic terrorism. Government authorities in charge of combating mass shootings perform their tasks through actionable intelligence, legislation and policy, training of police and other first responders, mechanical barriers or deterrents, and brainstorming for new techniques and strategies. They are, however, constrained by considerable odds, which often come conjointly with their methods of crime resolution and strategies. Predictive technologies, as vehicles to fight or prevent mass shootings, have limiting influences on government action, particularly relating to the First and Fourth Amendments and the culture of hate that is nurtured and sustained through social media.

For healthcare agencies and other professionals to most efficiently provide aid following large scale community tragedies, agencies and professionals must understand the determinants that lead individuals to require and seek various forms of help. This study examined Andersen's Behavioral Model of Healthcare Use and its utility in predicting service use in a population of students at Virginia Tech following the shootings on April 16, 2007. Data were gathered from surveys given to students at Virginia Tech three months following the shootings and at a one year follow-up. Logistic regression was used to determine variables that predicted service use. Female gender, prior exposure to traumatic events, higher pre-event functioning, higher social support, higher levels of posttraumatic stress and higher psychological distress were found to be predictive of higher probability of service use. Exploratory hypotheses related to the prediction of outcomes as well as service use as a mediator between predictors and outcomes were also examined. Implications for the use of Andersen's model in predicting service use and equitable and efficient distribution of services are discussed. / Ph. D.

Despite their almost aberrational rarity, rampage school shootings have gained national attention to an extent that would make it seem that such events are a common occurrence. Many schools—along with hospitals, businesses, and other institutions—have adopted policies, implemented training, and conducted drills for responding to such incidents. In some cases, concern over school rampage shootings has led to bad policy implementations, particularly adoption of “zero tolerance” policies that punish the slightest infractions in hopes of thwarting potential attackers, but, rather than achieving their intended goal, result in massive false positive rates with few, if any, successes and a potential for fostering violence rather than abating it. For their part, law enforcement trainers and administrators have been caught in the rampage school shooter turmoil to such an extent that, starting with the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, significant paradigm shifts in policing methodology have taken effect. In order to promote more informed policy-making and training decisions by law enforcement managers, this dissertation seeks to determine through empirical study of the crime scene behaviors of rampage school shooters the extent to which law enforcement planning and training can be informed by the study of prior incidents. Policy, training protocols, and institutional response plans have been shaped, in many cases, by a world of perception rather than reason and sound empirical evidence. This research seeks to bring clarity to the decision-making processes and provide sound empirical evidence on which to base those decisions and develop strategies for on-site protocols to help mitigate casualties, establish police response protocols, and develop post-incident investigative models.

Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old student, carried out the Day of Retribution in Isla Vista, California, leaving six dead and fourteen wounded, before taking his own life. There here have been numerous attempts to explain his behavior including claims of him having features of autism spectrum disorder, traits of psychopathy and psychotic symptoms, narcissism, depression, fragile masculinity, and deviant sexual fantasies. This study examines the link between strain, coping and violence, based on General Strain Theory, using a qualitative content analysis of Elliot’s manifesto, My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger. The results indicate that Elliot experienced multiple sources of strain in his life and that he lacked adequate coping skills, which affected his perceptions of and interactions with the world. He experienced isolation, frustration and anger. These negative emotions together with his sense of entitlement intensified over the years, creating desire for revenge and justifying use of extreme violence as an attempt to eliminate strain and find relief.

This thesis provides a systematic literature review in order to accumulate and analyze previous research concerning the role of mass media's coverage of mass shootings in regards to copycats. Previous research indicates mass shootings are crimes where perpetrators take inspiration from one another and subsequently imitate each other. The purpose of this study is to review previous research on this contagion phenomenon to distinguish if there is a correlation between media coverage of mass shooters and copycats based on empirical data. In order to obtain scientifically accurate conclusions to the research questions and the purpose of this thesis, a systematic literature review method has been implemented. The result shows that previous research indicates that there is a correlation between the mass media's coverage of mass shootings and acts of copycats. There are studies presented in this thesis that conclude that some mass shooters openly confess to seeking fame by carrying out a mass shooting and that they receive as much or more media coverage than household celebrities at the time of the shootings. This thesis also concludes that there is evidence to support that after the occurrence of a mass shooting there is an average increase in the probability that another mass shooting takes place within the following 12 days. These findings support identified statistical trends in previous research in the field.  In conclusion, it is of most importance that the media reports responsibly on mass shootings since the implications of the detailed description of events, modus operandi, the firearm used and the amount of news coverage of mass shootings contribute to copycat mass shootings. Keywords: mass shootings, contagion, imitation, copycat, media coverage, fame seeking, mass media

The United States has experienced several mass shootings in the past few years. It has been averaging one shooting every week in 2015, and something must be done about it. This problem appears to be limited to the United States since several other nations have been able to minimize, and almost eliminate the number of mass shootings. By taking an analysis of the gun laws of the United States with those of Australia and Canada it can be concluded that some aspects of strict gun control can reduce the number of mass shootings. Further, the United States should look at what other common law nations have done to reduce the number of mass shootings. The United States is also the only nation that recognizes a fundamental right to keep and bear arms, and any legislation must address that right. Some ways to address strict gun control in the United States is to strengthen the background check system, add a liability insurance requirement, and strictly enforce culpable negligent statutes. Adding some elements of strict gun control will help minimize the amount, and impact of the shootings. Canada, and Australia both have active hunting communities that require the need for some legal firearms. A night at the movies, a day at school, or attending a church event should not bring about worry that an individual may get shot and killed by a deranged individual. Other similar nations have shown that rampage shootings do not have to be a side effect of living in a free society.

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Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) posits that survivors of a traumatic event have the ability to influence their own outcomes and do so most aptly when they perceive they can exert control over their outcomes. Posttraumatic growth outcomes are associated with a greater perception of controllability, while posttraumatic stress outcomes can be related to the lack of perceived control. In the context of the Virginia Tech shootings, several social factors were examined three months after the trauma (T1) and one year later (T2) to further explore the dynamic interplay between these factors and psychological outcomes. Social support seeking was conceptualized as both a coping strategy (situational) and as a coping style (dispositional) and was hypothesized to predict greater growth outcomes, while social constraints were hypothesized to predict higher levels of posttraumatic stress outcomes. These variables were also examined as moderators of the relationship between perceived threat and psychological outcomes at both time points. As expected, dispositional social support seeking was negatively related to posttraumatic stress at T1, and positively related to posttraumatic growth at T1 and T2. Social constraints were positively related to posttraumatic stress at T1 and negatively related to posttraumatic growth at T1 and T2. Situational social support seeking served as a moderator for the relationship between perceived threat and posttraumatic stress at T1. Lower levels of situational social support seeking lessened the relationship between perceived threat and posttraumatic stress, while high levels of situational social support seeking exacerbated this relationship. / Master of Science

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