archives@tulane.edu / In this dissertation, I present three essays broadly encompassed by the title Essays in Health Economics and Equity. The first fits squarely in the health economics literature, the second fits squarely in the discrimination literature, and the third spans both. The first essay is entitled, Can Targeted Informational Nudges Change Health Care Behaviors? In this essay, I take advantage of a natural experiment with a plausibly exogenous assignment between treatment and control group to assess whether targeted health information can change behavior. I find that this information alone appears to have increased the utilization of many but not all lower-intensity preventative services, but largely did not affect the utilization of costlier services. The second essay is entitled, Employment Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a Field Experiment. Along with my co-author, Patrick Button, I conducted a resume correspondence experiment to measure discrimination in hiring faced by Indigenous Peoples in the United States (Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians). This is the seventh largest study of this type from among 113 other resume-correspondence studies, and after numerous robustness checks, we almost never find any differences in callback rates by group, regardless of the context. Finally, the third essay is entitled, Association of Simulated Patient Race and Ethnicity with Scheduling of Primary Care Appointments. Along with my co-author, Janna M. Wisniewski, I conducted a phone audit field experiment to measure potential racial and ethnic discrimination faced by Black and Hispanic versus White women when scheduling a medical appointment. Among callers for whom insurance status was asked and revealed, Black and Hispanic callers were offered later appointment times despite having the same insurance status as their White counterparts. These results suggest that minorities face barriers to timely access to healthcare. Each essay is focused on using econometric techniques to identify and measure causal relationships, be it using prospective randomization to measure discrimination or a quasi-experimental method to measure patient responses. These relationships can then provide foundational understanding for policymakers and employers alike, as well as motivate further research in their respective fields. / 1 / Brigham Cody Walker

Abstract I compare compensation arrangements of firms with private equity and public debt and firms with arrangements public equity and public debt. In a sample of 77 firms, I find that privately held firms offer less bonus compensation in levels, but more as a percentage of total income, less equity compensation, in levels and as a percentage of total income, and less total compensation. I propose and test three possible explanations for these differences. The first explanation is that managers of private firms own more of the company they manage, and thus less annual equity-based compensation is required to align incentives. The tests I employ do not support this hypothesis. Tests of the second explanation, that difficulties associated with the valuation/liquidity of private equity shares drive differences, were significant. The third explanation is that superior monitoring among firms with private debt drives compensation differences. I find no support for this hypothesis. Taken together, these results are consistent with the explanation that privately held firms compensate their managers differently due to the inherent difficulty in valuing and/or liquidating equity shares.

The inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom has changed over time. Teachers in inclusive classrooms need the skills to teach all students, including students with disabilities. The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD; 2019) reported in a survey of over 1500 general education teachers, only 17% noted they were well prepared to teach students with disabilities. A gap of in content knowledge exists between general and special education teacher preparation (Fonte et al., 2017) and the outcomes of students depends on the knowledge of the teacher (Burroughs et al, 2019). Lack of preparation of general education teachers' attributes to this current gap in meeting the needs of students with disabilities as seven states have specific requirements for meeting the needs of this population and only two states require clinical experiences in this targeted area (NCLD, 2019). One potential way to address this gap is through coaching. Currently, limited empirical evidence exists to determine the effectiveness of coaching as a professional development model and its impact on teacher practice (Desimone & Pak, 2017). The researcher in this study implemented the Classroom Strategies Coaching (Reddy & Dudek, 2016) model by collecting observation data using the Classroom Strategies Assessment System of teachers in their first five years in inclusive classrooms. The researcher compared three teachers' ratings who received coaching to three other teachers in business as usual. Teachers in the coaching group completed surveys to assess the social validity of the model. The comparison of the two groups showed increased implementation of the three teachers in the coaching groups' use of evidence-based practices.

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This dissertation examines two different topics related to the issuance of a convertible debt security. The first essay addresses the question of how managers set the equity value in a convertible debt issue. A convertible debt security has value derived from an equity component and a debt component. As a result, managers must decide how much of the convertible debt's value will be derived from equity at issuance. I examine three hypotheses in addressing this question. Empirical evidence is provided supporting the assertion that managers issue more equity-like debt when the firm will have lower future operating performance and a greater potential for underinvestment. Empirical support is not found for managers take into consideration asset substitution concerns when setting the equity value in a convertible debt issue. The second essay examines why are abnormal returns negative for the equity during the convertible debt's issuance period. This has been documented by Dann and Mikkelson (1984), Mikkelson and Partch (1986, 1988), and also by this dissertation. I furnish evidence that is consistent with a bid-ask spread bias not causing the negative equity abnormal returns during the issuance period of a convertible debt security. Tests are also performed that provide results that are consistent with the issue period returns being partially due to a resolution of uncertainty. / Ph. D.

This study was conducted to determine the significant factors that affected career aspirations for high school seniors in a suburban school. It also analyzed differences in females' and minorities' college plans, diploma type, and changes in career aspirations from 1986 to 1996. The research design was a causal comparative statistical analysis replicating a 1986 study at the same school. In-depth investigations into female and minority aspirations were also expanded in this 1996 study. The population (N = 577) was 81% Caucasian, 9.5% Asian, 4.5% African American, 4% Hispanic and 1% American Indian. A preliminary survey established the ratings of the occupations based on societal prestige. Data on career aspiration, ethnicity, gender, parents' education, grade-point average, diploma type and college plans were collected from the seniors using the Harrington-O'Shea career cluster form and two other surveys. The researcher operationally defined student aspiration levels by assigning the mean occupational rank from the preliminary survey to each student's choice of career. The seniors' aspiration data were analyzed using Chi-square Tests of Association, One-Way Analyses of Variance, Pearson Correlation and Scheffe comparisons. There was a significant correlation between the 1996 seniors' career aspirations and two variables: grade-point average (p=.000) and fathers' education (p=.003). There was a significant relationship between the female seniors' career aspiration and their graduation years, 1986 and 1996 (p=.000); the 1996 females had higher career aspirations. Both the 1996 female and minority seniors achieved significantly higher percentages of Advanced Studies Diplomas with the Governor's seal (p=.000) and significantly higher percentages of aspirations for college (p=.000) than their 1986 peers. Another important finding was that the means of female seniors' career aspirations were just as high as their 1996 male counterparts; this was not true in 1986. Also, the 1996 minority seniors had slightly higher career aspiration means than their Caucasian peers. This study suggests that educators can reflect on what has been done during the last decade to empower females and minorities. It also challenges educators to continue to seek better curriculum and career opportunity programs to overcome the institutional sexism and racism that may interfere with students' aspirations. / Ed. D.

Yes / Even as a child, I loved museums. Science museums, history museums – I could spend hours losing myself in intricately designed and curated exhibits that would transport me to another place or another time. One of my favourite parts of the common museum in the United States were the “World History” or “World Cultures” section, the area in which all of the non-Western, non-European artefacts were kept. Here, sometimes tucked away in a corner, I would find the Chinese Cultural displays, places in which I could actually see items that resonated with my familial culture that often felt so different from my white friends and their families.

Em um ambiente em que o marketing busca formas de avaliar os impactos de suas ações, Vogel, Evanschitzky e Ramaseshan (2008) sugerem que o uso do customer equity (CE), como uma medida do comportamento futuro de clientes de uma empresa, é um ativo estratégico que exige um gerenciamento efetivo com monitoramento tanto para detectar sinais de erosão neste valor, como para adequar programas para melhorá-lo. Vogel et al. (2008) associaram os condutores de CE, proposto por Rust, Zeithaml e Lemon (2000) e vendas futuras, contribuindo, em especial, com um modelo que inclui um construto de lealdade e foca na predição de vendas futuras, dado que valor de vida do cliente (CLV) é um difícil conceito para ser medido e está fora do alcance da maior parte das empresas. Diante da contribuição que essa técnica traz tanto para o avanço acadêmico da área de marketing metrics quanto para a prática empresarial, esta dissertação tem como enfoque a aplicação do modelo de Vogel et al. (2008), no B2B. Suas principais contribuições são: primeiro, adaptar e utilizar o modelo no contexto de serviços no B2B, estendendo a sua verificação a um universo mais amplo; segundo, testar se o modelo adaptado poderia produzir resultados tão consistentes quanto os encontrados pelos autores; terceiro, sugerir recomendações para a aplicação do modelo em outros segmentos. Para realização do estudo foram selecionadas duas empresas de segmentos diferentes que possuem outras companhias como clientes, uma delas do ramo de serviços ao varejo e outra uma distribuidora de medicamentos que permitiram acesso a um total de 253 de seus clientes. Para a empresa de serviços ao varejo identificou-se resultados em direção e magnitude semelhante ao estudo de Vogel et al. (2008), sugerindo que o modelo poderia ser aplicado no universo B2B; para a distribuidora, entretanto, os achados não demonstraram associação entre as variáveis, sinalizando uma fragilidade do modelo na predição de vendas futuras. Os resultados sugerem que o modelo adaptado poderia ser empregado no B2B, porém não é robusto. Desta forma apenas pode ser aplicado apenas sob condições específicas que precisam ser verificadas antes da aplicação. / In an environment where marketing seeks ways to assess the impacts of their actions , Vogel , and Evanschitzky Ramaseshan (2008) suggest that the use of customer equity (CE), as a measure of future customer behavior of a company, is a strategic asset that requires effective management with both monitoring for signs of erosion in this figure , as to tailor programs to improve it . Vogel et al. (2008) associated drivers from EC , proposed by Rust , Zeithaml and Lemon (2000) and future sales, contributing in particular to a model that includes a construct of loyalty and focuses on the prediction of future sales, since customer lifetime value (CLV) is a difficult concept to be measured and is beyond the reach of most companies . Given the contribution that this technique brings both academic advancement in the area of marketing metrics and for business practice, this dissertation focus on the application of Vogel et al. (2008), in the B2B. His main contributions are: first , to adapt and use the model in the context of B2B services, extending the verification to a broader universe; Second, to test whether the adapted model could produce results as consistent as those found by the authors; thirdly, to suggest recommendations for the application of the model in other segments. To conduct the study, two companies from different segments that have other companies as clients were selected , one of them in the service industry to retail and a distributor for drugstores that allowed access to a total of 253 clients. For services company was identified similar results, in direction and magnitude, toward the study of Vogel et al. (2008) , suggesting that the model could be applied in the B2B universe; for the distributor , however, the findings did not show association between the variables, indicating a weakness of the model in predicting future sales. The results suggest that the adapted model could be employed in B2B, but it is not robust. Thus, it can be applied only under specific conditions that must be verified before application.