This dissertation consists of three essays in labor economics. The first essay models how migrants crossing the border between the United States and Mexico respond to increases in border enforcement. We model a potential migrants' joint decision of whether to cross the border and, if so, where to cross the border using a random utility function. Our model allows us to calculate the migrants' substitution patterns: does more enforcement primarily on one part of the border primarily deter migrants from crossing the border altogether, or simply divert them to other parts of the border? We find that a substantial proportion of migrants are indeed diverted. These findings should serve as a caveat to policy makers who seek to address immigration reform issues primarily through tightening the border.The second chapter models the internal migration decisions of U.S. households during the period 935 to 1940. We measure the impact of spending on New Deal programs on migration patterns. Using a model of random utility similar to that in prior chapter, we find that more public works and relief spending in a region made it more attractive to potential migrants, while additional spending on the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) made the locale less attractive. The structural nature of our model allows us to compute counterfactual estimates to assess the overall impact of these programs. We find that regional disparities in spending on public works and relief programs we responsible for nearly 20% of long distance moves made between regions during this period.In the third chapter, we decompose the gap between mean sentences for males and females in the U.S. criminal justice system into the portion that can be explained by differences in the average severity of the crime committed by males and females and the portion explained by differences in how males and females who commit the same crime are treated. We find that differences in characteristics of the defendant can explain only half of the gap between mean male and females sentences, suggesting that women receive more lenient treatment in the U.S. criminal justice system.

This thesis aims to describe and analyse how young people reason around voting and voter turnout in two different national contexts - Sweden and the United States - and how the reasoning might differ. The material has been gathered in qualitative interviews with students in both countries and ordered according to a typology of four theories, namely rational choice, new institutionalism, social identity and norm theories. Findings indicate that there is much difference in the reasoning between the countries while similarities may be due to them being students of similar ages. In the US, young people reason more according to rational institutionalism, about the system itself and seem to be rather cynical about it while the Swedish youths reason more in terms of institutional norms and seem to be satisfied with the system of voting at large. This thesis develops previous research by adding qualitative findings to hard facts which can be used to understand voters and national contexts more thoroughly.

The ‘good genes’ model of sexual selection predicts that sexual and natural selection should act concordantly. However sexual selection can favour alleles in males that are costly when expressed in daughters, placing the two in opposition. The relationship between natural and sexual selection depends on the nature of genetic variation for fitness. Laboratory adaptation may deplete sexually concordant fitness variation, overestimating sexually antagonistic variation and obscuring good genes. I investigated sire-offspring fitness correlations in Drosophila melanogaster populations expected to differ in their levels of sexually concordant fitness variation. In maladapted populations, successful sires produced fitter daughters than unsuccessful sires; this pattern was reversed in adapted populations. Several generations later, successful sires in both population types produced lower fitness daughters than unsuccessful sires, consistent with predictions. However, subsequent generations revealed no effect of sire status on daughter fitness, highlighting the difficulty in testing predictions on the evolutionary dynamics of fitness heritability.

Sedan 70-talet och ökningen av kvinnornas deltagande på arbetsmarknaden har hemarbetets fördelning diskuterats som en viktig jämställdhetsfråga i Sverige. Det anses inte längre givet att kvinnor ska stå för matlagning medan män ska stå för försörjning, då många av de tidigare könsbaserade skyldigheterna inte längre har samma legitimitet. Många tidigare studier har utförts kring hemarbete, ofta i syfte att studera arbetsfördelning i familjer med barn. När sambor får barn förändras arbetsfördelningen mellan dem. Denna studie bidrar med att belysa samt illustrera kvinnornas egen subjektiva upplevelse av hemarbetet i familjebildningens första stadie då paren ännu inte skaffat barn. Syftet med studien har varit att studera unga svenska kvinnors subjektiva syn på hemarbete och sina roller i hemarbetet, med utgångspunkt i en kvalitativ konstruktivistisk ansats. Studien har utförts med en teoretisk utgångspunkt i rationell handlingsteori, utbytesteori samt i teorin om att göra kön. Respondenterna har intervjuats i semistrukturerade intervjuer. De har berättat om hur de upplever hemarbetet utifrån sina roller och ansvarsområden, förväntningar, jämförelser, förändringar och emotioner. På grund av urvalets storlek kan resultaten inte anses vara representativt för hela populationen. Materialet kan dock anses vara tillräckligt för att beskriva den subjektiva upplevelsen av hemarbetet inom urvalet. Enligt respondenterna finns det i enlighet med tidigare studier en stark koppling mellan att sköta hemarbete och att vara kvinna. Resultatet visar bland annat ett missnöje hos respondenterna kopplat till en ojämn arbetsdelning i hemmet, samt till deras respektives oförmåga att ta ansvar i hemarbetet. Respondenterna delar en önskan om att varje par ska ha möjlighet att skapa en individuellt anpassad arbetsdelning utan att ta hänsyn till samhällets normer kring kön och jämställdhet. De menar att en balans mellan kompensationer och motprestationer är viktigare än att ta hänsyn till normer kring jämställdheten. Resultaten visar även på de svårigheter som respondenterna upplever att potentiella förändringar är kopplade till. Samtliga respondenter anser att en förändring av dess nuvarande arbetsfördelning är möjlig, dock endast genom handlingsalternativ som är förknippade med negativa konsekvenser. Detta leder till att de undviker att försöka förändra sin situation, trots missnöje.

Motivation: Various brand equity measures have been proposed in extant literature. Few researches have explored the theoretical similarities, differences and relationship between different brand equity measures. In the thesis, I will explore two types of brand equity measures, namely customer mind-set measures and product-market performance measures. In particular, I will look at: 1) the correlation between the two types of measures; 2) which measure reflects the underlying brand equity construct better; 3) the impacts of marketing mix elements on the two types measures respectively; and 4) the prediction relationship between customer mind-set measure and product-market performance measure. / Theoretical Framework: My main theoretical framework will be brand equity literature. I draw upon the Brand Value Chain framework (Keller & Lehmann, 2(03) to explore the conceptual differences between two types of brand equity measurements, namely customer mind-set and product-market performance measurements. Furthermore, I also use Keller's (1993) Customer-Based Brand Equity concept to explore how specific marketing activities impact the brand equity theoretically. / Data and Methodology: This thesis measures brand equity by two methods: customer mind-set (Keller, 1993) and revenue premium (Ailawadi, Lehmann, & Neslin, 2(03). I use two types of data in the empirical analyses. Survey data, procured from a consumer-packaged product company 1, is used to measure customer mind-set brand equity. This unique data consists of proprietary equity scan surveys on 11 brands from 2004 -- 2006 in the United States. The measurement model of brand equity is rooted in Keller's customer-based brand equity concept (1993). The measurements include brand awareness, brand performance, brand image, brand judgment, brand feelings and brand resonance (Keller, 2(01). The second data is from commercial sources, including IRI and TNS, for the specific brands and time periods corresponding to the survey data and includes revenue premium, price, sales, distribution, promotion, and advertising information. Various techniques are employed for analyses including descriptive and reliability analyses, correlation analyses, multiple-regression, and cross-validation. / Contribution: The contribution ofthis thesis is threefold. Firstly, it sheds light on the underlying theory and relationship between two types of brand equity measurements and provides empirical test of the theory. Secondly, it provides a systematic exploration of the impact of marketing mix elements on brand equity using real market data and two different measurements. Third, it offers very practical guidance for managers on how to choose a specific brand equity measures and how to track the brand equity measures over time for their brands. / 1Because a confidential agreement with this company, the company name, brands name as well as product category will be disguised in the thesis.

The study aims to understand the underlying factor why McDonald's customers return despite previous failure customer experiences. Why do customers come back to the company that contributes to the former dissatisfaction? McDonald's attempt to maintain unceasing purposeful emergence fail at the local level, where the customer contact occurs. McDonald's offerings and customers' bounded rationality results in that customers are satisfied with an "ok" experience, which adds to their low expectations of McDonalds. This makes clear that McDonald's does not have to make an effort through constant adaptation at the local level to achieve a "great" level of satisfaction. Because the customer is satisfied with an "ok" experience, and not require more to return to McDonalds. If you can lower your customers' expectations so much that they do not care about the previous failure customer experiences, the company's competitive invincible, even without continuous adjustment.

The rate of residential break and enters in Canada has been declining according to official statistics, but has increased according to self reports of victims. Since the 1970s, considerable attention has been given to preventing break and enters by altering the physical environment. However, studies that assess the effects of physical design have produced mixed results. The data for this study were drawn from Guelph Police Service break and enter records, and property site assessments were performed using Google Earth and Street View. Drawing from rational choice and routine activities perspectives, physical and social features of burgled and non-burgled single detached dwellings were assessed to determine which features predicted break and enter victimization. Results suggest little empirical support for place-based crime prevention strategies such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

The body of literature investigating spectator attendance in sports has developed using various forms of regression with secondary data, leading to a series of fairly consistent findings. The aggregate secondary data that has been used in these studies, which has been effective in developing this body of knowledge, is inherently limited in its ability to explain the most basic element of the attendance issue: how individual consumers choose whether or not to attend a game. The objective of this research is to provide these consumer-level insights, specifically for games in the Canadian Football League, by utilizing a discrete choice methodology. This study generates primary data from actual consumers, while incorporating many of the standard demand determinants. The results of this study show that while the quality of both participating teams are significant predictors of demand, their relative quality is not; contradicting the uncertainty of outcomes hypothesis.

No description available.

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are well known to depend almost exclusively on milkweed (genus Asclepias) host plants for oviposition sites, as their larvae need to ingest compounds critical for adult butterfly chemical defense against predators. Many phytophagous insects make fast and accurate decisions on the quality of host plants, and whether or not to accept them as oviposition sites. We were interested in the cues that attract monarchs (males and females) to milkweed, while in flight, before contact stimulation can occur. We developed a novel flight apparatus to test monarch attraction behaviour, under a number of different experimental protocols, to both milkweed and control stimuli in order to identify the cues necessary or sufficient for monarch attraction to milkweed. Monarchs were found to be attracted to milkweed stimuli when the visual image alone of milkweed was available or when olfactory cues alone were available. Attraction behaviour was maximized when both cues were available. It was also discovered that attraction to milkweed was significantly diminished when ultraviolet reflection from milkweed leaves was prevented from being detected by monarchs in flight. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-08-09 12:22:17.691