This dissertation contains three chapters that examine urban policies. The first chapter considers the impacts of a new card fee for prepaid transit cards in New York City. Since 1998, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) system has used prepaid cards (MetroCards) to collect subway and bus fares. In 2013, the MTA imposed a $1 card fee (surcharge) on new MetroCard purchases. Using a novel dataset with transaction-level deposit and card use information, I show that the fee caused riders to put more money on new MetroCard purchases, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods and those who used cash or debit (rather than credit) cards. As a result, the net monthly outstanding balance from transit card deposits increased dramatically, with riders lending an extra $150 million, on an annual basis, to the MTA. Moreover, over $20 million of the increased balances in the first year were never redeemed and escheated to the MTA when these cards expired. The leading explanation highlights the importance of the cost of effort to remember to carry the same card. I pose a structural model to calibrate the effect of a new card fee. Counterfactual simulation predicts that a new card fee of $4.35 will maximize the MTA's profit. These findings have implications for fiscal policy designs and fee structures of prepaid card industry. The second chapter examines the causal effects of local access to alcohol on birth outcomes. After the repeal of National Prohibition in 1933, 30 states gave counties and municipalities the local option to continue alcohol restrictions. Citizens set alcohol control policies in their communities through jurisdiction-wide elections (i.e., local option elections). Currently, 10% of U.S. communities maintain a ban on some or all alcohol sales. Assessing the impact of local access to alcohol on alcohol-related outcomes such as birth weight, drinking under the influence, alcohol-related crimes, and so on is complicated by the potential non-random selection of liquor laws. I examine the causal effects of local access to alcohol on birth outcomes by comparing municipalities where referenda on legalizing liquor sales passed and failed by narrow margins. My results indicate that municipalities which were studied experienced higher incidence of low birth weight after legalizing the local sale of alcohol to the general public. The incidence of low birth weight rose by 4.5% for babies born within two years after the elections. The third chapter measures the deleterious effect of institutional discrimination on health. Interest in the impact of institutional discrimination on health outcomes has increased dramatically. Since research has mostly been done in the western context where social segregation has already been established, it is difficult to isolate the effect of initial social segregation on health outcomes. In this chapter, I examine the causal effect of institutional discrimination on health by exploiting a 1964 change in household registration system (hukou) in China, which caused a nationwide discrimination against rural dwellers. The 1964 change in the hukou system started to put tight control on domestic migration. Thereafter, movement from rural to urban areas became virtually impossible. Following the 1964 change in hukou policy, the fraction of urban hukou residents suddenly fell from over 50% to about 40%. I use this discontinuity in the proportion of urban hukou residents to identify the causal effect of institutional discrimination anchored in the hukou system on health. The regression-discontinuity (RD) design estimates suggest that urban hukou citizens have much better chances of being in good health. The deleterious effect of rural hukou on health possibly works through mechanisms of labor disparity, limited access to healthcare, and deprivation of quality education.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1997. / Co-Chairs: Paul G. Pickowicz, Joseph W. Esherick. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this study is to investigate wether the participatory democracy is a threat or a complement to the representative democracy. To achieve my purpose I will focus on two different lokal councils, the civil council in Hovsjö and the youth council in Västra Skogås, which have been objects of the urban policy in 1998. The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of the participation democratic theory, representative democratic theory and implementation theory. By problemizing these theoretical frameworks in comparison with eachother I will mapp how these two lokal councils were implemented. The research question is: In what way was the civil council and the youth council a complement or threat to the representative democracy? In which way was it difficult to implement them? The method used for this purpose is a qualitative comparative case study. In this study I derive an ideal type to be able to compare the participatory and the representative democratic theory. Four contrasts between the theoretical frameworks are being studied to investigate whether the two councils has functioned as threats or complements to the representative democracy. The main result of the study is that these two councils met several problems in the implementationprocess. The participation democracy were not able to function as a complement to the representative democracy. In many ways it was a threat but also the actors in the representative democracy were not willing to delegate power and decisions to the citizens.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska--Lincoln 1980. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 404-423).

Two areas of sustainable development were investigated to test the importance of economic development and the planning process on energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions outcomes between 2000 and 2010 across all sectors in the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Following this, a model was developed to evaluate the social benefits and costs of solar photovoltaic programs in the City of Atlanta. Results indicated that some econometric models relating emissions to GDP per-capita are poor descriptors over this decade. Planning process and growth in GDP per-capita are shown to be better indicators of performance, although these are also subject to specific contextual differences between regions, notably through adversarial polycentrism. Existing solar photovoltaic programs are also estimated to provide tens to hundreds of millions in cumulative net benefits to the City of Atlanta, although this is likely only a fraction of the potential. These findings suggest that the management of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions could be improved through increased participatory planning approaches and through the removal of barriers to realizing cost-effective improvements in energy and carbon performance.

Thesis (MReg & UrbPlan)--University of South Australia, 1997

Thesis (MReg & UrbPlan)--University of South Australia, 1997

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May, 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-106). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 369-402).