This dissertation investigates the relative importance of firm-specific and
geographic characteristics for export behavior in the Chilean primary and processed
food industries. The first essay develops a new method for measuring geographic
characteristics to account for economic activity in adjacent, but separate spatial units.
In the application to the Chilean...
Interest groups have participated in the American political system since the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Environmental interest groups, a subsection of the American interest group society, have been especially active in national policies since the proliferation of environmental laws and environmental advocacy in the 1960s and 1970s. When environmental...
Oregon’s high hunger and food insecurity rates have been a concern throughout the last decade. These high rates earned Oregon the dubious distinction as the most food insecure with hunger state in the late 1990’s. While Oregon’s ranking has improved in recent years, our understanding of why Oregon ranked so...
Millions of U.S. households experienced hunger in 2005 and millions more experienced food insecurity. Previous research indicates that low-wage work and little social support contribute to food insecurity. Research also suggests that individuals cope by finding alternate food sources and drawing on social support. Further, researchers have found that rural...
The purpose of this research was to determine the role of formative experiences in the home and family pertaining to environment on children's overall environmental beliefs. Students attending environmentally related and non-environmentally related summer camps at a children's science museum served as test subjects in this study. A written instrument...
State parks in Oregon provide important sites for visitor recreation and natural resource education. With the increasing number of visitors to Oregon coastal parks, tide pools and beach areas, there is growing need for site-specific marine education to enhance stewardship, interpretation and safety knowledge. The Oregon Sea Grant Program and...
Concern over the incidental catch of non-targeted species in commercial and
recreational fisheries has greatly increased. Public attention, negative publicity,
controversies between differing fisheries and gear groups and the reauthorization of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act have led to an increased
awareness of the issue. The Pacific halibut...
Numerous development projects are implemented in developing countries to attain economic and ecological development. However, in most cases, the encouraging results observed during the implementation phase terminated with the project period, raising concerns on these projects' sustainability after the project period has ended. This study focuses on this sustainability issue...
Disturbance and microclimate interact to play a central role influencing the composition and structure of plant communities. In this thesis, I examined plant community composition and structure twenty years after high severity wildfires with and without post-fire management (salvage logging, fuel treatment, tree planting, and shrub release) under contrasting microclimatic...
Has consumer activism been successful in its efforts to effect social, political, and economic changes and to empower consumers? This research seeks to answer this question by developing a viable evaluation framework for conceptualizing and measuring impacts of consumer activism. The Political Process Model and New Social Movement Theory provide...