As recreation and tourism visitation increases and government budgets decrease, public
land management agencies are using private commercial operators as an alternative
source of offering products and services. Changes and trends in commercial outdoor
recreation and tourism such as a large scale increase in the number of visitors can affect...
The concept of ecosystem services broadens perspectives on nature to include not only intrinsic value but also the utilitarian value it provides to society. Viewing nature through this lens informs our understanding of how particular ecological processes benefit different actors. In this research, I examine how water utilities in the...
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the U.S. have exhibited an upward trend over time similar to that observed for GDP and personal income. While conventional wisdom suggests that economic growth leads to more driving and thus higher VMT, it is theoretically possible that the causation could also be the other...
This study seeks to explore the determinants of the relationship of economic growth and water quality in the United States using an Environmental Kuznets Curve framework. Specifically this study seeks to determine whether there is evidence of improvement in water quality since passage of the 1972 amendments to the Clean...
The publicly subsidized Federal Crop Insurance Program has expanded rapidly in recent decades in the United States. With the reform in the 2014 Farm Bill, the Federal Crop Insurance Program has become the most important component of U.S. farm policies. The primary goal of the program is to provide risk...
In the study of rebuilding and recovery after natural disasters in the United States, little attention is paid to understanding how and why people rebuild following recurring, small-scale events, like wildfire. Hazard and risk literature, instead, is focused on understanding how larger communities with greater resources, economics, and social capital,...
This dissertation consists of two essays that address code-sharing alliances in the U.S. domestic airline industry.
The first essay examines the economic impact of code-sharing using data from the complementary code-sharing agreement between Southwest and ATA Airlines. This code-share agreement is found to decrease air fares and increase passenger volumes...
Innovativeness, or the propensity of a firm to create and/or adopt new products, process and business systems, has been measured using several methods in previous research. Examples of theses methods include current technology, self-evaluation, research and development funding, the number of new products, and intellectual property. In addition to the...
This study investigates the share of open space that maximizes total private property values in urban areas. Open space poses a number of trade-offs to city managers. On the one hand, previous studies have shown that certain kinds of open space can increase property values, which tends to increase tax...
Firms' participation in exporting or foreign direct investment is an extremely rare behavior: only 4 percent of over 5.5 million U.S. firms were exporters in 2000. Exporters are generally larger (e.g. output and employment) and more productive than firms serving only domestic markets. Such heterogeneity within a narrowly defined industry...