This dissertation investigates the effect of endogenous and exogenous events on firm behavior and performance. These are fundamental questions in economics. The contribution of this study is threefold. First, it provides estimates of the impact of mergers on railroad efficiency, which has important antitrust implications. Second, it provides new estimates...
In November 1990, Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 5,
placing an ultimate ceiling on local property tax rates of 1.5% of
market value (excluding specific levies for capital expenditure). Any
resulting shortfalls in local education revenues are to be made up by
transfers from state funds, at the expense of...
Research examining disparity between baccalaureate completion among "native" and community college transfer students has gained attention in recent years. Current and prior research has identified important pre-college and demographic characteristics with a positive relationship to baccalaureate completion. Yet few studies have focused on the influence of nonacademic and academic environmental...
Job satisfaction has received considerable attention within the community college sector, but there is limited research focused solely on the job satisfaction of foreign-born faculty members employed at community colleges. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with job satisfaction among foreign-born faculty members employed at U.S....
Background. As community colleges are increasingly composed of Millennial-aged professionals, workforce retention of those professionals is now a major priority. The Millennial generation is more diverse and more likely to be impacted by technology than any generation before them and is a generation characterized by dual-income partnerships. These and other...
This thesis investigated the contribution of the forest to neighboring property
prices and explored the possible impacts from different neighboring forest characteristics
with the hedonic property price model.
The quadratic Box-Cox model was applied to choose the proper functional form.
The square root model was chosen to be the interpretable...
Wildfire management has grown increasingly complex in recent years,
particularly in the West and in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) where a steady
population growth has resulted in greater risk to people and property. Recent trends
suggest the process of recovering from large fires (>100,000 acres) will become
increasingly important to...
The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976
took effect on March 1, 1977. By this Act the United
States extended its management over fisheries to 200
nautical miles from shore. Extended fishery jurisdiction
was expected to promote industry development and expand
the contribution of the fishing industry to the...
The current generation of scientists will be asked to mitigate climate change, stall biodiversity loss, and protect ecological communities. These are tasks that require a knowledge of both ecological and social systems to be undertaken successfully. Therefore, my dissertation spans the fields of community ecology and social sciences in an...
Lichens play many important roles in subarctic terrestrial ecosystems by fixing nitrogen, colonizing rock and gravel, stabilizing otherwise bare soil, adding significantly to vegetation biodiversity and serving as the primary food for caribou in the winter. In these chapters, I analyzed lichen community and ecological trait structure along environmental gradients,...
