Browsing by Subject "Policy"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 32

Accessibility: Long-Term Perspectives
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2008) Axhausen, Kay
Improved accessibility and its correlate lower generalized cost of contact, travel and transport have been sought by dynamic human societies for their economic and social benefits throughout recorded history. The paper will reflect about this process at a number of different spatial and temporal scales based on a conceptual model. Looking back at European history, it will trace the interaction between Christaller’s logic of local market areas and the idea of (low contact cost) network cities. Focusing on Switzerland since 1950 it will show how network investment changed the relative distribution of population and employment and how this interacted with changes in the preferences of the travelers. Using a recent snapshot of how a substantial sample of Swiss maintain their social networks over often very large areas, it will try to answer the question of what will happen in the future, if the current trend of ever lower costs of contact will persist.
Application of a Rural Safety Policy Improvement Index (RSPII) Framework
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2010-06) Knapp, Keith K.; Utecht, Brad
Six legislatively-based safety improvement measures (LSIMs) were proposed for evaluation within a rural safety policy improvement index (RSPII) framework during Phase I of this project. This report documents the step-by- step application of the RSPII framework and its rural roadway crash fatality reduction results for these LSIMs. Several approaches to the framework application were completed for each LSIM and the results compared. It was estimated (based on the selection of one framework outcome for each LSIM) that rural roadway crash fatalities could be reduced by 209 from the primary enforcement of seat belt use, 299 from universal motorcycle helmet use, 322 from the regular application of sobriety checkpoints, 120 from graduated driver licensing program upgrades, 268 from the mandatory ignition interlock installation, and 699 from automated speed enforcement. These estimates cannot be summed, however, because the fatalities impacted by these LSIMs sometimes overlap. The assumptions and generalizations required to overcome challenges to the RSPII framework application will also have an impact on its results. Additional LSIM research is suggested and it is recommended that the estimates in this report be used as a starting point for rural roadway safety discussions and the completion of more accurate individual state RSPII framework applications.
Bringing parent and community engagement back into the education reform spotlight: a comparative case study.
(2010-03) Gordon, Molly F.
In this study I argue that educational practitioners and policy makers cannot solve the problem of increasing student learning and growth by organizationally isolating the work of schools from communities. The purpose of this study was to explore which organizational conditions have enabled and which have hindered schools and communities from successfully working together to help students learn and grow. In addition, I explore why some districts and schools continue to struggle with engaging outside stakeholders despite their efforts. I used a comparative case study design and chose to investigate three districts and two schools within each of those districts in order to see how district engagement policies and practices filter down into schools. I used neo-institutional and organizational theories as conceptual tools. Results showed that district level engagement efforts were loosely-coupled with school level policies and practices. Policies that did exist around engagement were vaguely worded and weakly monitored. In addition, few innovative approaches existed to actively engage outside stakeholders. This study confirms the neo-institutional framework and its usefulness in examining engagement policies and practices.
Case study of the regional resource center program: a study of organizational change
(2013-11) Hawes, Maureen Elizabeth
The purpose of this study was to examine the policy, social, and behavioral dynamics of how the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funded Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) evolved from individual centers into a national RRC Program. A critical instance study was used to examine the dynamics of how the RRCs have evolved into the national RRC Program, reflecting on policy context which led to the formation of the national Program, the challenges encountered, those that remain and the prospects of institutionalizing organizational change for the future. The investigation incorporated concepts related to Lewin's (1951) traditional perspective of organizational change as contemporary views incorporating Social Identity Theory (SIT). The case study approach used in this investigation involved data collection and analytic methods which encompass aspects of traditional change theory via a Force Field Analysis (FFA), while the method used to capture the more affective components of change was the Organizational Change Recipients' Beliefs Scale (Armenakis et al. 2011). Select staff interviews were also conducted in order to gather more qualitative data to better understand the underpinnings of the change process.This case study revealed a number of common driving and restraining forces that impact the organization's ability to establish equilibrium and move beyond a phase of transition. The convergence of data sources confirmed the identification of driving and restraining forces, which included the Program structure, trust, evaluation, and governance. Five major themes emerged from staff interviews that support the identification of a number of driving and restraining forces. The themes include: importance of relationship building, the role of communication in development of the organization, alignment of Program and state work, RRCP structure and its impact on organizational growth, and professional development. Findings also confirm the current status of the RRCP with regard to organizational socialization, role conflict and resolution, and intergroup relations.
Complete Streets from Policy to Project: The Planning and Implementation of Complete Streets at Multiple Scales
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2013-12) Schively Slotterback, Carissa; Zerger, Cindy
Complete streets is emerging as an influential movement in transportation planning, design, and engineering. This guidebook, with accompanying case studies, explores the variety of ways in which complete streets is conceptualized and institutionalized by various jurisdictions. It offers practical and applicable insights for jurisdictions in Minnesota and elsewhere. The research focused on best practices in 11 locations across the nation: Albert Lea, Minnesota; Arlington County, Virginia; Boulder, Colorado; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Dubuque, Iowa; Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota/Minnesota; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Madison, Wisconsin; New Haven, Connecticut; and Rochester, Minnesota. The guidebook is informed by an analysis of multiple data sources from each jurisdiction. The authors conducted a review of key documents (e.g., plans, policies, design guidelines), site visits, photo documentation, and in-depth interviews with more than 100 key informants. Six best practice areas emerged through the analysis: (1) framing and positioning, (2) institutionalizing complete streets, (3) analysis and evaluation, (4) project delivery and construction, (5) promotion and education, and (6) funding. The six best practice areas are described in detail and illustrated by examples from the case locations. The guidebook concludes with an appendix of complete streets case reports that offer additional details about each of the 11 case jurisdictions.
Confronting complexities of public school integration: School district leaders of diversity and equity navigating the professional, the personal, and the political
(2013-08) Mattheis, Allison
This dissertation is an in-depth ethnographic investigation of how local school district equity and diversity coordinators work within policy constraints and respond to particular local demands. The findings presented in this document are drawn from four years spent exploring the implementation of school integration policy in the state of Minnesota through observation of leaders' professional networks, legislative and department of education meetings and hearings, visits to three communities selected as case study sites, and a statewide survey of leaders in districts receiving integration revenue. Using a sociocultural approach to policy studies along with critical discourse analysis, this research examines community values and actions in the wider context of demographic shifts in public schools across the country, and highlights the localized nature of much educational policy. This work seeks broadly to explore practices designed to develop multicultural understanding, and examine the impact of policies that address racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic integration in public schools.
Essays in pharmaceutical economics.
(2010-04) Snider, Julia Thornton
This dissertation is composed of three essays that which examine firms' decisions in developing and marketing prescription drugs and government's role in regulating that process. In the first essay, I look at two forms of promoting prescription drugs and how they interact. Because prescription drugs are chosen by the physician but consumed by the patient, firms have two potential targets for advertising. Advertising to doctors, called "detailing," has historically been more common, but in recent years direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising has risen in prevalence. The question of how these two types of advertising interact is important for understanding the implications of controversial policies such as the bans on DTC advertising found in most countries. This essay develops an identification strategy exploiting policy differences between the United States and Canada to estimate a model of the joint effects of DTC advertising and detailing. I find a significant complementary effect between the two types: All else equal, for every additional dollar spent on DTC advertising, firms spend eight additional cents on detailing. This implies that DTC advertising bans decrease the effectiveness of detailing, and firms will do less as a result. In the second essay, I examine how advertising can have significant effects on the composition of drug usage between branded and generic drugs. Because generic drugs provide a lower-cost means of delivering drug treatment, such compositional effects are relevant to policymakers facing limited health care budgets. In particular, I focus on the effect of DTC advertising and detailing around the time of patent expiration. I create a model with two firms, one branded and one generic, to capture firms' DTC advertising and detailing decisions over the life of a drug. I compare the model's predictions under different regulations on price and advertising with data from the US and Canada. The model's results are consistent with the empirical observations that detailing and DTC advertising are complementary strategies and that optimal detailing and DTC advertising are lower in an environment where lower prices are set by regulators. In addition, numerical results demonstrate that when consumers are reluctant to switch between the branded drug and the generic, the branded firm may choose to engage in a preemptive advertising campaign prior to patent expiration to limit market share grab by the entering generic or even to delay generic entry. This finding helps explain similar preemptive DTC advertising and detailing campaigns observed in the data. Finally, in the third essay, I analyze the way in which governments optimally balance providing broad access to prescription drugs with creating incentives for innovation. Access and innovation are conflicting goals for price-regulating governments because a low price maximizes access but creates little incentive for innovation. To examine this issue, I model pharmaceutical price regulation as the result of a game between the governments of two countries of varying (economic) size. The agents of the game are a multinational pharmaceutical firm which produces a drug for the global market and the two national governments, each of which is assumed to maximize the welfare of the consumers residing within its borders. Prices are determined as a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. Observing the two national prices, the firm then undertakes costly innovation to attain a drug quality level which is homogenous across the global market. My model produces the result that dividing the world's population into countries creates a free rider problem in which the public good of pharmaceutical innovation is underfunded. Moreover, whenever one of the two countries is considerably larger than the other, the unique Nash equilibrium is for the smaller country to set its drug price to marginal cost. This suggests that a large economy, such as the United States, will end up providing incentives for drug innovation all over the world.
Essays on dynamic public policy.
(2009-08) Yazici, Hakki
This dissertation considers optimal government policy when agents in the economy are privately informed about their various characteristics. The first chapter deals with optimal education policy. Raising children is an important productive activity for a society since children's outcomes depend on their parents' investments. This paper develops an intergenerational framework in which adult outcomes are determined by parental investment, analyzes Pareto efficient allocations, and derives implications for policy. There are two key frictions: first, parental altruism type is private information; second, it is impossible for society to monitor parental investment. The main characterization result is that in any ex post Pareto efficient allocation, in any generation, society should transfer extra resources to all poor parents. This implies all agents, including the poor, should live above a certain welfare level, independent of whether or not society cares about them. Regarding implementation, the paper considers a market structure in which parents cannot sign contracts binding their descendants. Under such a market structure, implementing any Pareto efficient allocation requires government intervention. A feature shared by all Pareto efficient income tax schedules is that income taxes of agents with currently low income are negative. The second chapter analyzes efficient allocation of resources in an economy in which agents are initially heterogeneous with regard to their wealth levels and whether they have ideas or not. An agent with an idea can start a business that generates random returns. Agents have private information about (1) their initial types, (2) how they allocate their resources, and (3) the realized returns. The unobservability of returns creates a novel motive for subsidizing agents who have ideas but lack resources to invest in them. The unobservability of initial types and actions implies that the subsidy that poor agents with ideas receive is limited by incentive compatibility: the society should provide other agents with enough incentives so that they do not claim to be poor and have ideas. The paper then provides an implementation of the constrained-efficient allocation in an incomplete markets setup that is similar to the U.S. Small Business Administration's Business Loan Program.
Evaluating Health and Healthcare Use Effects of Changes in Paid Sick Leave Access for Workers in the United States
(2016-10) Klein, Ryan
Background: The United States is one of the only industrialized countries without a nationwide mandatory paid sick leave policy, which would give workers the ability to take time off work for their own health or the health of their children without jeopardizing their job standing or income. Taking time away from work to rest when sick has been shown to promote quicker recovery and prevent the transmission of illness and the progression of minor illnesses into more serious illnesses1; paid sick leave allows time for this rest without financial consequences to the employee. When workers are chronically ill, not being able to seek care could mean that they are not able to adequately care for their chronic disease. Although the health and work absence effects of having access to paid sick leave have previously been studied, they have not been investigated in a way that suggests causality. Paid sick leave also has the potential to affect how people use the healthcare system. Being able to take time off from work for the purposes of caring for health leads to quicker recovery and prevention of the progression of minor illnesses into more serious illnesses. It also helps to alleviate some of the access barriers that are often associated with not being able to seek care at an office-based medical provider by freeing up time during normal business hours to seek care without foregoing income. As a result, paid sick leave could help to control the amount of non-urgent emergency department (ED) visits, which are increasingly becoming an issue in EDs across the United States. Objective: The overall objective of this research is to determine the effect that paid sick leave has on work-absence behavior, general health, and healthcare use behavior for workers in the United States, with an additional focus on the subset of workers with chronic illnesses. Manuscript 1: Aim: Determine the effect of paid sick leave on work-absence behavior and general health status for workers in the United States, with an additional focus on workers with chronic illnesses. Methods: Fixed and random effects models were used with longitudinal data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to model the effect of paid sick leave on work-absence behavior, and subsequently on the effect of work-absence behavior on general health status, both for our full sample of workers, and also for a chronically ill subset of workers. Results: Our overall results showed that paid sick leave does not have a large effect on self-reported general health status, and these results held consistent in both the full analysis sample as well as the chronically ill subsample. Our results also showed that the effect of paid sick leave on work absence days very much depends on the context with which the worker has paid sick leave – whether it is being gained and compared to those that workers never had paid sick leave, or it was held for the entire follow-up period and being compared to those that lost the benefit at some point during follow-up. Manuscript 2: Aim: Determine the effect of paid sick leave on emergency department use and office-based medical provider use volume for workers in the United States, with an additional focus on workers with chronic illnesses. Methods: Fixed effects models were used with longitudinal data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to model the effect of paid sick leave on the volume of emergency department use and office-based medical provider use, both for our full sample of workers, and also for a chronically ill subset of workers. Results: Our results showed that the effect of paid sick leave on office-based medical provider use volume depended on whether the benefit had been gained and was being compared to participants that never had it, or instead had been lost over the course of follow-up and was being compared to participants that had never lost the benefit. Those that gained the benefit had less office-based medical provider visits as compared to those that never had paid sick leave, while those that had the benefit for the entire follow-up had more office-based provider visits compared to those that lost it, both for the full sample of workers and the chronically ill subset. Our results also showed that the effect of paid sick leave on emergency department use volume depended predominantly on whether we investigated the effect in the full analysis sample, or within the subset of chronically ill workers. While the full analysis sample showed no effect of paid sick leave on office-based medical provider use volume in either subsample, both subsamples in the chronically ill subset of workers showed an increase in the number of visits when those with paid sick leave were being compared to those without Conclusion: These analyses present a more nuanced and rigorous approach to analyzing the effects of paid sick leave on health, work absence behavior, and healthcare use behavior than previously existed in the literature. By performing analyses using longitudinal data, we were better able to approximate the counter-factual than previous studies on these topics, which all utilized some form of cross-sectional data. Additionally, these analyses filled an important literature gap by investigating the effects of paid sick leave on our outcomes of interest in a subset of workers with chronic illnesses, an analysis that had not been reported in the literature yet to date.
Examining the association between tobacco use and binge drinking and the effects of tobacco interventions on binge drinking behaviors
(2012-03) Stahre, Mandy Adele
Background: Binge drinking is a significant public health problem. Although effective alcohol control policies exist, many have eroded over time or face strong political opposition to their implementation. Other mechanisms to reduce binge drinking need to be found. Tobacco and alcohol use share similar biological, personal, and environmental characteristics and research has shown that among alcohol dependent population reducing smoking can lead to decreases in alcohol use. Objectives: The purpose of this dissertation was to assess: (1) the extent that binge drinking and smoking are associated in a non-alcohol dependent population, (2) how this observed association may be modified by individual- and environmental-level factors, and (3) the effect of tobacco interventions on binge drinking. Methods: The first study examined the association between binge drinking and smoking behaviors using a representative sample of active duty military personnel. Additionally, multivariate logistic regression tested whether frequency of deployment and the perception of an alcohol promoting environment moderated the association between binge drinking and smoking. The second study assessed the effect of an individual-level tobacco intervention (health education versus motivational interviewing counseling) on binge drinking and average daily alcohol use in a group of African American light smokers over a six-month period. Generalized linear models assessed the mediation effect of smoking cessation on the relationship between counseling intervention and drinking. The third study used pooled-time-series analyses to assess the effects of two state-level tobacco control policies (tobacco taxes and smoking bans in bars) on state-level binge drinking behaviors from 1998 to 2010. Results: In the first study, binge drinking was found to be significantly higher among current smokers than former and nonsmokers. The frequency of deployment (but not the perception of an alcohol-promoting environment) moderated this relationship although effects varied by branch of service. In the second study, individuals randomly assigned to receive health education counseling decreased their binge drinking at week 8 of the study, but these results diminished within six months. Smoking cessation did not appear to mediate the relationship between counseling type and binge drinking; however, individuals who quit smoking (regardless of counseling type) also decreased their binge drinking at week 8 of the study; these results were not significant at the end of the study. For the third study, neither tobacco taxes nor smoking bans in bars was associated with a decrease in binge drinking outcomes at the state level. Conclusions: Smoking and binge drinking are strongly associated in non-alcohol dependent populations and some evidence suggests that decreasing smoking leads to initial reductions in binge drinking; however, the evidence presented is not strong enough to advocate for a reliance on smoking interventions as a way to reduce and prevent binge drinking. Alcohol advocates need to continue to support and educate lawmakers about the effectiveness of alcohol control policies in order to reduce binge drinking.
Faculty research productivity at Assumption University Thailand
(2014-10) Pornsalnuwat, Pavinee
The purpose of this study is to determine the factors associated with faculty's perceptions of their roles as researchers at a Thai private university, Assumption (AU). In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in the size of Thailand's higher education sector reflecting both the trends of massification and privatization. One of Thailand's leading private universities is Assumption with a new world-class campus located in Bang Na near the new Bangkok international airport.The university is Thailand's first international university and grew out of Assumption College (an elite private Catholic P-12 school) and ABAC (a highly successful business college and university). The institution has a long tradition of attracting top students and offering them a quality education that prepares them well to join the elite in business, government, and academic sectors. Despite the rapid growth of Thai higher education, Thai universities do not fare well in international ranking systems. The major reason is the lack of research productivity of Thai faculty in higher education. It is a key assumption of this dissertation that effective research and development contribute to national productivity and competitiveness.In this research the methodology is case study research and there is the use of triangulated qualitative research methods including extensive document analysis and interviews with diverse stakeholders such as AU administrators and faculty. Also interviewed are national and international experts knowledgeable to the Thai higher education landscape. A total of individuals were interviewed with a 100% response rate. Overall, it is found that research productivity is highly skewed with a small number of faculty actively engaged in research, while the majority are much less active or inactive. A tetrahedron model is used to reflect the four key factors found to influence the productivity of faculty, namely, 1) motivation and incentives, 2) resources, 3) skills, and 4) Thai politics and culture. Various suggestions are presented to enhance research productivity at AU such as the development of a long-term plan to give greater priority and resources to research. The plan would include activities such as special training and grant development workshops, mentoring, hiring outstanding faculty with proven research records, and the promotion of research collaboration with international scholars. The "triple helix model" is also presented reflecting the need for much greater cooperation among the business, government, and academic sectors in conducting and impactful and innovative research.The data presented in this dissertation indicate that Thailand in general and AU in particular are not realizing their R & D potential. This places Thailand at risk in terms of what has been termed the middle income trap (Gill & Kharas, 2007). Thus, as many countries such as Japan and Korea developed industrial policies, Thailand critically needs a national research policy to foster excellence in research, particulary quality applied research which will enhance Thailand's national competitivenss and facilitate its escaping the middle income trap. The designation of nine institutions as research universities is a step in the right direction. Assumption University, a private institution and Thailand's first international university, with its strong Catholic heritage of ethics and teaching and its new world-class campus, has also the potential to strengthen its research profile to enhance even more the quality of its teaching and learning environment. For that goal to become a reality, AU must give higher priority to creating a favorable academic research climate with increased funding and incentives for doing useful impactful research.
Flattening the Eviction Curve: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the Brooklyn Center Tenant Protection Ordinance
(2024-02-29) Gramlich, Jack
This paper uses two quasi-experimental methods—synthetic control (SC) and difference-in-differences (DiD)—to evaluate the effects of the 2022 Brooklyn Center Tenant Protection Ordinance. The ordinance was adopted at a time when eviction filings were on the rise across the state. Descriptive statistics provide an indication that after the ordinance was adopted, Brooklyn Center’s eviction rate did not increase by as much as the eviction rate in other parts of suburban Hennepin County. For SC models, I compared Brooklyn Center to most other Hennepin County cities. I found statistically significant evidence that the ordinance reduced eviction rates in the period 37-48 weeks after policy adoption. This result survived several placebo tests (though it was sensitive to whether Brooklyn Park was included in the donor pool). Results for filing rates did not survive all placebo tests. For DiD, I drew from a sample of most block groups in suburban Hennepin County. Conditioning on pre-treatment covariates via doubly robust DiD, I found the policy brought reduced eviction rates and filing rates in some of the first eight months after policy adoption. DiD models survived a wide variety of robustness checks. SC and DiD provided consistent evidence of reduced eviction rates in some periods of time. The two methods produced mixed evidence on filing rates, and did not produce strong evidence of policy effects for other outcomes. This paper concludes that when evictions spiked across Minnesota following the expiration of COVID-19 eviction moratorium policies, the City of Brooklyn Center flattened the eviction curve.
Higher Education Participation Inequities For Giay And Hmong Vietnamese Thirty Years After Doi Moi
(2022-09) Tran, Thuan
This study investigated Giay and Hmong young adults’ perspectives on Vietnam’s contemporary education policy reforms and the sources of higher education inequities that are negatively impacting their communities. Specifically, this study investigated participants’ schooling experiences from basic education to higher education. The study employed counternarrative inquiry, and methods for data collection included interactions via videoconference, semi-structured interviews, participants’ written reflections on their interviews, and virtual focus groups. Nancy Fraser’s (1998) theory on social justice and the requirements of three dimensions – redistribution (economic), recognition (cultural), and representation (political) – framed this study. Results indicated that the redistributive nature of Vietnam’s education policy reforms are inadequate for advancing higher education equity. Participants experienced various forms of cultural disrespect throughout their schooling. Their narratives also showed that Giay and Hmong people lacked political representation which resulted in education policies that mis-identified sources of higher education inequities. Factors that negatively affect performance included poverty, an issue that influenced every aspect of participants’ education-related decisions and assessments of their schooling experience. One of the significant barriers to education engagement was communities’ perception that investment in education had very low returns. This belief stemmed from observations of post-graduates returning to their home village unemployed. Based on these findings, the following three interventions are recommended to redress higher education inequities; (1) procedural consideration for policy development to include political representation, (2) reforms in pedagogical practices to ensure cultural respect and dignity for all, and (3) socioeconomic interventions that increase employment opportunities for Giay and Hmong post-graduates. These recommendations were formed from participants counter stories and are necessary to advance higher education inequities in Vietnam.
Hospital Policies and Hospital-onset Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections: A Mixed Method Evaluation
(2022-03) Lesher Erickson, Lindsey
MRSA continues to spread in hospitals, despite modest recent success. Gaps exist regarding how hospital policies impact MRSA transmission in hospitals. Characterization of the policy environment has been useful in approaching other public health issues including alcohol control. Our goals were to develop a tool to identify measurable and modifiable hospital policy components designed to prevent MRSA, then utilize this tool to evaluate policies to examine the relationship between policies and MRSA incidence. We developed a tool to systematically evaluate hospital policies that included instructional and implementation elements. Each policy element was evaluated for its presence and thoroughness. Four hospital policy types were evaluated from five hospitals in Minnesota: hand hygiene, multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO)/isolation, influenza vaccination, and whistleblower (corporate compliance). Results demonstrated that the policies varied in comprehensiveness and thoroughness across hospitals and topics. Most policies included purpose and policy statements. Most policies lacked consequences for noncompliance, accountability, responsibility, monitoring and enforcement of policy expectations; when included, components scored low for thoroughness. Of the policies, influenza vaccination was the most complete while hand hygiene policies scored highest for thoroughness, followed by MDRO/Isolation. Upon evaluation of policy scores and MRSA incidence rates, we found an indication of a negative correlation between the MDRO/Isolation policy score and MRSA incidence: the higher the mean score of the MDRO/Isolation policy, the lower the MRSA rate. We found a similar indication of a negative correlation between the mean hand hygiene policy score and MRSA incidence. As we begin to characterize policy, endogenous in nature, as a potential exposure it is important that we develop rigorous measurement; we provided a first step in developing such an approach. The work of this dissertation will contribute to the field of epidemiology by gaining insight into organizational policy – including how we measure, analyze, and draw inferences with the results.
How Affordable Is Transportation? A Context-Sensitive Framework
(Center for Transportation Studies, 2011-05) Fan, Yingling; Huang, Arthur
Transportation affordability refers to the financial burden households bear in purchasing transportation services. Traditional measures, which focus on what share of household disposable income or total budget goes to transportation services, often fail to consider the wide variation in households? transportation needs and locational settings. In this project, we propose a contextualized transportation affordability analysis framework that differentiates population groups based upon their socio-demographics, the built environment, and the policy environment. The necessity of such a context-sensitive framework is demonstrated via a case study of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which shows heterogeneity among different population groups in terms of their transportation needs and resource availability. The proposed context-sensitive framework points to two dilemmas associated with transportation affordability. First, the socio-economically disadvantaged group has the lowest auto ownership rate, yet its transportation needs are better served by automobiles. Second, while automobiles can reduce transportation hardship for the socio-economically disadvantaged, the existing auto-oriented urban landscape in the U.S. requires more travel for access to destinations, which leads to higher transportation costs. The dilemmas call for a multi-modal transportation solution: reducing societal auto dependence and providing financial subsidies for car access among disadvantaged populations are equally important to enhance transportation affordability and social welfare.
Implementing accessibility in municipal planning— Planners’ view
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2009) Wennberg, Hanna; Ståhl, Agneta; Hydén, Christer
Accessibility in public outdoor environments for those with reduced functional capacity has been gaining interest on both the international and national levels. This study investigates how acces- sibility issues are currently treated in Swedish municipalities in order to examine how the accessibility needs of older people are met in daily practice. A postal questionnaire was sent to all municipalities in Sweden (N=290) with questions mainly regarding three categories: (1) existence of policies & planning documents, cooperation with interest organizations, and measures implemented, (2) awareness and use of governmental directives and recommendations relevant for accessibility issues and (3) statements of how accessibility issues are treated among municipal politicians and employees as perceived by the re- spondent. In the data analysis, a quantitative ranking of each one of the three categories was created using questions from the questionnaire to indicate the level of accessibility implemented in municipal planning. The results show a large variation in the accessibility standard among the municipalities in Sweden. In municipalities that have planning documents, e.g. accessibility plan, accessibility issues are treated more positively among the municipal politicians and employees. This positive relationship with the treatment of accessibility was also found with factors such as municipalities have an accessibility ad- viser employed, municipalities cooperate with senior organizations, and municipalities use governmen- tal directives and recommendations relevant for accessibility issues. This paper concludes that although there is still much to do to accomplish a society accessible to all citizens, a majority of the Swedish mu- nicipalities are nevertheless positive to accessibility issues.
Marital risk factors and HIV infection among women: a comparison between Ghana and Kenya.
(2009-08) Rombo, Dorothy Owino
The purpose of this study is to establish and compare marital risk factors associated with HIV infection among women in Ghana and Kenya, regions representing low and high HIV prevalence, respectively. The study controls for individual demographics, sexual behavior, and socio-cultural contexts. Samples of 2,057 in Ghana and 1,657 in Kenya are drawn from Demographic Health Surveys of 2003. Of married/ cohabiting women, about 3% and 8% are infected with HIV in Ghana and Kenya respectively. These mirror the general population prevalence in both countries. Results of logistic regression analyses indicate that when individual demographics including SES, degree of autonomy to make self-healthcare decisions, religious affiliation, sexual behavior, and socio-cultural factors are controlled for, marital characteristics significantly account for HIV infection. For Ghana, the model accounts for 7% of variance and remarriage is the only significant marital risk, increasing the odds of infection 1.9 times over those who are not remarried. For Kenya, marital factors explain one-half (6%) of the 12% total variability accounted for by the model. Remarriage, polygyny, and traditional marriage are the positive risk factors, with estimated increased risk likelihood of 2.8, 2.4, and 2.2 respectively. Negative predictors include delayed sexual debut and marriage and longer duration of marriage. The latter is a significant predictor in Kenya. Implications for educators are including content stating the life course risk factors, beginning with early sexual debut, delayed marriage, and ending up in a marriage that is likely to be characterized by multiple occurrences of consensual unprotected sex. Such unions include traditional/ cohabitation, polygyny, and/or remarriage. Additionally, public health and social policies that delay sexual debut, marriage, and reduce the risk of infection both before and after marriage should be put in place. Risk-reduction policy is a public health approach that provides options for safe sex for young people who might be engaging in sex. Social policies include laws that govern social life, such as marriage. Both countries need to outlaw early marriage and enforce laws against it. The challenges of multiple partner marriages like polygyny and remarriage, which are protected by human rights laws, can be addressed through continued dialogue in communities to adopt riskreduction strategies in such unions. Other factors that support such practices, like poverty, require long-term plans. These should be relentlessly pursued. Further research with valid measurements for empowerment and socio-cultural factors that are relevant to HIV infection is needed. Similarly, research on long-term marriages that have weathered the HIV era could provide insights for strengthening marriages through education.
Market Policy Landscape for Energy Efficient Homes
(2017) Hanson, Aaron
Affordable energy efficient building techniques and technologies are available for single family homes and market surveys suggest consumer desire for energy efficient homes is prevalent, but demand remains low and potential for energy efficiency in America's housing supply remains greater than economically justified. This paper analyzes the potential for reducing residential energy consumption, barriers to increasing the market demand, and policy solutions.
Oberstar Forum on Transportation Policy and Technology - How Should Transportation Change after September 11? (April 2002)
(Center for Transportation Studies University of Minnesota, 2002-04) Center for Transportation Studies
Topics at this forum: How Should Transportation Change After September 11?; U of M Researchers Consider Impacts of Terrorism; Security Permeates Plans of USDOT Administrators; Discussion Circle Elucidates Priorities for Response; Panel Outlines Government Policy Directions; Mainstreaming Security Identified as Key Forum Theme; Transportation Since September 11; Transportation Leaders Ponder Implications of Terrorist Attacks; Oberstar Closes By Challenging Participants to Change
Oberstar Forum on Transportation Policy and Technology - Intermodal Transportation: The Potential and the Challenge (March 2003)
(Center for Transportation Studies University of Minnesota, 2003-03) Center for Transportation Studies
Topics at this forum: Intermodal Transportation: The Potential and the Challenge; U of M Researchers Discuss Intermodal Economics and Design Implications; USDOT Administrators Discuss Ways to Define and Improve Intermodal Roles; Discussion Circle Aims for ‘More Perfect Union’; Policy Panel Explores Challenges of Funding Intermodal Efforts; Public and Private Stakeholder Differences Emerge as Key Intermodal Hurdle; 2003: The Year of Transportation; Panel Discusses the Impact of Intermodalism; Oberstar: Thinking Intermodally Stems From Sharing Ideas

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