All three articles in my dissertation gather information from individuals, analyze it, and aggregate that information into forecasts of upcoming events. The motivation is to make forecasts more efficient (accurate and timely), more versatile (provide the most useful information for each...

This dissertation charts intellectual changes in the way work is valued--both politically and socially--from the 1930s to the present day. It employs both historical and interepretivist methodologies in order to examine the instantiation of a public vision of work during the work relief programs...

Scholars, politicians, and economic leaders widely believe that an independent, efficient judiciary facilitates economic growth. However, relatively few empirical studies have been conducted to evaluate the relationship between the judiciary and the economy. As a result, we have a limited and an...

This paper studies the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean and determines whether this relationship is conditional on institutional quality, utilizing an index of accountability. I examine whether or not accountability structures rather than fiscal...

This research considers the likelihood of adoption of and the effectiveness of growth management policy. First, I consider the likelihood that states adopt growth management policies. To conduct this research, I employ the policy diffusion model and add to the economic competition component of...

This dissertation addresses the problem of informational and legal restrictions on employment screening processes such as educational requirements and standardized testing. For the past two decades, the legal system in the U.S. has struggled with this issue and has labeled certain information or...

Bilateral air service agreements have determined the nature of international air services through regulation of entry, service quality and pricing. Negotiations for such treaties reflect each government's aim to gain at least an equivalent right before granting certain traffic rights to the...

An explanation of leadership within a particular class of institutions is developed. The institutions of interest are non-hierarchical, endow their leaders with few formal powers, and are hampered by principal-agent problems. The explanation proceeds in two stages.First, game-theoretic models of...

This dissertation examines the empirical underpinnings of the broader-deeper trade off. Policy makers often worry that the enlargement of regional trade agreements comes at the expense of further deepening (integration). Enlargement will lead to more preference heterogeneity and more economic...

We address international economic sanctions from a bargaining perspective and explain the variation in states' decisions to employ economic coercion, in the objectives they pursue through it, and in the level of political concessions they are able to extract. The connection between military and...