Externalities of Overhead Power Lines on Residential Housing Values
by Jake Park-Walters
Abstract
Overhead electricity transmission lines (OHLs) create negative externalities on nearby housing values largely from perceived factors including aesthetics, safety, and health. Studies have been performed outside of the US to determine the specific value impact of power lines by proximity. It is not, however, well researched within the United States–specifically in suburban and urban areas. To assess the value loss from overhead power lines, this study examines housing transactions in North Carolina from 1997 to 2020 with a particular emphasis upon cities and townships. With GIS software, proximity variables are calculated such that a difference-indifference regression can estimate the impact of distance to OHL on transaction values. This is important for local policy regarding whether municipalities may want to invest into burying power lines as a means of improving local property values. The results attempt to illustrate how burying high impact lines (HILs) can generate high public benefit relative to cost through marginal value of public funds (MVPF) calculations. These HILs may be chosen based on a variety of factors including proximity to dense, high value housing to maximize value improvement by burial.
Professor David Berger, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: L94, H76, D04
Keywords: Electric Utilities, Policy Evaluation, Local Government Expenditure
Email for Access to Data
Splitting Hairs or Splitting Regions: The Differential Democratic Impacts of Splitting ZIP Codes vs. Counties During Redistricting
by Jacob Hervey
Abstract
In light of the Supreme Court’s holding in Gill v. Whitford, judicially-enforceable gerrymandering metrics must focus on democratic harms to individual citizens, instead of state-wide measures of proportionality. Previous literature has suggested that gerrymandering metrics should focus on the extent to which congressional districts split preexisting geographic boundaries (namely, ZIP codes and counties). This work compares the differential democratic harms caused by ZIP code versus county splitting during redistricting across two domains. First, we exploit the changes during the 2010 redistricting process to construct a difference-in-difference model that captures changes in voters’ political knowledge as a function of their exposure to geographic splitting. Second, we predict district-level electoral outcomes from 2002-2018 based upon the extent of ZIP code and county splitting. Our results indicate that ZIP code and county splitting cause more significant democratic harms for different outcomes of interest. While county splitting has more negative consequences for constituents’ political knowledge,ZIP code splitting is more detrimental with regards to voter turnout.
Professor Patrick Bayer, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: D72, K16, H11
The Impact of 2021 Advance Child Tax Credit Payments on Low-Income Households’ Labor Supply
by Zixin “Ellen” Zhang
Abstract
Studies have established that the Advance 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments substantially reduced poverty and food insecurity, but some claim that the CTC payments may create negative labor supply effects that could offset its hardship-reduction benefits. Researchers have used a variety of methods to measure how the monthly CTC payments affect the labor supply of households, but the results vary from significant decreases to no significant change to even increases in household labor supply. Using a method novel to this literature, I estimate the labor supply impacts of Advance 2021 CTC by analyzing labor supply changes in response to real amounts of CTC received, which varies by household depending on regional cost-of-livings. Through fixed effects linear regressions across many different combinations of household type and income level, I find that, on average, receiving Advance CTC caused a statistically significant decrease in household labor supply. However, for different household subgroups, I find both statistically significant and insignificant labor supply impacts as well as both increases, decreases, and no change in households’ labor supply due to monthly CTC payments. This suggests that the impacts of 2021 Advance CTC on household labor depend heavily on a household’s situation, specifically income level and household composition. These household-specific patterns align with prior research on the Advance 2021 CTC and how welfare payments are used by families.
Professor Thomas Nechyba, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: C31, H24, I38, J22
School Choice and Neighborhood Change in Post-Katrina New Orleans
by Rosalind Fei Yang
Abstract
As school choice policies weaken the traditional link between neighborhoods and schools, traditional housing patterns previously governed by school zoning are changing. This paper examines the connection between school choice reform, specifically an increase in charter schools, and changes in neighborhood composition, focusing on New Orleans over time. I use data from the American Community Survey, the National Center of Education Statistics, and the Louisiana Department of Education. The goal is to understand how school choice policies influence residential dynamics, with a specific focus on their role in gentrification patterns.
Professor Patrick Bayer, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: H75, I21, I28
Blaze of Distrust: The Impact of Wildfires on Social Capital and Governance in Brazilian Amazonia
by Feishi “Alicia” Gong
Abstract
The 2019 wildfire crisis in Brazilian Amazonia not only captured global headlines but also deeply influenced public sentiment towards environmental and political challenges within the country. Trust, a pivotal element of social capital, plays a vital role in shaping a nation’s progress and the well-being of its citizens. This study employs detailed satellite data on wildfire occurrences and survey data reflecting Brazilian public opinion to investigate the nature of fire activity in Brazilian Amazonia, treating it as indicative of organized criminal behavior. Further, it delves into the ramifications of wildfires on the institutional and interpersonal trust of Brazilians. Our findings reveal that wildfires exert a considerable detrimental impact on the trust that local residents place in institutions and each other. These insights underscore the urgency of enhancing environmental protection measures and wildfire management strategies. By doing so, Brazil can bolster its social capital and empower local governments to rebuild and maintain public trust effectively.
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: H70, Q23, Q51
The Press and Peace, Examining Iraq War Coverage in Newspapers using BERT LLMs
by Jakobe Bussey
Abstract
This study utilizes state-of-the-art BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) models to perform sentiment analysis on Wall Street Journal and New York Times articles about the Iraq War published between 2002 and 2012 and further categorize them using advanced unsupervised machine learning techniques. By utilizing statistical analysis and quartic regression models, this paper concludes that the two newspapers report on the Iraq War differently, with both exhibiting a predominantly negative-neutral tone overall. Additionally, the analysis reveals significant fluctuations in negativity from both outlets over time as the war progresses. Furthermore, this study examines the objectivity of reporting between editorial and non-editorial articles, finding that non-editorials tend to report more objectively, and the neutrality of editorials remains relatively constant while the objectivity of non-editorials fluctuates in response to war events. Finally, the paper investigates variations in sentiment across different topics, uncovering substantial variations in positive, neutral, and negative sentiments across topics and their evolution over time.
Professor Peter Arcidiacono, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: L8, L82, H56
Effects of Neighborhoods on Children’s Educational Outcomes in Indonesia
by Audrey Liu
Abstract
There is considerable observed geographic variable in outcomes across space. Neighborhood effects attempt to explain to what extent the place in which an individual grows up impacts their future outcomes. This paper focuses on neighborhood effects on children in Indonesia where there is a large disparity in public and private amenities between different regions. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether and to what extent neighborhoods impact a child’s education outcomes and whether there exists a critical age where intervention is most crucial. By restricting my dataset to movers and taking advantage of variation within a family in terms of exposure to different neighborhoods, I find evidence that the duration of time an individual spends in a given neighborhoods impacts their outcomes. I also find evidence of a critical age that produces better outcomes, implying that the age at which a child moves matters as well.
Professor Erica Field, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: I25; H4; H75
Code on file
Illuminating the Economic Costs of Conflict: A Night Light Analysis of the Sri Lankan Civil War
by Nicholas Kiran Wijesekera
Abstract
This paper investigates the economic consequences of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009) by using event-based data on civilian and combatant fatalities in addition to night light imagery as a proxy for economic activity. By looking at regional economic activity across the island of Sri Lanka, this paper seeks to identify how violence led to declines or undershoots of economic activity in the areas in which it was most prevalent. The use of night light data gives a hyper-localized proxy measurement of this activity for each year of the war. The investigation finds that government and rebel deaths have strong, negative effects on economic activity, and that these effects spill over across time and space. Additionally, the manner in which civilian deaths occur is an important determinant of their subsequent economic impact. The paper offers new findings on the economic legacy of the Sri Lankan Civil War and extends existing work on the use of night light data to measure economic activity during conflict.
Professor Charles Becker, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: H56, N45, O53
Improving Institutional Performance: Foreign Aid Evaluation and Determinants of Foreign Aid Project Success Ratings
by Susan Sawyer O’Keefe
Abstract
In this paper, I use a regression model to predict project outcome ratings for international aid projects by 12 multilateral and bilateral aid agencies taking place in 183 recipient countries. The influential factors considered are project duration, project size, evaluation type, evaluation lag, donor ratings, and country-level indicators of development. I find a significant relationship supporting differences in project outcome ratings for projects evaluated by an independent evaluation agency, a resource that some banks use to access project performance by an unbiased party. I also examine the significance of other project-level factors and compare these to trends identified in past literature on foreign aid project effectiveness.
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: H43, O22
