Organizational Unit:

School of Public Policy

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70716

Parent Organization

Organizational Unit

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Includes Organization(s)

Organizational Unit

Technology Policy and Assessment Center

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1033

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 343

Risk disclosure on egg donor recruitment advertisements: Current practices & the effect on women's willingness to become an egg donor

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-11-15) Alberta, Hillary

Egg donation has proven to be a valuable tool in addressing the health issues with infertility. Given the importance of egg donation, it is essential that the procedures related to recruitment, treatment, and compensation of egg donors continue to monitored and evaluated. This dissertation considers the question of risk disclosure at the earliest stage of the egg donor recruitment process: in recruitment advertisements. My research examines whether the recruitment advertisements are the appropriate time in the recruitment process to disclose possible risks of egg donation. Specifically, what, if any, risk disclosures should be included in the recruitment advertisements to ensure that the potential donor understands and considers the risks at the time she decides whether to proceed. There are two parts to my analysis that aim to address this question. The first part assesses risk disclosure rates in egg donor recruitment advertisements collected online. The results show that risk disclosure in egg donor advertisements is rare. The risk disclosure rates are compared between entities subject to the ASRM self-regulatory guidelines and those that are not (i.e. clinics vs. agencies) and between advertisements placed inside of California (i.e. subject to the California state law) and those placed outside of California (i.e. not subject to the California state law). The results suggest that neither the current ASRM self-regulations nor the formal regulations implemented in California were successful in addressing the low risk disclosure rates. The second part of the analysis is a survey administered to current or recent female graduate students attending one of three Georgia universities to provide insight on the effects of disclosing various levels of risk at the earliest stage of the recruitment process. The survey results show that the inclusion of risk at the advertisement level can have a significant association with a woman’s willingness to engage in the donation process. The survey also provided a means of examining how compensation influences the donor’s evaluation of associated risks listed on an advertisement and the interaction between compensation and risk disclosure. The hypothetical response analysis, in particular shows how potential egg donors are at risk of being unduly influenced when they are financially vulnerable. The results from my research have policy implications in several areas related to the recruitment, treatment and compensation of egg donors. The results are discussed in relation to the ethical and policy issues of egg donation and provide insight into how the discussions or the development of oversight can protect the needs of patients struggling with infertility and the safety and autonomy of egg donors.
Lessons from Ten Years of Nanotechnology Bibliometric Analysis

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-09) Youtie, Jan ; Porter, Alan L. ; Shapira, Philip ; Newman, Nils

This paper summarizes the 10-year experiences of the Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP) at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in support of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU) in understanding, characterizing, and conveying the development of nanotechnology research and application. This work was labeled “Research and Innovation Systems Assessment” or (RISA) by CNS-ASU. RISA concentrates on identifying and documenting quantifiable aspects of nanotechnology, including academic, commercial/industrial, and government nanoscience and nanotechnology (nanotechnologies) activity, research, and projects. RISA at CNS-ASU engaged in the first systematic attempt of its kind to define, characterize, and track a field of science and technology. A key element to RISA was the creation of a replicable approach to bibliometrically defining nanotechnology. Researchers in STIP, and beyond, could then query the resulting datasets to address topical areas ranging from basic country and regional concentrations of publications and patents, to findings about social science literature, environmental, health, and safety research and usage, to study corporate entry into nanotechnology, and to explore application areas as special interests arose. Key features of the success of the program include:  Having access to “large-scale” R&D abstract datasets  Analytical software  A portfolio that balances innovative long-term projects, such as webscraping to understand nanotechnology developments in small and medium-sized companies, with research characterizing the emergence of nanotechnology that more readily produces articles  Relationships with diverse networks of scholars and companies working in the nanotechnology science and social science domains  An influx of visiting researchers  A strong core of students with social science, as well as some programming background  A well-equipped facility and management by the principals through weekly problem-solving meetings, mini-deadlines, and the production journal articles rather than thick final reports.
Energy information at home: An analysis and policy projection of the rebound effect and U.S. smart grid

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-24) Wang, Joy Huan

This dissertation examines residential energy behavior through three studies. First, a meta-analysis of the residential rebound effect, excluding transportation studies, finds an average rebound effect size of 42%. Fixed effects meta-regression findings suggest rebound effect estimates may be impacted by participant selection methods, availability of financial incentives, and implemented measures. The second study finds current residential smart grid deployment, as determined by Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) installations, correlated with reduced average utility household electricity use. The predicted decrease (0.9% reduction at 100% AMI penetration in the residential sector) is lower than some experimental research findings, suggesting current smart grid information feedback may not be fully deployed, optimally designed, or readily accessible. Lastly, twelve smart grid scenarios were developed by varying price elasticity and rebound effect in the National Energy Modeling System to project possible long term impacts of a national residential smart grid. These scenarios are projected to realize energy and environmental benefits over the long term. Residential sector energy savings from are greater than all sector savings, with projected energy increases in the commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. This suggests cross-sector policies may benefit smart grid implementation.
Three essays on clean energy technology diffusion and policy innovations

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-01) Zhou, Shan

This thesis is motivated by the challenges and opportunities the energy sector faces as a result of climate change. Traditional power generation based on fossil-fuel use has contributed significantly to the historic increase of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. While low-carbon energy technology is often regarded as a key solution to climate change mitigation, the successful transformation to a clean energy economy requires a solid scientific understanding of the technological change process and the role of public policies. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to examine the interplay between technology and policy to support the design and implementation of effective policy practices for the scaling up of clean energy technologies. It investigates the diffusion mechanisms underlying both technology and policy innovations in the energy infrastructure system, focusing on smart grid and renewable energy technologies. In this thesis, quantitative and qualitative methods are integrated to evaluate the role of public policies in smart metering technology diffusion. In particular, I collect and analyze market penetration data for 50 U.S. states and D.C. between 2007 and 2012 to assess the effectiveness of government interventions in driving smart metering technological change. I also conduct a comparative case study to investigate how the design of policies and the subsequent policy processes have led to the cross-national variation in smart meter deployment in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. My study has shown that polycentric energy governance, particularly the interdependencies between different government actions, plays an important role in smart meter deployment in the U.S. context, whereas a coherent policy framework that addresses institutional, financial, and social barriers is proven to be more effective in promoting smart meters in the cases of five European countries. To further explore the driving forces of clean energy policy adoption, I apply logit event history analysis models and stratified Cox conditional gap time models to investigate determinants for the adoption of five types of renewable energy policies by 30 European countries between 1990 and 2012. The results show that initial renewable energy policy spread across countries can be well explained by the learning and competition mechanisms, while the four diffusion theories have largely failed to explain subsequent policy modifications and changes. In addition to each paper’s individual contributions, the findings of this thesis collectively provide important implications for the adoption and implementation of clean energy technologies and policies to enhance the sustainability of the electric grid system.
Pay for performance, position, or place:

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-07-29) Gehl, Sarah Beth

This dissertation examines organizational influences on gender and racial salary equity among tenured and tenure-track faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The study argues that traditional individual and disciplinary explanations for salary inequities fail to capture the institutional variations in conditions among women and underrepresented minority faculty in STEM disciplines. A better understanding of these institutional variations is important for theory and practice as scholars continue to attempt to explain the unexplained salary gaps and policymakers target organizational change to resolve persistent gaps. The results show that individual characteristics and discipline do explain salary gaps among STEM faculty broadly; however, those results vary across organizational settings. Comparisons of gender and racial salary gaps among institutional types show that organizational mission, resources, and power influence the extent of salary parity. The results validate the importance of emphasizing and rethinking institutional categorizations to understand pay disparities among women and underrepresented minority STEM faculty.
American cities in turbulent economic times: An exploration of financial slack in municipal finance

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-07-06) Su, Min

This dissertation is a comprehensive study of financial slack’s roles in municipal finance. Drawing theories and hypotheses in various fields of disciplines, the dissertation explores both the causes and impacts of financial slack accumulation in municipal government. Based on organization theory’s risk-slack hypothesis, I first examine whether tax revenue volatility along with other risk factors in a city’s fiscal structure increase municipal financial slack accumulation. The findings support organization theory’s hypothesis that volatile tax revenues and other risk factors increase a city’s financial slack level. I then examine financial slack’s impact on municipal expenditure stabilization. Using the first-differenced equation model to analyze the same dataset used in the previous chapter, I find that the change of a city’s accumulated financial slack always counteracts the change of its expenditures, suggesting that financial slack stabilizes municipal expenditures when revenues fluctuate—it provides fungible financial resources when a city faces a revenue shortfall and it absorbs additional revenues when a city experiences a revenue surplus. Lastly, I examine financial slack’s role in managing municipal cash flows. Municipal governments often use internal financial resources (i.e. accumulated financial slack) and external financial resources (i.e. short-term debt) to manage cash flow fluctuations. The pecking order theory posits that firms have a preference order over financial resources: internal funds come first, followed by debt, and then equity. I find that financial slack reduces both the probability and the amount of municipal short-term debt, providing evidence to support the pecking order theory.
Site-based management, job autonomy, and principal turnover in the public education system

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-06-20) Sai, Na

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine whether the implementation of site-based management leads to higher levels of principal autonomy and more collaborative decision-making processes between principals and teachers. It also measures the effects of principals’ job autonomy and other principal- and school-related factors on the levels of principal turnover. The data of this dissertation mainly come from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the 2012-13 Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS). The controlled principal- and school-related factors include the individual characteristics of the principal, the contextual factors of the school which assess the physical background of the school and the composition of the student and teacher body, and also the working conditions of the principal. Using Wald-tests, linear regression models and logit regression models, I find that charter school principals perceive that they have higher levels of job autonomy than do traditional public school principals. I also find more collaborative and democratic decision-making processes in charter schools than in traditional public schools. In addition, I find that the levels of principals’ job autonomy negatively affect their turnover rates. Charter school principals, however, are more likely than traditional public school principals to leave their jobs even though they enjoy higher levels of job autonomy. The differences in the contextual factors of the school drive the higher levels of turnover probability among charter school principals.
Essays in fiscal policy and budgeting

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-05-20) Karmakar, Krishanu

Tax competition literature predicts a world where countries will suppress taxes on mobile capital to attract it from elsewhere. Do the countries of South East Asia interact with each other strategically and compete when setting corporate taxes or do they compete for capital through other incentives? Data was collected from World Bank and American Enterprise Institute to model the tax interaction across these countries as a spatially dependent process. Findings indicate that these countries compete in terms of taxes amongst themselves only to a limited extent, but try to attract capital through non-tax incentives. Moreover, the spread of production processes by MNCs in these countries are such that they can act as a block to attract capital from the rest of the world, while not competing too much amongst them. Does Soft Budget Constraint exist in Indian State finances? If it does what is its extent and how does it manifest itself? Using data from Reserve Bank of India and Ministry of Finance sources our analysis indicate that states in India do indeed enjoy the benefits of soft budget constraint and expect the Central government to bail them out through regular resource transfers. Can the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium of policy making explain the pattern of jumps and stasis in Indian state budgets? Or can explanations like political business cycle and forecast error correction be sufficient to explain such patterns? A detailed study of the annual budgetary changes indicate that although such competing explanations can partly explain the pattern, but still the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory is strongly applicable in explaining the leptokurtic pattern of annual budgetary changes in India.
Benefits of GM Technology Use

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-05) Balinao, Elizabeth ; Davis, Jordan ; Marcus, Charles ; Reisinger, Payton

An argument map focused on the various benefits of GM Technology and why it should be used for food reduction.
Labeling GM Food Argument Map

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-05) Balinao, Elizabeth ; Davis, Jordan ; Marcus, Charles ; Reisinger, Payton

Argument Map focused on the need for labeling genetically modified food products