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Essays on Financial Economics
No full textThis dissertation is composed of three chapters on financial economics. The first chapter assesses the relationship between optimal deposit insurance financing and banking fragility. The second chapter examines how expansionary monetary policy affects financial sector wages. The third chapter evaluates the performance of multiple econometric models in estimating the covariance matrix of returns in the context of portfolio choice. Chapter 1 present a quantitative model of deposit insurance. We characterize the policymaker’s optimal choices of coverage for depositors and premiums raised from banks. Premiums contribute to a deposit insurance fund that lowers taxpayers’ resolution cost of bank failures. We find that risk-adjusted premiums reduce moral hazard, enabling the policymaker to increase deposit insurance coverage by 3 percentage points and decrease the share of expected annual bank failures from 0.66% to 0.16%. The model predicts a fund-to-covered-deposits ratio that matches the data and declines in taxpayers’ income due to taxpayers’ risk aversion. Chapter 2 investigates the relation between monetary growth and compensation in the financial industry since the end of the Bretton Woods system. Estimating local projections, we find that the growth of the monetary base positively associates with a higher differential between financial and average wages. Our findings indicate that the effects are short lived, lending support to the temporary non-neutrality of money argued by David Hume and against the more permanent non-neutrality argued by Richard Cantillon. Our results help clarify debates on the non-neutrality of money going back to the eighteenth century. Chapter 3 investigates whether sophisticated volatility estimation improves the out-of-sample performance of mean-variance portfolio strategies relative to the naive 1/N strategy. The portfolio strategies rely solely upon second moments. Using a diverse group of portfolios and econometric models across multiple datasets, most models achieve higher Sharpe ratios and lower portfolio volatility that are statistically and economically significant relative to the naive rule, even after controlling for turnover costs. Our results suggest benefits to employing more sophisticated econometric models than the sample covariance matrix, and that mean-variance strategies often outperform the naive portfolio across multiple datasets and assessment criteria
MicroRNA-Mediated Control of Inflammation and Energy Homeostasis by the Gut Microbiota
No full textThe mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract houses a complex array of microbes critical for promoting essential host functions in local and distant tissues. Dysbiosis of the human gut microbiota has been linked to the development of multi-tissue immunometabolic disorders including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. While extensive efforts have been made to understand the complex nature of host-microbiota interactions in regulating host fitness, studies in mice and humans have revealed few specific microbial drivers of distinct disease states. Moreover, how the microbiota controls systemic processes by modulating cellular functions in both local and distant tissues is unclear. In this thesis work we show that the microRNA family miR-181 is regulated by the gut microbiota to 1) regulate whole body glucose homeostasis by modulating cell-intrinsic functions of white adipocytes and 2) protect against severe GI inflammation in response to mucosal injury by regulating the proliferative capacity of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Our mechanistic work in white adipocytes shows that tryptophan-derived metabolites produced by the gut microbiota control the expression of the miR-181 family to regulate energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. Moreover, we show that dysregulation of the gut microbiota-miR-181 axis is required for the development of obesity, insulin resistance, and white adipose tissue inflammation in mice. When we assessed the role of the gut microbiota-miR-181 axis locally in the GI tract, we found that miR-181 expression within IECs is regulated by the gut microbiota and is required for protection against the development of severe colonic inflammation in response to epithelial injury. Moreover, we discovered that miR-181 expression increases the proliferative capacity of IECs, likely through de-repression of Wnt signaling. Altogether, our results indicate that regulation of miR-181 by the gut microbiota is a central mechanism by which host physiology is tuned in response to dietary and environmental stressors. miR-181 thus represents a novel post-transcriptional regulatory factor and potential therapeutic target in IECs and white adipocytes critical for controlling the progression of immuometabolic disorders
Marriage Change and Fertility Decline in sub-Saharan Africa, 1991-2019
Get PDFThe institutions of marriage and the family have undergone profound changes over recent decades in sub-Saharan Africa, following differentiated paths across and within countries. These changes, however, have not been systematically related to variation in fertility and its decline over time. We use Demographic and Health Survey data from 29 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to examine how nuptiality patterns have changed over the period 1991-2019, and how these changes are associated with changes in the total fertility rate and ideal family size. Using multi-level linear models, we find that our four marriage indicators are all significantly associated with the total fertility rate, but only the associations with polygyny and remarriage are robust to the inclusion of sub-national region fixed effects. Our results suggest that declines in the prevalence of remarriage and polygyny together may account for 17 percent of total fertility decline in the average sub-national region over the period of study. In addition to these results, we find a significant positive association between the prevalence of polygyny and ideal family size, but no association between ideal family size and divorce, remarriage, or the age at first marriage after including fixed effects
THE RELATIONSHIP OF ADULT ATTACHMENT TO THE WILLINGNESS OF SOLDIERS TO SEEK HELP FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CONCERNS
Get PDFStatement of Problem: This study sought to determine the influence of attachment styles and stigma on the willingness of soldiers to seek help for mental health concerns and the degree to which stigma mediates the relationship between attachment style and help-seeking. Methods: This study utilized data gathered from an anonymous survey of U.S. Army soldiers (N=538) used in a mixed-methods Epidemiological Consultation (EPICON). Participants responded to validated items measuring depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol use. Measures also included stigma, attachment types, and help-seeking. Analysis assessed the mediating effect of stigma on the willingness of insecure attachment styles to seek help across formal and informal helping categories. Results: Attachment avoidant soldiers were found more resistant to the idea of help-seeking than attachment anxious soldiers. Comparisons of insecure attachment styles (anxious and avoidant) found attachment avoidance predicted increases in stigma, corresponding with declines in help-seeking willingness, with the most significant decrease linked to unit peers and leaders. However, while stigma negatively influenced attachment anxious soldiers’ willingness to seek help from both military and civilian sources, it only mediated a decline in attachment avoidant soldiers’ willingness to seek help from military sources, not civilian. Conclusion: Findings align with prior research indicating anxious attachment adult hesitation can delay help-seeking, and under certain conditions, attachment avoidant adults can be open to help-seeking. Results also suggest when promoting help-seeking with service members and veterans, understanding the intersections between adult attachment types, stigma, and help-seeking is essential to effective clinical and community outreach practice
Undoing Aloneness in the COVID-19 Pandemic: How AEDP Clinicians Have Experienced the Shift to Telehealth and the Impact on the Therapeutic Relationship
Get PDFCOVID-19 has not only killed and infected millions of people worldwide but has also resulted in unprecedented psychosocial stressors that continue to have profound mental health consequences for many people, exacerbating pre-existing psychological suffering and contributing to the onset of new stress related conditions. It has also resulted in a major revolution in the delivery of mental health treatment abruptly shifting psychotherapeutic practice to online technology. Psychotherapists need to be prepared for how their clinical work may change.
This qualitative research study has been phenomenological in nature, attempting to capture and contribute to the literature on the lived experience of psychotherapists in navigating the transition through a global pandemic and exploring how the accompanying shift to telehealth has impacted clinical practice and the therapeutic relationship, if at all. A single-session, semi-structured interview lasting approximately one hour was conducted over Zoom with 15 mental health clinicians certified in an integrative psychotherapeutic attachment-based treatment model Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP). Research findings and data were analyzed using a thematic coding process and principles of grounded theory.
Significant findings of this study included the identification of factors that might negatively impact the online therapeutic relationship and the recognition of ways to strengthen and enhance telehealth effectiveness with an attachment-based and relational lens. Advantages and disadvantages of telehealth practice were identified and explored in addition to the effects of shared trauma on the therapeutic relationship and the post-traumatic growth and resilience of the therapist. Implications for theory, practice and social work education are discussed. Limitations included the small size and homogeneity of the study sample
Runaway Advertisements from Barbados, 1770 and 1783-89
Get PDFNewspaper advertisements written and published by enslavers seeking the capture and return of enslaved people who had escaped. Published in the Barbados Mercury in September to October 1770, and between April 1773 and March 1789, and in the Barbados Gazette between July 1787 and February 1789
Revisiting the Past Treatments and Condition Assessment of the Painted Sanctuary at Tumacacori
Get PDFThis thesis focuses on the painted walls in the Sanctuary of the Mission Church of San Jose de Tumacacori, which has been managed by the National Park Service since 1918 and has been treated several times in the past years. The treatments from different periods overlaid on the surface of the Sanctuary offer interesting evidence of different types of conservation treatments conducted on in situ murals and decorative paintings over the past century. However, these treatments have never been closely examined nor distinguished as individual campaigns of treatment. This thesis intends to differentiate and analyze the treatments and materials applied to the surfaces of the Sanctuary with the help of ultraviolet light examination and microscopical analysis. In the meantime, the current conditions of the painted surfaces will be recorded. An effort will be made to evaluate the effectiveness of different treatments. Finally, based on the findings of the thesis, it will try to provide recommendations for future interventions for the painted Sanctuary of Tumacacori
Collation Model for Ms. Codex 129: [Feuerwerkbuch].
Get PDFWork concerning firearms. Presumably compiled from various sources, with references to barrels [ levell ?] used in Italy (Venice and Naples).https://repository.upenn.edu/sims_models/1028/thumbnail.jp
Assessing Different Mechanisms of Community Engagement in Urban Farms in Philadelphia, U.S.
Get PDFPrevious research has indicated that urban agriculture offers a wide variety of health, economic, and social benefits for participants. Urban farms need to consider what factors and mechanisms allow them to engage more of their community to share these benefits. Examining four case studies of urban farms across Philadelphia, this paper strives to illuminate the lessons and themes of community engagement in urban agriculture. I draw upon information from prior research, online sources, in-person site visits, and semi-structured interviews with farm operators. The findings offer insight into how events and programming, marketing and outreach, leadership and vision, funding and partnerships, and physical design all interact to shape an urban farm’s ability to engage with its community