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Essays on Macroeconomic Expectations:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Ryan ChahrourThis dissertation consists of three independent explorations of the interplay between expectations and macroeconomic activity. I investigate economic dynamics and policy issues concerning the management of expectations both from the lens of business cycles and medium-term fluctuations, embracing a rational expectations approach as well as venturing into the wilderness of bounded rationality. The first chapter, "Monetary Policy & Anchored Expectations - An Endogenous Gain Learning Model," investigates how a concern to anchor expectations affects the conduct of monetary policy. The chapter first proposes a novel model of expectations which provides a notion for unanchored expectations. In this model, expectations are the more unanchored the higher the sensitivity of long-run inflation expectations to short-run fluctuations. I then embed the expectations model in a general-equilibrium model of the business cycle, and estimate the extent of unanchoring using data on inflation expectations. Within the context of the thus calibrated model, I derive the Ramsey-optimal monetary policy. The main result is that it is optimal for a central bank to anchor inflation expectations to the inflation target. The way the central bank can achieve this is by responding very aggressively with its interest rate tool to fluctuations in long-run inflation expectations. The observation that motivates the second chapter, "Talking in Time - Dynamic Central Bank Communication," is that the management of expectations by the monetary authority is a dynamic problem in two ways. Firstly, in a dynamic economy, a central bank needs to decide when to communicate. Secondly, every time the central bank does talk to the public, it also has to choose what to talk about: the present or the future? The chapter thus extends existing macroeconomic research on various dimensions of optimal central bank communication by asking what the implications of dynamics are for the optimal information provision of the central bank to the public. To this end, I analyze a Bayesian Persuasion game between a central bank and the private sector in a static and a dynamic setting, in which the private sector tracks one economic variable, while the central bank wishes it to track a second variable instead. Importantly, the two problems are identical except for the correlation structure between the two variables, which is either cross-sectional or temporal. This way, I isolate the role of dynamics for the optimal communication policy. The main result is that in the dynamic setting, the prior beliefs of the private sector become endogenous to central bank communication and dampen the effectiveness of the central bank's communication. Therefore, the central bank faces a new tradeoff: it needs to push against priors in two ways. Relatively to the static solution, the central bank talks more about the economic variable it wants the private sector to learn about, and it also talks with less clarity in order to render the private sector's beliefs sufficiently responsive to its messages at each point in time. In the third chapter, "ICT-Specific Investment Shocks and Economic Fluctuations - Evidence and Theory of a General-Purpose Technology," joint with Marco Brianti, I explore empirically the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) for medium-run economic fluctuations. The first set of results demonstrate the hump-shaped dynamics of total factor productivity after an innovation in ICT, as identified in a structural vector autoregression context. I interpret the hump-shaped impulse response as a consequence of the slow diffusion of ICT technologies, and test this hypothesis using an estimated two-sector growth model. The second set of results document that, viewed through the lens of the model, the data favor the interpretation of innovations in the ICT-sector playing the role of a general-purpose technology. In other words, the slow buildup of the overall effect on productivity stems from the gradual diffusion of ICT in the economy.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Economics
Understanding Luke’s Transfiguration Account as a Prayer Experience: A Detailed Study of Motifs
Get PDFThesis advisor: Matthew S. MonnigThesis advisor: Thomas D. StegmanThesis (STL) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
Enantioselective Transformations of α- and β-Amino C-H Bonds Promoted by Cooperative Actions of Achiral and Chiral Lewis Acid Catalysts:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Masayuki WasaThesis advisor: Amir H. HoveydaThis dissertation describes the development of cooperative catalyst systems for the regio- and enantio-selective α- and β-amino C-H functionalization of N-alkylamines, inspired by the concepts of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs). Prior to this dissertation research, the development of effective and broadly applicable catalytic protocol to transform amino C-H bonds with high enantioselectivity remained as a formidable problem. In Chapter 1, the recent advances in the field of amino C-H functionalization through hydride transfer process that served as intellectual foundations for this dissertation research is presented. As highlighted in the first chapter, key challenges of amino C-H functionalization are: (1) unreactive nature of α, β- and/or γ-amino C-H bonds, (2) requirement for the use of precious metal-based catalysts and external oxidants under acidic/basic and harsh conditions, (3) use of directing groups for regioselectivity, and (4) poor functional group tolerance. Inspired by the unique capability of FLPs to activate otherwise unreactive molecules while disfavoring undesirable acid-base complexation, we have developed a protocol for enantioselective α-amino C-H functionalization of N-alkylamines, where chiral and achiral Lewis acid catalysts work cooperatively (Chapter 2). The application of the cooperative catalyst system comprising of B(C6F5)3, a chiral Lewis acid, and a Brønsted base to the enantioselective β-amino C-H functionalization is described in Chapter 3.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
"Mi Na Kpa Glagla Nu Aklunon: We will Lend a Hand To God”: Challenges and Opportunities of Double Religious Belonging in Benin and Nigeria
Get PDFThesis advisor: Catherine CornilleThesis advisor: Margaret GuiderThesis (STL) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
Get Out!?.: The Tests, Tensions, and Triumphs of Black Male Doctoral Student-Instructors in Teacher Education at Historically White Institutions
No full textThesis advisor: C. Patrick ProctorThesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-SmithThe increasing diversity of school-aged learners in the United States and the whiteness of the teacher demographic have contributed to renewed calls for the diversification of the K-12 teacher workforce, especially in recent years. Although some attention has been paid to similar issues in teacher education, the weightiness of this imperative is yet to be robustly addressed in the faculty composition and culture of teacher education programs at historically white institutions. More importantly, the pervasiveness of whiteness (not merely white bodies), and the normalcy of anti-Black misandry, have rendered Black males all but absent from teacher education classrooms—as both students and faculty. In many ways, Black males’ trajectory through the social, educational, and professional spheres of US society is replete with perceptions that they are fungible. This is evident in policies, actions, and everyday practices, including murder. Against this background, this practitioner research inquired into the experiences of five Black male doctoral student-instructors in teacher education at historically white institutions, using critical race methodology. Specifically, a BlackCrit Cultural Wealth Framework is used to gain insights into how these five Black male doctoral student-instructors navigated their experiences at the nexus of being Black, male, student, and instructor. Insights from this study reflect three themes evident in their experiences: 1) Tests: Spirit murder and the endemicity of anti-Blackness; 2) Tensions: Body, spirit, and soul work against neoliberal multiculturalism; and 3) Triumphs: Liberatory fantasy, futurities, and survivance. Together, these experiences had various meanings and messages for the Black male doctoral student-instructors to “Get Out.” There are multiple implications for Black males, teacher education, and higher education writ large, particularly regarding recruitment, retention, and persistence. Therefore, this dissertation has the potential to uniquely contribute to research, practice, and policy in various ways.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Romantic British Citizenship and the Transatlantic World:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Alan RichardsonThe Romantic period encompasses a pivotal set of decades for the development of British citizenship, a fact that has been underemphasized due to narrow definitions of what citizenship entails. Within the wide discursive arena of national identity in Romantic fiction, however, specific literary tropes and figures emerge that consolidate and challenge the nascent and evolving concept of the British citizen. The figure of the wanderer or stateless being explores a mode of national belonging that is increasingly untethered to land and nativity; tropes of the virtual and disembodiment become central to articulations of political and bureaucratic citizenship in the American revolutionary context; struggles between dependence and independence in sentimental plots of courtship and marriage narrate the citizenly potential of women in the context of couverture; and portrayals of repatriation and exile illuminate how Britain was coming to terms with its population of color in the early post-abolition era. Taken together, the literary texts under discussion here intervene in the emergence of a ‘Romantic’ citizenship discourse in the English-speaking North Atlantic World.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English
Enhancing Platforms at the Interface of Viruses and Directed Evolution:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Abhishek ChatterjeeDirected evolution is a powerful technique to expand chemical space in biological systems. In particular, this method has been used to develop cellular machinery to enable genetic code expansion (GCE), the incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins during the translation process. GCE relies on evolving an aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (aaRS) and tRNA pair from a different domain of life to incorporate a UAA into proteins in their new host, as these evolutionarily distant pairs are less likely to be cross-reactive with host pairs. The aaRS and tRNA must meet a number of conditions to be useful for GCE: the pair must be orthogonal (non-cross-reactive) to the host’s native aaRS/tRNA pairs in order to ensure site-specific UAA incorporation; the aaRS must have an active site suited to accept the shape of the UAA; and the tRNA must cooperate with the host ribosome, elongation and release factors, and other translational machinery to efficiently incorporate the UAA into the protein. Numerous aaRS/tRNA pairs have been evolved to allow incorporation of diverse UAAs in bacteria due to the tractable nature of these organisms for directed evolution experiments. While an aaRS evolved in bacteria to charge a novel UAA can be used in eukaryotes, tRNAs cannot be evolved for GCE in bacteria and then used in eukaryotes because they will not have evolved in the presence of the correct translational machinery. It is necessary to evolve tRNAs directly in their host cells. Unfortunately for researchers working on GCE in mammalian cells, it is difficult to perform directed evolution on small gene products in these hosts. Transformation efficiency in mammalian cells is poor, and transient transfection yields heterogeneous DNA distribution to target cells, making selection based on performance of individual library members impossible. Viruses are an ideal DNA delivery vector for mammalian cells, as production of recombinant viruses allows control over library member generation, and viruses can be delivered with exquisite copy number control. The Chatterjee lab recently developed a platform, Virus-Assisted Directed Evolution of tRNAs (VADER), using adeno-associated virus (AAV) to evolve tRNAs for GCE directly in mammalian cells.
While VADER is the first directed evolution platform that allows the evolution of small gene products in mammalian cells, its efficiency is limited by its continued reliance on transient transfection to deliver non-library DNA that is necessary for the production of rAAV. To overcome this limitation, baculovirus delivery vectors were developed to boost DNA delivery and AAV capsid production to improve virus production efficiency during selections. VADER allows the evolution of tRNAs to incorporate certain UAAs, but the technique relies on installing a UAA into the AAV capsid, which is sensitive to disruption caused by slight modifications in structure. To expand the scope of VADER to evolve tRNAs for UAAs that cannot be incorporated into the AAV capsid, an alternate selection handle (Assembly Activating Protein, or AAP) was deleted from the genome and provided in trans to incorporate 5-hydroxytryptophan (5HTP). Incorporating the UAA into this flexible protein allows UAA-dependent production of AAV and expands the scope of tRNAs that can be evolved in mammalian cells.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
Congruence relation for GSpin Shimura varieties:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Benjamin HowardI prove the Chai-Faltings version of the Eichler-Shimura congruence relation for simple GSpin Shimura varieties with hyperspecial level structures at a prime p.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Mathematics
Prolegomena to an Ethics: Ontologizing the Ethics of Max Scheler and Emmanuel Levinas
Get PDFThesis advisor: Richard KearneyThis dissertation investigates the possibility of a renewed phenomenological ethics that would ground ethics in the structure of lived experience, so that daily existence is ethically informative and the good is located in the concrete, heartfelt affairs of dwelling in the world with others. Thus far, phenomenological ethics has been deeply influenced by the two schools of Max Scheler’s value ethics and Emmanuel Levinas’ alterity ethics, both of which I argue share a fundamental point of contact in what I am calling Deep Kantianism. That is, phenomenological ethics has been haunted by Immanuel Kant’s non-phenomenological divide between nature and freedom, being and goodness, ontology and ethics. In response, I will suggest a new point of departure for phenomenological ethics beginning with the originary unity of being and goodness as revealed by the love that moves the self beyond herself toward her ground in the other person. Chapter One seeks to establish and identify the problem of Deep Kantianism, or explain what exactly Deep Kantianism is according to its origins. Kant begins his ethics with Hume’s assumption that being and goodness, is and ought, are separate. The implications of this divide threaten to reduce being to bare being without ethical import and to convert the good into an abstract shadow that is irrelevant to the situations of daily life.
Chapter Two examines how Scheler in his value ethics shows against Kant that the ethical is only experienced by a being with a heart. The source of normativity is revealed and known through affectivity. However, this insight is troubled by Scheler’s distinction between values and bearers of value that repeats the Kantian distinction between nature and freedom, respectively.
Chapter Three focuses on Scheler’s prioritization of love as the fundamental affect of the heart and person in its moving the person outside of herself, a movement that constitutes the person as such. However, this love turns out to not be for the sake of the person but for the value-essence that she bears, again placing the ethical with Kant outside of the realm of Being.
Chapter Four begins with Levinas’ discovery that ethics is constituted by the relation to the Other, an ethical relation that is the first relation before any ontological relation, indicating that the self is responsible for the Other. Yet Levinas here is haunted by Deep Kantianism in his denigration of affectivity, which for him is an egoist return to the self that excludes the Other.
Chapter Five argues that Levinas’ ethics is permeated by an abyssal nothingness that is exhibited in the destitution of the Other in Totality and Infinity and the passivity of the self in Otherwise than Being. The nothingness that permeates the ethical relation hints at the necessity of a return to the ontological, suggesting that ontology is not, as Levinas maintains following Kant, devoid of ethical implications.
Chapter Six turns to Martin Heidegger in his retrieval of a pre-Kantian pathos through his readings of Augustine and Aristotle. This pathos suggests that affectivity is always already oriented toward the things and persons of the world in a way that reveals what is conducive and detrimental to one’s Being, implying a notion of what is good and bad for one’s Being, which Heidegger leaves undeveloped.
Chapter Seven conducts a phenomenology of the ground of ethics that is informed by the discoveries made by Scheler, Levinas, and Heidegger. The self begins as constituted by a nothing, demanding that it move outside of itself in the exteriorization of love. This exteriorization directs the self to the concrete other person, the thou, who is revealed to be both the Good and Being as the proper end of love, indicating that the self is constituted by Being-for-the-Other.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Philosophy
Critical Consciousness and Positive Youth Development: A Group-Differential Longitudinal Study Among Youth of Color in the United States
Get PDFThesis advisor: Jacqueline V. LernerYoung people identifying as Black, Latino/a/x, Hispanic, Asian, and other races and ethnicities that are minoritized and marginalized have constrained opportunities for positive development in the United States due to oppression grounded in white supremacy (NASEM, 2019). Importantly, youth of color engage in critical consciousness: interrogating and dismantling systems of oppression (Freire, 1970/2016). My aim was to illuminate the variation within youth of color in their development of critical consciousness, and to consider the implications for their overall development as viewed from a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2015). Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and two variables measuring youths’ perceptions of their school context were examined. Using latent profile transition analysis, I explored variation among a sample of youth of color (n = 335) in cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioral processes of critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2016; Watts et al., 2011) over a short longitudinal period. The mean age was fourteen at time 1 (which took place in 2016) and fifteen at time 2. Group-differential patterns in critical consciousness development were related to contribution—supporting the development of self and giving back to community; engagement in risk and problem behaviors; and emotional problems. Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and (1) classroom discussions about social justice and (2) open classroom climate were estimated. Multiple patterns of engagement with critical consciousness were identified. Some youth shifted in their patterns of critical consciousness over time. Many participants reported a pattern of low engagement in multiple components of critical consciousness across both time points; higher classroom discussions about social justice were associated with a lower likelihood of youth following this pattern. These youth concurrently reported low contribution. Young people who sustained high levels across all dimensions of critical consciousness had high levels of emotional problems and risk and problem behaviors. Findings indicate broad involvement in critical consciousness can be associated with negative outcomes. Nevertheless, young people who were participating less in critical consciousness may struggle to promote positive development within themselves and their contexts through contribution. Implications for supporting the thriving of youth of color are discussed.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology