This dissertation is divided into three chapters. Chapter one studies changes in market concentration and productivity growth in the United States from the 1990s to the 2010s. Chapter two measures the impact of a banking crisis, the British Panic of 1825, on non-financial firms. Chapter three examines how women's employment...
Abstract Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is the most common cancer associated with human immunodeficiency virus/ Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) infection worldwide and it is the most prevalent cancer in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART), led to dramatic declines in KS morbidity and mortality,...
Recently, much public attention has been focused on racial inequalities in who is subjected to exclusionary school disciplinary policies, and consequently, forced to miss hours of instruction. Over the past two decades, researchers have documented the disparate impacts that zero-tolerance policies have had on students of color, low-income students, and...
Recent developments in research concerning organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have overseen massive increases in device performance and the ascension of electron acceptor materials that outclass the preeminent acceptor compounds, buckminsterfullerene (C60) derivatives. New design strategies in the molecular structure of perylenediimides (PDIs) and fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs) have increased single-junction photovoltaic...
This thesis is a description of the measurement of the W boson mass using the D0 Run II detector with 770 pb^-1 of proton-antiproton collision data. These collisions were produced by the Tevatron at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV between 2002 and 2006. We use a sample of W -> e...
For the better part of 2014, anti-government protests have been raging in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These protests received international attention when three people were killed on February 12th. Since then violence on the street has claimed 17 lives and injured hundreds of people. The protests, ostensibly anti-government in...
This thesis contains three chapters studying the evolution of the American higher education landscape, the different forces that shaped their organization, and how they, in turn, influenced human capital accumulation. The chapters are organized into three time periods: 1850-1900, 1910-1940, and 1980-2010. In the first chapter, joint with Heyu Xiong,...
Standard-based accountability policies have profoundly shaped the landscape of public education in the United States. At the heart of these policies are standardized assessments, administered annually, which are used to evaluate schools and, at times, teachers. While always controversial, opposition to these policies increased following the widespread adoption of the...