Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

College of Business and Economics

Department

Economics

Committee Chair

Brad Humphreys

Committee Co-Chair

Josh Hall

Committee Member

Josh Hall

Committee Member

Bryan McCannon

Committee Member

Stefanie Haeffele

Abstract

I identify changes in human action during emergencies such as heavy precipitation and shelter-in-place orders. In two chapters I explore the effects of precipitation on educational attainment and birth rates as residential broadband access increases. In my third chapter I identify the movement of pets in and out of the home as a trigger for domestic violence during the COVID-19 lockdown. I estimate difference-in-difference regressions with panel data, coming to three conclusions. First: educational attainment in Appalachia is stunted by precipitation, as students have difficulty getting to school in bad weather. As this historically under-educated region of the US gains internet access, the negative effects of rain and snow disappear. Second: there is little evidence that precipitation increases natality. What little evidence of this ``blizzard baby'' phenomenon I do find is negated by mobile internet access, which decreases births nine months after high precipitation. Third: during COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, domestic violence decreases after pets are surrendered to local shelters and increases when pets are confiscated.

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