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 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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