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State governments have led the way in effecting policy change regarding the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana. So far, 44 states and the District of Columbia have either decriminalized or legalized marijuana in some capacity (DISA, 2021). Despite state level efforts to decriminalize and legalize marijuana, the federal government has retained its national prohibition on marijuana and maintained its status as a schedule 1 drug1. In order for marijuana to be successfully decriminalized or legalized, there must be bipartisan support for a marijuana bill in Congress. While the turn of the 21st century ushered in greater social acceptance of marijuana, the outdated logic associated with the “War on Drugs” has prevented federal decriminalization, legalization, or rescheduling of marijuana from taking place (Cohn et. al, 2017). The legalization of marijuana is more than just an effort to create new lines of federal tax revenue or satisfy the needs of marijuana users; the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana is an important step forward in ending mass incarceration in the United States. While mass incarceration remains an unfortunate reality for many Americans, state level policies established over the past decade decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana have positively impacted arrest and incarceration rates. The purpose of this policy brief is to examine the disparate impact that marijuana prohibition has on minority communities, provide evidence-based solutions focused on being restorative rather than punitive in regard to marijuana use and distribution, as well as propose new markets for the federal government to consider.

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The goal of corporate spin-offs, as a corporate restructuring technique, is to create better value for both the divesting firm and its subsidiary/ division. These corporate transactions lead to the creation of independent, publicly traded entities, which are called spun-off subsidiaries. In this study, we examine the effect of board independence and directors’ industry experience on the market performance of spun-off subsidiaries by setting two main hypotheses. Our sample includes 123 completed U.S.-based spin-off events during a 14-year long time frame. According to our empirical analysis, we find support for both hypotheses, which appear to be significant and positive. In addition, our moderation analysis shows that the interaction effect of directors’ industry experience and board ownership is positive and significant. Based on the arguments of agency and resource dependence theories, this study contributes to the governance literature by proving the significant importance of board of directors (namely, their independence and industry experience) on the market performance of spun-off subsidiaries after being separated from their corporate parents. From the managerial contributions aspect, this study tells us that if the board is independent and includes directors with the same industry experience, these spun-off subsidiaries will experience positive change in their market performance. Our interaction effect also shows that if board members are offered more shares on the top of their industry experience, the change in market performance will be stronger.

The study investigates the influence of performance management system consistency on employee work engagement. Drawing on the ‘job demands-resources model’ and ‘regulatory focus theory’, it was hypothesized that when employees perceive their performance management system to be consistent, they develop positive outcome expectations, which primes their achievement-oriented motivation (promotion regulatory focus) and increases their engagement. Responses were collected from 779 employees belonging to three large, multi-national organizations in India. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM package ADANCO and Hayes’ PROCESS macro. Support was found for a moderated-mediation model. Specifically, promotion focus was found to mediate the relationship between performance management system consistency and work engagement, while positive affect moderated the relationship between performance management system consistency and promotion focus. The study advances scholarly understanding of the psychological impact of performance management systems on employees by clarifying the cognitive-affective processes underlying this relationship. The study also adds to the literature on work engagement by establishing consistency as a key attribute for performance management systems to act as a ‘job resource’ for employees and enhance their engagement. The study makes a strong case for organizations to look at performance management as an integrated system and move away from an insular focus on performance-related practices such as appraisals.

This paper explores the factors of wildfire disasters in relation to California migration. Resulting from decades of climate change, California has been subject to an increase in heat, variations in frequency of rain, and changes in plant ecosystems (Borunda 2020). This, in turn, has resulted in an increase in the intensity and severity of wildfires. Although climate change is not a factor in the data of this study, it does provide context as to why wildfires and other natural disasters including drought and mudslides have occurred more frequently and are more destructive. Within the past century, the temperature of Southern California has increased by three degrees with heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming the atmosphere by one degree in the past 50 years (EPA 2016). Economically, this results in substantial consequences for not only California but the United States Gross Domestic Product. California wildfires in particular caused economic losses of approximately $150 billion in 2018, which equates to about 0.7 percent of the gross GDP of the United States for 2018 (UC Irvine 2020). To sum the cost of climate-induced disasters, it would amount to approximately $380 million. Investment in pro- environmental policies and firms would create a short term financial loss but long term financial gain.
In this paper, the relationship between migration and the effects of a wildfire is examined using per year county data as the base for a fixed effects regression model. Migration data comes from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and includes both magnitude and composition of inbound and outbound migration. The wildfire data is obtained from cal.gov the California state government website, and includes the size and intensity of the fires as well as the amount of acres burned as a result of a fire.
The goal of this paper is to determine how California wildfires have influenced household migration in terms of flow and composition. The results of the data analysis find that migration does increase in areas with more wildfires, but there is no evidence that composition of households in terms of size are impacted. Furthermore, households are equally more or less likely to migrate for alternative motives such as occupation, family situation, or better schools for their children among others not listed.

COVID-19 not only caused a widespread pandemic in the United States, but it also pushed the economy into a recession. Small business firms suffered immensely from state mandated business closures and stay-at-home orders, creating a dire need for federal funding. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), rolled out by the Small Business Administration (SBA), was created to provide economic relief for small businesses – a critical part of the economy. This study determined whether or not the PPP effectively reached businesses who were hit the hardest by these state executive orders. Using a simple linear regression analysis, the study identified that the severity of executive orders does not play a statistically significant role in PPP loan distribution, meaning that the rollout was not effective in targeting relief. Additional summary statistics and analysis revealed that more PPP loan dollars were given to states with higher unemployment rates – a good sign for the effectiveness of the program.

Gambling has always been popular in society, and now with legalization happening in many states across the country, it will only continue to grow in its popularity. Many sports leagues have embraced gambling fully. The most popular sport to bet on in America is the NFL. I would hypothesize that adverse weather would lead to more underdogs covering and more totals going under. Adverse weather will make it harder for teams to score as the dynamics of the field and the actual football will be severely impacted. If a game were to go under, that would mean less points would be scored. In that circumstance, the points the underdog may be receiving in the spread are by default, more valuable. If less points are scored, then each individual point is worth more since they are harder to come by.

This paper explores the forecasting capabilities of the ARIMA and Hidden Markov Models using Brent Crude Oil Price data.The goal is to find the model that will have the highest forecasting accuracy. I will make a prediction of the price of Brent Crude Oil using these models before the date of the presentation, and then compare the differences on the specific date prices.

This study looks to examine the impacts Covid-19 had on major technology equities and how they affected the stock prices of each company studied. In particular, this paper will focus on three major technology companies; Apple, Amazon, and Zoom. It is expected to see that Covid- 19 had a statistically significant impact on the stock valuations of the three companies studied.

This thesis is about how Argentina’s unstable political environment has negatively influenced its economic and financial situation, and how this is manifested in its stock index, the Merval. Furthermore, this has caused higher volatility in its respective market returns and subsequent recovery when compared to other countries with similar economic characteristics. Finally, this paper analyzes how the impact of political events on the economy is greater than that of other economic crises.

This paper explores using the difference-in-differences statistical technique the social stigma impact of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting which occurred on December 14th, 2012, on the single-family residential home’s asset value in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. The impact of the Sandy Hook School Shooting is expected to have a negative effect on the asset value of single-family residential homes in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.