Award for Best Dissertation in Public Policy and Management
The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) seeks to recognize emergent scholars in the field by presenting an award for the best Ph.D. dissertation in public policy and management.
Winners receive a cash award in the amount of $1,500 in addition to a plaque, recognition at the annual APPAM Fall Research Conference, and publication of an abstract in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM). A separate grant covering travel costs to the Fall Conference will also be provided. The award winner and two honorable mentions will be given an opportunity to display posters of their dissertations during the research conference.
Any dissertation that has been completed in the academic years 2014 - 2015 or 2015 - 2016 and granted a degree in that period is eligible for consideration. No dissertation that has been completed prior to May 1, 2014 will be accepted. No previously submitted dissertations will be considered. Dissertations from any discipline are acceptable as long as they deal substantively with public policy issues and are nominated by a faculty member of a public policy program that is an institutional member of APPAM. (The faculty member need not be the major advisor or supervisor of the student’s dissertation, but can nominate the dissertation based on the belief that it makes a strong contribution to policy analysis.)
Nominations must come from institutional members of APPAM. Please send both a letter of nomination (with the nominee’s current address, e-mail address, and phone number) carefully detailing the unique contributions this dissertation makes to the field and a digital copy of the dissertation to the APPAM office via email, to
tstaudt@appam.org.
2015 Winner
Manasi Deshpande, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Essays on the Effects of Disability Insurance
Honorable mention:
Alexander Smith, University of Virginia and Gabriel Cardona-Fox, University of Texas, Austin
Past winners
2013-2014
Anjali Adukia, Harvard University
The Role of Basic Needs in Educational Decisions: Essays in Education and Development Economics
Honorable mention:
Sara Heller, University of Chicago
2012-2013
Sarah Anzia, University of California, Berkeley
Election Timing and the Political Influence of the Organized
Honorable mention:
Hosung Sohn, University of California, Berkeley
2011-2012
Daeho Kim, Brown University
Essays in Health Economics
Honorable mentions:
Chloe Gibbs, University of Chicago
Christopher Robert, Harvard University JFK School of Government
2010-2011
Kurt Lavetti, University of California-Berkeley
Essays on the Estimation of Prices in Implicit Markets
Honorable mentions:
Cassandra Marie Doll Hart, Northwestern University
2009-2010
Heidi Williams, MIT
Essays on Technological Change in Healthcare Markets
Honorable mentions:
Kristin Seefeldt, University of Michigan
Judith Scott-Clayton, Harvard University JFK School of Government
2008 - 2009
Steven Hemelt, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Essays in Education Policy: Accountability, Achievement, and Access
Honorable mentions:
None recognized for this year
2007-2008
Haitao Yin, University of Pennsylvania
The Environmental and Economic Impacts of Environmental Regulations: The Case of Underground Storage Tank Regulations
Honorable mentions:
Maria Fitzpatrick, University of Virginia
Jeremy Rosner, University of Maryland
2006-2007
Christopher Herbst, University of Maryland-College Park
Effects of Social Policy Reforms and the Economy on Welfare Participation and Employment of Single Mothers
Honorable mentions:
Douglas Carr, University of Kentucky
Stephanie Cellini, University of California-Los Angeles
2005-2006
Kilkon Ko, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Behaviors of Policy Analysts in Public Investment Decisions: How Policy Analysts Make Decisions
Honorable mentions:
Leah Brooks, University of California-Los Angeles
Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, Northwestern University
2004-2005
Asim Zia, Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy
Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Decision Behaviors in Response to the Inspection and Maintenance Program in the Atlanta Airshed, 1997-2001
Honorable mentions:
Margaret Patrick Haist, University of Kentucky
Sergio Fernandez, University of Georgia
2003-2004
Shreyasi Jha, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Linkages Between Trade and Liberalization and Environmental Policy: Evidence from India
Honorable mentions:
Zhong Yi Tong, University of Maryland
Jesse Levin, University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute
2002-2003
Rucker Johnson, University of Michigan
Essays on Urban Spatial Structure, Job Search and Job Mobility
Honorable mentions:
R. Karl Rethemeyer, Harvard University JFK School of Government
Gail Corrado, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
2001-2002
Mark Long, University of Michigan
The Effects of Education Policy on College Entry and Household Savings
Honorable mentions:
Brian Jacob, University of Chicago
Katherine Magnuson, Northwestern University
2000-2001
Jacob Hacker, Yale University
Boundary Wars: Political Struggle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the U.S.
Honorable mentions:
Jean Marie Abraham, Carnegie Mellon University
Shanti Rabindran Gamper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1999-2000
Susanna Loeb, University of Michigan
Economic Analyses of Elementary and Secondary School Resource Provision
Honorable mentions:
Laura J. Dugan, Carnegie Mellon University
Patrick McEwan, Stanford University
1998-1999
Meredith Phillips, Northwestern University
Early Inequalities: The Development of Ethnic Differences in Academic Achievement During Childhood
Honorable mentions:
Karen Baehler, University of Maryland
Carol Silva, University of Rochester
1997-1998
Kevin Volpp, University of Pennsylvania
Market-based Reforms and the Impact on Quality of Care: An Examination of the Quality Impacts of the Transition from Hospital Rate-Setting to Price Competition in New Jersey
Honorable mentions:
Kim Rueben, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Katherine Baicker, Harvard University JFK School of Government
1996-1997
Xavier De Souza Briggs, Harvard University JFK School of Government
Brown Kids in White Suburbs: Housing Mobility, Neighborhood Effects and the Social Capital of Poor Youth
Honorable mentions:
Ingrid Gould Ellen, New York University
Rebecca London, Northwestern University
1995-1996
Sheila E. Murray, University of Maryland-College Park
Two Essays on the Distribution of Education Resources and Outcomes
1994-1995
Johannes M. Bos, New York University Wagner School of Public Service
The Labor Market Value of Remedial Education: Evidence from Time Series Data on an Experimental Program for School Dropouts
1993-1994
Kathryn A. Foster, Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Special Districts and the Political Economy of Metropolitan Service Delivery
Thomas J. Nechyba, University of Rochester
Fiscal Federalism and Local Public Finance: A General Equilibrium Approach with Voting
1992-1993
Kenneth Langa, University of Chicago Harris School of Policy Studies
Medicaid Cost-Containment in the 1980s: Did It Encourage Interpayer Differences in Hospital Care
1991-1992
Thomas J. Kane, Harvard University JFK School of Government
College Entry by Blacks Since 1970: The Role of Tuition, Financial Aid, Local Economic Conditions and Family Background