For the 2019 nominations, any dissertation that has been completed in the academic years 2017 - 2018 or 2018 - 2019, and granted a degree in that period, is eligible for consideration. No dissertation that has been completed prior to May 1, 2017 will be accepted and previously submitted dissertations will not 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 adviser 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 Samantha Oliver at soliver@appam.org.

 

Winners receive a cash award in the amount of $1,500 in addition to a plaque, recognition at the annual 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 Research 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 conference.

 

 

About the 2018 Recipient: Garima Siwach, American Institutes for Research

Garima Siwach is an Economic Researcher at the American Institutes for Research. Her work focuses on employment-related interventions for marginalized populations, including those with disabilities, individuals with criminal records, and transition youth from low-income households.

Siwach earned her PhD in Economics from the University at Albany, State University of New York, in 2017. Her dissertation, entitled Impact of Employment Barriers on Individuals with Criminal Records: An Econometric Evaluation of Criminal Background Checks in New York, is at the intersection of economics, public policy and criminology and won the University at Albany Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2017. The dissertation is structured as three essays. Using data from New York State, Siwach analyzed individuals with criminal records who were provisionally hired for work in non-licensed direct access care position in 2008 and 2009.

In chapter one, entitled “Unemployment Shocks for Individuals on the Margin: Exploring the Recidivism Effects,” she estimates the effect of employment denials in background checks. Chapter two, “Criminal Background Checks and Recidivism: Bounding the Causal Impact,” tracks three years of employment history for these individuals, and chapter three, “Predictive Analytics in the World of Legal Mandates: An Empirical Evaluation of Strategies for Criminal Background Checks in Employment,” shows that “background check decisions could create unequal opportunities for minorities since minorities are more likely to have criminal records.”

“The results of this paper are of considerable practical importance. I expect it to draw much attention from policy makers in the near future. By all means, Garima’s dissertation is an excellent example of research with direct policy relevance,” wrote a member of Siwach’s dissertation committee. “What distinguishes her research from the existing papers is that she takes the so-called “micro” approach rather than the “macro” approach. While most researches use aggregate data such as county-level or state-level crime rates, she directly uses individual-level data on criminal records and employment."

The 2018 selection committee included H. Elizabeth Peters (chair), Urban Institute, Joseph Cordes, George Washington University, Kenneth Couch, University of Connecticut, and Jason Fletcher, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Siwach received this award during the Membership and Awards Breakfast on Friday, November 9, at the 2018 Fall Research Conference. 

 

Daeho Kim, Brown University

Essays in Health Economics

Honorable mentions:

Chloe Gibbs, University of Chicago

Christopher Robert, Harvard University JFK School of Government

 

Kurt Lavetti, University of California-Berkeley

Essays on the Estimation of Prices in Implicit Markets

Honorable mentions:

Cassandra Marie Doll Hart, Northwestern University

 

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

 

Steven Hemelt, University of Maryland-Baltimore County

Essays in Education Policy: Accountability, Achievement, and Access

Honorable mentions:

None recognized for this year 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Sheila E. Murray, University of Maryland-College Park

Two Essays on the Distribution of Education Resources and Outcomes

 

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

 

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

 

Kenneth Langa, University of Chicago Harris School of Policy Studies

Medicaid Cost-Containment in the 1980s: Did It Encourage Interpayer Differences in Hospital Care

 

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