Essays in Public and Labor Economics

This dissertation comprises three chapters. The first chapter estimates the crowd-out effect of Social Security on private retirement saving. In a quasi-experimental research design, I analyze the effect of the 1990 federal mandate of Social Security coverage for all state and local government employees who were not covered by an equivalent state pension. Using a sample of more than 12 million employer-employee observations on earnings and contributions to retirement plans, I find that Social Security coverage induces approximately 16% of those affected who had previously saved in private retirement plans to stop contributing. For those who continue contributing, Social Security coverage crowds out about 23% of pre-reform contributions

Rho-A prenylation and signaling link epithelial homeostasis to intestinal inflammation

Although defects in intestinal barrier function are discussed as a key pathogenic factor in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), the molecular pathways driving disease-specific alterations of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) are largely unknown. Here, we performed a novel approach to characterize the transcriptome of IECs from IBD patients using a genome wide approach. We observed disease-specific alterations in IECs with markedly impaired Rho-A signaling in active IBD patients. Localization of epithelial Rho-A was shifted to the cytosol in IBD where Rho-A activation was suppressed due to reduced expression of the Rho-A prenylation enzyme GGTase-I. The functional relevance of this pathway was highlighted by studies in mice with conditional gene targeting in which deletion of RhoA or GGTase-I in IECs caused spontaneous chronic intestinal inflammation with accumulation of granulocytes and CD4+ T cells. This phenotype was associated with cytoskeleton rearrangement and aberrant cell shedding ultimately leading to loss of epithelial integrity and subsequent inflammation. These findings uncover deficient prenylation of Rho-A as a key player in the pathogenesis of IBD. As therapeutic triggering of Rho-A signaling suppressed intestinal inflammation in mice with GGTase-I deficient IECs, our findings open new avenues for treatment of epithelial injury and mucosal inflammation in IBD patients

A pilot study on the productivity and behavior of the gestating sow housed in a flex stall

Animal welfare is a controversial topic in modern animal agriculture, partly because it generates interest from both the scientific community and the general public. The housing of gestating sows, particularly individual housing, is one of the most critical concerns in farm animal welfare. We hypothesize that the physical size of the standard gestation stall may limit movement and evoke demands and challenges on the sow to affect the physiological and psychological well-being of the individually housed sow. Thus, improvements in the design of the individual gestation stall system that allow more freedom to move, such as increasing stall width or designing a stall that could accommodate the changing size of the pregnant sow, may improve sow welfare. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of a width adjustable stall (FLEX) on productivity and behavior of dry sows. The experiment consisted of 3 replications (block 1, n=4 sows; block 2, n=4 sows; block 3, n=8 sows), and multi-parious sows were allotted to either a FLEX stall or standard gestation stall for 1 gestation period. Sow mid-girth (top of the back to bottom of the udder) was measured 5-6 times throughout gestation to determine the best time points for FLEX stall width expansions. FLEX stall width was adjusted according to mid-girth measurements, and expanded to achieve an additional 2 cm of space between the bottom of the sow’s udder and floor of the stall so that sows could lie in full lateral recumbency without touching the sides of the stall. Productivity data recorded included: sow body weight (BW) and BW gain, number of piglets born and born alive, proportions of piglets stillborn, mummified, lost between birth and weaning, and weaned, and litter and mean piglet birth BW, weaning BW, and average BW gain from birth-to-weaning. Lesions were recorded on d 21 and d 111 of gestation. Sub-pilot behavior data were observed and registered for replicate 1 sows using continuous video-records for the l2 hour lights on period (period 1, 0600-1000; period 2, 1000-1400; period 3, 1400-1800) prior FLEX stall adjustment and 12 hour lights on period post adjustment on d 21, 22, 23, 43, 44, 45, 93, 94, 95. A randomized complete block design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement for treatments was used to analyze sow productivity and performance traits. Data were analyzed using the Mixed Models procedure of SAS. A preliminary analysis of data means and numerical trends was used to analyze sow behavior measurements. Sows housed in a FLEX stall had more (P < 0.05) total born and a tendency for more piglets born alive (P = 0.06) than sows housed in a standard stall. Sow body weight also tended to be higher (P = 0.06) for sows housed in a FLEX stall compared to sows housed in a standard stall. There were numerical trends for mean durations of sit, lay, lay (OUT), and eat behaviors to be greater for sows housed in a FLEX stall compared with sows housed in a standard stall. The mean duration of lay (IN) behavior tended to be numerically less for sows housed in a FLEX stall compared with sows housed in a standard stall. There were numerical trends for the mean durations of stand and drink behaviors to be greater for sows housed in a standard stall compared with sows housed in a FLEX stall. The mean frequencies of postural changes and mean durations of oral-nasal-facial and sham-chew behaviors were numerically similar between types of gestation stall. Mean durations and numerical trends indicate that time of day influenced all of the behaviors assessed in this study. The results of this pilot study indicate that the adjustable FLEX stall may affect sow productivity and behavior differently than the standard gestation stall, and thus potentially improve sow well-being. Future research should continue to compare the new FLEX stall design to current housing systems in use and examine physiological traits and immune status in addition to behavioral and productivity traits to assess the effects that this housing system has on the overall welfare of the gestating sow

Men's and Women's Abuse Talk in Group Therapy: A Discourse Analysis

The creation of therapy groups for men who have been victims of intimate partner abuse, at times controversial, has led to a call for a contextualized understanding of men’s and women’s victimization. The nature, severity, and consequences of abuse are thought to be different for abused men compared to abused women. This project uses a discursive approach to examine how men and women participating in victim therapy groups construct and negotiate abuse accounts and their responses to abuse. My own and other previous research suggests that men in victim therapy groups must shore up their status as victim. This thesis attempts to answer how negotiations of abuse accounts compare between men’s and women’s therapy groups and how responses to abuse accounts compare between the men’s and women’s therapy groups. Two of the Calgary Counselling Centre’s 14-week therapy groups were analyzed using the theoretical and methodological discourse analytic approach: “A Turn for the Better” group for abused men, and “You Are Not Alone” group for abused women. Archived video recordings of these groups were transcribed and analyzed. The women’s and men’s constructions of abuse and the process of negotiating appropriate responses to abuse were qualitatively different. First, the men engaged in extensive rhetorical strategies to position themselves as abused, while the women oriented to safety and protection and their victim status was assumed. Second, the men negotiated the gendered dilemma of responding appropriately to a woman’s aggression without being aggressive in turn, while all women’s responses were constructed as appropriate given their function of protection. Third, for the women, the topic to which everyone oriented, both facilitators and group members, was safety. I also analyzed the therapeutic process in terms of facilitators negotiating men’s accountability for aggression, while women held themselves responsible for morally questionable acts which facilitators tended to endorse as resistance. I address how this study contributes to gender relevance in the therapeutic process of abused men and women, the existing exploratory literature on men’s abuse and therapy, and future clinical practice