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Publication Employer 401(k) Matches for Student Debt Repayment: Killing Two Birds with One Stone?(2024-05-04) Horneff, Vanya; Maurer, Raimond; Mitchell, Olivia SAlmost 50 million Americans are burdened by the need to repay close to $2 trillion in student loan debt obligations, while at the same time saving in their employer-provided pension accounts. This article shows how workers can maximize their lifetime wellbeing by timing loan repayment and saving in tax-qualified retirement plans when these choices are shaped by employer-sponsored matching retirement contributions for qualifying student loan payments, as intended by the 2022 SECURE 2.0 Act. Our rich life cycle model predicts that, by age 50, employees will repay more debt but reduce own retirement plan contributions by almost half, offset by higher employer-matching contributions that take loan repayments into account. Accordingly, pre-retirement financial assets in and outside DC plans barely change; moreover, workers’ optimal consumption rises by up to 3% prior to retirement, so that the reform will not lead to earlier loan discharges. Overall, 401(k) plan benefit payouts during retirement are not anticipated to change materially. Finally, our model predicts that anticipated additional employer costs due to the new matches will amount to around 2.4 – 4.3% of annual earnings for workers age 40 – 50, and expected federal income taxes paid over the lifetime would increase by about 1.8 – 2.5% (in present value).Publication Sustainable Financing For Kenyan Community Health Worker Programs(2024) Feng, AliceCommunity health workers (CHWs) are vital for providing healthcare access to underserved populations in sub-Saharan Africa, yet financing for CHW programs remains a challenge. This thesis explores potential financing instruments for Kenya's CHW program through an in-depth analysis of seven case studies spanning traditional grants, public loans, debt conversion, private loans, social enterprises, grant-based public-private partnerships, and results-based financing. Drawing from informant interviews and literature reviews, each model is evaluated across financial sustainability, CHW operational focus, and contextual alignment to Kenya. The analysis reveals that while public instruments have bolstered disease-specific initiatives, overreliance on external funding poses risks to long-term sustainability. Private solutions allow for self-sustainability in the long run, but funding size and initial capital needed remain a concern. Innovative approaches combining the public and private sectors have the potential to be tailored for CHW programs while generating sustainable revenue; however, they require substantial planning and investment. Across all models, shared characteristics for scalability and impact include robust governance, domestic resource mobilization, and country ownership.Publication The Twenty-Three Trillion Dollar Weapon: The Impacts of Financial Warfare Between the United States and China(2023-05-01) Brotherton, PaigeThe United States has been a world power since the beginning of the twentieth century, and the world power since its defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War. China, meanwhile, has been on the economic and political rise for a little over thirty years, its meteoric expansion raising questions about its willingness and desire to compete with the United States. Such a conflict could take the form of a Cold War, or something much, much messier. Tension regarding Taiwan and spheres of influence in the Pacific, along with fundamentally contrasting political, economic, and social ideals, lead the world to wonder if another war between powers is brewing. However, as this paper shows, the cost would be too high—literally. The intertwined economies of both countries mean both would have too much to lose by engaging in warfare that prevents trade. This paper explores sanctions and their affects during warfare using three case studies before analyzing the situation between China and United States for consequent observations and predictions.Publication "Smells Like Team Spirit": Turnover and Team Success Through the Lens of Rock Bands(2023-12-01) DiCampli, IsabellaThis paper focuses on exploring how team success differs across different levels of member turnover within teams. The increased use of teams in organizations has led to a growing literature on the way teams form and how they function. One important part of team development that researchers are often interested in is how long a team works together, or their tenure. Understanding the impact of team tenure on team performance allows organizations to take into account the impact of trends like member turnover when deciding how to structure their teams. With the growing importance and prevalence of team dynamics in organizations, the question begs itself: can team success be at all explained or predicted by patterns in member turnover? In order to answer this question, this research evaluates how member turnover affects team success by looking at turnover trends within musical groups formed in the 1950s-2000s. The specific research approach will be to use a regression analysis to determine if a musical group’s success can be at all attributed to the patterns of turnover they have experienced during their tenure, and then to use management theory to recommend best practices for organizations to use when thinking about teams. The reasons for focusing on musical groups as the basis for teamwork are trifold. First, the complexity and breadth of the paper’s objective necessitates choosing a narrow segment of teams to analyze, given that a “team” can be formed for many reasons and used in many contexts. Second, musical groups are one type of team where each shares a very specific objective, which is to make good music and achieve success and popularity, at least within their own genre fan base. Lastly, musical groups have member turnover information that is easily accessible, as band membership is often in the public eye. The following section will provide a brief overview of the reasons for musician turnover, in order to set the framework for the model creation.Publication Exposure to Similar vs. Diverse Perspectives in Forecasting Tournaments on Human Welfare and Societal Change(2023-05-01) Chen, KevinWhat are the intra-individual benefits to participating in forecasting tournaments? This paper presents the findings of an empirical study testing how exposure to similar vs. diverse perspectives in forecasting tournaments affects distributions of predictions and estimated ranges, judgmental accuracy, belief updating, and affective polarization. Everyday participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions—exposure to similar vs. diverse perspectives—and made individual forecasts and rationales for four domains, reviewed similar vs. diverse team forecasts and rationales, optionally updated their individual forecasts and rationales in light of team information, and completed other individual difference assessments. Across domains, (i) there were no significant main effect of perspective, main effect of stage, nor interaction on judgmental accuracy; (ii) participants exposed to similar perspectives updated their predictions more often than did those exposed to diverse perspectives; (iii) participants exposed to similar perspectives rated conservatives more warmly than did those exposed to diverse perspectives (with nonsignificant but directionally consistent results for ratings toward liberals and moderates).