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This is meant as a place where I can jot down my evolving interests. In general, the topics cover applied issues relating to public policy decisions. Side interests include strategic interactions at a local level, geographical or spatial relationships, political agenda making, and sociology. If possible, I would eventually like to combine theoretical, empirical, and experimental results.
Urban
- How do house price fluctuations impact local government budgets?
- How does crime and provision of local services change across a state or a metropolitan area?
- What are the influences of land use policies on criminal activity?
- Do traffic patterns divert crime?
Geospatial
- How are geospatial boundaries defined in social interactions?
- Why might land use restrictions or taxation authorities change such boundaries?
- How might we pick up different incentives between government officials and private citizen?
- How do all of these things relate to knowledge, services, or a sense of place?
Screening/signaling
- Does certain criminal activity (i.e. by type or repeat offense) follow a meaningful pattern over time/space?
- How do institutions screen away or encourage the likelihood of cooperation from a victim?
- Are some geographic areas more prone to or complacent with certain types crimes (i.e., an old shipyard with a tall fence and watch dogs doesn't care about crime on the outside)?
- In what ways are law enforcers improving their services? Are they credible signals to criminals?
Public Ethics
- Should public (safety) employees be allowed to collectively bargain under federal or state legislation?
- Is it fair to label people as "sexual predators" after they have served their sentence while murderers, robbers, and white-collar frauds walk away free?
Latin American development
- If corrupt institutions matter, how can we stimulate economic progress and change from within a country?
- What is the proper way to combine institutional, political, and social situations when negotiating free-trade agreements and what kinds of punishments are enforceable?
This site also has a page for research and analysis (both current and previous).