Browsing by Author "Philipsen, Dirk"

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    Preparing for the Next Frontier: Considering a Modern Version of the Outer Space Treaty
    (2019-12-06) Herrera, Cameron
    The international treaty system that governs activities in space was designed decades ago to prevent inappropriate actions by government actors. In recent years, this system has started to fall behind the growth in privately owned commercial space companies, which is projected to be worth trillions of dollars in the next 30 years. Currently, these companies are regulated by nation states under the broad authority of the Outer Space Treaty of 1962. This analysis proposes what a new version of this treaty might include 50 years later. New treaty language and text is generated based on the updates made to the London Convention, a treaty on dumping and ocean waste. This treaty addresses national regulations of commercial activities in a global common and was updated almost 25 years later to reflect modern conditions. The proposed treaty update incorporates precautionary principles and additional governance mechanisms for increased adaptability as private activity in space increases. This exercise illustrates one way of addressing concerns with private space entities and contributes to the broader discussion of good governance in space as commercial activity increases beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
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    The Enabling Factors & Barriers to the Passage of the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act: A Florida Case Study
    (2020-11) Bond, Sarah
    More than 50% of first-generation immigrant children do not have health insurance. Lack of insurance directly contributes to worsened access to health care and worsened health outcomes. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) prevented legal permanent residents (LPRs) from accessing federal benefits until they had lived in the United States for at least five years. In 2009, PRWORA’s impact was lessened by the Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA), part of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA), allowing states to eliminate the five-year wait period for LPR pregnant women and children to be eligible for Medicaid/CHIP. 35 states passed the ICHIA for LPR children and/or pregnant women, while 15 states maintain the wait period for all. Existing literature shows which states implemented the ICHIA but says little about why some states have passed it and others have not. This paper aims to fill that gap by using Florida as a case study, a state in which the ICHIA was proposed unsuccessfully for six years before being passed in 2016. Based on legislative proceedings and interviews with key informants, I identified three key barriers (fiscal impact to the state, the perceived value of self- sufficiency, and anti-immigrant sentiment), and three enabling factors to the ICHIA’s passage (strong Latino Republican caucus, a low fiscal impact, and a unified lobbying coalition). By understanding the enabling factors and barriers in Florida, other states may learn how they can overcome obstacles to expanding immigrants’ access to health insurance.
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    WASTED ENERGY: RE-DIRECTING INVESTMENT INTO RENEWABLES THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
    (2020-11) Katz, Sophia
    The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was the first ever regulation to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from both new and existing power plants under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and is recognized as one of the most monumental steps towards taking action on climate change and investing in renewable energy. The policy is, however, commonly denounced by some for its detrimental impact to the U.S. coal manufacturing and production sectors and grouped with other policies for waging a ‘War on Coal.’ This paper analyzes whether the CPP was an effective policy at swaying investor mindsets in energy capital markets and decarbonizing investor portfolios. This analysis differs from previous literature through its focus on an event study of specific brown and green energy indices and exchange traded funds (ETFs) at the time of the CPP’s proposal on June 2, 2014 and final announcement on August 3, 2015. The presence or lack of discontinuities in the market in the 100-day trading window surrounding both events serves as a measure for understanding investors’ reactions to the policy and its implications for future profits. This paper also describes the legal and political pushback to the policy as well as instances of disinformation spread by the coal industry to compensate for a bleak cashflow outlook. Discussion on the implications of using policy as a government intervention to create greener and cleaner markets concludes this paper, arguing that environmental policy can serve as an effective tool to decrease investment in carbon-intensive energy sources, as climate change poses an increasing risk to the planet and public health.