Water Connection: Everyday Religion and Environments in Kathmandu Valley

This case study aims to explore the relationship between ‘everyday religion’ and prospects for urban sustainability in the context of on-going changes -in Kathmandu. It argues that everyday religion plays a role in furnishing the incentive for urban residents to sustainably manage ‘culturalized nature’ in the city. In particular, I examine water, the practices surrounding its use, and how these practices connect various social realms. I suggest that water in Kathmandu valley plays an important role as a connector encompassing life and death, religion and environment, as well as politics and development

Entry and Competition in the U.S. Brewpub Industry during 2002 - 2011

This study examines product differentiation and market structure in the U.S. brewpub industry. Brewery restaurants are characterized by whether they are singleestablishment or multiple-establishment restaurants. In particular, I investigate how entry behaviors of firms are affected by the existence of opposite type of brewpub in a market. I use data from oligopoly brewpub markets across the United States during 2002 and 2011. The analysis uses a cross sectional data in a discrete dependent variable econometric model to predict the profitability of a market. The results indicate that the existence of one opposite type of firm in a market makes a market unattractive for a new firm, and these effects are diminished when there are two or three opposite of firms present in a market. Finally, the effects of demand characteristics, such as population size, can be large enough to outweigh the effects of differentiation between firms

Medicare Out-of-Pocket Costs: Can Private Savings Incentives Solve the Problem?

Projects the potential savings of low-income workers if they could save part of their income, tax-free and at an interest rate equivalent to that of Treasury bonds, to assess whether such incentives could help them pay for post-retirement health care