Browsing by Subject "Plan B"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    A Proposal To Establish An Emergency Contraception Vending Machine On The University Of Texas At Austin
    (2019-05-01) Nemawarkar, Janhavi; Aiken, Abigail
    In the spring of 2017, the University of California, Davis unveiled its first “wellness machine” on campus. The vending machine sold Advil, allergy medication, menstrual hygiene products, and emergency contraception. Since the first vending machine of this type was first instituted at Shippensburg University in 2012, several universities across the country have implemented similar machines that sell emergency contraception, and many other universities are either considering or are in the process of launching them. The goal of these vending machines is to expand university students’ access to emergency contraception pills (ECPs), pills that are a method for preventing pregnancy that can be used after unprotected sex (or if there are complications with regular contraception). University students have a particular interest in avoiding unintended pregnancy, so as to not interrupt their educational attainment. To determine whether UT-Austin students would benefit from such a vending machine requires examining the landscape for accessing emergency contraception near campus. In this thesis, I conducted a secret-shopper study of the pharmacies within a three-mile radius of the University of Texas at Austin campus and conducted a survey assessing student attitudes toward a potential vending machine that sells ECPs on campus. Based on my results, I argue that there is a need for such a vending machine. Then, in order to understand the barriers to implementation, as well as the potential solutions to these obstacles, I conducted interviews with administrators in UT-Austin who would potentially be involved with such a vending machine, as well as with experts and administrators in other institutions that have successfully implemented these machines. I end the paper with a plan for how UT-Austin can institute these machines on campus.
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    Essays on education, inequality and society
    (2013-12) Pechacek, Julie Ann; Youngblood, Sandra Black
    This dissertation consists of three chapters on labor economics. The first two chapters focus on education, and the third examines inequality and incarceration. Chapter one explores whether college students strategically delay exiting college in response to poor labor market conditions. It exploits variation in U.S. state unemployment rates to identify the causal impact of unemployment rates on time to graduation. Strategic delay is observed among both men and women. Results indicate that students delay graduation by approximately 0.4 months for each percentage point increase in junior-year unemployment rates, implying the average student delays by approximately half a semester during a typical recession. Effects are greatest for men with freshman majors in education, professional and vocational technologies, the humanities, business, and the sciences, and for women in education, the sciences, or undeclared. Delays are robust to fluctuations in students’ in-school work hours, earnings, and job market conditions. Chapter two assesses the impact of over-the-counter access to emergency contraception on women’s educational attainment using variation in access produced by state legislation since 1998. Approximately 5% of American women of reproductive age experience an unintended pregnancy annually, indicating a significant unmet need for contraception. Results indicate that cohorts with greater access to emergency contraception are more likely to graduate from high school and attain the associate’s degree. Effects for high school graduation are most pronounced among black women, while increases in associate’s degree attainment are driven primarily by white and Hispanic women. Chapter three explores the relationship between incarceration and generational inequality. Using a calibrated OLG model of criminal behavior with race, inheritance and endogenous education, I calculate how much longer prison sentences, and a higher likelihood of capture and conviction contribute to income inequality. Results indicate that changes to criminal policy mirroring those of the “tough on crime” legislation of the 1980s and 1990s, including an 18% increase in criminal apprehension and a 68% increase in prison sentence length, have little impact on inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient. Instead, the model provides evidence that these enhanced enforcement measures deter crime and decrease incarceration rates.
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