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Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

CFAES

Two AEDE PhD students win Graduate School's 3MT competition

Feb. 17, 2021

The 3MT is an academic competition for PhD students and master’s students pursuing a master’s thesis, to describe their research within three minutes, to a general audience. A competition was recently held to select a finalist to represent OSU at the regional Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) competition at which national representatives will be selected.  

Congratulations to this year’s 2021 3MT University level awardees: 

1st Place (Ohio State University Representative for the regional competition)  Richard Wan – Advisor, Colleen Cebulla - College of Optometry 

2nd Place Christina Gore - Advisor, H. Allen Klaiber - CFAES' Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Gore

Abstract: In order to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celcius, we have to dramatically decrease our emissions of carbon dioxide. We have to reduce emissions globally by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050. In the United States, the majority of U.S. emissions in the transportation sector which is the largest emissions producing sector in our economy, come from vehicle road traffic. So, individuals driving their car from one place to another. EVs, electric vehicles, have the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, however, the adoption rate of EVs over space is not the same. Looking at the map below you can see that the majority of people who are adopting electric vehicles live on the west coast. So what makes California so different than somewhere like Ohio? Well, there are a number of different things that impact why California has much higher adoption rates. The first is the people. The people are different and they want electric vehicles more than the people in Ohio. Another thing that makes it different is the state actually has additional incentives on top of federal incentives which make owning an electric vehicle in California, Washington, or Oregon much cheaper than owning an electric vehicle in Ohio. The third thing that most people have not considered previously is that emissions reduction from owning an electric vehicle in California is actually much higher than the emissions reduction from owning a vehicle in Ohio. That is because, in California, the majority of their electricity comes from green energy sources such as wind and solar power. Whereas in Ohio, we are much more fossil fuel-dependent, especially on natural gas. So, these emissions reductions also increase the willingness to pay of individuals willing to own an electric vehicle in California versus Ohio.

So that leads us to how can Ohio be more like California? well, we can increase incentives and we can invest in renewable energy. If we do these two things, then we will be able to close a lot of the gap of adoption of electric vehicles between incentives and emissions reductions in terms of how we actually produce electricity. In order to get to 45% reductions by 2030, net-zero emissions by 2050, we are going to need a lot more electric vehicle adoption across the country. So we need to learn from states that are doing things better than we are. 

3rd Place Thadcha Panchalingam - Advisor, Brian Roe - CFAES' Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

Research

Abstract: I explore patterns of non-healthcare consumption in targeted U.S. households due to public health insurance expansions. Specifically, I investigate the effects of the recent Medicaid expansions on eligible low-income households’ recurring food and other preventative non-healthcare consumption expenditures. I use consumer panel data that deploys at-home scanner technology to track grocery purchases. Using an event-study design, and a triple difference-in-differences framework, I find that the Medicaid eligible households from expansion states spent less on fresh produce per adult and more on health and beauty products after the Medicaid expansion. Almost all the increase in the health and beauty product expenditure is due to an increase in expenditure on over-the-counter medications and remedies, which are more responsive and palliative than preventative in nature. The robust reduction in fresh produce expenditures and increase in expenditures on over-the-counter medications and remedies suggests that while expanded public health insurance increases formal healthcare activity and it decreases informal preventative non-healthcare expenditures. These new patterns of non-healthcare consumption may occur because of improved finances due to subsidized healthcare, changes in relative costs of healthcare and non-healthcare consumption, or the substitution between healthcare and preventative non-healthcare consumption. These findings may begin to shift the focus in the literature on the unintended consequences of Medicaid expansion from sins of commission, i.e., moral hazard responses such as increased smoking, alcohol use, and junk food consumption, to sins of omission, i.e., responses in which preventative health habits erode.

4th Place Basar Ozbilen - Advisor, Gulsah Akar - City and Regional Planning, Knowlton School of Architecture, College of Engineering  

5th Place Xin Lin - Advisor, Alison Bennett - Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, College of Arts and Sciences