"The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, whereby pollution first increases then decreases as income increases along an inverted U-shaped path, has generated a large literature beginning in the 1990s. [...] [A] large new dataset for 1789 sites over 38 years is assembled making it possible to overcome data shortcomings in earlier studies. When integrating the theoretical insights for population change into the empirical model formulation, our results find robust inverted U-shaped relationships for air pollutants with rising incomes and rising population density. These findings provide some added perspective on the claims and implications for the EKC literature and expectations about the possible decoupling of economic growth and environmental damages."

"A robust process of learning within an organization, however, depends not only on the quality and strength of the processes of insight generation and insight application, but also on their relationship. To the degree that insights gained are translated into action and new data are collected, it will be possible to gain a better understanding of reality and, perhaps more importantly, effect real and lasting change. Engaging in such an iterative process of learning requires a set of individual, cultural, and institutional capacities..."

"Many development challenges faced today are complex challenges that have multiple causes, involve multiple stakeholders, are embedded in a web of multifaceted cause-and-effect relationships, and contain structural traps in which isolated actions result in sub-optimal systemic arrangements. These challenges cannot be solved using sectoral approaches alone, since such approaches tend to be limited in vision, reducing solutions to policies or actions managed by single institutions or organizations and designed outside the context of the whole."

"To make effective use of big data, many practitioners emphasize the importance of beginning with a question instead of the data itself. A question clarifies the purpose of utilizing big data - whether it is for awareness, understanding, and/or forecasting. In addition, a question suggests the kinds of real-world behaviors or conditions that are of interest. These behaviors are encoded into data through some generating process which includes the media through which behavior is captured. Then various data sources are accessed, prepared, consolidated and analyzed. This ultimately gives rise to insights into the question of interest, which are implemented to effect changes in the relevant behaviors ..."

"Technological developments in the last century have enabled relationships between individuals and institutions to blossom into a rich and complex tapestry. Advances in crowdsourcing have enabled multitudes of individuals to coordinate their efforts to contribute to a common goal. Advances in mass collaboration via hackathons have demonstrated that these same multitudes can not only contribute, but also co-create solutions to advance a general aim. Yet we still haven’t fully tapped the co-creative potential of the human race to address its complex challenges. In the years to come, only an iterative process of learning will allow institutions to foster communities where individuals feel empowered to collaborate toward the creation of a better world."

"Generating knowledge on the process through which individuals and/or institutions engage in a collaborative interaction to describe reality, develop a shared vision for transformation, and continuously engage in action and reflection is a formidable task. How does one describe a process through which society redefines itself? The generation of knowledge in this respect may more effectively proceed through an ongoing, dialogical process of learning. In particular, it must be guided by the explicit elaboration of a conceptual framework comprised of fundamental beliefs, immutable principles, and associated concepts which guide thinking and maintain consistency, features of any scientific endeavor. This is not to deny that, along the way, certain methods or techniques may prove helpful to improve collaborative relationships and processes. Indeed, the exercise of visually mapping a system with its own stakeholders is one such example. Yet, given that collaboration is fundamentally tied to the human experience, refining our understanding of collaboration will require a reconsideration of fundamental beliefs, motivations, and attitudes."

"The three essays in this dissertation progressively answer the following questions: (a) How important are constraints? (b) Who benefits from removing constraints? (c) When does a constraint for a single market predominantly affect closely related markets? These questions are applied in the context of time, weather, and minimum wage constraints, respectively."

"This study assesses the economic potential of biodiesel production in the Willamette Valley for six oilseeds as potential feedstocks: canola, flax, camelina, yellow mustard, sunflower, and safflower. We evaluate costs and returns from feedstock production, oilseed crushing, and biodiesel processing. Our analysis is based on the best available information on cost of production, yield, other technical parameters, market prices, and government subsidies and tax credits."