Community Projects

The Data and Decision Sciences Lab is constantly working with local community partners on several data related projects that have a local and global impact.

The Great Recession of 2007-2009 had an important economic and political influence on the United States. Several local governments such as Detroit, Michigan, Harrisburg, and Pennsylvania reported bankruptcy. Many local governments seek models and approaches to help them avoid or reduce the probability of municipal financial distress. This project used data gathered from the University of Nebraska at Omaha – Center of Public Affairs Research, U.S. Census, and municipal budget to examine the effects of socio-economic and fiscal profiles of 69 municipalities in Nebraska that are in the Omaha and Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area from 2000-2016. The project exploited Markov Random Field models to develop a neighborhood statistics model for predicting fiscal condition. The study offers some important insights into the relationship between rural and urban communities. This project has been published at the Socialiniai tyrimai / Social Research journal.