Date of Submission

12-20-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Finance

Advisor

Candice Lynette Deal, Ph.D.

Keywords

CARES Act, Relief Packages, Paycheck Protection Program, Fraud

LCSH

COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-, Emergency management, Gross domestic product, Poverty, Educational attainment

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the United States government decided to enact Public Law No: 116-136, better known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, made public law March 27, 2020 (Public Law No. 116-136). Under the CARES Act the government responded to COVID-19 hardships by distributing relief packages to qualifying members and businesses of the community. These relief packages came in the form of various programs; the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and Unemployment Insurance (UI). However, a staggering amount of fraud took place during the issuance of these programs which resulted in money going towards people and businesses who did not require the assistance the CARES Act provided. The purpose of this research is to 1) establish the amount of fraud and percent of fraud compared to state total assistance received that occurred per state as a result of the CARES Act, 2) establish Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Poverty Level, and an educational attainment measurement for each state, 3) show if there is or is not statistical significance with the relation of these measurement factors against the percent of fraud in each state. All numbers collected and calculated will be shown by region (i.e Northeast) as well as individual state (i.e Connecticut) for the integrity of the research. This will show if there is a direct correlation between the economic and educational status of individuals or businesses that attempted to fraud the government out of CARES Act funding. The cumulative information can be used to determine if education or economic stability can decrease the level of Fraud that the government experiences and where educational or economic resources should be supplied based on the level of fraud in each state and geographic region.

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