Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Free Trade Is Not Free: A Case For Fair Trade, Wardah Javaid Cheema

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To this day, mainstream economists favor free trade policies as the best way to generate economic development. They do so at the expense of their unjustified romanticization of reductionist classical trade theories. This thesis seeks to comprehend the constraints of traditional trade theories and their inability to be applied to practical contemporary problems. Further, contrary to the fundamental assumption of free trade theory, there is ample evidence of government intervention in free trade agreements. These interventions solely encourage and protect large corporations and investors rather than the actual development and sustainability factors, namely labor and the environment. It all adds …

Systemic Risk And Blockchain Technology, Federico Colombo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the crisis in 2008, blockchain and systemic risk have seen increasing interest. In this thesis I advocate for more research to be conducted on the two topics jointly after noticing a gap in the literature regarding the effects that using a blockchain based financial system could have on systemic risk. The thesis is an attempt to set the stage for future research, by describing the major sources of systemic risk, the most important characteristics of blockchain, and finally suggesting some topics for future research on systemic risk and blockchain in areas where blockchain could have the biggest impact.

Universal Basic Income (Ubi): A Cure-All Or Band-Aid?, Madison Beckner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the triple crisis of capitalism looming and, in the U.S., a poorly performing welfare state, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has returned to popular attention. To assess whether this is warranted and, more importantly, to provide answer on the extent to which a UBI can or should be considered a cure-all, this work, first, examines the historical development of UBI proposals including those stemming from European Social Democrats and Libertarians. Next, pilot programs at the local, state, and national level are critically examined for their methodologies and empirical results. Turning, then, to theory on de-commodification, unpaid labor, and the equality-jobs …

Us Financial Expansions And Exchange Rate Determination, Matthew Brill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how US financial activity influences the exchange rates of foreign nations. Starting off by building on Currency Hierarchy and Minskyan dynamics, I look at how financial cycles generated in the US, the key economy, transmit liquidity towards economies on the periphery. Additionally, I use the increase in shadow banking asset accumulation relative to commercial banking asset accumulation as indicative of financial expansions in the US, and the driving force of financial cycles. Using vector autoregression (VAR) analysis I test the relationships between the ratio of US shadow banking assets relative to commercial …

Education Finance As A Social Determinant Of Health In The United States, Sydney Mock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role of K-12 education finance in the determination of health outcomes in the United States. To accomplish this, first, the differing theoretical perspectives surrounding health outcomes are explored. Second, theoretical literature surrounding public finance of education and cash vs in-kind benefits are explored to establish the grounds for connecting education finance and health. Third, a framework is presented to trace the pathways of how education finance determines health outcomes. Finally, the manuscript brings together a review of the literature on similar benefits and an evaluation of a voucher program in Cleveland, …

Socioeconomic Factors And Mass Shootings, 1982-2016, Taylor Petkovich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an examination and investigation of the relationship between socioeconomic factors and mass shootings. The objective of this paper was to see if economic policy making could be an effective tool for reducing the level of mass gun violence that America has been experiencing. This paper highlights the known relationship between violent crime and economics and tries to bridge that connection to mass shootings specifically through literature review and econometric testing. The ultimate takeaway from this paper’s results and analysis is the need for a universal definition and governing body for data on mass shootings in order to …

Employee Ownership And Moral Hazard: How Broad-Based Equity Sharing Can Lower Agency Costs And Reduce Inequality, Colin Clinton Hudson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Providing incentives to top managers by offering equity has become the norm; this practice, however, does not hold for all levels of employees. After tax incentives for employee ownership were introduced through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, there has been little legislative support to encourage companies to implement broad-based equity sharing programs. Moreover, decades of neoliberal policies have incentivized the pursuit of short-term profits and speculation, which contribute to economic instability and explain the growing gap between productivity and real wages observed since the late 1970s. Developments in the literature contend that employee ownership aligns the goals …

Competition In Economic Theory And The Skew In U.S. Corporate Wealth Creation, Marc H. Pentacoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historical studies of U.S. capital markets show a dramatic skew in the distribution of corporate wealth. This thesis investigates the evolution of economic thought related to realistic models of competition, seeking to find the most suitable theory of competition to explain this skew in U.S. corporate wealth creation. The incorporation of realistic elements into the static theories of competition leads to theoretical difficulties in the early 20th century. Another line of thought developed non-equilibrium dynamic models of competition, culminating in Schumpeter. In Schumpeter, firms seek to manage the uncertainty f rom rapid change induced by innovation and increasing returns by …

The Social Determinants Of Diabetes And Coronary Heart Disease In South Asian American Immigrants, Mishal Ayaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An astounding 20% of South Asian Americans have diabetes (Matthews and Zachariah 2008). Conventional risk factors for coronary heart disease includes: age older than 65, sedentary lifestyle, cigarette smoking, hypertension, elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes, all factors beyond health care (italicized for emphasis) (Mathews and Zachariah 2008). But conventional risk factors alone are not sufficient to predict the alarmingly high rates of coronary heart disease (“CHD”) for South Asian Americans. In fact, the only conventional risk factor more prevalent in this community than others is diabetes. So, the question remains, what factors are contributing to the …

Intellectual Property Rights In The Seed Industry: Barriers To Sustainable Agriculture, Elena A. Filatova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of the dominant industrial agriculture system restrict the seed industry’s innovative landscape, leading to significant negative consequences including an exacerbation of environmental risks which threaten global food security. This thesis explores how exclusionary intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the context of the seed industry constrict innovation, evolutionary pathways, and opportunities for the implementation of sustainable agriculture methods. To overcome these barriers, the application of an open source framework to seed innovation, specifically through the platform of the Open Source Seed Initiative, is evaluated as a tool for enhancing innovative capacities in seed development while broadening the accessibility and …

The Institutional Design Of Arms Control: To What Extent Does Institutional Design Increase The Longevity Of Arms Control Agreements?, Jessica Budlong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The technical institutional design of arms control agreements remains a rather unexplored area of arms control. But the increasing uncertainty of future arms control efficacy requires a re-examination of the agreements’ institutional design to determine which components contribute positively to their longevity. This research examines the role of dispute settlement bodies as specific outside consultative bodies, verification regimes, membership as at least one nuclear-armed state party to the agreement, and technology transfer mechanisms in arms control agreements. It found that membership and a lack of technology transfer mechanisms are necessary to positively impact the longevity of an arms control agreement, …

U.S. International Trade And National Security In The Trump Era: Mercantilism, Liberalism, Or Economic Nationalism?, Brett D. Barkey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study will explore the Trump administration’s views of national security as expressed through its international trade policy and ask whether the U.S. is now a mercantilist, a liberal, or an economically nationalist nation. This study will define mercantilism, liberalism and economic nationalism turning for assistance to the writings of Alexander Hamilton, Adam Smith, and Friedrich List.

The study will then explore how those concepts may have been revealed in America’s international trade policy as the U.S. navigated the economic and national security events of the 20th century, and on to 2016 as President-elect Trump prepared to take office. Next …

We All Want To Change The World: How Behavioral Insights Can Help Reduce Carbon Emissions, Thomas C. Gifford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented environmental crisis driven primarily by human behavior. As the world has globalized, countries have developed, and standards of living have improved, global pollution has skyrocketed and has resulted in a wide range of environmentally destructive outcomes. All paths to environmentally sustainable development involve a dramatic cut in carbon emissions from current day levels. In this thesis, I explore how the omission of behavioral factors from mainstream neoclassical models has contributed to, and can aid in reducing unsustainably high levels of carbon emissions. Throughout the history of economic thought, classical economists such …

The Great Consensus After The Great Recession: The Case Of Jamaica, Anthony N. Iacovelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the efficacy of the International Monetary Fund’s Stabilization Program (IMFSP) as a tool for economic development. The Fund’s program utilizes an approach steeped in the Washington Conesus, which requires austere and demand side economic measures to be taken to achieve success. To determine efficacy, Jamaica was used as a case study, where special attention paid to the supply side economic consideration of human capital development in Health and Education. Additionally, this paper contrasted the IMF approach with a case study of Singapore and the Developmentalist approach to economic development. The research provided …

The Hotelling Valuation Principle: Does User Cost And Reserve Differentials Improve Validity?, Brian K. Hicks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Hotelling Valuation Principal (HVP) implies that the value per unit of an in-ground exhaustible natural resource is equal to the current price less the cost of production. The assumptions required for this principle include a certain and homogenous reserve stock, unconstrained extraction, and constant costs. Extensive research has empirically investigated the HVP. This paper expands the HVP framework and relaxes the theory’s assumptions to account for reserve differentials. The results show that the original net price model is more closely aligned with developed reserve value, than total reserve value. In addition, this paper develops two- and three-factor net price …

Evaluating Nuclear Energy As A Component Of U.S. Energy Innovation Systems, Bryce Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear energy is contentious in policy discussions that evaluate its role in the current U.S. clean energy innovation system. OECD nations, on average, have begun to reduce their dependence on nuclear energy. However, the United States has remained invested in its nuclear energy infrastructure and the role that it plays within federal research and development. This thesis examines the Neo-Schumpeterian perspective and the National Innovation System’s approach, the economic history of nuclear energy in the United States, and given insight from these factors, discusses the current role of nuclear energy in the U.S. energy innovation system. The objective is to …

The Place And Role Of Pharmacy Benefit Management (Pbm) Companies In Us Healthcare System, George Mattis Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On average, prescription drugs cost US consumers more than any other developed country in the world. US drug makers claim that intermediaries in the prescription drug supply chain, companies called pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), are forcing them to increase their drug prices. PBMs counter that the discounts they receive from drug makers are channeled to insurers. This thesis will examine the role that PBMs play in the prescription drug supply chain and determine what effect they have on drug prices. This thesis will utilize a comparative static model, Structure, Conduct, Performance (SCP) framework to analyze the pharmaceutical manufacturing and the …

Plantation Economy Model As Developed By Lloyd Best And Kari Polanyi Levitt: The Case Of Jamaica, Paula-Leone Samuda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lloyd Best and Kari Polanyi Levitt created the Theory of the Plantation Economy as an analytical tool for understanding the causes of underdevelopment in the Caribbean region. The theory provides a break from the classical understanding of developing economies as simply pre-industrialized societies. Instead, the theory tracks uneven development through analysis of metropole-hinterland relations, which account for the legacy of slavery, colonialism, and mercantilism on the structure of the global economy. In doing so, Plantation Theory is able to draw a clear link between underdevelopment in the hinterland and development in the metropole. Examining the usefulness of the Theory of …

Children’S Health And Maternal Work Activities, Termeh Tavangar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I estimate the effect of poor child health on maternal labor force participation. Mothers of health-impaired children may decide not to work and stay at home to take care of their children. Alternatively, mothers may choose to enter the labor force to pay for these children’s additional resources. Which action dominates is the empirical question I answer in this paper. I control for the potential endogeneity of a child’s health status by using an instrumental variables approach. I find that if mothers have a child in poor health, the probability that the mother works is decreased by thirteen percentage points, …

Biased Technical Change, Institutional Shift, And The Functional Distribution Of Income: Who Benefits From Economic Growth?, Adam Szymanski-Burgos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Starting from the mid 1970s and early 1980’s, the US and other advanced economies observed a widening divergence between the growth of average and median real hourly labor compensation and the average growth of labor productivity. This decoupling between labor compensation and productivity indicates a decline in the labor share of national income. Opposite to movements in the labor share, the share of national income remunerated as capital income has increased with the rise of capital incomes concentrated largely in corporate sector profits. Key developments since the middle of the 20th century have coincided with the onset of medium-run fluctuations …

Airbnb Release Of Latent Economic Value And Return To Equilibrium, Daniel Joseph Trujillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We empirically consider Airbnb’s effect on a new variable in Short Term Rental (STR) research, second homes, employing a model pre-Airbnb diffusion (2009), and post-Airbnb diffusion (2019). In doing so we test our hypothesis that second home use will be converted to short-term rentals with the advent of Airbnb. We do so through a natural experiment examining housing stock. We create a schema to segregate tourist and non-tourist counties based on economic variables and deploy these in our research framework observing a shock to housing supply. Notably, we observe a structural change in the use of second homes resulting in …

The Productivity Wage Gap, Monopsony, And Labor Share Decline: An Analysis Of Wage Suppression Perpetuated By Power, Alexandra Coulter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that wage suppression along with the decline in the labor share is caused by a rise in monopsony power realized as a significant increase in the profit share. It attributes the rise in monopsonistic behavior to the development and expansion of the modern corporation. This thesis investigates the reasons for wage suppression, identifies causes of the declining labor share left as exogenous in mainstream models, examines traditional economic wage determination and search models, and evaluates the political economy implications. This work reviews literature on imperfect competition, the corporation, contracts, search and match models, and the motivation of …

Pulling Back The Curtain: A Student Collaborative Case Study Of Equity Issues In Colorado’S School Finance System, Amy Jo Schwartz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the Great Recession, a seven percent decrease in funding ended decades of academic growth and further widened the achievement gap between White and Black students (Jackson et al., 2020). Colorado’s school-finance system is particularly distorted and inequitable because of a series of tax-limiting policies which, combined, have led Colorado to become one of the lowest-funded per pupil states in the country (Resnick et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to describe the policymaking context, as it relates to equity within Colorado’s school-finance system and explore policy alternatives to improve equity within the system. The study was designed …

An Economic Analysis Of Cyber Warfare Governance Models, Kevin M. Kelleher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Allusions to death delivered by bits and bytes have been in vogue since the Reagan administration. Yet, as the internet and its connected devices have since proliferated, cyber violence remains far more fiction than fact. Nevertheless, prominent U.S. officials have all but assured the eventuality of a devastating attack. In anticipation, political, legal, and industry experts are now seeking to codify and inculcate international norms to govern acts of war prosecuted via cyberspace. Two of the most prominent governance models to emerge are the Tallinn Manual and Microsoft’s Digital Geneva Convention. The driving thesis of this research argues that within …

China’S One Belt One Road Initiative—A Debt Trap?, Qi Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Infrastructure has been a bottleneck for industrialization of developing countries. After decades of economic growth led by investment in infrastructure, China released its first global strategy in 2013, One Belt One Road (BRI), to improve infrastructure in less developed countries along the belt and road. Although economic development has been witnessed in some BRI members, large amount of investments from China raised concern over debt crisis from the Western world and host countries. Countries receiving loans from China are struggling to effectively manage the BRI projects. Some are renegotiating the investments with China and some BRI members even canceled them. …

Antitrust In Times Of Information Technology: An Analysis Of Big Tech Monopoly Cases, Shamayeta Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The information technology industry is one of the most rapidly growing yet concentrated markets existing today. Big Tech monopolies and their increasingly anticompetitive behavior posits risks for competition, technological innovation and consumer welfare. This ranges from price discrimination, limiting consumer choices to the unethical use of data. The particular nature of information technology, with its network effects and negligible marginal costs, incentivizes and facilitates predatory market practices making antitrust analysis in this industry extremely complex. Certain schools of antitrust thought are more sensitive (namely the post-Chicago school) to these implications than others, though antitrust application is still lacking in both …

Worker Cooperatives And Social Transformation: An Anti-Essentialist Marxist Perspective, Zachariah D. Thanasilangkul

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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The Eu Ets: A Critical Analysis, Marceline Grey Swan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carbon markets, established via cap & trade programs, are the dominant means by which climate stabilization is currently being pursued worldwide, with many centered around the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. As such, a critical analysis of the EU ETS & its effectiveness is crucial to assess whether the EU carbon market is an effective mechanism to achieve climate stabilization. The effectiveness of the overall program was evaluated via a determination of whether the EU ETS, & to a greater extent the EU carbon market, has allowed for emissions reductions in line with the goal for climate stabilization set by …

Using Multi-Source Data To Assess The Dynamics Of Socioeconomic Development In Africa, Xuantong Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Frequent and rapid spatially explicit assessment of socioeconomic development is critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at both national and global levels. In the past decades, scientists have proposed many methods for monitoring human activities on the Earth’s surface on various spatiotemporal scales using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime lights (NTL) data. However, the DMSP-OLS NTL data and the associated processing methods have limited their reliability and applicability for systematic measuring and mapping of socioeconomic development. This research utilizes Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) NTL and the Isolation Forest (iForest) machine learning algorithm …

Epochs Of Ecology: The Transition From Feudalism To Capitalism, Jacob Alexander Tucker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transition from feudalism to capitalism has undoubtedly been one of the most fruitful and complicated debates amongst economic historians in the 20th and 21st centuries. With the advent of global ecological collapse, there is a necessity to examine and theorize the movement from feudalism to capitalism through the lens of ecology. While in mainstream economics the environment is either entirely dismissed or nature’s role in economics remains subsidiary to the human economy, in the field of Marxian economics, human’s interacting through nature is at the core of the entire theory. For that reason, this thesis takes earnestly Marx’s contributions …