Political Economy Commons^™

A Way Around The Divided House Majority, Charles L. Weise, Bruce A. Larson

Economics Faculty Publications

For observers of the U.S. Congress, the inability of Republicans to unite behind a candidate for speaker has been by turn fascinating, exasperating, and frightening. When and if a candidate is finally chosen, Republicans will breathe a sigh of relief, as will many commentators. The real crisis, however, will have just begun. [excerpt]

Wealthy, But Unequal: The Anomaly Of Inequality In The United States, Joseph Puleo

Political Analysis

No abstract provided.

Support For Welfare, Matthew Reminick

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although there is much debate over the effectiveness of social programs, there has not been much research attempting to discover who exactly supports spending government resources on welfare. Previous research suggests that the American people are divided over creating a welfare state. Many economic data shows that providing assistance is beneficial short-term, but can have varying effects in the future. The research I conducted attempts to define and analyze welfare while surmising which groups of Americans are most likely to back increased federal spending towards welfare. Using the ANES 2012 data, I evaluated voter responses to election surveys, paying close …

Waste And Duplication In Nasa Programs: The Need To Enhance U.S. Space Program Efficiency, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The U.S. Government faces acute budgetary deficits and national debt problems in the Obama Administration. These problems have been brought about by decades of unsustainable government spending affecting all agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (NASA). An outgrowth of this fiscal profligacy is the presence of wasteful and duplicative programs within NASA that prevent this agency from achieving its space science and human spaceflight objectives. These problems occur due to mismanagement of these programs from NASA and the creation of these programs by the U.S. Congress and congressional committees. This occurs because congressional appropriators tend to be more …

County Level Economic Voting In U.S. Presidential Elections, Martin R. Sartorius

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between county level economic voting and county level economic voting by demographic group on county level vote shares for U.S. presidential elections. Using an entity and time fixed effects regression model, I study the effects that county level growth in real per capita personal income and unemployment rate change have on county level two-party vote share for the Democratic Party. Additionally, I observe the responsiveness of a county’s voting behavior due to the demographic makeup of that specific county. I then compare my initial results to those of Eisenberg and Ketcham (2004) for …

Curbing Corporate Inversions: A Study Of National And International Efforts To Establish Corporate Tax Equity, Scott Novak

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent years, the number of U.S. companies trying to merge with a foreign company and thereby reincorporate themselves in countries with a lower corporate tax rate – a practice known as corporate inversion – has skyrocketed. The public outcry in 2014 against corporate inversions led the U.S. Treasury to release a series of new anti-inversion regulations, and more policy changes are in the process of being debated. At the same time as this national discussion on the harmful effects corporate inversions have on the U.S. tax base is progressing, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is in …

Trade, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview of analysis of U.S. foreign trade policy during the early decades of the country's history. Examines bilateral U.S. trade relations with France and Great Britain, provides import and export statistics, details on commodities and products imports and exported, trade statistics, and information on the political and economic factors shaping U.S. trade during this period.

Coastal Defenses, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of U.S. military coastal defenses during the period up to and including the War 1812.

Revenue, U.S. Government, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview of U.S. Government revenue receipts and spending during the early years of national history. Presents revenue generation statistics, information on revenue sources, and information on domestic and international political and economic factors affecting government revenue receipts.

"Sea Water Fish In A Freshwater Pond:" An Institutional Approach To Understanding Cooperative Scarcity In The United States, Caroline E. Malone

Scripps Senior Theses

There is remarkable cooperative organization scarcity in the United States. Particularly in the credit union and worker cooperative sectors, this scarcity is not satisfactorily explained by neo-classical economic models that assume competitive conditions and profit-maximizing organizations. This paper supplements the conventional economic understandings of credit union and worker cooperative scarcity with an institutional analysis. Mechanisms of coercive, mimetic, and normative institutional isomorphism developed in DiMaggio and Powell’s theory of organizational isomorphism are applied to provide greater understanding of credit union and worker cooperative scarcity in the US. It appears that these forces of isomorphism work in conjunction with one another, …

Export Controls: A Contemporary History, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides highlights of my recently published book Export Controls: A Contemporary History. Describes the roles played by multiple U.S. Government agencies and congressional oversight committees in this policymaking arena including the Commerce, Defense, State, and Treasury Departments. It also reviews the roles played by international government organizations such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, export oriented businesses, and research intensive universities.

Land Management, U.S. Bureau Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and current assessment of the role played by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management in its ownership of federal lands in western states and its efforts to balance economic development of natural resources and conservation of these resources on these lands.

Energy, U.S. Department Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides information about the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies and how DOE influences federal energy policy and scientific research in the western U.S.

Army Corps Of Engineers, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has influenced historical and contemporary economic, environmental, and political developments in the American West.

Conservatism, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of late 20th and early 21st century conservatism and its impact on western U.S. politics and national politics. Stresses the roles played by individuals such as Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan,and George W. Bush and their influence on western conservatism. Analyzes how conservatism has been influenced by policy research institutions and advocacy groups such as the Claremont Institute and Focus on the Family. Reviews areas of collaboration and contention in western conservatism between economic, national security, and social conservatives and more libertarian elements. Examines the rise of the Tea Party movement in response to Obama Administration policies and …

Agriculture, U.S. Department Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a succinct organizational history of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its impact on the American West.

Colorado River Compact (1922), Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the 1922 Colorado River Compact seeking to fairly distribute Colorado River water to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and their increasing populations.

Hydroelectric Power, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of federal government support for hydroelectric power in the American West.

Oil Industry, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the historical and contemporary development of the American oil industry and how it has impacted U.S. natural resources policies in the American west.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the energy policymaking role played by the Energy Department's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC responsibilities include regulating the prices and interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. Its responsibilities also include reviewing proposals to build and locate natural gas terminals, interstate natural gas pipelines, licensing hydropower projects, and regulating relevant mergers and securities acquisitions in these areas.

Mining, Uranium, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of uranium mining's role and influence in the American West with comparative information on uranium mining in foreign countries.

Subsidies, Agricultural, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides historical and contemporary information on U.S. Government agricultural subsidies and how they affect agricultural policy in the Western U.S.

Hegemony And Humanitarian Norms: The Us Legitimation Of Toxic Violence, Eric Bonds

History and American Studies Articles

Despite widespread beliefs that the United States has not used chemical weapons since the distant past of World War I, this study suggests a more complicated history by examining U.S. use of herbicides and incapacitating gases in the Vietnam War and its use of herbicides in the "War on Drugs." This article places such use of toxic violence within a context of U.S. hegemony, by which U.S. officials have used contested forms of violence to secure geopolitical goals, but have also been pressured to comply with humanitarian norms or-when there is a gap between norms and state policy-to do legitimating …

How Many Barack Obamas Does It Take: An Analysis Of The Effect Of Charter Schools On Real Estate And Crime, Aananditaa Kakkar

CMC Senior Theses

This study looks at the relationship between charter school presence and neighborhood quality in Los Angeles. Using data from the Los Angeles Department of Education, Zillow Real Estate, and the Los Angeles Sheriff, this paper attempts to find whether changes in charter presence influence the price of surrounding real estate or the occurrence of serious and petty crimes. The results find that charter schools tend to be associated with a decrease in home sale prices. The results on crime imply that crime increases upon the opening of charter schools, however they are statistically insignificant.

Government Documents On Rare Earth Minerals, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Rare earth minerals contain unique chemical and physical properties such as lanthanum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise processes to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as Blackberries, and satellites. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from from Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant economic, military, and political implications. This presentation will highlight government information resources on rare earth minerals from agencies such as the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), …

Not A Partnership In Pepper, Coffee, Callico, Or Tobacco: Edmund Burke And The Vicissitudes Of Colonial Capitalism, Onur Ulas Ince

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines the tensions between liberalism and capitalism through an analysis of Edmund Burke's works on eighteenth-century liberal political economy and, specifically the challenges posed by colonial capitalism. When criticizing the East India Company Burke attempted to fortify "commercial" principles, on which British self-image rested, against the "rapacious" policies of British imperialism in India, which threatened this liberal self-image. His denunciation of the Company thus can be construed as an index to broader contradictions between the liberal self-image of capitalism and the coercive processes of colonial displacement and extraction that were an integral part of capitalism's emergence. The article, …

The Closure Of New Orleans' Charity Hospital After Hurricane Katrina: A Case Of Disaster Capitalism, Kenneth Brad Ott

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, …

The Politics Of H-1b Visa Limits, Fang Fang

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In recent years, the number of H-1B Visa (Temporary Work Visa) issued has increased tremendously. Various lobbying groups are devoted to persuading Congress to revise immigration laws and to increase the work visa issuance cap. The purpose of my study is to find out the how the H-1B Visa policy is effected by analyzing the lobbying expenditures of different economic sectors. Although there are abundant studies on the factors that affect immigration policies, there are few studies that concentrate specifically on the H-1B Visa. I combined campaign finance data and annual work visa data to assess the relationship between lobbying …

The Staffing Of Presidential Assistants: Their Effects On Presidential Success In The House Of Representatives, Nicholas R. Jesteadt

Student Publications

This paper examines the Congressional success of United States Presidents based on the reported Congressional Quarterly Presidential Box Scores. Their individual success is examined as an effect of the senior staff member a President chooses and whether they are chosen from the campaign, personal experience, or previous administrations. It is important for a President to consider the origins of these staffers as these Assistants to the President act as the body of the President’s administration. The econometric analysis presented reveals several interesting results. First, the predominance of a President to choose staff members from his campaign shows no significant impact …

The Staffing Of Presidential Assistants: Their Effect On Presidential Success In The House Of Representatives, Nicholas R. Jesteadt

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper examines the Congressional success of United States Presidents based on the reported Congressional Quarterly Presidential Box Scores. Their individual success is examined as an effect of the senior staff member a President chooses and whether they are chosen from the campaign, personal experience, or previous administrations. It is important for a President to consider the origins of these staffers as these Assistants to the President act as the body of the President’s administration. The econometric analysis presented reveals several interesting results. First, the predominance of a President to choose staff members from his campaign shows no significant impact …