Political Economy Commons^™

Behind Closed Doors: How Remittance Flows Changed Repression Dynamics In Beneficiary States During Covid-19, Ketevan Tsurtsumia

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the global world in a lot of ways. Extensive research has been done on its effect on the economic growth of states, the effectiveness of government responses, the efficacy of different vaccines, and vaccine diplomacy. However, changes in state repression have been a neglected topic in research focused on understanding and analyzing the processes that took place during the pandemic. This paper will take on the topic of state repression dynamics during COVID-19 and further develop this relationship using remittances as an additional variable that affects state repression, taking state repression as a dependent variable. Finally, …

The Path To Development And Democracy, Does It Matter Which Comes First? Nicolas, Nicolas Soucy

Senior Projects Spring 2023

In this paper I have looked into the relationship between economic development and the type of political regime used to achieve development. Throughout my research I approach the idea that economic development is more related to the initial conditions of the state independent of the regime style in place. I have looked at states that achieved development through a democracy, states that achieved development through more of an authoritarian regime, and states that have not achieved development yet. When looking at the process of economic development the initial conditions of macroeconomic and political stability, equality of opportunity, and a collective …

A Patriarchal Pandemic: Analyzing The Global Impacts Of Covid-19 On Women And The Gendered Dynamics Of Policies, Paige Gregg

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Utilizing empirical and contemporary research, this Senior Project aims to explore the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted women through social, economic, and policy avenues. This project starts by identifying the unequal effects on health, gender based violence, economic security and unpaid care the pandemic had on women. It then transitions to establish historical and systematic occurrences of gender bias in macroeconomic policies. It lays out the specifics of policy implementation during the COVID crisis, and outlines the numerical and regional variations in gender-sensitive policies. It surmises that, overall the gendered policy response was subpar, given the disproportionate …

From Economic Miracle To Developmental Basket Case: The Political Economy Of Puerto Rico’S Operation Bootstrap, Kevyn J. Piña

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This study investigates why Operation Bootstrap, which once brought industrialization to Puerto Rico and was deemed successful, did not become a sustainable social and economic strategy. The study delves into how Puerto Rico's colonial position affected this shift from success to failure. Although Operation Bootstrap initially prospered due to American funding and technological advancements, Puerto Rico's colonial status ultimately impeded progress. A review of Puerto Rico's history with the United States, including issues of debt and economic development, reveals that the island's colonial past has made it challenging to address concerns related to economic advancement. This essay explores the relationship …

Exploring The Rise In Anti-Immigrant Violence In South Africa: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of Historical, Economic, And Political Factors, Yaseer Bolaji Abdulfatai

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

French Bilateral Aid To Mali: Examining The Donor-Recipient Relationship’S Effect On Development, Hazel R. Carson

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Comparing Political Implications Of Punitive Paradigms In Digital Surveillance And Data Driven Algorithms Between The Polities Of The United States Of America And The People's Republic Of China, Shedelande Lily Carpenter

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Job Guarantee As It Relates To People With Disabilities, Tyler Christopher Emerson

Senior Projects Spring 2022

We accept unemployment as an inevitability in our capitalist economy even when it is purportedly functioning at full capacity. Some economists propose that the government could directly intervene in the labor market to meet the peoples’ demand for jobs. Work in modern America is a central aspect of participation in society that directly impacts individuals’ identities. Unemployment is, therefore, a key mechanism of social exclusion. The Federal Job Guarantee seeks to provide work directly for the unemployed with work that serves the public good.

People with disabilities disproportionately suffer from unemployment, underemployment, and often leave the workforce entirely. The majority …

The Elusive Rainbow Nation: Assessing Post-Apartheid Reconstruction Strategies In Johannesburg, South Africa, Ashley May Eugley

Senior Projects Spring 2022

This paper examines how South Africa’s political and economic orientation following the nation’s democratization in 1994 enabled a continuation of Apartheid-era patterns in the City of Johannesburg. In particular, it contends that governmental decentralization, neoliberalism, and global city aspirations—enshrined in both local and national policy documents—turned attention away from addressing internal deprivations. Rather than redistributing social and economic power, uplifting the Black-majority, and allowing urban stakeholders to play a central role in policy formation and decision-making, Johannesburg’s City Government catered to elite outside interests, effectively introducing new forms of segmentation and disenfranchisement. Although the African National Congress committed to transform …

The Structures That Bind: An Examination Of Housing And Wealth Inequality In America And A Proposal For An Effective Economic Solution, Baylor Brown

Senior Projects Fall 2021

Given America’s violently racist history, it should not come as a surprise that housing inequality still runs rampant in 21st century American cities. What may come as more of a surprise, however, is the true complexity of housing inequality and its broader implications. Housing inequality is not an independent phenomena and there are a multitude of structures which enable housing discrimination to interact with and perpetuate other forms of discrimination. Economically speaking, a public banking option in the U.S would serve as an effective tool to regulate household finance and chip away at the foundations of inequality. While there are …

Chasing Gold: Analyzing Opium Cultivation In Afghanistan And Its Alternatives, Jack Cameron

Senior Projects Spring 2021

This paper reviews the history of counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan from 1950 to the present. Each chapter will specifically examine a program or strategy used to suppress the cultivation of opium. It will then derive both the successes and failures of each moment in history. Using these lessons, the essay will lastly examine saffron as an alternative to opium. Though saffron has a high start-up cost and sizeable time investment, as the essay argues, these costs are actually worth it. Moreover, that these costs are most likely to be fulled in areas cultivating opium as poverty is at its lowest …

New Perspectives On Contemporary Chinese Growth: The Developmental State Model And China’S Success In The Reform Period, Adam T. Savino

Senior Projects Spring 2021

The success of China since 1979 has often been boiled down to market fundamentals, neglecting its largely state directed system. This essay compares the developmental state theory of growth, established by historian Chalmers Johnson, to China’s economic practices over the last 40 years. Ultimately, the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that China’s growth is based on a unique application of the developmental state model, and that this model is potentially transferable to other economies that have yet to develop as robustly.

"Made In Bangladesh", Joya Alia Syed

Senior Projects Spring 2020

The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh was the worst industrial disaster in modern times and began a turning point for change in the garment sector. This paper will uncover human rights violations such as the exploitation of garment workers, verbal and physical abuse as well as the right for workers to collectively bargain. The paper will begin with a brief background of the Bangladeshi garment sector, then the pressure of the “Fast Fashion” demand for the industry and gender dimensions. It will conclude with remediation efforts from local and international levels from social movements, campaigns, and programs such …

Migration And Neoliberalism: Do Diasporas Facilitate Pro-Market Policies At Home? Policies, Veronika Elizebeth Gillis

Senior Projects Spring 2020

The recent shift in migration literature towards a focus on migrant sending countries has been characterized by a negative impact of remittances on human rights and other political institutions. Furthering this literature, we claim that remittances increase neoliberal reforms in migrant sending countries. Given the multiplicity of incentives to support neoliberal policies on the part of the migrant, the remittance receiver, and the sending country’s government, we expect the remittance share of GDP to positively influence the presence of neoliberal policies in the migrant-sending country. Using the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom Index as a proxy for neoliberalism, we implement an …

Economic Sanctions And The Survival Of Autocratic Regimes, Colin Micheal Brundege

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Intragovernmental Autonomous Stabilizers, Alex Williams

Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy

We present a novel framework for understanding the relationship between the federal and state governments of the United States of America. Drawing on the experience of state government finances during and after the Great Recession in 2008, we propose the establishment of novel intragovernmental budgetary stabilization mechanisms. We draw out the flawed arguments of the existing fiscal federalism literature and demonstrate how the work of Michael Pettis and Modern Monetary Theory provide more usable insights when crafting public policy. We propose several potential policy responses and produce a counterfactual model of state finances after the Great Recession using the new …

Russian Climate Politics In 2019: Concessions And Trade Offs, Nikita O. Minin

Senior Projects Spring 2019

In the paper of this project the Russia’s political justifications for the signing of the Kyoto Protocol and the refusal to sign the Paris Accord are analyzed. Russia’s current adaptive strategies and trajectory towards creating a potentially devastating future for the planet are assessed in terms of their economic justifications. Overall this paper argues that the Paris Accord needs to be amended to be economically and politically fair for all signing countries. Currently Russia could lose GDP if they signed the accord, and this is presented as the primary reason for Russia’s refusal to sign. The thesis of the paper …

Postcolonial Exploitation Through Economic Development Tools: A Case Study On France And The Ivory Coast, Keshav R. Prabhu-Schlosser

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Abstract: French monetary control over their colonies in Africa did not decrease after decolonization. Instead, the monetary union, the CFA Franc Zone set the stage for French domination of West Africa for decades to come through their control of pricing and exchange rates. This dominion causes repeated economic downturns, which the governments of the CFA countries are unable to counteract due to the monetary and fiscal restrictions placed upon them through the currency union. These downturns are only offset by repeated injections of capital, which can only come from abroad. In a case study of France and the Ivory Coast, …

Still Sitting On Men: Understanding The Continuities Of Indirect Rule Through Pre-Colonial Forms Of Female Resistance, Ethnic Power Politics And Economic Violence In Southeast Nigeria, Evan Richardson

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This project exposes that Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria has had direct, significant ramifications on the Political Economic Development of Nigeria through the present day.

Examination Of United States Housing Data And The Racial Wealth Gap Case Study Of Westchester County, Ny, Ezekiel Nana Demasio

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Does Financial Liberalization Increase Corruption?: Evidence From A Panel Analysis, Pranjal Sudhir Ghate

Senior Projects Spring 2018

This project investigates whether financial liberalization increases corruption on a global level. Arguments put forward by international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF claim that financial globalization will reduce corruption. However, the experience of India suggests that opening up financial markets might have increased corruption. This project tests whether this experience is generalizable worldwide. I find evidence for the conjecture that financial liberalization increased corruption in a panel analysis using random effects and lagged independent variable.

Marketization In North Korea Is Corrupting The Corrupted, Joseph Kim

Senior Projects Fall 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Modernization Losers, Political Winners: Assessing The Role Of The Declining Position Of Labor In Right-Wing Electoral Successes Across Western Europe, Eva-Marie C. Quinones

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This Senior Project advances the modernization losers thesis, wherein the electoral successes of the far right in Western Europe are attributable to neoliberal fiscal policy, labor market shifts, and the institutional structure of the euro. Building on an existing body of literature that primarily assesses voting behavior through survey research, this paper assesses the relationship between right-wing electoral successes and the socioeconomic status of semi-skilled, blue-collar laborers thought to comprise the core voting base of extreme right parties, by using panel data at the national and provincial levels to answer the question, “To what extent has the declining position of …

From The Fair Labor Standards Act To Individual State Minimum Wages: Measuring State Minimum Wages And Economic Performance, Adam Charles Carafotes

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This project will analyze the historical foundation of the minimum wage in the United States prior to the first federal wage enactment in 1938 to the current federal wage as well as individual state wages. This paper will offer a historical overview along with economic ideology in determining appropriate minimum wage floors on state and federal levels of the economy. The question of raising either state or federal minimum wages has drawn great importance in the eyes of our country and in the eyes of economic thinkers, policymakers, and individuals. The minimum wage has been the backbone for working individuals …

Financial Institutions And The Global Farming Industry: The Impacts Of Large-Scale Agricultural Investments Observed In Ethiopia, George William Goceljak Iii

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Due to the significant deregulation of commodity futures markets in 2000, the presence of index-speculators became increasingly prevalent. The strategies applied by these market participants drastically manipulated global commodity prices. The severe rise in food prices would come to initiate a global concern towards food security. Consequently, developed countries began implementing policies that would secure agricultural production and food supplies. This policy movement facilitated a trend in agricultural investments. Through political influence, investing governments were able augment favorable environments abroad for investors. In such environments, farmland was easily obtainable and regulations of agricultural investments were minimal. The combination of government …

An Ghaoth A Chriofidh An Eorna: The Moral Economy Of Ireland's Whiteboys, 1761-1787., Connor Bartlett Mcdermott

Senior Projects Spring 2017

In 1761, the peasantry of Ireland rose in insurrection against enclosure and tithes. The initial wave of protesters were known as 'Whiteboys,' and their insurrection came to be a model for subsequent Irish agrarian redresser movements throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Applying E.P. Thompson’s theory of moral economy to the practice of Whiteboyism reveals the sophisticated motives which lay behind the Whiteboy’s 18th century protests against enclosure, tithes, and middlemen in rural Ireland. Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Political Economy Of State-Level Emergency Unemployment Relief: The Case Of The New York Tera, 1931-37, Hasani J. Gunn

Senior Projects Fall 2017

Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt created The New York State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA) in response to the Great Depression. Operating from 1931-37, this state-level jobs-and-income style policy featured comprehensive in-kind assistance, “home relief,” and emergency unemployment relief, “work relief.” Though the program is fascinating just in this respect, it has been systematically overshadowed by the alphabet soup of New Deal era relief policies. We revisit the TERA to shed light on what it offered to the people of NY and, overall, what it offered to the economy. We find significant evidence that the program stabilized the State economy by …

Establishing Public Banks To Address State And Local Government Fiscal Problems, Erind Disha

Senior Projects Fall 2016

Unlike the Federal Government, which has the unique legal power to issue a national currency, state and local governments (SLGs) depend on their revenue capacity for spending. Thus, the quality of public services provided by SLGs depends on adequate, stable funding and long-term commitments. This paper begins with an evaluation of the general fiscal condition of SLGs, meanwhile discerning specific budget areas that have become particularly distressed, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Chapter 3 deals with how SLGs engage in municipal finance with private financial institutions. Finally, the fourth chapter presents how arranging a system of public banks across …

Examining Monetary Policy In The Absence Of A Central Bank And Sovereign Currency In Palestine, Salam Marwan Awartani

Senior Projects Spring 2016

There is extensive literature on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that studies the historic, political, and social aspects. However, few scholars have examined the economic model that was born out of the conflict and the various implications behind it. According to Charles Goodhart: “A Central Bank has two main functions. Its first (macro-economic) function is the operation of discretionary monetary policy” and a “second (micro-economic) function, of providing support (e.g., via Lender of Last Resort assistance), and regulatory and supervisory services to maintain the health of the banking system”[1]. However, with the Israeli Occupation’s imposed restrictions on the PMA, the …

The Macroeconomics Of The Declining U.S. Labor Share: A Debt-Led Explanation, Alex Jianan Xu

Senior Projects Spring 2015

This paper aims to answer two major conundrums in macroeconomic theory with regards to the U.S. economy. First, standard macroeconomic models such as Harrod-Domar and Solow theoryze that factor shares are constant; however, actual measures of the U.S. labor share have been on a downward trend since the early 1980s. The second conundrum relates to the Post-Kaleckian wage-led or profit-led view of economic growth. It indicates that a fall in the labor share in a wage-led economy will result in a fall in aggregate demand (due to deceases in consumption), and an increase in aggregate demand in a profit-led economy …