Political Economy Commons^™

The Ecological Impacts Of Un-Protecting Forests: The Case Of Gold Mining In Ghana, Tate Alexander Barend

Master's Theses

This paper estimates the causal effect of Ghana’s Legislative Instrument 2462 (L.I. 2462) on deforestation in protected areas. The policy redefined the regulatory regime governing small-scale gold mining in protected areas, moving from prohibition to discretionary permitting. I exploit the implementation of L.I. 2462 as a policy shock and apply a difference-in-differences event-study framework to a propensity score–matched sample of pixels derived from high-resolution satellite images. Contrary to widespread concerns that the policy would accelerate deforestation, the results provide no evidence of large-scale vegetation loss in exposed protected areas following the policy change. Instead, protected area pixels located within 5 …

Bridging Fiscal Sustainability And Health Equity: A Policy Analysis Of California’S Healthcare Coverage Safeguards, Guadalupe Castaneda Martinez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Without structural policy intervention, approximately 4.6 million Californians remain at risk of being uninsured by 2030, worsening racial and ethnic health disparities and hospital uncompensated care burdens. This policy analysis advocates for a hybrid universal coverage model combining sliding-scale subsidies (California Senate Bill 78) with full-scope Medi-Cal expansion for all income-eligible residents regardless of legal status (California Assembly Bill 133). The framework relies on existing funding mechanisms, including the Managed Care Organization tax and the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund. Comparative analysis indicates that market-only subsidies leave severe equity gaps, whereas immediate single-payer transitions pose substantial fiscal and administrative risks. …

What, Exactly, Is Surveillance Pricing?, Kaylina Stroud

McNair Summer Research Program

Surveillance pricing is a method of price discrimination in which firms use personal data to set individualized prices. While this practice is often criticized on grounds of privacy, unfairness, or exploitation, these objections do not fully explain what is morally objectionable about surveillance pricing. This paper examines surveillance pricing through the lenses of price discrimination, market competition, efficiency, exploitation, and deception. I argue that surveillance pricing is not inherently unethical merely because it results in different consumers paying different prices for the same product. Nor is it necessarily objectionable when it promotes mutually beneficial exchanges and efficient market outcomes. The …

The Person As Foundation Of Responsibility: The Insufficiency Of Rights-Based Human Development Approaches, Jaclyn Berg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building on the plethora of research that demonstrates the way rights language has been more useful for those with wealth and power to further expand capitalist markets, this text extends that criticism to human development programs and institutions. While they claim to be directed towards addressing global issues of poverty and hunger as well as climate crises, they continue to treat the symptoms without accurately diagnosing the disease. Approaches to development that rely on rights without questioning the way rights have been influenced by neoliberal capitalists or without questioning the capitalist global economic system will never be able to achieve …

Ai And The Music Industry: Its Current Status And A Speculative Projection Of Its Evolutionary Trajectory, Rhett D. Morris, Clayton Rosati, Stefan Fritsch

Honors Projects

Music serves as one of society's biggest cultural outlets, allowing millions to share in what used to be a uniquely human form of expression. The commodification of music has built a huge industry full of companies and platforms that have used technology and property laws to shape music's relationship with the public. This study aims to look into the future to see how AI and its implementation could affect the structure of the music industry. To look into the future, this piece establishes two of the most pressing kinds of AI technology for the music industry and looks to contextualize …

External Debt In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Five Country Case Study On External Lending, Andres Ramirez

International Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis examines China as a new external lender to Africa and analyzes if their large infrastructure loans are leading developing countries into debt distress, compared to Multilateral and Commercial Private financing. A regression analysis is run on a 10-year data set, 2014-2024, and analyzes the external debt service-to-revenue ratio, relative to the external debt stock by lender, across a panel of five East and West African economies, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, and Benin. The empirical findings in the analysis shows that commercial private debt causes the most strain on a country’s external debt service to revenue ratio, but …

Digital Government Maturity Dan Kapasitas Fiskal Dalam Penyerapan Anggaran Daerah Di Indonesia, Winda Chelsea Meisari, Siti Fatimah

Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis Terapan

This study examines the determinants of budget absorption within Indonesian provincial governments by assessing the impact of digital government maturity and regional fiscal capacity. Digital maturity is operationalized using the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) index, while fiscal capacity is proxied by the Natural Logarithm of Local Genuine Revenue (Ln_PAD). Adopting a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design encompassing 38 provinces in 2024, the data were evaluated through multiple linear regression analysis. The empirical findings demonstrate that neither digital maturity (p-value = 0.966) nor fiscal capacity (p-value = 0.774) exhibits a statistically significant relationship with budget absorption, both partially and simultaneously …

Through The Arena: A Marxist Strategic-Relational Perspective On East Asian Regional Trade Architecture, John H. Limaldi

Journal of Critical Global Issues

This paper critically assesses the dominant regional trade architecture that impacts East Asia, focusing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its U.S.-bastardized version, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Using a strategic-relational approach grounded in Marxist theory, the paper examines how these agreements impact the relationship between the Capitalist State and Capital. It argues that international economic architecture in the neoliberal era produces state effects that weaken national sovereignty to the benefit of capital and the detriment of labor. The paper concludes with recommendations for a new regional trade architecture that prioritizes labor rights, democratic accountability, and …

Use Value, Growth, And The Ontology Of Capitalism: Richard Westra Interviewed By Larry Alan Busk, Richard Westra, Larry Alan Busk

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

The Calculation Debate In A New Century: A Conversation Between An Austrian School Economist And A Socialist Philosopher, Tegan L. Truitt, Larry Alan Busk

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

From Models To Modules: Towards A Change Of Approach In Postcapitalist Political Economy, Simon Tremblay-Pepin

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

In this article, I take for granted the existence of a field of social sciences called postcapitalist political economy. This field of research emanates from the critique of capitalism and seeks to establish, in theory and practice, alternative political and economic systems to capitalism. I argue that in its late and post-Soviet period (1988 – 2012), this field has mostly, but not solely, been based on debates between all-encompassing models. Analyzing its contemporary period (2013 to now), I will sustain that we are partly witnessing a transfer from a model-based approach to a modular one. I present six arguments to …

Modern Economic Analysis And Antitrust Law: A Guide, Steven C. Salop

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This book presents a modern economics approach to antitrust law. It expands upon and supplements traditional legal analysis of antitrust law and policy. It does so by analyzing antitrust legal standards and case law through the lenses of industrial organization economics and decision theory. The work is intended to be a comprehensive introductory guide for students, practitioners, and anyone else interested in learning the core of modern antitrust economics. Understanding the economics of antitrust and decision theory and applying that reasoning to specific cases and issues are critical steps for successfully studying and practicing antitrust law and policy. It treats …

The Institutional Production Of Ethical War Across Modern Conflict, Katerina Udov

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This paper argues that modern warfare operates through an ethical infrastructure that enables, rather than restrains, the use of violence. Contrary to the common assumption that moral frameworks such as Just War Theory function as safeguards against harm, the historical record shows that ethical language, humanitarian rhetoric, and democratic narratives serve as mechanisms to legitimize intervention, manufacture consent, and naturalize civilian suffering. Through case studies including Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, U.S.-backed coups in Latin America, and French intervention in Mali, the paper traces how political leaders, media institutions, and corporate actors frame war as a moral necessity while pursuing strategic and …

Essays In Applied Microeconomics, Md Tahmeed Hossain

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to empirical economics research by examining three settings in which historical shocks, behavioral constraints, and localized public events affect social relations, decision quality, and public safety. The first chapter examines the persistence of historical religious conflict in contemporary Hindu–Muslim relations in India. The second chapter studies how time pressure affects decision quality in online chess. The third chapter analyzes the localized traffic-safety externalities of NFL game days. Across these settings, the dissertation uses large-scale data and quasi-experimental research designs to distinguish causal effects from selection, spatial concentration, and persistent local conditions.

The first chapter asks whether historical …

Expanding The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform Through Artificial Influence Assessment (Aia): Rationale, Development, And Measurement Design, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how individuals access information, make decisions, and interact with digital environments. The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform (C.A.S.) was developed to assess attention related harms, cognitive safety, digital autonomy, and platform influence across digital systems (Clark, 2026). However, the growth of generative AI, conversational agents, and algorithmic decision support technologies has introduced new forms of influence that may not be fully captured by existing assessment domains. This paper proposes the Artificial Influence Assessment (AIA) as an expansion of the C.A.S. framework designed to measure AI mediated influence on cognition, behavior, autonomy, and information processing. Drawing on …

Millennials Will Pay The Price: Demographic Imbalance And Reform Inertia In Canada’S And Spain’S Pension Systems, Javier E. Burgos Oliva

Journal of New Finance

This paper examines how demographic imbalance and policy inertia undermine intergenerational equity in Canada’s partially funded and Spain’s pay-as-you-go pension systems. Despite structural differences, both nations transfer financial risks to Millennials and Gen Z due to aging populations, low fertility, and political resistance to reform. Using a comparative political economy framework and a stylized hyperbolic discounting model, the study shows institutional design alone cannot prevent unsustainability when incentives favor short-term gains. Policy recommendations include automatic adjustment mechanisms, independent fiscal councils, and private pension incentives.

The Road To Gerontocracy, Juan David Bohorquez Pacateque, Alonso Morales Sánchez Mejorada, Paul Alexander Villegas Muñoz

Journal of New Finance

The purpose of this article is to develop a reform proposal for current pension systems based on a robust political economy approach. The research is documentary, conducting critical analysis of texts and evidence collection from various pension schemes from a public choice perspective to elaborate a comparative institutional analysis. Pension schemes, being influenced by political processes, are susceptible to adopting institutions that are inefficient, so a politically and economically robust reform is proposed. In conclusion, taking into account that pension systems can be co-opted by the political process, it is not sufficient to propose financially sustainable schemes but also ones …

Retirement At Risk: The Political Economy Of Public Pension Governance, Allen Mendenhall, Dan Sutter

Journal of New Finance

State public pension systems manage over $6 trillion in assets while facing approximately $1.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities, raising fundamental questions about governance effectiveness and fiduciary accountability. This Article examines these challenges through the analytical framework of governance, applying insights from public choice, principal-agent models, and corporate governance to argue that details in implementation significantly impact outcomes.  We offer Ohio’s State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) as a case study. Recent governance reforms in Ohio—including legislative restructuring of the STRS board and enactment of fiduciary standards legislation modeled on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s framework—suggest the potential for earlier governance problems. …

Analyzing Retirement Systems Through A Triad Framework: Lessons For U.S. Reform, Romina Boccia, Ivane Nachkebia

Journal of New Finance

As U.S. Social Security approaches insolvency, this paper analyzes the program’s challenges through a political economy lens and makes two new contributions. First, it introduces a normative triad framework for evaluating retirement systems based on individual autonomy, fiscal sustainability, and poverty alleviation. Second, it applies this framework to five advanced economies—Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, and the U.S.—to identify institutional features associated with differences in outcomes. Deriving implications for U.S. reform, we propose four recommendations: transition Social Security to a flat-benefit system, slow benefit growth, adopt automatic stabilizers, and expand flexible savings options.

Driving Development: Coalitions, Policies, And Upgrading Brazilian Automotive Technology (1988–2025), Henrique Estides Delgado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among industrial activities in Brazil, the automotive sector generates some of the most significant and multifaceted multiplier effects on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The sector integrates activities ranging from raw materials to high-tech services, incorporating advanced technologies that influence innovation and positioning in global value chains (GVCs). Remarkably, this industry has been structured over time by public policies that have decisively shaped incentives for its participants. The world’s largest automotive multinationals have been attracted to operate in the country through varied institutional arrangements involving domestic capital and incentives across federative units. This dissertation analyzes how variations in institutional …