Political Economy Commons^™

The Structural Injustice Of Forced Migration And The Failings Of Normative Theory, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

I propose to criticize two strands of argument - contractarian and utilitarian – that liberals have put forth in defense of economic coercion, based on the notion of justifiable paternalism. To illustrate my argument, I appeal to the example of forced labor migration, driven by the exigencies of market forces. In particular, I argue that the forced migration of a special subset of unemployed workers lacking other means of subsistence (economic refugees) cannot be redeemed paternalistically as freedom or welfare enhancing in the long run. I further argue that contractarian and utilitarian approaches are normatively incapable of appreciating this fact …

Sovereign Wealth Funds And Global Finance, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter focuses on a number of specific sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) whose portfolios indicate strong interests in finance both in their home countries and abroad. It first reviews empirical evidence that shows SWFs having been major investors in Western financial intermediaries for decades. It then considers the organization and governance of SWFs, with particular emphasis on the three main schools of thought as well as the predictions one can derive from them vis-à-vis the behavior of individual actors in the global financial network: economic theories, economic sociology, and political economy. It also presents case studies that “test” these theories …

A Spatial Analysis Of The Italian Second Republic, Second Version, Massimiliano Landi, Ricardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School Of Economics

We apply the Optimal Classification method to a newly created dataset to provide a spatial map of the Italian Second Republic (1996-2008). We find a bi-dimensional political space in the XIII Legislature and virtually a one dimensional political space in the XIV and XV Legislatures. In addition, the main dimension is explained along the dimension government opposition rather than on the traditional left and right dimension. During the Second Republic, Italy experienced changes in electoral system and in the format of the parties. We use our data to discuss the implications of either change on the dimensionality space. We find …

One Mandarin Benefits The Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure And Nepotism In An Autocracy, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, Quoc-Anh Do, Anh Tran

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies nepotism by government officials in an authoritarian regime. We collect a unique dataset of political promotions of officials in Vietnam and estimate their impact on public infrastructure in their hometowns. We find strong positive effects on several outcomes, some with lags, including roads to villages, marketplaces, clean water access, preschools, irrigation, and local radio broadcasters, as well as the hometown’s propensity to benefit from the State’s “poor commune support program”. Nepotism is not limited to only top-level officials, pervasive even among those without direct authority over hometown budgets, stronger when the hometown chairperson’s and promoted official’s ages …

Advancing The Human Right To Housing In Post-Katrina New Orleans: Discursive Opportunity Structures In Housing And Community Development, Leigh Graham

Publications and Research

In post-Katrina New Orleans, housing and community development (HCD) advocates clashed over the future of public housing. This case study examines the evolution of and limits to a human right to housing frame introduced by one nongovernmental organization (NGO). Ferree’s concept of the discursive opportunity structure and Bourdieu’s social field ground this NGO’s failure to advance a radical economic human rights frame, given its choice of a political inside strategy that opened up for HCD NGOs after Hurricane Katrina. Strategic and ideological differences within the field limited the efficacy of this rights-based frame, which was seen as politically radical and …

Whose Budget? Our Budget? Broadening Political Stakeholdership Via Participatory Budgeting, Celina Su

Publications and Research

In this thought piece, I attempt to contextualize New York City’s inaugural participatory budgeting (PB) process in the larger landscape of American political participation. I discuss how the bottom-up way in which stakeholders wrote the process’s rules in the first place, alongside the core role played by the two lead organizations, helped to broaden notions of stakeholdership among constituents. Ultimately, the first year’s primary achievement regarding political participation was not a specific set of outcomes, but a debut as an unfinished form of governance—one that began to engage traditionally marginalized constituents, to trigger their political imagination, and to prompt them …

Razing Lafitte: Defending Public Housing From A Hostile State, Leigh Graham

Publications and Research

The contentious politics of the demolition of Lafitte public housing in post- Katrina New Orleans and its replacement with mixed-income properties is a telling case of the strategic conflicts housing advocates face in public housing revitalization. It reveals how the qualified outcomes of HOPE VI interact with local institutional and historical circumstances to confound the equity and social justice goals of housing and community development advocates. It shows the limits to public housing revitalization as an urban recovery strategy when hostile government leadership characterizes a region, and the state is recast as an adversary rather than revitalization partner. This case …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: The Value Of Political Connections In Social Networks, Quoc-Anh Do, Bang Dang Nguyen, Yen Teik Lee, Kieu-Trang Nguyen

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the impact of social-network connections to politicians on firm value. We focus on the networks of university classmates and alumni among directors of U.S. public firms and congressmen. Using the Regression Discontinuity Design based on close elections from 2000 to 2008, we identify that a director’s connection to an elected congressman causes a Weighted Average Treatment Effect on Cumulative Abnormal Returns of -2.65% surrounding the election date. The effect is robust and consistent through various specifications, parametric and nonparametric, with different outcome measures and social network definitions, and across many subsamples. We find evidence to support the …

Globalization And Commitment In Corporate Social Responsibility: Cross-National Analyses Of Institutional And Political-Economy Effect, Alwyn Lim, Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines why global corporate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks havegained popularity in the past decade, despite their uncertain costs and benefits, and how theyaffect adherents’ behavior. We focus on the two largest global frameworks—the United NationsGlobal Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative—to examine patterns of CSR adoption bygovernments and corporations. Drawing on institutional and political-economy theories, wedevelop a new analytic framework that focuses on four key environmental factors—globalinstitutional pressure, local receptivity, foreign economic penetration, and national economicsystem. We propose two arguments about the relationship between stated commitment andsubsequent action: decoupling due to lack of capacity and organized hypocrisy due …

One Mandarin Benefits The Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure And Nepotism In An Autocracy, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, Quoc-Anh Do, Anh Tran

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies nepotism by government officials in an authoritarian regime. We collect a unique dataset of political promotions of officials in Vietnam and estimate their impact on public infrastructure in their hometowns. We find strong positive effects on several outcomes, some with lags, including roads to villages, marketplaces, clean water access, preschools, irrigation, and local radio broadcasters, as well as the hometown’s propensity to benefit from the State’s “poor commune support program”. Nepotism is not limited to only top-level officials, pervasive even among those without direct authority over hometown budgets, stronger when the hometown chairperson’s and promoted official’s ages …

European Welfare Regimes: Political Orientations Versus Poverty, Kosta Josifidis, John B. Hall Professor, Novica Supic, Olgica Ivancev

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This inquiry analyzes how political orientations shape welfare states and labour market institutions when seeking to reduce poverty. In order to identify effects of these two key variables, we conduct a panel regression analysis that includes two poverty measures: poverty rates before and after social spending. This inquiry considers 14 EU countries, and in the period from 1995 to 2008, which are grouped according to welfare state regimes. We consider Social Democratic, Corporatist, Mediterranean and Liberal welfare state regimes. Panel regression results indicate that political orientation engenders no significant statistically measurable effects on poverty rates before social spending. Effects register, …

Fifty More Years? Reform And Modernisation Of The Oecd, Richard Woodward

Articles

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is a vital, if frequently unnoticed, cog in the machine of global governance. On the organisation's 50th anniversary, Richard Woodward assesses whether the OECD's reform programme can secure its future in a changing world.

The Singapore Town-Hall Meeting, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Professor Eugene Tan forecasts what the Prime Minister might say in his National Day Rally speech. He predicts it will touch on the ecomomy, Presidential election and social cohesion, among other issues.

From Boom To Doom To Boom: Offshore Financial Centres And Development In Small States, Richard Woodward

Articles

During the 1990s tax havens and offshore financial centres (OFCs) were subject to a string of initiatives designed to raise their tax and regulatory regimes to accepted international standards. Many commentators forecast that this would lead to the demise of OFCs, a worry for the many small states whose economic well being depended heavily on the provision of offshore financial services. Despite this regulatory onslaught many small state OFCs have prospered in the new millennium. This paper seeks to explain this apparent paradox by arguing that (1) international initiatives were riddled with loopholes and exceptions that have been gleefully seized …

Geopolitics: A Guide To The Issues, Bert Chapman

Libraries Research Publications

Provides overview of how geography influences international relations and international politics including climate change, energy security, international economics, and international security.  Introduces key figures in geopolitics development as a discipline such as Alfred Thayer Mahan and Halford Mackinder, covers the geopolitical interests of individuals countries, describes disciplinary divisions within geopolitics, details international geopolitical crisis areas and provides maps of some of these areas, emphasizes geopolitics information resources, and stresses the critical importance of geography in studying international politics and security.

Political Economy Of Budget, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The anticipation about national budget creates a lot of hype, particularly among the news channels, which have swollen in numbers and work in a highly competitive environment. However, by the time the actual budget is announced most of the information becomes already available in the public domain through trickles and dribs. The budget announcement, itself, comes as an anti-climax as it does not contain much that is not already known. Commentators and observers make superficial points about the realism of the budget targets and numbers. What is really important is to understand the dynamics and the context — particularly, the …

Value, Cooperatives, And Class Justice, David Kristjanson-Gural

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article I argue that elimination of exploitation at the firm level is necessary to eliminate exploitation, but is not sufficient, in and of itself, to support class justice. I distinguish exploitation as one of several aspects in the more inclusive category of class justice developed by George DeMartino. I then demonstrate that when the formation and distribution of value at the more complex level of Marx’s analysis in volume 3 of Capital is considered, workers may collectively appropriate surplus value but nonetheless be subject to an unfair redistribution of labor time. I use the example of the Mondrago …

Building A World-Class System In Ireland’S Financial Crisis, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

Irish higher education faces particular difficulties given the severity of its economic crisis. Like other countries, it is engaged in significant system restructuring coupled with managed policy direction. Where Ireland does differ is in its emphasis on a 'whole of country strategy' and commitment that teaching and research go hand-in-hand. This paper looks at the fortunes and mis-fortunes of Irish higher education.

Fiscal Federalism And Nigeria's Development: Comparative Perspectives From Canadian Fiscal Federalism, Olumide Victor Ekanade

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper evaluates the historical dynamics that have shaped the development of fiscal federalism in Nigeria and Canada over the years. It contends that certain contradictions have inhibited the efficient and equitable allocation of tax powers and expenditure responsibilities in Nigeria. These include Nigeria's defective federal structure, military rule, Presidential federalism, politicized sharing principles, and the parochial political culture. These absurdities now threaten the stability of the Nigerian federation. The paper submits that the Canadian Federation offers a viable option for renewal with principles such as autonomy of sub national units, the predominance of the civic culture, scientific equalization, and …

Economic Outcomes And Economic Impacts Of Immigrants To Canada, Charles Beach

Western Migration Conference Series

Bio:

Charles Beach is a Professor of Economics at Queen's University where he has taught since 1972. He was an Editor of Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques (1995-02) and Director of the John Deutsch Institute (2001-09). He was a co-founder of the Canadian Econometric Study Group, Canadian Employment Research Forum, and Chair of the Data Liberation Initiative at Statistics Canada. He has published 15 books and a large number of research and policy papers. His current research interests are on Canadian immigration policy and experience, and on labour market and retirement policy.