Political Economy Commons^™

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.

Opening The System: (Re)Writing Value Theory Discursively, David Kristjanson-Gural

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article I argue that modern and postmodern critics of value theory share the premise that Marx’s theory of value disables the project of emancipatory social change. The modern critics claim the theory is logically flawed and must be either resituated in a consistent logical framework or replaced by a Sraffian alternative. The postmodern critics claim that the theory is necessarily reductionist and excludes or renders secondary important axes of social struggle. I argue that by using a poststructural logic, Marx’s theory of value can be interpreted in a way that both overcomes the perceived consistencies of the modern …

Welfare Reform Policies And Their Effect On Poverty Rates Across The United States, Luke N. Welle

Political Science Theses and Capstones

We have all heard the arguments on the pros and cons of welfare reform, its effect on recipient’s lives, and its effectiveness in achieving its goals. In concluding whether or not it is effective in achieving its goals, the actual goals are broad and difficult to define. I consider the goal being reducing the number of citizens living in poverty. My research focuses specifically on how variations in the welfare system perform in reducing poverty rates across the United States. I investigate what governmental policies each state has in place and their effect on poverty. Those states, in which poverty …

The Politics Of Subsidizing Sports: Legislative Voting For Three Minnesota Sports Venues, Dave Hitchcock

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since 1998 the State of Minnesota has funded the building of the Xcel Energy Center, Target Field, and TCF Bank Stadium. The focus of this research is to locate voting trends within the Minnesota House of Representatives towards these venues. I recorded the votes of each member on the legislation approving these venues from the Minnesota Journal of the House and then constructed data sets for all three buildings. From this data, trends emerge potentially linking the voting tendencies of members based on party, gender, and geographical location of their district. Initial analysis supports a fairly strong relationship between district …

Impact Of The Economic Downturn On Local Governments In South Carolina, William Tomes

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Across the country local government revenues have decreased while operating costs such as fuel, materials, equipment, and health insurance costs have significantly increased. In addition to reduced revenues, interest earnings for city and county government investments are low. These factors combined have created a difficult financial arena in which local governments must operate. While economists are reporting signs of economic recovery, many city and county budgets are just now feeling the full brunt of the economic downturn that began in 2008. On a daily basis, news media nationwide report local governments addressing budget deficits by cutting services, eliminating positions, or …

The Effect Of U.S. State Taxes On State Economic Prosperity, Casey Dainsberg

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Policy makers today are faced with trying to create solutions for economic troubles that become increasingly more complex and foreboding. Tax cuts and tax hikes are proposed and considered as possible solutions to various economic problems. However, the question still remains regarding which policies are most effective. The purpose of this research is to asses these competing claims. It seeks to find evidence that will shed light on one of these views. I have done this by accumulating tax and economic data from the fifty U.S. States between the years 2001-2009. Previous research has concluded that taxes do affect the …

The People Want The Fall Of The Regime: Schooling, Political Protest, And The Economy, Filipe R. Campante, Davin Chor

Research Collection School Of Economics

We provide evidence that economic circumstances are a key intermediating variable for understanding the relationship between schooling and political protest. Using the World Values Survey, we find that individuals with higher levels of schooling, but whose income outcomes fall short of that predicted by their biographical characteristics, in turn display a greater propensity to engage in protest activities. We discuss a number of interpretations that are consistent with this finding, including the idea that economic conditions can affect how individuals trade off the use of their human capital between production and political activities. Our results could also reflect a link …

Efficiency Of The Welfare State: A Comparative Approach Using Data Envelopment Analysis, Jekabs Bikis

Faculty Publications - College of Business

As governments continue to evolve over the past century or so in their perceived role of providing economic security for their populations, a ubiquitous yet ill-defined concept of the welfare state is increasingly taking center stage in political and economic debates. With fiscal crises looming over the horizon in many parts of the world, the fingers of blame point with greater frequency to the welfare state as the entity which is contributing more to fiscal problems than to economic solutions. Reformation of the welfare state is rapidly becoming more likely and more urgent and this study proposes one mechanism for …

Friedrich Von Hayek: The Socialist-Calculation Debate, Knowledge Arguments, And Modern Economic Development, Cara A. Elliott

Gettysburg Economic Review

At the close of the nineteenth and the commencement of the twentieth century, socialism began to gain momentum as a large-scale movement in Europe and the United States. This popularity was supported by an increased influence of the working class in society, which put pressure for representation upon European parliaments and began to secure concrete improvements in labor protection laws. Moreover, socialist proponents looked hopefully towards the living example of the Soviet Union, which began its socialist experiment in 1917 following the success of the Bolshevik Revolution. Socialism, which found its economic grounding in the legacies of such men as …

Monetary And Fiscal Policies: Ordinary Recessions And Financial Crises, Svetoslav I. Semov

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper uses two different samples to study the effects of monetary and fiscal policies on the profiles of recessions and recoveries. Several results emerge from the econometric analysis presented. First, monetary policy during ordinary recessions and banking crises is a powerful tool with lasting effects that extend to recovery growth rates. However, the effect of monetary policy during financial crises is strongly diminished in the case of forbearance – banks left to function despite being technically insolvent. Second, the effectiveness of fiscal policy is reversed – it is a powerful tool during banking crises, but it does not seem …

Do Environmental Audits Improve Long-Term Compliance: Evidence From Manufacturing Facilities In Michigan, Mary F. Evans, Lirong Liu, Sarah L. Stafford

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Using a unique facility-level dataset from Michigan, we examine the effect of environmental auditing on manufacturing facilities’ long-term compliance with U.S. hazardous waste regulations. We also investigate the factors that affect facilities’ decisions to conduct environmental audits and whether auditing in turn affects the probability of regulatory inspections. We account for the potential endogeneity of our audit measure and the censoring of our compliance measure using a censored trivariate probit, which we estimate using simulated maximum likelihood. We find that larger facilities and those subject to more stringent regulations are more likely to audit; facilities with poor compliance records are …

2011 American Incentive System Almanac, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Monographs

No abstract provided.

A Philosophical Framework For Conditional Cash Transfers, Jaron Abelsohn

CMC Senior Theses

Despite some recent economic progress, there is still widespread poverty and severe inequality in developing countries. According to the World Bank there are over 925 million hungry or undernourished people worldwide. More than 80 percent of people in the world live in countries whose income inequality is rising. Over 2.1 billion people globally live on less than two dollars a day, with over 880 million people facing absolute poverty and living on less than one dollar a day. Three out of four people living on less than $1 a day live in rural areas. These impacts have been magnified by …

Economic Development Under Dominant-Party Regimes, Christopher J. Gorud

Honors Theses

Case studies of economic development in Japan, Mexico, India, and Kenya examine the relationship between dominant-party regimes and developmental outcomes. This paper studies the variables of bureaucratic coherence and cohesion, corporatism, labor relations, and national developmentism as contributing factors to developmental success or failure in these states.