Political Economy Commons^™

Pointless?, Jonah Yuen

CMC Senior Theses

A fundamental question in politics that has no conclusive answer to this day is whether or not campaign expenditures are pointless. Determining the role of campaign contributions and spending in elections is important for formulating campaign finance reform policy and also for understanding the public choice economics behind elections. Politicians seem convinced that money is an important component in any successful election as illustrated by numerous fundraisers and lofty goals of raising $1 billion for presidential campaigns, yet the empirical research on money’s role in elections has not reached a consensus. This project seeks to further explore the relationship between …

Has The Franco-German Power Balance In The European Union Tipped In Favor Of Germany?, Stephanie C. Haffner

CMC Senior Theses

The power balance between France and Germany in the European Union has been one of great discussion and debate. Countless journalists and scholars have argued that Germany’s power has risen gradually against the seemingly perpetually stronger France over the past sixty years, and is now finally set to surpass France; but how true are these claims? How can power within the EU truly be measured? Through an analysis of Franco-German collaboration through unionization, a critique of the contemporary discourse on the relationship, and an examination of changing contributions to the EU budget, my paper argues that the Franco-German power balance …

Keeping Nuclear Programs From Becoming Nuclear Weapons: A Game Theoretic And Econometric Analysis, Benjamin Guy Ogden

Honors Theses

There are currently only nine countries which possess nuclear weapons, but twenty-four countries have pursued the requisite technology. The question remains as to why nations ceased their programs, and whether the policies of the international community had anything to do with that decision. This paper uses both a game theoretic and a probit model with limited assumptions to attempt to uncover: a) what are the determinants of a country shuttering their nuclear weapon program, b) when "sticks and carrots" can be credible (subgame perfect), and c) how large of a role they play in the potential nuclear country's decision-making. I …

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.

The Great Indian Growth Puzzle: What Caused A Spike In 2003?, Aditya Bindal

CMC Senior Theses

This paper will employ unit root tests for finding structural breaks endogenously among India’s key macroeconomic aggregate series, as well as their components and subcomponents. The same analysis will be repeated, wherever data are available, for states. The results from these unit root tests will then be used in regression models for national and state level data to understand the causes behind structural breaks. We find that breakpoints cluster around 1982 and 2003 for most series at the national and state level. The services component appears to be a promising candidate for explaining the 2003 structural break in some of …

Radio Spectrum And The Disruptive Clarity Of Ronald Coase, Thomas W. Hazlett, David P. Porter, Vernon L. Smith

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

In the Federal Communications Commission, Ronald Coase exposed deep foundations via normative argument buttressed by astute historical observation. The government controlled scarce frequencies, issuing sharply limited use rights. Spillovers were said to be otherwise endemic. Coase saw that Government limited conflicts by restricting uses; property owners perform an analogous function via the “price system.” The government solution was inefficient unless the net benefits of the alternative property regime were lower. Coase augured that the price system would outperform. His spectrum auction proposal was mocked by communications policy experts, opposed by industry interests, and ridiculed by policy makers. Hence, it took …

Papers Ltv, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2011, January 16). Profit themes (Unpublished manuscript notes) (23-39_Pape... p. 4).
• Shaikh, A. (1988, November 26). Steuart & two sources of profit: History—notes on prod/unprod labor in Marx (Unpublished manuscript notes) (23-39_Pape... p. 5).
• Shaikh, A. (1992). Values and value transfers: A comment on Itoh (Unpublished manuscript) (23-39_Pape... p. 10).
• Obrinsky, M. (1983). Profit theory and capitalism. University of Pennsylvania Press (23-39_Pape... p. 39).
• Shaikh, A. (2008, February 6). Production and nonproduction labor (Unpublished manuscript notes) (23-39_Pape... p. 44).

Class (Chapter 9), Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Chapter 9: classical, neoclassical, austrian and post keynesian views on competition, an unpublished draft book chapter prepared by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, on June 5, 2026.
• Ch 9 (class), a manuscript file folder label inscribed with the identification code NA-23-62, prepared by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, on June 5, 2026.
• Corrections and marginal notation on classical pricing and cost functions, an unpublished set of handwritten manuscript comments prepared by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, on June 5, 2026.

Competition Blue, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Roncaglia, A. (2006). Paolo Sylos Labini (1920-2005): A tribute. EAEPE Newsletter, (35).
• Shaikh, A. (2011). Appendix 7.1.xlsx. Unpublished manuscript.
• Dhawan, R. (2001). Firm size and productivity differential: Theory and evidence from a panel of US firms. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 44(3).
• Shaikh, A. (2011). Marx's example of a hand printing press vs. a lithograph. Unpublished manuscript.
• Shaikh, A. (2011). The writing of the Grundrisse. Unpublished manuscript.

Alleviating Social Disadvantages Of Rapid Economic Growth: A Case For Conditional Cash Transfer (Cct) Application In Old Siam, Anastasia Kostioukova

CMC Senior Theses

The ongoing conflict between Thailand’s red shirt and yellow shirt parties is not purely political. This tension is rooted in a renewed awareness of regional economic and social inequality, a byproduct of rapid economic growth in the past. This thesis seeks to understand the overall consequences of unequal economic development in Thailand, as the rationale for asserting that a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program is an appropriate policy tool for the ongoing reconciliation efforts.

Real-Time Forecasting, Dean D. Croushore

Economics Faculty Publications

This chapter will discuss real-time forecasting in a macroeconomic policy context. I will begin by talking about the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF), a survey of private-sector forecasters. Next, I will discuss research on real-time data analysis and its importance in forecasting. Finally, I will discuss real-time forecasting in the 1990s.

Owen Book Capitalism Vs Economic Democracy, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Owen, M. K. (2011). Inscription to anwar shaikh (Handwritten note) (23-8_Owen ... p. 3).
• Owen, M. K. (2011). Capitalism vs. economic democracy: illuminating capitalist vs. socialist development with a theory inferred from the writings of marx, engels, lenin, dunayevskaya, and sraffa. CreateSpace (23-8_Owen ... pp. 2, 4)

Power And Capitalism Panel, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2011, April). Comments on hegemony in academia, neoclassical economics, and vested interests (Handwritten note) (23-11_Powe... p. 2).
• Shaikh, A. (2011, April). My story: reflections on the Cambridge capital controversy, empirical production functions, and neoliberalism (Handwritten note) (23-11_Powe... p. 3).
• The New School. (2011, April 15–16). Power and the history of capitalism (Conference program). The New School (23-11_Powe... pp. 4-10).
• Milberg, W. (2011, April 15). Hegemony panel (Email) (23-11_Powe... p. 11).

Chapter 6 And Chapter 8 Tables, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Chapter 6 numerical examples: Labor values, direct prices, and prices of production (Unpublished Mathcad worksheet) 
• Shaikh, A. (2011). Chapter 8 reference tables: Price equalization, profit rate disequalization, and technical choice contenders (Unpublished Excel spreadsheet)

Mississippi Period Occupational And Political History Of The Middle Savannah River Valley, Keith Stephenson

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Research focusing on the political economy of Mississippian mound centers in the middle Savannah River valley has prompted a reevaluation of current interpretations regarding societal complexity. I conclude the clearest expression of classic Mississippian riverine-adaptation is evident at centers immediately below the Fall Line with their political ties to chiefdom centers in the Piedmont, and especially Etowah. By contrast, those centers on the interior Coastal Plain were politically autonomous with minimal signatures in social ranking. The scale of appropriated labor and resulting level of surplus production, necessitated by upland settlement on the Aiken Plateau, fostered social contradictions making communally-oriented and …

The Public Sector, Migration, And Heterogeneity, Carlos J. Lopes

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Questions on the optimal size of government always provoke intense political debate. At the center of this is the public goods problem, where certain goods and services are “under-provided” by the market due to problems with rivalry and excludability. These goods are usually provided by the public sector and financed through taxes. Questions emerge over the optimal level of provision, as different individuals value these goods differently. This dissertation consists of two studies which address preferences for the size of government from different perspectives.

The first study provides a method that can be used to estimate demand for changes in …

Recent Debates On Ltv, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• The incoherence of the TSSI: a reply to Kliman and Freeman, written by Simon Mohun and Roberto Veneziani, published in Capital & Class, volume 30, number 2, issue 92, in the year 2006, pages 139–145, by the Conference of Socialist Economists.
• Recent debates on LTV: new interpretation, TSS, critiques, a manuscript file folder label inscribed with the identification code NA-23-52, prepared by Anwar Shaikh, PhD, on June 5, 2026.
• A temporal single-system interpretation of Marx’s value theory, written by Andrew J. Kliman and Ted McGlone, published in the Review of Political Economy, …

Economic Size And The Changing International Political Economy Of Trade: The Development Of Western Hemispheric Ftas, Gaspare Genna

Selected Works Temporary Series

Why are some free trade agreements (FTAs) in the western hemisphere successfully negotiated and implemented while others seem to stagnate during negotiations? FTAs are more likely to develop when there is an asymmetrical power relationship and potential partners are satisfied with projected trade patterns. The European Union (EU) and United States have been successful in negotiating agreements with the Caribbean and Central American (CCA) countries. However, current bilateral and multilateral trade talks between the EU, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and United States are at a standstill. Although all four sets of trade negotiations include dissatisfactory conditions for …

The Political Economy Of Currency Re-Denomination By Countries., Peter Nwaoba

Bullion

In the view of the Bank, redenomination policy for Nigeria was not to translate to revaluation, as market forces were to continue to determine the prices, including interest rates and exchange rates, with the expectation that inflation will be low while exchange rate will appreciate. The objective of this paper is to articulate the reasons and conditions under which countries embark on currency redenomination exercises, and how successful these exercises had been over the years. The paper is descriptive with presentation based on literature reviews. Under the redenomination programme, banknotes were to be issued in denominations of new 50k (old …

Economic Size And The Changing International Political Economy Of Trade: The Development Of Western Hemispheric Ftas, Gaspare Genna

Departmental Papers (PS)

Why are some free trade agreements (FTAs) in the western hemisphere successfully negotiated and implemented while others seem to stagnate during negotiations? FTAs are more likely to develop when there is an asymmetrical power relationship and potential partners are satisfied with projected trade patterns. The European Union (EU) and United States have been successful in negotiating agreements with the Caribbean and Central American (CCA) countries. However, current bilateral and multilateral trade talks between the EU, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and United States are at a standstill. Although all four sets of trade negotiations include dissatisfactory conditions for …