Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic'

This thesis consists of three essays, which focus on different aspects of economic policy issues faced by developing and emerging market economies. The first essay explores the effect of monetary policy credibility on exchange rate volatility in a small open economy, even if the exchange rate is not an explicit target set by the monetary authority. Using an open economy framework modified from Gall and Monacelli (2005) and Walsh (2006), it shows that monetary policy credibility helps to stabilize the exchange rate as supply and demand side shocks hit the domestic economy. The monetary policy credibility can be achieved by the monetary authority's commitment to certain rules aiming for output/price smoothing. In the empirical analysis inflation targeting is used as a proxy variable for monetary credibility. The GARCH model of selected South-East Asian countries indicates that countries with inflation targeting policies have exhibited reduced exchange rate volatility when other factors are controlled.
The second essay looks at FDI inflows into developing economies. Two distinctive differences of FDI inflows between developed and developing economies are entry modes and evidence of government regulations. This essay investigates the incentives of FDI flows in terms of cost-saving merger, fixed cost of entry and the role of government policies. In particular it shows that, if the cost-saving effect is large and the government intervenes, the foreign firm will consider the FDI through either Greenfield or Brownfield, which corresponds to the situation for FDI flows into developing economies. Otherwise, the foreign firm will only consider Brownfield or staying outside, which stands for the developed economy case. Since one remarkable feature of the FDI flows into developing countries is the benefit of cost-saving from low labour costs, this essay takes this effect into account and provides insights for economic "outsourcing". The multi-stage sequential game model presented in this chapter provides comparable results for the pattern of the FDI flows affected by regulation and institutional factors, which are not addressed by existing literature. Finally, it reveals some intuition and feature of a developing economy where the government regulations on FDI flows are more often observed.
The third essay deals with the resource/revenue reallocation within powerful groups in the economy and the impact of the rent-seeking behavior of these groups on the economic growth and the social welfare. In particular, it introduces a dynamic model of resource-grabbing by status-conscious agents, i.e., agents value not only their absolute consumption levels, but also the relative status within his/her reference group. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the "positional externalities" on the urge to seek rent and to connect the "tragedy of the commons" problem with relative consumption. The model shows that the greater is agents' concern about their relative status, the more aggressively they tend to behave. Consequently, the social welfare is lower because the growth rate of the public asset is reduced due to higher extraction rate. After introducing heterogeneity, it shows that the social welfare decreases as the distribution of status-consciousness among agents widens. Finally, it provides some policy suggestions that the government might consider to achieve a second best social outcome.

Asymmetric economic integration refers to integration between partners of different sizes. This thesis asks the question: are the welfare implications of economic integration dependent on the size of economies? To assist in answering this question, the relationship between size and the characteristics of economies is examined and the relationship between trade costs and the size classification of economies is observed. Countries are classified by a size index that includes the app lied measures of size as well as a theoretical measure of sub-optimality. Relative trade costs are calculated for each size classification and the results are compared. Cross-section and panel data analyses of the welfare effects of PTAs for countries according to the size classifications are carried. An econometric gravity analysis is implemented to estimate the trade diversion and trade creation effects with respect to the size classification. The welfare effects of economic integration are calculated using a general equilibrium model where the calculations are again made according to size classification of countries. The conclusion is that ex post analysis of the effects of economic integration agreements is asymmetric between the size of nations and according to the size classification used in this study; small countries are the biggest gainers ex post from economic integration agreements. To estimate the effects of PTAs on trade flows, two econometric methods are used. A cross-section analysis is used to capture the temporal evaluation of the impact of PTAs on trade flows and a panel data analysis to capture the impact of PT As over a longer time period. Both of these methods are used to estimate tile effects of PTAs on tile country size classification. Tile findings confirm that the impact of PTAs on trade flows is asymmetric between countries of different sizes. The results indicate that the effects of PT As are lowest on the trade flows, imports and exports of large countries and the exports of micro countries. The effects of PTAs are greatest on the trade flows, imports and exports of small countries. Two general equilibrium models are constructed with different assumptions regarding market structure to estimate the effects of PTAs, ex ante, on welfare according to country's size classification. Tile results of the general equilibrium analysis are that the welfare gains are asymmetric between the sizes of countries; they further confirm that small countries are the largest relative gainers from economic integration, followed by medium-sized countries.

“Armaments and Economic Performance”. The literature on military expenditure (milex) is scrutinized with respect to five areas. Investment is reduced when milex increases. Most studies have found economic growth hindered by higher milex. No clear association between milex and employment is found. However, the same amount of other public expenditure creates more jobs. There is some evidence for milex as counter-cyclical instrument in the US. The result for studies if milex is used in electoral cycles in the US is contradictory. Disaggregated data are emphasized as a possible solution to get more definite results.

“The Economic Costs of Civil Wars”. The empirical studies of the economic costs of internal armed conflicts are divided into accounting and modelling methods. Cost is seen as the difference between the counterfactual production without conflict and the actual production. The average economic cost of internal armed conflict is a 3.7% yearly reduction of GDP. There are large differences between the estimates. One of the reasons for pursuing such studies is to give improved basis for more cost-effective post-conflict reconstruction, which is better achieved with an accounting method.

“War and Economic Performance – Different Data, Different Conclusions?” This article studies the importance of armed conflict for economic growth by replicating an earlier analysis with new data on conflicts. The basic model investigates how conflicts in 1960-1974 affect economic growth in 1975-1989. Koubi finds that “wars are conducive to higher growth”. Koubi’s finding is confirmed when different conflict data is used in a similar research design.

“The Role of External Factors in Economic Growth: A Comparative Analysis of Thailand and the Philippines 1950-1990”. Can differences in economic performance be explained by external factors? Both historical and regression analyses are utilised to answer the question. Three external factors are analysed: International trade, foreign direct investment, and external debt. In the regression analysis none of the external factors qualify as statistically significant. The historical analysis finds two external factors discriminating between the two countries. Thus, they might explain the differing growth rates of Thailand and the Philippines: Manufactured exports and external debt.

Information may resolve uncertainty and uncertainty is pervasive. Thus, seeking, producing and trading of information are common economic activities. This is also true in the economics of the environment and for the different stakeholders therein involved. The central aim of this research is to investigate some theoretical aspects of the value and effects of information in environmental economics. Information is valuable either as a decision aid in contexts where either health and environmental characteristics of goods are uncertain or as the object of direct valuation under different provision rules. In a choice context three questions arise providing grounds for empirical investigations.

The first chapter provides an overview of the topics covered in this thesis. The second chapter explores the effect of historic gender division of labour during slavery on African American women’s performance in the labour market. Using census data from 1870 to 2010, I show that African American women living in areas with lower levels of gender division of labour were more likely to participate in the labour market and have higher occupation income scores after emancipation. The effects are persistent for at least 70 years after the end of slavery. I analyse the mechanisms driving the results, distinguishing between labour supply and demand channels, and I explore intergenerational transmission of gender roles. The third chapter empirically assesses the importance of ethnic networks in facilitating international trade. In particular, it investigates the impact of ethnic Cantonese networks in the United States on the export performance of firms based in Southern China. The results indicate that exposure to ethnic networks has a positive effect on exports, both at the extensive and the intensive margin. We explore the mechanisms underlying the results, distinguishing between information flows, contract enforcement, foreign investment and technology diffusion. The fourth chapter analyses the effect of ethnic Chinese networks in the United States on knowledge diffusion and innovation in China. I construct a proxy for the ethnic network based on historic Chinese settlements and current industry employment patterns, exploiting the migration restrictions imposed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The results indicate that when innovation in the U.S. increases, industries that are more exposed to the ethnic network in the U.S. innovate more in China. This suggests that ethnic networks contribute to the diffusion of technology across countries.

Cette thèse étudie les fluctuations économiques, et plus particulièrement les crises récentes, dans les pays émergents. Nous utilisons des modèles d'équilibre général de petite économie ouverte afin d'analyser le déclenchement et la propagation des crises dans les économies émergentes. Nous étudions, dans un premier temps, les causes de la crise coréenne de 1997-1998. Nous nous consacrons ensuite à l'étude du rôle de la contrainte de crédit dans la propagation des crises récentes. Nous montrons que des chocs très différents peuvent induire un sudden stop si l'accès aux marchés des capitaux est contraint. La dernière partie de la thèse est une étude empirique du lien entre le cycle économique et les flux de capitaux dans les pays émergents. Nous montrons, grâce à un test de Granger, que les variations des flux de capitaux ne causent pas les variations du produit intérieur brut, même pendant les épisodes de sudden stops, alors que l'inverse se révèle vrai
This thesis focuses on economic fluctuations in emerging economies, with a particular emphasis put on the recent sudden stop crises. In a first step, we study the triggering of the crisis and focus on the 1997-1998 Korean crisis. We use a calibrated general equilibrium model to discriminate between the domestic and external causes of the crisis. Then, we analyze the role played by credit rationning in explaining the amplification of sudden stops in emerging economies. Using a general equilibrium model of a small open economy, we show that including a credit constraint into the model is a crucial assumption in order to be able the reproduce the sudden stops main characteristics. The last step is an empirical study of the link between capital flows and emerging economies business cycles. We prove that movements in capital flows do not Granger cause changes in emerging countries GDP growth rates even during sudden stop episodes, whereas the reverse causal relationship turns out to be true

This thesis consists of three independent chapters on development economics and Japanese economic history. The first chapter analyzes the effect of railroad construction in the Meiji period (1868–1912) on technology adoption and modern economic development. By digitizing a novel data set that measures the use of steam engines at the factory level and determining the cost-minimizing path between destinations as an identification strategy, I find that railroad access led to the increased adoption of steam power by factories, which in turn induced structural change and urbanization. My results support the view that railroad network construction was key to modern economic growth in pre-First World War Japan. The second chapter analyzes the effect of time horizon on local public investment in the Edo period (1615–1868). I use a unique event in Japanese history during this period to identify the effect. In 1651, the sudden death of the executive leader of the Tokyo government reduced the transfer risk of local lords, especially for insiders, who supported the Tokyo government during the war of 1600. Using a newly digitized data set and a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that after 1651, regions owned by insiders increased the number of public projects more than regions owned by the other lords. I discuss other possible channels to interpret the effect of tenure risk, but I find no strong support for these alternative channels and conclude that the results support a longer time horizon effect. The third chapter provides more general background and a complete description of the data availability in Japan in the 17th–20th centuries, to discuss future research directions. It would aid reexamination of the history of Japan and other East Asian countries, which have experienced different economic and political paths.

A cidade de São Paulo, que abriga 11 milhões de habitantes, sofre constantemente os efeitos dos alagamentos provocados pelas precipitações intensas. Esses alagamentos ocorrem todo verão, em diversas partes da cidade. Além das perdas e inconvenientes sofridos pelos residentes, os alagamentos produzem prejuízos que ultrapassam as fronteiras da cidade, afetando a renda e o produto da região metropolitana, de outras partes do estado e do país. O objetivo desse estudo é avaliar os impactos econômicos dos alagamentos na cidade de São Paulo por meio do uso de um modelo espacial de Equilíbrio Geral Computável, integrado a informações georreferenciadas relacionadas à localização dos pontos de alagamento e às firmas dentro dos raios de influência. Estima-se que os alagamentos contribuem para a redução do crescimento da cidade e do bem estar de seus residentes, além de prejudicar a competitividade local nos mercados doméstico e internacional. Foi identificada uma taxa de dano intra-cidade de 2,1, e uma taxa de impacto total de 4,9 para a economia brasileira.
The city of São Paulo, home to 11 million people, suffers constantly the effects of flooding caused by extreme precipitation. Localized floods occur every summer in various parts of the city. Besides the losses and inconvenience felt by the residents, floods produce damages that cross the city boundaries, affecting income and output in the metropolitan area as well as in other parts of the state and the country. The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic impacts of floods in the city of São Paulo through the use of a spatial Computable General Equilibrium model integrated to GIS information related to the location of points of floods and the firms within their influence. It is estimated that floods contributed to reduce city growth and residents welfare, as well as to hamper local competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. An intra-city total impact-damage ratio of 2.1 and an economy-wide total impact-damage ratio of 4.9 were found.

Macroeconomists dedicated substantial efforts to clarify the puzzle of growing incomes in some regions of the world and rising differences in standards of living across the globe. Although the question of why economies perform differently is as old as the theory of economic thought itself, it is only since recent times that economists integrate development patterns over the very long-run into formal dynamic general equilibrium models. The models we present here consider development patterns observed in advanced economies since the Industrial Revolution. The objective of this study is to shed light on the mechanics of economic development within the frame of (dynamic) general equilibrium models. Since this requires the solution of multi-dimensional and non-linear systems of difference or differential equations that govern the evolution of the model economy over time (in some cases with heterogeneous agents) analytical solutions are in general not obtainable. Therefore, this work relies on numerical and computational methods at large, in order to visualize the development path of economies over time.

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Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Political Science

Orientador: Mauricio Chalfin Coutinho
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia
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Resumo: Encaminha-se com este trabalho uma discussão do pensamento de Bob Jessop, focada na transição que propõe para a forma estatal contemporânea e em sua compreensão da relação entre o econômico e o político. Com vistas a tanto, primeiramente se apresenta de maneira esquemática como o autor entende a conformação tendencial do Schumpeterian workfare postnational regime (SWPR) a partir da crise do fordismo e de sua forma estatal, o Estado nacional keynesiano de bem-estar (ENKBE). Em seguida, apresenta-se o processo de construção teórica de Jessop e suas principais posições metateóricas, para então propor leitura de sua obra que destaca como o autor constrói uma compreensão crescentemente complexa da relação entre o político e o econômico. Vê-se como um ponto central nisso a recusa de tomar por dada a unidade substantiva de seguidas dimensões das formações sociais, a exemplo do poder de Estado e das formas da acumulação de capital. Neste processo, o autor mobiliza cada vez mais numerosos conceitos estratégicos de grau de abstração intermediário a indicar a possiblidade contingente de garantir-se tal unidade. Interpreta-se, igualmente, que as reformulações que leva a cabo são centralmente motivadas pela tentativa de evitar o politicismo. Feito isso, cobrem-se debates recentes relacionados à transição do ENKBE para o SWPR, bem como se discutem certas agendas de pesquisa associadas ao tema. Por fim, apresenta-se reavaliação da proposta de transição de Jessop sob a luz da evolução teórica do próprio autor e das questões que emergem dos debates contemporâneos. Sugere- se que as críticas de funcionalismo, estruturalismo e determinismo econômico que lhe foram dirigidas podem ser evitadas se feita referência a sua obra mais ampla. Neste sentido, argumenta se que sua narrativa da emergência da forma estatal contemporânea pode ser melhor apreciada se vista como parte de uma agenda de pesquisa em aberto, que necessariamente deve transitar entre dimensões abstratas-simples e concreto-complexas. Indicam-se também algumas reorientações que se consideram mais frutíferas, nomeadamente: i) estudar o pós-fordismo no quadro de um "capitalismo variegado"; ii) desenvolver explicitamente um quadro teórico evolucionário para a interpretação da relação entre o político e o econômico; e iii) enxergar a articulação entre as diferentes formas do capital sob um único regime de acumulação a se desenvolver em cada tempo e espaço, e não através de regimes concorrentes
Abstract: We herein discuss the work of Bob Jessop, focusing on the transition he proposes to the contemporary state form and on his understanding of the relationship between the economic and the political. In order to do so, we first schematically present how the author suggests that the Schumpeterian workfare post-national regime (SWPR) tendentially emerges out of the crisis of Fordism and its state form - the Keynesian welfare national state (KWNS). We then present Jessop's theory-building process and his main meta-theoretical positions. Following this, we propose a reading of the author's works that highlights how he develops a growingly complex understanding of the relationship between the economic and the political. A central point in this regards how he successively comes to deny the a priori substantive unity of various aspects of social formations, such as state power and the forms of capital accumulation, while in the same process mobilising an ever-greater number of middle-range strategic concepts that indicate the contingent possibility of securing such unity. We also suggest that most of Jessop's theoretical shifts and reformulations in this dimension are fundamentally motivated by attempts at avoiding politicism. Having done so, we cover recent debates and research agendas related to the transition from the KWNS to the SWPR. We finally reassess Jessop's proposed transition in light of his own theoretical evolution and of the issues that emerge from the contemporary debates. We suggest that the critiques some authors have voiced of functionalism, structuralism and economic determinism might be avoided if one refers to Jessop's oeuvre as whole. In this sense, we propose that the latter's account of the emergence of the current state form can be better appreciated if seen as part of an open research agenda, which must spiral through abstract-simple and concrete-complex levels. We also propose some shifts to this agenda, namely: i) to investigate post-Fordism in the framework of a 'variegated capitalism'; ii) developing an explicitly evolutionary theoretical approach to the relationship between the economic and the political; and iii) to study the articulation of the different forms of capital under a single regime of accumulation in each space and time, and not through competing regimes
Mestrado
Teoria Economica
Mestre em Ciências Econômicas

This dissertation contains three essays in the economics of development. The first essay investigates the effects of the decentralization of governance over education to communities in terms of individual education outcomes. The next essay relates to the first by exploring the factors that drive communities to adopt decentralized governance, including forms of decentralized governance over education. The last essay returns to the topic of education by examining a policy aimed at decreasing the costs of post-secondary education for a minority group. Each essay probes these topics within the context of First Nations in Canada. The first essay examines the substantial impacts of education decentralization on high school attendance and completion through the analysis of First Nation education self-government agreements in Canada. These agreements are important institutional arrangements that transfer the authority over education from the federal government to First Nations. I exploit confidential microdata and exogenous variation in the implementation of education self-government agreements to perform the analysis. My results indicate that self-government agreements focused exclusively on education increase high school attendance by 5 to 9 percentage points and high school completion by 3 to 5 percentage points. However, the effects on high school completion rates under multi-sectoral self-government agreements implemented together with comprehensive land claim agreements and for self-government agreements that focus on education alone differ dramatically for women and men. High school completion improves by 8 to 11 percentage points for women, but drops by a staggering 17 to 25 percentage points for men. These results have important policy implications for education decentralization in general, along with implications for the particular case of First Nation education self-governance in Canada. The second essay identifies the determinants of decentralized governance by exploring the First Nation self-government agreement claim and implementation processes. I use a novel dataset on self-government agreements and confidential microdata to perform the analysis. My results support the notion that we can treat self-government treatment variables as exogenous, when controlling for reserve fixed effects. This is not an onerous condition to impose. Specifically, I do not find any factors of economic or statistical significance for claims for my richest and most-preferred specification, which includes controlling for reserve fixed effects. Contrary to the results for claims, I find that education and income are important factors for implementation, but only conditional on a reserve having previously made a claim. However, this significance disappears, once I relax this condition and compare the determinants of implementation against reserves that may or may not have made a claim. The third essay examines the substantial impacts of a targeted policy that provides postsecondary tuition and living expense subsidies for Aboriginal Canadians. To identify the effects of the policy, I exploit a reform of the policy's eligibility requirements in 1985 that lead to a large increase in the number of individuals with access to the subsidies. My results indicate that the reform lead to economically and statistically significant increases in the likelihood of attaining any post-secondary education for a group of women whose eligibility was particularly targeted by the reform and for women generally. These increases range from about 4 to 7 percentage points. The effects for men are positive, but much smaller and not significant.

In recent years, the economic approach to human behavior has been challenged by contributions of cognitive science. Thus two methodological strands in economics disagree with each other: the objectivistic approach favors the methods of natural science; the subjectivistic approach takes the teleological structure of human action as its cornerstone. It is argued that the position of the latter has been undermined and often degraded to a mere instrumentalist tool because it builds upon the primitive version of the teleological structure. Its deeper realist analysis is needed, which is the task for economic phenomenology: it identifies invariant pragmatic structures of human action, with various degrees of their anonymity. If the economic approach is founded on those structures adequately, then both rational choice theory and bounded rationality theories become compatible, as they differ in their degrees of anonymity only; they both belong to the body of the (subjectivistic) economic approach to human behavior. Economic phenomenology also offers a solution to the phenomenon of inconsistency of human action which is documented by cognitive sciences as a proof of human irrationality. The thesis shows that once the decision maker's description of the choice is allowed, inconsistency may disappear. Consistency is a matter of thinking, not acting. Therefore, a conceptual analysis of human thinking is needed. An example of the analysis is presented. It concentrates on the phenomenon of Self and works up the concept of the horizontality of Self. With this concept, inconsistency of human action is derived as a natural characteristic of our being-in-the-world. Inconsistency of human action is a pragmatic structure of human action, which even allows the decision maker some intentional control.

This dissertation consists of three essays in Economics of Education and Economic History. The first essay “Disentangling the Effects of Education on Health: A Sibling-pair Analysis” examines the causal effect of education on long-run physical health, using survey data on matched siblings. The second chapter “Good Bye Chiang Kai-shek? The Long-Lasting Effects of Education under the Authoritarian Regime in Taiwan” analyzes whether experiencing an authoritarian regime at an early age have long-lasting effects on people’s political outcomes, such as political attitudes, voting behavior, and national identity? The third chapter “Quantity-Quality Trade-off in Northeast China during the Qing Dynasty” paints a detailed picture of how, in the absence of an industrialization process, the regional popularization of education shaped the trade-off between human capital and fertility decisions in Northeast China during the Qing Dynasty.

This thesis is composed of four original working chapters in terms of four researching purposes to show the macroeconomic development with finance, as well as to consider the comparative proxies of investment and trading sectors in emerging economies. These four original working chapters can be briefly presented as: Theoretical Models, Structural Breaks for NICs of Asia, Causations in Steady State and Dynamic Process in NICs of Asia, and Studies with Countries’ Sizes in BICS1. For different groups of countries in the developing world, it is necessary to mention a fact for empirical studies: that the methodology for estimations should be different, due to many realistic situations and some important ideas from development economists. In the theoretical section, some mathematical models are developed to look at the relationship and effects of finance and development, each of which highlights one special aspect of the interconnections in terms of taxonomy idea. The first empirical part of this thesis investigates the different types of emerging economies of New Industrialized Countries (NICs) in Asia, typically Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, and various stages they pass tough in terms of their economic development and financial growth 1960s to 2007. Another different empirical study concentrates on the size effects on the impacts of financial systems to economic development, which involves specific estimations of four specific large emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and South Africa (BICS) with quarterly data from 1995 to 2007. Specially, the study of BICS means the comparison of interrelationship of real sectors and financial sectors on development in terms of specifications of size effects on financial systems. The roles of financial system to economic development are suggested to be investigated in terms of specifications of different emerging economies based on either theoretical or empirical studies of this thesis.

Since the collapse of the communist system, transition economies (TEs) have witnessed significant growth in fiscal decentralisation (FD). In order to meet the needs of the new decentralised system and adapt to new political changes such as the EU accession, these countries started to reform their governance system by devolving greater power to subnational governments. The ongoing intergovernmental fiscal relations and territorial reforms during these twenty-eight years of transition have demonstrated that decentralisation in general, and FD in particular, is an ongoing process, continually evolving and contributing to democracy, economic efficiency and ultimately economic development (Bird, 1993; Bird et al., 1995). Given the variation in FD during transition and the attention it has received especially amongst developed TEs, this dissertation aims to assess the relationship between FD and economic growth in the context of the transition process. First, it contributes to the current theoretical literature by critically reviewing the existing theories on this relationship and exploring new potential (direct and indirect) channels of transmission from FD to economic performance. Also, this thesis contributes to the current empirical literature on FD by providing an empirical investigation of the impact of FD on economic growth for selected transition economies, taking into account the relevance of important factors such as the level of analysis (national vs subnational levels), the stage of economic transition, the geographical location and the size of countries - factors that have not been sufficiently investigated in previous studies. The previous empirical studies were unable to provide conclusive evidence concerning the impact of FD on economic performance. By shedding light on the factors that contribute to the FDeconomic growth relationship and using statistical methods that are appropriate to the analysis of this relationship, this thesis provides some explanation for the inconclusive nature of previous studies. Using data for TEs in Europe and the former Soviet Union, the empirical results suggest that the economic effects of FD are sensitive to the FD measures used and, more importantly, to the economic and institutional reforms implemented in these countries. The thesis shows that while FD may have an insignificant effect on countries in early stages of transition, it can be employed with beneficial effects by countries at relatively advanced stages of transition. In this sense, this thesis confirms the theoretical claim, ignored up to now, that FD is a “normal good”. Exploring the FD-economic growth relationship on a more homogenous dataset and at subnational level, this thesis concludes that the economic effect of FD is more visible at regional level, while being moderated by the country size and other characteristics of countries involved. The empirical evidence has potentially useful policy implications for the ongoing decentralisation reforms in transition economies.

La dépendance aux ressources naturelles entraîne de nombreux défis pour les décideurs publics. Fort de ce constat, se pose avec acuité la question suivante: dans quelle mesure les gouvernements des pays d’Afrique sub-Saharienne sont à même d’employer leurs leviers de politiques fiscales et monétaires afin de limiter les effets négatifs de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles et d’entraîner un cercle économique vertueux? Le second chapitre de la thèse distingue les mécanismes de court terme et de long terme de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles en utilisant une approche en deux temps: d’abord les variables explicatives sont cointégrées pour établir les relations de long terme puis un modèle à correction d’erreur est estimé pour capter les relations de court terme de retour à l’équilibre.Sur le long terme, l’effet négatif de la dépendance est confirmé. Cependant, les pays dotés d’institutions de mauvaise qualité sont plus vulnérables car non seulement ils subissent l’impact de long terme mais la dépendance aux ressources affecte négativement le processus de retour à l’équilibre sur le court terme. Enfin, les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’institutions de qualité supérieure, la dépendance aux ressources naturelles peut avoir un impact positif sur la reprise économique. Dans un troisième chapitre, un modèle pvar compare les intéractions macro-économiques dans la zone monétaire franc CFA, ancré à l’euro, par rapport aux pays comparables hors zone franc CFA. En prenant en compte la forte présence de matières premières dans leurs exportations, les résultats montrent que la zone franc CFA ne subit pas de perte de compétitivité de par son appartenance à une zone monétaire. En revanche, les investissements directs de l’étranger n’entraînent pas des effets positifs sur la croissance de la même ampleur que ceux observés hors de la zone franc CFA. Le quatrième chapitre contribue à la littérature associée à la gestion optimale des ressources fiscales, notamment dans le cadre d’un boom des matières premières. Les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’un accès réduit aux marchés de capitaux, les périodes de boom de matières premières sont des opportunités capitales pour stimuler la croissance via l’investissement public, alors que les contraintes fiscales sont temporairement relâchées. Toutefois, l’efficacité de ces accroissements d’investissement est conditionnelle à un niveau d’endettement public soutenable
This thesis belongs to the literature on natural resource dependence and brings a new perspective by focusing on the sub-Saharan African region. This dependence introduces numerous challenges for policy makers both in terms of fiscal and monetary policy. The main research question explored in this thesis is the following : to which extent sub- Saharan African governments can rely on fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse impacts of commodity dependence and trigger positive spillover and achieve sustainable growth? The second chapter of the thesis unfolds short-term versus long-term mechanisms of the resource curse by using a two-step analysis: an error-correction model is performed after co-integrating the explana- tory variables. Main findings highlight the crucial role of institutions. On the long run, the negative impact of the dependence is confirmed independently of the institution quality. However, countries with weak institutions are more vulnerable to the curse because the re- source dependence not only negatively impacts long-term growth but also adversely impacts the recovery process. Finally, in a strong in- stitutional environment, results points to a potential positive impact of natural resources during recovery process. In the third chapter, a panel vector auto-regressive model compares macro-economic interactions in the pegged CFA monetary union versus a comparable sample. Considering their export structure dominated by raw commodities, results suggests that the CFA zone members do not suffer from a loss of competitiveness from belonging to the monetary union. However, foreign direct investments fail to generate the same spillover effect in the CFA zone compared to non-CFA countries. The forth chapter provides insights on the optimal management of fiscal resources, especially during a windfall period. Growth elasticities of different government choices regarding revenue allocation is performed. Results show that in a con- text of limited access to capital, resource windfall are considered as a crucial opportunity to scale up investment. In fact, below a level of public capital stock (estimated around 750 USD per capita), public investment during a boom has a four-fold higher impact on growth than above the threshold. This scaling up is conditional on low levels of public debt: countries featuring unsustainable public debt levels should prioritize the restoration of stronger foreign reserves

My dissertation studies multiple settings of economic decision making- decision making in a group, decision making by an uninformed principal, and the decision making properties of agents with differing degrees of cognitive reflection.

In the first essay, I study a problem of voting with information acquisition. I study information control in settings where such voters acquire information, but may lack control over whether it is revealed to other voters. Therefore, voters must balance their ability to inform themselves with their ability to reveal information and hence influence the actions of others. I examine and compare two different settings: private information acquisition and public information acquisition. Public acquisition improves upon private acquisition in two notable aspects. First, public acquisition eliminates low-payoff equilibria under private acquisition. Second, payoffs under public acquisition may provide all players with a higher payoff than any equilibrium payoff under private acquisition. Finally, I provide conditions when a unanimous voting rule outperforms majority rule.

In the second essay, I study a principal-agent relationship without monetary transfers. The principal is uncertain of the agent's preferences. Before observing the state of nature, agents much choose from a menu of delegation sets, where each delegation set is a set of actions. The defining property of a delegation set is that once an agent selects a delegation set he may only take actions within that set. I show that a pooling menu, a menu consisting of a single, interval (convex) delegation set, is optimal for any distribution over agent preferences. The proof used in this paper provides new intuition for the optimality of interval delegation: the payoff distributions generated by non-convex menus are mean-preserving spreads of those generated by convex menus I also provide comparative statics of the optimal contract.

In the final essay, I examine the relationship between cognitive reflection and time preferences. Using survey data, I find a positive relationship between cognitive reflection scores and consistency with different models of intertemporal choice.

Hi ha un consens que considera a l'emprenedoria un element important que explica el procés de desenvolupament econòmic dels països. Entre altres raons, els acadèmics i els creadors de política s'han interessat en els factors que podrien determinar l'activitat emprenedora. Encara que una gran quantitat de disciplines ha analitzat els condicionants de l'emprenedoria, l'enfocament institucional ha guanyat rellevància per la seva capacitat per proporcionar un marc en el qual els emprenedors prenen decisions basats en el context al qual pertanyen. En particular, aquesta visió teòrica va ser dissenyada per explicar les diferències de desenvolupament econòmic entre països. Per tant, l'economia institucional és útil per comprendre per què els individus decideixen convertir-se en emprenedors i, al mateix temps, com contribueixen al desenvolupament econòmic per millorar les condicions socials. Per tant, aquesta investigació explora els factors institucionals que fomenten l'activitat emprenedora, la qual permet aconseguir un major desenvolupament econòmic en els països en desenvolupament i desenvolupats. La metodologia utilitzada és quantitativa i en la seva gran majoria considera l'estimació d'equacions simultànies (regressió múltiple, variables instrumentals i mínims quadrats en tres etapes). D'aquesta manera, l'equació que relaciona institucions i emprenedoria utilitza dades del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) per mesurar diferents variables de l'activitat emprenedora. Pel que fa als factors institucionals, aquesta tesi utilitza dades del Doing Business, els Indicadors de Governabilitat Mundial, l'Enquesta Mundial de Valors, els Índexs de Desenvolupament Social, les dades de Hofstede Centre, del Programa de les Nacions Unides per al Desenvolupament, la enquesta Nacional d'Experts del GEM i del Centre per al Sistema de Pau. Pel que fa a l'equació d'emprenedoria i desenvolupament econòmic, s'utilitza informació dels Indicadors del Desenvolupament Mundial (Banc Mundial) i del Progrés Social Imperatiu. Els principals resultats d'aquesta tesi suggereixen que efectivament hi ha una cadena causal que comença en el context institucional, afectant a l'emprenedoria i, en última instància, el desenvolupament econòmic. En aquest sentit, es troba que les institucions informals són més importants per a l'activitat emprenedora que les formals. La intencionalitat cap al progrés constitueix una característica institucional que fomenta el tipus d'emprenedoria necessària per aconseguir un major creixement i desenvolupament, on a més es creen processos d'inclusió. Finalment, aquesta investigació té implicacions teòriques i de política pública. En termes del debat teòric, aquesta tesi pot aportar evidència empírica sobre la idea que el desenvolupament econòmic abasta no només aquells determinants que expliquen directament el creixement, sinó també els factors fonamentals que condicionen les decisions dels agents econòmics. En aquest sentit, es demostra que l'emprenedoria es veu afectat pels factors institucionals i, al mateix temps, influeix en resultats com el creixement i desenvolupament econòmic. Per tant, els creadors de política pública que estan constantment creant estratègies han de tenir en compte que qualsevol política implementada afecta les decisions empresarials i, al mateix temps, el camí cap desenvolupament dels països.
Existe un consenso que considera al emprendimiento un elemento importante que explica el proceso de desarrollo económico de los países. Entre otras razones, los académicos y los hacedores de política se han interesado en los factores que podrían determinar la actividad emprendedora. Aunque una gran cantidad de disciplinas ha analizado los condicionantes del emprendimiento, el enfoque institucional ha ganado relevancia debido a su capacidad para proporcionar un marco en el que los emprendedores toman decisiones basados en el contexto al que pertenecen. En particular, esta visión teórica fue diseñada para explicar las diferencias de desarrollo económico entre países. Por tanto, la economía institucional resulta útil para comprender por qué los individuos deciden convertirse en emprendedores y, al mismo tiempo, cómo contribuyen al desarrollo económico para mejorar las condiciones sociales. Por consiguiente, esta investigación explora los factores institucionales que fomentan la actividad emprendedora, la cual permite lograr un mayor desarrollo económico en los países en desarrollo y desarrollados. La metodología utilizada es cuantitativa y en su gran mayoría considera la estimación de ecuaciones simultáneamente (regresión múltiple, variables instrumentales y mínimos cuadrados en tres etapas). De esta forma, la ecuación que relaciona instituciones y emprendimiento utiliza datos del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) para medir diferentes variables de la actividad emprendedora. En cuanto a los factores institucionales, esta tesis utiliza datos del Doing Business, los Indicadores de Gobernabilidad Mundial, la Encuesta Mundial de Valores, los Índices de Desarrollo Social, los datos de Hofstede Centre, del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, la Encuesta Nacional de Expertos del GEM y del Centro para el Sistema de Paz. En cuanto a la ecuación de emprendimiento y desarrollo económico, se utiliza información de los Indicadores del Desarrollo Mundial (Banco Mundial) y del Progreso Social Imperativo. Los principales hallazgos de esta tesis sugieren que efectivamente existe una cadena causal que comienza en el contexto institucional, afectando al emprendimiento y, en última instancia, el desarrollo económico. En este sentido, se encuentra que las instituciones informales son más importantes para la actividad emprendedora que las formales. La intencionalidad hacia el progreso constituye una característica institucional que fomenta el tipo de emprendimiento necesaria para lograr un mayor crecimiento y desarrollo, donde además se crean procesos de inclusión. Finalmente, esta investigación tiene implicaciones teóricas y de política pública. En términos del debate teórico, esta tesis puede aportar evidencia empírica sobre la idea de que el desarrollo económico abarca no sólo aquellos determinantes que explican directamente el crecimiento, sino también los factores fundamentales que condicionan las decisiones de los agentes económicos. En este sentido, se demuestra que el emprendimiento se ve afectado por los factores institucionales y, al mismo tiempo, influye en resultados como el crecimiento y desarrollo económico. Por tanto, los hacedores de política pública que están constantemente creando estrategias deben tener en cuenta que cualquier política implementada afecta las decisiones empresariales y, al mismo tiempo, el camino hacia desarrollo de los países.
There is a consensus that entrepreneurship is an important element in explaining the economic development process of countries. Among other reasons, scholars and policy makers have been interested in what factors might determine entrepreneurial activity. Although a vast amount of disciplines have analyzed entrepreneurship antecedents, the institutional approaches have gained relevance due to their capacity to provide a framework in which entrepreneurs make decisions based on the context where they are embedded. Particularly, this theoretical view was designed to explain the economic development differences across countries. Therefore, it turns out that institutional economics is useful for comprehending why individuals decide to become entrepreneurs, and at the same time, how they contribute to the economic development to better the social conditions. Thus, this investigation explores the institutional factors that encourage entrepreneurial activity to achieve higher economic development across developing and developed countries. The methodology used is quantitative and mostly regards the estimations of various equations simultaneously (multiple regression, instrumental variables, and three-stage least-square). Thus, for the equation dealing with institutions and entrepreneurship, this research employed data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) to measure different variables of entrepreneurial activity. Concerning the institutional factors, this thesis used data from Doing Business, Worldwide Governance Indicators, World Values Survey, Indices of Social Development, the Hofstede Centre, the United Nations Development Programme, the National Experts Survey of GEM and the Center for System Peace. Regarding the equation of entrepreneurship and economic development, information was used from the World Development Indicators (World Bank) and Social Progress Imperative. The main findings of this thesis suggest that effectively there is a causal chain that runs from the institutional context, affecting entrepreneurship and ultimately economic development. In this sense, it is found that the informal institutions are more important for entrepreneurship than the formal ones. The intentionality toward progress constitutes an institutional characteristic that encourages the type of entrepreneurial activity needed to achieve higher growth and development, where, in addition, inclusive processes are created. Finally, this research has theoretical and public policy implications. In terms of the theoretical debate, this thesis may provide empirical evidence for the idea that economic development embraces not only those determinants that explain growth directly, but also those fundamental factors that condition the decisions of economic agents. In this sense, entrepreneurship is proven to be affected by institutional factors, and at the same time, to influence outcomes such as economic growth and development. Thus, policy makers that are constantly creating strategies should take into consideration that any policy implemented affects entrepreneurial decisions, and at the same time, the development path of countries.

This is a philosophical study of economics and cognitive psychology as sciences of human behaviour. Boundaries and interactions of the two sciences are examined with a close look at the experimental studies on judgement and decision making, and on strategic interaction in games. I argue, against conceptual scepticism, that not only is a science of human behaviour possible, but it is exemplified by both economics and psychology, which have been striving to measure decision-relevant psychological quantities and explain the behavioural anomalies that have emerged as a result of theoretical and empirical progress in measurement and experimentation. The dialectics of ‘crises and responses’ involved in this process reveals various ways in which representations, models and experiments are employed in the laboratory. I emphasize the precision of measurement and the severity of test as important methodological values in scientific progress, and argue that these values are the basis of theoretical progress. I explore alternative ways in which economic models of rational choice can be informed by psychology, and argue that a successful model should incorporate empirical findings from social and cognitive psychology, instead of maintaining familiar economic modelling strategies while relying on folk psychological intuitions. I propose that, in addition to modelling human behaviour as utility maximization, explicitly modelling human reasoning qua cognitive process may be the key to success. I point out two metaphysical stances—mechanistic and functional—implicit in the debates over the prospect of neuroeconomics, and consider their methodological implications to the study of human cognition and behaviour. I argue that it is unlikely that neuroscience will radically eliminate constructs of economic theory such as beliefs and preferences, based on the observation that recent brain-imaging studies of individual decision making largely presuppose constructs of cogntive psychology.

This thesis examines the relationship between the property market and urban economic development. The impetus for the research lies in the rapid process of urban economic change and the failure of economic approaches to explore adequately the important role of the property market in that process. The study draws on institutional economics to advance the argument that the property market as an institution is a mediator through which economic potential can be realised and served. Due to major philosophical and theoretical deficiencies in the area, focus is placed on the establishment of an appropriate philosophical framework, the development of a new theory, and the specification of a research design for empirical investigation of the issues. The thesis's foremost contribution therefore lies in the formation of a holistic research programme to conceptualise the property market as an institution and to explore its role within the urban economy. Critical realist principles provide the basis for the development of the philosophical position of the study. These are combined with institutionalist insights to construct a three-layer ontological framework discussing the nature of urban socioeconomy. The thesis then lays down a rich theory of urban economic organisation, placing explicit emphasis on the institutional mechanisms, processes and dynamics through which the built environment is provided. The interrelation between property market process and the wider institutional environment is explored, particularly in terms of efficiency in providing appropriate market institutions and property outcomes that support urban economic potential. From this discussion the institutionalist concept of 'property market purpose efficiency' is developed. Building upon the conceptual framework, the thesis explicitly addresses the requirements for concrete analysis. It, first, lays down a generic analytical approach specifying appropriate research methods and techniques for investigation, and, second, sets up a research design providing an operational frame in which developed theory is translated into empirical practice. This research design provides a blueprint for empirical case studies. Finally, a case study of Madrid is employed to empirically explore the research design.

The way the economic reality is observed is essential in order to determine decision-making of economic subjects. The picture of economic reality drawn by accounting can be said to be either the true and fair, or biased. If the latter is the case, how much does that bias translate into the quality of economic decision-making? In summary, the paper analyzes whether accounting should provide the fair and true view whether it does, and how it affects the economic behavior when it does not on both micro-economic and macro-economic level. The arguments are built up on a logical structure rather taking a broader multidisciplinary approach to answer the previously stated questions.

This thesis is first and foremost an exploration of classical economics with consumption as its focus. It is the latter which distinguishes the present work from the already existing and growing literature on classical economics. The distinctive nature of the theory of value and distribution and the theory of activity levels and growth in classical economics and Marx is analysed and interpreted in chapters 2 to 9, which deal respectively with Cantillon, Quesnay, Turgot, Steuart, Smith, Ricardo, Sismondi and Malthus. The analytical separability between the theory of value and distribution and the theory of activity levels and growth emerges clearly in these chapters. The development of the role of consumption in economic growth, within the classical theoretical framework, particularly from Sismondi and Malthus, is then traced through Marx, Luxemburg and Kalecki – Marx and Luxemburg in particular working within that classical framework. Hence, the thesis we put forward is that the problem of demand insufficiency present in classical economics and Marx, but not satisfactorily formulated or theorized, finds an analytical resolution in Kalecki, via Luxemburg, independent of Keynes. Both Kalecki and Keynes articulate clearly the coordination mechanism between planned saving and planned investment which occurs via changes in aggregate activity levels. In classical economics, most notably in Smith and Ricardo, planned saving is one and the same as planned investment (our latter-day terms); but this assumption is untenable in any economy where saving and investment decisions are decentralised. Finally, in chapter 12, a simple demand-led growth model is presented. Consumption, especially autonomous consumption, is shown to play a decisive role. The last section of the chapter notes the affinities between classical economics and demand-led growth. This reflective section affirms the enduring relevance of the theoretical framework of the classical economists and Marx.

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The present study aims to evaluate, from a theoretical perspective, the fundamental basis argumentative which put economic science at distinct level of analysis. On one hand, the strong mathematical apparatus and microfundamentals that support the mainstream economic view. On the other hand, Keynes’s evaluation (post-keynesian perspective) about economic science. Therefore, the first chapter starts rebuilding the orthodox economics in its basis. From that perspective, the purpose of the study is focused on the new classic economic school, furthermore the contributions of Robert Lucas, the best specialist in the wealth and work processes. The second chapter presents the heterodox construction through a post-keynesian perspective, that by analyzing Keynes, and specially the work of Davidson, will propose to look back to political economics. In the third chapter, the objective is to discuss a new methodology of economics, study objects and their positioning within science.
O presente trabalho busca avaliar, de uma perspectiva teórica, as bases fundamentais argumentativas que colocam a ciência econômica em patamares tão distintos de análise: De um lado, o forte aparato matemático e de microfundamentos que sustentam a visão do mainstream economics. De outro a avaliação de Keynes (da perspectiva pós-keynesiana) acerca do objeto da ciência econômica. Para isso, inicia-se no primeiro capítulo uma reconstrução da Economia ortodoxa em sua base. De tal perspectiva, o estudo proposto se concentra na chamada escola novo clássica, sobretudo as contribuições de Robert Lucas, expoente maior, acerca do processo de geração de renda e emprego. No segundo capítulo, apresenta-se o constructo heterodoxo, através de uma perspectiva pós-keynesiana que ao resgatar Keynes, sobretudo os trabalhos de Davidson, vai propor a volta ao olhar de economia política. No terceiro capítulo visa construir o debate acerca da metodologia econômica, objetos de estudo e seu posicionamento dentro da ciência.

In this thesis we examine the relationship between corporate bond spreads and economic activity in eight European countries using data on 500 corporate bonds between July 1994 and May 2011 for the United Kingdom and between October 2001 and May 2011 for Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. We construct a unique dataset of corporate bond spreads from bond-level data employing a similar methodology to Gilchrist and Zakrajsek (2012a) in the United States. Thus, we ensure that our credit spread measure is not distorted by illiquidity, embedded options, or mismatched maturities and coupon schedules between the two bond instruments being compared. We evaluate the importance of the country-level corporate bond spread index in .predicting the future growth in real activity at the individual country level for various measures of economic activity (such as industrial production, unemployment available at monthly frequency; and employment and real GOP available at quarterly frequency). We find that the credit spread index is a consistent predictor of real activity even when we include measures of monetary policy tightness (such as the term spread and the real interest rate), other leading indicator variables (economic sentiment and consumer confidence) and factors extracted from a large macro dataset. Our results are consistent at different forecasting horizons and are robust to different measures of the credit spread index. We then decompose the credit spread by purging it of expected default, tax and liquidity premia in an attempt to determine what component accounts for its information Content. We find that the excess bond premium, an indicator of financial market tightness, is the major driving source of the spread's predictive content. When)He compare the predictive ability of the credit spread and the excess bond premium across individual countries within the Euro area and Outside the Euro area, we find that mainly the core European countries have similar predictive ability, while the other countries in the Euro area and the UK are more heterogeneous.

In the early 1980's several developing countries introduced liberalisation policies in their economies. One of the reforms they implemented was to develop their stock markets. The theoretical justification for the liberalisation process was provided by the work of McKinnon (1973) and Shaw (1973). Their model follows neo-classical assumptions on savings and investment. Other researchers later completed their model with respect to the stock market, and claimed that its development could benefit the emerging economies [Cho (1986)]. The aim of this thesis is to empirically examine if stock market development in a sample of emerging countries assisted economic growth or not. To examine this, we form three research questions. The first question is: what is the direct impact of stock market development on economic growth in developing countries? The second question refers to the indirect impact of stock market development on the economy via stock price volatility. The question is: has stock market volatility increased following liberalisation policies or not? The third question is: have the emerging stock markets become more integrated with each other and with developed markets following liberalisation? Stock market integration is a result of stock market development so we should expect these stock markets to become more integrated after they were liberalised. In examining these issues, we take into account the special circumstances surrounding each country. To this end we provide an overview of some of the emerging economies we examine and discuss the implications of their individual characteristics for our analysis. We carry out a literature survey which suggests that research in this area has been scarce. The few empirical evidence on these questions are mixed. This thesis aims to contribute to this growing literature by providing additional evidence on the questions we posed and by overcoming some of the problems which are inherent in the methodologies followed by previous researchers who examined these issues.

The stylized facts that motivate this thesis include the diversity in growth patterns that are observed across countries during the process of economic development, and the divergence over time in income distributions both within and across countries. This thesis constructs a dynamic general equilibrium model in which technology adoption is costly and agents are heterogeneous in their initial holdings of resources. Given the households‟ resource level, this study examines how adoption costs influence the evolution of household income over time and the timing of transition to more productive technologies. The analytical results of the model constructed here characterize three growth outcomes associated with the technology adoption process depending on productivity differences between the technologies. These are appropriately labeled as „poverty trap‟, „dual economy‟ and „balanced growth‟. The model is then capable of explaining the observed diversity in growth patterns across countries, as well as divergence of incomes over time. Numerical simulations of the model furthermore illustrate features of this transition. They suggest that that differences in adoption costs account for the timing of households‟ decision to switch technology which leads to a disparity in incomes across households in the technology adoption process. Since this determines the timing of complete adoption of the technology within a country, the implications for cross-country income differences are obvious. Moreover, the timing of technology adoption appears to be impacts on patterns of growth of households, which are different across various income groups. The findings also show that, in the presence of costs associated with the adoption of more productive technologies, inequalities of income and wealth may increase over time tending to delay the convergence in income levels. Initial levels of inequalities in the resources also have an impact on the date of complete adoption of more productive technologies. The issue of increasing income inequality in the process of technology adoption opens up another direction for research. Specifically increasing inequality implies that distributive conflicts may emerge during the transitional process with political- economy consequences. The model is therefore extended to include such issues. Without any political considerations, taxes would leads to a reduction in inequality and convergence of incomes across agents. However this process is delayed if politico-economic influences are taken into account. Moreover, the political outcome is sub optimal. This is essentially due to the fact that there is a resistance associated with the complete adoption of the advanced technology.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The success of policies aimed at economic development cannot be monitored and evaluated without development indicators. These indicators are also crucial in comparing levels of development across time and space so as to come a greater understanding of the development process. Yet, economic development does not mean the same thing to everyone. As a result, there exists a variety of indicators of economic development. Five main classes of development indicators are distinguished on the basis of the shift over time in our understanding of economic development (Chapter 1). A distinction is drawn between indicators of national income and economic growth (Chapter 3), employment, unemployment and underemployment (Chapter 4), and poverty and inequality (Chapter 5). Social indicators (Chapter 6) and composite indices (Chapter 7) of economic development represent two futher classes of development indicators. These indicators differ in terms of their content, method and technique, comparative application, simplicity, clarity, focus, availability and flexibility. These main classes of development indicators are evaluated with reference to these dimensions of measurement which are described in detail in Chapter 2. There is no one indicator that can be described as an ideal, all encompassing measure of economic development, at least not in terms of its performance on these dimensions of measurement. Hence, the measurement of development remains imperfect, but nonetheless makes an invaluable contribution to the study of economic development. In fact, development studies will be impossible without access to such a variety of development indicators. Given the importance of development indicators in development studies, two new composite indices of development are presented here to address two specific gaps in indicator research. Indices of Human Security (HSIs) and Inefficiency ratios are developed to determine the extent to which countries have made progress on human security as defined by the UNDP (Chapter 8). Progress is assessed in terms of both effort and outcomes, as well as the extent to which efforts are actually translated into outcomes. Indices of Reconstruction and Development (RDIs) are employed to measure the extent to which the nine provinces of South Africa have made progress on the development objectives described in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (Chapter 9). The measurement results suggest that there remain substantial disparities in progress on both human security and reconstruction and development. These new composite indices are also employed to determine those development characteristics associated with progress on human security and reconstruction and development. So, for example, disparities in human security are associated with certain urban and population dynamics, as well as communications capacity and infrastructural development. Progress on reconstruction and development is associated with lower population pressure, higher matric pass rates, less poverty and inequality, and more political representativeness at the provincial level. The RDIs also underscore the extent to which progress on the RDP has not materialised in rural areas. Furthermore, current provincial disparities in progress on reconstruction and development appear still to be indicative of the racial dynamics of development so characteristic of the Apartheid era.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is onmoontlik om sonder ontwikkelingsindikatore die sukses van beleid wat gemik is op ekonomiese ontwikkeling te moniteer of te evalueer. Ontwikkelingsindikatore IS ook onontbeerlik III die vergelyking van ontwikkelingsvlakke oor tyd en ruimte om sodoende 'n beter begrip van die ontwikkelingsproses te verkry. Ekonomiese ontwikkeling het egter nie dieselfde betekenis vir almal nie. Gevolglik bestaan daar 'n verskeidenheid van ontwikkelingsindikatore. Vyf hoofklasse van ontwikkelingsindikatore word onderskei op grond van verskuiwings oor tyd in die interpretasie van ekonomiese ontwikkeling (Hoofstuk 1). 'n Onderskeid word getref tussen maatstawwe van nasionale inkome en ekonomiese groei (Hoofstuk 3), indiensname, werkloosheid en onderindiensname (Hoofstuk 4), en armoede en ongelykheid (Hoofstuk 5). Sosiale indikatore (Hoofstuk 6) en saamgestelde indekse (Hoofstuk 7) van ekonomiese ontwikkeling verteenwoordig twee verdere groepe indikatore. Hierdie indikatore verskil in terme van hul inhoud, metode en tegniek, vergelykende toepassing, eenvoud, duidelikheid, fokus, beskikbaarheid en buigsaamheid. Hierdie hoofklasse van ontwikkelingsindikatore word geëvalueer met verwysing na hierdie dimensies van meting, wat in groter besonderhede in Hoofstuk 2 bespreek word. Daar is nie een indikator wat beskryfkan word as 'n ideale, allesomvattende maatstafvan ekonomiese ontwikkeling nie, ten minste nie in terme van die prestasie daarvan op hierdie dimensies van meting nie. Gevolglik is die meting van ekonomiese ontwikkeling onvolmaak, alhoewel dit 'n onskatbare bydrae lewer tot die studie van ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Om die waarheid te sê, ontwikkelingstudies salonmoontlik wees sonder toegang tot so 'n verskeidenheid van ontwikkelingsindikatore. Gegewe die belangrikheid van ontwikkelingsmaatstawwe In ontwikkelingstudies, word twee nuwe saamgestelde indekse hier aangebied om twee spesifieke gapings in navorsing oor ontwikkelingsmaatstawwe aan te spreek. Indekse van Menslike Sekuriteit (MSls) en Ondoeltreffendheidsratio's word ontwikkelom te bepaal tot watter mate lande vordering gemaak het in menslike sekuriteit, soos definieer deur die UNDP (Hoofstuk 8). Vordering word gemeet in terme van sowel pogings en uitkomste as die mate waartoe pogings werklik in uitkomste omskep word. In Hoofstuk 9 word Indekse van Heropbou en Ontwikkeling (HOIs) gebruik om te meet tot watter mate die nege provinsies in Suid-Afrika vordering gemaak het in die bereiking van die ontwikkelingsdoelwitte wat uitgespel word in die Heropbou- en Ontwikkelingsprogram (HOP). Die metingsresultate dui daarop dat daar wesenlike ongelykhede bestaan in beide menslike sekuriteit en heropbou en ontwikkeling. Hierdie nuwe saamgestelde indekse word ook gebruik om te bepaal met watter ontwikkelingskenmerke ongelykhede in menslike sekuriteit en heropbou en ontwikkeling geassosieer word. So, byvoorbeeld, toon dispariteite in menslike sekuriteit 'n verband met sowel stedelike en bevolkingsdinamika as kapasiteit in kommunikasie en infrastruktuur. Vordering in heropbou en ontwikkeling word ook geassosieer met laer bevolkingsdruk, beter matrikulasieresultate, minder armoede en inkomste-ongelykheid, en wyer politieke verteenwoordiging op provinsiale vlak. Die indekse beklemtoon ook die mate waartoe vordering met die HOP nog nie in landelike gebiede gematerialiseer het nie. Verder wil dit voorkom asof huidige provinsiale ongelykhede in vordering met heropbou en ontwikkeling steeds kenmerkend is van die rasse-dinamika agter ontwikkeling wat so kenmerkend was van die Apartheidsera.

The scale is a fundamental yet controversial concept in human geography. Among diverse views over scale, this thesis draws insights from the process-based approach of scale jumping. It is a key notion to understand scale as a process, yet few explorations have been made on making use of its methodological values. Thus this thesis seeks to elaborate the notion by redeveloping it as an analytical framework. Four key elements are therefore concerned: (a) actors and their purposes; (b) directions; (c) approaches; and (d) outcomes. These elements form a framework to investigate the rescaling process of economic space in China. Conventional studies suggest that in the context of global competition, the role of state in scale (re)production has changed from a passive to an active actor. In China, where the state plays an active role in facilitating the economy, different levels of state actors, such as government officials and institutions, are involved in the (re)production of scale. Using the production of Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone (SSCZ) as a case study, the abovementioned four elements are investigated. Specifically, there are three research questions: (a) why do local governments rescale their economy? (b) How do local governments build SSCZ? And (c) what is the outcome of rescaling through SSCZ? The qualitative research method is used to collect data and other information for this research. This includes desktop searches and interviews of businessmen, planners, government officials, and local residents. Through a detailed investigation of the production of SSCZ, this research reveals the role of local governments, their intentions for rescaling, the approaches they used, and the outcomes of the rescaling

У роботі досліджено теоретичні та методологічні засади та розробка практичних рекомендацій щодо вдосконалення системи зовнішньоекономічної діяльності підприємства. Цілі та основні принципи зовнішньоекономічної діяльності підприємства.
The theoretical and methodological principles and develop practical recommendations for improving the system of foreign economic activity of the enterprise. The objectives and basic principles of foreign economic activity of the enterprise.

Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the recent literature in economic history and long-run development, and summarizes the main findings of the three essays presented in this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I examine the subject of villagization in Tanzania, a major episode of development planning in post-independence Tanzania. I revisit this period of Tanzania’s economic history, focusing on the legacy of developmental villages (vijiji uya maendeleo) introduced in mainland Tanzania over the period 1974-1982. Combining historical data on Tanzania from the 1970s with data from population censuses and recent national household surveys, I investigate whether variation in the intensity of the governments villagization program explains within-region variation in social and economic outcomes today. I document that, in the short-run, developmental villages led to an increase in various educational outcomes, such as primary school completion rates, literacy rates, and total years of schooling. Today, districts which experienced a high share of developmental villages have greater availability of some public goods and citizens report higher rates of participation in community activities, but there is worse perception of corruption among government officials and greater rejection of one-party rule. Per capita household consumption is also significantly lower in districts with historically high levels of the treatment measure. To address potential endogeneity in village formation, I report instrumental variable results based on variation in ethnolinguistic fragmentation and the occurrence of droughts in the 1970s which facilitated the resettlement of peasants into villages. I conclude by providing some preliminary evidence on the lack of economic diversification as well as political alignment to the TANU/CCM party as possible channels which explain the legacy of the villagization experiment. In Chapter 3, I turn to the subject of disease eradication, and examine the impact of the successful control of a highly infectious tropical disease, yaws, in Ghana over the period 1956-1963. The availability of cheap, mass-produced penicillin following World War II resulted in a mass treatment campaign by WHO/UNICEF aimed at controlling the prevalence of yaws and other bacterial infections. I examine the effect of this penicillin campaign in which over 70 percent of the estimated Ghanaian population received a single dose of an intramuscular penicillin injection. Data collected by the WHO/UNICEF program before and after the campaign indicates that penicillin-based treatment resulted in an immediate reduction in the prevalence of infectious yaws among the Ghanaian population. Using a microsample from the 2000 Ghanaian census, I estimate a difference-in-difference model exploiting spatial variation in pre-treatment prevalence of yaws infections and variation in exposure due to the timing of the penicillin campaigns. My results indicate that, following the penicillin campaigns, cohorts born in districts with higher initial yaws prevalence achieved higher education outcomes than prior generations when compared with cohorts from districts with lower yaws prevalence. The results are particularly robust for the female subsample, where I observe increases in educational attainment for cohorts born just prior to the penicillin campaigns. In Chapter 4, I study the development of political partisanship, examining the plausibly random spread of the cocoa swollen shoot disease in the Gold Coast/Ghana in the 1940s. In 1948, the Watson Commission which investigated riots in colonial Ghana sparked by the cocoa swollen shoot pest noted the political motivations of the disturbances. In this chapter, I utilize novel data on cocoa farm acreages and the spatial variation in the spread of the swollen shoot virus to investigate the impact of the pest on the development of local political movements. Based on responses from the Afrobarometer surveys, I find that today, individuals in districts which historically experienced a high intensity of the disease pest report stronger anti-government opinions, and are more likely to attribute success in life to individual effort than government support. I trace the historical roots of these political views by examining electoral results from the 1956 Legislative Elections in colonial Ghana. Conditional on region fixed effects, and various pre-epidemic district controls, I observe that more adversely affected districts were more likely to vote against the new center-left (Nkrumahist) government. By 2000, with multiparty democracy, these areas still vote against the center-left (Nkrumahist) party. This partisan opposition has an impact on the allocation of resources today. Using an instrumental variable strategy, I examine the impact of government opposition on local government transfers received in various districts, with the historic intensity of the pest shock as an instrument. I examine possible violations to the exclusion restrictions of the 2SLS strategy by ruling out the impact of the cocoa swollen shoot disease on other economic and social outcomes. Based on the approach developed by Conley, Hansen and Rossi (2012), I also document that the 2SLS results remain robust to moderate forms of violations to the exclusion restriction assumptions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Economics. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2007.
"A dissertation in economics and social science consortium." Advisor: Frederic S. Lee. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Dec. 19, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-240). Online version of the print edition.