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1
Kadow, Alexander. "Essays in European integration and economic inequalities." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2012. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3403/.
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The ongoing process of economic integration in Europe and beyond has already led to profound changes that are likely to manifest themselves further. Within Europe, formerly centrally planned economies have joined the European Union (EU) with the intention to ultimately introduce the common currency. On a more global scale, marginalised farmers in developing countries seek to become integrated in the world trading system to lift themselves out of poverty. However, issues surrounding economic inequalities are no longer exclusively confined to emerging economies. Indeed, awareness of income inequalities and their impact on the domestic economy is increasing among industrialised nations. This dissertation seeks to contribute to these topical debates in the form of three self-contained essays. The first essay is concerned with monetary integration in Europe. More specifically, we consider the EU member countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that seek to adopt the euro in the foreseeable future. Our analysis is based on a global VAR (GVAR) model to investigate to what extent central banks in CEE follow the European Central Bank’s lead. We look in another core chapter at the economic implications of the Fair Trade (FT) movement. This is a fairly novel topic to the economics profession and we thus aim to provide intuitive insights. One of the key elements of our trade model is that FT generates and hinges upon economic inequalities. We combine these two aspects in the third core chapter. In particular, we analyse how monetary policy operates in an environment which is characterised by wage inequalities using a New Keynesian model that features heterogeneous labour. The third essay is motivated by the case of the United States, where, similar to many European countries, there is strong empirical evidence for rising internal economic divergence. Overall, the thesis not only combines and investigates topical issues, it moreover does so employing various techniques with the intention to also make contributions on the methodological level. We conclude the monograph by highlighting policy implications and by providing directions for future research.
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SUZUKI, Hitoshi. "Digging for European Unity : the role played by the trade unions in the Schuman plan and the European coal and steel community from a German perspective, 1950-1955." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/10420.
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Defence date: 13 December 2007Examining Board: Prof. Wilfried Loth (Universität Duisburg-Essen) ; Prof. Bo Stråth (EUI) ; Prof. Pascaline Winand (EUI and Monash University) ; Prof. Gérard Bossuat (Université de Cergy-Pontoise)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
no abstract available
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Defraigne, Jean-Christophe P. L. G. "De l'intégration nationale à l'intégration continentale: analyse de la dynamique d'intégration supranationale européenne et de ses liens avec les changements technologiques des processus de production dans une perspective de long terme." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211359.
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Schneider, Eric B. "Studies in historical living standards and health : integrating the household and children into historical measures of living standards and health." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f2e55a37-c605-4aba-8a2e-3d699c6b82b7.
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This dissertation attempts to integrate the household and children more fluidly into measures of well-being in the past. In part one, I develop a Monte Carlo simulation to test some of the assumptions of Allen’s welfare ratio methodology. These included his assumptions that family size was constant over time, that there were no female-headed households and that women and children did not participate in the labour force. After all of the adjustments, it appears that Allen’s welfare ratios underestimate the welfare ratios of a demographically representative group of families, especially if women and children’s labour force participation is included. However, the predicted distributions also highlight the struggles of agricultural labourers, who are given separate consideration. Even the average agricultural labourers’ family with women and children working would have had to rely of self- provisioning, gleaning, poor relief or the extension of the working year to make ends meet at the poorest point in their family life cycle. Part two adjusts Floud et al.’s estimates of calorie availability in the English economy from 1700 to 1909 for the costs of digestion, pregnancy and lactation. Taken together, these three additional costs reduced the amount calories available by around 15 per cent in 1700 but only by 5 per cent in 1909 because of the changing composition of the English diet. Part three presents a new adaptive framework for studying changes in children’s growth patterns over time and a new methodology, longitudinal growth studies, for measuring gender disparities in health in the past. An adaptive framework for understanding growth provides a more parsimonious explanation for the vast catch-up growth achieved by slave children in the antebellum American South. The slave children were only able to achieve this catch-up growth because they were programmed for a tall height trajectory by relatively good conditions in utero. Finally, impoverished girls experienced greater catch-up growth than boys in two schools in late-nineteenth century Boston, USA and early-twentieth century London, suggesting that girls were deprived relative to boys before entering these institutions.
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Spelman, Greg Thomas. "Reconciling a policy of neutrality with the prospect of integration : Ireland, the European economic community, and Ireland's United Nations policy, 1965-1972." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2003. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15787/1/Greg_Spelman_Thesis.pdf.
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The decade of the 1960s was a period of significant evolution in the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Ireland. On 31 July 1961, Ireland applied for membership of the European Community. That application was vetoed in January 1963 by the French President, Charles de Gaulle. Nevertheless, it was an indication of the growing "Europeanisation" of Irish foreign policy, which was secured in May 1967 in a renewed and ultimately successful application by Ireland for membership of the Common Market. Because of the overlapping interests of the European Community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), however, these initiatives towards integration with Western Europe posed a dilemma for the decision-makers in Dublin given that, in the Irish context, foreign policy was predicated on neutrality. Since Ireland's admission to the United Nations (UN) in 1955 and especially from the reinstatement of Frank Aiken as Minister for External Affairs in 1957, the diplomatic component of Ireland's neutrality was defined largely by its UN policy. Ireland's continued attachment to neutrality, despite its application for European Community membership, caused significant frustration to the governments of the member-states, especially France under de Gaulle, and was seen to be an obstacle to Ireland's accession. These concerns were communicated explicitly to Dublin, along with the view that Ireland needed to demonstrate a greater propensity to support Western interests on major international issues. Pressure of this kind had dissuaded other European neutrals (Austria, Finland, Malta and Sweden) from pursuing membership of the European Community until 1995 - after the Cold War had ended - but it did not deter the Irish. Despite the pressure from the European Community, Irish policy continued to be characterised by neutrality and, almost invariably, conflict with French UN policy. This included, amongst other matters, policy in relation to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the financing of peacekeeping, the Vietnam War, representation of China at the UN, and various decolonization problems in Southern Africa. This insulation of Ireland's foreign policy from the imperatives of the application for membership of the European Community was largely the product of the fragmentation of decision-making in the formulation of Irish diplomacy. This research project takes a unique perspective on the topic by focusing, in particular, on the period 1965 to 1972 and, also, breaks further new ground in utilizing documentary material only recently released by the National Archives in Dublin, the University College Dublin Archives, the Public Record Office, London, and the UN Archives in New York, along with published diplomatic records and secondary sources. Consequently, it offers an original contribution to our understanding of Irish foreign policy in this crucial period of its development and the capacity of the Irish Government to reconcile the two fundamental and apparently conflicting pillars of its foreign policy - neutrality and membership of the European Community.
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Spelman, Greg Thomas. "Reconciling a Policy of Neutrality with the Prospect of Integration : Ireland, the European Economic Community, and Ireland's United Nations Policy, 1965-1972." Queensland University of Technology, 2003. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15787/.
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The decade of the 1960s was a period of significant evolution in the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Ireland. On 31 July 1961, Ireland applied for membership of the European Community. That application was vetoed in January 1963 by the French President, Charles de Gaulle. Nevertheless, it was an indication of the growing "Europeanisation" of Irish foreign policy, which was secured in May 1967 in a renewed and ultimately successful application by Ireland for membership of the Common Market. Because of the overlapping interests of the European Community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), however, these initiatives towards integration with Western Europe posed a dilemma for the decision-makers in Dublin given that, in the Irish context, foreign policy was predicated on neutrality. Since Ireland's admission to the United Nations (UN) in 1955 and especially from the reinstatement of Frank Aiken as Minister for External Affairs in 1957, the diplomatic component of Ireland's neutrality was defined largely by its UN policy. Ireland's continued attachment to neutrality, despite its application for European Community membership, caused significant frustration to the governments of the member-states, especially France under de Gaulle, and was seen to be an obstacle to Ireland's accession. These concerns were communicated explicitly to Dublin, along with the view that Ireland needed to demonstrate a greater propensity to support Western interests on major international issues. Pressure of this kind had dissuaded other European neutrals (Austria, Finland, Malta and Sweden) from pursuing membership of the European Community until 1995 - after the Cold War had ended - but it did not deter the Irish. Despite the pressure from the European Community, Irish policy continued to be characterised by neutrality and, almost invariably, conflict with French UN policy. This included, amongst other matters, policy in relation to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the financing of peacekeeping, the Vietnam War, representation of China at the UN, and various decolonization problems in Southern Africa. This insulation of Ireland's foreign policy from the imperatives of the application for membership of the European Community was largely the product of the fragmentation of decision-making in the formulation of Irish diplomacy. This research project takes a unique perspective on the topic by focusing, in particular, on the period 1965 to 1972 and, also, breaks further new ground in utilizing documentary material only recently released by the National Archives in Dublin, the University College Dublin Archives, the Public Record Office, London, and the UN Archives in New York, along with published diplomatic records and secondary sources. Consequently, it offers an original contribution to our understanding of Irish foreign policy in this crucial period of its development and the capacity of the Irish Government to reconcile the two fundamental and apparently conflicting pillars of its foreign policy - neutrality and membership of the European Community.
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Dunbar, Cameron A. "Walking a Fine Line: Britain, the Commonwealth, and European Integration, 1945-1955." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1505144142763366.
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Paixão, Ricardo Fernandes. "Mercados coloniais: um estudo sobre a integração entre mercados latino americanos e europeus de 1650 a 1820." Universidade de São Paulo, 2009. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-27032009-113238/.
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Se maiores mercados permitem ganhos de especialização, conforme postulado por Adam Smith, o estudo da integração entre mercados ocupa posição central em economia. No contexto histórico tais estudos permitem inferir, a partir de evidência empírica contida em séries de preços, relacionamentos entre diversos mercados e, conseqüentemente, permitem apoiar ou refutar a narrativa histórica tradicional. Apesar do grande número de estudos históricos sobre integração de mercados entre países europeus, e, em menor grau, Estados Unidos e China, a literatura sobre integração entre mercados latino americanos e europeus durante o período colonial é praticamente inexistente. Esta tese estuda, através de técnicas de cointegração, oito produtos (açúcar, trigo, linho, papel, sabão, carne e vinho) e doze mercados (Bolívia, Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colômbia, Inglaterra, França, Alemanha, Itália, Espanha e Portugal) ao longo de até 800 anos. O principal resultado é o fato de o mercado inglês aparecer ao centro do comércio latino americano e mesmo ibérico durante o período colonial. Este resultado suporta a narrativa histórica tradicional que enfatiza a crescente ascendência do contrabando inglês na região. Por outro lado, a evidência empírica aqui demonstrada questiona a validade do chamado pacto colonial e coloca num contexto temporal mais longo os movimentos de independência que eclodiram na região ao final do período.If larger markets allow gains from specialization, as postulated by Adam Smith, the study of market integration occupies a central position in economics. In the historical context such studies can infer, from evidence contained in price series, relationships between various markets and, consequently, can support or refute the traditional historical narrative. Despite the large number of historical studies on market integration between European countries, and to a lesser extent, the United States and China, the literature on integration between Latin American and European markets during the colonial period is virtually nonexistent. This thesis studies, using techniques of cointegration, eight products (sugar, wheat, linen, paper, soap, meat and wine) and twelve markets (Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal) over up to 800 years. The main result is the fact that the English market appears to be in the center of trade in Latin America and even in the Iberian Peninsula during the colonial period. This result supports the traditional historical narrative that highlights the growing ascendancy of English smuggling in the region. Moreover, the evidence demonstrated here questions the validity of the so-called \"colonial pact\" and places the independence movements that erupted in the region at the end of the period in a longer time span.
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Mendes, A. J. Marques. "Economic integration and growth in Europe." Thesis, University of Kent, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.370370.
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Vera-Martin, Mercedes. "Growth, specialisation, and economic integration in Europe." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2004. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1743/.
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This thesis contributes to the understanding of the economic effects of European integration, on both the pattern of industrial specialisation in European regions and openness and income for countries of the European Economic Community (EEC). Chapter 2 provides a descriptive analysis of the evolution of the patterns of specialisation across European regions during 1975-1995. We find that regions are more specialised than countries. Over time, countries and regions have increased specialisation, although at a slow pace. When analysing specialisation dynamics, mobility within the pattern of specialisation changes notably at the regional level. We also find significant cross-country and within-country differences in specialisation. Chapter 3 studies production patterns in 45 European regions since 1975. We estimate a structural equation derived directly from the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, which relates an industry's share of a region's GDP to factor endowments and relative prices. Factor endowments are found to play a significant and quantitatively important role. The explanation is most successful for aggregate industries, and works less well for disaggregated industries within the manufacturing sector. We find no evidence that increasing European integration has weakened or stengthened the relation between factor endowments and production patterns. Chapter 4 adds economic geography considerations into the analysis of patterns of specialisation in manufacturing industries across regions in seven European countries since 1985. We estimate an equation that relates an industry's share of GDP to factor endowments, industry characteristics, and economic geography variables. Both factor endowments and economic geography are found to be significant in explaining specialisation. Among economic geography variables, cost linkages are more important than demand linkages. There is no evidence that increasing integration has weakened or stengthened the relationship between factor endowments, economic geography, and production patterns within countries. Chapter 5 explores how European economic integration has affected openness and income. We test for permanent effects of EEC membership on openness, income, and income convergence at the time of accession. Results indicate EEC membership improves permanently openness within the EEC and income, but has neither an effect on income growth nor on convergence. Second, we investigate the differential effect of EEC membership by applying a differences in differences specification which controls for common time series shock. Openness, income, and convergence among the EEC countries were improved significantly. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the thesis with a summary of conclusions and contributions. Chapter 6 summarises the main findings of the thesis.
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Peldán, Carlsson Gustav. "Economics, political values and historic legacy : Determinants of public support for EU membership and European integration in post-communist Europe." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-300364.
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This study examines the explanatory power of the traditional explanations as to what determines public support for EU membership and European integration – the economic explanation and the political values‐based explanation – in the context of the post-communist member states of the EU. Further, an alternative explanation – the communist legacy explanation – is presented and tested. It is hypothesized that a high degree of Soviet influence and suppression during the communist period leads to a low degree of support for EU membership and European integration, because of a willingness to protect oneself from violation of national sovereignty once again. The explanatory power of the traditional explanations does not obtain convincing empirical support, even if many individual predictors are statistically significant as determinants. Communist legacy seems to be important as a determinant of public support for EU membership and European integration. However, the hypothesis can neither be accepted nor rejected, because of the methodological problems associated with the dummy variable approach used in order to test it. Further, the direction of the relationship between communist legacy and public support for EU membership and European integration seems to be two‐fold, rather than one-sided as hypothesized.
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Gaynor, Kevin Brendan. "Economic convergence in a multi-speed Europe." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.338679.
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Kasch-Haroutounian, Maria. "Transition equity markets of Central Europe : volatility, predictability, integration." Thesis, City University London, 2000. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/8058/.
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The objective of this thesis is to add evidence from the transition equity markets of Central Europe to the econometric modelling of financial time series by addressing the issues of volatility, predictability and international asset pricing in these markets. In Chapter Two we start from an overview of the transition stock markets by presenting their historical background, basic regulations, statistics, and stock market indices. Chapter Three focuses on the modelling of univariate and multivariate volatility in transition equity markets. Our sample has all the previously documented characteristics of the unconditional distribution of stock returns normally used to justify the use of the GARCH class of the models of conditional volatility. Strong GARCH effects are apparent in all series examined. The estimates of asymmetric models of conditional volatility show rather weak evidence of asymmetries in the markets. The results of the multivariate specifications of volatility have implication for understanding the pattern of information flow between the markets. The constant correlation specification indicates significant conditional correlation between three pairs of countries: Hungary and Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, and Poland and Czech Republic. The BEKK model of multivariate volatility shows evidence of return volatility spillovers from Hungary to Poland, but no volatility spillover effects are found in the opposite direction. Chapter Four examines the linear and nonlinear predictability of transition equity returns with simple technical trading rules. The application of the moving average trading rules to the data reveals that technical analysis helps to predict stock price changes. Firstly buy signals consistently generate higher returns than sell signals; secondly the returns following buy signals are less volatile than returns following sell signals. The application of the bootstrap methodology to check whether three popular null models of stock returns with linear conditional mean specification replicate the trading rule profits indicates that returns obtained from trading rules signals are not likely to be generated by these models. Comparison of the out-of-sample forecast performance of linear and nonlinear (feedforward networks) conditional mean estimators with past trading signals in the conditional mean equation indicates substantial forecast improvements of the feedforward network regression. Chapter Five addresses the issue of integration of the transition equity markets into the global capital market by testing pricing restrictions of the international CAPM simultaneously for four national equity markets: two developed markets (U.S. and Germany) and two new transition markets (Hungary and Poland). Methodologically, we extend the BEKK multivariate GARCH specification to accommodate GARCH-M effects, and propose an alternative specification of the conditional CAPM, which allows return volatility transmissions between the markets in the system. The results reveal that the world price of covariance risk is positive and equal across the markets. This is consistent with the international CAPM and supports the hypothesis of integration of the transition markets into the global market. However, our further results indicate individual significance of the Hungarian idiosyncratic risk, pointing to some level of segmentation of the Hungarian market. Moreover, the introduction of world-wide information variables into the system reveals that some variation in the excess national returns is still predictable after accounting for the measure of market-wide risk.
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梁健正 and Kin-ching Leung. "European economic integration: implications for Europe in 1992 and beyond." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1991. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3197658X.
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Kolovos, Amaleia E. "Regional Integration in East Asia." PDXScholar, 2010. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/93.
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Regional integration is not a new phenomenon but has become an increasingly important topic of political research with the continued expansion of the European Union as well as an increased number of regional organizations around the globe. This paper will seek to use both Europe and East Asia as illustrations in order to better comprehend the driving forces behind integration as well as why some regions are further integrated than others. The purpose of this research is to achieve a better understanding of what causes regional integration in hopes of developing a more inclusive theory. More specifically, it aims to see how integrated the region of East Asia is, in particular when compared to Europe. Through comparing the two regions and analyzing factors in both Europe and East Asia as determined by current integration theory, this research aims to achieve a better understanding of the driving forces behind regional integration as an international phenomenon. My research is an attempt to tie together the multiple existing theories of regional integration with the goal of creating a more cohesive and measurable theory. With an increased understanding of regional integration, we will be better able to both explain and predict integration in both Europe and East Asia, as well as other, less integrated regions around the world.
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KISER, EDGAR VANCE. "KINGS AND CLASSES: CROWN AUTONOMY, STATE POLICIES, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN EUROPEAN ABSOLUTISMS (ENGLAND, FRANCE, SWEDEN, SPAIN)." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184073.
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This dissertation explores the role of Absolutist states in the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western Europe. Three general questions are addressed: (1) what are the determinants of variations in the autonomy of rulers? (2) what are the consequences of variations in autonomy for states policies? and (3) what are the effects of various state policies on economic development? A new theoretical framework, based on a synthesis of the neoclassical economic literature on principal-agent relations and current organizational theory in sociology, is developed to answer these three questions. Case studies of Absolutism in England, France, Sweden, and Spain are used to illustrate the explanatory power of the theory.
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Dewey, Robert F. "National identity and opposition to Britain's first attempt to join Europe, 1961-63." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.273156.
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Wilk, Piotr. "Economic determinants of public attitudes toward European integration in central and eastern Europe." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape10/PQDD_0002/MQ42223.pdf.
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Santiago, Lualhati. "An economic analysis on Roma integration." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/76027/.
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This dissertation aims to shed some light on the impact that changes in the socioeconomic environment can have on poor and marginalised ethnic minorities in developed countries. In chapter 1, I review the literature on the relation between the environment and the socioeconomic inclusion of immigrants and minority groups and provide an overview of the situation of the Roma in Europe and Spain. I hypothesise about how studying the integration of the Roma in Europe could help in gaining some insight into the study of the integration of minorities. I present my research project in Chapter 2 and a summary of some of the field work studies I conducted prior to starting the design of my research project in the Appendix. In chapters 3 and 4, I present the two papers I have written based on this research. In Chapter 3, I estimate the impact on children of a radical change in their socioeconomic environment, from marginalized slum settlements to normalized housing. I test the hypothesis that a child that is resettled from the slum at an early age will have better education and life outcomes than a child that is exposed to slum life in his childhood. I exploit the variation in “exposure to slum life” of Spanish Roma children aged 7 to 14 whose families were resettled from slum settlements to flats in a major European city (Madrid) over the span of 10 years. I make use of family fixed effects equations to correct for any potential family unobservables that could bias my results. I find that being resettled from the slum before age 6 has a positive and significant impact on the probability that a child aged 7 to 14 will not have repeated grade at school. I find no significant impact of the program on children’s integration and aspiration outcomes. In Chapter 4, I evaluate the impact of moving out of the slums for selected labour outcomes of Spanish Roma families resettled at different points in time into integrated flats in the Region of Madrid. I find that moving away from the slums and into integrated flats is positively correlated with a higher integration into the labour market of both male and female adults heads of household, as measured by the probability of having worked in a skilled job (apprenticeship) and in the formal economy and not having received the minimum income subsidy. The main reason why I cannot interpret these relations causally is the potential self-selection of families into the years in which they were resettled by the program, which would generate an omitted variable bias problem. I provide bounds to my estimates following Krauth (2011) to argue that this omitted variable bias could be very small and it could still be possible that leaving the slum earlier has a positive impact on the families.
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Field, Heather. "Consequences of concentration on the CAP for European integration." Thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/123114.
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This sub-thesis deals with the concentration of the European
Community (EC) on the Common Agricultural Policy or CAP as its
main policy to date, and the consequences of this for the process
of integration. This process of integration is considered to be
both economic and political, with both the economic welfare and the
influence in international affairs of the integrated whole, the
European Community, being greater than the sum of these from the
individual parts, in this case the member states.
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Tyrrell, Nicola. "European identity beyond boundaries : conceptualising a future European community." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26128.
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This thesis maintains that the study and practice of European integration is hindered by an unquestioned and all-embracing conceptual foundation, derived from 17th/18th century political thought. By virtue of identity-related assumptions including 'nation-state', 'nationalism', and 'sovereignty', which rest on an exclusive binary distinction between "self" and "other", this foundation is inadequate and anachronistic as a theoretical lens through which to understand the dynamics of contemporary Europe.Chapter 1 reveals the inadequacy of existing theories of European integration, and Chapter 2 traces this inadequacy to the issue of identity, tying it in with a modern identity crisis. It is argued that the theory and practice of European integration in the 1990's depends on a fundamental reconceptualisation of identity, to eliminate the conceptual rigidity of exclusive self/other binary distinction, and so to provide the basis for a new kind of European identity. In Chapter 3, the framework of a new "non-fixed", "non-essential" and pragmatic identity (and therefore European identity), beyond the self/other boundaries of contemporary thought, is elaborated through the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, and its effect on the study and practice of European integration is assessed.
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Huang, Weixin. "Economic integration as a development device : the case of the EC and China /." Saarbrücken ; Fort Lauderdale : Breitenbach, 1992. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37396328c.
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Studer, Roman. "Market Integration and Economic Development : A Comparative Study of India and Europe, 1700 - 1900." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.503999.
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Di, Mauro Francesca A. "Essays on foreign direct investment and economic integration: a gravity approach." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211356.
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Connolly, Richard M. "Economic structure and social order development in Post-Socialist Europe." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2010. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1065/.
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This study examines the role of economic structure in explaining the different trajectories of social order development across the post-socialist region. Social orders are shown to differ according to the extent to which competitive tendencies contained within them – economic, political, social and cultural – are resolved according to open, rule-based processes. Social orders are also assumed to exhibit a ‘double balance’ between political and economic systems in which political systems will tend to reflect the prevailing economic system within a society. The focus of this dissertation is placed on tracing which economic conditions facilitate increased levels of political competition. Principally, it will test the hypothesis that the nature of a country’s ties with the international economy, and the level of competition within a country’s economic system, will shape the nature of political competition within that society. After several decades of relative ‘bloc autarky’, the ongoing process of reintegration across the post-socialist region has resulted in varying patterns of interaction with the international economy. This study will focus primarily on the links with the international economy that are formed through export sectors.
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Wiltgen, Tyler James. "An economic history of the United States sugar program." Thesis, Montana State University, 2007. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2007/wiltgen/WiltgenT1207.pdf.
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Ling-Fan, Li. "Bullion, bills and arbitrage : exchange markets in fourteenth- to seventeenth-century Europe." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2012. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/538/.
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Two drawbacks of current empirical studies on late medieval financial market integration are: the use of low frequency data; and the lack of a benchmark for comparison. As a result, there is a tendency to underestimate the degree of integration and one has no clear idea about whether the estimated degree of integration is high or low by the standards of the time. Consequently, there is not yet a satisfactory answer as to how integrated and efficient financial markets were in the late Middle Ages and early modern era. In tackling these two problems, this thesis employs monthly and weekly exchange rates to measure the degree of exchange market integration and the results are judged using the speed of communication as a benchmark since the flow of information played a critical role in financial arbitrage. Therefore, this thesis is able to show that exchange markets were already well integrated in the late fourteenth century. From then to the late seventeenth century, the high speed of adjustment to profitable opportunities was maintained, but the transaction costs associated with arbitrage fell over time. The reduction in transaction cost may be attributed to the financial innovations that took place in the sixteenth century. This thesis also finds that the type of information related to shocks received by economic agents had a decisive impact on the speed of price adjustment. The more explicit the information, the more efficiently the market responded to shocks.
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Bozic, Bojana. "Policy Approaches to Reduce Discrimination Against Minorities in Europe." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/717.
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In many European countries, despite decades of learning about the risks of discrimination and the conflicts associated with it, discrimination against minorities persists. Many have criticized European governments for not doing enough to challenge the negative stereotypes and prejudices against minority groups, especially in education and employment. In this thesis, Muslim minority groups in Bulgaria, France, and the Netherlands will be used as case studies to explore the varying dynamics underlying this discrimination and strategies that can be implemented to overcome discrimination.
This thesis will recommend a series of policy approaches in areas such as civic integration, education reform, anti-discrimination law, and monitoring and evaluation to help reduce minority discrimination European countries.
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Cox, Christopher R. "Synthesizing the Vertical and the Horizontal: A World-Ecological Analysis of 'the Industrial Revolution', Part I." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1944.
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'The Industrial Revolution' is simultaneously one of the most under-examined and overly-simplified concepts in all of social science. One of the ways it is highly under-examined is in the arena of the ecological, particularly through the lens of critical world-history. This paper attempts to analyze the phenomenon through the lens of the world-ecology synthesis, in three distinct phases: First, the history of the conceptualization of the Industrial Revolution is examined at length, paying special attention to the knowledge foundations that determine these conceptualizations. Secondly, I sift out what I believe is the dominant model throughout most of modern and now postmodern history, which I identify as the techno-economic narrative. I then present the main critical world-historical challenge to that argument (that the Industrial Revolution was a unified, linear, two-century phenomenon) by outlining the critical interpretations of Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, among others, leading a view of industrialization that is over the very long term, or what Braudel referred to as the longue durée. This long-view form of critical historical analysis is unabashedly Marxist, so there is some foray into various pieces of the Marxian canon, pieces that are often left untouched or at the least under-utilized in many politico-economic analyses of environmental history and politico-ecological narratives as well. Thirdly, I attempt to bring this new long-form view of industrialization more firmly into the ecological, but filtering the basic presuppositions of the 'techno-economic' narratives and the Marxist 'critical world-historical' narratives through the presuppositions of Jason W. Moore's world-ecology synthesis. What we arrive at through this filtering process is a very different view of the Industrial Revolution than we are used to hearing about. This is Part I of a much larger research process, one that I intend to bring into the present and future by looking at the development process of the BRICS as the next extension of the Industrial Revolution. What this paper is most concerned with is re-igniting what I think is a valuable debate among theorists, economic historians, and Marxist ecological thinkers, the debate about what exactly this phenomenon was, is, and will be. My small contribution is to re-define it in relationship to its really-existing history, including its antecedents and possible future expansions.
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Beckfield, Jason. "The consequences of regional political and economic integration for inequality and the welfare state in Western Europe." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3183488.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2005.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-08, Section: A, page: 3111. Adviser: Arthur S. Alderson. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 5, 2006).
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Zhao, Kai. "The future of the creative economy in Europe : an empirical analysis across the main European regions." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6215/.
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Using newly derived panel data from NUTS 2 regions in Europe, the role of creative workers is systematically evaluated in this Ph.D. thesis. First of all, a Growth Accounting model is used together with two empirical models for testing the economic impact of creative workers and ICT. It appears that the development level of the creative economy is unbalanced across the main European regions. However, there is a complementary relationship between ICT and creative skills in explaining output and productivity growth. This thesis then develops an empirical model to investigate how creative workers are distributed across different European regions. The findings suggest that Florida’s (2013) theoretical framework has explanatory power in larger regions. In contrast, how well a local government performs has a substantial impact on the influx of creative workers among small-sized regions, and the overall quality of political institutions appears to enhance this process. Finally, this thesis briefly discusses the possible factors that could determine the outcome of creative jobs. The results imply that education background is generally consistent with creative job outcomes, but it is difficult to identify a clear boundary regarding creative jobs among occupations that require and use higher education.
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Li, Jianan. "Grain trade and market integration in China's Qing Dynasty." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2014. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14535/.
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The paradox of China’s failure to industrialize despite its thriving commercialization before the 19th century has been debated intensively, especially in terms of whether market efficiency is sufficient for industrialization in the pre-modern period. This thesis sheds light on this question using archival data on grain prices covering Qing China’s most prosperous episode (1740-1820) to identify the determinants of market evolution as well as the true extent of market integration. My results suggest that China’s market efficiency on the eve of Western industrialization has been grossly overstated, and further imply that China’s market was heavily influenced by its bureaucratic structure. My analysis is based on a historical dataset of monthly grain prices (rice, wheat) in 211 prefectures across China and I match these with new data on the physical geography of the postal and river network and physiographic distribution. My analysis first confirms the close relationship between market integration and geographic proximity but shows that geographical influence is dominated by provincial boundaries. I then employ novel panel time series methods to account for the impact of local and global shocks and to investigate the evolving process of market integration over time. This analysis indicates that China experienced continuous market disintegration with fragmentation driven by political structure. These results support my hypothesis that Qing China’s political system was not conducive to the development of the market mechanism since its primary concern was market regulation rather than revenue.
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Blagden, David William. "Economic openness, power, and conflict." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:43d37f47-d369-4e16-a720-a89d1b5267a8.
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Economic integration between major powers has long been viewed as a force for international stability. The intuitive logic is appealing: states that are trading with and investing in each other stand to lose if that commerce is jeopardized by conflict. Yet there are sound reasons for supposing that such deepening economic integration can also shift the balance of power between major states, by causing follower economies – states that are not among the most developed in the international system – to grow faster than leading economies, and economic size and development are what underpin national material capabilities. Moreover, a rich body of theory and history suggests that such shifts in the balance of power make interstate war more likely. This dissertation argues, therefore, that economic integration can actually be a potent cause of security competition and war. A theoretical framework that unites economic theory on the differential growth impact of trade, financial flows, and technology diffusion with realist arguments on the conflict implications of polarity shifts and dynamic power differentials is constructed. It is then explored using evidence from three key historical cases: the rise of the Dutch Republic during the 1581-1648 period, the relative decline of the United Kingdom and the relative rise of other great powers between 1870 and 1914, and the differential growth rates and corresponding tensions of 1945-89. Certain scope conditions and qualifications notwithstanding, the empirical evidence supports the theoretical framework. As such, the argument that deepening economic integration raises the mutual cost of fighting and thereby makes conflict less likely is not directly refuted, but an important countervailing mechanism is found to be at work. Such a finding has implications for debates over the security implications of economic globalization, the foundations of realist theory, and the causes and potential consequences of the rise of new powers today.
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Vathi, Zana. "The children of Albanian migrants in Europe : ethnic identity, transnational ties and pathways of integration." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2011. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/7421/.
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The study of the integration of the children of migrants—the so-called ‗second generation‘—is a recent trend in migration literature. Their integration is thought to be an important indicator of the degree of integration of immigrants in general into a specific society. This thesis is the first full-length comparative study of the Albanian second generation. Using a variety of field methods, it compares the ethnic identities, transnational ties and integration pathways of Albanian-origin teenagers in three European cities—London, Thessaloniki and Florence—by focusing on intergenerational transmission between the first and the second generation. Greece, Italy and the UK are, in that order, the three main European countries where Albanian migrants have settled during their short but intense migration experience of the past two decades. My study shifts the focus partly to the situation and developments in Southern Europe, where the awareness and interest in issues of the integration of the second generation are still at an initial phase. The research involved fieldwork in each of the above-named cities, where quota samples of three categories of informants were interviewed: parents, their second-generation teenage children, and teachers and other key informants within the host society. Findings show significant differences in the integration patterns of both generations, affected by sharp differences between the three contexts and the history of immigration in each context. They also point to important within- and inter-group differences, based on various socio-economic indicators. Intergenerational transmission appears as a dynamic process affected not only by context and the parents‘ socio-economic background, but also by parents‘ stage of integration. By studying a settling immigrant group and their descendants, the thesis takes a proactive approach towards the integration of ethnic minorities.
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Teece, Austin D. "Structural Reform in Europe: The Overlooked Value of The Austerity-era." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1360.
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The debate that rages around the concept of austerity, specifically in Europe, lacks context. This paper strives to show that successful reforms are 1) pragmatic in their nature, 2) piecemeal in ideology, 3) mandated by supranational institutions that disregard national sovereignty, 4) unattainable prior to the crisis and 5) long-term in their timeframe. Reforms have had beneficial implications above and beyond fiscal austerity. In the case studies of Ireland, Spain and Greece, the reforms instituted are laid out and evaluated. In each case, reforms achieved a different outcome but allow one to see the merits of well-regulated free market capitalism. When reform is appreciated, the legacy of the European and Troika response to the crisis becomes more appropriate.
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Hessel, Philipp. "Long-term effects of economic fluctuations on health and cognition in Europe and the United States." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3162/.
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Several studies suggest that population health improves during recessions and deteriorates during economic expansions. However, the majority of these studies only focus on the short-term or contemporaneous effects of economic fluctuations on health. As a result, very little evidence exists on potential long-term health effects of exposure to booms or recessions. This can be regarded as a major gap in knowledge, given the fact that most diseases are the results of exposure or behaviours during a longer period of time. Furthermore, a large body of research also suggests that many risks associated with recessions may accumulate over the course of life and lead to a gradual deterioration in health. By focusing only on the short-term effects, most studies thus ignore potential longrun health effects of economic fluctuations. This thesis aims to bridge the gap between studies on the population level assessing the short-term effects of economic fluctuations on health, and studies on the individual level, which have analysed the health-effects of risks associated with a declining economy including unemployment, job loss and job insecurity. In order to assess potential longterm effects of business cycles on health, I linked historical information on macroeconomic fluctuations during the 20th century to individual-level data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) as well as the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This approach makes it possible to identify the state of the economy during different life-course periods for every respondent and relate it to health outcomes measured in later life. Regarding the macroeconomic conditions at any given age as largely exogenous, the four empirical papers included in this thesis thereby assess the relationship between business cycles and health during three different life-course periods: the time around graduation from full-time education, middle and late adulthood as well as the years nearing retirement. Overall, the results suggest that individuals who experienced less favourable economic conditions during these life-course periods have a higher risk of having additional limitations in physical functioning, lower levels of cognitive functioning, as well as higher risks of cardiovascular disease in later life. In contrast to studies showing that population health improves during recessions, these findings suggest that potential short-term improvements in health may be outweighed by deteriorations in health in the long run. They also raise important questions about the role of potential mechanisms linking differential exposure to the business cycle to health in later life.
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Cassis, Ramírez-Gastón Alékxandre Juan-José. "Östeuropéer på Gotland : om anpassning, integration och europeisk gemenskap." Thesis, Högskolan på Gotland, Institutionen för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hgo:diva-1050.
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Eastern Europeans in Gotland is an essay with the purpose to find out how persons born in Eastern Europeans countries have adapted and integrated on Gotland. European community and notions about other groups of immigrants on Gotland have been relevant questions besides. The results of the essay show that the conditions for adaptation and integration are very different between the periods of time and for the individuals, depending on how they arrived to Sweden. The migrant workers quickly adapted to the labour market and had good premises to be in a position of financial independence. The demands of skills were low in the 60’s, but as a result of this, many of them didn’t learn the Swedish language very well and during the crisis in the 90’s they were no longer that attractive on the labour market. My essay also shows that most Eastern Europeans today are more aware of the benefits of their origin countries now becoming members of the EU, compared to immigrants from other parts of the world, they consider themselves to have better chances on the labour market and in the society on Gotland. A curious observation is that the immigrants on Gotland are not automatically seen as “the others” in the society; the local population more likely distinguish “the islanders” and “the mainlanders”.Östeuropéer på Gotland är en empirisk studie med syfte att ta reda på hur personer som har sina rötter i Östeuropeiska länder har anpassas och integreras på Gotland. Det har även varit relevant att ställa frågor om europeisk gemenskap samt föreställningar om andra invandrargrupper i det gotländska samhället. Uppsatsens resultat visar att förutsättningar för anpassning och integration skiljer sig avsevärt mellan de undersökta tidsperioderna och för individerna, beroende på hur de kom in i landet. Medan de flesta arbetskraftsinvandrare anpassades snabbt på arbetsmarknaden och hade de bästa premisser för att bli ekonomiskt oberoende i samhället, hade de flesta flyktingar under slutet av 1980- och början 1990-talet det väldigt svårt att hitta ett arbete överhuvudtaget. Min studie visar även att de flesta östeuropéer idag är mer medvetna om de fördelar som finns nu, när deras ursprungsländer har blivit/blir medlemmar i EU och att i en jämförelse med utomeuropeiska invandrargrupper, anser de flesta, att det är just de som har bättre förutsättningar för att komma in i det gotländska samhälls- och arbetslivet. En kuriös observation är att invandrarna på Gotland inte ses direkt som ”de andra” i samhället; den lokala befolkningen drar gränserna i första hand mellan ”gotlänningar” och ”fastlänningar” .
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Von, Brescius Meike. "Private enterprise and the China trade : British interlopers and their informal networks in Europe, c.1720-1750." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2016. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/86042/.
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Access to China and its wealth of manufactured goods was long sought by the European ‘monopoly Companies’, yet a direct and regular trade between Europe and the South China coast was only established around the turn of the eighteenth century. By focusing on the private trade and interloping activities of British-born China traders, this thesis shows how this branch of commerce took root and expanded within a transnational European trading arena between c.1720 to 1750. Interlopers, or free agents, I argue, played a highly integrative role for the development of European markets for Chinese goods and the networks of supply and capital that underpinned the trade. British-born Canton traders, who were operating in the smaller interloping East India Companies established close connections between Britain and the continent and between the different ‘national’ East India Companies. Private trade records, merchant letters, and East India Company materials form the large source base of this study and are used to analyse the ways in which cross-border mobility encouraged the transfer of expertise, capital, and information between different East India ventures. Methodologically, this work draws on, and builds upon the extensive scholarship on networks and the transnational. It is not biographical, yet follows a number of key individuals and their largely overlapping networks in order to shed light on the question how Canton traders (and British-born interlopers in particular) operated in the European market place – not merely as collective importers of foreign consumer goods, but as independent merchants, whose trade in Chinese goods ranged from wholesale buying and selling, brokering, smuggling, and the fulfilment of special commissions for clients across Europe.
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Nikolic, Stefan. "New economic history of Yugoslavia, 1919-1939 : industrial location, market integration and financial crises." Thesis, University of York, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17519/.
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New Economic History of interwar Yugoslavia is uncharted territory. Combining historical data with modern econometrics the present thesis explores how economic development of Yugoslavia - a newly established and diverse country - was shaped by industrial location, market integration and financial crises. The results are relevant for the present as the least economically developed part of Europe today is comprised mostly of Yugoslav successor states. What determined the location of industry in interwar Yugoslavia? Using panel data econometrics and a new dataset which covers eight Yugoslav regions and ten industries over a period of eight years industrial location is explained by a model in which Heckscher-Ohlin (HO), New Economic Geography (NEG) and Path Dependence theories are captured by interaction variables. Econometric results show that all three of the tested theories had a role to play. History matters in addition to HO and NEG type forces in determining the location of industry. Were Yugoslav markets integrating during the interwar? If so, what were the drivers? Analysis of a novel panel data set of commodity prices observed over ten cities during the period from 1922 to 1939 shows that market integration increased during the interwar. City-pair commodity market integration is modeled using a set of trade cost. The progress of market integration during the interwar is explained by institutional and infrastructural advancements that reduced transaction and transport costs. Cultural differences did not impede market integration. Yugoslavia set out on a process of economic integration that was not hampered by its diversity. Did Yugoslavia and six other East European countries experience financial crises during 1931? If so, what were the main contributing factors? Newly gathered high frequency data series on indicators of currency, banking and sovereign risk crises are explored using an analytical narrative. Worsening of economic fundamentals, drop in international credit and global demand, as well as international transmission led to financial crises in Eastern Europe in 1931. Completely avoiding financial crises was elusive but the most economically developed country was the least affected. This pioneering New Economic History study of interwar Yugoslavia leads to a broad conclusion that present day economic backwardness and regional differences in economic development between Yugoslav successor states are not new and do not stem from a historical lack of market integration but can partly be explained by regionally uneven industrial development and a long history with financial crises.
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Tang, Jian-Jing. "Interest rates and financial market integration : a long-run perspective on China." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3318/.
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This thesis takes interest rates as the topic of interest, and studies financial market integration in China. Paper I studies structural determinants and temporal coefficients of interest rates scattered over 6th -20th century China. Detailed findings concern intrinsic loan features (such as maturity and creditor type, among others) and how they affected the interest rate level. Overall, interest rates decreased in the markets under study, with fluctuations corresponding with dynastic cycles, up-and-down. The two interest rate troughs are found around the 9th -11th century of the Song dynasty and the 19th century of the late Qing period. Significant events of political economy (wars and recovery, international relations and trade, etc.) significantly affected interest rates, but mostly through temporary shocks; economic development and its ensuing financial advancement (in institution, innovation, markets, etc.) tended to show qualitative and long-run impact on financial markets and interest rates. Part II estimates financial integration regarding 14th-20th century China. Firstly estimated is pair-wise integration based on time-series data in 18th-20th century China. Before 1840, distance was the major (but not the only) determinant of financial integration. The maximum range of financial integration at the time was up to 1,400 kilometres, which was slightly farther than that of commodity (grain) integration and confirms the macro-region theory of Skinner in that there was little cross-regional market interplay. However, the overall integration performance for the period before 1840 was limited, with large gaps between distance groups regarding both interest divergence and adjustment speed. A national financial market did not seem to emerge until the 19th century, when both local and cross-regional capital markets became more homogeneous (with converging interest rate gaps and synchronising arbitrage speed). However, the final wars (the 2nd anti-Japanese war and the 2nd civil war in China) before the People’s Republic of China (PRC) stopped this integration process. Secondly, overall integration among 23 provincial markets scattered over 57 years in the Ming and Qing period may be explained by three factors: education, population, and the relative position of the local market to all other markets. The spatial autoregressive coefficients were negative, suggesting that a local provincial market was negatively related to all other markets. Education and population represent the influence of innovation and commerce on overall integration respectively. They are positively associated with interest rate gaps, hence negatively connected to integration. However, such negative relationships might denote financial development in local markets, which lowered local interest rates and temporarily enlarged the interest rate gaps. Neither arable land nor warfare involvement was significant in explaining overall financial integration.
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Kossev, Kiril Danailov. "Finance and economic development in historical perspective : South East Europe in the interwar period, 1919-1941." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b29cf66a-9823-4aac-b2ab-10b629dd36b6.
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The positive contribution of finance to the process of economic development has been debated ever since Joseph Schumpeter famously argued in 1911 that services provided by finance are essential for technological innovation and growth. A substantial theoretical literature has produced increasingly sophisticated economic models endogenising the role of finance into the growth process, while empirical studies have put forward data to detect the link between the two. Yet a large part of the empirical surveys operate with macroeconomic or cross-section data and have little to say about the channels through which finance affects growth. This is where this dissertation comes in. It provides firm-level data from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia from the period 1919-1941 to tackle a number of questions related to finance, banking, and economic performance of the European economic periphery. The analysis is broadly divided into three parts – capital flows and the effects of international investment on domestic firms, banks and the real sector during the Great Depression, and the political economy of government intervention during the Depression and post-Depression period. The first substantive chapter (chapter 2) contributes to the literature on growth and capital flows by testing the hypothesis that foreign direct investment brings about productivity improvements to host economies via the channels of technology, liquidity and know-how transfer, as opposed to market access or increased competition. Chapter 3 revisits the prominent debate over the origins of the banking crises during the Great Depression and the effects these had on the real sectors. Evidence is provided in support of the debt deflation theory of banking crises, but the broad effects of the Depression on banks’ and firms’ balance is also explored. The higher the involvement of banks with industry both directly (via interlocking directorates or equity ownership), and indirectly, via the lending channel, the greater the negative effects of the crisis on banks’ balance sheets. The evidence points to negative feedbacks from bank distress to firms’ output losses in the form of a credit crunch. Chapter 4 uses a political economy framework to analyse the state interventions in the Balkan economies during and after the Depression. The data suggests that direct and indirect bailouts of banking and industry defined the role of the state. Government cronies from the financial and economic elite, as well as the agricultural sector ended up as winners from the process, while semi-skilled and unskilled labour paid the tax bill. These quantitative findings are in agreement with the broad conclusions of transaction cost economics where finance can play an important sorting role. They also support the empirical literature that rejects the contributions of portfolio investment but argues that direct foreign investment is a source of technological progress. The conclusions of the thesis, however, call for caution as market failure in the financial sector was abundant and political economy frictions could cause lasting damage to development.
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Hyun, Jae-Hoon. "Korean automotive FDI in Europe : the effects of economic integration on motivations and patterns of FDI and industrial location." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.369852.
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Zhang, Cheng. "Essays on domestic market integration, government expenditure, and strategic interactions among local governments." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40410/.
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This thesis contains one literature review chapter and three self-contained empirical studies on different but closely related topics, domestic market integration, public spending, and strategic interactions in China. In Chapter 1, we describe the general background of the Chinese fiscal reforms in the 1980s. In particular we present how the open-door policies has resulted in China’s increasing participation in the global market while at the same time its domestic market seem to still suffer from prevalent border effects and local protectionism. Besides, we outline the nature and source of this fragmentation, which stems from the fiscal and administrative decentralisation, that the fiscal reforms brought about, and the existing political system. As such the fiscal and administrative system give strong incentives for local governments to actively participate in yardstick competition, which often takes the form of the so-called ‘tournament competition‘. Chapter 2 provides a general overview of the existing literature on measuring domestic market integration (DMI). It provides the theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence of this literature, organising DMI into three main streams of the literature, which are factor-related approach, price-related approach and output and employment-related approach. Chapter 3 adopts a spatial border difference approach and a spatial border econometric approach to estimate the provincial border effects and thus infer the degree of domestic market integration in China. By using a dataset of 48 border counties and 28 2-digit industries in the Yangtze River Delta region over the time period 2005-2009, we find that border effects are present and significant and also varying across provinces and industries. On average Shanghai shows the highest level of local protectionism with its provincial border exerting greater influences on the industry patterns compared with the other two provinces. We also observe the provincial border effects are decreasing over time, albeit over a short time period, which indicates an ongoing process of deepening market integration. Moreover, we also find that Jiangsu exhibits a higher level of border effects against Shanghai and Zhejiang than that with its all surrounding neighbours. Chapter 4 looks into the role of domestic market integration and socio-economic globalisation play in the size and structure of the public sector in China. By employing a dataset of 27 Chinese provinces for the period of 1998-2006, we find that domestic market integration has negligible effects, only showing a small positive correlation with social aspects of spending. On the other hand, the results of international integration provide some support for the ‘efficiency’ hypothesis over the ‘compensation’ view. More specifically, economic integration contributes to the overall expansion of public sector and in particular it increases productive and non-social spending, while social integration results in a reduction in total spending and social spending. Chapter 5 investigates the relationship between strategic interactions and political tournament competition in China. By using the provincial-level data for 28 Chinese provinces over the period of 1998-2005, we provide strong evidence of the spatial autocorrelation in both total spending and its components, though we fail to find evidence supporting the ‘tournament competition’. Besides, the spending level in neighbouring provinces acts as a constraining effect on a local leader’s promotion. Moreover, we found that a higher level of total spending, productive spending and education spending compared with their contiguity neighbours, and a higher level of agriculture spending compared with their GDP-related neighbours would significantly increase the promotion opportunities of provincial governors. In contrast, the level of administration spending relative to local province’s GDP-related neighbours and the level of agency spending relative to geographic-related neighbours are negatively linked with the political turnover rate of provincial governors. Chapter 6 summarises the main findings of the thesis and outline the policy implications of our findings.
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Jordan, John Frederick Dodge. "Legal culture in a turbulent time : law and society in early modern Saxony." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:08a01053-87e3-4310-a974-b194f516b692.
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This thesis reconstructs and interprets the evolution of legal culture in the Saxon city of Freiberg in the sixteenth century. It challenges the notion that early modern state institutions were punitive and disciplinary; and instead posits that in Saxony, they were flexible and sought to maintain social harmony. While previous scholarship has favoured a sociological approach, based on the concept of social control, this thesis employs a legal anthropological optic to study the interaction of state institutions and social life holistically. The focus is not just on how state institutions sought to regulate social life, but also on how ordinary people used institutions for their diverse purposes. The goal of this methodological approach, based on Lawrence Friedman’s concept of legal culture, is to assess the relative position and interaction of the people, the judiciary, and the law in early modern Germany. Probing the interactions of the court and the residents of Freiberg reveals that the court was primarily a record-keeper and a mediator. For the former, it logged and transcribed all manner of transactions: peace pacts, loans, and house purchases; and Freibergers readily turned to the court to get a formal record of an obligation. For the latter, the court was rarely a site of punishment, rather it was a place where conflicts were regulated, and bonds forged. At court, Freibergers fostered ties to one another. Neither of these roles, record-keeper or mediator, are ones traditionally ascribed to early modern courts. Only by considering by the culture of a court does either become apparent.
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Šerić, Adnan. "Three empirical essays on determinants of industry and investment location patterns in the context of economic transition and regional integration : the evidence from Central and Eastern European countries." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2098.
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The factor determinants of industry and investment location patterns in transition economies can be expected to differ from those frequently observed in developed countries. Historically, centrally planned economies have suffered from inefficient industrial policies that are generally assumed to have had distortive effects on spatial location of industry. The process of economic transition and regional integration that followed the demise of socialist structures is assumed to have subsequently affected the geographical distribution of economic activities within and between countries of the region. Given the above this thesis capitalises on the quasi-natural experiment setting to further explore industry and investment location decisions in transition economies. In particular, the research presented here follows three main objectives. First, it intends to provide a comprehensive picture of changes in industry location patterns over time. Second, it aims to contribute to the debate on factor determinants of industry location at various levels of spatial aggregation. Third, it seeks to explore location determinants of foreign direct investors in particular, given their pivotal role for economic development of transition economies. In all instances, the research is geared towards a better understanding of the role of institutional factors, such as reforms and policies, in affecting distribution of economic activity across space. Thus, the work conducted qualifies as a further contribution to the analysis of structural changes that have affected the economies under examination. In broad terms, the findings presented here point towards significant changes in spatial location patterns of industry and investments that are leading to increased polarisation of economic landscape over time. Nonetheless, we find evidence that certain institutional factors qualify as viable policy levers, thereby providing ample scope for policy makers to impact existing location patterns of economic activity.
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Lyle, Julia A. "The Grass-Roots Challenges with Administration: Conscription Evasion, Contraband, and Resistance in Napoleonic Europe." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2013. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1233.
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The French model of the nineteenth century led the way to modernity in establishing centralized administrative governments throughout Continental Europe. Several Napoleonic policies that led to the establishment of a modern centralized state were not positive in their effects on the local communities. Research widely categorizes resistance to the Napoleonic program as either militarily or economically based. This study uses the French court cases from the Court of Cassation dated 1804 to 1820 to provide a different interpretation to the discussion of local resistance to Napoleonic authority on an international level. Conscription fraud, contraband, and resistance to government officials reveal that the local reaction in the French jurisdiction was based on contempt for both economic and military policies. The research exhibits that the grass-roots nature of the resistance against the economic and military policies experienced under the Napoleonic umbrella were comparatively similar in local opposition.
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Batt, Judy. "Economic reform and political change in eastern Europe : a comparison of the Czechoslovak and Hungarian experiences." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 1987. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1283/.
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Economic reform - the introduction of elements of the market into a planned economy - has been the central political problem for socialist states for at least three decades. This thesis seeks to elucidate the nature of the problem through a reconsideration of the general theoretical issues, and through a comparative analysis of the practice of economic reform in two countries - Czechoslovakia and Hungary. In Part One, the arguments in favour of the use of the market in socialism are recapitulated, and the implications of various socialist economic models for political freedom, democracy, and the realisation of some concept of the 'social interest 1 are discussed. The case studies presented in Part Two address the practical political problem of introducing market-type reform into communist systems. In Czechoslovakia, the issue of economic reform contributed to a profound political crisis culminating in 1968. But it is argued, economic reform was not the only, or even the most important source of the crisis. In the different political conditions in Hungary, economic reform was embraced by the regime as a means of securing political stability and popular legitimacy. Political crisis was avoided, but at the costof compromise in the economic reform. The conclusion is that while full-scale democratisation of the political system may not be an inevitable concomitant of economic reform, profound changes in the style and instruments of communist rule are required.
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Smith, Harry John. "Propertied society and public life : the social history of Birmingham, 1780-1832." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:608bf88d-87af-4dba-993e-8772b86afd71.
Full textAbstract:
Social history has been much criticised over the past thirty years. This criticism and the consequent turn to cultural history have brought many advances, developing our understanding of the language, discourse, ritual and culture. However, it has also led to a neglect of structural factors and a turn away from the study of collectivities. This has meant that many subjects that class used to explain (social difference, social relationships and collective actions) are often ignored or undertheorized in current historical scholarship. This thesis examines one of these issues: how should historians understand and analyse the process of social-group formation? It does this through a case study of propertied society in Birmingham between 1780 and 1832. Propertied society is a loose category that does not have the connotations of concepts such as ‘middle class’. This thesis suggests that there were many different types of social group and that historians need to differentiate between them when analysing past societies. The most important distinction is between groups who shared attributes and groups that acted together. However, there was no simple relationship between attributes and actions; individuals who shared attributes did not necessarily act in the same way. The first part of the thesis (chapters 1-3) discusses who was included within the category of propertied society and the social and geographical understandings of those individuals. The second part of the thesis (chapters 4-6) moves from the general material and cultural structures of propertied society to consider three case studies that examine a number of processes by which individuals came together to form groups focused on particular discourses, institutions and events. The three case studies discuss the family and the transfer of social knowledge (chapter 4), local government and the nature of elites (chapter 5), and the process of politicization through examining membership of the Birmingham Political Union (chapter 6).
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Sloman, Peter Jack. "Economic thought and policy in the Liberal Party, c. 1929-1964." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c961d45b-8c97-4e4b-b91c-6d0c8c55da5b.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the reception, generation, and use of economic ideas in the British Liberal Party during the period between its decline in the inter-war years and its revival under Jo Grimond. It uses archival sources, party publications, and the political press to reconstruct the Liberal Party’s internal discourse about economic policy from the 1920s to the 1960s, and sets this discourse in the context of wider economic and political developments: the ‘Keynesian revolution’ in economic theory and British public policy, recurrent political interest in economic planning, and growing concern about relative economic decline. The strength of the two-party system which developed after the First World War meant that the Liberal Party spent most of this period in opposition, and even in the coalition governments of 1931-2 and 1940-5 Liberals had limited input into economic policy-making. As historians have frequently noted, however, the party played an important role in introducing Keynesian ideas to British politics through Lloyd George’s 1929 pledge to ‘conquer unemployment’, and seemed to anticipate the post-war managed economy in important respects. At the same time, the party maintained a close relationship with the economics profession, and vocally championed free trade and competitive markets. This thesis highlights the eclecticism of the Liberal Party’s economic heritage, and its continuing ambivalence towards state intervention. Although Liberals were early and sincere supporters of Keynesian demand-management policies, and took a close interest in economic planning proposals in the 1920s, 1940s and 1960s, their interventionism was frequently constrained by their internationalism and their support for free markets. Most Liberals, then, were neither unreconstructed Gladstonians nor unequivocal supporters of Britain’s post-war settlement. Rather, successive party leaders sought to integrate new economic knowledge with traditional Liberal commitments, in order to make both a credible contribution to policy debates and a distinctive appeal to the electorate.
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Hunter, Delroy M. "Integration, diversification, and spillover : an assessment of the emerging markets using American Depository Receipts (ADRs)." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1999. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4003/.
Full textAbstract:
The focus of this thesis is on the emerging markets. It assesses intra- and inter-market mean and volatility spillover, investigates the impact of the Mexican currency crisis on international portfolio diversification, and employ international asset pricing to test the integration of the emerging markets.