This dissertation consists of three essays on the historical roots of racial disparity in incarceration in the United States. The first essay examines the origins of racial inequality in convict leasing in the postbellum U.S. South. Following emancipation, white southerners feared two primary challenges to the region's agricultural economy and social order: African Americans' flight from farms to cities, and African Americans' ability to procure land. In their capacities as accusers and jurors, white civilians exercised considerable discretion over the arrest and conviction of African Americans for minor offenses such as property crimes. Using archival administrative records of the Georgia convict lease system, combined with the complete 1880 U.S. Census, I find that African-American men living in urban counties or in counties where the per-capita value of land owned by African Americans was high were much more likely to be incarcerated for property crimes than similar individuals in rural counties or in counties where African Americans were largely excluded from landownership. The second essay traces a portion of the rise of racial inequality in incarceration in northern and southern states to increasing rates of African-American migration to the North between 1880 and 1950. It employs three analytical strategies. First, it introduces a decomposition to assess the relative contributions of geographic shifts in the population and regional changes in the incarceration rate to the increase in racial disparity. Second, it estimates the effect of the rate of white and nonwhite migration on the change in the white and nonwhite incarceration rates of the North. Finally, it uses macro- and microdata to evaluate the mechanisms proposed to explain this effect. The third essay has two objectives. First, it provides a descriptive account of trends in racial inequality in imprisonment from the late 1980s through the first decade of the twentieth century. Second, it asks whether prison growth and regional variation in racial disparity in imprisonment have common causes. Although absolute racial disparity grew markedly between 1981 and 2002, relative racial disparity did not increase. Disparity in drug admissions spiked dramatically between 1985 and 2005, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, but disparity in admissions for non-drug crimes was also high. In some years, the drug and homicide admissions rate for whites and African Americans was higher in counties with greater poverty and unemployment rates and lower per-capita income, but changes in poverty, employment, and income were not strongly associated with changes in drug admissions. Taken together, these results suggest that racial disparity in imprisonment is not solely a product of the recent history of the prison boom. / Sociology

Through a mixed methods approach, this study provides a greater understanding of salary inequality in U.S. business schools and how it changed between 1998 to 2004. The quantitative research examines full-time faculty using individual-level salary data from both a constant sample of 307 institutions and a larger 2004 sample of 464 schools, allowing for in-depth examination of inequality including within institutions. The qualitative research used interviews with business school deans to uncover decisions that, in the aggregate, can impact faculty salary inequality.Quantitative analysis of faculty salary utilized descriptive statistics as well as several inequality measures, along with regression analyses, to reveal the level and structure of inequality and the contributions of within-institution and between-institution inequality. Salary inequality increased between 1998 and 2004. However, contrary to previous research, salary inequality isn't attributed to superstar salaries; the growth in salary inequality is attributable to negative real growth in the lower tail of the salary distribution. Analysis between institutions reveals that the highest paying 10% of institutions are pulling away, increasing stratification between the most prestigious institutions and the others. Although private school faculty earn more than their public counterparts, salary inequality among faculty at public institutions increased more rapidly. Institutional characteristics including Carnegie classification, MBA ranking, degrees offered, accreditation, faculty size, tuition and fees, state appropriations per student and endowment per student contribute to differences in salary inequality between institutions. Within institutions, unionization and higher MBA ranking correspond to lower salary inequality; whereas research/doctoral, public institutions, and larger faculty size correspond to more salary inequality. Differences also exist in the inequality source: upper tail or lower tail.While the primary interview theme is the rule of the market, deans do make individual decisions based on their own competitive marketplace. The qualitative inquiry revealed four decision categories that can affect salary inequality, including: hiring strategies, environmental influences--colleges and fields, compensation challenges and market response strategies, all which may collectively increase or decrease faculty salary inequality. Interview analysis revealed additional questions that need to be answered using quantitative data, from changes in faculty composition, to compression/inversion, and salary inequality differences across fields.

This thesis is an investigation of the evolution of economic inequality in Guatemala. High inequality and poverty levels in the country are two widespread social problems, almost defining characteristics of Guatemalan society. Although some research has been done in an attempt to understand poverty, far less has been done with respect to inequality. Aggregated measures of both phenomena do not reveal much change, although it may well be the case that different and countervailing forces are acting behind summary indices, providing a misleading interpretation of stagnation over time. Using data from two living standards measurement surveys (LSMS) in 2000 and 2006, this investigation applies a household income generation model and a series of microeconomic decomposition techniques in order to explain some of the factors driving economic inequality. Those factors are grouped into three types of effects: price, occupational choice and endowment. The results show that three structural conditions segment the population: geographical location, gender and ethnic origin. However, they also indicate that over the course of six years, those characteristics have reduced their negative influence on the standard of living of the population. In other words, over time they show a mild equalizing effect, probably the result of changes in market conditions, state actions or a combination of both. Regarding the three types of effects identified above, the results show how market returns to individual attributes (price effects), such as years of education, can act as an equalizing force, particularly for women in the 4th and 5th quintiles of the distribution. Occupational choice effects reflect changes in the structure of the labour force, moving from the inactive to the self-employed, thus generating higher household income. Endowment effects, simulated as changes in household size and stock of education of income earners, are consistent with mild changes in fertility rates and higher public investment in education. Finally, the results leave ample room for social policy. However, for that to occur it will be necessary to increase the capacity of the State to intervene in specific areas, thus requiring higher government revenues while also addressing other institutional challenges such as better targeting of social programs, improving the quality of primary health and education, and investing in secondary schools and hospitals. A third round of LSMS survey would help corroborate whether observed reductions in expenditure and income inequality are truly a trend or just a temporary phenomena or simply a statistical artefact.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between wealth, wealth inequality and health. The study has a cross-national focus and employs a political economy perspective, which addresses the macro-political determinants of health. The dissertation is comprised of two sets of analyses. In Part 1, logistic regression analyses confirm that wealth, whether measured as home ownership, the value of the home, or net worth, is a significant predictor of self-rated health in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. The relationship between wealth and self-rated health is weakest in Germany. Case studies of the three countries indicate that this weaker relationship may be linked to more generous welfare state provisions in Germany. In Part 2, bivariate analyses reveal that wealth inequality, whether measured as the Gini coefficient or the share of wealth held by the richest 10% of the population, is related to poorer population health outcomes in developed countries. Both unweighted and weighted correlations are strong and significant, even after controlling for a variety of potential macro-level confounders. The results are strongest for female life expectancy and infant mortality. In-depth analysis of the countries with the most equitable distribution of wealth and the best health outcomes reveals several themes: high rates of home ownership, relatively generous pensions, stronger regulatory frameworks, taxation of wealth, increased social expenditures in recent years, and social cohesion. The results of this dissertation suggest that wealth is an axis of inequality that deserves far more attention from sociologists, particularly in relation to population health. Relying on income alone to describe inequality and form public policy is inadequate for understanding and addressing the economic and health circumstances of individuals and families. The inclusion of wealth in sociological studies of health disparities will result in a more accurate picture of social stratification, and will result in better informed social policy. Finally, the use of a political economy framework allows us to better understand, and potentially change, the political and economic processes through which the distribution of both wealth and health occurs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between wealth, wealth inequality and health. The study has a cross-national focus and employs a political economy perspective, which addresses the macro-political determinants of health. The dissertation is comprised of two sets of analyses. In Part 1, logistic regression analyses confirm that wealth, whether measured as home ownership, the value of the home, or net worth, is a significant predictor of self-rated health in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. The relationship between wealth and self-rated health is weakest in Germany. Case studies of the three countries indicate that this weaker relationship may be linked to more generous welfare state provisions in Germany. In Part 2, bivariate analyses reveal that wealth inequality, whether measured as the Gini coefficient or the share of wealth held by the richest 10% of the population, is related to poorer population health outcomes in developed countries. Both unweighted and weighted correlations are strong and significant, even after controlling for a variety of potential macro-level confounders. The results are strongest for female life expectancy and infant mortality. In-depth analysis of the countries with the most equitable distribution of wealth and the best health outcomes reveals several themes: high rates of home ownership, relatively generous pensions, stronger regulatory frameworks, taxation of wealth, increased social expenditures in recent years, and social cohesion. The results of this dissertation suggest that wealth is an axis of inequality that deserves far more attention from sociologists, particularly in relation to population health. Relying on income alone to describe inequality and form public policy is inadequate for understanding and addressing the economic and health circumstances of individuals and families. The inclusion of wealth in sociological studies of health disparities will result in a more accurate picture of social stratification, and will result in better informed social policy. Finally, the use of a political economy framework allows us to better understand, and potentially change, the political and economic processes through which the distribution of both wealth and health occurs.

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This dissertation consists of four studies on the role of institutions, education and institutional reform in economic development. Three of the studies examine empirical aspects of the issue and the fourth provides an analysis of policy implications. A key theme of the dissertation is the recognition that institutions, both formal and informal, are important for development. The observation that some developing economies have been unable to substantively improve institutional structures, creates a vital agenda for studying institutional change. The first study empirically investigates the impact of education, both quantitatively and qualitatively, on the informal institution of social capital measured as social trust. Differences in levels of education are considered to find the separate effects of primary, secondary and tertiary education. The relationship between education and social trust levels in countries is found to be positive. The sample is further split into developed and developing countries which also substantiates the main hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as schooling playing a transformative role in the society. The second study develops a framework for studying education inequality and institutional development. A range of economic, political and social measures of institutional quality are used in a cross-country analysis. The study confirms that the cross-country differences in institutional variables are influenced negatively by the education inequality. Several competing hypotheses of institutional improvement are used to test the sensitivity of the results. The sample is further split into OECD and non-OECD countries, with no new results arising from this split. The third study investigates the relationship of education inequality and institutional quality using panel data techniques and an alternative data set of institutional measures, than the one used in the second study. This study initially estimates the relationship using the pooled OLS and fixed effects models. The issue of persistency in institutional variables is then investigated by using a system GMM estimator. The evidence suggests that the impact of reducing education inequality is associated with improvements in institutional quality. The fourth study analyses the implications from the first three studies with reference to the institutional reform agenda. Insight is given for improving the reform process. Areas of context specificity and sequencing of reforms are dealt with, using country examples. The intuition from this essay is that educational equality is a deliberate initiative which needs to be carried out through policy initiatives, although the process adopted would depend on the specific economy. It is suggested that there is a need to change the fundamental focus from emphasis on altering formal rules, to considering the current underlying structures in societies as a constraint, in developing a way forward to improving the reform agenda.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2003.

Homicide rates have become a growing concern worldwide, yet many countries lack the proper resources and materials to adequately and efficiently report the data. While homicide rates on a global scale have had a history of lacking datasets and misreporting, the UNODC’s Global Study on Homicide 2013 aimed to identify some key factors and variables that trigger spikes or drops in homicide rates. This paper will focus on analyzing data from both the UNODC and World Bank to identify more factors that explain the levels and changes in homicide rates from 2006-2011. While this paper is not successful in explaining all determinants, it does find that variables relating to income distribution and population prove to be better explanatory variables of homicide.