<p>I argue that ethical convictions are crucial to the maintenance and transformation of social institutions. Moreover, since ethical convictions are sometimes corrigible and open to persuasive transformation, ethical persuasion can be a powerful source of social change. However, I observe that the dominant analytic techniques of the social sciences are ill equipped to understand the nature and import of ethical convictions, and even less well equipped to inform ethical persuasion. I argue this, in part, explains why social science research has often proved of little value in trying to address prominent social concerns.</p><p>This diagnosis raises a puzzle and a challenge. The puzzle is why some social scientists would wholly commit themselves to methods that cannot adequately deal with important dimensions of social structure. I show this is due to a misguided conception of science, one which seeks an "absolute perspective" that requires reducing or explaining away ethical convictions.</p><p>The challenge, once this vision of science is rejected in favor of a more pragmatic one, is 1) to understand the systematic limits of different methodological approaches and 2) to see how an account of ethics, rightly understood, can complement social scientific knowledge in service of better social outcomes. </p><p>I evaluate three dominant methodological approaches in the social sciences, namely, statistical modeling, formal modeling, and biological-behavioral research. Although all are useful within certain domains, I show that each has systematic limits relating to the dynamism of ethical convictions. I demonstrate how these methods can fail on their own terms and can blind researchers to important resources for social change, such as possibilities for persuasion.</p><p></p><p>Finally, I develop an account of the relationship between ethics, rationality, and persuasion drawing on the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor. This account rejects prominent "scientific" attempts to explain ethical allegiances as biologically hardwired or structurally determined, and it further challenges accounts of ethical naturalism and pluralistic neutrality. </p><p>I conclude by illustrating the constructive role that ethical persuasion has played in a number of development projects, which help demonstrate my thesis that debates about visions of "the good" matter profoundly for human flourishing.</p> / Dissertation

Diss. KTH : Univ., 2008.

Handel och dess konsekvenser för samhället är ett omdiskuterat ämne inom såväl den ekonomiska forskningen som inom den politiska debatten. Diskussionen utgörs av starka motsättningar och bristen på konsensus riskerar att leda till felaktiga politiska beslut. Alltfler handelsavtal implementeras och utvecklingsländers roll på den globala marknaden blir allt större. Det är således av ökad betydelse att utreda handelns faktiska konsekvenser. Syftet med denna studie är därför att analysera hur handel påverkar den ekonomiska ojämlikheten i utvecklingsländer. Studien utgår från hypotesen att en ökad handel leder till en minskad ekonomisk ojämlikhet vilket är i enlighet med klassisk nationalekonomisk teori. Studien utfördes genom en ekonometrisk analys där en paneldataregression på 41 länder över 23 år skattades. Gini-index användes som beroendevariabel, medan handelsflöde samt sju kontrollvariabler utgjorde förklarande variabler. För att minska risken för heterogenitet i urvalet begränsades de studerade länderna i huvudsak till forna europeiska kolonier med kust. Resultatet från studien indikerar att en ökad handel leder till en minskad ekonomisk ojämlikhet. Resultatet bör dock beaktas med försiktighet med anledning av statistiskt icke-signifikanta effekter. Studien finner dessutom att förekomst av korruption är av betydelse när sambandet mellan handel och ekonomisk ojämlikhet undersöks. / The impacts of trade on the society are a common subject of debate, both in the research field of economics and in the political debate. The lack of consensus poses a risk in political decision-making. New trade agreements are being implemented while the role of developing countries is growing on the global market. Hence, there is an increasing importance of examining the actual impacts of trade. This study, therefore, analyses the impact of trade on the economic inequality in developing countries. This study hypothesizes that trade decreases inequality, which is in accordance with classical economic theory. Using a panel data regression on 41 countries over 23 years, this study examines how Gini index interacts as the dependent variable with trade flow and seven control variables. The countries studied are mainly limited to former European colonies with coastal lines to reduce the risk of heterogeneity within the sample. This study finds that trade reduces inequality, although the result should be interpreted with care due to statistically insignificant effects. This study also finds that presence of corruption is of importance when the relationship between trade and inequality is examined.

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

The past 20 years have witnessed a resurgence of maritime piracy, especially along the East and West coasts of Africa. Much scholarly research has been undertaken on this issue; however a consensus on the primary economic causes of piracy does not exist. This thesis seeks to identify the primary economic causes and consequences of maritime piracy in Somalia and Nigeria specifically, and coastal sub-Saharan Africa more generally. It investigates whether variables such as a lack of employment opportunities, particularly in the fisheries sector, are a causal factor of maritime piracy. These potential causal factors are explored using both case studies and regression analyses. Net exports of fish are found to be a statistically significant predictor of the frequency of piracy, suggesting that a decrease in national fish production and employment in the fisheries sector results in an increase in the occurrence of piracy.

This thesis investigates the relationship between economic ideas and practices in reference to Japanese development experience. To achieve this, it first examines the impact of economic ideas and economists on the Japanese development. Then it examines the characteristics of the Japanese development. Lastly, the study attempts to give an account of the direct impact of Japanese experience. It also tries to elucidate the indirect influence on the Japanese development economics which occurred through its impact on East Asian model. It has three main assertions. Firstly, it argues that Japanese economic thought and economists that were under the influence of heterodox economic schools such as the German Historical School, Marxism and the Schumpeterian and Keynesian schools, played a crucial role in shaping the Japanese development. Secondly, at least partly for this reason, Japanese development which can be considered as a piece-wise continuous accelerated growth phenomena, demonstrated heterodox characteristics. Thirdly, Japanese successful industrialization directly and indirectly, through influencing East Asian development model, deeply affected different economic approaches in development economics such as the developmental state, flying geese model and the Confucian ethic thesis. The broader implication of this thesis is that the economic ideas and economic practices have a circular relationship as Japanese experience has demonstrated.

Esta tesis consta de tres ensayos basados en microeconometria, teoria de redes y desarrollo económico. En los primeros dos me focalizo en paises en desarrollo (Tanzania y Nepal respectivamente) por estudiar como los habitantes de zonas rurales forman redes sociales, y cómo la existencia de estos lazos informales afecta su bienestar. El tercer ensayo se centra en el comercio internacional de armas e investiga si la orientación política del gobierno tiene un impacto sobre la politica de exportacion de armamentos. / This thesis contains three essays on microeconometrics, networks and economic development. In the first two essays I focus on developing country settings (Tanzania and Nepal respectively) to study how rural villagers form their social networks, and how the existence of these informal links impacts their welfare. The third essay focuses on the international trade of weapons to investigate whether the political orientation of government in power makes any difference to arms export policy.

Thesis (M.Com.)(Hons.)--University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1997. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.Econ-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 115-123.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (February 23, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-82)