The electric utility industry is on the verge of radical transformation. Historically, this industry has been subjected to price regulation, proactive oversight of resource acquisition, and diversion of revenues to public purpose programs such as the development of renewable energy and promotion of energy conservation. Recent rulemaking by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and restructuring proposals made by state utility commissions, most notably in California, suggest that regulators are willing to increase reliance on market forces to encourage efficiency and lower prices for consumers. / This dissertation has two objectives. The first is to analyze the history of deregulation in other industries, the recent history of the electric utility industry, the problems facing the industry that have convinced industry observers that traditional regulation has failed, and the political process that will shape the structure of a deregulated industry. The second objective is to develop a model that can simulate the outcome of competitive markets for wholesale electric power. The results of this model are a forecast of wholesale power prices, power production, and construction of new power plants over a twenty year period. / The problems associated with predicting the market-clearing price of electricity over long time horizons are numerous. They include the variability of electricity demand, the long-run and short-run response of electricity demand to price, the tradeoff between the capital cost of power plants and their efficiency, and the characterization of electrical power flows in alternating current networks. The model is an adaptation of the spot pricing models of Bohn et al (1984) with a feedback mechanism that accounts for the impact of price on demand growth and power plant construction. / The model is applied to a hypothetical power supply network serving the western United States. Data from the Department of Energy, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Electric Power Research Institute are used to develop baseline assumptions about power supply and demand. Eleven scenarios are presented. These scenarios illustrate the impact of differential growth in demand across market sectors and geographic regions, the impact of constraints on capacity construction, and the incidence of network access charges. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-04, Section: A, page: 1745. / Major Professor: Philip E. Sorensen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.

This study analyzes business cycles from a sectoral perspective. Multi-sectoral models are able to explain some elements of economic fluctuations that cannot be examined in a single-consumer single-producer model. Two problems are examined in this research work: (i) are distortions in the allocation of capital inputs across sectors able to explain fluctuations in output?; (ii) are economic fluctuations the result of sectoral or aggregate shocks? / A theoretical sectoral model where capital allocative disturbances produce deviations of output from its long-run trend is presented. This model shows that small sectoral shocks may play an important role in the business cycle phenomenon. / To provide empirical evidence for the first issue, a proxy variable for capital allocative disturbances is constructed. The empirical analysis consists of estimating of a four variable VAR model comprised by industrial production, an ex-ante real interest rate, the Solow residual, and the variable for capital allocative disturbances. The analysis shows that capital allocative disturbances can explain some of the fluctuations in industrial production. / To empirically examine the second issue the Solow residual for nine industrial groups is used as proxy variables for technological advance. To extract the common and specific shocks, a factor analysis was used. The common and specific factors are then incorporated into a VAR model, where industrial production is used as the economic activity indicator. It is found that, although common shocks explain a large proportion of the forecast error variance of industrial production, the sectoral shocks explain around one third of this variance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1322. / Major Professor: Milton Marquis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-02, Section: A, page: 0970. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

The literature on trademarks and on litigation is reviewed. Trademarks are described as intellectual property rights enforceable at law which identify the origin of a product and hence provide an incentive to the markholder to maintain quality. The existence of quality in products attracts fraud, which may be policed either by consumer non-purchase or by litigation. / Litigation is modelled as the end result of a selection process whereby only those cases whose probable outcome cannot be agreed between plaintiff and defendant go to court. The uncertainty of these cases should lead to a 50:50 outcome between plaintiff and defendant under specified assumptions. / The litigation model is tested on trademark litigation and found to be valid in the specific instances tested. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 1011. / Major Professor: Gary M. Fournier. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-03, Section: A, page: 1715. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1977.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the short-term economic effects of oil price spikes upon Florida. A substantial disturbance in oil supplies is likely to generate a large price upsurge and a downturn in the level of economic activity. Each of these two effects diminishes demand by a certain amount. The specific price surge required to reduce demand to the lower level of supply can be calculated with an oil demand function and with empirical estimations of the association between price spikes and declines in economic activity. The first section of this study presents an energy demand model for Florida, which provides with the price and income elasticities needed. The second section includes theoretical explanations and empirical estimations of the relationship between price spikes and recessions. Based on historical evidence, it seems that Florida's and the nation's economic systems are very sensitive to oil price surges. As price spikes appear damaging to the economy, it could be expected that reductions in the price of oil are beneficial to the system. That is likely to be the case in the long run, but no empirical evidence of favorable short-term effects of oil price decreases was found. Several possible explanations and theoretical reasons are offered to explain this lack of association. The final section of the study presents estimates of the effect of oil disruptions upon specific industries in Florida and the United States. It seems that the construction, durable goods manufacturing, finance, and trade sectors are the most sensitive to oil disruptions, both for Florida and the nation. Numerical estimates of the association between price spikes and economic activity at the industry detailed level are highly compatible with associations found for aggregate data. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0893. / Major Professor: Frederick W. Bell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

In Part 1 of History of Economic Analysis, Joseph A. Schumpeter describes a method for presenting a history of economics that emphasizes objectivity and a strict focus on the evolution of the "science" of economics. The approach he delineates is similar to those which have been referred to as "positivistic" or "absolutist." / This dissertation begins with a presentation of two extreme approaches which have been advocated for presenting the history of economics. This is accomplished by delineating and subsequently analyzing statements made by the protagonists of each approach. / Next Schumpeter's biography is presented, then his "vision" of how the economic universe functions is addressed. / Following this presentation of Schumpeter's biography and vision, what other economists have written concerning Schumpeter's methodology is addressed. / An analysis of History of Economic Analysis is then conducted to demonstrate the extent to which Schumpeter deviated from his stated approach. Along with a great deal of biography and an attempt to delineate each major thought creator's vision, the work is found to be rift with Schumpeter's personal biases. / It is shown that Schumpeter's approach, far from being the objective, positivistic approach for which he calls, is much more akin to the biographical approach espoused by Wesley Clair Mitchell. It is thus shown that Schumpeter's work is further toward the relativistic side of the methodological continuum. / Finally History of Economic Analysis is compared to Economic Theory in Retrospect by Mark Blaug, whose work comes closest to consummating what Schumpeter called for. Though successful at presenting the history of economics in a "modernistic" framework, it is concluded that Blaug's work is not nearly as significant a contribution as that of Schumpeter. In fact, the very reasons which would not allow Schumpeter to practice what he called for are those that make his History of Economic Analysis the important contribution (to the History of Economics) that it is. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: A, page: 3158. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

The spirit and logic of the 1988 World Bank report resides in the trilogy that is its subtitle: adjustment, revitalization and expansion. In the context of ongoing austerity in Africa, it is strongly asserted that a fundamental restructuring of education is necessary to improve efficiency, effectiveness and equity in education. Controversial adjustment reforms proposed include measures that will substantially shift the burden of educational finance from government to students, parents, and other parties. Such measures include cost recovery and the reduction of teachers' salaries among other things. / If and only if, adjustment measures have been implemented and begun to take hold, then revitalization and selective expansion may be undertaken. Revitalization and selective expansion will reportedly improve quality and access in education. They include the provision of a minimum package of textbooks and other instructional materials and expansion of primary education to provide universal access. / The purpose of this study was to investigate and critically evaluate the knowledge base that undergirds the World Bank study and the technical and political feasibility of the proposed reforms. A multi-methodological research strategy including critical public policy analysis and value-critical policy inquiry was employed. / The main findings of this study are that: the data used in the Bank study are unreliable, the knowledge base narrow, the arguments underlying the policy framework of the report, unpersuasive and controversial and the agenda for action internally inconsistent. These criticisms should not detract from the immense value and importance of the document in that it is the first document that critically looks at education in the crisis beleaguered continent. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-05, Section: A, page: 1639. / Major Professor: Steven Klees. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This dissertation is an examination of trade effects on workers in textiles and apparels using aggregate, cross-sectional micro, and longitudinal data. In Chapter 2, the effects of import competition (measured as an index of import price) on employment and wages are measured using OLS and two stage least squares with aggregate industry level data. Results suggest that while import competition has had a negative effect on hours worked and employment in the apparel industry, the increase in import competition over the 1977-91 period has not been a primary cause of this decline. / Adjusted wage and relative earnings indices across industries and occupations are used to analyze wage changes in Chapter 3. Also included in the analysis of Chapter 3 are wage equation models that match aggregate import data by industry to the CPS data to determine the effect of increased import share on the wages of union and nonunion workers. Production workers in the textile and apparel industries currently earn approximately 22 percent and 8 percent less, respectively, than similarly skilled workers in other manufacturing industries. Relative earnings indices indicate that in the apparel industry this negative differential has grown. Textile wages, on the other hand, have started to close the wage gap with other manufacturing wages over the same period. / Longitudinal data, matched cohorts from the CPS outgoing rotational groups (ORG) and retrospective data from the Displaced Worker Surveys, are used in Chapter 4 to analyze workers entering and exiting the textile and apparel industries. Results from both the CPS ORG and the DWS suggest that most of the wage differential in textiles and apparel come from ability differences not captured in the standard levels regression. / The results in this dissertation provides evidence that workers in the textile and apparel industries are hired from a highly competitive labor market. While other factors have caused greater injury to workers, increased import competition has the expected results of decreasing employment, while having little effect on wages. Workers in the textile and apparel industries appear to earn competitive wages compared to workers elsewhere in manufacturing, when all available controls are included in the analysis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3250. / Major Professor: Barry T. Hirsch. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

In recent years, several state public utility commissions have required electric utilities within their respective jurisdictions to incorporate predetermined external environmental costs into fuel choice selection decisions for electric generation. As a starting point, this paper models the fuel choice selection decisions taken by electric utilities in the United States between the years 1966-1992 in order to identify the relevant empirical determinants. Next, a range of external environmental costs for greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide or $\rm CO\sb2)$ are then imposed on the total costs for fossil-fuel electric generation. The fuel choices with the internalized environmental costs are then compared to the estimated fuel choices without environmental costs to determine overall and dynamic differences in fuel selection. Effects and differences in utility rates between selected and estimated fuel choices are also considered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2779. / Major Professor: E. Ray Canterbery. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.