The present study is an attempt to compare the performance of two competing models of economic development-- the conservative and radical models. The conservative model is represented by the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; the radical model is represented by Cuba. The following chapters focus on a comparison of these models as they have manifested themselves in the Carribean basin. The analysis of the performance of the models is conducted by comparing socioeconomic variables of the countries representing the models. The study looks at the time period 1960 - 1980 which coincides with the adoption of the two models in the respective countries.

This thesis examines income inequality in Taiwan from three perspectives: economic development, political democracy, and world-system/dependence. Education, population growth, population structure, unemployment, savings, and export growth are treated as variables. Below are the important conclusions. Economic development has an effect on income inequality. The level of development is crucial. In the 1950s and 1960s, the relationship was significant, but in the next two decades economic development did not further decrease income inequality. Sector dualism was not a good predictor. Democratization did not have an obvious relation with income inequality. But the stable political environment and the endeavors of government to keep the society stable were crucial to economic development and improvement in income inequality. Foreign capital and export dependence did not retard economic development and worsen income inequality. But the influence of foreign capital did not contradict the world-system/dependence argument. Expansion of education had a negative relation with income inequality. The most important thing was the expansion of primary school education and junior high school education. The predicted relation between population growth and population structure and income inequality was not totally supported. Export expansion and savings expansion had an important influence on economic development and, like the relation between the economic development and income inequality, the relation between the expansion of exports and savings and income inequality was stronger in the 1960s than in the 1950s. Unemployment had almost the same change pattern as income inequality. This implies that employment had a negative relation with income inequality and, after 1970, the low unemployment helped keep inequality at a low level in the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s income inequality increased slightly as radical changes in economic structure, political environment, and other social factors transformed Taiwan. Other developed countries also show an increase in income inequality associated with similar changes. Thus income inequality in Taiwan is predicted to increase further.

published_or_final_version / Economics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Urban Studies / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Three Monetarist models--the Netherlands Bank Model, the Polak Model and the St. Louis Model--are critically examined in this study. A structural model has been set up for the St. Louis Model, showing some missing links and variables. The reduced-form approach should not be applied recklessly, i.e. without constructing its theoretical structural equations. Furthermore, in empirical studies, the concepts of stock and flow, and time references and time dimensions should be properly specified; failure to do so can lead to difficulties in interpretation. / The Netherlands Bank Model and the St. Louis Model have been applied to the Canadian economy from 1957 to 1974. The findings from this empirical study are, in general, favourable to the Monetarist hypothesis. The application of the Netherlands Bank Model to the Canadian economy demonstrates that the monetary impulses induce greater changes in nominal income and price level than in real income. The empirical results derived from the application of the St. Louis Model on a short-term basis support a middle ground position between Monetarists and Fiscalists: the monetary and fiscal impulses exert about the same magnitude effect (about 1.5) on economic activity in a year. On a medium-term basis, however, monetary impulses have a more lasting effect on nominal income, while the effects from the fiscal impulses disappear mainly because of the crowding-out effects.

In the 1950s, countless letters were sent from family members in Italy to their sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, and husbands or wives who had emigrated earlier to Canada. / This research is a study of nineteen letters written in Italy between 1954 and 1955. These letters, written in the language known as "l'italiano popolare," are the primary source from which stems a linguistic analysis. As well, a brief overview of "l'italiano popolare" follows in addition to a synopsis on popular letters and on the sociohistorical circumstances surrounding Italy at the time in which the letters were written.

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