<p> My dissertation addresses the need for an alternative system to capitalism, our mainstream system of economics, to support the necessities of a world facing countless ecological systems collapses, global climate change, and social inequity exacerbated by wealth disparity. <i>Alternative economics </i> is defined here as current economic or socioeconomic practices and theories that may redress the flaws in the current dominant global economic system, which is mainstream capitalism. </p><p> The approach to this research is theoretical; that is, I analyze the current literature in the relevant areas of economics and related literature in the social sciences, philosophy, political economics, and environmental studies. I then attempt to generate new knowledge through the analysis, critique, extension, and integration of existing theories and by drawing on existing empirical research. This research is also transdisciplinary, an approach that transcends conventional disciplinary regimes and boundaries. The aim of this study is to ascertain the best alternatives to our current system of capitalism by examining the arguments for and against alternative economic or socioeconomic systems. </p><p> The scope may embrace the complex and transdisciplinary, but it attempts to focus as narrowly as possible on the most promising ideas today concerning the imminent need for changing economics in the face of our global socio-environmental crises as being considered of high importance. The definitive goal of this research is to examine the most recent literature on these alternatives, and, based on this research, to identify which alternatives most suitably address the needs of our ecological systems, the needs of society, and the issue of global climate change. </p><p> Keywords: alternative economics, heterodox economics, sustainability, compassionate economics, wealth disparity, ecosocialism economics, steady-state economics, climate change, transdisciplinary.</p>

<p> This paper examines the relationship between expansions of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits and federal tax return filing behavior among EITC eligible individuals. An estimated 13 to 18 percent of individuals who are eligible for EITC do not file tax returns, and therefore do not receive the credit. One understudied approach to reducing the EITC eligible nonfiler rate is increasing EITC benefits, which effectively increases filing incentives. This study uses panel data from the 2008 Survey on Income and Program Participation that track EITC eligible individuals before and after the EITC expansion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (n = 111,057). A cross-sectional Heckit model and fixed effects linear probability model estimate that a $100 increase in EITC is associated with a 5.1 to 5.9 percent increase in the 2009 filing propensity of 2007 EITC eligible nonfilers (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.000). A generalized ordered logit model estimates that, among EITC eligible individuals without a filing requirement in 2007 and 2009, a $100 increase in EITC is associated with a 0.6 percent increase in the probability of persistent filing and a 0.4 percent decrease in the probability of persistent nonfiling across both years (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.000). Greater participation should be counted among the potential benefits of EITC expansions.</p>

<p> This dissertation is composed of three essays on the future of money. The first chapter addresses bitcoin&rsquo;s high price volatility relative to established currencies such as the U.S. dollar. Supply is fixed by a monetary rule; whereas demand fluctuates considerably. The intersection of bitcoin&rsquo;s inelastic supply with its enormously erratic demand causes its exchange rate variability. I explore two ways to make the bitcoin supply elastic: 1) change the bitcoin protocol to create or destroy bitcoins based on a macroeconomic algorithm, 2) create and maintain bitcoin banks that issue fractional reserve deposits, banknotes, or electronic tokens redeemable for bitcoin. </p><p> The second chapter provides a blueprint for implementing bitcoin as a national currency in the context of either dollarizing or a currency board. Implementation issues unique to digital currencies are explored. Candidate countries for transition are evaluated. </p><p> The third chapter analyzes the costs vs. benefits of financial privacy, against the backdrop of historical trends, current laws, and recent technology. Governments and corporations are tracking purchase history through credit cards and store loyalty cards. Guardians of bank secrecy have caved to government surveillance all over the world, ostensibly to fight crime and collect taxes. Aggregating this information, big data analytics can infer and disclose intimate personal details.</p><p>

<p> Bitcoins were conceptualized in 2008, which revolutionized the digital transfers of value within payment systems (Nakamoto, 2008). The advent of digital currencies revealed problems concerning anonymity embedded in bitcoins, consequently raising money laundering concerns. Regulators and law enforcement agencies struggle with addressing the money laundering issues inherent with bitcoin and digital currencies (Ajello, 2025). In response to these threats, agencies have issued various opinions regarding defining digital currencies within a financial framework. Regulator opinions concerning the applicability of bitcoins existing as currency, property, a commodity and commodity money contradict each other. Moreover; prosecutorial agencies attempt to fit digital currency exchangers under the regulations pertinent to money service businesses (MSB) (Mandjee, 2015; Sonderegger, 2015). This project provided an analysis of scholarly material, government publications, case law, and current trade information to examine a solution to the problem of money laundering through digital currency. This project revealed a need for a clear definition of bitcoin and digital currency within the context of U.S. laws and regulation to assist with investigations concerning illicit uses of digital currency. Furthermore, a need exists for new U.S. legislation specific to digital currency, which addresses money laundering and terrorist finance risks. Research revealed that digital currency regulations should mirror MSB regulations to curb peer-to-peer digital currency exchanges (Kirby, 2014). Additionally, FinCENs purview with financial crimes provides a unique position to assist law enforcement with digital currency investigations (FinCEN, 2014). A need exists for FinCEN to develop a blockchain analysis tool for law enforcement agencies and to assist with complex digital currency investigations (DHS, 2014). Keywords: Economic Crime Management, Financial Crime and Compliance Management, Paul Pantiani, virtual currency, cryptocurrency.</p>

<p>The impact of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 on the global banking system raised concerns regarding the capital adequacy of banks. While the banks were already conducting internal stress tests before the financial crisis that was not enough to ensure their capital adequacy in the case of an extremely adverse economic scenario. In 2009, under the Obama administration, large Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) were required to conduct stress tests under the supervision of the Federal Reserve Board (FED). This paper evaluates the impact of stress testing on the systemic risk and marginal expected shortfall of Bank Holding Companies. The objective of this study is to examine if the implementation of stress testing by the FED has affected the systemic risk of Bank Holding Companies. This study considers 55 US Bank Holding Companies with data from 2000 to 2018. The overall sample includes stress test BHCs as well as non-stress test BHCs. I use a variety of techniques including regression discontinuity with kernel triangular approach and OLS regression with fixed effects. The models contain bank-specific control variables including Log of Assets, Pre-Provision Net Revenue to Assets, Loan Loss Provision to Assets Real Estate Loans to Assets, Consumer Loans to Assets, Commercial Loans to Assets, Debt to Capital, Deposits to Assets, as well as capital requirements such as Tier 1 Capital Ratio. The results suggest that after the regulation of the stress test, the systemic risk of the stress test BHCs is significantly higher than the non-stress test BHCs. However, the stress test BHCs decrease their systemic risk more than the non-stress BHCs. The Tier 1 capital ratio, which is a key ratio that determines whether the BHCs pass the stress test, is found to have a negative effect on systemic risk (SRISK). Furthermore, I show that BHCs see an increase in their systemic risk when they run stress testing for the first time. Finally, the stress test BHCs decrease their systemic risk the quarter before the stress test and increase it a quarter after.

This dissertation explores the impacts of state-imposed development on rural communities and their environment in the mountainous district of Upper Svaneti in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Analyzing these effects is particularly salient as developing countries attempt to attract foreign investment with the option to liquidate natural capital, the wealth and power divide between urban and rural regions widens, and the world is struggles to respond to the global environmental challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation. The forests, household livelihoods, cultural heritage and traditional property regimes of Upper Svaneti are now under threat by two state-led developments: first, by land acquisitions for the construction of a commercial ski tourism zone; and second, by revisions to the Forest Code that will allow the state to grant 49-year concessions to forests and their underground water and mineral resources. During six months of fieldwork over the summer and fall of 2011, I collected data through 250 household surveys, in-depth interviews with villagers and government officials, and analysis of archival materials and policy documents. This dissertation follows a three-essay format. The first essay measures household dependence on common pool resources (CPRs) and property under traditional private ownership. I find that low-income households are especially dependent on threatened CPRs, as are households in villages at a greater distance from market centers. I conclude that income from new wage employment in the tourism and timber industries is not a sufficient substitute for prospective losses in CPR-based income, due to the importance of diversified livelihood strategies for managing risk, the value of maintaining traditional governance structures and ecosystem functions, the limited substitutability of CPR goods, and the diminishing purchasing power of wage income. I argue that if development trajectories are to create a pathway out of poverty for local communities, they must create new income opportunities that do not limit local access to natural resources or degrade the environment. The second essay utilizes elements of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework pioneered by Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues to map governance systems and characteristics of forest users in two villages in the Upper Svaneti district. First, I trace the institutional history of the two villages from the formation of traditional self-governance structures prior to the Soviet period, to collectivization and state control during the Soviet era, through the post-Soviet transition to current structures and policies. I then detail the interactions between government and non-governmental organizations, property rights systems, and monitoring and sanctioning processes. I evaluate the attributes of forest users, including their socioeconomic characteristics, history of forest use, social capital, environmental values, and the importance of forest resources in livelihoods. I compare the results against indicators for successful community forest management (CFM) regimes identified in a recent meta analysis in order to identify both the strengths of the region in its ability to support CFM initiatives and the processes that are inhibiting their emergence. I find that the forest users exhibit many of the characteristics associated with successful CFM, but that the legal framework for forest ownership and financial incentives for regional and state officials are obstructing decentralization. Intervention by the international community could help to support communities in establishing ownership rights over village forests and to change the existing incentive structure facing government officials. The third essay explores how households plan to respond to the "peasant dilemma" presented by the introduction of the ski tourism zone: the choice between maintaining pre-modern agricultural practices, on the one hand, or participating in new wage employment or to embarking on new self-enterprise opportunities, such as opening a guesthouse or small business, on the other. Distinguising between the progressive and regressive, I analyze how changes in livelihood strategies are likely to affect collective action for CFM, opportunities for female-headed households, and wealth inequality. I find that households prefer to allocate labor toward starting a small business over participating in wage employment, that there are negative relationships between wage employment and support for CFM and between political connectedness and support for CFM, but a positive relationship between dependence on CPRs and support for CFM. For these reasons, commercial tourism development can be expected to erode possibilities for successful CFM. Meanwhile, the majority of female-headed households, particularly those in villages outside the administrative capital, are unlikely to benefit from the development, and both inter- and intra-village wealth inequalities are likely to increase. My findings suggest that an alternative development approach, such as ecotourism based on establishing a Protected Area, that emphasizes small-scale business, retains traditional subsistence practices, supports CFM, and provides equal opportunity for households across the district, would be more socially desirable than the development trajectory that is currently planned.

This dissertation examines racial inequality and affirmative action in Malaysia and South Africa, two countries with a politically dominant but economically disadvantaged majority group – the Bumiputera in Malaysia, and blacks in post-Apartheid South Africa. We aim to contribute comparative perspectives and current empirical research on affirmative action regimes and dimensions of inequality directly pertinent to affirmative action, chiefly, racial representation and earnings inequality among tertiary educated workers and in upper-level occupations. We discuss theoretical approaches to inequality and affirmative action, with attention to particular circumstances of majority-favoring regimes, then survey, compare and contrast affirmative action programs and their political economic context in Malaysia and South Africa. In the empirical portions, we outline patterns and evaluate determinants of racial inequality, focusing on the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. On Malaysia, we find that Bumiputera access to tertiary education has rapidly increased, but also observe disproportionate difficulties among Bumiputera degree-holders in participating in labor markets and in attaining upper-level occupations. Bumiputera representation at managerial and professional levels has remained static and dependent on the public sector. Econometric results indicate that quality of tertiary education impacts on the prospect of attaining upper-level jobs, and that Bumiputera are more adversely affected. Lack of data restricts our assessment of racial earnings inequality to a deduction that Bumiputera young graduates have experienced relatively greater decline in their earnings capacity. On South Africa, we find that blacks have steadily increased access to tertiary education, although disparities in quality of institutions and in student performance persist, which disproportionately and negatively affect black graduates. We observe that black representation has increased in upper-level, especially professional, occupations, largely in the public sector. We find that white-black earnings disparity declined substantially among degree-qualified workers, while not diminishing or not showing clear patterns among other educational and occupational groups. We conclude by considering, within the constraints of each country’s political economic context, implications that arise from our findings. Most saliently, while affirmative action raises quantitative attainment of tertiary education and representation in upper-level occupations for the beneficiary group, inadequate attention to qualitative development of institutions and progressive distribution of benefits may attenuate progress toward the ultimate objective of cultivating broadbased, self-reliant professionals and managers.

<p> This master&rsquo;s thesis investigates the economic factors that are affecting the financial decision-making of educated, middle to upper class Millennials in Los Angeles, California. This thesis explores how economic factors, preferences, and self-efficacy interact to determine housing pathways. This thesis also asks whether Millennials in Los Angeles will be able to afford homes and how the cultural narrative of the American Dream affects preferences. In order to answer these questions, twenty in person interviews are conducted with residents of Los Angeles in which they are asked about their values and preferences regarding housing, and the economic factors they are currently facing. This thesis finds that participants are struggling to navigate through economic factors such as student loans, a changing labor market, urbanization, high cost of living, stagnating wages, and high housing prices. This thesis finds that participants are experiencing low self-efficacy when it comes to finances, which seems to be a proportional reaction to the current economic climate. This thesis also finds that most participants want to own homes, however, in reality very few will be able to afford to buy homes in Los Angeles and will have to rent indefinitely. Lastly, this thesis finds that participants are rejecting the old American dream and that their preferences and values are different from baby boomers', however the housing market has not yet evolved to meet the demand of those changing preferences.</p><p>

Children are conceptualized many ways by economists—as sources of utility for their parents, investments, recipients of care, and public goods. Despite the understanding that children are also people, the economic literature is lacking in analysis of children as actors, making choices with consequences for economic development. Using a capability-driven approach and an emphasis on co-evolutionary processes of institutional and individual change, with mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, my dissertation analyzes the role of children in long-term economic development at the community level. I use a case study of community-based, out-of-school time (OST) programs for low-income youth funded through the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) to analyze the role of youth in economic development. OST programs provide community-level benefits such as reductions in juvenile crime and foster economic development by creating linkages between the state, the market, the community, and the family. My study contributes to the body of interdisciplinary research on OST programs, and is situated in the middle ground between case studies with very small samples and quantitative studies with a narrow focus on academic performance as measured by grades. The 21 st CCLC programs in New York State are unique in their emphasis on partnerships between schools and community-based organizations. An analysis of the costs and benefits of OST programs shows that the benefits of programs such as 21st CCLC substantially outweigh the costs. Using Geographic Information Systems and statistical analysis, I examine the relationship between eligibility for 21st CCLC funding, demographic characteristics related to the need for free or low-cost OST programs, and the presence of 21st CCLC programs, and find that the presence of these programs cannot be explained solely through the characteristics of people who will be served by them. Additionally, it is clear that there are not enough 21st CCLC programs to serve all eligible communities, raising questions about the scale of funding as well as its distribution.

<p> Freshmen at baccalaureate-granting institutions cite being able to secure a more attractive job and earn a higher income among the most important factors that influenced their decision to pursue a college or university education. Indeed, higher education has been cast as a reliable on-ramp to the American Dream, a mechanism for reducing income inequality, and a key to enhancing economic competitiveness and growth of states and the nation. These benefits have been emphasized by a chorus of individuals calling for dramatically increasing college degree attainment levels in the United States (U.S.). Yet to what extent and how consistently has higher education delivered these trumpeted outcomes for individuals, states, and the nation? </p><p> U.S. Census American Community Survey microdata and typical education requirements of occupations published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics were utilized to quantitatively analyze employment outcomes of college graduates. A special focus was placed on the incidence of malemployment (the phenomenon of college graduates working in occupations that do not require a college degree), relationships between undergraduate degree fields and labor market outcomes, and variations across states in the employment outcomes of college graduates. </p><p> The benefits of higher education for individuals and states were found to be highly uneven. Analyses revealed that approximately 31% of adults in the labor force with a bachelor&rsquo;s degree or higher are malemployed, a rate that varies by undergraduate degree field, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and age. College earnings premiums generally are far lower for malemployed individuals than for graduates who have secured college-level occupations, and they vary dramatically by undergraduate degree field and state. </p><p> Myths about higher education and the labor market were dispelled, such as the notion that malemployment affects only recent graduates and that there generally is an insufficient supply of STEM graduates. The principal propositions of the national attainment agenda were evaluated in light of the study&rsquo;s findings, and a new framework for that agenda was offered, including a greater focus on the traded sector of the economy, a shift from state leadership to a state/federal partnership, and a suggestion for attainment agenda proponents to embrace a learning quality agenda.</p>