Since the founding of the United States, the relationship between religion, particularly Christianity, and the economic system has been viewed as both complementary and antagonistic. Theologians have opted to view Christianity as either religiously legitimating aspects of the economic system or as a prophetic judge of the economic system. / This dissertation examines the various Christian interpretations of the American economic realm, including Puritanism, social Christianity, Catholic economic social teachings, liberation theology and neoconservativism. Special attention is given to how these various Christian interpretations of economics view autonomy, commutative justice and distributive justice. An assessment is made as to why these various interpretations have failed or succeeded in significantly influencing the structure of the American economic system. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-01, Section: A, page: 0421. / Major Professor: John Kelsay. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 33-05, Section: A, page: 2264. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1972.

Was Florida a true member of the Old South and its rebel offspring or just a peripheral entity? This study looks at this seemingly simple question to probe the economic ties between Florida and her sister states of the lower South from 1850 to 1865. Clearly Florida was part and parcel of the Cotton Kingdom. The state had a reputation by 1860 as an agricultural power boasting large harvests in a lush tropical climate. This image was heralded in newspapers and journals across the lower South. The realities of poor transportation and inclement weather failed to make an impression on what quickly became the myth of Florida's riches. Residents clung to the idea of a fecund Florida ready to supply any needs, which buoyed confidence in the viability of their section as a separate nation. / Florida, the third state to secede, played a significant role in the short economic life of the Confederacy. The war years are considered at length and are the main focus of the dissertation. The conflict made state bays and inlets safe havens for blockade runners and a conduit for imported goods and exported staples like cotton. Florida was also a vital component in Confederate logistical planning and influenced the operations of rebel forces in other states. Salt and cattle, the peninsula's major contributions, augmented the rebel supply larder despite failures to live up to overly optimistic expectations based on pre-war perceptions. Union forces, aware of the material aid going to the rebels, waged a type of economic warfare in an effort to cut off the flow of supplies. As an economic member of the Confederacy Florida earned recognition as an important region, and one which can not be dismissed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3706. / Major Professor: John Hebron Moore. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

acase@tulane.edu

A cultural evaluation of the Isle of Wight has not been addressed in relation to mainland Britain. Strategically and economically significant, it was often disregarded; however, its unique situation offers a microcosm of social and cultural development, which so far appears to have received little attention. From an island subjected to the will of outsiders, to a cultivated venue, which attracted and fostered cultural tourism, the purpose of this regional study is to trace the evolution of this vulnerable part of England and identify influential factors, which contributed towards its cultural constructions. The hypothesis considers that the construction and consumption of the island was, throughout its history, driven by external forces. This theme is developed by relating cultural and social notions to island circumstances and identifying variables which contribute towards its unique situation. An interdisciplinary approach utilizes mainland Britain as a historical matrix to illustrate cultural development; emphasizing determining circumstances, geographic, social, economic and aesthetic, to establish how the island was used, abused and ignored. Research is island focussed, though with corresponding allusion to metropolitan influence and middle-class cultural aspirations, which contributed to the island becoming a popular tourist destination. By taking a broad historical overview it is apparent that due to location, the island was always an integral part of the British Isles, more significant than other outlying islands due to its relative proximity to the capital, the short distance to the mainland and its strategic importance both militarily and territorially. The progression of a connected narrative allows for an identification of features such as changing attitudes to the countryside and the sea which indicate an increasing consciousness, realized during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in cultural tourism, landscape art and relocation. This narrative structure is critical to establish the context for the primary focus of investigation, the period 1770- 1900 enabling an evaluation of the impact of visitors as consumers, landscape artists as interpreters, and the intertwining of these concepts to give an account of the evolution of cultural tourism on the Isle of Wight. This is central for an appreciation of the ideas, tastes, and affinities expressed aesthetically in prints and paintings, physically in mansions and marine villas and conceptually in cultural conventions such as the notions of travel. It is a significant area for research, since the dynamics of cultural forces are universally relevant for an appreciation of social, historical and economic influences in the cultural domain. On a local level the cultural constructions examined within this study are areas which can be appraised to determine and develop constructive tourism and respond to future cultural needs.

This dissertation examines popular credit and material culture in Mexico City in the "long" nineteenth century. It considers the social relationships that constituted the pawning process, the development of pawning businesses, and the regulatory role of the state. The focus is on three sets of people--clients of pawning services, pawnbrokers, and state agents--as well as the material goods used to secure loans. For city residents, daily life was cash poor, a phenomenon that crossed class lines. Middle-class housekeepers, merchants and artisans as well as lower-class homemakers, carpenters and other workers faced daily challenges of meeting household, business and recreational needs with a scarcity of specie. The most common way to raise cash was to pawn material possessions such as clothing, tools, and jewels. The nature of the pawning process linked material culture and popular credit together as it was shaped by relations between pawnbrokers, pawning customers, and state agents. In order to obtain cash one had to have possessions for collateral, and the value of material goods determined one's credit line and the arena in which pawning occurred. Short-term credit secured by household goods financed cultural events, lifestyles, and further consumption. Pawnshops not only supplied credit, but they injected cash into a cash-starved economy. This study of pawning in Mexico City reveals a culture of negotiation: over what will be pawned, over values of goods and terms of credit, and over the freedom or pawnbrokers to make profits. This culture of negotiation was also one in which possessions served as tools of identity, cultural currency in the complexities of daily ethnic, gender and class relations in Mexico City. Pawning arenas included retail establishments in the colonial and early national period, the state-sponsored Monte de Piedad beginning in the late colonial period, and casas de empeno which emerged in the middle of the nineteenth century. Colonial and national states regulated the pawning business throughout this evolution, until the revolutionary state seriously curtailed interest rates and hence profits in the early twentieth century.

The analysis of the Mexican economy is important because some of its developments have had international repercussions, and the lessons learned from Mexico may be applied in other developing countries. This dissertation comprises three essays related to the Mexican economy. The first two are connected to the Mexican banking industry, while the third essay analyzes the Mexican economy since WWII from an endogenous growth perspective. The first essay investigates the functional relationship between concentration and interest-rates in the Mexican commercial banking industry. A fundamental contribution of this essay is the use of parametric, nonparametric, and semiparametric procedures to determine the functional form of the concentration and interest-rate relationship. We check for regularities across products, and over time. The semiparametric estimation dominates the other methods. The resulting functional form seems to support the prediction of the structure-performance paradigm of a positive concentration-price relationship. In the second essay we use Cox (1972) proportional-hazards models with time-varying covariates in order to identify the characteristics that cause Mexican banks to disappear. We conclude form this study that the evolution of the Mexican banking system has been determined by the asset quality, the earnings, and the liquidity ratios (CAMEL-type financial ratios). Moreover, we use the estimated time-varying coefficients to analyze the effects of moral hazard form risk-taking induced by the Mexican government deposit insurance scheme, FOBAPROA. We find that FOBAPROA affected the coefficients exacerbating financial problems already present. Finally, in order to analyze the performance of the Mexican economy since WWII, the third essay employs a two-country endogenous growth model. An implication of this growth model is that because of technology transfer, the U.S. (R&D-performing country) and Mexico (implementation R&D country) converge to parallel growth paths, as long as some minimum conditions in terms of institutions and human capital are met. We find suggestive evidence that a lack of adequate institutions and human capital base are likely to contribute to the explanation of the poor performance of Mexico's GDP per capita after the reforms in the 1980s.

No description available.

<p> This dissertation examines the development of Germany's municipal theatres from an institutional perspective, focusing on the ways in which formal and informal agreements such as laws, contracts, and social conventions formed the institutional framework that characterizes this type of theatre. Since local government support is a defining feature of municipal theatres, the question why German cities started subsidizing theatres in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries receives close attention throughout this study. </p><p> The introductory chapter reviews theoretical arguments for and against public arts subsidies and develops a rigorous typology of theatres in nineteenth and early-twentieth century Germany. Chapter 2 traces the development of the theatre industry in Germany between 1875 and 1929 based on the annual publications of the German Stage Workers' Union (Genossenschaft deutscher B&uuml;hnen-Angeh&ouml;riger). Statistical analysis of the relationship between the emergence of publicly subsidized theatres and variables such as population size, employment, religion, and geographic location informs the selection of a diverse set of case studies. </p><p> The case studies are presented in paired comparisons in chapters 3, 4, and 5. Chapter 3 examines two major commercial centers, Hamburg and Frankfurt a.M.; chapter 4 focuses on two industrial cities, Krefeld and Chemnitz; and chapter 5 compares two smaller municipalities, Bautzen and Passau. Each chapter begins with an overview of the cities' respective theatre histories, which is followed by detailed analyses of the debates that took place at key turning points in the institutional development of the municipal theatres. To close, each chapter highlights factors that significantly shaped the developments in each case. </p><p> The final chapter concludes that subsidized municipal theatres were not introduced as part of a cohesive cultural policy; rather, municipal governments granted support for theatres in response to specific, local predicaments. Funding decisions were often reached as short-term solutions to immediate concerns, with little thought given to theoretical justifications or long-term consequences. Organizational deficiencies in joint-stock theatre companies, the growing influence of labor unions, heightened nationalism and the controlled economy during World War One, and the political rise of the working class all significantly contributed to the institutional development of municipal theatres.</p>

The acquisition of foreign technology is an imperative requisite for the economic and social progress of developing countries. However, the strong bargaining position of technology suppliers vis a vis technology acquirers unduly influences the terms and conditions under which technology is conveyed to developing countries and perpetuates their dependence on foreign sources of technology. / State intervention, through the enactment of technology transfer legislation, is a viable alternative for strengthening the acquirer's bargaining position, and thus obtaining technology under fair and equitable terms. Technology transfer policies must focus on the generation of indigenous technological capabilities, rather than on the mere importation of consumptive technology. In order to achieve their ultimate goals--social and economic progress and technological self-reliance, developing countries' governments must integrate these policies within concrete and long-term economic development programs.