This doctoral thesis assesses the impacts of the price policy that aims to set a price for carbon in Canada and analyzes the effects of an emissions cap on the welfare of the current and future generations and energy input substitution. In Essay One, a four-stage game is modeled to formulate the price policy and study its impacts. The main result is that through lobbying activities, the dirty-good sector induces the government to implement a price policy of a carbon that is lower than the expected price of carbon. The consequence of the policy is a transfer of income from the owners of the specific factor used in the production of the clean good and workers to the owners of specific factor used in the production of the dirty good. In Essay Two, an overlapping-generations model is developed to study the impacts of the climate-change policy on the welfare of the current and future generations, the dynamic path of energy and permit prices, and resource substitution. The analysis shows that intergenerational equity issue arises when the oil input is large and when polluters are free to discharge greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the equity ground, this result justifies government intervention. The analysis also shows that the use of renewable energy can be introduced quickly if the government implements a stringent policy on climate change. In addition, the process of resource substitution---renewable energy for fossil fuels---is a gradual process and takes place in three stages. The economy will be completely sustained by renewable energy after the stock of fossil fuels is depleted. The one-country model of Essay Two is extended into a two-country world, which is also subjected to a climate-change policy under the form of a global cap on greenhouse gases emissions. It is assumed that the emissions permits are allocated to each country according to its population and that the population of the South is higher than that of the North. The analysis shows that the North will import emissions permits and export the consumption good to pay for these permits.

The dissertation discusses the possibility of a reconciliation between neo-Kaleckian and classical (neo-Marxian/Sraffian) two-sector growth models, and it explores the issues relative to the long-run convergence of actual degrees of capacity utilization towards their normal values. In a simplified analytical framework, that examines regimes incorporating neo-Kaleckian and neo-Marxian/Sraffian perspectives, the thesis shows that the paradox of thrift and the paradox of costs hold both in the short run and in the long run. A more sophisticated two-sector Kaleckian model is also developed within a stock-flow consistent framework that includes conflicting-claim inflation and Kaldorian technical progress. Simulation results show that inflation-targeting policies based on the so-called 'Taylor rule' could remove the long-run paradoxes, leading to economic depression. These policies also fail to achieve normal rates of capacity utilization, because of 'path-dependency', in contrast to the arguments put forth by some neo-Marxists and the proponents of the neoclassical New Consensus. Furthermore, our empirical tests show that the Phillips curve has a horizontal segment within a large intermediate range of capacity utilization rates, using Canadian data over the last two decades. This horizontal Phillips curve implies that the adjustment mechanisms suggested by classical models just may not exist in reality during this time period. Therefore, the thesis offers some justification for using simple neo-Kaleckian growth models where effective demand plays a crucial role in the determination of capacity utilization, employment and growth, both in the short run and in the long run, and it suggests the use of expansionary fiscal policy and monetary policy as long as the economy remains within the intermediate range of capacity utilization. Key words: Two-Sector Growth Model; Long-Run Convergence; Paradox of Thrift; Paradox of Costs; Inflation; Phillips Curve; Monetary Policy; Stock-Flow Consistent Approach.

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine various important macroeconomic issues that are of concern to the Chinese economy. The analysis that supports the empirical work is inspired by post-Keynesian theory. The first chapter presents the mechanism of endogenous sterilization by extending the theory of demand-led money supply to the case of China. This view of money is confirmed by the fact that foreign reserves are not cointegrated with base money, meaning that there is no long-run relationship between foreign reserves and the supply of base money, whereas foreign reserves are long-run related with the claims of the central bank and the amount of bonds issued by the central bank. The second chapter outlines Kaldor's laws and tests for the contributions of the manufacturing sector to labor productivity and overall output growth using the panel dataset of 29 Chinese regions during the period of 1986-2007. Empirical findings, taking advantage of spatial panel econometric techniques, provide significant support for the Kaldorian thesis, while the incorporation of spatial autocorrelation improves the performance of empirical models compared to traditional ones. The third chapter analyzes the relationship between functional income distribution and Chinese economic growth from 1993 to 2007. Based on a demand-driven macroeconomic framework, there is a possibility of either profit-led or wage-led demand regime depending on the total effects of changes in the profit share on all components of final demand. Our results suggest that the Chinese economy presents a profit-led nature both for all 29 regions and for the coastal regions. We also find that while the expansion of interregional and international trade plays an important role, it is investment expenditure that determines the profit-led pattern of economic growth.

Chapter 1: Remanufacturing: Remanufacturing is a form of recycling where used durable goods are refurbished to a condition comparable to new products. With reduced energy and resource consumption, remanufactured goods are produced at a fraction of the original cost and with lower emissions of pollution. This paper presents a theoretical model of remanufacturing where a duopoly of original manufacturers produces a component of a final good. The component needing to be replaced creates an aftermarket. An environmental regulation assessing a minimum level of remanufacturability is also introduced The main results indicate that a social planner could use collusion of the firms on the level of remanufacturability as a substitute for environmental regulation. However, if an environmental regulation is to be implemented, collusion should be repressed since competition supports the public intervention better. One of the results also coincides with the Porter Hypothesis. Chapter 2: Transboundary movements of waste: In a stylized model of international trade, a monopolist in the North exports second-hand products to a representative firm in the South to be reused as intermediate goods, with potential trade gains. The degree of reusability of waste products is a crucial choice variable in the North. This is because with a lack of international vigilance, non-reusable waste can be mixed illegally with the reusable waste. I explore the driving forces for the movement of illegal waste, paying particular attention to the role of local waste regulations, such as the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive. Under mild conditions, it is shown that increased regulation stringency in the North leads its firm to reduce the degree of reusability of its products. As a result, the flow of non-reusable waste to the South increases, providing another channel for the Pollution Haven Hypothesis. Chapter3: Is Democracy good for the environment? The role of private mitigation efforts: We study the question posed in the title in the context of open economies where trade and welfare depend on the extent to which regulation permits the environment to be used as an input in production, and where individuals may privately mitigate the consequences of pollution at a cost. Governments may also manage the openness of the economy to trade directly as well as indirectly via environmental regulation. In this framework, we compare the degree of regulatory stringency and the level of pollution that emerge in the equilibria of a set of political regimes that range from autocratic to fully competitive or democratic. The answer to the question is not straightforward in this investigation because many well-off-citizens in democratic countries may prefer the higher gross incomes that come with freer trade and unregulated production.

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This paper examines salary determination in the National Football League (NFL). The heterogeneity of teams and players in the league leads to thin labor markets. Under such circumstances, the neoclassical model in which labor supply and labor demand uniquely determine wages is too simple. Instead, a competing model of salary determination is tested - McLaughlin's (1994) rent-sharing model. This is the only study of its kind to investigate salary determination at a disaggregated level for all of the non-kicking positions in the NFL. A comprehensive model of salary determination, using many unique variables, is constructed and tested for each position. Quantile regression techniques are employed to examine the bargaining aspects of the model. Although, little support is found for the rent-sharing model, this study lays the groundwork and presents the argument for further investigation. / Economics