This dissertation examines the impact of network effects in two settings--the computer software markets and self-employment decisions by individuals. Although there have been strong developments on the theory of network effects, relatively little empirical work has been done to examine their importance. The first part of this dissertation focuses on network effects in the market for computer software. It has been hypothesized that the presence of network effects in this market might often lead to lock-in of an inferior technology. An indirect test of this hypothesis is devised by taking advantage of a natural experiment afforded by the introduction of the programming language, Java. Java made it possible for programmers to write a single program that would run on any operating system. It therefore had the potential to eliminate the indirect network externalities in the operating systems market. Hedonic price regressions with fixed time and firm effects are estimated to test for the effect of Java on the extent of competition in the software market. Results using data compiled from magazine reviews of graphics applications programs indicate that Java was successful in creating more competition in the market for software applications. The second part of this dissertation examines whether social networks might explain the persistent racial gap in Self-Employment (SE) rates in the United States. Self-employment rates in the United States fell dramatically for most of the twentieth century before starting to increase in the 1970's. The racial gap in self-employment rates however, remained constant throughout this period. Many theories have been proposed in the literature but none of them successfully explains the persistence of the gap. A multinomial logit specification is used to model individual decisions to become self-employed. The average SE rate in the neighborhood is used as a measure of the network effect. Results indicate that social networks played an important role in promoting self-employment among blacks since 1950. Given the initial conditions of lower SE rates among blacks, the role of social networks in promoting SE might be able to explain the persistence of the racial gap in SE rates.

The goal of this research is to determine how the regulatory burden represented by an entire class of laws impacts firm choice decisions. To achieve this end, a comprehensive list of 135 labor regulations that existed in at least one state between 1899 and 1924 was collected. Temporal and regional trends in the passage of labor legislation are described. Significant regional variability is found, with different parts of the nation favoring different classes of labor legislation. Evidence for the presence of regional homogeneity is found. Outlier states that do not fit the overall regional pattern are identified and discussed. Four summary variables are developed using principal components analysis. These variables represent first wave labor laws, second wave labor laws, mining laws, and anti-union laws. First wave laws were common laws passed in most states by 1909. First wave laws were general in nature and probably not binding on employers. Most states enacted second wave laws after 1909. The pattern of passage of these laws was more uniform than that of first wave laws, with most states adopting the more progressive second wave laws by 1924. Anti-union laws also experienced relatively little growth, but were most common in the Southeast. Three of the four summary variables were incorporated into a four-input translog cost function model of state manufacturing establishments over the 1899 to 1919 period. In addition, a variable representing state appropriations for labor programs and enforcement was included in the translog model. Increases in labor legislation resulted in an increase in demand for materials and salaried labor, and a decrease in demand for wage labor. Increases in the number of first wave laws led to an increase in salaried labor demand, possibly due to bureaucratic requirements associated with regulatory compliance. First wave laws had no impact on wage labor, confirming the findings of many that these early laws codified existing practice. In contrast, second wave laws significantly reduced wage labor demand, suggesting that these laws were binding.

<p> Few modern economic historians dispute the notion that America's phenomenal economic growth over the last one hundred and fifty years was in large measure enabled by the development of the nation's antebellum Middle West&mdash;those states comprising the Northwest Territory and the Deep South that, generally, are located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. By far, the labor of 14.8 million people, who emigrated there between 1830 and 1860, was the most important factor propelling this growth. </p><p> Previously, in their search for the origins of this extraordinary development of America's heartland, most historians tended to overlook the voices of a variety of peoples&mdash;African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and artisans&mdash;who did not appear to contribute to the historical view of the mythic agrarian espoused by Thomas Jefferson and J. Hector St. John de Cr&egrave;vecoeur. Another marginalized voice from this era&mdash;one virtually forgotten by historians&mdash;is that of English women travel writers who visited and wrote about this America. Accordingly, it is the aim of this dissertation to recover their voices, especially regarding their collective observations of the economic development of America's antebellum Middle West. </p><p> After closely reading thirty-three travel narratives for microeconomic detail, I conclude that these travelers' observations, when conjoined, bring life in the Middle West's settler environment into sharper focus and further explain that era's migratory patterns, economic development, and social currents. I argue these travelers witnessed rabid entrepreneurialism&mdash;a finding that challenges the tyranny of the old agrarian myth that America was settled exclusively by white male farmers. Whether observing labor on the farm or in the cities, these English women travel writers labeled this American pursuit of economic opportunity&mdash;"a progress mentality," "Mammon worship," or "go-aheadism"&mdash;terms often used by these writers to describe Jacksonian-era Americans as a determined group of get-ahead, get-rich, rise-in-the-world individuals. Further, I suggest that these narratives enhanced migratory trends into America's antebellum Middle West simply because they were widely read in both England and America and amplified the rhetoric of numerous other boosters of the promised land in America's Middle West.</p>

The National Tax Association (1907) successfully led more well-known Progressive Era reform groups (National Municipal League, Civic Federation, Bar and Economics Associations and others) in advocating twenty-eight "classified" (discriminatory) taxes--examined in statutory detail, with debate. Supplanting constitutionally mandated, uniform-rate, shared state/local general property taxation and the federal tariff, NTA Model Laws with varying bases, rates, loopholes, methods of assessment, administration, and collection for separate levels of government supervised by newly-created "independent" State Tax Commissions reflected the NTA's classified tariff model, Republican roots, and business interests of its leadership. Classification produced the distributive tax politics imbedded in today's American tax "structure"--composed entirely of NTA reforms supported by its supply-side, class-based, European-generated rationales. NTA reformers used seven "tax incentive" arguments supporting selective tax relief, reflecting their restricted membership, procedures, and funding sources. Results show intangibles investors and businesses (banking, insurance, securities) and other "regulated" concentrated industries (public service corporations) benefitting from NTA reforms reducing intangibles and selected tangible tax burdens (timber industry) via relief from personal property taxation replaced by "net" earnings taxation and one-time recording or stumpage fees--in lieu of yearly personal property taxes based on total asset value. Highly competitive industries producing tangible goods (manufacturing, mining), their employees and consumers, farmers and small-lot owners suffered under NTA reforms--through comparatively regressive real estate levies and new taxes added to the general property tax--income, sales, excises and user fees, while absorbing excused intangible tax burdens. While NTA state success positively correlated with the presence of State Tax Associations, NTA leader-lobbyists, State Tax Commissions, pre-existing state classification leeway, and economic structure, and federal success with NTA co-affiliations, alternative hypotheses suggest NTA success related positively to powerful within-state interest groups (virtually identical to NTA reformers' interests), Republican governorships, governors with intangibles business ties, and states with diversified economies. The rise of State Tax Commissions and tax classification during competitive state/local electoral times suggests an alternative interpretation of realignment, and supports critics of anti-democratic Progressive Era municipal reform. Truly general (uniform) taxation is recommended.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duke University, 2006. / (UMI)AAI3250178. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0685. Advisers: Edward J. Balleisen; John H. Thompson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3260531. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-04, Section: A, page: 1628. Adviser: Steven Ruggles.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4540. Adviser: Paula A. Treichler. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-243) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

This thesis examines the London furniture trade in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a period which witnessed dramatic transformations in the designs, styles and construction of English furniture. While this topic has been addressed in detail in terms of object-based analyses, it has never been examined in depth from a social, economic and cultural perspective. Although the relationship between many London livery companies and the trades they represented had greatly diminished by the middle years of the seventeenth century, the fact that the majority of Joiners’ Company members were furniture tradesmen (as has been determined by this thesis) means that its archives provide valuable empirical evidence of the people who populated the industry. This documentation in combination with other primary sources, such as parish and tax records, sheds light on the socio- economic profile of London’s furniture tradesmen, their specialised occupations, the way their industry was organised and regulated, and how it was affected by the turbulent political and social upheavals of the seventeenth century, as well as the Fire that ravaged London in 1666. The thesis begins with a discussion of the evolution of decorative design in England in the early modern period and the effects of burgeoning consumerism. It also defines the parameters and aims of this study. The second chapter introduces the tradesmen who supplied materials to the industry, the specialised artisans and craftsmen who produced new forms and styles of furniture, and the ways in which the chain of production was structured. The following two chapters discuss the relationship between the Joiners’ Company and the furniture trade. The third chapter assesses the extent to which the guild regulated the industry, protected and promoted the livelihoods of its tradesmen, and monitored the quality and standard of manufacture and training through apprenticeship. Chapter Four examines the role of apprenticeship in the furniture industry, analysing in detail patterns of recruitment and the social and geographical origins of apprentices. The fifth chapter identifies the geographical location of the trade in the City of London (focusing on the 1690s and 1721), and its spread into the fashionable West End between 1660 and 1720. The final chapter examines manufacturing networks through the case studies of two cabinetmakers and a cane chair maker. Finally, the conclusion draws together the themes discussed throughout and queries whether the standard practice of attributing particular pieces of furniture to specific makers or workshops, usually on stylistic grounds, needs to be reconsidered.

Orientador: Plínio Soares de Arruda Sampaio Júnior / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T00:42:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Feldmann_DanielAugusto_D.pdf: 2428201 bytes, checksum: 2b9811afb201d227ec4a4e7c58ce6bc7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Nesta tese nosso objetivo é desenvolver uma reflexão acerca das visões de capitalismo de três autores fundamentais do pensamento econômico do século XX: Schumpeter, Keynes e Hayek. Mais precisamente, trata-se de apreendermos a maneira pela qual tais autores buscaram equacionar o problema do mercado e da esfera econômica com a questão do Estado e da esfera política. Tal problemática esteve informada para eles por uma situação de instabilidade e de ameaças à ordem capitalista. Nosso estudo buscará apontar tanto as especificidades e idiossincrasias de suas visões de capitalismo como também indicar os elementos e aspectos comuns aos três autores / Abstract: Our aim in this thesis is to develop a reflection on the views of capitalism of three important authors of the economic thought in the twentieth century: Schumpeter, Keynes and Hayek. Being more precise, it is a matter of learning how do these three authors tried to address the problem of the market and economic scope to the subject of the state and political sphere. This issue was reported to them by a situation of instability and threat to the capitalist order. Our study wills objective to show both the specific aspects and idiosyncrasies of theirs visions of capitalism as well as indicate the common elements and aspects to all three authors / Doutorado / Historia Economica / Doutor em Desenvolvimento Economico