<p> This dissertation contains three essays that study monetary transfers. </p><p> The first chapter studies the effect of a politician's vote in the legislature on monetary contributions that the politician receives from interest groups after the vote. I first develop models to show that interest groups have an incentive to make monetary contributions to politicians not only before politicians vote but also after they vote. Then I find evidence that voting in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) of 2008 has increased the amount of monetary contributions that the members of the U.S. House of Representatives receive from the interest groups in the financial sector after the passage of the EESA. </p><p> The second chapter studies the effect of a politician's ideological strength on monetary contributions that the politician receives from interest groups. If interest groups care mainly about current policy outcomes, they will make monetary contributions to ideologically neutral politicians who are often pivotal voters in the legislature. However, if interest groups care more about future policy outcomes, they have an incentive to make monetary contributions to politicians who share similar policy preferences, i.e. liberal (conservative) interest groups will make contributions to liberal (conservative, respectively) politicians, to help those politicians win the election and continue to serve in the legislature. I first develop a model incorporating these two opposing effects. Then I find evidence that ideologically neutral politicians receive more monetary contributions from interest groups. This result suggests that interest groups are primarily motivated by the short-run incentive. </p><p> The third chapter studies monetary transfers from parents to children. Unlike most other taxes, the estate tax is levied only on a very small number of very large estates. There is an exemption level of the tax below which there is no tax liability. This threshold divides taxpayers sharply into two groups: those who paid the estate tax when their parent passed away and those who did not. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find evidence that those who have experience of paying the estate tax at their parent's death are more actively engaged in estate tax avoidance behavior for their children. </p>

<p> My thesis study examines the economic and sociological factors associated with political revolutions in order to create a predictive model. I do this by using statistical methods with nation level panel data collected from public domain sources. I anticipate being able to create a predictive model that provides a probability forecast of a country undergoing political revolution within a two year time-frame.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--New School University, 2005. / (UnM)AAI3184387. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-08, Section: A, page: 3099. Adviser: Andrew Arato.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Printout. Vita. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2668. Adviser: George Deltas. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Economics, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0690. Adviser: Eric Rasmusen.

<p> During the last four decades, precisely from the early 1970s, U.S. foreign policy has played a dominant role in the U.S. political landscape. The current political discourse is predominantly marked by divided government, polarized politics and gridlock. Such a contentious political environment has proved to be detrimental for efficient and effective policy-making in foreign policy. There are significant factors that profoundly complicate the process of decision making and congressional-presidential relations. Partisan and ideological differences under the conditions of divided government are dominant in the current political process and in turn affect the prospects of legislative-executive consensus and dissension. Other factors such as media salience, public opinion, and electoral imperatives also complicate the dynamics of legislative-executive relations. In an era in which heightened political brinkmanship has enveloped Washington politics, continuum of consensus and dissension between Congress and the president on strategic foreign policy issues has virtually become a norm. This dissertation examines the dynamics of legislative-executive relations in two high politics U.S. foreign policy issue areas of treaty process and war powers. It appears that in contemporary U.S. foreign policymaking the trajectory of a continuum of legislative-executive consensus and dissension is a new normal and potentially irreversible, as Congress and the president try ardently to preserve their respective constitutional prerogatives.</p><p> Empirical investigation across these two issue areas demonstrates a new era of a resurgent Congress marked by its greater assertive role and acting as a consequential player in the foreign policy domain. The passage of the War Powers Resolution in 1973 by Congress, overriding a presidential veto, has profound implications in the modern political landscape. It was a pivotal moment that permanently transformed the future road map of congressional-presidential relations. Since then the U.S. political system has been relentlessly experiencing an institutional power struggle in the foreign policy domain. Findings suggest that when Congress determines to confront the president and exercise its constitutional responsibilities it becomes very difficult for the president to overcome such congressional resistance. Interbranch competition has virtually created a consistent trajectory of a continuum of legislative-executive consensus and dissension in the foreign policy decision-making process.</p>

<p> According to a report by the World Health Organization, 65 million people worldwide need wheelchairs to regain mobility. Many of these people are unable to afford the devices they need and current makeshift solutions are unsuitable for a variety of reasons. I am a volunteer for Intelligent Mobility International (IMI), a non-profit that seeks to address this situation by producing and distributing durable, inexpensive wheelchairs in the developing world. This thesis designs a study to gauge the impacts receiving an IMI wheelchair has on the lives of people with disabilities and their families. This measure can then be used in the future when Intelligent Mobility evaluates different program options and demonstrates to funders the positive impacts of their donations. The study involves a randomized field trial in Tamil Nadu, India. Candidates for the trial will be identified by a local grass roots organization and verified by IMI to be appropriate candidates for the wheelchair. A total of six hundred candidates will be chosen to represent a good mixture of gender, education, household size and age of the target population, and then randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. Participants in the treatment group will receive a wheelchair at the start of the year and those in the control at the end of the year. The two groups will then be surveyed on many dimensions of their lives using both open-ended ethnographic interviews and a numerical categorical survey both at the start of the year and the end of the year to estimate the impacts of the wheelchair. The ethnographic interviews will help ensure that the participants' views are captured accurately and will permit a more realistic interpretation of the study's qualitative results. The study design also reviews current literature on disability in India, the plan for implementation of the study, the methodological concerns in the design, and the ethical considerations involved.</p>

<p> As a developing country with the second largest population in the world, India's energy needs will continue to grow steadily in the coming decades. A significant proportion of India's oil, coal and natural gas are imported because of a dearth of indigenous energy resources. This creates a situation of energy dependence and is a potential national security issue. As a result, the government is embarking on an ambitious plan to have nuclear power generate 25% of electricity in 2050 &ndash; up from 3.7% in 2012. The aim is to be running on thorium fast-breeder reactors, that are currently in development, by that time. India's vast reserves of thorium would mean that this would improve energy security, while also improving access to energy for the large part of its population that remains without it.</p><p> However, nuclear energy is controversial. Issues of safety and viability must be addressed adequately if nuclear energy is to be pursued. Civil-society concerns about the displacement of people and the degradation or changes in environment around plants and its consequences must also be appropriately addressed. The aim of this paper is to ascertain if it is indeed in India's strategic interest to invest in nuclear energy. Within a theoretical framework of energy security the paper will seek to identify what changes should be made in the sector to guide and manage the process of expanding nuclear-power generation is also important if prescribing this course of action.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Political Science, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3133. Adviser: Russell L. Hanson. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Mar. 28, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3138. Adviser: Charles R. Wise. Title from dissertation home page (viewed April 8, 2008).