<p> In order to adequately address problems associated with poverty, definitions and measurements of the issue must first be understood. This goal is complex, as both the definitions and measurement of poverty are subjective and vary geographically and categorically. The commonly used American poverty measure (i.e. the "poverty line") has recently received criticism because of its limitations as an absolute measure that fails to recognize the relative nature of poverty. Such criticisms have led to the development of alternate poverty measures. However, no single measure has the ability to account for all factors associated with poverty. As such, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various poverty metrics.</p><p> The aim of this study is to identify the benefits and limitations of several alternate poverty measures by examining each measure in relation to cultural and social indicators. In this study, several alternate poverty measures are identified and applied to the St. Louis Region. Principal component analysis and multiple linear regression techniques are used in conjunction with census data from the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area to identify the social and cultural factors that are concomitant to poverty as measured by each of the alternate poverty metrics. The poverty measures are then compared based on the significance of each identified concomitant. Additionally, alternate poverty metrics are compared through an examination of maps created to show variations in geographic distribution. The distribution of poverty is measured geographically for each alternate measure and subsequently standardized for meaningful comparison between measures by mapping the variance of distribution. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1897. Advisers: Andrew M. Isserman; Brad R. Humphreys. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-152) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> FDI from China to the United States has expanded over the last few years, resulting in an increasingly complicated spatial pattern of investment. This analysis investigates Chinese FDI to the US at three scales: the national, state, and local&mdash;in order to explain its emerging economic geography. Three specific research questions are addressed. First, what is the observed pattern of Chinese FDI in the United States at the state scale? Second, what is the sectorial distribution and pattern of Chinese FDI in Indiana? Third, is there a connection between Chinese actors channeling FDI to specific locales in Indiana and local Chinese and American actors in Indiana that is explained by established networks and culture-specific business relationships? For the national scale a panel regression model will be applied to the cumulative amounts of Chinese FDI to the states and the District of Columbia for the years 2000 to 2013. In addition, location quotients denoting sectorial amounts by state will be compared to levels for the US as a whole to highlight concentrated sectors. At the state and local scales, a qualitative analysis investigating the nature of the relationships between local Chinese actors, state and local government officials, and local business leaders will be carried out in order to better understand Chinese FDI and its economic geography in Indiana.</p>

This dissertation is an attempt to contribute to the literature that seeks to move beyond income-centered approaches to environmental degradation by examining the other socio-economic factors that influence environmental quality. The first part of the dissertation utilizes the Russian Statistical Agency's data on air pollution and deforestation in Russia to answer the question of what relationship, if any, exists between the quality of governance, income and power inequalities and environmental degradation. The major finding here is that, holding income constant, greater inequalities in income and in the provision of public goods are associated with more environmental degradation. The second part of this dissertation addresses the question of what impact, if any, inequalities among Russia's regions have on environmental degradation at the regional level. By developing two methods for distinguishing between changes in the absolute level of income and changes in the relative level of income, and controlling for the former, this dissertation finds that regions with lower relative incomes have more uncontrolled pollution and more net deforestation than regions whose incomes are high in relative terms. Moreover, these differences cannot be attributed simply to differences in spending on environmental protection; they appear to reflect differences in the location of environmentally degrading activities.

Amidst widespread feelings that capitalism is a deeply problematic yet necessary approach to economy, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has emerged as both an alternative model for farming and as an increasingly visible and viable model for alternative economy. Using qualitative methods, this doctoral research explores and documents how CSA has become a productive space for economic innovation and practice that emphasizes interdependence, camaraderie and community well-being rather than hierarchical control and private gain. This study also examines how the many participants of CSA have built an identity for CSA--branding it via autonomous and collective efforts. This has resulted in CSA being branded as an ethical and ecological farm/food system and has also resulted in CSA being celebrated as a grassroots anti-brand owned and controlled by no-one. As CSA has built its identity, it has engaged a number of narratives and myths. Many of these myths such as the ability for CSA to educate about and build enthusiasm for small scale organic farming have been solidly validated over CSA's history. Other myths, such as the idea that CSA inherently provides financial security for CSA farmers are more troubling and yet to be fully realized. Finally, this study also makes an overview of CSA offshoots, a variety of Community Supported Enterprises (CSE) that have grown out of and been inspired by CSA. These enterprises represent a new wave of opportunities and challenges to building economic alternatives based on the ethical principles expressed by CSA.

<p>While nationalism remains a vital element in the production of the political and economic landscape, it is often treated as a static container for other processes or neglected altogether. Rather, it must itself be treated as a process&mdash;a nationalizing project&mdash;emerging from a constellation of often contradictory social forces. One such process of nationalization is the development of large-scale transportation infrastructure, such as railroads. These projects produce both new spheres of circulation and new understandings critical to navigating these novel environments, which together radically transform the relation between people, government, and territory. </p><p> In early twentieth century China, the complicated contest over railroad rights produced and was produced by a fractured political economic geography. Understandings of both identity and space remained fragmented, cohering only partially into a singular entity, thus demonstrating the intimate interrelation between state power, political identity, and territories both real and imagined. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2688. Adviser: Geoffrey J. D. Hewings. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-134) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> Debates over food security strategies in the Philippines have pitted the neoliberal paradigm of trade liberalization, export cropping, and chemical and biotech agricultural methods against the food sovereignty paradigm of protectionism, staple cropping, and sustainable agriculture methods. </p><p> The Philippine government has long pushed for yield increases of staples. However, there has been dissonance between governmental desires for rice self-sufficiency and pursuit of a more export-oriented agricultural economy. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Trade Organization have pressured the government of the Philippines to adopt various tenets of neoliberalism (trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and budgetary austerity), which have hindered the achievement of Philippine goals for self-sufficiency in its staple foods and stunted the potential benefits of land reform. </p><p> Through ethnographic research of the social and ecological conditions in three rural villages in the province of Bukidnon, this examination of agrarian change explores how various actors&mdash;small farmers, collectives, large planters, and agribusiness corporations&mdash;have been scaling their projects in the agricultural economy. </p><p> The use of chemical inputs has damaged soils and saddled farmers with debts. In many cases, control of land has been lost to elites through sales or pawning arrangements. Relatively egalitarian corn- and rice-farming areas have given way to a stratified landscape of sugarcane and banana plantations, as former smallholders have been forced to work as wage laborers. Multinational agribusinesses have steered the area away from staple production and threatened human and environmental health with pesticide exposure and erosion. </p><p> Some farmers though have organized against these prevailing trends. Production and social reproduction have been rescaled through collective marketing, reciprocal labor arrangements, and more equitably gendered divisions of labor. Agroecological methods, such as composting, organic fertilization, seed saving, and indigenous pest control have scaled the reproduction of environmental conditions more locally and increased farmer incomes because their inputs are created on the farm. Protecting local control of the means of production&mdash;seeds, fertilizers, and especially land&mdash;has become an important method for preserving a smallholder class, maintaining more self-determination, and working toward greater food sovereignty.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4534. Adviser: Geoffery J. D. Hewings. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-144) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

A demanda crescente por fontes energéticas limpas em substituição ao petróleo tem provocado grande expansão dos biocombustíveis - combustíveis produzidos a partir de produtos agrícolas. Para o Brasil, esse processo, antes de representar um entrave ao crescimento, pela necessidade de mudanças da matriz energética, representa grande oportunidade de geração de valor e renda, uma vez que o país apresenta nítidas vantagens comparativas na produção desses combustíveis de fontes renováveis. No país, o principal biocombustível é o etanol, cuja matéria-prima é cana-de-açúcar. O setor produtor de cana-de-açúcar tem passado por intensas transformações, com atração de capital estrangeiro, abertura de novas plantas industriais e intensificação dos processos de fusões e aquisições. Subsistem dúvidas, no entanto, com relação aos impactos sociais e econômicos do setor para a economia como um todo. Nessa tese são analisados três desses impactos. O primeiro trata do efeito do aumento da produção de cana-de-açúcar sobre os preços da terra e dos alimentos. Também são analisados os impactos do setor sobre as condições sociais das localidades que concentram a produção. Finalmente, são investigados os impactos do setor sobre a arrecadação municipal. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a expansão da produção de cana-de-açúcar não é a causa de aumentos dos preços da terra e dos de alimentos; não existem efeitos (positivos ou negativos) do setor sobre as condições sociais das localidades produtoras; e o setor pode contribuir positivamente para o aumento da arrecadação local. / The growing demand for clean energy sources to replace petroleum has substantially expanded the use of biofuels fuels produced from agricultural products. For Brazil, instead of representing a hindrance to growth because of the need for changes in the countrys energy mix, this represents a great opportunity to generate value and income, since the country has clear comparative advantages in producing these fuels from renewable sources. The main biofuel in the country is ethanol, made from sugarcane. The countrys cane growing sector has been undergoing intense transformations, with the attraction of foreign capital, opening of new distilleries and intensification of mergers and acquisitions. However, doubts have been raised about the socioeconomic effects of the spread of sugarcane growing, such as the effects on the environment, labor market, social conditions and food prices, among others. This thesis analyzes three of these impacts. The first is the effect of the increased production of sugarcane on land and food prices. The second is the effect on social conditions in the regions where cane growing is concentrated. The third is the impact on municipal tax revenues. The results suggest that the expansion of cane growing is not the cause of increased land and food prices, that the sector has no significant effects (positive or negative) on social conditions in cane growing regions, and that the sector can contribute positively by increasing local tax revenue.