Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1997. / Title from title page screen, viewed June 2, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Edward R. Hines (chair), Paul J. Baker, G. Alan Hickrod, Kenneth H. Strand. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-177) and abstract. Also available in print.

This dissertation uses national policy experiments and original datasets from Japan to explore issues in macroeconomics and public finance. In the first chapter, I provide new evidence of the feedback loop between corporate borrowing and commercial real estate investment emphasized in macro-finance models with collateral constraints. Japan enacted a series of reforms in the early 1980s which relaxed national regulatory constraints on the height and size of buildings. Combining local non-residential land price indices for over 400 localities with geocoded firm balance sheets, I show that these land use deregulations generated a boom-bust cycle in corporate real estate values, borrowing, and real estate investment. Firms located in more ex ante land use constrained areas both issued more debt and invested more heavily in real estate, thus amplifying the initial positive shock to commercial real estate prices. I develop a multi-city spatial sorting model with production externalities and real estate collateral which uses the estimated reduced form effects of my local regulatory instruments on firm outcomes to assess aggregate effects of the reform. I find that the deregulatory shock to commercial real estate markets and corporate borrowing environment amplified the 1980s real estate cycle and led to an increased incidence of zombie lending in the 1990s. Governments often distribute payments through the income tax system to combat recessions. But how effective are such fiscal stimulus policies at targeting households who are likely to respond by increasing their spending? In the second chapter, we link geocoded household expenditure and financial transactions data to local housing price indices and document a U-shaped pattern with respect to housing price growth in the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of a large tax rebate. Recipients living in areas with the smallest housing price gains during the 1980s spent 44% of the 1994 Japanese rebate within three months of payment, compared to 23% among recipients in areas which experienced the largest housing price gains. While we find limited heterogeneity in MPCs among households in less-affected areas, MPCs are higher for younger, renter households with no debt residing in more-affected areas. These findings are consistent with near-rational households for which the pricing shock was small relative to permanent income spending a larger fraction of the tax rebate. Our analysis suggests fiscal stimulus payments primarily induce spending among “winner” households who face minimal exposure to housing price cycles. The question of how policymakers should choose the frequency of payments has received little attention in the literature on the optimal design of public benefits programs. The third chapter proposes a simple model in which the government chooses the length of the interval between payments, subject to a tradeoff between the administrative cost of providing more frequent benefits and the welfare gain from reducing deviations from full consumption smoothing. In our empirical application, we examine consumer and retailer responses to bimonthly payments from the Japanese National Pension System. We exploit variation in the duration of payment cycles using a unique retail dataset that links consumers to their purchase history. Our high frequency difference-in-differences approach shows a clear spike in spending on payment dates for customers who are of retirement age relative to those who are not. While within-store average prices increase by 1.6% on payday, this effect is almost entirely due to consumers substituting towards higher quality goods rather than a retailer response. We use these reduced form estimates to parameterize the model and conclude that the optimal frequency of Japanese public pension payments is less than one month, implying the government could improve welfare by increasing payment frequency.

The Kentucky Department of Education initiated a technical assistance program in 1981-82 for fifteen special education area cooperative projects established in 1980 with funds from P. L. 94-142. The program was aimed at overcoming problems related to the implementation of the cooperative concept among project participants. The program consisted of: On-Site Visits; Conferences and Workshops; Statewide Meeting; Consultations; Quarterly Mailings; and Proposal Development. The Discrepancy Evaluation Model was used to evaluate the program. A variety of measures including questionnaires and workshop evaluations were utilized. A review of the cooperative project proposals for 1981-82 and 1982-83, by a Panel of Experts, provided additional evaluation data. The analysis of the data included both descriptive and nonparametric statistics. While statistical significant was not shown, the analysis indicated the program was successful in strengthening the cooperative concept. / Ed. D.

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本文希望探討弱勢小學如何在教育市場化趨勢下，因為收生不足而被教統局宣佈殺校，然而經過學校持分者的奮鬥，一年後竟能取錄足夠學生，成功逆轉重生。研究對象學校近年取錄的學生人數一直上升，甚至成為社區上受歡迎的學校。弱勢學校在汰弱留強的市場定律下竟能逆轉重生，這個香港教育界的特殊現象，箇中原因及意義便是本文著意的地方。 / 本文採用質性研究方法，邀請兩所位於不同貧窮社區的小學接受研究。兩所小學同樣經歷逆轉重生，其中一所小學甚至兩次殺校。在具體田野操作方面，本文採用民族誌研究方法，筆者透過長時間參與觀察、深度訪談、比較閱讀，整理兩所學校由殺校至今的逆轉發展脈絡。 / 研究結果發現，兩所能夠成功逆轉重生的學校從：宏觀層面、中介層面和微觀層面，均能啟動和累積社會資本，並轉化為不同類型的資本，包括：文化資本，經濟資本等，以支援學校的非常態運作，避過殺校宿命。此外，研究發現兩所學校的教師團隊同樣呈現一條由社會資本轉化為教學專業資本的脈絡，並在校本課程的編訂和教學法的探索得到成效，讓學生學習蒙受其利，這是學校逆轉的背後策劃能量。 / 本文期望教育領導人士能重新理解類教育市場脈絡的多端力量，並希望教育領導者了解學校在類教育市場的定位。另外，本文希望讓所有學校持分者重新理解社會資本在教育場域的正面能量。當中尤以校長為核心，啟動和轉化學校社會資本，他的信念和力量將是領導學校逆轉重生，以至持續發展的關鍵。 / 最後，本文無意為弱勢學校逆轉重生的現象下定論，限於資料收集的局限、類教育市場脈絡、社會資本概念的複雜性，本文主要通過現有的材料和論據，為香港弱勢社群教育這個領域作為開拓研究的鋪墊。 / This thesis attempts to answer the question about how a disadvantaged primary school experienced turnaround in a Quasi-education market. / This is an ethnographic study, employing qualitative methods. Two primary schools from two low-income districts were invited to participate. They both suffered from "school closure"(殺校). One of them even went through it twice. Ethnographic research was conducted with Participant Observation, In-depth Interview and Comparative Reading throughout the research duration. / The results of the research showed that two turnaround schools mobilized and accumulated social capital and transformed it into other forms of capital, such as cultural capital and economic capital, in order to support the schools’ contingency plans on macro, meso and micro levels. / Another finding is that the teaching teams of the two turnaround schools also showed a path of transforming social capital into teaching professional capital, including school-based curriculum designs and research into teaching methods. These efforts of the schools succeeded in creating a favorable condition for them not only to survive, but to flourish. / This thesis hopes to call attention to two important facts: / 1. Education leaders can benefit greatly from alerting themselves to the Quasi-education market and its related concepts, and also assessing the position of their own schools in it. / 2. Stake-holders, especially school principals, are shown to be capable of mobilizing and transforming school social capital. His or Her faith and strength are the foundation power of turnaround schools and also their sustainability. / My goal is not to draw a conclusion about turnaround schools in general. Instead, my humble task is to launch an exploratory study of these schools in order to highlight the possibilities open to such schools. Lastly, this research paves a way for future development of studies of the education of disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 吳偉強. / Parallel title from added title page. / Thesis (Ed.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 321-331). / Abstracts also in English. / Wu Weiqiang.

The problem of this study was an analysis of the funding procedures in states which provide funding for local community education projects. The purpose of the study was to identify states which appropriate funds for community education and to provide an analysis of the guidelines for operation and use of state funds for community education at the local level. Twenty-five states were initially identified as having some type of state funding for community education, Eleven of the twenty-one states responding do provide funding for use at the local level. The guidelines and applications for obtaining these funds were compared in the areas of purpose of state legislation, minimum elements required of community education projects, eligibility requirements, use of state funds, grant periods, and annual reporting requirements.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Government and Public Administration

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The high unemployment rate in South Africa encourages citizens to be job creators rather than job seekers. It is often said that small businesses hold the key to economic growth. The South African government endeavours to accelerate economic growth, job creation and to address inequalities, through enterprise development and support. It created and enacted laws that seek to create an enabling environment for the growth and support of predominantly black, women, youth and people with disabilities owning small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and cooperatives. In ensuring support for SMMEs, the government of the Republic of South Africa promulgated the National Small Business Act (NSBA), Act 102 of 1996, which clearly outlines the support that national, provincial, local governments and private sector entities are compelled to develop and implement - programmes geared towards the support and promotion of SMMEs. Since 1996, these entities have developed programmes and projects that aim to implement support of SMMEs. Similarly, the government agencies that operate in the Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) have developed programmes in support of SMMEs and cooperatives as per the abovementioned Act. Most business owners are constantly faced with challenges, especially women-owned SMMEs. The role of government agencies and the implementation of relevant programmes and strategies to empower women-owned SMMES are explored. Despite the above-mentioned government initiatives, women-owned SMMEs are still facing challenges such as lack of financial support, inadequate infrastructure, access to market and other related problems. These challenges hinder their business initiatives and economic growth in the CDM. This research contributes to the public discourse regarding empowerment of SMMEs, with particular reference to women-owned businesses, and also to contribute to policy development in the promotion and support of SMMEs. A conceptual framework is also reviewed in the study, regarding the importance of government agencies, SMMEs and women empowerment to the development of the South African economy.

This thesis examines from an historical perspective the series of events between 1995 and 1999 in which the public school teachers’ union, the New South Wales Teachers federation, challenged the NSW and Australian government’s provision of funding to private schools. Such funding is known colloquially as state aid. The state aid struggle is conceived in this thesis as an industrial relations contest that went beyond issues simply of state aid. The state aid struggle was a centrepiece of the Teachers Federation’s broader challenge to government’s intensification of efforts to reduce the federation’s effectiveness in shaping the public school system’s priorities. This thesis contends that the decisive importance of the state aid struggle arose from the fundamental strategy used by governments to lower the cost of schooling over time. To achieve this they undertook the state aid strategy – cost reductions would flow from residualising public schools, de-unionising teachers and deregulating wages and conditions. The state aid strategy was implemented through those areas of policy and funding over which the Federation had negligible control or where the Federation’s membership was disunited. The Federation was undermined by governments using policy initiatives to fragment teacher unity. By the end of 1999, governments’ prosecution of the state aid strategy did not seem to have been diverted from the main thrust of its course by the federation’s struggle. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The relationship between FTE enrollments and state appropriations to public four-year colleges and universities is a fundamental issue basic to numerous institutional and state policy decisions. Yet, the relationship is obscure and may have changed during the period from 1965 to 1982. Data for this dissertation were obtained from three sources. Enrollment data were obtained from the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) information as edited and entered onto computer data tape by the Center for the study of Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of Arizona. Appropriations data were obtained from the annual issues of M. M. Chambers' Appropriations of State Tax Funds for Operating Expenses of Higher Education as edited and entered onto computer data tapes at the CSHE. Variations in the reporting of these sources were obtained through a mail survey instrument. Appropriations data were adjusted for inflation using the national and regional Consumer Price Indices (CPI). The appropriations data were corrected so that all states are reported consistently for (1) tuition, (2) employee benefits, and (3) capital equipment. The edited enrollment and the corrected appropriations data were then regressed for two time periods (1965-77 and 1977-82). The results determined the nature of change in the enrollment/appropriation relationship over time. The results show that there does appear to be a relationship between enrollments and appropriations which is stronger for certain types of institutions. Nationally, the relationship in mean constant dollar appropriations per FTE enrollments has not undergone any radical changes. However, the slopes of the regression lines have undergone statistically significant changes from period 1 (1965-66 to 1976-77) to period 2 (1977-78 to 1982-83). Yet the regression coefficients did not decline in a major way over time for the national sample, for institutions by Carnegie Classification System or by state. Wide ranges of difference were found to exist among states. However, a considerable majority of 35 states and most Carnegie classification institutions did not demonstrate a significant change in the amount of constant dollar or adjusted funding per FTE student over time.