Thesis advisor: Michael Smith / Contemporary American capitalism is sick. To determine what is wrong with it we must first go back to its conception and understand the theoretical advantages and drawbacks of this system. Once we come to understand what capitalism is, and how it developed, we will move on to see how it has evolved to its current state within an American mixed economy. Wealth inequality is at an all time high in America, exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis, with warnings from men like Karl Marx coming to fruition more than a century later. Today, corporations praise capitalism on the way up, and exploit interventionist concepts such as bailouts on the way down to skew wealth to unprecedented levels. Multi-millionaire politicians accept lobbying funds and allow this to happen, stopping capitalism from running its natural course. The wealthy 1% are able to invest in economic vehicles and share in this massive wealth shift while most Americans cannot afford to, and as a result the average American is left behind. To rationalize whether capitalism is a system worth saving, we will then look to why some economic inequality is inherent to capitalism to some degree. Once this is understood, we can then analyze whether or not such wealth inequalities are immoral in itself. We will find that wealth inequality may be an unavoidable feature of capitalism, however under certain conditions it is not in itself immoral — it is the lack of economic opportunity and economic sufficiency for Americans that is. Perhaps there is a reason why corporations and politicians act the way they do, and if so we will look at potential remedies to limit inequality and hold corporations and politicians accountable. The thesis will conclude that if this pattern of growing wealth inequality continues as demonstrated in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, capitalism in America may be doomed. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Chapter 1 of this thesis analyzes the determinants of income inequality in Canada using micro-level data from Canada’s censuses (1991, 1996, 2000, 2006, 2016). First, it is shown that market-income inequality is higher than inequality based on other types of income (annual wage, annual pre-tax income and annual income after-tax). Inequality is highly driven by the gap between the income shares held by the top 1% income group compared with other income percentiles. It is also explained by the large gap between income percentile of the top 25% income group and the bottom 75% income group. The top 30% income group held 60% of the population total income, while the bottom 30% income group held under 9% of the population total income. Inequality is different by province across Canada. From the findings, within-group inequality dominates between-group inequality, regardless of whether groups are defined by education, occupation, gender, age, language, marital status, or citizenship status. Second, analyzing the determinants of inequality, the results suggest that they vary significantly across income groups. The results highlight the contribution of any explanatory factor to inequality and the proportion of inequality explained by all observable characteristics. The largest part (between 64% and 74%) of income inequality is not explained by individual observable characteristics. Third, these determinants are modified by redistributive policies such as taxes and transfers. Chapter 2 brings further light on income inequality dynamics by gender and inves tigates its determinants from static and dynamic points of view. Using Canada income data, this research uses different measures of inequality to provide evidence on the changes in inequality by gender from 1991 to 2016. In this study, unconditional quantile regression based on the Re-entered Influence Function (RIF) is used to assess the impact of individual characteristics on income quantiles. The contribution of each relevant covariate on the Theil index by gender is documented by applying regression-based decomposition of inequality. Finally, RIF-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is used to investigate the composite and income structural effects on the changes in inequality measures by gender. Results show that, before 2001, inequality was higher among females than among males, and starting from 2001, the inverse process is observed. The changes in the interquantile differences are not homogeneous along the income distribution for both males and females. The pattern of the effects of covariates on quantiles along the income distribution is gender specific. The findings provide evidence that, in most cases, the income structural effect explains the higher part of inequality. dynamics by gender, even if the size of the impact differs by gender. Furthermore, the composite effect counterbalances the income structural effect most of the time, even if, in some cases, they contribute to the change in inequality measures in the same direction. Chapter 3 investigates the spillover effects of corporate tax across the provinces using Canada’s corporate provincial aggregate data from 1981 to 2019. A dynamic panel model is used to assess the incidence of tax competition within the country. The results show that an increase of statutory taxes in other provinces has a positive effect on the corporate taxable income of a specific province. The results provide the evidence of spillover effects of corporate tax across provinces in Canada. This chapter supports the recommendations proposed by Smart and Vaillancourt (2021) on formula allocation mechanism and by Boadway and Tremblay (2016) on the modernization of business taxation mechanism in Canada.

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Governments, international agencies, and researchers routinely assess health and income inequalities and inequities so as to better communicate the evidence of their levels and trends to both policy-makers and the general public. Measuring the extent to which differences in health or income are unequal or unfair is, however, complex. This thesis contains three chapters centrally concerned with inequalities, though the focus differs across chapters. Chapter 2 helps address the gap between the requirements of indices often used for measuring income-related health inequality and current research practice by providing a non-technical review and critical assessment of the recent literature. This chapter should function as a guide for policy researchers and analysts to help them be more critical consumers of studies that use these indices while also helping applied researchers in choosing inequality measures that have the normative properties they seek. Most measures of inequality make assumptions about the extent to which society is averse to inequality. Moreover, analysts often assume that attitudes toward inequalities in health or income are the same. Chapter 3 is the first study using a mixed-methods approach to assess public attitudes toward inequalities in income, health, and income-related health inequality to determine preferences and how attitudes toward inequalities in these domains differ. Chapter 2 and 3 contribute to a greater understanding of the measurement and interpretation of inequalities. While chapters 2 and 3 focus on inequalities among individuals within a society, chapter 4 focuses on inequalities globally among societies. Chapter 4 examines global health inequalities that result from medical care use using the example of long-standing drug technologies for treating hypertension. The study links availability and affordability of blood-pressure-lowering medicines with individual use and health outcomes. Chapter 4, therefore, provides an empirical illustration on how country-specific policies can play an important role in either countering or exacerbating health differences. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis concerns itself with different aspects of inequality related to health and income, though the focus differs across chapters. The second and third chapters of this thesis contribute to a greater understanding of the measurement and interpretation of inequalities. Whereas the fourth chapter provides empirical evidence on how country-specific policies can counteract or exacerbate health differences. Chapter 2 comprehensively reviews and critically assesses the literature on the technical and normative properties of indices commonly used for measuring income-related health inequality thereby addressing the gap between the requirements of these indices and current research practice. Chapter 3 investigates public attitudes toward inequalities in income, health, and income-related health inequality to determine preferences and where attitudes toward these inequalities differ. Chapter 4 examines global health inequalities that result from medical care use using the example of long-standing drug technologies for treating hypertension and links availability and affordability of medicines with individual use and health outcomes.

This dissertation examines the experiences of Indigenous post-secondary students at three universities located in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on ethnographic observation, 27 in-depth interviews and demographic surveys, I investigate both the nature and levels of ongoing experiences with racism and discrimination on-campus, as well as the impacts and chosen response strategies. The primary theoretical contribution is the demonstration of how, in order to create a comprehensive theoretical framework for the analysis of Indigenous peoples’ experiences with racism in Canada, Critical Race Theory (Gillborn 2006; Solórzano & Yosso 2002: Tate 1997) and Settler Colonial Theory (Macoun & Strakosch 2013; Snelgrove, Dhamoon & Corntassel 2014; Tuck & Yang 2012) must be used in combination. The second theoretical contribution is the critique and further development of ‘internalized oppression’ (Pyke 2010); to help understand not only the creation, internalization and maintenance processes involved in internalized racism, but also who is best positioned to eliminate it and how. First, an analysis is completed of how, within the university context, Indigenous students are experiencing racism and discrimination: which social locations, at what levels, the nature of the racism/discrimination and contextual differences. Following that, an in-depth look is taken at the various impacts of these experiences and the students’ responses: coping/management strategies, support resources, and resistance. And finally, the role of lateral violence within the Indigenous student communities is discussed, including the prevalence of the issue, the impacts, and the processes involved in students recognizing and resisting. Overall, the data demonstrates that, regardless of differing campus contexts, Indigenous students are facing high levels of racism on a regular basis, which has significant impacts both personally and academically. The use of Critical Race Theory and Settler Colonial Theory in combination provides a useful framework for understanding how and why these circumstances persist, as well as raising questions as to the efficacy of institution-led policies and programs designed to both support Indigenous students and decrease racism on campus. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study investigated educational stratification in Nigeria to determine how socioeconomic status, gender, and regional differences influence achievement in education using the nationally representative 2010 Nigeria Education Data Survey (NEDS). These cross-sectional data are among the first quality household survey data available for assessing aspects of education in Nigeria. In the last four decades, Nigeria has experienced dramatic expansion of its educational system. Following the introduction of educational policies and programs, growth in enrolment at the primary and secondary levels has largely been sustained. For instance, enrolment of pupils in primary education increased from 3,515,827 in 1970 to 14,383,487 in 1985 and to 20,080,986 in 2010. However, this impressive gain was followed by dwindling quality in the educational system, which has reported differing educational outcomes for different groups. Prior research in Nigeria has not examined how socioeconomic status influences achievement in education using large scale representative data. In this study, I primarily focused on assessing socioeconomic status to determine how it predicts achievement in reading and numeracy in Nigerian school children, ages 5 to 16 years. Nigeria is also known to have wide gender and regional gaps in education. Thus, I assessed gender and region variables to determine how much they contribute to the variance in educational achievement. I analyzed NEDS 2010 data and reported the findings of the descriptive and multivariate regression statistics. Descriptive statistics show the frequencies and distribution of the variables in the study. The multivariate regression analyses were employed to determine the relationship of socioeconomic status, gender, and region (the main predictor variables) with achievement in reading and numeracy (outcome variables). Given the use of survey data, both the descriptive and regression statistics were based on weighted statistics. This study found a significant wealth gap in reading and numeracy achievements among Nigerian children. I also found that family wealth, parental education, and region explain differences in academic achievement. Family wealth was found to be the most important variable influencing achievement in reading and numeracy, followed by mother's education and then region. Overall, the findings in this study suggest no significant differences in reading and numeracy achievement for boys and girls. Although gender was not found to be consistently associated with academic achievement in this study, it should not be assumed to mean that gender equality in education exists in Nigeria. It is widely reported elsewhere that gender-biased educational opportunity plays a major role in influencing educational attainment and achievement. More research, preferably using a longitudinal study design, is needed to identify the trends and patterns of gender roles in Nigerian educational attainment and achievement. The findings in this study provide the foundation for making further investigations on the association of social, economic, and cultural factors with academic achievement and to assess inequality in education in Nigeria.

In this study, the associations of socioeconomic variables with reading test scores in grade 4 (PIRLS) and with math and science test scores in grades 4 and 8 (TIMSS) were examined across 28 OECD countries. This study adds to the current knowledge base by integrating measures of income inequality, which have been used in a few studies involving test scores, with other socioeconomic variables of interest. Bivariate correlations show that certain socioeconomic measures have stronger relationships with test score inequality than with average test scores: income inequality, gender inequality, and adolescent fertility rates all have significant relationships with test score inequality in reading, math, and science. There are also strong intercorrelations among these three socioeconomic variables. Income inequality is significantly associated with average science test scores in grades 4 and 8, while adolescent fertility rates hold significant relationships with average math and science test scores in both grades. Intercorrelations among the variables show that people who live in a country with high income inequality, and are at the lower end of that country’s income distribution, struggle in ways that people in countries with low income inequality do not. Health insurance and access to health care, paid maternity leave, and preschool education are easier to obtain in countries with lower income inequality. Examination of individual countries gives additional insight into the important role of income inequality. Slovenia, for example, has a relatively low GDP per capita but enjoys good test scores, perhaps because of its low income inequality. Finland, another country with low income inequality, attains PIRLS and TIMSS test scores that are among the highest in the world, in part because of social services that have the effect of further reducing income inequality. The U.S. is something of a puzzle because it has relatively high scores despite substantial inequality. Based on the results of this study and other current research, it seems likely that the U.S. could reduce test score inequality by providing targeted supports to low-income families, effectively reducing income inequality. Such supports may include: 1) installing wraparound services within school settings for low-income families; and 2) substantially expanding preschool access, especially among 3-year-olds.

The thesis contains a textbook for high school pupils. The aim of the textbook is to teach the reader how to solve problems concerning inequalities proposed at czech or international mathematical competitions for high school pupils. In the first part we present some basic ineqaulities (AG, Cauchy's inequality) and we show how to understand them and how to use them. In the second part we broaden reader's horizon by presenting rearrangement and Jensen's inequality. In the third part we present widely applicable methods such as "Abstract Concreteness Method" or "Sum of Squares Method". Some techniques concerning the Sum of Squares Method were written by Phan Kim Hung in 2006. We are trying to significantly involve the reader. We prefer just hints to many of the proposed problems rather than complete solutions and we give some harder problems to solve at the end of each part. 1

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar a participação dos componentes da renda domiciliar per capita, tais como renda do trabalho, renda de aposentarias e pensões públicas e não públicas, aluguel, doações e outros rendimentos para a redução da desigualdade de renda brasileira no período 2002-2008 e nos subperíodos 2002-2004 e 2004- 2008. Para tanto, utilizou-se a PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios) e as metodologias de decomposição por componente de renda, desenvolvida por Pyatt, Chen e Fei (1980), e decomposição por efeito-composição e efeito-concentração, adaptada por Hoffmann (2006) e Soares (2006). Além disso, é realizada uma análise de inferência estatística seguindo a proposta de Kakwani, Wagstaff, Doorslaer (1997). Os principais resultados encontrados apontam que no período 2002-2008 a redução do índice de Gini foi estatisticamente significativa ao nível de 5%, assim sendo o nível de desigualdade observado no último ano foi o menor de todo o período analisado (0,5415). Observou-se que, com exceção da região Centro-Oeste, houve redução da concentração de renda em todas as regiões brasileiras, embora em menor intensidade na região Nordeste. Na análise sob o ponto de vista racial, verificou-se que disparidade de renda dentro dos grupos dos não brancos e dos brancos foi atenuada em aproximadamente 6,4%. A renda do trabalho foi o fator mais relevante para explicar a queda da desigualdade de renda no Brasil ao longo do período 2002-2008. Outros Rendimentos (no qual estão incluídos os programas de transferência de renda) tiveram uma participação mais expressiva na redução da disparidade de renda dentro dos grupos considerados mais carentes tais como a região Nordeste e Norte, os não brancos e, sobretudo, os não brancos da região Nordeste. Contudo a contribuição desse rendimento é maior no subperíodo 2002-2004 do que no subperíodo 2004-2008. Foi constatado também que no subperíodo 2004-2008 (depois da Reforma da Previdência Pública Social) as aposentadorias e pensões públicas responderam por aproximadamente 20% da queda da desigualdade total. / This work aims at analyzing the participation of components of household income per capita, such as labor income, retirement income, public pension income and non-public pension income, rent, donations and others incomes to reduce income inequality in Brazil during the period 2002-2008 and sub periods 2002-2004 and 2004-2008. It was used the PNAD (Brazilian National Household Survey) and the methodologies of the decomposition by income component developed by Pyatt, Chen and Fei (1980) and decomposition by composition effect and concentration effect proposal by Hoffmann (2006) and Smith (2006b). Moreover, it’s realized an analysis of statistical inference following the proposal of Kakwani, Wagstaff, Doorslaer (1997). The main results indicate that in the period 2002-2008 the reduction in the Gini coefficient was statistically significant at 5%, therefore the level of inequality observed in the last year was the smallest of the whole period (0.5415). It was observed that, except for the Midwest region, there was a reduction of income concentration in all Brazilian regions, although to a lesser extent in the Northeast. In the analysis from the perspective of race, it was found that income disparity within groups of non-whites and whites was approximately 6.4%. Labor income was the most important factor to explain the fall in income inequality in Brazil over the period 2002-2008. Other Incomes (which includes the income transfer programs) had a more significant contribution in reducing the income disparity within the groups considered most in need such as the Northeast and North, nonwhites and especially non-whites in the Northeast region. However the contribution of this income is higher in sub period 2002-2004 than in sub period 2004-2008. It was also confirmed that the sub period 2004-2008 (after the Public Social Security Reform) pensions and public pensions accounted for approximately 20% of the decrease of total inequality.

We give some background information about the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality including its history. We then continue by providing a number of proofs for the inequality in its classical form using various proof techniques, including proofs without words. Next we build up the theory of inner product spaces from metric and normed spaces and show applications of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in each content, including the triangle inequality, Minkowski's inequality and Hölder's inequality. In the final part we present a few problems with solutions, some proved by the author and some by others.