Data on the handweaving program at the Quicksand Craft Center in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky were compiled and analyzed. Four areas--history of the craft program, business organization and financial structure, weave patterns of goods woven and sold by the craft center, and weavers employed in the program --were examined to assess the success of the program in the local community. Factors in the four areas examined contributed to the success of the program. The benevolence, perseverance, and co-operation of the founders, directors and community members involved with the craft center have been largely responsible for the continued success of the program. The non-profit organizational structure of the craft program was financially stable and met federal guidelines for tax exemption. Weave patterns in goods produced at the craft center were basically traditional with modern adaptations in fibers and end products. Influence of the handweaving program in the lives of weavers and their families was primarily positive.

This dissertation seeks to develop the subject of local public finance in a manner consistent with the political economy of local governments. For ease of description, each essay will be discussed briefly. The first essay is titled "The Provision of Generalized Local Public Goods Financed by Distortionary Taxation." This essay models the provision of a local public good that is simultaneously utilized as a public consumption good and a public intermediate good. Since the public good can simultaneously enter both utility and production functions, it is considered a "generalized public good." This is done to model the provision of infrastructure by sub-federal governments, which is financed with taxes on local residents. A theoretical analysis provides a cost-benefit rule for public good provision by a rent-maximizing local government facing mobile households. Illustrative calculations of the marginal cost of public funds are provided. Calibrated to U.S. data, the role of intergovernmental transfers on the provision of infrastructure by rent-maximizing local governments is analyzed. Theoretical evidence of the higher responsiveness of local governments to matching grants relative to lump-sum grants is provided. The second essay is titled "The Impact of Local Households' Housing Tenure on Local Public Debt Levels." This essay investigates the relation between local housing tenure and local public debt. It does this by establishing housing tenure as a theoretical basis for the potential differences in how households view public debt. Homeowners capitalize the burden of local public debt into their home value, while renters do not. A hypothesis is generated that an increase in the renter share of households in a locality leads to higher levels of local public debt, all else equal. Using an instrumental variable approach, the empirical evaluation shows an increase in the proportion of renters leads to higher levels of public debt in a panel data set of U.S. local governments. Specifically, a one percentage point increase in the percent of renters increases unfunded public debt per household by $400, or about 7% of the average local debt level, and 24% of the county with the median debt level. This relationship is robust across multiple specifications. The third essay is titled "A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Local Households' Housing Tenure on Local Public Debt Levels: Implications for Federalism." This essay extends the model of the second essay by measuring the spatial spillovers using a spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive disturbances. The existence and magnitude of local government spillovers related to local public debt levels are used to inform policy makers at higher levels of government. The analysis identifies possible geographic segmentation of the municipal bond markets and the role of special district debt as a key component of the spatial distribution of local public debt. Additionally, a positive spatial disturbance is found.

Ideas developed by regional economists have potential applications within the urban planning field. One potential application is toward conserving farmland, and within this thesis this topic is examined for the study area of Utah County, Utah. Using assessor data, a land value map is created and further used to develop a regional economic model and spatial models that were analyzed for patterns of land use change. Findings show that representing land value as continuous surface maps is a useful approach. The maps reveal that Utah County has densified as its population increased while farmland loss still occurred in agriculturally-important areas. Vulnerable areas were identified by examining the value of changed lands. Change mapping shows that macro-level variables affect local land values and subsequent development patterns. While limitations exist, the conclusion was drawn that this data is useful in connecting land value to location, examining change over time, and understanding how individuals’ priorities (as represented through property values) may conflict with (and potentially solve) collective goals.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the effectiveness of cross-border cooperation as a tool for local/regional development of underdeveloped border regions, and whether it is appropriate for Turkey&rsquo / s border regions. The basic statement is that the trajectories of intense economic relations do not always let cross-border co-operation / it can develop through supportive policies fed by the active participation of cross-border actors. The scope of this study is, - to examine changing theoretical ideas about borders and border relations, - to review some of the important changes affecting the cross-border cooperations / and the implications of transformations in the global mechanisms through new network relations determined within the multi-level governance approach, - to develop a framework for analysing the success of cross-border cooperation, - to discuss the cross-border co-operation trajectories through the world experiences and Turkish case, - to search for a new model This study will focus on a set of theoretical tools involving independent dimensions such as governance, economy and social structure. Along these theoretical perspectives, the importance of a cross-border co-operation for local/regional development will be emphasised through the case of Hopa-Batumi border region. Handling of this case will be an attempt to put forward the opportunities and barriers of a cross-border co-operation for Turkish border regions. This study is developed by the examination of theoretical literature, generating comparative analysis of world experiences with reference to available literature, and Turkish border regions executed with the newspapers archives and legal arrangements, and case study through in-depth interviews.

In January 2013, the Japanese Government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan launched a package of monetary and fiscal stimulus along with promises of structural economic reform called Abenomics. This paper examines the preliminary effects of the Bank of Japan’s Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE), which forms the monetary component of Abenomics. Given the weak economic response to QQE so far, the study predicts that QQE has failed to make a significant impact on its target macroeconomic variables of inflation and output. The results confirm this hypothesis as increases in the monetary base have an insignificant effect on the Consumer Price Index and have little effect in changing the trajectory of output. The results of QQE so far mirror those of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs, during which expansion of the monetary base in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis failed to significantly raise output given the size of the stimulus. Abenomics, however, continues to be implemented, making the results presented in this paper inconclusive.

Mémoire (M.E.S.R.)- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1982. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Mémoire (M.E.S.R.) --Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1993. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Zugl.: Diss. Univ. Duisburg-Essen, 2006.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-09-11T20:37:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GERALDO FRANCISCO DA SILVA JUNIOR - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGERR 2003..pdf: 36949181 bytes, checksum: 42c0bcee10577ee8e6257c1c721823b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-11T20:37:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GERALDO FRANCISCO DA SILVA JUNIOR - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGERR 2003..pdf: 36949181 bytes, checksum: 42c0bcee10577ee8e6257c1c721823b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Procurou-se, neste trabalho, a partir do banco de dados do Ministério do Trabalho do Brasil, compreender a dinâmica do emprego formal em Campina Grande ao longo dos anos 90, na perspectiva de visualizar que alterações ocorreram no mercado de trabalho nesse município. Durante os anos 90, o emprego formal no município esteve muito mais ligado à dinâmica do Estado da Paraíba do que à do Nordeste e à do próprio Brasil no que se refere a sua temporalidade, pelo fato de que a crise maior no município e no Estado ocorreu em 1994, enquanto que na região e no país ocorreu em 1992. Porém, em termos percentuais, o município teve uma maior proximidade com a dinâmica do Nordeste do que com a da Paraíba e do Brasil. Em termos da dinâmica dos setores, a partir de uma comparação com a realidade nacional, foi possível detectar que o município detém características próprias em sua estrutura econômica que não permitem seguir pari passo as mesmas alterações na realidade nacional. Ademais, foi possível diagnosticar também uma extrema disparidade nos níveis de rendimento médio do município com a realidade existente em nível nacional, mesmo tendo ocorrido em ambas as esferas melhoras significativas nos graus de instrução das pessoas, confirmando que realmente Campina Grande é um espaço de baixo rendimento monetário. Sob o aspecto da composição do mercado de trabalho formal por sexo, observou-se que Campina Grande, num primeiro momento, teve uma estabilização da participação feminina, mas, posteriormente, entrou numa rota de pequeno declínio, diferentemente do Brasil que ao longo do período manteve sempre uma tendência de intenso crescimento da participação das mulheres no mercado de trabalho formal. Quando se trata da dinâmica por faixa etária viu-se que o traço comum entre a realidade nacional e a do município refere-se à diminuição da participação no mercado de trabalho dos mais jovens (10 a 17 anos) e, à ampliação da participação dos mais "idosos" (acima de 40 anos). A análise da faixa intermediária (18 a 39 anos) mostrou que enquanto o Brasil manteve um patamar de participação dessa categoria, o município apresentou uma tendência de diminuição, chegando ao final da década no mesmo patamar da realidade brasileira. / We soughí, in this work, starting from the database of Braziiian Department of Labor, to understand the dynamics of the formai employment in the municipal disírict of Campina Grande-PB along the nineties, in the perspective of looking for to visualize that alterations happened in thejob market in the municipal disírict. During the nineties the formal employment in íhe municipal disírict was much more linked to the dynamics of the State of Paraíba than the Northeast one and the own Brazil one, by the fact that íhe largesí crisis in íhe municipal disírict and in the State it happened in 1994 whiie in the area and in the country it happened in 1992. Ilowever, in percentile terms, the municipal district had a íarged proximity with the dynamics of the Northeast than vvith the one of Paraíba and of Brazil. In terms of the dynamics of the sections, starting from a comparative accomplishment with the national realiíy, it was possible to detect that the municipal district detains own characteristics of your economical structure that don't allow to follow "pari passo" the same alterations of the national reality. Furthermore, was possible to also diagnose an extreme disparity in the leveis of médium revenue of the municipal disírict with the existent reality in levei national, same having happened in boíh spheres significam improvemenís in the degrees of lhe people's insíruction, confirming íhaí are really a space of low monetary revenue. Under the aspect of the composition of the formal job market for sex was observed íhaí Campina Grande, in a ílrí moment, has a síabilizaíion of the feminine participation, but, later enters in a rout of small decline, differently of Brazil íhat along of the period it always mainíained your tendency of intense growth of íhe womens paríicipaíion in the formal job market. When it is trealed of lhe dynamics by age group we savv lhat the cominou line between the national reality and the municipal district refers to the decrease of the participation in the job market of the more youths (10 to 17 year old) and by other, an amplification of the more "sénior" (above 40 years old). The analysis in íhe intermediate strip (18 to 39 years) showed that while Brazil maintained a landing of participation of that category the municipal district had a decrease tendency arriving aí íhe end of the decade in íhe same landing of íhe Braziiian realiíy.

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.