Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-07-25T15:28:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 gabrieldiasdasilva.pdf: 1029154 bytes, checksum: 750edf31943af2ea6251279e441ac424 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-25T16:36:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 gabrieldiasdasilva.pdf: 1029154 bytes, checksum: 750edf31943af2ea6251279e441ac424 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-25T16:36:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 gabrieldiasdasilva.pdf: 1029154 bytes, checksum: 750edf31943af2ea6251279e441ac424 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-15 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Desde a década de 1950, quando Albert O. Hirschman propôs como estratégia de crescimento econômico o estabelecimento de ligações intersetoriais, houve grandes alterações na estrutura das economias nacionais e mundial. Enquanto que em alguns países de menor renda per capita foram seguidos planos para o desenvolvimento industrial, nos países mais ricos observou-se processos de desindustrialização e crescimento de importância dos serviços. Seguindo essa contextualização, esse trabalho busca avaliar as possíveis relações que o total de interconexões dentro de uma economia poderia ter com variáveis como o tamanho do PIB per capita e sua taxa de crescimento. A principal hipótese a ser testada é a de que ao criar interconexões setoriais para atingir o crescimento, os países de maior renda per capita teriam valores totais mais elevados para essa variável. Para este fim, será usado o método do autovetor, de Dietzenbacher (1992), que permite calcular de forma agregada o total de ligações entre setores de um país. Assim, foi construída a medida agregada de ligações (MAL) totais, entre os setores primários, entre os setores industriais e dos setores de serviços com o restante da economia. Como forma de se extrair padrões mais difíceis de serem observados visualmente, foram aplicadas técnicas de análise de agrupamentos sobre os resultados. A realização desses métodos foi possível pela disponibilidade dos dados de insumo-produto padronizados para 40 países entre os anos de 1995 e 2011 pelo projeto World Input-Output Database (WIOD). As conclusões apontam para a existência de relação positiva entre as interconexões dentro das manufaturas e o crescimento do PIB per capita, e das ligações dos setores de serviços com o nível de PIB per capita. Por outro lado, não foi possível associar a MAL total de um país com o tamanho de seu PIB per capita. Dentre as possíveis justificativas para isso, destaca-se a perda de participação relativa da indústria nos países de mais alta renda, em especial pelo processo de segmentação da produção, pelo qual setores intermediários domésticos se reorientam para outros países. / Since the decade of 1950, when Albert O. Hirschman proposed the establishment of intersectoral linkages as strategy for the economic growth, major changes have happened in the structures of the national and global economies. While in some countries with lower per capita GDP plans for industrial development were followed, the richer countries passed by processes of deindustrialization and gain of relevance of the services. Following this contextualization, this essay tries to assess the possible relations that the total of interconnections inside an economy could have with some variables as the per capita GDP size or its growth. The major hypothesis to be tested is that by using the creation of linkages to reach economic growth, countries with higher per capita GDP would have bigger values in this variable. To this end, it will be used the eigenvector method from Dietzenbacher (1992), which allows to calculate the total of the aggregate linkages between sectors inside a country. Thereby, the total aggregate linkages measure (MAL) was built, as well as the MAL for inside the primary sectors, inside the industrial sectors and from the service sectors with the remainder of the economy. As a way to extract patterns which are more difficult to be visually observed, there were applied clusters analysis techniques on the results. The realization of these methods was possible due to the availability of input-output data for 40 countries between the years of 1995 and 2011 by the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The conclusions point to the existence of positive correlations between the manufacturer linkages and the growth of the per capita GDP, and from the service sectors interconnections and the size of the per capita GDP. On the other hand, it was not possible to associate the total MAL in a country and its scale of per capita GDP. As a possible explanation, it is highlighted the relative loss in participation of the industries in the countries with bigger income, in special by the production segmentation process, by which the domestic intermediate sectors drive themselves to other countries.

In this dissertation, I argue that transnational elites within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been integrated within a Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC) economically, militarily and politically through relationships that transcend the boundaries of the nation-state. These relationships exist within the context of a global capitalist structure of accumulation that is dependent on the maintenance of a repressive state apparatus in the GCC. There have been few attempts to analyze the relationships that Middle Eastern political and economic elites have developed with global elite networks. This work fills an important gap in the scholarly literature by linking the political and economic power of the GCC elites to transnational capitalist class actors in the U.S. and Western Europe. The TCC is comprised of actors who derive their wealth and power from ownership of production or financial activities on a global scale. The embeddedness of GCC elites within the TCC came with the de-centralization of capital accumulation occurring from the 1970s through the present that has linked regional and local capitalists to the ownership activities of transnational capitalist firms. The GCC is an important case study for analyzing the structure and consequences the current phase of globalization due to its relative vi importance in providing resources and financing for transnational globalization. Therefore this project contributes to our assessment of the role played by transnational elites in the GCC and the regional and global consequences of their power struggles based in part on a theoretical framework derived from Neo-Gramscianism.

In this study, Local Economic Development (LED) is defined as an outcome of processes aimed at building the capacity of local areas for sustainable economic development. The study intended to investigate the challenges faced by Eastern Cape municipalities in implementing the LED programme. A sample of ten participants was drawn from two LED projects. The sample was distributed evenly with five beneficiaries per LED project. Data was collected using qualitative research methods through questionnaires. The sampling technique used was purposive to enable the researcher to select specific beneficiaries from each project and to allow the LED official responsible for each project to participate in the study. Budgetary constraints and staff shortages were identified as the main challenges facing the Great Kei Local Municipality. These two challenges have made it difficult for the municipality to implement proficiently LED programmes that are meant to effectively eradicate poverty and create employment. It is therefore recommended that the municipality should form partnerships with the private sector to boost the local economy by way of cooperative delivery of services, funding of projects and the supplementing of the municipal budget. The private enterprise/sector in an economy includes all large, medium, small and micro-enterprises (SMMEs). For example, large mining companies and factories as well the smallest spaza shop or stall at a taxi rank are part of private enterprise in a local economy. Whilst regulating such companies by way of licenses and taxes to raise national revenue, the government has limited control in the determination of how these enterprises are run. The result of such partnerships between the municipality and private sector will hopefully be the realisation of “a better life for all” as local people will be employed through investment promotion.

This master’s thesis examines how the density of food-based businesses in New England’s post-industrial urban neighborhoods relates to neighborhood demographic characteristics. The relationship between food-based businesses and demographic change has been examined in larger metropolitan areas like New York City and Chicago and has found that younger, wealthier, and more highly educated residents tend to live where there are greater densities of food businesses. However, there has been little research on the topic in New England’s post-industrial cities that have historically struggled to attract highly sought knowledge workers. I find that food business density and the share of residents employed in creative class professions is positively correlated in most cases; however, over time, the share of creative class workers and food businesses per capita has a negative relationship. Additionally, the share of residents living below the poverty line and food business densities have a significant and positive relationship. Neighborhood racial composition is a less significant factor, overall. In sum, the findings from this study suggest that food business density and creative class populations have a more nuanced relationship in regional post-industrial cities compared to larger metropolitan areas.

Uncertainty surrounding volcanic activity can lead to socio-economic crises with or without an eruption as demonstrated by the post-1978 response to unrest of Long Valley Caldera (LVC), CA. Extensive research in physical sciences provides a foundation on which to assess direct impacts of hazards, but fewer resources have been dedicated towards understanding human responses to volcanic risk. To evaluate natural hazard risk issues at LVC, a multi-hazard, mail-based, household survey was conducted to compare perceptions of volcanic, seismic, and wildfire hazards. Impacts of volcanic activity on housing prices and businesses were examined at the county-level for three volcanoes with a “very high” threat designation from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); LVC, (caldera system), Mount St. Helens, WA (stratovolcano), and Kīlauea, HI (shield volcano). A negative relationship was found between volcanic risk perception and preparedness. Additionally, the perception that housing prices declined after volcano alerts was confirmed by econometric modeling.

<p>  </p> <p>This dissertation is composed of three independent chapters in the field of the economic geography and international trade. However, there is one uniting theme between all three chapters: geographic spillovers. In each chapter, a source of geographic spillovers that is relevant to policymakers is investigated. Further, each chapter addresses a theoretical or data-driven challenge to identifying these spillovers and implements an improved methodology for estimation. In particular, the first chapter studies agglomeration and congestion spillovers, the impact of employment density on the productivity of workers and the amenities associated with living in a location, respectively, by using variation from a natural experiment. The second chapter studies fiscal multipliers, the effect of government spending on economic activity, by using variation from the same natural experiment. Finally, the third chapter studies import spillovers, the impact of neighboring firms' experience sourcing from foreign markets on the likelihood that firms in the same location and industry enter into those same markets, by using detailed data on Serbian firms.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In the first chapter, <em>Agglomeration and Congestion Spillovers: Evidence from Base Realignment and Closure</em>, I quantify agglomeration and congestion spillovers using variation from a natural experiment by instrumenting for changes in local employment with proposed changes to civilian employment at military installations through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. I find an agglomeration spillover elasticity consistent with the existing literature. However, my estimate of the congestion spillover elasticity is smaller in magnitude than common parameterizations of quantitative economic geography models. All else equal, with a weaker congestion spillover elasticity, more of the distribution of economic activity across space is due to natural advantages and disadvantages. This result implies smaller gains from implementing the optimal spatial policy. </p> <p><br></p> <p>In the second chapter, <em>Local Fiscal Multipliers and Defense Spending</em>, I estimate county-level fiscal multipliers using shocks to military employment to instrument for local defense spending. Aggregate shocks to military employment are subject to the Base Realignment and Closure process, which is designed to isolate the recommendations of the Department of Defense from political influences. By exploiting variation in military employment, I address the endogeneity of government spending when using changes in defense spending to estimate fiscal multipliers. In addition, this method addresses the attenuation bias due to geographic measurement error that results from using data on military contracts alone with small geographic units. This extends the common method for estimating state- and national-level fiscal multipliers using variation in defense spending to more local geographic units. My estimates imply a local income multiplier between 0.5 and 0.8, which is smaller than existing estimates that use non-defense-based sources of variation, but larger than the existing estimates based on variation in defense contract spending. </p> <p><br></p> <p>In the third chapter, <em>International Sourcing and Firm Learning: Evidence from Serbian Firms</em>, we find that compared to non-importers, importers are more productive and pay higher wages as they source better quality and cheaper production inputs. However, little is known about how these firms learn about their sourcing markets. We quantify the impact of neighboring firms' importing experience on the decision to start sourcing inputs from new markets using merged customs and administrative data from Serbian firms. We find that firms are more likely to start importing from a new market if firms in the same industry and location have imported from that market and if those firms increased their imports over time. Further, our results support a distinction between imports and exports for the decision to enter foreign markets; unlike exports, import sourcing choices are not independent across countries, but are substitutes. We also investigate origin-country and firm heterogeneity. Our results indicate that the impact of neighboring firms' importing experience is greater for source countries in the European Union market and for firms that are high productivity, foreign owned, and previous importers. Together, these findings suggest that a firm's spatial connections are an important factor in its access to global markets as sources for inputs.</p>

This thesis analyzes the economic health of the dining establishments in Downtown San Diego, CA, specifically in the vicinity of Petco Park. Opened in 2004, Petco Park is home to the San Diego Padres, a Major League Baseball franchise. In addition, it serves as a venue for outdoor concerts and shows. The venue is used for most of the year due to an expanded Major League Baseball schedule, especially compared to other professional sports. Much of the transformation of San Diego’s Downtown can be attributed to the late 1990’s East Village Revitalization Plan, which included municipal anchors like the San Diego Central Library, the San Diego Convention Center, and Petco Park. By looking at the restaurant industry as of 2019, this thesis strives to provide a better understanding of how an urban entertainment anchor provides grounds for mutually beneficial conditions to small businesses. Additionally, this thesis integrates the concept of economic health into the larger field of knowledge around urban professional sports stadia. Further, this thesis aims to burgeon a framework for taxonomic research of professional sports stadia.

High levels of Enterococcus are the most frequent reason for beach closures on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and can be made worse by human activities. When beaches close, tourism can decrease, affecting sales. This study aims to 1) analyze the regional economic impact of beach closures at the county level, 2) show empirically how serious the impact of high levels of Enterococcus are compared to other causes of beach closures, and 3) discuss the policy implications for regional economies linked to beach closures. I use a response function approach with beach closure and county-level monthly gross taxable sales data. Results indicate that Enterococcus-related beach closures have significantly negative effects on sales, particularly in the Accommodations and Food Services sector. The effects of bacteria-related beach closures are not much different than effects of other causes of beach closures. The results support policy recommendations for reduced beach grooming and improved sewer infrastructure.

Germany’s position of power within the European Union disguises how impacted the German economy was by the 2008 Financial Crisis and Europe’s subsequent Sovereign Debt Crisis. Two of Germany’s major banks-Commerzbank and Bayerische Landesbank- suffered major losses and required emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to survive. Walter Bagehot wrote the theory underpinning lenders of last resort (LLRs) in 1873 but how has the development of systemically important banks affected the usefulness of Bagehot’s theory? This paper aims to explain why Germany is in need of updated LLR recommendations through an analysis of the ELA Germany at large, Commerzbank and Bayerische Landesbank received. It also aims to empirically prove the stigma and public distrust of ELA through a regression of Commerzbank’s daily stock returns using an augmented Fama/French model. I find that Bagehot’s theory and recommendations are out of date for our current global financial sector. I cannot empirically prove any stigma or public distrust of Commerzbank, there is no relationship between Commerzbank stock returns and the augmented Fama/French factors.

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly called Shakers, are a most unique communistic group in American history. Their society had an economic as well as a religious base. Because of this entwining relationship, the Shakers outlived all other communistic societies in the United States. From the beginning the Shakers placed great emphasis on the economic aspects of their communal society and this emphasis played a paramount role in many of their major decisions. In effect their theory was “Mine is thine and thine is mine.” Taking their beliefs from this statement, together with the preaching of Mother Ann Lee, founder of the society, the Shakers evolved as long as they had sufficient membership to do the needed work. Indeed, industry was one of the first lessons taught to the Shaker. One of the outstanding Shaker communities was located at South Union, in Logan County, Kentucky. This colony evolved from the Second Great Awakening which had its early beginnings in Kentucky. The notable economic progress made by the South Union Shakers prior to the Civil War will be the topic of this paper. The author will inquire into several questions that are necessary for an understanding of the development and maturation of the South Union Shaker colony. The agricultural crops and livestock development will be investigated, the manufacturing and selling will be examined, and the improvements made on the Shaker property will be considered. An understanding of the Shakers’ economic base is important. By this economic stability the Shakers were able to outlive the other communal groups in America. There are several hypotheses of this study. The Shakers produced many varieties of fruits and vegetables in an area in which there was little variation in agricultural products. Livestock played an important part in the economy of the South Union Shakers, and they made a sincere effort to improve the blood line of their stock. The Shakers produced many goods and services that were used by non-members, and the newest methods in marketing, advertising, and selling were employed. They made extensive improvements on their land and buildings. This paper will begin on a very broad basis with a general history of the development of the Shaker Society and its general spiritual beliefs. From this point the writer will devote a chapter to the effects on economics resulting from their spiritual and temporal beliefs. Having established a basic understanding of the place of economics in a Shaker community, the writer will investigate the case in point – South Union. There will follow a discussion of the South Union colony in three basic areas: crops and livestock, manufactured goods and selling, and internal improvements. The author will then make his conclusions. The study will be confined to the period between the founding of the South Union colony in 1807 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. For the sake of clarity, it will be necessary on occasion to bring to the reader information from before and after this span of years.