The preservation of agricultural land, especially that which lies close to cities (in the so-called urban fringe), is a concern in many jurisdictions around the world. Agricultural land values change dramatically as farmland is located nearer to urban areas and development pressure has increased on these lands as urban populations have expanded. In British Columbia, Canada, a provincial-wide zoning system forbids the development or non-agricultural use of land without special permission. This system is explicitly designed to protect the capability of the land to produce food in the future, but it also implicitly protects the positive spillovers from agricultural land such as environmental services and open space. Three empirical papers comprise the original research in this dissertation. They seek to answer related questions about agricultural land values in the urban fringe. First, a statistical investigation is conducted into the factors that are associated with successful applications for exclusion from the agricultural zoning system. This study finds that a measure of distance (metres from the main highway) is highly significantly correlated with a parcel’s chances of being excluded. Next, a paper examines the trend of hobby farmers springing up in the urban fringe. Two different models seek to illuminate common trends in the types of parcels that hobby farmers choose, and the price that hobby farmers pay for the land, respectively. This study finds that hobby farmers seem to be very selective about the parcels they choose, likely trying to take advantage of favourable taxation rates for agricultural producers in place in the province. Lastly, a study seeks to understand how residential parcels’ values are influenced by the nearness to and view of agricultural land. Agricultural land in the study does not appear to exhibit an open space premium, though this could be influenced by uncertainty about the future use of the land. All the empirical work in this dissertation utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) technology that allows the calculation of distances to features of interest. Hedonic pricing models and binary choice models are the main statistical tools used.

This thesis addresses two questions to understand the current situation of technology in Atlanta: Is Atlanta an ideal location for a technology cluster to form? Does a true technology cluster exist in Atlanta? According to cluster literature, there are seven characteristics required for emerging clusters: a high-quality, powerful research university; a skilled labor pool; funding (R&D, venture capital, etc.); favorable policies; linkages; certain city characteristics; and luck. There also are several somewhat-vague characteristics that show success in a cluster. Among these are agglomeration, innovation (where funding and employment are two measures of innovation), and growth. In order to provide a comprehensive assessment of the answers to the two questions, a mixture of summary statistics, shallow case studies, previous analysis, and comparisons of Atlanta with other clusters are blended together to assess Atlanta's performance on each of the characteristics outlined in theory. Where possible, more than one of these measures are used. Of the seven necessary characteristics of cluster creation set out by theory, Atlanta seems to have achieved a passing grade regarding research university, labor pool, and city characteristics, but has a failing grade on policy and linkages. One interesting finding is that Atlanta receives a strong amount of venture capital investment in start-ups but is lacking in later stage companies. Atlanta's success as a cluster is dubious. It has proven somewhat successful in start-ups and in the so-called "Level II" technology companies that have lower levels of technology-oriented jobs and that tend to be more manufacturing focused. It is also possible that a technology cluster is forming in Atlanta, but that it is still in its infancy. With regard to policy, it is recommended that Atlanta gain certain policies that will allow for the characteristics of cluster formation (particularly investment and linkages--since those are the areas where Atlanta is or possibly is lacking) and replace policies that will hinder the growth of technology and investment in the technology industries.

The preservation of agricultural land, especially that which lies close to cities (in the so-called urban fringe), is a concern in many jurisdictions around the world. Agricultural land values change dramatically as farmland is located nearer to urban areas and development pressure has increased on these lands as urban populations have expanded. In British Columbia, Canada, a provincial-wide zoning system forbids the development or non-agricultural use of land without special permission. This system is explicitly designed to protect the capability of the land to produce food in the future, but it also implicitly protects the positive spillovers from agricultural land such as environmental services and open space. Three empirical papers comprise the original research in this dissertation. They seek to answer related questions about agricultural land values in the urban fringe. First, a statistical investigation is conducted into the factors that are associated with successful applications for exclusion from the agricultural zoning system. This study finds that a measure of distance (metres from the main highway) is highly significantly correlated with a parcel’s chances of being excluded. Next, a paper examines the trend of hobby farmers springing up in the urban fringe. Two different models seek to illuminate common trends in the types of parcels that hobby farmers choose, and the price that hobby farmers pay for the land, respectively. This study finds that hobby farmers seem to be very selective about the parcels they choose, likely trying to take advantage of favourable taxation rates for agricultural producers in place in the province. Lastly, a study seeks to understand how residential parcels’ values are influenced by the nearness to and view of agricultural land. Agricultural land in the study does not appear to exhibit an open space premium, though this could be influenced by uncertainty about the future use of the land. All the empirical work in this dissertation utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) technology that allows the calculation of distances to features of interest. Hedonic pricing models and binary choice models are the main statistical tools used.

This thesis investigates achievements in human development outcomes on health, education, and poverty indicators across Indian states, in order to discern what factors might influence a state’s better orientation toward social policies. After conducting data analysis, the study explains differences in outcomes, as achieved by Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, by building an argument of subnational solidarity and its impact on determining the state’s policy agendas.

The 1990s was marked by deep structural reforms of the Brazilian economy. Trade liberalization can be identified as the launching pad for other structural changes in the economic model which went into effect in the country from there. On one hand, the trade liberalization has created the conditions for the equation of relative prices, acting as an instrument of adjustment between supply and domestic demand, on the other, began to demand a greater effort to attract foreign savings to compensate for the mismatch between demand and supply external, in other words, the internal adjustment generated a strong external imbalance, with the current account deficit. The defense of the argument of comparative advantage was crucial for the purpose of adoption of liberalizing measures in the face of the defense of the country s largest insertion in international trade through competitiveness of productive structures. However, the participation of the regions in foreign trade seems to have reinforced the prevailing pattern before the opening of the economy, which can be attributed to the strong inter-regional economic differentiation. The main objective of the study was to examine the forms of external insertion of the Northeastern economy, highlighting the regional differences and the pattern of trade conducted by the state of Sergipe. For this, we used the index of Revealed Comparative Advantages (RCA). The study showed that the state has VCR into six groups of products, especially food, tobacco and beverages; footwear and leather; and machinery and equipment. In general, the performance of the state revealed the diverse character of the industrial structure, despite the importance of the food sector in total exports. / A década de 1990 foi marcada por profundas reformas estruturais da economia brasileira. A liberalização comercial pode ser apontada como a base de lançamento de outras mudanças estruturais no modelo econômico que passou a vigorar no país a partir daí. Se por um lado, a abertura comercial criou as condições para o equacionamento dos preços relativos, atuando como instrumento de ajuste entre oferta e demanda doméstica, por outro, passou a exigir um esforço maior de captação de poupança externa para compensar o desajuste entre demanda e oferta externas; isto é, o ajuste interno gerou um forte desajuste externo, com déficit em conta corrente. A defesa do argumento das vantagens comparativas foi fundamental para efeito da adoção de medidas liberalizantes, em face da defesa de maior inserção do país no comércio internacional, através da competitividade das estruturas produtivas. Contudo, a participação relativa das regiões no comércio externo parece ter reforçado o padrão prevalecente antes da abertura da economia, o que se pode atribuir à forte diferenciação econômica inter-regional. O objetivo principal do estudo foi examinar as formas de inserção externa da economia nordestina, ressaltando as desigualdades regionais e o padrão de comércio realizado pelo estado de Sergipe. Para isso, utilizou-se o Índice das Vantagens Comparativas Reveladas (VCR). O estudo mostrou que o Estado apresenta VCR em seis grupos de produtos, com destaque para Alimentos, fumo e bebidas; Calçados e couro; e Máquinas e Equipamentos. De forma geral, o desempenho do Estado revelou o caráter diversificado da estrutura industrial, a despeito da importância do setor de alimentos na pauta de exportações.

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the role played by the Constitutional Fund for Financing the Northeast (FNE) on the economies of Sergipe and Alagoas in the period of 1989-2010. Part is the statement that this fund, established in 1988 Constitution, with the aim of contributing for the reduction of regional disparities in Brazil, is an important source of income transferred to the Northeast. The main objective is to analyze the transfers of FNE according to spatial allocation, sectorial distribution and by size of enterprise, with an emphasis in the states of Sergipe and Alagoas, in order to understand if they are reaching the goal set in its institution. The sources used in the study were data available from the Ministry of National Integration (MI), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Bank of Northeast Brazil (BNB). Through the analysis, it was found that the applications of FNE are increasing, and there have been advances in the directions of resources, but there are imperfections in the allocation of these and is needed improvements in the spatial distribution, by size of the beneficiary and in the productive sectors that are more strategic for the development of the region. / O propósito desta dissertação é analisar o papel desempenhado pelo Fundo Constitucional de Financiamento do Nordeste (FNE) nas economias de Sergipe e Alagoas no período de 1989 2010. Parte-se da afirmação que este fundo, instituído na Constituição de 1988, com o objetivo de contribuir para a diminuição das desigualdades regionais existentes no Brasil, é uma importante fonte de recurso repassado para a região Nordeste. Objetiva-se analisar os repasses dos recursos do FNE segundo a alocação espacial, a distribuição setorial e por porte de empreendimento, com ênfase nos estados de Sergipe e Alagoas, a fim de perceber se estão atingindo a meta definida na sua instituição. As fontes utilizadas no trabalho foram dados disponibilizados pelo Ministério da Integração Nacional (MI), dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) e Banco do Nordeste do Brasil (BNB). Através das análises, constatou-se que as aplicações dos recursos do FNE estão aumentando, e houveram avanços nos direcionamentos dos recursos, mas existem imperfeições na alocação destes e se faz necessário melhorias na distribuição espacial, por porte do beneficiário e nos setores produtivos que sejam mais estratégicos para o desenvolvimento da região.

This paper examines the hypothesis of GDP per capita convergence in the northeastern states, the period 1995-2009, with a focus on human capital. The reason to analyze the Northeast only and not all regions of Brazil is to retain the condition of homogeneity, necessary to analyze convergence issues. Using theories and models of economic growth, we tested the hypothesis of convergence ß- (absolute and conditional) convergence, and -o- during the period analyzed. Using Stata software version 12.1, the coefficients were estimated using panel data with fixed effects, whose main advantage is in capturing behavior changes of the indicators analyzed, obtaining more data, informative and efficient, which would not be possible with only data cross section or time series. The results pointed to the existence of convergence-o-, ß- and ß--absolute-conditional, obtaining, in the case of absolute convergence, growth rates well above those found in the empirical literature. Under the use of proxies of human capital, the conditional convergence proved apparently differentiated between samples considered, revealing the persistence of differences interstate. / O presente trabalho analisa a hipotese da convergencia do PIB per capita nos estados nordestinos, no periodo de 1995-2009, com foco no capital humano. A necessidade de analisar apenas a Regiao Nordeste e nao todas as Regioes do Brasil prendeu-se a satisfazer a condicao de homogeneidade, necessaria para tratar a questao da convergencia. Tendo como aparato as teorias e modelos de crescimento economico, foram testadas as hipoteses de convergencia ß (absoluta e condicional) e convergencia-o- durante o periodo analisado. Utilizando o Software Stata versao 12.1, os coeficientes foram estimados atraves de dados em painel com efeitos fixos, que tem como principal vantagem captar as mudancas no comportamento dos indicadores analisados, obtendo dados mais, informativos e eficientes, o que nao seria possivel apenas com dados cross section ou com series temporais. Os resultados apontaram para a existencia de convergencia-o-, ß-absoluta e ß-condicional, obtendo, no caso da convergencia absoluta, taxas de crescimento bem superiores as encontradas na literatura empirica. Sob a utilizacao de proxies do capital humano, a convergencia condicional mostrou-se aparentemente diferenciada entre as amostras consideradas, revelando a persistencia das diferencas interestaduais.

Eighteenth-century Methodist evangelism supported, perpetuated, and promoted slavery as requisite for a productive economy in the colonial American South. Religious thought of the First Great Awakening emerged alongside a colonial economy increasingly reliant on chattel slavery for its prosperity. The records of well-traveled celebrity minister and provocateur of the Anglican tradition, George Whitefield, suggest how Calvinist-Methodist evangelicals viewed slavery as necessary to supporting colonial ministerial efforts. Whitefield’s absorption of and immersion into American culture is revealed in his owning a plantation, portraying a willingness to sacrifice the mobility of the disfranchised for widespread consumption of evangelical thought. A side effect of this was free and formerly enslaved individuals of African descent gained direct access to itinerancy in the post-Revolutionary Atlantic world, as evidenced by the multi-racial ministerial network of Whitefield’s proslavery benefactor, Selina Hastings. Paradoxically, southern evangelicalism appealed to the disfranchised while perpetuating slavery as a socially normative, religiously-sanctioned institution.

In recent years, industrial preservation policies, which aim to preserve urban industrial activity and industrial employment often through the preservation of industrial land, have emerged as a flashpoint in cities across the country that have implemented these policies. While critics contend that industrial preservation policies amount to smokestack chasing in “post-industrial” cities like New York City, industrial preservationists argue that such policies help to preserve well-paying, middle-class jobs and thus represent a tool to mitigate rising income inequalities in cities. Despite considerable attention to these policies, minimal research has evaluated the effectiveness of industrial preservation policies as land use and economic development planning tools. This paper inserts itself into the debate surrounding the utility of industrial preservation policies by evaluating the effectiveness of New York City’s 2006 Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) program. Specifically, this paper uses propensity scoring to evaluate various measures of urban industrial activity in designated IBZs compared to a control group of similar areas. This paper finds that IBZs outperformed the control group in terms of better stemming industrial employment losses and industrial land decline. The control group, however, provided a more favorable climate to industrial business starts and performed about the same as IBZs in encouraging capital investments in industrial infrastructure. These findings suggest that the IBZ program yielded mixed results in its efforts to both attract and retain urban industry.

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