This dissertation examines the macroeconomic effects of poverty and inequality. The second chapter considers the effect of poverty and subsistence consumption constraints on economic growth in a two-sector occupational choice model. I find that in the presence of risk taking, subsistence consumption constraints result in a dramatic slow down in terms of economic growth. The third chapter (joint with Shankha Chakraborty) proposes a model in which agents face endogenous mortality and direct preferences over inequality. I find that the greater the scale of relative deprivation the worse the mortality outcomes are for individuals. The fourth chapter looks at the relationship between inequality and the demand for redistribution when individuals have social status concerns. I show that under social status concerns an increase in consumption inequality results in higher taxation and lower growth. This dissertation includes unpublished coauthored material.

The puzzle that drives this study is why Thailand pursued a proactive foreign policy towards greater powers during the Second World War. The main literature on Thai foreign policy-making generally suggests that Thailand is traditionally passive vis-à-vis greater powers. Oftentimes, it is believed that the fate of Thailand is subjected to the dictate of great powers. The empirical cases of Thailand during the Second World War suggest otherwise. How could a conventional understanding of Thai foreign policy make sense of Thailand’s war against France in 1940-41? Similarly, how could one understand Thailand’s defiant behaviours vis-à-vis Japan in 1941-44 despite the latter’s greater military capabilities and influence? This thesis employs the approaches of ontological security and status concern to interpret Thai proactive behaviours during the wartime period. It argues that concerns for status and recognition from the great powers were the primary motivations of Thailand’s proactive behaviours. In order to discern material and ideational motives of the Thai foreign policy-makers, this research heavily relies on archival research and utilises documents which were formerly considered to be classified. This methodological quest is to establish and enhance the credibility of the argument presented in the study.

During the past decade, a significant change in use of force norms took place within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The United Nations (UN) is founded on a collective security agreement, which gives the UNSC the power to authorize the use of force to protect UN member-states. The UN Charter explicitly provides the UNSC with a mandate to keep peace between states, not within them. In 2006, however, the UNSC unanimously adopted the "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) doctrine, which expanded what I call the UNSC's circle of protection to include "human protection." Further, in exceptional circumstances, R2P gives the UNSC the power to authorize the use of force in a country without the consent of its government. Many UNSC members initially resisted institutionalizing R2P, especially those with contested territory and a history of foreign intervention, such as China. This dissertation attempts to explain how and why this change in use of force norms developed. I argue this macro-level change was principally due to two often overlooked factors: an epistemic community pushing the Council to become more empathetic and altruistic, and Council members wanting to gain social status. In order to adequately explain the development of R2P you must explain the significant role the epistemic community played. And to adequately explain the significance of the epistemic community you must explain the significant role empathy played. Further, to sufficiently explain the UNSC's decision to adopt R2P you must explain the significance of China's acceptance. And to sufficiently explain China's acceptance you must explain the significant role status-seeking played. Explanations for the adoption of R2P that do not acknowledge the significant role of empathy and social influence are incomplete and insufficient. Although others have argued emotion and social influence are important causal variables in international relations, few offer specific mechanisms or micro-processes demonstrating how these factors work. This dissertation attempts to fill this gap. The implications are that empathy and status-seeking matter far more to international relations than many suggest.

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Tiden före den senaste finanskrisen präglades av generös kreditgivning och ökande inkomstskillnader. Det är väl bevisat att hög skuldsättning ökar risken för finansiell instabilitet, och bevisen blir fler för att inkomstojämlikhet påverkar överskuldsättning i en positiv riktning. Flera, däribland Frank et. al. (2010), vill förklara sambandet mellan inkomstojämlikhet och skuldsättning med att människor ägnar sig åt statuskonsumtion. Frank et. al. (2010) formulerar en hypotes för att empiriskt undersöka huruvida konsumtionsfunktionen bör innehålla en relativ faktor, och syftet för denna uppsats är att undersöka giltigheten i ”hypotesen om utgiftskaskader” i en svensk kontext. Hypotesen testas genom regression av förändringen i andelen skuldsatta hos Kronofogdemyndigheten på förändringen i gini-koefficienten inom kommuner mellan åren 2011-2016. Studien finner inget signifikant samband mellan andelen skuldsatta och gini-koefficientens förändring. Resultatet kan möjligen förklaras med att den geografiska enheten som observeras är för stor. / The years leading up to the latest financial crisis were characterized by generous credit markets and growing income inequality. It is well proven that high indebtedness increases the risk of financial instability, and there is growing evidence of income inequality affecting the debt-rate in a positive direction. Several, including Frank et. al. (2010), believes that the relationship between indebtedness and income inequality can be explained by people engaging in status-seeking consumption. Frank et. al. (2010) formulates a hypothesis to empirically investigate whether the consumption function should contain a relative factor, and the purpose of this paper is to test the validity of the expenditure cascade-hypothesis in a Swedish context.  The hypothesis is tested by regressing the change in the number of people with debt registered at the Swedish Enforcement Authority on the changes in the gini-coefficient within municipalities in the years 2011-2016. The study finds no significant correlation between the number of debtors and the change in the gini-coefficient. The results may be explained by the fact that the geographical unit of observation is too large.

v anglickém jazyce The aim of this Master's thesis is to answer the question why Luxembourg contributes more to official development assistance (ODA) than recommended, why it increases its official development assistance to 1% of GNI. The work is based on the hypothesis that Luxembourg, a small state, is trying to increase its status through foreign development cooperation and through its gradual increase in official development assistance. By reaching 0.7% of GNI, Luxembourg is among the other four countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, which have already met this threshold. This group of five countries is the only one that has managed to increase its official development assistance to 1% of GNI and is considered the most generous donor. Luxembourg has averaged 1% of GNI since 2009, reaching number one in recent years, making it the most generous country. Luxembourg achieved 0.7% of GNI for the first time in 2000. In 2009, it reached 1% of GNI for the first time. The timing of the research is limited to these years 2000-2009. The research frameworks of the work are the concept of a small state and the concept of status. The terms used are foreign development cooperation and official development assistance. The research work applies the content analysis of official documents of the...

Why do small states contribute to great power led wars even though they lack the capabilities to determine the success of the war and there are no clear interests to gain? The peaceable states of the Nordic countries could have opted for a free-riding strategy instead of being active participants. Still, the Nordic countries were in relation to their size, some of the top military contributors in Afghanistan. In recent small state literature, it has been suggested that small states use military contributions as means to increase their international status position. There are however two competing and sometimes overlapping arguments of whether status is a means for increasing political influence or securing protection. This thesis contributes to this literature by differentiating the concept of status in two categories - influence and security. This distinction enabled a cross case comparative congruence test which reveals that the Nordic states had different status motivations in their decision to contribute to the Afghanistan war. Denmark and Sweden had a clear preference of seeking status seeking as means for influence while Norway used status mainly as means for enhancing security. This thesis shows that small states are not only dependent security consumers. It suggests that the decision-making processes in the small states were guided by independent preferences of enhancing status, which ultimately transformed into military contributions. However, rather than considering status as the main objective, the potential gains of enhancing the status position were the central ambition. The Nordic states’ preferences of status gains differed more than what previous research has suggested.

This thesis contributes to the literature on status seeking and transboundary crises by studying the dynamics of a group of states’ collective status seeking during times of crisis. The implications of the covid-19 pandemic for the common status seeking of the Nordic countries are explored through a study of the collective Nordic identity. A narrative analysis of the views on Sweden in the two Nordic countries Norway and Denmark is carried out using news media articles during first three months of the pandemic. The results show a rift in the collective Nordic identity during the covid-19 pandemic. The main conclusion is that a transboundary crisis can undermine states’ collective status seeking if the cooperative status seeking processesare not backed up by collaboration in times of crisis.