Education drives labour market outcomes and social mobility. When educational attainment is influenced by socioeconomic factors, many students from disadvantaged backgrounds are left behind. This is undesirable as it greatly reduces the human capital that could have been present in the national economy, therefore affecting the potential of economic growth. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the impact of a policy that has the purpose of reducing the gap in educational attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers.  The analysis takes place over a 12 year time span and across 22 local authority areas in Wales. The results highlight the importance in the measure of the attainment gap. The implementation of Pupil Premium can be correlated with a reduction in the gap that is defined by the proportional difference between disadvantaged students and their peers. The magnitude of the attainment gap has stayed fairly constant but overall attainment has risen significantly over the period under analysis.  There is room for further study into the possibility that the impact of Pupil Premium has affected some groups of students more than others.

No description available.

abstract: Environmental regulations such as carbon taxation and air quality standards can lead to notable improvements in health outcomes and ambient air quality. However, these types of policies may have significant impacts on the labor market, in particular for workers in energy-intensive industries, especially if these workers have acquired specific human capital in those industries. This dissertation focuses on the general equilibrium consequences of environmental regulation on the labor market. Specifically, I examine costly reallocation of workers between sectors, the welfare effects of involuntary unemployment, and the heterogeneous effects of this policy on different types of workers. To this end, I develop a two-sector search model with sectoral human capital accumulation to explore the effects on the labor market of implementing a per unit of energy use carbon tax in the US. I separate the economy into a high-intensive sector (’dirty’) and a low-intensive sector (’clean’). I calibrate the model using 2014 U.S. data. I find that a carbon tax increases total unemployment by 0.06 percentage points, decreases the dirty employment rate by 2.1 percent, and increases the clean employment rate by 1.04 percent. Firms in the dirty sector adjust by decreasing the demand for high-skilled workers and increasing the number of vacancies in the low-skilled market / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Economics 2019

No description available.

This thesis studies currency premia and their connections with macroeconomics. In the first essay, I link currency premia to capital-output ratios and the well-known “Lucas Paradox”. The “Lucas Paradox” states that there are large and persistent differences in capital-output ratios across countries, suggesting capital is not flowing to countries where it is relatively scarce. In the data, capital-output ratios vary a lot cross-sectionally even within developed countries, and they are negatively correlated with currency risk premia and risk-free rates. To rationalize these patterns, I build a quantitative multi-country model of capital accumulation with external habit and heterogeneous exposures to a global productivity shock. I show that currency risk in this model generates cross-country variations in risk-free rates and capital-output ratios that are consistent with the data. I estimate the model using GDP data from countries issuing the G10 currencies and find two main results: (1) The heterogenous loadings that I extract from GDP data alone are highly correlated with capital-output ratios; and (2) when I feed the estimated loadings into the model, model-generated capital-output ratios account for roughly 55% of the cross-country variation in the data. I conclude that variation in currency risk and therefore currency risk premia have significant effects on the real economy. In the second essay, I identify a quantitative puzzle when using canonical consumption-based asset pricing models to match currency premia under complete markets. Canonical long-run risk and habit models induce a strong, negative correlation between the variance and the mean of the log stochastic discount factor to address the well-known equity premium puzzle. When applied to an open economy with complete markets, this key feature requires that differences in currency returns should arise primarily from predictable appreciations, a requirement that is at odds with the data. We term this tension between a high equity premium, smooth risk-free rates, and largely unpredictable exchange rates the currency premium puzzle and argue it is the underlying reason why existing international asset pricing models have struggled to simultaneously match data on currency returns, equity returns, and risk-free rates. In the third essay, I show that perturbation methods lead to significant computational errors when used to solve international risk-sharing models with Epstein and Zin (1989) preferences. In particular, if countries feature different sizes, the simulating results violate law of iterated expectations. Even under symmetric setups, the errors along a typical simulation path are non-negligible. I conclude that perturbation-based solutions of EZ risk-sharing models should be used with caution.

Allgemeine Gleichgewichtsmodelle (Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models) werden oft genutzt, um Erkenntnisse über die gesamtwirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen bildungspolitischer Maßnahmen zu gewinnen. Eine Literaturrecherche zur Integration des Bildungs- und Ausbildungssystems in CGE-Modellen zeigt klare Limitationen bisheriger Studien bezüglich der Darstellung des Bildungs- und Ausbildungssystems und identifiziert damit eine wichtige Forschungslücke, der sich diese Dissertation widmet. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist das Hauptziel dieser Dissertation die Entwicklung eines neuartigen Ansatzes zur Einbeziehung der anerkannten Bildungs- und Berufsbildungssysteme in CGE-Modellen, einschließlich aller potenziellen Verbindungen zwischen diesen beiden Systemen. Das entwickelte Modell ermöglicht die Akkumulation von Arbeitskräften entsprechend der Veränderungen der Anzahl der Absolventen und Schulabbrecher eines integrierten Bildungs- und Ausbildungssystems. Es handelt sich um ein rekursiv-dynamisches Ein-Land-CGE-Modell (STAGE-Edu), das die mittel- bis langfristigen gesamtwirtschaftlichen Effekte verschiedener Bildungs- und Ausbildungspolitiken abbildet. Der Sudan gehört zu den Ländern der unteren mittleren Einkommensklasse, die bezüglich der Förderung der menschlichen Entwicklung vor zahlreichen Herausforderungen stehen. Aus diesem Grund werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation verschiedene bildungspolitische Maßnahmen analysiert und deren Auswirkungen auf das Wirtschaftswachstum und die Humankapitalbildung im Sudan bewertet. Der entwickelte Modellierungsrahmen leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zur gesamtwirtschaftlichen Darstellung der durch Bildung und Ausbildung bewirkten menschlichen Entwicklung sowie der drauf abzielenden politischen Maßnahmen. STAGE-Edu bietet politischen Entscheidungsträgern ex-ante Erkenntnisse bezüglich der potenziellen Auswirkungen von Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Arbeitsqualifikation und letztlich zur Erhöhung des Lebensstandards der Bevölkerung. / Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models have been widely used to generate insights into the economy-wide implications of education policy measures. A literature review on incorporating the education and training system in CGE models reveals explicit limitations of previous studies depicting vocational education and training system, hence, identifying a significant research gap, which shall be addressed in this dissertation. Against this background, the main objective of this dissertation is to develop a novel approach to incorporate the acknowledged education and vocational training systems in CGE models, including all potential exiting bridges between these two systems. The developed model enables labor force accumulation according to changes in the number of graduates and dropouts from an integrated education and training system. It is a recursive-dynamic single-country CGE model (STAGE-Edu), which depicts the medium- to long-run economy-wide effects of various education and training policies. The Sudan is one of the lower-middle-income countries that face numerous challenges in accelerating human development. For this reason, in the dissertation at hand different education and training policy measures are analyzed and their implications on economic growth and human capital accumulation in the Sudan are assessed. The developed modeling framework contributes to the field of economy-wide depiction of human development triggered by education and training as well as related policy measures. STAGE-Edu provides policymakers with ex-ante insights on potential impacts of measures for enhancing labor skills and ultimately for improving the livelihood of the population.

A região de Caxias do Sul constitui o segundo pólo industrial mais importante do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, atrás somente da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre. Sua importância econômica, alicerçada em setores como o metal-mecânico automotivo, moveleiro e alimentício, perdura mesmo após a abertura comercial instaurada no Brasil a partir da década de 1990. Essa pesquisa esforça-se por analisar o problema da industrialização de Caxias do Sul sob o viés da teoria do desenvolvimento desigual, elaborada em sua versão mais refinada por David Harvey. Segundo esse enfoque, o desenvolvimento geográfico desigual é uma expressão da acumulação capitalista e resulta da tendência à concentração de recursos e riquezas (forças produtivas) em pontos nodais do espaço que contrastam com porções do espaço menos prósperas economicamente. Há, segundo essa interpretação, uma lógica universal que permeia as diferentes escalas da reprodução global da sociedade capitalista e que produz as diferenciações socioespaciais enquanto elemento inerente à sua dinâmica. Nesse sentido, o problema central dessa pesquisa consiste em compreender a formação de uma regionalidade da acumulação capitalista a partir da análise da indústria metal-mecânica automotiva no município de Caxias do Sul destacando os riscos e contradições do processo. Para isso, abordamos as fragilidades produzidas pela especialização produtiva regional e as estratégias utilizadas pelas empresas do setor para manter a competitividade econômica em um novo ambiente de negócios, com forte concorrência internacional. Enfatizamos ainda o papel das representações ideológicas para a reprodução de uma relativa estabilidade/coerência regional, diante das forças de desestruturação/reestruturação colocadas pela globalização. / The region of Caxias do Sul is among the largest industrial center in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, second only to the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre. Its economic relevance, based on sectors such as metalworking and automotive, furniture and food processing and manufacturing, persists even after Brazils trade opening in the 1990s. This research aims to analyze the question of the industrialization of Caxias do Sul drawing on the theory of uneven development, advanced in its most refined version by David Harvey. According to this theoretical framework, uneven geographical development is an expression of capitalist accumulation and results in the tendency towards a concentration of resources and wealth (productive forces) in nodal points of space that contrast with other, less prosperous areas in economic terms. There is, following Harvey, a universal logic that permeates the different scales of the global reproduction of capitalist society and produces the socio-spatial differentiations as an inherent element of its dynamic. Thus the central aim of this research is to understand the formation of a regionality of capitalist accumulation by analyzing the automotive and metalworking industry in the municipality of Caxias do Sul, as well as to highlight the risks and contradictions of this process. To do so, we focused on the vulnerabilities of the regional productive specialization and the strategies pursued by firms in this sector to keep competitive in a new business environment marked by strong foreign competition. We also emphasized the role of ideological representations in reproducing a relative stability and coherence in the region in a context of disorganizing and restructuring forces brought by globalization.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:16:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vera Lucia Martins.pdf: 1795552 bytes, checksum: 4682cf314ecba8b406def6899d156aac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Drugs as commodities and the (re)production control mechanisms in capitalist society is the object of this thesis. It is an explanatory bibliographic study that analyses drugs in capitalist society and their connection to capital accumulation. The answers to the central question To what extent do drugs keep capitalist accumulation?- indicate that drugs keep capitalist accumulation to the extent that they are used to impose mechanisms of domination in terms of economic, political and social points of view; - in capitalist society commodity production is performed to the satisfaction of others and not to the satisfaction of those who produce it; - being inserted in the spheres of production and circulation, drugs fulfill the value of the capital, which is a necessary requirement for capitalist accumulation; - such phenomenon in capitalist society is clearly defined at the end of the nineteenth to the twentieth century, but it is mostly from the 1970s that the production and circulation of drugs will boost the process of capitalist accumulation; - and that the production and circulation of drugs contributed to the increase in gross domestic product of countries considered as peripheral to the capitalist system. The indispensability of drug money could be verified in terms of economic and political crises of the capitalist system which, in the defined period (1970 through 1990), in Latin America, served the interests of a hegemonic policy intended for all countries. The finding focuses in Latin America, especially in Colombia, once it is the largest producer of cocaine. The particularity of Colombia has been recovered, in view of the fact that the production and circulation of drugs in that country reached such a dimension that it placed the country on the route of the world s largest producers and distributors of cocaine, in a context where the United States imposed its leadership through the war on drugs policy / "As drogas como mercadorias e a (re)produção dos mecanismos de controle na sociedade capitalista" é o objeto da presente tese. Trata-se de estudo bibliográfico exploratório que analisa as drogas na sociedade capitalista e a sua relação com a acumulação do capital. As respostas à questão central em que medida as drogas sustentam a acumulação capitalista? apontam que as drogas sustentam a acumulação capitalista à medida que são usadas como mercadorias para impor mecanismos de dominação do ponto de vista econômico, político e social; na sociedade capitalista, a produção de mercadorias é realizada para a satisfação de terceiros e não para a satisfação de quem as produz; as drogas, por estarem inseridas nas esferas da produção e da circulação, realizam o valor do capital, requisito necessário para a acumulação capitalista; o que movimenta as esferas da produção e da circulação das drogas é a expectativa do lucro; que esse fenômeno, na sociedade capitalista, é claramente demarcado já final do século XIX para o século XX, mas é, sobretudo, a partir dos anos de 1970 que a produção e a circulação das drogas exponenciaram o processo de acumulação capitalista; e que a produção e a circulação das drogas contribuíram para a elevação do produto interno bruto de países tidos como historicamente periféricos ao sistema capitalista. A indispensabilidade do dinheiro das drogas pôde ser verificada em momentos de crise econômica e política do sistema capitalista que, no período delimitado (1970 a 1990), na América Latina, serviu aos interesses de uma política que se pretende hegemônica para todos os países. Essa constatação centra-se na América Latina, sobretudo na Colômbia, por ser o maior produtor de cocaína. A particularidade da Colômbia foi recoberta, haja vista que a produção e a circulação das drogas nesse país alcançaram uma dimensão tal que colocou o país na rota dos maiores produtores e distribuidores mundiais da cocaína, num contexto em que os Estados Unidos impunham sua liderança, através da política de guerra às drogas

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:31:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marinez Parte I.pdf: 5373100 bytes, checksum: b04e4763ea058d931916bf3ae4511ab3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-08 / This study seeks to understand the relationship of the process of capital accumulation in the wood processing industry and its relationship with the production of geographical space. The analysis of such a process takes into account the contradictions inherent in their development process. We seek to understand these contradictions, by pointing the main factors that encouraged the development of modern forestry, based on scientific research, especially in relation to raw material, meeting the industrial needs. It was intended in this work demonstrate the relationship between the various geographical scales as the focal point of socio-spatial training for the consolidation of the timber industry in the state of Parana. / O presente trabalho busca compreender a relação do processo de acumulação de capital no setor de transformação de madeira e sua relação com a produção do espaço geográfico. A análise de tal processo leva em consideração as contradições inerentes ao seu prodesso de desenvolvimento. Buscamos compreender essas contradições apontando os principais fatores que propiciam o desenvolvimento de uma moderna silvicultura, baseada em pesquisas científicas, sobretudo em relação à matéria-prima, atendendo as necessidades industriais. Pretendeu-se no decorrer do trabalho demonstrar a relação entre as diversas escalas geográficas como ponto central da formação sócio-espacial para a consolidação da indústria madeireira no Estado do Paraná.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T14:42:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marinez Parte I.pdf: 5373100 bytes, checksum: b04e4763ea058d931916bf3ae4511ab3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-08 / This study seeks to understand the relationship of the process of capital accumulation in the wood processing industry and its relationship with the production of geographical space. The analysis of such a process takes into account the contradictions inherent in their development process. We seek to understand these contradictions, by pointing the main factors that encouraged the development of modern forestry, based on scientific research, especially in relation to raw material, meeting the industrial needs. It was intended in this work demonstrate the relationship between the various geographical scales as the focal point of socio-spatial training for the consolidation of the timber industry in the state of Parana. / O presente trabalho busca compreender a relação do processo de acumulação de capital no setor de transformação de madeira e sua relação com a produção do espaço geográfico. A análise de tal processo leva em consideração as contradições inerentes ao seu prodesso de desenvolvimento. Buscamos compreender essas contradições apontando os principais fatores que propiciam o desenvolvimento de uma moderna silvicultura, baseada em pesquisas científicas, sobretudo em relação à matéria-prima, atendendo as necessidades industriais. Pretendeu-se no decorrer do trabalho demonstrar a relação entre as diversas escalas geográficas como ponto central da formação sócio-espacial para a consolidação da indústria madeireira no Estado do Paraná.