Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 416-436).

Essa dissertação de mestrado busca discutir a economia paranaense, ressaltando aspectos como o crescimento, o desenvolvimento, a participação e a relevância deste Estado na economia brasileira. A economia paranaense é uma economia variada, fortemente baseada no setor agrícola, e com o setor industrial muito forte, sobretudo graças às exportações, beneficiadas pelas fronteiras com Paraguai e Argentina. O Paraná tem um dos maiores portos graneleiros da América Latina, o Porto de Paranaguá, que é um dos principais portos exportadores de produtos agrícolas do Brasil. Além disto, o Estado possui um importante parque industrial em Curitiba e São Jose dos Pinhais, onde se localiza o Aeroporto Internacional Afonso Pena. O Paraná também conta com grandes montadoras de carros, como Renault e Volvo, que oferecem milhares de emprego aos moradores. O setor elétrico é muito desenvolvido, graças a Usina Hidrelétrica de Itaipu, uma das maiores do mundo. O setor da agroindústria também se destaca, com a produção principalmente de soja, milho, arroz, cebola e maçã, dentre outros. A agropecuária é bastante valorizada, pois vegetação típica do local facilita a criação de bovinos, aves e suínos. Outro ponto importante da economia do Paraná é o extrativismo de madeiras e erva-mate. Assim, por meio de um estudo exploratório, com base em revisão bibliográfica e pesquisas documentais, o objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar a relevância da economia paranaense no contexto econômico atual do país. / This master's thesis consists in the pursuit of understanding, the state economy, discuss the economic fundamentals, growth, development, participation, relevance in the Brazilian economy as well as enhance the capacity and representativeness the Paraná state should be assigned. The state economy a varied economy one of Brazil's best is strongly based in the agricultural sector, and very strong industrial sector, particularly exports because their states they are border with Paraguay and Argentina. Paraná has one of the largest bulk ports in Latin America, the Port of Paranaguá which was founded in 1935 being one of the main exporting ports of agricultural products of the country, has an important industrial park in Curitiba and Sao Jose dos Pinhais where is the Airport Afonso Pena International, which has large car makers like Renault, Volvo, and Apothecary, offering thousands of jobs for residents. The electricity sector is very developed because of Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, one of the world's largest. And being of great importance the agribusiness sector, food production, primarily soybeans, corn, rice, onion, apple, among others, agriculture is highly valued because the typical local vegetation facilitates the creation of cattle, poultry and pigs. Another point of Paraná economy is the extraction of timber and mate. Finally, through an exploratory study of literature review and research presents itself assess the relevance of the state economy in the current economy context of the country.

Global waste generation trends are increasing at an alarming rate. Low- and middle-income countries (or the ‘Global South’) bear an increasing proportion of this burden, as the amount of waste produced in these countries is expected to surge drastically in the coming years. Since cities in the Global South rarely have formal municipal recycling systems, recycling activities are typically performed by waste pickers who are precariously employed and sell their wares in unpredictable, unregulated markets. That is to say, this economic activity is an archetype of what is commonly referred to as that taking place in the ‘informal sector.’ Although waste pickers must often confront exclusionary policies and social marginalization, some countries such as Colombia have begun to recognize the social, economic, and environmental contributions of informal recycling activities and have introduced policies that support waste pickers by trying to improve their working conditions. Bogotá has been recognized internationally as an example of ‘best practice’ in terms of creating inclusive policies aimed towards improving the livelihoods of waste pickers. To this end, the Colombian government has introduced, in 2016, National Decree 596, which recognizes and remunerates waste picker organizations as official providers of municipal recycling services. Although this decree legitimizes these ‘third sector’ organizations and has important implications for ‘alternative’ models of service delivery, it has had contradictory effects: although it successfully recognizes the important role that waste pickers play in the waste management system, it also introduces barriers that impede the formalization of waste picker organizations. For example, the decree sets unattainable requirements for the recognition of waste picker organizations and does little to mitigate the vulnerability that waste pickers experience in the face of competition from large, private (often multinational) companies. Based on one month of fieldwork conducted in Bogotá from November 10th to December 10th, 2017, this thesis explores these contradictions and suggests that these barriers originate from the conflicting neoliberal and rights-based orientations of the 1991 Constitution.

Essa dissertação de mestrado busca discutir a economia paranaense, ressaltando aspectos como o crescimento, o desenvolvimento, a participação e a relevância deste Estado na economia brasileira. A economia paranaense é uma economia variada, fortemente baseada no setor agrícola, e com o setor industrial muito forte, sobretudo graças às exportações, beneficiadas pelas fronteiras com Paraguai e Argentina. O Paraná tem um dos maiores portos graneleiros da América Latina, o Porto de Paranaguá, que é um dos principais portos exportadores de produtos agrícolas do Brasil. Além disto, o Estado possui um importante parque industrial em Curitiba e São Jose dos Pinhais, onde se localiza o Aeroporto Internacional Afonso Pena. O Paraná também conta com grandes montadoras de carros, como Renault e Volvo, que oferecem milhares de emprego aos moradores. O setor elétrico é muito desenvolvido, graças a Usina Hidrelétrica de Itaipu, uma das maiores do mundo. O setor da agroindústria também se destaca, com a produção principalmente de soja, milho, arroz, cebola e maçã, dentre outros. A agropecuária é bastante valorizada, pois vegetação típica do local facilita a criação de bovinos, aves e suínos. Outro ponto importante da economia do Paraná é o extrativismo de madeiras e erva-mate. Assim, por meio de um estudo exploratório, com base em revisão bibliográfica e pesquisas documentais, o objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar a relevância da economia paranaense no contexto econômico atual do país. / This master's thesis consists in the pursuit of understanding, the state economy, discuss the economic fundamentals, growth, development, participation, relevance in the Brazilian economy as well as enhance the capacity and representativeness the Paraná state should be assigned. The state economy a varied economy one of Brazil's best is strongly based in the agricultural sector, and very strong industrial sector, particularly exports because their states they are border with Paraguay and Argentina. Paraná has one of the largest bulk ports in Latin America, the Port of Paranaguá which was founded in 1935 being one of the main exporting ports of agricultural products of the country, has an important industrial park in Curitiba and Sao Jose dos Pinhais where is the Airport Afonso Pena International, which has large car makers like Renault, Volvo, and Apothecary, offering thousands of jobs for residents. The electricity sector is very developed because of Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, one of the world's largest. And being of great importance the agribusiness sector, food production, primarily soybeans, corn, rice, onion, apple, among others, agriculture is highly valued because the typical local vegetation facilitates the creation of cattle, poultry and pigs. Another point of Paraná economy is the extraction of timber and mate. Finally, through an exploratory study of literature review and research presents itself assess the relevance of the state economy in the current economy context of the country.

Within the context of multiple crises and change, a range of practices discussed under the umbrella term of collaborative (or sharing) economy have been gaining considerable attention. Supporters build an idealistic vision of collaborative societies. Critics have been stripping the concept of its visionary potential, questioning its revolutionary nature. In the study, these debates are brought down to the local level in search for common perceptions among the co-creators of the concept in Vienna, Austria. Towards this aim a Q study is conducted, i.e. a mixed method enabling analyses of subjective perceptions on socially contested topics. Four framings are identified: Visionary Supporters, Market Optimists, Visionary Critics, and Skeptics, each bringing their values, visions, and practical goals characteristic of different understanding of the collaborative economy. The study questions the need for building a globally-applicable definition of the concept, calls for more context-sensitivity, exploratory studies, and city-level multi-stakeholder dialogues.

The aim of this dissertation is to explore a number of issues in intergovernmental fiscal relationships in the United States. Three independent essays in the dissertation focus on three different issues of interest in public finance: the response of school districts and county governments to changes in state government grant allocations; political determinants of presidential disaster declarations; and the crowding out of federal transfers to states by private charitable donations with special reference to the proportion of federal welfare grants to all 50 U.S. states over the period 2005 - 2013. Results in the first essay show that decreases in real per capita state grants cause statistically significant increases in per capita property taxes in Florida counties and school districts. However, the effect is stronger for counties as compared to the school districts. Another major result from this study is that property taxes, a major funding source for public education, decrease when the proportion of the young in total population increases. This could have important consequences for public education funding. Results from the second essay show that during the sample period, from 2000 to 2013, the average number of days for presidential disaster declarations was lower when the president is a Republican and the governor is a Democrat. The longest time delay in presidential disaster declarations occurred when the president is a Democrat and the governor is a Republican. The study also provides evidence that the higher the incumbent president’s vote share, the shorter is the delay in presidential disaster declarations. Additionally, it is found that the more salient the disaster event is (as measured by the number of newspaper articles per day), the shorter it takes for presidents to declare major disasters. The third essay provides evidence that state-level charitable contributions correlate significantly with federal public welfare grants to states. An increase in charitable contributions leads to a decrease in the proportion of federal grants allocated to public welfare, controlling for political and demographic factors. The study also shows that the level of crowding out that occurs is significantly higher than that predicted by the previous literature on the subject.

Thesis advisor: Juliet B. Schor / In this dissertation, I argue that questioning the relationship between technological change, specifically the new types of markets and practices enabled by the “sharing economy” and inequality has become an urgent need. While the sector promotes itself as the harbinger of egalitarian access to economic opportunity and consumption, independent studies of its operations and impacts point towards significant discriminatory dynamics favoring the already privileged. As the sector keeps growing, understanding its impact on inequality becomes ever more critical. I focus on one sharing economy platform, Airbnb, which facilitates the practice of “home-sharing,” or more accurately short-term rentals. I investigate the relationship between Airbnb and inequality in three papers that focus on how the deeply unequal urban settings where much of the economic activity on Airbnb takes place operate within the context of economic activity enabled by the platform. The analysis for all three papers is based on the data for more than 450,000 Airbnb listings and the demographic and economic characteristics of the neighborhoods they are located in. In the first paper, I look at how race determines the patterns of participation and outcomes for people who rent out their properties. I show that the economic opportunities generated by the platform are unequally distributed across the urban landscape. There are fewer listings in areas with higher concentrations of non-White residents, the listings that are located in these areas charge lower prices, and have lower earnings. The second paper investigates the relationship between the public reputation system on Airbnb and racial discrimination. I show that characterizing the reputation system as a racially neutral tool, which has the potential to reduce discriminatory outcomes, is highly problematic. Airbnb listings located in neighborhoods with higher percentages of non-White residents have a harder time generating reputation information when they first come on the platform and tend to have systematically lower ratings. The third paper focuses on how short-term rentals generates new dynamics of gentrification in cities, by providing evidence for a new type of “rent gap” between long-term and short-term rentals, and how property owners are exploiting it. I argue that short-term rentals, in the absence of further effective regulation from governments, are likely to drive increasing levels of gentrification as they remain highly profitable and occupy an increasing number of housing units. I believe that studying these aspects of the sharing economy contributes to a fuller understanding of technological change and its understudied interaction with inequality. Moving beyond the mostly theoretical and aggregated understanding of change inherent in the SBTC literature, my research promotes a more concrete and empirical engagement with change in line with some of the research on the “digital divide,” and the emergent literature on inequality on online platforms. Ultimately, I think such an engagement can serve as the basis for a broader theoretical reckoning with the increased pace of technological change as more and more of our social life is “disrupted” by technological interventions, with significant consequences. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

As the symbolic and functional heart of the New Orleans tourism industry, the French Quarter has been described as the city's "number one factory". Using this evocative image as a starting point, this paper explores workaday life within this factory. I argue that the political economy of tourism brings together the world of work and the world of leisure in such a way that neither can be meaningfully understood apart from each other. To get at this point, I examine the commodity which at the heart of the tourist economy, which, I contend, is the touristic experience. Drawing on data gleaned from interviews, participant observation, and analysis of tourist discourse, I show that the production of this commodity – immaterial as it may appear – is in fact quite labor intensive. Furthermore, as tourism has become the driving sector of the New Orleans economy, the social and economic arrangements that the industry entails have extended out from the factory, integrating a broader swath of the city's geography into its structure than is generally supposed.

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Research surrounding the steeplechase is scarce, with most research focusing primarily on how biomechanical factors relate to maintaining running speed while crossing barriers. One area that has not been well explored is the relationship between biomechanical factors and hurdling economy. The purpose of this study was to investigate how performance times and biomechanical variables relate to hurdling economy during the steeplechase. This was accomplished by measuring running economy of collegiate and professional steeplechasers while running with and without hurdles. Biomechanical measures of approach velocity, take-off distance, clearance height, and lead knee extension while hurdling, as well as steeplechase performance times were correlated to a ratio of running economy with and without hurdles. Results indicated no correlation between steeplechase performance time and the ratio of running economy during the hurdle and non-hurdle laps. Results also indicated no correlation between the aforementioned biomechanical variables and ratio of running economy during the hurdle and non-hurdle laps. Increasing approach velocity did not negatively affect running economy. Steeplechasers may continue to increase approach velocity without hurting their economy or performance times.