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<p>This dissertation analyses the issues concerning strategies for improving the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers in the United States and Canada. By comparing the tripartite and sharecropping models in commercial agriculture, it is demonstrated that unionisation and three-way collective bargaining are efficient and proven techniques for increasing workplace standards for migrant farmworkers. The tripartitc model separates agriculture into three discernable actors: food corporations, growers and farmworkers. While some agricultural sectors are dominated by corporate entities which combine both production and processing operations, other sectors such as cucumbers and tomatoes are characterised by large processing corporations which are supplied by commercial growers. Without the presence of food corporations in collective bargaining, many growers are unable to provide for better working conditions for migrant farmworkers. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) has significantly established the only tripartite labour relations framework in North American agriculture. FLOC has used commercial boycotts for more than two decades, in order to pressure food corporations to participate in collective bargaining with migrant farmworkers. The union is presently conducting a national boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in North Carolina, a campaign which aims to bring the company to the bargaining table and to put an end to the sharecropping model in the state's cucumber industry.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Resource extraction projects in the North are governed by negotiated agreements developed between industry, the state and Aboriginal governments and institutions. This thesis examines the role played by women in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) processes leading up to Voisey’s Bay mine in northern Labrador and whether women’s involvement in resource governance improves the participation and retention of women in non-traditional jobs at the mine. Using a qualitative methodology of semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, this thesis found that the participation of Aboriginal women was unable to significantly improve the work experiences of women at the mine. The concerns of Aboriginal women were identified by analyzing submissions made to the EIA panel by women’s groups. These concerns were then compared with the perceptions of work by women who worked in either construction or the operations phase of the mine. The confidentiality of IBA negotiations and documents are offered as one reason that Aboriginal women did not have the concerns they raised during the EIA process mitigated. The unfinished IBA was referred to by VBNC, and accepted by the panel, as a way to mitigate women’s concerns despite confidentiality preventing the contents of the IBA from ever being known. While women received prioritization in the IBA, Aboriginal women demanded quotas and targets for the training and hiring of women for the construction and operations phase. The thesis ends with a discussion of ways to alleviate the conflict between IBA and EIA processes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Financial literacy is commonly defined as the knowledge, skills, and ability to navigate the increasingly complex financial markets, and is considered to empower consumers to make responsible financial decisions. Financial literacy is increasingly promoted as a crucial life skill in the aftermath of global financial crisis by numerous global initiatives and became part and parcel of national strategies of financial inclusion. By utilizing theoretical insights from Michel Foucault’s late work on governmentality, this dissertation analyzes financial literacy education initiatives in Turkey with ethnographic research. Cultural political economy perspective articulated in this dissertation underlines the importance of theorizing the financialized capital accumulation dynamics together with the reshaping of culture and the constitution of financialized subjectivities. It is argued that financial literacy is a “technique of the self” seeking to govern the everyday conduct of subjects in line with the long-term interests of financial capital. Financial literacy curricula provide not only the basic knowledge of finance but also instruct subjects ways to conduct oneself on financial planning, budgeting, debt management, creditworthiness, saving and investment. Financial literacy agenda deepens neo-liberal governmentality with the promotion of entrepreneurial subjectivity and responsibilization of individuals for social risks such as unemployment, economic downturn, and pensions. By problematizing the constitution of financially literate subjectivity and providing an everyday and cultural perspective on financialization, this dissertation contributes to the discipline of International Political Economy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Yes / Much of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding ground for sharing economy. The lack of native theories in tourism and hospitality sector with scare utilization of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) provide necessity for this research. This study adapted meta-UTAUT model as theoretical lens and extended the model with hedonic motivation, trust, and self-efficacy. Based on data from 301 potential Indian consumers, the results underscored the central role of attitude that significantly mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer intention to use Airbnb. Meanwhile, performance expectancy emerged as significant direct determinant of intention alongside attitude, trust, and self-efficacy. The proposed model explained as much as 65% variance on Indian consumer’s intention to use Airbnb.

This thesis investigates the role of industrial design in promoting sustainability and circular economy principles, particularly through collaboration with PaperShell AB, a company specializing in sustainable composites. The study focuses on developing a circular bio-economy system that integrates local mycelium cultures for material decomposition and soil regeneration. The central research question is: How can industrial design practices evolve to foster ecological regeneration while maintaining economic viability? Key findings emphasize the importance of closing material loops and reimagining industrial processes to harmonize with ecological systems. The Catifa Carta project, a collaboration with the Italian furniture brand Arper, serves as a case study demonstrating the practical application and success of these principles. Future research directions include exploring the scalability of these practices and additional ecological partnerships.

The main objective of this thesis is to estimate and evaluate the impact of the Egyptian petroleum sector on the Egyptian economy during the period 1962-1982 within both micro and macro-economic approaches. On the basis of the empirical findings of the study, the oil sector comes out fairly well as a good leading sector in the Egyptian economy. The study has also revealed that the domestic consumption of oil has dramatically increased at a high rate of growth as well as the oil production/reserves ratio is relatively high in Egypt comparing to a country which has a huge amount of oil reserves. Considering the above three facts, Egypt can face the following problems: 1) The uncertainty of oil discovery and 2) The gains in the terms of trade are limited due to the decrease or the slight increase in oil prices. In this case, it can be anticipated not only the impact of the oil sector to fall but also Egypt can be expected to be a net oil importer in the very near future. Therefore, the study has investigated both oil demand and oil supply sides in Egypt in order to determine the main factors which affect them and which in turn affect the role of the oil sector in the economy in an attempt to reach some policy recommendations which might help policy makers in planning and controlling petroleum activities in Egypt in such a way that their contributions can be maximized. On the basis of such investigation, it has been concluded that reconsidering the domestic pricing policy of oil in Egypt is very crucial in order to decrease and rationalize domestic oil consumption in particular the analysis of the subsidy system of petroleum products in Egypt has revealed that the system has not achieved its main goals. Examining the main determinants of oil supply in Egypt, it seems very important to intensify investment in oil exploration activities in order to secure and increase oil reserves and which in turn lead to secure oil supply. Also, it seems reasonable that the relatively optimal policy of oil production in a country at a stage of rebuilding and developing her economy such as Egypt is that policy which produces on a level sufficient to be exchanged for a financial resource and which in turn could be invested in capital formation and thus developing the basic productive sectors. Such policy is thus taking account of future generations by directing oil revenues to future welfare through investment channels.

“Payments for ecosystem services” (PES) represents a new form of environmental governance rooted in the logics of capitalist economics. As such, PES frequently produces new conceptions and material forms of nature that embody the principles of neoliberal ideology. This thesis explores the processes by which these policies have been deployed and taken root in Costa Rica, one of the foremost sites of financialized conservation worldwide. It provides a historical account of policy formation and the neoliberalization of Costa Rican nature. I situate this analysis in a critique of capitalist logic, explaining the particular type of neoliberalization that emerges as a consequence of capital's own internal contradictions. I place particular emphasis on ideological inconsistencies in the deployment of neoliberal ideals while highlighting the justice implications that inevitably still emerge. I do so by adopting a critical political-ecology perspective that sees questions of environmental management as fundamental questions of social and environmental justice – how are conservation mechanisms designed, by whom, for what purposes, and to whose ultimate benefit? Specifically, I consider three aspects of neoliberalization in Costa Rica's national Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) program: the design of a new market-like financing mechanism; the promotion of individualized contracting and participation; and the expansion of exclusionary land management practices. I show that these actions produce the conditions for uneven development, facilitate the consolidation of control over resources, and enable the accumulation of benefits among larger, wealthier landowners. I further explore conceptual understandings of neoliberalism (as ideology or process) and address the growing concern in the critical literature with ways that policy deviates from doctrine. I explain that such an emphasis on ideologically divergent practice distracts from the material and justice effects of encroaching neoliberalization, which invariably operates in partial and unfinished ways. Finally, I revisit the role of the internal contradictions of capital in producing the patterns of governance that constitute this era of neoliberal environmentalism.

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