published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Economics

Transport plays a vital role in society, and energy for transport relies on fossil fuels. However, the future of the transport system is uncertain due to a concept relating to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels, termed ‘peak oil’. Transport policy makers have an important role to play in planning for a possible reduction in the availability of fossil fuels, however it remains unclear how they perceive the issue, exactly who or what influences their perception, and even if they are prepared (or not) to put in place measures that could minimise the potential impacts. It is vital that we understand all the factors and the actors involved in transport policy making, in order to understand why this issue is not currently widely accepted as part of mainstream transport policy. A conceptual model and theoretical framework have been developed to outline a method for gaining a better understanding of the characteristics of, and influences on, the transport policy makers at a local level, and how they view the peak oil problem. In order to test the theoretical framework, a series of case studies were conducted in three cities of varying sizes in New Zealand. The case studies involved interviews and surveys with transport policy makers. The results of the case study established that many technical staff have major concerns about peak oil but their concerns are not translated into policy because the majority of elected officials, who give the final approval on policy, believe that alternative fuels and new technologies will mitigate any peak oil impacts. This view is reinforced by a lack of scientific evidence to the contrary, and a lack of political and financial support from Central government to plan for peak oil. A change in attitude towards peak oil by Central government is a pre-requisite to introducing planning for peak oil at the local level in New Zealand.

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In this paper I would like to raise the question at which extent the Union's cohesion policy can promote convergence within the Union. I will discuss major aspects of an analysis on the justification and of the design of the Union's cohesion policy. For this purpose recent empirical data and policies will be investigated. The paper will focus on the weaker Member States of the European Union. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

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<p>Across the globe, the viability of welfare states depends on the success of policy adaptations to a post-industrial, internationalized economy and domestic demographic changes that encompass family formation, declines in fertility, and lifespan extensions of the elderly. One of the most important issues facing contemporary welfare states is the need to adjust social policy to the demise of the male breadwinner model in favor of the increased participation of women and mothers in the workforce. Whereas childrearing was traditionally the central occupation of stay-at-home mothers, their workforce participation has necessitated out-of-home care for children under the ages of five or six, before the start of primary school. Providing financial supports and investing in early childhood care and education are several policy instruments that can be used, not only to ease the burden of care faced by working mothers and their partners, but to promote the well-being and long-term economic productivity of their children as adults. In turn, the increased economic productivity of future generations can mitigate social risks and threats to the survival of the welfare state. Using a social investment approach based on human capital development in children, a set of indices is constructed to measure public investments in early childhood by ten member countries of the OECD from 2001 through 2011. The indices permit a theoretical exploration of patterns of expenditure and characteristics of policy design relative to their conformity to acknowledged types of welfare state regimes. The indices are also used to detect empirical changes in welfare state expenditures for early childhood investments pre- and post- the fiscal crisis of 2008. The study contributes to the literature of welfare state theory by situating investments in early childhood as a stage in the evolution of family policy; by creating a set of measures that characterizes public investments from a child-centered developmental perspective, one that is less prominent than work-family balance and gender equity viewpoints; and lastly, by combining expenditures and policy design components into a single measure.

Thesis advisor: Robert Murphy / The following three essays address two issues that have gained much recent attention among macroeconomists. The first essay - "International Policy Coordination: Policy Analysis in a Staggered Wage-setting Model" - deals with the incentives for countries to coordinate monetary and fiscal policies in an environment where the countries differ only in the length of the labor contracts which typify their respective economies. The second essay - "Tests for Liquidity Constraints: A Critique" and the third essay - "Liquidity Constraint Volatility: Evidence from Post-war Aggregate Time-series Data" - are tests of the importance and persistence of liquidity constraints in determining consumption behavior in the United States using micro-based data and aggregate timeseries data, respectively. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1988. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

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Wars fought over oil have characterized the latter half of the past century, the repercussions of which have been felt in every corner of the globe. Although war remains a constant, attention is transitioning away from oil to another natural resource. As we move through the 21st century, water wars are now at the forefront of global conflicts. Fighting over access to this vital resource is nothing new. Allen Snitow, a documentary filmmaker and journalist claims: “For thousands of years, the conflicts between towns and countries have been defined by the battle over who gets to use the stream. The word rival and river have the same root.”1 Disputes over access to water have been inevitable because of human’s dependence on this natural resource for sustenance. The lack of a substitution for water makes the world water crisis a threat requiring immediate attention and innovative solutions. The assumed responsibility of the government to provide sustainable solutions has proven ineffective in its failure to protect the human right to water. As a world water crisis, there is a need for a more cohesive management approach. Identifying and implementing effective and equitable approaches to water management is a highly debated subject across many disciplines. A common approach to combating issues of access to potable water involves the private sector and its reliance on the market. Alternatively, some advocate for treating water as a public or community good to avoid the commodification of an essential resource. Through various examples and a fleshed out case study, I illustrate how solutions to the water crisis are not determined by theoretical frameworks, but are shaped by the viability of the approaches in a given region. The factors that influence the feasibility of an approach include: the availability of water resources and other geographical or environmental circumstances; the political stability or corruption within the government; the degree of established infrastructure; determination of who the government is responsible for providing water services to; and the specific cultural needs of different groups. By analyzing the aforementioned theoretical perspectives on water management through a lens that considers each of these factors, I attempt to identify and analyze the context for which these approaches are appropriate and effective in providing equitable access to clean water. The political, economic, cultural and geographical contexts of a region are critical in considering how to best alleviate issues of access to potable water. In addition, I argue that across all of these diverse contexts in which we identify water access issues, it is invariably necessary to treat water as a public good in order to protect the human right to water. 1 Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman, and Michael Fox, Thirst: Fighting the corporate theft of our water, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007), 3.