Browsing by Author "Braunstein, Elissa, committee member"
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Item Open Access Beliefs, ideologies, contexts and climate change: the role of human values and political orientations in western European and transition states(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Smith, E. Keith, author; Hempel, Lynn M., advisor; Lacy, Michael G., committee member; Malin, Stephanie, committee member; Hastings, Orestes P., committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee memberAnthropogenic climate change presents a threat on a scale unlike any other faced by human civilizations. Accordingly, extensive research has engaged with questions about which types of characteristics and under which conditions make it more or less likely for a person to be concerned about climate change, engage in actions aimed at fighting climate change, and support climate change relevant policies. Of this prior research, political factors and human values have emerged as key predictors. Values and political factors are deeply related constructs, and do not operate in isolation of each other. But, as of yet, little is known about how these factors interrelate to affect differences in climate change attitudes and behaviors. Further, contextual factors, such as political structures, affluence, and prior histories, have been linked to climate change attitudes and behaviors. Recent findings have noted stark differences between key predictors in Western European and post-communist transition states, such as those between political factors and human values. But, it is unclear in which ways these contextual differences systematically differentiate the patterning of climate change attitudes and behaviors. Accordingly, this dissertation engages theoretically and empirically with the issues of how human values and political factors interrelate to determine climate change attitudes and behaviors, and how these forces diverge based upon the Western European and transition state settings. Overall, when values and politics are in alignment, these forces affect an amplification of climate change attitudes and behaviors, a finding consistent in both settings. But, the role of human values and political factors substantively differs between these state groupings, as well as across different forms of climate change attitudes and behaviors.Item Open Access Essays on secular stagnation, income and wealth distribution, and employment(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Cruz Luzuriaga, Manuel David, author; Tavani, Daniele, advisor; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee memberAfter the publication of Piketty's Capital in the XXI Century and Robert Gordon's The Rise and Fall of American Growth, mainstream economics has shifted its attention to the distribution of income and wealth and how they interact with economic growth. This dissertation focuses on the interaction between distribution and secular stagnation, as well as the ultimate long run effects on employment at the macro level. The first chapter empirically investigates the short -and long- run interaction between labor productivity and real wages and their ultimate impact on the labor market for a panel of 25 OECD countries. The second chapter presents a theoretical and empirical model of secular stagnation, income and wealth distribution, and employment in the Classical-Marxian tradition. In this model, institutional or technological shocks to income distribution lower the wage share, increase wealth inequality, and decrease the income-capital ratio in the long run. The ultimate effect on long run employment depends on the relative strength of the response of labor-augmenting technical change vis-à -vis the response of real wage growth to labor market institutions. An empirical test of the model using time-series data for the US (1960-2019) appears to support its main implications. The third chapter extends the second chapter's model by endogenizing the growth rate of the labor force to employment in an open economy. The model is more appropriate for economies at the low or middle stages of development, where the labor force depends significantly on demographic factors like high variations in the birth rate or immigration. I then empirically test the model using time-series data from China (1990-2019) and India (1970-2019) to validate the framework.Item Open Access Financing the U.S. deficit: adjustment mechanics between the U.S. and Japan(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Qian, Shenglin, author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Koontz, Stephen R., committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee memberJapan has run a large trade surplus with the U.S. and has financed the U.S. deficit for a long time, so the adjustment mechanism of financial flows between the U.S. and Japan is an important issue. In this paper, in order to investigate the capital flow between Japan and the U.S, I build a VAR model to study the fluctuations of interest rate spread between the U.S. and Japan and international reserve of Japan. The analysis of the Impulse Response Function suggests that the dynamic response to an event, such as the rise of the deficit of the U.S. is such that movements in the international reserve of Japan and the interest rate spread tend to restore equilibrium. To support my conclusion, I use the subset of the sample data to simulate and forecast the real event. The work shows that the model can accurately explain the adjustment process.Item Open Access Foreign direct investment and corruption(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Ardiyanto, Ferry, author; Cutler, Harvey, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Vasudevan, Ramaa, committee member; Koontz, Stepehn, committee memberCorruption is the abuse of public authority and discretion for private gain. Corruption is perceived as detrimental to investment as it acts like a tax on investment by increasing the cost of doing business. However, the efficient grease hypothesis argues that corruption could increase investment as it acts as grease money that enables firms to avoid bureaucratic red tape and expedite the decision making process. This study attempts to build empirical models to investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment and corruption and identify the determinants of corruption itself. As tolerance towards corruption tends to vary from country to country, countries are disaggregated into developed economies and developing economies. Additionally, there are four regions within the developing economies group to take into account intrinsic differences in perceptions of and attitudes towards corruption, as well as cultural and geographical differences. The dissertation finds that corruption is deleterious for FDI inflows in developed countries, but is somewhat beneficial for attracting FDI inflows in developing economies. However, when developing countries are disaggregated into several regions, the effect of corruption on FDI inflows fades away. Furthermore, corruption can be caused by both economic and institutional factors. It is also confirmed that factors influencing corruption vary among developed countries, developing countries and within regions of developing countries. The importance of institutional factors makes it clear that the institutional framework is important for explaining corruption, no matter whether a country is a developed or developing one.Item Open Access Inequitable, disparate outcomes for U.S. divorces in 2022: how gender and age moderate family income and divorce(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Falkinburg, Buday, author; Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor; Roberts, Anthony, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee memberDivorce can significantly affect personal income, which economically harms adults and children during the post-divorce recovery. Half a century of research on how much a divorce affects gender stays relevant even to this day. What are the heterogeneous effects of divorce on income? Female divorcées potentially have less time to recover from a gray divorce than male divorcées due to a shorter time for higher education, job training, and career development. Devastating consequences plummet if divorcées are not adequately prepared or have a solid plan to rebuild their financial stability. Lower wage-earning potential and segregated occupations significantly affect female-headed households. Investigating the effects of divorce on the gendered family income differential is critical to research, as divorce, gender, and age are contributing mechanisms for the likelihood of the feminization of poverty. Examining the interaction of gender and age in the consequential context of divorces continues to marginalize female divorcées but significantly harms older divorced men more. Divorced women most likely will experience a delayed start to recuperate from the lost time of economic growth and wealth accumulation compared to male divorcées. An imperative suggestion for women is to obtain higher education credentials before significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, or divorce to obtain long-term economic stability.Item Open Access Modeling tax competition in developing countries: a theoretical and empirical analysis(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Nguyen, Hiep Quang, author; Mushinski, David, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Pena, Anita, committee member; Kroll, Stephan, committee memberWhile much attention has been paid in the literature to tax competition in developed countries, little research has focused on tax competition among developing countries. These two groups of countries are very different, even opposite in many aspects of tax competition. One cannot apply research results in developed countries to developing countries. This dissertation fills that gap in current literature. The paper develops theoretical models of tax competition for developing countries and empirically tests the theoretical results using a sample of data from developing countries. The paper discusses an asymmetric tax competition model where countries are different in capital, labor, total factor productivity, investment in public inputs, unemployment rate and foreign aid. The paper provides insights into the existence of tax competition and the impact of the several variables on tax competition in developing countries. The empirical models test theoretical results with dataset from 63 developing countries. A spatial econometric model is used to estimate tax competition in developing countries. The paper found several theoretical and empirical results related to tax competition in developing countries that have not been addressed in previous literature. Unemployment rate and foreign aid affect tax competition in multiple ways. Foreign aid can create both tax competition and fiscal competition. Tax competition is stronger in high unemployment rate countries. The results also confirm the existence of tax competition in developing countries in both statutory and effective corporate tax rates. Countries compete differently over these two rates. Productivity, investment in public inputs, trade openness, education, exchange rate and population variables affect tax competition behavior in developing countries. With theoretical and empirical results, the paper presents several policy implications for governments in developing countries. Appropriate tax competition policies provide developing countries the opportunities to attract more investments and to gain faster economic growth.Item Open Access Our childcare problem: three essays on the childcare decision-making process from a gendered perspective(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Cole, Paula M., author; Bernasek, Alexandra, advisor; Fan, Chuen-mei, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberChildren bring great joy and love to families, but for many families childcare entails significant stress, worry, sacrifice, and financial hardship. Social and cultures norms in the United States place these care difficulties in the private sphere to be handled by individuals, primarily women. The challenges families face in choosing between quality, affordability, and availability demonstrate that our childcare system is not the best that it could be and that all of us need to become stakeholders in the care of children. This research examines the childcare decisions of families using the ideas of neoclassical, feminist, and institutionalist economists. The childcare choice is explored with quantitative and qualitative methodology enabling critique of both the outcome and the process. Research findings demonstrate the importance of gender in the care of children, the need for more complete data on childcare, and that a solution to the childcare problem requires an ethic of care.Item Open Access Sanctions: protectionism, environment, and macro-level impacts(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Bramblett, Russell, author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Stevis, Dimitris, committee memberAre Sanctions Motivated by Protectionism: This paper attempts to answer the question, "are sanctions the U.S. imposes on foreign countries motivated by trade protectionism"? Using sanctions votes in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2005-2015 and industry data within a given Congressional District, the empirical analysis indicates that with some types of sanctions bills and certain industries, Representatives' votes may be affected by the prevalence of industries within their district. The Necessary Conditions for Environmental Sanctions: Drawing from current environmental economics literature, this paper looks at the necessary conditions for carbon abatement and models the path to optimal carbon abatement using a country-level welfare-maximization model to illustrate the effects of pollution awareness on consumption optimization. This paper finds that social marketing is necessary for a country to increase its welfare by imposing environmental sanctions. A Time-Series Analysis of U.S. Sanctions Imposed from 1990 to 2015: Using time-series analysis and forecasting, this paper assesses the effects of sanctions using a dataset of U.S. imposed sanctions from 1990-2015. The analysis indicates that, 1. GDP is a good predictor of development assistance after a sanction, 2. export dependence is a good predictor of military expenditures after a sanction, and 3. contrary to previous research, constrained democracies are affected more by sanctions than pure democracies.Item Open Access The use of conditional convergence between economies to estimate steady state incomes within economies(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) DelVecchio, Micah, author; Cutler, Harvey, advisor; Tavani, Daniele, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Costanigro, Marco, committee memberThis dissertation introduces a panel data method to estimate country-specific steady state levels of output in an augmented Solow growth model. The use of panel data permits the estimation of a country-specific effect which can explain the surprising result that many developing economies are above their steady states. These empirical results also confirm that the augmented Solow model can explain the present cross-country income divergence of developed and developing economies. Another application finds evidence that the post-Soviet economies began their transition toward markets with initial conditions of overcapitalization. Finally, when the results are sufficient, there is also the possibility of describing an entire period of growth and gaining insights into future periods. This is shown with the OECD economies. In Islam (1995), panel data is first used to estimate the parameters of the Solow growth model. The following year, Cho and Graham (1996) published a small paper which illustrates a simple way to compute steady state levels of per capita income by using the results of cross-sectional convergence tests. This dissertation simply combines these two methods with the result that the interpretations are more satisfying. In sum, we find that countries can begin a period of development above or below their steady states and that countries converging from above should be considered to be overcapitalized. This implies that development through investment can only succeed when there is convergence from below the steady state. Above the steady state, total factor productivity is too low to sustain the relatively high levels of capital. The organization of the dissertation is linear with an introduction preceding the second chapter's literature review and the development of a theoretical and empirical model in the third chapter. The applications of the method then follow. Chapter 4 uses a worldwide sample to compare the result to other work and to show that this fundamental model of growth theory can explain the observed increasing levels of international inequality. Chapter 5 takes a look at the transition economies. In addition to finding evidence of overcapitalization, this dissertation finds a positive correlation between growth and the privatization of small business under transition. Additionally, there is a negative impact of price liberalization under the conditions of repressed inflation experienced by many Soviet-era planned economies. Chapter 6 uses a sample of OECD economies to obtain a significant deterministic, technological growth rate. This is possible because the countries are similar enough to make the assumption that they have the same growth rate more realistic. This enables an understanding of steady states after the initial period and leading into the most contemporaneous period of the sample.Item Open Access Three essays in regional economics: migration, regional portfolio theory, resilience, and agglomeration economies(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Care, Jonathan Charles, author; Weiler, Stephan, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Alves Pena, Anita, committee member; Thilmany, Dawn, committee memberCities and counties are dynamic entities that experience constant change, generated from both local and external forces. Some locations are rich in natural amenities, others are powerhouses of manufacturing or provide a rich level of services and quality of life to their citizens. Each location maintains a unique set of characteristics that makes it appealing to a given slice of the population and set of business enterprises. Understanding these characteristics and patterns of migration is a substantial focus in the field of regional economics. Researchers attempt to enhance our understanding by examining this phenomenon through a number of different lenses. Some have examined flows to the largest cities in the country and tried to uncover the underlying reasons for the unique advantages these metropolitan areas possess. Others have examined various measures of risk and reward to see which cities or counties outshine their competitors. Still others attempt to measure the appeal of regions by quantifying their natural amenities or investigating their resilience to negative economic events. Recent global events have brought understanding a number of these regional performance topics to the forefront of both academic and mainstream interest. This dissertation examines several aspects of regional economics with an aim to move the conversation forward along several tracks. The first chapter explores the contribution of regional employment portfolio risk and return measures in a case study of county level migration into Colorado. The level of employment data used in the construction of the employment portfolio measures is varied to see which level of aggregation best contributes to the understanding of migration flows. The results show that the employment portfolio composition of a county does play a role in attracting migrants and highlight interesting findings on economy-wide risk versus individual potential returns. Additionally, we find evidence of labor pooling and agglomeration effects for Colorado's largest counties. A lack of cohesion and consistency across sector-level measures of risk and return suggests that local governments should focus on creating a stable overall business environment, rather than attempting to focus on specific sectors. The second chapter discusses the concept of economic resilience and how it complements discussions relating to regional economic growth. A total of seven models are tested, split between two different formulations of measuring resilience. Testing is performed to identify a set of independent variables that robustly contribute as explanatory determinants of resilience. The results identify several determinants of resilience that are robust across different definitions of economic resilience and provide insights that can be used by local policy makers when considering the tradeoffs between balancing growth and resilience. The chapter ends with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of existing measures of resilience and the advantages of future work in this area. The final chapter of the dissertation examines the dual, decades-long decline in both migration rates and the level of economic dynamism within the United States. Specifically, the role of information generated by the churn of resources through the economy is explored within the context of county and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in-migration rates. The difference in average annual in-migration rates is also examined using a three-fold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. This study finds that locally generated information on dynamism does contribute to the decision of whether to migrate. In particular, the findings show a unique role for information gained from regional dynamism when considering migration to smaller metropolitan areas, likely resulting from the more homogeneous identity these regions maintain, in comparison to larger, more multi-faceted, metropolitan areas. The overarching goal of this work is to contribute to the literature on why individuals choose to live where they do. The topics examined over the course of this dissertation permeate several veins of the regional economic literature. However, they all work together in the service of the question "what makes a place attractive to in-migrants?" This is accomplished by looking at the risks and returns to regional employment portfolios, the degree to and speed with which regions rebound from recessions, and how information generated by the churn of resources through the economy helps in the decision to migrate. These topics represent three of the drivers among the broad portfolio of factors regional economics utilizes to try and understand behavior within a country.Item Open Access Three essays on different nature and effects of capital flows among Asian and Latin American countries(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Bolukoglu, Anil, author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee memberThis dissertation contains three essays on the distinct nature and effects of capital flows on Asian and Latin American countries. Chapter I presents a Post-Keynesian open economy model to investigate the possible effects of capital flows on capacity utilization and distribution in Asian and Latin American countries. In the case of Asian countries, capital flows increase labor productivity through spill-over effects. The increase in labor productivity leads to a decrease in wage share of workers from national income which leads to lower prices. Lower price level results in real exchange rate depreciation and provides higher trade balances through enhanced competitiveness of export goods. In the case of Latin American countries, capital flows result in real exchange rate appreciation in the absence of capital controls. This real exchange rate appreciation decreases the cost of foreign borrowing, foreign intermediate goods and lower wage shares. In line with all these developments, capacity utilization increases, but trade balances deteriorate due to diminished export competitiveness. Chapter II addresses different dependent relations that lead divergent paths of Asian and Latin American countries toward globalization. Nature of dependency is detected through different types of shocks to current account balances. It is found that Latin American countries are dependent on center countries financially while Asian countries are dependent on world demand for their export goods. This divergent nature of dependent relations shape the nature of foreign capital that invests in these countries. Foreign investments in Latin American countries are domestic market oriented and for financing needs. These investments do not have future export revenue potentials and reproduces the dependency on international financial markets. Employment of capital controls and high structural domestic savings allowed Asian countries to be more selective in channeling foreign capital. They employed foreign investments to enhance export competitiveness. However, the export oriented path of development tied their economies to pattern of world trade and produced a divergent dependent relationship. Chapter III tests the dynamic relationship between capital flows, real exchange rate appreciation and trade balances in Latin American and Asian countries. The analysis suggests structural differences between Asian and Latin American countries. Different integration strategies followed in the era of globalization period led to distinct patterns in relation between capital flows and trade balances. In order to test the relationship, Panel Vector of Autoregression analysis and orthogonalized import response functions are employed. It is found that foreign capital flows affect trade balances negatively in Latin American countries. In the case of Asian countries, a positive relationship between capital flows and trade balances is detected, however this relationship is not statistically significant.Item Open Access Three essays on financial integration and trade liberalization(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Le, Huong, author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee memberThis dissertation is composed of three essays which examine the impact of financial integration and trade liberalization. Chapter I investigates the effect of financial openness on labor share of income by using four measures of the labor share of income: one unadjusted and three adjusted measures of income share which account for earnings from the self-employed workers. The author also uses both measures of capital account openness: de jure and de facto indicators. The empirical work is applied for a panel dataset of 30 countries during the period of 1970 – 2013. Despite using different measurement methods of the labor share of income and financial openness, the results from all specifications support the hypothesis that financial integration leads to a decline in the labor share of income for the all countries sample. Chapter II examines the macro-economic performance of Vietnam through the six phases of Doi Moi reform, and analyzes the impact of external liberalization on economic growth, aggregate demand, employment and income distribution. The decomposition of aggregate demand suggests that private investment was the most important determinant of Vietnamese economic growth during the period of 1994 – 2011, while government expenditure has become more significant since 2005, and the external sector together with government expenditure are the important driving factors of Vietnamese economic growth since 2012. The decomposition of overall labor productivity highlighted the fact that sectoral productivity growth of the service sector plays an important role in the improvement of overall labor productivity in Vietnam. Chapter III aims to investigate the impacts of external liberalization on Vietnamese economic growth and industrial performance at both regional and provincial levels. To this end, the author reviews regional and provincial economic and industrial performance in Vietnam during the period of vigorous reforms of the Doi Moi and external liberalization (1995-2015). The paper employs the fixed effect regression to test the relation of economic growth, industrial performance and trade liberalization at both regional and provincial levels. The estimation results suggest that FDI has positive and strongly significant impact on economic growth of five economic regions: The Red River Delta, Northern midlands and mountain areas, North Central area and Central Coastal area, South East and Mekong River Delta. The study suggests that FDI inflows and trade openness play very important role in accelerating economic growth and industrial performance at both the regional and provincial levels in Vietnam. Regions and provinces with better infrastructure seem to get more benefit from FDI and trade openness, which suggests that provincial authorities should invest in building new and more modern infrastructure and also formulating rules and regulations governing FDI inflows.Item Open Access Three essays on public policies in Indonesia(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Tampubolon, Devanand Pandapotan, author; Pena, Anita Alves, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Cutler, Harvey, committee member; Seidl, Andrew, committee memberThis dissertation studies tax burden, tax compliance, and cooking fuel choice and energy policy in Indonesia. The three papers observe the impact of recent public policy changes in taxation and cooking fuel. The first paper comprehensively analyzes the burden of Value-Added Tax (VAT), focusing on current exemptions. This paper uses expenditure as the proxy of income or welfare to examine the VAT burden. This paper finds that the effective VAT rate is 4.51 percent nationally and weakly progressive. The effective VAT rate is relatively similar to other developing countries, but only half of the developed countries. The VAT burden is lower and more progressive in rural areas than in urban areas. The tax burden on food consumption is lower and regressive, while higher and progressive for nonfood consumption. While households in non-Java islands spend more than households in Java, this paper finds that the effective tax rate in non-Java is less than in Java. The first paper also simulates the impact of the VAT reform implemented in April 2022. The result shows that if the exempted items are maintained (by only changing nontaxable to taxable but still excused from VAT) and the tax rate increase from 10 percent to 11 percent, the tax burden will increase proportionally to all expenditure deciles by 10 percent. However, the calculations suggest that if all exemptions are excluded, the tax burden will be double that of the previous tax regime and the poorest households will get hit more than the richest. The second paper studies the impact of the high VAT threshold introduced in 2014 on small firms' reported revenues. The threshold is set to help both the tax authorities and small businesses. However, the existence of a threshold will be counterproductive in its strength of providing transaction information. Due to a lack of trading information, the tax authority will have more difficulties assessing the tax obligation owed by the taxpayers. This paper utilizes quasi-natural experiments and Difference-in Difference regression to explore the treatment effect. The treatment group is wholesale firms, and the control group is retail firms. This paper finds that wholesale reports lower revenues by 58-70 percent for four years than those in the retail sectors. This paper also finds that the decrease in reported revenues is larger than the reported costs. This may lead us to conclude that the lower reported revenues are due to underreporting revenues. The third paper studies the determinants of cooking fuel choices and energy policy in Indonesia amid the zero kerosene program. This study finds that government policy is important for the transition to clean energy. One percent increase in the distribution of LPG Kits increases the probability of clean energy usage by 2%. The impact is almost double in urban areas compared to rural areas. All socioeconomic and demographic factors significantly influence the household choice of cooking fuel. Households with higher income and wealth, better house infrastructure, formal education, electric network, and mobile phone are more likely to be clean energy users. On the other hand, working women, household heads working in agriculture, and bigger household sizes are identic to unclean energy. The age and gender of the head have different effects on urban and rural households. In line with the findings of previous studies, household income is still the main determinant of clean energy. One percent increase in income will impact the probability of clean energy by 10 to 13 percentage points. With steady GDP growth of around 5-6% yearly, Indonesia has a good path to transition to clean energy. The three essays complement each other to strengthen Indonesia's economic development. Taxation is essential for adequate and sustainable public funding and clean energy is for better living and productivity. Chapter One provides insight into estimates of the VAT burden in society. This will help the government to improve VAT revenue with a less negative impact on society, especially for low-income people. Chapter Two provides insight for government to improve the utilization of information from the VAT system and tax compliance. Adequate and sustainable self-funding through taxation will enable the government to provide sustainable clean cooking fuel, which may help society become healthier and more productive. Chapter Three has the implication that tax policy can be used to promote clean cooking fuel. The current VAT exemption on households that use electric power up to 6600 VA should be maintained to encourage low-income families to use clean cooking fuel.Item Open Access Three essays on U.S. foreign assistance spending and U.S. politico-military integration(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) McCarthy, Christopher David, author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Pressman, Steven, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee memberSimulations show that recipient nations are directly impacted by U.S. foreign assistance spending (in the form of U.S. economic and military aid) in a manner similar to transfer payments, spurring growth, and easing liquidity constraints. U.S. foreign assistance spending is often accompanied by U.S. politico-military integration, which is defined by the presence of the: (1) receipt of U.S. economic aid, (2) receipt of U.S. military aid, and (3) integration into the U.S. security apparatus through hosting U.S. troops and/or bases or through military or political treaties. Using a new comprehensive RAND database of all U.S. security-related agreements since 1955, I create a new database showing which country-years have active (a) U.S. military treaties (b) U.S. political treaties. Also new is the inclusion of David Vine's Base Nation database, detailing the location and existence of all recognized, unrecognized, and U.S.-funded bases. Lastly, I update another of RAND's databases, one detailing U.S. troop deployment abroad to include the most recent years. Empirical analysis shows a more complicated set of results than those derived in the simulations. Using deep lags and controlling for politico-military integration and U.S. military aid, I find limited evidence that U.S. economic aid is effective in development. This associated positive impact of U.S. economic aid is never large enough to overcome the associated negative impact of U.S. military aid and U.S. politico-military integration. While U.S. political treaties show a slight impact on economic growth, U.S. military aid, U.S. military bases, and U.S. military treaties overwhelm any positive impact on growth and FDI, with a resulting net effect that is significantly negative for the recipient.Item Open Access Transnational governance of farmed animal welfare: a critique of animals as commodities(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Miller, Mindy Tommasina, author; Stevis, Dimitris, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Macdonald, Bradley J., committee memberThis thesis explores whether transnational animal agribusiness is governed by looking at global governance and key players. It analyzes international organizations--the OIE, the FAO, and the WTO--as well as two key state actors in transnational animal agribusiness, the EU and the US. Given the growing scale of the industry, this thesis addresses the following: 1) Whether the transnational animal agribusiness ("TAG") is governed 2) Whether the governance of TAG addresses farmed animal welfare ("FAW") 3) Whether FAW addresses animals. Ultimately, this paper finds significant variation in the governance of TAG, however, even the most promising examples of governance fail to appropriately recognize commoditized animals as grievable beings. This thesis recommends adoption of a grievability framework which finds that alternatives to animal agribusiness and a shift in the human perception of nonhuman animals are necessary.Item Open Access Wealth composition, capital flows, and the international financial system(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Baqais, Uthman Mohammed S., author; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Koontz, Stephen, committee memberInternational capital flows play a critical role in the development process. On the one hand, a stable stream of capital flows could augment the capital stock accumulation of a country and, hence, spur economic growth. On the other, volatile capital flows increase the risks that could induce financial and economic crises. Moreover, contrary to the efficient allocation implied by the neoclassical growth theory, Lucas (1990) poses the paradox of "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?". Recent studies also demonstrate an even stronger phenomenon known as the allocation puzzle or upstream capital flows. That is, fast-growing emerging markets have associated with net capital outflows on average (e.g., Gourinchas and Jeanne 2013). While previous studies provide explanations about cross-country differences in human capital (Lucas 1990), institutional quality (Alfaro et al. 2008), I argue that the capital flows are also explained by differences in natural resources in the current era of financial globalization. In general, I demonstrate the role of initial wealth compositions. In this dissertation, I define capital stock more broadly than the standard neoclassical growth model in terms of wealth accumulation, comprising physical capital, human capital, natural capital, net foreign assets, social capital, and domestic financial capital (as in Gylfason 2004). By exploiting a recent database on wealth accounting by the World Bank, I find that the wealth composition matters in explaining capital flows across 108 countries over 1995-2015. More importantly, results of Chapter 1 suggest that initial abundance measures of subsoil natural resources and net foreign asset positions explain much of the subsequent annualized average net capital inflows. An alternative measure of net capital inflows also suggests a stabilizing role of the valuation effects in the international financial system. In sum, measures of wealth abundance and net capital inflows should be considered carefully in studying the patterns of international capital flows. Results from the typical measure suggest that capital mobility allows subsoil resource-rich countries to invest their resource rents abroad, so they could better smooth the use of resource windfalls. Therefore, the inclusion of natural capital emphasizes the role of economic management in whether to channel rents toward productive investment and human capital to industrialize the economy, or to accumulate foreign assets for exchange rates managements and for precautionary motives due to volatile international commodity prices. It should be noted that there is no evidence on the neoclassical allocative efficiency— the relationship between economic growth rates and net capital inflows. Due to the insignificant finding of the allocative efficiency, Chapters 2 and 3 extend and modify the first chapter's conceptual framework. Chapter 2 investigates not only international capital flows but also some explanations for the persistent global imbalances. Using a unified sustainable growth framework with a broad definition of total wealth, I demonstrate that there could be specific spillover effects (or specific complementarities) rather than an overall complementarity effect, which is simply proxied by real per capita growth rates. For instance, the interaction between human capital and physical capital generates a positive spillover effect, as explained by Lucas (1990). Thus, the departure from the focus on the overall complementarity to specific complementarities and tradeoffs in capital stocks provides us with a way of testing for 13 hypotheses, motivated by the broad literature of international finance and sustainable development. Some of these are about a human capital externality, the global saving glut argument, and negative spillover effects from natural capital on institutions and financial development. I also test for Blecker's (2005) argument on comparative advantage in selling financial assets and find supporting evidence. The implication of such findings implies that the current account (CA) deficit countries with highly developed financial systems have benefited from the current international monetary and financial system (IMFS) through the role of valuation effects. On the other hand, financial liberalization allows subsoil-rich economies to smooth the use of windfalls through foreign reserves accumulation. Other developing countries with CA surpluses due to excess savings, rather than low imports, reflect the flaws in the current IMFS. Chapter 3 is motivated by utilizing theoretical insights from overlapping generations (OLG) models with non-Ricardian equivalence, rather than the assumption of the infinitely lived agent as in previous chapters. I, therefore, examine not only net total capital inflows but also consider the distinction of private and official flows. In addition to the heterogeneities in economies' wealth compositions, I investigate the role of demographic structures by highlighting the aging population phenomenon. In other words, while using the unified sustainable growth framework with a broad definition of wealth, I distinguish between private and official capital flows, and between the relative ratios of young and old groups to the working-age population. All these factors relate to capital flow movements through their effects on saving-investment decisions. Overall findings support the adoption of OLG with non-Ricardian equivalence models in analyzing aggregated and disaggregated capital flows. Also, the inclusion of demographic factors seems to correct for the omitted variable bias. Moreover, cross-country differences in initial wealth compositions are of great importance for different types of disaggregated capital flows, and so policy implications differ accordingly.Item Open Access Why prices matter: terms-of-trade, structural change, and development(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Duvall-Pelham, Alexander, author; Tavani, Daniele, advisor; Vasudevan, Ramaa, advisor; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Cavalieri, Renzo, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access Without pause but without haste: economic and political change in Cuba(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Birch, Brendan Patrick, author; Mumme, Stephen, advisor; Velasco, Marcela, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee memberDevelopments in US-Cuba relations in December of 2014 impelled a renewed interest in Cuban affairs amongst academics, business professionals, and the general population in the United States. But very substantial reforms were taking place in Cuba since about 2007 -years before the US and Cuba decided to initialize a normalization of relations. This thesis provides an overview and analysis of these recent reforms. It also provides an overview and analysis of Cuba's past reform cycles, mainly through a theoretical lens developed by Carmelo Mesa-Lago, which characterizes Cuban reform cycles as either "pragmatist" (towards the market) or "idealist" (away from the market). Also contained in this thesis is an analysis of Cuba's monetary duality; Cuba's potential for further inserting into the Cuban economy; a history of US-Cuban relations, with particular emphasis on the United States embargo against the island. This thesis concludes that the Cuban economy has entered a permanent pragmatist period, characterized by a shift towards marketization and privatization on the island. Regarding US-Cuba relations, this thesis provides an explication of recent moves by the Obama administration, but stresses that the Embargo has not ended, as only Congress has the authority to fully abrogate the Embargo.