Essays in Political Economy

This dissertation consists of two chapters on topics in political economy. In the first chapter, using hand-collected data from collective bargaining agreements for state-level public sector unions, I develop and calibrate a stochastic bargaining model as in Merlo and Wilson (1995) and investigate the effects of political and economic variables on wages, pensions, and delay in reaching agreement. In the model, a governor and a union bargain over a wage and pension outcome. The economic state, as measured by the unemployment rate, evolves stochastically and affects the propensity of the governor and union to reach agreement in any given period. Furthermore, political variables, including party of the governor, partisanship of the district, and incumbency, affect the relative payoffs and therefore the wage, pension, and time to agreement. I find that negotiated wage and pension growth is higher under Democratic governors, while increases in the unemployment rate at the beginning of bargaining have a negative impact on compensation levels, the magnitude of which varies by party and time before the next election. In the second chapter, which is co-authored with Ekim Cem Muyan, I develop a model of campaign strategies, namely the choice to campaign negatively or positively. In particular, I construct a model of political campaigns, based off of Skaperdas and Grofman (1995), in which candidates allocate their budget between positive and negative campaigning. Elections vary according to politician- and district-specific characteristics, as well as the unobservable (to the econometrician) measure of voter types. I calibrate the model to match stylized facts on campaign tone that we document using a wide array of sources, including data on advertising tone from Wisconsin Advertising Project, campaign contributions from the Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections, and election results. The calibrated model implies that, overall, campaign spending is not particularly effective at increasing votes -- a 10% increase in the average candidate\u27s budget, corresponding to about $240,000, raises his or her expected vote share by about 0.4 percentage points. The model also implies that negativity is marginally more useful for candidates who are trailing than those leading, though not by a wide margin

Land agents and estate management in King's County during the Great Famine, 1838 to 1853

The primary aim of this thesis is to address a lacuna in Irish historiography by providing a comprehensive and systematic examination of land agents and their role in estate management in the mid-nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the Famine period. In particular the thesis highlights the agent's social background, training and expierence prior to commencing the agency of an estate. Through the use of numerous case studies the study examines how agents as a body dealt with the day to day management of an estate from the period beginning with the introduction of the Irish Poor Law Act in 1838 to the end of the Famine in 1853; a period when their skills and knowledge were severely tested. Even before the onset of Famine the agent faced numerous problems including overcrowding, subdivision, leasing and middlemen. This thesis has also highlighted how many landed estates in King's County were financially embarrassed on the eve of the Famine and as a result poorly managed. Over ninety land agents were identified who were involved in the management of an estate or estates either for the entire span of the study or part thereof. During the period under study at least nine land agents were assassinated in King's County and a further twenty were shot or otherwise injured, an aspect that highlights that in many cases and at certain times it was an unthankful job being an agent. Another important consideration that the thesis has highlighted is the perception of the land agent in social memory. This thesis has tested the historical validity of their representation in social memory that may often have been influenced by works of fiction

Preparation of thiochalcone from thioacetophenone

This thesis covers the practical research done on the condensation of thioacetophenone with benzaldehyde and the library research covers the chemistry of thioketones and the thioflavanones. Most of the thioketones have been made by dissolving a ketone in ethanol, usually absolute although 95 percent was also used, saturating the solution with anhydrous hydrogen chloride at ice temperature, then admitting hydrogen sulfide for several hours. This method was first used by Fromm and Baumann when they made thioacetophenone from acetophenone. David Shirley also gives theis process in his book “Preparation of Organic Intermediates” published by Wiley and Sons in New York. SOmetimes a metallic oxide dehydration catalyst such as alumina is used

An Overview of Error Correction: Cultural Dimensions and Techniques

In this paper the writers consider the theoretical issues of error correction in the language classroom. The evolution of different philosophies regarding error correction is discussed. This is followed by an overview of some of the assumptions behind language teaching approaches in vogue and implications these assumptions have for handling errors in the classroom. Finally, the paper presents classroom evidence to support the idea that there is a cultural dimension that must be considered in the treatment of learner\u27s errors

From father hunger to sibling society: Robert Bly's observations of American outlook

Paper presented at The 28th Annual Convention of the International Psychohistorian Associatio

Politics: Age of Jackson

Paper presented at The Goodwin College, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Prophets With Honor: TV Preachers as Cognitive Therapists

One area of celebrity expertise assumed by many is in daily life conduct. Psychotherapy may be a matter of incidental learning here. A celebrity may dispense advice, accidentally or on purpose, & be heeded. Cognitive Therapy tends to be a very practical form of teaching. Celebrities such as television evangelists will give their audience advice. I find some televangelists are fairly competent as cognitive therapists

Empathy: a psychohistorical consideration

Paper presented at The International Psychohistorical Association, New York, NY