Evaluating the Impact of Land Tenure Reform in Present-Day South Africa

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, land tenure reform has been discussed ceaselessly as a critical action to restore lasting inequities from the nation’s segregated history. In recent months, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has introduced a proposal for a constitutional amendment supporting expropriation without compensation, stirring controversy and revolt throughout the country and across the globe. As questions continue to rise regarding the value of land reform and best practices for implementation, this paper identifies the relevant stakeholders in the debate over land reform and details the potential impacts of a redistributive mandate. Broadly speaking, this paper identifies four primary opportunities for impact from effective land reform: economic, social, political and environmental. Through critical analysis, this paper finds that land reform provides exceptional opportunity for post-apartheid South Africa, though the present-day proposal of Ramaphosa may need revision to ensure long-term efficacy

Inequality and Political Extremism: An Analysis of the 2017 Election Cycle in France and the Netherlands

The 2017 election cycle in France and the Netherlands featured candidates widely defined as politically extreme rapidly gaining traction as Election Day approached. Though neither Marine Le Pen of France nor Geert Wilders of the Netherlands were victorious in their bids to lead their respective nations, their second-place finishes led many to question how to typify this growing base of support for politically extreme candidates. As targets of their charged rhetoric felt increasingly threatened by their momentum, even after the elections, many seek to understand which underlying issues motivated support for candidates with such unprecedented views. In the context of their modern political histories, this paper searches for a possible association between economic insecurity and support for politically extreme candidates in the 2017 election cycle, finding a strong association in France and a tenuous association in the Netherlands

THE CASE OF THE FORGOTTEN BASIS: AN ADMONITION TO VICTIMS OF INTERNAL REVENUE CODE SECTION 115(g)

It is the purpose of this article to explore the various means available to a victim of section 115(g) for recovering the basis of his cancelled stock and to examine the reasons that may be advanced in support of the conclusion that the victim should be allowed a capital loss deduction measured by the amount of the basis

Analyzing the Impact of Educational Attainment on Subpar Income Dynamics in Appalachia

This thesis analyzes the relationship between educational attainment and individual economic outcomes throughout the 420 counties of the Appalachian region of the United States. In doing so, this thesis seeks to better understand the impact of education on a region whose income dynamics have lagged significantly behind the rest of the United States for over a half-century. Initial analysis finds that Appalachian counties’ incomes per capita lag consistently behind the remainder of the United States, although they receive similar levels of supplementary income benefits. In general, educational attainment, income and income maintenance benefits have all risen over time across the region. Using fixed effects models for both region and time, this thesis finds an unequivocally positive relationship between all levels of educational attainment and per capita income at the county level. Additionally, these models find that an increase in bachelor’s degree attainment results in a greater increase in per capita income than an equal increase in high school diploma attainment; however, this difference is relatively small. Similar analysis of the impact of education on supplemental income benefits produced ambiguous results. While fixed effects models for region and time produced negative slope estimates, variance across models and higher standard errors make some of these results difficult to interpret. This ambiguity may be a result of a limited selection of data or significant variation in income maintenance benefits by county. Collectively, this thesis produces encouraging results for future research and policy analysis, finding that educational attainment has had a significant influence on individual earnings across the Appalachian region of the United States in the last half-century