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(1 - 9 of 9)
- Title
- THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION ON SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
- Creator
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Crowe, Heather, Morales, Waltraud, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The purpose of this study is to understand to what extent political corruption affects social welfare in Nigeria using a qualitative case study design. This thesis argues that political corruption leads to a concentration of wealth among a minority of elite government officials, resulting in extensive deficiency of social welfare. In addition, political corruption has secondary and tertiary effects throughout society that further exacerbate social welfare conditions. For this study, social...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to understand to what extent political corruption affects social welfare in Nigeria using a qualitative case study design. This thesis argues that political corruption leads to a concentration of wealth among a minority of elite government officials, resulting in extensive deficiency of social welfare. In addition, political corruption has secondary and tertiary effects throughout society that further exacerbate social welfare conditions. For this study, social welfare is measured by a comprehensive range of social indicators including but not limited to: level of poverty, income inequality, level of infrastructure, and health. Political corruption can only be measured by the sole available gauge of corruption to date: Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. Research limitations regarding the conceptualization of corruption as well as complexities in defining and measuring social welfare are also addressed. This study concludes that political corruption is a significant factor contributing to poor social welfare in Nigeria, resulting in nothing short of a protracted human tragedy.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003905, ucf:48758
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003905
- Title
- A MODEL OF LOW-RISK PIRACY.
- Creator
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Camilo, Amil, Burguet, Roberto, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Heterogeneous consumers make the decision to buy a durable good or to download a replica, and a monopolist chooses to price and protect their intellectual property in the form of an authentication cost. An optimal price and authentication cost is derived, and shown to be higher than the efficient outcome for a uniform distribution of consumers. The optimal selection of price and protection are shown to be commensurate with his authenticating technology, and the searching ability of consumers....
Show moreHeterogeneous consumers make the decision to buy a durable good or to download a replica, and a monopolist chooses to price and protect their intellectual property in the form of an authentication cost. An optimal price and authentication cost is derived, and shown to be higher than the efficient outcome for a uniform distribution of consumers. The optimal selection of price and protection are shown to be commensurate with his authenticating technology, and the searching ability of consumers. As an extension, a layout for a monopolist problem where consumers have different searching abilities is shown to be indistinct from a homogeneous case when consumers are uniformly distributed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFH2000495, ucf:45647
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000495
- Title
- WOMEN, WORK AND WELFARE: A CASE STUDY OF GERMANY, THE UK, AND SWEDEN.
- Creator
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Legg, Meredith, Hamann, Kerstin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis examines how different welfare state regimes affect gender relations by examining variations in welfare regimes and outcomes for women between Western European countries. The research seeks to understand how the diverse systems of social provision affect women: particularly with regard to their position in the labor market and in their ability to balance occupational and domestic work. Using a comparative, qualitative approach, I compare three Western European welfare states ...
Show moreThis thesis examines how different welfare state regimes affect gender relations by examining variations in welfare regimes and outcomes for women between Western European countries. The research seeks to understand how the diverse systems of social provision affect women: particularly with regard to their position in the labor market and in their ability to balance occupational and domestic work. Using a comparative, qualitative approach, I compare three Western European welfare states (Germany, the United Kingdom, and Sweden) to evaluate gender-relevant welfare policy with female employment rates, unemployment rates, and wage differentials. Welfare states and labor market policies affect outcomes for women because these policies influence and structure womenÂÂ's ability to enter paid labor and at the same time perform the majority of household labor and care work. To study the effect of welfare state variations upon women, I argue that a gender-focused model of welfare states is necessary. I borrow from Diane SainsburyÂÂ's (1996) framework establishing two contrasting ideal-types and combine this with Pascal and LewisÂÂ' (2004) gender equality model. Using this framework, I will assess whether my case studies vary around specific gender dimensions of variation including bases of entitlement, maternal and parental leave, pension, and the organization of care work. Preliminary findings align Germany and the United Kingdom with a male breadwinner gender model and Sweden with a dual-earner dual-carer model, although recent policy reforms in Germany and the United Kingdom oriented toward a Scandinavian welfare model may affect future gender outcomes. My research question hopes to uncover how welfare regimes and specific gender-relevant policies support or ignore womenÂÂ's labor force participation by reconciling work and home for women through an evaluation of gender-relevant outcomes for women. Systematically looking at the structure of welfare state provision and outcomes through a gender-relevant framework enhances our knowledge of the ways in which the varieties of gender regimes accommodate or perpetuate womenÂÂ's inequality in democracies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0002974, ucf:47946
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002974
- Title
- An Exploration of the Relationship between Work Climate, the Utilization of Support Resources, and Compassion Fatigue Level in Child Protective Investigators.
- Creator
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Holliker, Shannon, Leon, Ana, Yegidis, Bonnie, Dziegielewski, Sophia, Rosa-Lugo, Linda, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The impact of child maltreatment is far reaching, affecting the abused child, the family system, and the professionals tasked with providing support during the moments of crisis. As child protective investigators (CPIs) provide care and support to others, they are at high risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress and/or burnout, both aspects of compassion fatigue. Researchers suggest that work climate, utilization of resources, and worker characteristics can impact CPI compassion...
Show moreThe impact of child maltreatment is far reaching, affecting the abused child, the family system, and the professionals tasked with providing support during the moments of crisis. As child protective investigators (CPIs) provide care and support to others, they are at high risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress and/or burnout, both aspects of compassion fatigue. Researchers suggest that work climate, utilization of resources, and worker characteristics can impact CPI compassion-fatigue level. Drawing on extant literature, this study examined three research questions and seven hypotheses aiming to explore the relationship between work climate, resource utilization, CPI characteristics, and CPI compassion-fatigue level. This dissertation research used a cross-sectional study design that included collecting data from 165 CPIs using three instruments: (a) CPI demographic form, (b) Professional Quality of Life-5, and (c) Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Descriptive, nonparametric, and regression analyses were conducted on the returned surveys of 165 Florida-based CPIs. Results of data analyses indicated that statistically significant inverse relationships exist between the independent variable, compassion fatigue, and the dependent variables of teamwork climate, CPI supervision utilization, CPI age, and CPI trauma history (verbal abuse). The study presents implications for addressing compassion fatigue in CPIs from a public-affairs, a practice, and a research perspective.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007654, ucf:52496
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007654
- Title
- EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF ANIMAL SHELTERS: AN APPLICATION OF DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS.
- Creator
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Heyde, Brandy, Reilly, Charles, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The focus of this thesis is the application of data envelopment analysis to understand and evaluate the performance of diverse animal welfare organizations across the United States. The results include identification of the most efficient animal welfare organizations, at least among those that post statistics on their operations, and a discussion of various partnerships that may improve the performance of the more inefficient organizations. The Humane Society of the United States estimates...
Show moreThe focus of this thesis is the application of data envelopment analysis to understand and evaluate the performance of diverse animal welfare organizations across the United States. The results include identification of the most efficient animal welfare organizations, at least among those that post statistics on their operations, and a discussion of various partnerships that may improve the performance of the more inefficient organizations. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that there are 4000 - 6000 independently-run animal shelters across the United States, with an estimated 6-8 million companion animals entering them each year. Unfortunately, more than half of these animals are euthanized. The methods shared in this research illustrate how data envelopment analysis may help shelters improve these statistics through evaluation and cooperation. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is based on the principle that the efficiency of an organization depends on its ability to transform its inputs into the desired outputs. The result of a DEA model is a single measure that summarizes the relative efficiency of each decision making unit (DMU) when compared with similar organizations. The DEA linear program defines an efficiency frontier with the most efficient animal shelters that are put into the model that "envelops" the other DMUs. Individual efficiency scores are calculated by determining how close each DMU is to reaching the frontier. The results shared in this research focus on the performance of 15 animal shelters. Lack of standardized data regarding individual animal shelter performance limited the ability to review a larger number of shelters and provide more robust results. Various programs are in place within the United States to improve the collection and availability of individual shelter performance. Specifically, the Asilomar Accords provide a strong framework for doing this and could significantly reduce euthanasia of companion animals if more shelters would adopt the practice of collecting and reporting their data in this format. It is demonstrated in this research that combining performance data with financial data within the data envelopment analysis technique can be powerful in helping shelters identify how to better deliver results. The addition of data from other organizations will make the results even more robust and useful for each shelter involved.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002101, ucf:47557
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002101
- Title
- DEVELOPMENTAL CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF BRAZIL IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
- Creator
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Ribeiro, Henrique, Sadri, Houman, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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As Brazil develops into the first South American world power many changes in its society, economy and political system are necessary for a successful transformation. Nevertheless this is no easy task as the country battles corruption, vast inequality and a severe problem with freedom of information within the media. For decades the Brazilian mainstream media has been controlled by elite political forces together with elite families influencing and controlling many factors that are responsible...
Show moreAs Brazil develops into the first South American world power many changes in its society, economy and political system are necessary for a successful transformation. Nevertheless this is no easy task as the country battles corruption, vast inequality and a severe problem with freedom of information within the media. For decades the Brazilian mainstream media has been controlled by elite political forces together with elite families influencing and controlling many factors that are responsible for social, economic and political development. As new developments and implementations in the last fifteen years have been ongoing within Brazil, such as welfare programs, social reforms, hosting of international sporting events and the emergence and popularity of social networking technology, millions within the Brazilian Nation have been able to ascend out of poverty and into a new era of diversity of information, political participation and greater awareness of the problems within their own society. The time has finally come of when the Brazilian people have the ability to react and mobilize against the forces and factors that for decades have perpetuated several unfavorable conditions within Brazil.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFH0004897, ucf:45411
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004897
- Title
- THREE ESSAYS ON DIFFERENTIAL GAMES AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS.
- Creator
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Ling, Chen, Caputo, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation consists of three chapters on the topic of differential games and resource economics. The first chapter extends the envelope theorem to the class of discounted infinite horizon differential games that posses locally differentiable Nash equilibria. The theorems cover both the open-loop and feedback information structures, and are applied to a simple analytically solvable linear-quadratic game. The results show that the conventional interpretation of the costate variable as...
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three chapters on the topic of differential games and resource economics. The first chapter extends the envelope theorem to the class of discounted infinite horizon differential games that posses locally differentiable Nash equilibria. The theorems cover both the open-loop and feedback information structures, and are applied to a simple analytically solvable linear-quadratic game. The results show that the conventional interpretation of the costate variable as the shadow value of the state variable along the equilibrium path is only valid for feedback Nash equilibria, but not for open-loop Nash equilibria. The specific linear-quadratic structure provides some extra insights on the theorem. For example, the costate variable is shown to uniformly overestimate the shadow value of the state variable in the open-loop case, but the growth rate of the costate variable are the same as the shadow value under open-loop and feedback information structures. Chapter two investigates the qualitative properties of symmetric open-loop Nash equilibria for a ubiquitous class of discounted infinite horizon differential games. The results show that the specific functional forms and the value of parameters used in the game are crucial in determining the local asymptotic stability of steady state, the steady state comparative statics, and the local comparative dynamics. Several sufficient conditions are provided to identify a local saddle point type of steady state. An important steady state policy implication from the model is that functional forms and parameter values are not only quantitatively important to differentiate policy tools, but they are also qualitatively important. Chapter three shifts the interests to the lottery mechanism for rationing public resources. It characterizes the optimal pricing strategies of lotteries for a welfare-maximization agency. The optimal prices are shown to be positive for a wide range of individual private value distributions, suggesting that the sub-optimal pricing may result in a significant efficiency loss and that the earlier studies under zero-pricing may need to be re-examined. In addition, I identify the revenue and welfare equivalency propositions across lottery institutions. Finally, the numerical simulations strongly support the findings.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003195, ucf:48752
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003195
- Title
- An economic analysis of child care and low-income mothers.
- Creator
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Donnan, Brenda C., Hosni, Djehane, Business Administration
- Abstract / Description
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University of Central Florida College of Business Administration Thesis
- Date Issued
- 1979
- Identifier
- CFR0011947, ucf:53102
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011947
- Title
- INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY: SOCIOECONOMIC ACTORS AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES.
- Creator
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Hudson, Jennifer, Kinsey, Barbara, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this thesis I conduct a comparative analysis of the influence of socioeconomic actors, business and labor, on public policy in Germany and the United States, specifically public policy that has an impact on economic inequality. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of how institutional constructs may determine the level of influence by different socioeconomic actors on public policy. In particular, I examine the link between institutional design and economic...
Show moreIn this thesis I conduct a comparative analysis of the influence of socioeconomic actors, business and labor, on public policy in Germany and the United States, specifically public policy that has an impact on economic inequality. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of how institutional constructs may determine the level of influence by different socioeconomic actors on public policy. In particular, I examine the link between institutional design and economic inequality, specifically the relative influence of business interests in varying types of capitalist economies and democratic systems, and assess those facets of institutional design that may facilitate the channeling of business influence in policy making. I explore institutional changes in the German political and economic system beginning in the late 1980s to determine whether these changes have altered the policy making process over time, and analyze similarities with institutional changes that have taken place in the United States beginning in the late 1970s to present. Further, I examine whether shifts in institutional design indicate that the German system is transitioning towards a more liberal model similar to that of the United States, and consider what effects this may have on the level of economic inequality in Germany. To conduct my analysis I use the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework; based on the IAD framework I create a conceptual map of the channels by which socioeconomic actors are involved in the policy making process. I evaluate the policy-making process in both formal and informal policy arenas. The policy areas analyzed include corporate governance, industrial relations, and tax, welfare and minimum wage policy during the selected time periods. The analysis shows that the institutional designs that produced the selected policies benefit business interests and may contribute towards economic inequality. The larger goal is to develop research that will build a theoretical foundation to help us identify how these systems may be improved to produce a more equitable allocation of economic resources.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004690, ucf:45243
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004690
