Economics Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Economics. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item A quest for a sustainable and equitable society(2025) Li, Josefina Yueqiao; Forstater, Mathew, 1961-This dissertation examines the intertwined ecological and social crises perpetuated by the capitalist mode of production and proposes a transformative path toward a sustainable and just society. Grounded in critiques of capitalism and its incompatibility with environmental sustainability and social justice, this work bridges the theoretical insights with actionable policy proposals. Drawing on Modern Money Theory (MMT), ecological economics, Marxist ecology and radical political feminism, it reconceptualizes money as a social institution capable of fostering alternative systems of provisioning and explores community currency-powered job guarantee (JG) programs as a locally adaptable solution and a transformative tool for systemic change. It begins with a critical analysis of capitalism’s foundational features—market-oriented commodity production, private ownership of the means of production, wage dependency, and individualistic acquisitive behavior, and establishes the core premise that the economy is embedded within the environment and functions as a mechanism of social provisioning. The second chapter delves deeper into the theoretical incompatibilities between capitalism and sustainability, drawing from ecological economics, Marxist ecology, and heterodox economic perspectives. By critiquing capitalism’s reliance on perpetual growth, profit maximization, and commodification, it underscores the urgent need for alternatives. Chapter three presents a case study of Ningxia’s ecological immigration program as an embryonic example of a job guarantee initiative. This analysis introduces Job Guarantee literature, highlighting the program’s strengths and limitations while providing a contextual lens for understanding the practical challenges and opportunities of implementing JG programs at local levels. The final chapter synthesizes these insights into a proposal for community currency-powered job guarantee programs. Positioned at the meso-institutional level, these programs mobilize underutilized resources, foster economic localization, and redefine meaningful work to include domestic and care labor. Such initiatives challenge the profit-driven dynamics of traditional economic systems and promote a culture of reciprocity, sustainability and equity. This dissertation concludes by linking macro-level goals with community-driven action, and reimagining an economic framework capable of fostering resilience, justice, and sustainability in the face of our social and environmental challenges today.Item Three essays on Platform Capitalism and its alternative(2023) Alemdar, Ali Alper; Naidu, Sirisha C.; Olsen, Erik K., 1966-This dissertation delves into the intricate landscape of platform capitalism and its multifaceted relationship with labor dynamics, bringing forth a nuanced understanding of the evolving economic terrain. The first essay sets the stage by redefining platform capitalism's character. Contrary to prevailing views that paint it as solely rentier capitalism, this paper reveals that platform capitalism encompasses both productive and rentier facets. Employing a Marxist framework, it delineates three categories within platform capitalism: (I) pure-rent platforms, (II) rent-productive mixed platforms, and (III) pure-productive platforms. This essay challenges the conventional classification by scrutinizing surplus value and data creation, employing Uber as a case study. The second essay shifts focus to platform capitalism and labor dynamics. Employing an interlocking framework, it uncovers the intricate control mechanisms that bind workers to gig platforms through factor markets' dependence. This essay examines the Artisan Courier Model (ACM) by interlocking framework enriching our comprehension of labor control and precarity dynamics. The third essay offers a model to counter the pervasive influence of platform capitalism. This paper advocates the state-platform cooperative partnership in response to corporate giants' dominance in the digital economy. This collaboration empowers platform cooperatives, ensuring financial autonomy, minimizing undue state interference, and fostering democratic self-sufficiency. This essay charts a path toward building a robust alternative within the capitalist landscape by providing a practical blueprint for cooperation. This dissertation comprehensively examines platform capitalism, labor dynamics within the gig economy, and a collaborative model to challenge the status quo. This dissertation contributes to the ongoing discourse on platform capitalism, enriching our understanding of its complexities and providing hope for those seeking to reshape the economic paradigm on a global scale.Item Three Essays In Mobilization Theory(2023) Levey, Sam Harvey; Fullwiler, Scott T.This dissertation explores the phenomenon of society-wide mobilization, the response to a major national emergency in which the stakes feel existential and the policy choices often push the bounds of what was previously conceivable within the political discourse. The prototypical examples of this are major wars, such as World War II, but there’s no inherent reason these situations must be limited to combat; indeed the broad purpose of this study is to inform the policy response to other pressing social emergencies such as pandemics and climate change. The first essay is a literature review, painting the broad picture of the bounds of mobilization theory, by drawing on, updating, and synthesizing neglected literature in “mobilization economics,” as well as some modern contributions to the analogy between WWII and climate change. The second essay is a qualitative historical study, looking through archival records from the United States Treasury during World War II, to piece together the economic worldview held by these administrators. The third essay considers a specific theoretical issue of how saving policies (policies intended to channel household income into saving rather than consumption, to prevent inflation) interact with the management of the national debt and future fiscal and monetary policy. Through these interventions, this dissertation asserts that mobilization is relevant again for addressing the challenges of our time, and ripe for interdisciplinary study.Item Ushering in the Post-Oil Era: A Functional Finance Approach to Development, Diversification and Sustainability in Saudi Arabia(2023) Azad, Shama; Forstater, Mathew 1961-The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the social, economic and financial structures and the growth potential of Saudi Arabia as a fixed exchange rate country. Saudi Arabia has had its currency pegged to the US dollar since 1986. From a traditional MMT perspective, the country can thus not be defined as monetarily sovereign. Monetarily non-sovereign countries fall on a continuum of sovereignty in accordance with their ability to meet their exchange rate requirements and maintain their peg. In this dissertation, I conduct an inquiry, using the example of Saudi Arabia, of how the framework of Functional Finance, and particularly the use of fiscal policy, can be adapted for non-sovereign countries. Saudi Arabia has been an export-driven economy for many decades and has been largely dependent on its oil sales proceeds. However, with volatility in oil prices and the need to find sustainable energy practices, it has started to diversify its economy and develop other sectors. As the country is not monetarily sovereign and its private sector is still developing, its export revenues have served it well so far. The government has been able to build a substantial stock of foreign exchange reserves that can be used to defend its exchange rate peg and achieve policy goals. Through the dissertation, I study the current framework of the country and review its main challenges and strategies with regards to oil dependence, diversification, employment and revenue streams. All development policies discussed herein are grounded in Modern Money Theory and are aimed to be sustainable, functional and customized to the specific case of Saudi Arabia.Item Three Essays on the Limits and Possibilities of Economic Sovereignty in the Eurozone(2022) Ramirez Cisneros, Ignacio; Wray, RandallThere is no disputing Germany’s dominant economic role within the eurozone (EZ) and the broader European Union. Economic leadership, however, entails responsibilities, especially in a world system of monetary production economies that compete according to political and economic interests. The first paper looks at the historical context of the US’s undisputed leadership among monetary production economies following the end of World War II to help frame the broader discussion on the financial requirements of the leading economy in the new system of states after the war. It goes on to discuss how certain constraints regarding the external balance do not apply to the leader of the monetary production economies, the United States. In addition, the paper presents Hyman P. Minsky’s proposal for a shared burden between the hegemon and other core industrial economies in maintaining the stability of the international financial system as a multilateral financial framework to alleviate the burden of hegemonic responsibility in stabilizing the international economy. The second paper makes use of European economic traditions reliant on statecraft to revisit the region's integration under the leitmotiv of economic sovereignty as a continental project. Specifically, it looks at the work of List, Keynes, and the Chartalists. The work of F. List sets European economic unification in its historic place as a strategy founded in large part on exploiting economies of scale (demand and supply-side) by political and economic aggregation of smaller non-self-sustaining economies into one market. Keynes’s international economics serves as the most useful orienting blueprint to begin to address the particularity of economic unification among sovereigns absent political unity. Chartalist insights into the political nature of central banks can assist in framing the European Central Bank's often clumsy attempts to hold together the Union. The third paper explores how the Great Financial Crisis overturned the equilibrium between debtor and creditor members in the EU. Violators of Maastricht Treaty quantitative limits (for instance, Germany was in breach of the limit on government deficits from 2001-2005) were not paraded as irresponsible freeloaders. The ‘macroeconomic imbalances’ within Europe and the world were not overly concerning, as financial sector participants chased yields in the periphery and the non-traded sectors absorbed capital. Nonetheless, ever since the sovereign debt crisis in Europe tested the political and financial infrastructure of the currency union, the coexistence between the different growth regimes has faltered as creditor nations have become increasingly hostile towards those carrying a trade deficit. The paper looks at how trade tendencies within the EZ and the broader EU have in fact consolidated Germany’s grip on the economic destiny of the continent. It goes on to critically assess the potential for sovereign solvency within a currency union built over a highly competitive industrial infrastructure.