Date of Award
Summer 2019
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Chair
Robert J. Pauly, Jr.
Committee Chair School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Member 2
Joseph St. Marie
Committee Member 2 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Member 3
Iliyan Iliev
Committee Member 3 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Member 4
Tom Lansford
Committee Member 4 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Abstract
This dissertation explores the effects of information and communication technology (ICT), education, and political institutionalization on fiscal state capacity in countries classified by the World Bank as upper middle, middle and low income. It presents a metric to explore how changes in information distributions through ICT, education, and political institutionalization mechanisms influence fiscal state capacity. To explore interrelated aspects of distinct information distribution conduits, the dissertation constructs a metric to analyze the effects of information distributions through ICT, educational participation and political institutionalization on fiscal state capacity, the dependent variable. It also explores joint and parallel effects of primary commodities for each of the three information distribution measures on fiscal state capacity. Further, it includes an exploration of regional effects for countries classified as upper middle, middle and low-income within Latin America and the Caribbean. Increases in information distribution parities in domestic populations are predicted to increase fiscal state capacity. The research approaches state capacity through a development framework, using labor and employment measures to reflect fiscal state capacity that is predicated on wider public interests. In so doing, it responds to calls in the literature for refinements on factors that explain fiscal state capacity in developing states and for further insights on how ICT influences development. Ultimately, the dissertation contributes to the literature through the presentation of a metric for exploring congruent information distribution mechanisms and through the construction of formal models that use panel data to explore how ICT, education, political institution and commodities influence fiscal state capacity.
Copyright
2019, Ted D. Ellis
Recommended Citation
Ellis, Ted D., "Technology, Resources, Institutional Filters and State Capacity: Variations in Latin America" (2019). Dissertations. 1671.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1671