DOCSLIB.ORG

Template: Main Text

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Template: Main Text Essays on the Impact of Economic Freedom on Investment, Entrepreneurship, and Development by Gonzalo Macera M.S. A Dissertation In Agricultural and Applied Economics Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Benjamin Powell Co-Chair of Committee Eduardo Segarra Co-Chair of Committee Jamie Bologna Pavlik Jaime Malaga Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December 2020 Copyright 2020, Gonzalo Macera Texas Tech University, Gonzalo Macera, December 2020 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a dissertation was a challenging but rewarding experience. Certainly I could not have done it in solitude. Comments, criticism, and guidance have been central. Even though an exhaustive list of those who helped is not technically possible, I will try to acknowledge as many as possible. Some may go unmentioned, but they are not unappreciated. I must begin by thanking Benjamin Powell. Because of him I came to Texas Tech in the first place, and he gave me a chance to undertake this project by offering me a fellowship at the Free Market Institute. He also made it possible for me to finish this by now and get beyond all the difficulties that arose along the way. I also want to thank, along with Ben, the other members of the dissertation committee, Eduardo Segarra, Jamie Bologna Pavlik and Jaime Malaga. Their support, feedback, and comments were essential. I must thank all of the people of the Free Market Institute. Adam Martin, Robert Murphy, Alex Salter, Kevin Grier, Andrew Young, Robin Grier and all other faculty gave me feedback and advice when I requested it, and they helped me a lot by giving me their opinion on how to navigate the path ahead at each stage. To my fellow PhD students, Ray March, Audrey Redford, Glenn Furton, and Edwar Escalante, who all gave me a hand with their comments and suggestions whenever I needed them, thanks. As for the other peers I met in the department, Chandra Dhakal, Eric Asare, Maryam Almasifard, Ted Woolsey, and Ethan Sabala, we together took various courses and participated in seminars, always with great camaraderie. The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics was always very supportive in my research effort. Benaissa Chidmi and Chenggang Wang were always willing to give me a hand when I consulted them. The dissertation also couldn’t have ii Texas Tech University, Gonzalo Macera, December 2020 come to fruition if it weren’t for the support of Phil Johnson and DeeAnn Pruitt in navigating the administrative process. My thanks also to the Institute for Humane Studies, which has provided me with financial and academic resources and organized events that have been of great help in working on my ideas. Nor can I stop thanking Ed Stringham and the folks at the American Institute for Economic Research for their help. The institute hosted me on a couple of occasions during the time I was working on my dissertation. The academic and financial support, the numerous talks with Max Gulker and Phil Magness, and the atmosphere of camaraderie were important. Nicolas Cachanosky, not only an outstanding academic but a lifetime friend, this would not have happened without you. Thank you. Countless others deserve a thank-you for their encouragement and support. Alex Padilla, you have always provided me with feedback and support and friendship. Vincent Geloso, you’ve been there always as well; thank you. I also must mention my professors back in Buenos Aires, Martin Krause, Juan Carlos Benitez, and Patricia Bonatti, who taught me and then gave me the chance to work with them at the university as a teacher. And to Harry David, a great editor that makes sense of my words when my non-native English gets in the way of clearly expressing the points I want to make, thank you. And last but foremost, perhaps, there are my parents, without whom this would never have happened had they not encouraged me from my earliest days to improve myself in each stage of life and studies. I tragically lost you both in the middle of my time at Texas Tech and I still can’t fully process it. Wherever you are, and until we meet again, God willing, I thank you and miss you. iii Texas Tech University, Gonzalo Macera, December 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. viii I. ECONOMIC CALCULATION AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF INVESTMENT ............................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Economic Calculation and the Creation of Capital .................................................... 3 Economic Freedom and the Productivity of Investment ............................................ 6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 12 II. INFLATION AND BANKRUPTCIES ............................................................... 13 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 13 Entrepreneurship and interventionism ..................................................................... 15 Entrepreneurship and market distortions .......................................................................... 15 Cantillon effects and financial approaches ....................................................................... 17 Data .......................................................................................................................... 19 Model ....................................................................................................................... 22 Empirical results ................................................................................................................ 22 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 26 III. THE 2001 DEBT DEFAULT: A SYNTHETIC-CONTROL ANALYSIS OF ARGENTINA’S CRISIS ........................................................................................... 28 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 28 The 2001 Crisis and the Path Change ...................................................................... 30 The Pre-2001 Period and the Path to the Crisis ............................................................... 30 The 2001 Postcrisis Scenario and Subsequent Policy Change ....................................... 32 Synthetic Control Method ........................................................................................ 35 Control countries ............................................................................................................... 36 Synthetic Control on GDP per Capita ............................................................................... 36 Synthetic Control on Poverty ............................................................................................ 43 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 48 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 50 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................. 56 iv Texas Tech University, Gonzalo Macera, December 2020 ABSTRACT This dissertation, on the impact of economic freedom on investment, entrepreneurship, and development, attempts to evaluate the effects of different types of economic shocks. The first essay undertakes a theoretical analysis of the effect institutional quality has on the productivity of investments. The second essay looks at the effect of an inflationary shock on entrepreneurial activity. The third essay is a case study that analyzes an economic and institutional crisis followed by an economic policy shock. One of the purposes of this research is to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of these shocks and their ultimate impact on individuals and communities. Institutions are essential because they generate outcomes in their interaction with politics. My analysis goes from the theoretical to the practical, assessing the different implications of the changes generated by modifying sets of institutions. The first essay engages in a theoretical analysis building on previous empirical studies to analyze why an institutional change generates differences in the level and productivity of investments. It explains why institutional quality impacts the productivity of investments. The existing empirical literature finds that a given level of investment creates more economic growth in more economically free countries. Drawing on insights from Austrian economics, particularly as it pertains to the economic-calculation debate and associated knowledge problems, this essay provides a theoretical explanation for why entrepreneurs can
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SOPHIA Learning HIST1010: U.S. History: Learn from the Past
    SOPHIA Learning HIST1010: U.S. History: Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future (3 semester credits) COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed for students to discover how key events in U.S. History from the Great Depression to the Me Too movement are both a product of our past and a precursor to our future. Along the way, students will deepen their knowledge of four essential employability skills -- problem solving, technology, agility, and communication -- which will help them analyze the past, forecast the future, adapt to changes, and share their understanding with others. Students will analyze historical resources to determine credibility and validity and use a critical thinking process to determine the causes and long term impacts of a historical event. Additionally, students will present lessons learned from U.S. historical events and their potential influence on a current problem or situation. Course Effective Dates: June 2021- present Prerequisite(s): Entry level Gen Ed course – no prerequisites Length of course: This is a self-paced course. Students have 60 days with an additional 30-day extension (if needed) to complete the course. ACE CREDIT® Recommendation: In the lower-division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 3 semester hours in applied history. LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to: 1. Determine how studying history can help us prepare for the future. 2. Identify economic downturns that have affected different parts of society. 3. Recognize the skills like technology, agility, and problem solving that help people adjust to a changing workplace. 4. Determine the ways women have used communication and agility to achieve equality.
    [Show full text]
  • A Footnote for Jack Dawson James J
    University of Michigan Law School University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository Articles Faculty Scholarship 2002 A Footnote for Jack Dawson James J. White University of Michigan Law School, [email protected] David A. Peters Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles/848 Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles Part of the Contracts Commons, and the Legal Biography Commons Recommended Citation White, James J. "A Footnote for Jack Dawson." D. A. Peters, co-author. Mich. L. Rev. 100, no. 7 (2002): 1954-79. This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A FOOTNOTE FOR JACK DAWSON James J. White* and David A. Peters** Jack Dawson, known to many at Michigan as Black Jack, taught at the Law School from 1927 to 1958. Much of his work was published in the Michigan Law Review, where he served as a student editor during the 1923-24 academic year. We revisit his work and provide a footnote to his elegant writing on mistake and supervening events. In Part I, we talk a little about Jack the man. In Part II, we recite the nature and significance of his scholarly work. Part III deals briefly with the cases decided in the last twenty years by American courts on impracticability, impossibility, mistake and frustration of purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • Making a Modern Central Bank Harold James Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-83501-5 — Making a Modern Central Bank Harold James Index More Information Index 1970s energy crisis, 2, 11, 32, 45, 46, 243 Executive Committee of Bank of England (Exco), 132, 197, 344 Abbey National, 388, 398 Financial Stability Committee, 407, 427–430 acceptance houses, 9, 108, 125, 203, 216, 217 Industrial Finance Division, 242, 246, Allen, Douglas, 21 248–250, 346 Allen, William (‘Bill’), 98, 116, 125, 135, 272, International Division, 10, 137, 209, 213, 299, 300, 315, 407–408 239, 258, 266, 270, 271, 337, 344, 345, 346, Arrowsmith, John, 258 428 Ashdown, Paddy, 310 Monetary Analysis, 10, 359, 438–439, 450 Asian financial crisis 1997, 308, 428, 429, 431, Money Markets Division, 113, 139, 389 437, 442 Panel of Academic Consultants, 87, 103 Askew, Henry, 277 reorganization, 343–352 Bank of Canada, 341, 448 Bagehot, Walter, 2, 6, 24, 203, 404 Bank of Credit and Commerce International Baker, Herbert, 5 (BCCI), 10, 30, 205, 245, 319, 339, 341, balance of payments, 11–12, 34–40, 59, 179, 342, 343, 378–387, 388, 395, 399, 406, 418, 195, 443 419 current account, 164, 209, 271, 273, 444, 445, Bank of Japan, 208, 253, 299, 321, 439 457 Bank of Portugal, 295 Balls, Ed, 411–414, 418–419, 451 Bank of Spain, 379, 406 Banca d’Italia, 287, 290, 292, 297, 311, 426 banking supervision, 9–11, 14, 17, 30, 71, 109, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 13, 190–191, 195, 202, 220–222, 225–234, 33, 202, 209, 241, 256, 346, 406, 451 236–240, 310–313, 317, 322–323, Bank governance 339–343, 376, 399–408, 409, 414, Banking
    [Show full text]
  • Economic and National Security Impacts Under a Hydraulic Fracturing Ban
    Economic and National Security Impacts under a Hydraulic Fracturing Ban Report to the President January 2021 United States Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 Message from the Secretary As directed by the President in an October 31, 2020 Presidential Memoranda titled: “Memorandum on Protecting Jobs, Economic Opportunities, and National Security for All Americans,” the Department of Energy is submitting the following report on the economic and national security outcomes of a domestic ban on hydraulic fracturing technologies. This report addresses Section 4 (Domestic and Economic Impacts of Undermining Hydraulic Fracturing and Other Technologies) and Section 5 (National Security Impacts of Undermining Hydraulic Fracturing and Other Technologies) of the Presidential Memoranda. I am proud to present this report to the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, as it is technologies like hydraulic fracturing that unleashed America’s natural resources and made the United States the world’s largest natural gas and oil producer, while also creating high-paying jobs and delivering meaningful consumer savings. As this report concludes, a ban on hydraulic fracturing — a practice that has been used for over 50 years in the United States and other countries — would result in the loss of millions of jobs, price spikes at the gasoline pump and higher electricity costs for all Americans. Such a ban would eliminate the United States’ status as the top oil and gas producing country and return us to being a net importer of oil and gas by 2025. It would weaken America’s geopolitical standing and negatively impact our national security.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Gas Market Study
    Natural Gas Market Study Douglas J. Gotham David G. Nderitu Juan S. Giraldo Paul V. Preckel State Utility Forecasting Group November 2013 Executive Summary The rapid increase in shale gas production in the last decade profoundly affected the U.S. natural gas industry. This report examines the various factors affecting the natural gas industry, including supply, prices, demand, and the risk factors that could significantly affect natural gas prices in the future. The report is done in fulfillment of Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 494 (2013) that directs the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to (1) conduct a study of the natural gas market, including: (A) natural gas prices on both the open and captive markets; and (B) the effect of the availability of substitute natural gas and shale gas on natural gas prices (A) Natural gas prices on both the open and captive markets1 The period of time from 2000 through 2008 is characterized by both high average prices and shorter instances of extremely high prices. The price spikes of the winter of 2000/2001 and February 2003 resulted from a combination of low natural gas storage levels and high demand from cold weather. The price spikes of 2006 and 2008 were associated with supply disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico due to hurricane activity. The average price of natural gas dropped considerably in the latter half of 2008 and has stayed low since. The mean Henry Hub spot price for 1997-2008 was $5.09 per million British Thermal Units (mmBtu), while it was only $3.75/mmBtu from 2009 through October 18, 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • Free to Choose: a Personal Statement
    FORessential THE MODERN CONSERVATIVE readings A Condensation of Milton & Rose Friedman’s Free to Choose: A Personal Statement Reprinted 2012 by Alabama Policy Institute Birmingham, Alabama Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the Alabama Policy Institute and the author are properly cited. About this seRies The Alabama Policy Institute commissioned “Essential Readings for the Modern Conservative” to provide busy conservative- minded individuals with a way to acquaint themselves with at least the rudiments of conservatism. A work like Milton & Rose Friedman’s Free to Choose: A Personal Statement might seem too large to be worked into the corners of our schedule, but a condensed version could be read in a weekend or on a long flight. With such an abridged version, conservatives of all education levels will be able to read swiftly and concisely what the best minds in American conservative thought have had to say. This series is an attempt to capture the central message of the various authors and to express it in fewer, simpler words. We believe there are still men and women in sufficient numbers today who take their values seriously and who consider themselves to be of conservative principle but might be hard pressed to explain their political philosophy. This series is for them. It is certainly true that these condensations were written in hopes of providing a rough familiarity with the ideas of leading conservative thinkers, but they were also written to whet the appetite enough to motivate the reader to tackle the main text as well. It is the nature of a summary to touch upon the main points of a text and omit the full beauty of the original prose; all of the illustrations and the humor — the personality of the author must be left behind in the primary source.
    [Show full text]
  • The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business : an Encyclopedia / Quentin R
    THE 100 MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN BUSINESS An Encyclopedia Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. THE 100 MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN BUSINESS An Encyclopedia Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2012 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Skrabec, Quentin R. The 100 most significant events in American business : an encyclopedia / Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-39862-9 (hbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-39863-6 (ebook) 1. United States—Commerce—History—Encyclopedias. 2. Industries— United States—History—Encyclopedias. 3. Business—History—Encyclopedias. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred most significant events in American business. HF3021.S57 2012 338.097303—dc23 2011050442 ISBN: 978-0-313-39862-9 EISBN: 978-0-313-39863-6 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America (c) 2012 ABC-Clio.
    [Show full text]
  • Young Statesman
    Alex B. Campbell Young Statesman chapter one Young Statesman “Premier Alex Campbell of Prince Edward Island emerged as the young statesman of the [Februrary 1968] conference. Here was a man who had nothing to gain and little to lose from the subjects under discussion but rose above the parochial concerns of his province to show that his vision was wide enough to make him an important new father of Canada’s reconfederation.” In February 1978, Premier Alex Campbell of Prince Edward Island took part in his eighteenth !rst ministers conference. Campbell had been Canada’s Peter C. Newman, The Distemper of Our Times (1968) longest-serving !rst minister for almost six years. When he took o"ce in 1966 at the age of 32, Campbell was the youngest person to be elected premier in Canada in the twentieth century.1 At the 1978 conference, in addition to being the most senior in o"ce, Campbell was still the youngest in age. Alex Campbell’s !rst six years as premier were a time of leadership turnover in Canada. By 1978 the !rst ministers collectively made up one of the most experienced such gatherings in Canadian history. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Ontario’s Bill Davis had won three elections, as had Campbell. Five premiers had been elected twice: Gerald Regan of Nova Dear Alex, We have been so proud of you when Scotia, Richard Hat!eld of New Brunswick, Allan Blakeney of Saskatchewan, ‘ you represented P.E.I. so very capably at the meetings‘ Peter Lougheed of Alberta, and Frank Moores of Newfoundland.
    [Show full text]
  • Energy Crisis” and Neoliberal Transformation in the 1970S
    Shocked: “Energy Crisis” and Neoliberal Transformation in the 1970s By Matt Huber, Department of Geography, Syracuse University Introduction: Levittown Ablaze It would be difficult to find a landscape that represents the suburban boom of postwar American capitalism more than Levittown, PA.1 Constructed by the famous suburban developers Levitt and Sons the development housed several white families –the attempt of a black family to move to the neighborhood in 1957 ignited a race riot2 – whose male breadwinners worked in a nearby U.S. Steel factory. Levittown was the expression in landscape form of the postwar class accord between capital and labor that began to disintegrate in the 1970s. Thus, in 1979 the eruption riots in Levittown, PA can be seen, in the words of one historian, “symbolically marking the close of the postwar period” (341).3 In the wake of the Iranian revolution and ensuing gasoline shortage, what one columnist called, “The Great Levittown Gas Riots of 1979”4 was spurred on Saturday June 23rd by a convoy of independent truckers who converged on the Five Points intersection in Levittown (which contained 4 gasoline stations) to publicize their nationwide strike. The strike – one of many truckers’ strikes during the 1970s – demanded “more fuel at lower prices, and a higher speed and load limits.”5 Equally frustrated over gasoline shortages and long lines at the pump, “scores of enthusiastic Levittowners line the streets to cheer on the convoy.”6 When one trucker who fired up the crowd was taken to the ground and beaten by police, the once peaceful protest turned quickly violent.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of Financial Crises in the United States: 1900 – Present
    A Brief History of Financial Crises in the United States: 1900 - Present Chris Bumstead Noah Kwicklis Cornell University Presentation to ECON 4905: Financial Fragility and the Macroeconomy February 17, 2016 Timeline of Financial Crises ´ Panic of 1837 ´ Early 1980s Recession ´ Panic of 1857 ´ 1983 Israel Bank Stock Crisis ´ Panic of 1873 ´ 1989-91 U.S. Savings and Loans Crisis ´ Panic of 1884 ´ 1990 Japanese Asset Price Bubble ´ Panic of 1893 ´ Early 1990s Recession ´ Panic of 1896 ´ 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico ´ Panic of 1901 ´ 1997 Asian Financial Crisis ´ Panic of 1907 ´ 1998 Russian Financial Crisis ´ Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great ´ 1999 Argentine Economic Crisis Depression ´ Late 1990s and Early 2000s Dot-Com Bubble ´ 1970s Energy Crisis ´ 2007-2008 Financial Crisis ´ 1980s Latin American Debt Crisis ´ 2010 European Sovereign Debt Crisis What is a Financial Crisis? ´(Claessens and Kose 2013): “extreme manifestations of the interactions between the financial sector and the real economy” (4) ´ Currency ´ Current and Capital Accounts ´ Debt (Sovereign) ´ Banking ´ Crashes interact with Equities and Mortgage Markets The Long View The Crisis and Panic of 1907 ´ Crisis: The beginning of a downturn and businesses contract and the prices of commodities and securities decline (Johnson 454) ´ Panic: When the country’s credit system breaks and confidence shifts. (Johnson 454) ´ The Crisis began in January of 1907 and the Panic began in October of 1907 (Johnson 455). ´ Crisis = world event (in countries who used the Gold Standard) (Johnson 455) Panic of 1907 Continued ´ Gold supply 1890-1907: 4,000,000 à 7,000,000 (Johnson 455) ´ Bank Deposits 1890-1907: 6,000,000 à 19,000,000 (Johnson 455) ´ Prices of commodities for Gold Standard countries rose 40% from 1897 to 1907 (Johnson 455) ´ Stock Market reached a low in March of 1907 after an upwards rise leading up to the beginning of 1907 (Johnson 455-456) ´ U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rhetoric of Jimmy Carter: Renewing America’S Confidence in Civic Leadership Through Speech and Political Education
    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Winter 12-18-2020 The Rhetoric of Jimmy Carter: Renewing America’s Confidence in Civic Leadership through Speech and Political Education Christopher Bondi Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Bondi, C. (2020). The Rhetoric of Jimmy Carter: Renewing America’s Confidence in Civic Leadership through Speech and Political Education (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1927 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. THE RHETORIC OF JIMMY CARTER: RENEWING AMERICA’S CONFIDENCE IN CIVIC LEADERSHIP THROUGH SPEECH AND POLITICAL EDUCATION A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Christopher M. Bondi December 2020 Copyright by Christopher M. Bondi 2020 THE RHETORIC OF JIMMY CARTER: RENEWING AMERICA’S CONFIDENCE IN CIVIC LEADERSHIP THROUGH SPEECH AND POLITICAL EDUCATION By Christopher M. Bondi Approved May 1, 2020 ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Craig T. Maier, PhD Dr. Ronald C. Arnett, PhD Professor of Communication Professor of Communication (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Janie Harden-Fritz, PhD Dr. Kristine L. Blair, PhD Professor of Communication Dean, McAnulty College and (Committee Member) Graduate School of Liberal Arts Professor of English iii ABSTRACT THE RHETORIC OF JIMMY CARTER: RENEWING AMERICA’S CONFIDENCE IN CIVIC LEADERSHIP THROUGH SPEECH AND POLITICAL EDUCATION By Christopher M.
    [Show full text]
  • Oil Shocks, Coal Strikes, and the Rise of Electroculture.” Mediations 31.2 (Spring 2018) 95-124
    David Thomas. “Keeping the Lights On: Oil Shocks, Coal Strikes, and the Rise of Electroculture.” Mediations 31.2 (Spring 2018) 95-124. www.mediationsjournal.org/articles/lights-On-electroculture. Keeping the Lights On: Oil Shocks, Coal Strikes, and the Rise of Electroculture David Thomas Writing as the belle epoch drew to its acrimonious conclusion amid a hail of pickets and truncheons, Raymond Williams took issue with a stagist model of social analysis that has remained a stubborn feature of historiographic writing into the present. Williams complained that a scholarly preoccupation with “epochal” social formations often occluded recognition of the historical movements and tendencies that were concurrently active “within and beyond” the “dominant” regimes.1 Intent on moving beyond this kind of blinkeredness, he prompted cultural sociologists to focus more intently on the effects of “residual” and “emergent” forces, thereby attempting to grasp historical and cultural processes in all their contingent and mutually determining dynamism.2 In this chapter I apply Williams’s triadic conceptualization of social process — one attentive to the effects of residual, dominant, and emergent forces — to the study of energy systems and their attendant “energy cultures.” I attempt to draw out the political implications of these imbricated systems’ different technological and social compositions. Repurposing the term “electroculture,”3 I claim that a distinctive set of social formations and relations of production emerge in the wake of the 1970s energy crisis, as policymakers start to develop electricity into the signature fuel — and material medium — of a sweeping cybernetic restructuration of the global energy system.4 Yet, in accord with dynamics that Williams found to be typical of historical process, the mainlining of these new technologies not only changed the structural practices of the dominant petroculture, it also served to reactivate residual modes of class struggle that had first been developed in the heyday of steam.
    [Show full text]