Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, Anthropology

This research investigates political and economic issues of inequality and unemployment in Uganda, as manifested in one informal settlement in Kabalagala, and the effect of these issues on HIV. Uganda is one important site to study the intersections of inequality, formal sector unemployment, urbanization, and HIV/AIDS. Contemporary inequality and formal sector unemployment are driven by colonial policies that shaped urban stratification, and postcolonial policies that privileged economic growth over job creation. A central goal was to understand men's risk of HIV in the context of these and other structural and social drivers of risk. This research used an explanatory sequential mixed methods study design, including a pilot study (2016), survey pre-test (2017), and 12 months of fieldwork that began with survey data collection (N = 292) and ended with in-depth interviews (n = 54, a subset of the survey sample). Survey data were analyzed using multiple linear regression, and interview data and field notes were analyzed through thematic analysis. Quantitative data described the patterning of risky sexual behavior (e.g. HIV risk), while qualitative data expanded on these relationships and helped to clarify areas of contention. Men in this study have lower rates of HIV testing, compared to national averages. Men also frequently report defaulting on ART, once they do receive a positive diagnosis and begin treatment. Inequality and unemployment impact their daily lives through experiences of uncertainty that must be managed. Economic instability is important, and when men cannot access resources, they are likely to engage in a variety of strategies to improve their economic status. Men also face myriad vulnerabilities driven by the political-economic context, from housing instability to incarceration. This work contributes to the anthropological literature on the political economy of health, HIV, vulnerability, and social resilience. Men's experiences of HIV and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Janet McGrath Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lee Hoffer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jill Korbin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aloen Townsend Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Public Health

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2007, Environmental Studies (Arts and Sciences)

The prevalence of informal economic livelihood activities in the public spaces of developing cities is gradually attracting research attention. Over the past decade or two, municipal and metropolitan governments in many developing cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America have been grappling with the urban spatial problem. This involves the urban management challenge of accommodating street vendors and dealing with some environmental externalities associated with their unauthorized occupation and their activities generate in the urban natural and built environment. This piece of work considers some policy alternatives drawn from the experiences of other developing cities that the City of Accra may consider to resolve its spatial problem. The study advocates a strategic approach that offers official policies on the informal economy and street vending and adopts new measures such as the creation of permitted zones, a revision of the concept of existing traditional markets and the creation of satellite markets through public-private partnerships.

Committee: Ariaster Chimeli (Advisor) Subjects:

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

This dissertation explores African market women's activities by analyzing and emphasizing the significance of their personal networks and connections, emotions, and spatial mobilities in sustaining their businesses and the informal economy in general. I argue that the social, economic, and political systems created by market women rest on their immediate ties to the household, their relationships, and wider networks of kin, friends, or other social connections as well as their performance and experience with emotions. I evaluate how these intricate connections impact women's success or failures in the market. I argue that competition and contestations over urban market spaces that are intensified by the Zimbabwean economic crisis led to different discourses by Zimbabwean citizens to claim spaces. Market women, for example, have used their life histories to make claims to the market and perceive ownership differently than other groups within the city. By primarily using life histories to recollect and explore women's experiences within the city and rural areas, I emphasize women's agency and perceptions of Zimbabwe's history. Starting in the 1960s when women nostalgically recollect their participation in markets, to the present, I follow women's markers of history and explore why they remember the past in that way. I expand debates on women's entrepreneurship and urban informality to emphasize why market women in Zimbabwe help us comprehend how women have reshaped urban spaces, economies, and political systems. In sum, I argue that in the different phases of Zimbabwe's economic volatility, market women have meritoriously supported the informal economy while bringing happiness to the residents.

Committee: Timothy L. Scarnecchia (Committee Chair); Sarah Smiley (Committee Member); Teresa A. Barnes (Committee Member); Elizabeth Smith-Pryor (Committee Member) Subjects: African History; African Studies; Aging; Economic History; Entrepreneurship; Families and Family Life; Gender Studies; History; Modern History

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2023, Honors Theses

It is crucial to analyze the relationship between formal institutions and the informal sector to gain a better understanding of the challenges that certain informal industries face. Given the wide-ranging nature of the informal economy, this paper will focus on the food sector, specifically street food vending in three Colombian cities–Barranquilla, Bogota, and Medellin–which has garnered considerable social and cultural significance over time. This paper will employ a political economy research approach. A surveying method will be the primary source of data collection. Insights obtained from first-person accounts provide invaluable information regarding the reality of the challenges that small-scale informal vendors face. This study posits that the majority of the businesses surveyed surpass the upper-middle income economy poverty line and minimum wage. The majority of businesses responded that they have attained education up to the secondary level. Additionally, the tenure exhibited spans from 8 years of age to someone who has been informally operating for a period as short as 5 months. The study highlights that women in the informal sector face higher financial barriers, especially in regard to the low supply of microcredits. Finally, the data suggest that males are more likely to become formally recognized businesses compared to females, although both genders present a high disposition toward formalization. This exploratory research may furnish policymakers with pertinent information on how to introduce incentives to expand the economic activities of the informal food sector while improving the transition process from informality to formality.

Committee: Kenneth Fah (Advisor); Michael Dougherty (Committee Member); Douglas Ruml (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Cultural Anthropology; Demography; Economic Theory; Economics; Political Science; Public Policy; Social Structure; Statistics; Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Political Science

Much political science has studied how governments choose to spend money, largely through a literature on the rise of the welfare state. In turn, many study (I) how much revenue must be raised in taxes and (II) from whom, across the income spectrum, these funds must come from. In contrast, this paper studies the political determinants of tax-mix. Decisions to use some tax-instruments over others – be it the income tax or property tax, Value-Added Taxes (VATs) or corporate taxes – not only implicate vertical redistribution within society (redistribution across income-levels), but also horizontal redistribution (redistribution within income-levels) and taxation's efficiency. In turn, tax-mix decisions implicate such vitals as: whether a society raises public revenues in a manner consistent with distributive justice; how much revenue a government is able to raise; and the extent to which raising government revenues will harm the private economy. This dissertation project offers a theory and, consequently, tests by which to understand how tax-mixes are determined across societies. Central to my claim, much political science literature on taxation can be reoriented around the concept of elasticity. Implicitly, many studies argue that citizens prefer taxes that they can most easily avoid paying – either by opting for taxes they believe they can most easily cheat-on without getting caught; selecting taxes on behaviours that they do not engage-in; or pursuing taxes that implicate behaviours from which they can easily “shift away.” In all of the above cases, I make explicit the under-girding concept at play, elasticity. Elasticity informs an individual's preferences over tax policy. These preferences interact with a society's institutions, which determines who has the necessary political power in society so as to attain their (elasticity-driven) tax policy preferences in the form of tax policy outcomes. Understanding why governments pick certain tax-mixes will, then, a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jan Pierskalla (Committee Chair); Philipp Rehm (Advisor); Sara Watson (Advisor) Subjects: Economics; Political Science; Public Policy