Field:
    Comparative Politics, International Relations, Quantitative Methods

Dissertation Title:
    Distributive Politics in the Era of Globalization

Committee:
    George Tsebelis (Chair), Geoffrey Garrett, Ronald Rogowski, and Edward Leamer

Date of Completion:
    August 2007

Contact Information:
    Eunyoung Ha
    UCLA Political Science Department
    4289 Bunche Hall
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
    Phone: 310-825-4331
    Fax: 310-825-0778

Curriculum Vitae:
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Dissertation Summary:
    My dissertation explains how globalization and government ideology have shaped income distribution in terms of welfare, inequality, and poverty. It is popularly believed that the integration of global markets have severely circumscribed leftist governments’ capability to employ generous distributive policies and that most government economic policies have converged to neo-liberal or rightist policies. Contrary to this view, I argue that leftist governments still have policy alternatives in the global era and that government ideology still significantly influences income distribution. To test the empirical merits of my arguments in both developed and less developed countries, I created a new dataset on the ideology of government parties and chief executives which covers 164 countries from the years 1975 to 2005. The empirical analyses in my dissertation yield several conclusions. First, the impact of globalization on income distribution varies according to different aspects of globalization. Capital mobility has strengthened the welfare state. While trade flows have reduced income inequality in developed countries, tariff cuts and foreign direct investment have increased inequality in both developed and less developed countries. Trade flows have reduced poverty, but foreign direct investment and capital mobility have worsened the welfare of the poor. Second, leftist distributive policies are still effective in reducing inequality and poverty even under the pressure of globalization. Most welfare states have enlarged welfare expenditures in response to the pressure of globalization. Leftist governments do significantly reduce income inequality and poverty, while rightist governments exacerbate them.

Research Interests:
    My primary research interest involves the impact of globalization and domestic political institutions on domestic political economy: inequality, poverty, growth, unemployment, inflation, welfare spending, and tax. My next research projects will be strongly grounded in my new dataset on the ideology of government parties and chief executives. I plan to initiate a project to study the impact of globalization and government ideology on economic performance such as economic growth, unemployment, and inflation and how the impacts are different in developed and less developed countries. This research will make a significant contribution to the existing literature which focuses only on industrial countries for theoretical development.

Teaching Interests:
    I am equipped to teach classes on the impact of globalization and domestic political institutions on inequality, poverty, growth, and government policies in addition to graduate and undergraduate courses in comparative politics and international relations. My research combines quantitative analysis with the study of globalization, an area of study of increasing importance and demand among both undergraduate and graduate students. My goal is to teach undergraduate and graduate students how to study the causes and effects of globalization empirically, using statistical techniques where sufficient quantitative data are available. My comparative advantage as a researcher and an educator is my ability to bridge theories of globalization and statistics. I have ten quarters of experience as a teaching assistant for both upper and lower division courses at UCLA and received very favorable teaching evaluations. As a faculty fellow at UCLA I will also teach three classes in 2007-2008: “International Political Economy,” “The Challenge of Globalization: Growth and Inequality,” and “Comparative Political Economy: the Role of Government and Political Institutions on Domestic Political Economy.”