2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-4:45 pm
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Corruption and the Accumulation of Non-Performing Loans
Banks are particularly susceptible to interference in lending
decisions from corrupt politicians. Consequently, banks in corrupt
countries may suffer from weaker balance sheets as bad loans
accumulate due to corrupt practices.
Matthew Daniel Shaffer, University of South Carolina
shaffer@mailbox.sc.edu
Political Corruption and Vulnerability to International
Financial Contagion
This paper argues that corruption significantly affects the
vulnerability of a country to financial contagion by exacerbating the
problem of information asymmetries and shaking the confidence of
the market in tumultuous times.
Xun Pang, Washington University in St. Louis
xpwustl@gmail.com
Jamus Jerome Lim, World Bank
jlim@worldbank.org
14-28 FINANCIAL MARKETS II
Room UEH 412 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Markus Stierli, University of Zurich
stierli@pw.uzh.ch
Paper The Determinants of Sovereign Debt Restructurings with the
London Club
This paper analyzes the determinants of debt restructurings between
debtor governments and commercial banks (the London Club)
since the late 1970s. International political factors, in particular, are
stressed in explaining these bargaining outcomes.
Rebecca Marie Nelson, Harvard University
rmnelson@fas.harvard.edu
Paper The Spatial Impact of Free Trade Treaties on the Movement of
Capital
This research project examines the impact free trade agreements
have on expanding regional markets beyond national borders and
the impact this expansion has on global capital flows.
Gregory Douglas Davis, University of Arizona
davisg@email.arizona.edu
Paper Veto Players and Policy Credibility in Government Bond
Markets
This paper explores the effects of veto players on country
creditworthiness of developing countries governed by a leftist party.
I find that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the
number of veto players and country credit ratings.
Hye Jee Cho, University of California, Los Angeles
hyejee@ucla.edu
Paper Foreign Direct Investment and Poverty Reduction
We claim that FDI will have a lower impact to effective poverty
alleviation in countries which have unequal income distribution
whereas FDI in a country with higher level of equality will lead to
reduce poverty more effectively.
Selin Ece Guner, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
selinece_guner@yahoo.com
Fassil Fanta, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
fassil1@yahoo.com
Disc. Markus Stierli, University of Zurich
stierli@pw.uzh.ch
15-10 IMMIGRATION
Room UEH 401 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Celeste Montoya-Kirk, University of Colorado, Boulder
celeste.montoyakirk@colorado.edu
Paper The Transnationalization of Central American Gangs:
Penetrating the U.S. Deep South
This paper analyzes the Central American gangs from a
transnational perspective. The gang problem is understood primarily
as an unintended negative consequence (blowback) of the United
States’ 1980's foreign policies in Central America.
Vincent T. Gawronski, Birmingham, Southern College
vgawrons@bsc.edu
Lisa L. Owens, Southern College, Birmingham
llowens@bsc.edu
Disc. Celeste Montoya-Kirk, University of Colorado, Boulder
celeste.montoyakirk@colorado.edu
16-9 WEAPONS TRADE AND ACQUISITION
Room UEH 404 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Arnd Plagge, University of Rochester
arnd.plagge@rochester.edu
Paper Bullets for Boots: Trends in Defense Small Arms Contracting
Among NATO States
Industrialized powers have generally preferred to produce their
basic military armaments domestically. Yet recent years have seen
a degradation of domestic armament capacity in many NATO states
and the rising use of arms produced in other states.
E. Asher Balkin, Ohio University
eb239003@ohio.edu
Paper Arms, Internal Armed Conflicts, and Mass Killings
The study examines the three-way relationships among
government’s major arms acquisitions, internal armed conflicts, and
intentional mass killings by a government between1946 and 2000.
Susumu Suzuki, Wayne State University
susumu@wayne.edu
Paper Plowshares into Sword or Sword into Plowshare What Factors
Impact Military Expenditure: 1998-2005
The paper is focusing on the traditional debate between the welfare
and the military spendings. However, the author is more focusing on
the dynamics between two spendings after the cold war.
Sejin Moon, University of North Texas
msjpol@gmail.com
Paper Arming the SCO: Empirical Measures of an Emerging Alliance
By employing methods from Social Network Analysis, I construct
a global network of arms transfers in order to measure the extent to
which the Shanghai Cooperation Organization emerges as an area of
particularly high density within the network.
Camilo Ignacio Geronimo, George Mason University
cgeronim@gmu.edu
Disc. Arnd Plagge, University of Rochester
arnd.plagge@rochester.edu
16-19 NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION
Room PDR 5 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Tae-Hyung Kim, Daemen College
tkim@daemen.edu
Paper Institutionalizing Dominance: Explaining the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Regime
The paper critiques the establishment and working of the nuclear
weapons regime and argues that it provides a good illustration of the
usefulness of institutions in regulating the behavior of weaker actors
in the international system.
Vaidya Gundlupet, University of Chicago
vaidya@uchicago.edu
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