Digital Commons Network^™

Enter Stage Left: Immigration And The American Arts, K. Pun Winichakul, Ning Zhang

Economics: Faculty Publications

To what extent have immigrants contributed to the growth of the United States arts sector? In this paper, we explore the impact of immigration during the Age of Mass Migration on the development of the arts in the U.S. over the past century. In the short run, our results suggest that immigration helped produce greater numbers of native artists. Over a century later, the bene- fits to the arts persist. Counties with greater historical immigration house more arts businesses and nonprofit organizations that generate more revenue, employ a larger proportion of the community, and earn more federal arts grants. When …

Argentina And The Philippines: Similar Development Struggles, Jesus Felipe, Matias Vernango

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

ALTHOUGH the economies of Argentina and the Philippines are very different, the two share structural problems that make both nations’ development a complex process. The election of Javier Milei as the new president elect of Argentina, gives us the opportunity to review the differences and parallels between the two economies.

Milei is a radical libertarian populist economist with authoritarian tendencies. His proposals range from the dangerous in economics (dollarization, closing the Central Bank, a drastic reduction of social spending) and social issues (curtail human rights and democratic advances, loosen gun ownership laws, and the elimination of all those institutions that …

Is Democracy Good For Growth? | Development At Political Transition Time Matters, Di Sima, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Is democracy a better political regime for economic prosperity than autocracy? This paper shows that the answer depends on the initial economic development level during the democratic transition when the foundation of institutions was laid. Democracy facilitates growth only in countries that already have adequate development at transition time. These countries are more likely to create and sustain growth-enhancing institutions than others. Without appropriate development, democracy does not improve growth; this applies to about 40% of the third-wave democratized countries. These results are based on a sample of 153 countries in 1960–2010 and robust to various specifications and endogeneity issues.

Is Democracy Good For Growth? Development At Political Transition Time Matters, Di Sima, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Is democracy a better political regime for economic prosperity than autocracy? This paper shows that the answer depends on the initial economic development level during the democratic transition when the foundation of institutions was laid. Democracy facilitates growth only in countries that already have adequate development at transition time. These countries are more likely to create and sustain growth-enhancing institutions than others. Without appropriate development, democracy does not improve growth; this applies to about 40% of the third-wave democratized countries. These results are based on a sample of 153 countries in 1960–2010 and robust to various specifications and endogeneity issues.

Cutting Edge Technology Metros In The Mountain West, 2021, Sofia Takhtadjian, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet highlights data on cutting-edge technology metros in the Mountain West, as originally reported in the Commercial Cafe report, “Boulder Tops Silicon Valley as Most Cutting-Edge Metro in the U.S.” Of the top 30 cutting-edge metros in the nation, four are in the Mountain West: Boulder, CO (1st nationally); Denver, CO (7th nationally); Salt Lake City, UT (10th nationally); and Phoenix, AZ (27th nationally).

Strengthening The Southern Nevada Workforce Pipeline, Katie M. Gilbertson

Student Research

Workforce development has been a keystone in the discussion of economic diversification of Las Vegas for decades. The leisure and hospitality industry is the lifeline for the Southern Nevada economy due to the reliance on tourism as the city’s main economic driver. The leisure and hospitality industry requires physical labor and more face-to-face customer interaction than other employment sectors. Thus, these jobs often do not require high educational attainment, but rather sharp soft skills like effective listening, nonverbal communication, and negotiation strategies. While these are valuable traits, the lack of educational attainment within the leisure and hospitality workforce suppresses employees’ …

When Economic And Political Interests Collide: The Cases Of Defense Procurement And Microfinance In India, Mackenzie Owens

Politics and International Relations Research Papers

India is a growing democracy with an abundant population that seeks economic development; India is a democracy in an ever more important, strategic location. It is essential to better understand India, its politics, and its policies as geopolitical tensions rise in our world. India will be explored via a political economy approach through three sections in this paper: (1) The Political System of India; (2) India’s Trade Policy toward Defense Procurement; (3) The Microfinance Crisis of 2010. India looks to develop its domestic industries, grow investment, while defending its interests and sovereignty.

Aggregate Implications Of Barriers To Female Entrepreneurship, Gaurav Chiplunkar, Pinelopi K. Goldberg

Discussion Papers

We develop a framework for quantifying barriers to labor force participation (LFP) and entrepreneurship faced by women in developing countries, and apply it to the Indian economy. We find that women face substantial barriers to LFP. The costs for expanding businesses through the hiring of workers are also substantially higher for women entrepreneurs. However, there is one area in which female entrepreneurs have an advantage: the hiring of female workers. We show that this is not driven by the sectoral composition of female employment. Consistent with this pattern, we find even without promoting female LFP, policies that boost female entrepreneurship …

The Economics Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Poor Countries, Edward Miguel, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak

Discussion Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended health and living standards around the world. This article provides an interim overview of these effects, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Economists have explained how the pandemic is likely to have differential consequences for LMICs, and demand distinct policy responses, compared to rich countries. We survey the rapidly expanding body of empirical research that documents its many adverse economic and non-economic effects in terms of living standards, education, health, and gender equality, which appear to be unprecedented in depth and scale. We also review research on successful and failed policy …

Greater Wheeling Regional Plan: Economic Profile, Eric Bowen, Christiadi, Brian Lego, Cody Adams

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The Greater Wheeling region, defined in this report as consisting of Brooke, Hancock, Marshall and Ohio counties in West Virginia, and Belmont, Jefferson, and Monroe counties in Ohio, has experienced a volatile economy over the past decade with significant swings in employment across multiple sectors.

In this report, we make a detailed examination of the recent economic indicators in the Greater Wheeling region. This report is part of a series from West Virginia University researchers at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research and the WVU Extension Service that evaluate the Wheeling Metropolitan Area’ economy with the goal of providing …

Greater Wheeling Regional Plan: Workforce And Education Assessment, Christiadi, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

Human capital is a crucial element of any regional economic growth plan, as companies looking to locate or grow in a region require a skilled workforce to meet the demands of their businesses. In this report, we examine human capital in the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area, focusing on occupational and educational requirements to support the region’s growth over the next five years.

Greater Wheeling Regional Plan: Action Plan For Economic Development, Michael J. Dougherty, Eric Bowen, Christiadi

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The Wheeling Region has a long and rich history. However, the passage of time and the change that it has brought has not always been beneficial to the region. As a result, leaders in the region have begun a process to reevaluate and reinvent the Wheeling area and improve the regional economy. In this report, we discuss these strategies and recommend actions to further the Wheeling region’s economic development.

Greater Wheeling Regional Plan: Industrial Cluster Analysis, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

One of the most prominent strategies followed by economic development officials is to identify what the region already does well and work to enhance these strengths. Improving on a region’s competitive advantage has been the focus of Porter’s work on economic clusters, which he defines as network of companies that forms within a geographic location based on supplier relationships. In this report, we identify the industry clusters that are present in the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and provide tools to assess the most promising clusters for economic development targeting. This type of cluster analysis has become an increasingly important …

Greater Wheeling Regional Plan: Survey Results, Michael J. Dougherty, Cody Adams

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The Wheeling Area Strategic Plan included a process for public involvement. Originally, it was to have involved holding open forums and in-person stakeholder meetings. The sessions had been scheduled for early Spring, but they were delayed and eventually cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we conducted a web-based survey to gather ideas and opinions from people from across the region.

Darkness Falls Upon America’S Backyard: An Evaluation Of Central Appalachia’S Past Economic Woes And A Blueprint For The Region’S Future Economic Development, Jack Bergantino

Honors Scholar Theses

The United States prides itself as a nation that offers equity and opportunity to its citizens. However, in recent decades, regions of relative wealth and poverty have come to define the American landscape. Coastal communities have fared well with consistently declining rates of unemployment and increasing rates of college graduation. In contrast, Central Appalachia, which comprises parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, continues to falter with diverging employment and income levels relative to other areas of the country.

This report discusses the economic history of the Appalachian region and considers three case studies, concentrated in McDowell, Harrison, and …

Threshold Effects Of Terms Of Trade On Latin American Growth, Andre C. Vianna, Andre V. Mollick

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper investigates nonlinear relationships between terms of trade volatility (totvol) and economic growth in 14 Latin American economies from 1997 to 2014. In the 2000s, Latin American countries experienced accelerated economic growth often attributed to commodity price booms. We split the sample into two regimes based on totvol thresholds determined by bootstrap techniques. Fixed-effects, instrumental variable and dynamic panel regressions address endogeneity in trade-growth, subject to traditional economic channels such as domestic investment, population growth, exchange rate, government size, and institutions. We find statistically significant thresholds and stronger trade-growth links during the 2000s commodity boom and in larger economies.

Diaspora’S Role In Nepal’S Development: Summary Of The Forum Held At The Nepali National Convention. Baltimore, Md, Usa. July 5-7, 2019, Ambika P. Adhikari, Diwakar Dahal, Rajendra Khatiwada

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Four major Nepalese community organizations, ANA, ANMA, BANA, and INLS jointly hosted the “Nepali National Convention 2019” in Baltimore, Maryland, USA during July 5 to 7, 2019. Eight other community-based organizations including Blood Donors of America, Society of American Nepalese Nurses, Nepalese Association of Florida, Nepal Pasa Pucha Amerikaye, America Nepal Women’s Association of Greater Washington, Nepal Education and Culture Center, America Nepal Society, and Association of Nepali Teraian in America were involved as co-hosts of the convention. Several other local organizations participated in support of the convention.

The Forum “Diaspora’s Role in Nepal’s Development” was held from 1:30-3:00 pm …

Planning An Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem In Norfolk Virginia, Matthew A. Cline

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Provides an overview of Norfolk’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem and challenges associated with its disadvantaged entrepreneurs. Presents policy recommendations in creating more equitable environment for these small business ventures.

Economic Impacts Of The Marcellus Shale Energy And Environment Laboratory (Mseel), Caleb Stair, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Resource Documents

No abstract provided.

Vocational Training Programs And Youth Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence From Nepal, S Chakravarty, M Lundberg, Plamen Nikolov, J Zenker

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Lack of skills is arguably one of the most important determinants of high levels of unemployment and poverty. In response, policymakers often initiate vocational training programs in efforts to enhance skill formation among the youth. Using a regression-discontinuity design, we examine a large youth training intervention in Nepal. We find, twelve months after the start of the training program, that the intervention generated an increase in non-farm employment of 10 percentage points (ITT estimates) and up to 31 percentage points for program compliers (LATE estimates). We also detect sizable gains in monthly earnings largely driven by women who start self-employment …

Essays On Women's Issues And Economic Development, Amy Ramnarine

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three essays under the recurring theme of women’s issues, child health and economic development. In the first chapter, I examine the effect of Child Marriage on the health outcomes of offspring in Bangladesh. I use an exogenous variation in drought and flood shocks as an instrument for Child Marriage and measure children’s health outcomes by stunting, from the height-for-age index. I develop a theoretical model to show that the decision to marry a daughter early is driven by the type of income shocks that a household is exposed to. From the empirical estimation, I find …

Community Development Law, Economic Justice, And The Legal Academy, Peter R. Pitegoff

Faculty Publications

The evolution of community economic development (CED) over the past several decades has witnessed dramatic growth in scale and complexity. New approaches to development and related lawyering, and to philosophies underlying these approaches, challenge us to reimagine the framework of CED. From the early days of community development corporations to today’s sophisticated tools of finance and organization, this evolution reflects “why law matters” in pursuit of economic justice and opportunity. Change is visible in new approaches to enterprise development and novel grassroots initiatives that comprise a virtual “sharing economy,” as well as intensified advocacy around low-wage work and efforts to …

A Targeted Approach? A Study Of Ngo Roles And Practices In Promoting Economic Development, Emma Shoaf

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In recent years, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become key actors promoting economic development. Despite their rapid rise, there are still significant gaps in the development sphere regarding what NGOs do in specific contexts. This research evaluates how NGOs promote economic development among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to give context to general trends within development literature. Through an in-depth case study of the NGO Cives Mundi and their recent development project Tatreez–focused on promoting economic empowerment among Palestinian refugee women through the formation of a weaving co-op–this study seeks to evaluate key advantages and disadvantages to NGO work in specific …

Effects Of Microfinance Penetration Rates On Education Participation, Samuel W. Martinez

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Microfinance, or the extension of financial services to low-income individuals unserved or underserved by traditional financial institutions, has been championed as a method of reducing poverty and creating social change, especially in developing countries. However, empirical studies examining the effects of microcredit programs have found mixed results as to the success of these loans. This study attempts to determine the impact that the presence of microfinance institutions in a country has on education participation rates, specifically examining country- level World Bank data over a 10-year period. Regression results for this data suggest positive effects of microfinance penetration on secondary education …

Foreign Aid And Economic Growth: A Post-Soviet Analysis Of Emerging Markets, Brett Michaelson

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth and aid receipts per capita in a post-Soviet world. Utilizing economic growth models and assumptions developed by Burnside and Dollar (2000), I find that general sources of foreign aid are detrimental to a country's economic growth. I find that net ODA per capita acts as a substitute for local government investment in pro-growth policies. As such, foreign aid should only be used in targeted and specific cases.

Developing Hope: The Impact Of International Child Sponsorship On Self-Esteem And Aspirations, Paul Glewwe, Phillip H. Ross, Bruce Wydick

Economics

Recent research (Wydick, Glewwe, and Rutledge, 2013) finds positive and statistically significant impacts on adult life outcomes from child sponsorship, including large impacts on schooling outcomes, the probability and quality of employment, occupational choice, and community leadership. This paper uses data from two countries to explore whether these impacts may be due not only to a relaxation of external constraints, but also to higher aspirations among sponsored children. We use survey data from Kenya and Indonesia, and psychological data from Indonesian children’s self-portraits, to test whether sponsorship significantly affects psychological variables in children that are likely to foster better economic …

Trade Frictions And Market Access Of Developing Countries: A Product-Level Empirical Investigation, Eugene Bempong-Nyantakyi, Steven Husted, Shuichiro Nishioka

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper examines the effects of trade frictions, including tariffs and a variety of factors that raise trade costs, on export market access at the product level and, in particular, the role these frictions have on the ability of developing countries to access world markets. We find that a variety of trade frictions do serve to limit market access. We find distance and efficiency in trade facilitation are significant determinants of the probability of success in entering foreign markets. We examine whether there are any systematic development-related biases from these frictions that further limit market access for exporters from developing …

Do African Immigrants Enhance Their Home Nations’ Trade With Their Hosts?, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse

Economics

Employing data on the immigrant stocks of 43 African home countries who reside in 110 host countries and on trade flows between these countries during the year 2005, we examine whether African immigrants exert positive effects on their home countries’ trade with the typical host country. Estimates from Tobit regression models indicate a one percent increase in the number of African immigrants in a given host country increases that country’s exports to and imports from the typical home country by 0.132 percent and 0.259 percent, respectively. Further evaluation of these effects from the perspective of each African home country reveals …

China And The New Triangular Relationships In The Americas: China And The Future Of Us-Mexico Relations, Enrique Dussel Peters, Adrian H. Hearn, Harley Shaiken

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

This book advances the concept of “triangular relationships” by analyzing benefits and conflicts within US-Mexico-China relations as Chinas´ influence increases. The contributors examine this phenomenon from economic, political, and social perspectives. China´s deepening impact in the Americas suggests that triangular relation-ships, such as those examined in this volume, will necessarily weigh more heavily into other fields of research in the future.

Setting The Agenda: Asia And Latin America In The 21st Century, Ariel C. Armony

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

Latin America and Asia are among the world’s fastest growing regions. Trade between Asia and Latin American and Caribbean countries has risen dramatically in recent years. It is undeniable that Asia now plays a formidable role in the economic development of the region. This publication emerges out of the University of Miami’s 2012 “Asia and Latin America in the 21^st Century” conference, where leaders from academic, policy, business, and media communities from around the world convened to address the macroeconomic trends, trade relations, and sociopolitical trends that have emerged as the links between Asia and Latin America strengthen. Organized …