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Microfinance Partnerships: A Bridge For Refugees, Megan Fielding Dec 2011

Microfinance Partnerships: A Bridge For Refugees, Megan Fielding

Master's Theses

My thesis examines the extension of microfinance to a refugee community; the objective focuses on economic assistance and a bridge to provide the required basic needs, as reported by the refugee population. With the global growth of refugees, the repositioning of refugees from either being cast aside as a potentially productive society or completely overlooked, is critical. Through my research in Ecuador, my thesis takes the viewpoint that refugees do, in fact, matter, and can become productive contributors to a society. The challenge that is presented in that viewpoint is: how do they become a part of a society?


Educational Progress And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields Nov 2011

Educational Progress And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Many development agencies seek to channel economic assistance to those less-developed countries (LDCs) and activities that will help the poor to achieve a better life (this phraseology is from the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act as amended in 1975). Education is an important indicator of countries' performance. This chapter examines the suitability of alternative education indicators as guides for planning and evaluating countries' progress and commitment toward increasing the participation of the poor in development.


Education And Income Distribution In Developing Countries: A Review Of The Literature, Gary S. Fields Oct 2011

Education And Income Distribution In Developing Countries: A Review Of The Literature, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This paper is a survey of the available literature on education and income distribution in developing countries. Education may affect the distribution of income in a variety of ways: by raising the level of income; by changing, for better or worse, the dispersion of income; by opening up new opportunities for the children of the poor and thereby serving as a vehicle for social mobility and/or, by limiting participation to the children of the well-to-do, transmitting intergenerational inequality; by offering greater access to favored segments of the population (boys, city-dwellers, certain racial groups); by rewarding differently the education received …


Growth And Distribution In The Market Economies Of East Asia, Gary S. Fields Oct 2011

Growth And Distribution In The Market Economies Of East Asia, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

This is a review and comparison of seven books dealing with income distribution and economic development focusing on the countries of East Asia. The books reviewed are: Irma Adelman and Sherman Robinson, Income Distribution Policy in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. Edward K. Y. Chen, Hyper-Growth in Asian Economies: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1979. John C. H. Fei, Gustav Ranis, and Shirley W. Y. Kuo, Growth with Equity: The Taiwan Case. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Walter Galenson, ed., Economic Growth and Structural Change …


Poverty Changes In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields Oct 2011

Poverty Changes In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This chapter is concerned with measuring how the extent of poverty changes in a country over time. 'Poverty', as the term is used here, denotes the inability of an individual or a family to command sufficient resources to satisfy basic needs. The poverty line is a constant real amount below which people are said to be poor. The extent of poverty in a country is then based on variables such as the number who are poor and the extent of their resource shortfall. This chapter treats three topics: how poverty is defined, how much poverty there is, and how …


Trade Strategies And The Poor: Adjusting To New Realities, Gary S. Fields Oct 2011

Trade Strategies And The Poor: Adjusting To New Realities, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The major policy issue examined in this paper is that of a country's choice of a trade strategy in the context of helping the poor. As the end of the 1980s approaches, developing countries face a much more difficult economic situation than that which they confronted at the end of the 1970s. The paper begins by reviewing these new realities and the need for adjusting to them. After mentioning some non-policies, I proceed to consider both successful and unsuccessful country experiences and draw lessons from them. One policy singled out for special attention is wage policy and its interaction …


Labour Institutions And Economic Development: A Conceptual Framework With Reference To Asia, Gary S. Fields Sep 2011

Labour Institutions And Economic Development: A Conceptual Framework With Reference To Asia, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] In this chapter, I set forth a framework for analysing how labour markets function under existing institutional arrangements and predicting how they would respond to alternative changes and policy interventions. I seek to blend logical rigour with institutional realism in a stylized way. My approach borrows from orthodox neoclassical analysis where relevant, and departs from those characterizations when the standard assumptions are empirically untenable.


Employment Generation And Poverty Alleviation In Developing Economies, Gary S. Fields Sep 2011

Employment Generation And Poverty Alleviation In Developing Economies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] We know well that the East Asian economies have achieved higher economic growth rates than those in any other region of the world and that production for world markets has featured as a hallmark of the East Asian successes. This paper has three purposes: first, to present comparative data showing that the rates at which employment opportunities improve and poverty is reduced mirror countries' differential growth experiences; second, to examine differences in labour market institutions, demonstrating that those in East Asia have similarities more likely to lead to higher output performance and shared improvements in living conditions; and third, …


Long-Term Economic Mobility And The Private Sector In Developing Countries: New Evidence, Gary S. Fields, Walter S. Bagg Aug 2011

Long-Term Economic Mobility And The Private Sector In Developing Countries: New Evidence, Gary S. Fields, Walter S. Bagg

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Consistent with the mainstream view of economic growth as a factor promoting long-term economic mobility, we hypothesize that those economies in which economic growth has been most rapid are precisely the ones that have achieved the greatest progress toward poverty reduction through improved labor market conditions, especially in private employment. We also hypothesize that the positive relationship running from economic growth through the labor market to poverty reduction continued to hold in the 1990s in essentially the same way as in earlier years when globalization was less intense. Both hypotheses are confirmed by our data. Our results therefore cast …


Reducing Poverty: The Overall Framework, Guy Pfeffermann, Gary S. Fields Aug 2011

Reducing Poverty: The Overall Framework, Guy Pfeffermann, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] How private firms contribute to economic mobility and poverty reduction and what governments can do to enhance their contribution is the theme of this book. We look first at the positive role the private sector plays in economic development, a role that has received less emphasis that that of other players. We then focus on the labor market and how various mechanisms in the economy interact to affect conditions for people as workers and as consumers. The volume examines the links among the business environment, private sector development, economic growth, poverty reduction, and economic mobility. Until recently, development economists …


Escaping From Poverty: Household Income Dynamics In Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, And Venezuela, Gary S. Fields, Paul L. Cichello, Samuel Freije, Marta Menéndez, David Newhouse Aug 2011

Escaping From Poverty: Household Income Dynamics In Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, And Venezuela, Gary S. Fields, Paul L. Cichello, Samuel Freije, Marta Menéndez, David Newhouse

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This study presents the main results of a larger, more technical report (Fields and others 2001) and subsequent work (Fields and others 2002) that analyzes income mobility in Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, and Venezuela. These economies were selected on the basis of the availability of panel data with which to analyze household income dynamics in the 1990s. By following households over time, we are able to investigate how households that were poor initially fared economically, relative to their richer counterparts. We can learn more about how and why households exit—and enter—poverty. To gauge income mobility, this study centers on …


International Labor Standards And Decent Work: Perspectives From The Developing World, Gary S. Fields Aug 2011

International Labor Standards And Decent Work: Perspectives From The Developing World, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] It is a very positive development that the world community has now reached agreement on four core labor standards, described further below. The moral force of this agreement will help slow and possibly even reverse the infamous "race to the bottom"—for example, child labor in the carpet industries of India undermining Nepal's efforts to keep its carpet industry free of child labor (Hensman, 2000). Ironically, some of the loudest and most strident voices against international labor standards come from the poorest parts of the world. My thesis in this chapter is that while some of the arguments being voiced …


Implications Of Economic Interactions Between Northern And Southern Tribes Of Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed Mar 2011

Implications Of Economic Interactions Between Northern And Southern Tribes Of Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The present paper discusses issues of the tribal interactions living on the borders between North and South Sudan. Foresights are looked for, especially after secession. There are multiple ethnic relations and mutual resources collectively utilized. Different tribes live on those resources, in specifics those who depend on a livelihood of herding cattle, camels, sheep and goats. The conceptions of no-borders, free water resources and open range were entrenched for hundreds of years. The sudden realization of necessities of new borders generates revulsion, sense of deprivation and end of traditional life practice. Additionally, development issues are weak with lack of infrastructure, …


Aspectos Macroeconómicos Do Crescimento Inclusivo, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu, Victor D. Lledó Jan 2011

Aspectos Macroeconómicos Do Crescimento Inclusivo, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu, Victor D. Lledó

Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

No abstract provided.


Africa's Economic Resurgence: Is It Possible?, Alka Jauhari Jan 2011

Africa's Economic Resurgence: Is It Possible?, Alka Jauhari

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Economic theory suggests that inequality between nations is caused by a failure to strike an optimal balance between capital, goods, and labor within a framework of appropriate rules and regulations. This leads to misallocation of a nation's resources - both capital and physical - resulting in distorted use and flow of capital and goods. Politics, regulation and policy-making lie at the heart of such "distortions" which come at a huge cost to societies. Due to these distorted flows, Africa was left behind in the race for economic development, as compared to the other regions of the world. Such distortions have …


Correlates Of Economic Growth In Developing Countries: A Panel Cointegration Approach, Lonnie K. Stevans, James P. Neelankavil, Francisco L. Roman Jan 2011

Correlates Of Economic Growth In Developing Countries: A Panel Cointegration Approach, Lonnie K. Stevans, James P. Neelankavil, Francisco L. Roman

Lonnie K. Stevans

The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been found to play a crucial role in the economic growth of receiving countries. Using panel cointegration techniques, this perception was found to be mitigated by an empirical approach that yields different results from previous studies. While the growth in real FDI has an influence on real GDP growth across developing countries in the short-run, year-to-year periods, it does not explain real GDP in the long-run. Rather, it appears to be the economic factors internal to a country that have the most influence on real GDP over time: human capital (measured by …


From Riches To Rags: The Political Economy Of The Natural Resource Curse, Anum Malkani Jan 2011

From Riches To Rags: The Political Economy Of The Natural Resource Curse, Anum Malkani

CMC Senior Theses

The natural resource curse paradox has given rise to a wide range of explanations, which look at the economic, social and political characteristics of resource-rich countries. This paper focuses on the political economy of natural resources and finds that controlling for sociopolitical factors eliminates the natural resource curse. The analysis then turns to these sociopolitical factors and examines the significant, complex and varied effects of democratization on economic growth in general, as well as in resource-rich countries in particular. I conclude that the type of institutions needed for economic development in resource-rich countries are not specific to either democratic or …