Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On Inequality, Credit Constraints, And Growth In Contemporary Mexico, Leopoldo Gómez-Ramírez

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents four essays on inequality, credit constraints, and economic growth in the Mexican economy in its recent history, or “contemporary Mexico”. In the first essay, it is argued that the possibility that wealth/income inequality could affect economic growth has been neglected in the contemporary Mexican economy literature. Also, preliminary thoughts on the channels through which inequality could have been affecting growth are offered. In the second essay, a time series, macroeconometric analysis on the possible relationship between inequality and aggregate production (GDP) in Mexico is presented. The analysis suggests that an increase in inequality boosts the economy, but …

Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar

Doctoral Dissertations

Turkey has experienced important structural and social changes that would be expected to facilitate women’s participation in market work. Social attitudes toward working women have changed in recent years; women are becoming more educated; they are getting married at a later age; and fertility rates are declining. Despite these factors, women’s labor force participation rates are very low in comparison to the countries at a similar development stage. This dissertation analyzes the underlying causes of low female labor force participation in Turkey. In addition to a background chapter (Chapter 2) analyzing structural transformation and employment generation patterns, the dissertation has …

Essays On Growth Complementarity Between Agriculture And Industry In Developing Countries, Joao Paulo De Souza

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines three aspects of the macroeconomic role of agriculture in the industrialization of developing countries. In the first essay, I utilize instrumental variable techniques to empirically identify the effect of growth in agriculture on growth in manufacturing. Using data for 62 countries and instrumental variable techniques, I find that higher land yields in agriculture raise growth in manufacturing in the short to medium run. Along with extensions of the basic empirical model, this finding suggests that land-saving technical change can stimulate demand for industrial goods, raise fiscal revenues, and provide foreign exchange earnings to finance capital accumulation. In …

Social Hierarchies And Public Distribution Of Food In Rural India, Deepankar Basu, Debarshi Das

Deepankar Basu

In this paper, we develop a simple model that shows that consumption of PDS food grains is significantly different between rich and poor households in states where the PDS functions relatively well; in places where the PDS is non-functional, the difference is not significant. Using household-level data from three recent thick rounds of the consumption expenditure survey (2004-2005, 2009-2010 and 2011-2012), we find evidence in support of the predictions from the model. This suggests that one way to make the PDS functional is to make it more accessible to poor and underprivileged households.

Human Capital, Employment And Subjective-Objective Poverty: A Micro Case Study Of Nepal, Tejesh Pradhan

Masters Theses

This thesis derives an alternative subjective-objective poverty line (SPL) using self-reported qualitative assessments of perceived adequacy for different categories of consumption namely, food, housing and clothing. Modeling the probability of reporting that actual consumption in each category is adequate, I find that actual measures of consumption are highly significant predictors of perceived consumption adequacy. The perceived adequacy for different consumption components respond more elastically to spending on the corresponding category of goods than to that on other types. The results suggest that the implied subjective poverty lines and regional profiles are different from those predicted by popular objective methods.

This …

Syllabus: Introduction To Permaculture, Lisa Depiano

Sustainability Education Resources

The Permaculture Design Course is a three-credit course that offers students a foundation in permaculture history, ethics, principles, design process, and practical applications. The framework behind the theory and practice of permaculture is rooted in the observation of natural systems. By observing key ecological relationships, we can mimic and apply these beneficial relationships in the design of systems that serve humans while helping to restore the natural world. This course trains students as critical thinkers, observers, and analysts of the world(s) around them, and then goes on to provide students with the tools needed to design for inspired and positive …

A Model Ecotourism Master Plan Chapter For Rural Massachusetts Communities: A Case Study Of Hardwick, Ma, Sarah Lang, Madison Burke

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The primary purpose of this project is to create a model chapter on ecotourism to better leverage the available natural resources within rural towns (under 50,000 population) in MA as an economic development strategy.

Long-Term Population Projections For Massachusetts Regions And Municipalities, Henry C. Renski, Susan Strate, Daniel Hodge, William Proulx, Katherine Paik, Steffen Herter

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.