Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hip-Hop, Medellín And Social Change, Veronica Henao Posada

Master's Theses

This study explores the ways in which the Hip-hop movement is producing social change in Medellín, Colombia. Looking specifically at a Hip-hop school called Cuatro Elementos Skuela, which exists autonomously and with very little state support in the Medellín neighborhood of Aranjuez, I argue that young people are contributing to the reconstruction of the city’s social, cultural and economic fabric. I start by explaining the historical context of Medellín, describing the different sets of conflicts that unleashed high levels of violence and caused the fragmentation of the social, cultural and economic fabric. Moreover, I review the role of the …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …

Effects Of Shoe Donations On Children’S Time Allocation Toms Shoes In El Salvador, Flor Calvo

Master's Theses

What are the impacts of TOMS shoe donations in rural El Salvador? This paper tries to answer the question by studying the changes in time allocation among children age 6 to 12 years in El Salvador. By taking advantage of a Randomized Control Trial performed between January 15, 2012 and February 21, 2013 I study time allocation differences between baseline and follow-up periods among treatment and control groups. The primary findings of the study show that children part of treatment communities reduced the time spent on school related activities by approximately 0.657 hours per day while increasing the time spent …

Cash-In-Hand, Wives-In-Power: An Exploratory Analysis Of Microfinance In Jordan, Lauren Pugh

Master's Theses

Microfinance is an economic policy complimentary to advancing female empowerment. Empowerment is particularly relevant in patriarchic Islamic contexts in the Middle East, however little research exists. Due to counterfactual creation and inconsistent empowerment measurement, the true impact is debated. This research proposes intra-spousal decision-making outcomes as the appropriate proxy to empowerment and uses a nuanced approach of counterfactual creation by utilizing responses from previous microfinance borrowers. Survey data from a Jordanian MFI is used to examine the endogeneity story and cash-in-hand effects on intra-spousal decision-making outcomes. An instrumental variable estimation technique finds a weak link between microfinance and empowerment.

Risk, Religion, And Islamic Microfinance, Dunia Aburish

Master's Theses

This research design creates a framework in which the risk preferences and Islamic religiosity of Jordanian borrowers can be estimated. Specifically, this study highlights the different characteristics of conventional and Islamic microfinance borrowers. Although there is extensive literature on the topics of conventional microfinance and Islamic finance individually, few studies characterize borrowers who choose between these financial products. For this study, field research was conducted in conjunction with the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) in Jordan. Overall, 143 conventional and 78 Islamic borrowers were surveyed for a total sample of 221 borrowers. To estimate …

The Fii Model As An Investment In Patience: Exploring Time Preferences In Medellin, Colombia, Jennifer Graham

Master's Theses

The motivation for this research is to explore the success behind the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) as a model for poverty alleviation. During the period of June-December 2012, nearly 200 small business owners in Medellin, Colombia participated in a field experiment intended to replicate the FII model by randomizing the treatments of setting goals, receiving conditional payments, and participating in self-help groups, as well as the combinations thereof. The data shows that the subjects in the full FII treatment group achieve more goals and have significantly higher monthly sales than those subjects in any other treatment or control …

Different Uses Of Microfinance Among Conventional And Islamic Borrowers: Evidence From Jordan, Ngan Bui

Master's Theses

The paper focuses on investment decisions made by microfinance borrowers in Jordan. While there has been a lot of literature concentrating on the level of investment after credit access was made available, there has been very limited research on the impact of Islamic microfinance. The amount of literature comparing Islamic financing and its conventional counterpart is even more uncommon. This study will look at how conventional and Islamic borrowers differ in their decisions pertaining to business investments, home improvement projects and consumer durable goods. Results show that microfinance loan take-ups do lead to a higher probability of business investments. In …

Incentives To Improve Economic Conditions: A Field Experiment In Medellin, Colombia, Lauren Skora

Master's Theses

The motivation for this research is to replicate the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) and to test the components of this model. The FII program claims its success stems from a bottom-up approach structured around setting life-improving goals, mutual support groups, and small monetary incentives to achieve results. As the popularity of this program continues to gain momentum in the United States, we designed a field experiment to measure the impact of incentives on goal achievement and economic conditions as well as the overall impact of the FII model. We enrolled close to 200 small business owners in four …

Does Child Sponsorship Have A Positive Impact On The Quality Of Life And Social Behavior Of Sponsored Children? Evidence From Indonesia, Mario Carrillo

Master's Theses

Relaxing an internal constraint of an individual at early stages of life is an approach that complements traditional policy interventions aimed to alleviate poverty. The Compassion International child sponsorship program focuses their work on the emotional, social, and spiritual development of sponsored children. This study investigates the impacts of child sponsorship on the quality of life and social behavior of sponsored children using age-eligibility as an instrument for sponsorship, a time preference experiment and a trust game. The study looks specifically at self-esteem, optimism, social trust, educational outcomes, patience and reciprocity of 286 sponsored children and 234 non-sponsored children between …

Do Self-Help Groups Work On Achieving Economic Goals? New Evidence From A Field Experiment In Medellin, Colombia, Paulina Aguinaga Lezcano

Master's Theses

Abstract: This research is the first study to introduce an experimental setting to test the implication of a poverty alleviation model inspired by the Family Independence Initiative (FII) in a developing country. The FII is a poverty alleviation approach that has shown remarkable results in improving the living conditions of low-income individuals in three cities of the United States. It promotes self-improvement through setting goals, incentive schemes, and self-help groups (SHGs). The results suggest that the FII model can be successfully implemented as a poverty alleviation policy in a developing country. The model does have a positive and significant effect …

Can Neoclassical Trade Theory Explain Congressional Voting?, John Dellipriscoli

Master's Theses

The neoclassical trade model has notoriously been unable to empirically predict trade flows throughout the world, however there has been a notion that the same theories and predictions could also be applied to democratic voting on free trade legislation. Using roll-call votes on three 2011 United States bilateral trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, respectively, a simple empirical model based on the neoclassical concepts, specifically the Heckscher-Ohlin and Stolper-Samuelson corollary theorems, is outlined. After an analysis using a logit estimation method, it is revealed that there is conflicting evidence whether the voting on the 2011 free trade agreements …

Incentives And Improved Economic Conditions: A Field Experiment In Medellin, Colombia, Lauren Skora

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The motivation for this research is to replicate the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) and to test the components of this model. The FII program claims its success stems from a bottom-up approach structured around setting life improving goals, mutual support groups, and small monetary incentives for achieved results. We enrolled close to 200 small business owners in four experimental treatments (group, no-group, incentives, no-incentives) and a fifth external control group. The experimental data shows that incentives have the strongest overall impact in improving the likelihood of goal achievement and economic performance. Furthermore, the interaction of goal setting, groups, …

Does Child Sponsorship Have A Positive Impact On The Quality Of Life And Social Behavior Of Sponsored Children? Evidence From Indonesia, Mario Carrillo

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Relaxing internal constraints of individuals at early stages of life is an approach that complements traditional policy interventions aimed to alleviate poverty. The Compassion International child sponsorship program focuses their work on the emotional, social, and spiritual development of sponsored children. This study uses age-eligibility as an instrument for sponsorship to investigate the impacts of child sponsorship on self-esteem, aspirational reference points, aspirational capital, reciprocity and patience. It also implements an innovative way of constructing summary indices using a method proposed by Anderson, M (2008). Results reveal child sponsorship does not have an effect on the sponsored children. In fact, …

Why Risk It? The Effect Of Risk And Time Preferences On Microfinance Loan Default, Nike Start

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Microfinance is widely recognized as a powerful method for poverty alleviation. However, little is known about the characteristics of those who default on their loans. Understanding the behavior of borrowers is important to mitigate default for microfinance lenders. This study investigates whether non-delinquent and delinquent borrowers reveal any difference in their level of risk and time preference through an artefactual field experiment. The results reveal that non-delinquent borrowers are more likely to be risk-seeking individuals and are more impatient than delinquent borrowers, contradicting current literature on risk-aversion and time preference.

Why Risk It? The Effect Of Risk And Time Preferences On Microfinance Loan Default, Nike Start

Master's Theses

Microfinance is widely recognized as a powerful method for poverty

alleviation. However, little is known about the characteristics of those who

default on their loans. Understanding the behavior of borrowers is an important

component of mitigating adverse selection and the moral hazard of lending. Both

of these concepts embody some of the greatest challenges faced by microfinance

institutions, and they provide the major motivation for this study. Accordingly,

the main objective of this research is to investigate whether non-delinquent

borrowers and delinquent borrowers of a microfinance institution reveal any

difference in their level of risk preference and time preference. This …

Migration And Children's School And Labor: Evidence From El Salvador, Zachary Intemann

Master's Theses

This paper examines the impact of parental migration on schooling outcomes for children left behind in El Salvador. Using cross sectional data collected in 2012, outcomes for children are observed for children with migrant parents. The outcomes are also analyzed by gender of the migrant parent who left his or her child behind. Results are observed using instrumental variable estimations, as well as a seemingly unrelated regression to estimate the impact of migration on a child’s time allocation. Outcomes are also analyzed measuring the impact of remittances. Results show that children with at least one migrant parent will complete more …

Does International Child Sponsorship Work? A Six-Country Study Of Impacts On Adult Life Outcomes, Bruce Wydick, Paul Glewwe, Laine Rutledge

Economics

Child sponsorship is a leading form of direct aid from wealthy country households to children in developing countries. Over 9 million children are supported through international sponsorship organizations. Using data from six countries, we estimate impacts on several outcomes from sponsorship through Compassion International, a leading child sponsorship organization. To identify program effects, we utilize an age-eligibility rule implemented when programs began in new villages. We find large, statistically significant impacts on years of schooling; primary, secondary, and tertiary school completion; and the probability and quality of employment. Early evidence suggests that these impacts are due, in part, to increases …

Keeping The Doctor Away: Experimental Evidence On Investment In Preventative Health Products, Jennifer Meredith, Jonathan Robinson, Sarah Walker, Bruce Wydick

Economics

Household investment in preventative health products in developing countries is typically low even though the returns to such products are high. In this paper, we experimentally estimate demand curves for health products and test whether (1) information about health risk, (2) cash liquidity, (3) peer effects, and (4) intra-household differences in preferences affect demand. In our main experiment in Kenya involving children’s shoes - critical for preventing hookworm infection - price is by far the most important predictor of purchase. Providing liquidity and targeting women also increased demand. Information had no effect even though we find that genuine learning occurred. …

The Economic Impact Of Stadia And Teams: The Case Of Minor League Baseball, Nola Agha

Sport Management

This paper uses an extensive unique dataset to investigate the justification of government subsidies for minor league baseball teams and stadiums by measuring pecuniary gains in a local economy. Specifically, a dynamic panel data model incorporating 238 Metropolitan Statistical Areas that hosted affiliated or independent minor league teams between 1985 and 2006 shows that AAA teams, A+ teams, AA stadiums, and rookie stadiums are all associated with significant positive effects on the change in local per capita income. The presence of positive effects is strikingly different from decades of non-positive results at the major league level.