Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Youth And Economic Development: A Case Study Of Out-Of-School Time Programs For Low-Income Youth In New York State, Kristen Maeve Powlick

Open Access Dissertations

Children are conceptualized many ways by economists-- as sources of utility for their parents, investments, recipients of care, and public goods. Despite the understanding that children are also people, the economic literature is lacking in analysis of children as actors, making choices with consequences for economic development. Using a capability-driven approach and an emphasis on co-evolutionary processes of institutional and individual change, with mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, my dissertation analyzes the role of children in long-term economic development at the community level. I use a case study of community-based, out-of-school time (OST) programs for low-income youth funded through the …

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

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

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

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 …

Labor Market Analysis For Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

This paper is about analyzing labor markets in developing countries, searching for both improved understanding and greater policy relevance. Following a five-part policy evaluation framework, the highlights of labor markets in developing countries are presented. Theoretical models with multiple sectors and segments and empirical analysis using different kinds of data are then reviewed. A brief concluding section addresses some priority research needs.

What We Know (And Want To Know) About Earnings Mobility In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Some developing countries have experienced rapid economic growth, some slow economic growth, some no growth at all, and some economic decline. The traditional way of gauging the distributional consequences of economic growth, if in fact there was economic growth, is to use data from comparable cross sections to calculate various measures of (relative) inequality and (absolute) poverty. The very large literature on inequality and poverty will not be reviewed here. A newer approach in the development literature is to study the distributional consequences of economic growth (or non-growth) by using data for the same recipient units for two or …

From Boom To Doom To Boom: Offshore Financial Centres And Development In Small States, Richard Woodward

Articles

During the 1990s tax havens and offshore financial centres (OFCs) were subject to a string of initiatives designed to raise their tax and regulatory regimes to accepted international standards. Many commentators forecast that this would lead to the demise of OFCs, a worry for the many small states whose economic well being depended heavily on the provision of offshore financial services. Despite this regulatory onslaught many small state OFCs have prospered in the new millennium. This paper seeks to explain this apparent paradox by arguing that (1) international initiatives were riddled with loopholes and exceptions that have been gleefully seized …

The 6th International Conference On The State Of Africa: Challenges And Opportunities For Sustainable Development And Peace In Africa In The 21st Century, Sisay Asefa

International Conference on African Development Archives

No abstract provided.

Cultural Compatibility: Economic Development In Eastern Europe, Daniel Brilliant

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The objective of Daniel Brilliant’s research is to explore the relationship between culture and economic prosperity in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. Learning why some of these countries do better than others is of interest in discovering what causes a country’s economy to grow in general. Knowing the causes of economic growth helps in determining what policies, if any, can be adopted by a country to help promote economic growth. Some have theorized that government policies are at the heart of prosperity. Others have speculated that cultural factors play a large role in determining if such policies will …

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, …

Why China Grew: Understanding The Financial Structure Of Late Development, Adam S. Hersh

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation explores how economic institutions governing finance and investment have con- tributed to growth in reform-era China. Economic and political reforms greatly transformed China's prior centrally-planned economy. Although reforms incorporated elements of market institutions and private enterprise, China's state institutions exercising extensive authority over a wide range of eco- nomic affairs critically and fundamentally played a central role in transforming this economy from one of the world's poorest to the world's second largest in the span of one generation. I explain the emergence of a unique configuration of institutions supportive of industrial policy implemented by largely autonomous local government …

Macroeconomics Of Inclusive Growth, Victor D. Lledó, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

No abstract provided.

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

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

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 …

Empowering Women Through Education And Influence: An Evaluation Of The Indian Mahila Samakhya Program, Eeshani Kandpal, Kathy Baylis, Mary Arends-Kuenning

Eeshani Kandpal

This paper shows that participation in a community-level female empowerment program in India significantly increases participants' physical mobility, political participation, and access to employment. The program provides support groups, literacy camps, adult education classes, and vocational training. We use truncation-corrected matching and instrumental variables on primary data to disentangle the program's mechanisms, separately considering its effect on women who work, and those who do not work but whose reservation wage is increased by participation. We also find significant spillover effects on non-participants relative to women in untreated districts.

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 …

Do Our Conservation Programs Work? A Spatially Explicit Estimate Of Avoided Forest Loss, Jordi Honey-Roses, Kathy Baylis, Maria Isabel Ramirez

Kathy Baylis