Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Agricultural Input Intensification, Productivity Growth, And The Transformation Of African Agriculture, Didier Y. Alia

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation studies agricultural input intensification, defined as the increased use of modern inputs such as hybrid seeds, mineral fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide in African agriculture. It also analyses the potential of this intensification to accelerate productivity growth and tests the effectiveness of two policies, input subsidies and land reforms, in promoting it and consequently in increasing crop yield. In the first essay, we argue that to create the conditions for the emergence of a green revolution in Africa, modern agricultural technologies have to be adopted as a package, not in a piecemeal fashion. This argument is consistent with a …

Sustainable Mining For Long Term Poverty Alleviation In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Ellen Perfect

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the poverty alleviation and peace-spoiling power of the mineral extraction sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to arrive at a set of strategic goals for the country moving forward. Although subterranean minerals are often a source or perpetuator of violence, the potential to lift the country’s rural communities out of extreme poverty makes the mining industry an essential part of the nation’s development strategies. Lessons from Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and Sierra Leone to arrive at best practices for increasing the multiplier effect of large-scale mining, formalization, beneficiation, capital …

The Strategic Potential Of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case Of Global Business Services In Africa, Stephan Manning, Chacko G. Kannothra, Nichole K. Wissman-Weber

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

As a latecomer economy, Africa faces persistent difficulties with catching up in global markets. This study examines the strategic potential of community-based hybrid models, which balance market profitability with social impact in local communities. Focusing on the global business services industry in Kenya and South Africa, and the practice of ‘impact sourcing’ – hiring and training of disadvantaged staff servicing business clients – we find that while regular providers struggle to compete with global peers, hybrid model adopters manage to access underutilized labor pools through community organizations, and target less competitive niche client markets. We further identify key industry, institutional …

The History And Development Of British Tramways And The Impacts That It Had, Noam Schuldenrein

Honors College Theses

The thesis is about the general history of the British tramways and how they developed throughout England in the nineteenth century. It includes their general development; how it affected England economically; how it affected England demographically; and how it affected the surrounding neighborhoods in England.

Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment And Infrastructure Spending: A Comparative Analysis Of Their Common Role In The Economic Development Between Selected Developed And Developing Economies, Yasser M. Alwafi

Masters Theses

This study examines the literature on how trade, foreign direct investments, and infrastructure development affect economic growth of selected developed and developing economies. A comparative analysis will be carried between developed economies (G7 countries) represented by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States while the developing economies (BRICS countries) are represented by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The comparative analysis will be carried between years 1985 to 2015. In addition, the paper will establish the relationship between trade and economic growth in both developing and developed economies. Furthermore, the paper will establish that …

Export-Oriented Entrepreneurship Intensity And Economic Growth In Developing And Developed Countries, Xueting Sun

Masters Theses

This paper analyzes the impact of export-oriented entrepreneurship intensity on national economic growth using data for 64 countries over the 2006-2013 period. We draw on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and economic growth, export-oriented entrepreneurship and economic growth, and export intensity of entrepreneurship and economic growth theories to affirm that export-oriented entrepreneurship and export-oriented entrepreneurship intensity is profound for the national economic growth of countries.

The findings suggest that greater total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) is associated with a higher rate of economic growth in developed countries but not in developing countries. Also, greater export-oriented entrepreneurial activity (EEA) is associated with a higher rate …

Governance And Economic Growth In Developing Economies: A Comparative Study, Hamid Lahouij

Masters Theses

In the light of growing interest in the relationship between governance and economic growth, this research uses pooled cross-country times series for the time span 2002-2014 to investigate the impacts of governance and other growth determinants on economic growth of low-income, lower-middle income, and upper-middle income economies. This paper contributes to the literature on governance, economic development indicators, and economic development in novel ways. The research finds that governance is highly positively associated with economic development in developing countries regardless of their level of income. Moreover, while the research concludes that voice and accountability, political stability, and rule of law …

Happiness In Communities: How Neighborhoods, Cities And States Use Subjective Well-Being Metrics, Laura Musikanski, Carl Polley, Scott Cloutier, Erica Berejnoi, Julia Colbert

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

This essay, the fourth and last of a series published by the Journal of Social Change, is intended as a tool for community organizers, local policy makers, researchers, students and others to incorporate subjective well-being indicators into their measurements and management of happiness and well-being in their communities, for policy purposes, for research and for other purposes. It provides case studies of community-based efforts in five different regions (São Paulo, Brazil; Bristol, United Kingdom; Melbourne, Australia; Creston, British Columbia, Canada; and Vermont, United States) that either developed their own subjective well-being index or used the Happiness Alliance’s survey instrument …

Identifying Gentrification: The Case Of Portland, Lindsey M. Buck

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Portland, Oregon has been considered a candidate for gentrification in recent media due to its changing populations, businesses, and landscapes. Authors have worked to study the effects of gentrification across the United States, focusing on large cities such as Detroit and San Francisco. While these results are increasingly interesting, they tend to focus on census data many years in the past. There is also a gap within the literature: west cities that are not coastal cities. This is extremely important; many people are being displaced or seeing their neighborhoods change character and composition due to gentrification. Using census tract data …

Structural Change And Productivity Growth In Developing Countries, Ahmed Salim Nuhu

Masters Theses

The dual-economy model predicts that holding productivity constant, labor reallocation from less to more productive sectors, also known as 'structural change' results in improvement in economy-wide productivity. The objective of this thesis is to test the empirical predictions of this model using sectoral-level data from twenty-eight developing countries. Using the shift-share growth decomposition approach, we find regional growth-enhancing effects of structural change in Asia, Latin America and North Africa from, 1980 to 2000 and growth-reducing effects in Sub-Saharan Africa over the same period. However, as intersectoral productivity gaps disappeared after 2000, technological progress led the growth process in much of …

An Outlay Equivalence Analysis Of South African Households, Samuel Peevey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A significant amount of evidence suggests that gender inequality in the developing world negatively impacts women and girls’ health, education and future wage potential. This thesis investigates whether households in South Africa discriminated against their girl children, in favor of their boy children. Additionally, I will investigate whether household heads favored children matching their own sex. Using the 1^st wave of the National Income Dynamics Study and Angus Deaton’s outlay-equivalence ratio method, I will estimate the impact, 8 age and sex categories have on their household’s adult goods expenditure. I found statistically significant but practically insignificant evidence, from a …