Economics Commons^™

A Comparison Of Entrepreneurship: Uganda And The United States Of America, Jordan Killen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this preliminary research assignment I compared and contrasted entrepreneurship and what it means to be an entrepreneur or small business owner in the United States and Uganda as well as offer suggestions that could potentially strengthen the Ugandan economy using American business practices and solutions. I utilized both secondary sources and my own experiences and knowledge about small businesses and entrepreneurs in Uganda. This data is compared to both my own experiences in the United States as well as information provided by scholarly articles to provide a more complete and well-rounded comparison of the two countries. Uganda, being a …

How Does The World Bank Influence The Development Policy Priorities Of Low-Income And Lower-Middle Income Countries?, Stephen Knack, Bradley C. Parks, Ani Harutyunyan, Matthew Dilorenzo

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This study investigates the World Bank’s use of lending and non-lending instruments to affect the policy priorities of developing countries. In a typical year, the World Bank lends more than $30 billion to its client countries. It also spends approximately $200 million on the provision of analytical and advisory products each year. However, insufficiently granular data on the nature, timing, and distribution of these analytical and advisory products and the policy priorities of client countries has made it difficult for policymakers and scholars to understand which World Bank instruments are most useful for effectuating change in the direction of government …

The Sustainability Of Child Protection Services In The Republic Of Kosovo, Shpetim Bylykbashi

Capstone Collection

Today, in Kosovo, are services provided for the children most in need sustainable? Do these services have stable and long-term funding? Did the decentralization of the Kosovo government strengthen or weaken the existing child protective environment? In an attempt to answer these questions, a review of available literature was completed, as well as direct interviews conducted with relevant stakeholders engaged in Kosovo’s child protection services at both the governmental and civil society levels. The main finding of my research is that vulnerable children in Kosovo, such as children without parental care, children with special needs, and child victims of domestic …

The Urban Heat Island Effect In Nevada, Ember Smith, Kaylie Pattni, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Environment

This fact sheet explores the temperature difference between Nevada cities and their undeveloped surrounding areas using reports by the Urban Land Institute, Climate Central, National Public Radio (NPR), and various governmental organizations. We investigate what “urban heat islands” are, their effects, the correlation between heat and income, and factors that contribute to rising temperatures in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, and Reno.

Do Public Program Benefits Crowd Out Private Transfers In Developing Countries? A Critical Review Of Recent Evidence, Plamen Nikolov, Matthew Bonci

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Precipitated by rapid globalization, rising inequality, population growth, and longevity gains, social protection programs have been on the rise in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the last three decades. However, the introduction of public benefits could displace informal mechanisms for risk-protection, which are especially prevalent in LMICs. If the displacement of private transfers is considerably large, the expansion of social protection programs could even lead to social welfare loss. In this paper, we critically survey the recent empirical literature on crowd-out effects in response to public policies, specifically in the context of LMICs. We review and synthesize patterns from …

The Nutria That Roared: How Building Coalitions Can Empower The Small To Drive Great Change, Michael Hecht

New England Journal of Public Policy

Hurricane Katrina saved the New Orleans economy. To be clear, Hurricane Katrina was not “good”—it was a devastating event, the most destructive storm in American history, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars in damage. But when the books are written, and the story is told, the conclusion will be inescapable: Hurricane Katrina marked a profoundly positive inflection point in the New Orleans economy.

Exploring The Effects Of International Wage Differences On Brain Drain, Austin Martin

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper examines how international wage differences affect brain drain by comparing the effects of skill-specific wage differences on low, medium, and high-skilled emigration. Previous literature explores qualitative factors behind migrant flow, but there is little focus on the role of wage differences in individuals’ decisions to emigrate. A relatively new data set on emigration rates by education level and a modified gravity model provide a unique analysis of bilateral migration flows. This paper finds that wage differences may have a significant and positive effect on and low-skilled emigration, but a less significant effect on high-skilled emigration or brain drain.

The Political Economy Of Inequality: U.S. And Global Dimensions, Sisay Asefa Editor, Wei-Chiao Huang Editor

Upjohn Press

The contributors to this book discuss a variety of forms of social inequality which include large gaps in accumulated assets, discrepancies in access to quality education, unstable family life, lack of access to banking services, poor employment prospects, lack of health care services, and underrepresentation for political and legal matters. Together, they show how these forms of inequality are interrelated with income inequality and that, taken together, they pose the risk for societal and political unrest should they be left unresolved.

How Startups Help Cities Measure Their Economic Development Frontier, Mary Blankenship, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet provides data on the ability of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the Mountain West to foster innovative and technology-driven industries, utilizing information presented by the Brookings Institution report, “How startups help cities measure their economic development frontier."

Creating A New Legal Form: The Gmbh, Timothy W. Guinnane

Discussion Papers

The most common business enterprise for in Germany today is the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftun (GmbH). The GmbH offers entrepreneurs the partnership’s flexibility combined with limited liability, capital lock-in, and other traits associated with corporations. Earlier enterprise forms such as the partnership and corporation were codified versions of longstanding practice; the GmbH, on the other hand, was the lawgiver’s creation. Authorized in 1892, the GmbH appeared during a period of ferment in German enterprise law and was an early example of the “Private Limited-Liability Company” (PLLC) prevalent in many economies today. This paper traces the debates and legislative process that …

Is Fish Brain Food Or Brain Poison? Sea Surface Temperature, Methyl-Mercury And Child Cognitive Development, Mark R. Rosenzweig, Rafael J. Santos

Discussion Papers

We exploit variation in the composition of local fish catches around the time of birth using largescale administrative and census data on adult cognitive test scores, schooling attainment, and occupation among coastal populations in Colombia to estimate the distinct causal effects of methylmercury (MeHg) and DHA, elements contained in fish, on cognitive development. Using an IV strategy based on an equilibrium model of fish supply that exploits time-series variation in oceanic SST anomalies on both coasts of Colombia from 1950 to 2014 as instruments, we find that net of cohort and municipality fixed effects increases in high-MeHg fish catches around …

Labor Market Dynamics And Development, Kevin Donovan, Will Jianyu Lu, Todd Schoellman

Discussion Papers

We build a dataset of harmonized rotating panel labor force surveys covering 42 countries across a wide range of development and document three new empirical findings on labor market dynamics. First, labor market flows (job-finding rates, employment-exit rates, and job-to-job transition rates) are two to three times higher in the poorest as compared with the richest countries. Second, employment hazards in poorer countries decline more sharply with tenure; much of their high turnover can be attributed to high separation rates among workers with low tenure. Third, wage-tenure profiles are much steeper in poorer countries, despite the fact that wage-experience profiles …

Integration Of And Deliveries Among The World Zionist Organization, Israel, And Diaspora Countries: System Articulation With The Social Fabric Matrix, F. Gregory Hayden

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

The religious economics (not economics of religion) concern here is the relationship between the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and Israel, which is known as a geopolitical power in its region and which is also known as an economic success story. Joseph Schumpeter and Karl Polanyi explained how the political economy of medieval Europe was influenced and guided by Christian morality. This paper extends the analysis of religious economics by using the social fabric matrix of original institutional economics to define and structure the integration of the WZO, Israel, and the Diaspora countries. This allows us to observe how to conduct …

Governance, Institutional Quality, Growth And Inequality In Africa. A Study Of Central Bank Of Nigeria, Ann Ogbo, Arachie Augustine Ebuka, Ezema Ikechukwu Humphrey

Bullion

This paper examined the role of institutional quality on economic growth and reduction of inequality in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted and data were collected through primary and secondary sources. Population of the study was 600 businesses across Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Findings revealed that the bottlenecks facing businesses in accessing loans have significant effects on business creation in Nigeria. The study concluded that lack of policies and interventions are not the problems for small businesses to obtaining funds from government, but effectiveness and efficiency of these interventions and policies.

Pension Fund, Financial Development And Output Growth In Nigeria, Iwegbu Onyebuchi

Bullion

This study examines the indirect effect of pension fund on economic growth in Nigeria through the financial system. Using Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model, the study found out that pension fund contribution is effective in stimulating growth through investment in portfolios that yield short term returns; this implies that pension fund contribution cannot on its own without a credible financial system impact on economic growth. The policy implication of this study is for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to invest in portfolios with short-term returns; thus, a large chunk of funds invested in federal government securities should be unbundled to other …

Analysis Of The Impact Of Central Bank Of Nigeria's Agricultural Intervention Funds On The Economy, E. T. Adamgbe, M. C. Belonwu, E. R. Ochu, I. I. Okafor

Economic and Financial Review

This paper set out to investigate the impact of Central Bank of Nigeria's interventions on the agricultural sector within an economy-wide framework of general equilibrium modelling. The paper adopted a dynamic (recursive), two-sector general equilibrium model of the Nigerian economy with some modifications on the standard model developed by the Centre for Econometric and Applied Research (CEAR) and incorporated the contributions of the CBN's agricultural based interventions as increases in the stock of agricultural capital to have a more robust size of interventions into the agricultural sector. The SAM used for the CGE model analysis was derived from the updated …

Common Power Laws For Cities And Spatial Fractal Structures, Tomoya Mori, Tony E. Smith, Wen-Tai Hsu

Research Collection School Of Economics

City-size distributions are known to be well approximated by power laws across a wide range of countries. But such distributions are also meaningful at other spatial scales, such as within certain regions of a country. Using data from China, France, Germany, India, Japan, and the United States, we first document that large cities are significantly more spaced out than would be expected by chance alone. We next construct spatial hierarchies for countries by first partitioning geographic space using a given number of their largest cities as cell centers and then continuing this partitioning procedure within each cell recursively. We find …

Why Do Businesses Grow Faster In Urban Areas Than In Rural Areas?, Lee, Jungho, Jianhuan Xu

Research Collection School Of Economics

We document that growth of business earnings is mostly observed among young firmsin metro areas. Three explanations are considered: metro areas attract more-productiveentrepreneurs, and reaching the optimal size takes time due to borrowing constraints;metro areas provide better learning opportunities; and high operating costs in metroareas allow only the productive firms to survive. We use a firm-dynamics model with alocation choice to quantify the extent to which the three theories explain the data. Wefind the first two theories largely explain the high growth among metro, young firms. Ourmodel also suggests the distortion in entrepreneurs’ location choice can induce substantialwelfare loss.

Signs Of Digital Distress: The Mountain West, Mary Blankenship, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Transportation & Infrastructure

This Fact Sheet examines the broadband services available and their subscription rates across major metro areas in the Mountain West, using the data and analysis found in “Signs of Digital Distress,” a report by the Brookings Institution.

Poverty And Labor Force Participation Across Metropolitan Philadelphia, Zachary J. Porreca

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study utilizes data drawn from municipalities across the Philadelphia metropolitan area to examine trends in poverty amongst communities.While some research has been done on urban and rural poverty, this paper seeks to fill the gap in literature regarding poverty across the subksnurban and metropolitan landscape. A multiple regression model is specified, so as to provide an in depth analysis of observed trends. The central hypothesis that a relationship exists between poverty and labor force participation is tested and affirmed. The implication of this finding, as well as auxiliary findings, are explored and expanded upon. Recommendations are made for more …

The Rising Importance Of Chinese Monetary Policy, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Expert expects the influence of Chinese monetary policy to rise as the country’s share of the global economy increases

Rural Poverty And Urban Proximity In Sabah, Malaysia, Joseph Jeron

Student Works (2020-2029)

One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to eradicate extreme poverty globally by 2030 in all countries including Malaysia. While Malaysia is close to achieving this target, poverty still persists in the state of Sabah. Therefore, this study examines the determinants of household poverty in rural Sabah with a focus on urban proximity. A purposefully designed survey instrument was used to gather primary data on a total of 407 rural households in 78 villages, spread across 16 poorest districts of Sabah. In addition, Geographic Information System (GIS) data on sample households and villages was collected to construct …

A New Materials And Design Approach For Roads, Bridges, Pavement, And Concrete, Alan Fuchs, Tathagata Acharya, Luis Cabrales, Jesse Bergkamp, Nyakundi Michieka

Mineta Transportation Institute

Increased understanding of demand for transport energy and how to improve road pavement materials would enable decision makers to make environmental, financial, and other positive changes in future planning and design of roads, bridges, and other important transportation structures. This research comprises three studies focused on pavement materials and a fourth study that examines energy demand within the road transportation sector. These studies are as follows:

1. A techno-economic study of ground tire rubber as an asphalt modifier;

2. A computational fluid dynamics analysis comparing the urban heat island effect of two different pavement materials – asphalt and Portland Cement …

The Zakat, Infaq, And Alms Farmer Economic Empowerment Model, Udin Saripudin, Fathurrahman Djamil, Ahmad Rodoni

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study departs from the fact that the partial empowerment model of farmers has failed to improve the welfare of farmers. Therefore we need a comprehensive farmer empowerment model that integrates several partial empowerment models using Islamic economic principles. The intended integral empowerment model includes; empowerment in the area of capital access (financial institutions), the field of crop marketing (market access), and the field of capacity building (assistance and training). The purpose of this study is to design a comprehensive model of farmer economic empowerment, which integrates a model of capital assistance (natural capital), assistance, and marketing of agricultural products …

The Future Of Work In The Mountain West, Ember Smith, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet highlights the potential net job growth in the Mountain West states (Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado) and automation employment implications in each county in the region as detailed in The future of work in America: People and places, today and tomorrow, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute.

How Technology-Based Start-Ups Support U.S. Economic Growth, Mary Blankenship, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet examines the trends of technology-based start-ups within the United States and specific states in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico) across the top 10 technology industries in 2016, using data provided by a report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

Small Business Innovation Research & Small Business Technology Transfer Programs In Nevada, Kaylie Pattni, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet highlights how Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs (STTR) operate in Nevada. The data is drawn from the Small Business Administration (SBA) website.

Best Performing Cities: Where America's Jobs Are Created And Sustained, Peter Grema, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet summarizes and expands upon the findings of the Milken Institute’s 2018 Best Performing Cities series report on the top 200 large cities and top 200 small cities in the United States in 2018. For the purposes of this Fact Sheet, the report focuses on 26 metropolitan areas located within the Mountain West region of the United States (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico).

Brain Drain In The Mountain West, Ember Smith, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet highlights the effects of major shifts in geographic mobility patterns of highly-educated citizens in the Mountain West (Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado). The phenomenon, dubbed “brain drain” by experts, is characterized by the out-migration of a group of highly-educated people. “Brain gain” describes the opposite: when a location attracts highly-educated people. Several states are keeping and welcoming more highly-educated adults, while other states are rapidly losing talent. This migration pattern has important implications for social, political, and economic issues facing the country.

Citizen-Consumers Wanted: Revitalizing The American Dream In The Face Of Economic Recessions, 1981-2012, Gokcen Coskuner-Balli

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This article brings sociological theory of governmentality to bear on a longitudinal analysis of American presidential speeches to theorize the formation of the citizen-consumer subject. The 40-year historical analysis which expands through four economic recessions and the presidential terms of Ronald Reagan, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Hussein Obama, illustrates the ways in which the national mythology of American Dream myth has been linked to the political ideology of the state to create the citizen-consumer subject in the United States. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data demonstrates first, the consistent emphasis on responsibility as a …