Economics Commons^™

Governance And Private Investment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Idrissa Mohamed Ouedraogo, Pascal Tegawinde Kouaman

International Conference on African Development

Africa is one of the world regions whose development potentials are particularly important. But despite this situation, Africa is one of the continents where poverty exists on a large scale. More than 44 % of the African population lives below the poverty line. Yet, various forms of development strategies have been designed and implemented in the African countries. In 1992, in its publication Governance and Development, the World Bank refers to the quality of government as the cause of the failure of several of these strategies. Attention is henceforth focused on how governments organize the management of state and …

The Impact Of Uncertainty On Data Revision, Pei-Ju Sung

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The poster presents research considering questions related to data revision as applied to economics. The question of circumstances do initial data tend to be irrational and unreliable is considered.

Credit Card System In Ghana: An Investigation Of Why Credit Cardsare Not Widely Used In Ghana And How Widespread Use May Be Implemented, Emmanuel Andoh

Masters Theses

Credit card systems offer economic advantages to many families and individuals across the globe. In economically developed countries and most emerging ones, the credit card system helps individuals, businesses, and even government agencies, speed up business transactions and access to short term loans. However in developing countries such as Ghana this is not the case. The result is that many people find it very difficult to buy goods and services without having cash at hand. Moreover a vast majority of people have to carry bags of money to travel across cities, towns and villages in the country to trade and …

Lessons From The Great Recession 2014-15, Department Of Economics

Werner Sichel Lecture Series

The 2014-2015 Sichel Lecture Series brings to WMU campus six distinguished economists whose presenta-tions will discuss the lessons from the Great Recession. This year’s Sichel Lecture Series is directed by Professor Eskander Alvi and is co-sponsored by the Department of Economics, College of Arts and Sci-ences and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Speakers: Laurence Ball "Can We Reverse the Damage from the Great Recession?", Gary Burtless "Lessons of the Great Recession for Economic Policymaking", Donald Kohn "Central Banking in the Great Recession", Kathryn Dominguez "International Dimensions of the Great Reces-sion and the Weak Recovery.", Barry Eichengreen "Hall of …

Foreign Aid Effectiveness: Three Essays On Aid-For-Trade And Export Performance Of Developing Countries, Shanka Prasad Ghimire

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effectiveness of foreign aid in enhancing international trade in developing countries. In that light, it presents three essays that focus on foreign aid targeted towards improving trade capacity of developing countries (Aid-for-Trade or AfT) and analyzes its impact on export performance of 121 AfT-recipient countries over a period of 16 years [1995-2010].

The first essay examines whether aggregate AfT helps aid recipients improve their aggregate export performance. The analysis using System-GMM shows a positive and significant impact of AfT on the level and growth of exports as well as export volume relative to GDP. These findings …

Do Foreign Direct Investment And Foreign Aid Promote Good Governance In Africa?, Adugna Lemi, Blen Solomon, Sisay Asefa

International Journal of African Development

The literature on the roles that governance/political and economic stability play to attract capital flows into African economies has been burgeoning. Good governance, liberalization, infrastructure, incentive packages have been regarded as cures to break the deadlock to reverse the economic plight, to attract inflow of capital and, in some cases, to reverse outflows of African economies. The flow of capital, however, has undesirable side effects on host economies’ working conditions, environmental standard, inequality, and culture, among others. These economic and social external or negative spillover effects are due to the phenomenon of “race-to-the-bottom” where companies invest in economies with lax …

The Political Economy Of Poverty Reduction, Abu Girma Moges

International Journal of African Development

Poverty reduction strategies and policies have gained considerable popularity in recent policy discourse and international economic relations. These policies and strategies are framed in the context of the Millennium Development Goals that set specific quantitative targets to be achieved within a specified time framework. The goals specify the targets and require countries to design national poverty reduction strategies and achieve them with a generous financial assistance from the international community. However, the domestic political economic forces remain to shape the extent and effectiveness of such strategies in addressing and reducing the extent and depth of poverty in the reforming countries. …

International Journal Of African Development, Vol. 1, Issue 1

International Journal of African Development

Complete issue of International Journal of African Development, Volume 1, Issue 1.

Three Essays On Social Health Insurance In Developing Countries: The Case Study Of Ghana, Stephen Ofori Abrokwah

Dissertations

More than 2 billion people live in developing countries with health systems constrained by inequitable access and inadequate funding. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 150 million of these people suffer financial breakdown every year having to make unexpected out-of-pocket expenditures for emergency care.

To improve health and reduce the financial burden on households, a number of developing countries, including Ghana, Colombia, and Peru, have recently introduced social health insurance programs which are heavily subsidized. The dissertation is a collection of three essays looking at how individual health care choices changed as a result of the availability of …

Essays On The Relationships Between Foreign Direct Investment, International Trade, And Exchange Rate Volatility, Bedassa Tadesse Ayele

Dissertations

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade play key roles in enhancing global technology transfer, fostering economic growth, and the increasing integration of the global economy. A country's market maturity level and export platform status are particularly important in determining the amount of FDI andtrade that a country receives. This dissertation focuses on the host market characteristics, the FDI-trade interaction, and how exchange rate risk affects a nation's bilateral trade volume.

The first essay examines whether FDI is a complement or a substitute to the bilateral trade (export sales) and the extent to which FDI-trade relationship is affected by the …

The Potential Of Youth Savings Accounts In Three East African Countries: Kenya, Tanzania, And Uganda, Njeri Kagotho, Proscovia Nabunya, Fred Ssewamala, Vilma Ilic

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper explores the potential of expanding a youth-focused asset-based intervention program for poor communities heavily affected by HIV and AIDS-currently underway in one East African country, Uganda-into similar communities in the other two East African countries: Kenya and Tanzania. This concept paper is informed by prior work on youth-focused asset-based programs first proposed in the United States of America and now successfully implemented in Uganda (Ssewamala, 2008; Ssewamala, Alicea, Bannon, & Ismayilova, 2008; Ssewamala & Ismayilova, 2008, 2009) and grounded in an asset-based development theoretical framework, which denotes an integrated approach to human, social, and economic capital development (Sherraden, …

Bank Leverage And Asset Positions: Cross Country Evidence, Diny Ghuzini

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

No abstract provided.

U.S. Manugacturing Competitiveness In A Global Context, Johanna Retana-Quiros

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

No abstract provided.

Economic Autonomy Of The Miskitu Women Of The North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua: Do Current Development Polices Apply To Matrifocal Societies?, Ariana M. Toth

Masters Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographic investigation into the economic autonomy of Miskitu women in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The purpose of this study is to determine whether dominant development models created by patriarchal Western powers are suited to alleviating gendered poverty disparity among the matrifocal Miskitu Indians. Surveys of Miskitu women obtained during field research, with support from relevant literature, comprise the main source of information considered. It is concluded that while dominant development models are not best suited to alleviating gendered poverty in this region, it is the overarching indigenous nature of Miskitu culture and not …

Creating Sustainable Economic And Ecological Growth In The Congo Basin: Bushmeat Consumption And Biodiversity Protection, Richelle Lynn Warnock

Masters Theses

This research examines the economic and ecological sustainability of bushmeat hunting in the Congo Basin, specifically the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. Although bushmeat hunting has provided short term gain for individuals in the region, long term solutions focusing on micro and macro level interventions may provide community wide benefits, while protecting Congo Basin wildlife. Research shows that a focus on the development of key economic sectors such as agriculture, mineral resources and hydroelectricity, as well as the growth of infrastructure may provide viable economic gain for the Congo Basin. Ecotourism and improvements to forest management …

Award-Winning Economists Speak On Contemporary Economic Issues 2013-14, Department Of Economics

Werner Sichel Lecture Series

“Award-Winning Economists Speak on Contemporary Economic Issues” Lectures will be held in 2028 Brown Hall from 3-4:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. This year’s Sichel Series is directed by Professor Jean Kimmel and is co-sponsored by WMU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Speakers: Erica Field “Making Microfinance Work”, Nancy Folbre “The Once (But No Longer) Golden Age of Human Capital”, Avner Greif “Economic Development from a Historical Perspective: The Origin and Nature of Good Institutions”, David Kreps “The Economics and Psychology of Worker Motivation”, Michael Piore “Efficient and Effective Economic …

Competitive Balance In Division 1 College Hockey: An Economic Analysis, Christopher Decarlo

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to determine the levels of competitive balance in Division I college hockey using several well known measures of competitive balance. It focuses on the five hockey conferences, specifically on win percentages and concentration of conference and national championships. This paper also seeks to determine any correlation between university actions, specifically athletic spending, and successful hockey programs. Finally, it suggests possible areas of future research and ways to improve on the current research.

Salary Determination In The National Hockey League: Restricted, Unrestricted, Forwards, And Defensemen, Kevin Peck

Honors Theses

This thesis will attempt to estimate the relationships between salary and measures of the marginal productivity of hockey players, or performance indicators. Salary determination, as in most other sports leagues, is determined in a labor market. Each player has a marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) and this MRPL varies from player to player, and from team to team. Firms, in this case teams, seek to add players with a high MRPLin order to increase the quantity and quality of product they sell, in this case wins. Among other things, a player has a MRPLthat will equate to the additional …

Traditional And Market-Based Financial Intermediaries: Three Essays Examining Their Risk Behavior, Delisting Behavior, And Reactions To Economic Policy Uncertainty, Marc S. Schaffer

Dissertations

In the wake of our country’s greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the need to better understand the risks and behaviors associated with financial intermediaries has become apparent. In particular, the literature distinguishes between traditional or depository-based financial intermediaries and their market-based or non-depository counterparts. This dissertation focuses on understanding the behavioral differences across these two groups by examining their equity-based risk differences, their stock market delisting differences, and lastly how these firms react to economic policy uncertainty.

The first essay uses an equity-based approach to quantify the average firm-level risk that is associated with these intermediary groups. While …

The Motives Of Trade Credit Usage And The Importance Of Risk Perception For Decision-Making Behavior, Kun Zhao

Dissertations

The objective of this study is to discuss two motives of trade credit usage for large and small firms. To examine one of the motives–transaction motive—the study models a circulation mechanism in trade credit. The nature of the mechanism is such that firms are motivated to balance their trade credit inflows (accounts payable) with their outflows (accounts receivable). An empirical test is therefore needed to examine this issue. The findings in Chapter 1 support the theory of transaction motive that firms with more bank tolerance are more likely to advance the flow of trade credit to their clients. In particular, …

Social Capital, Human Capital, And Economic Well-Being In The Knowledge Economy: Results From Canada's General Social Survey, Robert D. Weaver, Nazim Habibov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Canadian welfare state's devolutionary transformation ushered in an era which potentially increased the importance of social capital and human capital as mechanisms for promoting socio-economic advancement. In this study, the authors analyze data from Canada's General Social Survey to assess how social capital and human capital influence the reported incomes of the Canadian population. The primaryfindings were that both social and human capital influenced income and that human capital had a larger effect on economic mobility than did social capital. The implications the study's findings have for policy and programmatic interventions within the 21st century …

Neoliberalism, Piven And Cloward's Bargaining Theory, And Wages In The United States, 1965-2006, Thomas W. Volscho

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The political economy of the United States during the last thirty years has been described as neoliberal. Part of the neoliberal turn involves reducing or eliminating income support programs such as AFDC/TANF, waging war against organized labor, and increasingly conservative (i.e., neoliberal) public policies. Following an analysis by Lewis (2001) which showed that wages increased in response to higher average monthly AFDC payments, I update and expand this test of Piven and Cloward's bargaining power theory of wages by looking at other factors which may influence worker bargaining power: unions, interest rates, policy liberalism, and economic growth. I use time-series …

The Health Care Debate And Health Care Coverage In The U.S. A. Today, Antonio Giraldi

Honors Theses

The health care system in the United State has struggled during the past few decades. This has been accompanied by many controversies and debates among U.S. policy makers and health insurance providers. Dissatisfaction with health care in the United States today can be divided into three main aspects of health care; coverage, cost, and quality. The first problem, coverage, is a major issue because about 15 percent of the population of the U.S. (45 million) is uninsured today. The first and second problems, coverage and cost, are somewhat related since the rising cost of obtaining health services is one of …

Foreign Direct Investment In Italy 2000-2010: Spatial Patterns And Implications, Enzo Crescentini

Masters Theses

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been shown to be an important driver of economic growth as well as a source of knowledge transfer in host countries. Italy, now the tenth largest economy in the world, has a remarkable distribution of FDI characterized by a metropolitan industrial North and what is commonly referred to as an economically unfit or "backwards" South. Given these regional differences, Italy faces many interesting challenges in attracting FDI in the current global economic climate. The nation must attract capital to less-developed regions as well as to the extensive industrial clusters in the North that are …

Three Essays On International Banking, Rong Ma

Dissertations

Without question, global financial integration has accelerated in the last two decades. This acceleration is due, in part, to the opening of developing countries' financial markets to foreign banks, prompting many changes to financial systems in developing countries. This dissertation consists of three essays focusing on the impacts and the determinants of international banks' participation in the financial markets of developing countries.

The first essay investigates whether banks with foreign owners are more willing to provide loans in the host country possibly contributing toward greater financial stability for that country. Specifically, I test whether foreign banks' lending behavior is different …

The National Hockey League: An Econometric Analysis Of Attendance, Kendrick A. Hotte

Honors Theses

The National Hockey League (NHL) and professional sports as a whole are interesting to study when econometric models are applied. First, a thorough examination of current literature concerning both professional sports and econometrics will be reviewed. In addition, a full description of the data and its accompanying sources are discussed. Then, through the use of an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and hypothesis testing, the role of attendance throughout the NHL as a function of win percentage is empirically tested. Using a demand equation for the attendance of hockey games over the past 15 years, this paper will focus on …

A Generation Of Isolation: Cuban Political Economic Policies, Elba Marcell Rivera Rodriguez

The Hilltop Review

Cuba is not only the largest island in the Greater Antilles, but also the only communist island in the Caribbean. This country has been governed by the Marxist-Leninist ideology for more than fifty years. Although the Cuban economy has not shown significant development since January 1, 1959, i.e. when the Revolutionaries came to power, it is presenting a new economic capacity-the tourism industry, which could drive the nation to a modern economic growth.

This article has been revised by the author. The revised version is available as a supplement at the link below.

The Political Economy Of Good Governance 2012-13, Department Of Economics

Werner Sichel Lecture Series

The Werner Sichel Lecture Series began in 1963, directed by long-time WMU Professor of Economics Dr. Werner Sichel, who retired in 2004. Since its beginning, the series has attracted eminent scholars from throughout the world, including 12 Nobel Laureates in Economics. This year's Sichel Series is co-directed by Dr. Sisay Asefa and Dr. Wei-Chiao Huang and is co-sponsored by the Department of Economics, the College of Arts and Sciences, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, the Center for African Development Policy Research, the Diether H. Haenicke Institute for Global Education, and the Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies.

Sanctioning Policies-Australian, American And British Cross-National Reflections And Comparisons, Harry Savelsberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Over the last two decades welfare policies have undergone major reforms in Anglo-Western nations such as the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Central to these reforms have been the revision of welfare recipient entitlements and responsibilities and the emergence of a responsibility and obligations agenda. The essence of this agenda is conditionality and reciprocity, and it includes the threat of punitive sanctions for failing to comply with mandatory participation requirements. This paper highlights the potent influence of the ideas of American conservatives on policy reforms in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia and provides a thematic crossnational comparison of sanctioning policies …

Child Support As Labor Regulation, Yiyoon Chung

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The development of child support policy over the past three decades provides an emblematic case study of the ways in which a new policy that reflects the rise of moral arguments about individual and family responsibility, once established, produces significant consequences for both the economic sphere and political dialogues. I use social control theory to examine a rarely appreciated consequence of child support policies: labor regulation. Particularly, I demonstrate the ways in which the discourse embedded in child support has exalted the importance of work even under the lowest terms, and has deflected public attention away from labor market issues.