Growth and Development Commons^™

Three Sisters Exchange: Building Alliances And Promoting Justice From The United States To Ecuador, Ariel Climer

Capstone Collection

This paper presents a proposal for a social justice and action-based study abroad program with foundations in the short-term reality tours of the education and human rights-based NGO, Global Exchange, a far-reaching non-profit with friendships built on solidarity against the spread of elite globalization. The program is called the Three Sisters Exchange to honor the sustainable design of indigenous crop planting prevalent around the world. The design comes at a time when international educators offer few programs with foci in social justice. The international education field needs more sustainable programs that take into account global systems. A propagation of such …

A Community In Bloom: An Affordable Housing Needs Assessment Of West Bloomington, Margaret L. Anderson, Lloyd Banwart, David F. Becker, Dana Bulba, Jared Dellinger, Mimi Duong, Julie Ornee, Katie Mitchell, Andrew Piotrowski, Hillary Smith, Dustin Stoltz, Mandy Swartzendruber, Niko Valaris, Katie Weber

Community Project Design and Management Reports - Sociology

Purpose of Report

This report was written in response to a request from Habitat for Humanity of McLean County. The report expands upon and updates an affordable homeownership needs assessment for the Bloomington-Normal community – with an emphasis on West Bloomington – that was created in 2004. Because the housing market and economic conditions of the area have changed drastically in the last 6 years, an updated report is necessary.

Data Sources and Methodology

This report uses a combination of primary and, mainly, secondary data sources. Interviews were conducted with representatives of, among others, Bloomington Housing Authority, the Economic Development …

Mobility And Permanence Of Local Ethics: The Case Of Young Adults Involved In The Banco Palmas Economic Solidarity Movement, Lillian Steponaitis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The global capitalist model produces economic centers and peripheries on many scales. In Fortaleza, Brazil this pattern is evident, with the majority of the wealth and capital concentrated in central neighborhoods. As one travels to the edge of the municipality, one encounters economically and socially marginalized communities. One of these communities, Conjunto Palmeira, has attempted to mollify this exclusion by imagining and exploring new modes of existing and finding economic growth outside of the capitalist model. In 1998, the residents created Banco Palmas, a community bank. Operating under the philosophies of economic solidarity, Banco Palmas offers microcredit loans, circulates a …

Why Mexicans Migrate: A Glimpse At The Causes And Effects Of Rural Mexican Migration In The Community Of Yogana As Well As Current Movements Towards Local Development, Katie Norris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Migration is a current matter confronting both U.S. and Mexican society. For Americans, the topic signifies an ever-increasing entry of Mexican migrants to U.S. factory and agricultural hotspots. In comparison, for millions of Mexican citizens, migration marks an intricate aspect of daily life with a story embedded not only in the present day but in the histories and futures of individuals, families and communities as well. An on-going cycle of poverty explains the principle motivation behind the growing number of migrating citizens from Mexico. Social and environmental injustices associated with free-trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement …

Renewable Energy In Rural Amazônia: A Case Study Of Its Advantages And Limitations In Santo Antônio, Amy Plovnick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Isolated renewable energy projects are a promising alternative to diesel power for providing electricity in rural communities not connected to the conventional electricity transmission grid. However, there have been a limited number of such projects in rural Amazônia, and they often face obstacles that limit their sustainability. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social and economic impact of isolated renewable energy projects through a case study of a small-scale biomass and solar energy electrification project in the community of Santo Antônio, Pará. It will also evaluate the limitations to implementing and sustaining isolated renewable energy projects …

The Incompatibility Of Dependence And Development: A Critical Analysis Of International Development Efforts In The Nicaraguan Context, Molly Dunton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Countries in the Global South have been receiving billions of dollars annually in humanitarian and development aid for the past half-century. But they still remain poor, marginalized, and on the periphery in spite of this massive influx of money into the region. Many would argue that this very aid is in fact working to maintain the economic hierarchies responsible for their poverty. Through the lens of Dependency Theory, I analyze this apparent failure of the International Development Industry in the context of Nicaragua. After researching what was working and what wasn’t in Nicaraguan rural development, I was able to categorize …

Rebuilding Distressed Regions: Problem Diagnosis And Tracking, Randall W. Eberts

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

How Does Income Inequality Affect The Growth Of U.S. Counties?, Jeremy Roth

Economics Honors Projects

This paper aims to conduct a precise test of the political economy hypothesis linking income inequality and economic growth. By choosing covariates from a detailed county-level dataset and assuming that U.S. counties experience perfect capital mobility, I shut off the four possible channels linking inequality and growth other than political economy. This is a first in an empirical literature that has reported conflicting findings with observations of states and countries. I also present thematic maps to illustrate the cross-county variation in key growth determinants that is masked by state-level studies. My econometric tests find a negative association between the initial …

Globalization And The Unending Frontier: An Overview, Olutayo C. Adesina

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The decisive events and the determining forces unleashed by globalization hold on the one hand, the potential for expanding the scope of political, social and economic processes, and on the other, erode people's connection to the way they live, the people they live with and the places they live in. They also intensify alienation and disengagement. The essays, themes, arguments and macro-level analysis in this volume try to make sense of the dynamics of globalization. They survey the potentials of the phenomenon and forces of globalization, and the capacity of these highly disruptive and contentious change processes to direct, affect …

Mountain Monitor-1st Quarter 2010, Mark Muro, Jonathan Rothwell, Kenan Fikri

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Where are the jobs? That anxious question pervading national discussions of the Great Recession and its aftermath is becoming acute in the Intermountain West. Not only has the region’s usual faster-than-the-nation employment snapback after recessions failed to materialize this time around. What is more, the Mountain region’s halting economic recovery in some ways actually weakened in the first three months of 2010 as reports this new edition of the Mountain Monitor, a quarterly report produced by Brookings Mountain West, a partnership between Brookings and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and a companion product to Brookings national MetroMonitor. Drawing …

The Omaha Site: Migrant Civil Society Under Construction Series On Latino Immigrant Civic Engagement, Lourdes Gouveia, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, Yuriko Doku, Alejandra Toledo, Sergio Sosa

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

Omaha was one of nine cities in the United States chosen by the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars to explore immigrant civic and political participation. Lourdes Gouveia and the OLLAS team, along with Sergio Sosa of the Heartland Workers Center, produced this bilingual report based on interviews and a round table with broad-based participation by the immigrant and Latino community.

Omaha es una de las nueve ciudades en los Estados Unidos que fué escogida por el Centro Internacional Woodrow Wilson para Académicos con el fin de examinar la participación cívica y política de los migrantes. Lourdes Gouveia con el …

Vietnamese Beauty: Exploring The Definition Of Female Beauty In Present Day, Urban Vietnam As Seen Through The Desire For White Skin, Dorie Topolsky

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Upon my arrival in Vietnam, I was exposed to Vietnamese women’s desire for white skin. The beauty industry in Vietnam is heavily represented in everyday life through the women who do not go into the sunlight unless they are completely covered from head to toe and by the numerous skin care stores and advertisements on every block. I started my research on the skin whitening community in Vietnam with hopes of gaining an understanding of the motivations behind why Vietnamese women are willing to put so much effort into obtaining white skin and quickly realized that the development of the …

Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey 2010 Highlights, Robert Futrell, Christie D. Batson, Barbara G. Brents, Andrea Dassopoulos, Chrissy Nicholas, Mark J. Salvaggio, Candace Griffith

Reports (USI)

UNLV sociologists conducted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey (LVMASS) to identify the socio-spatial distribution of attitudes and attributes relevant to urban sustainability in the Las Vegas Valley. The project goal is to understand how Las Vegas residents think about urban sustainability issues across three dimensions: 1) natural environment; 2) community and quality of life; 3) economy.

Learning Sustainable Development: Chimeneas De La Esperanza, Miriam V. Mollan Gundersen

Social Sciences

Social inequality and environmental degradation are motivating informed young people into action and connecting impoverished regions of the world with students in more developed nations. This Social Sciences senior project is to analyze an alternative development model designed by a group of Californian university students. The project, named Chimeneas de la Esperanza, is designed to help impoverished Nicaraguan women start a ceramics business. The major hurdle of this mission is to establish a market for the ceramics product. Energy efficient ceramic stoves and smoke ventilating chimneys would benefit the community and avoid an impacted crafts market. The project encompasses ideas …

Contribution Of Tertiary Education To Human Capital Development, Labour Market And Skills In The State Of Victoria, Australia, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

This chapter examines how effectively TAFE Institutes and universities in the State of Victoria contribute to meeting the social and economic needs of the population in terms of opportunities to study and relevance of the qualifications offered. It identifies some key achievements and areas for improvement. The chapter closes with a series of recommendations that include the need for a greater system approach to tertiary education in order to support sustainable regional development and the role that the State of Victoria can play in this strategy.

Clean, Green, And Not So Mean: Can Business Save The World?, Andy Spackman, Celia Ross, Christy Donaldson, Louise Feldman, Patrick Griffis, Elizabeth Stephan, Laurie Bridges, Baseema Krkoska, Tony Lin, Mark Siciliano

Library Faculty Research

No matter how you define it, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic. From community investing to business ethics to environmental sustainability and beyond, proponents of CSR view the business landscape through a lens that focuses less on profitability and more on the greater good.

“Doing well by doing good” is the business world’s new mantra. Concepts of CSR, green business, social entrepreneurship, and peace through commerce have become a focus of research and are inspiring the next generation of businesspeople. The 2010 BRASS Program gave attendees an expert’s view of certain niches within the broader realm of ethical …

Microfinance And Women’S Empowerment In Honduras, Katherine Sugg

Sociology Honors Papers

This thesis examines the possibilities for women’s empowerment through microfinance. It utilizes the results of a survey conducted in 2009 with clients of the microfinance organization FINCA Honduras. The analysis of these survey results yields important conclusions on FINCA Honduras’ ability to empower Honduran women economically, psychologically, and socio-culturally. The original hypothesis of this study stated that FINCA Honduras’ financial services would help the female client to improve her standard of living, her psychological well-being, and her gender relationships in the home. FINCA Honduras has partially succeeded in empowering its female clients in these ways, but currently lacks the specific …

Project Animate: Promoting Student Civic Participation Through Latino Voter Mobilization - Ollas Report No. 6, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

This project sought to expand voter outreach and mobilization of new registered and Latino voters through a series of activities in the greater Omaha metropolitan area. Following the successful development of a voter mobilization project undertaken in the 2006 election cycle, this project conducted door-to-door canvassing activities utilizing students to distribute nonpartisan voter information and engage in “get out the vote” activities with new Latino registered voters.

An African-American Resources And Needs Assessment Of The West Bloomington Area, Phase 1, Karishma Amatya, Nicholas Beaty, Jamie Boban, Joanna Bossi, Tyler Curtis, Casandra Fritzsche, Andrew Griffin, David Johnson, Sasha Miranda, Dana Overman, Emily Putnam, Jared Ulschmid, Tessa Zevallos

Community Project Design and Management Reports - Sociology

Over the course of the Fall 2009 semester, students in the Community Project Design and Management class worked with members of West Bloomington to recognize the growing needs within the community. Along with the African-American Focus Workgroup (AAFW) and the West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership (WBRP), the students completed Phase 1 of an African-American resources and needs assessment resulting in this report. This document reflects needs, wants, and hopes of the West Bloomington community and the AAFW. Comprehensively, this document is meant to serve as a bridge between community members and AAFW members.

As Bloomington as a whole continues to grow …

The Health-Care Debate And Nebraska's Latino And Immigrant Populations - Ollas Policy Brief No. 2, Lourdes Gouveia, Yuriko Doku

Latino/Latin American Studies Policy Briefs

No abstract provided.

Co-Development In Mali: A Case Study Of A Development Phenomenon Exploited By Immigration Policy, Diane Galatowitsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This case study establishes a historical basis for migration from Kayes, contextualizes co-development in immigration and development literature, and provides insight into how organizations implementing migrant financed projects in Mali define and perceive the concept of co-development. In my research, I pulled together scholarly articles, organizational documents, reports, and conducted semi-structured personal interviews that were scattered across the fields of history, migration, and development and pulled together an analysis of co-development in Mali. Challenging the concept of co-development as an effective immigration policy and a development strategy, this paper reflects the concept’s true benefits to Malian society. Finally, the conclusion …

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint (Slides With Audio) (Large File! To Speed Up Download, Right-Click On "Download" Link To Save To Own Pc.), Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This presentation sets out the very basics of ‘sustainability’, although a definition of sustainability is not attempted. Some of the very basics are the context in which the Earth and humankind exist in space and time, the Earth’s climate, the Earth’s population and humankind’s options and choices. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’. The author also argues that, in addressing the challenges that humankind faces, globally concerted effort …

The Cost Of Progress: Failed Development And Community Response On Pulau Serangan, Julia Nakad

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction - extract

No place on Bali illustrates the promise and heartbreak of development more clearly than the failed development project on Serangan Island, the location of a halted (if not completely aborted) development project in the 1990s that drastically changed the landscapes and livelihoods on the island in a relatively short span of time. Prior to the development project, most Serangan people made a living from fishing in the ocean surrounding the island, as well as from extracting coral and engaging in the turtle trade. These same people were promised jobs in the resorts that were to be built …

Black & Red The Impacts Of Development On Culture: A Case Study Of Dogon People Of Sangha, Mali, Kathleen Remington

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For my Independent Study Project (ISP) I focused my research on struggling to understand the relationship between development and culture in an isolated community. I chose to study the Dogon people located in Sangha, Mali and spent 17 days studying and living among them. By conducting a series of interviews daily, I explored the land and the hearts of the people in order to obtain a meaningful understanding of their culture as well as, to acquire first hand knowledge of the ongoing development.

My paper begins by analyzing general definitions and discourses of both culture and development. I then detail …

Can Non-State Certification Systems Bolster State-Centered Efforts To Promote Sustainable Development Through The Clean Development Mechanism, Jonathan G.S. Koppell, Kelly Levin, Benjamin Cashore

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Increasing economic globalization has coincided with the emergence and escalating influence of non-state actors and organizations in domestic and international policymaking, from shaping policy agendas to promoting private authority. The latter phenomenon has arisen, at least in part, from a critique of states' failures to adopt effective and enduring environmental policies. Rather than contest "command and control" institutions, non-state strategies embrace market approaches built around incentives and price mechanisms. Several forms of non-state authority have emerged, including corporate social responsibility, provision of information through labeling, and self-reporting.

Las Vegas: The Perils Of Deception Fueled Growth, William J. Smith, Ahmad Safi

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

There are two types of deception – the deception of others and self-deception. Las Vegas thrives on both. Many would be aware of the importance of the first type of deception for the health of the Las Vegas economy, as they would for Macau, Monte Carlo, etc. Without the symbol of wealth to achieve elite global tourism status, and the ‘moth to the flame’ illusion of the likelihood of visitors to get ‘lucky’ and win great wealth, there would be no Las Vegas as it is known today. There is no other major reason to come to the city. There …

Assets And Needs Assessment Of Senior Residents In The West Bloomington Neighborhood, Case Bell, Melissa Busher, Amy Deal, Ted Fischer, Christine Holmes, Joseph Lauchlan, Shane Peterson, Janelle Jones, Eric Porter, Brad Pribe, Viktor Shrader

Community Project Design and Management Reports - Sociology

The experience and process of aging has become a prominent topic of discussion nationwide and Central Illinois is no exception, due to the rapid growth within the senior population in the area. The 60 and over population of Illinois is projected to grow by 87% during the next 30 years (The Maturing of Illinois). An initiative has been developed to evaluate how prepared local communities are for older adults by conducting needs assessments, which can also serve as vital tools for those who plan and provide human services in communities. Often community leaders will form policies and allocate limited resources …

Growth Is Good For Whom, When, How? Economic Growth And Poverty Reduction In Exceptional Cases, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Economic growth and liberal economic policies often help the poor, but what about the numerous cases in which they do not? This article analyzes two types of cases: those in which income growth of the poor was significantly lower than expectations (negative exceptions) and those in which income growth of the poor significantly exceeded expectations (positive exceptions). Insights from these cases inform our theoretical understanding of poverty reduction. In addition, this article contributes a typology of strategies used in these cases, including alternative pathways to economic growth and neoliberal prescriptions for poverty reduction.

Nebraska’S Immigrant Population: Economic And Fiscal Impacts - Ollas Report No. 5, Christopher Decker, Jerry Deichert, Lourdes Gouveia

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

Immigration issues have once again assumed center stage in policy circles at every level of government in the United States, as the number of new immigrants, many undocumented and many from Latin American nations, has risen markedly in recent years. This is certainly true in Nebraska. According to US Census figures for 2000, the total immigrant population in Nebraska was estimated to be 74,638. By 2006, this figure had risen to 99,500, a 33.3 percent increase. By comparison, the total native-born population in the state grew less than 2.0 percent over the same six-year period.

This study attempts to quantitatively …

In The Balance: Immigrant Economic Contributions And The Advancement Of Human Rights In Nebraska - Ollas Policy Brief No. 1, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, Lourdes Gouveia

Latino/Latin American Studies Policy Briefs

No abstract provided.