International Economics Commons^™

Financial Openness And Trade Volatility In Argentina, Joseph H. Asciuto

Master's Theses

This paper will identify the relationship between financial openness and trade volatility in Argentina. Data spanning 1970-2011 provided by the IMF, WTO, and INDEC will be used to construct a panel dataset for both a global analysis and a sectoral analysis for the Argentine economy. The application of established and accepted techniques to the constructed dataset will show a negative correlation between trade volatility and financial openness; thus, financial openness acts as a stabilizing mechanism for trade. Additional analysis will be performed on the of role regional trade agreements as stabilization mechanisms for trade. A significant implication of this study …

Climate Variability Influences Women’S Attitudes Towards Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv), Jean Lee

Master's Theses

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced violence against women. Our study examines the effects of climate conditions on women’s attitudes towards wife beating. The demographic health surveys (DHS) dataset includes over 550,000 women in 38 countries, asked a series of wife beating justification questions in the domestic violence module. Using a linear probability model, we find prior year growing degree days (GDD), prior and current year rainfall variability have statistically significant effects. Most interestingly, we find that a one standard deviation (SD) rise in prior year annual rainfall decreases the likelihood of justifying …

Savings Groups And Banks: Complements Or Substitutes? Financial Inclusion In Rural Tanzania, Shirleen Rubangura Teta

Master's Theses

Abstract: The substantial increase in the number savings and credit groups as well as microfinance institutions over the past years suggests that individuals in the developing world have progressively become aware of the importance of access to financial services. This study adds to the existing literature on the function of savings and credit groups in places with lower use of formal financial services and inform us whether these groups are a possible substitute or complement for formal financial services (banks) within low-income communities. Based on household data collected in Tanzania in 2013, this paper attempts, using two different estimations, a …

Crowded Out: The Effect Of Sex Ratios On The Sex Worker Labor Market And Migration In India, Michael Dickerson

Master's Theses

India’s skewed sex ratios have lead to the destruction of marriage markets in many villages as well as an increase in violence against women. This paper examines how India’s distorted sex ratios effects the migration of sex workers. By using a modified gravity model of migration the results in this paper indicates that an over supply of sex workers in a local market leads to a crowding out effect, and pushes the women to migrate to districts with more men than women. This paper contributes to the literature by bringing more clarity to how the labor market impacts the decisions …

The Impact Of Foreign Direct Investment On Labor Market Measures: Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa, David A. Mayom

Master's Theses

There is scant literature examining the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and labor market measures in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This paper explores the effect of FDI on the labor market measures using panel data of 48 Sub-Saharan African Countries from 1991 to 2009. The result indicates that FDI has a positive and significant effect on employment implying that an increase in the inflow of FDI is associated with higher employment. Thus, Sub-Saharan African governments should strongly consider poverty alleviation and employment policies that encourage and direct FDI to the industries where it can significantly reduce unemployment.

Gender Bias In Microlending: Do Opposites Attract?, Kanyinsola Adepoju

Master's Theses

This study exploits a quasi-random assignment of clients to loan officers using a unique database and survey from a large microfinance bank in Nigeria to show that opposite-sex preferences affect credit demand and supply. We find that clients matched to loan officers of the opposite gender are more likely to receive credit and are more likely to return for an additional loan with the credit lender.

A Test Of The Household Separation Hypothesis In Rwanda, James E. Anderson

Master's Theses

How does a farm household in rural Africa react when the government decides crop selection? In developing countries, agricultural households strive to optimize a risk mitigating utility function rather than a traditional agricultural production function. These households are termed “non-separated” as their farming efforts are directed towards family food security rather than maximizing agricultural profits. The lack of integration with labor and commodity markets makes these non-separated households difficult to influence with policy initiatives. Various tests for household separation have been developed.

We use a unique dataset from Rwanda to evaluate these separation tests. The data include households forced into …

The Impact Of Borehole Wells And A Hygiene And Sanitation Program On Diarrhea: Evidence From Rural Southwest Uganda, Morgan Adams

Master's Theses

Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death for children under age five, killing approximately 2,089 children a day (WHO, 2013). Clean water access, sanitation facilities, and good hygiene behavior are solutions to decreasing child mortality and morbidity caused by fecal contamination. I estimate the impact of borehole wells and a hygiene and sanitation program on diarrhea by creating a retrospective panel. I ask mothers to rank children from the most to least diarrhea when under the age of two and use this ranking to compare siblings, where at least one had been exposed to the program. The methodology …

The Impact Of Offcial Development Assistance On Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From Vietnam, Hang Pham

Master's Theses

The relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) has not been fully established, nor has its directionality, as evidenced the disagreement among economists. Using existing literature as starting point, I extend its base by examining key causal variables for ODA and FDI within 64 Vietnamese provinces, covering the span from 1998 to 2012. With the most extensive and newest dataset available, I find that ODA attracts more FDI inflows in intermediate term (5year average) and long term (all year average), but not in the short-term. An important policy implication of these results for developing countries, and …

The Impact Of Migration And Remittances On Children's Education In El Salvador, Philip H. Jakob

Master's Theses

The effect that migrant remittances have on school enrollment is a challenging relationship to empirically define, requiring both an analysis of the circumstances that lead a household member to emigrate from their home and equally, but not always independently, how the family makes investment decisions in the education of one or more of their children. This study presents a new strategy to determine the nature of this relationship for households in El Salvador, using a 2SLS estimation with a wealth-stratified panel constructed from household survey data over a nine-year period. Employing this methodology to estimate the combined effects of both …

The Curious Case Of Greece: The Impact Of Fiscal Policy Shocks On Key Macroeconomic Variables. A Var Based Approach., Manny Kaliontzakis

Master's Theses

For years, the Vector Autoregressive approach has been the main tool for monetary economics and macroeconomic researchers around the world. Leading central banking figures, academics, and modern economic think tanks have used the approach to determine the effects of interest rate shocks on basic macroeconomic variables such as GDP, industrial production and unemployment rate. Shocking policy variables, such as interest rates or long term bond rates have given economists the ability to run reliable forecasts. The last 20 years have seen a turn in the use of the VAR approach on fiscal policy as well. Even though, in general, previous …

Typhoons And Lower Birth Weight In The Philippines, Sarah Morrow

Master's Theses

Do typhoons impact birth weights of infants exposed to a typhoon while in utero? This research exploits the exogeneity and randomness of typhoons in the Philippines to estimate the impact of typhoon exposure as determined by wind speed on birth weights. Using four waves of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from the Philippines combined with temperature, precipitation, and rainfall data from the Philippines, I can empirically estimate the impact of a 1 m/s increase in wind speed on birth weights. I find that for certain subgroups of the population, specifically children born to mothers with primary education or …

Heterogeneous Effects Of Commodity Price Shocks On Inflation Rates. Evidence From A Panel Study., Odbayar Batmunkh

Master's Theses

Do commodity price shocks have heterogeneous effect on countries based on their export and import profiles? I address this question through a panel study of 142 countries using Export and Import Indexes aimed at differentiating the retail pass-through and fiscal balance channel of transmission of Commodity Price shocks on inflation. The results show that an increase in the Export Index leads to a decrease in contemporary inflation while an increase in the Import Index leads to an increase in inflation in the next year. Average causal mediating effect of the Export Index on Inflation through the Fiscal Balance was shown …

The Economic Impact Of Wheelchairs For The Disabled In Ethiopia, Justin L. Grider

Master's Theses

Abstract: How do wheelchairs impact income and the possible channels of employment status and time allocation for the physically disabled? In order to improve opportunities for people with disability, it is imperative to know the effect that a wheelchair has on the lives of the disabled. Estimates from 261 participants across Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were taken to estimate a wheelchair’s impact across numerous time, economic and distance variables. I demonstrate how nearest neighbor covariate matching methods can be used to estimate how wheelchair beneficiaries would have fared had they not been given a wheelchair. Results show that current wheelchair users …

How Is Sectoral Fdi Affecting Firms’ Performance In Mozambique?, Nilza A. Abdurramane

Master's Theses

I study the effect of sectoral FDI on firms’ performance in Mozambique from 2007 to 2010 through productivity and efficiency functions, using comprehensive firm level data. Although foreign ownership has a positive effect on firms’ productivity, my results show that in general, sectoral FDI has a negative and statistically significant effect on Mozambican firms’ productivity. The findings of this study are similar to previous studies that argued that positive foreign spillovers were not automatic. Using a stochastic frontier model, to measure efficiency, I find that in general foreign firms tend to be more efficient than domestic firms. However, using this …

Can Community Water Projects Combat Child Diarrhea? Results From The Solomon Islands, Thomas G. Sackman

Master's Theses

There is a vast amount of existing literature that has empirically scrutinized whether or not community water projects have the ability to mitigate diarrheal disease. A strong and persistent belief thinks that community water projects do have the means, however, over the decades empirical work commonly finds this to simply not be true. This study expands the research question to the Solomon Islands. The research tests the hypothesis using a differences-in-differences identification strategy by utilizing the government’s staggered timing rollout of community water subprojects with whether or not a village received a community water subproject to test for a program …

Impact Of Typhoons On Children's Human Capital Investments In Filipino Households, Kate Zitelli

Master's Theses

Typhoons are a unique type of natural disaster affecting both developing and developed countries, causing both short and long-term destruction. Typhoons are random both in intensity and frequency, making them difficult to predict their strength and when they will strike. With global climate change, typhoons are expected to increase in both frequency and magnitude, making it important to understand their impacts. This study uses DHS data from the Philippines and a unique Filipino typhoon data set covering they years 1989-2008 to explore how typhoons affect household allocation of basic human capital investments, such as breastfeeding duration. Using OLS estimation and …

Typhoons And Temperature Impact Crime Rates: Evidence From The Philippines, Emily Wetherley

Master's Theses

This study assesses the impact of typhoons and temperature on interpersonal, property, and non-index crime rates using a novel data set from the Philippines. Distributed lag OLS regression analysis shows that in the concurrent year of increased precipitation, theft rates decrease, but in the year following high average wind-speeds, theft rates increase again. The only significant result of impacts crimes against persons is the rate of physical injury which decreases in years of higher precipitation. These results are defended by interview and focus group information. This study also shows that higher average temperatures cause significantly higher rates of murder, index …

Women’S Empowerment And Community-Driven Development: Evidence From The Solomon Islands, Erin M. Steffen

Master's Theses

The study evaluates the impact to-date of a community-driven development (CDD) program on women’s empowerment in the Solomon Islands. Originally launched in 2008, the CDD program is known as the Rural Development Program (RDP). The RDP aims to foster employment and income growth by focusing on participatory development, demand-responsive provisions of government services, and the creation of a supportive economic environment for small-scale rural development. The RDP process mandates female involvement, which manifests predominately in the selection of community infrastructure projects and by participation in a RDP subcommittee known as the Sub-Implementation Committee (SIC). Members of the SIC are in …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …

The Fii Model As An Investment In Patience: Exploring Time Preferences In Medellin, Colombia, Jennifer Graham

Master's Theses

The motivation for this research is to explore the success behind the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) as a model for poverty alleviation. During the period of June-December 2012, nearly 200 small business owners in Medellin, Colombia participated in a field experiment intended to replicate the FII model by randomizing the treatments of setting goals, receiving conditional payments, and participating in self-help groups, as well as the combinations thereof. The data shows that the subjects in the full FII treatment group achieve more goals and have significantly higher monthly sales than those subjects in any other treatment or control …

Does Child Sponsorship Have A Positive Impact On The Quality Of Life And Social Behavior Of Sponsored Children? Evidence From Indonesia, Mario Carrillo

Master's Theses

Relaxing an internal constraint of an individual at early stages of life is an approach that complements traditional policy interventions aimed to alleviate poverty. The Compassion International child sponsorship program focuses their work on the emotional, social, and spiritual development of sponsored children. This study investigates the impacts of child sponsorship on the quality of life and social behavior of sponsored children using age-eligibility as an instrument for sponsorship, a time preference experiment and a trust game. The study looks specifically at self-esteem, optimism, social trust, educational outcomes, patience and reciprocity of 286 sponsored children and 234 non-sponsored children between …

Can Neoclassical Trade Theory Explain Congressional Voting?, John Dellipriscoli

Master's Theses

The neoclassical trade model has notoriously been unable to empirically predict trade flows throughout the world, however there has been a notion that the same theories and predictions could also be applied to democratic voting on free trade legislation. Using roll-call votes on three 2011 United States bilateral trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, respectively, a simple empirical model based on the neoclassical concepts, specifically the Heckscher-Ohlin and Stolper-Samuelson corollary theorems, is outlined. After an analysis using a logit estimation method, it is revealed that there is conflicting evidence whether the voting on the 2011 free trade agreements …

Migration And Children's School And Labor: Evidence From El Salvador, Zachary Intemann

Master's Theses

This paper examines the impact of parental migration on schooling outcomes for children left behind in El Salvador. Using cross sectional data collected in 2012, outcomes for children are observed for children with migrant parents. The outcomes are also analyzed by gender of the migrant parent who left his or her child behind. Results are observed using instrumental variable estimations, as well as a seemingly unrelated regression to estimate the impact of migration on a child’s time allocation. Outcomes are also analyzed measuring the impact of remittances. Results show that children with at least one migrant parent will complete more …

The Role Of Family Ties In Mitigating Moral Hazard: Firm-Level Evidence From Tamil Nadu, India, Goldie Chow

Master's Theses

Drawing on firm-level data from the district of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India, this study explores the role of family ties as a means to counteract potential moral hazard concerns. It is shown that firms will be more likely to employ family relations when faced with a higher hidden context for moral hazard. Specifically, the analysis finds that the presence of family members within the firm is higher when the firm provides general training and that firms that are more likely to do external business with family relations when it is believed that the legal system is not effective. Additionally, …

The Resource Curse And Peru: A Potential Threat For The Future?, Sergio Cruz

Master's Theses

What explains the ability of some countries to successfully use their natural resources towards development and economic growth while for others stagnation and impoverishment? The resource curse theory has helped economists explain this observation. This work examines how Peru has been able to produce strong economic growth in the last 20 years despite the economy’s strong dependence on its natural resource extractive industry. Peru has been able to avoid many of the pitfalls and traps that resource curse literature considers to be detrimental to economic growth. This article examines the resource based economies of four other countries (Venezuela, Chile, Nigeria, …