Growth and Development Commons^™

Winning The Future: Strategic Plan For The Development Of Tourism, Robertico R. Croes, Manuel A. Rivera, Abraham Pizam, Eric D. Olson, Seung Hyan Lee, Yun Ying Zhong

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Aruba has developed and positioned its tourism sector as one of the premier destinations in the Caribbean over the past twenty-five years. The push towards tourism development was primarily aimed to create jobs and to enhance the quality of life of its population. The results have been astounding: not only has the island successfully transformed from an industrial-based economy to a tourist- and service-based economy, but the island now boasts one of the highest living standards in the Caribbean. The prosperity on the island is broadly shared among Arubans. Tourism has become an engine of economic growth, totaling U.S.$2.3 billion …

A Financial Impact Assessment Of Ld 1725: Stream Crossings (Presentation), New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Water

This report looks at the potential financial impact of LD 1725 on the estimated 30,000 stream crossings in the State of Maine that would be affected by the law. Our research for this report included the analysis of nearly 2000 stream crossings and the data collection necessary for the development of extensive stream crossing replacement cost models. We found that the 1.2 bankfull requirements in LD 1725 would result in a 75% ‐ 250% increase in structure widths for stream crossing projects across the state. An upsize of this magnitude would increase the cost of replacing stream crossings statewide by …

"Does It Pay To Be Informed?" Expenditure Efficiency In The Us Mutual Fund Industry, Jan Cerny

Gettysburg Economic Review

The mutual fund industry would like us to believe that fund expenses are justifiable by their extensive management expertise, security analysis and the consequent delivery of returns that exceed the market performance. Management know-how is costly and thus it drives up the expenditure of actively managed mutual funds and potentially lowers their net returns. Nevertheless the fund managers argue that their contributions to the returns fully outweigh their costs and in general their trading strategies add value to the investors. On the other hand many academics hold that such claims are fundamentally misleading and actively managed funds cannot continuously outperform …

International Comparisons Of Bank Regulation, Liberalization, And Banking Crises, Puspa Amri, Apanard P. Angkinand, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose: The recurrence of banking crises throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in the more recent 2008-09 global financial crisis, has led to an expanding empirical literature on crisis explanation and prediction. This paper provides an analytical review of proxies for and important determinants of banking crises − credit growth, financial liberalization, bank regulation and supervision.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study surveys the banking crisis literature by comparing proxies for and measures of banking crises and policy-related variables in the literature. Advantages and disadvantages of different proxies are discussed.

Findings: Disagreements about determinants of banking crises are in part …

The Welfare Cost Of Inflation In Oecd Countries, P. Boel, Gabriele Camera

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

The welfare cost of anticipated inflation is quantified in a matching model of money calibrated to twenty-three different OECD countries for several sample periods. In most economies, given the common period 1978-1998, a representative agent would give up only a fraction of 1% of consumption to avoid 10% inflation. The welfare cost of inflation varies across countries, from a fraction of 0.1% in Japan, to more than 2% in Australia, reaching 6% with bargaining. The model fits poorly money demand data of several countries, however. The fit generally improves with longer sample periods. The results are fairly robust to variations …

Economic Development Analysis & Action Plan: Camden, Maine, Charles S. Colgan

Regional Studies

This report addresses the issues of economic growth in the context of the Town of Camden, one of the 20 communities examined in the Gateway 1 planning process. The intention of this Commercial Development Inventory and Economic Development Analysis is to guide the Economic Development efforts of Camden for the next 5-10 years within the context of the Gateway 1 initiative.

Reversing Ethiopia's Intellectual Capital Flight, Asayehgn Desta

Collected Faculty Scholarship

Recently, the Ethiopian Government drafted a five year plan (2010 to 2015) to achieve the country’s economic growth. When Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation plan was analyzed in light of the new growth theory and traced historically in terms of the push and pull factors that contributed to the flight of skilled Ethiopians to more advanced countries, it was found that over the years Ethiopia has funded the education of its nationals only to see them contributing to the growth of developed countries. Being stripped of skilled human capital, leaving it ill prepared to face globalization and survive in the new …

Diamonds In The Rubble: The Women Of Haiti—Institutions, Gender Equity, And Human Development In Haiti, Tonia Warnecke, Andrew Padgett

Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Publications

Although Haiti's 2010 earthquake brought to light the inconceivable poverty existing in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti's struggle for economic development long pre-dated that earthquake. One problem in Haiti is the high level of gender inequity, and we argue that human development theory is the best mode for change. We provide a brief background of Haiti's economic development over the last several decades, along with the status of women's rights and gender-differentiated socioeconomic outcomes. We analyze the ways that policy neglect of gender equity in Haiti has contributed to failed economic development in the past. Finally, we identify ways that other …

State Of The Northwest Arkansas Region 2011 Report, Katherine A. Deck, Mervin Jebaraj

State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report

The Center for Business and Economic Research presents the State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report, an objective analysis of the area’s performance. The report reflects a broad approach to economic development and includes metrics related to innovation, quality of life, and health in addition to measures more often associated with the economy such as employment rates, business growth and income changes. The Northwest Arkansas region’s performance over time is measured and compared with the performance of the United States, Arkansas, and four peer regions: Lexington, Kentucky; Gainesville, Florida; Huntsville, Alabama; and Austin, Texas.

The Relationship Between Poverty And Crime: A Cross Section Analysis, Luke Fleming

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper compares the crime rates, poverty rates, and other economic statistics to determine if there is a relationship amongst the variables. The highest crime rates per capita in the world exist in developing countries; these countries also have very high rates of poverty. Is it a coincidence, or is there actually some substance to these facts? Crime is a complicated issue, and other variables like education, healthcare, and housing have to be taken into consideration. The results indicate that there is a relationship between certain types of crime and poverty, and that income inequality is significant to all types …

The Importance Of Good Governance In Achieving Economic Growth For Developing Nations: An Analysis Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Karl Turner

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper aims to expand on the idea that good governance is essential in sustaining growth in developing countries. I have chosen variables that are specific to determining the effect of good governance on sustained growth in several Sub-Saharan African nations. These variables will take into account the increased levels of corruption and manipulation that takes place in many of these regions. By analyzing different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, I will be able to account for different economic and political conditions. My results show that although these countries differ in various aspects of macroeconomic policy, stable governance has been the …

A Comparative Analysis Of Development: Foreign Direct Investment And Remittances In Latin America, Jeffrey Denault

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Economic growth in developing countries has long been thought to come from a variety of different economic factors. One of the most prevalent theories has been providing a country with high levels of foreign direct investment, encouraging the country to industrialize. Whilst there are obviously many other factors either inhibiting or encouraging a developing country’s growth, foreign direct investment has long been seen as the prime inflow of capital. However, in recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the transfer of funds to developing countries from migrant workers through remittances. This study explores the aggregate impact remittances have …

Foreign Aid And Growth In Select African Countries, Thomas Strong

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper analyzes the effects of foreign aid on economic growth in a set of African countries. This paper differs from previous literature in several ways; this paper analyzes a small sample set of aid-receiving African countries of varying distances from the equator. This paper also uses the most up-to-date data available, which will provide an insight into the 21st century conditions. Previewing the empirical results, this paper determines that aid, in the form of technical cooperation grants, has a significant, positive impact on growth.

In The Aftermath Of The Financial Crisis Of 2008: What Have We Learned?, Luisa Blanco, Michael Crouch

School of Public Policy Working Papers

In the aftermath of the financial crisis and economic recession of 2008, it is important to reflect not only on its causes, but also on specific policies that can help countries to move towards sustained economic growth. This publication provides a compendium of lectures that intend to do this. The focus of the discussion is around the U.S. (first two chapters) and Latin America (last chapter), which enhances our understanding of the forces at play and the necessary policies that need to be implemented in different regions of the world. Dr. Lee Ohanian points to the strange differences between the …

China And The United States' Recovery From The Global Financial Crisis, Yufei Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Faced with the global financial crisis, which has a large impact on the world's economy, China and the United Stated took different actions to pull the economy out of it, based on the fairly different financial, fiscal, and even political systems they have. This thesis focuses on the comparison of the financial and fiscal systems and trade structures between the two different countries, and how these have impact on their stimulus packages, thus influencing the economic recovery as a whole.

Institutions, The Rise Of Commerce And The Persistence Of Laws: Interest Restrictions In Islam And Christianity, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Why was economic development retarded in the Middle East relative to Western Europe, despite the Middle East being far ahead for centuries? A theoretical model inspired and substantiated by the history of interest restrictions suggests that this outcome emanates in part from the greater degree to which early Islamic political authorities derived legitimacy from religious authorities. This entailed a feedback mechanism in Europe in which the rise of commerce led to the relaxation of interest restrictions while also diminishing the Church's ability to legitimise political authorities. These interactions did not occur in the Islamic world despite equally amenable economic conditions.

Determinants Of A Country's Happiness, Timothy Caradonio

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the relationship between several macroeconomic factors and the relative happiness of a country’s citizens. Inflation, GDP growth, real interest rate, and unemployment rate were selected as independent variables. Data on the dependent variable, the degree of happiness, was not available from other studies. Therefore, life satisfaction was used as the dependent variable which was obtained from the Happy Planet Index. This study was conducted using cross sectional data and the least squared method to determine if any of the independent variables are statistically significant to the happiness of a country.

Sexual Orientation Wage Differentials, Gian Spicuzza

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

Most early works find that homosexual and bisexual men suffer from a wage disadvantage and that lesbian and bisexual women earn a substantial wage premium compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Almost all earlier works use 1980-1990 General Social Survey data and Census 1990 data. This economic analysis uses more recent 2010 GSS data and finds statistically insignificant results that that both homosexual and bisexual men and women earn a wage differential. This is most likely attributed to the new terminology included in the 2010 GSS. For the first time, the GSS records the sexual orientation of the respondent whereas past …

Analysis Of Employer Of Last Resort In The United States: Implications Of Educational Attainments And Wage Rates, Benjamin Dionne

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the feasibility and impact of an Employer of Last Resort (ELR) program in the United States. ELR could provide the US with a new policy direction in curbing poverty and creating growth. An ELR growth program would be run by the government to employ millions of unemployed and underemployed people in skilled and unskilled positions. This study aims to show that a well developed and administered ELR program could address the important issues facing the American economy and could lead to a significant economic impact. Using an ordinary least squared model the study establishes factors affecting the …

A Philosophical Framework For Conditional Cash Transfers, Jaron Abelsohn

CMC Senior Theses

Despite some recent economic progress, there is still widespread poverty and severe inequality in developing countries. According to the World Bank there are over 925 million hungry or undernourished people worldwide. More than 80 percent of people in the world live in countries whose income inequality is rising. Over 2.1 billion people globally live on less than two dollars a day, with over 880 million people facing absolute poverty and living on less than one dollar a day. Three out of four people living on less than $1 a day live in rural areas. These impacts have been magnified by …