Economics Commons^™

Fiscal And Monetary Policies For Inclusive Growth In Developing And Emerging Markets, Collins Anosike

Journal of Global Awareness

The study examined the effects of monetary and fiscal policies in attaining inclusive growth for some developing countries and emerging markets. The study selected 20 countries and grouped them into group one and group two. The study is unique because it captures a broader range of countries compared to previous studies and shows their effect on economic growth. We use panel data and employ OLS regression and Johansen cointegration. We examine how each variable, general government expenditure, gross national expenditure, total revenue, official exchange rate, broad money, and deposit interest rate, affects the dependent variable (real GDP) from 1980 to …

Women Self-Help Groups As Drivers Of Community Development In Rural Kenya, James Kariuki, Bhoke Chacha

Journal of Global Awareness

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are informal grassroots associations of people who have similar objectives and concerns working cooperatively and collectively to meet their needs and improve their living conditions. SHGs are known to contribute towards the development and welfare of their members. This paper examines the role of SHGs in community development in Kenya with a focus on selected women groups in Migori and Makueni Counties. The study adopted a mixed research approach that provided both qualitative and quantitative data, and it was anchored on two interrelated theories of community development: empowerment theory and social capital theory. The researchers interviewed 80 …

Notes From The Editor, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

What Complexity Costs: Growth, Productive Capability, And The Vulnerability Of Interconnectedness, Pete Mcniff

Master's Theses

Growth depends on the sophistication of what an economy can produce, but economies that have specialized more deeply depend on the market access that sustains it. I test whether this dependence makes complex economies more vulnerable when access is disrupted, computing the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) from firm-level records in the U.S. Census of Manufactures (1850--1880) and using the Panic of 1873 as a natural experiment to measure county-level market access shocks from railroad bond defaults following Dutta (2024) and Donaldson and Hornbeck (2016). ECI predicts production and employment growth across all three decade windows, with the association strengthening as …

Crop Yield Shocks And Conflict In Sub-Saharan Africa: Subnational Evidence From Satellite-Based Yield Predictions, Benson I. Adomako

Master's Theses

This paper examines whether crop yields affect violent conflict at the subnational level across seven Sub-Saharan African countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzania, over the period 2010 to 2024. A central identification challenge is that observed yields are endogenous to conflict: armed violence disrupts planting, cultivation, and harvest. To address this, I train a machine learning model on observed maize yield and satellite and environmental features to generate predicted yields for 1,338 second-level administrative districts annually. These predictions serve as the key regressor in a two-way fixed-effects panel with district and year fixed effects. I find …

Trust, Civic Institutions, And Crisis: A Study Of Civic Culture In Italy, Nolan Joseph Sherwood

Master's Theses

This paper examines whether cultural familism — the orientation of trust toward family at the expense of strangers and civic institutions — shapes civic institutional engagement in Italy across three levels of analysis. The first analysis links four familism indices constructed from the European Values Study (2017) to pre-COVID municipal 5 per mille tax allocation rates across approximately 7,700 Italian municipalities, finding that higher Trust Gap and Institutional Distrust robustly predict lower baseline civic giving, both nationally and within each region. The second analysis uses a Regression Discontinuity in Time design exploiting the sharp onset of COVID-19 in 2020, finding …

Linking Fishery Productivity To Child Health In The Coastal Tropics, Francisco Flores-Mejia

Master's Theses

Fish are a primary source of calories, macronutrients, and income for coastal communities around the world, but overfishing and environmental changes have dramatically reduced productivity in the majority of small-scale fisheries. The social costs of these losses are believed to be large, particularly in poorer communities, but most estimates of fishery productivity effects on households are contextual and difficult to generalize. We combine a remote sensing measure of pelagic fishery productivity with geolocated child health and growth data from 34 countries in the coastal tropics. We estimate that the difference between sustainedly good versus bad fishing conditions corresponds up to …

Spatial Analysis Of Maize Yields And Household Dietary Diversity In Sub-Saharan Africa: Causal Evidence From A Machine Learning Instrument, Addi Joof

Master's Theses

MAIZE YIELDS AND HOUSEHOLD DIETARY DIVERSITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSAL EFFECT FROM A MACHINE LEARNING INSTRUMENT

Addi Joof, University of San Francisco, May 2026

This paper provides estimates of the effect of maize yield on household dietary diversity across seven Sub-Saharan African countries, using data from 36,474 maize-growing households in the Living Standards Measurement Study Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) panels for the period 2008--2021. OLS estimates which include district and country-by-wave fixed effects yield a positive and significant coefficient of 0.070 (SE = 0.006, p < 0.001), implying that a 10 percent increase in maize yield raises the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) by approximately 0.007 food groups. Because self-reported yields are subject to classical measurement error and unobserved household characteristics confound the OLS estimate, we construct an instrumental variable using a Random Forest model trained on satellite-derived agro-environmental features including the Enhanced Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Growing Degree Days, precipitation, and soil moisture obtained from Google Earth Engine at the GPS-coordinate-by-year level. Our preferred 2SLS specification, which adds region fixed effects to absorb persistent sub-national geographic variation, returns a positive point estimate of 0.217 (SE = 0.206; 95% CI: -0.19 to +0.63, p = 0.294) larger than OLS and consistent with downward attenuation bias, but imprecisely estimated and statistically indistinguishable from zero at conventional levels. We interpret the OLS estimate of 0.070 as a credible lower bound on the true effect, with the IV evidence pointing to a moderately larger but uncertain magnitude. Heterogeneity analysis reveals a declining gradient across consumption quintiles the effect is strongest among the poorest households (Q1: 0.055, p < 0.01) and diminishes with wealth (Q5: 0.015, not significant) while showing no gradient across market-integration levels. These patterns are consistent with own-consumption, rather than market income from surplus sales, as the primary pathway from yield to dietary diversity. OLS estimates are positive and significant in five of six estimable countries. The findings suggest that maize yield improvements can serve as a nutrition co-investment, particularly for subsistence-oriented smallholders, though the available data do not permit a sharp causal quantification of the effect size.

Keywords: dietary diversity, maize yields, instrumental variables, Sub-Saharan Africa, LSMS-ISA, satellite …

The Effects Of War Exposure On Psychological Well-Being And Social Preferences, Jacinta B. Duncan

Master's Theses

Using original survey and experimental data collected in Ukraine in 2023 and 2024, this paper estimates the causal impact of exposure to war-related violence on psychological outcomes, social preferences, and cognitive functioning. I combine a disaggregated war experience index with two incentivized economic experiments - a modified Dictator Game and an Emotional Stroop Test - and exploit randomized variation in task order as a priming treatment to establish causal identification. I find that war exposure has clear and consistently negative effects on psychological well-being, with direct personal experience producing the largest reduction in DASS well-being (β=−0.338 SD, p < 0.01), and that these effects are broadly distributed across demographic groups - though women report disproportionately higher psychological distress even at low levels of exposure. Social support emerges as the most effective buffer against war-related psychological harm, nearly eliminating the well-being gap between high- and low-exposure individuals, while economic hardship compounds distress and drives passive coping responses. In contrast, war exposure has limited and context-specific effects on social preferences: property loss and direct exposure increase prosocial behavior, but only when sharing is costless, consistent with solidarity norms operating within binding resource constraints. Cognitive task performance is largely unaffected by war exposure or emotional priming, with education emerging as the dominant predictor of Stroop performance across all specifications. Taken together, these findings support targeted, gender-sensitive mental health interventions and community-based support programs as high-leverage instruments for mitigating the long-term human costs of conflict.

The Evolution Of Economic Rhetoric And Its Correlation With The Marginalization Of Ethics In Economics, Mi Phan, Rhiannon Scharnhorst

Undergraduate Research (Journal)

Economic discourse has undergone a profound transformation from its moral-philosophical origins to contemporary mathematical formalism. This study examines whether the shift toward formalized economic writing resulted in the marginalization of explicit ethical reasoning. Through comparative textual analysis of twelve chapters from six influential works—spanning from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) to Milton Friedman’s methodological essays (1953)— the research identifies a pattern in which ethics is less and less prevalent. Pre-formalist economists like Smith and Marx integrated moral arguments directly into their analytical frameworks, examining questions of exploitation, justice, and social welfare as central to economic inquiry. Post-formalist economists, pursuing …

Hedonics Of Used Car Attributes On Market Price, Alexander Bent, Jason Gutierrez

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This paper uses Rosen's paper on hedonic pricing as a framework to analyze the determinants of used car prices found in Craigslist. Using cleaned data, we observe over 43,000 listings from 2005 to 2020 and investigate factors that affect used car prices and how they interact in this market. Results show that odometer readings and condition are the strongest factors that determine price, while manufacturers, paint color, drive type, fuel type, size, and year have more ambiguous effects that depend on certain perceived attributes or conditions.

Key Determinants Of Diamond Value, Tobey Brill, Alexander Dobrovolskyi, Rayland Labayog

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This paper intends to examine the determinants of diamond pricing using a hedonic regression framework. Using the diamonds dataset from Wickham (2016), we analyze the four C’s, also known as carat weight, cut, color, and clarity. We also wanted to go deeper into this topic and look into the depth and table to see how it impacts diamond pricing. Results have displayed that carat weight greatly influences a diamond’s price, while characteristics such as clarity, color, and cut exert positive effects. Estimates were found to be statistically significant. Our findings confirm and reassure the idea that hedonic pricing accurately captures …

Social Determinants Of Low Educational Attainment, Isabelle Graham, Kevin Lieng, Aubriana Weisbach

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This paper examines how socioeconomic and demographic factors influence low educational attainment across U.S. cities. The analysis estimates both a linear regression model and a semi-log model to evaluate how poverty, unemployment, family structure, age composition, overcrowding, racial and ethnic minority share, broadband access, and housing cost burden affect the percentage of adults without a high school diploma. The results show that poverty, overcrowding, and minority share are the strongest predictors of low educational attainment, each exhibiting positive and highly significant effects. Overall, the findings highlight the role of social factors in shaping educational outcomes in high school.

The Effects Of Neighborhood And Interior Characteristics On Residential Sale Prices, Ella Sophie Hagman

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study analyses to what extent certain neighborhood and interior characteristics affect residential sale prices, after accounting for standard property variables. This is important to examine in order to understand the function of the housing market, the sources of price differences, and whether residential values can be controlled by prioritizing specific desirable property features. The study is based on a dataset of approximately 330,000 observations from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), as well as walkability data obtained from Walk Score. The data is analyzed in Stata, using three regression models with different combinations of explanatory variables. The results show that …

Do Rural Areas Gender-Discriminate Wages More Than Metropolitan Areas?, Ali Gonzalez, Michael Montano, Brandon Sacks, Joseph Williams

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study analyzes the gender wage gap in metropolitan versus rural areas using U.S. hourly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for the period 2010-2025. The analysis uses regressions on a semi-log wage model and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions to compare the gaps and separate the effects attributable to explained (endowment) differences from those attributable to unexplained (coefficient) differences. The semi-log wage model reveals a percentage wage decrease for females of approximately 17.4% in rural areas and 9.9% in metropolitan areas. The Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions further indicate that the unexplained (coefficient) component of the gap is substantially larger in rural …

Labor Market Responses To Ai: Measuring Wage Effects Across U.S. Occupations, Kaitlin Pham, Karla Rodriguez

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing economies around the world, with some experts predicting an impact greater than the Industrial Revolution. As AI becomes more common in daily life and business, questions have grown about how it might affect jobs, wages, and inequality. The rise of automation and highly capable AI models has made people wonder which occupations will benefit and which might be at risk. This study looks at how exposure to AI technologies affects wage trajectories in the United States. Using occupational-level data from O*NET and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we build an AI exposure index …

The Structural Limitations Of Mining Output Growth In Nevada, Mckinley Brown, Emma Kitchen

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study compares short and long trends in Nevada to the production output within the mining industry. Nevada produces around 70% of the United States gold and about 15% of the world's critical minerals. From its position as one of the most resource rich mining regions globally to its emergence as a growing economic hub, mining played a central role in Nevada's economy. However, despite the industry’s importance, Nevada still faces inefficiencies in production output due to insufficient attention to key inputs such as labor, infrastructure, technology, and energy resources.

Determinants Of March Madness Tournament Advancement, Jace Waldahl

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This paper examines whether tournament seed and team efficiency ratings help explain how far teams advance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Using Bart Torvik NCAA basketball ratings data from 2008 to 2025, I construct a team-year dataset with tournament advancement measured from 1 to 7, where higher values represent deeper runs. The main independent variables are seed, net efficiency, offensive efficiency, and defensive efficiency. Descriptive statistics, correlations, scatterplots, and OLS regressions are used to test whether better-seeded and more efficient teams advance further. The results show that seed is the strongest and most consistent predictor of advancement, but efficiency …

Innovation Capability And The Performance Of Women Entrepreneurs: The Role Of Business Incubation Programs To " Moving Up A Class, Lily Purwianti, Hepy H. Ariyanto, Edy Yulianto Putra, Suherlina Suherlina

Arab Economic and Business Journal

This study analyzes the impact of  innovation capability on the performance of women entrepreneurs, with a focus on the role of business incubation program to "move up a class" in Riau Islands Province, Indonesia. The research  aims to evaluate how  business incubation programs  influence the relationship between innovation ability and the performance of women entrepreneurs.  Data were collected through questionnaire  completed by 129 female entrepreneurs who took part in  a Business Incubation program in Riau Islands Province. This study used a quantitative methodology. The PLS (Partial Least Square) software was used for data processing. The results show that while digital …