1,721,031 research outputs found
Is the Export-Lead Growth Hypothesis Valid for Canada?
No full textEmpirical evidence linking exports to economic growth has been mixed and inconclusive. This study re-examine the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis for Canada by testing for Granger causality from exports to national output growth using vector error correction models (VECM) and the augmented vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology developed in Toda and Yamamoto (1995). Application of recent developments in time series modeling and the inclusion of relevant variables omitted in previous studies help clarify the contradictory results from prior studies on the Canadian economy. The empirical results suggest that a long-run steady state exists among the model’s six variables and that Granger causal flow is unidirectional from real exports to real GDP
Effects of shocks on economic development and roles of resilience factors
No full textIn recent decades, the inability to quickly cope with shocks and stressors became perhaps the most serious threats to growth and development, and a matter of concern among development stakeholders. As a result, they are now prioritizing resilience building at individual, household, and community levels. By providing up to date analysis on key missing gaps, this dissertation contributes to the literature explaining the nexus between shocks, resilience, and development, and informs the policy-making process about mitigation of various shocks and stressors. Departing from the usual practice of assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on development outcomes, the first essay investigates the effects of six policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on the farm and nonfarm incomes of agricultural households using Nigeria as a case study. The roles of endogenous policies such as lockdowns and stay at home orders have hitherto not been addressed in the literature. Essay 1 also examines the roles of factors that provide households with absorptive, adaptive, and transformative resilience capacities during unprecedented shocks. The results suggest that policies that tend to increase family labor availability were beneficial for agricultural households on the short run. In addition, the ability of agricultural households to withstand the adverse effects of the policy responses to the pandemic depends on their land size, wealth level, and degrees of income diversification, involvement in processing activities, and reliance on hired labor. These results suggest that policy responses to a health crisis, specifically containment measures, which are aimed at overall mitigation of adverse impacts, need to consider the impacts on farm viability. Since agriculture is crucial to livelihoods in developing countries, its role may be compromised if policies enacted do not consider the effects on the sector.For sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, the second essay examines the short- and long-term effects of conflicts and droughts on agricultural growth and transformation trajectories using partial and total factor productivities measures as indicators of these processes. It also introduces an alternative approach to measuring resilience based on the timeframe in which the effects of a shock remain significant. The results suggest instantaneous and persistent disruptive effects of conflicts and droughts on the structure of agricultural production, which occur mainly through effects on quality and quantity of input use. Additionally, the overall structure of agricultural production is characterized by greater resilience to conflicts than droughts. By tying shocks to productivity, resilience and agricultural production in a temporal way, this study advances the literature in all three areas. Because productivity growth and agricultural transformation are cornerstone development strategies in SSA, these results are of high value to development stakeholders.In the third essay, the Nigerian experience with conflicts is used to study their short- and long-term effects on individuals' type of work (namely, family farm enterprises, family non-farm enterprises, and employment with others), and their effects on sectoral employment choices (namely, employment in agriculture, manufacturing, or services). For this purpose, the Nigerian General Household Survey is spatially joined with data on the location of conflict events and their associated number of fatalities. The findings provide evidence of significant labor reallocation effects of conflicts, which arise from the abandonment of farm activities and their replacement by employment in non-agricultural sectors. These effects are observed in both planting and harvesting seasons, suggesting that disruptions occur in both input- and output-related supply chains. Additionally, they differ across gender and skill levels. Hence, in addition to addressing the root causes of conflicts, improving access to education and labor market may be key ingredients of resilience building strategies.Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, 2022Includes bibliographical reference
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Essays in developement economics
Full text link"In chapter one I use a large nationally representative data set from India to analyze the causal effect of age at marriage of a woman on her post marriage health and fertility outcomes. To look at this effect I propose a new instrumental variable in the sparse causal literature. The instrumental variable strategy stems from two social practices within the Indian society; minimum age targeting at marriage and seasonality of marriage dates. I find that delaying marriage causally decreases the probability of a women being diabetic and having elevated blood pressure post marriage, increases her age at first birth and has a zero effect on the number of children she has. I also find that delayed marriage causally increases the women's educational attainment, improves her bargaining power within the household and improves her spousal quality. The paper also contrasts its findings with the existing causal literature by producing results using both the new and the existing instrumental variable in the literature. I find that both the IV's produce similar estimates in terms of health, education and spousal quality but the estimates differ for fertility outcomes. In the absence of universal social security, parents in India depend heavily on their off springs for post-retirement consumption. The patriarchal nature of the Indian society combined with low labor market returns for women skews this dependency towards sons. This skewedness in dependency for old age support, towards the son, might be a potential reason for gender gap in human capital investments of the children. In chapter two I use the 2004 New Pension Scheme reform in India as a quasi-experiment in a Difference in Difference in Difference framework to identify the causal effect of post retirement security on gender gap in human capital investment. I find that with the decrease in post-retirement security for the parents the gender gap against the female child increases. Compared to the male child, a girl child is less likely to be enrolled in a private school or a school where the medium of instruction is English, both these effects are statistically significant. I also find that the gender gap in test scores is larger post reform for the children of parents whose retirement security decreases, however these results are not statistically significant. Chapter three looks at the relationship between risk correlation in borrower outcomes and micro finance tools such as monitoring and audit. To look at these relationships I introduce risk correlation in existing theoretical models of moral hazard and costly state verification. I find that as risk correlation in borrower outcomes increases auditing by the lender increases whereas the relation with monitoring is conditional on the probability of success of the borrower and the monitor. I use the Townsend Thai data base to check whether the empirical findings are consistent with the theoretical predictions. I find that the relationship between risk correlation and monitoring depends on the measure of risk correlation I use and for auditing I find that the empirical findings are opposite to the theoretical prediction."--Pages ii-iii.Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Economics, 2019Includes bibliographical references (pages 162-166
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
IS THE EXPORT-LEAD GROWTH HYPOTHESIS VALID FOR CANADA?
No full textEmpirical evidence linking exports to economic growth has been mixed and inconclusive. This study re-examine the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis for Canada by testing for Granger causality from exports to national output growth using vector error correction models (VECM) and the augmented vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology developed in Toda and Yamamoto (1995). Application of recent developments in time series modeling and the inclusion of relevant variables omitted in previous studies help clarify the contradictory results from prior studies on the Canadian economy. The empirical results suggest that a long-run steady state exists among the model's six variables and that Granger causal flow is unidirectional from real exports to real GDP.International Development, International Relations/Trade, F43, C32,
Causality between exports, imports, and economic growth: Evidence from transition economies
No full textDoes Agriculture Really Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries?
Full text linkIn recent decades, the potential contribution of agriculture to economic growth has been a subject of much controversy among development economists. While some contend that agricultural development is a precondition to industrialization, others strongly disagree and argue for a different path. Taking advantage of recent developments in time series econometric methods, this paper re-examines the question of whether agriculture could serve as an engine of growth. Results from the empirical analysis provide strong evidence indicating that agriculture is an engine of economic growth. Furthermore, we find that trade openness has a positive effect on GDP growth
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