Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

One of the most pressing questions in economics is “why are some countries richer than others?” One methodology designed to help answer the question is known as “Development Accounting,” a framework that organizes the determinants of income into two categories: differences in inputs and differences in efficiency. The objective of our work is to study to what extent differences in the levels of pollution can help explain income differences across countries. To do this, we adjusted a factor-only model to allow us to enter PM2.5, a measure of pollution that tracks the concentration of fine particulate matter in the air and looked to see if the model’s predictive power improved. We ultimately find that we can improve the model’s success in predicting GDP by .5 - 6%. Thus, pollution is unlikely to be a major force in understanding cross-country income differences, but it can be used with other economic factors to potentially magnify its impact with other additions in the future.

Using the Development Accounting methodology specified in Caselli (2004), we investigate the potential of PM2.5, a measure of pollution, as an explanation of cross-country differences in GDP using available Macroeconomic data from the Penn World Table and the WHO. We find that the addition of PM2.5 makes improvements to the model within the expectations of the literature. This adjustment shows promise for use in cooperation with other, more potent economic factors.

In the United States, the importance of acquiring higher education has steadily increased with almost two-thirds of the population attending some college or university (U.S. Census Bureau). Across different socioeconomic groups, the accessibility of higher education is vastly different. Factors such as low income, immigration status, and familiarity with national policies and institutions pose significant obstacles, especially for low-income communities of color. As the standard of skills needed for a productive career heightens, research needs to target specific marginalized communities that may disproportionately face barriers to entry into the pursuit of higher education. In this study, I will focus efforts on Maryvale, Arizona to assess the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on educational attainment levels. 20% of Maryvale’s population falls below the federal poverty line, a greater proportion than the rest of Arizona. While income and poverty levels contribute as obstacles to the process of development, they are compounded by factors such as limited English-speaking ability and a lack of health insurance within Maryvale’s population. This study uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to show how low socioeconomic status has a negative relationship with higher educational attainment in historically underserved communities like Maryvale.

Much of the community in Rocky Point, Mexico, faces chronic poverty and limited economic development. However, using an asset-based community development model, a local non-profit organization is working to empower the people to take the community's development into their own hands. 1MISSION, through its community-driven projects and programs, is helping bring sustainable and meaningful development to Rocky Point.