Recent public cash assistance reform measures designed to induce recipients to leave welfare and enter the workforce represent the most important change in social welfare policy in recent decades. Single female-headed families with children (SFHFwC), who represent 53 percent ofnon-metropolitan...

The decisions of young adults from non-metropolitan areas to either migrate to metropolitan areas or remain in non-metropolitan areas following the completion of schooling are studied in this paper. The migration decision is decomposed into an hourly initial earnings component and a cost...

Using a cross section data collected in 2005, this study uses both parametric and semi-parametric methods to investigate key factors associated with household vulnerability to drought and economic downturns from exposure to shocks in Niger, conditioned on household and community assets. The...

This dissertation consists of three chapters on development economics. The first two chapters are in the area of international macroeconomics. The third chapter is in an area that is the intersection of macroeconomics and population economics. The first chapter studies currency substitution in...

Research and development of Bt rice in Southeast Asia has been overshadowed by the contentious debate over the potential release of transgenic food crops into the region. The study provides empirical evidence on the potential size and distribution of economic benefits of adopting Bt Indica rice...

The state of Virginia has been a leader in the design and implementation of welfare reform measures. State welfare reforms were enacted in 1996 and federal reforms followed shortly after in 1996. Initial decreases in program caseloads and the movement of former recipients from unemployment to...

In international trade involving agricultural products, attempts to safeguard the health of humans, animals, and plants, have led to the imposition of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards. Due to the fact that groundnuts are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination, stringent aflatoxin...

This dissertation explores household risk and savings behavior in Zimbabwe, and agricultural technology adoption, and the impact of public investments on the economy and community health in Ethiopia. The first paper analyzes changes in per capita consumption and savings behavior in Zimbabwe...

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine consumer behavior with respect to drinking water quality issues. The first essay uses contingent valuation method to explore consumersâ willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical material in home drinking water infrastructure that will...

This dissertation is a collection of three empirical essays on Albania andIran. In December of 1990, the communist system in Albania came to an abruptend. The collapse of communism led to a number of macroeconomic reforms that,among other things, brought dramatic changes in the Albanian labor...