This dissertation consists of three essays in labor and development economics. The first essay, “Bumpy Rides: School to Work Transitions in South Africa,” quantifies the importance of the option to re-enroll in the school to work transition of South African youth. I estimate a structural...

The history of development shows convincingly that no country has substantially reduced poverty without massively increasing the use of electricity. The development of micro-enterprises in rural areas of Uganda is linked with increased access and useof electricity services. In this study, I...

In this paper we analyze whether the employment/productivity profile of growth as wellas its sectoral pattern matter for poverty reduction. We also identify some conditions of the labor market which are associated with employment intensive growth or specific sectoral growth.We find that, in the...

The paper discusses the meaning and measurement of pro-poor growth and also reviews evidence of pro-poor growth (or the lack of it) in a large cross-section of countries and time periods. The emerging story is that many episodes of growth are not pro-poor and also that although economic reforms...

This course treats public-sector policies, programs, and projects that attempt to reduce poverty and unemployment in developing countries through directly income-generating activities and employment. Topics covered are (1) employment and local economic development, particularly as related to the...

There is a growing acceptance that the environmentalbenefits of forests extend beyond traditional ecological benefits andinclude the mitigation of climate change. Interest in forestry mitigationactivities has led to the inclusion of forestry practices at the projectlevel in international...

Because the Mexican government has encouraged investment in Mexico by increasing the percentage of ownership of a Mexican business that a US company can hold, joint ventures are more attractive now than they had been in the past. This study provides preliminary information for US renewable...

We evaluate the conservation potential of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for managing the rapidly increasing electrical energy and peak demand in India and Brazil. Using very conservative assumptions, we find that the cost of conserved energy using 16 W CFLs is 4 and 6 times less than the long...

This report reviews recent global efforts to privatize energy resources and outlines the opportunities and challenges privatization has presented to U.S. and foreign multinational energy companies. The group of energy companies studied in this report includes the major U.S. petroleum companies...

During the previous six annual sessions of the International Petroleum Environmental Conference (IPEC), little attention has been given to international issues. Although the US is clearly a leader in oil field research and regulatory development information is available on interesting projects...