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ECONOMICS
Sylvain Boko
- with Alexandra Kurepa, North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University
Project 1: Decentralization, Reform, and Local Governance in
Africa; Project 2: Modeling and Estimating Technical Progress and
Endogenous Growth in Africa
Awarded $9,105 for the period 12/1/04 to 7/31/05
Source: WFU Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Research Fund
Project 1 will collect the preliminary data necessary to follow
up a successful National Science Foundation planning grant with
a full, multiyear proposal. The research examines the impacts of
decentralization on local community development in Africa. Project
2 will respond to critiques of a declined NSF proposal, “A
Mathematical Model of Endogenous Economic Growth and Application
to African Countries,” developed with NC A&T Mathematics
Professor Alexandra Kurepa. This project examines the role of human
capital and technical progress in determining endogenous growth
in Africa.
- Democratic Reforms and the Transition to Market Economy in
Africa
Awarded $25,000 for the period 9/1/01 to 8/31/02
Source: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Decentralization ö the transfer of powers,
responsibilities, and functions to subnational entities ö
has become a lynchpin in Africaâs reform process. Yet given
the simultaneous implementation of both political and economic
reform programs in nations throughout the continent, the impact
of the devolution of powers and functions to the local level on
the central governmentâs ability to carry out the macro-level
structural reforms necessary for a rebound in economic activities
must be understood. This first rigorous analysis of the interplay
between democratic and economic reform in Africa is a timely effort
to aid policy-making.
The pilot study will focus on four African countries
to test the hypothesis that if fiscal decentralization is enacted
in the context of a strong, transparent, and credible institutional
and political framework, it need not derail national structural
reforms. The first aim will be to analyze selected indicators,
ranking each countryâs reform process on a spectral continuum
between the two extremes of absolute centralization and absolute
decentralization. The second will use a nonparametric approach
to assess correlations between decentralization and macroeconomic
indicators. This study will lead to a more comprehensive research
proposal, covering more countries.
Jac C. Heckleman
American Founding: Motivation of the Framers at the Constitutional
Convention
Awarded $27,777 for the period 9/1/04 to 6/30/05
Source: National Science Foundation (NSF)
This project seeks to determine the motivation of the framers of
the US Constitution and framers generally. For the last century, scholars
have debated the motives of delegates to the 1789 Constitutional Convention.
Some have argued that they voted according to their personal economic
interests (McGuire and Ohsfeldt 1986; McGuire 2003; Beard 1913); others,
that they voted according to national interests or political ideologies
(Brown 1956; Wood 1969; Roche 1961; Diamond 1981). If framers vote
according to the interests that they are supposed to represent, then
deliberative settings like constitutional conventions may be adequate
for reform. However, if they vote to promote their own interest or
that of a constituency, then referenda or other forms of direct democracy
will be needed.
The project will expand current understandings of the constitutional
convention in three ways. First, using state roll call votes, letters,
debate notes, speeches, and newspaper submissions that were unavailable
when McDonald (1958) originally inferred 16 delegate voting patterns,
it should at least double the data. Second, it will test more precisely
Beard's thesis and theories about ideology and rational self-interest.
Third, it will analyze the types of constituent interests that may
have affected voting behavior: who elected delegates to the convention,
who the delegates allegedly represented, and who might elect delegates
to future posts.
The results will have important implications for political science,
economics, and the study of law. With recent constitutional conventions
among members of the European Union, Canada and Iraq developing new
constitutions, and such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Liberia copying
large portions of the US Constitution, determining the motivations
of the US framers is of broad concern.
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