http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/economic-development Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:34:56 -0400 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:34:56 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1909/grand-narrative-fragmented-reality-the-belt-and-road-initiative-in-heilongjiang-province By Gabriel Wagner - Most analysts agree that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is set to become a defining feature of the global economy of the 21st century. However, there is wide-ranging debate about how to understand the BRI. Is it a top-down “grand strategy” directed by Xi Jinping, or just an umbrella term for a wide range of fragmented individual projects? This paper examines the “Three Bridges One Island” (三桥一岛) initiative in Heilongjiang province to shed light on this question. The findings suggest that official policy narratives about the BRI are indeed dictated... Tue, 21 Sep 2021 07:21 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1909/grand-narrative-fragmented-reality-the-belt-and-road-initiative-in-heilongjiang-province http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1794/the-impact-of-economic-complexity-on-productive-structure-and-income-inequality-in-indonesia-and-venezuela By Osama Siddiq - Recent work with the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) has shown that a country’s productive structure constrains its level of economic growth and income inequality. Building on previous research that identified an increasing gap between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with that of China and other High Performing East Asian Economies (HPEA), this paper compares how the diverging productive structures of the Venezuelan and Indonesian economies have impacted the generation and distribution of income in each country. I use time-series regression analysis to show the impact of economic complexity... Wed, 09 Sep 2020 12:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1794/the-impact-of-economic-complexity-on-productive-structure-and-income-inequality-in-indonesia-and-venezuela http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1517/navigating-the-leftist-spectrum-in-argentina-an-economic-classification-of-the-kirchner-era By Matt Finkel - Argentina’s economic policies under Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were hugely impactful in the country’s recovery and general development, yet the Kirchner administrations are often painted with the same broad leftist brush often used to categorize Latin American governments. This kind of blanketed cataloguing obscures the economic nuances of important features of Argentina’s governance like social safety nets, market openness, and property rights. This report will classify Kirchnerism in a more appropriate context, measured against economic policy... Sun, 08 Jan 2017 03:10 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1517/navigating-the-leftist-spectrum-in-argentina-an-economic-classification-of-the-kirchner-era http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1514/bridging-the-gap--towards-a-transatlantic-approach-to-reducing-inequality-a-policy-proposal By Sergio Mukherjee - Part of the problem is that an exclusive focus on growth, defined as the increase in a country's productive capacity by comparing the monetary value of the goods and services produced by a country (GDP) within two successive periods of time, overlooks the potential inequality of distribution and access to important social services, such as adequate schooling and healthcare. While it is true that the nature and extent of poverty and inequality vary across the world, both relative and extreme poverty restrict people to operate at the margins of society. As a result, people not only have limited... Mon, 05 Dec 2016 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1514/bridging-the-gap--towards-a-transatlantic-approach-to-reducing-inequality-a-policy-proposal http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1572/thrifty-authoritarians-us-regime-change-1945-present By Daniel J. Savickas - The efficacy of efforts by the United States government to influence regime change in foreign nations has been increasingly called into question. Motivated by these statements of skepticism, the study herein provides a statistical analysis of the impact US intervention has had on both democratic evolutions in target nations for regime change, and for the development of their GDP per capita. An analysis of GDP per capita in target nations for US-sponsored regime change offers observers insight into both how standard of living conditions may have improved in those nations and a brief overview of... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1572/thrifty-authoritarians-us-regime-change-1945-present http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1118/development-on-the-outer-banks-a-case-of-public-perception By Peter Rowe - Many U.S. coastal resort areas with high amenity values have experienced a high influx of both residents (full-time and part-time) and vacationers over the last two decades. This is the case for the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a narrow barrier island jutting out some thirty miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Many popular media accounts have suggested that the Outer Banks are destined to become like much of the New Jersey and Florida coastlines, and some fear this has already begun to happen. This study evaluates differences in perceptions of development between local residents and non-local residents... Wed, 09 Sep 2015 08:13 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1118/development-on-the-outer-banks-a-case-of-public-perception http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1057/corruption-and-graft-in-post-conflict-afghanistan By Parag R. Dharmavarapu - With the departure of international forces and the exit of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan has entered a new age. While Afghanistan’s GDP has quintupled to $20 billion since 2002, the war-torn country remains one of the world’s most impoverished, insecure and corrupt nations. The poverty rate has remained close to 36% since 2012 and Transparency International ranked Afghanistan as the world’s third most corrupt nation in 2014 ("World Development Indicators ," 2014; “Corruption by Country/Territory,” 2014). Fully 61% of people polled reported paying a bribe, and 34% of them... Wed, 22 Jul 2015 04:59 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1057/corruption-and-graft-in-post-conflict-afghanistan http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1018/capital-controls-in-emerging-market-economies-comparing-their-use-and-effectiveness-in-five-countries By Urjita Sudula - The use and effectiveness of capital controls in emerging market economies is important to examine because of the potentially damaging effects that these controls may have on a country’s economic growth and development, especially if the country in question is growing at a fast rate. This study relies on quantitative methods to examine whether five emerging market economies in Latin America and Asia—Brazil, Chile, Thailand, Malaysia, and India—have become more insulated from capital flow volatility and exchange rate appreciation, among other economic effects, as a result of their... Mon, 23 Mar 2015 07:29 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1018/capital-controls-in-emerging-market-economies-comparing-their-use-and-effectiveness-in-five-countries http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/755/mexican-drug-activity-economic-development-and-unemployment-in-a-rational-choice-framework By David J. Masucci - From his inauguration in 2005 to the end of his presidency in 2012, Mexican President Felipe Calderon presided over one of the most violent periods in his country’s history. Making good on one of his election promises, Calderon unleashed the country’s military against drug trafficking organizations (DTO’s) and other criminal gangs who usurped authority from local governments in the northern and western parts of the country. The result has been a brutal and sustained war between Mexico’s security forces and the drug cartels. U.S. media outlets report daily violence from... Thu, 05 Sep 2013 12:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/755/mexican-drug-activity-economic-development-and-unemployment-in-a-rational-choice-framework http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/754/assessing-the-eus-lisbon-strategy-failures-and-successes By Jiri Krcek - The quest for economic supremacy has been at the heart of the European integration process since its very inception. Tracing the historical origins of the economic progress agenda, Europe’s ambition to bolster its economy vis-à-vis its main competitors has traditionally rested on major projects, namely the foundation of the common market in the 1950s and 1960s, the Werner Plan in the 1970s, the Single European Market in the 1980s, and the Economic and Monetary Union in the 1990s (James 2012: 10). In March 2000, the European Council Summit in Lisbon marked yet another significant step... Tue, 03 Sep 2013 10:15 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/754/assessing-the-eus-lisbon-strategy-failures-and-successes http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1210/revisions-to-lipsets-economic-theory-of-democratic-development-india-as-a-case-study By Anwesha Banerjee - Seymour M. Lipset dubbed economic development a “social requisite to democracy,” considering factors such as national wealth, a large degree of industrialization, and high levels of education to be necessary fertilizers to prepare a breeding ground for democracy. Citing many different cases throughout history leading up to the present (which, for him at the time of writing his article, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy,” was 1959), he famously posited that “the more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy.”1 While these... Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1210/revisions-to-lipsets-economic-theory-of-democratic-development-india-as-a-case-study http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1619/american-aid-to-greece-the-marshall-plan-as-a-model-for-development-aid By Sebastian Beckmann - In response to a growing acknowledgement of the failure of international aid, one school of scholars has identified a lack of aid as the defining crisis in development. From their perspective, aid has failed in driving change not due to inherent flaws, but because developed nations have failed to give enough. This school points to the American Marshall Plan in Europe, which provided an enormous fund to the reconstruction and development of Europe's shattered post-war economies, as the crowning achievement of international aid and a historical model for future endeavors. Surprisingly, few works... Thu, 31 May 2012 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1619/american-aid-to-greece-the-marshall-plan-as-a-model-for-development-aid http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1222/brazils-china-challenge By Carlos Sucre - In 2001, Goldman Sachs named Brazil one of the four most important emerging economies, with China, Russia and India.1 The BRICs, a term coined by Jim O’Neill, are prophesized to become four of the top six economies in the world by 2050,2 and, with the United States, form a new core of power. O’Neill argued that if Brazil could, “keep inflation low and engage with the rest of the world, Brazil could immediately become something else.”3 In the past twenty years, Brazil has done that and more. It has established a vibrant democracy, controlled inflation and achieved solid... Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1222/brazils-china-challenge http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1266/elusive-economic-development-in-the-maghreb-and-beyond By Taha Oudghiri - How many political, economic, and social mistakes will a population accommodate before it rebels? Due to the self-checking mechanism of elections in democracies this question can be superfluous, yet it still haunts politicians, high ranking officials, and wealthier classes in developing countries characterized by inequality and precarious equilibriums. These are countries where ballot boxes do not settle the voting of political figures nor assign true power to trustees. This leads to disputed legitimacies which inadvertently nurture an instinct of political survival among these leaders. In turn... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1266/elusive-economic-development-in-the-maghreb-and-beyond http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/122/a-river-for-freedom-the-itaipu-hyrdoelectric-project-and-the-democratization-of-paraguay By Tonei Glavinic - From 1954 to 1989, Paraguay was subject to the authoritarian regime of Alfredo Stroessner and the Colorado Party. While Stroessner came to power at a time of great economic strife, it was the most prosperous time of his regime that led to his downfall – the construction of the Itaipú hydroelectric project on the Paraguay-Brazil border. While the project gave temporary prosperity to the country, its completion led to economic stagnation and gave opportunistic individuals the capital necessary to take over the party and position themselves to succeed Stroessner. These militantes, &ldquo... Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/122/a-river-for-freedom-the-itaipu-hyrdoelectric-project-and-the-democratization-of-paraguay http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1297/a-tale-of-two-countries-lessons-from-the-latin-quest-for-the-balance-of-equity-progress-and-freedom By Francis J. Pedraza - In 1917 foreign oil companies came to Venezuela to start drilling in the shallow waters of Lake Maracaibo.1 By 1928 Venezuela had emerged as the world’s top oil exporter, and this touched off a wider economic boom.2 Visionaries saw an opportunity to turn a profit outside the oil sector by laying the foundations of a modern economy. Standard Oil heir Nelson Rockefeller, for example, founded the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC) to channel venture capital into Venezuelan fishing, agriculture, and supermarkets.3 Local businessmen were invited to become shareholders to “teach... Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1297/a-tale-of-two-countries-lessons-from-the-latin-quest-for-the-balance-of-equity-progress-and-freedom