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Community colleges, especially in New Jersey, have been recognized as having an important role in the human resource development area of economic development. However, neither the literature nor state policy in New Jersey include a clear definition of the specific functions community colleges should have in economic development. Furthermore, current research does not include consensus on appropriate funding sources for functions in which community colleges could be involved. The purpose of this study was to determine the priorities among economic development functions of the community college as viewed by community college leaders, leaders of business and nonprofit organizations, and economic development specialists in New Jersey. These leader groups also identified how costs for these functions should be apportioned among three funding sources: the state/county; the organization; and the participant/student. Leader group views were obtained through a mail survey using a questionnaire developed for this study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman Correlation Coefficient. Major findings of the study include: 1. Leader groups displayed a moderate degree of consensus concerning importance ratings and rankings of functions. The data also revealed a high degree of agreement on the selection of a primary funding source for functions. 2. Community colleges providing job training and vocational and career counseling for unemployed persons were the most highly rated functions in the study. 3. Three functions concerning community college involvement in providing training for employees of local organizations were also rated highly: tailoring credit courses for supervisory personnel; providing certificate programs; and providing basic skills training. 4. Having the community college provide credit courses and workshops for small business leaders/entrepreneurs was also selected as an important function by all leader groups. / Ed. D.

No / For over three decades, the capability approach proposed and developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum has had a distinct impact on development theories and approaches because it goes beyond an economic conception of development and engages with the normative aspects of development. This book explores the new frontiers of the capability approach and its links to human development in three main areas. First, it delves into the philosophical foundations of the approach, re-examining its links to concepts of common good, collective agency and epistemic diversity. Secondly, it addresses its 'operational frontier', aiming to give inclusive explanations of some of the most advanced methods available for capability researchers. Thirdly, it offers a wide range of the applications of this approach, as carried out by a mix of renowned capability scholars and researchers from different disciplines. This broad interdisciplinary range includes the areas of human and sustainable development, inequalities, labour markets, education, special needs, cities, urban planning, housing, social capital and happiness studies, among others.

This is an exploratory study that applies the dominant theories of the community power structure literature to the trend of regional cluster-based economic development policy in order to develop a conceptual framework of the political/institutional context of this "new" approach. In order to develop a framework that can be utilized by practitioners, field studies were conducted in Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Roanoke, Virginia. The findings are that the major community power structure theories (i.e., market model, economic forces, civic culture, regime theory, the growth machine, and civic entrepreneurs) all provide important insights for the adoption of cluster-based policies. Other important factors that need to be considered are the importance of public administrators, performance metrics, state context, institutional arrangements, elected officials, tax structure, and historical path dependency. The implication for public administration is that the role of public administrators is contingent on the nature of the network governance structure. / Ph. D.

This dissertation contains three related papers. The first paper revisits the concept of integrated rural development and provides examples on how to design balanced development work programs for the Trifinio region, a small rural region shared by 3 Central American countries. Work programs should balance 3 development objectives: economic development, social development and environmental protection. Finding a balance between these 3 competing objectives is difficult. The literature of Sustainable Development recognizes that policy makers often fail to balance objectives while the Integrated Rural Development literature points out the challenges of combining the objectives in a manageable project. We argue that, by focusing on identifying sources of economic friction and by accurately measuring tradeoffs using appropriate tools, we can design sound work programs. We present a toolkit that allows policy makers to identify sources of economic friction, measure their drag on the economy, and prioritize these sources so as to reduce the frictions that slow rural development. The toolkit contains 4 tools to assist in program design and 1 for implementation. GIS and building municipal indices of outcomes, household surveys, conjoint analysis and economic field experiments, are the tools that we have applied to design work programs in the Trifinio. In addition, balanced programs must be multi-dimensional in scope so we propose a tool that focuses on the institutional setup required for successful program execution. Finally we make policy recommendations and suggest additional tools that may also be added to our tool kit. In the second paper we create municipal indices of agricultural value of production, personal consumption and poverty in the Trifinio region of Central America with the objective of using them to guide investment priorities. Our indices synthesize information from the complex economic, social and geographic system of this region. In this respect we depart from established practices of estimating indices—for outcomes such as competitiveness—that select factors and create the index by adding them up. The established practice follows a normative approach because the index results from adding factors that should have an impact on the outcome. In this context the index author does not observe the outcome or the impact of factors; and does not know the functional relationship between factors and outcome. The author assumes all the information to create indices. Our methodology follows a positive approach and departs from the established practice because we estimate the outcome and identify factors that have an impact on it. To do it we use household survey and municipal level data to estimate determinants of agricultural value of production, consumption and poverty for the 45 municipalities in the Trifinio region. We then show how to identify municipalities in greatest need, identify factors of greatest impact on the outcome, and identify complementary activities. In addition we use GIS to develop a method that allows for the "generation" of missing agricultural-related data by extrapolating high quality yet limited information from a subsection of the region to the whole. The data generated has been validated in the field by agriculture experts thus confirming the legitimacy of this innovation. Finally we offer policy recommendations. The final paper presents an economic model of group formation with an application to data collected from an agricultural credit program in western Honduras. We formulate a simple theory of group formation using the concept of centers of gravity to explain why individuals join a group. According to our theory, prospective members join based on the potential benefits and costs of group membership, and based on their perception of social distance between themselves and other group members. Social distance is unobservable by outsiders but known by the individual: if you are in then you know who has blue hair. Thus, we argue that social distance helps explain preferences for group formation. To test our theory we analyze data collected from members and non-members of PRODERT, a program that has helped create 188 "Cajas Rurales" (CRs). Using conjoint analysis we test for differences in preferences between members and non-members for the main attributes of the CR. We find that members and non-members exhibit similar preferences for the attributes of the CR; therefore non-membership is not related to supply factors. Using information gathered by executing field experiments, we estimate a proxy for social distance. We use this proxy to run a group formation equation and find that it explains, along with individual characteristics, participation in the CR. Finally we offer suggestions on how to balance performance and coverage in programs in which beneficiaries decide who joins. Small cohesive groups may show exceptional performance at the cost of low coverage, and the opposite may be true. / Ph. D.

This research explores an alternative path for economic development via local connections to regional economies. It presents new analysis of the potential and circumstances under which county level industry clusters can be strengthened by connecting to regional clusters – networks of businesses, labor pools, etc., whose linkages cross local and even state jurisdictional boundaries. Specifically, this analysis examines how different types of industry clusters and types of urban and rural communities within regions respond to intra-regional connectivity. Independent-samples t-tests are conducted to assess whether significant differences in the annualized county-cluster employment growth rate (2010-2016) exist between connected and not-connected county-clusters overall, in different types of communities (metropolitan, micropolitan, rural adjacent and rural remote) and across types of industry clusters. The results suggest that intra-regional economic connectivity has a strong, positive association with county-cluster employment growth. These results are particularly pronounced for more rural communities but are present across county types, including metropolitan. The magnitude of the economic impact derived from connectivity with the regional economy varies by industry cluster. The results suggest an alternative approach to cluster-based economic development strategies that more strategically accounts for and bolsters connectivity. Policy recommendations for how to apply an intra-regional connectivity framework to narrow the urban-rural divide, as well as several regional profiles, are offered. / Doctor of Philosophy / This research explores an alternative path for economic development via local connections to regional economies. It presents new analysis of the potential and circumstances under which county level employment can be strengthened by connecting to regional industry clusters – networks of businesses, labor pools, etc., whose linkages cross local and even state jurisdictional boundaries. Specifically, this analysis examines how different types of industry clusters and types of urban and rural communities respond to economic connectivity within their regions. Statistical tests are conducted to compare differences in county employment growth (2010-2016) between counties that are economically connected and those that are not. The results suggest that connectivity to regional industry clusters has a strong, positive relationship with local employment growth. These results are particularly pronounced for more rural communities but are present across county types, including metropolitan. The magnitude of the economic impact derived from connectivity with the regional economy varies by the type of industry cluster present. The results suggest an alternative approach to cluster-based economic development strategies that more strategically accounts for and bolsters connectivity. Policy recommendations for how to apply an intra-regional connectivity framework to narrow the urban-rural divide, as well as several regional profiles, are offered.

Major population shifts shape both economic and physical landscapes of nations because demographic and economic drivers are inextricably linked. This study follows a three essay approach focused on the impact of population aging on two broad categories, physical and economic development in the United States. Specifically, this dissertation investigates later life entrepreneurship, elder housing choices and the impact of aging on rural prosperity. It appears that age is a factor in later life labor force participation choices, with 61 to 70 year olds and those over 70 years of age exhibiting a greater tendency toward self-employment than their 50 to 60 year old counterparts. However, individuals over age 60 are more likely to retire than transition to self-employment. Still, economic developers should consider small business development programs that include even those ahead of the baby boomer cohort. Amongst recent mover households, age influences dwelling selection. Households headed by 50 to 69 year olds are more likely to move to single family dwellings of 1,000 to just under 3,000 square feet. Conversely, households headed by individuals aged 70 years or more, are more likely to select multi-family dwellings and in particular, smaller units (under 1,000 square feet). Thus, oldest individuals are more likely to relocate to the smallest, highest density units even after controlling for increased housing costs, shocks, income and children. These results suggest that older households are not homogenous in their housing preferences. As expected, population aging impacts rural prosperity. The effect is not significant for the proportion of the population aged 70 to 79 years. However, the greater the percentage of the population that is 50 to 59 years of old or 60 to 69 years old, the less likely a rural county is to be prosperous. Contrary to this finding, the greater the proportion of the population that is 80 years of age or older, the greater the likelihood of rural prosperity. It was originally hypothesized that rural areas may fall short of prosperity because of a mismatch between an aging labor force and the prevalence of physically demanding occupations - this is likely not the case. / Ph. D.

Niche market cropping can be a source of economic development to economically depressed rural areas. The thesis takes place in the four counties of Wise, Russell, Scott and Dickenson and this study region is used to develop the ideas of limited regional competition, and product diversity for niche cropping enterprises. These ideas create an identity for the region that reflects upon the farms and the products they produce. This thesis is intended to be a tool for county extension agents and economic development professionals to use in the pursuit of guiding small farmers and land-owners into successful niche cropping enterprises. Case studies within Wise County demonstrate the income potentials of these enterprises. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This dissertation consists of three essays in development economics. The first chapter studies the effects of migrant remittances on economic development and education investments. The second chapter examines the drivers of charitable donations on an online charity platform. The third chapter studies the political economy of education in Indonesia, where the state competes with religious schools to provide education services. In the first chapter, I study the effects of remittances on development indicators and education investments in Indonesian districts. I use the interaction between local outmigration patterns and country-specific exchange rate shocks to identify the effects of remittances. I find that remittances increase household consumption, reduce poverty, and stimulate growth. Remittance recipients are able to send more children to school, thereby prompting district governments to increase public schools at the primary and junior secondary levels. The state also increases provisions of other public goods that complement household investments. These responses to remittances are not driven by electoral concern or the capture of economic gain through taxation, but rather pre-existing policy commitments and changes in government accountability. In the second chapter (joint with Gedeon Lim and Yohanes Eko Riyanto), we study the optimal way to elicit online donations in a developing country setting. We investigate the impact of randomizing choice set size and the randomization of beneficiary characteristics on the propensity and size of donations in the context of a Covid-19 mutual aid platform in Indonesia. We find that users assigned to a smaller choice set of potential beneficiaries are more likely to make a donation. This leads to higher average donations in smaller choice set groups as compared to larger choice set groups. Remarkably, we find no significant decrease in the amount transferred per donation. Our results suggest that donors are susceptible to choice overload. In the third chapter (joint with Samuel Bazzi and Benjamin Marx), we study the competition in the education market between the state and Islam community in Indonesia. We develop a new theoretical framework to understand how states take over education markets at the expense of alternative providers. We apply this model to a primary school expansion policy in 1970s Indonesia that aimed to homogenize and secularize education, at odds with a longstanding and largely informal Islamic school system. Using novel administrative data, we identify dynamic effects of the policy on education markets. Funded through growth in charitable giving and informal taxation, Islamic schools entered new markets, formalized, and introduced more religious curriculum to compete with the state. While primary enrollment shifted towards state schools, religious education increased overall as Islamic secondary schools absorbed increased demand for continued education. Exposed cohorts are not more attached to secular values and instead report greater religiosity. Our findings offer a new perspective on the consequences of education reforms and the persistence of dual institutional systems across numerous settings.