Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-150).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-143).

Economic analyses of transportation investments are a common component of transportation planning. The profile of economic analyses has continued to rise due to increasing budget constraints and increasing emphasis on infrastructure's role in spurring economic development. One tool that has been developed specifically for transportation economic impact evaluation is the Transportation Economic Development Impact System (TREDIS). Common inputs for TREDIS are changes in travel characteristics caused by network improvements. Another commonly used planning tool is a travel demand model. Since 2003, the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) has worked on the development of the Statewide Analysis Model (SAM) which estimates travel characteristics for passenger and freight modes. Together, the models have the potential to improve project evaluation and to highlight the roles that certain projects have in creating economic development. The hypothesis explored for this study is that SAM and TREDIS can be feasibly used together to help TXDOT evaluate the economic impacts of investments in freight corridors and other transportation investments. This report begins with general discussions of transportation economic analyses and the two models used. Then, the current SAM is evaluated using TREDIS followed by a discussion of the results and ways that this type of integrated planning can be incorporated by agencies. Through this study, key results include: the process of incorporating results from the SAM for use in TREDIS is feasible, an overall benefit-cost ratio of 4 for the entire set of long range roadway projects included in the SAM and 8 for only the interstate projects included in the SAM, rail and other transportation analyses are feasible using SAM and TREDIS. / text

The aim of this research is to analyze empirically the danger of a Dutch Disease Effect with respect to a boom in the tourism sector in Croatia in the long run. Due to the brief time series of data available for Croatia, we employ for our econometric work data on more than 100 countries of the world over the period 1970-2000. In a first step the general, long-run relationship between tourism, growth, the real exchange rate, taxation and the manufacturing sector is looked at in a cross country setting. A panel data framework gives the possibility to counter check the acquired results. This second approach also allows to control for reverse causality, nonlinearity and interactive effects, applying a more complex methodology. It is found that, at least in the long run, there is no danger of a Dutch Disease Effect with respect to a boom in the tourism sector - and thus, no fear of a 'Croatian Disease'! Countries with higher income from tourism tend not only to have higher economic growth rates but also higher levels of investment and secondary school enrolment. Countries dependent on tourism prove to be rather outward oriented, having low levels of real exchange rate distortion and its variability. Finally, tourism does not seem to lead to a contraction of the manufacturing sector. (author's abstract)

published_or_final_version / Economics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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Research into the divergent results achieved by developing countries has traditionally been separated into two distinct approaches. While some scholars have attributed failures to weak governance at the national level, many others have criticised the pursuit of a narrow set of pre-defined liberal market reforms. Using the experiences of China and Botswana as case examples this research moves beyond the limitations of existing explanations to examine the necessity for both national accountability and contextualised policy making. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the connection between good governance and substantive human development indicates that while national accountability is vital, the individual circumstances of a state are equally important to consider.

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