with Paul L. Locatelli, SJ, President, Santa Clara University / Devlin Hall 008

The research expands the scope of the World System and Dependency theories that emphasize the deleterious effects of the extent of external debt held by multilateral institutions (Chase-Dunn, 1975; Sell and Kunitz, 1986-87; Meldrum, 1987; Harsch, 1989; Bradshaw and Huang, 1991; Bradshaw et al., 1993) and the structure of capital formation (Chase-Dunn 1975;Bornschier, Chase-Dunn, and Rubinson 1978; Bornschier and Chase-Dunn,1985; Timberlake and Kentor, 1983; Bradshaw, 1987; Walton and Ragin, 1990; Dixon and Boswell, 1996; Firebaugh, 1996) on the growth and development of Third World Countries. This research primarily examines the relationship between external debt held by multilateral development institutions and central government debt. A major barrier to social and economic development in developing countries is malnutrition and the inability of individuals to maintain a healthy standard of living and be economically and socially productive. The major findings on the direct and indirect effect of external debt and the solvency of a domestic economy on the health and nutritional status of women and children were: External debt as measured as a percent of GDP did produce slight but statistically significant direct effects on under-five infant mortality. Central government debt as measured as a percent of GDP demonstrated a direct effect only with under-five mortality and it was modest at best. Gross domestic investment measured as a percent of GDP also exhibited a weak direct effect on under-five infant mortality and percent total immunized. As expected, external debt did demonstrate a substantial and statistically significant direct effect on central government debt. The results of the path analysis reveal that external debt consistently produced an indirect effect, operating through central government debt, on measures of under-five mortality, percent children immunized, and children wasting and stunting. However, the magnitude fluctuates considerably and their statistical significance drops to below acceptable levels on childhood immunizations and the nutritional measures.

published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-227). Also available online. Restricted to UC campuses.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Middle East, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa))--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008. / Thesis Advisor(s): Looney, Robert E. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 29, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-71). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 259-302). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--American University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-202).

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2007. / Thesis advisor: C. C. Mate-Kole. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in International Studies." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-103). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) now the World Bank, were created in the mid-1940s. The IMF was tasked to manage the post-war international monetary system, while the World Bank’s role during its early years was to provide development finance to war-torn Europe. These institutions reformed some of their roles to make them relevant to the globalising world over the years and also responded to several post-war crises. Since these two institutions carry out their roles in a globalising world, this study has revealed that globalisation has different interpretations as many researchers refer to the economic and non-economic explanations of its meaning. Globalisation is also a historical process as it traces back several years ago. Since approximately the mid-2000s, the global economy experienced two economic crises, namely the US sub-prime financial crisis that later became the Great Recession and the Euro sovereign crisis. The two economic crises spread to other countries globally that were interconnected into the global economy regarding international trade, investment and banking. These two crisis events required responses from the IMF and the World Bank. The two institutions displayed a variety of strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the recession and the Euro crisis. The lending of both these institutions has been their strength as they have managed to expand their lending capacity during the two crisis periods examined. The IMF’s crisis intervention time frames have also been its strength, as the speed in which it has approved financial assistance requests has been within reasonable time frames. The IMF’s new lending instruments have been its weakness, as the success of these instruments has not been fully tested so far. This is because of the little use of the IMF’s new lending instruments. The IMF’s crisis prevention efforts through the use of its surveillance tools have also been its flaw. This is based on the fact that it has failed to prevent the US financial crisis (later the Great Recession) and the Euro sovereign crisis. Overall, this study found that these institutions played a significant role in responding to the Great Recession and Euro sovereign crisis as their strengths outweigh their weaknesses. However, the weaknesses of the IMF confirm that it needs to reform its role and learn from its flaws in the future.