Dissertations on International Development

One key aspect of the Pardee Initiative is its support of student dissertations: many alumni and students have received Pardee dissertation awards. Their papers, as well as other recent dissertations on international development issues, are featured here.

Related Dissertations

  • Indian women carrying water on their heads, photo by Curt Carnemark/World Bank

    Indian Summer: Three Essays on Heatwave Vulnerability, Estimation and Adaptation

    Climate change linked to increasing temperatures poses a grave threat to developing countries like India. Gulrez Shah Azhar (cohort '14) explored how future heatwaves may vary over time and geography and used Pardee Initiative support to estimate the impact they might have on mortality.

    Dec 24, 2019

  • A mother and son in Nigeria

    Three Essays on Health Financing in Sub-Saharan Africa

    In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), out-of-pocket health spending constitutes a significant proportion of household expenditures, thereby exposing households to a high risk of impoverishment and potential worsening of already poor health outcomes. With Pardee Initiative support, Adeyemi Okunogbe (cohort '13) explored health financing in SSA using quantitative and comparative case study methods.

    Apr 15, 2019

  • A doctor draws blood from a man to check for HIV/AIDS at a mobile testing unit in Ndeeba, Uganda, May 16, 2014

    Improving Health Decisions and Outcomes for Chronic Diseases

    Crystal Huang (cohort '13) assessed the impact of policies designed to address the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases in the context of HIV and obesity, using a range of causal inference and quantitative methods. The Pardee Initiative supported her research in Uganda.

    Oct 12, 2018

  • Niger's incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou speaks to journalists after voting during the country's presidential and legislative elections in Niamey, Niger, February 21, 2016

    Preventing Deviations from Presidential Term Limits in Low- and Middle-Income Democracies

    Bill Gelfeld (cohort '14) examined the broader theme of deviations from presidential term limits in his Pardee Initiative-supported dissertation. His three essays identify the economic and political effects of term-limit deviations, look specifically at cases in Colombia and Venezuela, and explore other relevant historical case studies to determine which institutions are most helpful in preventing deviations.

    Oct 12, 2018

  • mother and child by hut

    Long-Term Effects of Wartime Sexual Violence on Women and Families: The Case of Northern Uganda

    With support from the Pardee Initiative, Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik (cohort '13) studied the enduring effects of wartime sexual violence on Ugandan women and explore its ripple effects on families.

    Sep 24, 2018

  • Women at the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI): 2015 West Africa Regional Conference

    Labor Market Outcomes of Youth and Women in Newly Industrialized and Developing Countries

    Sung-Bou Kim empirically examined the effects of exogenous shocks and labor market policies on employment, wages, and human capital development of youth and women. The first two essays focus on Korea, a newly industrialized country that depends heavily on trade, while the third essay, supported by the Pardee Initiative, examines two sub-Saharan African countries, Liberia and Malawi.

    Dec 15, 2017

  • Batik seller in traditional market, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    Three Essays on Growth Econometrics

    The Pardee Initiative helped to support Abdul Tariq (cohort '10) as he set about determining which cross-country estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) are most accurate. His dissertation compared World Development Indicators, Penn World Tables, and a new dataset from the University of Queensland.

    Mar 16, 2017

  • Migrant workers in West Bay Doha, photo by Alexey Sergeev, Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

    The Global Epidemic of Occupational Injuries

    Ujwal Kharel (cohort '11) estimated of the number and rate of workplace fatalities for 215 countries from 1989-2013 using data from the International Labor Organization, and with support of the Pardee Initiative.

    Jul 19, 2016

  • Blanche and Pulchérie are midwives at a hospital in Benin, photo by Stephan Gladieu, World Bank Flickr Photo Collection/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    The Determinants of Job Satisfaction among Nurses, Midwives, and Auxiliary Nurses in Health Clinics

    Using secondary data from a performance-based financing project in health facilities, and with support from the Pardee Initiative, Nono Ayivi-Guedehoussou (cohort '09) examined the concept of work satisfaction among health workers in Bénin.

    Jul 14, 2016

  • Shira Efron presenting at a Pardee Initiative lunch on May 21, 2015

    Could Drones Help Control Agricultural Pests and Promote Food Security?

    With support from the Pardee Initiative, Shira Efron's dissertation explored whether unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, can help improve food security in Africa by controlling pests such as the tsetse fly and red-billed quelea.

    Nov 11, 2015

  • An Afghan National Interpreter and U.S. Army soldier talk with an Afghan boy during a patrol at a bazaar in the Zabul province of Afghanistan June 29, 2010

    Network Effects on Rural Education in Afghanistan

    While studying interactions among rural Afghan schoolchildren, Matt Hoover used Pardee Initiative support to explore how a development organization or program manager can utilize social networks to take advantage of inherent tendencies that will allow a program to thrive.

    Nov 11, 2014

  • Migrants climb off a train during their journey toward the U.S.-Mexican border

    Migration in the Americas

    Sarah Kups explored local economic and security factors and internal and international migration in Mexico's urban areas as well as self-employment and business ownership among Mexican return migrants, with Pardee Initiative support.

    Aug 12, 2014

  • African brother and sister

    Child Labor and Education in Developing Countries

    Seo Yeon Hong's dissertation explored factors related to the decision between educational investment and child labor; the Pardee Initiative supported his research into why children work and effective policies to reduce child labor.

    Oct 17, 2013

  • Labourers work at a railway station construction site in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa

    Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa

    With support from the Pardee Initiative, Todi Mengistu's dissertation explores the ramifications and the policy implications of infrastructure investments in Sub-Saharan Africa by "non-traditional" sources: the private sector and emerging countries, especially China.

    Sep 9, 2013

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    Reducing AIDS and Food Insecurity in Developing Countries

    With Pardee Initiative support, Kartika Palar explored how linking food assistance, livelihood interventions, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) may improve the economic and nutritional well-being of people living with HIV in developing countries.

    Oct 9, 2012

Dissertations in Progress

Pardee RAND students currently working on international development–focused dissertations, most of which are supported by the Pardee Initiative for Global Human Progress, include:

  • Gaby Armenta (cohort '15): Gender Inequality and the Social Determinants of Health. Three essays from Latin America. Dissertation chair: Emma Aguila; committee: Katie Derose.
  • Diogo Prosdocimi (cohort '16): Transportation and Quality of Life: The Effects of Physical Accessibility on Health, Education, Housing and Crime. Dissertation chair: Martin Wachs; committee: Rob Lempert.
  • Uzaib Saya (cohort '16): Essays on Health Investments in Sub-Saharan Africa Dissertation chair: Sebastian Linnemayr; committee: Italo Lopez Garcia, Zach Wagner.
  • Mahlet Tebeka (cohort '17): Assessing Sustainability of Programs Implemented in Low Resource Settings. Dissertation chair: Glenn Wagner; committee: Ryan McBain.
  • Katie Wilson (cohort '11): Shaping Women’s Choices: Three Essays on Gender-Neutral Policies with Gender-Differentiated Effects. Dissertation chair: Shanthi Nataraj; committee: Evan Peet, Rachel Heath.