Elizabeth Asiedu

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Elizabeth Asiedu
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Elizabeth Asiedu
Alma mater University of Ghana, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC)
Scientific career
FieldsEconomics
Institutions University of Kansas
Website http://people.ku.edu/~asiedu/

Elizabeth Asiedu is a professor of economics at the University of Kansas. [1] She has facilitated research that is centered around foreign aid, foreign directed investment (FDI), and gender. She is a founder of the Association for the Advancement of African Women (AAAWE), [2] as well as the current president of the organization. Asiedu is an editor of the Journal of African Development.

Contents

Education

Asiedu received her first degree, a B.S. (Hons) in computer science and mathematics from the University of Ghana in 1988. She then went on to receive an M.S. in mathematics (1992), an M.S. in economics (1994), and a PhD in economics (1998) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [3]

Career

Since 2012, Asiedu has been a professor of economics at the University of Kansas, where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate economics. Asiedu was also the associate chair and the director of graduate studies of the economics department at the University of Kansas from 2007 to 2009. She sits on the board of the African Finance Economic Association (AFEA), [4] was president of the organization between 2011 and 2013, and was the vice president between 2007 and 2010. [4] Additionally, she was an editor of the Journal of African Development (JAD) between 2017 and 2018. [4] Dr Asiedu is also a founder and president of the Association for the Advancement of African Women (AAAWE). [4] She sat on the board of the National Economic Association between 2016 and 2019. [5] Asiedu is a member of the following;

Research and selected publications

Access to Credit by Small Businesses: How Relevant Are Race, Ethnicity, and Gender? (2012)

In this article, Asiedu, James A. Freeman, and Akwasi Nti-Addae explore the role of race, ethnicity, and gender on credit access. Their study categorizes race and ethnicity into the following: Black, Hispanic, Asian/Native American/Pacific Islander (ANP), White female, and White male. [6] They find that firms owned by visible minorities have a higher denial rate with the highest denial rate for Hispanics. Additionally, the denial rate for has increased between 1998 and 2003. [6] Finally, they find that minority-owned firms also paid higher interests than the White-male owned firms. In terms of gender, they find that firms owned by White women did not experience discrimination when accessing credit, and they also paid less interest rates own loans than their male counterparts. [6] Their study showcases that factors such as race, ethnicity and gender do in fact affect access to credit and interest paid on loans. [6]

Does Foreign Aid In Education Promote Economic Growth? (2014)

The paper "Does Foreign Aid in Education Promote Economic Growth? Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa" explores whether the foreign aid that is aimed towards education is effective in primary education and secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa. Asiedu's study focuses on 38 countries from 1990 to 2004. [7] She argues that although educational financial aid is positively related to growth (because it provides resources such as books, training for teachers, etc.) this is only the case for primary education. [8] Educational financial aid in secondary education, on the other hand, does not contribute to economic growth, in fact it may have an adverse effect on growth. This is because of the lack of employment for secondary school graduates (which she suggests is true to many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa), [9] she suggests that another reason why this might be true is the lack of quality secondary education (such that increased time spent in school has no benefits). [7] Furthermore, she argues that this might be true because many secondary school graduates are employed in jobs that are low in productivity, thus reducing the potential for economic growth. [10] Finally, she argues that there is a lack of physical capital and other “complementary inputs” in Sub-Saharan Africa that would otherwise encourage productive labour in the region. [7]

The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Foreign Direct Investment (2015)

In the paper "The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Asiedu alongside Jin and Kanyama illuminate the relationship between HIV/AIDS and foreign direct investment (FDI). They examine this in 41 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and their model concludes that FDI is inversely related to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection for a number of reasons; one of which is that workers that are healthy are more productive, multinational companies (MNCs) that seek to establish themselves in Sub-Saharan Africa would consider the health of the population. [11] [12] Health of the labour force is important because it effects absenteeism and thus overall productivity. [13] Secondly, their model suggests that the negative externalities associated with HIV/AIDS (high morbidity and mortality rates which may affect coworkers that are not infected too). They find that reducing the infection rate will encourage FDI, and thus encourage economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. [11]

Remittances and Investment in Education (2015)

The paper "Remittances and Investment in Education: Evidence from Ghana" analyses remittances (both international and domestic) in Ghana, and how they affect the likelihood of enrolment in both primary and secondary education. Asiedu and Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong argue that the increase in remittances to less developed countries (LDCs) such as Ghana not only have a positive effect on the GDP (making up about 5.5% of Ghana's GDP in 2011 [14] ), but this in turn allows for households in Ghana to invest in human capital as it eases financial constraints. Additionally, this paper argues that this effect is more observable when the household is headed by a female, and that the increase in investment in human capital allows for long term poverty alleviation in Ghana. The paper uses cross-sectional  data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) from waves 5, [15] as well as pseudo-panel data from GLSS waves 3-5 [16] [17] [15] thus has a wide research base. Asiedu and Gyimah-Brempong use this data to analyze the data with the resource constraint model.

Foreign Direct Investment, Natural Resources, and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (2015)

In the paper "Foreign Direct Investment, Natural Resources, and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," Asiedu, Komla Dzigbede and Akwasi Nti-Addae explore the rise of oil production and in Sub-Saharan Africa and its effect on foreign direct investment FDI, they authors also question the impact of FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa. [18] They suggest that although FDI may be a vital factor in aiding economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, this economic growth is mostly accrued by the employment created by multinational corporations (MNCs) as these companies usually pay their employees higher wages than domestic companies. [19] [20] The authors use Tullow Oil, plc as an example to show the region's growing share of world oil production as well as to explore the role of MNCs FDI in terms of development and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. [18] Furthermore, they emphasize that the propensity to encourage economic growth or development is highly dependent on the type of FDI - FDI in manufacturing creates more employment than FDI in extractive industries like oil. [20] Additionally, the authors argue that the success of FDI is also dependent on other factors such as the education level in a given country, making it the much more difficult to truly benefit from FDI in just about any industry. [18]

Awards

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human capital flight</span> Emigration of highly skilled or well-educated individuals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign direct investment</span> Purchase of an asset

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Abena Frempongmaa Daagye Oduro is the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Ghana where she also holds the position of Associate Professor of the Department of Economics. Having had 30 years of experience teaching, her areas of specialization are centred around gender and asset management, international economics, poverty analysis, macroeconomic theory and trade policy. Abena Oduro is the first Vice President of the Association for the Advancement of African Women Economists (AAAWE) where Professor of Economics in University of Kansas, Elizabeth Asiedu, is the founder and president. She is also the president elect of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), her tenure will be 2021 to 2022.

Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong is Ghanaian American economist who is a professor of economics and economics department chair at the University of South Florida, and a former president of the National Economic Association. He serves on the editorial boards of Southern Economic Journal and the Journal of African Development.

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References

  1. "Professor Asiedu". Archived from the original on 2015-08-25. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  2. Asiedu, Elizabeth. "About AAAWE". aaawe.org. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  3. "UNU-MERIT » African women in the Economics profession" . Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Elizabeth Asiedu - Professor of Economics, The University of Kansas". people.ku.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Elizabeth Asiedu - Professor of Economics, The University of Kansas". people.ku.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-08-25. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Asiedu, Elizabeth; Freeman, James A; Nti-Addae, Akwasi (2012). "Access to Credit by Small Businesses: How Relevant Are Race, Ethnicity, and Gender?". American Economic Review. 102 (3): 532–537. doi:10.1257/aer.102.3.532. ISSN   0002-8282. S2CID   16758139.
  7. 1 2 3 Asiedu, Elizabeth (Spring 2014). "Does Foreign Aid In Education Promote Economic Growth? Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa". Journal of African Development. 16 (1): 37–59. doi:10.5325/jafrideve.16.1.0037. S2CID   18994639.
  8. Ainsworth, M.; Beegle, K.; Nyamete, A. (1996-01-01). "The Impact of Women's Schooling on Fertility and Contraceptive Use: A Study of Fourteen Sub-Saharan African Countries". The World Bank Economic Review. 10 (1): 85–122. doi:10.1093/wber/10.1.85. ISSN   0258-6770. S2CID   58938706.
  9. Al-Samarrai, Samer; Bennell, Paul (2007). "Where has all the education gone in sub-Saharan Africa? employment and other outcomes among secondary school and university leavers" (PDF). The Journal of Development Studies. 43 (7): 1270–1300. doi:10.1080/00220380701526592. ISSN   0022-0388. S2CID   59117717.
  10. Stein, Howard (1994). "Theories of institutions and economic reform in Africa". World Development. 22 (12): 1833–1849. doi:10.1016/0305-750x(94)90177-5. ISSN   0305-750X. S2CID   154984865.
  11. 1 2 Asiedu, Elizabeth; Jin, Yi; Kanyama, Isaac, K. (2015). "The impact of HIV/AIDS on foreign direct investment: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Afric". Journal of African Trade. 2 (1–2): 1–17. doi: 10.1016/j.joat.2015.01.001 . hdl: 10419/194331 .{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Asiedu, Elizabeth (2002). "On the Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment to Developing Countries: Is Africa Different?". World Development. 30 (1): 107–119. doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(01)00100-0. ISSN   0305-750X.
  13. Grossman, Michael (1972). "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health". Journal of Political Economy. 80 (2): 223–255. doi:10.1086/259880. ISSN   0022-3808. S2CID   27026628.
  14. Gyimah-Brempong, Kwabena; Asiedu, Elizabeth (2015-02-17). "Remittances and investment in education: Evidence from Ghana". The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development. 24 (2): 173–200. doi:10.1080/09638199.2014.881907. ISSN   0963-8199. S2CID   153895522.
  15. 1 2 "Ghana - Ghana Living Standard Survey 5: 2005, With Non-Farm Household Enterprise Module". www2.statsghana.gov.gh. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  16. "Ghana - Ghana Living Standards Survey 3 -1991, Third round". www2.statsghana.gov.gh. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  17. "Ghana - Ghana Living Standard Survey 4 - 1998, With labour force model". www2.statsghana.gov.gh. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  18. 1 2 3 Asiedu, Elizabeth; Dzigbede, Komla; Nti-Addae, Akwasi (2015). Zedillo, Ernesto (ed.). Africa at a Fork in the Road: Taking Off or Disappointment Once Again?. New Haven, USA: Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. pp. 395–414. ISBN   978-0-9779922-1-8.
  19. Axarloglou, Kostas; Pournarakis, Mike (2007). "Do All Foreign Direct Investment Inflows Benefit the Local Economy?". The World Economy. 30 (3): 424–445. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9701.2006.00824.x. ISSN   0378-5920. S2CID   154400430.
  20. 1 2 Asiedu, Elizabeth (2004-06-15). "The Determinants of Employment of Affiliates of US Multinational Enterprises in Africa". Development Policy Review. 22 (4): 371–379. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7679.2004.00255.x. ISSN   0950-6764. S2CID   1987298.