Resume

• 2007

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

  Economics

  University of Oklahoma

  Master of Arts (M.A.)

  Economics

  University of Oklahoma

• 2003

  American Economic Association

  English

  Spanish

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

  Economics

  University of Oklahoma

• Econometrics

  Higher Education

  Microsoft Excel

  Public Speaking

  Data Analysis

  College Teaching

  Spanish

  Teaching

  Microsoft Office

  PowerPoint

  Statistics

  Research

  Social Media

  Stata

  University Teaching

  Women as policy makers and donors: Female legislators and foreign aid

  Joan Hamory Hicks

  This paper investigates whether the gender composition of national legislatures in donor countries\nimpacts the level

  composition

  and pattern of foreign aid. We provide evidence that the\nelection of female legislators leads countries to increase aid both in total and as a percentage\nof GDP. Consistent with existing research examining domestic expenditures

  we find that the\nempowerment of women in national legislatures is associated with a reallocation of aid\nflows in favor of education and health-related projects. These increased flows occur predominately\nthrough bilateral aid and reflect a redistribution of aid toward developing countries.

  Women as policy makers and donors: Female legislators and foreign aid

  Robin Grier

  In a panel of 18 Latin American countries from 1900 to 2007

  we test the degree to which institutions and geography affect country income. Using a new instrument

  we find strong evidence that both institutions and geography are important determinants of country income. However

  the penalty for economically unfavourable geography is much smaller than the potential benefits from good institutions. The coefficient estimates do not vary significantly when there are changes in the number of countries included in the analysis; the results for institutions are robust to the inclusion of country-fixed effects.

  Electoral Experience

  Institutional Quality

  and Economic Development in Latin America

  Research has shown that government spending can affect GDP growth rates

  yet there is no comprehensive study that looks at how a country's choice of political institutions affects government spending. This article focuses on how the choice of regime type (presidential

  parliamentary

  or mixed)

  legislative chamber structure (bicameral or unicameral)

  legislative chamber size

  and electoral rules affect the level of government spending. The methodology used is pooled ordinary least squares for an unbalanced panel of 92 democracies between 1975 and 2007.The results show that the relationship between legislative chamber size and government spending is linear in unicameral countries but nonlinear in bicameral countries

  plurality electoral rule is always associated with less spending than any other type of electoral rule

  and unicameral and bicameral countries should not be modeled together. While countries that have long-standing political institutions are less likely to change the characteristics of those political institutions in order to change the level of government spending

  the results of this article suggest that countries that are establishing new political institutions (e.g.

  South Sudan and Libya) stand to benefit from knowing what types of institutions are conducive for growth.

  Legislatures

  Leaders

  and Leviathans: How Constitutional Institutions Affect the Size of Government Spending

  Joan Hamory Hicks

  This article analyses bilateral foreign aid flows over the period 1973 to 2010 to investigate whether the gender composition of legislatures in donor nations affects the aid response to recipient country crises. Our findings suggest that donors with higher shares of women in office provide larger amounts of foreign aid in the wake of a disaster or war in a recipient nation. This response increases in size with the magnitude of the crisis and is especially pronounced for aid flows designated as disaster relief.

  Are Female Politicians More Responsive to International Crises?

  Beatriz

  Maldonado Bird

  College of Charleston

  University of Oklahoma

  University of Oklahoma

  Charleston

  South Carolina

  Associate Professor

  College of Charleston

  University of Oklahoma

  Assistant Professor

  College of Charleston

  Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

  University of Oklahoma