The education of women and religiosity: Measuring their institutional impact on economic *growth

The focus of this dissertation is on the role institutions' play in the advancement of economic growth. Due to the ever-present and ever-widening gap between developed and less-developed nations the economics discipline supports fresh research tactics that confront underdevelopment issues. While contemporary development economics partially explains discrepancies in growth rates by using the conventional factors of physical and human capital, technology and investment, resulting are many competing paradigms rather than a universally accepted theory to explain growth. In order to solve the "paradox of growth" both economic and institutional factors must be incorporated into the analyses. This dissertation will extend the current analysis of economic growth to include two key institutional factors of female education and religion. This study will build upon the current state of institutional research and design by analyzing both Douglass North's Theory of Institutional Change and the Resource Endowment Hypothesis. This study will use an endogenous growth model containing a cross section of 36 under-developed countries with observed economic and institutional variables between the years of 1975 to 1995, to identify that a direct and significant relationship exists between growth patterns and institutions.;The dissertation will contain five chapters. Chapter One: An Introduction to the study of institutions will provide the foundation material for the remainder of the study. Chapter Two: Institutions and Economic Growth will assess the treatment of institutions in general, contained in neoclassical growth theory and provide a thorough literature review discussing the magnitude of various institutional factors. Chapter Two will also provide information on the current state of institutional research. Chapter Three: The Levels of and Interplay Between Female Education and Religious Adherence in Economic Growth will examine the two key institutional factors of primary interest in this study and identify their role in the growth process. Chapter Four: The Education of Women and Religiosity: An Empirical Study to Their Contribution to Economic Growth will provide the econometric framework used to examine the impact of these institutions upon economic growth in this cross-section of less-developed countries. Chapter Five: Concluding Remarks will discuss policy recommendations and future research possibilities as well as comment on the direction of institutional analysis and design.