Farwa Shakeel
Ithaca College Summer Scholar 2018
"We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience." ~ John Dewey
Summer Scholars 2018
The Ithaca College Model UN Team in Montreal for the 2018 McGill Model United Nations Conference.
SCHOLAR BACKGROUND
SCHOLAR BACKGROUND
PASSION FOR ECONOMICS
After taking a Principles of Microeconomics class in my freshman year, I immediately became interested in the intersection of economics, politics, and society. After serving as a delegate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Committee at the McGill Model United Nations Conference 2018, I was able to unpack this passion in the context of developing economies. I became interested in the sociopolitical requirements for development. As a near-fluent Spanish speaker, I was also interested in Latin and South American politics, particularly socialist economies in those regions. Prior to applying for Summer Scholars, I wrote a research paper on Cuba for a Principles of Macroeconomics class, and decided to combine my interest in Cuba and developmental economics for my Summer Scholars Proposal. I hope to use my research to produce a policy paper to be published in an undergraduate research journal.
CUBA AND ITS GROWING NONSTATE SECTOR
Here's my original proposal, in a nutshell:
"The overall scope of this project is to predict economic growth in Cuba based on a mixed-economy model." My original plan was to create a holistic policy paper of recommendations for Cuba moving forward. But after conducting a thorough review of developmental economics, socialist planning, mixed economies, and Cuban economy history, I decided to look more closely at the future of the non-state sector in the country. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, Cuba suffered severe economic damage, losing much of its export market and imported goods like gasoline and even food. At first, Fidel Castro took hesitant steps towards the market, but Raul Castro, and his successor Miguel Diaz-Canel, took much bolder steps. Some worry that market reforms will destroy the Cuban socialist model; others are concerned that without reforms, the socialist model will collapse under its own weight. My policy proposal will recommend measures that will implement reforms to bolster socialist principles while lifting Cubans into a higher standard of living.
The aim of this project will be to diagnose how Diaz-Canel, now President of Cuba, should move forward in developing a more dynamic Cuban economy, particularly in the non state sector. My mentor is Shaianne Osterreich of the Economics department.
SUMMER RESEARCH
PROJECT OUTCOMES
To See What I Do Outside of My Research, Check Out My LinkedIn!
My office on the fourth floor of Muller Faculty Center at Ithaca College.
Books Shown:
The Cuban Economy: Archibald Ritter
Voices of Change in Cuba from the Nonstate Sector: Carmelo Mesa-Lago