Mouhcine Guettabi, Ph.D.
Resources and Rural Development (2 papers)
Two of my current papers are focused on an issue that has interested me for a long time and is arguably one of the most important challenges for resource rich communities. This issue is leakage which refers to value generated in one area but ends up being captured by other communities/states. In resource rich areas with high leakage, benefits are less likely to accrue to residents. In order to better understand the extent to which this is an issue in rural Alaska, I focus on two case studies.
The first paper uses place of work and place of residence data to examine if increases in oil prices benefit local workers in the North Slope Borough or if all the value goes migrants. In it, we find that during periods of high oil prices a significant portion of the job increases accrued to nonresidents.
The second paper examines the causal long term effect of the Red Dog Mine on the Northwest Arctic Borough which is an isolated rural community. The goal of the exercise is to unveil how the borough's path changed as a result of the development. I find that efforts to internalize revenues through partnerships has benefited the borough significantly along almost all dimensions.
Technology and Physical Activity (3 papers)
I have conducted a large scale field experiment in the Anchorage School district to determine if wearable technology- a device called SQORD- can help children achieve their physical activity goals.
The first paper examines the effect of feedback type on the physical activity of elementary school children. One type of feedback allowed students access to a website to check their points and compare their activity levels to that of friends while the other type limited the information to leader-board print outs that they received once every two weeks. I provide evidence that the type of feedback affects physical activity in elementary school children in Alaska.
The second paper evaluates the extent to which rewards help students achieve preset activity goals. I find that incentives resulted in a higher share of students achieving their goals. This effect,however, was not consistent across schools.
The last paper from the SQORD study uses this objective measure to determine patterns of activity. I find that activity levels are at their highest during recess from 11am to 12pm. On average, students are not engaging in enough after school activities as the points are lower in the evenings. I also find differences between genders which seem to occur during the school day between 11am and 3 pm. Additionally, I find significant differences in activity levels between weekdays and weekends, with students earning around 10,000 points more during a weekday than a weekend. These three papers are all potentially immensely important as they provide policy makers, teachers, and the state information they can use to improve children's health.