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In developing countries that are attempting to build up their economies, the prevailing wisdom is to rapidly grow production with little regard for the environmental toll, putting off raising environmental standards until the economy has grown to a level that will support environmentally-friendly, but expensive, policies.
Through her honors thesis research, Thuy Lan Nguyen ’07 (Hanoi, Vietnam) is demonstrating that this may not be the best strategy for a country to employ when it is trying to grow its economy.
Nguyen, a double major in economics and business and mathematics, is investigating the impact of the environment on economic growth. She plans to explain to what extent the environment factors into a nation’s economic growth, and offer some suggestions that developing countries could use to achieve sustainable growth.
A nation’s productivity can be affected by a variety of environmental factors, such as climate and availability of natural resources. In turn, economic growth can affect the environment by using available resources and contaminating water, air and soil.
“When countries grow, they tend to generate more products and more pollution as well,” says Nguyen’s thesis adviser, James DeVault, associate professor of economics and business. Pollution can affect workers’ health, which in turn can affect productivity. Therefore, it may be more advantageous in the long run for a country to implement sound environmental policies early on.
“My interest is to explore the developing economic world – why the poor countries are poor and what we can do to help them,” Nguyen says.
“She is trying to sort out these different factors involving environment and economic growth and how they affect each other,” DeVault says. “My job is to help her determine how she’s going to test these ideas about these relationships.”
“I hope it will be a valuable experience in which I learn how to do research well on my own, find the problems and solve them,” Nguyen says.
Although her honors thesis relies heavily on her knowledge of economics, Nguyen’s mathematics major is proving to be helpful when it comes to comprehending the sophisticated mathematical models that she is using during this research project.
Nguyen plans to study economics at the graduate level. “This thesis is something that graduate schools will look favorably upon,” DeVault says.
Nguyen says that Lafayette has been an excellent environment for undergraduate research. She has been involved with EXCEL projects studying corporate mergers with Donald Chambers, Walter E. Hanson/KPMG Professor of Business and Finance; why computer products are pulled from the market with Chris Ruebeck, assistant professor of economics and business; and student attitudes toward learning approaches with Sheila Handy, assistant professor of economics and business.
“All [Lafayette] professors encourage us to study beyond classes, to take part in research,” she says. “We have a lot of resources, from the professor to the library; I can ask for help anywhere I need.”
Nguyen is president of the economics club, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Epsilon, Pi Mu Epsilon, ISA, ACA and the Japanese club.