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< Back Manipulating File Paths: Backward to Foward Slashes A program made to convert backward slashes in file path names to foward slashes. Targeted for Windows users when copying paths to R or Pthon. Previous Next

< Back The Solow Model and Human Capital in Developing Economies How can human capital enrichment lead to long-run economic growth? Human Capital and Economic Growth How enriched are the minds of the people in a society? How healthy, creative, and efficient are they? How can they bring about disruptive innovation (Robinson & Acemoglu) to lead an economy into virtuous cycles of prosperity? This is all answered by the workforce’s level of human capital. With various definitions at play, human capital can be basically defined as the set of skills used to efficiently create value in an economy. Thus, indicators of human capital are level of education, technical training, experiences, habits, and level of health. In today’s economy, natural resources nor population sizes are the major determinants of growth – human capital is. The paper by Dr. Armah titled, “Addressing Quality Issues In African Higher Education: A Focus On Ghana’s Emerging, Private, Graduate, Business Higher Education Sector,” focuses on one of Ghana’s key determinants and indicators of Human Capital – Higher education. Through the research key issues pertaining to the flaws in Ghana’s Higher Education system are put to light as limitations of human capital enrichment, thus, prohibitors of economic growth. With proposed solutions pertaining to more STEM focused teachings within business, Armah, puts to light proposals that would adequately enrich Human Capital, thus, accelerate economic growth in Africa. Technology is the Rosetta stone of the economic growth literature . As such, emphasis on STEM education certainly is the best avenue for enriching human capital. Supported by the central argument in Easterly’s (2011) paper, technology is the largest determinant for vital long-run growth. Said technologies are only brough into existence by enriched workers with high levels of human capital. Sighting cases from the Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, China, and the Scandinavian countries, we come to see a positive relation with their prosperity and investments into their human capital. Specifically viewing Singapore, a nation with essentially no natural resources, and a small population, how is such a country able to attain such high sustainable growth? The answer lies in their human capital investments. With investments in their education, sanitation, and healthcare systems, Singapore is a testimony to the importance of human capital in creating sustainable long-run growth. Poverty and the Resource Curse i) According to the World Bank, poverty can be defined in simple absolute terms – those living on less than $1.9 per day. However, according to the UN, the concept of poverty entails much moe than income levels, it also refers to hunger, education availability, healthcare, discrimination and participation on decision making. UN broadly puts poverty into a deeper light by thoroughly seeing poverty as an extremity of poor living standards. Calculating poverty is quite tricky. But there are two key distinctions in measuring poverty: Absolute Poverty or Relative Poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard or poverty line which can be used to compare and assess various countries at different times. However, relative poverty calculations are defined on the basis of environmental context. The measure varies from country to country and from time to time. Hence, absolute can be used for strong comparative analysis however relative calculations of poverty are able to thoroughly contextualize and deliver an accurate understanding of a region’s poverty. ii) The major macroeconomic determinants of poverty: 1. Unemployment Rate of unemployment is a clear macroeconomic indicator and determinant of poverty. Without sufficient work available, multiple households would be axed from their major source of income. 2. Inflation With high inflation rate, particularly that of food inflation, households purchasing power for staple goods would reduce. This essentially leads to household’s inability to make ends meet due to rising prices and falling income purchasing power. 3. Level of income Lastly, the most obvious determinant is income. With low incomes, households are pushed closer to the poverty line. iii) According to Esther Duflo’s paper, the poor population tend to live in large households 6 -12 members. The poor population live below $2.16 per day. They earn most of their money via temporary jobs, low skilled (low specialization) work and working in small scale ventures. They tend to be unbanked, have no form of insurance, and the only major asset they own is their land. iv) Countries in Africa such as Liberia, Congo, Zimbabwe and Ghana are typically poor despite their abundance of resources is due to the marriage of these four main concepts; 1. Resource Curse Also known as the paradox of plenty, resource abundant countries typically put themselves in a trap. They focus on industries related to their natural resources as their main source of generating wealth. As such, they fail to diversify the economies adequately. Thus, price shocks or market preference shifts pertaining to their main commodity (say Gold or Cocoa in Ghana or Oil in Gabon), leads to huge economic difficulties in said countries. As such, through their abundance of a few resources and focusing on just those resources, they leave their economies vulnerable, leading to poor economic performance. 2. The Dutch Disease The Dutch Disease, very similar to the resource curse, resonates the same story of a lack of economic diversification in resource abundant countries. However, in the case of the Dutch disease, said countries reduce investments in other sectors due to the discovery of a natural resource. The decrease investments in those sectors leads to unemployment and also reduces the economic diversity of the nation. Other unseen negative effects such as fall in total exports and a higher local currency. 3. Weak Institutions Despite having high amounts of resources, said countries cannot manage the production effectively. Till date, Nigeria does not know the exact amount of oil it drills each day! Weak institutions are instrumental for growth, as Acemoglu and Robinson repeatedly say. With weak institutions, corruption also prevails as in the case of Gabon in the Elf-Affair. Corrupt officials get in bed with multinational executives, thus, steal money the nation needs to develop as a whole. Hence, revenues from said countries resources are not shared with the society – the largest share goes to political cronies. 4. Poor Governance Relating to the earlier point, poor governance leads to a lack of transparency and accountability. This enables corruption to thrive. Solow Model From Wolphram Alpha: https://demonstrations.wolfram.com/SimpleSolowModel/ The graph below, created on Wolfram Alpha, shows steady state k*. K* is at a steady state when I = D, or better said where investments is equal to depreciation. Simple Solow Growth Model: Steady State Simple Solow Growth Model: Higher than k* In the long run, the economy always adjusts itself, thus, would always move towards the steady state. As such K would eventually shift from k1 towards the left (towards the initial K*). Logically speaking, if the economy is to operate with a capital stock higher than its steady state say at K1, we would come to find that depreciation is much higher than investment. If such is to occur in an economy, we would observe that the rate of capital entering the economic machine (investment) is less than that leaving economy (depreciation of capital goods). Thus, in the long run, or simply put as time goes on, if the rate at which capital is reducing is higher than capital coming inside. Thus, the amount of capital stock would gradually reduce from K1 up until it reaches K*. Thus, K moves towards the steady state k*. Previous Next

< Back Sustainability Dimensions of Stocks on the SIX:Render 3 Quantitatively assessing Brundtland's Dimensions (1987). The case of the SIX View Plot here: https://www.akweidata.com/sixsustainabilitydimensions Previous Next

< Back Commentary: Brexit could lead to recession, says Bank of England An economic commentary on the article "Brexit could lead to recession, says Bank of England" Date the commentary was written: 24/ 05 /2016 Read the original article on the guardian: Brexit could lead to recession, says Bank of England by Katie Allen - 12/05/2016 The article under consideration is about multiple predicted implications that would occur if Britain decides to the leave the EU (Brexit) according to the Bank of England. The main macroeconomic aspects of this article which would be featured in this commentary are the claims of recession, inflation, unemployment and economic growth. The idea of Britain leaving the EU (European Union) has brought about the question of its economic justification. Economically, there is a lot of ambiguity, however this article claims that a Brexit would not be economically justified for Britain. The greatest argument made in this article is that of recession. Recession is the significant decline of economic activity in an economy lasting longer than two successive quarters. The recession in turn would be caused by a combination of inflation and unemployment. Inflation simply refers to the persistent increase in the average price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time (12 months). Unemployment refers to people of working age, able, willingly and actively looking for a job but do not have one. According to the Bank of England in this article, all of this would occur if Britain leaves the EU. Hence all of the macroeconomic objectives of England would not be met (including a current account surplus, as it would be more expensive for Britain to trade with EU counties and the US). Also, since there is an increase in unemployment and inflation, stagflation would also be occurring. Unemployment is said to increase. This is mainly due to an increase in the cost of production of firms. Without the EU, many sectors in the British economy would not have subsidies and would have to pay more taxes. The price of most raw materials would increase, transportation cost would also increase and trade between the EU and Britain would be highly disadvantageous to Britain as the EU would impose high tariffs. The labor market diagram below shows the effects. Figure 1 As illustrated on the diagram. Due to the higher cost of productions, firms in Britain would be forced to ‘let go’ their labor force. Hence there is a decrease in the aggregate demand for labor. This causes natural unemployment. The aggregate demand of labor shifts to the left, due to the decrease in demand for labor. British goods would become expensive and would lose international competitiveness. Hence, sales would be lower, the pound would lose its value and Britain would gradually have a large deficit on their balance of payments. GDP would decrease, hence economic activity also decreases and furthermore a decrease in economic growth. Inflation is also claimed to increase above the target rate of 2%. This inflation would most probably be a cost push inflation. This type of inflation refers to the increase in cost of production in many firms, hence the average price level of goods and services generally increases. The effect is illustrated on the diagram below; Figure 2 As shown on the diagram, an increase in cost of production causes the short run aggregate supply curve to shift to the left, further on increasing the inflation and decreasing the real GDP. This creates excesses demand and simply increases the value of inflation. So it may appear that the Brexit is a recipe for a recession. So is this fate inevitable? No, there is a simple solution for Britain to have a strong economy without these problems if they are to leave the EU. The British Government can start large scale infrastructure developments in Britain, in order to prevent the unemployment caused by the Brexit. The British government may also have to impose high tariffs on goods and services offered by the EU only, hence not only does this generate money for Britain but it also allows domestic firms to thrive which would increase employment, GDP, economic growth and would strengthen the pound. The psychological effect of Brexit may also aid in higher productivity of workers and higher consumption of locally made goods and services instead of imported commodities. The balance of payments would also improve to a more favorable figure (surplus or surplus leaning). The Bank of England can also increase key interest rates, to “increase” the value of the pound. Inflation can also be less severe if the Bank of England increases the interest rates and subsidizes important goods and services in the country. An increase in the interest rates would increase the general public’s marginal propensity to save, hence aggregate demand would decrease and relative to the very slow cost push inflation, the inflation would be barely “felt” by the economy. The British government must also loosen its controls in the banking industry as this would then allow Banks in EU to easily invest or even relocate to Britain because of lower constrains from a governing body. Previous Next

< Back Fixed Deposits Offers in Ghana A simple directory that shows Fixed Deposit offers in Ghana Github: https://github.com/seanxjohn/fixed_deposit_options_gh Future Works: Comparing and Assessing the Competitiveness of rates Assessing the Credit worthiness of firms Developing a dynamic risk-adjusted matrix of the offers Developing a Fixed Deposit calculator targeted to non- financially literate clients Develop a dynamic "Composite Fixed Deposit Instrument" based on current averages and interpolations Develop a dynamic yield curve (depicting expectations theory) based on the evolution of fixed deposit rates Previous Next

< Back Hollywood Boulevard to Wall Street: Futurism in Movies and Tech-Stock Prices This study investigates the relationship between the box office sales of futurism-themed movies and the performance of the tech stock index. This study investigates the relationship between the box office sales of futurism-themed movies and the performance of the tech stock index. Utilizing regression analysis across three models, the research reveals significant insights: Tech Movies and Tech Stock Index: A strong positive correlation was found between the box office sales of tech movies and the tech stock index, with an Adjusted R-squared value of 0.8263, indicating a substantial predictive power of tech movie sales on tech stock prices. Top 10 Box Office and Tech Stock Index: A broader analysis including the top 10 box office sales showed a positive but less pronounced impact on the tech stock index, suggesting that the influence of tech movies is more specific and potent. Tech Movies and General Market Index: Tech movie sales also positively correlate with the general market index, though the relationship is weaker compared to the tech-specific index. In essence, the findings suggest that futurism movies, particularly those in the tech genre, have a noticeable impact on tech stock prices, offering valuable insights into the interplay between behavioral bias, entertainment and financial markets econometrics_project .pdf Download PDF • 542KB Previous Next

< Back Expected Loss Calculator A simple tool to calculate the Expected Loss for a credit portfolio. Previous Next

< Back ESG Strategies: Passive and Active Management Do the laws of passive and active strategies also affect sustainability investing? I recently concluded a sustainability data visualization project. The draft of the visualization is below Viewing the plot, I sought to understand the sustainability of stocks on the SIX. Parameters were used to identify sustainability in terms of ESG scores (70 and above) and Economic score (having an expected return above the market return). I developed four sustainable funds based on the ESG findings and market returns. Additionally I used ETHOS fund data found on Swiss Fund Data to develop the sustainable funds. The funds developed were: Negative Screening Best in Class Approach Thematic Approach ESG integration Against the staus quo, ESG integration was the only fund that was not "sustainable." Typcially ESG itegration is hailed as one of the most effective and practical strategies for promoting sustainability. Why is this the case? Unlike the first three strategies which are very basic to implement, when it came to the ESG integration fund, I randomly picked the ETHOS fund and duplicated the stock selectio - an in this case per the basic quantitaive metric developed, said fund was not . However, when I picked another ESG integrated fund its performace was sustainable. It appears that ESG integration has greater levels of subjectivity and the funds constructed across traders are likely to differ much greately than the previous 3 strategies. Thus, one can argue the element of the manager's skill in the active management of an ESG integrated fund plays a greater role in the fund's performance as compared to the other 3 strategies. Could this be the case of "passive" and active management of portfolios? Future works: Compare performace of ESG integrated funds Calculate the average return of ESG integrated funds vs "passive" strategies (Negative screening, Best In Class Approach ~ basic strategies) Do the variations of ESG integration strategies and basic sustainability stratigies vary across market types (Geographic and effeciency wise)? Previous Next

< Back Smartphone App for University Students An all-purpose app for Ashesi students. Project from 2017 Life at Ashesi University, like any university, can be overwhelming and disorganized. To streamline this experience, I suggest the development of a versatile mobile app that centralizes various essential services, thereby aiding in effective time management for students. The university offers a range of services including student support, counseling, and tutoring. However, accessing these services often proves to be a cumbersome and time-consuming process. In addition to these, many students are unaware of the contact details for on-campus emergency services and national emergency numbers in Ghana. In critical situations, this lack of information could lead to wastage of precious time. To tackle these issues, the proposed app would be a comprehensive solution. It would feature functionalities like accurate weather forecasts by integrating with the Accuweather website for Berekuso forecasts, a meal plan balance checker linked with the Ashesi meal plan webpage, and a digital menu for campus eateries like Akornor and Big Ben. Additionally, the app would include a directory of contact details for Ashesi’s various services and emergency services, with the added convenience of calling these contacts directly from the app. This integration would ensure that all necessary information and services are readily accessible to students, thereby enhancing their university experience and safety. Pseudocode 1. When the app is started the homepage is displayed. 2. The homepage displays titles “Meal Plan,” “Weather,” “Ashesi Services,” “Food” and “Emergency Services.” 3. If “Meal Plan” is selected, the webpage of the Ashesi Meal plan is displayed. 4. If “Weather” is selected, the webpage for accuweather (set for Berekuso) is displayed. 5. If “Food” is selected restaurants in Ashesi are displayed. 6. Select any restaurant and their menu shall be displayed. 7. If “Ashesi Services” is selected a list of Ashesi Services are displayed. 8. Select any service and their contact details is displayed for calling . 9. If “Emergency Services” is selected a list of Emergency Services are displayed. 10. Select any emergency service and their contact details is displayed for calling . Figure 1: Flowchart * Due to the senstivity of some information within the app, kindly request for access. Upon access being granted, the links below shall be temporarily activated. Download APK via Github: https://github.com/akweix/Ash-App Download Android App via Thunkabale: https://x.thunkable.com/copy/b63301e1a6082169dd0d9aa036ac119d Previous Next

< Back Electricity Consumption as a proxy of production: Draft 1 Using publicly available data on Swiss Power Consumption, this exploration seeks to identify an association with power consumption and select firms output https://www.swissgrid.ch/en/home/operation/grid-data/current-data.html#wide-area-monitoring https://www.ewz.ch/en/about-ewz/newsroom/current-issues/electricity-shortage/city-zurich-energy-consumption.html https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/dataset/ewz_stromabgabe_netzebenen_stadt_zuerich https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/group/energie Work in Progress Previous Next

< Back Photography Tool: Black & White Conversion A basic photo editor to convert PNG pictures from color to Black and White Previous Next

< Back Data Visualization of the Dynamic Efficiency of Oil and Gas Production in Ghana A comprehensive tool for understanding the Real-time Efficiency of Oil and Gas production in Ghana https://akweix.shinyapps.io/trial_app/ Welcome to my R Shiny web app, the "Data Visualization of the Dynamic Efficiency of Oil and Gas Production in Ghana.” This web app leverages a myriad of data science techniques, including interactive visualizations, machine learning, sentiment analysis, natural language processing, data analytic tools and web scraping, to provide real-time, comprehensive analysis of Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The goal is to enhance information efficiency, market efficiency, and resource management efficiency, making it a valuable tool for practitioners, academics, and policymakers alike. The application is primarily centred on Ghana, especially regarding the visualizations. However, the data analytic tools developed can be applied to all markets and regions. Additionally, despite the application presenting key insights and tools that are applicable to both the Oil and Gas industry, greater emphasis was placed on Oil production due to its overall greater share of Ghana’s energy market and its more dynamic nature. anum_sean_data_science_final_report .pdf Download PDF • 2.66MB Previous Next