Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Yu, Sherry
Area of Concentration
Economics
Abstract
For the past 33 years, Honduras has been persistently one of the poorest Latin American countries, classified as a lower-middle income country with high crime rates and political corruption. Honduras, like other Latin American countries, is known for being rich in natural resources, but despite over 60 years of foreign aid has yet to develop itself domestically and internationally, as Western standard deems it. Previous research on Honduras’ poverty and economic development are typically centered around a specific region and the rural sector, but there is a gap in the literature that analyzes the economic disparity of the country as a whole. To assess country-wide poverty, the Solow growth model theory, particularly its growth accounting framework and its Sources of Growth table were the best fit to analyze Honduras. The Solow growth model is a neoclassical theory that has been primarily used for cross-country pattern analysis through the calculation of the Solow residual. I used the growth accounting framework and methodology to calculate Honduras’ total factor productivity from 1990 to 2022. The results from the Sources of Growth framework indicate that 6 out of the 33 years had the deepest negative Solow residuals, given the persistent negative values in other years. It is concluded that under neoclassical frameworks, Honduras inefficiently turns inputs into output, and it does so because it performs under extractive institutions and unless internal infrastructure is positively shifted, the country will not be able to converge into higher income levels.
Recommended Citation
Martinez, Alejandra, "Honduras’ Stagnant Development: An Institutional and Solow Growth Analysis from 1990-2022" (2026). Theses & ETDs. 6944.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6944
Rights
The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.