Research
Research Interests
Dr. Williams has a research background largely focused on the development of institutions and policies affecting groups in the African diaspora. Recently, she has published and coauthored empirical papers in the Empirical Economic Letters (forthcoming), Journal of Race Economics and Policy, Review of Black Political Economy, The American Economist, Enterprise Development and Microfinance. Most of her work focuses on time series and trend analyses, but she has strong knowledge in panel data (This is more commonly known as large data.) analysis due to her background and training. The question that is always in the back of her mind is: What are the institutions that stifle development in economic communities both domestically and abroad?
Research, Grants, and Presentations
Dr. Williams's recent research efforts continue to be proactive and dynamic. One of Dr. Williams's most recent publications examines a monetary policy approach to the differential impacts of monetary policy on blacks and whites since the Great Recession. This coauthored study estimates the difference in impacts between races resulting from expansionary monetary policy. Findings indicate that black employment is more sensitive to changes in monetary policy than that of whites over longer time horizons. At the shorter time horizons, black employment declines, whereas white employment immediately increases; therefore, indicating the necessity of race considerations in monetary policy actions. Other publications of interest to her include research on (1) ineffective interest rate policy in Ghana and similar West Africa Countries, (2) Microfinancing women entrepreneurs in Africa countries, (3) the impacts of Pandemics on the U. S. Macroeconomy.
In addition, Dr. Williams has previously been awarded research grants and traveled both near and far to present her research. The National Science Foundation through American Economic Association Mentoring Program awarded a travel support grant for her to present research on South African investment patterns in subsistence farming and manufacturing sectors. In spring of 2017, she was as co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Gregory Price at Morehouse College in a Koch Foundation sponsored grant, which aimed to engage students in research implicating incarcerates as potential entrepreneurs, hence, reducing recidivism with findings that were especially pervasive for black men and women in the United States. Additionally, she has presented at several conferences both across the United States and in West Africa. She has traveled for research to places like The Gambia, Nigeria, and Togo as well as, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, and New Orleans. She also delivered a research presentation via Zoom. For the Spring 2021 term, she has been selected as a research Carnegie Research Fellow to lead research efforts in Faculty Development at Morehouse College, she is a research associate with The Urban Entrepreneurship and Policy Institute, and she currently serves as guest editor for a special issue on Social Justice for the Agriculture Resource Economics Review in the Fall 2020/ Spring 2021 academic calendar year.
Alignment of Research with Morehouse College and the Field of Economics Include:
-Addressing Black life, Black world culture, and social justice within the context of Morehouse College’s mission
-Addressing the issue of support for accreditation of the Business and Economics Division and marketability of students in the labor market and for competitive graduate programs.
-Advancing policies and reviewing policies that affect black people as a proportion of the aggregate economy in developing nations and domestically within the scope of the Economics profession.
- Career: Become tenure and one day a full professor in economics by using my career to expand research for black and African people in the area of monetary and fiscal policy.
Future Directions for Research
As her research agenda develops, Dr. Williams can make stronger strides toward better understanding how issues surrounding institutions affect economic development. Some projects she has for future exploration include (1) the role of United States Foreign Direct Investment flows in the Economic Community of West African States (a.k.a. ECOWAS), (2) the impact of Procurement financing on West African countries, (3) the Africa free Continental Trade Agreement, and the focus of academic productivity in HBCU’s in the COVID-19 pandemic, and (4) strengthened inclusion of African Americans in regional journals and associations. In scope, these studies are geared toward the pursuit of a cohesive and comprehensive understanding of social underpinnings in the United States and throughout the world. She will continue to make valuable contributions to the field of economics by capturing institutional dynamics in the United States and worldwide. Hopefully, her findings will progressively influence policy both domestically and globally.