Center for Research on Native American Issues

In this thesis, I will assess the various factors that are believed to have a significant impact on economic conditions on American Indian reservations. Drawing upon literature related to the lingering effects of colonialism, social fragmentation and ineffective government institutions experienced by American Indian tribes and Native Alaskan villages, this study hypothesizes that the rate of poverty and the rate of unemployment on designated American Indian Areas (AIAs) is directly related to measures of dependency on the federal government, social cohesion on the reservation, and strength of governance institutions. In order to test these predictions I have analyzed a data set containing information on 352 American Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages in the United States. I will measure these factors with the use of ordinary least squares regression (OLS) techniques. I am interested in answering the general questions: What are the factors and conditions that contribute to economic prosperity on reservations? Exactly why are some tribes economically prosperous, while other tribes struggle? In order to answer these questions, I examine a set of frameworks relating to measures of dependency on the federal government, social cohesion, and strength of governance.