By John Gorlorwulu & Jonathan Warner
CCCU Monograph Research Series
"Nature and Consequences of Weak Financial Markets in Reconstructing Postwar Economies: The Liberian Case" is the outgrowth of a research project funded by a Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) Free Market Forum Grant. The purpose of this mini-grant program is to enhance the effectiveness of the teaching, scholarship, and practice of market economics for business and economics faculty (and select others) at CCCU member institutions. Approved grants allow for significant collaboration between faculty from different CCCU campuses, allow future leaders to emerge, strengthen and expand the existing network of scholars, and bring new and fresh ideas to the major conversations taking place within the field of business and economics.
This particular project emerged after a meeting of John Gorlorwulu and Jonathan Warner at the Free Market Forum held in September 2007. At the time, Warner served as a professor of economics at Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa, and Gorlorwulu was an assistant professor of economics at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. As Warner presented a paper on currency substitution in Europe, Gorlorwulu made the connection between the issues Warner mentioned and the current economic situation in postwar Liberia. Warner and Gorlorwulu entered into discussions after the presentation and determined that to fully examine the issues in Liberia and consider possible financial solutions would require additional study and resources.