Merva, Mary

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Her research area is in applied economics where she has published a number of influential articles. She teaches in the areas of economics, finance, and quantitative methods. Professor Merva has nearly two decades of experience in accreditations and institutional assessment of educational programs both with U.S. accrediting agencies such as MSCHE and AACSB, and the QAA for the U.K. Professor Merva served as Dean of Academic Affairs from 2007 to 2021. In 2010 she was promoted to Vice President of Academics, a position that she continues to hold.

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    Publication
    Measuring information as an expanding resource: Information production and its TFP-information absorption ecosystem “multiplier”
    (Elsevier, 2024) Merva, Mary; Costagli, Simona
    Indices to measure the extent and penetration of information in an economy are static measures. Information, however, is a dynamic, expanding resource. Information is produced when data from digital computers articulate with human-generated systems where they are transformed into information. Economic information is effective when it fuels technological innovations contributing to total factor productivity (TFP) growth. This paper develops a theoretical model to measure effective economic information (EEI) as a dynamic process. Using systemic design thinking, design systems in data value chains are embedded within their TFP-information absorption ecosystem. The system’s characteristics of human capital, economic, institutional, and regulatory factors determine the quality and amount of EEI produced. The EEI measurement model uses differential equations allowing for the dynamic expansion of information to include information-knowledge spillovers. Empirical tests for EEI on TFP for EU countries show that EEI is the key driver for TFP growth, while IT investment alone is only a necessary condition. EEI-type measures direct policy attention towards improving TFP-information absorption ecosystems and supporting the adaption of design processes that are more suitable for their TFP-information absorption ecosystems. Both are necessary to connect IT investment to TFP growth.
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    Publication
    Effective Information, Political Structure and Economic Growth
    (2021) Merva, Mary; Stoian, Adrian; Costagli, Simona
    Digital transformation of information led us to reconsider Hayek’s (American Economic Review, 35, 519–530) insight on a fuller use of information and re-classify political structures based on their information protection policies. This allows us to link the accumulation of information with the political structure to frame their joint impact on economic growth. We develop a model of ‘effective information’ beginning with information production and absorption and then allowing for its political propagation based on the degree of information protection. Using data from 40 countries, we find: (i) effective information and its spillovers contribute to an increase in productivity; and (ii) reductions in information protection bring larger increases in effective information as economies near an ‘information-technology frontier’ contributing to economic growth divergence.