The Importance of SMEs within the Economy

o In this paper, Guiragos individually analyzed small-to-medium enterprises and their prosperity in Korea, the US, and the former Soviet bloc to analyze their overall contribution to national economy. This analysis was correlated with a study into levels of overall government planning and involvement (in aforementioned economies) to fully understand the backbone of economic prosperity. Individual analysis was then combined to present a collaborative research project on whether state-centered economic systems can thrive and what factors go into influencing their economic growth.

o This project served as a fantastic demonstration of how you can transition individual research into an overall group project. In this, it was able to show the IAS collaboration, writing, and communication learning objectives in a topic outside each person’s usual area of focus. Further, it demonstrates an ability to comb through and combine relevant government data to predict mass economic trends without prior experience in the field, greatly expanding my data analysis capabilities. Lastly, it served an introductory role in my interest in economics and political science which would go in to greatly imprint on my work in comp. sci. and data science.