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Abstract: This paper explores the broader setting of urban and economic development that links ports and cities in Europe and aims at enhancing our understanding of the port‐city interface. A relational view is taken for linking local developments and policies with overarching, more remote spheres of influence and impact, which can be considered both beneficial and critical for the port and the city. In order to illustrate the argument, a framework of three issues is applied to discuss the port‐city interface: first, the role of ports as economic engines of their wider region; second, the cruise ship industry as a market segment that re‐connects port and city; third, semi‐political bodies and institutions that play key roles as intermediaries and knowledge brokers. The paper finally discusses the implications of relationality for governing the port‐city interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1957 and 1990, nearly 100 nuclear reactors were constructed throughout the U.S., and nuclear power currently accounts for 20 percent of electricity production nationwide. Nuclear plants are often constructed in small communities for which they constitute a large source of employment and income. To date, 24 nuclear reactors have undergone decommissioning, and more are expected in the future, particularly as nuclear reactors age and face increasingly strict regulations. This paper examines the effects of nuclear decommissioning over time at the county-level on measures of employment, income, and population using difference-in-differences regression and propensity score matching. Panel data are obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, and cover the years 1975-2014. The analysis finds that nuclear decommissioning is associated with positive and statistically significant increases in employment and per capita income over time. Results suggest that nuclear decommissioning may actually be a positive force in regional economic development, and concludes with limitations of the approach and implications for future research. As an emerging area of research, this paper is meant to build on previous work, as well as to provide a basis for further discussion and debate on the economic future of nuclear host communities and regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the evolution of topics in economics and their geographical specialization by analyzing 13,233 papers from seven top journals between 1985 and 2012 and their forward citations. The share of U.S. publications declines from 75% to 64% with a corresponding increase of the European share from 12% to 24%. We use topic modeling and document the evolution of the discipline over 27 years. We estimate, with a quasi‐structural model, the citation lag distribution for 18 different topics and three large geographical areas. The modal citation lag is about 6.7 years in the entire sample and 4.8 years for citations from the top 100 journals. We quantify (1) the home bias effect in citations, (2) how it fades away over time, (3) the long lasting impact of U.S. publications vis‐à‐vis other geographical areas, and (4) the higher speed of diffusion and faster obsolescence in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of agrarian change have long debated the nature of capitalist transition in the countryside, including whether the deepened interlinking of local, national, and transnational economic activities make past trajectories of agrarian transformation unlikely to reoccur in the present. This essay makes the case that Giovanni Arrighi's work has much to add to our understanding of the agrarian question in global historical perspective. We focus in particular on Arrighi's research on trajectories of change in the Calabrian region of southern Italy, and his essay "Capitalist Development in Hostile Environments." In this piece, Arrighi and co‐author Fortunata Piselli develop two key insights. The first is that the pathways to capitalism are diverse, non‐linear, and historically contingent such that within one country—or, in the case of Italy, a single subnational region—multiple trajectories can be found. The second is that the outcomes of capitalist transition vary based on a country's position in the international hierarchy of wealth, meaning that agrarian transformation is compatible with both economic development and underdevelopment. We describe the three methodological principles that enabled Arrighi to develop his analysis of capitalist transition and explain how the papers collected in this special issue reflect and extend the Arrighian approach to agrarian political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines news media coverage of hydraulic fracturing in Canada over a five-year period in five newspapers. Hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' has reenergized the North American oil and gas market. This technology has increased economic growth, but it also comes with unknown and uncertain environmental and public health risks. Regulation of the fracking industry varies globally. In Canada there are three provinces that engage in large volume fracking and four provinces that have placed a moratorium on fracking. This paper demonstrates that the Canadian fracking story is about five frames: water pollution, economic benefits, uncertain risks, moratoriums, and energy independence. There is a difference between coverage in the two national newspapers as well as a difference in national and provincial coverage. In Nova Scotia, where fracking is banned, the media focuses primarily on environmental issues and benefits to the local economy. In Saskatchewan, where fracking for oil is an essential part of the economy, the media focuses on economic benefits and downplays other frames. Overall, across the five papers, the media coverage is highly selective and focuses on particular stories about the economy or the environment, but not both. Quelle est la chronique de la fracturation hydraulique au Canada? Cet article fait état de la couverture médiatique liée à la fracturation hydraulique au Canada par cinq journaux sur une période de cinq ans. La fracturation hydraulique a revitalisé le marché nord-américain des hydrocarbures. Cette technologie favorise la croissance économique, mais comporte également des risques écologiques et sanitaires inconnus et incertains. La réglementation régissant l'industrie de la fracturation varie selon les pays. À l'échelle canadienne, trois provinces ont réalisé d'importantes opérations de fracturation et quatre provinces ont imposé un moratoire à la fracturation hydraulique. Cet article montre que le cadrage médiatique de la fracturation hydraulique repose sur cinq thématiques : la pollution hydrique, les retombées économiques, l'incertitude liée aux risques, les moratoires et la souveraineté énergétique. Le cadrage médiatique varie entre les deux journaux nationaux ainsi qu'entre les médias nationaux et provinciaux. En Nouvelle-Écosse, où la fracturation est interdite, les médias mettent l'accent sur les questions environnementales et les retombées pour l'économie locale. En Saskatchewan, où la fracturation pour extraire du pétrole joue un rôle économique primordial, les médias se concentrent sur les retombées économiques et minorent l'importance des autres thématiques. Dans l'ensemble, les cinq journaux appliquent un filtre sélectif dans le traitement du sujet et publient des reportages spécifiques portant sur l'économie ou sur l'environnement, mais pas les deux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes a novel dynamic propensity score matching approach for multiple cohorts of U.S. counties between 1989 and 1999 to examine local economy resilience to rare natural disasters. Affected counties are sorted based on disaster intensity and are carefully matched to similar counties that did not experience a disaster. A difference-in-difference estimator compares trends of affected counties' postdisaster business establishments, employment, and payroll to counterfactual trends in the matched counties. All affected counties experienced short-run drops in economic activity that was particularly noticeable in higher-intensity disasters. In the longer run, less distressed counties returned to their estimated counterfactual trends, but countieswith lower predisaster socioeconomic conditions still lagged in growth, particularly in cases of lowerintensity disasters. Policymakers can use this information to better prepare responses to future disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines the dynamic relationship between oil revenue, government spending and economic growth in Nigeria. Since the discovery of oil, oil proceeds have dominated the country's federation account and have improved public spending. In this paper, we analyse if the huge government spending has improved the rate of economic growth. To do this, the multivariate vector autoregression framework with special attention to Generalised Impulse Response Function is adopted in analysing the annual data of oil revenue, total government expenditure and real Gross Domestic Product from 1980 to 2015. We find evidence that oil receipts remain the major route which public spending is financed and the fundamental source for growth. Hence, there is need for the government to diversify the sources of foreign exchange inflow of the country. The diversification of the economy is required to insulate it from external shocks. It is recommended for Nigeria to explore ways of reviving its huge agricultural potential which has been neglected since the discovery of oil in addition to exploring its rich untapped solid minerals deposit in order to promote diversification of the economy away from a mono cultural product base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The development of start‐up communities is seen as critical to the successful development of entrepreneurship in a region. However, it remains unclear what exactly start‐up communities are and how they can be facilitated. Ambiguity concerning the geographical scale and membership of start‐up communities leads to different conceptualisations. In this paper, we apply communities of practice (CoP) theory to understand how conceptualisations of start‐up communities work and how they can be facilitated. To this end, we qualitatively study start‐up communities in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia. Our results show that start‐up communities that are confined to a particular workspace strongly resemble a CoP. Furthermore, many elements of CoPs can also be found in regional start‐up communities. Finally, we find that workspace communities have more direct and top‐down facilitation activities, while regional start‐up communities have more indirect and bottom‐up facilitation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Policy makers and academics frequently emphasize a positive link between city size and economic growth. The empirical literature on the relationship, however, is scarce and uses rough indicators for the size of a country's cities, while ignoring factors that are increasingly considered to shape this relationship. In this paper, we employ a panel of 113 countries between 1980 and 2010 to explore whether 1) there are certain city sizes that are growth enhancing and 2) how additional factors highlighted in the literature impact the city size/growth relationship. The results suggest a nonlinear relationship which is dependent on the country's size. In contrast to the prevailing view that large cities are growth‐inducing, for a majority of countries relatively small cities of up to 3 million inhabitants are more conducive to economic growth. A large share of the urban population in cities of more than 10 million inhabitants is only growth promoting in countries with an urban population of 28.5 million and more. In addition, the relationship is highly context‐dependent: a high share of industries that benefit from agglomeration economies, a well‐developed urban infrastructure, and an adequate level of governance effectiveness allow countries to take advantage of agglomeration benefits from larger cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper studies the role played by the quality of property rights in the linkages of international capital flows into sub‐Saharan African (SSA) economies. Using panel data of 36 SSA countries over the period 1996–2015 and the ARDL procedure with the Pooled Mean Group regression method appropriate for non‐stationary panel data estimation, we account for the joint effects of property rights quality and openness to foreign capital flows on economic growth. We uncover the existence of a property rights quality threshold beyond which property rights either amplifies the spillovers effects or attenuates the negative effect of capital flows on economic growth. For instance, it takes a level of property rights of at least 60 to have a positive long‐term impact of capital flows on economic growth in natural resource‐poor African countries. The quality of property rights matters more to obtain spillover effects of capital flows on growth in natural resource‐poor countries than in their peer natural resource‐rich countries. Finally, with regard to the countries' income levels, capital flows have significant long‐term spillovers effects on economic growth in advanced African economies than in their low‐income peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous systematic reviews considered the relationship between socioeconomic status and obesity, almost 200 peer-reviewed articles have been published since the last review on that topic, and this paper focuses specifically on education, which has different implications. The authors systematically review the peer-reviewed literature from around the world considering the association between educational attainment and obesity. Databases from public health and medicine, education, psychology, economics, and other social sciences were searched, and articles published in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish were included. This paper includes 289 articles that report on 410 populations in 91 countries. The relationship between educational attainment and obesity was modified by both gender and the country's economic development level: an inverse association was more common in studies of higher-income countries and a positive association was more common in lower-income countries, with stronger social patterning among women. Relatively few studies reported on lower-income countries, controlled for a comprehensive set of potential confounding variables and/or attempted to assess causality through the use of quasi-experimental designs. Future research should address these gaps to understand if the relationship between educational attainment and obesity may be causal, thus supporting education policy as a tool for obesity prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the nexus of international development and emotion has received increasing attention from diverse sectors. While scholars from postcolonial, post-structural, and feminist perspectives have long called for increased attention to emotions and the more-than-rational, more recent pieces such as the World Bank's World Development Report 2015 on Mind, Society, and Behavior have also taken up the refrain that 'emotions matter' in development. Whether viewed as motivating factors, explanatory devices, or phenomena to be harnessed and manipulated, emotions are emerging as a key piece in development theory and practice. This paper critically analyzes the ways in which the nexus of emotion and development has been conceptualized from various perspectives. In particular, it raises questions related to geographies of power and control and highlights the implications of this emotional turn for both the theory and practice of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Summer Olympics bring hundreds of thousands of visitors and generate upward of $10 billion in spending for the host city. This large influx of tourism dollars is only part of the overall impact of hosting the Olympic Games. In order to host the visitors and sporting events, cities must make sizable investments in infrastructure such as airports, arenas, and highways. Additionally, the publicity and international exposure of a host city may benefit international trade and capital flows. Proponents argue that this investment will pay off through increased economic growth, but research confirming these claims is lacking. This paper examines whether hosting an Olympiad improves a city's long-term growth. In order to control for the self-selection of cities that host Olympic Games, this paper matches Olympic host cities with cities that were finalists for the Olympic Games, but were not selected by the International Olympic Committee. A difference-in-difference estimator examines post-Olympic impacts for host cities between 1950 and 2005. Regression results provide no long-term impacts of hosting an Olympics on two measures of population, real Gross Domestic Product per capita and trade openness. ( JEL O18, R11) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the experience of two severe disasters (the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake disaster of 1995 and the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster of 2011), I wish to consider 'subsistence' as human life, existence equaling the basic activities of life, an essential mutual act-like existence economy. In this paper, I pursue a positive development of 'disaster-time economics' as a research object under the larger framework of the formation of a 'moral economy,' as part of a critical process. In this paper, in order that a stricken area and society may aim at the realization of a new methodology about 'creative revival' for newly developing independent research involving the state of the revival fund of a wide sense is carried out. Nevertheless, there is an overall understanding of who, in what areas, and using what methodology, has conducted research in the restoration and revival process, as well as the weak points that tend to hinder the process. There is no research on the rationality and function of public finance expenditures or national sources expenditures. Therefore, in this paper, the term 'disaster-time economy' is newly prepared. From this concept, many activities of the project, service, support, self-efforts etc. of a social and private domain are grasped from a public sphere in connection with the process of maintenance/restoration under the disaster. The feature and subject point of the process are clarified. The market economy order that is going to be produced in this process does the basic work and determines the economic order for another self-subsistence over life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics of business leadership has witnessed a renewed interest in recent years provoked perhaps by a number of cases of business leadership failure. Unlike the critics of the industrial policy and direct market intervention by the state, in this paper we argue for an increased role of the state in imposing the ethical standards and the need to integrate the ethical infrastructure into the state's industrial policy. We believe that overall national economic success is dependent on four essential elements: financial infrastructure, physical infrastructure, knowledge infrastructure and ethical infrastructure. We further believe that proper integration and correct functioning of these elements within the state's industrial policy is fundamental to economic development and growth in any country in 21st century. We consider that the ethical infrastructure might provide an important element of a possible riposte in the future to the serious financial scandals of the kind that recently affected global business. We foresee that ethical infrastructure fosters best practice. In this paper, we argue that the integration of the ethical infrastructure is a new requirement of the state's industrial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because freedom of choice and economic gain are at the heart of productivity, human trafficking impedes national and international economic growth. Within the next 10 years, crime experts expect human trafficking to surpass drug and arms trafficking in its incidence, cost to human well-being, and profitability to criminals ( Schauer and Wheaton, 2006: 164–165 ). The loss of agency from human trafficking as well as from modern slavery is the result of human vulnerability ( Bales, 2000: 15 ). As people become vulnerable to exploitation and businesses continually seek the lowest-cost labour sources, trafficking human beings generates profit and a market for human trafficking is created. This paper presents an economic model of human trafficking that encompasses all known economic factors that affect human trafficking both across and within national borders. We envision human trafficking as a monopolistically competitive industry in which traffickers act as intermediaries between vulnerable individuals and employers by supplying differentiated products to employers. In the human trafficking market, the consumers are employers of trafficked labour and the products are human beings. Using a rational-choice framework of human trafficking we explain the social situations that shape relocation and working decisions of vulnerable populations leading to human trafficking, the impetus for being a trafficker, and the decisions by employers of trafficked individuals. The goal of this paper is to provide a common ground upon which policymakers and researchers can collaborate to decrease the incidence of trafficking in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boulding's 1966 paper on the economics of spaceship Earth established the framework for ecological economics and an understanding of economic growth. In ecological economics, economies are conceptualized as open subsystems of the closed biosphere and are subject to biophysical laws and constraints. Economic growth measured as an increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) has generally been associated with increases in the use of energy and materials and the generation of wastes. Scale, composition, and technology are the proximate determinants of environmental impacts. They are often reduced to two: scale (GDP) and intensity (impact per unit GDP). New work described in this paper defines “green” growth as intensity that declines faster than scale increases. Similarly, “brown” growth occurs when intensity declines more slowly than increases in scale, and “black” growth happens when both scale and intensity increase. These concepts are then related to the environmental Kuznets curve, which can be understood as a transition from brown to green growth. Ecological economics provides a macroperspective on economic growth. It offers broad policy principles, and it challenges the primacy of economic growth as a policy objective, but many important questions remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews available data sources for the study of migration and development through both retrospective and continuous data collection systems. It is argued that much basic data already exists for the study of international migration but that the addition of a relatively small number of simple, although not necessarily cheap measures can be taken to improve existing data. The priority is to generate flow data between countries for recent time periods and the paper makes suggestions how this can be best achieved. The paper goes on to an assessment of the types and availability of data needed to understand better the relationships between migration and development more broadly. Data at several scales, macro and micro, and for a variety of types of migration will be required in order to achieve this objective, particularly if less visible flows, such as those internal to developing countries, or those involving women, are to be better understood. The paper concludes by moving beyond the traditional state-led data-gathering systems to examine the potential for civil society organizations to help in strengthening data and research on migration and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between trust and economic growth. Taking panel data and using a fixed-effects estimation for a 41-country sample over the time period from 1980 to 2004 and with a total of 129 observations, the paper points out that economic growth is negatively related to an increase in trust. This negative finding is in contrast to most empirical findings using a cross-sectional design. The common knowledge which has governed the nature of discussions in social science and economics for the last ten years, that trust is generally positively related to economic performance, must be seriously questioned. From a policy point of view an increase in trust is crucial for countries with low levels of trust, but can likely be neglected by countries with sufficient levels of trust and may even hamper economic performance in countries with high levels of trust. The relationship is tested in the context of EU countries, OECD countries and developing countries. Interpersonal trust and systemic trust is differentiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of different representations of informal economies in Third World settings. Both the neoclassical and political economy approaches have represented the informal economy as a transient entity, and the non-capitalist practices it comprises as being remnant economic forms, or as already capitalist. Mainstream development discourse (that reflects the neoliberal paradigm) continues to ignore the value and potential of non-capitalist practices and to represent them as inconsequential to development outcomes. Meanwhile contemporary livelihood studies across the social sciences have documented the continuing vibrancy of different and hybrid economic forms in the Asia Pacific. In this paper, I use a diverse-economies approach to explore the complexities of the village economy of Oelua in Rote, in the so-called lagging region of Eastern Indonesia. Drawing on anti-essentialist Marxist theory in economic geography, I describe the multiple, locally specific and coexisting practices that comprise Oelua's diverse economy, which include distributions of surplus labour to promote social and economic well-being. I argue that recognising informal village economies as an important development resource could begin a process of building diverse development trajectories in Eastern Indonesia, complementing mainstream development proposals to attract foreign direct investment, shore up development assistance and source out-migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcomes and forms of urbanization and modernization in China following the reform and opening of the late 1970s have attracted extensive attention and competing interpretations in scholarly documentation. This paper focuses on Hainan Island, established in 1988 as the biggest special economic zone in China. Since then, considerable inflows of human as well as speculative capital have led to rapid real estate, in particular tourism-related, development. While urban expansion and improvements have been encouraged, the ongoing over-building, unregulated conversion of land use and degradation of the urban environment present serious social and economic problems. This paper summarizes the trajectory, causal factors and outcomes of this urban growth and consequent planning problems that make the island an atypical case in China’s urbanization experience. We argue that the establishment of a practical framework combining socioeconomic planning, land use planning, and the management of both, is crucial to achieve sustainable growth for this transitional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through reviewing South-East Asia’s recent economic engagement with the global economy, this paper points to profound recent transformations in the scope and character of the region’s development. Foreign direct investment was the key driver of regional growth in the pre-1997 period, yet currently, the region faces a more difficult and multifaceted economic arena from which to attract such funds. Foreign direct investment is more selective, both geographically and by sector, than was the case in that earlier period. This paper explains the confluence of economics, business practices and politics that are giving rise to these outcomes, and concludes from this that development trajectories in South-East Asia will become more diverse between the countries of the region, with implications for how we understand regional economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the economic performance of small states has concentrated on the implications of small size and thin local markets. An interesting feature of many of the world's smallest states, of which the Pacific region has many, is that they face additional challenges than just small size. Many are remote from global markets for their products. In addition, a large number are also islands, many of which are also mountainous. Many of the smaller states are not just islands, but are also archipelagos. Hence in addition to small size, many of the world's small states also exhibit four other characteristics that may affect their economic performance: insularity, remoteness, being archipelagos and being highly mountainous entities. This paper examines the nature of the challenges posed by these four characteristics and seeks to produce empirical evidence of how difficult it has been to overcome these challenges. The paper draws on empirical evidence for 126 very small global states, dependent territories and highly autonomous regions. The paper then turns to the position of the Pacific small states and dependent territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work discussed in Bivand and Brunstad (2003 ) was an attempt to throw light on apparent variability in regional convergence in relation to agriculture as a sector subject to powerful political measures, in Western Europe, 1989–1999. The present study takes up a number of points made in conclusion in that paper. Since it is possible that the non-stationarity found there is related to further missing variables, including the inadequacy of the way in which agricultural subsidies are represented, we attempt to replace the agriculture variables with better estimates of producer subsidy equivalents. It is also sensible to check that agricultural support is not masking or masked by other variables, for example human capital. The article is also an account of the development of software contributed to the project ( Development Core Team, 2005 ) as packages, in particular the spdep package for spatial econometrics. New functions generously contributed by researchers will be presented and compared. We find that agricultural support does impact regional economic growth after human capital is taken into consideration, and that we can show that apparent non-stationarity is alleviated by adding these variables.We further find that the moderated remaining spatial autocorrelation can best be represented by a substantive spatial lag model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the development potential of rural and highly peripheral areas of Japan, focusing on local factors of development, together with local identity and cultural commodities, as these are incorporated into what has been called the culture economy. Based on a survey of informed local residents and another of local cultural commodities producers, the paper alludes to what constitutes a culture economy for rural settings and identifies several key aspects related to the process of such a cultural commodities-based approach to development. While confirming the importance of identity and cultural commodities in the local development profile of rural settings, the paper sets the groundwork for further research concerning the complex process for how such development can be achieved. The main themes identified for further research include both the nature and role of residents’ solidarity together with the combinative nature of government support and local entrepreneurship in the local culture economy on the one hand, and the character of the advertising and media representation by which cultural commodities are created and maintained on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics, policy-makers and consultants have been increasingly focusing upon the‘region’ as the crucible of economic development. This regionalist approach places institutions at the centre of the process of stimulating growth. Much debate has been ongoing in academic circles, particularly those inhabited by economic geographers, about the veracity of the regionalist approach and the explanatory power of the terminology associated with it. This paper analyses explicit efforts to engender regional economic development in the West Coast of South Africa. Our empirical evaluation indicates that policy actors have sought to upgrade the institutional infrastructure of the region and that some significant achievements are evident within this realm. However, these achievements are yet to be associated with sustained regional economic takeoff. The paper concludes by asking searching questions about the ability of the regionalist approach to deliver meaningful socio-economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread agreement exists on the broad outlines of the concept of sustainable development for developing countries. This calls for a development model capable of meeting basic needs without depleting natural resources at a rate that robs future generations of their use. In this regard, citizen participation is also considered key to legitimise such policy choices. However, there is considerable disagreement over the substance and meaning of the major components of the concept and the relationship between them. This paper argues that positions in policy disputes over the sustainable development of the forest cluster in two distinct approaches: market-friendly initiatives and grassroots development. Since market economies prevail almost everywhere, the question that is posed concerns the conditions under which the grassroots development approach is included as a significant complement to market-friendly initiatives. This is a political question, requiring an examination of actors, interests and power resources. The paper thus applies a political economy framework to a paired comparison of Mexico, where grassroots development approaches (community forestry) had notable successes, and Chile, where market-friendly forest policy crowded out alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa performs poorly in the global economy. The continent lacks investments, jobs, real output, and basic social services. Aggravating the poor performance is poor management. This paper argues that the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa's Development(NEPAD) to grapple with Africa's economic problems makes sense but only if necessary policies are properly implemented. It argues that Africa should pursue interest politics through NEPAD as an economic integration. On the issue of financing the budget, which has in the past been a major constraint to OAU-initiated projects, this paper strongly recommends that it should be made mandatory that all multinational companies operating in all NEPAD member countries pay a certain percentage of their earnings into the NEPAD budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It can be argued that development geography has left few traces either on the broader canvas of development theory or on the thought and practices of social actors engaging with material processes of change typically framed within the language of development. This paper argues that this is because the sub-field has been somewhat too case study oriented, and because its prac-titioners have, with some exceptions, kept themselves – or at least their identities – at the margins of debates within and among development actors. Yet development geography has much to con-tribute to on-going reflections on the nature of development. The paper explores themes that might be at the centre of an empirically grounded but theoretically oriented development geography that might speak to contemporary processes of globalisation and local change. It suggests that comparative case study work exploring the ways in which the development of capitalism and processes of intervention are both linked and vary across space still offers fruitful terrain for theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper looks at the linkages between three recent developments in spatial economics that in combination have changed the way that economic growth is viewed. These new approaches are that of the New Growth Theory, the measurement of geographical economic convergence, and the role of infrastructure in stimulating economic growth. In combination these developments may combine to provide a different perspective on why regions often grow at differential rates, ways of measuring these differences, and possible policy interventions to manipulate geographical variations in the growth process. The paper argues, however, that these concepts, while they may offer new insights, are nevertheless unlikely to provide a complete picture of why spatial economic divergence is widespread nor a set of policy instruments that can be simply deployed to ameliorate such discrepancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a political ecology framework that explores livelihood vulnerability, this paper analyzes commodification of grapes as an economic development strategy in Southwest China. Ethnographic research found that during the past decade, a majority of households within a village have converted fields to a monocrop of grapes, introduced by the government as part of a program to promote red wine from the region for tourism purposes. Villagers have been motivated to take part due to high economic returns but have found themselves living with less diversified sources of income and increasing use of agricultural chemicals. Villagers display concern for food security as they have moved away from growing subsistence crops and rely heavily on funds produced by grapes for subsistence. Questions are raised regarding long-term sustainability and the outlook of development programs targeting rural farmers as producers of high-value commodities being consumed by China’s growing middle and upper classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among low- and middle-income countries, there is evidence that populations experiencing rapid political and economic transition have particularly high burdens of disease and disability from mental health conditions. This paper undertakes a political economy analysis of mental health in Vietnam to enhance knowledge translation, notably how both explicit and tacit knowledge can be used to promote evidence-based policy making. It argues that Vietnam's experience illustrates the need to better understand, not only how transition transforms societies, but how it impacts on the mental health needs and care of populations. The political economy of transition in Vietnam has so far given highest priority to economic growth through integration with the world economy and public sector reform. There is a need to recognise that transition in Vietnam poses both a potential threat to the care of people with mental health needs, and an opportunity to develop mental health services appropriate to local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the coming years, the share of the working-age population in the total population will start to decline in all countries of the European Union. All other things remaining equal, this so-called demographic burden will have a downward effect on economic growth. This paper examines whether the Europe 2020 employment targets would be sufficient to compensate for the downward impact of demographic burden and whether the impact of demography on economic growth differs between EU countries and between urban and rural regions. The results show that raising employment rates to the Europe 2020 targets can restore positive opportunities for economic growth, but not in all countries and only to a limited extent. They also show that even though urban and rural regions differ in terms of population growth and growth of the working age population, the prospects for demographic burden are highly similar for both types of regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, the state of Qatar articulated a national vision to transform its hydrocarbon-based economy to a knowledge based economy ( KBE) by the year 2030. A KBE derives its value from intangible assets (knowledge) where production, distribution, and utilization of such assets are the main drivers for economic growth and wealth generation. Knowledge assets are created through various intra and inter organization processes. University- Industry- Government ( UIG) collaborations are major contributors to knowledge assets at organizational and national levels. UIG partnership is a fairly new concept and a complex process that has not been formally implemented, supported, or monitored in the state of Qatar. To explore the UIG partnership, and to assess the effectiveness of knowledge creation and exchange, a single case study method was used to capture and reveal perspectives of participants involved in the partnership. Based on perspectives from 31 participants from (a) Qatar University, (b) Oil and Gas industry organizations and (c) government and semi government institutions in the state of Qatar, organizations are indeed taking initial steps to stimulate and deepen university-industry partnerships. This paper identifies challenges in cultivating the knowledge created and transferred from UIG partnerships and recommends key solutions to the challenges organizations are faced with in efforts to institutionalize the knowledge that is produced from collaborations with academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small island developing States ( SIDS) have narrow resource bases and are usually extremely reliant on fossil fuel based energy for transport and electricity generation. These island economies are thus particularly vulnerable to the impacts of peak oil and also to climate change, impacts which are likely to not only hamper economic development but also adversely affect the quality of life of local inhabitants. In order to reduce the vulnerability of SIDS to peak oil, an urgent transition to renewable sources of energy is necessary. This paper propounds that the reform of power sector that took place in Caribbean and Pacific SIDS (particularly between 1970 and 2000) should have been viewed as an opportunity to re-orient power producers away from the proclivity to utilise conventional fossil fuel uses. Reasons why reform measures did not result in a substantive transition are put forward. Moreover, recommendations towards facilitating a transition to renewable energy in the power sector through future reforms are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial models of port system evolution often depict linearly the emergence of hierarchy through successive concentration phases of originally scattered ports. The Chinese case provides a fertile ground for complementing existing works by a long-term perspective, given the early importance of river ports and seaports and the development irregularities caused by periods of closure and openness over time and across such a large land mass. In both qualitative and quantitative ways, this paper describes and analyses the changing spatial pattern of China's port system since the first unified empire (221 bc). Main results underline a certain stability of the port system with regard to the location of main sea-river gateways, notwithstanding important regional shifts from one period to the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult learning systems have come to be dominated by the view that the essential role of adult learning is to generate the high levels of skills deemed necessary for competitiveness and growth in the globalised economy. This 'education gospel' is underpinned by human capital theory ( HCT) and its contemporary conceptualisation in terms of the knowledge-based economy. Nevertheless, it remains the case that there are significant differences in the strategies of national governments towards adult learning and in patterns of engagement with the learning opportunities that are made available. This paper sets out to explore how this diversity in national systems of adult learning might be addressed analytically. Adult learning is embedded in characteristic regimes of economic and social institutions, which can be understood in terms of a systematic international political economy. In particular, adult learning systems are explored by reference to the models of capitalist organisation elaborated in the neo-institutionalist analysis of 'varieties of capitalism' ( Hall and Soskice, 2001): the liberal market economy and the co-ordinated market economy. A major alternative is provided by Esping- Anderson's (1990; 1999) analysis of 'welfare state regimes'. Moreover, Rubenson and Desjardins (2009) have used this theoretical framework as a means of analysing systematic variations between national adult learning systems. These analyses raise questions about the use of national states as the key unit of analysis. Significant divergences in institutional arrangements and access to opportunities for adult learning (by social group or locality, for example) may be obscured by this method of comparative analysis. Moreover, consideration of the micro-theoretical foundations of these approaches highlights the difficulties in moving beyond the economistic 'rationality' of HCT. The issue here is the extent to which norms of behaviour in relation to engaging in adult learning can be appropriately understood in terms of a relatively homogeneous, national social system, rather than in terms of a much more socially differentiated repertoire of norm-based orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the mainstream, resource economics, and ecological economics models of growth. A possible synthesis of energy-based and mainstream models is presented. This shows that when energy is scarce it imposes a strong constraint on the growth of the economy; however, when energy is abundant, its effect on economic growth is much reduced. The industrial revolution released the constraints on economic growth by the development of new methods of using coal and the discovery of new fossil fuel resources. Time-series analysis shows that energy and GDP cointegrate, and energy use Granger causes GDP when capital and other production inputs are included in the vector autoregression model. However, various mechanisms can weaken the links between energy and growth. Energy used per unit of economic output has declined in developed and some developing countries, owing to both technological change and a shift from poorer quality fuels, such as coal, to the use of higher quality fuels, especially electricity. Substitution of other inputs for energy and sectoral shifts in economic activity play smaller roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between economic growth and industrial pollution emissions in China using data for 112 major cities between 2001 and 2004. Using disaggregated data, we separate foreign direct investment inflows from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan from those of other foreign economies. We examine two industrial water pollution indicators (wastewater and petroleum-like matter) and four industrial air pollution indicators (waste gas, sulfur dioxide, soot, and dust). Our results suggest that most air and water emissions rise with increases in economic growth at current income levels. The share of output of domestic- and foreign-owned firms increases several pollutants in a statistically significant manner while output of firms from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan either reduces pollution or is statistically insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper conducts an empirical investigation into the effects of financial liberalization policies on the growth of 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Two indexes are constructed which measure the gradual progression and institutional changes involved in financial liberalization. Because these indexes track specific financial liberalization policies, they provide better measures of financial liberalization than the indicators of financial development often used in the literature. Panel data estimates show a significant positive relationship between economic growth and financial liberalization policies. Our results are robust to alternative specifications of the model, and also across slow- and fast-growing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to estimate the productivity change of Nigerian insurance companies and to rank the companies analysed in the sample according to their productivity score. This benchmark exercise provides the companies analysed with a view of how their relative productivity can be upgraded. For this purpose, the non-parametric Luenberger productivity model is used. For comparative purposes, the non-parametric Luenberger–Hicks–Moorsteen productivity indicator is also used. The companies are ranked according to their total productivity for the period 1994–2005, using both models, which produce variations in the respective results. Economic implications arising from the study are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific governments seeking to expand national economies are increasingly looking to tourism to provide revenues. At the same time, companies that operate cruise ships are searching for new destinations for increasing numbers of larger, faster ships which they are launching to cater for steadily increasing demand for cruises. The Pacific region appeals to both companies and passengers as a cruise destination. This coincidence would, at first glance, seem to provide an opportunity for a mutually beneficial relationship between companies and governments in the region. But little is presently available to those in the Pacific who must decide what role this form of tourism might play in their future. This paper reviews some of the environmental, economic and societal impacts of cruise ship tourism and concludes that, managed effectively, this form of tourism can yield higher returns with lower risks than some alternatives and could form a part of a sustainable tourism policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tremendous changes in technology, political and social frameworks, as well as the impacts of globalization, have put pressure on countries to become competitive. One strategy for creating an engine of economic growth is the creation of clusters. These clusters, be they naturally or artificially conceived, hold the promise of becoming the economic weapons of a country. Many studies have been done to understand the factors behind the successes and failures of clusters. One of the reasons behind the inconsistent success of existing cluster policy frameworks in managing cluster performance is the fact that clusters often are at different levels of development, and it will require different strategies to create, enhance, and sustain their competitive advantage. This paper aims to propose and demonstrate a more holistic framework designed to understand key cluster dynamics that drives cluster performance, which then will enable policy makers to work toward ensuring sustainable cluster development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper applies an alternative approach to assess whether foreign aid promotes economic growth in developing countries, based on the concept of temporary growth accelerations suggested by Hausmann, Pritchett and Rodrik. In addition to aggregate aid, we differentiate between major aid categories, including grants, loans and so-called short-impact aid. It turns out that aid flows have a small but significantly positive effect on the conditional probability of growth accelerations. This result holds across different estimation methods. However, the significance of results crucially depends on the criteria applied to identify growth accelerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacity utilization is a closely watched macroeconomic indicator because rising utilization may signal rising inflationary pressures. However, recent technological changes have increased the flexibility of relationships between inputs and outputs, potentially eroding the predictive value of the utilization rate. This paper examines relationships between technology, capital spending, and capacity utilization. After establishing conceptually that the effect of recent technological changes on capacity utilization is ambiguous, we investigate the effect empirically using panel data on 111 manufacturing industries. Our results suggest that, for the average industry, the technological change of the 1974–2000 period lowered capacity utilization by 0.2–2.3 percentage points. ( JEL D24, E22, E31) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the optimal mode of public finance depends on the level of economic development. The theoretical analysis suggests that in the presence of capital market imperfection and liquidity shocks, the detrimental effect of inflation on growth is stronger (weaker) at lower (higher) levels of economic development. Consequently, income taxation (seigniorage) is a relatively less distortionary way of financing public expenditure for low-income (high-income) countries. We provide empirical support for our model’s predictions using a panel of 21 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and 40 developing countries observed over the period 1972–1999. ( JEL E44, E6, H6, O42) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been an article of faith amongst regional economists that increasing returns to scale are necessary to explain the punctiform location of economic activity and population. However, there is no consensus in the empirical literature over whether returns to scale are constant or increasing. A notable example of this lack of agreement is provided by the static-dynamic Verdoorn law paradox. While the dynamic Verdoorn law (specified using growth rates) yields estimates of substantial increasing returns to scale, the static Verdoorn law (specified using log-levels) indicates only the presence of constant returns to scale. In this paper, we explain the static-dynamic Verdoorn law paradox by showing that estimates of returns to scale obtained using the static law are subject to a spatial aggregation bias, which biases the estimates towards constant returns to scale. We illustrate our arguments by means of simulation exercises. The results obtained hold general lessons for applied economic analysis using spatial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperative to engage with communities and employ a community development approach is an integral part of the national agenda under New Labour. However, a large part of the literature and experience that informs contemporary policy and practice draws on the urban realm. This paper draws on the evaluation of a rural Health Action Zone to explore the extent to which national policy can facilitate local approaches to community health development within a rural context. Despite avowed support for innovation and evidence-based learning, it finds a continued emphasis on consensual tactics, low-cost solutions and traditional methods of ranking deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the recent literature on the role of the state in economic development. It concludes that government incentives to enact sound policies are key to economic success. It also discusses the evidence on what happens after episodes of economic and political liberalizations, asking whether political liberalizations strengthen government incentives to enact sound economic policies. The answer is mixed. Most episodes of economic liberalizations are indeed preceded by political liberalizations. But the countries that have done better are those that have managed to open up the economy first, and only later have liberalized their political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within regional science there is a need for a general theory of regional economic development, one that evaluates and integrates existing approaches. In this paper, the philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd is used as a basis for conceptualising the contours of such a theory. Contributions of this philosophy especially relevant for regional economic development are functional pluralism and non-reductionism, interweaving among entities, a broad understanding of the human person and built-in normativity. While all the aspects are significant in regional economic development, the spatial aspect is singled out for particular attention. Dooyeweerd's philosophy is able to incorporate existing approaches to regional economic development though not without criticising and revising them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]