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Humanity faces a wide range of freshwater challenges and threats, from the failure to provide safe water and sanitation to all, to ecological disruptions and degradation, increasing violence over water resources, accelerating climate change, and failing institutions and infrastructure. In recent years, crises around minerals, energy, food, and water have stimulated new debates over definitions and concepts of sustainability—including whether the world is reaching a point where natural resource limits will constrain growing populations and economic expansion. Understanding the concept of "peak water" and the strategies that might be available to avoid these constraints is key to moving toward a more efficient and sustainable water future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article utilizes news media representations to scrutinize the symbolic construction and legitimizing support for green megaprojects, with a particular focus on Northvolt’s battery factory in Skellefteå, Sweden. The study reveals that the media portrayed the project as crucial for local development, driven by Northvolt’s explicit competition, Sweden’s national ambition to lead in green technology, and a neoliberal agenda for regional economic growth. These narratives, deeply rooted in ideological fantasies about the implications of such a megaproject for a small, struggling community, effectively suppressed concerns about colonialism, environmental risks, and indigenous rights. The media’s emphasis on perceived benefits overshadowed potential risks, prompting questions about the long-term impact of such projects on local communities and the environment. The article argues that while these investments are framed as opportunities for progress, they may perpetuate historical patterns of exploitation and overlook critical socio-environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off policy framing has been a central feature of green growth since the 1980s, employed to frame the countervailing spheres of social, environmental, and economic policies purported to ensure the sustainable development of the global economy. This article argues that so central has this framing become that IPE scholars have tended to focus on different types of 'greenable' growth observable within capitalism, rather than question the prospect of greening growth itself. Far from value-free, the trade-off framing is ultimately determined by the structural imperative for economic growth, veiling the disciplines anthropocentric ontology in a normative or objective guise. To account for the tacit prioritization, the trade-in policy framing – the compromising of environmental objectives to accommodate the growth imperative – is advanced as an alternative framing. The trading-in of environmental policies is legitimized through political-industrial narratives, of which three, the (i) consequential, (ii) allay, and (iii) finance are outlined in this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts are underway to balance economic development and ecological preservation by transforming the energy structure. This study uses the Cobb-Douglas production function to examine the relationship between energy and economic growth. Through panel data and regression models, 32 countries are analyzed in terms of global energy consumption and economic development. Countries are further grouped based on energy intensity and economic level to explore dynamic relationships. Previous studies lacked understanding of this relationship under varying conditions, while this study proposes a novel approach. Results indicate a one-way relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. Further analysis reveals that countries with higher energy intensity and economic level experience a negative impact on economic growth from increased renewable energy consumption. These research findings have implications for government decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the 1980s, reforms of the labour market have been at the centre of political and economic debate in the European Union. While these reforms were implemented mainly with the aim of improving employment performance by removing structural issues, they may also have had non-secondary and non-negligible effects on the share of national income received by workers. The aim of this paper is to study the effects of the changes in the labour market regulation index (LMRI) on the wage share in twelve Eurozone countries between 2000 and 2019. The empirical results — obtained from the estimation of an error correction model (ECM) — show that: (i) an inverse relation exists between LMRI as a whole and adjusted wage share in the short run only; (ii) the reduction of the adjusted wage share depends mainly on two specific measures of flexibility: a more decentralized level of bargaining (the effects of which are significant in both long- and short-run periods) and a relaxation of the hiring and firing regulations (the effects of which are significant only in the short run); (iii) the economic growth and unemployment rate also contribute to the decline of the adjusted wage share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying upon the Pasinettian notion of vertical integration (Pasinetti, L. 1981. Structural Change, and Economic Growth: A Theoretical Essay on the Dynamics of the Wealth of Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), we develop a disaggregated version of the post-Kaleckian (Bhaduri, A. and S. Marglin. 1990. 'Unemployment and the Real Wage: The Economic Basis for Contesting Political Ideologies.' Cambridge Journal of Economics 14 (4): 375–393) approach to economic growth. With this analysis, the structural changes are conditioned not only to patterns of evolving demand but also to the distributive features of the economy. Considering oligopolist power and under-capacity utilization within the structural economic dynamic framework allows for heterogeneous final demand and mark-ups, with the profit margins of the consumption sector depending on the mark-up of the corresponding investment sector. Besides, in this set-up, it emerges the possibility vnthat each sector in the economy exhibits either a profit-led or a wage-led growth regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses a severe risk for economic growth. The negative effects of climate change are, however, variegated depending on the region and the type of dominant industries fuelling their economies. Winter tourism in the Alps presents a case of a regionally specific and climate-vulnerable growth driver. Despite increasing climate-related physical risks to winter tourism such as snow scarcity, investments into infrastructure expansion continue. This raises the question of why a potentially unviable growth strategy is actively maintained considering the inevitable climate change scenario. Through semi-structured interviews, field work and archival research, this paper explores how the winter-touristic growth coalition responds to climate change. The findings show that key actors discursively decouple climate change from their growth strategies, which allows them to maintain the winter-touristic growth driver. 'There is no alternative' narratives and sustainability frameworks characterise the growth coalition´s response to the challenge of climate change. This paper makes an important contribution by exploring winter tourism as regional growth driver that contributes to a national export-oriented growth model. It thereby provides a unique perspective on regional underpinnings of growth models and the politics perpetuating growth model stasis under vulnerable climate conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the direction of causality between income inequality and growth, income inequality and debt, and debt and growth for 11 selected countries in SSA countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia). The panel bootstrap causality approach is applied to these countries from 1980 to 2018. Inequality is represented using Gini coefficient, Palma ratio, and Theil index. The findings show that there is at least a one-way causal relationship between public debt and inequality in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, between inequality and growth in Botswana, Lesotho, Nigeria, and South Africa and between growth and debt in Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda. Empirical results imply that the relations between the relevant variables in the Sub-Saharan African countries may vary according to the specific characteristics of these countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to analyse the impact of these three macroeconomic variables together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research conducts a bibliometric analysis of 662 documents from the Scopus database (1986-2022), using tools like Harzing's Publish or Perish, Tableau Public, Biblioshiny - RStudio, Microsoft Excel, and VOSviewer for data visualization. It highlights historical trends, growth, and future prospects in finance, identifying key authors, publications, countries, and institutions. China, Turkey, and Malaysia lead in publications, with the University of South Africa being the most productive institution. The study offers insights into future research in green finance, FinTech, and sustainability, emphasizing the evolution of concepts like "financial inclusion" and "fintech." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation is an important determinant of economic growth, and the Chinese government is trying to create a favourable environment for corporations at both the regulatory and policy levels to improve the innovation level of firms. We use a difference-in-differences model to explore the impact of going public on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. A total of 5522 companies listed on the NEEQ from 2013 to 2017 are selected as samples in this study. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Listing on NEEQ has a significant innovation incentive effect, and compared to unlisted enterprises, the incentive effect has the dynamic characteristics of continuous increase; (2) Further research finds that in the eastern region, where marketisation is higher, as well as the emerging industrial areas, the incentive effect of listing reached 0.4558 and 0.2691 million yuan, respectively, from the perspective of enterprise scale, and listing mainly stimulated the innovation of medium-sized enterprises; (3) Financing constraints and signal transmission partly mediate the relationship between listing and corporate innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the use of different environmental proxies, the economic and financial development (FD)-environmental quality (EQ) nexus is still enigmatic. In this regard, a new composite environmental quality index (CEQI) is used to holistically represent EQ. Moreover, the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) method is applied to estimate the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the financial development Kuznets Curve (FKC) hypotheses using data from 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The findings reveal that economic growth in the first regime positively affects CEQI while having a negative effect after exceeding the threshold and entering the second regime. Also, FD positively affects CEQI for the first regime and has a negative influence for the second regime. Other factors such as energy consumption and composite trade share (CTS) in both the first and second regimes have a negative effect on CEQI. Accordingly, several environmental quality-improving policies are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional model of factor-driven economic growth can no longer be maintained due to an increasing demand to save energy and reduce emissions and a rapid rise in the cost of related factors. The concept of green total factor productivity (GTFP) has emerged as an essential component of high-quality economic growth; consequently, how to boost GTFP through the development of technical advancement has become an important question in recent years. An improved CES production function of labor, capital, and energy is created using the theoretical framework for biased technological growth as its foundation. Subsequently, the mechanisms resulting from the synergy of factor structure, factor efficiency and biased technological progress (BTP) on GTFP are theoretically deduced and empirically analyzed. The conclusion shows that the types of technical advancement are mainly net labor-enhancing and net energy-enhancing technical advancement in China from 2001 to 2017. Due to the biased effect of technical advancement, the relative comparison of the three elements is determined predominantly by excessive capital investment and less by labor and energy. Factor-enhancing technical advancement led to the growth of GTFP, while the synergistic effect of BTP, factor structure and factor efficiency hindered the growth of GTFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on unique firm-level microdata, this study adopts the conditional logit model to empirically evaluate the impact of the environmental tax on the siting of foreign-invested manufacturing enterprises. We also explore the trade-offs of the environmental tax by assessing its economic costs and benefits. This study finds that the environmental tax has a statistically significant and negative impact on the siting of foreign-invested enterprises, as verified by a series of robustness checks. This result implies a trade-off of the environmental tax, reducing pollutant emissions at the expense of damaging economic growth. Heterogeneous analysis finds that the siting is remarkably more sensitive for foreign-invested enterprises that are sole-venture, in high-polluting industries, small-scale, or hosted by developing countries. The other trade-off is outlined: although the environmental tax reduces the number of newly registered foreign-invested enterprises, it brings some economic benefits by making the structure of foreign investment cleaner and more advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we apply a theoretical framework that combines the life-course perspective and the concept of temporality to explore the career agency of immigrants participating in employment interventions in Norway. Findings suggest that immigrants’ career agency is influenced by several factors, including the management of family duties and temporal asynchronies; career history and temporal liminality; and coping with past traumas and temporal suspension. Immigrants might overlook job opportunities due to family obligations or opt for low-skilled professions, seeking an exit from temporal liminality. The endured traumas, followed by temporal suspension, prompt the pursuit of the employment opportunities that are less mentally taxing. Our study highlights the need for employment counselling that acknowledges the effects of disrupted life courses and temporality on immigrants’ career agency. By comprehending clients’ experiences of temporal challenges, counsellors can create tailored strategies and advice that resonate with clients’ lived experiences and current social context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWe analyze developmental strategies in various sectors in countries with underdeveloped economies and their implications for North Korea. We investigate the development plans of four underdeveloped transitional economies during the 1990s using the World Bank’s engagement reports. We find an emphasis on energy, transportation, and agriculture in those countries, while development strategies in North Korea focused on ICT in addition to energy, transportation, and agriculture during the same period. Statistical regression analysis reveals that ICT has the greatest potential impact on economic growth. Historically, domestic and external constraints have limited the performance of North Korea’s ICT policy. However, we recommend that ICT should have high priority in North Korea’s strategic development plan for the following reasons: the socio-economic environment is changing; ICT service trade across borders has been increasing; the population is aging; and our analysis identifies disruptive [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyzes the process and results of the construction of a framework to assess the sustainability of alternative food networks in Mexico City, using a transdisciplinary and systemic approach. We generated a practical tool with twenty-two evaluation criteria linked to five themes: “care for nature and waste reduction;” “equity and economic viability;” “quality, diversity and local products;” “social equity, transparency and democracy,” and “learning and collaboration.” Our method allowed us to develop common languages and context-appropriate tools for sustainability assessment; identify trade-offs and leverage points; and promote collective learning in alternative food networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractOwing to the mainstream interpretation of classical economics as being supply-side, studies examining the analytical role of demand and consumption have been scarce. In this paper, I bring together such passages in Cantillon, Steuart, Smith and Ricardo and forge an analytical link between social tastes and consumption—an attempt at reconstructing a classical theory of taste formation. A classical theory of taste formation has as its foundation methodological holism—viewing social classes as the fundamental unit of analysis. Through a discussion of necessaries and luxuries in the above classical economists, the social division of commodities is highlighted. By drawing on social classes and the social division of commodities, it is seen that taste plays a critical role in the determination of economic growth by influencing consumption expenditure. Finally, it is demonstrated that taste is both a cause and consequence of foreign trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along most of the 2005–2019 period, Uruguay experienced an impressive economic growth. The country extended its public policies across industrial, technological, and social domains. However, there was a dearth of significant structural changes, constraining Uruguay’s ability to embark on a sustained developmental trajectory. Our findings reveal that the majority of implemented policies were designed to enhance competitiveness and build capabilities horizontally, rather than promoting structural changes. This allows us to discuss the dynamic nature of developmental processes marked by increasing policy challenges. In doing so, we stress the relevance of policy support and coordination to sustain inclusive growth processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia’s economic growth and democratisation since 2003 have vaulted it into the ranks of the middle powers in the international system. However, Malaysia remains hesitant about its middle power status. It has assumed a counterhegemonic or pro-multipolarity role; it has supported some new international rules and institutions; it leads regional governance institutions; and it advocates for small countries on development issues. However, these middle power behaviours are countered by a continuation of traditional Malaysia diplomacy which is inactive in shaping the emergence of superpower China as well as being disruptive and personalistic, most recently because of its embrace of radical Islam. It would require major shifts in international system structures and Malaysian national role conceptions for Malaysia to become a fully active middle power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines policy uncertainty on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in South Africa, emphasising the extensive regulatory review by the Competition Commission under the ‘public interest consideration’ criterion. It aims to identify the cost implications and uncertainties associated with M&A transactions to propose measures to reduce these uncertainties. Utilising qualitative methodologies, the study gathers empirical evidence through interviews with companies and competition lawyers involved in the M&A processes. The findings reveal significant concerns about economic uncertainty, merger control, and policy and regulation impacting investment decisions. Policy uncertainty, particularly in the context of merger regulation, imposes substantial cost implications and delays on M&A activities, negatively affecting investment, growth, and economic development. It emphasises the necessity for a regulatory framework that minimises disruptions and costs to business participants. The findings suggest that addressing policy uncertainty and streamlining regulatory processes are crucial steps towards enhancing South Africa's attractiveness as an investment destination and fostering economic growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to investigate how Germany's energy transition has affected environmental quality by considering natural resources, economic growth, financial development, and financial globalization for the period from 1980 to 2021. It is also aimed to discover that the interactions alter with different levels of load capacity factor and explanatory variables using novel quantile-based approaches. Thanks to the unique approaches utilized, the environmental efficacy of the energy transition process can be determined for different quantiles and time periods. The results reveal that although financial globalization and financial development enhance environmental quality, economic growth and increasing natural resource rents harms environment. In addition, the increase in energy transition in all quantiles also has a positive effect on the load capacity. This impact is weak in quantiles with high and low environmental quality, but it becomes more pronounced in middle quantiles of load capacity. Our study offers various policy recommendations to increase the short- and long-term low-level environmental effectiveness of the energy transition process in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the impact of energy poverty on the aggregate and disaggregate material footprint components such as biomass, fossil fuel, metal ores and non-metallic minerals while considering the economic growth and tourism development during 2000–2014 for the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). By applying econometric tools, the study confirms a positive and significant impact of energy poverty on aggregate material footprint and its components. The same finding has been reached for tourism development. Moreover, this study finds a U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for all indicators used for material footprints. Based on the findings, this study proposes a set of policies for energy poverty alleviation to attain a sustainable environment and inclusive economic growth in the BRICS region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the impact of population aging on the relationship between exports and economic growth in Korea using the export-led growth hypothesis framework with an autoregressive distributed lag model and data for the period 1990–2021. We found that export positively influenced economic growth. However, the effect of export on economic growth was negative considering population aging. Furthermore, the negative effect of export increased with aging. Our results also show a positive effect of population aging on economic growth in the long run, which implies the dominance of the human capital effect over the negative productivity effect. Hence, our results indicate that developed countries seeking to achieve sustainable growth through exports should control the population aging problem. Our study suggests two possible policies for solving the population aging problem: promote births and encourage immigration growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the concept of development has shifted from development to inclusive development. This motivates authors to include not only growth and inequality but also poverty, which will represent our concept of inclusive development. The literature on trade and its impact on inequality and poverty is ambiguous and heterogeneous, reflecting the need for more empirical analyses to enable effective policy targeting and implementation. The study examines the dynamic linkages between trade and the GIP triangle (economic growth, poverty, and inequality) in 18 emerging countries from 1991 to 2020. As a contribution to the existing literature, the study emphasizes direct and indirect linkages between trade and the GIP triangle. Using the panel ARDL approach for panel data, the study finds that trade promotes growth. Trade also helps in deteriorating income inequality, while it is not a factor of poverty eradication in emerging economies. The study recommends that to maximize the effectiveness of trade policies; they must be complementary and implemented in tandem with trade reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australia-New Zealand alliance is a critical element of New Zealand foreign and defence policy. It is especially important in a region that is becoming less stable and more competitive. This commentary asks how the alliance influences New Zealand’s China policy. Australia and New Zealand both enjoy significant trade relations with China, and both have sought to manage relations to maximise economic opportunities. Following decades of economic growth, China has led a regionwide increase in defence spending, becoming a more powerful, consequential and at times disruptive regional actor. This shift has complicated China policy in both countries and further underlined the importance of the alliance partnership for New Zealand. Both countries have recalibrated their China policies and strengthened the cohesion of the alliance. This is shown by shared assessments of opportunity and risk, of synchronised shifts due to changes in China and joint actions to shape China’s behaviour and the regional order. Temporal differences in policy shifts, notably in security settings and public diplomacy, follow a tradition of loyal opposition that ultimately strengthens the alliance response to a rejuvenated China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, innovation has become recognized as a key driver of economic growth. This study investigated the relationship between innovation and economic growth in 32 African countries from 2006 to 2017. The linear regression panel corrected standard errors (PCSEs) regression estimation was used to analyze the data. PCSE estimation accounted for heteroskedasticity and possible contemporaneous correlation across panels. The findings showed a positive association between the innovation index and economic growth. This result remained true even when research and development (R&D) expenditure (the conventional measure of innovation) was considered for a handful of countries. This finding highlights the significance of innovation in fostering economic growth. The study also found that domestic investment and human capital encouraged economic growth. The study estimated an endogenous growth model with an alternative measure of innovation. Based on the findings, the study recommends that African countries provide financial and material support for R&D in public and private institutions through funding, imparting entrepreneurial research attitudes in academics, and providing an enabling environment for business enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to investigate which demand component led and shaped the growth patterns of the US economy between 1954 and 2020 and comprehensive sub-periods relying on a proper allocation of imports. In doing so, it aims to establish whether the external sector can make a positive contribution to growth even in a context of negative net exports. Finally, it seeks to shed light on the reasons for higher or lower output growth, drawing particular attention to the engines of growth in each historical period. This article takes a novel approach in two ways: (1) it calculates and analyzes the decomposition of the contributions to growth for the US; (2) it divides the analysis into sub-periods and engines of growth, separately analyzing movements in the components of the multiplier, the dynamics of each component’s share with respect to GDP, and their respective growth rates. The empirical results show that the very low growth rates experienced between 2008 and 2020 are mainly explained by a minimal contribution of the government sector accompanied by weak demand from the private sector, highlighting the importance of growth-oriented public policies. These negative results have been only partially compensated by improvements in the external sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of capital flight on economic growth in Africa using 54 African countries from 2000 to 2021. The study employed the GMM and the dynamic panel threshold regression estimation techniques. GMM results revealed that capital flight negatively and significantly affects economic growth in Africa. The study also revealed that external debt repayment and outward foreign direct investment, proxies of capital flight, have a negative and significant effect on economic growth in Africa, except foreign portfolio investment outflow, which positively and insignificantly influences economic growth. Again, the dynamic panel threshold estimation results also revealed that capital flight negatively affects economic growth at all levels of capital flight in Africa. The study also revealed that all the proxies of capital flight, external debt repayments, foreign portfolio investment outflows, and outward foreign direct investment negatively and significantly affect economic growth above a certain threshold. However, external debt repayment has an insignificant negative effect on economic growth below the threshold in Africa. Based on the findings, African countries should implement stringent policies to curb capital flight and regulate external debt repayments and outward foreign direct investment to enhance economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation plays a pivotal role in fostering sustainable and robust economic growth. Hence, it is of great practical significance to accurately assess green innovation efficiency and analyze its evolving trends and discrepancies from a spatiotemporal dynamic perspective. This study analyzes the green innovation efficiency across 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2019 using the Super-SBM model, Dagum Gini coefficient, Kernel density estimation, and convergence models. The results reveal a consistent enhancement in China's green innovation efficiency, yet substantial room for further improvement persists, standing at 0.679 in 2019. Both China as a whole and its four major regions exhibit a polarisation trend in green innovation efficiency, characterised by notable internal disparities, albeit displaying a declining pattern. Interregional divergence is the primary source of the overall disparity, followed by intraregional disparities and the intensity of transvariation. China's green innovation efficiency demonstrates sigma and beta convergence trends. The study also highlights how uneven regional development and resource allocation disparities lead to an imbalanced convergence of regional green innovation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the national saving behaviour in the process of economic growth through a comparative analysis of countries in developing Asia from a historical perspective. Developing Asia provides an ideal laboratory for the study with considerable differences in the saving behaviour among countries and over time within individual countries, notwithstanding the 'model saver' image of the region that is based mainly on the experience of high-performing East Asian economies. The empirical analysis distinguishes between private and government saving rates, with specific emphasis on the former. The results of the empirical analysis are consistent with the view of a 'virtuous circle' between growth and saving, with growth initiating the saving transition. No evidence to suggest that a prior phase of promoting saving through specific policy initiatives is needed to initiate the process of growth and structural transformation. The private saving rate is also associated positively with export orientation of the economy, and net foreign capital inflows and negatively with the young dependency ratio of the population and domestic credit availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An area of debate in development economics is how financial openness affects economic development. In spite of considerable research, there is no consensus. This is because there are many financial openness indices, so the results are not robust to variations in the index, as discussed in Gräbner et al. (2021). Due to the possibility of different initial conditions, different levels of development, and/or different stages of transitions, the effect of financial openness could vanish without considering these factors. Therefore, this paper categorizes countries into stable countries (High-, Medium-, and Low-income countries) and transition countries (Transitioning to High and Transitioning to Medium income) based on World Bank Categorization. The results show that the effect of financial openness is positive for medium- and low-income level countries. However, it is not at a high-income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a panel threshold model with covariate-dependent and time-varying thresholds and unobserved individual-specific threshold effects (PTCDI). We develop methods for estimation and inference for threshold parameters in the proposed PTCDI model by employing the correlated random effects (CRE) device. We also suggest test statistics for linearity, threshold constancy, unobserved individual-specific threshold effects, and for determining the number of thresholds. We derive the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator in the small-threshold-effect framework and establish the limiting distributions of the suggested test statistics. We also investigate the extension to dynamic panels and show that both the static and dynamic models can be handled uniformly in the CRE framework. Monte Carlo simulation results indicate that the estimation, inference, and testing procedures have the desired performance in finite samples. The model is illustrated with two empirical applications to the relationship between cash flow and investment and the nexus between inflation and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the relationship between Energy-saving Technological Change (ESTC) and economic growth, using panel data of 280 cities in China from 2010 to 2018, and explore the possible moderating effect and threshold effect of factor endowment structure between technological progress of energy-saving and regional economic growth. We have the following findings: (1) ESTC has a significant negative effect on regional economic growth. Each unit increase in ESTC reduces economic growth by 0.4–0.8 percentage points. (2) An increase in factor endowment structure will significantly alleviate the inhibiting effect of ESTC on regional economic growth, showing a specific moderating effect. (3) The impact of ESTC on regional economic growth is heterogeneous depending on the regional factor endowment structure. However, the regions with a capital stock per capita of more than 92.002, ESTC will have no impact on potential economic growth rates. Thus, we provide a new perspective on how to achieve ESTC without compromising economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study examines the membership duration of travel and leisure (tourism) firms in the United Nations Global Compact Sustainability Reporting Programme between 2007 and 2020. Important factors of duration include firm characteristics (such as size and ownership) as well as contextual country-specific elements relating to environmental progress and control of corruption. Data originate from 693 member firms entering the programme at any point during the analysis period. Estimation results, based on the Cox proportional hazard model, show that tourism firms in countries that decouple emissions from economic growth are more likely to endure in the programme. A high level of corruption control in the home country is also associated with a significantly higher probability of membership duration. Larger firms, publicly listed firms and members of local Global Compact networks are also more likely to remain in the programme. Control of corruption is only important for duration outside the OECD; meanwhile, environmental performance at the country level is crucial independent of location. Environmental performance is particularly significant in more recent years, in parallel with an accelerated green transition in many countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of population density, economic growth, and regulatory quality on the environmental performance of five SAARC countries from 2000 to 2020. To this end, fixed and random effects models are used. Quantitative data on socio-economic and environmental characteristics reveals notable differences across countries. The results show a significant positive and negative impact of the covariates economic growth and population density, respectively, on environmental performance. While the estimated coefficient of the regulatory quality variable was positive, it was statistically insignificant. The results also suggest a significant inter-country dependency and a significant change in environmental performance across countries over time. Based on the results, several strategic approaches are proposed at both individual and multi-country settings. Furthermore, we emphasize the roles of the government, international and regional agencies, private sector, and civil society organizations. Finally, possible extensions of the present paper are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study aims to investigate how Foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade openness influenced economic growth in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2022, using the Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) and System Generalized Method of Moments (System-GMM) methods. Our findings show that these two variables boost economic growth by 0.172, 0.021, 0.291, and 0.072%, respectively. Additionally, the results indicate that BRICS countries have demonstrated greater resilience in terms of FDI and trade before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, underscoring the effectiveness of their investment and trade policies in maintaining economic growth amidst global disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate unemployment has become a common phenomenon in Africa. Many youth with advanced education levels are not able to find decent jobs. This article examines the effect of human capital investment on youth unemployment using panel data from 44 sub-Saharan countries over the period 1991-2020. The Cross-Sectional augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) modeling approach is carried out to overcome the issue of endogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. Results show that in the long run, an increase in primary and tertiary school enrolments reduces the youth unemployment rate. In contrast, secondary school enrolment is positively associated with youth unemployment, independently of gender considerations. The short-run dynamics reveal that primary and tertiary school enrolments are positively associated with youth unemployment. In addition, the results confirmed Phillip's curve hypothesis between inflation and unemployment and Okun's law between economic growth and unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are societies required to pursue continual economic growth as a matter of justice? In "The Value of Economic Growth", Julie Rose considers three arguments in favor of the need for continual economic growth, each of which revolves around the instrumental value of economic growth for promoting an important good that is needed for a just society. In each case, Rose argues that there are mechanisms other than economic growth that could allow a society to deliver the relevant goods, and thus meet the demands of justice with respect to those goods. I raise a set of issues for Rose's argument that put pressure on the normative significance of her discussion. At the heart of these issues are ones about which possibilities Rose considers and which idealizations she makes. These issues tie into more general questions about the aims and methodology of normative work in social/political philosophy. Thus, in addition to being a contribution to the debate over the politics of economic growth, this paper can be understood partly as a case study in how reflection on these kinds of issues – ones about modality, idealization, and methodology – can matter to how we evaluate specific arguments in social/political philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant interpretation of the classical theories of aggregate activity levels and economic growth is that they are supply-side in nature with the contributions of Sismondi and Malthus viewed as notable exceptions. However, a focused examination of the key texts of the classical economists such as Cantillon, Quesnay, Turgot, Steuart, Smith, and Ricardo reveals that strong demand-side thinking has in fact been lurking beneath the surface in the theoretical world of the classical economists even before Sismondi and Malthus. The major implication is that Say's law is an imposition on classical economists and that in the case of Ricardo, his endorsement of Say's law cannot easily be reconciled with the demand-side ideas in his writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a critical environmental political project, the degrowth movement contests the hegemony of economic growth. Much scholarship has sought to unpack degrowth’s proposals to reduce matter and energy throughput and to promote socio-ecological justice, democracy and wellbeing. Few studies, however, examine how the movement sustains itself. In this article, therefore, we explore the role fantasy plays in the movement’s emergence and sustenance. We draw on semi-structured interviews and officially-disseminated documents to examine the discourse of degrowth through a Critical Fantasy Studies lens, arguing that fantasies structure supporters’ desires and sustain the energy lying behind their environmental politics and actions. We suggest that the fantasy of ‘mutual dependence and care’, in particular, affectively fortifies their efforts to contest economic growth’s hegemonic norms and, in doing so, bolsters degrowth’s distributed modes of political action while also allowing its members to cultivate a prefigurative ethics of engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Mahanadi basin as a case, the study demonstrates benefit-sharing can improve water allocation among riparian states experiencing water stress. The results show the basin having a yearly average water deficit of 5429 million cubic metres (MCM) under business-as-usual which increases to 6781 MCM under high economic growth for 2011–2050. Even after various water supply augmentation and demand management interventions and climate change-induced increased runoff, the upper riparian state continues to have a water deficit. This can be reduced if the lower riparian state allows the upper one to divert 1500 MCM of additional water annually which will require a strong governance mechanism in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon mitigation and net-zero targets have an important place on the political agenda for all countries. Countries have been seeking to decouple economic growth and carbon emissions to achieve decarbonization. However, there is a cost of the decarbonization of economies, which can be called as Green Sacrifice Ratio (GSR), and this is critical for developing countries because they have been in the growing stage. By considering the critical role of GSR in achieving net-zero emissions by decarbonizing economies, the study comparatively examines how much environmental quality should be sacrificed for per capita economic growth in China and India. In line with this purpose, the study uses the Fourier-Shin cointegration test and various time series estimators with Fourier approximations for the period from 1989/Q1 to 2022/Q4. Estimation results are as follows: (i) all variables follow the non-stationary process, (ii) the long-run relationship exists between variables, and (iii) Estimation results show that GSR is 0.65% for China and 0.78% for India. Therefore, China and India sacrifice a significant amount of environmental quality for a 1% increase in per capita income level. Also, the ecological cost of increasing economic welfare in India is higher with regard to China. Besides, the results are robust according to the alternative method. Thus, the study recommends that both Chinese and Indian policymakers should revise the economic expansion structure with green growth strategies to prevent irreversible environmental degradation due to higher economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land reforms have been implemented in many parts of the world because of both justice and the attractive developmental policy objectives of improving poor people's welfare – as the prime beneficiaries. Land reform also facilitates rural economic growth. In some parts of the world, like China and India, there is evidence that land reform has been effective in poverty reduction and in enabling economic growth. However, in other parts of the world, like South Africa, the impact of land reform has been very minimal mainly due to poor policy implementation, which entails inadequate support structures. Using an integrative literature review approach and key policy documents on South Africa's land reform, this article dissects this policy–practice gap in South Africa's land redistribution policy and proposes that land redistribution be implemented by a private independent entity to reduce state bureaucracy and inefficiencies and, in turn, improve execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While in recent times many regions have flourished, many others are stuck—or are at risk of becoming stuck—in a development trap. Such regions experience decline in economic growth, employment, and productivity relative to their neighbors and to their own past trajectories. Prolonged periods in development traps are leading to political dissatisfaction and unrest. Such discontent is often translated into support for antisystem parties at the ballot box. In this article we study the link between the risk, intensity, and duration of regional development traps and the rise of discontent in the European Union (EU)—proxied by the support for Eurosceptic parties in national elections between 2013 and 2022—using an econometric analysis at a regional level. The results highlight the strong connection between being stuck in a development trap, often in middle- or high-income regions, and support for Eurosceptic parties. They also suggest that the longer the period of stagnation, the stronger the support for parties opposed to European integration. This relationship remains robust whether considering only the most extreme Eurosceptic parties or including parties with more moderate levels of Euroscepticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyse the state and the dynamics of developmental and other aspects of investments in research and development (R&D) in the group of countries in Southeast Europe. The analysis is performed for several countries in Southeast Europe together and by individual countries. The period from 1996 to 2020 is observed in the analysis. In most countries of Southeast Europe, the allocation for R&D is relatively small. Applied research is the most represented. Significant differences can be noticed regarding the sources of financing and to the implementation of allocations for R&D. A particularly important part of this work is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the gross expenditures on R&D on economic growth. This analysis was performed on the basis of regression analysis. Several regression models were formed in which the dependent variable was gross domestic product per capita It can be concluded that the parameters of the financial condition of the observed economy have the greatest influence on the economic growth of the observed group of countries. Allocations for research and development still do not have a significant enough impact on economic growth in observed countries in Southeast Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple conflicts of spatial planning are currently intensifying in the context of sustainability transformations. This paper aims to better understand the conflicts involved in planning inter-municipal commercial areas (IMCA) in city-regional constellations. Choosing an explicit conflict perspective integrating different strands of literature, a qualitative in-depth case study using cognitive-affective mapping (CAM) is carried out. The case study analyzes a region comprising a large urban center and multiple smaller surrounding communities in Southern Germany, where several attempts to cooperate have failed, ostensibly due to poor urban-rural relations. Our findings reveal that the situation is more complex: IMCA is hindered by vertical and horizontal governance conflicts and sectoral conflicts of interest. While land use conflicts on where to implement IMCA are hindering concrete projects, a deeper conflict potential lies in the question of whether to plan new commercial areas at all. Albeit IMCA are proposed as the solution for reducing land take and realizing economic growth, the planning of IMCA reflects this global tension on the regional and local level without being able to solve it per se. We conclude that an explicit conflict perspective as well as the CAM method can be fruitful for planning research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New generation' free trade agreements now include 'Trade and Sustainable Development' (TSD) chapters designed to improve environmental provisions within overall trading arrangements. The wide-ranging European Union (EU)-Japan agreement of 2018 represents the culmination of a trend towards the greater inclusion of such TSD elements, and, as it covers one-third of global GDP, the significance of this agreement for trading relations cannot be understated. Comparing it with other agreements involving Japan and the EU, I argue that greater attention to sustainable development in trade connections, notwithstanding tangible significant environmental improvements, further embeds an anthropocentric narrative of trade-environment linkages and supports a 'win–win' linkage between enhancing economic growth and ensuring environmental protections. Through an eco-centric critique, I seek to challenge the fundamental anthropocentric assumptions underpinning such inclusions and explore the ways in which the language of environmental protection and climate change has been depoliticised by a particular framing of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, China launched her targeted poverty alleviation, and a large amount of fiscal anti-poverty funds have been invested. However, whether the enormous fiscal anti-poverty funds have had a positive impact on the local economy has been ambiguous. This study investigates the impact of fiscal anti-poverty funds on local economic growth, drawing on Chinese fiscal data at the county level. Our results indicate that fiscal anti-poverty funds are not conducive to local economic growth. Further analysis reveals that anti-poverty funds reduce fiscal support for the service industry, manufacturing industry, enterprise development, and technical innovation. This is because impoverished counties are forced to supply extra fiscal anti-poverty funds, which leads to compression of fiscal expenditures in other areas due to local deficient finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of energy imports in domestic production function in the case of 15 energy-importing countries for the period of 1995–2015. Apart from energy imports, renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy consumption, capital, trade openness, and urbanization are included in the growth model. In doing so, long-run elasticity coefficients are estimated with the Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (DSUR) model after determining the cointegration relationship between the variables. In addition, for robustness checks, Panel Correlated Standard Errors (PCSE) and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) estimators are applied. Our results show that renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy consumption, trade openness, and capital have a positive effect on economic growth. Energy imports negatively affect economic growth. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality analysis reveals a bidirectional causality relationship between renewable energy consumption, capital, trade openness, urbanization, and economic growth. A unidirectional causality relationship exists from economic growth to non-renewable energy consumption and energy imports. This analysis can be interpreted as having a negative impact on economic growth by putting pressure on the current account deficit due to energy imports. Therefore, investments in the renewable energy sector will play an important role in economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the short-run and long-run impacts of foreign aid and remittances on economic growth in a panel of 31 African countries from 1980 to 2019 utilizing the ARDL Pool Mean Group (PMG) estimation technique. The PMG is utilized based on the outcome of the Hausman test which justifies it appropriateness. There is long-run association among the regressors and the regressand in the model. Our results indicate that, in the short-run, remittance and foreign aid respectively have a negative impact on economic growth but that impact is statistically insignificant. In the long-run, however, remittances have a positive and significant impact on economic growth while foreign aid has a positive but insignificant effect on economic growth on the continent. These results have substantial policy implications. African governments should adopt effective policies to maximize the usefulness and effectiveness of foreign capital, such as foreign aid and remittances, in boosting economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]