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A database of journal articles and conference papers that cover the economics of agricultural development in Africa during the period 2016–2020 was compiled. These papers are first described in terms of demographic and bibliometric criteria, followed by a network analysis of the main centers of origin and of influence of this research. Finally, three different processes were used to test the policy relevance of the work. These include a simple enumeration of the policy recommendations in a sample of the papers, a megatrend analysis, and a comparison of their focus with the standard narrative of the role of agriculture in economic development. The results show that a large proportion of the literature is not forward‐looking, and is weak on policy relevance. We ignore a number of issues that engage the attention of those concerned with implementing structural change in agriculture across the many very different but very real natural resource, political, social, economic, and technological environments around the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between financial development (FD), economic complexity and country stability. To achieve this objective, this paper applies a finite mixture model to a sample of 92 developing countries over the period 1995–2018. The study posits that the effect of FD on economic complexity differs across groups of countries with similar but unobserved characteristics. The study finds that the effect of FD on economic complexity varies across four classes of countries, which differ according to their level of economic, political and financial stability. Furthermore, the study argues that stable countries are more likely to be in class 1, including more performing countries – that is, the group of countries where FD spurs economic complexity. This finding remains consistent even when alternative measures of FD and economic complexity are considered. Hence, efforts by developing countries to undertake sound reforms to reduce economic, political and financial risks could help leverage the benefits of FD in fostering the development of sophisticated and complex economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sister city relationships (SCRs) are a platform through which local governments (LGs) engage internationally. Increasingly, there is an expectation that such international engagement delivers economic opportunities and returns. Many LGs are therefore pursuing local economic development (LED) through their SCRs. Drawing on a national survey of Australian LGs (stage 1) and interviews with key council staff and stakeholders in five LG areas maintaining Australia–China SCRs (stage 2), this paper contributes to growing literature on LED by examining how LGs have developed their own capacities and supported local small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage internationally. Our findings reveal insights into how Australian LGs have achieved international engagement through two strategies that leverage their SCRs, namely building government's capabilities and developing SMEs' capabilities. This paper contributes new insights into the evolving role of LGs in LED, including both current experimentation, challenges, and future opportunities. Points for practitioners: A growing number of Australian local governments pursue LED through their Chinese sister city relationships.Supporting the internationalisation of SMEs is an emerging component of local government pursuit of LED.International engagement of local governments has necessitated enhanced capacities in human, external, and financial resources.Findings highlight the unique and often overlooked role of local‐to‐local diplomatic and economic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the current political developments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, such as Ukraine, Poland, and Romania, the question arises as to the role played by economic transformation and the resulting innovation linkages in these countries over the last 20 years. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of economic and institutional dimensions on the development of CEE countries, explicitly distinguishing between European Union (EU) members and non‐members, and thus reflecting the differences in institutions and path dependency. Furthermore, the paper contrasts the performance of CEE countries with that of Western European countries. To achieve these objectives, the impact of factors such as innovation, institutions, and political practices on the economic development of 37 European countries from 2000 until 2020 is followed using fixed effects regression and Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The results of the analysis show the importance of institutional factors such as low levels of corruption, political freedoms, and intellectual property. The effect of institutional variables was particularly pronounced in the case of non‐EU countries, which indicates the particular importance of the development of stable institutions for achieving higher levels of economic development for this category of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the sustainable efficiency of container terminals (CTs). By the definition of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), business sustainable development includes three domains: Economics, Environment, and Society. Accordingly, based on the definition and the practical features of CT operations, this paper assesses sustainable efficiency for CTs from three perspectives: container throughput, CO2 emissions, and occupational safety. In this paper, a modality movement and a fuzzy grey relational analysis (GRA) approach are first proposed to estimate CO2 emissions and occupational safety index for CT operators, respectively. A hybrid slacks‐based measure (SBM)‐DEA model is then developed to assess the sustainable efficiency of CT operators. Finally, the CT operators in the Port of Kaohsiung are empirically investigated to validate the research model. Based on the results, theoretical and practical implications for the management of CT operators and port authorities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a general equilibrium spatial urban model and measures city geometric compactness using the patch‐shape index based on evidence from satellite imagery and basic vector maps of China. It adopts the ordinary least squares and instrumental variable approaches to examine the effect of city shape on the urban development of 279 Chinese cities at or above the prefecture level. The empirical results show that there was a significant negative correlation between city shape and economic outcomes. Specifically, every 1 percentage point increase in the patch‐shape index led to a decrease in city‐scale GDP by 0.009 percent, housing prices by 0.044 percent, and wages by 0.024 percent. More compact urban layouts attracted an inflow of households and firms, stimulated city economic growth, and were associated with increased housing prices and wage rates. The paper considers the cities' initial conditions, trends in population changes (expanding, shrinking, and stagnant cities), and geographic factors, and finds that the results are robust. An array of policy implications can be drawn from the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrants often face challenges in social integration. Using a nationally representative sample of migrant workers and employing the epidemiological approach, this paper examines the determinants of social integration. It finds that, conditional on a set of individual features, the migrants from less‐developed provinces have greater difficulty in integrating into local communities. These results still demonstrate robustness across alternative variables, samples, and various specifications. Mechanism analysis shows that educational and employment factors account for over 40 percent of the variance in social integration levels, suggesting their significant influence. Additionally, the analysis suggests that native bias against migrants, along with misunderstandings between them, may account for part of the remaining variation in social integration levels. Importantly, the ability to speak local dialects has been identified as a crucial factor that can significantly improve migrants' subjective experience of integrating into a new city. By identifying one specific cause of social integration, this paper provides information to individuals and governments and assists them to improve social integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of the political hierarchies of cities in China from different perspectives. First, we examine the economic disparities between prefectural cities and municipalities. Furthermore, this paper draws upon a quasi‐ experiment to analyze the impact of upgrading Chongqing to a municipality in 1997 using the synthetic control method. The city‐upgrading policy significantly increased Chongqing's gross domestic product (GDP) in the following 4 years. Finally, we find that the policy increased GDP in treated cities within 1200 km of Chongqing by about 10%–13% relative to the control cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Frankish customs regulations recorded in the tenth‐century 'Inquest on the tolls of Raffelstetten' have long formed a cornerstone of traditional arguments about slavery's role in the early medieval European economic revival. This paper experiments with the application of a more‐than‐human lens to the Raffelstetten record and other evidence to generate new insights into the intimate experience of enslavement and the interspecies networks of relations that shaped the slave trade and slave markets in early medieval Europe. Human and animal entanglements, as revealed in the Raffelstetten record, determined how enslaved people experienced capture, transport, and sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing studies usually find that technical change was very important in constraining the economic growth of the Soviet Union. While these studies have been successful in quantifying the extent of technical change, they have been less successful in quantifying its nature. This paper moves a step closer to probing the essence of Soviet efficiency by splitting the aggregate technical change into its subcomponents – namely, capital and labour efficiency. I find that the Soviet Union registered strong labour efficiency gains during most of the postwar period, converging towards the labour efficiency level of the global frontier – the US. Labour efficiency growth did decrease over time, but labour efficiency was not a primary cause of Soviet growth retardation. That retardation was instead caused by a decline in capital efficiency. At a disaggregated level, I find that the decrease in capital efficiency was driven by structures. I hypothesize that labour shortages and an inadequate investment policy resulted in a large stock of unfinished, and hence idle, structures, distorting Soviet economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of consumption practices in Venice in the long eighteenth century through the combined use of post‐mortem inventories and household budgets. Although Italy experienced a period of relative decline between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, our findings suggest that Venetian households enjoyed a rich and vibrant material culture that was fully comparable with those of the most advanced European urban economies. However, although new products, practices, and fashions were adopted by Venetian society, the architecture of consumption did not undergo sudden and extreme changes; rather, consumption was gradually refined, following the path that it had begun during the Renaissance. We therefore argue that the Venetian economy did not experience a consumer revolution but, instead, consumer evolution. Moreover, this study shows that sophisticated consumption practices were not exclusive to the more dynamic economies of the continent but were widespread even in those regions that were victims of the Little Divergence. We thus suggest that the relationship between consumption development and economic development was not necessarily causal and that the diffusion of new consumption practices throughout society was a necessary, but insufficient, prerequisite for economic take‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's environmental governance exhibits a significant imbalance with its economic development. To enhance the "green" and sustainable practices of enterprises, employing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles is imperative. The literature examining the correlation between ESG and green innovation (GI) lacks detailed clarity and obscures the different effects of each dimension. Inefficient resource allocation may also result from ignoring the distinct implementation costs associated with each dimension of ESG. Such problems eventually hinder the guidance of corporate practices. Therefore, the promoting or inhibiting effects stemming from each of these dimensions warrant further study. In this paper, we use data from A‐share listed companies in China for the years 2004 to 2020 to investigate the mechanism that links the E, S, and G dimensions of ESG with GI from an externality perspective. We prove a linear or U‐shaped relationship between the E or S dimension and GI, and we explore the mediating effect of financing constraints on these relationships. We compare these dimensions under a unified theoretical framework to clarify their differences in externality and internality. This study's results highlight the importance for enterprises to emphasise environmental issues and social recognition, instead of just corporate operations, to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of foreign aid in stimulating economic development is a topic of intense debate in the scientific community and among policy analysts. Numerous empirical studies are devoted to investigating the impact of foreign aid on the economic growth/development of recipient countries. This study reviews the literature relevant to this debate using the bibliometric data of scholarly papers in the Scopus database. Our intention is to identify the trends of publications, their geographical distribution and the most influential journals, authors and articles in this field of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a paper by Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg and Tristan Reed that explores the role of market size in economic development and poverty reduction. The paper argues that market size is a significant constraint on development and that conventional development policies may not be fully effective. The authors present evidence that supports their perspective and propose measures of market size. However, the article also highlights the potential negative effects of international integration on domestic producers and raises questions about the strong version of the argument. It suggests that other factors, such as macro policies and commodity prices, may have contributed to the recent economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. The article concludes by discussing the changing global context and the need to focus on domestic demand for sustained economic development. [Extracted from the article]

This article is a comment on a paper titled "Presidential Address: Demand-Side Constraints in Development: The Role of Market Size, Trade, and (In)Equality" by Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg and Tristan Reed. The paper explores the relationship between market size and economic development, specifically focusing on the transition from agriculture to manufacturing. The authors find that small market size is a constraint for economic development and that expansion into international markets or growth in domestic markets can help overcome this constraint. The paper also discusses the importance of demand-side policies and supply-side policies in promoting development, particularly for countries with a comparative advantage in primary sectors. [Extracted from the article]

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the resulting spillover effects can be important for a country's development and economic growth. Using panel data from 2004 to 2019 in the Czech Republic's manufacturing industry, this paper finds the following. First, FDI firms generate positive horizontal labour effects and backward labour linkage on domestic firms. However, other hypothesized effects of FDI firms, such as horizontal and backward competition and the forward linkage of FDI, were not significant. Second, FDI firms at the mature and shakeout stage generate more spillover than those at the introduction and growth stage. There is no spillover impact on domestic firms by FDI firms at the decline stage. This is the first paper to examine the role of firm life cycle on the spillover effects of FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth‐generation (5G) technology is seen to be a solution for developing countries to improve their quality of services in terms of transportation, education, health, agriculture, and other fields, thereby holding the promises of economic transformation by improving productivity and the quality of life. The paper considers some of the challenges that face operators, investors, and providers when planning to introduce 5G technology to developing countries. The main focus of this paper is the 5G transport network, in particular, the backhaul network. The 5G transport network architectural options and scenarios are discussed based on several standards and previous studies, the problems of existing infrastructures of developing countries are investigated, and new proposed technologies that may help to address those challenges are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pillar 2 of the OECD's global tax reform proposal will have significant direct and indirect impacts for low‐income developing countries (LICs). Most interesting and problematic is the question as to how the global anti‐base erosion (GloBE) rules for a proposed global minimum effective tax will affect tax competition behaviour in LICs, and how LICs should respond when a critical mass of higher‐income economies adopt the new structure. Most LICs are source‐only countries, and they are very much in competition to attract foreign direct investment. Do LICs want to continue to compete using the tax system to the extent possible, to step back from that competition, or to take some intermediate course? Pillar 2 does not itself change a country's desired position on the competition spectrum – it merely affects how, and to what extent, that position can still be obtained. This paper posits that LICs should adopt qualified domestic minimum top‐up taxes, and that this will not itself have a negative impact on their competitiveness. The primary focus of the paper, however, is on the design of the substance‐based income exclusion (carve‐out), examining the following three questions. Should the GloBE have been designed without a carve‐out? Would there have been a better way of designing it? How will LICs be affected? The paper concludes that, as little real advantage is likely to accrue to LICs from intangible assets, minimising tax competition for those assets will have relatively little impact on them; and that, from an economic efficiency standpoint, shifting the tax burden away from a normal return and toward economic rents – albeit imperfectly – is a reasonable solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of issues of development and modernisation of the existing structure of economy is central to the scientific activity of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the study is to consider the trends in the development of the economic system in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study used methods of analysis and synthesis of information, the comparative method, induction and deduction and analysis of research papers, which is relevant to the subject matter. The conclusions were drawn that the modernisation and development of the economy of Kazakhstan is a complex step‐by‐step process, which includes: mastering the manufacturing of modern products; renovation of production equipment; organic integration into the latest world innovation processes; requalification of people. The practical significance of the study is that it can be used by theorists and practitioners to investigate the development of the economic system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]