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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]

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]

Among south Asian countries, Bhutan has the second lowest poverty incidence; but, there is a large difference in poverty incidence between urban and rural areas. While urban areas registered a very small poverty incidence, 12.0% of rural population were still below the national poverty line in 2017. Poverty is by and large a rural phenominon in Bhutan. Against this background, this study examines whether Bhutan's rural economic growth was pro-poor from 2007–2017 by using the Bhutan Living Standard Surveys. It also conducts an IV probit analysis to explore the determinants of poverty. Even in rural areas, growth is necessary for the reduction of poverty. Besides relying on trickle-down effects from hydropower projects and tourism, promotion of agriculture-based small scale industries is essential for the acceleration of rural economic growth, where further development of basic industrial and transportation infrastructure and socioeconomic facilities is imperative. The country also needs to promote and strengthen basic education since education is found to have played an important role in reducing poverty. Many rural households are vulnerable to poverty. To prevent vulnerable households from falling into poverty, more effective social safety net programs may be necessary based on regional differences in factors affecting living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a country-specific analysis on the effect of tourism on the economic growth of five small Pacific Island Countries (PICs) – Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The results show tourism development is growth-enhancing for all five countries. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is growth-enhancing for Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and in the short run, a delayed negative association for Fiji and Vanuatu is found. Remittances are growth-retarding for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with a short-run delayed positive association for Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Financial development is growth-retarding for Solomon Islands and Tonga, with a short-run positive association for Fiji and Samoa. While the results underscore the huge importance of tourism in generating growth and FDI in the Pacific, given the ongoing adverse effects of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, PICs will have to focus on alternative sectors to progress economic activities. Policy suggestions are discussed along these lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for the development of financial system has been the major concern of the Asian economies over the years. Using a System Generalized Methods of Moments technique for 44 Asian countries over the period 1980–2017, we evaluate the effect of financial development on economic growth for the entire Asia, sub-regions and groups of the countries by their levels of income. Additionally, we considered the subcomponents of the financial system. The contribution of this study hinges on the use of a comprehensive measure of financial development, and consideration of the heterogeneity of the Asian countries concerning the finance-growth nexus. The findings revealed that financial development spurs economic growth in Asia. Specifically, the development of financial institutions have a greater impact than development of financial markets on growth of upper-middle and high-income countries while the reverse is the case for low and low-middle income countries in the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of government expenditure on economic growth in Vanuatu for the period 1981 to 2016. We first examined the effects of government expenditure on economic growth when government expenditure is financed by tax revenues, non-tax revenues, and budget deficit/surplus. Secondly, we examined the effects of government expenditure compositions on economic growth. Thirdly, we tested for weak exogeneity of fiscal factors on investment. We observed that fiscal factors and investment have causal effects on economic growth in Vanuatu. More specifically, government expenditure negatively influences long-run economic growth when financed by tax revenues, but positively influences long-run economic growth when financed by other sources such as non-tax revenues and budget surplus/deficit. We further noted that amongst expenditure compositions, expenditure on education, health, wages & salaries, agriculture, and interest payments individually has larger effects on the long-run economic growth than the remaining expenditure composition as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact and transmission mechanism of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on the economic growth of city clusters. Via theoretical analysis, a spatial Durbin model (SDM) and mediating effect model are applied based on panel data of the three major city clusters in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 1997 to 2018. The results reveal the following: (1) FDI inflows promote the economic growth of city clusters in the YREB, but the degrees of impacts on the three city clusters are different; (2) the spatial effects of FDI inflows differ across city clusters; the effects are negative in city clusters of the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Middle Reaches, and positive in the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster; (3) urbanization and industrial structure upgrading are two important mechanisms by which FDI inflows promote the economic growth of city clusters. However, there are differences among the three major city clusters; the intermediary effect of urbanization is more significant in city clusters of Chengdu-Chongqing and the Yangtze River Middle Reaches, while the intermediary effect of industrial structure upgrading is more significant in the Yangtze River Delta and Chengdu-Chongqing city clusters. Policy implications are proposed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one of the fastest growing nations in the world with ample scope for renewable energy. Nevertheless, challenges in expansion of renewable energy consumption have resulted in pollutant emissions continuing to be a noteworthy environmental concern in India. This paper investigates the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and international tourist arrivals in India during 1991-2018, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Vector Error Correction Model frameworks. This study extends the Indian literature on economic growth, energy consumption, and pollutant emissions nexus by including tourism, an energy-intensive industry in the model specification. Results reveal that energy consumption and tourism positively contribute to CO2 emissions. A long-run unidirectional causality running from energy consumption, GDP, GDP2, and tourist arrivals towards CO2 emissions is observed. Our results suggest that sustainable tourism, energy consumption, and economic growth should be at the forefront of the economic development agenda of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic characteristics are outlined of the UN's Gender Inequality Index (GII) and its Gender Development Index (GDI). Their trends in relation to India's real Gross National Income (GNI) per capita indicate a decline in its gender inequality with its economic growth. However, these trends give a distorted and incomplete picture of changes in Indian gender inequality. Several assumptions underlying GII and GDI are questioned in the Indian context, for example, within India more education of females is not associated with a reduced wage gap between males and females, and greater access of females to the labour market can raise gender inequality. The effects of economic growth (absent in the above indices) are assessed on Indian male–female ratios and on violence against women. Variations in gender inequality in India within households are also considered. New data results in the questioning of several existing hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship among CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption, economic growth and urbanization for a panel of 13 Asian developing countries. The panel cointegration tests suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship among CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption, economic growth and urbanization. The findings from the FMOLS estimation indicate that overall biomass energy consumption cannot reduce CO2 emissions. The results of panel causality tests show that there is a short-run unidirectional causality running from GDP to biomass energy consumption and a short-run one-way causality running from GDP and urbanization to CO2 emissions, respectively. As for the long-run relationship, the findings indicate that there is unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption and urbanization to GDP, respectively, implying that real GDP could play a key role in the adjustment process as the system departs from long-run equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western business management literature tells us that agrifood market systems are based on formalised (e.g. contract-based), economic and demand-driven supply and value chain approaches and that in developing economies, growth and development need to be similarly underpinned. Social sciences literature, on the other hand, recognises the existence of small-scale, informal, socio-culturally driven societies in which local livelihoods dominate. In these communities, economic growth and development are based on informality. In an era where agrifood market development in developing countries is a focus of international aid agencies, an understanding of the dichotomy of formality and informality in doing business in a socio-cultural context is critical for agencies to ensure their aid is effectively targeted. In this study, horticultural product chains in two South Pacific nations (Tonga and Solomon Islands) were studied to address the informal/formal dichotomy associated with 'doing business' in small-scale societies. A multi-methods approach was used, featuring a Hybrid Value Chain Framework (HVCF) to 'capture' socio-cultural norms that exist in these small-scale societies when dealing with food production and marketing. It was found that a strong and well developed 'habitus of informality' underpins sustainable economic systems in these communities. We conclude that being aware of, and understanding, the habitus of informality that exits in small-scale societies is essential in aid design to ensure the sustainability of aid projects past their completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pivotal role of energy in the progression of economic growth cannot be overlooked. Given its importance to policymakers, the influence of energy use on economic growth is undeniably crucial and thus should be explored meticulously. This study empirically examines the impact of energy on economic growth within the production function framework of a panel of 10 developing Asian economies from 1990Q1 to 2014Q4. The pooled mean group, fully modified ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares methods are implemented. Empirical results reveal that energy has a significant positive impact on economic growth, thereby suggesting that energy is an important factor of production in addition to human and physical capital. The implication of the finding suggests that all 10 Asian economies are energy dependent and thus can propel economic growth by sustaining energy supply, which can largely improve social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]