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This paper examines the effect of capital account liberalization on the frequency of stock market crashes. We use de jure and de facto measures of capital account liberalization and employ a negative binomial random effect model to analyse the relationship. Using a sample of 65 countries for 1973–2016, we show that with restricted capital account liberalization, an increase in capital flows leads to a decrease in stock market crashes. With a more liberalized capital account convertibility, higher capital flows lead to a rise in stock market crashes. The main key finding supports the notion that free and unregulated capital flows induce more volatility in the stock market, and crashes in these markets are more likely to happen. These results are also robust to different sub‐samples comprising of high‐income OECD countries and non‐OECD countries. Our results are also robust to change in the specification of stock market crashes and changes in capital flows' specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City officials are continuously working to attract airlines willing to fly to new destinations. The inherent expectation is that a more extensive aviation network stimulates economic growth. This paper investigates empirically the causal implication of this hypothesis. Using data on nonstop flights by origin and destination over the period 1984–2013, we propose a new measure for a metropolitan area's connectivity to the national aviation network. We then use this measure to investigate its contribution to local economic development, as captured by the growth in population, in total employment, in per‐capita income, and new firm entry. To ensure causality, we use instrumental variable methods that exploit geography and destination airports growth as a way to capture the exogenous variation in the likelihood to add new travel routes. Our results suggest that a metropolitan area's air connectivity, resulting from an expansive local aviation network, has a positive effect on population, on employment and on the number of businesses established in that location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the short‐ and long‐run impacts of gasoline price, macroeconomic factors and road length on road traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities in Nigeria. Annual data from 1995 to 2019 and autoregressive distributed lag approach were employed. Results suggest that gasoline price, per capita income, road length and population density significantly influence road safety outcomes. Gasoline price has a positive short‐run impact on crashes, injuries, and fatalities contrary to findings in developed countries. Road crashes tend to decrease when income increases in the short term. Population density leads to improvement in road safety outcomes while road length exacerbates it. Government's policy on gasoline price increase could worsen road safety outcomes unless it is accompanied by improvement in road infrastructure, safe public transport and economic growth, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of financial development on domestic investment in West African countries. The study uses data from 1985 to 2019 and employs the pooled mean group technique. The main finding of the study is that financial development has a positive effect on domestic investment in the long run but an insignificant effect in the short run. Furthermore, remittances, real GDP per capita and trade openness increase investment rate. The results of causality tests support the view that investment is a channel through which financial development stimulates economic growth. Therefore, it is reasonable for the selected countries to formulate policies that promote domestic credit to the private sector in order to ease liquidity constraints and increase investment and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses whether the component of across‐sector labor and capital misallocation induced by real effective exchange rate (REER) misalignments in turn significantly affects economic development. REER imbalances are derived from a Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate model; labor and capital misallocation is measured according to indicators in Ando and Nassar (IMF Working Papers, 2017, 17, 1) and Aoki (Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 2012, 26, pp. 473–494), on a unique cross‐country cross‐sector national account dataset of 54 countries and 12 sectors over 1980–2015. Both REER over‐ and undervaluations are found to lead to rising across‐sector labor (but not capital) misallocation and, uniquely via this channel, significantly hamper real growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the conference "Economic Development of European Socialist Countries," which was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on November 30 to December 6, 1964 is presented. The various reports presented focused on the comprehension of the economic trends and problems in Eastern Europe. Such features and issues considered including balance of payments, labor skills, and technological innovations.

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It has been 30 years since Central Asian '‐stan' countries, namely, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, declared their independence in 1991. The Republics have chosen various transition paths from centrally planned to the market‐based economic system. The research found that Central Asian leaders' protectionist policy, on top of the landlocked geographical environment, made trade costly, rendering these countries further isolated. Consequently, economic development slows down, unemployment increases and poverty rate extremes. Eventually, the isolated region (relatively, excluding Kazakhstan) is imprisoned in a low‐income trap and framed into a vicious circle. As a solution for tackling high‐trade costs in the region, this paper utilises the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling to simulate the impacts of implementing policy‐targeted scenarios. The study presents that tariff reduction/elimination and trade facilitation policies could flourish the region by bringing significant economic welfare and robust GDP growth. The trade facilitation scenarios impact the region's economy much more positively than do tariff liberalisation scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel data set of 160 economies from 1950 to 2018, this paper examines the relationship between military expenditures and economic, health‐related, education, environmental, and social indicators of sustainable development. The results generally suggest that the size of the military expenditures is negatively associated with educational attainment, life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality rates, female labor force participation, gender equality, and access to safe drinking water, electricity, basic sanitation, and positively correlated with mortality and poverty rates and air pollution. The findings are generally robust to different specifications and interact with GDP per capita; that is, the association of military spending with the development indicators is stronger (weaker) in less (more) developed economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the 2015 version of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) and World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Trade in Value‐added (TiVA) database to estimate China's value‐added exports to gross exports ratio (VAER), and calculate and compare China's bilateral gross trade imbalances and value‐added trade imbalances with its major trading partners at the aggregate and sector level, respectively. During the period from 1995 to 2011, China's value‐added exports were around 35% less than gross exports at the aggregate level, and around 60% and 80% for manufacturing sectors and tech‐intensive sectors, respectively. Compared with those based on conventional gross trade statistics, our estimates based on trade in value‐added cut China's overall trade imbalances substantially. China's value‐added trade surplus for manufacturing sectors, especially for the so‐called tech‐intensive sectors, was around 45% and over 85% less than gross trade surplus, respectively. China–U.S. value‐added trade surplus was 28–45% less than gross trade surplus during the period from 1995 to 2011. On the contrary, China's value‐added trade deficit with East and Southeast Asian economies is 71–99% and 59–93% less than gross trade deficit during the period from 2005 to 2011, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the path to carbon neutrality, the journey to net‐zero emissions in the industry is achievable, and the green development of industrial parks is crucial for a smooth transition. We examined a sample of 171 green industrial parks certified by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Using the Tapio decoupling model, we conducted decoupling analyses at both the national and regional scales of their economic growth and environmental conservation for three consecutive years. Spatial heterogeneity is found in carbon‐economy decoupling states and carbon‐pollutant synergy effects. Industrial parks in the east of China present better carbon‐economy decoupling states and carbon‐pollutant synergy effects than the other regions. The CO2 emissions determinants were explored by using the STIRPAT model. The variable industrial value‐added per capita, which is representative of economic growth, presents a positive and significant effect on emissions; the energy output and the proportion of high‐tech industries present a negative effect. However, after dividing the parks into groups by their leading industries, the influence of the variables started to show a power discrepancy. The heterogeneity analysis of this study can provide a basis for developing diversified strategies for Chinese industrial parks under the net‐zero emission goal. Plain Language Summary: This paper evaluated the economic development and environmental impacts of the 171 green industrial parks certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China, using data and materials that were inventoried and summarized for the first time. The relationship of economic growth and CO2 emissions and other major pollutants was examined using the Tapio decoupling model, and the results suggest strong decoupling states for most of the cases, and a significant carbon‐pollution synergy effect. Further regression analysis indicated that industrial output and green and high‐tech industries are significant drivers of decoupling. The discoveries will guide future actions and policies toward sustainable development for the industrial parks of China. Key Points: Economic growth and environmental impacts are strongly decoupled for most of the studied green industrial parksA significant carbon‐pollution synergy effect is found in the green industrial parksIndustrial output and green and high‐tech industries are significant drivers of CO2 emissions but show discrepancy in different industries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secrecy jurisdictions provide opportunities for nonresidents to escape the laws and regulations of their home countries by allowing them to hide their identities. In this paper we quantify which jurisdictions supply secrecy to which countries and assess how successful countries are in targeting that secrecy with their policies. To that objective, we develop the Bilateral Financial Secrecy Index (BFSI) which maps the financial secrecy faced by 82 countries and supplied to them by 131 jurisdictions, thus providing the study of the world of financial secrecy with unprecedented nuance. We then use the BFSI to evaluate the progress of two recent policy initiatives designed to curb financial secrecy: automatic information exchange (AIE) and the blacklisting of noncooperative jurisdictions. By embedding the role of power in the center of our analytical framework, we reconcile the apparently conflicting findings of the existing literature on the effectiveness of these policies. We show that secrecy jurisdictions engage in selective resistance depending on whom they are dealing with, and that the hypocrisy of Organisation for Economic Co‐Operation and Development member countries lies at the heart of the design and operation of the AIE system and the blacklisting exercise. We argue that focusing policy on the most relevant secrecy jurisdictions, which – despite its pivotal role in recent offshore document leaks – only rarely include Panama, would enable countries to more effectively mitigate the harm caused by financial secrecy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper describes a weekly economic index (WEI) developed to track the rapid economic developments associated with the onset of and policy response to the novel coronavirus in the United States. The WEI is a weekly composite index of real economic activity, with eight of 10 series available the Thursday after the end of the reference week. In addition to being a weekly real activity index, the WEI has strong predictive power for output measures and provided an accurate nowcast of current‐quarter GDP growth in the first half of 2020, with weaker performance in the second half. We document how the WEI responded to key events and data releases during the first 10 months of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thorough review of the literature reveals that there is a paucity of studies on integrating wisdom and sustainability disciplines. This paper investigates the role of sustainability in fostering wisdom in the interaction between businesses and their surrounding environment. Wisdom has recently attracted a lot of attention in both academia and the practical world. However, despite the strong emphasis that is put on the necessity of incorporating wisdom into business practices, there is little on how wisdom can be practically integrated in the real business world. To address this issue, this paper draws a linkage between wisdom and sustainability by noting the assumptions that the concepts of wisdom and sustainability share with respect to human flourishing, environmental preservation and economic growth. It is concluded that wisdom manifests through organizational sustainability, and that wisdom promotes organizational sustainability capacity. A model of the interaction between the two practices is proposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a market capitalisation of over $1.84 trillion dollars and large annual flows, the Superannuation Guarantee has been regarded as the backbone of Australia's retirement policy scheme and a primary driver of economic growth. However, losses encountered in the aftermath of the global financial crisis led to a major review of superannuation, mainly in response to the lack of accountability, comparability, and transparency discovered within 'default' investment options. An outcome of this review was the My Super initiative, which imposes obligations on fund providers to reconfigure their default investment strategies in accordance with new regulatory requirements. Despite these policy reforms, other challenges remain, such as gender inequality, excessive superannuation fees, low financial literacy, and lack of member participation in growing retirement savings. The paper provides a review of literature pertaining to the background, significant policy changes, and ongoing development of the Australian superannuation system. We emphasise the role of superannuation in the economy; characteristics of the industry, plans, and funds on offer; recent policy initiatives; and perceived inadequacies of the system. The paper concludes with possibilities for further empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long-run relationship between financial globalization and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa using panel unit root tests, panel cointegration tests and panel multivariate ECM. The study finds that the variables are stationary at first difference - I(1). Also, the results reveal that all the variables are cointegrated, that is, they are related in the long run. The results of the ECT test within the framework of panel multivariate ECM confirm the cointegration tests. The paper concludes that there is a long-run relationship between financial globalization and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper argues that sub-Saharan African economies will benefit from the era of financial globalization in the long run in as much as the governments promote and encourage sound macroeconomic policies and strong institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a survey paper on aid effectiveness in terms of the contribution of development assistance to economic growth and poverty reduction. The article focuses primarily on the most recent generation of cross-country studies. It concludes that there is a set of broad areas where the evidence reviewed shows signs of convergence that have direct relevance for policy decisions on aid and for aid-effectiveness discussions. These areas are: aid levels (meaning if the level of aid is too low or too high); domestic political institutions (including political stability and the extent of decentralisation); the composition of aid (including sectors, modalities, objectives and time horizons); and the volatility and fragmentation of aid. We also identify two areas where there is little sign of convergence in the evidence: the importance or otherwise of 'good', meaning orthodox macroeconomic policies and whether grants are more effective than loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-2015 moment is a moment in time in which multiple efforts are being made to envision a better long-term future for humanity and to forge, post-2015, a new and different global development trajectory. There is a need for not only new global goals but also a new global development paradigm. The papers in this special issue assess the Sustainable Development Goals in the making and offer constructive suggestions to further a paradigm shift that would bring the post-2015 development agenda to life in a transformative way rather than sustain business as usual. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The nexus between hydropower dams, social policy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a currently understudied topic. This paper aims to fill parts of this gap by discussing these issues in relation to the world's largest builder of hydropower dams, Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinohydro. This paper draws on the analysis of firm strategy documents and CSR documents and gains additional insights from key informant interviews. The research finds that in 2011 Sinohydro developed its first comprehensive policy framework for social and environmental safeguards that was in line with international standards set by the World Bank/International Finance Corporation. These policies were however later replaced by weaker, vaguer policy. The paper suggests there is a need for Sinohydro and other dam-builders to re-engage with social innovation to mitigate some of the negative social and environmental implications of hydropower dams. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper critically analyzes the problems and the hurdles for the financial inclusion for the economical growth and plans to call attention to the importance of Pradhan Mantri Yojana to bring Financial Inclusion a reality. A country can develop economically and socially if its weakest section can end up being financially independent. To achieve inclusive growth, the Government of India has introduced many schemes recently and steps have been taken that the benefits of policies reach the people. The schemes include Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Bima Suraksha Yojna and Pradhan Manti Atal Yojna that have already been launched. The unawareness of financial institutions in the rural, semi‐urban and hilly areas of India is worrisome. The study focuses on the secondary source of information obtained through the website of the Reserve Bank of India website and other published sources. Sustainable growth, economic development and progress of an economy can only be achieved if a country has a well‐equipped financial system. All the assets, funds and capital have to be properly channelized for attaining inclusive and sustainable development goals in the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slow growth of the permanently settled migrants in host cities poses new challenges for the sustainability of China's future urbanization. Given the growing importance of homeownership, this paper clarifies migrants' settlement intentions into three mutually exclusive patterns, including de facto permanent settlement intention through homeownership, long‐term temporary settlement intention and short‐term temporary settlement intention. Based on matched micro‐ and macro‐level data, this paper examines the influence of city economic development and housing prices on these three patterns. The results suggest that economic development exhibits an attractive effect on migrants' settlement intentions for both earning money and for making a life while housing price weakens rural migrants' de facto permanent settlement intention. We also highlight the effect of the Housing Provident Fund (HPF), the most important housing financial policy in China, on settlement intention, and the results suggest that the HPF serves as an option to help migrants achieve permanent settlement through housing availability. The findings can explain the mixed results of previous research and provide policy references for sustainable urbanization in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the challenges of measuring the labor income share of developing countries. The poor availability and reliability of national account data as well as the fact that self‐employed—whose labor income is hard to capture—account for a major share of the workforce and often work in the informal sector render its computation difficult. Consequently, measuring the labor share requires assumptions. I consult social accounting matrices in addition to national account data to gain information on the production structure and self‐employed incomes in developing countries. The final data set covers about 90 developing countries from 1990 to 2011. The data suggest that the finding of declining labor shares of previous studies also applies to the sample of low and middle‐income countries. Furthermore, I find the labor share in developing countries to be about one‐half in size and hence less than the standard "two‐thirds" in economic literature. [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]

The serial underperformer of the region, Myanmar's economy is largely without the institutions and qualities necessary to achieve genuine economic growth. This paper explores the fundamentals of Myanmar's economy, from a perspective that emphasizes policy and institutional failure as the principal determinants of the country's present circumstances. The paper explores Myanmar's economy in a multifaceted way, examining concerns over economic growth, public finances, monetary and financial policies, corruption, and international trade. Notwithstanding the change in the form of Myanmar's governing institutions following the elections of November 2010, the paper concludes pessimistically as to the likelihood of meaningful economic reform in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on research related to economics including "The oil resources of Timor-Leste: curse or blessing?," by Mats Lundahl and Fredrik Sjholm, "Transitional economy of Myanmar: present status, developmental divide, and future prospects," by Mya Than and Myat Thein, and "The roles of capital and technological progress in Vietnam's economic growth," by Phan Minh Ngoc.

The authors reflect on the changes in China, and increased attention paid to the development of information systems (IS) will underpin national development across sectors of the economy. They present five papers, written by 74 authors in eight countries, that reflect an emerging quality in Chinese IS research.

The relationship between foreign aid and economic growth has been the subject of much controversy. A recent theme suggesting that aid promotes growth, but only in a good policy environment has ratchet up that debate. In this paper, we assess the importance of policy and aid in generating growth when the aid, policy, and growth relationship is nonlinear. This allows us to examine the varying effects of aid and policy in different data segments, which we do without imposing any particular structure on the underlying relationship. We find that policy is an important determinant of growth. We also find partial corroboration of the view that aid is growth enhancing in a good policy environment, and some evidence of diminishing returns to aid. These findings suggest that nonlinearities if not appropriately addressed fail to capture the detailed underlying dynamics and thereby mask some key features of the aid-policy-growth relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the behaviour of G7 economies and decomposes their GDP into trend and cycle components using the Kalman filter. The general model of the paper encompasses a number of alternative specifications about trend growth, therefore accommodating diverse views on growth. The business cycle characteristics of G7 economies are then discussed, compared and deliberated in this framework. The empirical results overwhelmingly favor a mean-reverting stochastic process for the growth rate, the general and unrestricted specification of the paper, across G7 countries, though the restrictions are statistically rejected in less than half of the cases. Further reflection on the properties of cycles makes the specifications and the results of this study more reasonable in capturing the characteristics of GDP series, and contributes to solving the controversies in model specifications in some previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private sector, after shifting fortunes in development theory and practice over the years, is now widely recognised as the key to economic growth, which itself is indispensable for poverty reduction. The Development Studies Association (DSA) Annual Conference in 2006 brought together academics, private sector actors, NGOs and policy makers to share insights and experiences on how this vital contribution to growth, development and poverty reduction can be realised. This paper summarises the main themes and discussions of the conference and introduces the papers selected for inclusion in this conference issue. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys five decades of empirical research on the macroeconomic impact of aid, looking mainly at studies examining the link between aid and growth. It argues that studies dating until the late 1990s produced either contradictory or inconclusive results. Aid either worked, or it didn't, according to this research. The paper then highlights a major shift in the literature that coincided with the release of the World Bank's Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't and Why. Practically, all research published since that report agrees with its general finding that aid works to the extent that in its absence, growth would be lower. One controversy may therefore have been settled. Yet, as shown in this paper, the report has set-off an intense debate over the context in which aid works. That debate centres on whether the effectiveness of these inflows depends on the policy regime of recipient countries. Some possible avenues through which the heat might be taken out of this debate are considered. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to explain regional economic development and economic convergence under the theme of spatial econometrics. The major idea behind the economic convergence is decreasing returns to capital accumulation. The economic convergence can be achieved by variety of theoretical and statistical models. There are so many advanced studies came out. They will facilitate convergence model specification and statistical testing for better efficiency.

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the factors which promote entrepreneurial activity across a number of transition, developing and developed countries. It produces results which highlight the importance of institutions in promoting entrepreneurial activity. This work is part of an on-going research project on the relationship between the legal system and factors which influence economic development. In particular, it has been shown that legal rules protecting creditors and investors influence the size of financial markets which in turn influence economic development. Our paper thus extends the analysis of the impact of institutions beyond that previously established to demonstrate its influence on another driver of economic development. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the causes of deflation in Hong Kong, exploring whether deflation reflects a prolonged process of cyclical adjustment or results from price equalization pressures arising from structural integration with Mainland China. To gauge the relative importance of these factors, the econometric analysis presented in this paper focuses on the price dynamics with Shenzhen, a neighboring city in Mainland China. It finds that the source of deflation is mostly cyclical, with the structural factor of price equalization playing a minor role. A qualitative analysis of the channels of price equalization and deflationary persistence corroborates these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature on currency and banking crises. Currency and banking crises are characterized according to some standards in the literature and their historical record summarized. The development of the literature from first through fourth-generation, or so-called ‘institutional’ models is reviewed. A digression on institutions is provided along with some sidebars on the development of the literature on institutions as it relates to economic growth. The empirical research on third-generation (or twin crises) models and on institutional models of currency and banking crises, which are so far scarce, is covered too. A summary of the main policy issues for dealing with financial crises is presented. The paper closes with an emphasis on institutions and a call for more research directed at institutions and their role in the financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is the size of the elasticity of substitution that has been the central issue in the long debate over the possibility of continuous growth in the presence of exhaustible resources. This paper reviews the debate and comes to the surprising conclusion that, unnoticed by pessimists, the optimist position has gradually evolved so that it now approximates that of the pessimists. The paper also summarizes some preliminary work by the author that indicates that this common position may not be correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies an extended Solow approach to examine the role of productivity in China's economic growth. The extended Solow approach allows the decomposition of output growth into factor contributions, technological progress and efficiency change. It is found that total factor productivity (TFP) has on average contributed to 13.5 percent of China's economic growth in the past two decades. This contribution is mainly due to technological progress which tends to accelerate over time. However, during 1982-97 efficiency change due to catch-up has been very volatile, reflecting the uncertainties associated with economic reforms and transition in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The G7 and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations have committed to greenhouse gas emission reduction according to targets set out in the Paris Agreement and Copenhagen Accord. The objective of this paper is to develop an index decomposition framework and apply it for comparison of the drivers behind carbon dioxide emission. The impact of economic and technological development on greenhouse gas emissions is assessed by applying the Kaya identity. The index decomposition analysis is carried out by applying the Shapley value. In this paper, we seek to compare the two groups of countries—G7 and BRICS—in regard to the underlying trends in the energy‐related carbon dioxide emission during 1990–2015. The comparison of these two groups for countries draws some light on the pathways of decarbonization of the economies in developing and developed countries. The time period covered spans over the sub‐periods of economic growth and decline. Energy intensity appeared as the major factor pushing the carbon dioxide emissions down in the developed countries (i.e., G7 group). The latter effect was much lower for the developing countries (i.e., BRICS group) and was offset by the affluence effect. Further development of the renewable energy is important for the developing countries in order to start exploiting the carbon factor effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Porter model of economic development links the phases of development with national competitiveness. His model lies at the heart of the Global Competitiveness Index. It appears, curiously enough, that there is nowhere in the economics literature a concise explanation of the Porter model of economic development. This paper not only fills this gap but also draws the line of separation between formal economic models and narrative economic models; provides a rigorous presentation of Porter model of economic development; distinguishes between the Porter development path and Porter's law of economic development; strips Porter model to its bare essentials in a single picture; and finally, shows that the Porter model satisfies the condition known as the way the world works (www. constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper deals with the growth rate in Kenya, examining its statistical properties and investigating the factors that may explain the slow growth rates observed during the last 50 years. The results show that Kenyan growth rate is unstable with non‐linearities and long range dependence structures. We also investigate what might explain these features. In this regard, we conclude that the development of anomalous political institutions in Kenya in the decades after independence is the root cause that has led to subsequent weak economic institutions and macroeconomic mismanagement and the vulnerability of the Kenyan economy to domestic and external shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper addresses two research issues to which Chris Milner has contributed: the role of trade policy in economic development, and the particular development case of Mauritius. On the first issue, the focus is on understanding why so few low‐income countries, especially in Africa, have achieved a sustained level of export diversification. The paper argues that the standard “Washington Consensus” advice on trade policy placed too much emphasis on liberalisation alone and neglected the important role of government policy, in particular the potential to use targeted input subsidies to support the development of export sectors. Mauritius is then discussed as an example of relatively successful subsidy policies that enabled diversification of exports: indeed the only African country to achieve this in a sustained manner. Subsidies are not advocated as a panacea, and it is recognised that they are not always feasible or effective, but they can be part of an export diversification strategy that supports economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Abstract: This paper interrogates the stability of relative geographical patterns of electoral results in Europe since World War II in a context of the dramatic socio‐economic changes and the deep transformations of the European geography. To do so, we propose a theoretical model in which regional political orientations along the Left vs. Right cleavage dates back to the end of the nineteenth century or even before, related to the land tenure, the familial structure, the time of the industrial take off or the impact of religion. Specifically, we show that the current electoral map is still partly related to such old structures, long after they vanish. To explain this hysteresis, we refer to the role of social networks and institutions embedded in places, allowing the transmission of electoral behaviour from one generation to the other. However, the West European electoral map has not been frozen, and, in the last part of the paper, we explain how major political and socio‐economic changes alter political behaviour of places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diversity of place‐based community economic practices that enact ethical interdependence has long enabled livelihoods in Monsoon Asia. Managed either democratically or coercively, these culturally inflected practices have survived the rise of a cash economy, albeit in modified form, sometimes being co‐opted to state projects. In the modern development imaginary, these practices have been positioned as ‘traditional’, ‘rural’ and largely superseded. But if we read against the grain of modernisation, a largely hidden geography of community economic practices emerges. This paper introduces the project of documenting keywords of place‐based community economies in Monsoon Asia. It extends Raymond William’s cultural analysis of keywords into a non‐western context and situates this discursive approach within a material semiotic framing. The paper has been collaboratively written with co‐researchers across Southeast Asia and represents an experimental mode of scholarship that aims to advance a post‐development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years ago, Bob Jessop (1998) published a defining piece on the "rise of governance" and the "risks of failure", using the example of economic development to frame concerns with the state of capitalism at that time. This charted the rise of governance, outlined key governance practices, and offered preliminary reflections on the nature, forms, and logic of governance failure ‒ given that whilst there are already extensive literatures on market failure and state failure, governance failure required focused concern and thematic analysis. This paper, 20 years post‐Jessop on governance rise and risks, tells the tale of how governance in Britain (and England specifically) has marched on and, building on Jessop, has indeed failed, repeatedly and spectacularly. The paper reveals Jessop's governance dilemmas in action and specifically how the contradictions and crises tendencies of capitalism have both necessitated the use of, and been played out in and through, geographical space. The paper reveals an economic governance landscape of unresolved crises and contradictions, which is linked to problems of state rationality and legitimation, exhibited by the Brexit debacle in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Economic base (or export‐base) theory (EBT) is often presented as a Keynesian‐inspired theory that only accounts for demand‐side factors. However, the recent integration of supply‐side factors into economic base models (EBMs) can contribute to renewing applications of this type of model in regional economics. This paper proposes a literature review focused on new EBMs that explicitly take into account supply effects and includes both North American and European studies. It first explains why integrating supply‐side factors is relevant for EBMs. Second, the paper shows how to integrate these supply‐side factors into the various types of models, focusing on two production factors: land and its amenities and labor. Third, the paper discusses the conditions for integrating such supply‐side factors into EBMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: This paper aims to assess the efforts of the Saudi government in diversifying its economy. A descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the efforts the Saudi government exerted to enhance economic diversification through nine development plans covering 45 years (from 1970 to 2014). Two measures of economic diversification were applied, instability of private gross domestic product (GDP) and its relation to oil price instability, and relative contribution of private and public sectors to GDP. The research concludes that Saudi government has succeeded in moving towards economic diversification in the last two development plans compared to the previous seven development plans, although the economic diversification was a slow‐paced process. The performance of the private sector is still low which calls for a prompt intervention from the Saudi government to improve the legislative environment, competition, and attracting big international companies to enter Saudi market and raise the level of efficiency of the private sector and achieve its main goal of being less dependent on oil sector and its revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A major concern for developing economies is a dependence on commodities when their prices are volatile as a major change in the international commodity price can have important implications for economic growth. While some cross‐country studies exist, there is lack of country specific studies that take into account the different characteristics of low‐income economies. This paper contributes to the growing literature by considering the case of Malawi and the macroeconomic impact of price shocks in its major export crop of tobacco. Using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) approach on quarterly Malawian data from 1980:1 to 2012:4, the paper establishes that a positive tobacco price shock has a significant positive impact on the country's gross domestic product, decreasing consumer prices and inducing real exchange rate appreciation. The results are robust to alternative specifications of a SVAR on difference stationary data and cointegrating VAR. The cointegrating VAR confirms the existence of a long run‐relationship among the variables and causality that runs from tobacco prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]