Search

financial grant creates an avenue to reduce poverty, inequality and to improve equitable economic development. The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of social financial grant increases on poverty alleviation in South Africa. The paper inclines on prior poverty theories of economic growth, which highlights the use of social financial grants to achieve poverty reduction and equitable economic growth. The paper applies a quantitative approach; data on social grants were from the publications of the South African department of statistics and the South African Social Security Agency. The ensuing cross-sectional data were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach. Findings from the analysis indicate that, amongst the seven types, only three namely, the grants for old age, grants for disability and grants for supporting a child enhances reduction in inequality. On the contrary, four of the seven social grant types enhance reduction in poverty level; these are the grants for war veterans, aid grants, grants for dependency, and grants for fostering a child. The paper highlights policy implications of the findings, which includes inter alia, that policy makers may target poverty reduction or inequality reduction using specific social grant types. Findings from this paper provide an avenue for further research to assess poverty and inequality reduction through these social grant types in other developing economies. Such research should check if this current research result is replicable using social grant data from other developing countries. This paper uniquely applies the SEM model to evaluate poverty and inequality implication of social grants in South Africa.

Innovation is the key to sustainable growth, development and competitiveness, and also the engine of the economic clusters. Nowadays innovative processes are conducted within clusters where each component plays its own strategic role at the highest rate of specialisation. The development of the clusters relies on the cooperation between companies, universities and R&D institutions and local, regional or national authorities. First of all, a cluster emerges due to the spatial proximity of businesses, but the real motivation consists in the need for cooperation; the effect, along with the rational use of resources and the activities’ specialisation, relies in the enhancement of competition, a positive outcome for the economic environment. Within a cluster, the partners share resources and develop future strategies; the mostly known positive outcomes are the specialised labour force, products of higher quality, cost reductions, powerful networks of suppliers and clients, etc. In our paper we aim to assess the cluster phenomenon in Romania and we seek to determine the catalysts for the emergence of the cluster partnerships in Romania. Our approach is bidirectional: firstly we assess a correlation between the economic clusters, as a cause, and as effects, the number of working persons, unemployed persons and recorded turnovers of the regional businesses where the clusters exists; secondly, we analyse the presence of clusters in the selected regions as an effect caused by the size of the active labour force, unemployed persons, number of higher education institutions, population of 25-39 years old, working specialists and technicians and lastly, the recorded turnover, in our opinion, all these six factors being the most relevant for the development of clusters. We considered suitable for our statistical approach to calculate the Pearson coefficient and also to apply the ANOVA method being able to assess also the extent of each factor’s influence on the development of the Romanian clusters. In the last part of this paper the findings are tested by using the Student’s and Fisher’s tests.

The paper deals with the idea that EU has to reformate as a result of the latest challenges, including the Brexit. A possible effect and opportunity from this can be a stronger position for the EU Balkan Member States. The analysis in the paper takes into consideration all Balkan economies, including candidate countries in order to obtain a general approach for the region. This approach is new because it puts together member and candidate members from a region, in the context of re-evaluating the EU, and leads to the idea of finding a regional leader able to generate regional progress and to support the region’s interests in the European Institutions. The analysis covers five representative economic indicators (GDP growth rate, gross fixed capital formation, unemployment rate, inflation rate and general government gross debt) and is realized on three levels: a comparative analyses, a cluster analysis, and a cumulative analysis as well. Moreover, regression is used in order to point out the economic disparities across the region. The main conclusion of the analysis is that the great regional economic disparities can be decrease using common regional policies. Moreover, the analysis identifies a regional economic leader able to coordinate common initiatives at least on short and medium terms. The analysis and the conclusions in the paper are supported by the latest official statistic data, pertinent tables and diagrams.

This paper aims at providing a regional approach regarding VAT rate at E.U. level and its links with the level of economic development, using data from Eurostat for the 2004-2013 period. World-wide taxation levels reflect, in a certain measure, the economic state of a particular country. If the tax level within a country is higher, the living standards are also higher, whereas a low taxation level that incites economic growth, will eventually rise. The main indicators considered in the analysis presented in this paper, as most relevant to the subject at hand, are: taxes on income in conjunction with the level of the GDP, business demography, employee compensation, poverty thresholds, income distribution, employment rate and the number of newly founded enterprises.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an increased knowledge of the cultural values and the entrepreneurial activity that are present in countries with different levels of development. Within the group of developing countries, we focus our analysis on the case of Latin America. The study uses data from the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) to measure cultural values, and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for information regarding entrepreneurship. The results show that cultural variables, together with the rate of entrepreneurial activity, clearly distinguish developing countries from developed ones. Higher entrepreneurial activity is found in countries with lower levels of development; however, the cultural value dimensions of Autonomy and Egalitarianism are associated with higher development levels. In the specific case of Latin America, the results reveal the existence of two groups of countries. Firstly, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela have higher rates of entrepreneurship and, at the same time, a greater prevalence of some cultural values (notably Embeddedness, but also Hierarchy). In contrast, another group of countries in the region—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico—is characterized by the presence of opposing cultural values (Autonomy and Egalitarianism), more in line with those corresponding to developed countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results, including some interesting implications, from both academic and policy perspectives. In the case of Latin America, a certain combination of cultural values (Embeddedness and Egalitarianism) may be leading to higher start-up rates. Thus, promoting these values could contribute to entrepreneurship and economic development.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has significant impact on economic growth of developing countries like Pakistan for many decades. This paper has an objective to know the effects foreign direct investment on economic growth for the period from 1971-2013 by establishing empirical relation between business industries of primary, secondary and tertiary sector with FDI through Panel Cointegration and Granger Causality Framework for the specified period. The results show the significance of FDI and economic growth with proxies of GDP with the evidence of cointegration between these variables. The results also present long term causality between FDI and GDP while two-way causality if found under short run. Overall sectoral level, there is positively significance is identified between FDI and GDP. The policy Implications are also discussed in the paper showing that efficient and effective utilization of FDI.

This paper aims to study the issues of cooperative sector in Iran. According to the theories,among the three sectors i.e. Public, private and cooperative sector probably cooperative sectorbecause of participating people directly in its process, can work better for economic development andcan be considered as a country economic developer example by job creation and others, Prior Workbecause Islam religion has invited people for having cooperation and also Iranian is a Muslim countrythen there have been a lot work on cooperative sector and this work is among the others who looks forthe challenges and issues in this sector, Approach this paper looks for the challenges and issues ofthe cooperative sector in Iran to run effective cooperation, Results Cooperative sector in alldeveloped and undeveloped and developing countries has its own challenges and in Iran as a fastdeveloping country which want to speed the developing process then needs to consider thecooperative sector challenges in Iran and other countries as well, Implications Practitioners,academician and others who want to work on challenges and issues of cooperative sector in Iran andothers . Value among the other important variables in economic development, cooperative has thepriority because of its fast returned effects in economic development then this paper aims to study thechallenges of this sector.

European Union was created for enhancing the cooperation and economic development of country members. This very complex initiative is a long-term process that contributes to reduction of inequalities due to the expansion of trade relations, increased mobility of factors of production and dissemination of technology and gradually added more freedoms between countries and common policies in this respect. Among the main objectives of EU are economic and social cohesion, which must be achieved mainly by promoting the conditions for economic growth and reducing disparities between the levels of development of EU regions, ensuring a high level of employment and a balanced and sustainable economical growth. The European Funds are the financial instruments of the common policies, being significantly diversified and improved in the last decades. The EU enlargement implied new challenges and higher efforts to support such common policies from a very limited common budget. For new members from Eastern Europe that joined EU, these European Funds were seen as a very important and reliable support for boosting their economic development. This paper will discuss, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the possible impact of these funds on the economic development, with a specific focus on the Eastern European Countries (EEC).

This paper examines the impact of governance on sustainable development in West Africa from 2002 – 2016. It adopts the system GMM approach, using all the six governance indicators, which include voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. The results show that voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness and rule of law are positively related to development, with government effectiveness shown to have that largest impact, while regulatory quality and control of corruption are shown to be indirectly related to development in the short-run. However, in the long-run, all governance indicators are directly related to development in West African countries, with political stability and regulatory quality having the largest impact.

The relationship among foreign direct investments and economic growth is a very controversial issue that has given rise to an abundant literature. Numerous research studies examine the bidirectional causal relationship and investigate the major determinants of these investments. In the same order of ideas, this article gives an empirical study from four North African countries to evaluate the role of transport infrastructures to improve the territorial attractiveness for the foreign direct investment. The present paper starts by a theoretical study explaining the role of transport as a major determinant of FDI. In a second section, we represent the empirical study. By using an econometric model with panel data, we found that traditional determinants of FDI have the most significant influence on the international investors’ decision. However, the same findings verify a positive impact of transport and consider it as a new important factor with strategic issues that cannot be avoided. The empirical validation from the four countries leads to verify that it is necessary to adopt development strategies that take into account the transport infrastructures and logistics function

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the world economy and contribute significantly to an economy’s output, income and employment. This paper seeks to assess the extent to which Zimbabwe’s commercial banks finance SMEs. Document analysis and an extensive review of the literature was undertaken to contextualize and draw a framework of analysis for the study. The literature shows that SMEs are of great socio-economic importance in developing countries but access to financial services for SMEs in Zimbabwe remains low. Zimbabwe’s economic challenges since 2000 to dollarization in 2009, the informalization of the SME sector, customers’ financial illiteracy and lack of training, lack of collateral security for loans, a high non-performing loans ratio, the lack of understanding of SMEs’ needs by banks, the inaccessibility of banks and the general lack of financial innovation are some of the major reasons for the low level of SME financing. A harmonised approach to policy suggestions for SMEs, lending institutions, the central bank and government to ensure the viability and growth of the SME sector are required and outlined. The research helps to formalize the SME sector considering its attendant benefits to the relevant players in the economy.

About FDI there are numerous studies, some of them have mostly theoretical character and others mostly practical. This article aims at capturing and analyzing the most important trends in the short, medium and long term on FDI flows worldwide, thus this study has a rather practical approach. Also, the paper aims to discern how FDI flows may influence the sustainable development and the national interest. The analysis starts from studying the past in the most significant developments of the world economy in terms of inflows of investment attraction, drawing marginally some advantages or disadvantages of joining a political entity with regional vocation (e.g. European Union) or a currency area (e.g. E.M.U.). It should also be noted that, beyond the analysis of past trends, the direction towards which worldwide foreign direct investment (FDI) should be considered in relationship with the ability to infer certain areas which in future can attract FDI for a sustainable and balanced national economy development, serving to the national interest. Thus, the article aims, through a broad set of indicators, to seize these structural or cyclical advantages of world economies and, to the extent that can be applied to the Romanian economy, to contribute to the restructuring of objectives of macroeconomic policies in order to mobilize the country's potential to attract FDI.

The title of European Capital of Culture could help immensely a city and its surrounding region from cultural, social and economic pointd of view. Cultural activity in the city is gaining momentum and new categories of tourists are attracted here. To determine if being a cultural capital influenced or not the growth and/or decrease trend as regards the number of tourists that came to Sibiu in a consecutive period of 23 years, the starting point was that this event had a major impact on tourists. The present paper is a quantitative research based on the number of Romanian and foreign tourists accommodated in structures of tourist receptions with functions of tourist accommodation. The conclusions of this article respond to these questions: Being a European Capital of Culture attracts or not more tourists than usual? The increase in the number of tourists was proportional with the effort of the authorities involved in the project?

The level of taxation is very important for the development of current and future of a country and fiscal policy should always be considered as an important factor in the behavior of participants and their ability to tax evasion and informality. Government fiscal policies can trigger tax increase under pressure, especially in situations such as economic crisis, inflation, unemployment, instability, when the burden of this obligation grows, its effects are considered to take them to tax evasion and informality (Dragomir. et al. 2011). However, these reasons do not relate to all the great presence of this phenomenon in Kosovo, taking into account the recent economic crisis has not reflected in the economy of Kosovo and the Kosovo tax burden is among the lowest in the region, but leading cause of tax evasion and informality can be considered above the corruption of public administration officials including tax and customs officials, insufficient staff for his fighting, weak rule of law, as well as lower fiscal culture for paying taxes. For this reason the scope of this paper will be the theoretical treatment of the informal economy and tax evasion in view of tax avoidance, meaning, characteristics and their effects on the economy and possible recommendations on these viewpoints.

Simultaneous globalisation tendencies have created policy challenges for national and local governments. One response to these challenges has been a dramatic proliferation of development policies based on clusters of firms and industries. In EU Strategy 2020 – COM 546/6.10.2010 Initiative “An Union of Innovation”, COM 614/27.10.2010 Initiative “Industrial Policy in the Globalization Era” innovative clusters were considered the “engine” of economic development. They represent a framework for business development, collaboration between companies, universities, research institutions, suppliers, customers and competitors located in the same geographical area. Clusters of small and medium sized firms in developing economies are coming under increased pressure from competition as products mature, technology becomes widely available, and companies seek lower cost locations for production. In this paper, we consider that the cluster is an engine for economic development in our region and we need to have a regional strategy for clusters in Bucharest Ilfov Regional Development Plan for 2014-2020.

Creative industries comprise the creation, production, marketing and distribution of products and services resulting from human creativity. The European cultural and creative industries (CCI) represent a significant set of industries. Social, cultural and technological changes have helped fuel our thirst and demand for cultural products, new forms of entertainment, distraction, and inspiration creative and cultural industries manufacturing and production activities are the most regionally concentrated, and consumer oriented activities such as retail the least regionally concentrated. In this paper, we consider that the creative and cultural cannot be seen simply as cyclically dependent service functions to the rest of the economy. In Bucharest Ilfov region the cultural and creative industries is a model of economic development.

The paper aims to study, reveal and understand one of the most important production factor, considered by some as being labor, understood nowadays as human capital. It is important to reveal and to demonstrate that the investment into human capital will have results with a very high return on investment, maybe not so seen in the first years to come just after the investment, but for sure as a big result and a cause for economic development. The investment into human capital can be determined by public or private investment. Either the case the result will be in favor of the national economy

Operating with business ethic we meet, some ethical systems, some of them developed in Antiquity, that still have a great influence upon economics development. One of these is the ethics of virtue. The aim of this paper work is to focus upon the one ethical system virtue ethics and to illustrate his influence in economical field, offering a new coordination in this direction. We understand the importance of the human character for a successful leadership and management. Recent ethical dilemmas illustrate us how a vicious character has an influence not only to the possessor of that type of character but also to the entire community where he develop his activities. For a comprehensive understanding I expose a briefly review on virtue ethics as it was developed by Plato and Aristotle, ant its new coordination and influence upon our contemporaneous economy, illustrated by some examples.

In this paper is realized an empirical analysis of the influence of social welfare and taxation on insurance. The analysis is performed on a sample of 36 countries and a horizon of 3 years (2005, 2007 and 2008), being tested 4 linear regression models (life premium subscribed, non-life premiums subscribed, number of companies and number of employees in the insurance sector). The results of study confirm a relationship between the development level of countries and insurance, but exclude the existence of the relationship between taxation and insurance.

We shall open this paper with reference to the book “Understanding the Process of Economic Change” by D.C. North being considered ofreference in the issues which are subject to research („there are some fundamental characteristics of successful economic development which arecommon for all the economies but at the same time there is no universal pattern to reach these results”-North). How can poorness be explained inmost of the states of the world where the sources for economic growth are known? The human failure and the institutional framework have a specialcontribution in finding solutions in order to obtain economic growth and implicitly the growth of economic development. The article makesreferences to the institutional framework and its importance for the economic development of a country, to the educational organizations and to theircontribution to the economic development. Viewed from a reactive factor of development, the education has become proactive. This is because theperspective of education has been accentuating more and more, called in to prepare the people for types of societies which have not existed yet. Thegap within the field of education has a fundamental character in maintaining and emphasizing the gaps between the social – economic developmentof different countries.