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Reducing energy intensity and coping with climate change are important policy issues that face all countries. This study examines the impact of business cycles (recessions and expansions) on energy intensity in sixteen emerging countries in 1990–2014. We find that during periods of economic expansion (recessions), business cycles reduce (increase) energy intensity. We also study the moderating effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) between business cycles and energy intensity and find that FDI lowers (raises) energy intensity in countries with high (low) level economic development. In addition, this study finds a nonlinear relationship between business cycles and energy intensity. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.

The nationally embedded and relatively broad-based economies characteristic of developed industrial countries are usually seen as the incarnation of a modern economy. These economies are largely internally oriented and are based, to a relatively great extent, on production and services based on local and national needs. Their provenance is generally assumed to have been processes of development that began in the sixteenth century and that, in the nineteenth century, accelerated with the expansion of industrial production and the growth of global trade. This article challenges that assumption. It argues that today’s modern economies represent, not the culmination of long-term processes, but a recurring phenomenon within capitalism. It argues that, in the history of capitalism, there have been phases of nationally embedded and global free market capitalism – periods when capital is relatively more, and relatively less, free from the regulation of nation state. Today’s nationally embedded economies represent, not a further point along a unilinear developmental trajectory, but a return to features of the moral economies that characterized both European and non-European societies before the nineteenth century.

This paper explored the asymmetrical relationships between green and sustainable technology research and environmental sustainability among the BRICS states from 1990 to 2018. The data was analyzed by second- and third-generation economic techniques such as slope heterogeneity and cross-section independence test, unit root test, structural break unit root test, panel cointegration with structural breaks cointegration tests, cross-section autoregressive distributed lags technique, augmented mean group, and Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test. First, the results validated a long-run cointegration among variables. Second, the results showed that renewable energy consumption and positive shocks to green and sustainable technology research are proper to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions (short- and long-run). Third, gross domestic product, foreign direct investment, exports, and negative shocks to green and sustainable technology research increase carbon dioxide emissions. Fourth, the nexus between green and sustainable technology research and carbon dioxide emissions was counter-cyclical during economic expansion and contraction periods. Fifth, the impact of positive shocks to green and sustainable technology research on carbon dioxide emissions was more than the impact of negative shocks to green and sustainable technology research on carbon dioxide emissions.

I use Chinese panel data to estimate the exogenous effect of economic growth on individuals’ smoking behavior. By instrumenting the endogenous provincial GDP growth rate with a dummy variable indicating whether the province has a new leader, my results show that a higher economic growth rate reduces overall cigarette consumption, but does not reduce the overall smoking participation rate. In addition, a higher economic growth rate reduces cigarette consumption of male but not female. It reduces cigarette consumption of the lower-middle and senior age males, but does not significantly change consumption among the young males. Of these three groups, only the middle-aged males show a decrease in their smoking participation rate with higher economic growth. Overall, the Chinese data show that economic expansion reduces men’s smoking amount. But the overall adjustment is intensive, rather than extensive.

South Africa is one of Africa's most polluted countries, with rising CO2 emissions posing a threat. South Africa must discover ways of minimizing pollution and take necessary steps before it is too late in order to achieve sustainable growth. For this purpose, this research assesses the ecological consequences of globalization, nonrenewable energy use, economic growth and renewable energy consumption in South Africa. The study leverages on the non-linearity advantages of the novel quantile on quantile regression (QQR) method for a robust analysis as opposed to the use of conventional linear approaches, thereby overcoming conspicuous shortfalls in extant studies, while offering a detailed explanation of the overall dependency structure between CO2 emissions and globalization, nonrenewable energy use and renewable energy use using a dataset covering the period between 1970 and 2018. The outcomes suggest that nonrenewable energy use, globalization, and economic growth contribute to environmental degradation in the majority of the quantiles, while the effect of renewable energy use on CO2 is not strong at all quantiles. The study highlights that economic expansion, nonrenewable energy use and globalization play key roles in in mitigating environmental sustainability in South Africa, while renewable energy is not sufficient to meet environmental requirements.

This paper examines the predicament of educated youth belonging to socially marginalised groups in realising their aspirations in the city of Delhi. It critically foregrounds the potentials of education and urban location and analyses the educational and employment negotiations and outcomes of the urban youth living at the margins. It is based on a qualitative field study in a settlement predominantly inhabited by Dalits and other backward classes. The paper argues that the local aspirations amid neo-liberal economic expansion in a metropolitan city, alongside the long-cherished dream of respectable jobs, place an enormous hope on pursuing higher education and advanced skills. However, the nature and quality of education and skills that are accessible to these youths hardly enable them realise stable white-collar jobs. Armed with educational degrees, they join and shift between low-end precarious jobs while waiting for stable employment. Gender relations preclude some of these precarious possibilities for female youths who negotiate terms of patriarchal norms to gain economic autonomy. Overall, this paper identifies and elaborates on how urban structural conditions and individual negotiations combine to reproduce social inequalities through a process of socio-economic mobility which is adverse and rarely upwards.

Economic expansion gives rise to modern and energy-efficient technologies and, thus, contributes to a decline in energy usage. Developing countries, including Pakistan, require tremendous efforts to sustain economic growth. However, to attain economic growth, these countries have to cope with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental problems. This research focuses primarily on the asymmetric impacts of energy consumption and economic growth on Pakistan's environmental quality. Accordingly, secondary data spanning from 1971 to 2018 was used, and carbon dioxide emission (CO2) was considered a target variable (a proxy for environmental quality), whereas energy consumption (E) and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for economic growth, and trade accessibility (TR) and foreign direct investment (FDI) as control variables. The nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach is used to verify the asymmetric co-integration between the variables selected. Moreover, to examine data stationarity and nonlinearity, we used the Zivot-Andrews structural break unit root and BDS tests, respectively. The findings confirmed the asymmetric and symmetric co-integrations among the considered variables. In addition, the causality analysis reveals that only negative shocks to TR have an effect on CO2 emissions. Similarly, negative shocks to FDI asymmetrically cause CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, GDP symmetrically affects CO2 emissions. Finally, a neutral causal response was observed between E and CO2 emissions. These findings have policy implications in terms of environmental management and carbon neutrality, and they serve as a baseline for future research.

This work investigates the relationship of financial development with energy efficiency and economic growth. Due to the coexistence of economic expansion, trade openness, financial development, and urbanization in Indonesia and Turkey, these two countries are considered. Johansen cointegration, error correction, and Granger causality tests are applied to validate the predicted effects of economic activity on the environment. Results show a long-term relationship of Indonesia’s CO2 emissions with five out of six macroeconomic factors, except for urbanization, which has a detrimental effect on carbon emissions. On the other hand, no cointegration across variables is found in the case of Turkey. However, unidirectional causality is observed from energy consumption and economic growth to economic growth. Furthermore, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness have a two-way causal effect on financial development. This work encourages Turkish and Indonesian policymakers and regulators to strengthen environmental laws. It also encourages other economies and governments to conduct similar analyses and determine the best course of action.

The multi-dimensional pollutions in the earth zone due to the degradation of the environmental levels have been emerging as an urgent issue in the developing economies. The BRICS group of countries holds a unique position in the emerging economies, playing a leading role in reinforcing political power globally and domestically. This study examines the annual time series over the period of 1971-2017 for Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, and 1990-2017 for Russia, to explore the relationship between environmental quality and economic growth in correspondence with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis as well as the Decoupling Index (DI). The presence of an EKC strongly supports any of the individualistic environmental determinants effected in the long run by Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), building linkage with the approach of the co-integration and the DI, which brings about economic growth as well as CO2 emission and environmental degradation simultaneously. A short-run relationship and presence of the EKC hypothesis are observed in Brazil, Russia, and India with 92%, while China's (55%) and South Africa's (79%) have a slower speed of adjustment to long-run equilibrium. This study concludes that economic expansion and environmental degradation are interrelated in the long run. Environment degradation (CO2 emission) can be eradicated by continuous economic growth, management of energy demands and energy crises, implementation of environmentally sustainable policies, application of green technologies for the use of natural resources, and controllability of urban population growth with immediate and effective actions.

The US economic expansion which began in 2009 was unusually prolonged but relatively weak. Profitability and investment strengthened between 2010 and 2015 but then began to falter. After Trump took office in 2017 there was a minor recovery in investment but the proceeds of major tax cuts were overwhelmingly used to finance payouts to share owners. Unemployment fell steadily from 2010 but with a shift towards lower-paid jobs. Median wages increased from around 2014, but while those for women had risen steadily since the 1980s, those for men only recuperated to their 1980 level in 2018. By contrast, top incomes soared. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic was partly cushioned by huge government spending programmes, but unemployment among less-skilled workers increased strongly, while the massive monetary response led to an unprecedented bonanza for the rich. The Biden government's first major initiative extended unemployment benefits and promoted a national response to the health emergency, but failed to secure an increase in the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The chapter documents the growth of economic relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) focussing on trade, foreign direct investment, Chinese construction and engineering projects, loans, and aid. It shows the variety of different actors involved in these relationships including state and non-state actors on both the Chinese and Latin American sides. The chapter then discusses the role of strategic diplomatic, strategic economic, and commercial objectives in the growing Chinese involvement in LAC. It also addresses questions of Latin American agency and the interests of local actors in economic relations with China. The impact of political, strategic economic and commercial factors on different types of economic relations are then analysed econometrically.

Japan has historically been a major player within the Indo-Pacific region due to its rapid post-war economic expansion, technological advancement, massive overseas development aid as well as its cu...

The Manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy can perform better in job creation, particularly during the period of economic expansion, which did not happen in the last period of economic growth between 1981 and 2014. Consequently, it is important to understand the real relationship between growth and job creation in the sector during the period. Therefore, this study investigated the employment intensity of gross value added growth in the sector during the period of growth, using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) with a view to providing useful statistics to facilitate policies for the development of sectoral employment strategy during the next cycle of economic growth. Previous studies have either used descriptive statistics or less robust econometric models applied to aggregate data of shorter series and did not explore the inter-sectoral relationship effect. The estimated employment elasticity of gross value added in the sector was not significant at 95 per cent confidence level, and can, therefore, not be relied upon for pin-point policy. However, the inter-sectoral and inter-temporal relationships provided significant estimates, indicating that such relationships should be taken into account in designing and developing sectoral employment strategy for the manufacturing sector. There is future scope for the extension of research to cover periods of recession, as well, for example, post COVID-19.

This paper uses a two-sector open economy model to examine the dynamic absorption of foreign aid in the presence of both formal and informal production. Calibrating the model to yield a long-run equilibrium consistent with sample averages for 72 aid-recipient developing countries for the period 1990-2017, we show that an increase in foreign aid impacts the sectoral composition of the recipient economy, driving resources into the informal sector, and away from the formal sector. Further, if aid is untied (say, provided for general budget support), then the expansion of the informal sector can lead to a contraction of the aggregate economy through the Dutch Disease effect. If the recipient government’s objective is to drive an economic expansion by increasing the share of formal production, then re-allocating existing aid to public investment is more effective than an increase in the aggregate level of aid.

Achieving environmental sustainability has become a global initiative while addressing climate change and its effects. However, the role of energy production and consumption in economic development remains critical amidst environmental pollution. Thus, the need for innovation and clean energy alternatives is critical while pursuing sustainable development. This country-specific study focuses on Argentina, where economic growth trajectory is embedded with high CO2 emissions. This study assesses the long-term and causal impact of financial development and renewables on environmental pollution while accounting for the role of economic development and globalization using yearly data spanning 1980 to 2017. A battery of econometric methods is applied to underscore the interaction between the parameters of interest. The findings of Maki and ARDL tests of cointegration alongside Kripfganz and Schneider critical approximation p-values affirm long-run equilibrium interaction between variables. The outcomes of autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified, and dynamic ordinary least squares demonstrate that while economic expansion dampens environmental quality-globalization and renewables improve the environment. This finding suggests pollution-driven economic growth trajectory in Argentina with high dependence on fossil fuels. Besides, the gradual shift causality test finds evidence of one-way causality from renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and globalization to CO2 emissions. Argentina's pathway in achieving sustainable development requires gradual and inclusive economic shift towards green growth.

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to examine China’s hunt for the acquisition of energy supplies through the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in the Middle East due to the unprecedented economic expansion on accounts of which it needs reliable resources of natural gas and oil to cope with the requisite needs of energy. Methodology: The data for this study is collected from various secondary sources like Research Journals, Academic Research Papers, and Electronic Sources. Data were interpreted using the deductive method of investigation through an analytical and descriptive approach. Principal Findings: The main findings indicate that China has long followed its “win-win” strategy, which means that all trading partners of the region profit fairly, and for that reason, Beijing is aiming to boost its commercial presence in the region of the Middle East for mutual gains and that economic interdependence, according to Beijing encourages collaboration between the states on accounts of which it is considered that energy deals of China are centered on mutual economic interests. Applications of this study: Findings of the study will be helpful for scholars and academics of International Relations, Security Studies, Policymakers of China and the Middle East countries, diplomats of China, USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran as well as it also contributes for understanding energy and economic ambitions of China in the region of Middle East, which to be accomplished through BRI. Novelty/Originality of this study: The originality/novelty of the study lies in the attempt to explore that BRI is considered as the 21st century’s Marshall Plan by China and that it will associate China’s hunt for global energy resources by diversification of the economic markets of the Middle East.

In the energy-environment literature, a handful of the advanced economies, mostly the European Union countries, have met some of the national environmental sustainability targets. Consequently, most of these countries are renewing their policies for 2040, while the African bloc largely seems to have a longer path to emerge from the woods. Giving this insight, we are compelled to draw inferences from the role of major energy sources (conventional and renewable) in the sub-Saharan Africa's drive for environmental sustainability target. To achieve this objective, we examine the validity of an N-shaped hypothesis for sub-Saharan region which has received less documentation in the extant literature. Thus, this study employed the pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality approaches as estimation techniques. Our empirical results show that conventional and renewable energy aspects respectively worsen and improve environmental quality in both short and long run. Importantly, the study establishes the validity of the N-shaped hypothesis in the two periods (short and long run) as reported by the study regression with 17.830% for GDP growth, -2.241 % for quadratic form of GDP, and 0.094% for cubic form of GDP growth, respectively, in the long run. Moreso, renewable energy shows a magnitude of -1.306% and -0.157% for short- and long-run period, respectively, on carbon dioxide emission. The implication is that environmental quality in the sub-Saharan region is potentially characterized in cycles of worse (decreased quality), improvement (better quality), and again worse (deceased quality) resulting from the significant change in the region's economic prosperity. In addition to the ARDL approach, the causality analysis further reiterates that there is significant causality from the energy forms and economic expansion to carbon emission at least in one direction. While examining the validity of N-shaped hypothesis for the first time for Africa, the study offers policy perspective to the governments and environmental stakeholders in the panel countries, especially to re-engineer the region's economic dynamics if the region must meet the anticipated Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

This paper deals with issues arising in Solow's growth model when contrasted with Marx's schemes of expanded reproduction. More specifically, we argue that Solow's growth model lacks the crucial dynamic features of capital accumulation derived from the long-term movement of the rate of profit, which are well integrated in classical political economy. Classical economists discussed the attainment of the stationary state of the economy as a result of a falling rate of profit eliminating net investment. In Solow's growth model, however, the seemingly stationary state is proved to be a ‘saddle’ point, an aspect that has not received appropriate attention in the extant economic growth literature. By contrast, in Marx's analysis of absolute overaccumulation resulting from the falling profit rate the system is driven to a turning point and the conditions for major institutional changes that may lead to a new period of economic expansion are set.

South Africa is the largest emitter of CO2 and arguably the most developed and urbanised country in Africa. The country currently harbours an ecological deficit territory which could be the outcome of economic expansion, urban explosion, unsustainable resource exploration and a low level of human development. After all, environmental distortions are mainly the outcome of human activities. This study is a maiden attempt to examine the linkage between urbanisation, human capital, natural resources (NR) and the ecological footprint (EF) in South Africa. Unlike previous studies, this study employs positivist and relevant environmental indicators that accommodate built-up land, forest land, carbon footprint, ocean, grazing land and cropland. Findings from the long-run results suggest that urbanisation, economic growth and NR increase the EF, whereas human capital ensures environmental sustainability. The interaction between urbanisation and human capital mitigates environmental degradation by reducing the EF. The canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) results further confirm the nature of the relationships and linkages existing with respect to NR, urbanisation, economic growth and the EF. A bidirectional causality exists between human capital, economic growth and the EF. Policies related to NR and urban sustainability, the limitations of the study, as well as possible directions for future research are discussed.

This paper analyzes the consequence of human capital and export diversification on the CO$_{2 }$emissions of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (MINT). To attain the impartiality of the study, the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) is used on panel data from 1975-2010. The outcome from the PMG reveals that education (human capital) has a negative consequence on CO$_{2}$ in the long term. This indicates that an increase in education reduces the level of CO$_{2}$ emissions in the environment. Furthermore, export diversification is positively associated with carbon emissions in the long run. The findings also illustrated that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is invalid for these nations. The outcomes of Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality provided evidence for unidirectional causation running from export diversification to CO$_{2}$ emissions. Also, a feedback association amid human capital and CO$_{2}$ emissions is found. However, economic expansion, the quadratic term of GDP, and energy consumption have no causal association with carbon emissions.

During a period of increasing prosperity, the U.S. debt delinquency rate decreased between 2016 and 2019, with a relatively large decrease for Asians households and somewhat smaller decrease for Bl...

The drive toward the attainment of sustainable environment globally through clean energy development or energy efficiency is not more desirable than in the 21st century, thus the existential policy moderations of economic, trade and security mechanisms. On this premise, and foremost in the literature, the current study examined the country-specific (for the United States) and the driving impacts of economic policy uncertainty, trade policy and national security on the development of cleaner energy sources by using quarterly frequency time series data for period 1990:Q1-2018:Q2. By employing economic expansion as additional factor, the study implemented the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bounds Testing approach to reveal interesting results: (1) there is a significant evidence that economic expansion, economic policy uncertainty (EU), trade policy (TP), and national security (NS) exhibits long term properties in common, (2) the increase in economic expansion and NS effectiveness significantly yields more cleaner energy development, and (3) a more tightened TP and high EU are statistically significant and detrimental to the development of clean energy. The Granger causality evidence substantiates the role economic expansion, TP, EU and national security in renewable energy development. Generally, the study posits cleaner and energy efficiency policy directive for policymakers in the United States and other countries of interest from the framework of climate action and sustainable development.

Purpose: The research aims to examine China's economic activities around the world from the broad perspective of the country's economic security. The authors begin with explaining the concept of economic statecraft and then deal with the analysis of the Chinese overseas economic expansion. Design/Methodology/Approach: The main tools used to achieve the objectives mentioned above include a literature analysis, logical reasoning and statistical research. Findings: The last decades have revealed a new pattern in global economic cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative turned out to be a successful instrument supporting China's economic growth and deepening international economic cooperation and interdependence. The BRI project allows China not only to secure access to supplies and markets but also strengthen its soft power and gives the possibility to build a powerful network of interconnected countries, independent from the Western powers, willingly cooperating with China in every field. Practical Implications: The research results are helpful to realise the extend and importance of the Belt and Road Initiative in China's economic statecraft and indicate potential fields for future international cooperation under the BRI. As close economic cooperation under the BRI can have significant consequences for China and all countries covered by this project, all partners have to be aware of the complexity of their involvement in this initiative and the pros and cons of such interdependence. Originality/Value: The Belt and Road Initiative is a novel form of broad international cooperation. Thus it deserves special attention and research. The research concerns an economic dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative and provides a comprehensive analysis of China's worldwide economic expansion., peer-reviewed

China has a large and professional diplomatic team spread all over the world. Chinese diplomacy mainly relies on soft power in its relations with international partners. Despite the unified outlines, Chinese foreign policy differs from one country to another, depending on the geographical location, the political system and the volume of trade exchange. Chinese foreign policy has gone through many stages, most notably the period of Mao Zedong who strictly applied the rules of socialism, and the period of Deng Xiaoping, known for its reform and openness policy, thus establishing a modern and more flexible Chinese system. President Xi Jinping's term is an extension of Deng Xiaoping's rule of thumb, but with more openness to international partners and economic expansion, especially with the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. This paper deals with China's foreign policy towards Myanmar, and refers to the development of bilateral relations and China's interest in a distinguished relationship with Myanmar. The research indicates the strategic factors that make China interested in developing the relationship with Myanmar.

India's textile industry is among the largest in the world and contributes significantly to India's GDP and economic growth. As the second largest total exporter globally after China with more than...

Little is known about how economic fluctuations affect educational inequalities in mortality in low- or middle-income countries. The objective of this study is to analyze the temporal variations in educational differentials in suicide in four Argentinian provinces. Data on suicides for ages 25 years and over and three age groups (25–44, 45–64, and 65 +) in four Argentinian provinces during the period 1999–2013 were linked to population data and information on the educational level of the deceased. Regression models were estimated using age, sex, year, province of residence, educational level, and economic character of the year (expansion or recession) as explanatory variables. The educational gap in suicide mortality widened since the expansion following the crisis of 1999–2002, and then only decreased in 2005 and 2011. For ages 45–64, the confidence intervals of the suicide rate overlapped each year, and the suicide rate of the middle-high education population exceeded the suicide rate of the low-education population in 2 recession years, 1999 and 2002. Considering the years of economic expansion or recession as a dichotomous variable, at ages 45–64 differences in suicide rates by educational level disappeared during years of recession, while they were present in years of expansion. Suicides rise during economic downturns but these periods could reduce the educational gaps of suicide mortality by increasing the vulnerability of adults of high educational level to changes in the economy.

A crime epidemic appears to have erupted in many advanced economies, raising questions on whether higher unemployment leads to greater incidence of crime. In this paper, we establish a robust connection between unemployment and crime, considering both violent and non-violent crimes, in a 4 variable time-varying VAR setting in identifying four shocks: unemployment, output, migration fear, and crime shocks. Using data from France and the UK over the time period 1975Q1 to 2013Q4 and 1983Q1 to 2018Q2 respectively, we find significant positive effects of unemployment shocks on crime rates in both countries, particularly so during the times of economic contraction. We also find that crime rates decline during times of economic expansion (in response to a positive shock in GDP growth). Considering shocks in migration fears, we find that migration fears are fuelling higher incidence of crime in France, whereas unemployment shock continues to drive crime rates in the UK. Undertaking further analysis for a single country at quarterly frequency for the UK, and with panel data from 24 countries at annual frequency over the period 1998 to 2016, we support our main hypothesis that higher unemployment rate tends to increase non-violent crime. Our results imply that maintaining stable economic activity is critical in order to stabilize incidence of non-violent crime. These findings have political significance, given the recent unprecedented levels of concern and uncertainty about migration in European countries.

Due to increase in population, economic expansion, growth and expansion of the city, more waste problems are increasing and becoming a global problem that every country encounters. Only waste management policies from government and waste management campaigns from private sectors cannot keep up with the excessive waste amount unless all people in societies become aware that their cooperation in waste reduction can make a great contribution. This paper provides an overview of waste management in Thailand, how private sectors take part in waste management, and how consumers in communities can contribute in waste reduction. It also suggests the framework of mindfulness and Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for waste management reform. Documentary study and literature review were used for data collection. The results showed that consumers can be a big producer of waste due to their overconsumption behavior, so they can take the major role in waste reduction with moderate consumption. Mindfulness can conduct consumers to stay awake and aware of waste problems and have a sense of caring towards other people, their communities and environment. Sufficiency Economy philosophy can work as a guideline for consumers to make ethical choice with moderation, reasonableness, and prudence. With the framework of mindfulness and sufficiency economy philosophy, waste management reform can be conducted at the beginning stage for waste reduction before it is generated. With the care of environment and their communities, consumers will be willing to work together with government and private sectors in following 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) concept for sustainability.

Due to the population growth, economic expansion, and urbanization, waste becomes a critical problem of societies. Zero waste policies are a great and important way in which local businesses take an interest to preserve our environment. Going zero-waste, however, is a hard and intense process because there are many challenges and hindrances along the path. This article provides an overview of the guiding principles to solid waste management and to look at zero waste management in Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. It also suggests mindful consumption as tool for zero waste management towards sustainability. Documentary study and literature review were used for data collection. The result shows that zero waste management needs to be developed step-by-step and it needs involvement of all stakeholders. It can bring economic and environmental benefits to the countries, but it leads to more financial cost of implementation and operation. Mindful consumption, based on Buddhism principle of right mindfulness, is considered a helpful and practical way for everyone to help their communities reduce waste through moderate consumption. With mindfulness, individuals care not only for their own wellbeing, but for others, communities, and environment. They will participate in source separation, reuse, and recycling programs as they realize that conserving environment and reducing the use of natural resource over the life cycle of the service and products can lead their lives more sustainable. The right understanding in the cause and effect of waste can lead people to engage in waste reduction, reuse, and recycling and move towards sustainable waste solution.

India's ambition of playing a prominent role in regional and global affairs has been particularly visible since the assumption of office by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2014. The ambition has resulted in India's external engagement, abandoning the posturing of non-alignment for a more proactive multi-alignment strategy. Its efforts to engage with major powers such as the US and China, as well as other global middle powers such as Japan, the UK, and Australia, have been positioned on rapid economic progress, enabled by one of the fastest rates of growth among major economies. Attempts to expand global strategic influence, a natural outcome of robust economic expansion, should have seen India pursuing an aggressive outward-oriented external trade policy for increasing its share in global trade. India, though, has shown a marked resistance to open trade, including being reluctant to engage in regional and bilateral trade negotiations. This paper examines the dichotomy between India's desire to play a prominent global role and its aversion to open trade policies. Attributing the inward-looking approach to lack of competitiveness of Indian industry, absence of domestic pro-trade constituencies, and discomfort in negotiating new-generation trade issues, the paper argues India's quest for greater global strategic influence might be adversely affected by its restrictive trade policies.

En lo concerniente a los temas de este trabajo, el escenario abierto por la pandemia desnuda problemáticas socioeconómicas estructurales que afectan sustantiva y desigualmente a las poblaciones y los territorios de distintas regiones del mundo, pero más aún a los de América Latina. En tal sentido, la Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL) revela que lamentablemente durante el 2020 hemos sido la región más afectada por el Covid-19, con el aciago dato de contar con el 28% de los fallecidos por esta causa a nivel mundial, cuando la región sólo representa el 8,4% de la población del mundo (CEPAL, 2021). Pero además, para CEPAL la pandemia ha puesto de manifiesto y profundizado los problemas estructurales de desigualdad, informalidad, pobreza y desprotección social que caracterizan de manera mayoritaria nuestra sociedades, con sustanciales aumentos en los niveles de vulnerabilidad social y de precariedad laboral[2]*. [1] Byung-Chul Han, “Teletrabajo, ‘zoom’ y depresión”, diario El País, 21/3/2021

This study examines the relationship between internal absorption, financial and business cycles in selected African countries. Using Markov’s regime change model on data for the period 1960-2018. The data was obtained from the online version of the World Bank’s World Development Indicators. The results show that the Keynesian or monetary effects on each phase of the business cycle is different in the various countries. During the phase of economic expansion, the rate of evolution of consumption and gross fixed capital formation accelerate the expansion trend. During the phase of recession, these variables play a stabiliser role by moderating the fall in real GDP. Liquidity ratio and nominal exchange rate affect the behaviour of real GDP in a mixed manner in both the phase of economic expansion and economic recession. These results show that economic policies should focus on household consumption and gross fixed capital formation to regulate the dynamics of the economy.

China's real estate has been a key engine of its sustained economic expansion This paper argues, however, that even before the COVID‐19 shock, a decades‐long housing boom had given rise to severe price misalignments and regional supply–demand mismatches, making an adjustment both necessary and inevitable We make use of newly available and updated data sources to analyze supply–demand conditions in the fast‐moving Chinese economy The imbalances are then compared to benchmarks from other economies We conclude that the real estate sector is quite vulnerable to a sustained aggregate growth shock, such as COVID‐19 might pose In our baseline calibration, using input–output tables and taking account of the very large footprint of housing construction and real estate related sectors, the adjustment to a decline in housing activity can easily trim a cumulative 5–10 percent from the level of output over a period of years

Corporate violence is a form of organised violence motivated or caused by material interest, profit-seeking or economic expansion. It is inflicted on human beings or ecosystems. Complementing a Marxist theoretical frame with literature on ecosocialism and degrowth, we examine how corporate violence is inherent to and has been consistently encouraged by the capitalist mode of production. By drawing on the concepts of primitive accumulation and social metabolism, we visibilise how such violence is manifested within the productive forces of capitalism – natural resources, labour, technology and money. Corporate violence, we argue, may only be countered in a post-capitalist society where the productive forces are radically transformed. We build on degrowth principles to articulate how corporate violence may be countered and how post-growth organising of productive forces may look.

The subject of this study is the competitive relations in the political and economic spheres that have developed on the African continent in the 21st century between the French Republic and the People’s Republic of China. The author focuses on the main conflict-generating factors that caused the latent confrontation between the two countries that arose in the face of a changing geopolitical situation in the world in general and in Africa in particular. The methodological basis of this study is the comparative historical method; the work is based on the principles of historicism, reliability and scientific objectivity. Using the method of historical reconstruction allowed the author to trace the dynamics of relations between France and China over the past two decades. The work is based on the study of factual historical material, a chronicle of the events of the last decade; analytical materials published on the pages of French and Russian mass media were used. The author concludes that the basis of the conflict between Paris and Beijing lies in the desire of the Champs Elysees not only to preserve the political, economic and military-strategic preferences of France in the countries that were formerly colonies of the French Empire, but also to protect French interests in the English-speaking countries of East Africa. The rapid growth of China’s influence on the African continent, the ever more obvious expansion of the Heavenly Empire into the economies of African countries, forces France to change the paradigm of its foreign policy. If the predecessors of E. Macron, denying in words the policy of “Françafrique”, relied on the use of military force and covert operations of the French security services then the current head of the Fifth Republic in his relations with African countries prefers to use his resources on “soft power” politics. The experience gained by E. Macron during his first (not very successful) African tour in 2017 prompted him to change the tone of communication with the leaders of African countries from patronically arrogant to friendly and trusting.

This article considers how international economic expansion impacts on the composition of elite groups on boards of companies. We examine, why, at the height of the British Empire, boards of national, imperial, and international railway companies, financed from London, were dominated by elites drawn differentially from the aristocracy, the military, finance, and politics. To investigate the reasons for these differences, we conduct a social network analysis of railway company boards in three countries during the second half of the nineteenth century. Results reveal that aristocratic directors were dominant in Britain, military directors in India, and financier directors in Argentina, suggesting that their influence drew on local knowledge, resource access, and network connections. They did not serve on boards for merely ornamental purposes.

In marching towards a rapid economic expansion after the end of 30 years’ civil war, Sri Lanka is in enormous needs of entrepreneurs to generate new wealth for the country. Accounting for the major...

As a crop, the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, has been part of multiple human cultures since at least 5000 BCE. Its role as both food and medicine has made this plant an important traditional agricultural product. However, today research on such functions has been largely eclipsed by the narcotic use of opium and its derivatives and the economies that stem from them. The historical uses of poppy and related cultural conceptualizations of its nutritive and medicinal aspects contrast against practices and commodification introduced by European colonization. The commodification of the narcotic potential of the opium poppy has been used by multiple actors since the onset of globalized economic expansion as a means of attaining financial and political power. This paper draws on research compiled from academic, journalistic, and other sources to create a holistic framework for examining the complex health, social, and economic issues related to contemporary production and use of the opium poppy. This paper concludes that future research, specifically anthropological field research grounded in historical and sociopolitical contexts, can offer important insights into the lived experiences of individuals and cultures that produce, distrubute, and consume the poppy as food and medicine. Such future research may offer critical insight into the relationship between the cultural constructs of food and medicine and the effects of narcotic substance consumption. Such research may also offer insight into the possible restructuring of cultural meanings and economies on a broader scale in order to mitigate the harmful effects of narcotic substances within foods.

Since the early 1990s, persistently low fertility in Mediterranean countries has attracted the interest of empirical research aimed at identifying factors associated with demographic change in what were traditionally high-fertility contexts. Most of these studies have been carried out at the national scale, while spatial analyses of sub-national patterns remain mostly absent. The present study aims to fill this gap, investigating the spatio-temporal changes in local fertility in Spanish municipalities over a 16-year period that covers consecutive waves of economic expansion (2002–2009) and recession (2010–2017). The analytical framework is grounded on descriptive statistics, spatial statistics (that is, Global Moran’s I and Local Indicators of Spatial Association) and non-parametric inference testing the pair-wise correlations between fertility levels and contextual variables (including population density, topography, accessibility and distance from central locations). Results of this study reveal a fertility decline in most areas of the country—especially in depopulated districts. The highest fertility is observed in Southern Spain, along the Mediterranean coast, and around the main cities. With recession, spatial heterogeneity emerges as the main trend characterizing regional fertility—a finding in line with research from other Mediterranean countries. Local fertility rates were less spatially clustered in the recession than in the expansion period, with a progressive shrinkage of high-fertility districts. A persistent decline in local fertility may be considered an early-warning indicator of depopulation in Spain’s rural districts and can be used to delineate demographically fragile areas.

I first advanced the arguments in Anthropocene Alerts: Critical Theory of the Contemporary as Ecocritique during 1980. In those hard times, I was reconsidering how the faltering economic expansion ...

Stringent environmental regulations and economic expansion in the recent decades has justified the need for sustainable water usage in the process industry. This work presents a mathematical formul...

In present day Slovakia, a huge emphasis is put on the development of business in individual regions, by which employment and economic expansion is guaranteed. One of the methods how businessmen from stagnant regions can improve their economics is marketing and the appropriate use of marketing tools. In the given paper we present possibilities for development and improvement businesses in less developed regions by the means of marketing activities. The research was realised in chosen enterprises from the field of gastronomy and it concentrated on the use of marketing tools. In the end we propose the results of the research, suggestions and references out of which we consider the effective use of marketing tools to be the most important, especially marketing communication and also information-communication technologies that should be used more by managers.

A growing body of literature has recently emerged establishing that political socialization influences foreign policy preferences of the public. But the empirical domain of this literature has been confined largely to American foreign policy and whether and how this empirical regularity holds in a non-democratic, non-western setting is unknown. Filling this lacuna, this research note studies the Vietnamese public attitudes toward Chinese economic expansion. I argue that Vietnamese citizens who grew up amid Doi Moi (renovation) had a political socialization experience very different from that of the birth cohorts who immediately preceded them. I demonstrate that the traditional ‘socialist brotherhood’ rhetoric that used to moderate otherwise hostile public opinions about China became insignificant through the course of the reform. This abrupt change led to markedly divergent views between the pre- and post-Doi Moi birth groups on China. Using the data from the latest Pew Global Attitude Survey, I demonstrate that Doi Moi increased the Vietnamese public's negative perception of Chinese economic expansion.

This article was compiled based on the results of a study aimed at knowing and understanding the Strategy to Face the Challenges of Global Cultural Flow through Cultural Education Based on Culture. This study uses a qualitative method. Data obtained through observation, interviews, documentation, and literature study, in a natural setting. Data analysis was carried out through three activities simultaneously, namely: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions or verification. The results of the study indicate that the world of education is currently facing the challenges of global cultural currents, namely the process and system of economic expansion of a transnational free market economy that has penetrated into various fields of life such as politics, religion, socio-culture, including education. In the era of openness marked by the dynamics of local, national, and global communities that have the potential to cause various impacts it is impossible to avoid. Therefore, it is important for a nation to have character and identity in the face of global cultural currents, in order to remain firmly established on the noble values ​​of the nation's culture. Culture-based character education can be used as an educational strategy and symbolic investment strategy accompanied by efforts to create a conducive social environment through a tri center of education (family, school, and community). Reviving local cultural values ​​in certain packages is one cultural approach to empowerment. Thus the revitalization of local cultural values ​​in the era of globalization plays an important role. This needs to be done considering the cultural behavior among children and adolescents has begun to change along with the growing pressure of global cultural currents.

CLOs and Leveraged Loans 2020 was a virtual (online) event held June 16–17, 2020. Many of the speakers and panelists expressed strongly positive outlooks for the CLO and leveraged loan sectors. Although the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic was a central theme in many sessions, the dominant view was that leveraged loans and CLOs will be able to weather the storm. Sessions covered include: • Get to Know Your CLO Manager! • Opening Keynote: The Longest US Economic Expansion Comes to an End • The Evolution of CLO Documentation Standards • CLO Master Class for Allocators • The New Normal: Evolution of the 2.0 CLO Manager • LIBOR Transition in a Covid-19 World: Preparation Amidst the Chaos • Mezzanine Investor Roundtable: Getting Your Cash Back to Work! TOPICS:CLOs, CDOs, and other structured credit, manager selection Key Findings • The CLO and leveraged-loan markets have withstood the stresses of early 2020 and are well positioned to handle further stresses that may appear. • CLO notes, especially highly-rated notes from recent vintages, have high levels of credit enhancement and other structural protections that enable them to survive adverse scenarios. • Still, tail risk remains. A double-dip recession or a second wave of COVID-19 could derail expectations and lead to tail-risk scenarios.

The presented study analyzes the problems and prospects of economic cooperation between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and post-Soviet countries. Examination of China’s economic activity in the former Soviet Union is a relevant scientific task due to the rapid transformation of China’s foreign economic strategy in the context of its growing economic power and in the light of Russia’s economic and political interests in this region. Aim. The study aims to assess the content and practical implementation of China’s strategy of economic penetration into the former Soviet Union and to identify the prospects and risks of in-depth cooperation with China for post-Soviet countries. Tasks. The authors determine the underlying internal economic, political, and social problems of China’s strategy of presence in the former Soviet Union; identify the stages of implementation of China’s strategy for the exploration of the former Soviet Union and the significance of both traditional forms of cooperation (trade, investment, loans) and new formats for its implementation; calculate statistical indices for the analysis of complementarity and trade competition in the development of cooperation between post-Soviet countries and the PRC; assess the efficiency of cooperation between post-Soviet countries and China as a tool for economic modernization and mobilization of new sources of economic growth; identify risks associated with Chinese economic expansion in the former Soviet Union and opportunities for cooperation with China through the lens of the economic interests of post-Soviet countries. Methods. This study uses theoretical and comparative analysis, calculation of statistical indices, observation, synthesis, generalization, description, and graphical modeling. Results. The conducted study shows that China has been consistently and deeply penetrating into the economic activities of post-Soviet countries, driven by the results of a detailed study of economic and geopolitical situation in each of the countries of the former Soviet Union and based on China’s economic needs. The developed strategy allows China to become a key player in the post-Soviet region and the main trading partner, investor, and lender for post-Soviet countries. Conclusions. In-depth cooperation with China carries a number of risks for post-Soviet countries, such as economic dependence, huge debt load, becoming a transport corridor and raw material base, possible environmental degradation due to the transfer of production, declining competitiveness of domestic enterprises following the establishment of a free trade zone. However, the existence of risks arising from China’s implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in the former Soviet Union does not negate the general conclusion about the feasibility of closer economic cooperation between postSoviet countries and the People’s Republic of China, which can become a factor in the sustainable development of the region’s countries, helping them to solve urgent economic and social problems and to strengthen the security system in the former Soviet Union.

The increase of urbanization, population growth, and economic expansion generates a mounting quantity of solid waste in many developing countries. Solid waste management is one of the critical problems in Egypt. Currently, more than 95 million tons of solid waste have been generated from various sectors in Egypt. Per capita waste generation is from 0.2 kg to 0.6 kg which varies depending on household and economic size of the population. Assiut governorate is one of the deep-rooted governorates with area of 25926 Km2 representing 2.6% of Egypt area with total estimated population of 4.4 Million. The amount of waste collected from Assiut is 635.224 tons/year from 11 Markaz, including: 11 cities, 2 districts, 55 rural Local Councils, 235 villages and 1083 hamlets. Assiut has two sites for Mechanical/Biological Treatment (MBT) of waste and landfill in Assiut and Qusiya. Solid waste management (SWM) in the governorate is the overall responsibility of the governorate and its affiliated municipalities, districts and Local Councils. Recently, in 2017 a new organizational structure in the governorate is responsible for the SWM planning, as well as for the monitoring of the services and operations. Central Agency For Organization & Administration approved the new Solid Waste Management organization (EEAA, 2018). This paper provided detail analysis of the status of solid waste generation, management, challenges and solution for solid waste management in Assiut Governorate.

There are debates regarding the effect of globalization on national economies, and whether or not trade openness has a significant positive or negative influence on economic expansion and development. Thus, this study is aimed at investigating the relationship between trade globalization and Nigeria’s economic advancement. The autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) model was employed for the time series data: real GDP, openness, foreign direct investment and population growth over the period 1981-2017. The findings of this estimation revealed that population growth is significant but inhibitor of economic prosperity (real GDP) in the short-term. However, the significant and long-run determinants of the real GDP are population growth and trade openness but not foreign direct investment. Furthermore, the Granger Causality test revealed that real GDP granger causes population growth. The study therefore concluded that trade openness and globalization are necessary for Nigeria’s economic expansion and development. Consequently, the study opined that the land border closure policy recently implemented by the Nigerian government might necessitate a significant reassessment so that the economic development projections of the country are not hindered.