Search results for: economic welfare

Authors: Antonio Abatemarco, Francesca Stroffolini

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In the economic literature, Rawls’ Theory of Justice is usually interpreted in a two-stage setting, where a priority to the worst off individual is imposed as a distributive value judgment. In this paper, instead, we model Rawls’ Theory in a three-stage setting, that is, a separating line is drawn between the original position, the educational stage, and the working life. Hence, in this paper, we challenge the common interpretation of Rawls’ Theory of Justice as Fairness by showing that this Theory goes well beyond the definition of a distributive value judgment, in such a way as to embrace efficiency issues as well. In our model, inequalities are shown to be permitted as far as they stimulate a greater effort in education in the population, and so economic growth. To our knowledge, this is the only possibility for the inequality to be ‘bought’ by both the most-, and above all, the least-advantaged individual as suggested by the Difference Principle. Finally, by recalling the old tradition of ‘universal ex-post efficiency’, we show that a unique optimal social contract does not exist behind the veil of ignorance; more precisely, the sole set of potentially Rawls-optimal social contracts can be identified a priori, and partial justice orderings derived accordingly.

Keywords: justice, Rawls, inequality, social contract

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Authors: Probuddha Mukhopadhyay

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The infiltration of key elements to the civil structure is foraying its way to reclaim, what is its own. The reclamation of lives and spaces, once challenged, becomes a consistent process of ingress, disguised as parallels to the moving city, disperses into discourses often unheard of and conveniently forgotten. In this age of 'hyper'-urbanization, there are solutions suggested to a plethora of issues faced by citizens, in improving their standards of living. Problems are ancillary to proposals that emerge out of the underlying disorders of the townscape. These interventions result in the formulation of urban policies, to consolidate and optimize, to regularize and to streamline resources. Policy and practice are processes where the politics in policies define the way in which urban solutions are prescribed. Social constraints, that formulate the various cycles of order and disorders within the urban realm, are the stigmas for such interventions. There is often a direct relation of policy to place, no matter how people-centric it may seem to be projected. How we live our lives depends on where we live our lives - a relative statement for urban problems, varies from city to city. Communal compositions, welfare, crisis, socio-economic balance, need for management are the generic roots for urban policy formulation. However, in reality, the gentry administering its environmentalism is the criterion, that shapes and defines the values and expanse of such policies. In relation to the psycho-spatial characteristic of urban spheres with respect to the other side of this game, there have been instances, where the associational values have been reshaped by interests. The public domain reclaimed for exclusivity, thus creating fortified neighborhoods. Here, the citizen cumulative is often drifted by proposals that would over time deplete such landscapes of the city. It is the organized rebellion that in turn formulates further inward looking enclaves of latent aggression. In recent times, it has been observed that the unbalanced division of power and the implied processes of regulating the weak, stem the rebellion who respond in kits and parts. This is a phenomenon that mimics the guerilla warfare tactics, in order to have systems straightened out, either by manipulations or by force. This is the form of the city determined by the various forms insinuated by the state of city wide decisions. This study is an attempt at understanding the way in which development is interpreted by the state and the civil society and the role that community driven processes undertake to reinstate their claims to the city. This is a charter of consolidated patterns of negotiations that tend to counter policies. The research encompasses a study of various contested settlements in two cities of India- Mumbai and Kolkata, tackling dissent through spatial order. The study has been carried out to identify systems - formal and informal, catering to the most challenged interests of the people with respect to their habitat, a model to counter the top-down authoritative framework challenging the legitimacy of such settlements.

Keywords: urban design, insurgence, tactical urbanism, urban governance, civil society, state

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Authors: Hassan Hajabdollahi

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Economic optimization of shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) is presented in this paper. To increase the rate of heat transfer, copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticle is added into the tube side fluid and their optimum results are compared with the case of without additive nanoparticle. Total annual cost (TAC) is selected as fitness function and nine decision variables related to the heat exchanger parameters as well as concentration of nanoparticle are considered. Optimization results reveal the noticeable improvement in the TAC and in the case of heat exchanger working with nanofluid compared with the case of base fluid (8.9%). Comparison of the results between two studied cases also reveal that the lower tube diameter, tube number, and baffle spacing are needed in the case of heat exchanger working with nanofluid compared with the case of base fluid.

Keywords: shell and tube heat exchanger, nanoparticles additive, total annual cost, particle volumetric concentration

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Authors: Natnael Debalklie Teshome

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The purpose of the study was to empirically investigate the impacts of export performance and its volatility on economic growth in the Ethiopian economy. To do so, time-series data of the sample period from 1974/75 – 2017/18 were collected from databases and annual reports of IMF, WB, NBE, MoFED, UNCTD, and EEA. The extended Cobb-Douglas production function of the neoclassical growth model framed under the endogenous growth theory was used to consider both the performance and instability aspects of export. First, the unit root test was conducted using ADF and PP tests, and data were found in stationery with a mix of I(0) and I(1). Then, the bound test and Wald test were employed, and results showed that there exists long-run co-integration among study variables. All the diagnostic test results also reveal that the model fulfills the criteria of the best-fitted model. Therefore, the ARDL model and VECM were applied to estimate the long-run and short-run parameters, while the Granger causality test was used to test the causality between study variables. The empirical findings of the study reveal that only export and coefficient of variation had significant positive and negative impacts on RGDP in the long run, respectively, while other variables were found to have an insignificant impact on the economic growth of Ethiopia. In the short run, except for gross capital formation and coefficients of variation, which have a highly significant positive impact, all other variables have a strongly significant negative impact on RGDP. This shows exports had a strong, significant impact in both the short-run and long-run periods. However, its positive and statistically significant impact is observed only in the long run. Similarly, there was a highly significant export fluctuation in both periods, while significant commodity concentration (CCI) was observed only in the short run. Moreover, the Granger causality test reveals that unidirectional causality running from export performance to RGDP exists in the long run and from both export and RGDP to CCI in the short run. Therefore, the export-led growth strategy should be sustained and strengthened. In addition, boosting the industrial sector is vital to bring structural transformation. Hence, the government has to give different incentive schemes and supportive measures to exporters to extract the spillover effects of exports. Greater emphasis on price-oriented diversification and specialization on major primary products that the country has a comparative advantage should also be given to reduce value-based instability in the export earnings of the country. The government should also strive to increase capital formation and human capital development via enhancing investments in technology and quality of education to accelerate the economic growth of the country.

Keywords: export, economic growth, export diversification, instability, co-integration, granger causality, Ethiopian economy

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Authors: Min Wei

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With the rapid development eco-tourism resources exploitation, the conflict between economy development and ecological environment is increasingly prominent. The environmental protection laws, however, are lack of necessary legal support to use market mechanism and economic means to carry out ecological compensation and promote the environmental protection. In order to protect the sustainable utilization of eco-tourism resources and the benign development of the interests of various stakeholders, protection of ecological compensation balance should be put on schedule. The main role of institutional guarantee in eco-tourism resources' value compensation mechanism is to solve the question 'how to guarantee compensation'. The evaluation of the game model in this paper reveals that interest balance of stakeholders is an important cornerstone to obtain the sustainable development. The findings result in constructing a sustainable development pattern of eco- tourism industry based on tripartite game equilibrium among government, tourism enterprises and tourists. It is important that the social, economic and ecological environment should be harmonious development during the pursuit of eco-tourism growth.

Keywords: environmental protection, ecological compensation, eco-tourism, market mechanism

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Authors: Adhi Susilo

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This paper addresses the roles of distance education in the agricultural extension workers’ education. Agriculture plays an important role in both poverty reduction and economic growth. The technology of agriculture in the developing world should change continuously to keep pace with rising populations and rapidly changing social, economic, and environmental conditions. Therefore, agricultural extension workers should have several competencies in order to carry out their duties properly. One of the essential competencies that they must possess is the professional competency that is directly related to their duties in carrying out extension activities. Such competency can be acquired through studying at Universitas Terbuka (UT). With its distance learning system, agricultural extension workers can study at UT without leaving their duties. This paper presenting sociological analysis and lessons learnt from the specific context of Indonesia. Diversities in geographic, demographic, social cultural and economic conditions of the country provide specific challenges for its distance education practice and the process of social transformation to which distance education can contribute. Extension officers used distance education for personal benefits and increased professional productivity. An increase in awareness is important for the further adoption of distance learning for extension purposes. Organizations in both the public and private sector must work to increase knowledge of ICTs for the benefit of stakeholders. The use of ICTs can increase productivity for extensions officers and expand educational opportunities for learners. The use of distance education by extension to disseminate educational materials around the world is widespread. Increasing awareness and use of distance learning can lead to more productive relationships between extension officers and agricultural stakeholders.

Keywords: agricultural extension, demographic and geographic condition, distance education, ICTs

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Authors: Kazeem Ajasa Badmus, Zulkifli Idrus, Goh Yong Meng, Kamalludin Mamat-Hamidi

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This study was aimed at evaluating the roles played by early age in performance, organs weights, meat quality traits, and telomere length integrity. One hundred male Cobb 500® broiler chickens were grouped into ten replicates of ten chickens each. Growth performance, measurement of telomere length, weights of organs, and meat quality traits were determined on days 14, 28, and 42 of the experiment. There were significant (p < 0.05) differences obtained in the chicken growth performance across ages. Telomere length of blood, muscle, liver, and heart on day 14 were significantly (p < 0.05) shorter than telomere length obtained on days 28 and 42 of the age. Weights of organs on day 14 were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those obtained on days 28 and 42. In this study, birds slaughtered on day 14 presented the highest (p < 0.05) pH, drip loss, redness, and yellowness. They, however, showed lower (p < 0.05) cooking loss, shear force, and lightness. There was a significant association between age, telomere length, and meat quality traits. It is therefore concluded that telomere length attrition is associated with early age metabolic activities and could be used to measure chicks' welfare.

Keywords: age, telomere length, organ weights, meat quality

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Authors: Supakij Saisopon

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The process of economic development incurs spatial transformation. This spatial alternation also causes environmental impacts, leading to higher pollution. In the case of Thailand, there is still a lack of price-endogenous quantitative analysis incorporating relationships among economic growth, land-use change, and environmental impact. Therefore, this paper aimed at developing the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with the capability of stimulating such mutual effects. The developed CGE model has also incorporated the nested constant elasticity of transformation (CET) structure that describes the spatial redistribution mechanism between agricultural land and urban area. The simulation results showed that the 1% decrease in the availability of agricultural land lowers the value-added of agricultural by 0.036%. Similarly, the 1% reduction of availability of urban areas can decrease the value-added of manufacturing and service sectors by 0.05% and 0.047%, respectively. Moreover, the outcomes indicate that the increasing farming and urban areas induce higher volumes of solid waste, wastewater, and air pollution. Specifically, the 1% increase in the urban area can increase pollution as follows: (1) the solid waste increase by 0.049%, (2) water pollution ̶ indicated by biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) value ̶ increase by 0.051% and (3) air pollution ̶ indicated by the volumes of CO₂, N₂O, NOₓ, CH₄, and SO₂ ̶ increase within the range of 0.045%–0.051%. With the simulation for exploring the sustainable development path, a 1% increase in agricultural land use efficiency leads to the shrinking demand for agricultural land. But this is not happening in urban, a 1% scale increase in urban utilization results in still increasing demand for land. Therefore, advanced clean production technology is necessary to align the increasing land-use efficiency with the lowered pollution density.

Keywords: CGE model, CET structure, environmental impact, land use

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Authors: Sunita Kumari, Abhishek Thakur

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Focusing on female migrant domestic workers from Jharkhand, this study looks at their life before and after migration in Mumbai city. Girls coming from the marginalised communities migrate through different means and organizations like placement agencies, religious institutions such as church, with the help of group of friends or relatives and so forth. Most of them due to low educational attainment get into the unorganized sector jobs such as domestic work. In this backdrop, the paper tries to understand the socio-economic condition of tribal migrant women engaged as the domestic workers in the M ward of Mumbai city. The paper tries to investigate the early life of migrant women domestic workers, explores the reasons behind their migration and also examines the changes in their status after their engagement as domestic workers. The paper argues that though the economic and political reasons are quite explicit but the role of social institutions is also significant in the process of migration of women domestic workers. The study was qualitative in nature where fifteen in depth interviews were conducted and to develop a profound understanding one Focus Group Discussion was carried out at M ward of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (Chembur East). To substantiate the findings, the secondary data was taken from the available resources. The findings of the study shows that situation in the family, lack of education, non availability of better economic opportunities and other factors forced them to migrate. The factors such as income in form of cash rather than in kind, attraction towards the Mumbai city and so on was also the reason behind migration. Finally, this study gives the ample opportunity to look at the lives of the women who are the part of the unorganised sector of our country. It further unbolts exploration in terms of social security legislation at the national level.

Keywords: paid domestic work, women, migration, Mumbai city

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Authors: Rachel Luz P. Vivas-rica, Gloria G. Delan, Christine M. Corrales, Alfonso S. Piquero, Irene A. Monte

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ABSTRACT -Selected Integrated Coastal Resource Management Program (ICRMP) sites in Southwestern Cebu were studied employing a stratified proportional sampling method using semi-structured questionnaires. Four hundred sixteen (416) respondents from five barangays with Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and four barangays without marine sanctuaries were considered in the study. Results showed similarity of socio-economic characteristics in terms of average age, majority were middle aged, and married. Households were male dominated, obtained low education for both MPA and Non-MPA areas. In terms of occupation, majority in both areas engaged in fulltime fishing however part time jobs as carpenter, construction worker, driver or farmer as another income source. Most of the households were nuclear families with average family size of five for both MPA and Non-MPA. Fishing experience ranged from less than 1 year to more than 50 years. Fishing grounds were within the 15 kilometer radius of each considered site. Even if the respondents were totally dependent on fishing as a major source of income, still their income is way below the poverty threshold both in the MPA and Non-MPA areas. This is further explained by the marginality of their fishing implements wherein majority uses gill nets, hook & line, spear and paddle boat in fishing. Their volume of catch from an average of 6 hours fishing expedition ranges from half a kilo to a maximum of 4 kilos. Majority are not members of fishing groups or organizations.

Keywords: integrated coastal resource management program, marine protected areas, socio-economic, poverty threshold

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Authors: Patrick Strefford, Michael Davies, Masahiko Iguchi

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Sustainable tourism is firmly positioned in these Goals, since tourism has significant potential to contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth, as well as to promote sustainable use of natural capital. Recognizing this, the new quasi-democratic government of Myanmar has embraced Sustainable Tourism as a core component of its economic reforms and opening up of the country. However, it is also highly likely that the Democrats within the government also support Sustainable Tourism as a potential contributor to the democratization of the country. This paper outlines how the government of Myanmar has understood the concept of Sustainable Tourism, and how it intends to implement and facilitate Sustainable Tourism. This paper, therefore, focuses primarily on the institutional frameworks that have been put in place, a specific one being the Inlay Lake Destination Management Plan, which is one of the four priority destinations identified by the government. The plan aims to improve local infrastructure, manage the local environment and develop local human resources. Importantly, the Plan also includes the establishment of a Destination Management Organization (DMO) to implement and manage Inlay Lake as a Sustainable Tourism destination. This research aims to investigate, for example, the equality in both input to the DMO and benefits accrued to the various stakeholders. How such equality can be ensured and how this can be reliably quantified will be crucial to ultimately evaluating the success of any such plans to implement Sustainable Tourism in Myanmar in the coming years. However, this research paper concludes that while the establishment of the DMO is a positive development, there are considerable institutional, economic and cultural factors that severely limit the ability of the DMO to function as an agent of sustainable tourism implementation.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, myanmar, country in transition, destination management organizations

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Authors: Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Filimonova, Lev Sergeevich Kazarinov, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Barbasova

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A method of effective planning and control of industrial facility energy consumption is offered. The method allows to optimally arrange the management and full control of complex production facilities in accordance with the criteria of minimal technical and economic losses at the forecasting control. The method is based on the optimal construction of the power efficiency characteristics with the prescribed accuracy. The problem of optimal designing of the forecasting model is solved on the basis of three criteria: maximizing the weighted sum of the points of forecasting with the prescribed accuracy; the solving of the problem by the standard principles at the incomplete statistic data on the basis of minimization of the regularized function; minimizing the technical and economic losses due to the forecasting errors.

Keywords: energy consumption, energy efficiency, energy management system, forecasting model, power efficiency characteristics

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Authors: Ramin Tafazzoli, Rahime Zamanfashami, Amir Mohagheghzadeh

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Entrepreneurship is the driving engine of countries’ economic development and has a determinant role in the economic, social and cultural improvement of the societies. Entrepreneurship and its impact on countries’ destiny, result in the planner and policy makers’ attempts to explore and extend it in various aspects. These days, all countries follow their social capital development and human resource quality improvement to achieve the strategic national objectives, economic growth, value creation, cultural dynamism, civil excellence and social solidarity, pursuing the sustainable development based on innovation, entrepreneurial technology , knowledge management and knowledge-focused in various levels and areas. Because of the rapid economic and cultural changes in recent decades and also the emerged need for reinforcing the knowledge-based structures and wealth generation via knowledge, a convenient infrastructure is strongly required for generating science and technology. Devoting attention to entrepreneurship and training and fostering the students who have the essential abilities and skills for creating a suitable business unit, is one of the duties of each university. New expectations necessitate that universities in the development trend by way of entrepreneurship, play a prominent role. Since, higher education has an important role in training and fostering the specialist human resource in the society, attention to the academic entrepreneurship help to develop this issue better. The higher education, relying on its core mission (training and researching) be expected to help the path where exploit and apply the created capabilities and also to cause the development in the society. In this term, the higher education play an essential role to expanse and extent the entrepreneurial concepts by establishing the entrepreneurship universities. Therefore, it is necessary to constitute and establish the entrepreneurship university to solve the problems and improve the development trend. The entrepreneurial courses follow the objectives such as: informing, creating culture, entrepreneurial morality, technical knowledge, entrepreneurial skills transferring, preparing the audiences or researching, job creation, business establishing and its preservation. According to the vision 1404 of Islamic republic of Iran in which the society has to include the advanced knowledge in the field of technology and science generation and also economic growth. In this essay, we investigate the entrepreneurship concepts, entrepreneurship university characteristics, entrepreneurship organizations values, entrepreneurship education process, meanwhile paying attention to that fact which the university can play an essential role in entrepreneurs training by education, culture and science. At the end, we present some suggestion and some solution for obstacles, emphasizing on the vision.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneur university, higher education, university

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Authors: Nikolaos Georgantzis, Efi Vasileiou

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We present results from experimental price-setting oligopolies in which green firms undertake different levels of energy-saving investments motivated by public subsidies and demand-side advantages. We find that consumers reveal higher willingness to pay for greener sellers’ products. This observation in conjunction to the fact that greener sellers set higher prices is compatible with the use and interpretation of energy-saving behaviour as a differentiation strategy. However, sellers do not exploit the resulting advantage through sufficiently high price-cost margins, because they seem trapped into “run to stay still” competition. Regarding the use of public subsidies to energy-saving sellers we uncover an undesirable crowding-out effect of consumers’ intrinsic tendency to support green manufacturers. Namely, consumers may be less willing to support a green seller whose energy-saving strategy entails a direct financial benefit. Finally, we disentangle two alternative motivations for consumer’s attractions to pro-social firms; first, the self-interested recognition of the firm’s contribution to the public and private welfare and, second, the need to compensate a firm for the cost entailed in each pro-social action. Our results show the prevalence of the former over the latter.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, energy savings, public good, experiments, vertical differentiation, altruism

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Authors: Gabriel Jinga, Madalina Dumitru

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The objective of this paper is to present the process of change in management accounting in Romania, a former communist country from Eastern Europe. In order to explain this process, we used the contingency and institutional theories. We focused on the following directions: the presentation of the scientific context and motivation of this research and the case study. We presented the state of the art in the process of change in the management accounting from the international and national perspective. We also described the evolution of management accounting in Romania in the context of economic and political changes. An important moment was the fall of communism in 1989. This represents a starting point for a new economic environment and for new management accounting. Accordingly, we developed a case study which presented this evolution. The conclusion of our research was that the changes in the management accounting system of the company analysed occurred in the same time with the institutionalization of some elements (e.g. degree of competition, training and competencies in management accounting). The management accounting system was modeled by the contingencies specific to this company (e.g. environment, industry, strategy).

Keywords: management accounting, change, Romania, contingency, institutional theory

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Authors: Ayanda Magida, Brian Armstrong

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The study aimed to assess the third level of the digital divide among the millennials and post-millennials in South Africa. The millennials are people born from 1981-to 1996, that is, people between the ages of 25-40 years old and post-millennials are people born from 1997 to date. For the study, only post-millennials born between 1997-2003 were included as they were old enough to consent to participation in the study. Data was collected as part of the Ph.D. project that focuses on the relationship between income inequality, the digital divide, and social cohesion in South Africa. The digital divide has three main levels, namely the first, second and third. The first and second focus on access and usage, respectively. The third-level digital divide can be defined as the differences in the benefits associated with being online. The current paper focuses on the third level: the benefits derived by being online using four domains: economic, educational, social, and personal benefits. The economic benefits include income, employment and finance-related activities; the social benefits include socializing belonging, identity, and informal networks. The personal benefits include personal wellbeing and self-actualization. A total of 763 participants completed the survey, and 61.3% were post-millennials between the ages of 18-24 and s 38.6 % were millennials between 25 and 40. The majority of the respondents were female (62%), male (34%) and nonbinary (1%), respectively. Most of the respondents were black, followed by whites, Indians and colored, respectively. Thus, they represented the status of the demographics of the country. Most of the respondents had access to the internet and smartphone. Most expressed that they use laptops (68%) or mobile (71%) to access the internet and 54 % access the internet using wireless/Wi-Fi. There were no differences between the millennial and post-millennial economic and educational benefits of being online. However, the post-millennials were more inclined to use the internet for social and personal benefits than the millennials. This could be attributed to many factors, such as age. The post-millennials are still discovering themselves and therefore would derive social and personal benefits associated with being online. The findings confirm studies that argue that younger generations derive more benefits from being online than the older generation. Based on the findings, it is evident that the post-millennials are not using the internet or online activities for social networks and socializing but can derive economic benefits such as job looking and education benefits from being online. It can be inferred that there are no significant differences between the two groups, and it seems like the third-level digital divide is not evident among the two groups as they both have been able to derive meaningful benefits from being online. Further studies should focus on the third-level divide between the baby boomers and Generation X.

Keywords: third-level digital divide, millennials, post-millennials, online activities

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Authors: L. Krpalkova, N. O' Mahony, A. Carvalho, S. Campbell, S. Harapanahalli, J. Walsh

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The objective of this study was to determine the effects of environmental stressors on the performance of lactating dairy cows and discuss some future trends. There exists a relationship between the meteorological data and milk yield prediction accuracy in pasture-based dairy systems. New precision technologies are available and are being developed to improve the sustainability of the dairy industry. Some of these technologies focus on welfare of individual animals on dairy farms. These technologies allow the automatic identification of animal behaviour and health events, greatly increasing overall herd health and yield while reducing animal health inspection demands and long-term animal healthcare costs. The data set consisted of records from 489 dairy cows at two dairy farms and temperature measured from the nearest meteorological weather station in 2018. The effects of temperature on milk production and behaviour of animals were analyzed. The statistical results indicate different effects of temperature on milk yield and behaviour. The “comfort zone” for animals is in the range 10 °C to 20 °C. Dairy cows out of this zone had to decrease or increase their metabolic heat production, and it affected their milk production and behaviour.

Keywords: behavior, milk yield, temperature, precision technologies

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Authors: G. L. Rithika, Arvind B. S., Akash R., Ananda Vinayak, Hema M. S.

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Cryptocurrencies were first launched in the year 2009 and have been a great asset to own. Cryptocurrencies are a representation of a completely distinct decentralization model for money. They also contribute to the elimination of currency monopolies and the liberation of money from control. The fact that no government agency can determine a coin's value or flow is what cryptocurrency advocates believe makes them safe and secure. The aim of this paper is to analyze the economic implications of cryptocurrency and how it would disrupt traditional financial systems. This paper analyses the growth of Cryptocurrency over the years and the potential threats of cryptocurrency to financial systems. Our analysis shows that although the DeFi design, like the traditional financial system, may have the ability to lower transaction costs, there are multiple layers where rents might build up because of endogenous competition limitations. The permissionless and anonymous design of DeFi poses issues for ensuring tax compliance, anti-money laundering laws and regulations, and preventing financial misconduct.

Keywords: cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain technology, traditional financial systems, decentralisation, regulatory framework

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Authors: Loide Sambo

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Achieving energy security has, in the past few decades, become one of the main goals in the security agenda of every country around the world. For Southern African Countries (SAC) the aim is not different, yet these countries face a particular challenge in the pursuit of their energy security. More than just secure enough energy sources to fuel their industrial and societal needs, SAC have as well to ensure that they trade their rich energy resources to the global market in a way that promotes and safeguards their economic development objectives. Considering the relevance of this issue to the SAC, the present paper explores the possibility of these countries to achieve energy security through regional cooperation, under the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) platform. It discusses the challenges and opportunities for advancing energy security in this region through cooperation. After analyzing the data through the documentary analysis method, it was found that regional cooperation among SAC to improve energy security is not effective since cooperation in the region is still very susceptible to a plethora of challenges, such as political instability, lack of development of infrastructure and expertise, lack of good governance, lack of sense of cohesiveness, and most important lack of political commitment. It was also found that significant commitment on regional cooperation had been centered on the electricity sub-sector due to the region’s huge electricity deficit. Thus less commitment is dedicated to the development and policy harmonization of the other sub-sectors such as the one of natural gas and oil, for instance. Hence, it is recommended that the leadership of the SAC is fully committed to cooperate and harmonize the policies, the strategic plans, as well as the infrastructure concerning to all the natural energy resources and its respective sub-sectors. This would provide the SAC significant leverage to negotiate for the energy market access, ensuring that the region’s energy commodities are traded, while the countries themselves retain enough energy to sustain their economic growth and development, improving, therefore, their energy security.

Keywords: regional cooperation, energy security, economic development, political commitment

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Authors: Edna Negron-Martinez

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Our time's global challenges and trends —like those associated with climate change, demographics displacements, growing health inequalities, and increasing burden of diseases— have complex connections to the determinants of health. Information on the burden of disease causes and prevention is fundamental for public health actions, like preparedness and responses for disasters, and recovery resources after the event. For instance, there is an increasing consensus about key findings of the effects and connections of the global burden of disease, as it generates substantial healthcare costs, consumes essential resources and prevents the attainment of optimal health and well-being. The goal of this research endeavor is to promote a comprehensive understanding of the connections between social, environmental, and economic influences on health. These connections are illustrated by pulling from clearly the core curriculum of multidisciplinary areas —as urban design, energy, housing, and economy— as well as in the health system itself. A systematic review of primary and secondary data included a variety of issues as global health, natural disasters, and critical pollution impacts on people's health and the ecosystems. Environmental health is challenged by the unsustainable consumption patterns and the resulting contaminants that abound in many cities and urban settings around the world. Poverty, inadequate housing, and poor health are usually linked. The house is a primary environmental health context for any individual and especially for more vulnerable groups; such as children, older adults and those who are sick. Nevertheless, very few countries show strong decoupling of environmental degradation from economic growth, as indicated by a recent 2017 Report of the World Bank. Worth noting, the environmental fraction of the global burden of disease in a 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) report estimated that 12.6 million global deaths, accounting for 23% (95% CI: 13-34%) of all deaths were attributable to the environment. Among the environmental contaminants include heavy metals, noise pollution, light pollution, and urban sprawl. Those key findings make a call to the significance to urgently adopt in a global scale the United Nations post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs address the social, environmental, and economic factors that influence health and health inequalities, advising how these sectors, in turn, benefit from a healthy population. Consequently, more actions are necessary from an inter-sectoral and systemic paradigm to enforce an integrated sustainability policy implementation aimed at the environmental, social, and economic determinants of health.

Keywords: building capacity for workforce development, ecological and environmental health effects of pollution, public health education, sustainability

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Authors: Shigdaf Mekuriaw, Firew Tegegne, A. Tsunekawa, Dereje Tewabe

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The purpose of this paper is to make a comprehensive review on the use of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a potential livestock feed and argue its utilization as complementary strategy to other control methods. Water Hyacinth is one of the most noxious plant invaders of rivers and lakes. Such weeds cause environmental disaster and interfere with economic and recreational activities such as water transportation and fishing. Economic impacts of the weed in seven African countries have been estimated at between 20-50 million US$ every year. It would, therefore, be prudent to suggest utilization as a complementary control method. The majority of people in developing countries are dependent on traditional and inefficient crop-livestock production system that constrains their ability to enhance economic productivity and quality of life. Livestock in developing countries faces shortage of feed, especially during the long dry seasons. Existing literature shows the use of water hyacinth as livestock and fish feed. The chemical composition of water hyacinth varies considerably. Due to its relatively high crude protein (CP) content (5.8-20.0%), water hyacinth can be considered as a potential protein supplement for livestock which commonly feed cereal crop residues whose contribution as source of feed is increasing in Africa. Though the effects of anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) present in water hyacinth is not investigated, their concentrations are not above threshold hinder its utilization as livestock feed. In conclusion, water hyacinth could provide large quantities of nutritious feed for animals. Like other feeds, water hyacinth may not be offered as a sole feed and based on existing literature its optimum inclusion level reaches 50%.

Keywords: Africa, livestock feed, water bodies, water hyacinth and weed control method

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Authors: Kuanrong Qiu, Sebnem Madrali, Evgueniy Entchev

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To achieve the satisfactory objectives in deploying integrated renewable energy systems, it is crucial to consider all the related parameters affecting the design and decision-making. The multi-criteria evaluation method is a reliable and efficient tool for achieving the most appropriate solution. The approach considers the influential factors and their relative importance in prioritizing the alternatives. In this paper, a multi-criteria decision framework, based on the criteria including technical, economic, environmental and reliability, is developed to evaluate and prioritize renewable energy technologies and configurations of their integrated systems for community applications, identify their viability, and thus support the adoption of the clean energy technologies and the decision-making regarding energy transitions and transition patterns. Case studies for communities in Canada show that resource availability and the configurations of the integrated systems significantly impact the economic performance and environmental performance.

Keywords: multi-criteria, renewables, integrated energy systems, decision-making, model

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Authors: Shehu Usman Rano Aliyu

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Despite the significance of finance as a major trade lubricant, evidence in the literature alludes to its scarcity and increasing cost, especially in developing countries where small and medium-scale enterprises are worst affected. The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) in 2018, an organ of the African Union (AU), was meant to serve as a beacon for deepening economic integration through the removal of trade barriers inhibiting intra-African trade and movement of persons, among others. Hence, this research explores the role Islamic trade finance (ITF) could play in spurring intra- and inter-African trade. The study involves six countries; Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia, and employs survey research, a total of 430 sample data, and SmartPLS Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques in its analyses. We find strong evidence that Shari’ah, legal and regulatory compliance issues of the ITF institutions rhythm with the internal, national, and international compliance requirements equally as the unique instruments applied in ITF. In addition, ITF was found to be largely driven by global economic and political stability, socially responsible finance, ethical and moral considerations, risk-sharing, and resilience of the global Islamic finance industry. Further, SMEs, Governments, and Importers are the major beneficiary sectors. By and large, AfCFTA’s protocols align with the principles of ITF and are therefore suited for the proliferation of Islamic finance in the continent. And, while AML/KYC and BASEL requirements, compliance to AAOIFI and IFSB standards, paucity of Shari'ah experts, threats to global security, and increasing global economic uncertainty pose as major impediments, the future of ITF would be shaped by a greater need for institutional and policy support, global economic cum political stability, robust regulatory framework, and digital technology/fintech. The study calls for the licensing of more ITF institutions in the continent, participation of multilateral institutions in ITF, and harmonization of Shariah standards.

Keywords: AfCFTA, islamic trade finance, murabaha, letter of credit, forwarding

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Authors: Alexander David Natanson

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This paper focuses on the effect of Sanctuary and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies on local economies. "Sanctuary cities" refers to municipal jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with the federal government's efforts to enforce immigration. Using county-level data from the American Community Survey and ICE data on economic indicators from 2006 to 2018, this study isolates the effects of local immigration policies on U.S. counties. The investigation is accomplished by simultaneously studying the policies' effects in counties where immigrants' families are persecuted via collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in contrast to counties that provide protections. The analysis includes a difference-in-difference & two-way fixed effect model. Results are robust to nearest-neighbor matching, after the random assignment of treatment, after running estimations using different cutoffs for immigration policies, and with a regression discontinuity model comparing bordering counties with opposite policies. Results are also robust after restricting the data to a single-year policy adoption, using the Sun and Abraham estimator, and with event-study estimation to deal with the staggered treatment issue. In addition, the study reverses the estimation to understand what drives the decision to choose policies to detect the presence of reverse causality biases in the estimated policy impact on economic factors. The evidence demonstrates that providing protections to undocumented immigrants increases economic activity. The estimates show gains in per capita income ranging from 3.1 to 7.2, median wages between 1.7 to 2.6, and GDP between 2.4 to 4.1 percent. Regarding labor, sanctuary counties saw increases in total employment between 2.3 to 4 percent, and the unemployment rate declined from 12 to 17 percent. The data further shows that ICE policies have no statistically significant effects on income, median wages, or GDP but adverse effects on total employment, with declines from 1 to 2 percent, mostly in rural counties, and an increase in unemployment of around 7 percent in urban counties. In addition, results show a decline in the foreign-born population in ICE counties but no changes in sanctuary counties. The study also finds similar results for sanctuary counties when separating the data between urban, rural, educational attainment, gender, ethnic groups, economic quintiles, and the number of business establishments. The takeaway from this study is that institutional inclusion creates the dynamic nature of an economy, as inclusion allows for economic expansion due to the extension of fundamental freedoms to newcomers. Inclusive policies show positive effects on economic outcomes with no evident increase in population. To make sense of these results, the hypothesis and theoretical model propose that inclusive immigration policies play an essential role in conditioning the effect of immigration by decreasing uncertainties and constraints for immigrants' interaction in their communities, decreasing the cost from fear of deportation or the constant fear of criminalization and optimize their human capital.

Keywords: inclusive and exclusive institutions, post matching, fixed effect, time trend, regression discontinuity, difference-in-difference, randomization inference and sun, Abraham estimator

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Authors: Seigo Matsuno, Yasuo Uchida, Shozo Tokinaga

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This paper proposes and empirically tests a model of the relationships between green supply chain management (GSCM) activities and corporate performance. From the literature review, we identified five constructs, namely, environmental commitment, supplier collaboration, supplier assessment, information sharing among suppliers, and business process improvement. These explanatory variables are used to form a structural model explaining the environmental and economic performance. The model was analyzed using the data from a survey of a sample of manufacturing firms in Japan. The results suggest that the degree of supplier collaboration has an influence on the environmental performance directly. While, the impact of supplier assessment on the environmental performance is mediated by the information sharing and/or business process improvement. And the environmental performance has a positive relationship on the economic performance. Academic and managerial implications of our findings are discussed.

Keywords: corporate performance, empirical study, green supply chain management, path modeling

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Authors: Louvill Manangan Ozarraga

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this study was designed to ascertain the concept of revenue generation system of Bacolod, Lanao del Norte, through the completely enumerated elected officials and permanent employees sample respondents. The pertinent data were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire and with the help of key informants. The study utilized a cross-sectional survey design to analyze and interpret the data using frequency count, percentage distribution, and weighted mean. For the major findings, the local revenue generation of the Municipality has increased by Php 4,465,394.21 roughly 73.52% from years 2018 to 2020. Administrative activities help the Municipality cope up with development namely, issuance of ordinance, personnel augmentation and collection strategies. Moreover, respondents were undecided whether revenue generation contributed to infrastructures and purchases of assets. Majority of the respondents agreed that the municipality’s local revenue generation contributes to the social welfare of its constituents. Also, the respondents disagreed that locally generated revenue augments the 20% development fund. The study revealed that there is a big difference on the 2018 and 2020 Real Property Tax (RPT) collection. No committee was created to monitor and supervise the municipal revenue generation system. The Municipality, through partnership with TESDA, provides skilled-job opportunity to its constituents and participants.

Keywords: contribution, development, Bacolod Lanao del Norte, revenue generation system

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Authors: Muhammad Irfan

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The UN General Assembly has advocated improving energy efficiency by SDG criteria to promote global economic growth. Pakistan is confronted with financial obstacles when it comes to acquiring energy efficiency because of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political instability, budgetary strains, and poor financial circumstances. The study examines how cutting-edge financing approaches like FinTech, financial inclusion, and green financing affect Pakistan's energy consumption. It finds noteworthy outcomes. The study's results have demonstrated the important impact of these funding methods on energy conservation. The best and most helpful finance tool for energy efficiency is green financing; yet, because of differences in characteristics, workings, and financial institutions, FinTech, and financial inclusion play a smaller role in Pakistan. The researchers propose that to achieve energy efficiency, FinTech activities and funding criteria such as green bonds should be reviewed. It also advised authorities to create energy system-friendly regulations for green finance in Pakistan.

Keywords: green finance, FinTech, financial inclusion, energy efficiency, Pakistan

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Authors: Gabriel Jinga, Madalina Dumitru

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The objective of this paper is to present the process of change in management accounting in Romania, a former communist country from Eastern Europe. In order to explain this process, we used the contingency and institutional theories. We focused on the following directions: the presentation of the scientific context and motivation of this research and the case study. We presented the state of the art in the process of change in the management accounting from the international and national perspective. We also described the evolution of management accounting in Romania in the context of economic and political changes. An important moment was the fall of communism in 1989. This represents a starting point for a new economic environment and for new management accounting. Accordingly, we developed a case study which presented this evolution. The conclusion of our research was that the changes in the management accounting system of the company analysed occurred in the same time with the institutionalisation of some elements (e.g. degree of competition, training and competencies in management accounting). The management accounting system was modelled by the contingencies specific to this company (e.g. environment, industry, strategy).

Keywords: management accounting, change, Romania, contingency and institutional theory

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Authors: Abdulmajeed Abdullah Alqarni

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This paper is devoted a study of the current frameworks applicable to foreign investments at the levels of domestic and international law, with a particular focus on the legitimate balance to be achieved between the rights of the host state and the legal protections owed to foreign investors. At the wider level of analysis, the paper attempts to map and critically examine the relationship between foreign investment and economic development. In doing so, the paper offers a study in how current discourses and practices on investment law can reconcile the competing interests of developing and developed countries. The study draws on the growing economic imperative for developing nations to create a favorable investment climate capable of attracting private foreign investment. It notes that that over the past decades, an abundance of legal standards that establish substantive and procedural protections for legal forms of foreign investments in the host countries have evolved and crystalized. The study then goes on to offer a substantive analysis of legal reforms at the domestic level in countries such as Saudi Arabia before going on to provide an in- depth and substantive examination of the most important instruments developed at the levels of international law: bilateral investment agreements and double taxation agreements. As to its methods, the study draws on case studies and from data assessing the link between double taxation and economic development. Drawing from the extant literature and doctrinal research, and international and comparative jurisprudence, the paper excavates and critically examines contemporary definitions and norms of international investment law, many of which have been given concrete form and specificity in an ever-expanding number of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. By reconsidering the wider challenges of conflicts of law and jurisdiction, and the competing aims of the modern investment law regime, the study reflects on how bilateral investment treaties might succeed in achieving the dual aims of rights protection and economic sovereignty. Through its examination of the double taxation phenomena, the study goes on to identify key practical challenges raised by the implementation of bilateral treaties whilst also assessing the sufficiency of the domestic and international legal solutions that are proposed in response. In its final analysis, the study aims to contribute to existing scholarship by assessing contemporary legal and economic barriers to the free flow of investment with due regard for the legitimate concerns and diversity of developing nations. It does by situating its analysis of the domestic enforcement of international investment instrument in its wider historical and normative context. By focusing on the economic and legal dimensions of foreign investment, the paper also aims to offer an interdisciplinary and holistic perspective on contemporary issues and developments in investment law while offering practical reform proposals that can be used to be achieve a more equitable balance between the rights and interests of states and private entities in an increasingly trans nationalized sphere of investment regulation and treaty arbitration.

Keywords: foreign investment, bilateral investment treaties, international tax law, double taxation treaties

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Authors: M. Gil, R. Montalvo

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Business Intelligence (BI) has become a major source of competitive advantages for firms around the world. BI has been defined as the process of data visualization and reporting for understanding what happened and what is happening. Moreover, BI has been studied for its predictive capabilities in the context of trade and financial transactions. The current literature has identified that BI permits managers to identify market trends, understand customer relations, and predict demand for their products and services. This last capability of BI has been of special concern to academics. Specifically, due to its power to build predictive models adaptable to specific time horizons and geographical regions. However, the current literature of BI focuses on predicting specific markets and industries because the impact of such predictive models was relevant to specific industries or organizations. Currently, the existing literature has not developed a predictive model of BI that takes into consideration the whole economy of a geographical area. This paper seeks to create a predictive model of BI that would show the bigger picture of a geographical area. This paper uses a data set from the Secretary of Economic Development of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Such data set includes data from all the commercial transactions that occurred in the state in the last years. By analyzing such data set, it will be possible to generate a BI model that predicts supply and demand from specific industries around the state of Jalisco. This research has at least three contributions. Firstly, a methodological contribution to the BI literature by generating the predictive supply and demand model. Secondly, a theoretical contribution to BI current understanding. The model presented in this paper incorporates the whole picture of the economic field instead of focusing on a specific industry. Lastly, a practical contribution might be relevant to local governments that seek to improve their economic performance by implementing BI in their policy planning.

Keywords: business intelligence, predictive model, supply and demand, Mexico

Procedia PDF Downloads 109