Search results for: investment fund

Authors: Roli Pradhan

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All over the globe, the resources of the government are declining, and the funding requirements in education are on a constant rise. The governments are desperately increasing the budgetary allocation for higher education, the economic plans have been labeling investment in higher education to be immensely vital for development of the nation. Still the fact is that the government of the developing nations like India lacks the potential to fund the rising demands of this sector. In the face of declining government funding for higher education, there are the growing needs and justifiable pressure for direct beneficiaries to bear a reasonable part of the cost of higher education. The supply-demand gap in higher education in India is on the increase. This paper evaluates the Indian National Education Policy over the past three decades, furnishes the need of financing of education by private players. The paper also covers the aspects of incorporating the different forms of financing in education and also focuses on the regulations pertaining to quality maintenance in the education system. The paper also targets to suggest policy imperatives for the future education policy for India.

Keywords: national education policy, privatisation, private financing, government funding

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Authors: Chowdhury Dilruba Shoma

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Gender is about equal rights that both males and females having access to responsibilities and opportunities in decision making is a fundamental human right. It is also a precondition for, and a mark of, sustainable people-oriented development. In Bangladesh, women have fewer opportunities than men do to access credit from banks and financial institutions. Entrenched patriarchal attitudes, unequal inheritance rights, and male-dominated hierarchies in the financial system, plus high interest rates and a lack of security/collateral, make it harder for women to obtain bank loans. Limited access to institutional credit is a serious restraint on the productivity and income of women entrepreneurs, (and the wider economy). These gender-biased and structural barriers inhibit women’s access to fundamental economic rights. Using a liberal feminist theoretical lens, this study provides some useful insights into the relationship between gender inequality and entrepreneurship, leading to a better understanding of women’s entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh. Recently, the Bangladesh Government, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, and Bangladesh Bank opened up the Women Entrepreneur Support Fund (WESF) ‒ Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) pilot project to cover collateral shortfalls for women entrepreneurs in the small and medium enterprise sector. The aim is to improve gender equality and advance women’s rights in relation to receiving credit. This article examines the challenges and prospects of the WESF-CGS, and suggests that implementation of measures in WESF-CGS policymaking, coupled with a combination of legislatory and regulatory reforms that implement the fundamental tenets of liberal feminism, can lead to a comprehensive and effective credit policy to boost women’s agency and economic empowerment. This may ultimately lead to more sustainable development in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh, credit guarantee scheme, liberal feminist theory, women entrepreneur support fund

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Authors: Ali Maji

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Highway development is an important factor for economic growth and development in both developed and developing countries. In Nigeria about two-third of transportation of goods and persons are done through highway network. It was this that made highway investment to enjoy position of relative high priority on the list of government expenditure programmes in Nigeria today. The paper noted that despite expansion of public investment in highway construction and maintenance of them, road traffic accident is increasing rate. This has acted as a drain of human capital which is a key to economic growth and development in Nigeria. In order to avoid this, the paper recommend introduction of Highway Safety Education (HSE) in Nigerian’s education system and investment in train transportation among other as a sure measure for curtailing highway accident.

Keywords: accident rate, high way development, human capital, national development

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Authors: Suleman Bawa, Ayiku Emmanuel Lartey

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Purpose - This paper aims to examine the association between knowledge capital and multinational firms’ innovation management. We again explored the impact of transboundary investment and assimilative capacity between knowledge capital and multinational firms’ innovation management. The vital position of knowledge capital and multinational firms’ innovation management in today’s increasingly volatile environment coupled with fierce competition has been extensively acknowledged by academics and industry investment capitals. Design/methodology/approach - The theoretical association model and an empirical correlation analysis were constructed based on relevant research using data collected from 19 multinational firms in Ghana as the subject, and path analysis was constructed using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 24.0 to test the formulated hypotheses. Findings - Varied conclusions are drawn consequential from theoretical inferences and empirical tests. For multinational firms, knowledge capital relics positively significant to multinational firms’ innovation management. Multinational firms with advanced knowledge capital likely spawn greater corporations’ innovation management. Second, transboundary investment efficiently intermediates the association between knowledge physical capital, knowledge interactive capital, and corporations’ innovation management. At the same time, this impact is insignificant between knowledge of empirical capital and corporations’ innovation management. Lastly, the impact of transboundary investment and assimilative capacity on the association between knowledge capital and corporations’ innovation management is established. We summarized the implications for managers based on our outcomes. Research limitations/implications - Multinational firms must dynamically build knowledge capital to augment corporations’ innovation management. Conversely, knowledge capital motivates multinational firms to implement transboundary investment and cultivate assimilative capacity. Accordingly, multinational firms can efficiently exploit diverse information to augment their corporate innovation management. Practical implications – This paper presents a comprehensive justification of knowledge capital and manufacturing firms’ innovation management by exploring the impact of transboundary investment and assimilative capacity within the manufacturing industry, its sequential progress, and its associated challenges. Originality/value – This paper is amongst the first to find empirical results to back knowledge capital and manufacturing firms’ innovation management by exploring the impact of transboundary investment and assimilative capacity within the manufacturing industry. Additionally, aligning knowledge as a coordinative instrument is a significant input to our discernment in this area.

Keywords: knowledge capital, transboundary investment, innovation management, assimilative capacity

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Authors: Haitao Yang, Jianming Lv, Fei Xu, Xintong Wang, Yilin Huang, Lanting Xia, Xuewu Zhu

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Given a fixed fund, purchasing fewer hosts of higher capability or inversely more of lower capability is a must-be-made trade-off in practices for building a Hadoop big data platform. An exploratory study is presented for a Housing Big Data Platform project (HBDP), where typical big data computing is with SQL queries of aggregate, join, and space-time condition selections executed upon massive data from more than 10 million housing units. In HBDP, an empirical formula was introduced to predict the performance of host clusters potential for the intended typical big data computing, and it was shaped via a regression approach. With this empirical formula, it is easy to suggest an optimal cluster configuration. The investigation was based on a typical Hadoop computing ecosystem HDFS+Hive+Spark. A proper metric was raised to measure the performance of Hadoop clusters in HBDP, which was tested and compared with its predicted counterpart, on executing three kinds of typical SQL query tasks. Tests were conducted with respect to factors of CPU benchmark, memory size, virtual host division, and the number of element physical host in cluster. The research has been applied to practical cluster procurement for housing big data computing.

Keywords: Hadoop platform planning, optimal cluster scheme at fixed-fund, performance predicting formula, typical SQL query tasks

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Authors: Oluwlola Felicia Kikelomo

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This study examined the influence of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETF) intervention projects and resource utilization in universities in South Western State of Nigeria. The study was a descriptive design of the correlation type. Purposive sampling technique was used to select six out of 14 beneficiary universities in the States. Instruments used to collect data were TETF Intervention Projects Checklist (TETFIPC), Educational Facilities Checklists (EFC) and Resources Utilization Checklists (RUC). The research questions raised were answered using percentage and utilization rates, while Pearson product-moment correlation statistic was used to test the hypotheses formulated to guide the study 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study indicated that building construction had the highest TETF allocation (64.5%), while staff development opportunities had the least (1.1%) in the sampled universities. Significant and positive relationship existed between time and space utilization rates and student academic performance in the universities (r (1,800) = 0.63 and r (1,800) = 0.59, p ≤ 0.05 respectively). Based, on these findings, it was recommended that there should be periodic evaluation of completed TETF projects and utilization to ensure that TETF funds are properly used for the approved projects; and that TETF should improve on the provision of educational facilities to universities for staff and students’ use through increase in education tax from 2% to 4% with collaboration with the world bank and other funding agencies as being practiced in other countries of the world such as Norway, Spain, and United Kingdom.

Keywords: tertiary education trust fund, intervention, education, human development

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Authors: Floris Burgers, Arjan Verschoor

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Poor farmers in developing countries typically do not have the resources or access to institutions to protect themselves against all kinds of income shocks, which makes their farm income highly sensitive to weather and crop price fluctuations, and various other intervening forces. Consequently, the relationship between farming effort and farming outcomes can be noisy, potentially resulting in a situation in which farmers perceive little personal control over the outcomes of their farming efforts. This perceived lack of control can result in learned helplessness in some farmers, who would then be less motivated to invest in their farm. This paper presents the results of a household survey and controlled field experiment conducted in ten villages in a farming area in eastern Uganda with a view to examining the link between learned helplessness and agricultural investment. The results show that (I) farmers with a more pessimistic attributional style for negative life events invest less in their farm, (II) an experience of uncontrollability over income in a priming task increases investment in the farm in a subsequent task if losses in the priming task are small, and decreases investment in the subsequent task if losses are moderate or big, and (III) the relationship between the number of income shocks experienced in the past two years and investment in the farm is more negative among farmers with a more pessimistic attributional style. These results are in line with the reformulated learned helplessness theory underlying this research, which leads this paper to conclude that learned helplessness can cause agricultural underinvestment in a developing country context, potentially contributing to a poverty trap.

Keywords: agricultural investment, attributional style, farmers, learned helplessness, poverty, income shocks

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Authors: Eliane Abdo

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Small and medium sized firms “SMEs” play essential role in the countries’ economic development mainly in terms of production, employment and equitable distribution of income. For innovative SMEs, the investment in the human capital and in research and development are crucial to survive in a competitive environment. In this paper we perform a literature review to underline the financing difficulties and constraints which innovative SMEs face while investing in intangible assets: not only when defining amount of the investments but also while choosing its financing methods. Literature review revealed that in order to finance their intangible assets, SMEs rely in first on their internal financing: the availability of internal cash flows can then determine their investment’s decision. Moreover SMEs face difficulties to finance their intangibles by financial debts due to the uncertainty of future cash flow and the absence of physical guarantees; they will therefore go for the issuance of new shares as a second choice, since innovative companies have high opportunity of growth that attract new shareholders.

Keywords: small and medium sized firms, capital structure, intangible investment, financial constraints

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Authors: Huayun Zhai, Quan Hu, Wei-Chih Chiang, Jianjun Du

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By applying experimental methodology in the framework of the behavior-perception theory, this paper studies the relationship between information quality of corporates’ social responsibility (CSR) and individual investors’ risk perception, intermediated with individual investors’ perception on CSR. The findings are as follows: In general, the information quality of CSR significantly influences individual investors’ perception on investment risks. Furthermore, certification on CSR can help reinforce such perceptions. The higher the reporting quality of CSR is, accompanied by the certification by an independent third party, the more likely individual investors recognize the responsibilities. The research also found that the perception on CSR not only plays a role of intermediation between information quality about CSR and investors’ perception on investment risk but also intermediates the certification of CSR reports and individual investors’ judgment on investment risks. The main contributions of the research are in two folds. The first is that it supplements the research on CSR from the perspective of investors’ perceptions. The second is that the research provides theoretical and experimental evidence for enterprises to implement and improve reports on their social responsibilities.

Keywords: information quality, corporate social responsibility, report certification, individual investors’ perception on risk, perception of corporate social responsibility

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Authors: Shafiqul Islam, Cordia Chu

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Bangladesh contributes little to global climate change, yet it is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Based on semi-structured in-depth interviews and literature review, focusing public spending distribution process, this paper demonstrates how the processes of political economy- enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment hinder the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) efforts of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF). Enclosure refers to when CCA projects allocated to less vulnerable areas or expand the roles of influencing actors into the public sphere. Exclusion refers to when CCA projects limit affected people's access to resources or marginalize particular stakeholders in decision-making activities. Encroachment refers to when allocation of CCA projects and selection of location and issues degrade the environmental affect or contribute to other forms of disaster risk. Entrenchment refers to when CCA projects aggravate the disempowerment of common people worsen the concentrations of wealth and income inequality within a community. In the case of Bangladesh, climate change policies implemented under the country’s National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) and Bangladesh Climate Change Strategic Action Plan (BCCSAP) have somehow enabled influential-elites to mobilize and distribute resources through bureaucracies. Exclusionary forms of fund distribution of CCA exist at both the national and local scales. CCA related allocations have encroached through the low land areas development project without consulting local needs. Most severely, CCA related unequal allocations have entrenched social class trapping the backward communities vulnerable to climate related disasters. Planners and practitioners of BCCTF need to take necessary steps to eliminate the potential risks from the processes of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment happens in project fund allocations.

Keywords: Bangladesh, climate change adaptation, political economy, public fund distribution

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Authors: Raghav Lakhotia, Sameer Ganu, Anshul Goel, Abhishek Kumar

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In the age and times where women’s empowerment is a significant topic of discussion, we aim to analyze the potential gender diversity influence on box office revenues. The following research is carried out by collecting data from 400 Hollywood movies between the years 2014-2017 and performing regression analysis to find a correlation between the presence of female characters in movies and their return on investment (ROI). The paper finds that there is a positive relationship between the performance of the movies (its ROI) and the gender diversity i.e. the more the number of female characters, the higher the revenue generated. Another factor such as Number of Votes also has a direct impact on the revenue of the movie. The research not only takes into consideration the mere presence of women on screen but also the exchange of at least one dialogue among themselves, which is presented by the Bechdel Score of the movie.

Keywords: Bechdel, diversity, Hollywood, return on investment

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Authors: Giovane Gurgel, Cristina S. Rodrigues, Filipa D. Vieira

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IFRN – Mossoró is a Brazilian technical education institute that develops several activities to encourage entrepreneurship, such as a curricular discipline about enterprise management and the existence of a business incubator. Despite efforts, the business incubator does not produce the expected effects. Therefore, what predisposes students to start their own business? If literature review explores determinant factors like the family and personal characteristics, it can be sustained that entrepreneurship skills can be taught since primary level, until university level. This paper presents the results of research project “Empreende IFRN” to understand the entrepreneurial predisposition and intention of the students from technical level courses. Data from 365 students from technical level courses reveal an increased entrepreneurial intention of students during time (from a 2 years period to someday in the future). The entrepreneurial behaviour of parents affects students’ perception about starting their own business. Students also present a cautions behaviour, preferring bank deposit and investment fund instead starting a business.

Keywords: Brazil, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship, secondary technical students

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Authors: A. A. Akharayi, B. E. Anjola

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The economic development of a country depends greatly on internally built revenue. Small and Medium-scale Enterprise (SMEs) contributes to the economic buoyancy as it provides employment for the teeming population, encourages job creation by youths who believes in themselves and also by others who have gathered finance enough to invest in growable investment. SMEs is faced with several challenges. The study investigates the role and challenges of SMEs Somolu Local Government Area. Simple random sampling techniques were used to select entrepreneurs (SMEs owners and managers). One hundred and fifty (150) registered SMEs were selected across the LGA data collection with the use of well-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. The result of the analysis indicated that marketing, finance, social facilities and indiscriminate taxes among other high level of fund available significantly (p <0 .05) increase firm capacity while marketing showed a significant (p < 0.05) relationship with profit level.

Keywords: challenge, development, economic, small and medium scale enterprise

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Authors: Saseyi Olaitan Olaoluwa, Osifeko Olalekan Remigious

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The study was meant to identify the impediments to female sports management and participation in the selected colleges. Seven colleges of education in the south west parts of the country were selected for the study. A total of one hundred and five subjects were sampled to supply data. Only one hundred adequately completed and returned, copies of the questionnaire were used for data analysis. The collected data were analysed descriptively. The result of the study showed that inadequate fund, personnel, facilities equipment, supplies, management of sports, supervision and coaching were some of the impediments to female sports management and participation. Athletes were not encouraged to participate. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the government should come to the aid of the colleges by providing fund and other needs that will make sports attractive for enhanced participation.

Keywords: female sports, impediments, management, Nigeria, south west, colleges

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Authors: E.George, P. Ojeaga, O. Matthew, A. Adekola

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Can foreign direct investment (FDI), promote growth in Africa? What does the inflow of investment hold for African emerging economies? Are the determinants of FDI different for different regional blocs in Africa? This study reviews the implication of FDI for different regional blocs in Africa. FDI was found to have a significant effect on growth in North Africa but had no significant effect in East, Southern and West Africa. FDI was also found not to be driving growth in the whole of Africa in a significant manner. The implications of the findings are that even though trade openness seems to be a major factor driving FDI. Poor domestic markets were still preventing many African economies from taking full advantage of the gains from foreign direct investment. The study results could be useful to scholars who study the dynamics surrounding FDI disbursement and strategies on how FDI can drive growth in developing countries.

Keywords: Africa, political economy, FDI, regional policy, markets

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Authors: Shilpi Tripathi

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After independence, Bangladesh had to learn to survive on its own without any economic crutches (aid). Foreign direct investment (FDI) became a crucial economic tool for the country to become economically independent. The government started removing restrictions to encourage foreign investment, economic growth, international trade, and the environment. FDI is considered as a way to bridge the saving-investment gap, reduce poverty, balance trade, create jobs for its vast labour force, increase foreign exchange earnings and acquire new modern technology and management skills in the country. At the same time, spillovers of foreign investments in Bangladesh, such as low wages (compared to laborers of developed countries), poor working conditions and unbridled exploitation of the domestic resources, environmental externalities, etc., cannot be ignored. The most important adverse implications of FDI inflows noticed are the environmental problems, which are further impacting the health and society of the country. This paper empirically studies the relationship between FDI, economic growth, international trade (exports and Imports), and the environment since 1996. The first part of the paper focuses on the background and trends of FDI, GDP, trade, and environment (CO₂). The second part focuses on the literature review on the relationship between all the variables. The last part of the paper examines the results of empirical analysis like co-integration and Granger causality. The findings of the paper reveal that a uni-directional relationship exists between FDI, CO₂, and international trade (exports and imports). The direction of the causality reveals that FDI inflow is one of the major contributors to high-volume international trade. At the same time, FDI and international trade both are contributing to carbon emissions in Bangladesh. The paper concludes with the policy recommendations that will ensure environmentally friendly trade, investment, and growth in Bangladesh for the future.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, GDP, international trade, CO₂, Granger causality, environment

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Authors: Atif Alenezi

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The low global oil price poses economic challenges for Saudi Arabia, as oil revenues still make up a great percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At the end of 2014, the Consultative Assembly considered a report from the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy which highlights that the economy had not been successfully diversified. There thus exist ample reasons for modernising the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regime, primarily to achieve and maintain prosperity and facilitate peace in the region. Therefore, this paper aims at identifying specific problems with the existing FDI regime in Saudi Arabia and subsequently some solutions to those problems. Saudi Arabia adopted its first specific legislation in 1956, which imposed significant restrictions on foreign ownership. Since then, Saudi Arabia has modernised its FDI framework with the passing of the Foreign Capital Investment Act 1979 and the Foreign Investment Law2000 and the accompanying Executive Rules 2000 and the recently adopted Implementing Regulations 2014.Nonetheless, the legislative provisions contain various gaps and the failure to address these gaps creates risks and uncertainty for investors. For instance, the important topic of mergers and acquisitions has not been addressed in the Foreign Investment Law 2000. The circumstances in which expropriation can be considered to be in the public interest have not been defined. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has not entered into many bilateral investment treaties (BITs). This has an effect on the investment climate, as foreign investors are not afforded typical rights. An analysis of the BITs which have been entered into reveals that the national treatment standard and stabilisation, umbrella or renegotiation provisions have not been included. This is problematic since the 2000 Act does not spell out the applicable standard in accordance with which foreign investors should be treated. Moreover, the most-favoured-nation (MFN) or fair and equitable treatment (FET) standards have not been put on a statutory footing. Whilst the Arbitration Act 2012 permits that investment disputes can be internationalised, restrictions have been retained. The effectiveness of international arbitration is further undermined because Saudi Arabia does not enforce non-domestic arbitral awards which contravene public policy. Furthermore, the reservation to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes allows Saudi Arabia to exclude petroleum and sovereign disputes. Interviews with foreign investors, who operate in Saudi Arabia highlight additional issues. Saudi Arabia ought not to procrastinate far-reaching structural reforms.

Keywords: FDI, Saudi, BITs, law

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Authors: Simin Eydivand, Ali Ghanadieslami, Reza Amiri

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Natural gas liquids (NGLs) are light hydrocarbons that are dissolved in associated or non‐associated natural gas in a hydrocarbon reservoir and are produced within a gas stream. There are different ways to calculate the price of NGL. In this study, a spreadsheet calculation method is used for calculation of NGL price with an attractive economy of IRR 25%. For a typical NGL Plant with 3,200,000 t/y capacity of investment and operation of 90% capacity to have IRR 25%, the price of NGL is calculated 277 $/t.

Keywords: natural gas liquid, NGL, LPG, price, NGL fractionation, NF, investment, IRR, NPV

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Authors: Oksana Domkina

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According to the modern economic theory, human capital became one of the main production factors and the most promising direction of investment, as such investment provides opportunity of obtaining high and long-term economic and social effects. Informational technology (IT) sector is the representative of this new economy which is most dependent on human capital as the main competitive factor. So the question for this sector is not whether investment in development of personal should be made, but what are the most effective ways of executing it and who has to pay for the education: Worker, company or government. In this paper we examine the IT sector, describe the labor market of IT workers and its development, and analyze the risks that IT companies may face if they invest in the development of their workers and what factors influence it. The main problem and difficulty of quantitative estimation of risk of investment in human capital of a company and its forecasting is human factor. Human behavior is often unpredictable and complex, so it requires specific approaches and methods of assessment. To build a comprehensive method of estimation of the risk of investment in human capital of a company considering human factor, we decided to use the method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), that initially was created and developed. We separated three main group of factors: Risks related to the worker, related to the company, and external factors. To receive data for our research, we conducted a survey among the HR departments of Ukrainian IT companies used them as experts for the AHP method. Received results showed that IT companies mostly invest in the development of their workers, although several hire only already qualified personnel. According to the results, the most significant risks are the risk of ineffective training and the risk of non-investment that are both related to the firm. The analysis of risk factors related to the employee showed that, the factors of personal reasons, motivation, and work performance have almost the same weights of importance. Regarding internal factors of the company, there is a high role of the factor of compensation and benefits, factors of interesting projects, team, and career opportunities. As for the external environment, one of the most dangerous factor of risk is competitor activities, meanwhile the political and economical situation factor also has a relatively high weight, which is easy to explain by the influence of severe crisis in Ukraine during 2014-2015. The presented method allows to take into consideration all main factors that affect the risk of investment in human capital of a company. This gives a base for further research in this field and allows for a creation of a practical framework for making decisions regarding the personnel development strategy and specific employees' development plans for the HR departments.

Keywords: risks, personnel development, investment in development, factors of risk, risk of investment in development, IT, analytic hierarchy process, AHP

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Authors: Precious M. Tshabalala, Thula S. Dlamini, Frikkie Liebenberg, Johann Kirsten

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Numerous studies have been conducted, and the evidence has been unambiguous showing that investing in agricultural research and development increases productivity. Continued investments in agricultural research have led to the development of over 26 successful plum cultivars since 1980 at the Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) Infruitec/Nietvoorbij in South Africa, and more continue to be developed to meet the specific needs of both producers and consumers. Yet very little is known about the returns on any of these research initiatives. The objective of the study was determine the economic impact of plum research investments at the ARC-the main plum breeding research organization in the country. The rate of return to plum research is estimated by estimating parameters in plum production and expressing research investment as an explanatory variable. The marginal rate of return is then determined to be 14.23 per cent. The rate of return to investment being this high is indicative of an under investment in plum research.

Keywords: Agricultural research investments, productivity and rate of return, plum

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Authors: Sheraz Ahmad Choudhary

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Health plays a vital role in the growth. The study examined the effect of health indicator on the growth of Pakistan. ARDL model is used to check the growth rate which is affected by the health by using the time series date of Pakistan from 1990 to 2017. Health indicator, fertility rate, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate are variables Where the unit root is applied to check the stationarity of the model. consequences find a significant relationship between GDP, foreign direct investment, fertility rate, and life expectancy in the short run, whereas mortality rate effected negatively to economic growth but have significant values. In the long run, foreign direct investment (FDI) and fertility rate(FR) have significantly influenced the GDP. The results show thateconomic growth is positively stimulated by most of the health indicators. The study accomplishes that nations can achieve a high level of economic growth by increasing wellbeing human capital.

Keywords: economic growth, health expenditures, fertility rate, human capital, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate

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Authors: Boopen Seetanah, R. V. Sannassee, Sheereen Fauzel, Robin Nunkoo

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The bulk of research on the impact of research and development (R&D) has been carried out in developed economies where the intensity of R&D expenditure has been relatively high and stable for many years. However, there is a paucity of similar studies in developing countries. In this paper, we provide empirical estimates of the impact of R&D investment on economic growth in a developing African economy (Mauritius) where R&D expenditure intensity has been low initially, but rising, albeit moderately in recent years. Using a dynamic time series analysis over the period 1980 to 2014 in a Vector Autoregressive framework, R & D is shown to have a positive and significant effect on the economic progress of the island, although the impact is considerably less when compared to both other ingredients of growth and also to reported elasticities fromdeveloped economies . Interestingly, there is evidence of bicausality between R & D and growth. furthermore, R & D positively impacts on both domestic and foreign investment, suggesting the possibilities of indirect effects.

Keywords: R & D, VECM, Africa, Mauritius

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Authors: Mustofa Mahmud Al Mamun

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Government spending, one of the major components of gross domestic product (GDP), is composed of government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. A change in government spending during recessionary periods can generate an increase in GDP greater than the increase in spending. This is called the "multiplier effect". Accurate estimation of government spending multiplier is important because fiscal policy has been used to stimulate a flagging economy. Many recent studies have focused on identifying parts of the economy that responds more to a stimulus under a variety of circumstances. This paper used the US dataset from 1966 to 2020 and local projection method assuming standard identification strategy to estimate the multipliers. The model includes important macroaggregates and controls for forecasted government spending, interest rate, consumer price index (CPI), export, import, and level of public debt. Investment multipliers are found to be positive and larger than the consumption multipliers. Consumption multipliers are either negative or not significantly different than zero. Results do not vary across the business cycle. However, the consumption multiplier estimated from pre-1980 data is positive.

Keywords: business cycle, consumption multipliers, forecasted government spending, investment multipliers, local projection method, zero lower bound

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Authors: Wiriranai Brilliant Masara

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The African Peace and Security Architecture is widely celebrated and revered as a paragon of the will to address peace and security challenges in Africa. However, like any other institution, it is embedded with operational and institutional challenges that prevent it from effectively carrying out its mandate and turning goals into achieved results. The article examines the fundamental flaws and weaknesses of the African Peace and Security Architecture by focusing on its institutions, norms, instruments, and its relationship to Africa’s Regional Economic Communities. Therefore, the article reviews the flaws of the five elements of the African Peace and Security Architecture which are the Peace and Security Council, Panel of the Wise, Continental Early Warning System, African Standby Force, and Peace Fund.

Keywords: African Union, African Peace and Security Architecture, peace and security council, continental early warning system, African Standby Force, Panel of the Wise, Peace Fund

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Authors: Chiung-Yao Huang, Yu-Cheng Lin, Chiung-Hui Chen

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This study seeks to examine perceived environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) with a focus on negative environmental questions, related to intention of ethical investment intention after a environmental failure recovery. An empirical test was employed to test the hypotheses. We manipulated the information on negative ECSR activities of a hypothetical firm in a experimental design with a failure recovery treatment. The company’s negative ECSR recovery was depicted in a positive perspective (depicting a follow-up strong social action), whereas in the negative ECSR treatment it was described in a negative perspective (depicting a follow-up non social action). In both treatments, information about other key characteristics of the focal company were kept constant. Investors’ intentions to invest in the company’s stock were evaluated by multi-item scales. Results indicate that positive ECSR recovery information about a firm enhances investors’ intentions to invest in the company’s stock. In addition, perceived moral intensity has a significant impact on the intention of ethical investment and that perceived moral intensity also serves as a key moderating variable in the relationship between negative ECSR and the intention of ethical investment. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed. Practical implications: The results suggest that managers may need to be aware of perceived moral intensity as a key variable in restoring the intention of ethical investment. The results further suggest that perceived moral intensity has a direct, and it also has an moderating influence between ECSR and the intention of ethical investment. Originality/value: In an attempt to deepen the understanding of how investors perceptions of firm environmental CSR are connected with other investor‐related outcomes through ECSR recovery, the present research proposes a comprehensive model which encompasses ECSR and other key relationship constructs after a ECSR failure and recovery.

Keywords: ethical investment, Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility(ECSR), ECSR recovery, moral intensity

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Authors: Jamie L. Stangel

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Increased popularity and visibility of college athletics have contributed to an environment in which institutions -most of which lack self-sufficient athletics department budgets- reallocate monies from the university general fund and seek additional funding sources to keep up with increasing levels of spending on athletics. Given the prevalence of debates on student debt levels, coach salaries, and athlete pay, empirical evidence on whether this spending yields an expected return on investment is necessary. This study considered the relationship between the independent variable of the winning percentage of the men’s basketball team at a mid-major university, moderated by NCAA tournament appearance, number of applicants, number of enrollments, average SAT score of students, and donor giving to the university general and athletic funds. The results indicate that, other than a small correlation between athletic success and number of applicants, only when NCAA tournament appearance is used as a moderating variable, these purported benefits are not supported, suggesting the need for a reevaluation of athletic department spending and perceptions on tangible and intangible benefits for universities.

Keywords: athletic success, enrollment, NCAA, private giving

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Authors: Saleh Alotaibi, Mohammed Quddus, Craig Morton, Jobair Bin Alam

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This paper explores the role of large-scale investment in transport sectors and the impact of increased railway accessibility on the efficiency of the regional economic productivity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). There are considerable differences among the KSA regions in terms of their levels of investment and productivity due to their geographical scale and location, which in turn greatly affect their relative efficiency. The study used a non-parametric linear programming technique - Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) - to measure the regional efficiency change over time and determine the drivers of inefficiency and their scope of improvement. In addition, Window DEA analysis is carried out to compare the efficiency performance change for various time periods. Malmquist index (MI) is also analyzed to identify the sources of productivity change between two subsequent years. The analysis involves spatial and temporal panel data collected from 1999 to 2018 for the 13 regions of the country. Outcomes reveal that transport investment and improved railway accessibility, in general, have significantly contributed to regional economic development. Moreover, the endowment of the new railway stations has spill-over effects. The DEA Window analysis confirmed the dynamic improvement in the average regional efficiency over the study periods. MI showed that the technical efficiency change was the main source of regional productivity improvement. However, there is evidence of investment allocation discrepancy among regions which could limit the achievement of development goals in the long term. These relevant findings will assist the Saudi government in developing better strategic decisions for future transport investments and their allocation at the regional level.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, transport investment, railway accessibility, efficiency

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Authors: Piotr Prewysz-Kwinto

Abstract:

The market of financial instruments with high risk is developing very dynamically in recent years and attracts more and more interest of investors. It consists essentially of two groups of instruments, i.e. derivatives and exchange traded product (ETP), and each year new types are introduced and offered to investors. The aim of this paper is to present the principles concerning financial instruments with high investment risk available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), because they have quite complex constructions, and to evaluate the development of this market. In order to achieve this aim, statistical data from 2014-2016 was analyzed. The results confirm that the financial instruments with high investment risk available on the WSE constitute a diversified and the most numerous group of financial instruments and attract the most interest of investors. Responsible investing requires, however, a good knowledge of how they work and how they can generate profit to not expose oneself to unexpected losses.

Keywords: derivatives, exchange traded products (ETP), financial instruments, financial market, risk, stock exchange

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Authors: Mohammed Yagoub

Abstract:

The new orientation to the market economy sponsored by the Algeria government in the early Nineties of the last century, and its desire to develop investment mechanisms and the promotion of development recently, the access into a partnership with the European Union, and the forthcoming accession to the World Trade Organization, foreign direct investment makes one of the most important means of opening up to foreign markets and bring technology and interact with globalization, this article we will discuss the impact of FDI on economic growth in the Algerian.

Keywords: economic, development, markets, FDI, displacement, globalization

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Ese Urhie, Bosede Olopade, Muyiwa Oladosun, Henry Okodua

Abstract:

In the past three and half decades, aside from the fact that the contribution of the industrial sector to gross domestic product in Nigeria has nose-dived, its performance has also been highly unstable. Investment funds needed to develop the industrial sector usually come from both internal and external sources. The internal sources include surplus generated within the industrial sector and surplus diverted from other sectors of the economy. It has been observed that due to the small size of the industrial sector in developing countries, very limited funds could be raised for further investment. External sources of funds which many currently industrialized and some ‘newly industrializing countries’ have benefited from including direct and indirect investment by foreign capitalists; foreign aid and loans; and investments by nationals living abroad. Foreign direct investment inflow in Nigeria has been declining since 2009 in both absolute and relative terms. High level of human capital has been identified as one of the crucial factors that explain the miraculous growth of the ‘Asian Tigers’. Its low level has also been identified as the major cause for the low level of FDI flow to Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. There has been positive, but slow improvement in human capital indicators in Nigeria in the past three decades. In spite of this, foreign direct investment inflow has not only been low; it has declined drastically in recent years. i) Why has the improvement in human capital in Nigeria failed to attract more FDI inflow? ii) To what extent does the level of human capital influence FDI inflow in Nigeria? iii) Is there a threshold of human capital stock that guarantees sustained inflow of FDI? iv) Does the quality of human capital matter? v) Does the influence of other (negative) factors outweigh the benefits of human capital? Using time series secondary data, a system of equations is employed to evaluate the effect of human capital on FDI inflow in Nigeria on one hand and the effect of FDI on the level of industrialization on the other. A weak relationship between human capital and FDI is expected, while a strong relationship between FDI and industrial growth is expected from the result.

Keywords: human capital, foreign direct investment, industrialization, gross domestic product

Procedia PDF Downloads 212