Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic development'

This dissertation contains three essays in the economics of development. The first essay investigates the effects of the decentralization of governance over education to communities in terms of individual education outcomes. The next essay relates to the first by exploring the factors that drive communities to adopt decentralized governance, including forms of decentralized governance over education. The last essay returns to the topic of education by examining a policy aimed at decreasing the costs of post-secondary education for a minority group. Each essay probes these topics within the context of First Nations in Canada. The first essay examines the substantial impacts of education decentralization on high school attendance and completion through the analysis of First Nation education self-government agreements in Canada. These agreements are important institutional arrangements that transfer the authority over education from the federal government to First Nations. I exploit confidential microdata and exogenous variation in the implementation of education self-government agreements to perform the analysis. My results indicate that self-government agreements focused exclusively on education increase high school attendance by 5 to 9 percentage points and high school completion by 3 to 5 percentage points. However, the effects on high school completion rates under multi-sectoral self-government agreements implemented together with comprehensive land claim agreements and for self-government agreements that focus on education alone differ dramatically for women and men. High school completion improves by 8 to 11 percentage points for women, but drops by a staggering 17 to 25 percentage points for men. These results have important policy implications for education decentralization in general, along with implications for the particular case of First Nation education self-governance in Canada. The second essay identifies the determinants of decentralized governance by exploring the First Nation self-government agreement claim and implementation processes. I use a novel dataset on self-government agreements and confidential microdata to perform the analysis. My results support the notion that we can treat self-government treatment variables as exogenous, when controlling for reserve fixed effects. This is not an onerous condition to impose. Specifically, I do not find any factors of economic or statistical significance for claims for my richest and most-preferred specification, which includes controlling for reserve fixed effects. Contrary to the results for claims, I find that education and income are important factors for implementation, but only conditional on a reserve having previously made a claim. However, this significance disappears, once I relax this condition and compare the determinants of implementation against reserves that may or may not have made a claim. The third essay examines the substantial impacts of a targeted policy that provides postsecondary tuition and living expense subsidies for Aboriginal Canadians. To identify the effects of the policy, I exploit a reform of the policy's eligibility requirements in 1985 that lead to a large increase in the number of individuals with access to the subsidies. My results indicate that the reform lead to economically and statistically significant increases in the likelihood of attaining any post-secondary education for a group of women whose eligibility was particularly targeted by the reform and for women generally. These increases range from about 4 to 7 percentage points. The effects for men are positive, but much smaller and not significant.

This thesis consists of three essays, which focus on different aspects of economic policy issues faced by developing and emerging market economies. The first essay explores the effect of monetary policy credibility on exchange rate volatility in a small open economy, even if the exchange rate is not an explicit target set by the monetary authority. Using an open economy framework modified from Gall and Monacelli (2005) and Walsh (2006), it shows that monetary policy credibility helps to stabilize the exchange rate as supply and demand side shocks hit the domestic economy. The monetary policy credibility can be achieved by the monetary authority's commitment to certain rules aiming for output/price smoothing. In the empirical analysis inflation targeting is used as a proxy variable for monetary credibility. The GARCH model of selected South-East Asian countries indicates that countries with inflation targeting policies have exhibited reduced exchange rate volatility when other factors are controlled.
The second essay looks at FDI inflows into developing economies. Two distinctive differences of FDI inflows between developed and developing economies are entry modes and evidence of government regulations. This essay investigates the incentives of FDI flows in terms of cost-saving merger, fixed cost of entry and the role of government policies. In particular it shows that, if the cost-saving effect is large and the government intervenes, the foreign firm will consider the FDI through either Greenfield or Brownfield, which corresponds to the situation for FDI flows into developing economies. Otherwise, the foreign firm will only consider Brownfield or staying outside, which stands for the developed economy case. Since one remarkable feature of the FDI flows into developing countries is the benefit of cost-saving from low labour costs, this essay takes this effect into account and provides insights for economic "outsourcing". The multi-stage sequential game model presented in this chapter provides comparable results for the pattern of the FDI flows affected by regulation and institutional factors, which are not addressed by existing literature. Finally, it reveals some intuition and feature of a developing economy where the government regulations on FDI flows are more often observed.
The third essay deals with the resource/revenue reallocation within powerful groups in the economy and the impact of the rent-seeking behavior of these groups on the economic growth and the social welfare. In particular, it introduces a dynamic model of resource-grabbing by status-conscious agents, i.e., agents value not only their absolute consumption levels, but also the relative status within his/her reference group. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the "positional externalities" on the urge to seek rent and to connect the "tragedy of the commons" problem with relative consumption. The model shows that the greater is agents' concern about their relative status, the more aggressively they tend to behave. Consequently, the social welfare is lower because the growth rate of the public asset is reduced due to higher extraction rate. After introducing heterogeneity, it shows that the social welfare decreases as the distribution of status-consciousness among agents widens. Finally, it provides some policy suggestions that the government might consider to achieve a second best social outcome.

The first chapter provides an overview of the topics covered in this thesis. The second chapter explores the effect of historic gender division of labour during slavery on African American women’s performance in the labour market. Using census data from 1870 to 2010, I show that African American women living in areas with lower levels of gender division of labour were more likely to participate in the labour market and have higher occupation income scores after emancipation. The effects are persistent for at least 70 years after the end of slavery. I analyse the mechanisms driving the results, distinguishing between labour supply and demand channels, and I explore intergenerational transmission of gender roles. The third chapter empirically assesses the importance of ethnic networks in facilitating international trade. In particular, it investigates the impact of ethnic Cantonese networks in the United States on the export performance of firms based in Southern China. The results indicate that exposure to ethnic networks has a positive effect on exports, both at the extensive and the intensive margin. We explore the mechanisms underlying the results, distinguishing between information flows, contract enforcement, foreign investment and technology diffusion. The fourth chapter analyses the effect of ethnic Chinese networks in the United States on knowledge diffusion and innovation in China. I construct a proxy for the ethnic network based on historic Chinese settlements and current industry employment patterns, exploiting the migration restrictions imposed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The results indicate that when innovation in the U.S. increases, industries that are more exposed to the ethnic network in the U.S. innovate more in China. This suggests that ethnic networks contribute to the diffusion of technology across countries.

Macroeconomists dedicated substantial efforts to clarify the puzzle of growing incomes in some regions of the world and rising differences in standards of living across the globe. Although the question of why economies perform differently is as old as the theory of economic thought itself, it is only since recent times that economists integrate development patterns over the very long-run into formal dynamic general equilibrium models. The models we present here consider development patterns observed in advanced economies since the Industrial Revolution. The objective of this study is to shed light on the mechanics of economic development within the frame of (dynamic) general equilibrium models. Since this requires the solution of multi-dimensional and non-linear systems of difference or differential equations that govern the evolution of the model economy over time (in some cases with heterogeneous agents) analytical solutions are in general not obtainable. Therefore, this work relies on numerical and computational methods at large, in order to visualize the development path of economies over time.

The scale is a fundamental yet controversial concept in human geography. Among diverse views over scale, this thesis draws insights from the process-based approach of scale jumping. It is a key notion to understand scale as a process, yet few explorations have been made on making use of its methodological values. Thus this thesis seeks to elaborate the notion by redeveloping it as an analytical framework. Four key elements are therefore concerned: (a) actors and their purposes; (b) directions; (c) approaches; and (d) outcomes. These elements form a framework to investigate the rescaling process of economic space in China. Conventional studies suggest that in the context of global competition, the role of state in scale (re)production has changed from a passive to an active actor. In China, where the state plays an active role in facilitating the economy, different levels of state actors, such as government officials and institutions, are involved in the (re)production of scale. Using the production of Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone (SSCZ) as a case study, the abovementioned four elements are investigated. Specifically, there are three research questions: (a) why do local governments rescale their economy? (b) How do local governments build SSCZ? And (c) what is the outcome of rescaling through SSCZ? The qualitative research method is used to collect data and other information for this research. This includes desktop searches and interviews of businessmen, planners, government officials, and local residents. Through a detailed investigation of the production of SSCZ, this research reveals the role of local governments, their intentions for rescaling, the approaches they used, and the outcomes of the rescaling

This thesis consists of three independent chapters on development economics and Japanese economic history. The first chapter analyzes the effect of railroad construction in the Meiji period (1868–1912) on technology adoption and modern economic development. By digitizing a novel data set that measures the use of steam engines at the factory level and determining the cost-minimizing path between destinations as an identification strategy, I find that railroad access led to the increased adoption of steam power by factories, which in turn induced structural change and urbanization. My results support the view that railroad network construction was key to modern economic growth in pre-First World War Japan. The second chapter analyzes the effect of time horizon on local public investment in the Edo period (1615–1868). I use a unique event in Japanese history during this period to identify the effect. In 1651, the sudden death of the executive leader of the Tokyo government reduced the transfer risk of local lords, especially for insiders, who supported the Tokyo government during the war of 1600. Using a newly digitized data set and a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that after 1651, regions owned by insiders increased the number of public projects more than regions owned by the other lords. I discuss other possible channels to interpret the effect of tenure risk, but I find no strong support for these alternative channels and conclude that the results support a longer time horizon effect. The third chapter provides more general background and a complete description of the data availability in Japan in the 17th–20th centuries, to discuss future research directions. It would aid reexamination of the history of Japan and other East Asian countries, which have experienced different economic and political paths.

Sustainable development is an organizing principle for human life on a finite planet. It posits a desirable future state for human societies in which living conditions and resource-use meet human needs without undermining the sustainability of natural systems and the environment, so that future generations may also have their needs met.

Today I would like to write you about economic development. To my mind, economic development refers to the sustained, concerted actions of communities and policymakers that improve the standard of living and economic health of a specific locality. Also, development of the economic system is a profound qualitative change in its composition, relationships and function. Economic development involves development of human capital, increasing the literacy ratio, improve important infrastructure, improvement of health and safety and others areas that aims at increasing the general welfare of the citizens.

There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one which first appeared in 1987: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."— from the World Commission on Environment and Development’s (the Brundtland Commission) report Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987). Increasingly, “green,” “sustainable,” or “low-carbon” development is seen as a pathway to economic recovery, resilience, and prosperity. A growing number of cities and regions are recognizing that their climate, energy, and economic development goals and agendas are parts of the same whole. The interest in sustainable economic development and the “clean economy” has gained increasing attention in recent years.

The domain of 'economics' is fundamental to considerations of sustainable development, however there has been considerable criticism of the tendency to use the three-domain model of the triple bottom line: economics, environment and social. This approach is challenged to the extent that it treats the economy as the master domain, or as a domain that exists outside of the social; it treats the environment as a world of natural metrics; and it treats the social as a miscellaneous collection of extra things that do not fit into the economic or environmental domains (see the section on Economic sustainability below). In the alternative Circles of Sustainability approach, the economic domain is defined as the practices and meanings associated with the production, use, and management of resources, where the concept of ‘resources’ is used in the broadest sense of that word.

Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the recent literature in economic history and long-run development, and summarizes the main findings of the three essays presented in this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I examine the subject of villagization in Tanzania, a major episode of development planning in post-independence Tanzania. I revisit this period of Tanzania’s economic history, focusing on the legacy of developmental villages (vijiji uya maendeleo) introduced in mainland Tanzania over the period 1974-1982. Combining historical data on Tanzania from the 1970s with data from population censuses and recent national household surveys, I investigate whether variation in the intensity of the governments villagization program explains within-region variation in social and economic outcomes today. I document that, in the short-run, developmental villages led to an increase in various educational outcomes, such as primary school completion rates, literacy rates, and total years of schooling. Today, districts which experienced a high share of developmental villages have greater availability of some public goods and citizens report higher rates of participation in community activities, but there is worse perception of corruption among government officials and greater rejection of one-party rule. Per capita household consumption is also significantly lower in districts with historically high levels of the treatment measure. To address potential endogeneity in village formation, I report instrumental variable results based on variation in ethnolinguistic fragmentation and the occurrence of droughts in the 1970s which facilitated the resettlement of peasants into villages. I conclude by providing some preliminary evidence on the lack of economic diversification as well as political alignment to the TANU/CCM party as possible channels which explain the legacy of the villagization experiment. In Chapter 3, I turn to the subject of disease eradication, and examine the impact of the successful control of a highly infectious tropical disease, yaws, in Ghana over the period 1956-1963. The availability of cheap, mass-produced penicillin following World War II resulted in a mass treatment campaign by WHO/UNICEF aimed at controlling the prevalence of yaws and other bacterial infections. I examine the effect of this penicillin campaign in which over 70 percent of the estimated Ghanaian population received a single dose of an intramuscular penicillin injection. Data collected by the WHO/UNICEF program before and after the campaign indicates that penicillin-based treatment resulted in an immediate reduction in the prevalence of infectious yaws among the Ghanaian population. Using a microsample from the 2000 Ghanaian census, I estimate a difference-in-difference model exploiting spatial variation in pre-treatment prevalence of yaws infections and variation in exposure due to the timing of the penicillin campaigns. My results indicate that, following the penicillin campaigns, cohorts born in districts with higher initial yaws prevalence achieved higher education outcomes than prior generations when compared with cohorts from districts with lower yaws prevalence. The results are particularly robust for the female subsample, where I observe increases in educational attainment for cohorts born just prior to the penicillin campaigns. In Chapter 4, I study the development of political partisanship, examining the plausibly random spread of the cocoa swollen shoot disease in the Gold Coast/Ghana in the 1940s. In 1948, the Watson Commission which investigated riots in colonial Ghana sparked by the cocoa swollen shoot pest noted the political motivations of the disturbances. In this chapter, I utilize novel data on cocoa farm acreages and the spatial variation in the spread of the swollen shoot virus to investigate the impact of the pest on the development of local political movements. Based on responses from the Afrobarometer surveys, I find that today, individuals in districts which historically experienced a high intensity of the disease pest report stronger anti-government opinions, and are more likely to attribute success in life to individual effort than government support. I trace the historical roots of these political views by examining electoral results from the 1956 Legislative Elections in colonial Ghana. Conditional on region fixed effects, and various pre-epidemic district controls, I observe that more adversely affected districts were more likely to vote against the new center-left (Nkrumahist) government. By 2000, with multiparty democracy, these areas still vote against the center-left (Nkrumahist) party. This partisan opposition has an impact on the allocation of resources today. Using an instrumental variable strategy, I examine the impact of government opposition on local government transfers received in various districts, with the historic intensity of the pest shock as an instrument. I examine possible violations to the exclusion restrictions of the 2SLS strategy by ruling out the impact of the cocoa swollen shoot disease on other economic and social outcomes. Based on the approach developed by Conley, Hansen and Rossi (2012), I also document that the 2SLS results remain robust to moderate forms of violations to the exclusion restriction assumptions.

This thesis is composed of four original working chapters in terms of four researching purposes to show the macroeconomic development with finance, as well as to consider the comparative proxies of investment and trading sectors in emerging economies. These four original working chapters can be briefly presented as: Theoretical Models, Structural Breaks for NICs of Asia, Causations in Steady State and Dynamic Process in NICs of Asia, and Studies with Countries’ Sizes in BICS1. For different groups of countries in the developing world, it is necessary to mention a fact for empirical studies: that the methodology for estimations should be different, due to many realistic situations and some important ideas from development economists. In the theoretical section, some mathematical models are developed to look at the relationship and effects of finance and development, each of which highlights one special aspect of the interconnections in terms of taxonomy idea. The first empirical part of this thesis investigates the different types of emerging economies of New Industrialized Countries (NICs) in Asia, typically Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, and various stages they pass tough in terms of their economic development and financial growth 1960s to 2007. Another different empirical study concentrates on the size effects on the impacts of financial systems to economic development, which involves specific estimations of four specific large emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and South Africa (BICS) with quarterly data from 1995 to 2007. Specially, the study of BICS means the comparison of interrelationship of real sectors and financial sectors on development in terms of specifications of size effects on financial systems. The roles of financial system to economic development are suggested to be investigated in terms of specifications of different emerging economies based on either theoretical or empirical studies of this thesis.

La dépendance aux ressources naturelles entraîne de nombreux défis pour les décideurs publics. Fort de ce constat, se pose avec acuité la question suivante: dans quelle mesure les gouvernements des pays d’Afrique sub-Saharienne sont à même d’employer leurs leviers de politiques fiscales et monétaires afin de limiter les effets négatifs de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles et d’entraîner un cercle économique vertueux? Le second chapitre de la thèse distingue les mécanismes de court terme et de long terme de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles en utilisant une approche en deux temps: d’abord les variables explicatives sont cointégrées pour établir les relations de long terme puis un modèle à correction d’erreur est estimé pour capter les relations de court terme de retour à l’équilibre.Sur le long terme, l’effet négatif de la dépendance est confirmé. Cependant, les pays dotés d’institutions de mauvaise qualité sont plus vulnérables car non seulement ils subissent l’impact de long terme mais la dépendance aux ressources affecte négativement le processus de retour à l’équilibre sur le court terme. Enfin, les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’institutions de qualité supérieure, la dépendance aux ressources naturelles peut avoir un impact positif sur la reprise économique. Dans un troisième chapitre, un modèle pvar compare les intéractions macro-économiques dans la zone monétaire franc CFA, ancré à l’euro, par rapport aux pays comparables hors zone franc CFA. En prenant en compte la forte présence de matières premières dans leurs exportations, les résultats montrent que la zone franc CFA ne subit pas de perte de compétitivité de par son appartenance à une zone monétaire. En revanche, les investissements directs de l’étranger n’entraînent pas des effets positifs sur la croissance de la même ampleur que ceux observés hors de la zone franc CFA. Le quatrième chapitre contribue à la littérature associée à la gestion optimale des ressources fiscales, notamment dans le cadre d’un boom des matières premières. Les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’un accès réduit aux marchés de capitaux, les périodes de boom de matières premières sont des opportunités capitales pour stimuler la croissance via l’investissement public, alors que les contraintes fiscales sont temporairement relâchées. Toutefois, l’efficacité de ces accroissements d’investissement est conditionnelle à un niveau d’endettement public soutenable
This thesis belongs to the literature on natural resource dependence and brings a new perspective by focusing on the sub-Saharan African region. This dependence introduces numerous challenges for policy makers both in terms of fiscal and monetary policy. The main research question explored in this thesis is the following : to which extent sub- Saharan African governments can rely on fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse impacts of commodity dependence and trigger positive spillover and achieve sustainable growth? The second chapter of the thesis unfolds short-term versus long-term mechanisms of the resource curse by using a two-step analysis: an error-correction model is performed after co-integrating the explana- tory variables. Main findings highlight the crucial role of institutions. On the long run, the negative impact of the dependence is confirmed independently of the institution quality. However, countries with weak institutions are more vulnerable to the curse because the re- source dependence not only negatively impacts long-term growth but also adversely impacts the recovery process. Finally, in a strong in- stitutional environment, results points to a potential positive impact of natural resources during recovery process. In the third chapter, a panel vector auto-regressive model compares macro-economic interactions in the pegged CFA monetary union versus a comparable sample. Considering their export structure dominated by raw commodities, results suggests that the CFA zone members do not suffer from a loss of competitiveness from belonging to the monetary union. However, foreign direct investments fail to generate the same spillover effect in the CFA zone compared to non-CFA countries. The forth chapter provides insights on the optimal management of fiscal resources, especially during a windfall period. Growth elasticities of different government choices regarding revenue allocation is performed. Results show that in a con- text of limited access to capital, resource windfall are considered as a crucial opportunity to scale up investment. In fact, below a level of public capital stock (estimated around 750 USD per capita), public investment during a boom has a four-fold higher impact on growth than above the threshold. This scaling up is conditional on low levels of public debt: countries featuring unsustainable public debt levels should prioritize the restoration of stronger foreign reserves

This work is divided in two major parts. The first, explores the main features of recent developments of more elaborated theories to understand the functioning of modern economies regarding the close interaction of the nominal stock of money (and how the changes in the money stock are determined) with the rest of the economy, particularly on the economy’s real variables. The second, emphasizes on the understanding of how the Colombian economy works, their past developments and reforms, its structural changes and recent challenges that the economy face to boost sustained growth while reducing income inequality and poverty.

This work is divided in two major parts. The first, explores the main features of recent developments of more elaborated theories to understand the functioning of modern economies regarding the close interaction of the nominal stock of money (and how the changes in the money stock are determined) with the rest of the economy, particularly on the economy’s real variables. The second, emphasizes on the understanding of how the Colombian economy works, their past developments and reforms, its structural changes and recent challenges that the economy face to boost sustained growth while reducing income inequality and poverty.

У роботі досліджено теоретичні та методологічні засади та розробка практичних рекомендацій щодо вдосконалення системи зовнішньоекономічної діяльності підприємства. Цілі та основні принципи зовнішньоекономічної діяльності підприємства.
The theoretical and methodological principles and develop practical recommendations for improving the system of foreign economic activity of the enterprise. The objectives and basic principles of foreign economic activity of the enterprise.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The success of policies aimed at economic development cannot be monitored and evaluated without development indicators. These indicators are also crucial in comparing levels of development across time and space so as to come a greater understanding of the development process. Yet, economic development does not mean the same thing to everyone. As a result, there exists a variety of indicators of economic development. Five main classes of development indicators are distinguished on the basis of the shift over time in our understanding of economic development (Chapter 1). A distinction is drawn between indicators of national income and economic growth (Chapter 3), employment, unemployment and underemployment (Chapter 4), and poverty and inequality (Chapter 5). Social indicators (Chapter 6) and composite indices (Chapter 7) of economic development represent two futher classes of development indicators. These indicators differ in terms of their content, method and technique, comparative application, simplicity, clarity, focus, availability and flexibility. These main classes of development indicators are evaluated with reference to these dimensions of measurement which are described in detail in Chapter 2. There is no one indicator that can be described as an ideal, all encompassing measure of economic development, at least not in terms of its performance on these dimensions of measurement. Hence, the measurement of development remains imperfect, but nonetheless makes an invaluable contribution to the study of economic development. In fact, development studies will be impossible without access to such a variety of development indicators. Given the importance of development indicators in development studies, two new composite indices of development are presented here to address two specific gaps in indicator research. Indices of Human Security (HSIs) and Inefficiency ratios are developed to determine the extent to which countries have made progress on human security as defined by the UNDP (Chapter 8). Progress is assessed in terms of both effort and outcomes, as well as the extent to which efforts are actually translated into outcomes. Indices of Reconstruction and Development (RDIs) are employed to measure the extent to which the nine provinces of South Africa have made progress on the development objectives described in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (Chapter 9). The measurement results suggest that there remain substantial disparities in progress on both human security and reconstruction and development. These new composite indices are also employed to determine those development characteristics associated with progress on human security and reconstruction and development. So, for example, disparities in human security are associated with certain urban and population dynamics, as well as communications capacity and infrastructural development. Progress on reconstruction and development is associated with lower population pressure, higher matric pass rates, less poverty and inequality, and more political representativeness at the provincial level. The RDIs also underscore the extent to which progress on the RDP has not materialised in rural areas. Furthermore, current provincial disparities in progress on reconstruction and development appear still to be indicative of the racial dynamics of development so characteristic of the Apartheid era.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is onmoontlik om sonder ontwikkelingsindikatore die sukses van beleid wat gemik is op ekonomiese ontwikkeling te moniteer of te evalueer. Ontwikkelingsindikatore IS ook onontbeerlik III die vergelyking van ontwikkelingsvlakke oor tyd en ruimte om sodoende 'n beter begrip van die ontwikkelingsproses te verkry. Ekonomiese ontwikkeling het egter nie dieselfde betekenis vir almal nie. Gevolglik bestaan daar 'n verskeidenheid van ontwikkelingsindikatore. Vyf hoofklasse van ontwikkelingsindikatore word onderskei op grond van verskuiwings oor tyd in die interpretasie van ekonomiese ontwikkeling (Hoofstuk 1). 'n Onderskeid word getref tussen maatstawwe van nasionale inkome en ekonomiese groei (Hoofstuk 3), indiensname, werkloosheid en onderindiensname (Hoofstuk 4), en armoede en ongelykheid (Hoofstuk 5). Sosiale indikatore (Hoofstuk 6) en saamgestelde indekse (Hoofstuk 7) van ekonomiese ontwikkeling verteenwoordig twee verdere groepe indikatore. Hierdie indikatore verskil in terme van hul inhoud, metode en tegniek, vergelykende toepassing, eenvoud, duidelikheid, fokus, beskikbaarheid en buigsaamheid. Hierdie hoofklasse van ontwikkelingsindikatore word geëvalueer met verwysing na hierdie dimensies van meting, wat in groter besonderhede in Hoofstuk 2 bespreek word. Daar is nie een indikator wat beskryfkan word as 'n ideale, allesomvattende maatstafvan ekonomiese ontwikkeling nie, ten minste nie in terme van die prestasie daarvan op hierdie dimensies van meting nie. Gevolglik is die meting van ekonomiese ontwikkeling onvolmaak, alhoewel dit 'n onskatbare bydrae lewer tot die studie van ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Om die waarheid te sê, ontwikkelingstudies salonmoontlik wees sonder toegang tot so 'n verskeidenheid van ontwikkelingsindikatore. Gegewe die belangrikheid van ontwikkelingsmaatstawwe In ontwikkelingstudies, word twee nuwe saamgestelde indekse hier aangebied om twee spesifieke gapings in navorsing oor ontwikkelingsmaatstawwe aan te spreek. Indekse van Menslike Sekuriteit (MSls) en Ondoeltreffendheidsratio's word ontwikkelom te bepaal tot watter mate lande vordering gemaak het in menslike sekuriteit, soos definieer deur die UNDP (Hoofstuk 8). Vordering word gemeet in terme van sowel pogings en uitkomste as die mate waartoe pogings werklik in uitkomste omskep word. In Hoofstuk 9 word Indekse van Heropbou en Ontwikkeling (HOIs) gebruik om te meet tot watter mate die nege provinsies in Suid-Afrika vordering gemaak het in die bereiking van die ontwikkelingsdoelwitte wat uitgespel word in die Heropbou- en Ontwikkelingsprogram (HOP). Die metingsresultate dui daarop dat daar wesenlike ongelykhede bestaan in beide menslike sekuriteit en heropbou en ontwikkeling. Hierdie nuwe saamgestelde indekse word ook gebruik om te bepaal met watter ontwikkelingskenmerke ongelykhede in menslike sekuriteit en heropbou en ontwikkeling geassosieer word. So, byvoorbeeld, toon dispariteite in menslike sekuriteit 'n verband met sowel stedelike en bevolkingsdinamika as kapasiteit in kommunikasie en infrastruktuur. Vordering in heropbou en ontwikkeling word ook geassosieer met laer bevolkingsdruk, beter matrikulasieresultate, minder armoede en inkomste-ongelykheid, en wyer politieke verteenwoordiging op provinsiale vlak. Die indekse beklemtoon ook die mate waartoe vordering met die HOP nog nie in landelike gebiede gematerialiseer het nie. Verder wil dit voorkom asof huidige provinsiale ongelykhede in vordering met heropbou en ontwikkeling steeds kenmerkend is van die rasse-dinamika agter ontwikkeling wat so kenmerkend was van die Apartheidsera.

Hi ha un consens que considera a l'emprenedoria un element important que explica el procés de desenvolupament econòmic dels països. Entre altres raons, els acadèmics i els creadors de política s'han interessat en els factors que podrien determinar l'activitat emprenedora. Encara que una gran quantitat de disciplines ha analitzat els condicionants de l'emprenedoria, l'enfocament institucional ha guanyat rellevància per la seva capacitat per proporcionar un marc en el qual els emprenedors prenen decisions basats en el context al qual pertanyen. En particular, aquesta visió teòrica va ser dissenyada per explicar les diferències de desenvolupament econòmic entre països. Per tant, l'economia institucional és útil per comprendre per què els individus decideixen convertir-se en emprenedors i, al mateix temps, com contribueixen al desenvolupament econòmic per millorar les condicions socials. Per tant, aquesta investigació explora els factors institucionals que fomenten l'activitat emprenedora, la qual permet aconseguir un major desenvolupament econòmic en els països en desenvolupament i desenvolupats. La metodologia utilitzada és quantitativa i en la seva gran majoria considera l'estimació d'equacions simultànies (regressió múltiple, variables instrumentals i mínims quadrats en tres etapes). D'aquesta manera, l'equació que relaciona institucions i emprenedoria utilitza dades del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) per mesurar diferents variables de l'activitat emprenedora. Pel que fa als factors institucionals, aquesta tesi utilitza dades del Doing Business, els Indicadors de Governabilitat Mundial, l'Enquesta Mundial de Valors, els Índexs de Desenvolupament Social, les dades de Hofstede Centre, del Programa de les Nacions Unides per al Desenvolupament, la enquesta Nacional d'Experts del GEM i del Centre per al Sistema de Pau. Pel que fa a l'equació d'emprenedoria i desenvolupament econòmic, s'utilitza informació dels Indicadors del Desenvolupament Mundial (Banc Mundial) i del Progrés Social Imperatiu. Els principals resultats d'aquesta tesi suggereixen que efectivament hi ha una cadena causal que comença en el context institucional, afectant a l'emprenedoria i, en última instància, el desenvolupament econòmic. En aquest sentit, es troba que les institucions informals són més importants per a l'activitat emprenedora que les formals. La intencionalitat cap al progrés constitueix una característica institucional que fomenta el tipus d'emprenedoria necessària per aconseguir un major creixement i desenvolupament, on a més es creen processos d'inclusió. Finalment, aquesta investigació té implicacions teòriques i de política pública. En termes del debat teòric, aquesta tesi pot aportar evidència empírica sobre la idea que el desenvolupament econòmic abasta no només aquells determinants que expliquen directament el creixement, sinó també els factors fonamentals que condicionen les decisions dels agents econòmics. En aquest sentit, es demostra que l'emprenedoria es veu afectat pels factors institucionals i, al mateix temps, influeix en resultats com el creixement i desenvolupament econòmic. Per tant, els creadors de política pública que estan constantment creant estratègies han de tenir en compte que qualsevol política implementada afecta les decisions empresarials i, al mateix temps, el camí cap desenvolupament dels països.
Existe un consenso que considera al emprendimiento un elemento importante que explica el proceso de desarrollo económico de los países. Entre otras razones, los académicos y los hacedores de política se han interesado en los factores que podrían determinar la actividad emprendedora. Aunque una gran cantidad de disciplinas ha analizado los condicionantes del emprendimiento, el enfoque institucional ha ganado relevancia debido a su capacidad para proporcionar un marco en el que los emprendedores toman decisiones basados en el contexto al que pertenecen. En particular, esta visión teórica fue diseñada para explicar las diferencias de desarrollo económico entre países. Por tanto, la economía institucional resulta útil para comprender por qué los individuos deciden convertirse en emprendedores y, al mismo tiempo, cómo contribuyen al desarrollo económico para mejorar las condiciones sociales. Por consiguiente, esta investigación explora los factores institucionales que fomentan la actividad emprendedora, la cual permite lograr un mayor desarrollo económico en los países en desarrollo y desarrollados. La metodología utilizada es cuantitativa y en su gran mayoría considera la estimación de ecuaciones simultáneamente (regresión múltiple, variables instrumentales y mínimos cuadrados en tres etapas). De esta forma, la ecuación que relaciona instituciones y emprendimiento utiliza datos del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) para medir diferentes variables de la actividad emprendedora. En cuanto a los factores institucionales, esta tesis utiliza datos del Doing Business, los Indicadores de Gobernabilidad Mundial, la Encuesta Mundial de Valores, los Índices de Desarrollo Social, los datos de Hofstede Centre, del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, la Encuesta Nacional de Expertos del GEM y del Centro para el Sistema de Paz. En cuanto a la ecuación de emprendimiento y desarrollo económico, se utiliza información de los Indicadores del Desarrollo Mundial (Banco Mundial) y del Progreso Social Imperativo. Los principales hallazgos de esta tesis sugieren que efectivamente existe una cadena causal que comienza en el contexto institucional, afectando al emprendimiento y, en última instancia, el desarrollo económico. En este sentido, se encuentra que las instituciones informales son más importantes para la actividad emprendedora que las formales. La intencionalidad hacia el progreso constituye una característica institucional que fomenta el tipo de emprendimiento necesaria para lograr un mayor crecimiento y desarrollo, donde además se crean procesos de inclusión. Finalmente, esta investigación tiene implicaciones teóricas y de política pública. En términos del debate teórico, esta tesis puede aportar evidencia empírica sobre la idea de que el desarrollo económico abarca no sólo aquellos determinantes que explican directamente el crecimiento, sino también los factores fundamentales que condicionan las decisiones de los agentes económicos. En este sentido, se demuestra que el emprendimiento se ve afectado por los factores institucionales y, al mismo tiempo, influye en resultados como el crecimiento y desarrollo económico. Por tanto, los hacedores de política pública que están constantemente creando estrategias deben tener en cuenta que cualquier política implementada afecta las decisiones empresariales y, al mismo tiempo, el camino hacia desarrollo de los países.
There is a consensus that entrepreneurship is an important element in explaining the economic development process of countries. Among other reasons, scholars and policy makers have been interested in what factors might determine entrepreneurial activity. Although a vast amount of disciplines have analyzed entrepreneurship antecedents, the institutional approaches have gained relevance due to their capacity to provide a framework in which entrepreneurs make decisions based on the context where they are embedded. Particularly, this theoretical view was designed to explain the economic development differences across countries. Therefore, it turns out that institutional economics is useful for comprehending why individuals decide to become entrepreneurs, and at the same time, how they contribute to the economic development to better the social conditions. Thus, this investigation explores the institutional factors that encourage entrepreneurial activity to achieve higher economic development across developing and developed countries. The methodology used is quantitative and mostly regards the estimations of various equations simultaneously (multiple regression, instrumental variables, and three-stage least-square). Thus, for the equation dealing with institutions and entrepreneurship, this research employed data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) to measure different variables of entrepreneurial activity. Concerning the institutional factors, this thesis used data from Doing Business, Worldwide Governance Indicators, World Values Survey, Indices of Social Development, the Hofstede Centre, the United Nations Development Programme, the National Experts Survey of GEM and the Center for System Peace. Regarding the equation of entrepreneurship and economic development, information was used from the World Development Indicators (World Bank) and Social Progress Imperative. The main findings of this thesis suggest that effectively there is a causal chain that runs from the institutional context, affecting entrepreneurship and ultimately economic development. In this sense, it is found that the informal institutions are more important for entrepreneurship than the formal ones. The intentionality toward progress constitutes an institutional characteristic that encourages the type of entrepreneurial activity needed to achieve higher growth and development, where, in addition, inclusive processes are created. Finally, this research has theoretical and public policy implications. In terms of the theoretical debate, this thesis may provide empirical evidence for the idea that economic development embraces not only those determinants that explain growth directly, but also those fundamental factors that condition the decisions of economic agents. In this sense, entrepreneurship is proven to be affected by institutional factors, and at the same time, to influence outcomes such as economic growth and development. Thus, policy makers that are constantly creating strategies should take into consideration that any policy implemented affects entrepreneurial decisions, and at the same time, the development path of countries.

This thesis investigates empirically three questions of key relevance for the life of disadvantaged people in developing countries. Using a sample of Ethiopian women and a regression discontinuity design exploiting age discontinuities in exposure to a law that raised the legal age of marriage for women, the first chapter documents for the first time (a) the effect of increasing the legal age of marriage for women on infant mortality and (b) the causal effect of early cohabitation on infant mortality. The analysis shows that, even though it was not perfectly enforced, the law that raised the legal age of marriage had a large effect on the infant mortality of the first born child. Furthermore, the estimates suggest that the effect of a one-year delay in women's age at cohabitation on the infant mortality of the ffrst born is comparable to the joint effect on child mortality of measles, BCG, DPT, Polio and Maternal Tetanus vaccinations. Using longitudinal data from northern Ghana, the second chapter shows that parents allocate more schooling to children that are more cognitively able. These results provide evidence for the main prediction of the model of intra-household allocation of resources developed in Becker (1981), which concludes that parents allocate human capital investments reinforcing cognitive differences between siblings. The third chapter uses the 8.8 Richter magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in February 2010 as a case study and employs a difference in difference strategy to investigate whether natural disasters have lasting effects on property crime. The results show that the earthquake reduced the prevalence of property crime the year of the earthquake and that this effect remained stable over the 4 post-earthquake years studied. The lasting drop in crime rates in affected areas seems to be linked to the earthquake strengthening community life in these municipalities.

The main aim of the research study was to review the Mhlontlo Municipality Local Economic Development Strategy as a driver of economic development. The Mhlontlo LED Strategy was developed in 2007 to guide economic development of Mhlontlo Local Municipality. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa(Act 108 of 1996), the White Paper on Local Government (1998), Section B, the National Framework for LED in South Africa (2006), and other pieces of legislation gave direction in the development of LED Strategies in South# Africa, including the Mhlontlo LED Strategy.

In the early 1980's several developing countries introduced liberalisation policies in their economies. One of the reforms they implemented was to develop their stock markets. The theoretical justification for the liberalisation process was provided by the work of McKinnon (1973) and Shaw (1973). Their model follows neo-classical assumptions on savings and investment. Other researchers later completed their model with respect to the stock market, and claimed that its development could benefit the emerging economies [Cho (1986)]. The aim of this thesis is to empirically examine if stock market development in a sample of emerging countries assisted economic growth or not. To examine this, we form three research questions. The first question is: what is the direct impact of stock market development on economic growth in developing countries? The second question refers to the indirect impact of stock market development on the economy via stock price volatility. The question is: has stock market volatility increased following liberalisation policies or not? The third question is: have the emerging stock markets become more integrated with each other and with developed markets following liberalisation? Stock market integration is a result of stock market development so we should expect these stock markets to become more integrated after they were liberalised. In examining these issues, we take into account the special circumstances surrounding each country. To this end we provide an overview of some of the emerging economies we examine and discuss the implications of their individual characteristics for our analysis. We carry out a literature survey which suggests that research in this area has been scarce. The few empirical evidence on these questions are mixed. This thesis aims to contribute to this growing literature by providing additional evidence on the questions we posed and by overcoming some of the problems which are inherent in the methodologies followed by previous researchers who examined these issues.

This thesis examines the relationship between the property market and urban economic development. The impetus for the research lies in the rapid process of urban economic change and the failure of economic approaches to explore adequately the important role of the property market in that process. The study draws on institutional economics to advance the argument that the property market as an institution is a mediator through which economic potential can be realised and served. Due to major philosophical and theoretical deficiencies in the area, focus is placed on the establishment of an appropriate philosophical framework, the development of a new theory, and the specification of a research design for empirical investigation of the issues. The thesis's foremost contribution therefore lies in the formation of a holistic research programme to conceptualise the property market as an institution and to explore its role within the urban economy. Critical realist principles provide the basis for the development of the philosophical position of the study. These are combined with institutionalist insights to construct a three-layer ontological framework discussing the nature of urban socioeconomy. The thesis then lays down a rich theory of urban economic organisation, placing explicit emphasis on the institutional mechanisms, processes and dynamics through which the built environment is provided. The interrelation between property market process and the wider institutional environment is explored, particularly in terms of efficiency in providing appropriate market institutions and property outcomes that support urban economic potential. From this discussion the institutionalist concept of 'property market purpose efficiency' is developed. Building upon the conceptual framework, the thesis explicitly addresses the requirements for concrete analysis. It, first, lays down a generic analytical approach specifying appropriate research methods and techniques for investigation, and, second, sets up a research design providing an operational frame in which developed theory is translated into empirical practice. This research design provides a blueprint for empirical case studies. Finally, a case study of Madrid is employed to empirically explore the research design.

This thesis composes of four empirical studies with an attempt to assess the role of institutions as key determinant of cross-country development. We have unbundled the different facets of institutions, including the security of property rights, democracy, regulation and stability of monetary policy. In Chapter 2, we investigate the direct impact of institutions on economic growth using dynamic panel data estimations. Employing this estimator aims at alleviating the technical problems embedded in the existing literature. Our results suggest that the security of property rights and stability of monetary policy have direct impact on economic growth, whereas democracy and regulation are not directly growth-enhancing. In Chapter 3, we further explore the role of democracy and regulation in the development process. We empirically test whether economic reform is more likely to take place in democratic economies. The answer seems affirmative. More specifically, our empirical results show that democracy causes reforms in redistributive policies, trade liberalisation and credit market deregulation. In the next Chapter, we consider the institutional barriers as compared to natural barrier and at-the-board barriers as determinants of bilateral FDI. The augmented gravity model provides empirical evidences to support that geography, regional integration and domestic regulatory environment of the destination economies all have significant impacts on FDI inflows. In particular, credit market regulation is amongst the most important, which echoes the view that financial development is essential to economic development. In the final empirical work, we hypothesise that institutions matter to cross-country economic performances as economies with better institutions are technically more efficient. We estimate a global stochastic production frontier, where countries lie below the frontier are less efficient. Our empirical results suggest that countries with better security of property rights and fewer regulations allocate their production inputs more efficiently. The effects of democratic regime and stability of monetary policy are also positive to improve inefficiency, if a threshold level of human capital is reached. Other possible factors like openness and human capital, in turn, seem not to play direct role. Our research provides empirical basis to understand how particular aspects of institutions could affect development outcomes.

This thesis presents a survey of the development of economic growth theory, including the latest developments in the relationship between international economic integration through international flows of goods and/or knowledge and endogenous economic growth. Based on the following literature review, a new and more reasonable model for the research and development (i.e., the R&D) sector--a sector which is considered the source of long-run growth--is offered in order to develop and improve the framework built by Rivera-Batiz and Rome (1991), i.e. the RBR model. This new model will make the RBR framework more complete and rational. In this new model, it is proved that any form of economic integration will increase the long-run rate of growth, and these results are compared with those of the RBR. Moreover, Devereux and Lapham's efforts to find some dynamic analysis along the transitional path under two different situations: knowledge flows only, and both goods and knowledge flows, are continued in the same model. It is found that when only knowledge is allowed to flow across borders, economic integration generates corner solutions for the production of the R&D sector, while this does not happen when complete goods and knowledge flows exist. However, the real balanced growth rates in these diverse situations are higher than they are in autarky.

Includes bibliographical references
This thesis focuses mainly on three related issues of the broader new institutional economics and political economy research: (i) the evolution of formal economic and political institutions over time (ii) the causality between political institutions and economic institutions, and that between institutions and economic development; (iii) and the role of institutions on economic development through the channel of foreign direct investment, and on the control of rent seeking and corruption in Kenya. These issues are discussed in four distinct essays, each essay constituting an independent and self-contained chapter. It adopts the conceptual framework on institutions proposed by Douglass North. The central theme of the thesis across all chapters is the demonstration of how political players holding de-facto political power operating under weak political rights and civil liberties use legal operators to benefit themselves and their close associates. For instance, starting with British rule - protectorate period (1885-1920) and colonial period (1920-1963) - an extensive legal apparatus designed by those holding de-facto political power expropriated much of the land and redistributed it to themselves at the expense of the indigenous populations whose political rights and civil liberties were crossly undermined. However, even after independence, several political players in the newly independent Kenya made little effort to fundamentally change the colonial laws that governed land rights and could not as well promote strong political rights and civil liberties. The thesis argues that despite pressures from the populace, political leaders and their interest groups holding de-facto political power entrench themselves in the system under weakly institutionalized environment, and oppose the constitutional reforms by all means including force, since such reforms go against their interests. The delay in such reforms often leads to the breakdown of governance. Such breakdown inevitably leads to conflict and social crisis such as the Kenya post-election crisis of 2007. The chapters in the thesis are organized in such a way that they start by tracing the evolution of rights promoted by people holding de-facto political power, then later the remaining chapters take on the assessment and implications of how such rights promoted under weakly institutionalized environment affect economic outcomes.

Economic globalization and digital technologies are disruptive forces in local and regional economies. The mobility of capital assets is increasing as business seeks global strategic business alliances, access to foreign markets, and favorable operating cost advantages. Business and industry lifecycles are shortening as digital technologies are disrupting legacy business models. This global economic paradigm is challenging economic development efforts to attract private investment, grow jobs, and facilitate sustainable economic health in local and regional economies. As economic developers respond to these new economic contingencies, will they continue to embrace institutionalized strategies from earlier economic paradigms, or will they support strategies that respond to the new dynamics of this global and digital economy? This qualitative study investigated this question using the Delphi study method with a panel of economic development experts. An iterative series of three online surveys was administered with 30 Certified Economic Developers, including a round-one survey presenting an open-ended question to capture the opinions of study participants on strategies to promote economic development. Opinions that emerged from the round-one survey were presented to study participants in round-two and round-three online surveys with the goal of facilitating consensus. The study sought to answer whether the panel of experts agreed on traditional economic development strategies, or embraced new strategies to respond to contingencies of the global and digital economic paradigm.

This dissertation is composed of three essays and analyzes the effects of both health outcomes and international trade on economic development and growth. In the first chapter, I develop a theoretical model using a Nelson-Phelps framework in order to establish a causal relationship between health outcomes and economic growth. I also econometrically test this approach to quantify the magnitude of the effects observed. Using the international epidemiological transition as a baseline and instrumental variable regression, I find that both life expectancy growth rates and initial levels of life expectancy are the main drivers of economic growth, and improvements in both indicators lead to significant, positive changes in the income per-capita growth rate. In the second chapter, I design an overlapping generations model that showcases how individuals determine their optimal fertility, education, labor supply, and life-cycle consumption decisions under uncertain survival probabilities. Under partial equilibrium, exogenous shocks in mortality lead to explicit changes in economic growth and development through the above mechanisms, but under general equilibrium, predictions are ambiguous due to offsetting substitution and income effects. I complement the theory with an empirical analysis, constructing age-specific birth rates, age-specific death rates, and life expectancies from the Demographic and Health Surveys in 36 Sub-Saharan African countries. Using system-GMM estimation, the results show that improvements in health will have a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth and development. In the third chapter, I develop an analysis similar to Hausmann, Hwang, and Rodrik (2007), whose main argument is that what countries export has significant predicting power on its economic growth and development. Giving greater transparency to both the data collection and the empirical methodology, I replicate their research and instead use imports as a robustness check. The results confirm previous studies and shows that exports, not imports, matter for economic growth. Thus, we conclude that the type and quality of goods in which a country specializes and exports is directly related to its subsequent economic performance.

Theses (M.S.)--Marshall University, 2006.
Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains vi, 47 p. including illustrations and map. Bibliography: p. 38-41.

In Argentina and Brazil, the future never seems to arrive. Over the last three decades, successive waves of neoliberal and neodevelopmentalist reforms invariably ended in disappointment. The most relevant question defying the contemporary Brazilian and Argentinian political economy literature is why, despite being repeatedly predicted in economic programs and promised in political discourses, catch-up development never materialises? Neoliberal and neodevelopmentalist authors offer apparently contradictory answers to that question. For the former, economic underachievement is a result of insufficient or ill-conceived pro-market reforms. For the latter, it is a consequence of the lack of state-led national development projects. In this thesis, I challenge both mainstream narratives. I claim that the roots of Brazilian and Argentinian permanent underachievement are intrinsically related to the fragilities of neoliberal and neodevelopmentalist development strategies, which result in inherently inconsistent policies. Although representing themselves as complete opposites, both sides actually share two problematic premises: a narrow view of development, understood as capitalist catch-up, and a simplified opposition between state and market. My critique starts from a radical reappraisal of the very concept of development, informed by Leon Trotsky's idea of uneven and combined development and its contemporary interpretations. Defining development as the dynamic outcome of the interplay between class disputes and international pressures and opportunities, I argue that the shortcomings of the neoliberal and neodevelopmentalist reforms were determined by the specific responses given by dominant class alliances in the face of successive international crises. The argument is advanced through four in-depth case studies of the state reforms carried out in Brazil and Argentina since the 1990s, with particular attention to macroeconomic and foreign policies. By breaking the oligopoly of narratives about Brazilian and Argentinian development shared by neoliberals and neodevelopmentalists, I aim to contribute to the rise of alternative strategies of development from below.

Nigeria is an oil-rich country, and one of the largest oil producers in the world, however, its economic and developmental statistics have consistently ranked among the worst in the world. This paradox is widely believed to be a result of the natural resource curse. The natural resource curse is a phenomenon attributed to the inverse relationship between economic growth rates and the natural resource abundance of countries, and several notions have been put forward as to the mechanism through which the curse arises. These notions are generally categorised as either market-based explanations or political economy-based explanations. However, market-based explanations rely on assumptions that often do not apply in developing countries such as Nigeria. Consequently, the literature has come to increasingly focus on political economy explanations, two of the most prominent of which are rent seeking, and domestic conflict and political instability. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify some the drivers of the curse in Nigeria by particularly assessing the influence that rent seeking and domestic conflict and political instability may have had on Nigeria's economic experience. Since much of the resource curse literature is based on quantitative analysis, this paper aims to extend the literature using a qualitative approach, which involves the process tracing of major events in Nigeria. This approach is motivated by the fact that qualitative analysis is better suited to the task of identifying crucial insights concerning underlying dynamics of a specific country. Furthermore, this paper uses the limited access order (LAO) framework to guide its analysis. This framework is useful given that it involves the analysis of rent distribution as a means of curbing violence. Therefore, overall, this paper focuses on deciphering how oil's impact on the nation's economic rent distribution contributes to Nigeria's economic performance. Rent distribution, which largely occurs through patronage and corruption in Nigeria, is analysed through two different dimensions: (i) Formal rent distribution, which is institutionalised, and which mainly involves examining oil influenced changes to the revenue allocation formula and (ii) less formal rent distribution, which primarily involves examining discretionary and covert rent distribution in the oil industry. Based on the analysis, this paper concludes that oil's impact on rent distribution contributes to Nigeria's substandard growth in two ways; directly and indirectly. Regarding the first dimension, the effect is indirect, as oil's impact on formal rent distribution becomes a driver of conflict, which in turn adversely affects the economy's growth performance. However, regarding the second dimension, the effect is more direct, because oil's impact on discretionary rent distribution leads to massive economic waste, which contributes to the suboptimal growth of Nigeria's economy. Overall, with the lack of good institutions that can limit the power of the federal government, and effectively enforce checks and balances in the oil sector, Nigeria's experience of conflict and economic underperformance will remain perpetual in nature.

Since the early 2000s, South Africa's once thriving sector started to whither due to a combination of domestic and international factors. The result was a sharp decline in manufacturing output, low productivity levels, factory closures and massive job losses across the sector. The blow to the industry was exasperated by the surge of cheap imports, both legal and illegal, primarily coming from China. The poor performance and consequent contraction of the industry had a profound impact on the predominately female workers. In recent years, however, the clothing industry has started to stabilise and is beginning to show positive trends in terms of performance and competitiveness. This paper therefore examines whether female workers have gained from the changes that have taken place in the industry, looking specifically at the Western Cape region. It finds that although the Western Cape clothing industry was the most severely hit by the challenges of global competition, it is now doing relatively well. Furthermore, it argues that the sector is upgrading and providing increased opportunities for women in terms of employment and skills development. This can be attributed to the changes in policy approach by government as well as new and improved production methodologies that are being adopted by firms. Moreover, it argues that the Cape Clothing and Textiles Cluster (CCTC) has played a critical role in driving these processes in the industry primarily through high level trainings and the exposure of executives to the latest industry developments, both nationally and internationally.

Research and policy-making in education have historically focused on quantitative measures of education when assessing the state of education across countries. Recently, large-scale cross-national tests of cognitive skills have emerged as one way of moving beyond mere quantitative indicators of education, and instead allow researchers to incorporate qualitative elements of education, most notably what students know and can do. Notwithstanding the above, research and development initiatives too often assess these complementary aspects separately, which can lead to biased conclusions. To resolve this issue, the research presented here follows the method developed by Spaull and Taylor (2015) and provides composite measures of educational quantity (grade completion) and quality (learning outcomes) for six Francophone African countries. These composite measures are termed access to literacy and access to numeracy for literacy and numeracy rates respectively. This work also explores quantity and quality indicators separately to ascertain whether problems of access to schooling, or problems of quality among those already enrolled, is a more pertinent development issue. Finally, this work also contributes to understanding the extent and nature of inequalities, by looking at gender and socioeconomic status groups separately when considering (1) access, (2) learning outcomes, and (3) a composite measure of access and learning. Results of this work point to an education crisis within these African countries where both non-enrolment and a lack of learning within schools are contributing to dismal educational outcomes, even at the grade 2 level but especially at the grade 5 level. For example, only 18% and 25% of the grade 5 cohort investigated have access to literacy and access to numeracy, respectively, in Togo. Furthermore, inequality within socioeconomic groups is extremely large resulting in near zero estimates of competency levels for the most economically disadvantaged in some countries. Gender discrimination is dwarfed by economic discrimination but mean estimates suggest that while educational opportunities are similar for males and females at a grade 2 level, gender discrimination may already be visible at the grade 5 level.

The implementation of privatization and Structural Adjustment Programs in Zambia saw the contribution of manufacturing in GDP significantly reduce from 37.2 percent in 1992 to 8.2 percent in 2013. Efforts to revamp manufacturing have not delivered to expectations and the industrial base has continued to be smaller than it used to be in the 1970s and 1980s. This has raised serious questions about suitable industrialization policies not only for Zambia but for other African countries as well. This study examines the agro-processing industry with a view to establish whether it can drive the development of Zambia's manufacturing. We start by exploring the growth opportunities and highlighting the key sectors of comparative advantage. Thereafter, we apply the Data Envelopment Analysis algorithm to construct measures of technical and scale efficiency for a sample of 115 firms using the 2011/2012 Economic Census data. Finally, we examine the effect of firm attributes on the firm's technical and scale efficiency using the Tobit regression model. The results reveal that there are sufficient growth opportunities in Zambia's agro-processing industry, but the industry is highly inefficient. The average technical efficiency was 42.5 percent while scale efficiency was 81.7 percent. The study also shows that firm efficiency is affected by firm size, the size of the firm's market share, labour costs, and location of the firm.

The mobile telecommunications industry continues to be at the epicentre for growth, innovation, and disruption for virtually all other industries. It is one of the keys to sustainable economic development especially in developing and emerging economies. Over the past two decades, the industry has been very dynamic, experiencing high growth rates. This paper uses econometric models to investigate the impact of market structure on market outcomes such as mobile prices and investment in emerging economies. This is done using quarterly panel data on fifteen emerging economies across four continents for the period between 2006 and 2015. The Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) and the number of operators are used to proxy market structure and effective price per minute paid by consumers and capital expenditure per subscriber are used to proxy mobile prices and investment respectively. Empirical results indicate that increase in market concentration increases market prices. Results also indicate an inverted-U relationship between market concentration and investment. These results indicate that there is a trade-off between static and dynamic efficiency which means that competition in mobile telecommunications reduces both market prices and investments.

The role of foreign aid in promoting economic growth and improving the social welfare of people has been the subject of much debate among development specialists, researchers, aid donors as well as recipients in general and Cameroon in particular. In spite of this, there are only few empirical studies that investigate the contributions of foreign aid to economic growth and development in Cameroon. This study explores the impact of foreign aid to economic growth and development in Cameroon using descriptive statistics for data that spans from 1997 to 2006. The results show that foreign aid significantly contributes to the current level of economic growth but has no significant contribution to economic development. The findings imply that Cameroon could enhance its economic development by effectively managing funds from aid and by strategically strengthening anti-corruption measures.

The rest of the work is organized as follows: Chapter one consist of an introduction, chapter two is the literature review, chapter three constitute the research methodology, chapter four is the data presentation and analyses, chapter five summary of findings and recommendations and lastly chapter six conclusions,

Manufacturing Revolutions - Industrial Policy and Networks in South Korea. This chapter uses a historic big push intervention and newly digitized data from South Korea to study the effects of industrial policy on industrial development. In 1973 South Korea transitioned to a military dictatorship and drastically changed their development strategy. I find industries targeted by the regime's big push grew significantly more than non-targeted industries along several key dimensions of industrial development. These developmental effects persisted after industrial policies were retrenched, following the 1979 assassination of the president. Furthermore, I estimate the spillovers of the industrial policies using exogenous variation in the exposure to the policy across the input-output network. I find evidence of persistent pecuniary externalities like those posited by big push development theorists, such as Albert Hirschman. In other words, I find that South Korea's controversial industrial policy was successful in producing industrial development, the benefits of which persisted through time and in industries not directly targeted by the policies. Waiting for the Great Leap Forward - The Green Revolution and Structural Change in the Philippines. This study explores the short- and long-run impacts of the green revolution on structural transformation. The setting is the revolution’s home country: the Philippines. In 1966, the Philippine’s experienced the widespread introduction of so-called “miracle rice” varieties, invented at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Laguna. The island republic experienced large gains to agricultural productivity as a result. Using a newly constructed panel of Philippine municipalities, I show that growth in agricultural productivity led to unexpected patterns of structural transformation. In the short-run, the green revolution translated into labor-absorbing technological change, reallocating labor into HYV-intensive rice economies. However, in the long-run, the rising relative cost of labor, meant that rice farms mechanized and displaced the Philippine peasantry into the service sector. The Historical State, Local Collective Action, and Economic Development in Vietnam. This study examines how the historical state conditions long-run development, using Vietnam as a laboratory. Northern Vietnam (Dai Viet) was ruled by a strong centralized state in which the village was the fundamental administrative unit. Southern Vietnam was a peripheral tributary of the Khmer (Cambodian) Empire, which followed a patron-client model with weaker, more personalized power relations and no village intermediation. Using a regression discontinuity design across the Dai Viet-Khmer boundary, the study shows that areas historically under a strong state have higher living standards today and better economic outcomes over the past 150 years. Rich historical data document that in villages with a strong historical state, citizens have been better able to organize for public goods and redistribution through civil society and local government. This suggests that the strong historical state crowded in village-level collective action and that these norms persisted long after the original state disappeared.