世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Lost in the translation.

We analyze the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991–2011 matching the topics 'global climate change' or 'global warming'. We find that 66.4% of abstracts expressed no position on AGW, 32.6% endorsed AGW, 0.7% rejected AGW and 0.3% were uncertain about the cause of global warming. Among abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming. In a second phase of this study, we invited authors to rate their own papers. Compared to abstract ratings, a smaller percentage of self-rated papers expressed no position on AGW (35.5%). Among self-rated papers expressing a position on AGW, 97.2% endorsed the consensus. For both abstract ratings and authors' self-ratings, the percentage of endorsements among papers expressing a position on AGW marginally increased over time. Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research. 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024024

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Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature

The present study explores the relationship between economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation in case of United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study covers the quarter frequency data over the period of 1975–2011. We have applied the ARDL bounds testing approach to examine the long run relationship between the variables in the presence of structural breaks. The VECM Granger causality is applied to investigate the direction of causal relationship between the variables. Our empirical exercise reported the existence of cointegration among the series. Further, we found an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions i.e. economic growth raises energy emissions initially and declines it after a threshold point of income per capita (EKC exists). Electricity consumption declines CO 2 emissions. The relationship between urbanization and CO 2 emissions is positive. Exports seem to improve the environmental quality by lowering CO 2 emissions. The causality analysis validates the feedback effect between CO 2 emissions and electricity consumption. Economic growth and urbanization Granger cause CO 2 emissions.

Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates

In the era of economic globalization, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as an engine of sustainable economic development in both the developed and developing world. In literature, three competitive challenges—the sustainability challenge, the global challenge and the technological challenge—faced by industrial entities in the current globalized economy, are categorized. Of them, this paper undertakes a systemic review of the literature covering the theme of SMEs and technology in order to identify how technological progress in the SMEs, correlates with SMEs survival improvement in the global competition. The review identified six driving forces—social capital, link with Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and Transnational Corporations (TNCs), innovation, sharing and networking, information technology, and adoption of productivity-enhancing technology—influencing technological upgrade in the SMEs. The review also identified two conditions for successful technological adaptation in the SME sector—availability of technologically skillful workforce in the economy, and identification of opportunities of new technologies in the competition. These conditions could be viewed in the macro environment and emphasize the need for the economies’ readiness towards SMEs’ success.

Sustainability of SMEs in the Competition: A Systemic Review on Technological Challenges and SME Performance

This study examines whether energy consumption and tourism development provide evidence to support the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in Sri Lanka. Results of the study show that carbon emissions, income, tourism development, and energy consumption are cointegrated in the long run. The long-run estimates do not support the presence of the EKC hypothesis in Sri Lanka. Energy consumption adds to environmental degradation in both short run and long run, while tourism development aggravates environmental degradation in the long run. This study recommends that Sri Lanka can reduce environmental degradation without hindering its economic growth; however, it has to increase energy production from renewable resources as the country’s location provides suitable alternatives for energy production in the form of tide and wind energy in the coastal provinces, while the central provinces offer suitable sites for small hydro-electric projects.

Energy consumption, tourism development, and environmental degradation in Sri Lanka

This study examines the nexus between energy, trade, urbanization and environmental degradation in Sri Lanka. The time series data has been checked for unit root problem along with unknown structural break. The bounds testing approach confirms the long-term relationship among carbon emissions, energy consumption, income, trade openness, and urbanization in the presence of structural break. The results of the study do not confirm the presence of the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis in Sri Lanka. This study finds that energy consumption leads to carbon emissions in both the long term and the short term. Trade openness is degrading environmental quality, as trade is responsible for the accumulation of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The results of the study confirm that urbanization has been found to have significant and negative effect on carbon emissions. The study finds that the model is in equilibrium and the model will return to equilibrium from any external shock in less than two years. Policy measures are recommended for sustainable environment of the island.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1655/pdf

Energy, Trade, Urbanization and Environmental Degradation Nexus in Sri Lanka: Bounds Testing Approach

Economic globalization has created many challenges for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to the rapid increase in competition. Therefore, the downfall rate of SMEs is relatively high, a short period after their commencement. Accordingly, SMEs need to adopt survival strategies and strategic methods to succeed in confronting the various global challenges faced by the SME sector. This study critically examined the existing literature on global challenges for SMEs to understand the SMEs’ survival and successive mechanisms in the present competitive business background. Published information related to the field by the multilateral institutions and 110 research papers published by four recognized publishing companies, i.e., Emerald, Elsevier, Taylor and Francis, and MDPI, were chosen for this study. The review revealed the critical global challenges for SMEs within the context of economic globalization. They are the global market competition, global finance and economic crises, information communication technology, the emergence of multi-national corporations, transnational corporations, consumer changes and especially their preferences, trade dumping, international terrorism, and religious conflicts and trade wars. Furthermore, the study considered the survival strategies of SMEs in the industrial platform to recognize sustainability-related policies, specifically, the necessity for a robust theoretical examination on the survival strategies of SMEs in the field of global challenges.

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/8/4/79/pdf

A Review of Global Challenges and Survival Strategies of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

This study aims to examine the influence of banks’ credit to SMEs on non-performing loans. Many studies find that access to financial sources has become an obstacle to the growth and sustainability...

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Sisira Kumara Naradda Gamage

Papers

Sustainability of SMEs in the Competition: A Systemic Review on Technological Challenges and SME Performance

Energy consumption, tourism development, and environmental degradation in Sri Lanka

Energy, Trade, Urbanization and Environmental Degradation Nexus in Sri Lanka: Bounds Testing Approach

A Review of Global Challenges and Survival Strategies of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

The causal relationship between SME sustainability and banks’ risk