Showing papers on "Economic sector published in 2008"
TL;DR: A survey of recent research on the economics of infrastructure in developing countries can be found in this paper, where energy, transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation are considered, as well as the linkages between infrastructure and economic growth.
Abstract: This paper presents a survey of recent research on the economics of infrastructure in developing countries. Energy, transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation are considered. The survey covers two main set of issues: the linkages between infrastructure and economic growth (at the economy-wide, regional and sectoral level) and the composition, sequencing and efficiency of alternative infrastructure investments, including the arbitrage between new investments and maintenance expenditures; OPEX and CAPEX, and public versus private investment. Following the introduction, section 2 discusses the theoretical foundations (growth theory and new economic geography). Section 3 assesses the analysis of 140 specifications from 64 recent empirical papers-examining type of data used, level of aggregation, econometric techniques and nature of the sample-and discusses both the macro-econometric and micro-econometric contributions of these papers. Finally section 4 discusses directions for future research and suggests priorities in data development.
308 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that FDI stocks and output are mutually reinforcing in the manufacturing sector, whereas any causal relationship is absent in the primary sector, and only transitory effects of FDI on output in the services sector.
266 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an industrial sector which, according to the usual socio-scientific indicators, is referred to as low-tech, respectively as non-research intensive and which mostly comprises "traditional" industries is analyzed.
Abstract: This paper is about an industrial sector which, according to the usual socio‐scientific indicators, is referred to as “low‐tech”, respectively as non‐research intensive and which mostly comprises “traditional” industries. The interest in this sector is motivated by the contradictory situation that, on the one hand, the debate about the perspectives of modern societies focuses on the rapidly growing importance of technological innovations, knowledge and research‐intensive economic sectors while, on the other hand, traditional industries make up a considerable fraction of employment and production, especially also in developed economies. On the basis of the results of extensive empirical research, this contribution tries to find answers to the basic question, whether one can speak of an innovation mode typical of the low‐tech sector. The institutional based innovation systems approach forms the categorical basis of the analysis. In order to elucidate the specific features of low‐tech innovations, they are, ...
186 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, self-selection into managerial and non-managerial positions in the public and private sectors was studied using a model of a perfectly competitive economy where people differ in managerial ability and in public service motivation.
Abstract: The quality of public management is a recurrent concern in many countries. Calls to attract the economy's best and brightest managers to the public sector abound. This paper studies self-selection into managerial and non-managerial positions in the public and private sector, using a model of a perfectly competitive economy where people differ in managerial ability and in public service motivation. We find that, if demand for public sector output is not too high, the equilibrium return to managerial ability is always highest in the private sector. As a result, relatively many of the more able managers self-select into the private sector. Since this outcome is efficient, our analysis implies that attracting a more able managerial workforce to the public sector by increasing remuneration to private-sector levels is not cost-efficient.
184 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the possibility for the enactment of entrepreneurial leadership in the English public sector under the Labour government's modernization agenda, and propose a definition of public sector entrepreneurship that extends beyond existing literature.
Abstract: Our study explores the possibility for the enactment of entrepreneurial leadership in the English public sector under the Labour government’s modernization agenda. To substantiate our analysis, we draw upon data gathered from leaders in three public sector arenas – the National Health Service, secondary schools, and further education (FE) colleges. Our study proposes a definition of public sector entrepreneurship that extends beyond existing literature. In essence, we contend that public sector entrepreneurship is characterized by the combination of three distinct agencies: ‘stakeholder’, ‘entrepreneurial’ and ‘political’. The public sector entrepreneur identifies market opportunities within the political landscape, optimizes the performance-enhancing potential of innovation for the public sector organization, and carries stakeholders in a way that both permits risk and recognizes the stewardship of public sector resources.
164 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that about half of credit extended by banks to the private sector in a sample of 45 developing and developed countries is to households and that the share of household credit in total credit increases as countries grow richer and financial systems develop.
Abstract: While the theoretical and empirical finance literature has focused almost exclusively on enterprise credit, about half of credit extended by banks to the private sector in a sample of 45 developing and developed countries is to households. The share of household credit in total credit increases as countries grow richer and financial systems develop. Cross-country regressions, however, suggest a positive and significant impact on GDP per capita growth only of enterprise but not household credit. These two findings together partly explain why previous studies, such as Aghion et al. (2005), have found a small or insignificant effect of finance on growth in high-income countries. We also find that countries with a lower share of manufacturing, a higher degree of urbanization and more market-oriented financial systems, have a higher share of household credit. It is thus mostly socio-economic trends that determine credit composition, while policies influencing banking market structure and regulatory policies are not robustly related to credit composition.
151 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the scope for validly using non-profit performance indicators in the public sector and identified several decision-relevant roles for such indicators in policy optimisation.
Abstract: This paper examines the scope for validly using non-profit performance indicators in the public sector and identifies several decision-relevant roles for such indicators in the process of policy optimisation. It argues that many of the desirable qualitative characteristics of financial accounting data identified in the FASB's conceptual framework project are both relevant, and in need of strengthening, when the profit concept is extended to a more general performance concept which also includes benefits to consumers of the output of the public sector. The need for such strengthening is examined in both nationalised industries and the non-trading public sector.
139 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the substitutions between home and market production over long periods of time were studied and the results were used to get predictions about long-run trends in aggregate market hours of work and about employment shifts across economic sectors, driven by uneven TFP growth in market and home production.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use survey data from 688 alumni of four schools: two offering MBAs and two offering MPAs, and find that most respondents have a favored sector when they graduate and remain within that sector for their employment.
Abstract: Despite debate about distinctions among employment in the government, nonprofit, and business sectors, little research exists on the likelihood of, or barriers to, movement across sector boundaries. The authors propose and test models explaining individuals' current sector of employment—business, government, or nonprofit—and their sector-shifting behavior. They use survey data from 688 alumni of four schools: two offering MBAs and two offering MPAs. Study results indicate that most respondents have a favored sector when they graduate and remain within that sector for their employment. Results also indicate that this sector preference is influenced by perceived competence in the sectors and individuals' career values. This study shows that sector shifting is tied to sector desires and the strength of protean career orientation. The results are used to address existing claims about careers and to build understanding of influences on perceived sector competence and desires. The discussion informs employers a...
109 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a dynamic labour market equilibrium model with search and matching frictions is used to analyze the relationship between public and private sector wages per employee in OECD countries, and the authors find that the growth of public sector wages and of public-sector employment positively affects the growth in private-sector wages.
Abstract: We analyse the interactions between public and private sector wages per employee in OECD countries. We motivate the analysis with a dynamic labour market equilibrium model with search and matching frictions to study the effects of public sector employment and wages on the labour market, particularly on private sector wages. Our empirical evidence shows that the growth of public sector wages and of public sector employment positively affects the growth of private sector wages. Moreover, total factor productivity, the unemployment rate, hours per worker, and inflation, are also important determinants of private sector wage growth. With respect to public sector wage growth, we find that, in addition to some market related variables, it is also influenced by fiscal conditions.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the effects of monetary policy shocks on Italian flows of funds over the period 1980-2002 and found that households increase short-term liabilities and diminish purchases of liquid assets and shares in the first quarter following a shock.
Abstract: We obtain new evidence on the transmission of monetary policy to the economy by analyzing the effects of restrictive monetary policy shocks on Italian flows of funds over the period 1980-2002. Firms reduce their issuance of debt and their acquisitions of financial assets, so there is no evidence of strong financial frictions. Households increase short-term liabilities and diminish purchases of liquid assets and shares in the first quarter following a shock. The public sector increases net borrowing during the first two years. Financial corporations decrease their borrowing for three quarters, while the foreign sector increases borrowed funds. The results shed new light on the role played by the financial decisions of the various economic sectors in the transmission of monetary policy.
TL;DR: The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity Conservation in the absence of technological progress is reviewed, the prospects for technological progress to reconcile that conflict are explored, and linguistic suggestions for describing the relationships among economic growth, technological progress, and biodiversity conservation are provided.
Abstract: The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is understood in portions of academia and sometimes acknowledged in political circles. Nevertheless, there is not a unified response. In political and policy circles, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is posited to solve the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. In academia, however, the EKC has been deemed fallacious in macroeconomic scenarios and largely irrelevant to biodiversity. A more compelling response to the conflict is that it may be resolved with technological progress. Herein I review the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in the absence of technological progress, explore the prospects for technological progress to reconcile that conflict, and provide linguistic suggestions for describing the relationships among economic growth, technological progress, and biodiversity conservation. The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is based on the first two laws of thermodynamics and principles of ecology such as trophic levels and competitive exclusion. In this biophysical context, the human economy grows at the competitive exclusion of nonhuman species in the aggregate. Reconciling the conflict via technological progress has not occurred and is infeasible because of the tight linkage between technological progress and economic growth at current levels of technology. Surplus production in existing economic sectors is required for conducting the research and development necessary for bringing new technologies to market. Technological regimes also reflect macroeconomic goals, and if the goal is economic growth, reconciliatory technologies are less likely to be developed. As the economy grows, the loss of biodiversity may be partly mitigated with end-use innovation that increases technical efficiency, but this type of technological progress requires policies that are unlikely if the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation (and other aspects of environmental protection) is not acknowledged.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors compile a large cross-country panel dataset of public sector performance and efficiency, encompassing 114 countries on all income levels from 1980 to 2006, with about 1,800 country-year observations for the education sector and about 900 observations for health.
Abstract: We compile the first large cross-country panel dataset of public sector performance and efficiency, encompassing 114 countries on all income levels from 1980 to 2006, with about 1,800 country-year observations for the education sector and about 900 observations for health. We regress these indicators on potential economic, institutional, demographic, and geographic determinants. Our most resounding conclusion is that higher government expenditure relative to GDP tends to be associated with lower efficiency in the respective sector. Moreover, we find that richer countries exhibit better public sector performance and efficiency, and that institutional and demographic factors also play a significant role.
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The construction and engineering services industry play an important role in the economic uplift and development of the country as mentioned in this paper, which can be regarded as a mechanism of generating the employment and offering job opportunities to millions of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled work force.
Abstract: Construction sector and construction activities are considered to be one of the major sources of economic growth, development and economic activities. Construction and engineering services industry play an important role in the economic uplift and development of the country. It can be regarded as a mechanism of generating the employment and offering job opportunities to millions of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled work force. It also plays key role in generating income in both formal and informal sector. It supplements the foreign exchange earnings derived from trade in construction material and engineering services.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a structural equation modeling approach to estimate the size of the informal economy for 32 mainly Latin American and Caribbean countries in the early 2000s using a tax system and regulatory environment, higher inflation, and dominance of the agriculture sector.
Abstract: This paper estimates the size of the informal economy for 32 mainly Latin American and Caribbean countries in the early 2000s. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we find that a stringent tax system and regulatory environment, higher inflation, and dominance of the agriculture sector are key factors in determining the size of the informal economy. The results also confirm that a higher degree of informality reduces labor unionization, the number of contributors to social security schemes, and enrollment rates in education.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the ways that Spanish public water companies communicate sustainability information to their stakeholders and explore whether distinctive and more progressive accountability is possible in the public sector in comparison with private sector organizations.
Abstract: This article analyses the ways that Spanish public water companies communicate sustainability information to their stakeholders and explores whether distinctive and more progressive accountability is possible in the public sector in comparison with private sector organizations. Two distinct activities are identified in sustainable accountability: public organizations are engaged in informal as well as formal reporting activity, and their reporting seems to be coupled with real organizational strategies and operational activities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors revisited the relationship between fiscal size and economic growth and found evidence of a non-monotonic relation between the size of the public sector and the economic growth.
Abstract: This paper revisits the relationship between fiscal size and economic growth. Our work differs from the empirical growth literature because this relationship depends explicitly on the efficiency of the public sector. We use a sample of 64 countries, both developed and developing, in four five-year time periods between 1980 and 2000. Building on the work of Afonso et al. (Public Choice 123:321–347, 2005), we construct a measure of public sector efficiency in each country and each time period by calculating an output-to-input ratio. In addition, we get an estimate of technical efficiency of public spending for 52 countries from 1995 to 2000 by employing a stochastic frontier analysis. Using these two measures, we find evidence of a non-monotonic relation between fiscal size and economic growth that depends critically on the size-efficiency mix.
01 Apr 2008
Abstract: China began its transition to a market economy nearly thirty years ago under an authoritarian and hierarchical political system. Today, after market transition has wrought fundamental changes in China's economy and transformed every aspect of China's society, that political system survives, with its basic features intact. Indeed, the two most surprising aspects of China's recent past are the thoroughness of economic change and the durability of the Communist Party (CP)-run political system. During the economic transformation, the CP hierarchy did not sit off to one side, frozen in time while everything else in China changed. Rather, the hierarchical political system shaped the process of market transition, and the political hierarchy itself has been reshaped in response to the forces unleashed by economic transition. The critical economic transition policies were made by national leaders acting in the context of their positions in the authoritarian political system and as a result, many of the basic features of the reform process can be explained by the structure of the political system and the changing needs of politicians within that system. China's enduring “gradualist” approach to transition obviously suits the needs of its authoritarian leaders. More interesting is that the concrete policy content of China's transition – which differed dramatically in different periods – can also be traced to the changing structure of power and strategic calculations of leaders within the authoritarian system.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper argued that it is premature to conclude whether various forms of private sector involvement will successfully overcome the major problems (capital shortage, inefficient operation, and service quality) in China's water sector.
Abstract: During the past decades, the traditional state monopoly in urban water management has been debated heavily, resulting in different forms and degrees of private sector involvement across the globe. Since the 1990s, China has also started experiments with new modes of urban water service management and governance in which the private sector is involved. It is premature to conclude whether the various forms of private sector involvement will successfully overcome the major problems (capital shortage, inefficient operation, and service quality) in China’s water sector. But at the same time, private sector involvement in water provisioning and waste water treatments seems to have become mainstream in transitional China.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of language proficiency on earnings are analyzed for foreigners in Germany with joint consideration of up to four types of selection, and the results show that language proficiency significantly increases participation and employment probability and affects occupational choice.
Abstract: Language proficiency may not only affect the earnings of the individual, but the probability to participate in the labor market or becoming employed as well. It may also affect selection of people into economic sector and occupation. In this paper, the effects of language proficiency on earnings are analyzed for foreigners in Germany with joint consideration of up to four types of selection. The results show that language proficiency significantly increases participation and employment probability and affects occupational choice. When selection into economic sector and occupation is regarded, we do not find an impact of language ability on earnings thereby implying an indirect effect.
TL;DR: The key variable is the incipient formation of global labor markets at the top and bottom of the economic system as discussed by the authors, where the transnational market for high-level managerial and professional talent across economic sectors, from finance to engineering, is increasingly shaped by public and private regulations.
Abstract: The key variable is the incipient formation of global labor markets at the top and bottom of the economic system. At the top there is the transnational market for high-level managerial and professional talent across economic sectors, from finance to engineering; this market is increasingly shaped by public and private regulations. At the bottom one finds an amalgamation of mostly informal flows, with the “global care chains” among the most visible ones. There are sites of complex intersection between these two markets. The two sites singled out for examining the formation of these labor circuits are the global city and a set of Global South countries subject to the international debt-financing regime that puts governments, firms, and households under enormous constraints to survive. Emigration and people trafficking now generate money flows that help governments, firms, and households survive. The focus is especially on lower labor circuits and their feminizing.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that environmental law must target the financial sector, which sponsors and profits from environmental pillage, and propose an alternative legal strategy to promote SRI for environmental sustainability.
Abstract: This new book argues that environmental law must target the financial sector, which sponsors and profits from environmental pillage. The rise of a system of finance capitalism has made the financial sector a crucial economic sector. A long-standing movement for socially responsible investment (SRI) has recently begun to advocate environmental standards for financiers. While the SRI movement has gained more influence in recent years, it has come at the price of jettisoning its former emphasis on ethical investment in favour of an instrumental business case approach. Some modest legal reforms to improve the quality and extent of SRI have yet to make a tangible difference. An alternative legal strategy to promote SRI for environmental sustainability is suggested based on reforming the fiduciary duties of financial institutions. Fiduciary duties tied to concrete performance standards such as sustainability indicators provide a way to restore the ethical imperatives of SRI.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the size of Europe's migrant population, its demographic structure, and the socio-economic position of migrants, using the European Labor Force Survey (LFS) as well as Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nation (UN) migration data.
Abstract: This paper discusses the size of Europe's migrant population, its demographic structure, and the socio-economic position of migrants. The European Labor Force Survey (LFS) as well as Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nation (UN) migration data are used as the main databases. In most sections of the paper the geographic unit of analysis is European Union (EU15) as the so-called old EU Member States are home or host some 94 percent of all migrants and some 97 percent of all legal foreign residents living in EU27. But general information on stocks of international migrants and recent migration flows are given for all countries of Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe. In this paper the criterion place of birth is used to distinguish between foreign-born vs. native-born residents of the EU. At the same time the paper looks into differences by citizenship comparing EU nationals vs. legal foreign residents. This exercise shows both lower employment rates, higher unemployment and the concentration of immigrants and foreign nationals from middle- and low-income countries in certain sectors of the economy and in low-pay jobs. In this context Europe has to consider pro-active migration policies and measures to identify future labor and skills gaps. In the medium- and long-term the EU and its member states will have to compete with other OECD countries for attractive potential migrants. In this context Europe has a genuine incentive to compare its efforts and experiences with those of traditional countries of immigration-in particular with the US, Canada and Australia. And Europe should develop a genuine interest in becoming both more attractive for highly skilled migrants as well as more inclusive towards all employable migrants.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of monetary policy shock on Italian flow of funds over the period 1980 to 2002 were analyzed. And they showed that households increase short-tem liabilities and diminish the acquisition of liquid assets and shares.
Abstract: New evidence on the transmission of monetary policy to the economy is provided through an analysis of the effects of a restrictive monetary policy shock on Italian flow of funds over the period 1980 to 2002. Firms reduce issuance of debt and decrease the acquisition of financial assets, providing no support for the existence of strong financial frictions. Following the shock, in the first quarter households increase short-tem liabilities and diminish the acquisition of liquid assets and shares. The public sector increases net borrowing during the first 2 years. Financial corporations decrease their borrowing for three quarters while in the same period the foreign sector increases borrowed funds. We claim that our results shed new light on the role of the financial decisions of the economic sectors in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the economic growth effects of insurance sector reforms and the rate of growth of insurance reforms and found that the contribution of the insurance sector to economic development is positive and exhibits a long-run equilibrium relationship.
Abstract: A well-developed insurance sector is necessary for the economic development of an emerging economy like India, as it provides long-term funds for physical and social infrastructure, while simultaneously strengthening risk-taking abilities. The investment requirements for India in the coming years are well-known and the rapid growth of the insurance sector in the post-liberalisation period is seen as a good sign as it can, to some extent, facilitate investment in infrastructure development to help sustain the economic growth of the country. Against this backdrop, this paper raises an important question: what has been the contribution of insurance sector growth to economic development in India? The paper further examines the economic growth effects of insurance sector reforms and the rate of growth of insurance reforms. The claims brought forward by this study are mixed. The contribution of the insurance sector to economic development is positive and exhibits a long-run equilibrium relationship. We find tha...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the impact of climate change on the insurance sector and show that the economic cost of weather losses could reach over 1 trillion USD in a single year by 2040 and the impacts will be worse in developing countries.
Abstract: Climate change matters to the insurance sector. In terms of underwriting, on one scenario, the economic cost of weather losses could reach over 1 trillion USD in a single year by 2040. The impacts will be worse in developing countries. The private sector needs to work with the public sector, as part of a “triple dividend” approach that coordinates adaptation, disaster management and sustainable economic development. For asset management the indirect impacts are key. Greenhouse gas emissions have to drop by 60 per cent by 2050, which means transforming the energy economy. Finance for renewables will reach 100 billion USD a year soon. Political uncertainty is a serious blockage to market forces, and the re-evaluation of assets and project returns is happening too slowly. Finally, insurers have a duty as ubiquitous players in the economy and society to help to shape climate policies in a responsible and effective way.
18 Mar 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the third sector and public policy for delivering public services, and the rise of hybrid organizations in the Third Sector and its relationship with the private sector.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Civil Society, Social Capital and Democracy 3. The Third Sector and Public Policy 4. Delivering Public Services 5. Co-Production 6. Third Sector: Governmental Relationships 7. The Rise of Hybrid Organizations 8. Social Enterprise 9. Conclusions
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the growing variety of the economic system, determined by the emergence of new products and services and leading to new industrial sectors, can allow the long term continuation of economic development, even when the employment creating capacity of individual sectors falls.
Abstract: Technological change directly affects economic growth by exploiting and exploring technological opportunities, thus determining productivity growth and income. However, technological change also affects the composition of the economic system, which itself constitutes an important prerequisite for economic growth. The first aim of this paper is to show that the growing variety of the economic system, determined by the emergence of new products and services and leading to new industrial sectors, can allow the long term continuation of economic development, even when the employment creating capacity of individual sectors falls. The second aim is to illustrate the impact of micro variables on the meso-level, that is, on the sectoral composition of an economy, as well as on its macro-economic performance.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the economic and environmental impact that the installation of 3GW of marine energy capacity would have on Scotland, using a regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model.