Five Growth Strategies for Myanmar: Re-Engagement with the Global Economy

It is important to address one of the most common problems in economics for decades, which has been the global wealth inequality, and to promote common economic prosperity and balanced economic growth. This research examines the various impacts of income inequality on economic growth in Eastern China, and compares it with economic development in Central and Western China. Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou in Eastern China have experienced significant economic transformation, but this has also exacerbated the unequal distribution of wealth and income. By analyzing economic growth, infrastructure investment, and the allocation of educational resources across regions, this paper emphasizes how these elements lead to significant economic inequalities among the Eastern, Central, and Western China. Furthermore, the paper investigates the adverse financial impacts of income inequality on consumer demand, social stability, and labor force utilization, and provides policy suggestions for fostering common prosperity and more balanced economic growth. In short, it is necessary to achieve more inclusive and sustainable economic growth through more balanced regional development policies.

Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to study and describe some characteristics of the balanced economic growth of entrepreneurial entities (small, medium and large enterprises), draw valid conclusions and reveal future perspectives, which will allow us to balance their sustainable dynamic development and be able to mobilize and effectively manage our own resources. Results. In both developed and developing countries, the role of small and medium enterprises is important. Small and medium-sized businesses are the main driving force in business development. In many countries of the world (including EU countries), small and medium entrepreneurship is considered as the main strategic direction of inclusive growth, employment, and economic development. The problem of economic growth of enterprises in the market economy is an urgent issue. Despite many innovative offers, the activities of the country’s enterprises, the growth of their scale requires more efforts. One of the main guidelines for ensuring the sustainable economic growth of enterprises is to ensure the economic efficiency of the leading sectors of the country’s economy, the enterprises included in them. In the conditions of modern globalization, as a result of the strengthening of competition, the issue of the development of the innovative economy came to the fore. The role of the leading directions of the country as a whole, as well as their individual enterprises, is essentially increasing. They determine the country’s specialization in the world economic system. Such enterprises determine the national competitive advantage. Scientific novelty. While working on the research issues of the paper, as a result of theoretical and empirical research, the following were improved and complexly investigated: modern approaches to the study of ensuring the balanced economy, components of the balanced indicator system, balanced economic growth models, as a result of which the modern features and challenges of the economic growth of Georgian enterprises were revealed. Besides, in this study, the theoretical foundations of the balanced economic growth research are analyzed; the peculiarities of the balanced growth of enterprises in the conditions of globalization are defined; the ways of balanced economic growth of enterprises, its financial and economic indicators, models and perspectives are determined; the mechanism of sustainable development of enterprises is identified; as a result of studying the functions of a small and medium-sized enterprise, its strengths and weaknesses have been identified; the factors hindering the development and internationalization of the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises have been identified; the main recommendations for the development and internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises of the country have been developed. Practical value. The conclusions and recommendations formed as a result of the conducted research can be used as a starting point for the balanced economic growth of the country’s business entities, small and medium enterprises.

The increase in added value generated by economic units based on business sectors is one of the main drivers of economic growth. High economic growth is often used as an indicator of successful economic development in a region. However, not all sectors contribute equally to this growth, making it essential to identify key sectors with strong intersectoral linkages within the economic system. This study employs a descriptive quantitative method by analyzing secondary data obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) for the year 2021. The analysis utilizes an input-output approach to determine priority sectors based on the Dispersion Power Index (DPI) and Sensitivity Index (SID). The Dispersion Power Index measures backward linkages, indicating the extent to which a sector stimulates other sectors through input demand. Meanwhile, the Sensitivity Index measures forward linkages, reflecting the sector’s dependence on other sectors through output sales. The findings reveal that the manufacturing industry, electricity and gas supply, and transportation and warehousing sectors exhibit high DPI and SID values, making them strategic sectors in driving NTB’s economic growth. Additionally, the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors demonstrate high SID values despite having relatively lower DPI, highlighting their significant role in the regional economy. Therefore, NTB’s economic development strategy should prioritize sectors with high linkage indices while also designing policies to support sectors with lower indices to ensure balanced and sustainable economic growth.

For the past three decades, LDCs have been advised to focus on economic growth as a strategy for economic diversification, poverty reduction and economic development. In hindsight, this appears to have been sound policy advice, since it is highly unlikely that LDCs will achieve economic and social development and halve their poverty levels in line with internationally agreed goals without a sustained period of growth. In fact, in recognition of this likely scenario, the IPoA states (United Nations, 2011,para. 28) that in order for LDCs to achieve “sustained, equitable and inclusive economic growth [ ] to at least the level of 7 per cent per annum”, they should strengthen their productive capacity in all sectors through structural transformation and overcome their marginalization through effective integration into the global economy.

Financial security and economic growth the article analyzes aspects of creating conditions for sustainable and balanced economic growth in Russia, considering factors of the development of scientific and technological progress and financial security. It uses a systems approach and system analysis. As a result, the article gives recommendations on ensuring financial security and sustainable economic growth in Russia.

Increasing income inequality and the rescaling of the state have shaped the rise of various strategies to achieve more equitable and inclusive local and regional growth. The two basic approaches to growth with equity are increasing regional economic growth and then redistributing the benefits, or reducing inequality directly by providing a safety net and/or building new capabilities, in the hopes of spurring growth. The first approach finds its theoretical underpinnings in regional economic development, while the second grows more from local and community economic development. Both strategies have proven challenging to implement in practice. With inequality likely to increase, regions will need to continue developing inclusive growth strategies. Understanding how to develop intentional strategies for inclusive growth is an important area for comparative research by economic geographers.

PurposeUsing official and household survey data, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the size of middle class in rural China, its trend and geographical distribution. Determinants or drivers of changes in the size of middle class are explored.Design/methodology/approachAn absolute definition of middle class, adjusted by rural purchasing power parity (PPP) and spatial price index, is employed to measure the size and geographic distribution of rural middle class in 1988, 1995, 2002, and 2007. Biprobit models and OLS models are estimated to investigate the determinants and consumption behavior of middle class in rural China.FindingsMajor findings include: in 2007, as many as 398 million rural residents or almost 54 percent of China's rural population belonged to the middle class; the size estimate of China's rural middle class based on income is broadly consistent with that based on assets; factors enhancing the probability of a household entering the middle class include human capital, political capital and non‐farming employment while industrialization, urbanization and development of TVEs also play significant roles; and the middle class not only consume more, but also consume more durables.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of the paper is the use of 2002 data. However, more recent data are not available.Originality/valueThe size of the middle‐class is crucial for the stability of China, and the growth of the middle class in rural China is crucial for rebalancing the Chinese and global economy. Thus, the measurement results, the identified drivers, and the consumption behavior of rural middle class revealed in this paper can help shed light on nurturing middle class and adjusting development strategy for China to achieve a more sustainable and balanced economic growth.

This article explores the role of territorial logistics in the integration of Kazakhstan's regions into the global economy. The main purpose of the article is to consider the territorial aspect of the development of the logistics supply chain in Kazakhstan and its impact on ensuring sustainable and balanced economic growth. The analysis of the key problems and challenges facing the country is carried out, as well as recommendations for improving territorial logistics to support the development process are proposed. The study includes an analysis of the concept and strategy for the development of the transport logistics industry in Kazakhstan until 2030. The authors consider government programs such as «Nurly Zhol» and the National Development Plan until 2025 to identify key challenges and opportunities related to the country's territorial logistics and transport system. To achieve this goal, various analysis methods are used, including document analysis, bibliometric analysis and structural synthesis of transport systems. That article emphasizes the importance of territorial logistics to ensure sustainable development and increase the efficiency of the use of territorial resources. Territorial logistics is considered as an integrated approach to the management of spatial aspects of economic activity, including the organization and optimization of transport flows at the regional and urban levels. In conclusion, the article highlights new ways for the research and development of this field in Kazakhstan. A review of current research in the field of territorial logistics shows the versatility of research interest and the importance of further research for the development of effective strategies for managing logistics processes at the territorial level.

Inclusive growth (IG) aims to create decent work and economic opportunities for all, including marginalized populations, which aligns with the SDG-8 objective of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Many studies measure IG through a single dimension, overlooking its multidimensional economic, social, health, and sustainability aspects. This study contributes by constructing a multidimensional IG index and using the four dimensions and 15 indicators, which cover all the aspects of IG. Moreover, the study investigates the determinants of IG with a particular focus on foreign remittances and institutional quality in Pakistan from 1996 to 2021. The bootstrap auto regressive distributive lag (BARDL), fully modified ordinary least-squares and dynamic ordinary least-squares techniques are employed for estimating the results. The long-run estimates reveal that remittances, institutional quality, trade openness and financial development showed positive effects on IG. While inflation, population growth and unemployment exert a negative impact on IG. Moreover, BARDL short-run estimates reveal that remittances, institutional quality and financial development have a positive effect on IG. In contrast, population growth and trade openness have a negative impact on IG. The policy advice is that the government develop strategies to optimize the inflow of international remittances and enhance the institutional quality to promote the IG in Pakistan.

The Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth was adopted by the Group of 20 (G20) in 2009. It contains a wide range of commitments, including the use of fiscal, monetary and structural policies to support growth of gross domestic product (GDP), ensuring trade and investment openness and reducing global imbalances. The Framework’s target areas evolve according to global economic conjunctures and the priorities of the presidency. This article studies the main outcomes of the G20’s work in 2017 in the context of this evolution, accounting both for the German presidency’s Framework priorities (resilient and inclusive growth) and elements of agendas in recent years (fiscal strategies, growth strategies and the enhanced structural reform agenda - ESRA). The findings indicate that the G20 indeed increased its focus on resilient and inclusive growth after concentrating mostly on growth rates in recent years. This is confirmed by the adoption of resilience principles as well as by an increase in the number of corresponding measures in growth strategies. With respect to previous agendas, G20 members succeeded in reducing fiscal risks, implementing growth strategy commitments and ESRA priorities. Still, estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the G20 is unlikely to reach its goal of increasing collective GDP by 2% by 2018 through growth strategy measures. Another problem is that international organizations (IOs) do not fully capture the positive effects of G20 commitments on growth and inclusiveness. Overall, to reduce risks of a fall in the G20’s credibility, the Argentinian presidency should maintain a focus on resilience and inclusiveness, elaborate a communication strategy for the G20’s successes and intensify collaboration with IOs.

Previous studies have confirmed the position that higher education is a sine-qua-non for human capital development and economic growth. The 2014 rebasing of Gross Domestic Product made Nigeria the 26 th largest economy in the world and the biggest in Africa. Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pronounced Nigeria again as having the largest economy in Africa. Yet Africa’s largest economy faces a myriad of challenges, such as high prevalence of poverty, unemployment, underemployment, youth unemployment, huge infrastructure deficits, income and social inequalities. However, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has its goal 8 as “promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” by 2030. Based on this background, this paper proceeds to examine how human development can translate to inclusive economic growth. It focuses mainly on enhancement of human capabilities which is one of the key drivers of inclusive growth. It assesses the status and performance of the indicators of human development in Nigeria and compares the outcomes with that of the emerging and developed nations. Utilizing secondary data and descriptive statistical analytical tools, the paper finds out that the indices of human development and the knowledge economy recorded higher values in the emerging and developed countries than what exists in the developing countries. The paper therefore recommends the urgent need for policy makers to formulate appropriate policy mix that will ensure increase in investment in human capital and all indices of human development and knowledge economy. This is expected to be via improvement in quantity and quality of education in general and higher education in particular for individuals to contribute to and benefit from economic growth. Key Words: Human Development, Human Development Indices, Inclusive Growth and Knowledge Economy Indices.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) call for an end to all poverty and marked improvements in health for all. The linkages of health to poverty reduction and to long-term economic growth have been shown to be much stronger than has been generally understood. The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health elucidated the close connexions between conditions of poverty and maladies which include several non-communicable diseases (NCDs), associated with these conditions. Strong evidence links poverty, poor employment and working conditions (exposure to occupational risks), lack of education, and other social determinants to NCDs, creating a vicious cycle, whereby worsen poverty through their impact, while poverty results in rising rates of such diseases. At the same time, because of the magnitude of illness, disabilities and premature deaths they cause and the long-term care required, they reduce productivity and increase healthcare costs, thereby weakening national economic development. Decent work is now at the forefront of the new sustainable development agenda, which for the first time explicitly refers to full and productive employment and decent work for all as a means of achieving sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8), and include goals relating to protecting labour rights and promoting safe and secure working environments of all workers, including migrant workers, women workers, and those in precarious employment. The SDGs also include a number of additional targets and goals, which have implications for health safety and wellbeing (e.g. SDG3, 4, 5, 10 and 12). The SGDs recognise that inclusive and sustainable economic growth is not only linked to the number of economically active people and economic output, but also to the conditions in which they work. However, much still needs to be done to improve working conditions and promote decent work and, consequently, sustainable and inclusive growth.

This paper examines the theoretical foundations and provisions for the formation of balanced economic growth and development of the region considering its territorial, socio-economic, resource, and structural features and using the Republic of Tatarstan as an example. The paper analyses the theoretical and methodological apparatus proposed by scientists and specialists in ensuring the economic growth and development of the region. The purpose is to identify the main risks, factors and problems in the economic sectors of the Republic of Tatarstan, which to one degree or another are capable of influencing the processes of forming the balanced economic growth and development of the region. Based on the analysis, the paper identifies common problems for the regions and formulates the main directions for improving the economic situation in the region, and also submits for consideration the authors’ model of interaction between enterprises, state and municipal entities in order to reduce the negative impact of previously identified threats and problems, which considers new global challenges, transformations and restructures in economic processes associated with the introduction of restrictive measures, political isolation, various economic sanctions, and with the unresolved internal problems in the field of the economic growth and development of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Rapid globalization driven by the development needs of transition economies, economic reform in developing countries, and unprecedented productivity growth owing to lower unit labor cost, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution, and international movement of labor has posed a challenge for maintaining a sustainable economic growth worldwide. Using qualitative analysis based on data from various secondary sources, we note that both outsourcing and brain drain have intensified over the years as more and more countries are now embracing globalization as a strategy for higher economic growth and development. While the benefits of globalization can differ across countries, it seems that outsourcing and brain drain can bring into play some offsetting forces that are likely to bridge the gap between advanced and developing countries by creating a ‘level playing field’ in the global economy. While the developing and emerging economies are losing skilled labor through ‘brain drain’ to the advanced nations, they are gaining remittance earnings from those nations. At the same time, outsourcing from the advanced countries has created new employment and other opportunities in developing and emerging markets. Although the final impact of outsourcing is debatable, it is very likely that companies will intensify such activities in future due to strong evidences in support of significant cost savings. The outflow of skilled manpower, popularly called brain drain, from developing countries is also likely to increase due to growing demand for ‘replacement migration’ from advanced countries. Increasing job gains from outsourcing and the associated benefits on the economies of developing countries are likely to cancel out the perceived negative impact of brain drain, argued in this paper. The implication is that developed countries should ideally target the relatively poorer countries in their plan for outsourcing, because they are still deprived of the benefits of job creation, though these countries are losing their high-skilled manpower through brain drain.

This chapter discusses the role of energy production in the global capitalist economy and its relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular focus on SDG 8 – ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’ – and SDG 12 – ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’. It achieves this by first introducing the Club of Rome report the Limits to Growth which utilised a system dynamics computer model to simulate the interactions of five global economic subsystems (population, food production, industrial production, pollution and consumption of nonrenewable natural resources) (Meadows, Meadows, Randers, & Behrens III, 1972), the results of which posed serious challenges for global sustainability, to better understand and contextualise unconventional (also referred to as ‘extreme’) and ‘renewable’ energy production as examples of the paradoxical nature of sustainable development in the global capitalist economy. Demonstrating that unconventional energy production methods are much less efficient, more carbon intensive, more environmentally destructive and just as unsustainable, and that renewable energy relies on the extraction of nonrenewable natural resources such as lithium that result in similar environmental and social issues, this chapter will interrogate this and ask the question – is the capitalist system in its current form capable of making ‘sustainable development something more than the oxymoron it appears?’.