Capital-intensive Technologies Research Articles

Development of Russia’s industry: Some regularities and prospects

Industry is the substratum of material production and the economy as a whole. Numerous discussions about the need for new industrialisation make us turn again to the analysis of the state of industrial potential and results of industrial development in Russia. The study aims to explain the performance of the Russian industry in terms of the most relevant and aggregated indicators characterising its functioning, and to formulate its long-term development tasks. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of industrial development. Methods of planning and industrial analysis are used. The evidence is the data for 2012–2022 retrieved from the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation and the Unified Interdepartmental Statistical Information System. The research concludes about the ‘contracted’ development of the Russian industry. The growth rate of the gross value added is more significantly impacted by the dynamics of fixed capital rather than that of labour. Yet the labour contributed greatly to the creation of the new value, which indicates the predominance of labour-intensive technologies, or obsolete capital-intensive technologies. The study empirically confirms that some periods saw a ‘paradox of rapid industrialisation’, that is, a substantially lower rate of economic growth against a higher growth of industry and modernisation of its fixed assets. The general conclusion is that when conducting industrial policy, it is necessary to influence the state of the labour and capital factors in the manufacturing sectors. The industrialisation of the Russian economy needs to be oriented towards the technological substitution through the creation of new fixed assets; in addition, the losses of greatly reduced labour potential should be compensated. A promising avenue is the organisation of analytical planning for the state-owned industry and indicative planning for private industries along with the adoption of a law on the state sector.

Financing Climate-Smart Agriculture: a case study from the Indo-Gangetic Plains

The Indo-Gangetic Plains represents one of South Asia’s most productive agricultural regions, yet it is highly vulnerable to climate change and requires the widespread adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture. Although farmers understand the benefits of such technologies, financial constraints often undermine adoption. Using a case study from Haryana, we assess the opportunities and challenges aligned with the different pathways available for farmers to adopt and finance two capital-intensive technologies: laser land levelers and happy seeders. Our analysis uses unique data from Karnal, where stakeholders have partnered in Climate-Smart-Villages, and combines a household survey from 120 farmers, interviews, and focus group discussions with banks and cooperatives. Our results indicate adoption rates of 77% for laser land levelers and 52% for happy seeders, with only 7% and 21% of farmers owning the technologies, respectively. Hiring is highly preferred over purchase, mainly due to the flourishing of Custom-Hiring Centers, which are vital in driving large-scale implementation. We find that farmers prefer funding from family, savings, and moneylenders (indirect pathways) rather than from commercial banks (direct pathways) to get immediate access to credit and avoid bureaucratic procedures. Our study offers broader insights into the state of agricultural finance in India and adaptation to climate change and reveals that institutional innovations can enhance the financing of CSA technologies for smallholder farmers. Our findings have important implications for decision-makers seeking to streamline credit access for CSA machinery rental. Future research should focus on the efficacy of different finance channels and their causal impact on pathways for technology adoption.

An Assessment of the Weather and Technological Change on Agriculture Revenue of Maize Crop in Karnataka

Presently the agriculture economy influenced by the weather and technological implication. In state maize has occupied top fourth place (10.79%) in total area of cultivation, is highly sowing in rainfed area (65.94%). Study estimates the revenues over a period form 2002-2018 and estimated moving average of revenue to the capital-intensive technology and labor- intensive technology based on the market arrivals data. The implication of capital-intensive technology in agriculture production brings higher output than labor intensive technology even a change in weather, but not more than 2010. The study found that changes in production to the weather and technology has direct relation, but weather negatively impacts on maize crop. Due to the weather extreme events, the prices have positive relation with drought and inverse relation to quantity arrival and rainfall helps to maintain economic stability by the consumer and producer surplus with higher income. To fulfill the loss of agriculture output and to reduce the risks from weather extreme events Maize was converting commercially as a food crop, it greatly caused to increase the amount of cultivation and revenue to the farmers across the State.

Analysis of FPGA theory and its development potential

FPGA is a logic device that allows users to program. It has experienced unprecedented rapid development since its inception, and now it has become the core chip device for designing digital circuits. As an application oriented and capital-intensive technology system, FPGA plays an important role in computer, communication, automobile and other fields. With the continuous progress of semiconductor preparation technology, the performance of FPGA devices has also achieved leaps and bounds. Of course, new problems and challenges have emerged. Therefore, we need to constantly improve the architecture and algorithm of FPGA, and explore ways to make FPGA achieve higher performance and efficiency. This paper reviews the development of FPGA, and expounds the mainstream design technology of FPGA. It also summarizes the main advantages and disadvantages of FPGA, and points out the direction of future FPGA research.

A novel mathematical model to incorporate carbon trading and other emission reduction techniques within energy planning models

A dependable and sustainable energy supply is crucial as energy consumption continues to rise due to population growth, economic development, and improved living standards. The use of fossil fuels leads to CO2 emissions and are subject to volatility in prices. Capital-intensive technologies to reduce emissions are challenging to implement on a practical scale, and economic instruments are likely to play a role in future energy systems by encouraging adoption of these technologies. Carbon trading is an emerging economic instrument that enables entities (plants, governments, etc.) to exchange emission rights, allowing economic and environmental aspects to be balanced. This study introduces a scalable carbon trading modelling approach, integrated into previously developed DECO2 open-source energy planning framework. Direct and indirect optimisation approaches are proposed, both consisting of superstructure-based mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulations. Carbon price is a variable in the direct optimisation or a parameter in the indirect optimisation approach. While the direct optimisation approach involves more non-linearity, it is shown to result in solutions with greater decarbonisation, higher profits, and lower costs, compared to the indirect optimisation results. A novel feature of this multi-period model not considered in previous works is the simultaneous emissions trading across time periods and among entities (power plants and government). This enables efficient and coordinated emission allowances trading among various entities and timeframes. Various new costs and revenue streams are added into the energy planning framework; therefore, profits can also be predicted, along with predictions of electricity prices. New energy resources (nuclear and wind) and carbon capture utilisation and storage are also introduced to the modified DECO2 model. The models are tested on the Pakistan's power sector. Minimisation of emissions using direct optimisation showed that the carbon trading increased profits significantly in the second, third, and fourth planning periods (4.74, 3.86, and 3.55 times, respectively), but in the first period, profits were slightly higher without carbon trading (1.06 times more). Minimisation of budget using indirect optimisation showed higher profits in case of no carbon trading for all the periods. Between 2021 and 2040, hydropower is expected to grow the most (by a minimum of 3.14 times and a maximum of 15.87 times), followed by solar (with an expected increase between 2.54 and 3.26 times) and wind generation (which may increase by 2.35 to 2.66 times). Deployment of emission reduction technologies is significantly lower when carbon trading is implemented as compared to when it is not, due to increased pressure on CO2-intensive generation. Results show that incorporating carbon trading into an energy market leads to both financial (increased profits) and environmental (lower emissions) sustainability, and that using direct optimisation approach increases benefits of carbon markets.

Investment dynamics in the energy sector under carbon price uncertainty and risk aversion

Decarbonizing the electricity system in order to contribute to climate change mitigation is a key policy goal. Yet, uncertain political and economic conditions (e.g., electricity prices) create uncertainty for energy companies. The dynamics of carbon price developments and aversion to uncertainty may have decisive impacts on companies’ investment decisions and thus environmental and distributional outcomes. In this paper, we incorporate a dynamic portfolio approach in a simulation model of investments in the electricity sector to explore and disentangle the impacts of both uncertainty and risk aversion on companies’ investment decisions. We find that policy uncertainty and risk aversion tend to delay the transition to a low-carbon energy system, with higher levels of either factor causing even further delays. However, the mechanism for the delay depends on how risk aversion is modeled, e.g. whether companies are averse to losses, or variances or if they use a higher discount rate in uncertain situations. Employing the loss-averse approach, the company prefers technology with a low likelihood of negative returns for the portfolio; meanwhile, the mean-variance approach indicates an aversion to both positive and negative deviations in returns. With a high discount rate, investors favor less capital-intensive technologies. To account for the impact of risk aversion in policy framework we, therefore, need more empirical work on understanding these behavioral traits of energy companies.

Sustainable Employment and Economic Growth

This study investigates the relationship between economic growth and employment in Pakistan at the aggregate and sectoral levels. It uses different econometric models, such as the Cobb-Douglas production function, the employment demand model, and the ARDL model, to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. It finds that economic growth does not create enough jobs for the population and that there is a mismatch between the output and employment growth of different sectors. It shows that the service sector, which is the fastest-growing sector in Pakistan, has a contradictory and weak impact on employment and growth, and that it relies on more capital-intensive technology. It recommends that the government and policy makers should focus on the real sector, especially the industry sector, which has a positive and significant effect on employment and growth. It also suggests that Pakistan should use its large population as a source of labor-intensive development rather than relying on technology.

Precision Farming: Barriers of Variable Rate Technology Adoption in Italy

Research dealing with the adoption of various precision agriculture technologies has shown that guidance and recording tools are more widespread than reactive ones (such as variable rate technology), with much lower utilization rates in European case studies. This study aims to analyze the propensity to innovate variable rate technologies among young Italian farmers. A cluster analysis was carried out revealing four groups. The first two groups represent non-adopters who think technological innovation is very complex from a technical point of view, as well as not very accessible as capital-intensive technology. The third and fourth groups represent adopters. The third reports an early level of adoption, still considering the cost of access a major barrier to technology implementation. The fourth, on the other hand, shows a more intensive level and considers the lack of institutional support a major limitation. The cluster with the most intensive adoption is characterized by the youngest age group, the farms with the largest size, and a prevalence of female entrepreneurs. The need for management training in day-to-day business operations upon adoption is detected for all groups. This paper identified relevant drivers and barriers in characterizing the adopting farm of variable rate technologies. Results may offer insights to the policy maker to better calibrate support interventions.

Cracking the megaproject puzzle: A stakeholder perspective?

Megaprojects are social tools that are designed by humans to produce large-scale, capital-intensive technology. Intriguingly, despite major advances in megaproject management practice, policy, and tools in the last decades, delays, budget blowouts, and scope creep remain empirical regularities. In this essay, to crack the megaproject puzzle, I advocate drawing on new stakeholder theory - a nascent stakeholder perspective in strategy research that invites us to look at the legal and economic criteria that enable and constrain strategic choice. Preliminary insights from ongoing work deploying this cognitive lens suggest that managers and sponsors of the legal entity in charge of a new megaproject are in a bind. To get a capital investment sanctioned, they must follow a normative tradition, where ‘on time and budget’ is gold standard and ‘value for money’ is defined by an additive logic that establishes user willingness to pay for the project outcomes must outweigh the production costs. But, ex-post, for the project to progress, managers and sponsors must distribute the value to be jointly produced with essential stakeholders in ways that go above the threshold necessary to conform to the law and regulations. These insights suggest that empirical regularities are not isomorphic with bad management and/or dishonesty, but rather an outcome of the ‘rules of the game’. I call on future research to explore the incentives that lie behind strategic choices to make non-credible commitments before a capital investment is sanctioned, and post hoc, to renegotiate the value distribution towards the production of a socially valuable outcome.

Does improvement in capital intensity facilitate the transition to renewable energies? Evidence from Tunisia.

The objective of this study is to investigate the potential role of capital deepening in promoting the transition to renewable energy in Tunisia. To this end, the long and short run effects of capital deepening on the renewable energy transition were explored using the vector error correction model (VECM) and the Johansen cointegration technique, along with a linear and nonlinear causality test in the context of Tunisia for the period 1990 to 2018. In particular, we found that capital deepening contributes positively to the transition to clean energy resources. In fact, the results of the linear and nonlinear causality tests confirm a unidirectional causal relationship between capital intensity and the transition to renewable energy. This explains that the increase in capital intensity ratio conducts technical change towards renewable energy, which constitutes a capital-intensive technology. Moreover, these results enable us to draw a conclusion about the energy policies in Tunisia and the developing countries in general. In fact, the renewable energy substitution depends on capital intensity, through the development of specific energy policies, such as renewable energy policies. Gradual substitution of fossil fuel subsidies with renewable energy subsidies is essential to faster the transition to renewable energy and promote capital-intensive production methods.

Market structure, factor endowment, and technology adoption

This paper investigates how technology adoption depends on factor endowment when new, capital-intensive technology is privately accessible. The non-competitive market structure is shown to indirectly distort factor prices in general equilibrium, resulting in a nonmonotonic capital endowment impact on static allocation efficiency and the dynamic pattern of industrial upgrading. Moreover, an increase in the initial capital endowment may delay rather than facilitate the adoption of capital-intensive technology. Private accessibility to the new technology may also result in premature adoption, overutilization, and multiple equilibria. Welfare-enhancing policies are discussed.

PECULIARITIES OF MANAGEMENT OF ENTERPRISES IN THE PRINTING INDUSTRY

The aim of the study is to analyze the features of management of printing enterprises, to give recommendations for business development. The significance of the printing industry in the publishing and printing complex for the formation of the intellectual capital of the nation, the development of a democratic humane and progressive society is substantiated. The factors determining the spread of small business in printing were revealed. They are related to the peculiarities of the consumer market, which requires a wide geography of supplies and personalized orders; to the development of scientific and technological progress, the result of which is the invention of less capital-intensive technologies; to the state policy focused on the stimulation of small business development. The relevance of the business model of cooperation in the publishing and printing complex at the international level has been proved. Its appropriateness is due to the small size of the domestic market, the lack of funding sources for innovation, the undeveloped domestic material and technical base. Integration is also relevant on the domestic market. It can be implemented by concluding long-term contracts with advertising agencies and IT specialists to offer multimedia publications and printed products with augmented reality that are in demand on the market. It was found that in conditions of high competitive pressure enterprises need to improve the level of service. This requires improvements in logistics process management and marketing communication policy. Delivery efficiency and attention to individual customer needs become critical. The desire to effectively build relationships with customers stimulates the introduction of CRM-systems. Enterprise management at the planning stage should take into account the high complexity of mastering employees CRM-systems. Understanding the strategic importance of spending time and resources on mastering new technologies and on personnel development provides synergy for the entire production system, promotes self-improvement of employees, their desire for continuous progress and, finally, increases their job satisfaction. International benchmarking is relevant to improve the management of printing companies. The authors identified funding for training of talented youth, certification of production according to international quality standards, priority of investment in innovation, search for new market niches, and strengthening of inter-sector cooperation as priorities.

Political differences in air pollution abatement under the Clean Air Act

In this paper, we study how local politics affect state level implementation of a critical federal environmental policy, the Clean Air Act, in the electricity generation sector. The analysis focuses on the installation of capital intensive air pollution abatement technology in highly regulated “nonattainment” areas, which violate federal air quality standards. The primary research design uses a regression discontinuity in the vote share for Republican governors and event study analyses of close elections. In nonattainment areas, Republican gubernatorial control differentially decreases new air pollution abatement capital spending by 90% and the probability of installing the most effective nitrogen oxide abatement technology by nine percentage points, relative to attainment areas and the counterfactual of Democratic gubernatorial control. The health benefits from reduced nitrogen oxide emissions in nonattainment areas likely exceed the additional costs of new air pollution abatement technology at electric utilities. However, the estimated benefit-cost ratios are smaller than those from many other air pollution abatement policies and net benefits may be negative for technology that will operate for fewer than five years.

How does digital technology affect manufacturing upgrading? Theory and evidence from China

Digital technology becomes the new engine of manufacturing upgrading. The article brings digital technology and manufacturing in global value chain into the same analytical framework, measures development level of digital technology by using World Input-Output Database data, Theoretical analysis shows that impact of digital technology on manufacturing upgrading has innovation effect, resource allocation effect and penetration effect. Empirical test results show that (1) Digital technology level index of China's manufacturing industry increased from 0.286 in 2001 to 0.359 in 2014, The effect of digital technology on upgrading of Chinese manufacturing industry is significant positive at 5% level with influence coefficient of 0.129; Distinguish digital technology sources found that domestic digital technology is used in a large proportion, foreign digital technology is more efficient, the influence coefficients are 0.124 and 0.703 respectively, and both promote upgrading of manufacturing industry; (2) The role of digital technology varies among industries. The promotion effect on capital intensive industries and technology intensive industries is positive at 5% level, and influence coefficients are 0.124 and 0.108 respectively. It has significant positive impact on low-to-medium and medium-to-high technology manufacturing at 1% level with influence coefficients of 0.177 and 0.138 respectively. Therefore, China needs to accelerate deep integration of digital technology and manufacturing industry, and climb to the middle and high end of global value chain.

How does digital technology affect manufacturing upgrading? Theory and evidence from China

Digital technology becomes the new engine of manufacturing upgrading. The article brings digital technology and manufacturing in global value chain into the same analytical framework, measures development level of digital technology by using World Input-Output Database data, Theoretical analysis shows that impact of digital technology on manufacturing upgrading has innovation effect, resource allocation effect and penetration effect. Empirical test results show that (1) Digital technology level index of China’s manufacturing industry increased from 0.286 in 2001 to 0.359 in 2014, The effect of digital technology on upgrading of Chinese manufacturing industry is significant positive at 5% level with influence coefficient of 0.129; Distinguish digital technology sources found that domestic digital technology is used in a large proportion, foreign digital technology is more efficient, the influence coefficients are 0.124 and 0.703 respectively, and both promote upgrading of manufacturing industry; (2) The role of digital technology varies among industries. The promotion effect on capital intensive industries and technology intensive industries is positive at 5% level, and influence coefficients are 0.124 and 0.108 respectively. It has significant positive impact on low-to-medium and medium-to-high technology manufacturing at 1% level with influence coefficients of 0.177 and 0.138 respectively. Therefore, China needs to accelerate deep integration of digital technology and manufacturing industry, and climb to the middle and high end of global value chain.

Exploring the relationship between plot size and fertilizer use efficiency: evidence from large-scale farming in China

PurposeThis paper investigates the relationship between plot size and fertilizer use efficiency (FE) in Chinese large-scale farming and searches for the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship.Design/methodology/approachBased on a household- and plot-level data set of large-scale production units (LSPUs) from Jiangsu and Jiangxi Provinces, the technical and fertilizer use efficiency of large-scale rice production is estimated by applying a translog stochastic frontier production function. The authors impose a monotonicity condition on the translog frontier using a three-step procedure to get theoretically consistent efficiency estimates. A beta regression model is then used to explore the association between plot size and LSPUs' efficiency in fertilizer application.FindingsThe average FE for the sampled plots is around 30%, which shows a large potential for LSPUs to reduce fertilizer use. A U-shaped relationship is observed between plot size and FE. The authors relate this non-linear pattern to the substitution of labour with capital-intensive technology and the efficiency differences in terms of farming performance between family and hired workers.Originality/valueFirst, according to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is a first attempt to study the size–efficiency relationship focussing on fertilization practices of large-scale farming. The second contribution lies in the large-scale ranges of the plot-level data set. Third, efforts are made to reveal the mechanisms determining the plot size–FE relationship. Fourth, the authors provide guiding evidence for policymaking, as they show that the size of individual plots deserves equal attention in land consolidation decisions. Methodologically, this paper improves existing estimates of single-factor technical efficiency issued from a restricted production frontier model.

Lockdown policies: A macrodynamic perspective for COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a global health and economic crisis. The entire world has faced a trade-off between health and recessionary effects. This paper investigates this trade-off according to a macro-dynamic perspective. We set up and simulate a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model to analyze the COVID-19 contagion within an economy with endogenous dynamics for the pandemic, variable labor utilization, and four lockdown policies with different degrees of size and duration. There are three main results in this study. First, the model matches rather well with the main European economies’ preliminary stylized facts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, a temporary lockdown policy reduces the epidemic’s size but exacerbates the recession’s severity. The negative peak in aggregate production ranges from 10% with a soft containment measure to 25% with a strong containment measure; second, recovery from recession emerges when the lockdown policy is relaxed. On that basis, the output return to its pre-lockdown level after about 50 weeks. Third, sectors characterized by flexible and capital-intensive technology suffer a more severe slowdown.

ICOR Analysis of Gorontalo Province

Investment plays an important role as one of the regional economic drivers. Likewise, a various development success is determined by the quality of planning and accurate data. In general, the development planning is highly specified by an ability to provide financing sources scenario where one of which is investment as it is impactful in increasing economic growth rate and community welfare level intended.This research aims at determining ICOR value and investment needs estimate in Gorontalo Province and at determining sectors with a higher or lower capital productivity in Gorontalo Province. The research employs ICOR analysis to measure certain amount as a comparison between growth of capital (investment) with production. Through these indicators, the economic development planners can determine investments needed to increase the economy in compliance with the predetermined target. The research findings reveal that: 1) ICOR value from 2018 to 2020 is 0.29 on average and it is impacted by annual capital change (∆K) and output change (∆Y), 2) food industry sector in Gorontalo Province indicates a sufficiently low value of ICOR, and it is good due to the economic runs efficiently. Meanwhile, the chemistry and pharmacy industry sector shows massive capital productivity where a higher value of ICOR indicates capital-intensive technology use. Also, an ICOR-based sectoral investment projection signifies that the researchers set top three of future leading sectors in 2025 for investment projection in Gorontalo. They are food and plantation crops; trade and repair; and construction, 3) a stay-at-home policy urged by the government during the covid-19 pandemic has led to a significant change in community’s consumption style for basic needs such as water, electricity, gas, food, and medication.

Стратегическое исследование условий и оценки готовности экономических систем к цифровой трансформации (на примере Кемеровской области)

The current crisis and the accelerated economic development both require new methods and technologies in order to plan the development of socio-economic and business entities. Digital transformation proved extremely effective in improving economic performance. Digital transformation requires an executable strategy that can help the economy to reach the target state by distributing available resources in priority areas. The economic system is ready for digital transformation if it possesses an appropriate external environment. The article introduces an authentic approach to the analysis of the processes at the core of the regional economy. The research featured the case of the socio-economic system of the Kemerovo region. It included a comprehensive assessment of the region’s viability in creating a favorable business environment at the early stage of digital transformation. To prevent economic stagnation, the leading regional enterprises should introduce capital-intensive technologies and conduct digital business transformation. Such poles of growth can open access to digital technologies for small and medium-sized businesses, thereby ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of the region. New IT ecosystems are the key to successful digital transformation as they implement a systematic approach to decision-making, as well as such technologies of knowledge-driven economy as predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, etc. The paper also contains recommendations for the development of a consolidated information area on a digital enterprise.

Graduate Joblessness: Conviction for Entrepreneurship Studies in Library and Information Science Programme of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand what the Nigerian graduates are passing through, most especially graduate of library and information science programme of Nigerian tertiary institutions. 
 Findings: The statistics of unemployed graduates in Nigeria as at 2011 showed that a disheartening figure of 42.7 million with over 1,8 million graduates churned out of our higher institutions yearly. It was further revealed that the unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at 38 percent in 2013 with further increase expected in succeeding years. The slow rate of economic growth and undeveloped private sector, faulty manpower planning, high expectations of the fresh graduate attitude towards some types of jobs, recruitments, the quest for higher education, inadequate educational curricular, immobility of labour, the long period of initial unemployment among graduates of higher institution, use of capital intensive technology, wide rural-urban migration
 Conclusion: It is evident that entrepreneurship education is important for Library and Information Science students in higher institution of learning. The training of Library and Information Science students must reflect the 21st century development in the field which is influenced by the emergence of Information Technology, hence, Library and Information Science students must have computer proficiency, familiarity with metadata, database management and application, web development and design, knowledge of electronic resources and services