Development In Middle-income Countries Research Articles

Foreign direct investment, total factor productivity, and economic growth: evidence in middle-income countries

This study examines the relationship between foreign direct investment and total factor productivity on economic growth in 90 middle-income countries. Because middle-income countries often face particular challenges in achieving sustainable economic development. Investigating how FDI and TFP contribute to or hinder economic growth in these countries can provide insight and help policymakers make policy decisions. We employ the dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments to analyze an unbalanced sample with 2714 annual observations from 1990 to 2020. The empirical results show that a percentage increase in foreign direct investment will increase economic growth in middle-income countries by 9.3%. In addition, Total Factor Productivity also has a positive relationship with economic growth due to improved labor quality and production innovations. Furthermore, the results indicate that Total Factor Productivity empowers the positive nexus between Foreign Direct Investment and economic growth. In addition, the main findings are also robust even though we employ alternative economic growth proxies. These findings support economic growth and industrialization theories but do not support labor market dynamics theories. Finally, this study contributes practical suggestions for sustainable economic development in middle-income countries.

Sustainable Financial Development: Does It Matter for Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

As the detrimental effect of greenhouse gas emissions becomes increasingly significant, it has been a worldwide concern. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of sustainable financial development on greenhouse gas emissions via heterogeneous technological progress, using 162 countries as a sample. Empirical assessment is conducted using panel data from 2000 to 2019 and the mediation effect model as well as the country and year fixed-effect model. The findings are shown as follows: (1) Greenhouse gas emissions are increased as a result of sustainable financial development. (2) Environmental technology progress and technology choice progress have a dilution effect. Together, they have the ability to lower the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by sustainable financial development. However, these two dilution effects do not completely cut down on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from global sustainable financial development, even though they do help. (3) The direct and indirect effects of sustainable financial development on greenhouse gas emissions are heterogeneous among countries with different income levels. Through technological progress, sustainable financial development in middle-income countries significantly cuts greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable financial development, on the other hand, increases greenhouse gas emissions in both high- and low-income countries, although there are distinctions between them. (4) Environmental technology progress in high-income countries has a dilution effect. Meanwhile, technological choice and progress in low-income countries have a mediating effect on greenhouse gas emissions. To conclude, the evidence provided in this paper may provide some potential solutions to the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, and also enrich the existing literature.

Determinants of international remittance inflow in Asia-Pacific middle-income countries

The international remittances by immigrants to their home countries is one of the key sources of funding development in middle-income countries, especially in migrant-sending countries. This study assesses the determinants of international remittances using panel data from 22 Asia-Pacific middle-income countries, most of which are well-known migrant-sending countries, using the generalized method of moments (GMM) method. The results show that the gap in the per capita GDP growth rate between origin and destination countries, gross enrollment ratio of secondary education, and trade openness are positively associated with remittance inflow. On the other hand, net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are negatively correlated with remittance inflows. The results of this study can be interpreted as a paradigm shift for acquiring foreign capital in middle-income countries, from remittances in earlier stages of development to more FDI inflows when the country has the pre-requisites for absorbing foreign capital. The remittance inflows should be highly important, especially in the early stage of economic development, as additional incomes, or investment sources for those who live in middle-income countries.

Heterogeneous effects of energy efficiency, oil price, environmental pressure, R&D investment, and policy on renewable energy -- evidence from the G20 countries

Understanding heterogenous effects of renewable energy consumption can serve to develop more precise strategies to promote renewable. This work is aimed to investigate the heterogeneous effects of five factors (energy efficiency, oil price, environmental pressure, research and development, and policy) on renewable energy consumption through an empirical analysis of the whole panel data of Group 20, three income groups, and 20 individual countries by using multiple co-integration estimation approaches. The results indicate that the effect of research and development is the leading contributor to promote renewable energy development in middle-income countries of Group 20, whereas the effect of policy is the major contributor to increase in renewable energy consumption in high-income countries of Group 20. It is worth noting that with the increase of income, the effects of policy and environmental pressure on promoting renewable energy are increasing, whereas the effect of research and development is declining. The analysis of these 20 individual countries indicates that research and development plays a leading role to promote renewable energy consumption in 60% of the countries, while the influence degree of policy and energy intensity rank second and third. These heterogeneity of the drivers of renewable energy should be considered to develop more precise and effective measures to accelerating renewable energy.

Economic Growth, Institutional Quality and Financial Development in Middle-Income Countries

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between economic growth, institutional quality and financial development whitin a sample of middle-income countries. We generate three hypothesis on the potential relationships between those three dimensions by reviewing the existing literature and test them in the framework of a Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model. The main results, derived from the Impulse Response Function (IRF) analysis, are two-fold. First, we find a unidirectional positive relationship from economic growth to financial development. Second, institutional quality and economic growth are positively related but the causality direction depends on the nature of the institutional quality proxies. Legal institutional quality has an impact on economic growth while the latter causes an improvement in public sector institutional quality.

Fried food intake and risk of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction in the Costa Rica Heart Study.

Economic development in middle-income countries has led to a noticeable rise in the availability of commercial deep fried foods and lifestyles that require eating meals “on the go” and outside of the home. Yet, data from these countries where fried foods were traditionally prepared at home are scarce, despite several studies showing the potential adverse effects of fried food consumption on risk for heart disease. We aimed to examine whether consumption of fried foods inside or outside of the home is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) among Hispanic/Latinos living in Costa Rica. Participants were incident cases of a first acute MI (n = 2,154) and randomly selected controls matched for age, sex, and residence (n = 2,154). After adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including history of diabetes, history of hypertension, smoking, abdominal obesity, income, educational years, occupation, alcohol intake, dietary intakes of saturated fatty acid, fiber intake, and total energy intake, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR, 95% CI) for risk of MI were 1.00 (reference), 1.02 (0.86–1.21), 1.26 (0.81–1.95), and 1.58 (1.08–2.30) for intake of fried foods outside of the home <1/week, 1-3/week, 4-6/week, and 1/day, respectively (P trend = 0.02); and 1.00, 0.81 (0.65–1.00), 0.81 (0.61–1.09), and 0.93 (0.72–1.19), respectively (P for trend = 0.65) for intake of fried foods inside the home. The data suggest that consumption of fried foods outside of the home, a practice that has been associated with economic development, could have adverse effects on cardiovascular disease.

A Thailand case study based on quantitative assessment: does a national lead agency make a difference in pre-hospital care development in middle income countries?

BackgroundEmergency Medical Institute of Thailand (EMIT) has been established as a national lead agency to improve emergency medical service systems since December 2008. However up to now, there has not been any published systematic assessment of its performance to guide further policy decisions.MethodsThis study assesses the 4-year pre-hospital care coverage and performance in Thailand after EMIT establishment. The assessment makes use of 1,171,564 records from a national data set for pre-hospital care i.e., Information Technology for Emergency Medical Service System (ITEMS) in 2012.ResultsComparing with historical data, we found evidence indicating the national lead agency making differences in two basic requirements of pre-hospital care i.e., the coverage was increased by at least 1.4 times higher than the majority reported figures among 11 out of the total 13 regions of the country at baseline; and mean total response time for critical-coded patients, the longest in our study, is 1.6 times shorter than previously reported figure in 2008 (48.46 minutes). Analysis of the national data set also revealed quite substantial missing values indicating a need for further improvement. When historical data was not available, we compared our findings with international figures. Over triage rate of 28.4% for advanced life support (ALS) ambulance was found which is roughly a third of that reported in Taiwan. Almost all patients were stabilized and/or treated regardless of being transferred to hospitals in contrast to the scenarios in the U.S. systems which may probably be due to different payment mechanism. Relying on circumstantial evidences, we identified probable stagnation in pre-hospital care coverage for patients visiting emergency department after the establishment of the lead agency.ConclusionsThis national data assessment shows progression in certain basic pre-hospital care requirements in Thailand. However, it needs regular systematic evaluation and there is still room for improvement of pre-hospital care systems such as increasing coverage, more equitable distribution of the coverage, faster response times, especially for patients with critical code, information system, cost-effectiveness study as well as further specific qualitative researches to guide further development of policy and intervention.

Law and Development in Middle-Income Countries: Conclusion

This concluding chapter summarizes the key findings, locates these findings within the existing literatures on law and development and related fields, develops policy recommendations for MIC governments and development agencies, and highlights areas for further research. The discussion is organized around the eight issue areas: (1) is “middle-income country” an analytically useful category? (2) is there a middle-income trap, are there various traps, or is it a myth? (3) what if anything do successful MICs share? (4) why have East Asian states been so successful, and does the recent success of Central and Eastern European states provide an alternative model? (5) what is the relationship between politics, or political-economy, and development in MICs? (6) how have MICs been influenced by and adapted to the new international economic order? (7) what approaches are available to MICs to address pressing socio-economic issues? and finally, (8) what lessons are there for policymakers and development agencies in promoting rule of law and good governance in MICs? I conclude with some recommendations for future research.

Law and Development in Middle-Income Countries: Introduction

In 1960, there were 101 middle-income countries (MICs). By 2008, only thirteen had become high-income countries (HICs). Why do so many middle-income countries fail to develop after a promising start, becoming mired in the so-called “middle-income trap?” This is the introductory chapter to an interdisciplinary volume that addresses the special challenges MICs confront from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Most of the existing literature that specifically discusses MICs is by economists or development specialists. This is the first volume on MICs that addresses law and development issues from the perspective of political, administrative and legal institutions and policies. This chapter begins with an overview of MICs, identifies the key issues, and then provides a synopsis of the other chapters.

Openness, Institutions and Financial Development

Using dynamic panel data techniques and data from 43 developing countries during 1980-2001, we provide evidence which suggests that openness and institutions are important determinants of financial development. Openness, in terms of trade and capital flows, is particularly potent in promoting financial development in middle-income countries, but much weaker in low-income countries. Our findings are robust to alternative measures of financial and trade openness, as well as estimation method and sample period.

Fiscal Policy and Financial Development

We examine the effects of public sector borrowing from the domestic banking system on financial development in middle-income countries. While these countries' external debt has been falling, the share of bank credit absorbed by the public sector has been rising rapidly. We argue that this runs the risk of slowing financial development by affecting structural characteristics of the banking systems. We find empirical evidence that too much public sector borrowing harms financial deepening, and that banks mainly lending to the public sector tend to be more profitable but less efficient. We note that these effects add to the costs of fiscal prolificacy.

Fiscal Policy and Financial Development

We examine the effects of public sector borrowing from the domestic banking system on financial development in middle-income countries. While these countries' external debt has been falling, the share of bank credit absorbed by the public sector has been rising rapidly. We argue that this runs the risk of slowing financial development by affecting structural characteristics of the banking systems. We find empirical evidence that too much public sector borrowing harms financial deepening, and that banks mainly lending to the public sector tend to be more profitable but less efficient. We note that these effects add to the costs of fiscal prolificacy.

The role of vaccine research and development in the scientific development of middle-income countries.

As a new global strategy for improving public health, the Children's Vaccine Initiative implicitly raises, once again, the question of the role of science in developing countries. If there are to be new and improved vaccines, better delivery systems, and simplified immunization schedules, there must be substantial analysis, laboratory activity, and fieldwork to ensure that the new products are ready for effective use. In the context of these requirements, this paper reviews the possibilities for vaccine research and development in middle-income countries and the benefits in terms of fostering socioeconomic development through integrated scientific health research.

FACTOR ABUNDANCE IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY WITH LEONTIEF'S AND LEAMER'S FORMULAS

The Developing EconomiesVolume 27, Issue 4 p. 389-406 Free Access FACTOR ABUNDANCE IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY WITH LEONTIEF'S AND LEAMER'S FORMULAS Hisashi YOKOYAMA, Hisashi YOKOYAMASearch for more papers by this authorKoichi OHNO, Koichi OHNOSearch for more papers by this authorShigeru ITOGA, Shigeru ITOGASearch for more papers by this authorHideki IMAOKA, Hideki IMAOKASearch for more papers by this author Hisashi YOKOYAMA, Hisashi YOKOYAMASearch for more papers by this authorKoichi OHNO, Koichi OHNOSearch for more papers by this authorShigeru ITOGA, Shigeru ITOGASearch for more papers by this authorHideki IMAOKA, Hideki IMAOKASearch for more papers by this author First published: December 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1049.1989.tb00169.xCitations: 2 The original Japanese version of this paper was published in Ajia keizai, October 1987. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL REFERENCES 1 Brecher, R. A., and Choudhri, E. U. The Leontief Paradox, Continued,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 90, No. 4(August 1982). 2 Hwang Nam Il. Kankoku no yōso fuzon to bōeki kōzō no henka” [ Factor endowment in Korea and the changes in trade structure], mimeographed ( Tokyo : Institute of Developing Economies, 1986). 3 Leamer, E. E. The Leontief Paradox, Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 88, No. 3(June 1980). 4 Leamer, E. E. Sources of International Comparative Advantage: Theory and Evidence ( Cambridge , Mass. : MIT Press, 1984). 5 Ohno, K. Changes in Trade Structure and Factor Intensity: A Case Study of the Republic of Korea,” Developing Economies, Vol. 26, No. 4(December 1988). 6 Roskamp, K. Factor Proportions and Foreign Trade: The Case of West Germany,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol. 91, No. 2(1963). 7 Tatemoto, M.; Kawanabe, N.; and Horie, T. Nihon bōeki no shigen kōzō” [Resource structure of Japanese foreign trade], in Nihon keizai no keiryō bunseki [Econometric analysis of the Japanese economy], ed. H. Ueno and Y. Murakami ( Tokyo : Iwanamishoten, 1975). 8 Yokoyama, H., and Itoga, S. Firipin Tai no kōgyō hatten” [Industrial development in the Philippines and Thailand], in Chūshinkoku no kōgyō hatten [Industrial development in middle-income countries], ed. H. Imaoka, K. Ohno, and H. Yokoyama, Kenkyū sōsho No. 337 ( Tokyo : Institute of Developing Economies, 1985). Citing Literature Volume27, Issue4December 1989Pages 389-406 ReferencesRelatedInformation