Early Stages Of Economic Development Research Articles

Peran Pertanian dalam Pengembangan Ekonomi: Penilaian Transformasi Struktural dan Dinamika Pertumbuhan Ekonomi

By understanding the role of agriculture in economic development holistically, this research aims to provide policy makers, practitioners, and academics with deeper insights on how to enhance the role and contribution of the agricultural sector in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Through a careful evaluation of the structural transformation and dynamics of economic growth in the agricultural sector, this research is expected to provide valuable guidance in formulating more effective and future-oriented policies. In this study, the use of qualitative methods involved a variety of techniques and approaches. By using these qualitative methods, the research was able to explore various complex aspects of how agriculture plays a role in economic development, including the challenges, opportunities, social dynamics, and policies that affect it. Research results The agricultural sector is an important part of a country's economic structure, involving a wide range of activities from production to distribution of agricultural products. While agriculture is often the dominant sector in the early stages of economic development, its role continues to change as the economy develops. The role of the agricultural sector is crucial in feeding the population, creating jobs, and contributing to economic growth, especially in developing countries. However, agricultural activities can also have significant impacts on the environment, such as land degradation and ecosystem damage.

Economic Development Drives Massive Global Estuarine Loss in the Anthropocene

AbstractEstuaries have great ecological and economic value and sustain both population and economic growth. Global‐scale analyses suggest that human activities drive estuarine area change but these projections neglect direct human‐estuary interactions and socio‐economic feedbacks. Here, we quantified area changes of 2,396 estuaries in response to recent human impacts (e.g., land reclamation, estuarine dam construction) and economic development between 1984 and 2019, and find that estuarine area shrank by 5,372 km2 whereas upland submergence created 5,015 km2 of estuarine area elsewhere. Approximately 44% (n = 1,046) of today's estuaries have been directly altered through land reclamation, estuarine dam construction, or a combination of both, and ∼250,000 acres (1,027 km2) of estuarine area have been directly converted to urban or agricultural fields. Nearly 90% (923 km2) of land reclamation occurred in Asia linked to recent advances in economic development during the middle‐income stage. Additional historical mapping and 5‐year interval analyses revealed that while human alterations were insignificant during the low‐income stages, estuaries were predominantly altered during their middle‐income stages, where estuarine degradation is a common consequence of economic growth. However, this trend stabilizes in high‐income countries with the adaption of conservation laws and policies. Together, our results indicate that large‐scale estuarine loss can be avoided by preserving estuaries in low‐ and mid‐income countries in the early stages of economic development.

Export-Led Growth in Bangladesh: A Functional Impact Analysis of Export Performance and its Contribution

Bangladesh has a significant opportunity to boost economic development by increasing its contributions to international trade. Therefore, this study is aimed at presenting the trends of exporting in the early stages of economic development. Bangladesh's foreign trade trends from 2015 to 2019 revealed a positive growth trajectory despite a slight dip in goods imports. The anticipated decline in foreign trade performance in 2020 is reflective of the global challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the rate of receiving foreign exchange from the integrated foreign export of shrimp, leather, shoes, and pharmaceutical products is constantly increasing. The main exports, encompassing products like clothing, raw jute, leather, fish, and frozen seafood, play a vital role in driving the country's export dynamics. The country has achieved remarkable success in export expansion because of the RMG industry. It was found that total exports of goods rose to 37.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. However, the subsequent recovery in 2021 is evident, with notable growth in both imports and exports. Despite a persistently negative trade balance, the resilience showcased by Bangladesh in the face of challenges underscores its ability to rebound and adapt to changing circumstances.

Impact of Agricultural Production on Economic Growth in Zimbabwe

To achieve inclusive growth, and poverty and inequality reduction, Africancountries should enhance labour-intensive agricultural production due totheir abundance of natural resources and labour. In this paper, we examinethe impact of agriculture on the economic growth of Zimbabwe usingthe Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model employing data coveringthe period 1970 to 2019. The results show that agricultural productionhas a significant positive impact on economic growth in the short run whileshowing no impact on economic growth in the long run.Additionally, thestudy confirms that inflation, government expenditure and gross fixed capitalformation have a positive impact on economic growth in both the longrun and short run. Although the agricultural sector plays a salient role inthe early stages of economic development, it is, however, not able to maintainsustainable economic growth over a long period in Zimbabwe. Additionalmacro-economic policy levers are required to compliment agriculturalproduction and promote sustainable economic growth.

Banks, financial markets, and income inequality

AbstractWhile financial development is often found to raise income inequality, it remains unclear whether the composition of the financial system makes a difference. In our sample of 99 countries over the period 1975–2020, increased activity of banks relative to markets in the provision of financial services is robustly associated with less inequality in the developing world yet with more inequality in developed economies. Accounting for redistribution systems does not alter this finding; banking sector concentration amplifies the effects. Results suggest that banks work at the extensive margin at earlier stages of economic development yet shift to the intensive margin at higher levels of development, where they increasingly serve the interests of the rich. Higher market power enables banks to better pursue their objectives at each of the margins.

The Synergy of Water Resource Agglomeration and Innovative Conservation Technologies on Provincial and Regional Water Usage Efficiency in China: A Super SBM-DEA Approach

China is currently facing the significant task of effectively managing its water resources to satisfy the rising needs while grappling with the growing worries of water shortage. In this context, it becomes crucial to comprehend the importance of resource agglomeration and technological adoption. Thus, this research examines the relationship between water resource agglomeration and the adoption of innovative conservation technologies in enhancing water usage efficiency at provincial and regional levels in China (2006–2020). In the first stage, the study utilizes a super SBM-Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology to evaluate the water usage efficiency of China’s provinces and regions. In the second stage, we find the dynamic nexuses between water resources, water technologies (recycling, sprinkler irrigation) and water usage efficiency by applying a systematic econometric approach. SBM-DEA analysis revealed that Beijing (1.08), Shaanxi (1.01), Shanghai (1.23) and Tianjin (1.01) remained the higher efficient over the years. Six provinces (Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Zhejiang) are in the middle ranges (0.55–0.83). In contrast, nineteen provinces have the lowest water usage efficiency (0.21–049). Qinghai and Ningxia are on the lowest rank (0.21) and (0.22), respectively. The findings recommended that the water resources impact is negative. In comparison, the impact of water-saving mechanisms on the efficiency of water usage seems to be positive, as recycling technology significantly enhances the water usage efficiency in China’s province. The study found that GDP growth has a negative impact on water usage efficiency in the early stages of economic development. Still, as economies mature, this negative impact diminishes, indicating a tendency to allocate more resources to water conservation and efficiency. Water recycling technology, the modernization of irrigation methods, and water resource management can enhance water efficiency.

Fiscal Decentralization and County Natural Poverty: A Multidimensional Study Based on a BP Neural Network

To achieve the goal of long-term stable poverty reduction, it is necessary to implement not only economic poverty reduction but also natural poverty reduction and formulate a green and sustainable economic growth pattern, and finance is an effective means to affect economic poverty reduction and natural poverty reduction. This paper innovatively calculates the natural poverty index of 1712 county administrative units in China based on BP neural network and combines relevant county data to investigate the impact of county fiscal decentralization on natural poverty and its transmission mechanism from 2000 to 2020 using a two-way fixed-effect model, which provides a new interpretation perspective for green economy patterns and sustainable development. The main research results are as follows: First, the increase in county-level financial autonomy in China significantly increases the level of regional natural poverty, which is still valid after a series of robustness tests using the instrumental variable method, replacing the response variables and processing with a one-stage lag. Secondly, heterogeneity analysis shows that, on the one hand, the positive impact of county-level fiscal decentralization on the natural poverty index is different in regions with different natural poverty formation mechanisms. On the other hand, the reform of “provincial direct management of counties” has significantly improved the natural poverty situation in counties, indicating that an extensive fiscal and taxation system in the early stages of economic development aggravates regional natural poverty and that optimized fiscal decentralization is conducive to the alleviation of natural poverty. Finally, the mechanism analysis found that the local income impact and expenditure preference accompanied by the fiscal decentralization of counties strengthened the race to the bottom of taxation, guided industrialization, hindered technological progress and led to the deterioration of regional natural poverty. This research claims that encouraging local governments to deepen and improve the fiscal decentralization system, implement the concept of green finance, improve the ecological protection compensation mechanism and market incentive system and implement differentiated mitigation plans for different natural poverty counties are the crucial factors to achieving natural poverty alleviation at the county level and improving regional ecological sustainability in the future.

Study on the impact of energy poverty on income inequality at different stages of economic development: Evidence from 77 countries around the world

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries should prioritize reducing income inequality while ensuring people have access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy. This study clearly illustrates the nexus between three aspects of energy poverty and income inequality, focusing on 77 countries from 2000 to 2019. The empirical results indicate that access to electricity contributes to reduce income inequality, while access to clean fuels and renewable energy development can increase income inequality. The results of heterogeneity analysis further reveal that at the early stage of economic development, access to clean fuels and electricity can significantly reduce income. In contrast, the development of renewable energy worsens income inequality. However, renewable energy development becomes the primary factor in reducing income inequality as economic development progresses. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis shows that energy poverty can reduce income inequality by improving public health and educational attainment. Finally, this study provides valuable policy recommendations and scientific arguments for reducing income inequality, accelerating energy access, and achieving the SDGs.

Evaluating the role of the share and intensity of renewable energy for sustainable development in Germany

With its strong ties to the European Union, Germany is well-positioned to assist many countries achieve sustainability goals. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to examine how renewable energy intensity and renewable energy share improve environmental sustainability, the load capacity factor (LCF) in Germany from 1970 to 2018. To this end, the study uses the autoregressive distributed lag model, with the effects of the Kyoto Protocol included as a dummy variable. The study contributes to the literature by considering and testing for the first time the impact of renewables on the LCF in terms of intensity and share for Germany. The empirical results show that (i) economic growth lowers the LCF faster in the early stages of economic development than in later periods; therefore, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in Germany. (ii) A 1% upsurge in renewable energy intensity has no statistically significant effect on the LCF, while a 1% rise in the share of renewables in the total energy mix increases LCF by 0.48%. (iii) A 1% rise in urbanization reduces the LCF by 6.52%. (iv) A 1% augment in human capital enhances the LCF by 3.49%. These outcomes suggest that the German government should use human capital development and increasing the share of renewable energy as policy instruments to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Is There a Food Waste Kuznets Curve? Some Evidence from China, Romania and Switzerland

The environmental Kuznets curve is defined as the proposition that pollution increases in the early stages of economic development and decreases in advanced economies. It could be verified for many environmental parameters and is based on concepts that make it likely that it could also be applied to the occurrence of food waste in households. Within the frame of a comparative case study, a standardised survey on actual food waste behaviour in 1,510 Chinese, Romanian and Swiss households explore whether rich countries reduce their per capita food waste as compared to middle-income countries. Young people throw away more food than older ones, particularly in Switzerland, which appears to be in contradiction to the Kuznets curve. However, it can be shown that Romanian and Chinese consumers declare more food waste than consumers in Switzerland and that the differences between the countries can be explained by differences in attitudes and behaviour. This is an indicator that the concept of the Kuznets curve can be applied to the problem of food waste.

개혁개방 이전 중국 면방직산업의 대외거래 연구

This paper aims to confirm how China's representative industry, the cotton textile industry, was influenced by external transactions before the reform and open door era, and what role it played in the Chinese economy.
 In the China’s cotton textile industry, raw cotton showed a significant level of self-sufficiency through domestic cotton cultivation. This result was because the Chinese government effectively implemented a cotton production increase policy through the planned economic system.
 In addition, few imports were made because cotton products were produced enough to meet domestic demand. Rather, by exporting cotton products that exceed domestic demand, food and facilities could be imported as export price.
 As a result, the China’s cotton textile industry has become a leading export industry. It contributed to economic growth by acquiring foreign currency through the export of cotton products and helping to solve the problem of foreign currency shortage in the early stages of economic development.
 Compared to the case of Korea, Korea and China showed different patterns in the external trade of raw cotton and cotton products, but their roles in the economy were similar.
 In conclusion, the China’s cotton textile industry increased production by importing raw cotton, which was insufficient through external transactions, and it can be said that it contributed to the development of the cotton textile industry and the development of the Chinese economy by exporting cotton products.

Institutional development, political uncertainty, and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China

This study examines the relationship between institutional development, political uncertainty, and corporate cash holding decisions. We show that the impact of institutional development on firms' cash holding decisions is non-linear. Our empirical results also indicate that firms tend to hold more cash at the early stage of economic development. With the legal and economic environment improvement, firms' cash holding decreases. Furthermore, our study finds that political uncertainty has a moderating effect on the relationship between institutional development and the firm's cash holdings. This effect is stronger for non-state-owned enterprises than that for state-owned enterprises.

Assessment on Methodology for Predicting Flood Discharges in Creeks

As the small public facilities established in the early stages of economic development are at increased risk of disasters due to aging, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety established the “Law of Safety Management on Small Public Facilities” and provided guidelines for reducing vulnerabilities and damages. In this study, the applicability of the Clark unit hydrograph method and a rational formula, which are methods suggested in the guidelines for predicting flood discharges, are evaluated. For the evaluation, three creek basins located in urban, agricultural, and mountainous areas are selected as test watersheds, and the measured flow discharges of small streams downstream of the creeks are determined using the area ratio flow method. The evaluation results show that, for all three creeks, the peak flood discharges predicted using both the Clark unit hydrograph method and the rational formula are greater than those determined using the area ratio flow method ; therefore, the first two methods can be used to predict flood discharges in creeks to ensure safety. However, for a more precise verification of flood discharges and for selecting optimal methods, continuous investigations are required for measuring the hydrological and hydraulics data of the creek and obtaining characteristic information regarding watersheds and channels.

Endüstriyel Kalkınma ve Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi: Ergene Havzası Üzerine Bir Vaka Çalışması

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis argues that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic development and environmental damage as such environmental damage increases during the early stages of economic development but then decreases after a certain level of economic development is reached. This study aims to contribute to the discussion of the EKC hypothesis by providing a case study from the Ergene River Basin in Turkey. The case study of industrialization in the Ergene River Basin confirms the inverted U-shape relationship between economic development and environmental degradation suggested by the EKC hypothesis.

The sources of the Kuznets relationship between the COVID-19 mortality rate and economic performance

This paper discusses the findings of an empirical analysis of the Kuznets, or reverse U-shaped relationship, between the COVID-19 mortality rate and economic performance. In the early stages of economic development, the COVID-19 mortality rate is anticipated to rise with rising economic activity and urbanization. Eventually, the mortality rate decreases at higher economic development levels as people and the government are more capable of investing in disease abatement measures. The quality of political institutions, wealth distribution, urbanization, vaccination rate, and improvements in healthcare systems are hypothesized to affect the COVID-19 mortality rate. Examining this relationship can be effective in understanding the change in the COVID-19 mortality rate at different economic performance stages and in identifying appropriate preventive measures. This study employed the negative binomial regression to model a cross-sectional dataset of 137 countries. Results indicated that the relationship between the per-head gross domestic product (GDP) level and the COVID-19 mortality rate appeared to follow a pattern like the Kuznets curve, implying that changes in institutional quality, healthcare advancements, wealth distribution, urbanization, vaccination rate, and the percentage of the elderly population were significant in explaining the relationship. Improvement of the healthcare system has a notable effect on lowering the COVID-19 mortality rate under more effective government conditions. Additionally, the results suggested that a higher per-head GDP is required to reverse the rising trend of the mortality rate under higher income inequality. Based on these results, preventive measures, and policies to reduce COVID-19 mortalities were recommended in the conclusion section.

Credit market imperfection and goods market deregulation in OLG model

AbstractWe study the effects of financial development and product market competition on the macroeconomic dynamics in an overlapping generations model with credit market imperfections and monopolistic competition. In general, financial development is regarded as one of the key engines for economic growth. Financial market deregulation facilitates financing for entrepreneurs and has a positive effect on business growth. In fact, the effects of financial liberalization are different between developing and developed countries. We develop a model in which financial development brings about the regime shift endogenously. We show that financial liberalization at an early stage of economic development is harmful for economic growth. Instead, financial liberalization should be conducted after the take‐off of the economy. The sequence of carrying out several market deregulation policies is important. We insist that the government should deregulate the goods market before financial market liberalization.

The impact of employment protection onFDIat different stages of economic development

AbstractThere has been much debate on how to design employment protection regulations that balance the need to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) on the one hand and to protect workers' rights on the other hand. This study explores this ‘dilemma’, using a multi‐country dataset from 2003 to 2015 and treating hiring and firing regulation (HFR) and the other explanatory variables as endogenous. The findings indicate that flexible HFR is essential for FDI promotion in the early stages of economic development of a country, but the impact of labour market flexibility on FDI gradually decreases and eventually turns statistically insignificant with economic advancement. In other words, a flexible HFRs are more important for developing countries, but such flexibility does not have to be sustained in a ‘race to the bottom’ manner: once a country reaches higher income levels, it has more room to focus on labour standards to protect workers without compromising on the attractiveness of the country for FDI.

A literature review of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in GCC for 2010–2020

The early stages of economic development and national growth witness air, water, and soil pollution, which further lead to environmental deterioration. As the economy grows, clean technologies are used to offset this deterioration. This relationship between economic growth and environmental deterioration is defined by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. We provide a systematic review of the empirical literature on the EKC of six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for the period between 2010 and 2020. The survey included 38 articles retrieved from the Web of Science database that were analyzed based on the length of the study, explanatory variables included, econometric methodology used, shape of the EKC, and whether the EKC hypothesis was supported. The findings observed the mixed nature of the EKC hypothesis in the GCC area. Logistic regression was used to identify the factors responsible for the mixed results. The two significant factors predicting the existence of the EKC were adding other control variables to GDP as explanatory variables and analyzing the data on a panel of countries level instead of individual country level. The four insignificant factors were the publication year, the length of the study, structural breaks in data and econometric methodologies.

The impact of energy security on income inequality: The key role of economic development

While the literature has studied various factors affecting income inequality and the influence of energy security on the economy, knowledge is rather limited regarding the linkage between energy security and income inequality. Based on six indicators that capture four aspects of energy security including availability, accessibility, develop-ability, and acceptability, this research applies the dynamic panel threshold approach to explore whether they affect income distribution via global panel data of 68 countries over 2001–2018. The results support inverted U-shape impacts of energy security on income inequality with an improvement of economic development. Specifically, energy security tends to deteriorate income distribution in the early stages of economic development, while it improves income distribution upon reaching a certain level of development. Evidence also reveals that income inequality has a persistence effect over time. Previous income inequality enhances current inequality in a regime with low economic development, while this effect runs opposite in a regime with high development. These findings thus provide valuable implications to policymakers.

Does Agriculture Really Matter for Economic Growth in Congo Brazzaville?

African countries are expected to be having a comparative advantage when it comes to agricultural products. If this is true, specializing in agriculture can increase output levels. However, the effect of agriculture on growth has yielded various research interests and the results differ from country to country. The present study investigates the impact of agriculture on economic growth in Congo Brazzaville using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique, employing secondary data from 2005 to 2018. Different variables are used such as agricultural value added, the industrial value added, gross fixed capital formation and Corruption Perceptions Index. The results suggest that in the short run; agricultural is significant at the 5% level and has a positive impact on economic growth. Similarly, its lag is also significant at the 1% level and negatively impacts growth. In the long run, on the other hand, agricultural production (agricultural value added) has a negative and insignificant effect on economic growth. Thus, the agricultural sector plays an important role in the early stages of economic development, and when the economy has developed, agriculture plays a minimal role. It is evident from the results of this paper that agriculture is an engine for growth in the short run and should eventually be supported by other macroeconomic policies to promote economic growth in the long run. Congolese farmers must increase productivity in the agriculture sector which plays a primordial role in production and employment in order to enable the development of the industrial sector and therefore boost economic growth.