Economic Management Policies Research Articles

Assessing Economic Development and Quality of Life: A Management Perspective on Romania and the Republic of Moldova

This article presents a comparative analysis focusing on the economic dimensions of quality of life and explores the factors influencing economic growth and well-being between two countries located in Eastern Europe: Romania—an EU member state since 2007, and Moldova—an EU candidate status since June 2022. By examining statistical data, we assess the relationship between economic growth and development, aiming to discern patterns and dynamics within these countries’ economies. Through this comparative approach, we aim to elucidate how economic factors contribute to societal welfare and living standards. The study underscores the significance of economic management policies and structural reforms in fostering growth and enhancing the quality of life for citizens. By focusing on the economic landscapes of Romania and Moldova, we aim to offer insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by transitioning economies in Eastern Europe, shedding light on strategies for sustainable development and improved well-being.

Conceptual model for advancing socioecological and energy transitions through nature-based solutions in territories: Addressing global anthropogenic challenges

The Anthropocene is an epoch characterized by socio-ecological complexity and uncertainty, resulting from human influence on our planet's history. Human actions have triggered planetary threshold crossings, disrupting the planet's self-regulating systems. This prompts the search for alternatives to the ongoing crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has highlighted ecological disruptions caused by cumulative human transformations, challenging society's adaptability and allowing biodiversity incursions into previously vacant habitats. This study aims to explore and validate Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as strategic responses to these anthropogenic challenges, focusing on the integration of socio-ecological, geopolitical, economic, and financial elements to foster energy transitions towards a resilient, low-carbon future. The preliminary model integrates these elements within regional strategies, amalgamating insights into ecosystem services, synergies, and commitments. This approach fosters a discourse between science and policy, emphasizing knowledge management, dialogue, and consensus among territorial stakeholders. It aids the transition toward sustainability across varying scales, providing evidence for decision-makers in ecosystem service assessment and valuation. This bolsters integration into economic management policies. In summary, this research emphasizes addressing challenges from a socio-ecological stance, amalgamating knowledge, and propelling discourse between science and policy for a sustainable future. This holistic viewpoint is pivotal in tackling the Anthropocene's socio-ecological quandaries, ensuring a sustainable trajectory for our planet.

Biases in Consumer Price Index Methodology in Pakistan: Suggestions for Improvements

The issues relating to the complexity of the measurement of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is regarded as the best and most well known indicator of inflationary trends and without referring to which economic policies cannot be evaluated have long been debated. Any measurement error in CPI may over or understate inflation, which can have serious repercussions on monetary, fiscal and other economic management policies. The report of the Boskin Commission [Boskin, et al. (1996)] has identified the possible sources of bias in the CPI. These biases which this study has also corroborated through a primary survey of selected households relate to commodity and outlet substitution, quality adjustment and new product introduction as well as index calculation in the existing methodologies. In this paper these biases have been evaluated for Pakistan and ways to improve the construction of the Index have been suggested. Other issues in Pakistan relate to selecting a representative product (or good), defining average quality, data collection, weights determination and base year change. The use of the Geometric means index formula and Laspeyre’s Index to reduce the formula bias has been proposed in this study. 1. INTRODUCTION The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index number measuring the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. It is one of the several price indices calculated by national statistical agencies. The percent change in the CPI is considered as a measure of inflation. The CPI can be used to index (i.e., adjust for the effects of inflation) wages, salaries, pensions, or regulated or contracted prices. The CPI, along with the population census and the National Income and Product Accounts, is one of the most closely watched national economic statistics. The relative prices of different goods and services change frequently in a time interval due to various factors and these changes lead to change in the consumers’ buying behaviour. As there has been sizeable increase in the population of the lower and the middle class,1 demand patterns have tended to shift increasingly to services2 away from goods, and to characteristics of goods and services like better quality, variety and greater convenience. But all these factors, plus others, mean a larger part of what is produced and consumed in an economy is more complex to measure than it was a couple of decades ago when the economy largely consisted of smaller number of easier to measure items such as flour and onions.3 Inflation in a complex dynamic market economy is hard to measure. Further, the rapidly changing behaviour of economic agents puts tremendous pressure on a statistical system to keep up with the change and provide the coverage of context and scope. However, agencies which construct the CPI are constantly engaged in research to improve the measurement. The Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) is the main agency doing this work in Pakistan. Like several other developing countries4 the FBS has no research programme to improve the CPI estimation methodology. As a result it could not incorporate any remedial measure for several biases which were pointed out by the Boskin Commission more than a decade ago. The report of the Boskin Commission [Boskin, et al. (1998)] has focused a great deal of attention on the CPI issues. This report created much interest in research circles. It identified possible sources of bias in the CPI like substitution, outlet, quality and new product. This report has called into question the accuracy and relevancy of the CPI even when international standards are followed. Since the release of this report, major revisions in the CPI have been under consideration in various countries in the light of the issues raised in it. New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan and European countries have taken a lead in this regard. Many issues on CPI methodology, like outlet and substitution biases have been the object of considerable research in these countries. On the contrary developing countries are facing two main constraints in revising the construction of the CPI. The first one is the shortage of trained economists and statisticians in the area of price statistics, and the second is the concerned agencies’ limited funding capacity.

Closing the clean cooking gap: Which policies and institutional qualities matter?

Access to clean energy is vital for fostering economic development and promoting shared prosperity. Yet, billions of people in the developing world continue to lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, creating a growing clean cooking gap. Achieving universal access to clean cooking requires integrated policies and quality institutions. However, attempts to examine the policies and institutional qualities that matter are missing. We take up this task and study the role of public policies and institutional qualities in closing the clean cooking gap using a generalized method of moment and a dynamic panel threshold model for 65 developing countries covering the period between 2005 and 2022. Our result confirms that economic management policies and policies for social inclusion and equity were critical to closing the clean cooking gap. Also, structural policies, except for a few dimensions, were found to minimize the clean cooking gap. However, we find an unintended adverse effect of a strict public sector management and institution on the clean cooking gap. Our study recommends the need for targeted interventions involving subsidies, tax incentives, and credit guarantees carried out under a flexible regulatory framework.

The republic of Vietnam government’s policies on the economic activities of the Chinese in Vietnam (1955–1975)

This article presents the policy of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (RoV) to manage the economic activities of the Chinese community in South Vietnam. In particular, the study highlights the objective and subjective reasons that prompted the ROV government to adopt stringent measures to limit the influence of the Chinese and points out the benefits and limitations of these measures. Lessons learned from the Chinese community's economic management policies from 19551975 also help researchers to propose Party and state ethnic policy programs and policies toward the Chinese in particular, and nationwide ethnic minorities in general.

Impact of COVID-19 on South Sudan: A Review on Social and Economic Management Policies from the First Wave

In December 2019, a new respiratory disease, i.e., novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in Mainland China in Wuhan the capital of Hubei Province. It spreads through droplets produced while coughing or sneezing. Its symptoms include fever, dry cough, fatigue, sputum production, shortness of breath, sore throat, etc. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a “Pandemic” which affected human lives and economies. South Sudan is a developing country and does not have adequate resources to overcome this pandemic (COVID-19).
 Aims: The primary objective of this article is to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the youngest country in the African continent (South Sudan) on its weak economy coupled with hyperinflation and depreciation of currency etc. and lessons learned from other countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methodology: A review was carried out to accomplish the objective of the study by extracting data from the database of Science Direct, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Research Gate, and authentic websites for World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, etc., studies covered major areas across the globe but more especially countries that have trade ties with South Sudan and the East African
 Results: There is a drop in South Sudan’s crude oil export which is crucial for the economy. The responsive rate to vulnerable citizens was low, inadequate policies implementations, there was massive unemployment, it has created the state of xenophobia between nationals and foreigners, online learning through the use of televisions (TVs) and radio stations has not been effective.
 Conclusion: The management of the COVID-19 pandemic call for collaboration between authorities the public, and inter-states as there is no country immune. The use of e-commerce is crucial for developing countries, which reduces social interaction between traders and consumers, reducing the chances of a complete economic shutdown. Lastly, there is also a need to establish learning infrastructures for online studies and birth control initiatives, especially for the least developed countries.

A New Multipredictor Ensemble Decision Framework Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning for Regional GDP Prediction

Gross domestic product (GDP) can effectively reflect the situation of economic development and resource allocation in different regions. The high-precision GDP prediction technology lays a foundation for the sustainable development of regional resources and the proposal of economic management policies. To build an accurate GDP prediction model, this paper proposed a new multi-predictor ensemble decision framework based on deep reinforcement learning. Overall modeling consists of the following steps: Firstly, GRU, TCN, and DBN are the main predictors to train three GDP forecasting models with their characteristics. Then, the DQN algorithm effectively analyses the adaptability of these three neural networks to different GDP datasets to obtain an ensemble model. Finally, by adaptive optimization of the ensemble weight coefficients of these three neural networks, the DQN algorithm got the final GDP prediction results. Through three groups of experimental cases from China, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) the DQN algorithm can obtain excellent experimental results in ensemble learning, which effectively improves the prediction performance of single predictors by more than 10 %. (2) The ensemble multi-predictor region GDP prediction framework based on deep reinforcement learning can achieve better prediction results than 18 benchmark models. In addition, the MAPE value of the proposed model is lower than 4.2% in all cases.

AGE STRUCTURE OF LABEO CALBASU (HAMILTON 1822) FROM RIVER YAMUNA

Age and growth studies are important aspects of modern fishery biological research, as information on these are essential for the scientific interpretation of the fluctuations in the fish populations from time to time and place to place and to evolve economic management policies (Seshappa, 1999).

Nexus between total natural resource rents and public debt in resource-rich countries:A panel data analysis

The study investigates the long-run and causal correlation between total natural resource rents and economic development in a public debt function. We integrate trade openness, inflation, population growth, and unemployment in the model as additional regressors. Empirical evidence is premised on an annual balanced panel data between 1991 and 2017 for 17 selected resource-rich countries. Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) econometric method is employed as the most suitable estimation model that deals with various econometric issues, including heterogeneity between the selected countries. The Johansen Fisher Panel Cointegration Test and Kao Test reveal a cointegration between the variables. The PMG-ARDL results suggest a significant positive relationship between countries’ resource earnings and public debt in the long-run and a negative link in the short-run. Implying that overdependence on total natural resource rents affects public debt sustainability of the panel countries if effective fiscal and economic management policies are disregarded. The panel Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) result shows a causal relationship between resource abundance and government debt. Finally, bidirectional causal relationships are found to exist between natural resource rents and public debt accumulation. To avoid debt-overhang incidence, governments of resource-abundant countries should engage in responsible borrowing, invest in sectors that will stimulate development, and implement anti-corruption policies to seal revenue leakages.

УПРАВЛІННЯ ЦИФРОВОЮ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЄЮ ЕКОНОМІКИ МАЙБУТНЬОГО: СВІТОВИЙ ДОСВІД ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ПРИЧОРНОМОРСЬКОГО РЕГІОНУ

The global digital transformation of the economy of the future and rapid changes in the present orient the need for transition from traditional economic policy management to modern innovation and investment models of economic policy of the Black Sea region through digitalization, introduction of modern advanced IT technologies S.M.A.R.T. and HR management, e-government, next-generation information tools based on fully digital intelligent smart management. Digital transformation of the future economy in the world, significant acceleration of e-government, introduction of modern advanced IT technologies S.M.A.R.T. and HR-management open new unique opportunities for development and contribute to a radical improvement of quality in the field of economic, social life of citizens and digitalization of business processes of the Black Sea region. Emergence of new digital tools, political changes require: formation of high-quality innovative and creative approaches in management, global cooperation and support of flexible transformation on the basis of multilevel network structures of the Black Sea region and exclusivity are the priority vectors of the global digital economy of the future. The digital future, improving the quality of economic and social life of citizens, digitalization of business processes and e-government are integral to effective and high-quality economic management policy of any country in the world. The article identifies global processes of digital economic transformation. The expediency of ensuring openness of creative tendencies of modeling of e-government development policy is substantiated. An analysis of the implementation of modern advanced IT technologies S.M.A.R.T. and HR-management in the leading countries of the world and consideration of the map of investment attractiveness, digitalization of business processes, establishment of economic prosperity, strengthening of social stability, ecological sustainability of the Black Sea region. Comparison of countries by location in the Network Readiness Index in 2020. The Black Sea region is ready to take the next step to become even more efficient and competitive in the world market.

Effect of Working Capital Management on the Profitability of Steel Companies on Vietnam Stock Exchanges

This study examines the influence of working capital management (WCM) factors on the profitability of steel companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Vietnam. Data was collected from audited financial statements of companies for a period of 10 years, from 2010 to 2019. The number of samples eligible for research is 20 out of 26 companies, which is equivalent to 76.9%. With the help of dedicated software Stata version 14, the impact determination of WCM (through 8 independent variables: DIO, DPO, DSO, CCC, SIZ, CR, LEV, GRO) to the firm's profitability (through the dependent variable) is performed through multivariate regression models. Research results from companies in the steel industry in Vietnam during this period indicate that WCM has a strong impact on the profitability of businesses. Among 8 factors affecting the profitability of steel enterprises, factors DPO, DIO, DSO, CR, SIZ, GRO have a positive impact, boosting profitability; 2 factors CCC and LEV have a negative impact on profitability; in which, the effect of CCC is negligible. This conclusion is almost in contrast to many previously published studies due to the specifics of the industry as well as the different stages of economic development associated with the economic management policies of the State.

Closed for Development? Jekyll Island’s Changing Political Ecology and Geographic Space

Closed for Development? Jekyll Island’s Changing Political Ecology and Geographic Space Eric K. Spears The cover photograph for this issue of the Southeastern Geographer was captured on February 2, 2018, and depicts a blowout, or rather an erosional trough, in the dunes of Jekyll Island’s north beach, known as Driftwood Beach. This portion of Jekyll Island’s beach has encountered erosion for nearly forty years but hurricanes Matthew (October 2016) and Irma (September 2017) seriously comprised the dunes’ integrity. Irma washed over the beach dunes and inundated the adjacent salt marsh of Clam Creek. The sign depicting a washed-out bicycle path captures the after effects of these storms but also symbolizes a much larger issue on Georgia’s barrier island: how to measure geographic space within a fixed legal framework. Jekyll Island (N31° W81°) is a barrier island off the southeastern coast of Georgia. Jekyll Island is also one of Georgia’s most popular state parks and hosts an array of outdoor activities (beaches, marsh kayaking, fishing, biking and other eco-sports). Yet unlike other state parks, Jekyll Island is required to be self-sustaining through the limited economic development allowed by law. It has the typical regional barrier island geomorphology of a berm of dunes on the Atlantic shoreline followed by matrix of barrier flats, upland maritime forest, and salt marshes toward the continental side of the island. Jekyll Island is a mid-sized barrier island, measuring approximately 2,300 ha (5,700 acres). Jekyll’s elevation rests low along the South Atlantic Bight, measuring just two meters above mean high tide and marking one of the most western points of the Atlantic Ocean. Jekyll Island’s location on this coastal Atlantic recess also incurs a wide fluctuation of diurnal daily tides, ranging between 0.3 meters and 2.7 meters. The onslaught of tropical systems, such as Matthew and Irma, reflect the island’s susceptibility to moderate and strong storm surges. Changes to beaches and salt marshes demonstrate that Jekyll Island’s space evolves through the geomorphology of erosion, weathering, transport, and deposition. In fact, Jekyll’s southern beaches are growing due to deposition of longshore currents, while its northern beaches are eroding. The changing nature of Jekyll Island’s physical geography, however, has been one of political controversy over the past few years. For years, the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA), citizen environmental groups, and academics have argued over the actual size of the island’s geography. [End Page 321] A seemingly straightforward scientific measurement was marred in a politics of scale and production of space, which framed Jekyll Island’s contemporary political ecology and historical materialism. The cover image, Closed for Development?, symbolizes this recent struggle to command space, determine sustainable development, and maximize revenue. On April 14, 2014, Governor Nathan Deal (Republican) signed a law that legally codified Jekyll’s actual size and the limits to economic development on Georgia’s barrier island state park. Between 1971 and 2014, Jekyll Island’s development was governed by state law that 65 percent of the island had to remain in its ‘natural state’ and 35 percent of land could be developed (Associated Press 2014). The original 1971 legislation also recognized differences between land areas and marshland. In a February 2, 1971 letter from State Representative Mike Egan to JIA Director Horace Caldwell, Egan stated: ... I have instructed the Office of Legal Counsel to prepare a bill to provide that no more than one-third of the highland will be developed in any way and that Two-thirds of the land and all marshes will be left in the natural states (Georgia Public Records 1971). In addition, Governor Jimmy Carter determined in 1972 that Jekyll Island must be self-revenue generating in order to support its own tourism industry and environmental sustainability (Shannon 1972). The introduction of the ‘65/35’ rule and new economic management policies situated Jekyll Island within a liberal capitalist order that assumes nature is secondary to economic necessity. To borrow Swyngedouw words, Jekyll Island was placed in an ‘impossible sustainability’ scenario (Swyngedouw 2007). A state law meant to protect further development on Jekyll Island was contradicted by economic policy and practice. Unlike...

Following in China's footsteps? The political economy of North Korean reform

Since the coming to power of Kim Jong Un in 2012, the North Korean government has recently announced, and to some degree has implemented, a new set of economic management policies known as the June 28th measures in 2012 and the May 30th measures in 2014. Both of these sets of measures seek to build upon the abandoned reforms of the early 2000s through restructuring North Korea's highly inefficient collective farm and state-owned enterprise management system. In addition, the government has intensified ongoing efforts at building special economic zones for the purpose of attracting foreign investment. As such, the country is attempting to emulate the reforms adopted by China in the late 1970s. Although the success of these efforts is by no means guaranteed, they do serve to question mainstream analyses that suggest that Juche Self-Reliance or Sŏn'gun Military First Politics ideologies will inhibit any genuine attempt at economic reform in North Korea. We argue, in contrast, that ongoing changes to North Korean state and society mean that, a cyclical stop and start rhythm to the reforms notwithstanding, such attempts at economic reform are likely to continue. However, we also argue that while the contemporary reform drive resembles and may indeed reproduce some of the successes of the Chinese experience, North Korea faces significantly greater challenges, including the greater decline of North Korean industry, local resistance to reform, and the dangers of inflation. Furthermore, North Korea faces a highly challenging external security environment that undermines the ability of the regime to attract investment and by extension the political standing of reformist elements within the country. Given this contrast with the international environment surrounding China's own reform experience, our analysis emphasises the importance of geopolitical context in shaping experiences of economic reform and of development more broadly.

On Complete Carbon Emission of China’s Industries Based on Input-Output Analysis

AbstractThis article establishes a useful analytical framework for complete carbon emission of the industries in China and then makes comparison on carbon emission among these industries based on the latest data derived from China’s Input-Output Table and Energy Statistics in 2007. It is found that some industries are “invisible high-carbon” sectors by the definitions of directly-embodied coefficient and perfectly-embodied coefficient and that others have made contributions to carbon leakage by measure of importing and exporting carbon emission volume. Finally, this article provides suggestions to industrial strategies, trade policies and the comprehensive economic management policy in order to effectively achieve energy conservation and emission reduction.

Food Shortage in North Korea and International Assistance

It has been a year since the demise of former North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and the advent of the new regime led by Kim Jong-un. North Korea's young leader, at his age of 29, has attracted international attention due to his background and experiences, such as his European study-abroad portfolio and frequent public appearances — just some of the attributes that were sharply distinguished from that of his father's. There were rampant speculations regarding economic reforms in North Korea as the country's official media has started to release more reports on economic issues and reiterated the importance of revitalizing the economy after on March 2012 when the official mourning period for Kim Jong-il ended. However, there has been no significant progress in North Korea's economic policies during the past year with Kim Jong-un's leadership in place. The implementation of new economic management policies, known as the June 28 Measure, have not been officially announced. The main contents of this measure are said to be changes in the management system of cooperative farms, greater autonomy for state-owned enterprises, and reforms of wages and the distribution system. Although there are some rumors that reforms in the agricultural sector have been implemented in some areas in North Korea on a trial basis, up until now, there are no signs of concrete reform measures being placed. It is believed that Kim Jong-un, whose utmost goal is to consolidate his political power, must have concerned that socioeconomic disorder and subsequent weakening of political control can take place when changes in its economic system and newly implemented policies fail. For the time being, it is not likely that new reform policies starkly distinguished from the previous ones are pushed ahead in the Kim Jong-un regime due to its emphasis on the adherence to political guidelines on the accomplishment of Kim Jong-il’s previous instructions. It is estimated that North Korea's food production increased in 2012. Food shortage in North Korea has been somewhat mitigated with the increase in domestic production of staple crops. According to an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) in October 2012, food production in North Korea is estimated to reach 4.92 million tons in the 2012/13 marketing year. Harvests of staple crops, such as rice and maize, were relatively good in 2012, increasing by about 10%. However, food shortage is still a major problem in North Korea and vulnerable groups are continuously facing severe malnutrition. The FAO/WFP Mission (2012) anticipated that North Korea would lack 507,000 tons of food by fall of 2013 if there is no external assistance. North Korea's food situation has been influenced by weather conditions on the state of its crops, its commercial import capacity, the amount of foreign food assistance and the supply of fertilizer, the price of domestic cereals in farmers' markets, and international food prices (Kwon and Nam 2010). These various contributory factors reflect the weak structure of the agriculture sector and related shortcomings in the economy.

The Democratization and Development Agenda and the African Civil Service: Issues Resolved or Matters Arising?

For far too long, public administration has played second fiddle to economics in confronting the challenges of governance and development in Africa. Whether it is in the design of ‘good governance’ programmes, the reform of economic management policies or the renewal of institutions, it is economics that defines the issues and proffers the solutions. Yet economic prescriptions prove inadequate if the aim is to empower the people to make input into decisions on how they are governed and to influence policy outcomes in ways corresponding to their own notion of the ‘good life’. This article focuses on how public administration could, through its integration of the analytical competencies of the social sciences, promote that critical stance that the civil service needs to challenge the assumptions underlying public choice and to render meaningful advice on policy interventions.

Explaining Social Policy Adoption in South Korea: the Cases of the Medical Insurance Law and the Minimum Wage Law

Although policy priority has always been on economic management in East Asian countries, those countries also developed some notable social policies. However, explanations for the development of social policies in those countries have been relatively underdeveloped compared to those of their economic management policies. This study adds to our understanding of the social policy development in East Asia by examining two cases of social policy adoption in South Korea – the Medical Insurance Law and the Minimum Wage Law. This Korean case study shows a pattern of policy development primarily driven by particular ‘interests’ (state elites' perceived political survival needs and their reputation in international society), with ‘environmental’ factors and ‘policy legacies’ playing a supplementary role. In particular, these policies are interpreted as anticipatory concessions to moderate members of Korean society by the state elites who aimed to stabilise their regimes by separating radicals from moderates. In addition, the medical insurance scheme is understood as a by-product of the competition between the South and North Korean regimes. This study also draws our attention to such issues as the similarities and differences between the East Asian welfare regimes and the change and continuity in the development of social policies in East Asia.