Major Driver Of Growth Research Articles

Differential growth rates through the seedling and sapling stages of two Nothofagus species underplanted at low-light environments in an Andean high-graded forest

The Andes of south-central Chile, with the valuable and dominant timber species Nothofagus dombeyi and N. alpina, have been heavily high-graded. Restoring these forests with these species is challenging since they are light demanding and the understory becomes dominated by bamboo (Chusquea culeou), which prevents natural regeneration. In this study we aimed to evaluate the root-collar diameter (RCD) and height growth response of these species during their seedling and sapling stages (years 1, 2, 3 and 6) after outplanting and removing the understory in a relatively low-light environment in a high-graded forest (incident light levels between 2.6 and 12.7 mol m−2 d−1). We fitted regression models to predict annual growth as a function of light availability, and used species as an indicator variable. RCD growth was significantly affected by light since the onset, and height growth only at ages 3 and 6. Species became a significant variable only at years 3 and 6 for RCD growth, and at age 6 for height growth. N. dombeyi grew faster than N. alpina throughout all the period, and both species had their greatest response to light the last years evaluated (adj. r 2 of 0.67 and 0.45 in RCD and height growth, respectively), i.e. an increasing intolerance to shade (ontogenetic change). The increasing variability of the data and the goodness-of-fit of the models at this stage suggest that light is becoming a major driver of growth. These results illustrate a good potential use of these species for restoration of Andean forests.

The current and future state of companion diagnostics.

Companion diagnostics are an indispensable part of personalized medicine and will likely continue to rapidly increase in number and application to disease areas. The first companion diagnostics were launched in the 1980s and in the face of significant initial skepticism from drug developers as to whether segmenting a drug’s market through a diagnostic was advisable. The commercial success of drugs such as Herceptin® (trastuzumab) and Gleevec® (imatinib), which both require testing with companion diagnostics before they can be prescribed, has moved the entire companion diagnostic field forward. From an initial start of a handful of oncology drugs with corresponding diagnostics, the field has expanded to include multiple therapeutic areas, and the number of combinations has grown by 12-fold. Based on drugs in clinical trials, the rapid growth will likely continue for the foreseeable future. This expansion of companion diagnostics will also have a global component as markets in Europe will evolve in a similar but not identical pattern as the US. One of the greatest challenges to future growth in companion diagnostics is aligning the incentives of all stakeholders. A major driver of growth will continue to be the economic incentives for drug developers to pair their products with diagnostics. However, diagnostic companies are caught between the conflicting demands of two major stakeholders, pharmaceutical companies on one hand and payers/providers on the other. Regulators are also becoming more demanding in aligning development time lines between drugs and diagnostics. In order to survive and prosper, diagnostic companies will need to think more broadly about companion diagnostics than the historical match between a specific drug and a single diagnostic. They will also have to continue the process of consolidation and global expansion that the industry has already begun. Despite these potential obstacles, companion diagnostics have become one of the hottest areas of deal making in the diagnostic space in recent years, and the future trends continue to look bright.

Significant drivers of growth in Africa

We employ bootstrap techniques in a production frontier framework to provide statistical inference for each component in the decomposition of labor productivity growth, which has essentially been ignored in this literature. We show that only two of the four components (efficiency changes and human capital accumulation) have significantly contributed to growth in Africa. Although physical capital accumulation is the largest force, it is not statistically significant on average. Thus, ignoring statistical significance would falsely identify physical capital accumulation as a major driver of growth in Africa when it is not.

OFDI between India and the Latin American Region - A Firm Level Motive Analysis

India and the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region have emerged as major growth drivers of the world economy in the last couple of decades. Trade and investment relations between these regions have traditionally been rather insignificant but have picked up in recent years. Since 2000, Indian companies have invested about $12 billion in the LAC region across various industries. This paper examines the important issue of the motives driving OFDI between the two regions. It uses content analysis to identify the motives of the FDI transactions and the Chi Square test to find out the dominant motives driving investment from India to the LAC region across industries between 2000-2012. The study finds that Indian OFDI into the LAC is market-seeking in nature and thus makes a significant contribution to the literature on FDI in the emerging markets context.

An Exploratory Study of Social Safety Nets (SSN) in Battagram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province: Implications for Food Security of Small Farmers

An Exploratory Study of Social Safety Nets (SSN) in Battagram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province: Implications for Food Security of Small Farmers Agriculture is the major driver of growth of P...

Estrogen receptor α is the major driving factor for growth in tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer and supported by HER/ERK signaling

Resistance to tamoxifen is a major clinical challenge in the treatment of breast cancer; however, it is still unclear which signaling pathways are the major drivers of tamoxifen-resistant growth. To characterize resistance mechanisms, we have generated different tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cell lines from MCF-7. In this model, we investigated whether signaling from human epidermal growth factor receptors (HERs), their downstream kinases, or from the estrogen receptor α (ERα) was driving tamoxifen-resistant cell growth. Increased expression of EGFR and increased phosphorylation of HER3 were observed upon acquisition of tamoxifen resistance, and the extracellular activated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway was highly activated in the resistant cells. The EGFR inhibitor gefitinib and the ERK pathway inhibitor U0126 resulted in partial and preferential growth inhibition of tamoxifen-resistant cells. All the tamoxifen-resistant cell lines retained ERα expression but at a lower level compared to that in MCF-7. Importantly, we showed via ERα knockdown that the tamoxifen-resistant cells were dependent on functional ERα for growth and we observed a clear growth stimulation of resistant cell lines with clinically relevant concentrations of tamoxifen and 4-OH-tamoxifen, indicating that tamoxifen-resistant cells utilize agonistic ERα stimulation by tamoxifen for growth. The tamoxifen-resistant cells displayed high phosphorylation of ERα at Ser118 in the presence of tamoxifen; however, treatment with U0126 neither affected the level of Ser118 phosphorylation nor expression of the ERα target Bcl-2, suggesting that ERK contributes to cell growth independently of ERα in our cell model. In support of this, combined treatment against ERα and ERK signaling in resistant cells was superior to single-agent treatment and as effective as fulvestrant treatment of MCF-7 cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that ERα is a major driver of growth in tamoxifen-resistant cells supported by HER/ERK growth signaling, implying that combined targeting of these pathways may have a clinical potential for overcoming tamoxifen resistance.

Role of Construction Sector in Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

The construction industry plays an important role in the economy, and the activities of the industry are also vital to the achievement of national socio-economic development goals of providing shelter, infrastructure and employment. It is clear that construction activities affect nearly every aspect of the economy and that the industry is vital to the continued growth of the economy. Surprisingly, the construction industry was left out from the list of major growth drivers of the economy. In order for construction to ably perform this role, there is a need to provide information on its economic value and its place in the overall economy of a country needs to be placed in perspective, if its function is to be fully understood. This study attempted to investigate the relationship between the construction sector and aggregate economy. Time series data from 1990 - 2009 on construction output and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) used for the study were extracted from the United Nation Statistic Division. This paper uses econometric techniques such as unit root test, cointegration test as well as Granger causality test to analyze the significance of construction linkage with the aggregate economy. The result indicates that construction output is Granger caused by GDP, while the construction output also granger causes the GDP. Both GDP and construction output lead each other by one year. The study concluded that the Nigerian construction sector is very important because of its capacity to lead the economy of Nigeria.

Mediterranean dwarf shrubs and coexisting trees present different radial-growth synchronies and responses to climate

Due to their diversity and dominance in environmentally harsh sites, Mediterranean dwarf shrubs are a valuable tool to understand the consequences of climatic variability on radial growth in woody plants. We evaluate the dendrochronological potential of three Mediterranean dwarf shrubs versus three coexisting tree species inhabiting cold- (Hormathophylla spinosa vs. Pinus sylvestris), mesic- (Ononis fruticosa vs. Abies alba), and xeric sites (Linum suffruticosum vs. Pinus halepensis). Cross-sectional wood sections of the three shrub species and cores in the case of trees were visually cross-dated and ring-widths were measured and converted into residual growth indices. We used linear mixed-effects models to assess how growth indices respond to local factors and climatic variables. The radial growth of the three dwarf shrub species was more asynchronous, i.e., ring-width series differed among conspecific individuals, than that of coexisting tree species. Growth asynchrony was higher for H. spinosa than for O. fruticosa and L. suffruticosum. Similarly, the ring-width series of O. fruticosa and L. suffruticosum was strongly correlated with that of coexisting tree species, while growth series of H. spinosa and P. sylvestris was not related at all. The growth of the three dwarf shrub species was influenced by the regional climatic conditions, but to a lesser degree than coexisting tree species. The highest responsiveness of growth to climate was observed in Mediterranean dwarf shrubs from xeric sites. However, local conditions are also major drivers of growth in Mediterranean dwarf shrubs as indicated by the stronger asynchrony in ring formation of these species as compared with coexisting trees, particularly in cold sites.

Government Bias in Education, Schooling Attainment, and Long‐Run Growth

A surprising cross‐country stylized fact is that higher public spending on education tends to lower the long‐run growth rate of per capita GDP and the returns to schooling. This is contrary to the conventional wisdom that education is a major driver of growth. In this article, we revisit this issue and try to understand these puzzling facts in terms of an endogenous growth model. Our cross‐country calibration of the growth model predicts that countries with a greater government involvement in education experience lower schooling efforts and lower growth.

A review on value creation in tourism industry

Article history: Received June 25, 2011 Received in Revised form August, 30, 2011 Accepted 5 September 2011 Available online 7 September 2011 Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world and a major driver of growth for developed countries. To maximize the tourism sector's economic benefits‚ tourism development‚ planning and strategies not only have to focus on increasing demand and supply‚ but also they must concentrate on raising the level of value retention and on value ¬creation and value co-creation within the sectors. Serious policy in one of these sectors may threat the whole tourism value chain. This makes analysis of the sector complex but crucial as it could be the catalyst for wide spread reforms. To offer a better tourism product, one should understand the sources of critical factors (ie: environmental, industry and organizational factors) for competing either domestically or internationally. Comparative and competitive advantages, information and communication systems and E-tourism, knowledge of value and value chain (identifying and analyzing the specific activities through which it can create value for its customers) all are the perquisite for value creation and value co-creation (the source of value lies in the personalized experiences that are unique to each individual customer). To achieve these, special attention must be devoted to strategic management, planning and society, in order to satisfy all stakeholders' expectation. Based on the above paradigm a model for value creation in tourism is proposed in this paper. It is hoped that this study could drive destinations to create and cocreate the values that makes a unique and memorable experience for each tourist. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transition of China’s growth pattern

China has achieved hyper economic growth in the past three decades. The achievement, though spectacular, is nothing incomprehensible to modern economic theories. A number of characteristic factors, short-term or long-term, have been favorable to fast growth. The market-oriented reforms that started thirty years ago have installed the preconditions for the economy to benefit from these factors. As China rises to the rank of middle-income countries, some conditions that used to support fast economic growth are now undergoing profound changes. These changes have important implications on capital formation and productivity growth, the two major drivers of growth. With the era of hyper economic growth coming to its end, the growth pattern of the Chinese economy is in transition. That calls for a transformation of government’s role in the economy to answer the challenges of this transition.

Contribution of summer rainfall and nitrogen to the yield and water use efficiency of wheat in Mediterranean-type environments of South Australia

In a worldwide context of agricultural intensification, cropping systems in Mediterranean-type environments have been reducing the frequency of long-fallow in a shift to continuous cropping. The focus of this paper is the short summer fallow between successive winter grain crops in environments of South Australia with winter-dominant rainfall. Our aims were to (i) estimate wheat yield response to summer rainfall, (ii) explain yield responses in terms of capture and efficiency in the use of radiation and water, (iii) explore the incidence of the amount and disposition of stubble on storage of summer rainfall, and (iv) assess the interaction between summer rainfall and nitrogen supply. We used trickle irrigation to manipulate summer water supply in two factorial experiments combining water and stubble treatments, and three factorials combining water and nitrogen supply. Addition of 50–100 mm of water increased soil water content at sowing between 8 and 46 mm compared to controls that only received the background summer rainfall (10–74 mm). Yield gain from additional water input in summer declined from 1.1 t ha −1 to zero when the yield of controls increased from 2.0 to 7.8 t ha −1. Where yield response was related to a single resource, water or nitrogen, capture of radiation and water were major drivers of growth and yield response. Where yield response was related to the interaction between water and nitrogen, both capture and efficiency in the use of resources were important. Amount (0–5 t ha −1) and disposition of stubble (standing or flat) did not affect the amount or distribution of water in soils, and had no effect on grain yield. High nitrogen rate was critical to capture the benefits of additional summer water and reciprocally high water supply was required to capture the benefits of nitrogen fertilisation; this highlights the resource co-limitation for wheat production in these environments. In a water × nitrogen factorial, crops with either low nitrogen or no additional summer water supply had radiation use efficiency ∼1.6 g MJ −1, biomass per unit evapotranspiration ∼33 kg ha −1 mm −1 and yield per unit evapotranspiration ∼15 kg ha −1 which increased to 1.9 g MJ −1, 40 kg ha −1 mm −1 and 18 kg ha −1 mm −1 in crops with both additional water and high nitrogen. Across experiments and treatments, grain number accounted for 88% of the variation in yield. Grain number was proportional to crop growth rate between stem elongation and anthesis; crops with high nitrogen produced 116 ± 5.0 grains per unit crop growth rate and their low nitrogen counterparts 99 ± 4.6. Building evidence from Mediterranean environments worldwide highlights the importance of grain number as the main source of variation in yield and therefore the critical period between stem elongation and anthesis where both water and nitrogen supply are critical.

Inequality in Burkina Faso—To What Extent do Household, Community and Regional Factors Matter?

Summary Empirical evidence suggests that regional disparities in income are often very wide, that these disparities do not necessarily disappear as economies grow and that these disparities are themselves a major driver of growth. We use a novel approach based on multilevel modelling to decompose the sources of inequality in household incomes in Burkina Faso. We show that differences in income across space are explained not only by the spatial concentration of households with favourable characteristics but to a large extent also by disparities in community endowments. Climatic differences across regions do matter, also, but to a much smaller extent. On the basis of the findings, it would be worth assessing the potential effects of policies which build and enhance infrastructure that connects communities complemented by interventions targeted to specific villages that particularly lag behind.

Do fish growth rates correlate with PCB body burdens?

We evaluated whether growth rates of six fish species correlated with PCB concentrations in a moderately-to-heavily polluted freshwater ecosystem. Using a large dataset ( n = 984 individuals), and after accounting for growth effects related to fish age, habitat, sex, and lipids, growth correlated significantly, but positively with lipid-corrected PCB concentrations for 4 of 6 species. Remaining species showed no correlations between growth and PCBs. Comparisons with regional, lentic growth averages for four species confirmed growth was on par and in three of four cases higher than regional averages in the PCB-polluted ecosystem. We conclude that for these species, at the range of concentrations examined, these PCBs do not exert negative impacts on growth. Rather, factors often cited as influential to growth were also driving growth trends in this study. Future studies that evaluate whether pollution affects growth must account for major growth drivers prior to attributing growth differentials to pollution alone.

Josh Lerner: recipient of the 2010 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

This article describes the academic contributions of the 2010 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, Professor Josh Lerner of the Harvard Business School. Lerner’s empirical research on the inter-relationship between venture capital, innovation and entrepreneurship has greatly extended and improved our understanding of one of the major drivers of growth in modern economies. The first part of this article explains Lerner’s contributions as regards the structure and organization of the venture capital industry. Later, his most important publications on entrepreneurship, innovation and intellectual property rights are surveyed. Several aspects of Lerner’s policy-oriented work are then outlined, before the article closes with a brief conclusion.

Total Factor Productivity Growth in Pakistan: An Analysis of the Agricultural and Manufacturing Sectors

This paper uses Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions to calculate total factor productivity (TFP) in Pakistan over the period 1985 – 2005, first for the manufacturing and agricultural sectors individually, then for the economy as a whole. In manufacturing, productivity increased at an average of 2.4% per year with output growth being driven mainly by increases in capital. Despite the limitations of the available agricultural data, we have determined that productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.75% per year in this sector. The major drivers of growth in agriculture have been increases in labor and TFP. These estimates of sectoral TFP put Pakistan at par or above average as compared to other developing countries, but lagging behind the East Asian economies. For the economy as a whole, TFP has increased at an average rate of only 1.1% a year in Pakistan, resulting in almost three quarters of GDP growth attributed to increases in labor and the capital stock.

Employers' perceptions of graduate competencies and future trends in higher vocational education in China

The Chinese economy is now a major driver of growth in the world economy. As a consequence, significant reforms were introduced which impacted on its educational systems. China is facing unprecedented pressure to produce skilled individuals to meet the demands of this rapid growth. China is in the unique position of operating in a dual system, within a market economy on the one hand, and within the remnants of a command‐control bureaucratic system on the other. This curriculum research/review was undertaken at an international design and business higher vocational college located in central Shanghai during 2005/2006. The purpose of the research was to align graduate outcomes better with employer demand, and to seek employers' perceptions about future trends. The sample included key stakeholders of the college, that is: employers; students and graduates; and academic staff. A survey design was used which sought both qualitative and quantitative information from the sample. This article will focus on employers' perspectives of graduate outcomes and future trends. Employers perceived positive attitudes and behaviours, for example, working cooperatively with others; being responsible and adaptable; the ability to resolve conflict; communicating effectively in oral and written English; and a strong commitment to learning continuously, as extremely important qualities in graduates. Some of the more ‘appropriate attitudes and abilities’ such as ‘being responsible and adaptable’ were perceived by researchers as being consistent with a command‐control system, rather than a market economy. The research literature illustrates that there is a widening divide between how foreign‐owned enterprises and State or private Chinese organisations use the education system. Employers also possess low expectations of the types of skills new employees would possess at the higher vocational education entry level.

Analysis of the causality links between the growth of the construction industry and the growth of the macro‐economy in Ghana

A vibrant construction industry in a developing country, that mobilizes human and local material resources in the development and maintenance of buildings, housing and physical infrastructure, is an important means to promote increased local employment and accelerate economic growth. Ghana, a country of about 22 million people, currently has one of the fastest growing economies in West Africa. The Government of Ghana (GOG) has recently set a target of annual economic growth rate of 8% and above, up from annual growth rates of 5–6% in the past five years (2001–05). It intends to use the agricultural sector as the major vehicle for achieving such high growth rates in order for the country to reach the status of a middle income country by 2015. Surprisingly, the construction industry was left out from the list of major growth drivers of the economy. We contend that with the construction industry currently making up the third largest sector of the economy, special attention should be given to this industry as one of the main drivers of economic growth in Ghana. Therefore we conducted a study to analyse the causality links between the growth in the construction industry and the growth in the macro‐economy of Ghana, measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), to ascertain whether the construction industry can be used to lead the entire economy on a growth path. The analysis was based on a simple Granger causality test using time series data from 1968 to 2004. We showed that growth in the construction industry Granger‐caused growth in GDP, with a three‐year lag. The construction industry needs to be considered as one of the major drivers of economic growth in Ghana.

Higher vocational education in China

PurposeThis paper addresses the increasingly important economy of China and its associated higher vocational education and training (HVE) system. More specifically, the paper aims to present the findings of a critical review of recent developments in the HVE system in Liaoning province.Design/methodology/approachAs part of this review, specific problems faced by Liaoning provincial and central government agencies in meeting the labour market needs of an economy in transition are explicated, as are current constraints in the implementation of the ongoing reform of the HVE system vis‐à‐vis economic reform. Predominantly secondary data sources were used to conduct the review and one of the authors was directly involved in their compilation. The review period was 1997‐2003, which represented the time span between the enactment of the central government's vocational education law and the most current point in time for which statistics on HVE were then available.FindingsPreliminary findings provide evidence to support the view that the Liaoning HVE system has made a small but significant positive contribution to the growth and development of the provincial economy over the period. Equally, however, the findings identified a number of constraints to the effective operation of the HVE system which could serve to limit continued economic growth. These constraints exist in the form of a low degree of market orientation; an insufficiency of resources both intellectual and physical, stemming from a chronic lack of financial investment; a relatively low level of overall cost effectiveness and a poor image in terms of the perceptions of the population at large as to the value of HVE as a tertiary education pathway. It is the authors' view that the constraints identified within the Liaoning HVE system exist as a general set of constraints within the overall Chinese HVE system.Research limitations/implicationsUnderstanding the nature of any labour market is a challenging and complex process and the authors are conscious that their preliminary review is deficient in a number of key areas. Firstly, further work is required to better understand the range and relative importance of the strategic drivers of economic and HVE reform in Liaoning province and China generally. Secondly, little has been said regarding the impact of the on‐going state owned enterprises reforms on the performance of the Liaoning HVE system, notwithstanding the fact that the underlying cost effectiveness imperative is greatly affected by these reforms.Originality/valueInternationally, the Chinese economy is seen as a major driver of growth in the global economy. In light of this it is the authors' view that the findings of this preliminary review provide a better understanding of the issues relating to its continued development, specifically as they relate to reform of the labour market and associated HVE system.

'The Consumer Financing Business in India' - Building Blocks for the Future

In view of this changing landscape, we look at the three major drivers of growth in consumer finance: auto finance, housing finance and consumer durable finance. We discuss the trends in each of these areas as well as the shortcomings which are slowing down growth. We present some of the innovative product ideas which have appeared in the market recently and others which have the potential and can pick up provided adequate attention is paid. These include customer financing by large retail outlets, range of credit card offerings, innovations in education finance, rural finance, etc. The role of risk management has also been discussed as far as containing delinquencies and losses in repayment of loans are concerned. The mortgage portfolio performance will get affected by a sharp drop in real estate prices, drop in rents, changes in the tax laws removing exemptions for mortgage repayments. The Auto loans portfolio can get affected by the drop in re-sale values of cars, decrease in car prices, exchange rates, etc. Unsecured products like personal loans and credit cards can get affected by macro economic factors like employment rates, inflation, interest rates etc. We therefore provide an overview of the risk mitigation strategies which are available to lenders and progress made in this direction so far.