Wealth Of Nations Research Articles

Is natural resource wealth a boon or a bane? The impact of oil rents and foreign direct investment on economic growth in Kazakhstan

The nexus between foreign direct investment, natural resource endowment, and their impact on sustained economic growth, is contentious. This study investigates the resource curse hypothesis and the effects of FDI on economic growth in Kazakhstan. The study covers the period from 1990 to 2022 and employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and Toda-Yamamoto causality methods. The Bounds cointegration results reveal the existence of long-term equilibria between per capita GDP and the predictors. The findings reveal a significant impact of oil rents on economic growth, contradicting the resource curse hypothesis and suggesting a resource boon instead. In stark contrast, the impact of FDI on Kazakhstan’s economic growth is found to be insignificant, despite the presence of a causal nexus. Furthermore, economic freedom and export diversification have a positive significant impact on economic growth, while inflation exhibits a negative but significant impact. Although governance has a direct impact on GDP per capita, it is deemed insignificant, as the negative average governance index implies poor governance. Expectedly, the result establishes a causal effect between export diversification, economic freedom, governance, oil rents, and economic growth. This underscores the fundamental role played by the interplay of diversification, economic freedom, governance, and oil rents in fostering sustainable economic growth. In addition, economic freedom stimulates gross fixed capital formation, indicating that it enhances domestic investment. Notably, the findings refute the crowding-out effect of FDI on domestic investment in Kazakhstan. Consequently, to escape the resource curse and the Dutch disease syndrome, the study advocates for enhancing good governance capabilities in Kazakhstan. Thus, we recommend that good governance could reconcile the twin goals of economic diversification and deriving benefits from oil resources, ultimately transforming oil wealth into a boon in Kazakhstan.

Problems and challenges of development of Ukraine: investment and personnel aspect

In the conceptual and methodological sense, the article considers war as a force majeure factor, the action of which has multifaceted negative consequences in the form of increasing risks of physical destruction of human and material resources, deterioration of their quality parameters, in particular, the mental and physical state of health of the population. The magnitude and scope of the loss of national wealth as a result of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine deepened the previously formed contradictions and asymmetries of a diverse nature in the economic system of our country. Socio-economic consequences are manifested in large-scale emigration, the appearance of forcibly displaced persons, a shortage of qualified labor, an asymmetry between demand and its supply in the domestic labor market, and a decrease in the number of jobs. Restoration of life-supporting objects of national wealth is considered as an objective prerequisite for the existence and victory of our state in this war. The article substantiates the leading role of state regulation in recovery by using a set of forms and methods of centralized influence on its organization and planning, presents the principles of participation of international partners in it. In the context of the leading role of the regulatory influence of the state on the reconstruction processes of Ukraine, the need for a systematic approach to solving the tactical and strategic tasks of restoring the economic potential of our country is substantiated. When developing and choosing a model for its restoration, priority should be given to the economic interests of domestic investors, employers, and workers. It was determined that its implementation allows to ensure the achievement of multifaceted positive results in the reconstruction of the economy of Ukraine. Objectively necessary prerequisites for the latter are the management of modernization processes by representatives of Ukrainian entrepreneurship, whose activities are based on the principles and principles of corporate social responsibility of business. In the conditions of war, this involves ensuring the functioning and development of enterprises located in the territory controlled by our state, employment of forcibly displaced persons, improvement of their welfare, compliance with laws and payment of all taxes, establishment of public-private partnership between socially responsible business and state institutions. Investing in rebuilding the economic potential of Ukraine is considered an objective phenomenon that is under the influence of state regulatory levers, the use of which is aimed at creating a favorable investment climate in the country. The negative impact on its state due to the lack of effective taxation, imperfection of land legislation, irrationality of the banking system, the absence of a national state credit investment company functionally aimed at identifying investment priorities with their technical and economic justification, control over the provision of benefits, the annexation of Crimea, the occupation of parts of the eastern oblasts and the conduct of military operations there, shelling of populated areas, which increases the likelihood of investment risks.

Digitalization and management of global investment processes

The article substantiates that the appearance of digital technologies has made portfolio investments the main tool for increasing the national wealth of the world’s leading economies. The authors pay special attention to the place and role of Russia in modern global investment processes.

Remembering Droughts and Abundance: Ecological Memory in the Semi-arid Region of Northeast Brazil

In Floresta, a municipality in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, the past is considered a time of greater regularity of the climate, natural wealth of the Caatinga biome, and solidarity among the residents of the city’s rural area. Memories of certain historical events can refer to an ‘ancient time’ in which ‘abundance,’ despite the calamities generated by droughts throughout the occupation of this territory, is considered one of its main socio- ecological attributes. In the context of the violent climatic transformations of contemporaneity, analyzing the actions of the memory of old inhabitants of the Brazilian semi-arid region will be a way of first, ethnographically questioning the history of droughts to which the entire ecology of this region has been reduced by historiography and national literature; second, inquiring the human centrality of modern memory—still today a defining theoretical paradigm of social and cultural studies of memory in anthropology. To this end, memories of droughts and abundance will be articulated with the concept of “duration” (la durée) of French philosopher Henri Bergson to think of memory and the duration of time as a way of ecologically living the past, the present, and the future.

The international empirics of management

A country's national income broadly depends on the quantity and quality of workers and capital. But how well these factors are managed within and between firms may be a key determinant of a country's productivity and its GDP. Although social scientists have long studied the role of management practices in shaping business performance, their primary tool has been individual case studies. While useful for theory-building, such qualitative work is hard to scale and quantify. We present a large, scalable dataset measuring structured management practices at the business level across multiple countries. We measure practices related to performance monitoring, target-setting, and human resources. We document a set of key stylized facts, which we label "the international empirics of management". In all countries, firms with more structured practices tend to also have superior economic performance: they are larger in scale, are more profitable, have higher labor productivity and are more likely to export. This consistency was not obvious ex-ante, and being able to quantify these relationships is valuable. We also document significant variation in practices across and within countries, which is important in explaining differences in the wealth of nations. The positive relationship between firm size and structured management practices is stronger in countries with more open and free markets, suggesting that stronger competition may allow firms with more structured management practices to grow larger, thereby potentially raising aggregate national income.

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Pemilihan Objek Wisata Kabupaten Berau Menggunakan Metode Additive Ration Assessment (ARAS)

Indonesia is a country that is famous for its natural wealth and tourist destinations worldwide, and it is spread out in various regions. One of the regions in East Kalimantan that is popular and often visited by tourists every year because it is famous for its stunning underwater tourist destinations is the Berau Regency. According to the East Kalimantan Tourism Office, this district has the highest number of tourist attractions in East Kalimantan, which is 224. Many tourist attractions trigger confusion among tourists when deciding which alternative option to visit. Therefore, this research aims to build a decision support system to assist tourists in getting alternative tourism recommendations that are appropriate and to their needs. The method used in this research is the Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method. There are 30 alternative attractions and 5 criteria: facilities, safety, cleanliness, cost, and distance. The results show that the ARAS method can recommend the best alternative to tourist attractions. The accuracy testing results using the confusion matrix method get a percentage value of 80%.

The Neotropical Biodiversity Mapping Initiative: Transforming Venezuelan biodiversity monitoring and capacity building

Tropical Latin America is home to an enormous share of the world's biodiversity. Despite its immense natural wealth, the region faces a significant deficit of reliable biodiversity data and lacks the local capacity necessary to collect such data. The Neotropical Biodiversity Mapping Initiative (NeoMaps or NeoMapas) is a long-term biodiversity monitoring program. NeoMaps has not only addressed these gaps in biodiversity data in one of the megadiverse tropical countries, Venezuela, but has also emerged as a model for efficiently surveying biodiversity while strengthening the local capacity needed to conduct these surveys. After three nationwide systematic surveys and international field courses in 2006, 2009, and 2010, NeoMaps assembled an invertebrate collection and biodiversity database with over 170,000 records of occurrence and abundance for birds, dung beetles, and butterflies. NeoMaps activities lead to direct outcomes by reducing biodiversity knowledge gaps for three taxonomic groups and training more than 60 conservationists from Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Spain. NeoMaps had a broader impact on national capacity building programs, and made important contributions for improving, sharing and applying national biodiversity knowledge.

Analysis of Willingness to Pay For Environmental Services in the Management Planning of the Jero Kerti Waterfall Tourism Object with the Ecotourism Concept

Indonesia has significant natural wealth, with abundant natural resources in it. Tourism is one of the strategic sectors in the development of the regional economy, especially in the waterfall tourism area. Jero Kerti Waterfall, located in Dasan Geria Village, Lingsar District, West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, is one of the tourist attractions that is quite popular with the community. Although still in the early stages of ecotourism concept management, Dasan Geria Village has become a Tourism Village area in West Lombok Regency. Suboptimal tourism management can threaten the sustainability of natural resources and the surrounding ecosystem. Therefore, this study aims to calculate the willingness to pay (WTP) value for environmental services to support Jero Kerti Waterfall ecotourism and to determine the factors that influence the WTP value. This study uses a descriptive approach to create systematic, factual, and accurate descriptions and descriptions of the facts, nature, and relationships between the phenomena studied. The sampling technique uses simple random sampling to ensure that every visitor has an equal opportunity to be interviewed. Data were analyzed using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to determine WTP. Analysis of factors affecting WTP values ​​was carried out using a simple regression equation. Data processing used the SPSS application to test validity and classical assumptions, and to determine the effect of independent variables on dependent variables together.

Catalysing Action and Transdisciplinary Pathways towards Sustainable Transitions

Prelude – Special Issue Motivation The year 2023 marked the 300th anniversary of the birth of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist whose work has impacted how we think about economic principles and the dynamics implied in politics, business, and society. Known for his seminal work “The Wealth of Nations” published in 1776, Smith argued for an economic system with little unnecessary government interference. A model built on the division of labor, guided by an ‘invisible hand’, is part of the argument for free markets directed through price mechanisms and the moral conscience of self-interested people to achieve outcomes that benefit society (Stevens, 2023). Smith’s intention to articulate a liberal economic model that prioritized contributing positively to society's welfare1 however, stands in contrast to 20th-century business doctrine, which asserted that ‘their sole social responsibility was to generate as much profit as possible for their stockholders’ (Friedman, 1962, p. 133). (Continues, please read PDF)

THE ‘MATERIAL EXPENSES’ APPROACH TO THE THEORY OF VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE WEALTH OF NATIONS

The paper discusses the influence of physiocratic ideas on Adam Smith’s approach to the theory of value and distribution in The Wealth of Nations (WN). It is shown that Smith attempted to elaborate on the contributions of the Physiocrats by adopting elements of two different approaches to the theory of value and distribution which he found in their writings: A material-based approach and a labor-based one. While tentatively proposing a labor theory of value, Smith also retained elements of the material expenses approach which he had inherited from his precursors. The paper specifically draws attention to some tensions and inconsistencies that arise from the simultaneous presence of the two different approaches to the theory of value and distribution in the WN.

Perlindungan terhadap Masyarakat Hukum Adat di Atas Tanah Ulayat dalam Sistem Hukum Pertanahan

One form of wealth for the Indonesian nation is that the existence of Indigenous Law Communities (MHA) are recognized and respected as The rights of the MHA to natural resources, land, and forests have not been clearly regulated in a single legislation, but the MHA's control over customary forests is evident. Several customary forests in Kerinci Regency have been officially designated as customary forests based on the Decree of the Minister of Environment. The control of customary forests requires the recognition and affirmation of the MHA through Regional Regulations based on Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry. However, the Kerinci MHA, as the rightful owners of customary forests, have not yet received protection and recognition through Regional Regulations, which could threaten their sustainability. The research method used is empirical juridical. The research results show that customary forests in Kerinci Regency have been designated as customary forest areas or rights forests as stated in the Ministerial Decree, which recognizes the existence of the MHA as the rightful owners based on the Decree of the Regent of Kerinci. Although the Regent's Decree does not provide adequate explanations about the status, structure, and customary institutions managing the customary forests, it indirectly acknowledges the existence of the MHA entitled to the customary forests. Meanwhile, regulations on customary forest management should also be adjusted to facilitate protection mechanisms for the MHA. As the region with the most customary forests in Jambi Province, it is hoped that the Kerinci Regency Government can draft Regional Regulations concerning Indigenous Law Communities so that customary forests can be preserved and sustained for future generations.

Development of Indonesian Original Medicines Study of Standardized Herbal Medicine Products "Tolak Angin" as Traditional Medicine

The use of traditional medicine continues to grow rapidly in Indonesia, reflecting the country's abundant natural and cultural wealth. One of the leading herbal medicine products is Tolak Angin, which is produced by PT. Sidomuncul Herbal and Pharmaceutical Industry, Tbk. Tolak Angin is a Standardized Herbal Medicine (OHT) that has been scientifically tested for its safety, quality, and benefits. This article presents an overview of the ingredients, production process, and clinical trials of Tolak Angin, as well as its impact in the context of Indonesian public health. By involving literature studies and secondary data analysis, this article highlights the importance of standardization in the development of effective and safe traditional medicine products. In conclusion, Tolak Angin not only represents local cultural heritage and knowledge, but also plays a vital role in providing affordable and reliable treatment alternatives for the community.

On the creation of state-owned companies in the field of food retail: the experience of Russia and foreign countries

With regard to the discussions circulating among practitioners, retailers and the scientific community on the idea of launching a new state-owned retail chain in Russia, the article analyzes approaches to the legal framework of state-owned retail chains in Brazil, North Korea and China, which adhere to diametrically opposite arguments regarding their activities, which, of course, is useful for the Russian scientific and practical community to know. The author comes to the conclusion that the idea of state-owned retail chains is discredited as having tendencies towards bureaucratization, corruption, the formation of an incorrect distribution of national wealth, poor organization of their activities, rooted not in the phenomenon itself, but in the minds of the people who lead them into life, many of whom are greedy and always look for and often find loopholes in the laws. Thus, further development of existing digital mechanisms in the form of assessment systems based on econometric approaches as Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) will solve this problem.

ADAM SMITH ON THE “WRETCHED SPIRIT OF MONOPOLY” IN THE EAST INDIES TRADE

According to Adam Smith, the “wretched spirit of monopoly” dogged the East Indies trade. The regulations that governed the East Indies trade established legal barriers or restrictions to entry and sustained a mercantile community whose interests were “the opposite to that of the great body of the people” (WN IV, ch. iii, p. 494). The East Indies charter conferred a special privilege that shielded the English East India Company from all domestic competition in Asian trade. The East India Company was the complete incarnation of a mercantile system against which Smith had determined to launch “a very violent attack” in Wealth of Nations (Smith 1987, p. 251). Smith’s mistrust of trading bodies like the East India Company was compounded by its having assumed political powers commensurate with the sovereign while still in possession of its monopolistic franchise. Smith’s proposal was, first, to abolish the monopolistic franchise to rid society of “the unfortunate effects of all the regulations of the mercantile system” (WN IV, ch. vii, p. 606), and, second, to reform the East India Company’s administrative duties and functions in the Indian territories. The contention of this paper is that Smith’s call to abolish the East Indies monopoly was inseparable from his appeal for reform of the English East India Company.

VET, Patience and the Wealth of Nations

VET, Patience and the Wealth of Nations

Wealth Over Woe: Global Biases in Hydro‐Hazard Research

AbstractFloods, droughts, and rainfall‐induced landslides are hydro‐hazards that affect millions of people every year. Anticipation, mitigation, and adaptation to these hazards is increasingly outpaced by their changing magnitude and frequency due to climate change. A key question for society is whether the research we pursue has the potential to address knowledge gaps and to reduce potential future hazard impacts where they will be most severe. We use natural language processing, based on a new climate hazard taxonomy, to review, identify, and geolocate out of 100 million abstracts those that deal with hydro‐hazards. We find that the spatial distribution of study areas is mostly defined by human activity, national wealth, data availability, and population distribution. Hydro‐hazard events that impact large numbers of people lead to increased research activity, but with a strong disparity between low‐ and high‐income countries. We find that 100 times more people need to be affected by hazards before low‐income countries reach comparable research activity to high‐income countries. This “Wealth over Woe” bias needs to be addressed by enabling and targeting research on hydro‐hazards in highly impacted and under‐researched regions, or in those sufficiently socio‐hydrologically similar. We urgently need to reduce knowledge base biases to mitigate and adapt to changing hydro‐hazards if we want to achieve a sustainable and equitable future for all global citizens.

Are innovative firms more circular when women hold upper positions?

The circular economy paradigm demands immediate and significant adjustments and changes in management and production business processes to maintain adequate to good ecosystem conditions for the use and development of human life. In this context, we analysed the impact of female leadership in the business environment and its relationship with the conservation of planetary health. This empowers women in the transition toward circular business model within the planet's capacity.For a panel data sample of the world's largest companies, we find that active female participation in high business positions leads to significant changes toward a model that protects the natural and endemic wealth of different ecosystems around de world. Additionally, we found that the active presence of women in the decision-making process concerning the protection of the environment, human development, and economic prosperity is strongly associated with the prospective knowledge that female independent directors possess, and to a greater extent, with the knowledge spillover that the presence of female executive directors entails.

Creating Positive Customers Evaluation: The Impact of Efficient CRM Processes on Increasing Client Satisfaction

Commodity creation took precedence over endurance as the industrial revolution of the first half of the twentieth century led to the digitization of industrial techniques. Subsequently, the focus shifted to promotional elements that gave priority to consumer satisfaction. The technological advancements of the 20th century and globalization have brought humans to the highest levels of the asset organization, which has had a profound impact on employment. Ancient Hindu texts such as demonstrate the importance of human resources and demonstrate that structured management of human personnel dates back thousands of years. However, the first signs of the evolution of Hrd (human capital administration) approaches date back to the 1780 factory insurrection. During this time, technological breakthroughs necessitated improved work practices, productivity, and quality. The financial advantages of splitting of labor were discussed by Smith (1776) in his work “An Enquiry into the Causes and Nature of Wealth of Nations.” He suggested that specialization could increase the efficiency of labor. He perceived three benefits from a separation of labor: skill growth, time savings, and the ability to use specialized instruments. The creative endeavor of Owen (1825) demonstrates the significance of individuals in the operation of businesses. He maintained that one of the most effective expenditures managements can make is money invested in personnel development. Babbage (1832) investigated and developed the concept of specialization of labor in an even more thorough matching of individual expertise and abilities with particular tasks, based on his work, he came to that conclusion. As the work of Taylor (1911) tried to codify worker situations, procedures, methods, and tacit talents into concrete norms and formulae, a revolutionary shift occurred in the realm of interpersonal management practices. Research on the connection among productivity and the workplace was first undertaken by Mayo and his colleagues in 1927–1932. Barnard (1938) and other researchers followed up on these groundbreaking studies, which completely changed the realm of hiring and firing methods. The controversy about if effective human resources management is just jargon or a real concept is still up for debate, despite the fact that there has been a sizable body of literature on the subject. By analyzing the level of strategic HRM implementation and its effects on organizational performance in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, this report aimed to expand the scope of previous research. The stated goal of the multi-respondent survey, which included 21 manufacturing organizations in the nation of Nigeria, had been to find a fit among corporate success and strategic staffing practices. The data obtained was evaluated using descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and correlational analysis. Results indicate that production enterprises in Nigeria employed moderate amounts of tactical HRM. Findings also show this path The main tactical human resources procedures that affect the effectiveness of organizations in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector are management devolution, creative hiring and hiring methods, ongoing workers education and training, based on shares compensation, performance appraisal, professional development, and active employee involvement in decisions and actions. It follows that businesses involved in production should focus more on these procedures in order to enhance their use throughout the sector.

Институциональный подход к определению структуры национального богатства

In economic theory, there are various approaches to determining the structure of a country’s national wealth, many of which are based solely on quantitative indicators. At the same time, traditional economic models do not take into account new factors in the development of national wealth, such as environmental services and digital assets. It seems that despite methodological limitations, the structure of national wealth should include the value of intangible assets, such as intellectual property, human and social capital. Due to the need to take into account multiple aspects and intangible benefits when forming the structure of a country’s national wealth, the authors proposed an institutional approach to determining the structure of national wealth, which is based on an assessment of the institutions and institutional environment that form the self-sufficiency of the national economy. The article discusses the main problems of modern society, which require investment in their elimination and, as a result of a decrease in the share of the country’s national wealth, the problem of measuring the country’s national wealth, due to the undeveloped methods for measuring modern conditions, which are mostly associated with the digitalization of economic, social and political processes, the structure of the country’s national wealth in the digital economy is proposed, an institutional approach to determining the structure of national wealth, based on the principle of self-sufficiency of the country’s economy, is proposed and justified.

Tourism Education Development on the Coastline: Challenges Empirical Study on Islamic Law Province

Tourism is one of the contributors to the country’s foreign exchange. Aceh has abundant natural resources. However, natural wealth without adequate human resources cannot be processed as natural resources. Apart from that, the issue of sharia tourism or halal tourism is a debate that affects the smooth running of tourism in Aceh. This research aimed to explore the challenges of developing tourism education in the coastal region of Aceh. The method used was a qualitative descriptive approach. Data collection was carried out using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and searching for important documents from both tourism education institutions and agencies related to tourism development in Aceh. The research results found that Aceh has abundant natural resources both in terms of religious tourism, natural tourism, and historical and cultural tourism. However, educational institutions in Aceh to support tourism were still very minimal, especially for universities; Aceh only had one study program at a private university. Meanwhile, the challenge faced in developing tourism education was the lack of professional teaching staff in the tourism sector, apart from educational institutions, which were also still minimal. Likewise, Sharia tourism regulations were not yet legally strong. This research recommends that the government pay more massive attention to Tourism Education Institutions in Aceh.