Development Economics

The conventional cotton sector is one of the priority sectors of Benin's agricultural sector. This activity, although one of the agricultural activities that are pillars of Benin's economic development, is not without negative impacts on the environment. Indeed, the current practices of cotton growers in the Alibori watershed, linked to the poor use of inputs (fertilisers and pesticides) for agricultural purposes, are a source of degradation of water quality and consequently of the state of health of the populations. This research analyses the impacts of conventional cotton production on water quality in the Alibori catchment area. Water samples were taken and analysed during the dry season (December 2016) and the rainy season (August 2017) at sixteen (16) surface water sites and six (6) well water/borehole sites. The impacts were analysed using the matrix of Léopold et al (1971) crossed with the guide, adapted by the Benin Environment Agency (ABE, 1998). These different methods were supported by socio-economic field surveys. The results show the presence of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in all well and surface water during the rainy season. This is due to chemical inputs from surface runoff to groundwater and surface water. For example, cadmium has reached 60 µg/L while the standard is 5 µg/L. According to the results of surveys of cotton growers, these absorbed heavy metals cause illnesses in humans such as stomach aches (16.67 per cent), eye aches (0.34 per cent), diarrhoea (11.90 per cent), breathing problems (5.78 per cent), coughs (3.40 per cent), colds (2.72 per cent), infections (2.72 per cent), malaria (14.29 per cent) and headaches (42.18 per cent).

Abstract
Partant de l’idée que l’Afrique a toujours été une source de matières premières, et qu’aujourd’hui elle est aussi devenue un marché important pour les entreprises étrangères, Monsieur Moundiaye fait le constat que cette situation profite exclusivement à l’élite politique qui s’enrichit.
Afin que cette situation change, il faudrait des dirigeants experts et visionnaires qui permettent au continent de se développer par ses propres moyens, en particulier en encourageant le commerce intra régional, la construction d’infrastructures, l’accès des entreprises à de l’énergie, à des coûts compétitifs et à une monnaie commune.
Il appelle de ses vœux la création de grandes entreprises et à la souveraineté budgétaire.
Le Professeur Sangdel a plaidé pour la mise en place des 5 E, comme proposées par sa théorie. L’éducation et l’énergie, en particulier, devraient permettre le décollage économique de l’Afrique.
Madame Chérel-Robson insiste sur le développement du commerce intra régional et se félicite de la création et du rôle de la Zone de Libre Échange Continental Africain (ZLECAf) qui représente une opportunité unique pour l’Afrique de concrétiser son ambition de faire du commerce international un moteur pour l’industrialisation et la marche vers la prospérité. L’auteur passe en revue les obstacles au commerce intra régional et les coûts très élevés qu’il engendre. Les changements nécessitent, cependant, un fort leadership technique et politique.
Monsieur Van Rompaey insiste sur la nécessité de la phase d’industrialisation comme base indispensable du développement. La quatrième révolution industrielle permet que l’on se pose des questions sur le rôle de l’industrialisation pour le développement sauf introduction de nouvelles technologies, ce qui présente un défi majeur pour les pays en voie de développement.
L’ONUDI a identifié quatre principes importants permettant le développement économique basé sur l’industrialisation dans les pays en développement :
- Le leadership politique
- Une stratégie réaliste
- Une collaboration entre les secteurs publics et privés
- La mesure de l’impact.

Across East Asia there is persistent low-level conflict between nations. This often takes the form of a security vessel of one country harassing a fishing boat of another in waters whose ownership is disputed. Aggressive actions of this sort are taken in the name of national sovereignty and security as countries assert control over regions of the sea or maritime features, such as islands and rocky outcroppings. This paper focuses on the economic costs of these recurrent and seemingly interminable disputes. Low-level conflicts, while falling short of the horrific experiences of full-scale warfare, have consequences for the economies involved and generally in the region. As the disputes are couched in terms of national security and sovereignty, they affect public opinion and occupy public discourse. These disputes can affect the willingness to travel to or do business with disputant partners. This threat to trade, travel, or transit in the region imperils continued economic prosperity. The development model of the countries that border the west Pacific Ocean is one that leverages international trade to provide for employment and growing income. This trade is often organized through complex and multi-country supply chains and interruptions at any part of the international assembly line can be costly.

It gives me a great sense of fulfillment that our collective effort has resulted in this Special Number of Social Change on Women’s World of Work––Paid and Unpaid (March 2020).

Overarching concerns with respect to workforce participation of women in the twenty-first century have been changing labour processes, labour/employment relations, labour standards in different sectors of the economy and the current discourse is on implications of Industry 4.0 on ‘Future of Work’, platform-based employment and feminisation of a care economy. Only a minuscule proportion of women in the world economy is in the organised sector with relatively better standards of social security and social protection. The rest face back-breaking, long hours of dead-end work without any chances of upward social and economic mobility, mostly in a precarious working situation.

There is south in the North and north in the South. Thus, it is not only in Africa, Latin America and Asia, that women workers face inhuman work condition and below subsistence wages, but non-white women in the workforce in the industrialised world also face the same predicament as the footloose precariat in the informal economy. The world capitalism has found coloured women as ‘the last colony’  for capitalist accumulation. In poverty groups, self-employed women end up self-exploiting as the returns for their hard work are deplorably low.

"...
Democracy, it must be remembered, will not ultimately be fostered by force of arms, but by its ability to create a thriving society in daily life. The AANES has taken many promising steps to build this democratic foundation, an accomplishment in a region long viewed in the West with suspicion and cynicism. The interests of world powers have too often obscured the real progress created on the ground by the AANES’s governance. The biggest story may yet be that, out of the tragedy of war, the seeds are planted not only for a pluralistic, feminist, and democratic economy, but also a democratic society. It would be the ultimate tragedy if this vision itself was suffocated by short-sighted policy and a lack of political will."

Financial system which is an interplay of financial institutions, markets,
instruments and services, facilitates transfer of funds and thus plays a significant role in facilitating economic activity and growth of the economy.
Over the years the role of an efficient and robust financial system has been the pillar for sustainable development. The fear of market failure has been the
rationale for intervention by the State in many countries thus forming the basis for institutionalization.
China has a bank dominated financial system. China has moved from a closed, centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economy. Chinese financial system has changed in the last 40 years. Since 1990s banks were driven commercially and diversified their activities. China's "Big Four" banks dominated the top of the world ranking for banks with more than $3 trillion in assets and have a combined asset value of $13.784 trillion in 2019. By the end of 2016, the Chinese
Capital markets ranked the second largest globally by market capitalization.
Trust companies, mutual fund and venture capital are developing. The informal financial sector is a reality. China's banking system plays a predominant role in financial intermediation and the high savings rate. Foreign-owned banks, in aggregate, represent only a small part of the Chinese banking system. Banks dominate the Chinese financial system and the bond market is underdeveloped, unlike the US.
In India, the bank based financial system has been dominant as the Government has had a direct hand in industrial development. Nationalization of banks, administered interest rates led to the predominance of bank based financial system. Post liberalization, the Indian Financial System has evolved with greater access to the markets. Globalization, liberalization has been pivotal in changing
the environment for the banks and financial institutions.
Banking system across different countries of the world is adopting financial standards, though at different speeds. The emerging economies banks are expected to grow faster than the developed economies. However, the performance of banks of emerging economies reflects increase in stressed assets over time. Both China and India adopted the financial sector reforms to improve financial stability and efficiency. The financial systems of the two economies have played a significant role in enhancing the growth of the economy and will
impact the rest of the world as it evolves.
The research undertaken is a descriptive and diagnostic study with an emphasis on understanding the evolution of the Chinese and the Indian Financial System.

This was one of a number of collaborative papers including 'Not Rocket Science' which were written during a period of artistic and cultural renaissance in London, England. It is included here for archival purposes and because of its connection to the other papers

It is a mirror copy of the original on NESTA's site where it is designated ''Provocation 14' and should be cited as such. A link associated with this article leads to that version.

The abstract reads "We propose a fundamental shift in the role of the state with respect to innovation policy. The broadest barrier to effective entrepreneurial action that drives innovation processes, we argue, is good, timely information about relevant opportunities and constraints. Innovation policy would work better, we suggest, if modelled on experimental science and directed to the task of minimising the uncertainty that entrepreneurs face in the discovery of opportunities and constraints. We suggest several models for this application. "

Indian economy can reach to the pinnacle of a $5 trillion GDP with the application of proper models of agriculture and food management, robust industrial production and infrastructure development, promotion of private investment and foreign direct investment (FDI), analysis of demographic trends and generation of employment, minimum wage system, promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), skill development, sustainable energy, basic hygiene and sanitation, sustainable management of natural resources, all in the line of the devised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda.

This paper is constructed to apply the methodology of computing Sub-National Human Development for Burdwan and Hooghly districts based on primary survey data (2018) collected by others & analyzing the importance of measuring the HDI at the Sub-National level and what are the difficulties we may face when constructing a Human Development Index at Sub-National level. The choice of indicators, choice of normalization method and aggregation method, application of indicators in computing indices are the central theme of this study. A relative measurement between rural and urban sector development of the human being is also explored. And through these above analyses and empirical findings, we lead to our conclusion that the indicators used to measure national HDI may praise in too exaggerated look if we use those same indicators in estimating Sub-National HDI. Thus we have to modify these indices according to regional conditions and social circumstances. Our empirical evidence is based on a primary survey of Burdwan and Hooghly districts in 2018 and according to the observed results Rural Hooghly is in a better position than the Rural Burdwan. Most surprising, given the current condition of the government's rural economic development schemes, the rural sector ahead of the urban sector for both the districts.

Keywords: Human Development at Sub-National level, Difficulties in Measurement, An Application of the Methodology, Choice of Indicators, Normalization Process, Choice of Aggregation, Final SHDI score, Rural-Urban Comparative Analysis.

Islamic banking started, in Nigeria, in 2003 with the emergence of Jaiz Bank Plc as full-fledged Islamic Bank. Prior studies on Islamic banking in Nigeria were mainly focusing on the economics and legal aspects, there was, however, so far rare in-depth studies on financial aspects. This study assessed the role of financial statement analysis in asset-based financing decisions through Murabaha, Ijarah and Salam mode of financing in Jaiz Bank Plc. Data for the study was primary data collected through questionnaire administered on respondents that were selected from two branches of Jaiz Bank Plc, in Kano State, Nigeria. The data was analysed using Chi-square via Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17). The findings of the study show that Jaiz Bank Plc use financial statement analysis in taking decisions on whether to finance an asset acquisition to its customers or not. Thus, the paper concludes that financial statement analysis has been a valuable instrument in asset-based financing decisions in Jaiz Bank Plc. The study therefore recommends that Jaiz Bank Plc should continue to use financial statement analysis in asset-based financing decision, as well as its other financing decisions because it can mitigate against risk of default by customers.

ABSTRACT
The Federal Government of Nigeria like every other developing country in the world is to improve welfare of her citizens and develop its infrastructures for the country’s economic growth.  However, lack of infrastructures, and inadequate national savings, occasioned by poor leadership, corruption and policy inconsistency, has greatly affected the ability of the country to achieve an all-inclusive economic growth.

The study examined the impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the economic growth in Nigeria using Gross Domestic Products growth rate (GDPGR), Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as measures of economic growth, while FDI, Inflation, Exchange rate, Interest rate, Financial Deepening and Degree of Openness were used as independent variables. The study used secondary data from 1981-2016 which were extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin (2016), the Annual Abstract of Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), World Bank’s Development Indicator and from Internet sources.  Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using Granger Causality and Ordinary Least Square regression methods were employed.

The result of the findings revealed a negative relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Gross Domestic Product growth rate (GDPGR), (0.1273 > 0.05); even though FDI has a no significant impact on Nigerian’s economic growth at 5% significance level. It was also noted from the study that FDI has significant positive relationship with Gross Fixed Capital Formation Capital (GFCF), (0.0003 < 0.05).  The study further showed that FDI has a significant positive relationship with Index of Industrial Production (IIP), (0.0003 < 0.05). 

The study concluded that FDI has positive impact on the Nigerian economy which is needed for the nation’s economic growth.  The study recommends that Federal Government of Nigeria should put in policies that will liberalize the economy and attracts foreign direct investments.  It is also recommended that government at all levels in Nigeria, should aggressively invest in infrastructural development, which helps to reduce the cost of doing business, while the Central Bank of Nigeria should allow the foreign exchange market to be driven by the forces of demand and supply, as a way of boosting foreign investors’ confidence in the economy.

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment, Gross Domestic Products, Gross Fixed
      Capital Formation, Index of Industrial Production and Economic Growth,
      Investment

Word Count: 368

https://journalistethics.com/
Free book available at this link

This book is about the fake pandemic Coronavirus (also known as Corona Virus) COVID 19. In a similar vein to the ridiculously over hyped Swine Flu and Bird Flu, CoronaVirus is just another fake news media over hyper designed to frighten the masses - colloquially known as fear porn. The sinking Rothschild Banking Crime family are most likely conspirators, alongside the arch beneficiary - Beijing.

Coronavirus, Corona Virus, COVID 19, pandemic, respiratory virus, virus, Wuhan, CDC, Center for Disease Control, America, China, Beijing, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, biowarfare, panic, fear porn, Swine Flu, Bird Flu

The goal of this fake news campaign aims to collapse Wall Street, also known as Financial/Economic warfare.

Islam is a complete system of life which offers its own social, political and economic systems to guide humanity. Maslahah is one of the Shari'ah objectives. It is fascinated to prohibit or allow something on the basis of whether or not it serves the public well-being. One of the socioeconomic reforms made by Islam that lead to a great Maslahah for the Populace is the prohibition of interest. Nigeria has one of the highest interest rates in the emerging world and it is one of the countries in the world using a greater percentage of its revenues to service public debts. It is a serious event that is giving the politicians, decision makers, prominent thinkers and economists sleepless nights. This study assessed the effect of interest on economic growth and development of Nigeria. The data used herein was secondary data extracted from Central Bank of Nigeria's Statistical Bulletin from 1990 to 2015. The data was analysed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The findings of the study show that interest rate has negative effect on economic growth and development of Nigeria. Thus, the paper concludes that interest has translated to distressing effects on the economy through its overcrowding effects on private investments and its constraints on the growth and development of Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that Nigeria government should replace interest-based mode of financing with profit and loss sharing mode of financing, and seek for interest-free fund to finance public project to ensure stability, efficiency and development.

Everybody knows that education is the backbone of a nation. The countries which have realized that motto and invested a lot for a long time for sustainable development of the education sector of the country, they are now forerunner in innovation, world influence, employment, innovative thinking, world-class health care service, technology, ideological influence and even military advancement. They have diversified education investments which have had defused the progress in all sectors. On the contrary, there are many countries which are wealthier than many developed countries, but for creative ideas, educational advancement, climate change and even for major decisions, they rely on some specific advanced countries. These countries cannot ensure sustainable development of their own as they rely on others. Besides, some countries mostly depend on natural resources which are now facing constraint for plummeting of the price of those assets due to worldwide economic depression or the invention of alternative option. The countries which have the best education in the world, they have more researchers and diversified world-class education system and creativities to cope up with the changing world circumstances. Therefore, education financing opens up a variety of employment opportunities which leads to the reduction of the crime rate of a country-consequently, leads to the sustainable economic development of a nation.

Article examines the historical connection between different forms of migration and socioeconomic development and equality/inequality in the Western Hemisphere, and how European immigration during the 19th and early twentieth century turned what had been the most marginal colonies into the richest and least unequal regions or countries,

This article looks anew at questions of social class in China. It does this through the prism of three recent books on China dealing with class. Key problems regarding social class in China treated in the article are those of the constitution of the working class given the fact that China’s workforce is largely composed of a ‘floating population’ of migrants, and of the position of the peasantry which had emerged as the revolutionary agent of the Mao years.