Cameroon's anglophone impasse likely to persist

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Fiscal Consolidation ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Far North ◽  
The Government ◽  
Will Force

Significance His comments come amid a worsening of the anglophone crisis with the recent kidnapping of foreign nationals by militant separatists. Rising instability in the predominantly anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions is hurting the local economy, while the security clampdown on separatists persists. Impacts The crisis will force the government to reallocate some military resources away from the fight against Boko Haram in the Far North region. Further abductions of foreigners could impact negatively on international sympathy for the anglophone cause. Increased government spending on security crises and pre-election patronage could undermine official fiscal consolidation targets. Attacks on construction workers could delay major energy and transport infrastructure projects critical to economic recovery.

Japan GDP growth will rely on exports and wage rises

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Household Consumption ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Will Force

Significance Foreign trade accounted for almost the entire increase, more than making up for declines in household consumption and government spending. Impacts The government will claim credit for growth, but voters will see this as theoretical unless incomes rise faster. Strong GDP growth will make it hard to argue against raising the sales tax as scheduled in 2019. Economic growth and a shrinking labour force will force employers to raise compensation eventually. Japan is vulnerable externally if oil prices rise further or the Fed hikes rates too fast.

Chinese construction worker reluctance toward vocational skill training

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Wang ◽  
Xincheng Wang ◽  
Yu Huang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Skill Training ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Labor Management ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technological Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThough most construction workers in China possess minimal skillset, they are reluctant to attend vocational skill training sponsored by the government or enterprises. This paper aims to examine their willingness to attend the training from workers’ individual perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 492 construction workers on topics concerning their age, education, work tenure, technological level, daily wages, apprenticeship duration, apprentice channels and training experience; this information was then logistically analyzed to reveal if it influences construction workers’ willingness to attend training courses.FindingsThe results show that in a variety of possible influencing factors, technological level, apprenticeship duration and education are the most significant ones that affect construction workers’ willingness to attend vocational training. Technological level makes the greatest contribution to workers’ willingness to attend training, yet the effect of training experience and daily wages is minimal.Practical implicationsTo achieve sustainability in construction labor management, it is important to shed light on what influences worker’s willingness to attend training programs and take some efficient steps to address these issues.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new insight into the workers’ willingness to attend vocational skill training programs in the Chinse construction industry and suggests some practical implications for professionals and policymakers. Furthermore, the findings could prove valuable to other countries or industries, especially those sharing similarities to the Chinese construction industry.

France’s Macron seeks to relaunch economic reforms

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Fiscal Rules ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Mandatory Vaccination

Significance Among those policies are measures targeted at youth unemployment and social care for older people, aimed at attracting left-wing support. Most importantly, Macron has committed to relaunching his controversial pension reforms, which triggered widespread social unrest in late 2019 and early 2020. Impacts Mandatory vaccination could trigger protests and legal action against the government. The centre-right Republicans could take support from Macron if they unite around a strong presidential candidate over the coming months. Macron will likely push for looser EU fiscal rules to facilitate more government spending beyond 2022.

Does transportation infrastructure impact economic growth in India?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sreenu Nenavath
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Government ◽  
Determinants Of Economic Growth

Purpose This paper aims to show a long run and causal association between economic growth and transport infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors use ARDL models through the period 1990 – 2020 to investigate the relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth in India. Findings The infrastructure has a positive impact on economic growth in India for the long run. Moreover, Granger causality test demonstrates a unidirectional relationship between transport infrastructure to economic development. Stimulatingly, the paper highlights the effect of air infrastructure statistically insignificant on economic growth in the long and short-run period. Originality/value The original outcome from the study delivers an inclusive depiction of determinants of economic growth from transport infrastructure in India, and these findings will help the policymakers to frame policies to improve the transport infrastructure. Hence, it is proposed that the government of Indian should focus more to upsurge the transport infrastructure for higher economic development.

Wagner’s law and governments’ functions: granularity matters

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 446-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joao Jalles
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Functional Form ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wagner’S Law ◽  
Potential Gdp ◽  
Wagner's Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the responses of different categories of government spending to changes in economic activity. In other words, the authors empirically revisit the validation of the Wagner’s law in a sample of 61 advanced and emerging market economies between 1995 and 2015. Design/methodology/approach The authors do so via panel data instrumental variables and time-series SUR approaches. Findings Evidence from panel data analyses show that the Wagner’s law seems more prevalent in advanced economies and when countries are growing above potential. However, such result depends on the government spending category under scrutiny and the functional form used. Country-specific analysis revealed relatively more cases satisfying Wagner’s proposition within the emerging markets sample. The authors also found evidence of counter-cyclicality in several spending items. All in all, the Wagner’s regularity seems more the exception than the norm. Originality/value While in the literature on the size of the public sector with respect to a country’s level of economic development has received much attention, the authors make several novel contributions: since some economists criticized Wagner’s law because of ambiguity of the measurement of government expenditure (Musgrave, 1969), instead of looking at aggregate public expenditures, the authors go much more granular into the different functions of government (to this end, the authors use the Classification of Functions of the Government nomenclature). The authors check the validity of the Law via an instrumental variable approach in a panel setting; after that, the authors take into account the phase of the business cycle using a new filtering technique to compute potential GDP (output gap); then, the authors cross-check the baseline results by considering alternative functional form specifications of the Law; and finally, the authors look at individual countries one at the time via SUR analysis.

Government expenditure and economic growth in the European Union countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gitana Dudzevičiūtė ◽  
Agnė Šimelytė ◽  
Aušra Liučvaitienė
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
European Union ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide more reliable estimates of the relationship between government spending and economic growth in the European Union (EU) during the period of 1995-2015. Design/methodology/approach The methodology consisted of several different stages. In the first stage for an assessment of dynamics of government spending and economic growth indicators over two decades, descriptive statistics analysis was employed. Correlation analysis helped to identify the relationships between government expenditures (GEs) and economic growth. In the third stage, for modeling the relationship and the estimation of causality between GE and economic growth, Granger causality testing was applied. Findings The research indicated that eight EU countries have a significant relationship between government spending and economic growth. Research limitations/implications This study has been bounded by general GE and economic growth only. The breakdowns of general GE on the basis of the activities they support have not been considered in this paper, which is the main limitation of the research. Despite the limitation, it might be maintained that the research highlights key relationships in the EU countries. Originality/value These insights might be useful for policy makers. In countries with unidirectional causality running from GE to economic growth, the government can employ expenditure as a factor for growth. The governments should ensure that resources are properly managed and efficiently allocated to accelerate economic growth in the countries with unidirectional causality from GDP to GE.

Economic demise set to continue, but farming is a hope

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
External Demand ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Turmoil

Significance The hryvnia crisis, which has seen the currency's value plummet, has deepened. However, as reported by Reuters, the NBU decision was suddenly reversed following heavy criticism from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who said the move was bad for the economy. Overall, Ukraine's economy continues to be weak and vulnerable to shocks. The local economy had already been struggling for most of 2012-13, owing largely to weak external demand and deteriorating trade relations with Russia. However, the political turmoil that the country found itself in soon after the February 2014 change of power exacerbated these troubles significantly. Impacts Continued economic decline will prompt the government to take new unpopular belt-tightening measures in order to get international aid. Rapid economic reforms increase the risk of mass social discontent with far-reaching political implications. Should key merchandise exports fall further, producers could face an effective loss of their main markets.

New government in Guyana will face challenges

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Business Climate ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Tension ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Government ◽  
Progressive Party

Significance The government has changed hands only once since independence in 1966: in 1992 the People's Progressive Party (PPP), led by Cheddi Jagan, assumed power following 26 years of People's National Congress (PNC) government. Since the last election in 2011 the government has been hamstrung by a parliament in which a coalition of opposition parties, including the PNC, held a one-seat majority. The result has been gridlock, with no new legislation approved, and continuous disputes over the budget, government spending and agreements with foreign investors. Impacts The election could allow a new government to work toward consensus-building. This might facilitate policies to develop Guyana's potential, and narrow the socioeconomic gap with the rest of the region. If the result is close, political tension and deadlock will persist, undermining the business climate, investment and social progress.

Low oil prices will force policy choices on Azerbaijan

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Fiscal Consolidation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fiscal Space ◽  
Will Force ◽  
The Impact

Subject The impact of prolonged low oil prices. Significance Hydrocarbons drove rapid economic expansion in the past. The associated increase in income fuelled the growth of domestically oriented sectors, such as trade and construction. Publicly financed infrastructure spending, using the fiscal space created by oil and gas revenues, also contributed. Impacts Sluggish oil production will compound the impact of persistent low oil prices. Fiscal consolidation will also require a stronger focus on the prioritisation of spending. Devaluation has not fully restored competitiveness but is a source of stress for the banking system.

Recovery will not reverse poverty woes in Argentina

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Will Force ◽  
Structural Poverty

Significance In 2016, the economic downturn boosted unemployment, especially in the manufacturing and construction industries, while inflation undermined real incomes, hitting the poorest households the hardest. The government extended social aid, but this was not enough to prevent a worsening of income distribution and a rise of poverty. Impacts Strike and protest threats are mounting and will force the government to boost social spending to avoid a crisis. Spillover effects from any recovery may improve social indicators but will not overcome high levels of structural poverty. The government is over-optimistic about the extent of recovery in advance of the October elections.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document