Options for reforming agricultural subsidies from health, climate, and economic perspectives

Agricultural subsidies are an important factor for influencing food production and therefore part of a food system that is seen as neither healthy nor sustainable. Here we analyse options for reforming agricultural subsidies in line with health and climate-change objectives on one side, and economic objectives on the other. Using an integrated modelling framework including economic, environmental, and health assessments, we find that on a global scale several reform options could lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in population health without reductions in economic welfare. Those include a repurposing of up to half of agricultural subsidies to support the production of foods with beneficial health and environmental characteristics, including fruits, vegetables, and other horticultural products, and combining such repurposing with a more equal distribution of subsidy payments globally. The findings suggest that reforming agricultural subsidy schemes based on health and climate-change objectives can be economically feasible and contribute to transitions towards healthy and sustainable food systems.

Inflation Effect on Unemployment in Indonesia: A Comparative Studies Between Sharia and Conventional Economic Perspectives

This study discusses the effect of inflation on unemployment by comparing the perspective of Islam with capitalism. The purpose of this study is to identify the driving factors that cause inflation and unemployment. This research is conducted using descriptive analysis through linear regression analysis on Indonesia’s unemployment and inflation data from 2001 to 2019. This study found that inflation was not the main contributor to unemployment and only accounted for 18.6% of unemployment, whereas the remaining 80.4% was caused by other factors. This occurs because the increase in prices are not due to aggregate demand, but due to natural and man-made factors. To overcome inflation, the government should create policies to promoting a culture of saving, investing and discouraging wasteful and excessive spending from early age and improve the morale of officials and entrepreneurs. In addition to that, the government can also implement the law firmly and consistently to all parties who commit unethical behaviour; second, increasing the role of the community to observe and report corruption. To reduce the rate of unemployment, the government can implement several policies. Those are implementing policies that make it easier for startups to obtain capital, create investment security and facilitate licensing bureaucracy; second, providing more free and accessible work training courses, especially in urban areas; third, implement 12-year compulsory education consistently.

PERCEPTIONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MALAWI: A COUNTRY CONTEXT UNDERSTANDING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship is considered a strategy for economic development, but other scholars found that it does not bring economic growth in developing countries. Although entrepreneurship has multiple perspectives, there is a lack of knowledge about prevailing perceptions and activities undertaken in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions of entrepreneurship in Malawi to have country context knowledge of the concept that guides what is undertaken as entrepreneurship. A cross-sectional survey of 337 enterprise owners and managers was undertaken using a questionnaire. Participants were requested to provide their top-of-the-mind definitions of entrepreneurship and activities their enterprises had undertaken which were considered entrepreneurial. Analyses of definitions and activities undertaken were used to draw out perceptions of entrepreneurship. The study found that starting and managing one's own business for profit, creating jobs, and being self-employed is the prevailing understanding of entrepreneurship in Malawi. The study further found low innovation among enterprises. Although the perceptions found reflect classical economic perspectives, they are inadequate to ignite economic development because of a lack of focus on innovation. The findings imply that understanding a concept is important in practice. Therefore, stakeholders are encouraged to appraise their knowledge about entrepreneurship to align with theories where entrepreneurship is the driver of business growth and economic development. Further studies are required on the relationships between perceptions of entrepreneurship, activities undertaken, and economic development to advance entrepreneurial knowledge in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Elitegyetemek, elitegyetemek mindenhol!avagy mi az Egyesült Államok felsőoktatásának titka? : W. Bentley MacLeod -Miguel Urquiola: Why Does the United States Have the Beast Research Universities? Incentives, Resources, and Virtuous Circles (Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 35, No. 1. 185-206, 2021)

A következőkben a Journal of Economic Perspectives hasábjain 2021-ben publikált tanulmány leglényegesebb megállapításait igyekszem kiemelni és ismertetni. A szerzőpáros kutatásának kérdése az volt, hogy feltárják, vajon mi vezetett ahhoz, hogy míg az Amerika Egyesült Államokban a XIX. század végén még egyetlen egyetem sem tartozott a világ legjobbjai közé, addig ma a 100 legjobb egyetem közel fele ebben az országban található.

Greater Eurasian partnership: economic perspectives of integration with the EAEU

This article analyzes the current state and future prospects of integra- tion associations and formats of multilateral economic cooperation from the point of view of the implementation of the Comprehensive Eurasian Partnership initiative. The author analyzes the role of this initiative as an instrument of Russian politics and assesses its potential for strengthening international cooperation in Eurasia. In partic- ular, it analyzes the possibilities of harmonizing key projects and initiatives within the EAEU. The work examines the potential of the largest multilateral formats in Eurasia as in the economic sphere – the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partner- ship, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Eurasian Economic Union, etc. to multilateral economic projects in Eurasia as a locomotive for promoting strategic interests, as well as realizing the potential of the EAEU. It is concluded that institutional overload is observed in the economic sphere of Greater Eurasia, caused by the existence of a number of parallel developments of in- tegration initiatives and mechanisms of economic cooperation. Based on the forego- ing, the strengthening of the EAEU as the institutional core of Greater Eurasia can become the basis for the formation of a regulatory mega-space. However, the aggre- gate economic potential of the EAEU member states does not allow the Union to be the largest economic pole and a leading center for the development of multilateral in- stitutions in Greater Eurasia. It is assumed that the solution to this problem could be the development of the Comprehensive Eurasian Partnership towards the conjugation of the EAEU and RCEP – the largest format for developing rules for international economic interaction in Asia and formulating specific proposals for building a system of mutually beneficial relations between the largest players of Eurasia, in which all interested states will be involved on mutually beneficial terms to strengthen interna- tional cooperation.