The Emergence of Circular Economy in Integrated Agriculture-Livestock Livelihoods

Circularization has been viewed as a core strategic instrument for achieving sustainable development. Along the same lines, applying circularization in an integrated rural livestock development project is essential considering the importance of biomass in the circular economy. However, the geoecological variations, community motivations for sustainability, availability of appropriate technology, and dynamics associated with the livestock product markets outline challenges for the circular economy in biomass-rich rural India. An impact assessment survey of an integrated rural livestock development project revealed an early stage emergence of the circular economy. The survey charted the important role of blended traditional and modern practices in livestock keeping along with biomass management through appropriate technologies conjoined with green value chain-based enterprises for monetizable incentivization. The impact assessment highlighted challenges such as affordability of modern technology, improper microenterprise management, and consumer awareness, which implied policy-based interventions for adequate circularization to ensure sustainable biomass, and allied livelihoods.

Modeling Trade–Employment Elasticity Nexus: Evidence from India

The effect of trade on employment growth in India is a less-discussed issue in the international economics literature. Trade has increased the employment growth in India or not is still a debatable issue for many researchers. This study explores the impact of trade on India’s employment elasticity of growth using World development Indicator data of the World Bank and KLEMS database of India from 1982 to 2016. For this purpose, it has used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model of cointegration. The result indicates that although the share of trade in the national gross domestic product (GDP) has grown, it has failed to increase employment elasticity in the country. It may occur primarily because of the high volume of Indian imports. The share of the service sector in GDP, inflation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) are other vital factors influencing the employment intensity. Therefore, based on the empirical findings, it is suggested that policymakers should focus more on export, specifically on labor-intensive export. It will undoubtedly help to improve the employment level in the country.

The Efficacy of Democracy and Freedom in Fostering Economic Growth

The relationship between democracy, freedom, and economic development has a multidisciplinary and diverse literature without a settled or concrete answer. Studies that attempt to validate this relationship have a cacophony of diametrically opposed narratives with a degree of dissonance that does not always articulate a complete understanding of the issue. This study attempts to contribute to the existing complex and ever-changing literature by empirically estimating whether democracy, personal and economic freedom affect economic growth. This paper empirically investigates 115 countries over the period 2006–2018 using panel regressions and found that the quality of democracy was significant in explaining the per capita income growth dynamics of a country. Economic freedom also has a statistically significant and positive relationship with per capita income progression. Personal freedom, on the other hand, is detrimental to growth in countries that have low levels of freedom but acts as a catalyst for growth when a society has reached a mature level of personal freedom. Other factors related to development entrapment such as income inequality, unemployment, and urbanization also have a significant impact on economic progression. In line with historical consensus, countries institutionally insulated from democracy fare worse economically than their democratic counterparts.

Financial Inclusion, Livelihood Activities, and Stock Market Participation

This article examines the livelihood activities of households who are financially included and participate in the stock market. We sample 1,966 households in Ghana and employ two stage least squares and robust probit regression analysis to test the relationship of interest. We find the following results: First, financial inclusion significantly improves sustainable livelihood activities when individuals who own accounts, use their accounts to save, have access to credit, and use their account frequently through making withdrawals. Second, improvement in the livelihood (income) of individuals encourages stock market participation (SMP, using agent visits). Third, financial inclusion, in the form of using account for savings purposes, negatively influences SMP (investment is stocks) as individuals prefer holding liquid funds in savings account than investing in risky assets. Finally, the sensitivity of SMP to financial inclusion and livelihood (employment and income), suggests that as the livelihood of financial included persons improves, they are less inclined to participate in the stock market. We conclude that financial inclusion and livelihood activities are relevant in explaining the participation of Ghanaians on the stock market.

Exploring Disaster Mitigation in India: A Financial Viewpoint

Disaster management is a multidimensional and multistage process. It broadly includes preparedness, rescue, relief rehabilitation and mitigation. Disaster mitigation is an integral part of disaster management. In fact, it is an act of pre disaster stage. It involves the material and social activities to convert disaster-prone areas into disaster resilient one. Disaster mitigation requires proper vulnerability mapping and funds to carry out disaster specific mitigative activities. It is for this reason that Disaster management Act 2005 provides for creation of Disaster Mitigation Funds at national, state and district levels. Irrespective of the consistent demands from states various finance commissions did not recognizing mitigation as an integral part of disaster risk funding as mitigation was left up to the centrally sponsored schemes. However, this task was performed by 15th Finance Commission by creating and allocating the disaster mitigation funds. The FC-XV replaced the earlier expenditure based allocation of funds and devised a new formula based on physical and socio-economic factors like vulnerability of a state to selected disasters like flood and drought and its ratio of poverty. It is under this background that the present research article makes a modest attempt to explore the financial perspective of disaster mitigation in India. Methodologically speaking this paper applies qualitative and qualitative research tools. It is analytical and descriptive in approach and exploratory in its findings. Major part of the present research is based on the primary sources like reports and acts of government of India and texts of international agreements. In addition, it also includes secondary sources like books and journals.

Research and Development Intensity and Effective Tax Rate: Empirical Evidence from India

This article examines the link between research and development (R&D) intensity and effective tax rates (ETRs) in India. We added a new perspective to the current base erosion and profit shifting debate in two ways. First, the study extends the literature on base erosion and profit shifting by providing empirical evidence on the link between R&D intensity and ETR in the context of emerging economy of India. Second, we investigate the R&D intensity and ETR relationship in a dynamic context using Bias Corrected Least Square Dummy Variable Model. We find that R&D intensity has a significant and negative effect on both average and current ETR. The results show that the effect of R&D intensity on current effective tax was more than average ETRs. We also find that larger firms are associated with lower ETR. A significant negative association was also observed between ETR and capital intensity. The dynamic analysis confirms the habit persistence in the ETR that current period ETR is highly dependent on its previous year ETR.

Determinants of Using Social Networking Sites Toward Entrepreneurial Success: Experience from a Developing Nation

The study presents the determinants of the usage of social networking sites (SNSs) to accelerate the business potential of young entrepreneurs in a developing nation. It’s a quantitative study that considers 168 young entrepreneurs of Bangladesh. In analyzing the data, exploratory factor analysis has been used to justify the items associated with each variable while using a structural equation modeling approach to test the driven hypothesis. The study reveals that using social media as a promotional tool helps entrepreneurs to hasten their venture. In addition, changing purchasing behavior in this digital era and convenience and speed of Internet access also influence them to use SNSs intensively for growing their business enterprise. The findings of the study will help the key stakeholders to initiate key steps in order to create a more favorable business environment particularly for young entrepreneurs in this digital age of communication.

Banking Outreach: A Geographic and Demographic Analysis for Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Financial system development and growth share a two-way relationship. A developed financial system enterprises real growth and a growing economy’s demand leads to the development of the financial sector. In order to realize the goals of development, it is important that the financial system should not only be developed but also be inclusive. Banking system/institutions of countries have played a vital role in promoting and establishing financial systems to meet the requirements of the majority of people. Improved access to banks results in financial inclusion and sustainable development. Globally, the country governments have made several policy decisions and adopted regulations to ensure that banks reach to majority of the people. This article aims to analyze the banking outreach for the countries of GCC for a period of seven years from 2010 to 2017. This analysis will be based on geographic and demographic indicators of the outreach of banks’ physical outlets in the form of bank branches and its ATMs. This analysis will help to identify the countries of GCC with easier geographic and demographic access.

Empirical Study of Industrial Classification, Structure, and Factor Intensity: An Enquiry into Dwindling Labor Intensity in a Labor-Surplus Economy

In the process of economic growth, industrial structure exhibits changes in terms of factor intensity, output, and employment. This study presents the dynamics of industrial structure by empirically investigating the factor intensity and employment at distinct derived categories of registered Indian manufacturing industries. To probe the industrial structures, the study proposes empirical approaches for classification of industries based on use-based classification and factor intensity. The results reveal the dwindling trend of labor intensity across categories of industries implying technological progress, on the one hand, and employment concerns, on the other. An investigation of employment scenario reveals a heartening finding for the current industrial structure: both labor-intensive and capital-intensive (CI) industries exhibit increasing employment trends. In contrast with the conventional perception, capital goods industries are found to absorb an increasing amount of labor relative to capital. Accordingly, in the recent years, CI industries drove employment generation while adopting technological progress resulting from capital deepening and thereby maintained a high labor productivity.

A Review of Special Economic Zone Led to Detrimental Implications: An Indian Experience

This article reviews the implications of special economic zones (SEZs) in the Indian context at both conceptual and empirical levels. It tries to draw attention toward detrimental modification in laws and actual implementation in the backdrop of judicial and executive practice. Implications in terms of socio-economic–legal–environmental taken together raise a question on the overall idea of SEZs. As evidences suggest, there are detrimental effects of SEZ operations in various forms.