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This thesis proposes a new analytical framework to analyse the relationship between material and energy use with indicators of well-being and economic growth in developing countries, conducted in the context of debates around the resource curse and development theories. By combining the societal metabolism approach with a historic and political context, this methodology explores the social metabolism and resource curse over time, relying on biophysical indicators of resource abundance. The analytical framework developed in this thesis identifies different aspects that have shaped the development trajectories of currently developing countries. It demonstrates that in order to understand present and future development paths of developing countries, a holistic approach that can combine different sets of data is needed, as it can inform about possibilities and tradeoffs of development pathways such as those envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the approach developed in this thesis provides the basis to carry out developmental research utilizing a metabolic approach in developing countries where data issues prevent societal metabolism research. In this thesis two case studies are presented to test the methodology, finding that: (1) socio-political stability plays an important role shaping the metabolism of an economy and avoiding the resource curse; (2) well-being can improve without growth in economic activity or resource consumption; (3) international governance has had major impacts shaping the present economic structure of the selected economies.

The purpose of this study was to: Examine the potential for employment growth and output in the informal sector in the Central Region of Ghana; and to: outline a strategy for the development of the enterprises in the sector in the region; and to discuss the implications of the strategy for the Regional Planning Organization and the implementation of a growth centre strategy in the region. The study was limited to the informal sector industrial or artisanal activities, and the petty trading (and services) enterprises in nine selected centres in the region. The main source of data for the study was a field survey carried out by the author in the central region. A review of the literature of studies of the informal sector and their conclusions and the objectives of this study guided the setting up of research hypotheses for this study. These hypotheses were related to : The capacity of the enterprises in the sector for both short and long term employment generation; The relationship between the size range of centres and employment growth in the informal sector enterprises; linkages between the informal sector enterprises and other sectors of the economy; and Constraints facing the enterprises in the sector. The potential for employment generation in the enterprises was 'measured' in terms of the size of the initial and present employment in each enterprise; their work cycle and turnover. It also included a discussion of the perceptions of the entrepreneurs of the past performances of their enterprises and their likely future growth patterns. Employment and output in the enterprises were found to be influenced by a complex combination of factors some of which cannot be quantified in any form. It appeared that constraints to the activities of the enterprises had a substantial influence on the entrepreneurs' decisions with respect to output and size of labour force in their enterprises at the present time and in the future. Solutions to these problems required proposals for a planning strategy for the informal sector enterprises in the central region. This strategy envisaged a combination of economic policy and physical planning approaches. Proposals were made for implementing these proposals. They have implications for the Central Regional Planning Organization and the growth centre strategy they have adopted as a strategy for regional development.

This thesis is concerned with developing a framework for the sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Ghana, for local industry. The interest here is on manufacturing and production technologies. Drawing on the work of Clemens and Dalrymple (2005), a three step approach emerged as an overarching methodology leading to the construction of the Ghana manufacturing of technology model (GMTM). The work of Sagasti (1992) provided the framework for its construction. The aim here is to investigate to understand what factors account for the state of technology drawback in Ghana, so as to be able to explain them. A multidisciplinary approach was therefore required and employed. Owing to the human and cultural understanding required here, a mixed-research approach involving ethnography, grounded theory and case-study was found to be most suitable. This involved data from two rural communities, expanding to the urban areas where government officials, policy makers and heads of institutions were interviewed. The corpus of data was analysed using grounded theory and a case study of the shea butter industry provided further insights. The findings, among other things, suggest that Ghana has no focused framework for technology manufacturing for local industry. The study noted that the cultural and ethnic division in traditional Ghana, inhibits knowledge and cultural exchange, hence, affecting the deployment and advancement of traditional technologies in the "closed" societies. This division is reflected in the formal Ghanaian sector, which side-lines the traditional sector from development and industrialisation decision making. Government Officials and policy makers were found to be vague on technology development for local industry, but were focused on developing high-techs, like nano-technologies and science parks. The study sees this as misplaced priority. The technology drive will require a business model, which falls outside the scope here, hence left for future work. A new concept of development engineering emerges from the study.