South Africa has been going through a series of political, economic and social changes since 1994. These changes have transformed it into a state that shows increased commitment to sustainable development. Although the country is considered as one of the largest developing country emitters of pollution, the South African government has recognised the need to move towards a low-carbon society. The country’s participation in international climate mitigation bodies has seen its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025. South Africa has committed to achieve these goals provided that it receives the necessary finance, technology and support from the international community. The major objective of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of green taxes in SA and developed countries. Four countries were chosen for the analysis in this study; South Africa, China, the United States and the United Kingdom. The study depends on secondary analysis obtained from published articles, databases and websites providing research on various organisations and government bodies. From my analysis, this study observed that many developed and developing countries have already implemented environmental taxes, and many other countries are considering similar instruments. The findings of this study are that green taxes and environmental taxes in general, are intended to protect the environment. By levying higher taxes on activities and products that harm the environment, businesses are discouraged from developing industries that destroy nature. Based on the findings, this study recommends that South Africa should address the inconsistencies in its policies across various government departments. The study also recommends the need for tax policy reconsideration so as to improve the relevance of environmental and green taxes. However, the study observed that since South Africa is still hampered by the triple constraints of unemployment, poverty and inequality, and in order to address the negative impacts of carbon taxes, it needs to put in place certain mitigation agreements with high pollution emitting companies. / Dissertation LLM--University of Pretoria, 2014 / hb2014 / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Thesis advisor: Hiroshi Nakazato / Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the common desire of states has been for constant economic growth. While this aspiration has promoted the flourishing of some societies it has been a detriment to others. With intensified inequality across the globe, the powerful have both inadvertently and knowingly exploited the vulnerable— including people, animals and the planet. Now, that inequality and environmental degradation persist in the collective crisis of climate change. Moving forward, it is critical for nations to acknowledge both their culpability for destruction and their capacity for action amidst this crisis. With differing historical responsibilities, states may have proportionately accountable solutions. This thesis provides both an ethical and a practical framework for addressing both local and global challenges that come with climate change as well as how to mitigate the injustices that are borne of it in thoughtful, multi-faceted and integrated approaches to sustainable development. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: International Studies.

Although many extraneous variables such as different countries, levels of economic development, technologies, and politics are as important in determining the success of a project as its budgeting and finance, this report is solely from the finance and budgeting perspective. It is shown that projects in the United States have a systemic budgeting process, based on sound concepts of planning and control. In contrast, financial and budgeting planning is underdeveloped in the two projects examined in Nigeria. It is desirable that the least developed countries seek expert advice before embarking on any environmental health services programmes which may lead to the waste of resources if not properly planned and managed.

This dissertation reported an investigation of e-commerce institutionalization process in women-led SMEs in Mozambique. The goal was to understand how e-commerce is conceptualized by these SMEs while exploring the contextual factors that contribute or inhibit the process of institutionalization from the unique perspective of a least developed country (LDC) such as Mozambique. The study combined the perspectives offered by the contextualist theory (Pettigrew, 1985) and the Perceived E-readiness Model (PERM) (Molla & Licker, 2005a) to employ an integrated framework for investigating the process of e-commerce institutionalization. An interpretative and qualitative multiple case study approach was employed as a methodological basis, using six SMEs which have been able to institutionalize e-commerce. The data collection was conducted through multiple data sources including semi-structured interviews, analysis of company website, and social media platforms. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach across the cases. The findings indicate that there are different patterns of e-commerce institutionalization. SMEs do not always follow the traditional steady stages of e-commerce growth described in the literature. Furthermore, the results showed a socially constructed feature of e-commerce characterized by the extensive use of social media networks. A great levels of institutionalization and satisfaction was attained when enabling factors within and outside the organization interacted positively. Within the internal context of the organizations, the SMEs manager’s capability to use social media networks, e-mail and mobile phones to build innovative business models, create direct relationships with customers, and marketing direct to their niche markets. Factors from the external context emerged as the main challengers to the process of institutionalization, specifically the challenges faced by the government, market forces, supporting industries, and those of sociocultural nature. A number of important recommendations were made, for example, the government should not only provide the regulatory framework but also work actively in its promotion and implementation. This should encompass the establishment of networks and training opportunities to improve SMEs knowledge regarding e-commerce, and continuous partnership between the various stakeholders involved in the e-commerce ecosystem in addressing the various environmental challenges. By conducting an investigation on the selected women-led SMEs in Mozambique, this study has extended knowledge of e-commerce research in the country. Additionally, it is an important contribution for the debate about e-commerce in developing countries, specifically a better understanding of SMEs that go beyond the initial adoption phase.

This paper aims to measure, compare and model Sovereign Risk. The risk position of South Africa compared to Emerging Markets as well as in comparison to Developed Markets is considered. Particular interest is taken in how the South African Sovereign Risk environment, and its associated determinants, differs and conforms to that of other Emerging Markets. This effectively highlights how the South African economy is similar to the Emerging Markets and where it behaves differently. Regression, optimisation techniques, dimension reduction techniques as well as Machine Learning techniques, through the use of sentiment analysis, is utilised in this research.

Irrigation is "the artificial application of water to the soil for the purpose of getting large and steady crop yields". It is supplementary to rainfall and the quantity of water applied and the time of application, therefore, must be determined by the character of the rainfall. Irrigation is usually practiced in those regions which have low rainfall as natural precipitation at such places is insufficient to meet the full water requirements of crops.

A three-component laser Doppler anemometer was used to measure the fully developed, turbulent flow in a closed, symmetric, smooth-wall compound channel. Measurements were made across one quadrant of the cross-section since the flow was assumed symmetric. Measurements were made for a single channel Reynolds number. All mean velocity components were calculated and are reported. The mean velocity field results are in good agreement with results reported for similar geometries. The vector plots and the axial vorticity distribution reveal the existence of secondary flow cells in both the main channel and the flood plain. The maximum values of the secondary velocities are at the comer region, on the interface between the main channel and the flood plain. In this region the mean velocity gradients are large, indicating that this might be an area of high turbulence production. The distributions of all Reynolds stresses across the cross-section are reported. The Reynolds stress distributions show peak values near the interface corner region and small values near the center-line and on the axes of symn1etry of the channel. The turbulence kinetic energy distribution verifies the existence of high turbulence energy fluid in the comer region. / Master of Science

Yes / The role of inward FDI on economic growth has attracted the attention of researchers for many years as its beneficial impact has been recognised theoretically by scholars and policymakers; however, the empirical evidence remains ambiguous. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to investigate the causal relationship between FDI inflows/outflows and economic growth in developed OECD countries. Investigation of the causal link between FDI inflows and growth has important implications such that if there is a unidirectional causality it would support the FDI-led growth hypothesis. Alternatively, if the causal link runs in the opposite direction, it would imply that economic growth may be a prerequisite for countries to attract FDI. Finally, if the causal process is bi-directional, FDI inflows and growth would have a reinforcing causal relationship. In particular, this chapter contributes to the existing literature by focusing on developed countries as inward/outward FDI has become an increasingly significant factor in influencing the economic activity. In contrast, most previous time-series causality studies focus on developing countries with only a few covering developed countries. However, almost all of the world’s FDI originates from developed countries and the majority of FDI is also located in developed countries. Another feature is that this chapter also tests the causal link between outward FDI and economic growth. Outward FDI might promote the home country’s economic growth as it might yield higher profits, transfer technology and management skills to the home country, expand production abroad, secure raw materials overseas and avoid trade barriers and so on. Following an Introduction, the chapter then reviews FDI trend across OECD countries. Next it discusses the alternative theories and literature exploring the relationship between FDI and economic growth (i.e. the impact of inward FDI on host country’s economic growth, the impact of outward FDI on home country’s economic growth, together with the impact of economic growth on inward/outward FDI). We then describe empirical causality testing methodology, together discussing the empirical results.

As the proliferation of AI technologies has increased, so has the widespread fear of an obsolete workforce whose jobs have been automated. This paper investigates the impact of AI on the unemployment rate across 55 countries, including an in-depth analysis of the heterogeneous impacts on developed and developing countries. Our study includes 55 countries divided into 28 developed and 27 developing from 2010-2020. We conduct a panel data analysis using two-way fixed effect models to assess the relationship between the two variables and their significance. The main results show that AI has a positive significant relationship with the unemployment rate, which validates the doomsayer's view of negative disruptions to the labour market. Further analysis shows that the countries that will suffer the brunt of AI proliferation are the developed countries whose analysis, unlike the developing countries, showed a positive significant relationship between AI and the unemployment rate. After multiple robustness checks, we find that the results still hold to an extent and that the effects of AI will mainly be felt in the developed world. The paper calls for policymakers to distribute the gains from AI equitably and create a framework for possible digital capital taxation to protect workers from the fallout of the impact of AI.

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">This study examines the legal and policy objectives of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) with specific reference to international standards and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The study sets out the history and development of the TBT Agreement and the relationship between the TBT Agreement and selected WTO Agreements. The study also explores the application and interpretation of the TBT Agreement under the WTO dispute settlement system. More importantly, the study addresses the legal, policy and practical implications of the TBT Agreement for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa. A central argument put forward in this study is that, albeit international standards have been recognised as an important tool for LDCs in Africa to gain access to foreign markets, there is no significant &lsquo / political will&rsquo / and commitment from the key players in standardisation work, that is, the national governments, the private sector and the ISO. At the same time, some developed and developing countries tend to use their influence and involvement in the activities of the ISO as a means of promoting the use and adoption of their homegrown standards. The study proposes, among others, that a more participatory approach which encompasses representatives from consumer groups, the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from these LDCs in Africa, should be adopted.</p> </font></p>