<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det föreligger ett positivt samband mellan frihandel och ekonomisk tillväxt, dels i afrikanska länder, dels i länder tagna från hela världen. Vad jag genom min uppsats främst vill söka svar på är om en ökad grad av frihandel i Afrika bidrar till en högre ekonomisk tillväxt. Genom att även inkludera andra länder i min undersökning, försöker jag dessutom ta reda på om sambandet mellan frihandel och tillväxt ser annorlunda ut ur ett globalt perspektiv.</p><p>Som metod använder jag mig i uppsatsen av en regressionsanalys. Som mått på frihandel använder jag mig av ett index utvecklat av den amerikanska organisationen Fraser Institute, kallat Freedom to Trade Index.</p><p>Mina regressionsresultat visar på att Freedom to Trade Index ej har något statistiskt signifikant samband med den ekonomiska tillväxttakten i de afrikanska länder jag undersöker. I min ”världsundersökning” visar sig däremot indexet ha ett positivt samband med den ekonomiska tillväxttakten. Ur ett globalt perspektiv verkar således frihandel vara en faktor som påverkar den ekonomiska tillväxten positivt, däremot finns det inga tecken på att frihandel har samma effekt i afrikanska länder. Det verkar således finnas regionala faktorer inom den afrikanska kontinenten som gör att frihandel här inte påverkar den ekonomiska tillväxten.</p>

This thesis is a contribution to the analysis of the relationship between the economic growth and the usage of non-renewable energy resources. More precisely, it is studied the conditions under which energy-saving technologies can sustain long-run growth, even if energy is mainly produced by means of non-renewable energy resources, such as fossil fuels. A general equilibrium framework is considered, giving special attention to the dynamical properties of the economy. In accordance with the well-known debate of complementarity vs. substitutability between physical capital and energy as production inputs, this thesis is divided into two parts. The first part of this thesis assumes complementarity between physical capital and energy as production inputs, which captures the idea of the existence of a minimum energy requirement to use a machine. Even if in contrast with the standard literature on non-renewable energy resources, which assumes substitutability, the assumption of complementarity is indeed supported by various empirical studies. This relationship of complementarity allows one to introduce the assumption of different generations of machines coexisting in each period by adding a new variable to the firm's problem: physical capital replacement. In this first part of the thesis, it is provided a theoretical study of physical capital replacement, i.e., vintage effect, which is an important environmental policy when new machines are assumed to be more energy-saving. Following the standard literature on non-renewable energy resources, this second part of the thesis assumes substitutability between capital and energy. This branch of the literature gives central position to physical capital accumulation to offset the constraint on production possibilities due to use of non-renewable energy resources. This literature assumes the same technology for both physical capital accumulation and consumption, which implies (among other things) that the energy intensity of both sectors is the same. However, data do not support this implication and suggest that physical capital accumulation is relatively more energy-intensive than consumption. Following that, this second part of the thesis studies the implications of this hypothesis.

Flassbeck’s article proposes to use demand management to enhance growth in Germany in order to increase employment. The author considers this kind of policy to release positive, but merely short-term effects. In the long run, he argues, government measures such as the deregulation of the labour market are necessary strategies for long-term growth.

The thesis assesses the contribution of technology option of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) to climate change mitigation. CCS means that CO2 is captured at large industrial facilities and sequestered in goelogical structures. The technology uses the endogenous growth model MIND. Herein the various climate change mitigation options of reducing economic growth, increasing energy efficiency, changing the energy mix and CCS are assessed simultaneously. An important question is whether CCS is a temporary or long-term solution. The results show that in the middle of the 21st century CCS has its peak contribution, which allows prolonged use of relatively cheap fossil energy carriers. However, this leads to delayed introduction of renewable energy carriers. The technology path ways are accombined with different costs of climate change mitigation. The use of CCS delays and reduces the costs of climate change mitigation. However, the delayed introduction of renewable energy carriers leads to reduced technological learning, which induces higher costs in the longer term. All in all the temporary use of CCS reduces the costs of climate change mitigation costs. The result is robust, which is tested with various uncertainty analysis. / Die Arbeit befasst sich mit der Bewertung der technischen Option zum Klimaschutz CO2 an grossen industriellen Anlagen abzufangen und in geologischen Lagerstätten zu speichern. Die Technologiebewertung wird mit Hilfe des endogenen Wachstummodells MIND untersucht. Darin werden die Klimaschutzoptionen geringere wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, Steigerung der Energieeffizienz, Veränderung des Energiemixes und eben CO2 Abscheidung simultan bewertet. Eine wichtige Frage ist ob die Abscheidung von CO2 eine langfristige oder eine Zwischenlösung ist. Es zeigt sich, dass sie um die Mitte des 21ten Jahrhunderts ihren grössten Beitrag zum Klimaschutz leistet und die Nutzung der relativ kostengünstigen fossilen Energieträger verlängert. Das führt zu einer späteren Einführung erneuerbarer Energietechnologieen. Mit diesen unterschiedlichen Technologiepfaden gehen auch verschiedene ökonomische Kostenverläufe des Klimaschutzes einher. Die Verwendung von CO2 Abscheidung verschiebt die Kosten in die Zukunft und drückt ihre Spitze. Da es aber gleichzeitig zu geringerer Technologieentwicklung bei erneuerbaren Energieen führt entstehen wiederum Kosten. Unterm Strich lohnt sich die Einführung der CO2 Abscheidung als temporärer Beitrag zum Klimaschutz. Dieses Ergebnis konnte mit einer Reihe von Unsicherheitsanalysen erhärtet werden.

Africa has during the past decades experienced vast difficulties in inducing greater levels of economic growth, which in turn has stirred intensive debates in an attempt to unveil its causes. A dawning debate to surface during recent years places corruption as a potent obstacle to impede and dent African economic progress. Embracing a theoretical and regression analysis, this thesis sets out to unravel the causes of African corruption, its implications, and its effects upon the economic standards of a number of selected countries. The findings reveal that corruption, amid all time-periods analyzed, discloses a strong deleterious impact upon GNI per capita primarily by damaging and undermining the African insti-tutional framework, which in turn is unable to function optimally. The outcome is that less economic progress [and thus lower levels of income] is being generated as resources are allocated and squandered in a non-optimal way. It is also substantiated that Protestantism and a high degree of homogeneity are factors that exercise a positive influence upon corruption and economic standards. The thesis finally illuminates the intricate and ubiquitous impediments that obscure Africa’s economic progress. It is concluded that inept governments and institutions too often lie at the core of the quandary. The current standard of Africa’s governments and institutions thus often leave much to be desired.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the urban development in Dubai by means of the fourquadrant model, presented by DiPasquale and Wheaton, which represents the market for real estate use and assets. The focus is on factors such as economic growth, access to oil, population growth and the incentive of the government to promote developments in Dubai, to study how they affect the real estate market. It is observed how all these factors contribute to the expansion of the construction sector and thereby the stock of space. However, because Dubai's economy is independent of the oil sector, access to oil is solely assumed to contribute to a higher amount of disposable capital and therefore does not have any upward pressure on the rent and the price level as the remaining factors.

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in China during the period 1994-2003. The theoretical framework shows that FDI has a positive impact on economic growth because it serves as a channel through which new technology is transferred from one country to another and thereby it increases output and GDP in the recipient country. Previous researchers’ work on the subject has also been reviewed to be able to interpret the results. The research is based on secondary data for 30 different regions in China. The empirical results show a positive but insignificant effect of FDI as a fraction of GDP on the level of GDP when the regression model includes all 30 regions. When the four poorest regions that have almost no inflow FDI are excluded, the regression model continues to show a positive effect of FDI on the level of GDP and in addition, the result is statistically signifi-cant at the 6 % level. / Denna uppsats studerar utländska direkt investeringars påverkan på den ekonomiska till-växten i China under perioden 1994-2003. En teoretisk modell har utvecklats, som visar att utländska direktinvesteringar har en positiv inverkan på ekonomisk tillväxt, då de fungerar som en kanal via vilken ny teknologi överförs till från ett land till ett annat och därmed ökar produktion och BNP i det mottagande landet. Tidigare studier kring ämnet presente-ras också. Undersökningen är baserad på sekundär data för 30 olika regioner i Kina. De empiriska re-sultaten tyder på en positiv men icke-signifikant effekt av utländska direktinvesteringar som en del av BNP på BNP-nivån, när regressionsmodellen inkluderar alla 30 regioner. När de fyra fattigaste regionerna med ett näst intill obefintligt tillflöde av utlandsinvesteringar är utelämnade, visar regressionsmodellen ett signifikant resultat på 6 procents signifikantsnivå.

South Korea experienced a financial crisis in 1997 after more than 30 years of fast eco-nomic growth. During the crisis its gross domestic product (GDP) decreased sharply and many enterprises went bankrupt. The stated-owned banks in South Korea suffered huge losses and investors lost confidence in investing in the South Korean financial market. One result of the crisis reveals the weakness of the South Korean economy- government intervention in the banking sector. This paper provides the reason for the financial crisis in 1997 in the introduction sec-tion. The following section is a theoretical framework, in which we have presented two macroeconomic models: the Solow model-growth accounting formula and the Ricardo-Viner model. With empirical findings, we show how the South Korean government re-sponded after the crisis with three approaches to banking reform. We include the two macroeconomic models in the analysis of how the three approaches affected the eco-nomic growth in South Korea during the reform process in the analysis section. Finally, we conclude that the South Korean banking sector reform has provided a success and briefly discuss how China should implement the South Korean useful experiences into its ongoing process of banking sector reform.

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introductory chapter. While independent from each other, these essays share some common properties. They are all empirical and focus on the interaction between inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and host country characteristics. The primary focus of the thesis lies in how inflows of FDI affect developing and transition economies. Macro-level data are used in all essays. The first essay analyses the FDI inflows that the transition economies of Eastern Europe have attracted and tries to find determinants of these inflows. The following two essays compare the effect of FDI between developing and developed economies. The second essay studies the relationship between corruption in the host country and the volume of FDI inflows. The third essay explores the effect of FDI inflows on host country economic growth. The fourth and final essay analyses the relationship between FDI and trade, focusing on the link between FDI flows and host country exports in eight East Asian economies.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det föreligger ett positivt samband mellan frihandel och ekonomisk tillväxt, dels i afrikanska länder, dels i länder tagna från hela världen. Vad jag genom min uppsats främst vill söka svar på är om en ökad grad av frihandel i Afrika bidrar till en högre ekonomisk tillväxt. Genom att även inkludera andra länder i min undersökning, försöker jag dessutom ta reda på om sambandet mellan frihandel och tillväxt ser annorlunda ut ur ett globalt perspektiv. Som metod använder jag mig i uppsatsen av en regressionsanalys. Som mått på frihandel använder jag mig av ett index utvecklat av den amerikanska organisationen Fraser Institute, kallat Freedom to Trade Index. Mina regressionsresultat visar på att Freedom to Trade Index ej har något statistiskt signifikant samband med den ekonomiska tillväxttakten i de afrikanska länder jag undersöker. I min ”världsundersökning” visar sig däremot indexet ha ett positivt samband med den ekonomiska tillväxttakten. Ur ett globalt perspektiv verkar således frihandel vara en faktor som påverkar den ekonomiska tillväxten positivt, däremot finns det inga tecken på att frihandel har samma effekt i afrikanska länder. Det verkar således finnas regionala faktorer inom den afrikanska kontinenten som gör att frihandel här inte påverkar den ekonomiska tillväxten.