This study examines the impact of transport infrastructure on the economic growth of South Africa from the period 1970 to 2015. The researcher adopted a conceptual and theoretical framework related to infrastructure development and economic growth. The Johansen multivariate Co-integration and Granger causality test were adopted, consisting of stationary and directional causality of variables. The findings disclosed a strong unidirectional causality relationship in the long run between economic growth and gross domestic fixed capital formation, which runs from the former to the latter. The results also indicated a causal relationship between economic growth and transport infrastructure in both railway and ports transport. Moreover, there exist links between economic growth and railway transport, which run from the former to the latter. The findings further showed that the correlation between economic growth and ports transport runs from the former to the latter. On the contrary, the findings revealed a non-existence of causal relationship between economic growth and transport infrastructure (roadways and airways), though the theoretical framework demonstrates a link between them. The findings also revealed a non-existence of a causality association between economic growth and transport infrastructure performance. The overall findings demonstrated the existence of a unidirectional causality relationship between economic growth and gross domestic fixed capital formation, and between economic growth and transport infrastructure (both railways and ports transport). Economic growth expands commercial and industrial sectors and as such, there is a need to suggest that transport infrastructure development policies align with it to maintain sustainable economic growth in South Africa.

Financial regulation is a topical; issue particularly its potential negative impact on economic growth. Literature indicates that researchers have divided opinions on the subject. There is a group that believes higher financial regulation will deter economic growth and another group that believes that current financial regulations should be increased. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of financial regulation on economic growth in developing countries.The study was undertaken by formulating one overall research question, which was supported by two hypotheses. The study employed quantitative methodology to analyse the data. Secondary data was collected on a sample of ten developing countries in three regions (Africa, Americas and Asia Pacific). Time series data was obtained on the following variables: gross domestic products, inflation rate, interest rate, unemployment rate and financial freedom index. The data was initially analysed using trend analysis, which was followed by regression analysis. Trend analysis indicates that financial regulation is good for economic growth in developing countries. Financial regulation was measured by the financial freedom index and economic growth was measured by growth in gross domestic products.The results show a negative correlation between the two variables. When strict financial regulations are imposed, growth in gross domestic product increases. This relationship was tested statistically to quantify the percentage of change in gross domestic product attributable to financial regulation as well as its significance. It was discovered that financial regulation on its own can explain up to 17.8% of the change in gross domestic product and is a very significant explanatory variable. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This paper explores the implications of tax policy on the migration habits of the wealthiest of tax paying groups in certain U.S. states, and quantifies those implications for readers so they have a better understanding of how human behavior and tax systems interact. This is done so by examining the general phenomena of tax related migration as it manifests itself in specific real- world examples. As such, this paper projects the number of high-income taxpayers lost based on increases to the rates of personal income tax, and the associated tax dollar gains/losses (i.e. to what extent are top-tax bracket filers "voting with their feet"?). The paper provides calculations for three different rates of population sensitivity, and the corresponding numbers of lost tax payers in relation to a tax increase. The paper then goes on to show the diminishing returns of tax rate increases on top-tax bracket payers by calculating the amount of time needed for migration to completely offset the original gains from the high rate of taxation. The findings of this paper, which examine the states of New York, California, and Connecticut, conclude that these states will exhaust tax gains from a 5% income tax increases on top-tax bracket payers in the long term (46 - 142 years), and further concentrate their top-tax...

International migration is a highly discussed topic, with its repercussions on economic growth, labour force, population’s age-distribution, and many others. While most of the literature focuses on how immigration affects economic growth, this paper aims to shed a light on emigration and its effects on the source countries. Using a two sets of panel data for Baltic and Nordic countries for the time frame between 1990 and 2017, the authors aim to find the relationship between immigration and economic growth, and emigration and economic growth. Regression outputs conclude a positive relationship between emigration and economic growth in the Nordics and a negative one with the Baltics. However, no significant relationship is found between immigration and real GDP. Based on the regression results, discussion on possible policies targeted to increase the positive externalities of migration is presented.

Abstract: The South African government has boldly set a target for economic growth at 6 percent annually in an effort to reduce unemployment, create wealth and prosperity – effectively working towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015. While there are several other measures already put in place to achieve these goals, another aspect that could help the country reach its target for economic growth and development could be the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The aim of this research is to interrogate ways in which the preparation and the subsequent hosting of the event could be managed in a manner that would enable the country to achieve its growth targets through infrastructure development and effective allocation of resources

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第22958号 / 経博第633号 / 新制||経||296(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)准教授 遊喜 一洋, 教授 柴田 章久, 准教授 安井 大真 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DFAM

Mobile telecommunications networks provide the ability to access the internet and use telephony services, where the infrastructure exists. Because of its mobile nature a customer can always connect to the internet, even when not in the comfort of their home, unlike the case with fixed-line services. This paper studies the impact of mobile telecommunications investment on economic growth in South Africa. To test the impact of mobile telecommunications investment on economic growth, the dissertation examines the development of mobile telecommunications infrastructure in South Africa and the relationship between mobile communications infrastructure investment (MCII) on economic growth. It is hypothesised that MCII has a relationship with economic growth. The methodology employed by this study is the autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach with secondary data sourced from the World Bank Group and Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) databases over the period 1994 to 2016. To model the relationship, the study used a neoclassical growth model with proxies for economic growth as gross domestic product (GDP); capital as mobile operator capital expenditure and gross capital formation; and labour as the labour force and the unemployment rate. Results of the study showed that there was a unidirectional Granger causality between GDP and MCII and therefore no bidirectional causal relationship between MCII and GDP. Furthermore, using the ARDL approach found no cointegration between the variables and consequently no long run relationship. Producing the short run model as a VAR (2) model using the Akaike information criteria (AIC) lag selection also resulted in no significant relationship between MCII and GDP. This result has very important implications for policy recommendations to government and for development. Firstly, government should investigate why there is no significant impact of MCII on GDP because this relationship does exist in other markets. From these findings, government can develop and adopt policies which could produce a positive effect of MCII on GDP.

Nigeria, in 2007 unveiled a seven point agenda with the purpose of promoting economic growth and reducing the level of poverty by 2020. This action propelled Nigeria to intensify partnerships with some countries, notably China. This research focused on Nigerian-Chinese relationship as it relates to three key areas such as Energy, Education and Infrastructure. This research found that Nigeria’s relationship with China is a continuation of past relations and concludes with some recommendations that will help Nigeria maximize the benefits of its relationship with China. The recommendations made include the elimination of corruption; requirement that foreign investors must provide suitable working conditions for Nigerian workers, with penalties for violators; projects within Nigeria undertaken by Chinese corporations must require at least 60% of the labor force to be Nigerian nationals and finally, that a regulatory body composed of professionals should be formed to oversee infrastructural development promised by the Chinese government.

Financial inclusion remains a critical issue for developing economies such as Nigeria, where the focus of the government is to bring all economic units into the pool of the country's financial system. The rate of financial inclusion is an economic yardstick that cannot be discounted and one which remains a clear focal point of different inter-governmental efforts and policy. On one hand, there is the realisation that a low rate of financial inclusion means that a huge percentage of the population rarely has access to the kind of financial services that can take them out of poverty. As a contemporary discourse, this research seeks to assess the impact of financial inclusion on the development of the economy; arguing on the premise that proxy indicators in existing research have failed to provide a clear picture on the impact of financial inclusion on the economy, thereby failing to provide stakeholders with a strong motivation to pursue financial inclusiveness in the country. The focus of the study is to assess the effect of financial inclusion on income inequality and economic growth. To achieve this objective the study leverages on data spanning a period of 34 years (1981 to 2016), based on data generated from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and the World Bank Development Indicators. Using the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM),Unit Root Analysis and the Co-Integration analytical framework, the findings indicated that the short and longrun relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth in Nigeria show that the current values of the variables were not significant. Regarding the relationship between financial inclusion and income inequality in Nigeria, the short-run result revealed that only the past values of loans to rural areas and number of commercial bank branches appears to be significant, while at the long-run, the lagged value of gross domestic product per capital, commercial bank deposits and loans to rural areas were found to be statistically significant. The study further notes that financial inclusiveness was a precursor for economic growth in Nigeria. It is on this basis that the study recommends among others that; there is the need to increase loans to the rural areas by at least 50% this can be done through moral suasion to boost the economic activities in the rural areas, improve their aggregate demand, and ultimately their standard of living. There is also the need to engage more workforce in the rural areas to close the inequality gap prevalent in the country.

This study examines the effect of financial development on economic growth in South Africa. South Africa is an interesting case study, as it provides a relatively rich environment in terms of data. While the finance and business sector has grown significantly in the last ten years becoming a major contributor to gross domestic product, the South African economy has been struggling to register positive output in the preceding years. The study utilizes an Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration and a Solow model to consider the role of banks, financial institutions, and financial markets independently. The results reveal that financial institutions have a considerable role in fostering economic development in the long run in South Africa. Conversely, financial market indicators do not have long run effects on growth in South Africa and in the short run, financial markets negatively influence growth. High foreign participation in the financial markets including ease of capital flows and currency volatility could be reasons for this result.