The thesis assesses Made in China 2025, China's plan to improve its manufacturing base in high tech industries, and the reactions it has prompted from the international community. The roots of the current China-US trade war can also trace its roots back to MIC 2025 as the US and other Western powers have complained of unfair practices such as forced technology transfers and myriad state-backed acquisitions of foreign technology companies. China justifies its behaviour with its "developing" status, but as it assumes dominant position in multiple high tech industries, that excuse seems to ring hollow. There are signs that China will start to open its markets more and adopt fairer practices.

The Total Sanitation Campaign is an initiative launched by the Government of India in 1999 to accelerate sanitation coverage throughout the country. This thesis measures the impact of the Total Sanitation Campaign on education in Indian government schools. I assess whether access to toilets, access to water or access to both toilets and water impact the following parameters of education: literacy, current enrollment in school or completed years of education. Data is sourced from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005, sorted for the nineteen major states in India and aggregated at a district level for each state. The analysis employs two separate probit regression models to assess sanitation facilities’ impact on literacy and current enrollment in school, and a robust linear model to assess sanitation facilities’ impact on completed years of education. The models control for age, sex, caste, religion, household location, household size and household income. The results indicate that sanitation facilities positively impact education based on the age, sex and caste of the sample population. These findings present implications for future policymaking in order to improve access to and participation in education.

Thesis (M.Dev.)) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / Local Economic Development has been a focal point for the African National Congressled government since the mid-nineties. It has been one of the ways to redress the injustices of the apartheid regime and to make it possible for the historically disadvantaged individuals to be incorporated into the formal economy and to engage in poverty alleviation programmes which focus on them. The government has already spent millions of rands in funding Local Economic Development projects whose primary goal is poverty alleviation. The purpose of this study was to determine the sustainability of Local Economy Development projects in Thulamela Municipality with the main aim being to determine those factors that enhance the sustainability of a project vis-a-vis those factors that hinder the sustainability of a project. The study took place in Thulamela Municipality of Vhembe District in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A qualitative study was conducted with thirteen (14) participants that included 6 LED projects managers (Brick-Laying Project A has 2 Managers), 6 Community Development Practitioners, a local LED Manager and an LED Officer from the Department of Agriculture. Data was collected with the use of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The findings of the study largely confirm what other researchers have already discovered, such as: the role played by the educational level of the beneficiaries of these projects on the success of their projects. The managers of the two best performing projects have post-matric qualifications while the managers of the least performing projects have only grade 12. The two top performing projects also keep proper accounting records and both use the services of an independent auditor to conduct their audits, while the least performing projects (Brick-Laying Project A, Poultry Project C and Poultry Project B) use ad-hoc accounting records and do not carry out financial audits. The majority of the members of these projects, as in most rural areas, are women. However, interestingly, the best performing projects have male managers. One noteworthy finding is that all but one project (Cooperative Project E) had a large number of members leaving the project since their establishment, with Cooperative Project D and Brick-laying Project A being the worst affected. The researcher sees this as an indication that most beneficiaries do not have the patience to persevere. They see LED projects as ‘get-rich quick’ schemes where they expect to earn a lot of money. When they realize that they will not be earning as much as they had hoped for most beneficiaries become de-motivated and leave. The researcher therefore suggests that further in-depth research be conducted on the factors that lead to LED projects losing members as opposed to employing more people. A research study could also be conducted to determine the role of keeping proper accounting records in the sustainability of LED projects. Furthermore, the fact that the least performing projects were those that are headed by women, further research needs to be conducted to determine whether gender plays a role in the success of projects.

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In Tanzania, fiscal adjustment policies emphasized an increase in tax revenue and cuts in public spending to correct the fiscal deficit. However, adjustment policies restricted the impact of fiscal policies in correcting fiscal deficit because they led to a low GDP growth and narrowed the tax base. The government overlooked the need to have an alternative tax base that could compensate for the fall in GDP growth. In that respect, the main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of fiscal adjustment policies in correcting the fiscal deficit in Tanzania in different adjustment periods in the 1973-2000 period. The thesis adopts a country study approach to analyse the effect of changes in the tax structure on the fiscal position using the primary balance as a proxy. The study also uses time series econometric methods to examine the impact of economic policy regime changes on public spending and GDP growth and the implications for fiscal policy in Tanzania. The study finds that changes in macroeconomic conditions either temporarily expanded or narrowed the tax bases and influenced the correction of the fiscal deficit in different years. Fiscal adjustment policies were pro-cyclical, thus leading to low GDP growth. This limited the effect of changes in the tax structure in reducing the fiscal deficit. Lastly, policy regime changes led to public spending instability and a structural break in the GDP data series. This signified that economic policy reforms caused fundamental changes in the economy, with implications for macroeconomic and fiscal policies in Tanzania. In sum, the results suggest that pro-cyclical policies are harmful for countries pursuing fiscal adjustment policies to correct a fiscal deficit.

The relationship between stock market development and economic growth has been an important issue of debate. A well functioning stock market can affect economic growth through the channelling of more saving to investment and the improvement of capital productivity with efficient allocation of resources. This contrasts with the view that stock market development has little relevance, or is even unimportant, to real economic activity. In this respect, the majority of the empirical studies are concerned with advanced markets and developed emerging markets, and none exist for Arab markets. The argument of this study is that economic growth is a function of stock market development and economic reform indicators, with the main determinants of growth as the control variables set. The study considered a comprehensive theoretical framework that linked stock market development to economic growth. It presented a comparative assessment on macroeconomic level and stock market development indicators for the Arab countries with the East Asia-Pacific countries and the G-7 economies. The most important finding indicated that Arab stock markets have no significant effect on economic growth due to the lack of transparency and illiquidity that limit the effectiveness of these markets in the economy. In contrast, the results from the East Asia-Pacific countries and the G-7 economies suggested that stock market development has a significant effect on, and is positively correlated with, economic growth. / Doctor of Philosophy (Economics and Finance) (PhD)

The Ming maritime prohibition policy (1371-1568) reversed the maritime policies of the preceeding Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties. It was maintained for two centuries at considerable costs, but in 1568 was eventually abolished. There has not yet been a satisfactory analysis of this policy, which addresses the issues of why it was introduced, why it was maintained for so long, and why, eventually, it was overturned. This thesis takes a new approach to understanding these issues. Instead of focusing solely on external factors, such as the need for defence against Japanese piracy, it focuses on the internal situation of Ming society, and instead of focusing on the policy as an epiphenomenon it considers the social foundation for Ming foreign trade policy. In this thesis, the maritime policy is treated as a product of the social, economic and political configurations of Ming China. It argues that the establishment of the policy, its maintenance and abolition reflect two different socio-economic structures, hence two different political bases. The suppression of commerce during the early Ming reflected the interests of the political elite that came to power with the establishment of the new dynasty. The abolition of the maritime prohibition reflected the way the commercialisation of the socio-economic landscape brought a new political élite to power, in which many more officials with merchant-family backgrounds participated in the policymaking process. Commercialisation drove the social re-configuration and reshaped the political landscape, and this resulted in the late Ming years in an overturn of many of the policies that had been introduced at the beginning of the dynasty. Such a structural approach allows us to gain a richer understanding of the maritime prohibition policy.