Since 1975, the extent of catching-up has been very different across Southern regions. Starting from the common arguments of growth theory, the paper wishes to show whether differences in regional income and growth can be attributed to different endowment in human capital, differences in private or public investment level, to structural imbalances, and labour force participation. The investigated panel consists of regional time series for the period 1975 to 1994 and includes NUTS II level regions of Greece, Spain, and the Italian South. Estimation of the impact of the variables on regional income is effected in a dynamic panel data model applying a GMM estimation procedure. The results indicate that the income level of Southern EU regions is largely determined by employment/educational levels and past public investment, while the impact of private investment is not significant. One may follow that EU regional policies should predominately focus on the human factor. Assistance to member countries to upgrade public infrastructures may be continued, but private investment incentives should be curbed. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

Since 1975, the extent of catching-up has been very different across Southern regions. Starting from the common arguments of growth theory, the paper wishes to show whether differences in regional income and growth can be attributed to different endowment in human capital, differences in private or public investment level, to structural imbalances, and labour force participation. The investigated panel consists of regional time series for the period 1975 to 1994 and includes NUTS II level regions of Greece, Spain, and the Italian South. Estimation of the impact of the variables on regional income is effected in a dynamic panel data model applying a GMM estimation procedure. The results indicate that the income level of Southern EU regions is largely determined by employment/educational levels and past public investment, while the impact of private investment is not significant. One may follow that EU regional policies should predominately focus on the human factor. Assistance to member countries to upgrade public infra-structures may be continued, but private investment incentives should be curbed. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

Several studies have examined the effect of remittances on economic growth,poverty, education, and governance, among other factors, in developing countrieswith inconclusive results. Using annual panel data of 99 developing countries invarious empirical models, this study aim to answer the question how remittances affect a broader aspect of development using the Human Development Index asdependent variable. The findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between remittances and the level of human development in developing countries.

In this thesis, I first investigate the relation between the aggregate unemployment rate and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and outflows. To study this relationship, I use a panel data set that contains 45 (developed and developing) countries observed from 1987 through 2008, and I employ Arellano and Bonds generalized methods of moments (ABGMM) estimation method for dynamic panel data. My results show that FDI inflows and outflows are not determinants of the aggregate unemployment rate. In addition, in line with macroeconomic theory, the previous level of aggregate unemployment has a positive impact on the current level of aggregate unemployment. Again, as macroeconomic theory suggests, my results show that per capita real gross domestic product (RGDP) has a negative effect on the current level of aggregate unemployment. Second, I study the long-run relationship between exports and per capita gross domestic product (instrumented by total population) using a panel data set of 51 countries from 1970 through 2008. To study this relationship, I employ the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimation method. I find that the percentage of exports in nominal gross domestic products (GDP) is sensitive to changes in the populations of host countries and, hence, to the changes in their GDP. In addition, my results show that the agreement on trade related investment measures increased the percentage of exports in the nominal GDP of developed host countries more than it did in developing host countries.

Yes / This paper uses a new measure of international trade, i.e. the international trade potential index, to measure the welfare gains from trade across countries. The measure is based on the import shares of countries in their gross domestic products. It is observed that gains from international trade are low in prosperous economies, but they are larger in poorer economies. Then, the paper investigates the impact of the index of international trade potential on renewable energy consumption in the unbalanced panel dataset of 36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries from 1966 to 2016. The novel evidence is that international trade potential is positively related to renewable energy consumption. It is also found that per capita income, per capita carbon dioxide emissions, and energy prices increase the demand for renewable energy. / The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Philosophy & Social Science Fund of Tianjin City, China (Award #: TJYJ20-012).

To achieve economic development, regional authorities have to address issues that relate to climate change, efficient information flow in the market place, and health care. This dissertation presents three essays on current issues of concern to economic development in Africa. Climate change is examined in terms of its effects on the Egyptian agricultural sector; transmission of world price to small scale growers is examined in Uganda; and the benefits of insecticide-treated bed nets use is examined in Africa. In essay I, to address the impact of climate change on the Egyptian agricultural sector under alternative population growth rates, water use and crop yield assumption; the Egyptian Agricultural Sector Model (EASM) is updated and expanded to improve hydrological modeling and used to portray agricultural activity and hydrological flow. The results indicate that climate change will cause damages (costs) to the Egyptian agricultural sector and these will increase over time. Egypt may reduce these future damages by controlling its population growth rate and using water conservation strategies. In essay II, I use vector autoregressive analysis to examine the transmissions of price information to Uganda coffee growers; using monthly coffee price data on retail, futures, farmgate and world prices from 1994 to 2010. Improved transmission of world prices to farmers may increase their decision making to obtain a better market price. Directed acyclic graphs reveal that there is a causal flow of information from the indicator price to the London futures price to the Uganda grower?s price in contemporaneous time. Forecast error variance decomposition indicates that at moving ahead 12 months, the uncertainty in Uganda grower price is attributable to the indicator price (world spot price), own price (farmgate), London future and Spain retail price in rank order. In essay III, the cost of malaria in children under five years and the use of insecticide treated bed nets is examined in the context of 18 countries in Africa. I examine the direct and indirect cost of malaria in children under five years and the benefit of investing in insecticide treated mosquito nets as a preventative strategy in 18 African countries. The results indicate that the use of mosquito treated nets reduces the number of malaria cases in children; and this can induce 0.5% reduction in outpatient treatment costs, 11% reduction in inpatient treatment costs, 11% reduction in productivity loss, and 15% reduction in disability adjusted life years (DALY) annually.

This study examines the comparative impact of multilateral trade agreements on intra-regional trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regions in Africa. Annual data was gathered from 2000 to 2018 and dynamic panel data and econometric techniques were used to control for individual country characteristics, endogeneity, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity and interdependencies between the countries in each region. Two estimations were done, one using the tariff measures of multilateral agreements, the second using non-tariff measures of multilateral agreement. The results of the empirical analysis show that the SADC region has a slight edge over ECOWAS in terms of technological progress and investment, especially in trade infrastructure. However, the ECOWAS levels of employment and economic growth are higher than those in the SADC region. These differences further translate into differences that drive intra-African trade in these regions, and how they relate to the role of multilateral agreements in intra-African trade in each of these regions. While technology and investment are key drivers and enhancers of intra-African trade in SADC countries, economic growth and employment stand out as key enhancers of intra-African trade in ECOWAS, especially where multilateral agreement is represented by tariff measures. This study reports that when non-tariff measures are used to represent multilateral agreements, export trade costs, in addition to investment and technology, are the key drivers of intra-African trade in SADC countries. For ECOWAS, under non-tariff measures of multilateral agreements, only economic growth drives intra-African trade. / Business Management / D. Phil. (Business Management)

This study examines the fundamental determinants of bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries. This is done by exploring the magnitude of exports among these countries. The Gravity model approach is used as the preferred theoretical framework in explaining and evaluating successfully the bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries The empirical part of this study uses panel data methodology covering the time period 2000-2012 and incorporates the five BRICS economies in the sample. The results of the regressions are subject to panel diagnostic test procedures. The study reveals that, on the one hand, there are positive and significant relationships between South African export flows with the BRICs and distance, language dummy, the BRICs’ GDP, the BRICs’ openness and population in South Africa. On the other hand, GDP in South Africa, real exchange rate and time dummy are found to be negatively related to export flows. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

觀光產業為現在世界主要產業之一，稱之為「無煙囪產業」，因其汙染少且外部成本相較許多工業產業來的低，許多國家都致力於發展觀光業，投入許多政策吸引觀光客到訪。我國政府近年來也推動許多政策是針對外籍旅客觀光計畫。如民國92年的「觀光客倍增計畫」預期於2008年達成目標，於是在同年於「觀光發展條例」中增訂的「外籍旅客購物退稅」，外籍旅客購物退稅的實施更是發展觀光產業的重要措施之一，觀光產業在觀光較為發達的已開發國家中，都十分重視旅客購物退稅這項措施，臺灣政府於民國92年實施政策至今，經歷了幾次重大改制，本文致力於研究於民國100年7月實施的「現場小額退稅」措施，是否對來臺外籍旅客的消費行為有顯著影響，並對今年實施的新制退稅措施是否再次影響旅客消費意願作出預期。 本研究以外籍旅客國籍及其消費金額之追蹤資料進行迴歸分析，蒐集位於臺北市區的某特定營業人2009年8月至2015年12月的外籍旅客退稅資料，針對來自七個國家及地區的外籍遊客消費行為建立來臺觀光需求模型。以政府實施的「現場小額退稅」措施當作主要的政策變數，並選取幾個影響旅客需求的重要變數為控制變數，建立以旅客總消費量、平均消費量、特定營業人之營業額為因變數的三個模型，觀察政策變數及其他控制變數對於外籍旅客消費行為的影響。 以全體樣本實證結果發現，本政策變動對於旅客總消費量、商店之營業額均有顯著正向影響，對於旅客平均消費量也是正面的影響；本文也將七個國家及地區分別討論，以美國、日本及中國旅客對於政策效果的影響最為顯著且正向，其他國家雖不顯著但多為正向關係。顯見政策的推動確實有助於提升外籍旅客來臺及消費意願，對發展臺灣觀光旅遊產業是一項助益。 / According to UNWTO, tourism industry has experienced continuous growth and become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Many countries have committed themselves to developing tourism industry nowadays due to lower externality. Taiwanese government also has some implemented plans on tourism industry of which foreigners are allowed to apply for “VAT Refund”, hoping that the increase in international tourist may give the economy a boost. Our study has conducted an empirical analysis on the policy of On-Site Small Amount Tax Refund, which is mainly concentrated in panel data estimation. The purpose of this thesis is to find out the effect of this policy. First, we use Dummy variable as a main variable to capture the influence of the policy. Second, we introduce both the demand factors and the supply factors to explain tourism spending in Taiwan. The span of the data is from August 2009 to December 2015, using Tax Refund data of foreigners from 7 countries and districts. Our empirical analysis show that the Tax Refund policy has had significantly positive effect on both dependent variables, including total consumption and store revenue, especially these from U.S.A., Japan and China. These three countries show the strongest response to the dependent variables. It also shows that implementation of this Tax Refund policy really contributes to our tourism industry by increasing international tourism receipts of Taiwan.

Les fluctuations économiques représentent les mouvements de la croissance économique. Celle-ci peut connaître des phases d'accélération (expansion) ou de ralentissement (récession), voire même de dépression si la baisse de production est persistente. Les fluctuations économiques sont liées aux écarts entre croissance effective et croissance potentielle. Elles peuvent s'expliquer par des chocs d'offre et demande, ainsi que par le cycle du crédit. Dans le premier cas, les conditions de la production se trouvent modifiées. C'est le cas lorsque le prix des facteurs de production (salaires, prix des matières premières) ou que des facteurs externes influençant le prix des produits (taux de change) évolue. Ainsi, une hausse du prix des facteurs de production provoque un choc négatif et ralentit la croissance. Ce ralentissement peut être également dû à un choc de demande négatif provoqué par une hausse du prix des produits causée par une appréciation de la devise, engendrant une diminution des exportations. Le deuxième cas concerne les variables financières et les actifs financiers. Ainsi, en période d'expansion, les agents économiques s'endettent et ont des comportements spéculatifs en réaction à des chocs d'offre ou demande anticipés. La valeur des titres et actifs financiers augmente, provoquant une bulle qui finit par éclater et provoquer un effondrement de la valeur des biens. Dès lors, l'activité économique ne peut plus être financée. C'est ce qui génère une récession, parfois profonde, comme lors de la récente crise financière. Cette thèse inclut trois essais sur les fluctuations macroéconomiques et les cycles économiques, plus précisément sur les thèmes décrit ci-dessus. Le premier chapitre s'intéresse aux anticipations sur la politique monétaire et sur la réaction des agents écononomiques face à ces anticipations. Une emphase particulière est mise sur la consommation de biens durables et l'endettement relié à ce type de consommation. Le deuxième chapitre aborde la question de l'influence des variations du taux de change sur la demande de travail dans le secteur manufacturier canadien. Finalement, le troisième chapitre s'intéresse aux retombées économiques, parfois négatives, du marché immobilier sur la consommation des ménages et aux répercussions sur le prix des actifs immobiliers et sur l'endettement des ménages d'anticipations infondées sur la demande dans le marché immobilier. Le premier chapitre, intitulé ``Monetary Policy News Shocks and Durable Consumption'', fournit une étude sur le lien entre les dépenses en biens durables et les chocs monétaires anticipés. Nous proposons et mettons en oeuvre une nouvelle approche pour identifier les chocs anticipés (nouvelles) de politique monétaire, en les identifiant de manière récursive à partir des résidus d’une règle de Taylor estimée à l’aide de données de sondage multi-horizon. Nous utilisons ensuite les chocs anticipés inférer dans un modèle autorégressif vectoriel structurel (ARVS). L’anticipation d’une politique de resserrement monétaire mène à une augmentation de la production, de la consommation de biens non-durables et durables, ainsi qu’à une augmentation du prix réel des biens durables. Bien que les chocs anticipés expliquent une part significative des variations de la production et de la consommation, leur impact est moindre que celui des chocs non-anticipés sur les fluctuations économiques. Finalement, nous menons une analyse théorique avec un modèle d’équilibre général dynamique stochastique (EGDS) avec biens durables et rigidités nominales. Les résultats indiquent que le modèle avec les prix des biens durables rigides peut reproduire la corrélation positive entre les fonctions de réponse de la consommation de biens non-durables et durables à un choc anticipé de politique monétaire trouvées à l’aide du ARVS. Le second chapitre s'intitule ``Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Labour Market Adjustments in Canadian Manufacturing Industries''. Dans ce chapitre, nous évaluons la sensibilité de l'emploi et des heures travaillées dans les industries manufacturières canadiennes aux variations du taux de change. L’analyse est basée sur un modèle dynamique de demande de travail et utilise l’approche en deux étapes pour l'estimation des relations de cointégration en données de panel. Nos données sont prises d’un panel de 20 industries manufacturières, provenant de la base de données KLEMS de Statistique Canada, et couvrent une longue période qui inclut deux cycles complets d’appréciation-dépréciation de la valeur du dollar canadien. Les effets nets de l'appréciation du dollar canadien se sont avérés statistiquement et économiquement significatifs et négatifs pour l'emploi et les heures travaillées, et ses effets sont plus prononcés dans les industries davantage exposées au commerce international. Finalement, le dernier chapitre s'intitule ``Housing Market Dynamics and Macroprudential Policy'', dans lequel nous étudions la relation statistique suggérant un lien collatéral entre le marché immobilier and le reste de l'économique et si ce lien est davantage entraîné par des facteurs de demandes ou d'offres. Nous suivons également la littérature sur les chocs anticipés et examinons un cyle d'expansion-récession peut survenir de façon endogène la suite d'anticipations non-réalisées d'une hausse de la demande de logements. À cette fin, nous construisons un modèle néo-Keynésien au sein duquel le pouvoir d’emprunt du partie des consommateurs est limité par la valeur de leur patrimoine immobilier. Nous estimons le modèle en utilisant une méthode Bayésienne avec des données canadiennes. Nous évaluons la capacité du modèle à capter les caractéristiques principales de la consommation et du prix des maisons. Finalement, nous effectuons une analyse pour déterminer dans quelle mesure l'introduction d'un ratio prêt-à-la-valeur contracyclique peut réduire l'endettement des ménages et les fluctuations du prix des maisons comparativement à une règle de politique monétaire répondant à l'inflation du prix des maisons. Nous trouvons une relation statistique suggérant un important lien collatéral entre le marché immobilier et le reste de l'économie, et ce lien s'explique principalement par des facteurs de demande. Nous constatons également que l'introduction de chocs anticipés peut générer un cycle d'expansion-récession du marché immobilier, la récession faisant suite aux attentes non-réalisées par rapport à la demande de logements. Enfin, notre étude suggère également qu'un ratio contracyclique de prêt-à-la-valeur est une politique utile pour réduire les retombées du marché du logement sur la consommation par l'intermédiaire de la valeur garantie. / Economic fluctuations represent the movements of economic growth. It may experience acceleration phases (expansion) or deceleration (recession), and even depression if the decline in production is persistent. Economic fluctuations are related to differences between actual growth and potential growth. They can be explained by supply and demand shocks, as well as by the credit cycle. In the first case, the conditions of production are modified. This is the case when the price of production factors (wages, raw materials prices) or external factors influencing the price of products (exchange rate) evolve. Thus, an increase in the price of production factors causes a negative shock and slows growth. This slowdown may also be due to a negative demand shock caused by an increase in product prices caused by a currency appreciation, causing a decrease in exports. The second case concerns the financial variables and financial assets. Thus, in a period of expansion, economic agents borrow more and have speculative behaviors in response to anticipated supply and demand shocks. The value of securities and financial assets increases, causing a bubble that eventually burst, causing a collapse in the value of assets. Therefore, economic activity cannot be funded. This is what generates a recession, sometimes profound, as in the recent financial crisis. This thesis includes three essays on macroeconomic fluctuations and economic cycles, specifically on the topics described above. The first chapter deals with expectations about monetary policy and on the reaction of econonomic agents on these expectations. A particular emphasis is placed on the consumption of durable goods and indebtedness related to this type of consumption. The second chapter discusses the influence of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates on labour demand in the Canadian manufacturing sector. Finally, the third chapter focuses on spillover, sometimes negative, of the real estate market on household consumption and the impact on property prices and household debt of demand expectations in the property market. The first chapter, entitled ``Monetary Policy News Shocks and Durable Consumption'', provides insight on the link between durable goods spending and monetary policy news shocks. We propose and implement a new approach to identifying news shocks about future monetary policy. News shocks are identified recursively from the residuals of a monetary policy rule estimated using U.S. multi-horizon survey data. We then use those inferred news shocks in a structural VAR (SVAR). An expected monetary policy tightening leads to an increase in output, non-durable and durable goods consumption, and real price of durable goods. Although news shocks account for a significant fraction of output and consumption fluctuations, they contribute less than surprise shocks to economic fluctuations. We then carry out theoretical analysis using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with durable goods and nominal rigidities. Results indicate that a model with sticky durable goods price can reproduce the positive correlation between the response functions of durable and non-durable goods consumption to policy news shocks that was found from the SVAR. The second chapter is entitled ``Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Labour Market Adjustments in Canadian Manufacturing Industries''. In this chapter, we estimate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on hours worked and jobs in Canadian manufacturing industries. The analysis is based on a dynamic model of labour demand and the econometric strategy employs a panel two-step approach for cointegrating regressions. Our data is drawn from a panel of 20 manufacturing industries, from Statistics Canada's KLEMS database, and covers a long sample period that includes two full exchange rate appreciation and depreciation cycles. We find that exchange rate fluctuations have economically and statistically significant effects on the labour decisions of Canadian manufacturing employers, and that these effects are stronger for trade-oriented industries. Finally, the last chapter, entitled ``Housing Market Dynamics and Macroprudential Policy'', studies the statistical evidence suggesting a collateral link between the housing market and the rest of the economy and if the link is more demand- or supply-driven. We also followed the \textit{news shocks} literature and look if a housing-market boom-bust can arise endogenously following unrealized expectations of a rise in housing demand. To this end, we construct a New Keynesian model in which a fraction of households borrow against the value of their houses. We estimate the model with Canadian data using Bayesian methods. We assessed the model's ability to capture key features of consumption and house price data. Finally, we performed an analysis to determine how well the introduction of a countercyclical loan-to-value (LTV) ratio can reduced household indebtedness and housing price fluctuations compare to a monetary policy rule augmented with house price inflation. We find statistical evidence suggesting an important collateral link between the housing market and the rest of the economy, and this link is mainly driven by demand factors. We also find that the introduction of news shocks can generate a housing market boom-bust cycle, the bust following unrealized expectations on housing demand. Finally, our study also suggests that a countercyclical loan-to-value ratio is a useful policy to reduce the spillover from housing market to consumption via the collateral value.