This research study focuses on providing evidence that indicates that, making use of contemporary green building practices within a low cost subsidised housing project have more social, economical as well as environmental benefits than that of a conventional, non-green approach. Low cost subsidised housing units have become an everyday sight in the light of the global as well as the local economy. The increasing levels of unemployment and subsequent social problems lead to growing needs for this form of housing. As these projects consume a number of resources, steps need be taken to lighten the load – such as the carbon emissions - that is put on the environment. According to the United Nations, the key areas that are influenced by sustainability are environmental, economical as well as social. In South Africa, a number of government as well as local policies exist that regulates the planning and building practices of the low cost subsidised housing projects. These policies have been used as a foundation for this study. This study focuses on the Lufhereng project as a case study, and technology used in the Kuyasa as well as Cosmo City developments furthermore assisted in the groundwork for the comparison between the different construction approaches. The challenges facing the utilisation of a contemporary green building approach were researched, identified, discussed and recommendations were made. SAM (social accounting matrix) multiplier analysis on the Gauteng SAM obtained from the DBSA (Development Bank of South Africa), analysis and comparison of existing data as well as a qualitative questionnaire that was sent to industry stakeholders were utilised to obtain relevant information. The quantitative as well as qualitative data obtained from the primary as well as secondary research indicated that there are a number of aspects which has an influence on method of construction used in subsidised low cost housing units. The findings from literature as well as empirical research were analysed and discussed accordingly. Recommendations and suggestions regarding strategies that may be followed to increase the use of contemporary green approaches in these projects were made. These recommendations were based on the findings from literature as well as the research conducted for this study. The use of contemporary green approaches are vital for the social, economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country, and thus, ultimately of the world as a whole. It is, in this light, imperative that everything in our power should be done to preserve our resources by any means possible. / PhD (Urban and Regional Planning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Este trabalho analisa a estrutura socioeconômica da produção de etanol no Brasil tendo como enfoque o uso de fatores primários de produção terra, capital e trabalho e as relações entre este setor e as demais atividades da economia. Para tanto, utilizou informações do Sistema de Contas Nacionais SCN, publicado pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística IBGE, para estimar uma matriz insumoproduto para o ano 2004. Esta matriz foi desagregada em 142 contas com destaque para a desagregação do setor sucroalcooleiro em quatro atividades: dois tipos de canade- açúcar (de alta e baixa produtividade relativa), etanol e açúcar. Além disso, desagregou-se o fator primário de produção trabalho em dez categorias salariais e o consumo das famílias em 10 categorias de renda. Tal desagregação utilizou os microdados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios PNAD e da Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares - POF, ambas também publicadas pelo IBGE. Posteriormente, foi estimada uma matriz de contabilidade social e calculado seus multiplicadores contábeis em sua forma decomposta em efeitos transferência (transfer), intergrupos (open-loop) e extragrupo (closed-loop). A análise desses multiplicadores mostrou que choques exógenos de demanda no setor sucroalcooleiro provoca impactos relevantes sobre o próprio setor e sobre a indústria química, farmacêutica, de cosméticos, de alimentos e dos refinados de petróleo, mostrando que este setor tem uma cadeia produtiva relativamente pouco extensa. Porém, este setor tem importância estratégica no que tange a política de empregos uma vez que utiliza grande número de trabalhadores de baixa qualificação e de pequenos produtores rurais. Este trabalho constata, ainda, que a incorporação de tecnologia à cultura da cana-de-açúcar, além de torná-la mais produtiva, a torna mais rentável; que a intensidade de criação de emprego é maior na produção de cana-de-açúcar de menor produtividade; e, que a produção de etanol tem efeito multiplicativo relativamente intenso para capital, de forma que pode trazer boas remunerações aos investidores neste setor. Uma simulação foi realizada considerando dois cenários: aumento de produção de etanol em 204,55% e aumento de consumo das famílias e exportações em 166,15% e 412,5%, respectivamente, respeitando as projeções de agentes do setor. Estas simulações confirmaram a análise obtida por meio dos multiplicadores da matriz de contabilidade social e mostraram, finalmente, a importância dos efeitos intergrupo e extragrupo na economia, dado que o resultado obtido pela exogeinização da consumo das famílias foi menor que o esperado. / This work analyses the social and economical structure of ethanol production in Brazil focusing the primary production factors use land, capital and labor and the relationship among this sector and other economic activities. It is used national accounting system information, published by Brazilian Geography and Statistic Institute (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística IBGE), to estimate an input-output matrix to year of 2004. This matrix has been disaggregated in 142 accounts with highlight for sugarcane industry disaggregation in four economic activities: two kind of sugarcane (one with high productivity and another with low productivity), ethanol and sugar. Besides that, the primary production factor Labor has been disaggregated in ten wage categories and the household consumption, also, in ten outcome categories. Such disaggregation has used the micro-data of National Household Sample Research (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios PNAD) and Household Budget Research (Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares POF), both also published by IBGE. After that, a Social Accounting Matrix and its decompounded accounting multipliers have been estimated. The multipliers analysis shows exogenous shocks in sugarcane industry demand cause relevant impacts on own sector and on chemical, medicines, cosmetics, food and oil by products industries, showing that such industry has a production chain relatively small. But, this sector has strategic importance on employment policy because use a high number of employees with low qualification level and small farmers. This work checked that an increasing in technology use in sugarcane growing, besides that became them more productive, become them more profitable. However, the intensity of job creation is higher in low productivity sugarcane production. The ethanol production has multiplicative effect relatively intensive to capital and, hence, it can bring good remunerations for investors. A simulation has been realized considering two scenarios: increasing in ethanol production in 204,55% and an increasing of household consumptions and exports in 166,15% and 412,5%, respectively, considering some sector agents expectations. Such simulation confirmed the analyses obtained through social accounting matrix multipliers and shows, finally, the open-loop and closed-loop effects importance in accordance with the household consumptions exogenation results lower than expected.

This study developed a general framework that can be applied to integrating environmental sustainability aspects into economic development planning in the case of exploiting water resources through inter-basin water transfers (IBWT). Using the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) between Lesotho and South Africa (SA), the study used the multi-country ecological social accounting matrix (MC-ESAM) for Lesotho and SA to integrate ecological implications of the LHWP with the economic benefits of the project. The study further used the developed MC-ESAM multipliers to analyse the impact of lost ecological services downstream the LHWP dams in Lesotho on the wellbeing of households directly affected by the project in Lesotho and the general economies of Lesotho and SA. The MC-ESAM multipliers were also used to analyse different policy scenarios aimed at compensating affected households in Lesotho for ecological losses. The results revealed that while the LHWP has significant direct and indirect benefits in terms of social and economic development in Lesotho and SA, the project has serious unitended impacts on ecological resources and services, with resultant deleterious wellbeing implications for populations residing within the reaches of the LHWP rivers and downstream the LHWP dams in Lesotho. The results from the MC-ESAM multiplier analysis indicated that not only the income of populations directly affected by the project in Lesotho is likely to fall, but also that of other households and social groups, as well as the general economies of Lesotho. Also, because of economic dependence of Lesotho on SA in terms of imports, SA will also loose. The policy simulation results showed that compensating the ecological losses would greatly improve the welfare of directly affected populations and the rest of Lesotho economy. The empirical analysis and policy simulations results showed relatively small impacts in general, but were significant for groups of people directly affected by the project in Lesotho. The study demonstrated the importance of integrating ecological consequences into impact assessment of IBWT before such transfers can be implemented to ensure Pareto optimality and of considering economy-wide impacts and multi-sector, multi-country linkages associated with IBWT for a holistic impact assessment of IBWT. / Thesis (PhD (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Lo scopo della tesi di dottorato è quello di indagare, analizzare e costruire evidenza empirica sulla rilevanza degli approcci territoriali per affrontare il problema dell'insicurezza alimentare, sulla base del presupposto che l'inefficacia degli approcci tradizionali alla sicurezza alimentare e nutrizionale (FNS) sottolinea la necessità di passare da approcci “one-size-fits-all”, interamente top-down e settoriali ad approcci integrati, contesto-specifici e territoriali. La prima parte definisce un quadro concettuale e di policy per l'approccio territoriale alle politiche di FNS, intervistando anche i principali esperti sui temi della FNS e dello sviluppo regionale. La seconda parte si propone colmare il gap in termini di informazione e di metodi di analisi per la FNS tramite lo sviluppo di strumenti e approcci per misurare e valutare le determinanti strutturali territoriali della FNS. In particolare, nel lavoro si propongono due diversi strumenti: il Territorial Capital Index (TCI) e la matrice di contabilità sociale (SAM). Il lavoro di ricerca conclude che la FNS è un problema complesso e multisettoriale di sviluppo socio-economico caratterizzata da una forte dimensione territoriale che va ben oltre la produzione alimentare ed è il risultato di interazioni dinamiche e complesse tra politiche sociali, economiche, istituzionali e ambientali. L'approccio TCI-SAM proposto fornisce ai decisori politici un sistema di informazioni e di analisi territoriali esaustivo per indirizzare le strategie e le politiche di FNS e per una più efficiente allocazione delle risorse. / The aim of the PhD thesis is to investigate, analyze and build empirical evidence on the relevance of territorial approaches for addressing the issue of food insecurity, based on the assumption that the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to food and nutrition security (FNS) stresses the need to shift from one-size-fits-all, entirely top-down and sectoral-based approaches to integrated, context-specific and place-based approaches. The first part defines a conceptual and policy framework for the territorial approach to FNS policies also by interviewing the main experts on the issues of FNS and regional development. The second part aims at filling the FNS gap in terms of information and analytical methods by developing tools and approaches to measure and assess the territorial structural determinants of FNS. In particular, it proposes two different tools: the Territorial Capital Index (TCI) and the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). The research concluded that FNS is a multi-sectoral and complex socio-economic development issue characterized by a strong territorial dimension which goes far beyond food production and it is the result of dynamic and complex interactions between economic, social, institutional and environmental policies. The combined TCI-SAM approach provides policy makers with comprehensive territorial information to target FNS strategies and policies and to better allocate resources.

No description available.

The theme of this thesis is to analyze the impact of policy interventions such as financing human development (HD), tax reform and conditional cash transfer programmes, under the framework of growth and sustainable development. These policy instruments are evaluated through the application of both partial and general equilibrium models, and the last paper concentrates on developing regional social accounting matrices (SAMs) as a core database for spatial general equilibrium modelling. Essay 1: Trade-offs in Achieving Human Development Goals for Bangladesh investigates the benefits and costs associated with alternative investment financing options for achieving HD goals by applying the MAMS (Maquette for Millennium Development Goals Studies) model. We find that full achievement of these goals would have led to a GDP loss that would have been significantly larger in the domestic borrowing scenario than in the tax scenario. The tax-financing alternative is thus the better option for financing large development programs. In terms of public spending composition, we find that, under some circumstances, a trade-off arises between overall Millennium Development Goal (MDG) progress and poverty reduction. Essay 2: Welfare impact of broadening VAT by exempting Small-Scale food markets: The case of Bangladesh analyses the welfare impacts of different VAT reforms. A general and uniform VAT on all commodities is preferred as it is more efficient and less administratively costly. However, due to equity concerns, food is normally exempted from VAT. On the other hand, exemptions on food mean that an implicit subsidy is provided to high-income households. Hence, we analyze a broad-based VAT regime with a high threshold that excludes small-scale operators (where the low-income households buy their products most, including food) and the simulation result shows that welfare improves for the low-income households. Essay 3: Effect of Girls’ Secondary School Stipend on Completed Schooling and Age at Marriage: Evidence from Bangladesh estimates the effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on education and age at marriage. We apply both difference in differences (DiD) and regression discontinuity methods to evaluate the impact of the policy instrument. Our estimation results show that the girls in the treatment group who were exposed to the programme had a higher average number of completed years of schooling and also delayed their first marriage compared to the girls in the control group. We also show that the DiD approach might produce a biased result as it does not consider the convergence effect. Essay 4: Estimation of Multiregional Social Accounting Matrices using Transport Data proposes a methodology for estimating multiregional SAMs from a national SAM by applying the cross-entropy method. The methodology makes possible the construction of regional SAMs that are consistent with official regional accounts and minimize deviations from transport data.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-08T10:15:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 erikaburkowski.pdf: 2341345 bytes, checksum: 7283bd13c0d58afa344b806685e77f7f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-09T13:34:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 erikaburkowski.pdf: 2341345 bytes, checksum: 7283bd13c0d58afa344b806685e77f7f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-09T13:34:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 erikaburkowski.pdf: 2341345 bytes, checksum: 7283bd13c0d58afa344b806685e77f7f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-01 / O objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar os fatores que influenciam a demanda das firmas brasileiras (restritas e irrestritas) por financiamento, e quais os efeitos de choques no setor de intermediação financeira sobre o produto e sobre essa demanda no Brasil. Buscou-se na metodologia Insumo-Produto, e em suas recentes abordagens, elementos que contribuíssem para o entendimento das restrições de oferta na decisão de estrutura de capital das empresas brasileiras. Foram construídas Matrizes de Contabilidade Social e Financeiras, as quais evidenciam a variação de ativos e passivos dos agentes econômicos, e por meio delas, foram extraídos multiplicadores do produto, que representam o efeito de choques exógenos sobre a produção brasileira. O impacto de choques no setor de intermediação financeira sobre o produto dos demais setores de atividade econômica foi denominado: Multiplicador Financeiro Setorial (MFS), por permitir visualizar o impacto de restrições dos fluxos financeiros no nível do setor. O impacto de restrições financeiras no nível da firma foi analisado com o modelo de Almeida e Campello (2010), destacando que a demanda por recursos externos é menos sensível ao fluxo de caixa em firmas mais propensas a sofrer restrições financeiras, o que implica na aceitação de que as decisões de investimento e financiamento são endógenas, ao menos para a firmas restritas, ressalvando as proposições tradicionais da teoria de estrutura de capital, como Dynamic Trade-off (DTO) e Pecking Order Theory (POT), bem como a necessidade de tratamento especial na modelagem econométrica. O modelo de Flannery e Rangan (2006), estimado pelo Método das Variáveis Instrumentais, de forma a considerar a restrição financeira, revela a importância de diversos fatores determinantes do endividamento além do fluxo de caixa, como tamanho, tangibilidade, risco, elementos relacionados a janelas de oportunidades, o custo da dívida e o efeito negativo do MFS, que o destaca como indicador da sensibilidade setorial. Estimando o modelo de Shyam-Sunders e Myers (1999), pelo Método dos Momentos Generalizados, também de forma a considerar a presença de restrição, observou-se que a POT é adequada para explicar a decisão de estrutura de capital somente das empresas irrestritas. / The goal of this research is to analyze the factors influencing the demand of Brazilian firms (restricted and unrestricted) for funding, and what the effects of shocks in the financial intermediation sector on the product and this demand in Brazil. Sought in the input-output methodology, and its recent approaches, elements that contribute to the understanding of supply constraints in the decision of capital structure of Brazilian companies. Were built a Financial and Social Accounting Matrix, which show the variation of assets and liabilities of economic agents, and through them, were extracted product multipliers, representing the effect of exogenous shocks on the Brazilian production. The impact of shocks in the financial intermediation sector about the product from other economic sectors was called: Financial Sector Multiplier (MFS), it allows to visualize the impact of restrictions on financial flows at the sector level. The impact of financial constraints at the firm level was analyzed in accordance with Almeida and Campello (2010). The demand for external funds is less sensitive to cash flow in firms more likely to suffer financial constraints. It implies acceptance that investment and financing decisions are endogenous, at least for constrained firms, safeguarding the traditional beliefs of the capital structure theory, as Dynamic Trade-off (DTO) and Pecking Order Theory (POT) as well as the need for treatment in econometric modeling. In order to consider the financial constraint, the Flannery and Rangan (2006) model was estimated by Instrumental Variables Method. It reveals the importance of various determinants of capital structure beyond the cash flow, such as size, leverage, risk elements related to market timing, the cost of debt and the negative effect of MFS, which stands as an indicator of sectorial sensitivity. Also to take into account the presence of restriction, we estimate the Shyam-Sunders and Myers (1999) model with the Generalized Method of Moments, it was observed that the POT is adequate to explain only the unconstrained firms capital structure decision.

L’objectif de la thèse est d’identifier la pertinence des modèles en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) pour analyser la problématique posée par les Accords de Partenariat Économique (APE) entre l’Union européenne et les pays ACP. Une revue de la littérature est d’abord réalisée, puis un modèle en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) à dynamique intertemporelle est construit pour analyser l’impact de l’APE sur un pays spécifique : le Ghana. À partir du constat portant sur la diversité des résultats de simulations, qui dépendent essentiellement de la structure du modèle et des modes de fermeture choisis par le modélisateur, ce travail cherche à mettre en évidence la largeur du faisceau de résultats possibles et l’impossibilité de mettre en avant les bénéfices potentiels qui peuvent être attendus d’un tel accord en s’appuyant simplement sur des MEGC néoclassiques standards. / This work aims to analyze to what extent the use of an applied general equilibrium model (AGE) allows to correctly assess the potential economic impact of EPAs between ACP countries and the European Union. First, a review of the literature is conducted and then an intertemporal dynamic AGE model is built in order to assess the potential impact of EPA on a specific country: Ghana. From the variety of results resulting from the models simulations and depending on hypothesis made on the model structure and the type of closure chosen by the modeler, our work aims to stress the risk of using standard neoclassical Walrasian models to assess the potential benefits of an EPA on ACP countries economy.

Obiettivo di questo lavoro è studiare i fattori socio-economici responsabili del cambiamento nella distribuzione del reddito dovuto a un cambiamento nel contesto politico di riferimento, in Vietnam durante il periodo delle riforme. La metodologia adottata analizza i cambiamenti nella distribuzione del reddito sia a livello micro che a livello macro. A livello micro, l'analisi indaga sulle caratteristiche individuali e familiari da cui dipende il livello e la distribuzione della spesa. E' possibile inoltre valutare gli effetti diretti di cambiamenti nel quadro politico di riferimento. Il livello macro di analisi consente di individuare le caratteristiche strutturali della disuguaglianza nella distribuzione del reddito personale e di isolare anche gli effetti indiretti delle politiche. Gli strumenti analitici selezionati in questo studio sono un modello supply-driven, rappresentato da un modello di microsimulazione e un modello demand-driven, costituito dalla Matrice di Contabilità Sociale. In particolare, il modello di microsimulazione ha consentito la derivazione di una distribuzione controfattuale e la disaggregazione della variazione della disuguaglianza in Vietnam in: effetto di prezzo, effetto di una variazione della componente non osservata dei salari, effetto dovuto a cambiamenti nelle scelte occupazioni e effetti dovuti a cambiamenti nella popolazione. Utilizzando una nuova metodologia di scomposizione ad un livello microscopico dei moltiplicatori derivati dalla SAM, è stato possibile derivare e isolare tutti gli effetti diretti e indiretti di uno shock esogeno sulla distribuzione personale del reddito. / The aim of this work is to investigate the socio-economic factors that affect in income distribution changes caused by changes in the policy framework in Vietnam during the period of reforms. The adopted methodology analyzes policy induced changes in income distribution both at the micro and the macro level. At the micro level, the analysis of inequality can help identifying the socio-economic factors affecting the level of household expenditure and its distribution and evaluating direct effects of policies. The macro level identifies the structural characteristics of inequality and evaluates also the indirect effects of policies on the personal income distribution. The two analytical tools have been selected have been a supply driven model represented by the microsimulation model and a demand driven model, constituted by the Social Accounting Matrix. The microsimulation model allowed deriving a counterfactual distribution of income and disaggregating change in the Vietnamese income inequality into four effects: price effect, effect of a change in the unobservable component of wages, occupational choice effect and population effect. Using a new technique of decomposition of SAM-based multipliers in 'microscopic' detail, the macro model allowed deriving all the direct and indirect effects of an exogenous shock to personal income distribution.

No description available.