Economic growth is often linked to service economy. Sustainable economic growth is based upon economic, environmental and social sustainability. Some argue that economic and environmental sustainability has its foundation on social sustainability. By analysing the effects of service economy on society, one can identify potential threats to social sustainability. Theoretical analysis is supported by historical events from around the world focusing on highlighting threats that service economy countries are exposed to.Findings were that while on short term post-industrial economies boost development and sustainability, on long term countries are facing challenges in terms of ageing population, sustainable communities and access to social equity. Furthermore, depending on local policies, in some cases a trade-off is needed among factors in order to reach the highest level of social sustainability.

Over the past number of decades, Canadian governments (both federal and provincial) have made commitments to preserving and protecting the natural environment and to using its components efficiently in order to benefit both current and future generations. These commitments, this thesis argues, translate into duties to strive for sustainable economic growth and intergenerational equity. One of the key challenges is to figure out which are the best policy tools and legal instruments that are capable of leading Canada towards these goals. Unfortunately, the economic measures typically employed by decision makers (GDP, GNP, productivity) tend to exclude or under represent natural capital, which may lead to decisions which actually degrade and deplete the natural environment and therefore violate the aforementioned legal commitments. One clear strategy to help Canada meet its commitments to sustainable economic growth and intergenerational equity is to ensure it uses its natural capital as efficiently as possible. This thesis proposes that green productivity is a useful tool for improving decision making because it considers the efficiency of use of natural capital a criteria important to helping achieve both sustainable economic growth and intergenerational equity. Green productivity is presented in this thesis as an umbrella term for productivity measures which include or account for, in some way, the (mis)use of natural capital. Specifically, the dissertation discuses three measures of green productivity used within economics: natural resource productivity, environmentally adjusted productivity, and natural capital and the residual. In addition to exploring the differences between these three measures of green productivity, the dissertation shows that they can be used to improve decision making in a number of ways, including as a broader public policy agenda item used by the government to target sustainability objectives. Additionally, measures of green productivity can be used to identify more specific policy and legal instrument goals, in designing and evaluating legal instruments, and in stakeholder consultation. For example, natural resource productivity can help identify leaders and laggards, thereby allowing decision makers to target certain industries or areas which are lagging. It can also help decision makers learn from leading jurisdictions which may ultimately lead to the implementation of new ideas in legal instrument design. The dissertation concludes with a case study of one type of green productivity measure (water productivity) in order to illustrate how the information it produces could be applied by decision makers.

The aim of the master thesis is to evaluate the competitiveness of the individual countries of the European Union, to specify which member countries art most competitive and on the other hand to determine which countries are among the other EU states dropping behind. The subject of this thesis is at first defining the concept of competitiveness, evaluation of different methods used for its measurement and description of tools, which are used by EU in order to increase the competitiveness of EU countries. In the second part is defined the competitiveness of the EU countries using the analysis of relevant data based on stated of criteria.

This study agrees that the creation of SEZs in Côte d'Ivoire is a good strategy to attract FDI, promote transfer of technology and develop the trade capacity of the country. It has the positive effect of contributing to improve the performance of the domestic industry. Besides, the new industries will create job opportunities and produce a sustainable economic growth. However, the fact that Côte d'Ivoire is party to RTAs in the sub-region like WAEMU and ECOWAS frameworks reduces the potential export market within the region for the SEZs based companies. In addition, the investors in SEZs could be faced with trade barriers induced by the divergent trade rules under RTAs. That could make the would-be investors reluctant to invest in Côte d'Ivoire, and induce them to choose another country to invest in. In the light of the need for investors to deal with clear and predictable rules, this investigation argues that the multiplicity of regional and divergent regulations governing goods from SEZs could be source of confusion and concerns, and eventually, it could impact negatively on SEZs programmes implementation in Côte d'Ivoire. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

Magister Legum - LLM

This study investigated the relationship between Sweden’s CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent) emissions and key macroeconomic factors, for the period 2008Q1- 2022Q3. The aim was to enhance the understanding of the link between macroeconomic factors and greenhouse gas emissions in a post-industrial economy, using multiple regression analysis. The study identified several significant macroeconomic factors affecting CO2e emissions and examined the extent to which these variables explain the fluctuations in Sweden’s emissions. Additionally, the study assessed the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve and Porter Hypothesis within Sweden’s environmental context. In the study, two multiple regression models were developed. Model 1 had an R^2 of 0.90, using the macroeconomic variables Industry Fuel Consumption, Population, Net Export, and Oil Prices. However, since the first model displayed moderate autocorrelation, a second model was also built by introducing a lagged dependent variable which yielded an R^2 of 0.92. / Denna studie undersökte förhållandet mellan Sveriges CO2e (koldioxidekvivalent) utsläpp och centrala makroekonomiska faktorer för perioden 2008K1-2022K3. Syftet var att öka förståelsen för sambandet mellan makroekonomiska faktorer och växthusgasutsläpp i en postindustriell ekonomi, med användning av multipel regressionsanalys. Studien identifierade flera betydande makroekonomiska faktorer som påverkar CO2e-utsläpp och undersökte i vilken utsträckning dessa variabler förklarar fluktuationerna i Sveriges utsläpp. Dessutom utvärderade studien giltigheten av Miljökuznetskurvan och Porters hypotes inom ramen för Sveriges miljökontext. I studien skapades två multipel regressionsmodeller. Modell 1 hade ett R^2 på 0,90, med de makroekonomiska variablerna Industriell Bränsleförbrukning, Befolkning, Nettoexport och Oljepriser. Eftersom den första modellen visade måttlig autokorrelation byggdes dock även en andra modell genom att införa en fördröjd beroende variabel, vilket resulterade i ett R^2 på 0,92.

The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue. / Economic Sciences / D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)