Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / John A. Fox / Child mortality is defined as the death of children under five years old. Worldwide, child mortality was about 8.1 million in 2009, of which over fifty percent is related to diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria. Food and water borne pathogens are an important cause of deaths related to diarrhea and pneumonia. Illiterate or semi-literate populations are often slow to adopt food and water safety standards. Practices such as washing of food in sewage water, which would repulse most westerners might be considered normal in some parts of the world. Understanding some of the basic science underlying food safety standards is important for the farm worker in California, the villager in Africa and the child in Afghanistan. Ultimately, food safety practices in production can affect the consumer of agricultural products no matter where they are in the world, and inadequate food safety standards can affect the producer as a result of diminished consumer confidence in their product, or lack of access to export markets. In the instance of food contamination, young children and the elderly are typically most at risk. Perhaps the most sobering consequence of inadequate food safety standards is child mortality. This thesis uses a regression model to investigate determinants of the level of child mortality. We find that income distribution and levels of tertiary education, particularly for females, are significantly correlated with child mortality rates. Estimates suggest that a one percent increase in tertiary education in the female workforce is associated with a reduction of almost seven percent in the child mortality rate in countries where the rate of female tertiary education is below fifteen percent.

The positive contributions of entrepreneurship towards the economic development were already proved by the previous researchers. The main aim of this study was to analyse the determinants of entrepreneurial activity in the Nordic countries over the period of years 2004‑2013 to provide the supportive empirical analysis for the Nordic entrepreneurial policy makers. Data were obtained from the various databases and were formed into the panel dataset. Entrepreneurial activity was quantified by the two variables, rate of registered business activity and established business ownership rate. For each entrepreneurial activity, acting as the dependent variable, was estimated the set of econometric models following the econometric approach with the Fixed Effects Estimator. The results obtained for the both dependent variables did not substantially differ from each other and were generally in agreement with the results obtained by the previous scholars. The hypothesis stating the positive relationship between unemployment rate, GDP per capita and entrepreneurial activity, during the analysed period, were accepted. Also the negative impact of administrative barriers on entrepreneurial activity was confirmed. However, no statistically significant empirical support was obtained for the hypothesis assuming the positive relationship between R&D sector and entrepreneurial activity.

This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers. Paper [I] Following the 1987 report by The World Commission on Environment and Development, the genuine saving has come to play a key role in the context of sustainable development, and the World Bank regularly publishes numbers for genuine saving on a national basis. However, these numbers are typically calculated as if the tax system is non-distortionary. This paper presents an analogue to genuine saving in a second best economy, where the government raises revenue by means of distortionary taxation. We show how the social cost of public debt, which depends on the marginal excess burden, ought to be reflected in the genuine saving. We also illustrate by presenting calculations for Greece, Japan, Portugal, U.K., U.S. and OECD average, showing that the numbers published by the World Bank are likely to be biased and may even give incorrect information as to whether the economy is locally sustainable. Paper [II] This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO2 emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data spanning the period 1960-2008 for 150 countries. A distinction is also made between OECD and Non-OECD countries to capture the differences of this relationship between developed and developing economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests, and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for Non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bi-directional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO2 emissions for OECD countries. Paper [III] Fundamental questions in economics are why some regions are richer than others, why their growth rates differ, whether their growth rates tend to converge, and what key factors contribute to explain economic growth. This paper deals with the average income growth, net migration, and changes in unemployment rates at the municipal level in Sweden. The aim is to explore in depth the effects of possible underlying determinants with a particular focus on local policy variables. The analysis is based on a three-equation model. Our results show, among other things, that increases in the local public expenditure and income taxe rate have negative effects on subsequent income income growth. In addition, the results show conditional convergence, i.e. that the average income among the municipal residents tends to grow more rapidly in relatively poor local jurisdictions than in initially “richer” jurisdictions, conditional on the other explanatory variables. Paper [IV] This paper explores the relationship between income growth and income inequality using data at the municipal level in Sweden for the period 1992-2007. We estimate a fixed effects panel data growth model, where the within-municipality income inequality is one of the explanatory variables. Different inequality measures (Gini coefficient, top income shares, and measures of inequality in the lower and upper part of the income distribution) are examined. We find a positive and significant relationship between income growth and income inequality measured as the Gini coefficient and top income shares, respectively. In addition, while inequality in the upper part of the income distribution is positively associated with the income growth rate, inequality in the lower part of the income distribution seems to be negatively related to the income growth. Our findings also suggest that increased income inequality enhances growth more in municipalities with a high level of average income than in municipalities with a low level of average income.

La réduction de l’expression de deux gènes codant pour la L-galactono-lactone-1,4-déshydrogénase (GalLDH) et de la GDP-D-mannose-3’,5’-épimérase (GME), enzymes de la voie de biosynthèse de l’ascorbate, a permis de mieux comprendre le rôle physiologique de ces enzymes chez la tomate. D’une part, l’étude de la GalLDH a mis en évidence la régulation complexe du métabolisme de l’ascorbate et la fonction essentielle de cette protéine au sein de la chaîne de transport des électrons au niveau mitochondrial. D’autre part, ce travail a révélé le rôle central de la GME à la fois pour la biosynthèse de l’ascorbate et la biosynthèse des polysaccharides pariétaux, notamment les mannanes et le rhamnogalacturonane II. Chez les plantes sous-exprimant la GME, nous avons pu noter l’incidence de perturbations de la structure pariétale sur les propriétés mécaniques des tiges et des fruits ainsi que sur la fécondation. Ces modifications ont notamment engendré une fragilité accrue des tiges et une stérilité partielle. La GME est donc déterminante pour la qualité nutritionnelle et organoleptique du fruit de tomate. Enfin, dans le cadre d’une approche de biologie intégrative, nos résultats associés aux données issues de plantes sous-exprimant des gènes codant pour des enzymes de la voie de recyclage de l’ascorbate chez la tomate ouvrent des perspectives originales pour l’approfondissement des connaissances sur la régulation et sur l’intégration du métabolisme de l’ascorbate dans le fonctionnement de la cellule. / Down-regulation of two genes encoding the L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GalLDH) and the GDP-D-mannose-3',5'-epimerase (GME), enzymes of ascorbate biosynthesis pathway, led to a better understanding of the physiological role of these enzymes in tomato plants. On one hand, the study of GalLDH highlighted the complex regulation of ascorbate metabolism and the essential function of this protein in mitochondrial electron transport chain. Moreover, this work revealed the central role of the GME for both the ascorbate biosynthesis and the biosynthesis of cell wall polysaccharides, including mannans and rhamnogalacturonan II. In the GME-silenced plants, we found that modifications of the cell wall structure change the mechanical properties of stems and fruit as well as the fertilization. These changes led to an increase of stem fragility and to an increase of sterility. Therefore, GME plays a crucial role regarding the nutritional and organoleptic quality of tomato fruit. Finally, within the context of a systems biology approach, our results associated to datas obtained with plants silenced for recycling pathway related genes lead to the prospect to unravel the knowledges on the regulation and the integration of ascorbate metabolism in cell functions.

This milestone presents a pool of available indicators and indicator systems which go beyond the narrow concepts of national economic accounts as well as a structuring of the indicators and indices according to central areas of well-being. The milestone builds the basis for Task 202.2, where a subset of indicators will be selected based on different theoretical frameworks, e.g. services / functionings, needs. Some of the indicators will be included in the macro-economic models in order to account for key dimensions of sustainability. / Series: WWWforEurope

Questioning GDP as dominant indicator for economic performance has become commonplace. For economists economic policy always aims for a broader array of goals (like income, employment, price stability, trade balance) alongside income, with income being the priority objective. The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission argued for extending and adapting key variables of macroeconomic analysis. International organisations such as the EC, OECD, Eurostat and UN have proposed extended arrays of macroeconomic indicators (see 'Beyond GDP', 'Compendium of wellbeing indicators', 'GDP and Beyond', 'Green Economy', 'Green Growth', 'Measuring Progress of Societies'). Despite these high profile efforts, few wellbeing and environmental variables are in use in macroeconomic models. The reasons for the low uptake of socio-ecological indicators in macroeconomic models range from path dependencies in modelling, technical limitations, indicator lists being long and unworkable, choices of indicators appearing ad hoc and poor data availability. In this paper we review key approaches and identify a limited list of candidate variables and - as much as possible - offer data sources. / Series: WWWforEurope

Esta tese é composta de três artigos. O primeiro artigo aplica a metodologia proposta por Chari, Kehoe e McGrattan (2003) para decompor as flutuações da indústria brasileira, usualmente medidas por meio da aplicação de filtros mecânicos. Sugere-se que os ciclos encontrados pela utilização do filtro Hodrick Prescott (ou qualquer filtro band pass) englobam oscilações econômicas cuja origem pode ser deslocamentos tanto da demanda quanto da oferta. Em particular, as simulações a partir de dados reais indicam que a maior parte dos ciclos brasileiros têm origem na oferta. Este resultado sugere que a calibração da política monetária a partir da noção usual de “hiato do produto" é potencialmente falha. De fato, estimativas da curva IS a partir dos componentes cíclicos associados à oferta e à demanda mostra que o impacto negativo de uma elevação de juros é relativamente maior sobre a oferta. De certa forma, portanto, há um viés inflacionário no uso da política monetária. Uma estimativa da Curva de Philips com o componente cíclico associado às mudanças de demanda revela coeficiente positivo maior do que o observado em modelos estimados com a medida usual de “hiato do produto". O segundo artigo compara a performance de filtros band pass com a do filtro Hodrick Prescott na determinação dos ciclos do produto brasileiro. Conclui-se, com base em inspeção do desempenho na amostra de dados disponível e em simulações de Monte Carlo, que o filtro Hodrick Prescott é inferior às alternativas consideradas quando o objetivo é extrair os ciclos em “tempo real". Essa conclusão é válida para dois modelos estatísticos alternativos de descrição do PIB: (i) supondo que a variável é I(0) em torno de uma tendência linear com “quebras" e (ii) supondo que a variável é I(1). Há também robustez com relação ao parâmetro de comparação do desempenho dos filtros. O terceiro artigo obtém: (i) uma série do PIB trimestral dessazonalizado perfeitamente compatível com as variações anuais, desde 1980, corrigindo um problema de ajustamento existente na série disponível eletronicamente; (ii) uma série confiável desde 1970, a partir de técnicas de desagregação temporal utilizando indicadores; (iii) uma série trimestral desde 1947 que, provavelmente, preserva uma parcela razoável dos componentes do PIB normalmente associados aos ciclos econômicos e; (iv) uma série alternativa que, provavelmente, incorpora uma parte dos componentes irregulares do período que vai de 1956 a 1969. / The first paper applies the methodology proposed by Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (2003) to analyze cyclical fluctuations of the Brazilian industry, usually obtained by means of mechanical filters. The results suggest that filter-obtained cycles – using the Hodrick Prescott filter or a band pass filter – include components originated from supply and demand disturbances. Particularly, the simulations indicate that most Brazilian cycles are due to supply movements. This result leads to the conclusion that calibrating monetary policy based on a filter-obtained “output-gap" is potentially flawed. Indeed, IS curve estimations using supply-driven and demand-driven cyclical components show that the impact of monetary policy is more significant in the former than the latter. Thus, it would seem that there is an inflation bias in current monetary policy practice. The paper shows also that a Phillips Curve estimated from demand-driven cyclical components reveals a higher coefficient than one obtained by the usual regressions. The second paper compares the performance of band pass filters with the Hodrick Prescott filter in terms of their ability to extract the cycles of Brazilian GDP in “real time". Using actual and artificial data, the simulations indicate that the Hodrick Prescott filter is inferior. This conclusion holds for two alternative models to describe the GDP dynamics: (i) supposing the series is I(0) around a deterministic trend with a few structural breaks and (ii) supposing the series is I(1). The results are also robust with respect to more than one benchmark chosen to evaluate the performance of the filters. The third paper obtains: (i) a seasonally adjusted quarterly GDP series for the period 1980 to 2002, that is perfectly compatible with the annual National Accounts real variations, correcting a step problem present in the electronically available series; (ii) a reliable series going back to 1970, using temporal disaggregation methods with indicators; (iii) a series going back to 1947 that, most likely, preserves a reasonable amount of the cyclical components of the GDP and (iv) a series going back to 1956 that is likely to include part of the irregular components.

African countries have over the last few decades, experienced a thorny path towards sustained economic growth. Quite a number of researchers have opined that a major factor responsible for their stunted growth path is the prevalence of corruption in the governments of many African countries. However, a group of scholars, called revisionists, have suggested that corruption actually acts as grease in the wheel that ensures the smooth running of an economy, by providing a mechanism to evade inefficient bureaucratic procedures and allow more equitable representation of minority members of the society. With the increasing exposure of African economies to the international community, there is a need to examine the obtainable evidence in relation to corruption and economic growth in African countries. This thesis, therefore, aims to establish the nature of the relationship between corruption and economic growth in the selected African countries. The growth rate of gross domestic product per capita is used to represent the variable, economic growth. The study employs the use of panel data fixed effects and random effect estimation techniques, across 18 countries, over the period of 1997 – 2016. The results show that corruption has a positive relationship with economic growth in the selected African countries. This is in line with the grease in the wheel argument for corruption proposed by revisionists. The results also indicate that corruption has a moderately significant impact on economic growth at 10% level of significance. The literature review suggests that corruption affects economic growth directly and indirectly through mechanisms such as investment (private and public), human capital, openness, and institutional mechanisms, among others.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marianna Percinio Moreira Bomfim.pdf: 968431 bytes, checksum: 6d2c5a7a517580ddae8f4ea086db80c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-16 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This dissertation aims to introduce the components of the economic theory of well-being proposed by Sen, called capability approach, and to discuss its influence on the human development index (HDI) - an indicator of well being presented in the annual reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).To that effect, firstly the methodological path done by Sen in the elaboration of his approach is presented. To do so, the author retake the thoughts of Adam Smith, analyses the economic theory of well-being and its utilitarian foundations and uses concepts present on Kenneth Arrow s and John Rawls works. Then, the reviews made regard the income and GDP when used as indicators of human development are listed, backing the creation of HDI as an alternative to a less restrictive measure. Besides the concept of human development that supports the indicator, it is presented: the calculation process developed from 1990, some criticisms and suggestions suffered in the last twenty years and the construction of a new HDI in 2010.In conclusion, we discuss the influence of Sen s approach in the UNDP indicator, beyond the limitations of the analyzes of well-being, given that existing tools can not capture all dimensions of human development presented in the theory, inferring that, regard the great progress made on the human condition evaluation due to today, it is still necessary theoretical and technical improvement for a broader understanding of people s well-being / O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar os elementos constitutivos da teoria econômica do bem-estar proposta por Sen, denominada capability approach, e discutir sua possível influência no índice de desenvolvimento humano (IDH), indicador de bem-estar social apresentado nos relatórios anuais do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD). Com esse objetivo, apresenta-se inicialmente o percurso metodológico feito por Sen para construção de sua abordagem. Para tanto, o autor retoma o pensamento de Adam Smith, analisa a Teoria Econômica do Bem-estar e seus alicerces utilitaristas, e se utiliza de conceitos presentes nos trabalhos de Kenneth Arrow e John Rawls. Em seguida, parte das críticas feitas à renda e ao PIB quando utilizados como indicadores do desenvolvimento humano são elencadas, respaldando a criação do IDH como forma alternativa a uma mensuração menos restrita. Além do conceito de desenvolvimento humano que suporta o indicador, são apresentados: o processo de cálculo inicial, parte das críticas e sugestões sofridas nos últimos vinte anos, e a construção de um novo IDH, em 2010. À guisa de conclusão, é discutida a influência da abordagem seniana no indicador do PNUD, além das limitações das análises de bem-estar, dado que as ferramentas existentes não conseguem captar todas as dimensões do desenvolvimento humano apresentadas na teoria, inferindo-se que apesar do grande progresso na avaliação da condição humana feito até o momento, se faz ainda necessário aprimoramento teórico e grande melhoria técnica para uma compreensão mais ampla do bem-estar das pessoas

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:49:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Guilherme Vasconcelos de Araujo.pdf: 1527903 bytes, checksum: 8dd1f8c5a4b09fe03ca0944b8aa971ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-23 / This work aims to discuss the debate on the relationship between economic growth and development and the way, in the context of the paradigm of sustainable development, social and environmental values can be considered in measuring the wealth of nations. By analyzing the history of the concept of sustainable development, the critical review of the Gross Domestic Product and the study of current sustainability indicators methods, introduces the great dilemmas related to the challenge of measuring in an alternative and consistent way the development of nations, considering not only economic performance but also its social and environmental progresses. Based on the limitations of the most relevant indicators presented and due the fact that it is impossible to measure sustainable development through a single measure, the work studies correlations and assess the feasibility of joint presentations, enabling a comprehensive analysis, but simple and straightforward / A presente dissertação busca retomar o debate acerca da relação entre crescimento e desenvolvimento econômico e a maneira pela qual, no contexto do paradigma do desenvolvimento sustentável, os valores socioambientais podem ser considerados na mensuração da riqueza das nações. Através da análise do histórico do conceito do desenvolvimento sustentável, da revisão crítica do Produto Interno Bruto e do estudo das metodologias dos atuais indicadores de sustentabilidade, apresenta os grandes dilemas relacionados ao desafio de se medir de maneira alternativa e consistente o desenvolvimento das nações, considerando não apenas o desempenho econômico, mas também seu progresso socioambiental. Com base nas limitações e deficiências dos indicadores mais relevantes apresentados e na impossibilidade de se medir o desenvolvimento sustentável através de uma única medida, estuda possíveis correlações e analisa a viabilidade de apresentações conjuntas, que permitam uma análise ampla, porém simples e direta