This research seeks to identify the factors that account for the variation in development levels across nations by focusing on the institutional components of development, especially the effects of financial market development on economic and political development. I argue that financial market institutions are critical to economic and political development, and provide a partial explanation for the variation in development observed across nations. Financial market development affects political development indirectly through greater economic efficiency and growth and directly by reducing poverty, increasing economic equality, strengthening the middle class and increasing political participation. Increased financial market development also produces more efficient institutions and eliminates certain perverse incentives in government that result in corruption. The action mechanisms rest largely on the idea that increasing access to financial services allows the lower and middle- income segments of society to smooth their income and invest in high return activities that can lift people out of poverty. These improvements distribute both economic and intellectual resources throughout society and provide greater opportunities for political entrepreneurship from all societal groups. This, along with greater ability to participate either through monetary means or greater time, increases political participation and democratic development. Using a variety of econometric techniques to analyze data on 190 countries over 28 years (1975-2003), I show that financial market development has a significant effect in several areas of development. Specifically, I find that financial market development reduces poverty and income inequality and reduces the level of corruption. Increasing financial market development also increases political competition and civil rights protection in addition to increasing the effectiveness of government and regulatory levels. Ultimately, I assert that while financial market factors have not been previously targeted as sources for development, they may provide an effective policy tool for fostering equitable development in a variety of economic and political situations. I further argue that the state must have a greater role in development than the prevailing neoliberal paradigm prescribes, and must actively seek to develop institutions that support financial market development.

Developing countries, such as Namibia, need to bridge the existing infrastructure gap to improve the country's comparative advantage, economic growth and competitiveness, quality of life and the welfare of its citizens. As traditional sources of finance dwindle, Pension Fund savings need to be pooled to complement traditional sources of funding, such as government budgetary allocations, borrowing and user fees. Although infrastructure's economic and financial characteristics are a match to Pension Fund liabilities, Namibia's Pension Fund investment in infrastructure lags behind world-class benchmarks. This study investigated the factors that hinder Pension Fund investment in infrastructure in Namibia. The study employed a mixed-method research method and convergent parallel data collection processes. The study obtained a representative sample to participate in the survey from a population of NAMFISA registered Pension Fund and investment managers using a combination of the stratified random and simple random sampling techniques as part of primary data collection. The financial characteristics that make infrastructure assets attractive such as; long term, low sensitivity to economic swings, a low correlation with other assets and long term and inflation hedged returns makes them suitable for Pension Fund investments. The study confirms findings of previous studies by Beeferman, (2008); Ehlers, (2014); Inderst & Della Croce, (2013); Sy, (2017) and Thierie & Moor (2016), amongst others, revealed factors such as; a lack of a project pipeline, a lack of expertise by Pension Funds in infrastructure investments, Pension Fund regulation and a lack of financial instruments and assets that match Pension Funds are barriers to Pension Fund investment in infrastructure. The lack of a project pipeline is further attributable to issues such as infrastructure projects that are not sufficiently developed or viable on their own without some form of government support, inefficiencies in public procurement and public-private partnership policies and a lack of project preparation funding. The study recommends the following initiatives by policymakers and key stakeholders towards increasing Pension Fund investment in infrastructure: firstly, government and state-owned institutions responsible for public services should implement policies that will increase the pipeline of bankable and implementable projects. The National Development Plans (NDP5), the Harambee Prosperity plans and the Vision 2030 already identify projects; however, institutionstasked with infrastructure development need to develop implementation modelsthat are viable and bankable. The development plans need to be coordinated across the various levels iii of government and state-owned enterprises for effective implementation. Secondly, it is recommended that policymakers create the necessary conditions for Public Procurement and Public Private Partnership Policies to gain confidence amongst investors. Rooting out corruption and ensuring processes are transparent and fair to all stakeholders can have the effect of creating investor confidence in the two policies. The financial institutions, especially with a developmental angle, should support the public institutions with project preparation funding and technical assistance during project planning/development. Thirdly, the government, through the regulators, NAMFISA, are advised to continue with the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the limit on assets held with unlisted investment managers to allow increased Pension Fund investment in infrastructure without compromising the performance (return) and risk exposure. The financial regulators, NAMFISA and the Bank of Namibia should encourage the growth of the local financial sector to increase the quality and quantity of financial instruments available to investors and increase the depth of the financial sector to absorb local funding capacity. Lastly, the government is recommended to explore the options of partial listing infrastructure SOEs,such as NamPower, NamWater, Road Fund Administrator (RFA), NamPort, TransNamib, among others, to facilitate Pension Fund investment into infrastructure and reduce transaction cost and risks. The study identifies the need for future research opportunities with the aim of understanding issues that affect the project pipeline in the Namibian context in greater detail.

This study attempts to address the performance of military and civilian regimes in promoting socioeconomic development and providing military policy resources in the Third World. Using pooled cross-sectional time series analysis, three models of socioeconomic and military policy performance are estimated for 66 countries in the Third World for the period 1965-1985. These models include the progressive, corporate self-interest, and conditional. The results indicate that socioeconomic and military resource policies are not significantly affected by military control. Specifically, neither progressive nor corporate self-interest models are supported by Third World data. In addition, the conditional model is not confirmed by the data. Thus, a simple distinction between military and civilian regimes is not useful in understanding the consequences of military rule.

The aim of this thesis is to discover useful measures and worthwhile lessons in increasing savings for capital formation to promote economic growth in underdeveloped countries. In order to accomplish this goal, the following steps will be taken: (1) The various kinds or concepts of savings, i.e., voluntary saving (including savings from utilization of under-employed labor), compulsory saving through taxation, and forced saving from inflation resulting from deficit financing of investment by means of bank loans or fiat money will be examined, analyzed, and discussed with the aim of finding useful measures for increasing savings from them to promote capital formation.; (2) The ideas of various writers on economic development that are directly related to the problem will be analyzed to discover worthwhile lessons from them.; (3) The relevant experiences of certain developed and underdeveloped countries will be looked into, and any useful measures or lessons discovered from them will be presented and their significance indicated.

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Buildings have significant and complex impacts both in their construction and in their use. Green building rating systems have been developed and promoted in more economically-advanced countries to offer guidelines to reduce negative impacts and to promote sustainable practices of building construction and operations. The green building rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), established in 1995 by the U.S. Green Building Council, is increasingly accepted as a meaningful measure for sustainability in building design and construction in the U.S. The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating system in the U.K. and the Green Star rating system in Australia serve similar roles in their respective areas. How applicable are these green building rating systems to countries with different building cultures, climates and economic parameters? The research is based on my work as an architect and participant observer using case study analysis of several buildings that I have designed in Madagascar and Tanzania. The research indicates that several important aspects particular to the developing country contexts of Madagascar and Tanzania — such as labor and security - are not addressed by existing green building rating systems that have been developed in the context of more economically-advanced countries. Such rating systems typically give prominence to aspects such as mechanical systems and indoor air quality that are of limited relevance to the contexts of Madagascar and Tanzania. The results have implications for the development of green building rating systems that address the particular contexts of developing countries. By taking into account parameters such as those found in Madagascar and Tanzania and similar developing countries, the benefits of using an accepted measure of sustainability can be more effectively extended to the developing country sector. / Ph. D.

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