Financial sector development and Investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States: empirical evidence using heterogeneous panel data method

This study investigated the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS)for the years 1985–2017.The study employed the augmented mean group procedure,which accounts for country-specific heterogeneity and crosssectional dependence,and the Granger non-causality test to test for causality in the presence of cross-sectional dependence.The results show that(1)The impact of financial sector development on domestic investment depends on the measure of financial sector development utilised;(2)Domestic credit to the private sector has a positive but insignificant impact on domestic investment in ECOWAS,whereas banking intermediation efficiency(i.e.,ability of the banks to transform deposits into credit)and broad money supply negatively and significant influence domestic investment;(3)Cross-country differences exist in the impact of financial sector development on domestic investment in the selected ECOWAS countries;and(4)Domestic credit to the private sector Granger causes domestic investment in ECOWAS.The study recommends careful consideration in the measure of financial development that is utilised as a policy instrument to foster domestic investment.We also highlight the importance of employing country-specific domestic investment policies to avoid blanket policy measures.Domestic credit to the private sector should be given priority when forecasting domestic investment into the future.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON CHARACTERISTICS AND THERMODYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT MECHANISMS OF TWO TYPES OF WARMSECTOR HEAVY RAINFALL ALONG THE SOUTH CHINA COAST

Warm-sector heavy rainfalls along the south China coast from April to June during 2009-2014 can be divided into two main types based on their low-level circulations. Type I is the southerly pattern with meridional convergence line at the west of the Pearl River estuary, which is formed by the convergence of southeasterly, southerly, and southwesterly flows. Type II is the southwesterly pattern with a latitudinal convergence line at the east of the Pearl River estuary, which is formed by the convergence of westerly and southwesterly flows. Statistics on 6-hourly heavy rainfall events indicates that, during the afore-mentioned 6 years, there were on average 73.2 occurrences of the southerly pattern and 50.3 occurrences of the southwesterly pattern per year. After the onset of summer monsoon in the South China Sea, the occurrence frequencies of both patterns increase remarkably. The synthetic diagnosis of pattern circulation shows that, at 500 h Pa, for the southerly pattern, there is a broad warm high ridge, and a temperature ridge is behind the high ridge, which causes an obvious warm advection at the high ridge area. There is no frontal region. For the southwesterly pattern, the circulation is a weak trough with a temperature trough behind it. The position of the frontal region is near Yangzi River, and the south China coast is in the warm-sector of the frontal region. At the vertical cross-section of each of the two categories of heavy rainfall, there is a strong vertical motion center stretching to 400 hPa, where the convergence layer in the rainfall region is deep and with several vertical convergence centers overlapping one another. Both types of heavy rainfalls are with abundant water vapor, accompanied with deep convective instability energy layers, and with strong release of latent heat caused by condensation of water vapor. The release of latent heat leads to the warming-up and stretching of the air column, thus strengthens deep convergence and vertical velocity upward. There is a stronger latent heat-release in the southwesterly pattern than in the southerly pattern,while in the southerly pattern, the warm advection at middle and upper levels is stronger than the latent head release.To study the thermo-dynamic development mechanisms, weather research and forecasting model(WRF) numerical simulations are made and the results show that, in the two rainstorm regions, latent heat release warms up the air column, hence significantly increase the depth and strength of the vertical velocity. Moreover, the release of latent heat strengthens convergent circulation at lower levels and weakens divergent circulation at middle levels, whose influence can be as strong as 30%-50% of the wind circulation strength of the two types of the warm-sector heavy rainfall over the south China coast, and further enhances deep convection, promoting warm-sector storm development.

Research on the Knowledge System Framework of Eco-industrial Engineering

With intensified contradiction between the rapid development of modern industry and the carrying capacity of natural environment,coordinating the relationship between economic benefits and ecological benefits is a significant issue to be solved for modern industrial engineering.This paper firstly conducts the comparative analysis between traditional and ecological industry as well as traditional and modern industrial engineering,and indicates that eco-industrial engineering is an inevitable choice for sustainable development of modern industrial engineering;Then,based on industrial ecology,environmental economics and sustainable development theory,the connotation and definition of ecoindustrial engineering are proposed,and the theoretical and practical development of the concepts of eco-industrial engineering are further investigated.Furthermore,the research subject,research content,academic system architecture and evaluation methods of eco-industrial engineering are discussed.Finally,combining the current scientific and technological development,we put forward the important scientific value and practical significance of constructing eco-industrial engineering for the utilization of these concepts.

The Clean Development Mechanism and Sustainable Development in China's Electricity Sector

The Clean Development Mechanism,a flexibility mechanism contained in the KyotoProtocol, offers China an important tool to attractinvestment in clean energy technology and processesinto its electricity sector. The Chinese electricitysector places centrally in the country’s economy andenvironment, being a significant contributor to theacid rain and air pollution problems that plague manyof China’s cities and regions, and therefore a focusof many related energy and environmental policies.China’s electricity sector has also been the subjectof a number of economic analyses that have showedthat it contains the highest potential for clean energyinvestment through the Clean DevelopmentMechanism of any economic sector in China. Thismechanism, through the active participation frominvestors in more industrialized countries, can helpalleviate the environmental problems attributable toelectricity generation in China through advancingsuch technology as wind electricity generation, cleancoal technology, high efficient natural gas electricitygeneration, or utilization of coal mine methane. Inthis context, the Clean Development Mechanismalso compliments a range of environmental and energypolicies which are strategizing to encourage thesustainable development of China’s economy.

Scientific Development of Power Sector Led by Plan EIA in a New Environmental Protection Situation

Environmental problems like haze have brought great pressure to current environmental protection management. On the one hand, plan EIA should be promoted further in all industries; on the other hand, the current achievements and methods of plan EIA should be summarized and innovated. And the EIA supervision and project access can be improved further through the coordination between plan EIA and project EIA. In this study, from the three levels of plan EIA policy framework, five problems of plan EIA in power sector were analyzed according to the current situation of plan EIA in power sector. Based on the present achievements, five macroscopic suggestions were proposed from the view of innovation accord- ing to the new environmental protection situation and requirements at present.

A Model of Optimal Development for an Economy with an Informal Sector

The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sectoral migration, agriculture-industry relationship, wages in different sectors, and income distribution in an inter-connected way in the context of optimal development of an economy with an informal sector.

Building a Business and Strategic Intelligence Policy as a Strategy for Promoting Congolese Business Progress and Healthy Economic Development in Eastern DRC

The aim of this study was to verify the existence of business and strategic intelligence policies at the level of Congolese companies and at the state level, likely to foster progress and healthy development in the east of the DRC. The study was based on a mixed perspective consisting of objective analysis of quantitative data and interpretative analysis of qualitative data. The results showed that business and strategic intelligence policies have not been established at either company or state level, as this is an area of activity that is not known to the players in companies and public departments, and there are no units or offices in their organizational structures responsible for managing strategic information for competitiveness on the international market. In addition, there is a real need to establish strategic information management units within companies, upstream, and to set up a national strategic information management department or agency to help local companies compete in the marketplace, downstream. This reflects the importance and timeliness of building business and strategic intelligence policies to ensure economic progress and development in the eastern DRC. Business and strategic intelligence provides companies with an appropriate tool for researching, collecting, processing and disseminating information useful for decision-making among stakeholders, in order to cope with a crisis or competitive situation. The study suggests a number of key recommendations based on its findings. To the government, it is recommended to establish the national policy of business and strategic intelligence by setting up a national agency of strategic intelligence in favor of local companies;and to companies to establish business intelligence units in their organizational structures in favor of stakeholders to foster advantageous decision-making in the competitive market and achieve progress. Finally, the study suggests that studies be carried out to fully understand the opportunities and impact of business and strategic intelligence in African countries, particularly in the DRC.

Internet Brings New Development of China’s Catering Sector

In recent years,China’s catering sector has experienced profound changes in terms of industrial scale and management level,showing a favorable development momentum with steadily expanding industrial scale,optimizing market structure,complete categories,various brands,more standardized industrial management and upgrading service quality.

Sustainability on Energy Governance: Recent Trends of the Electricity Sector in Azerbaijan

Our aim is to analyze sustainability on energy governance,recent trends of the electricity sector in Azerbaijan,in particular,the degree of efficiency of the electricity system and the tariff structure to give recommendations for future development and perspectives of energy sector development in Azerbaijan.We argue that government policy should be oriented towards identification of those factors that seek energy efficiency for sustainable development,uncover several laws,ensuring energy security,and encourage electricity market.Besides that by comparing electricity tariffs in Azerbaijan with some other European countries,we find advantages in the Azerbaijan-EU partnership on the energy field,thus we propose appropriate forms of cooperation regarding to European Neighborhood Policy.

Community Institutional Arrangements for Conservation and Development Through Tourism: An Analysis of the Nkuringo Conservation and Community Development Foundation, Uganda

Tropical forests provide some of the richest biodiversity amid and adjacent to the world’s poorest people as they lose access to resources when forests are designated for strict preservation.Integrated Conservation Development Projects(ICDPs)aimed at conservation and compensated communities adjacent to conserved resources through revenue sharing from the resultant economic activities.However,Community-Based Natural Resource Management(CBNRM)approaches seek to reconcile biodiversity conservation with community livelihoods strategies to reduce poverty.Nkuringo Conservation and Community Development Foundation on the Southern Fringes of Bwindi National Park in Kisoro District adopted the Community-Based Natural Resource Management model where communities benefit both financially and socially from conservation.The model provides a“win-win”situation where both human beings and wildlife benefit.The objective of this paper is to profile Nkuringo Conservation and Community Development Foundation(NCCDF)adoption of the model by analyzing the model,actors involved,the legal framework,benefits accrued,challenges,and strategies to ameliorate them.The paper adopted a case study research design and collected both qualitative and quantitative data using desk top research methods,observation,oral interviews,and focus group discussions(FGDs).The communities of Nteko and Rubuguri parishes participate in the project which has conserved the mountain gorillas and forests for tourism and diversified community livelihood through tourism,sale of handcrafts,an eco-lodge(Clouds Lodge)and commercial agriculture which contribute to poverty reduction.

Ecotourism Development in the Context of Cultural and Tourism Integration:A Case Study of Wanli Mopan Mountain Forest Park

The integration of culture and tourism is a new form of tourism and a trend of tourism industry development.Mopan Mountain Forest Park in Wanli District of Nanchang City is taken as research object,and the excavation of its cultural elements is analyzed.It is thought that cultural elements can revitalize the culture and tourism industry,promote the integration of culture and tourism,encourage the mutual penetration of cultural innovation,design services and tourism products,improve the development and service level of cultural tourism products,and accelerate the development of characteristic cultural tourism.

Power Market Development with Considerations of Characteristics of China Power Sector

The current world trend of electric power industry reform is to establish electric power market and introduce competition mechanism. China is no exception. This paper reviewed the recent industry reform of China’s electric power sector and elaborated the necessity of establishing electric power markets first. Then it discussed the electric power market models in China. Certain important problems and observations relevant to the electric power market design were further pointed out, based on the practice experiences in Sichuan Province.

China’s Service Sector and the 14thFYP: Trends, Breakthroughs andPolicy Outlook

China’s service sector has developed a lot in the 13th Five-Year Plan period,and is positioned to upgrade on all fronts in the new era. In the 14th Five-Year Plan period,China’s service sector boasts huge potentials and is expected to maintain steady growth. By2025, the service sector is expected to account for 59.05% of total value added, 54.96% ofemployment, 60.51% of fixed asset investment, and 50.04% of consumption. Service laborproductivity will rise from 143,400 yuan/person in 2019 to 178,400 yuan/person by 2025.It can thus be concluded that in the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s service sectorwill play a dominant role in the economy and head toward higher quality development. Toachieve this goal, we must allow for the decisive role of the market and the fundamentalrole of the government, and open up new prospects in development of the service sector withrespect to digilitalization, platform-based operations, smart technology, integration, andstandardization.

Banking Sector Development and Agricultural Productivity in Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC)

There is high pressure for investment capital and financial services for agricultural activities necessary for poverty reduction,economic growth,sustainable development and food security.This study investigated the long-term causation between banking sector development and agricultural productivity in the six Central African Economic and Monetary Community(CEMAC)states from 1990 to 2018,hypothesizing no causation between banking sector and agriculture output.With the autoregressive distributed lag(ARDL)model and vector error correction model(VECM),the study demonstrates that banking sector and agricultural productivity in the CEMAC region are related.It implies long-run relationship exists between banking sector and agricultural productivity in the CEMAC zone.The results reveal that bidirectional causality exists between banking sector and agricultural productivity in the CEMAC region.This is insinuating that in the CEMAC region,agricultural productivity and banking sector development are operating in mutualism.The findings indicate the reason to establish the banking sector using proper macroeconomic,legal and regulatory policies to boost agricultural productivity by creating incentive systems that channel more credit to agricultural investment and promoting the banking system.

The Impact of Corporate Governance and Ethics on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)—The Case for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, 2009-2019

The paper presents and examines the impact of corporate governance and ethics in particular on sustainable development of the Zimbabwean microfinance sector in the period 2009-2019.The critical microfinance institutions(MFIs)crisis experienced in Masvingo,Zimbabwe recently was not the first one in the world in terms of its severity.The main aim of MFIs in any economy is to serve the poor and vulnerable people of a society through providing them with soft or concessional loans,insurance coverage,and facilities for savings.The study used the descriptive qualitative design to draw research data from MFIs dotted in and around Masvingo Province for presentation,analysis,and interpretation.One of the major findings of the study was that corporate governance and ethics played an indispensable role in the growth and development of MFIs’products and services.The study also realized that good corporate governance and ethical behaviours in business practices were essential for the success of any organization and vice versa and MFIs were no exception.The study therefore concluded that poor capital formation,corporate governance and ethics,human recruitment and selection procedures and fraudulent activities or misappropriation of funds were responsible for the majority of threats faced by MFIs in Masvingo in their growth and development endeavours.Therefore the study recommended that directors of MFIs should craft policies and strategies that are corporate governance and ethics oriented in their desire to grow their business towards sustainable development in the foreseeable future.

Subsistence Farming Towards Sustainable Economic Agriculture of Small Farmers in the Developing Countries

Subsistence farming,a form of cultivation in which almost all crops or livestock are used to maintain farms and the farm family,leaving little,surplus for sale and trade.Pre-industrial farming peoples all over the countries of the worldwide apply subsistence agriculture system and take advantage of the possibilities available to them from land and water resources in all locations of agriculture sites.The agricultural production has become more specialized and developed in the subsistence farming system,and farmers have produced abundant production from many horticulture crops that are traded among them and achieve their selfsufficiency from those crops.

Consistency of Agricultural, Forestry and Mining Policies with Sustainable Forest Management in the East and South Regions of Cameroon

The eastern and southern regions of Cameroon, lower middle income country, need to increase their level of land use by the agricultural, forestry and mining sectors in order to develop. At the same time, Cameroon is committed to managing its forests sustainably to meet the needs of present and future generations. This study assesses the compatibility of agricultural, forestry and mining policies with sustainable forest management in the East and South forest regions. Five analytical criteria were used and the analysis was carried out through surveys of key informants in the private sector, public administrations and civil society. The study showed that from 2013 to 2018, the contributions of the agricultural, forestry and mining sectors to GDP grew by about 74%, 65% and 60%, respectively. Agricultural, forestry and mining policies have an average compatibility rate of 45% with sustainable forest management, of which 52% for the forestry sector, 43% for the agricultural sector and 40% for the mining sector. Nonetheless, there are 21 causes of incompatibility, including 1) the non-involvement of all relevant public administrations in policy-making, 2) the low efficiency of the control system of exploitation activities, and 3) the poor coordination of actions in the three sectors. It was proposed to a) improve the legal and regulatory framework of the three sectors of activity and b) develop land-use planning tools among other measures to align existing policies with sustainable forest management.

Developing ISO International Standards for the Animal and Vegetable Fats and Oils Sector

Increasing volumes of oils and fats are produced annually with a large section that are traded internationally. The International Organization for Standardization(ISO) body develops international standards covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing with 23,882 standards currently published. Standards in the animal and vegetable fats and oils sector is developed by Technical Committee ISO/TC 34, Food products, Subcommittee SC 11, Animal and vegetable fats and oils. Standards are developed through consensus by national members that represent ISO in their country. Each Standard is developed within a determined timeframe and goes through various pre-determined stages such as project proposal, development, national voting and commenting on the draft Standard to final publication. ISO TC34/SC11 Standards range from sampling of oils and fats, sample preparation to analysis of its composition, the minor components, and quality and identity parameters as well as contaminants. The analysis results are used by industry for product development, labelling, research and to provide peace of mind for consumers on its safety. An important future trend is the focus on the safety concerns from either environmental contamination(e.g. mineral oils) or processing contaminants such as esters of 3-MCPDs(3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol or 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol).