Search results for "growth"
showing 10 items of 5134 documents
Data practices and inequality in South African early childhood development policy: Technocratic management versus social transformation
2019
Background: In 1994, the African National Congress identified early childhood development as a potential strategy to redress the inequalities of apartheid, however, two and a half decades later, poverty still persists, and South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Aim: This article explores how policy texts based on and with the use of certain data practices establish ‘truths’ about childhoods and society, construct families and communities, and determine forms of provision to address inequality. Setting: In 2015, the South African government published the National Integrated Early Childhood Policy (NIECDP) to continue to address poverty and inequality. Its implementat…
Au revoir Paris! Spanish regions closer to the EU average and further away from the leaders
2021
This paper confirms that Spanish regions in 2015 were closer to the EU average in labour productivity than in 2000, but further away from the richest regions such as Île de France. A dynamic shift-share analysis at a 10-industry level of disaggregation shows that the main driver of convergence with the EU average is catch-up in labour productivity within the same industry, while disparities with the top regions (especially Île de France) mainly involve differences in patterns of specialization (between-industry divergence) followed by technological divergence (within-industry effect). The industry mix of the regions reveals that a new pattern of specialization is taking shape in Europe, dri…
A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis model to predict bank bailouts: a study of the Spanish financial system
2020
This paper examines the restructuring of the Spanish financial system. This study is justified by the massive economic and social impact of this process in Spain. Based on the annual accounts and the annual reports of Spanish credit institutions, a model was created to predict the possibility of bank failure or bailout. The variables were selected following a review of the literature. They included the legal form of the credit institution (savings bank versus bank), leverage, real estate investment, gross operating margin, staff costs and non-performing loans. Two variables that had not previously been used in studies of this type were also included in the model: risk-weighted assets and co…
The Link Between Standardization and Economic Growth
2021
We analyze the link between standardization and economic growth by systematically reviewing leading economics journals, leading economic growth researchers’ articles, and economic growth-related books. We make the following observations: 1) No article has analyzed the link between standardization and economic growth in top5 economics journals between 1996 and 2018. 2) A representative sample of the leading researchers of economic growth has allocated little attention to the link between standardization and economic growth. 3) Typically, economic growth textbooks do not contain “standards” or “standardization” in their word indexes. These findings suggest that the economic growth theory has …
Diaspora Start-Up Programs and Creative Industries: Evidence from Romania
2021
Romania is one of the main countries of origin for intra-European migration. The national authorities recently implemented the first major program —Diaspora Start-up—to support the business initiatives of Romanian citizens who live abroad and who are interested in opening a business in their home country. This scheme was developed in parallel with a broader program—Romania Start-up Plus—which was designed to support the entrepreneurial initiatives of individuals residing inside the country. These programs have already supported over 8,600 non-agricultural start-ups created in urban areas. This study conducted a comparative analysis of the two programs based on different criteria and explore…
STATE AID POLICY BETWEEN COMPETITION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE IMPACT OF STATE AID TO R&D ON GDP IN THE EU MEMBER STATES
2012
The paper focuses on the analysis of the relationship between state aid to R&D and economic growth, measured by GDP level, providing empirical evidence of a correlation between these variables. Using a methodology which combines the regression technique and Granger causality, we found that GDP represents a significant causal determinant of state aid, while the correlation the variables considered is positive and statistically significant, suggesting that, in spite of disparities between Member States, government support through state aid to R&D has evolved from maintaining undistorted competition to the possibility to act as an incentive for the economic growth in the EU.
Optical quality of hyperopic and myopic phakic intraocular lenses
2013
Aims: To assess and compare the optical quality of the myopic and hyperopic implantable collamer lens (ICL) from its wavefront aberrations for different powers and pupil diameters. Settings and Design: Prospective study. Material and Methods: The wavefront aberrations of two myopic (−3 and −6 diopters (D)) and two hyperopic V4b ICLs (+3 and +6D) were measured in vitro . To assess and compare the optical quality of different powers of ICLs, we analyzed the root mean square (RMS) of total higher order aberrations (HOAs), trefoil, coma, tetrafoil, secondary astigmatism, and spherical aberration at 3- and 4.5-mm pupil. In addition, the point spread functions (PSFs) of each ICL evaluated were ca…
Possibilities of Dental Age Assessment in Permanent Teeth: A Review
2012
The developmental stages of the first and second dentition, combined with abrasive wear of the dental hard tissue can be used for age determination in many mammal species and in humans. Concerning dental age determination, one has to distinguish between invasive techniques, which are mainly applied in dead individuals, and non-invasive methods suitable for living individuals. In contrast to in adults, where only few parameters are available for orientation, age determination in children and adolescents is in general fairly easy, and is facilitated by stereotypical biological growth patterns. In the present article, different methods for dental age determination are introduced, with a specia…
Productivity dynamics and the productivity trap: problems and solutions in Latvia
2019
By analysing changes in productivity and labour costs in Latvia from 2013 till 2017, we can see that growth of labour costs exceeds the growth of productivity by more than 2 times in both, tradable sector and total economy. Slow growth in productivity compared with the labour and other production expenses lead to an increase in the price of final goods and services, which negatively corresponds with producers’ competitiveness in both internal and external market. Furthermore, this leads to a drop-in consumption of domestic production and inefficient production facility usage, resulting in declining economic growth rates. The rapid growth in labour costs is mainly associated with the tight s…
Sensitivity Analysis in Nonrandomized Longitudinal Mediation Analysis
2021
Mediation analysis relies on an untestable assumption of the no omitted confounders, which posits that an omitted variable that confounds the relationships between the antecedent, mediator, and outcome variables cannot exist. One common model in alcohol addiction studies is a nonrandomized latent growth curve mediation model (LGCMM), where the antecedent variable is not randomized, the two covarying mediators are latent intercept and slope modeling longitudinal effect of the repeated measures mediator, and an outcome variable that measures alcohol use. An important gap in the literature is lack of sensitivity analysis techniques to assess the effect of the violation of the no omitted confou…