In this paper we investigate the relationship between economic growth and industrial pollution emissions in China using data for 112 major cities between 2001 and 2004. Using disaggregated data we separate FDI inflows from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from those of other foreign economies. We examine four industrial water pollution indicators (wastewater, chemical oxygen demand, hexavalent chrom...

As the world recovers from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the international community should promote a mix of policies to sustain this global recovery and create jobs through reducing carbon dependency, ecological degradation and poverty. Such a Global Green New Deal (GGND) requires a long-term commitment to implementing and coordinating “green investments” by the Group o...

Mechanization of cotton harvesting began in earnest in the Soviet Union in 1958 and was expected to proceed more rapidly than the market-driven process which had begun in the USA a decade earlier. Despite high output of cotton-picking machines, the share of the crop harvested mechanically grew more slowly than in the USA. Mechanical picking was resisted at the farm level on the basis of distort...

This paper develops a two-period disequilibrium model of a small open economy under Keynesian unemployment to analyse the effects of temporary, anticipated, and permanent coffee price shocks. The model includes a government sector that administers a commodity price stabilisation fund, and allows for capital market imperfections. The type of capital market imperfection makes an important differe...

In this study we use historical emission data from installations under the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to evaluate the impact of this policy on industrial greenhouse gas emissions during the first two trading phases (2005-2012). As such the analysis seeks to disentangle two causes of emission abatement: that attributable to the EU ETS and that attributable to the economic c...

Cooperative models of household decision-making are proving inadequate in an increasing number of contexts. We argue that altruism among family members can, in fact, inhibit cooperation by increasing the utility that players expect to receive in a non-cooperative equilibrium. To test this, we examine agricultural productivity in polygynous households in West Africa. We find that cooperation is ...

We study optimal adaptation to climate change when the harmful consequences of global warming are associated with stochastic occurrence of abrupt changes. The adaptation policy entails the accumulation of a particular sort of capital that will eliminate or reduce the catastrophic damage of an abrupt climate change when (and if) it occurs. The occurrence date is uncertain. The policy problem inv...

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that ...

This paper analyzes the impact of prenatal exposure to seasonal food scarcity on childhood health in Ethiopia. I construct a novel measure of seasonal exposure based on reported months of relative food scarcity in the local community. I find that exposure has a significant negative impact on height by age five that strengthens by age eight. Effects decrease with household wealth and maternal ed...

While bringing positive impacts and benefits, cross-border infrastructure projects face additional challenges relative to national projects. Moreover, such projects involve a variety of technical, regulatory, institutional, and legal factors, and their obstacles constrain the development of cross-border infrastructure projects. This paper argues that proper technical specifications and well-fun...