Resource price trends and development prospects

If natural resource prices follow exogenous paths, then future resource price changes must be reflected in current measures of resource depletion, as shown by Vincent et al. (1997). This result is extended to the measurement of income and saving in a small resource exporting economy. A precise formula for net (genuine) saving is derived when resource prices grow exogenously at the international inter- est rate. Empirical results are presented for over 100 countries and a dozen resource commodities, using historical real price trends to forecast future prices. Reductions in saving in excess of 1% of GNI are observed for over 20 countries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring up - new directions for environmental programs at the World Bank

The World Bank's new environment strategy advocates cost-effective reduction of air and water pollutants that are most harmful to human health. In addition, it addresses threats to the livelihood of over one billion people who live on fragile lands-lands that are steeply sloped, arid, or covered by natural forests. The new approach will require accurate information about environmental threats to health and livelihood, as well as an appropriate resource-allocation strategy. Drawing on recent research at the World Bank and elsewhere, this paper attempts to apply an optimal investment approach. It develops a rule for optimal cross-country resource allocation that reflects the Bank's investment policy. Using this rule, the paper estimates optimal country shares of the Bank's environmental investments from two sets of variables: threats from outdoor air pollution, water pollution, and fragile lands; and estimates of the likelihood that Bank projects will succeed. The paper combines the country shares with the Bank's investment data to estimate optimal country allocations for each environmental problem. Finally, it aggregates the country results to allocations for the major regions in which the Bank operates. Combining optimal investments for pollution and fragile lands, it finds that the largest share of total investment goes to East Asia (44 percent), followed by South Asia (21 percent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (19 percent). Other regions get significantly lower shares.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Water and Industry,Earth Sciences&GIS,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Earth Sciences&GIS,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Water and Industry,Agricultural Research

It’s Not Only Rents: Explaining the Persistence and Change of Neopatrimonialism in Indonesia

Indonesia has long been associated with neopatrimonialism, corruption, collusion, and nepotism as the main modi operandi of politics, economics and public administration. Despite various measures and initiatives to fight these practises, little evidence for a significant decline can be found over the years. Rather, longitudinal analysis points to changes in the character of neopatrimonialism. Based on more than 60 in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions, and the analysis of both primary and secondary data, the aim of this article is, first, to describe the changes that have taken place, and, second, to investigate what accounts for these changes. Political economy concepts posit the amount and development of economic rents as the explanatory factor for the persistence and change of neopatrimonialism. This study's findings, however, indicate that rents alone cannot explain what has taken place in Indonesia. Democratisation and decentralisation exert a stronger impact

Valuing mortality risks to children

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Protected areas: an effective tool to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries

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Temperature-Controlled Mechanochemistry for the Nickel-Catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura-Type Coupling of Aryl Sulfamates via Ball Milling and Twin-Screw Extrusion

The use of temperature-controlled mechanochemistry to enable the mechanochemical nickel-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling is herein described. Transitioning from a capricious room-temperature protocol, through to a heated, PID-controlled programmable jar heater manifold was required to deliver an efficient method for the coupling of aryl sulfamates (derived from ubiquitous phenols) and aryl boronic acid species. Furthermore, this process is conducted using a base-metal nickel catalyst, in the absence of bulk solvent, and in the absence of air/moisture sensitive reaction set-ups. This methodology is showcased through translation to large-scale twin-screw extrusion methodology enabling 200-fold scale increase, producing decagram quantities of C-C coupled material