Does climate aid affect emissions? Evidence from a global dataset

Donor countries have been using international aid in the field of energy for at least three decades now. The stated objective of this policy is to reduce emissions and promote sustainable development in the global south. In spite of the widespread use of this policy tool, very little is known about its effect on emissions. In this paper we perform an empirical audit of the effectiveness of climate aid in tackling CO2 and SO2 emissions. Using a global panel dataset covering up to 131 countries over the period 1961 to 2011 and estimating a parsimonious model using the Anderson and Hsiao estimator we do not find any evidence of a systematic effect of energy related aid on emissions. We also find that the non-effect is not conditional on institutional quality or level of income. Countries located in Europe and Central Asia does better than others in utilising climate aid to reduce CO2 emissions. Our results are robust after controlling for the Environmental Kuznets Curve, country fixed effects, country specific trends, and time varying common shocks

Unbundled debt and economic growth in developed and developing economies: an empirical analysis

We unbundle the effect of debt on economic growth using a new panel dataset sourced from Vague (2014) for 48 countries over the period 1961 to 2015. We distinguish between public, private, household, and non-financial corporation debt. We use the PVAR approach, Granger Causality Tests, and Impulse Response to establish causality. We also test the heterogeneity in the debt growth relationship across developed and developing countries. In our full sample of countries all types of debt appear to be harmful for economic growth. The negative effect of public debt appears to be uniform across developed and developing countries, although the impact is much stronger on developed countries. Household debt appears to be expansionary in developing countries whereas contractionary in developed countries. Non-financial corporation debt appears to have no impact on developing countries but negative impact on developed countries. Finally, total debt (i.e. the sum of public, household and non-financial corporation debt) has a negative impact on growth in developed countries but no impact is detected in the case of developing countries

Economic diversification in resource rich countries: uncovering the state of knowledge

Diversification is often presented as a desirable policy objective for petroleum rich nations. Yet very little is known about the causes and consequences of diversification in petroleum rich states. In this paper we review the recent literature on diversification in oil-exporting states. We identify gaps and shortcomings in this literature along with documenting some trends in non-oil exports and non-oil private sector employment in hydrocarbon rich countries. We conclude with an agenda for research addressing the potential gaps in the literature

Does energy related aid affect emissions? Evidence from a global dataset

Donor countries have been using international aid in the field of energy for at least three decades now. The stated objective of this policy is to reduce emissions and promote sustainable development in the global south. In spite of the widespread use of this policy tool,very little is known about its effect on emissions. In this paper we perform an empirical audit of the effectiveness of energy related aid in tackling CO2 and SO2 emissions. Using a global panel dataset covering 128 countries over the period 1971 to 2011 and estimating a parsimonious model using the Anderson and Hsiao estimator we do not find any evidence of a systematic effect of energy related aid on emissions. We also find that the non-effect is not conditional on institutional quality or level of income. Countries located in Europe and Central Asia do better than others in utilising this aid to reduce CO2 emissions. Our results are robust after controlling for the Environmental Kuznets Curve, country fixed effects, country specific trends, and time varying common shocks

Foreign aid network diversification and its impact on growth, growth acceleration, and growth spell

A diversified aid network could improve growth by reducing volatility. Alternatively, it could harm growth by encouraging waste and corruption. In this paper we test the effect of aid diversification on growth, growth acceleration, and growth duration. Using a large data set with a maximum of 126 countries over the period 1965–2010 and estimating three types of models (panel vector auto regression, binary dependent variable, and duration), we find the following. First, a diversified aid network Granger causes growth. Second, the “growth acceleration episodes” identified following the definition of Hausmann et al. (Journal of Economic Growth, 2005, 10, 303–329) do not seem to be affected by aid diversification. Third, the “growth spells” identified using Berg et al.’s definition appear to be prone to premature termination as a result of aid concentration. Our results appear to be robust to a wide array of tests and alternative measures of aid diversification

Financial development – does it lessen poverty?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of financial development on poverty reduction in developing countries. The paper also investigates whether financial development affects poverty via institutional quality and GDP growth. Design/methodology/approach: To take into account the dynamics nature of panel data and country-specific effects, the authors use a two-step system GMM estimator. The authors also employ a large array of measures of financial development in order to check the robustness of the results. The analysis is carried out for a sample of developing countries using an unbalanced panel data set covering the period 1985-2008. Findings: The authors find that financial development plays a significant role in reducing absolute poverty. However, the authors do not find any pro-poor impact of financial development when poverty is measured in relative terms. The authors show that the impact of financial development on poverty alleviation is statistically significant when liquid liabilities and credit granted to the private sector are used as a proxy of financial development. The results on the indirect effect of financial development indicate that financial sector development has larger effects on poverty reduction when institutional arrangements are sound or/and when economic growth is high. Practical implications: The findings suggest that the inference for a pro-poor effect of financial development depends primarily on the measure of poverty and the choice of the proxy for financial development. Banking sector reforms may be an effective instrument to tackle absolute levels poverty. However, the policy makers should not rely only on financial reforms, regardless of whether they are based on banks or stock markets, to narrow the gap between the poorest quintile of the population and the richer quintiles. Rather, they should also utilize fiscal policies, such as progressive taxation and public-expenditure projects, to redistribute resources. Originality/value: The paper differs from the previous studies in several ways. First, it studies the financial development-poverty nexus using three alternative indices of poverty. Second, this study focusses on a sample of developing countries only. As the structure and development level of the financial sector in poor and rich countries could differ significantly, focussing on developing countries helps mitigate the problem of heterogeneity arising from using a pooled sample of rich and poor countries. Third, robust estimation methods are applied that take into account the dynamic nature of empirical models and country-specific effects

Economic diversification in resource rich countries: history, state of knowledge and research agenda

Is economic diversification desirable for a resource rich country? Our knowledge on this issue is at best partial. This paper revisits the literature on diversification in resource rich states. It maps the history of diversification, identifies gaps in the literature and documents some trends in the data. In particular, it exposes limitations in the data and catalogues trends in non-oil exports and non-oil private sector employment. It concludes with an agenda for research

Electric-Field-Induced Deformation Dynamics of a Single Nematic Disclination

Disclinations in nematic liquid crystals usually adopt a straight shape in order to minimize their elastic energy. Once created in the course of a nonequilibrium process such as a temperature quench from the isotropic to the nematic phase, the topologically stable disclinations of half-integer strength either annihilate each other in pairs of opposite strength or form topologically unstable disclinations of integer strength. In this article, we demonstrate that the annihilation process can be inhibited and the defects can be deformed by an applied electric field. We study the disclination lines in the deep uniaxial nematic phase, located at the boundary between two different types of walls, the so-called π wall (a planar soliton stabilized by the surface anchoring) and the Brochard-Léger (BL) wall stabilized by the applied electric field. By changing the electric voltage, one can control the energy of director deformations associated with the two walls and thus control the deformation and dynamics of the disclination line. At small voltages, the disclinations are straight lines connecting the opposite plates of the cell, located at the two ends of the π walls. The π walls tend to shrink. When the voltage increases above EF, the Fréedericksz threshold, the BL walls appear and connect pairs of disclinations along a path complementary to the π wall. At E>2EF, the BL walls store sufficient energy to prevent shrinking of the π walls. Reconstruction of the three-dimensional director configuration using a fluorescent confocal polarizing microscopy demonstrates that the disclinations are strongly bent in the region between the π and the BL walls. The distortions and the related dynamics are associated with the transformation of the BL wall into two surface disclination lines; we characterize it experimentally as a function of the applied electric field, the cell thickness, and the sample temperature. A simple model captures the essential details of the experimental data.</p

A selective ER-phagy exerts procollagen quality control via a Calnexin-FAM134B complex

Autophagy is a cytosolic quality control process that recognizes substrates through receptor‐mediated mechanisms. Procollagens, the most abundant gene products in Metazoa, are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and a fraction that fails to attain the native structure is cleared by autophagy. However, how autophagy selectively recognizes misfolded procollagens in the ER lumen is still unknown. We performed siRNA interference, CRISPR‐Cas9 or knockout‐mediated gene deletion of candidate autophagy and ER proteins in collagen producing cells. We found that the ER‐resident lectin chaperone Calnexin (CANX) and the ER‐phagy receptor FAM134B are required for autophagy‐mediated quality control of endogenous procollagens. Mechanistically, CANX acts as co‐receptor that recognizes ER luminal misfolded procollagens and interacts with the ER‐phagy receptor FAM134B. In turn, FAM134B binds the autophagosome membrane‐associated protein LC3 and delivers a portion of ER containing both CANX and procollagen to the lysosome for degradation. Thus, a crosstalk between the ER quality control machinery and the autophagy pathway selectively disposes of proteasome‐resistant misfolded clients from the ER.ISSN:0261-4189ISSN:1460-207