Foreign Direct Investment and Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The aim of this study is to empirically examine the determinants of FDI and environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1985-2012. This thesis provides a novel framework to examine determinants of FDI and their relationship to sustainable development, particularly in the context where most sub-Saharan African countries are characterised by relatively less stringent environmental regulations and have also adopted substantial structural reforms, mainly driven by liberalisation and private-sector participation. The study begins with the empirical application of the theoretical framework of the modified knowledge-capital (KC) model of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to determine the motives for FDI in sub-Saharan Africa. Using bilateral panel dataset for 30 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) parent countries and 28 sub-Saharan African host countries, the results indicate that both horizontal and vertical investments are important to sub-Saharan Africa’s economy. Furthermore, MNEs are increasingly mobile, searching sub-Saharan Africa for markets, lower costs, raw materials and agglomeration economies. The findings reveal that relative environmental regulatory stringency difference between the parent and host country is a positive and significant determinant of inward FDI, providing evidence of a pollution haven in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, using the aggregate variable approach, the study provides an empirical model for examining FDI patterns in 13 sub-Saharan African countries. We construct the new dataset on structural reforms and environmental regulatory stringency based on the energy use approach. The study shows that inward FDI to the region is determined by the host country’s level of environmental regulation. The findings indicate that MNEs exploits favourable economic conditions, growth prospect, governance and institutional quality, return on investment, human capital, infrastructure, natural resources and agglomeration economies. Further, trade liberalisation can help promote FDI, however, financial liberalisation such as financial sector development and bank efficiency as well as privatisation of state-owned enterprises has no compelling effect on productive FDI to the region. The results also suggest that more stringent environmental regulation in host countries deter inward productive FDI. We confirm the presence of a pollution haven in sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, the role of FDI for sustainable development is empirically examined. Using the extended Stochastic Impact by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) framework, this study conducts a comparative analysis for Nigeria and South Africa during the period of review. We examine the short-run and long-run dynamics between CO2 emissions and its determinants. Urbanisation contributes to CO2 emissions reduction in South Africa, while population growth does not increase CO2 emissions in both countries. The findings confirm that economic growth and energy consumption are key determinants of CO2 emissions in both countries. While South Africa has maintained a significant reduction in energy intensity and a lesser impact of economic growth on the environment, Nigeria is different. We find no evidence in support of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Moreover, FDI has a negative effect on CO2 emissions in Nigeria. This supports the pollution halo hypothesis, which posits that FDI is conducive to the transfer and diffusion of ‘clean’ (energy) technology. The results also suggest that strengthening governance and democratic institutions could improve environmental sustainability

Letter from Marian O. Hooker to John Muir, 1905 Aug 13.

1020 Washington St.San FranciscoAugust 13 - 1905My dear Mr. Muir - Your letter to my Father which was forwarded to my mother and me, brought us the first word we had received of your great loss - I cannot express the sympathy we feel for you and your daughters - We hear that Miss Helen is back in 03612 Arizona and that you and Miss Wanda join her soon - I hope her lung is gaining in strength and that she is on the road to complete recovery.My warmest regards to you all.Faithfully yours,Marian O. Hooke

Letter from Marian O. Hooker to John Muir, 1913 May 18.

[4]the island - We expect to reach Paris during the first week of July.Very Sincerely Yours,Marian O. Hooker.[1][letterhead]May 18, 1913My dear Mr. Muir_Your book with its much-appreciated inscription, came to me in time to be my traveling companion, and has afforded me great pleasure and interest - also many happy recollections of places and times where much of the material of the book gave greater pleasure to campfire and mountains05453 [2]haunt meMy present days have by no means the joy of the mountains. I never was meant for a sailor, and though this steady ship and fairly smooth sea make the trip far more comfortable than any I have had on the Atlantic before, I haven\u27t the slightest desire to prolong it by an hour.Mother wishes me to give you her love and tell you she had your letter. She thought[3]she had given you our address - it is Bank of Montreal9 Waterloo PlacePall Mall S.W.London.Letters from there will be forwarded to us. It looks so far as though the weather would offer no objection to our landing at [Grumstorm?]. I suppose we shall go on to London after about a week, and from there start excursioning aroun

Social Networks, Social Support, and Contextual Factors That Affect Blood Glucose Control Among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Urban Ghana

This study used primary data from Kumasi, Ghana, to examine whether social networks, social support, diabetes-related stigma, religion, and traditional medicine affected blood glucose (HbA1c) control among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). First, the study evaluated whether three social network characteristics (kin composition, household composition, and network density) were directly or indirectly (via social support) associated with HbA1c. Kin composition and household composition were significantly associated with social support. Neither network characteristics nor social support were associated with HbA1c, which suggests that social network characteristics may operate through mechanisms other than social support to affect HbA1c among study participants. Secondly, the study examined whether self-, perceived, or enacted stigma moderated associations between social network characteristics (network size, kin composition, household composition, and network density), social support, and HbA1c. Among study participants reporting low self-stigma, kin composition was positively associated with social support, but this association was not found among those reporting moderate self-stigma. Finally, the study assessed whether the frequency of participation in religious activities and the use of traditional medicine practitioners were associated with HbA1c control. Increased participation in religious activities was associated with decreased HbA1c, which suggests that religious activity may play a beneficial role in T2DM management among Ghanaians who identify as religious. Overall, this study provides important insights about the roles of social networks in T2DM management among Ghanaians, the detrimental effects of stigma on the social support that emanates from those social networks, and the influence of religion and traditional medicine on HbA1c control

Physiological study of cold acclimation in Rhododendron sp. with emphasis on role of dehydrins

In this study we established the significance of 25 kDa dehydrin accumulation during cold acclimation (CA) in a wide array of Rhododendron species. These species (24 in total) belong to two diverse subgenera, Hymenanthes and Rhododendron, native to diverse latitudes and altitudes. The dehydrin of interest is highly conserved in Rhododendron genus and was present and up-regulated during CA in all the species studied with one exception---R. brookeanum ---a species adapted to tropics. Some other dehydrins were also found to accumulate in response to cold acclimation in several species, but none of these accumulated consistently. Experimental data show that there is no correlation between the absolute amount of 25 kDa dehydrin and the degree of leaf hardiness in cold acclimated plants. Moreover, a higher number of dehydrin species in a particular genotype does not necessarily translate into more hardy Rhododendron. However, our results suggest that the cold-inducibility of a 25 kDa dehydrin is positively correlated with cold acclimation ability in Rhododendron. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

On the Road Again

Billboards, the advertising behemoths that line our highways, did you ever wonder just what happens to them after their month or more appearance on Route 35? I set out to find out the answer to that very question and to find out if the material was suitable for apparel. The answer is: they are taken down and rolled up bundled in a tight dirty roll with duct tape then tossed in a dingy warehouse on the outskirts of an industrial park and after a few months in that state they most likely become part of the local landfill! Discovering this I set out to repurpose a discarded billboard skin into a functional creative garment that would be deemed marketable to the contemporary woman

From Eternal to Personal World Order: An Analysis of Milton, Swift, and Twain

The particular mental concept through which an author views the universe which surrounds him with which he must interact will, by extension, influence the way his literary characters relate themselves to the world in which he places them. It is of value to analyze the nature of that influence. If the author’s vision of reality is consistent with that of the immediately accepted world viewpoint, he will probably embrace that concept in his writings. Another Author who is aware of changes in the popular mode of viewing the universe may reflect these in what he writes, and the nuances of that reflection may presage that direction of future alternations in the original concept while a writer who is discontent with the particular spectacles his upbringing has provided him for world-viewing may reveal the evolution of his conflict, perhaps its eventual resolution, in the body of his writing. A comparison of writings of John Milton (seventeenth century), Johnathan Swift (eighteenth century), and Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, (nineteenth century) should demonstrate these ideas