Scoping study on the evolution of industry in Ghana

This paper chronicles the evolution of industry in Ghana over the post-independence era from an inward over-protected import substitution industrialization strategy of 1960-83 to an outward liberalized strategy during 1984-2000, and since 2001, to the private sector-led accelerated industrial development strategy based on value-added processing of Ghana's natural resource endowments. Over the last couple of years, industry in Ghana, dominated since independence by the manufacturing subsector, is gradually being overtaken by mining and quarrying subsector due to the discovery and subsequent production of oil and gas. Industry is mainly dominated by micro and small firms, privately-owned and mainly located within urban areas in the form of industrial clusters. Patterns of labour productivity and wages within Ghana's industrial sector indicate the food processing subsector, foreign-owned and older firms as the most productive. Currently under a medium-term agenda, the industrial sector is expected to play a pivotal role through enhanced growth in the construction sector; infrastructure development in the oil sector, energy and water subsectors and an increase in output from the mining sector, especially in salt production. The emerging policy issues relate to the key developmental objectives of the current industrial policy including how to empower the private sector especially SMEs to expand productive employment and technological capacity within a highly competitive manufacturing sector; how to promote agro-based industrial development to ensure value-addition to manufactures and Ghana's exports; and how to promote the spatial distribution of industries away from the current over-concentration of industries within urban areas

Education, skill, and earnings: Further evidence from Ghana

This paper provides evidence on the nature of returns to education in Ghana and confirms the emerging empirical literature on the convexity of returns to education in Ghana. Using a basic Mincerian, model we find that returns to education more than triples from primary to secondary level or higher - an indication of a rather strong convex relationship. The results point to the importance of higher education in productivity. Nonetheless educational policies should not only be directed at increasing enrolment and quality of education at the secondary and higher educational levels but also at improving the quality of basic education

Media Preferences among Consumers: Empirical Evidence from Ghana

Advertising is at the heart of any effective marketing communication campaign since it is a cost effective tool at communicating to masses of people. However, selecting the appropriate medium or a mix to use in advertising is a difficult task because of the abundance of advertising media and channels. The advent of internet technology and the rate at which it is becoming a part of social life and purchase behaviour has presented another medium that could possibly be used in communicating to targeted audience. However, there are few relevant studies on media preference of consumers and how it relates to advertising in Ghana. This study was aimed at assessing consumers’ preference for both traditional and contemporary media used in advertising to determine how gender differences and seasonality affect consumers’ usage of these media. 100 fully completed structured questionnaires were used to seek responses. By employing the Mann-Whitney U test and the Wilcoxon signed ranks tests, it was revealed that although there were no significant differences in media preference with regards to gender, seasonality had a significant impact on the usage frequency of the traditional media. Only internet was not significantly affected by seasonal changes. Therefore, advertisers need to be wary of how seasonal changes affect the number of respondents who will receive the message being communicated on the traditional media. Keywords: Advertising, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and consumer media preference

A data envelopment analysis based evaluation of sustainable energy generation portfolio scenarios

Generating secure, affordable, and clean energy requires careful evaluation of the costs and associated risks of different energy generation sources. Portfolio optimisation models are commonly used in this regard to help diversify risks associated with generation sources. In recent times, energy policies often require the consideration of the environmental and social effects of such activity. Consequently, sustainability has become a key factor in making energy mix planning decisions. To incorporate sustainability considerations in energy mix planning, the conventional approach has been to add indicators for environmental and social costs to the total generation cost for each available technology in a portfolio optimisation model. However, this approach to developing a sustainable generation mix may not effectively address all dimensions of sustainability. In most cases, the economic dimension is prioritised over social and environmental factors. We examine how various aggregation methods impact the preference among the sources and the optimal portfolio mix and propose aggregation methods that effectively incorporate all sustainability dimensions. We observed that technology ranking based on multiplicative, pairwise interaction, and multilinear aggregation options aligns better with our sustainability goals than additive aggregation. By adopting these methods of aggregation, we were able to include more renewable and clean energy sources in our optimal portfolios

A data envelopment analysis based evaluation of sustainable energy generation portfolio scenarios

Generating secure, affordable, and clean energy requires careful evaluation of the costs and associated risks of different energy generation sources. Portfolio optimisation models are commonly used in this regard to help diversify risks associated with generation sources. In recent times, energy policies often require the consideration of the environmental and social effects of such activity. Consequently, sustainability has become a key factor in making energy mix planning decisions. To incorporate sustainability considerations in energy mix planning, the conventional approach has been to add indicators for environmental and social costs to the total generation cost for each available technology in a portfolio optimisation model. However, this approach to developing a sustainable generation mix may not effectively address all dimensions of sustainability. In most cases, the economic dimension is prioritised over social and environmental factors. We examine how various aggregation methods impact the preference among the sources and the optimal portfolio mix and propose aggregation methods that effectively incorporate all sustainability dimensions. We observed that technology ranking based on multiplicative, pairwise interaction, and multilinear aggregation options aligns better with our sustainability goals than additive aggregation. By adopting these methods of aggregation, we were able to include more renewable and clean energy sources in our optimal portfolios

An examination of motivation factors driving investor behaviours towards socially responsible community energy initiatives

Community energy initiatives play a significant role at the grassroots level in the transition to Renewable Energy Communities and a low-carbon economy. However, these initiatives are hampered by multiple barriers at the market, institutional, organisational, and individual level. Funding cuts of state-supported feed-in tariff (FiT) policy in major markets such as Germany, Japan, China and the additional capping of the number of new installations that could be accredited under the FiT scheme in the UK. In light of these market changes and the need to accelerate the development and growth through the creation of new and/or complementary future community energy models consisting of private investors, a detailed understanding of the dynamics of community energy investor characteristics and socio-psychological motivations is increasingly important. First, a review is conducted including the theories that underpin and explain the factors that affect investor behaviour, after which a conceptual framework to examine investor behaviours towards socially responsible community energy initiatives is developed. The framework is used as the basis to construct and administer a survey involving sampling of 295 UK investors in community energy initiatives and the subsequent statistical analysis of the survey data and discussions of the findings. The results first capture the differences among investors with differingregional affect and investment behaviours. The study also provides the needed insight into better understanding the dynamics of investor characteristics and motivations of community energy initiatives. Results also indicate that investors are predominantly ethically-oriented, particularly toward environmental concerns. Additionally, community and social factors also appear to play significant roles in investor participation while financial orientation is least dominant

An examination of motivation factors driving investor behaviours towards socially responsible community energy initiatives

Community energy initiatives play a significant role at the grassroots level in the transition to Renewable Energy Communities and a low-carbon economy. However, these initiatives are hampered by multiple barriers at the market, institutional, organisational, and individual level. Funding cuts of state-supported feed-in tariff (FiT) policy in major markets such as Germany, Japan, China and the additional capping of the number of new installations that could be accredited under the FiT scheme in the UK. In light of these market changes and the need to accelerate the development and growth through the creation of new and/or complementary future community energy models consisting of private investors, a detailed understanding of the dynamics of community energy investor characteristics and socio-psychological motivations is increasingly important. First, a review is conducted including the theories that underpin and explain the factors that affect investor behaviour, after which a conceptual framework to examine investor behaviours towards socially responsible community energy initiatives is developed. The framework is used as the basis to construct and administer a survey involving sampling of 295 UK investors in community energy initiatives and the subsequent statistical analysis of the survey data and discussions of the findings. The results first capture the differences among investors with differingregional affect and investment behaviours. The study also provides the needed insight into better understanding the dynamics of investor characteristics and motivations of community energy initiatives. Results also indicate that investors are predominantly ethically-oriented, particularly toward environmental concerns. Additionally, community and social factors also appear to play significant roles in investor participation while financial orientation is least dominant

Sustainability assessment of energy production: A critical review of methods, measures and issues

Sustainable operations of energy production systems have become an increasingly important policy agenda globally because of the massive pressure placed on energy resources needed to support economic development and population growth. Due to the increasing research interest in examining the operational impacts of energy production systems on the society and the environment, this paper critically reviews the academic literature on the clean, affordable and secure supply of energy focussing on methods of assessments, measures of sustainability and emerging issues in the literature. While there have been some surveys on the sustainability of energy production systems they have either tended to focus on one assessment approach or one type of energy generation technology. This study builds on previous studies by providing a broader and comprehensive examination of the literature across generation technologies and assessment methods. A systematic review of 128 scholarly articles covering a 20-year period, ending 2018, and gathered from ProQuest, Scopus, and manual search is conducted. Synthesis and critical evaluation of the reviewed papers highlight a number of research gaps that exist within the sustainable energy production systems research domain. In addition, using mapping and cluster analyses, the paper visually highlights the network of dominant research issues, which emerged from the review

Strategies to decrease inequalities in cancer therapeutics, care and prevention: Proceedings on a conference organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the European Academy of Cancer Sciences, Vatican City, February 23–24, 2023

Analyses of inequalities related to prevention and cancer therapeutics/care show disparities between countries with different economic standing, and within countries with high Gross Domestic Product. The development of basic technological and biological research provides clinical and prevention opportunities that make their implementation into healthcare systems more complex, mainly due to the growth of Personalized/Precision Cancer Medicine (PCM). Initiatives like the USA-Cancer Moonshot and the EU-Mission on Cancer and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan are initiated to boost cancer prevention and therapeutics/care innovation and to mitigate present inequalities. The conference organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the European Academy of Cancer Sciences discussed the inequality problem, dependent on the economic status of a country, the increasing demands for infrastructure supportive of innovative research and its implementation in healthcare and prevention programs. Establishing translational research defined as a coherent cancer research continuum is still a challenge. Research has to cover the entire continuum from basic to outcomes research for clinical and prevention modalities. Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCCs) are of critical importance for integrating research innovations to preclinical and clinical research, as for ensuring state-of-the-art patient care within healthcare systems. International collaborative networks between CCCs are necessary to reach the critical mass of infrastructures and patients for PCM research, and for introducing prevention modalities and new treatments effectively. Outcomes and health economics research are required to assess the cost-effectiveness of new interventions, currently a missing element in the research portfolio. Data sharing and critical mass are essential for innovative research to develop PCM. Despite advances in cancer research, cancer incidence and prevalence is growing. Making cancer research infrastructures accessible for all patients, considering the increasing inequalities, requires science policy actions incentivizing research aimed at prevention and cancer therapeutics/care with an increased focus on patients' needs and cost-effective healthcare

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Production and Consumption: DEA Systems Modelling of Complex Internal Structures

Sustainability and sustainable development research have become a very important part in the development of energy policy. This has resulted in growing research interest in the assessment of the sustainable performance of energy systems using methodological tools such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). However, existing sustainability evaluation has tended to either focus on production and environmental impacts at the electricity generation phase or focussed on the use of electricity for some economic or social benefits given the environmental impacts. Assessing the production and use phases separately ignores the interlinkages between energy security, clean energy and energy equity policies, the so-called energy trilemma. This limitation with existing energy research is due to the differences in the electricity generation portfolios of different countries, the complex interrelationships between policy variables and the weaknesses of existing quantitative techniques to handle such complex sustainability problems.To address this shortcoming, this thesis draws on advances in network and non-homogenous DEA and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory to examine the application of DEA in sustainable energy research. European Union (EU) states are used as case studies to demonstrate the applications of these techniques. Specifically, DEA optimisation models are developed to allow for the integration of the generation and consumption phases of the energy system by adopting a systems approach to modelling while recognising the differences in the generation portfolios of the different EU states and allowing for cross-country comparison. Additionally, given the varying theoretical perspectives on sustainability in the literature, some of these divergent views are incorporated in the sustainable portfolio generation and energy consumption evaluations. Consequently, this thesis contributes to existing energy sustainability research by proposing novel approaches for handling non-homogeneity in electricity generation portfolios, developing models to provide holistic decision support and developing models to evaluate the incorporation of sustainability in electricity portfolio mix decisions.These are achieved by addressing three main research objectives. The first objective pertains to the generation phase of the energy system. Specifically, DEA optimisation models are developed to assess sustainability and resource efficiency in electricity production. In the production phase, since units have different portfolios of generation sources, there exist non-homogeneity in the sub-processes of units under investigation. This sub-process non-homogeneity problem has not yet been addressed in the literature. Consequently, two approaches for addressing these non-homogeneities are proposed. The distinction between the two proposed approaches is whether the non-existent sub-processes are included in the model to determine optimal multipliers or not. A comparison of the proposed approaches with a traditional network DEA reveals differences in the overall scores and rankings of units under investigation. This underscores the need to ensure appropriate model correction where there exists such non-homogeneity within sub-processes, especially in the presence of shared inputs/outputs in parallel network DEA. Empirical assessment of resource efficient and sustainable production of the European electricity generation systems revealed average scores of between 0.4 and 0.6, over the study period, without a clear pattern towards performance improvement.The second objective is to develop models for a holistic assessment of the energy system by integrating electricity production and consumption phases. While the production phase is composed of eleven parallel sub-processes, the consumption phase comprises three multi-stage serial sub-systems representing social development, economic development and environmental performance. Therefore, the integrated model is a mixed structure network problem that can provide decision support for both the generation and the consumption phases, as well as provide recommendations for the entire system. In addressing this objective, improvements to existing assessments are made. This includes incorporating electricity as a vital input and employment as a vital output in social development assessment; linking employment as an intermediate factor between social and economic development assessments; and determining environmental performance from emissions and bio-capacity. In the empirical application it was observed that, higher performers in the generation phase are not necessarily higher performers in the consumption phase. While higher performers in the generation phase include Estonia, Poland and Greece, higher performers in the consumption phase include Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus. An integrated assessment, therefore, provides policy makers with a good understanding of the entire system which may not be evident in the phased assessments.The final objective examines the implication of sustainability in energy portfolio mix planning. Awareness of environmental and social impacts of energy generation has resulted in the incorporation of sustainability as a relevant consideration in energy mix planning decisions using portfolio optimisation. Current approaches for portfolio analyses has tended to add external (social) and environmental costs dimensions to operational (economic) costs to cater for sustainability in energy mix planning. It is shown that attempting to combine the various sustainability associated cost dimensions by adding the respective cost from the various dimensions has the potential to negate the relevance of some of the dimensions, thereby, making some dimensions more important than others. The result is optimal portfolios which may be inconsistent with expectations on sustainability. Relying on Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, the impact of the interactions and other relationships between the various components on technology ranking and optimal portfolios are explored. DEA is employed to examine the impact of the relationship between the cost dimensions on the technology ranking. The mean-variance framework is then used to construct optimal portfolios based on the different dimension relationships. It is found that portfolios constructed using multiplicative pooling of dimensions best conform to the expectations of sustainability while achieving lower emission potential and use of higher renewable energy sources given a cost minimisation objective. For example, additive pooling results in higher rankings for gas and coal powered power plants when compared to hydro, solar and biomass even though gas and coal under-perform renewable sources in two out of the three sustainability dimensions. It is, therefore, recommended that when constructing sustainable portfolio of generation sources, multiplicative pooling of cost dimensions along the sustainability objectives should be preferred