Economic Growth

As powerful and influential as they are, history has shown us metropoliss are vulnerable to extremist alterations, albeit if they are good or bad, forced or uncoerced, they bear the capablenesss to transform the city.

This essay aims to research how a metropolis can be transformed by a force, and as a premier illustration the designated metropolis chosen is Dubai. As one of the biggest and fastest turning metropoliss, the metropolis is an ideal illustration as Dubai has risen quickly to make a repute for itself. It is merely within the last 30 old ages, that the metropolis has witness rapid growing, chiefly due to income generated from oil gross but besides from economic sciences and industrial developments.

Context – Dubai pre oil

Located on the Arabian Gulf, Dubai began as a hamlets for travelers and bargainers, before it was subsequently established as a fish small town in 1830. The majority of income in the country came from fishing and pearling, while the initial primary motivation for control in the country was chiefly commercial. This was due to the purpose to order the spice trade ; a critical trade good during the clip due to its usage in the saving of nutrient. The Portuguese were the first to colonize the gulf, with the British subsequently emerging as a strong influence within the Gulf part for strategic grounds.

The first stage of Dubai’s urban development occurred from 1900 to 1955 ; nevertheless the overall growing was slow and limited due to economic restraints and fringy growing in population. British influence remained strong during this period, highlighted through the country’s aid with a series of development undertakings. At the clip many of these undertakings were arranged in expectancy of fiscal addition from oil gross. However British hegemony finally weakened following WW2, taking to a planetary rise in anti-colonial motions, with the united provinces emerging as a replacing.

Dubai as a part was divided into countries located at the oral cavity of the brook, by which the full population was confined to three little enclaves. This country was of great importance at the clip, as the chief gross of income came from fishing and pearl diving. Until 1955, the urban country did non transcend 320 hectare, with the big bulk of the land used for residential intents, while countries for commercial infinite were limited. Prior to the first building of a concrete edifice in 1956, the huge bulk of local dwellers lived in traditional ‘Barasti’ places, built from thenar fronds. The places were built in bunchs to supply the occupants with privateness, but besides tribal security as a group.

Discovery of oil

The find of oil in commercial measures in 1966, acted as the accelerator for rapid growing and substructure development within Dubai. Aware that the finite resource will finally go scarce, the pick was made to diversify the country’s economic foundations, with touristry the desired sector. The gross generated as a consequence, was invested into substructure developments such as schools, infirmaries, roads and besides a modern telecommunications web. This urban growing was allowed due to 3 chief factors ; economic richness, technological progresss in transit and besides political alterations over land usage.

While the touristry sector generates the bulk of the city’s surplus, the province besides additions value through a series of free-trade zones and high tech bunchs. This attracts companies to put and re-located to Dubai, due to freedom and openness of Dubai’s trading Torahs, with the correlativity of greatest growing in mega enclaves or specialized bunchs.

The first stage of Dubai’s urban growing was characterised as spacial enlargement established through size, visual aspect, and the city’s urban morphology, while the 2nd stage was focused on the thought of compact growing. This period extended from 1955 to 1970, during which British influence still remained strong, reflected through the states influence on assorted undertakings, such as that of British designer Jon Harris. In 1960 Harris manifested the thought of giving Dubai a more functional and modern layout, through the proviso of a route system, and specific countries for ; industry, commercial, public and residential countries, and besides the creative activity of a new town Centre.

Dubai after oil
The find of oil in commercial measures drove Dubai’s economic addition, leting the metropolis to spread out at a more rapid rate. In 1971, Harris’ new maestro program was introduced to better the city’s substructure, while his vision to spatially organize the metropolis into countries of different usage was besides manifested. Numerous developments besides occurred on the corridor along Skeikh Zayed Road, Nicknamed ‘new Dubai’ , the country emerged as the new commercial and fiscal Centre of the metropolis.

There is an compulsion for everything to be monumental and record breakage, highlighted through the heroic proportions of Dubai’s undertakings ; the tallest edifice, the biggest unreal island, the largest subject park, biggest promenade and the largest international airdrome, are a few to the list. Dubai’s urban individuality is of all time altering, with the strive to make extraordinary architecture shown through the latest proposal of a 1:1 graduated table of the world’s best of, dwelling of landmarks such as the Eiffel tower and pyramids of Giza.

Spatially, Dubai is divided into ‘city’s’ which cater for different industries, while many of the Dubai’s skyscrapers are located along Sheikh Zayed Road, a stretch of main road associating Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Of the assorted ‘city’s’ , the chief consist of an ‘internet’ metropolis, an substructure environment which caters for the city’s’ ICT on a local and planetary scope. Situated nearby is Media metropolis, which is arranged in a similar manner to internet metropolis, with the primary industry directed at media, while ‘studio city’ is a developed country which caters for production demands. Amidst the rapid enlargement of industrial metropoliss, and sky scrapers, there is an interesting deficiency of cultural undertakings such as museums and Centres, once more perchance raising the point of a soulless metropolis.

The population of Dubai in 1995 counted at about 700,000, while the figure now stands at over 2 million, a drastic addition in a short period of clip. This figure is multi-cultural, with the locals organizing minority, and amidst this population combination, society is really unfastened minded. This free and unfastened political orientation has helped Dubai’s growing as it encourages investing and touristry. There are downsides, with the diverse population mix, and location of the metropolis at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, intending the part can be vulnerable to a figure of struggles. However these struggles have been resolved spatially, achieved through a policy which promotes co-existence, but can besides be defined as controlled segregation through defined lodgers such as enclaves and zones.

While the rapid growing is monumental and without uncertainty impressive, there are critics to the Dubai’s growing. The mega undertakings are perceived as economic and corporately driven, with the metropolis missing distinguishable history and ‘soul’ . Even so that the Burj lead designer Tom Wright admitted he did non cognize where Dubai was located prior to the undertaking. The Sail and thenars are easy recognizable symbols, and have been used smartly as a selling gambit. Claimed as symbols of Dubai, they are act more as cosmopolitan characters and are non needfully entirely linked to Dubai or the UAE.

Decision:

It is without uncertainty that the find of oil on a commercial graduated table has been the chief drive force behind Dubai’s drastic alteration from a fishing small town, to planetary mega metropolis. The gross generated has acted as the springboard for investings, and development on big graduated tables ; nevertheless other complecting factors have to be considered for the city’s transmutation. The province control free market capitalist economy helps supply Dubai with an unfastened market to turn, really much like how China has, while in comparing to metropoliss such as London, which is restricted by its history. The strategic move to diversify and turn Dubai into a expansive tourer finish, was the concluding portion of mystifier as to talk, with the addition in monumental undertakings such as ‘The universe islands’ , ‘The Palm’ and Burj Khalifa, merely a few to call, which cater for tourers, and besides specify Dubai as a metropolis.

Amidst the flashiness and glamor, the metropolis is non a functional as it appears to be, with many to the freshly formed edifices, aimed towards bring forthing gross, opposed to spacial jobs. There is an sole nature to Dubai’s mega undertakings, with many located offshore, and controlled entree thorough a assortment of agencies: security guards, entryway fees.While societal divisions have been created within the population due to the rapid growing, frequently between the privileged, and workers. As a whole metropolis lacks historical context and individuality prior to the economic roar, whether if that is a negative or non remains to be seen, with the metropolis turning at an dismaying yet impressive rate, the sky and sea is the bound …

Text:

Davis, M. , 2008.Evil Edens: Never-never lands of Neoliberalism.s.l. : The New Press.

Elsheshtawy, Y. , 2004.Planing Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope in a globalizing universe.s.l. : Routledge.

Mangan, J. , 2008.Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management.s.l. : John Wiley & A ; Sons.

Wright, H. , 2008.Instantaneous Cities.First edition erectile dysfunction. s.l. : Black Dog Publishing ; First edition.

Brook, D. , 2013.nextcity.[ Online ] Available at:

nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-dubai-became-dubai

( Accessed 30 December 2014 ) .

Images:

Weburbanist. ( N.D )City image[ Online Image ] hypertext transfer protocol: //weburbanist.com/2011/02/21/then-now-the-stunning-speed-of-urban-development/ ( Acessed: 12 January 2015 )

David Teather. ( 2009 ) Palm Islands resort [ Online Image ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theguardian.com/business/2009/dec/21/dubai-world-dubai ( Acessed: 12 January 2015 )

Dubaiforvisitors. ( N.D ) Dubai Map [ Online Image ] hypertext transfer protocol: //dubaiforvisitors.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/dubai-map.jpg ( Acessed: 12 January 2015 )

1

The political climate in Venezuela is very unsettled, this is because of the course of action the president decides to take. However the biggest risk is to industry –type company’s that have major operations in Venezuela. This is exemplified in the operations of foreign oil companies and mining companies with operation in or with Venezuela. The greatest risk in conducting business is straightforward expropriation. Another major risk that foreign companies face while operating in Venezuela is increased income tax. The tax rates tend to be subjective and can change depending on the revenue and size (growth) of the company.

The largest risk facing any foreign company such as the proposed from class is converting the local currency (Bolivar) to outside currency. This is mainly because of the bureaucracy involved exchanging the currency, which is governed by the Central Bank of Venezuela and the National Exchange Control Administration. This is especially applicable to the U. S. currency because of current relations. * The additional expenditures accumulate because of time and resources required to transfer money abroad. Venezuela’s democracy is broken according to the standards of the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter.

This may mean that changes to the political climate to further burden the operations of business will prove to be futile. Living Conditions Venezuela has a national poverty percentage of 52% according to the World Bank. There is considerable income inequality, especially in densely populated areas. This becomes a concern because Venezuela has had massive economic growth compared to historical percentages. The unemployment rate is 6. 6% at the year-end of 2009. This is considered to be low when factoring in that many people engage in subsistence farming and small-scale trade, which is not considered part of the unemployment count.

There is a large gap in income where the population is considerably wealthy or poor to very poor. The population averages out to upper middle class income. The World Bank states that the GNI per capita in Venezuela is $12,370 USD in 2009 (The World Bank). However with 95% literacy rate we can deduce that many Venezuelans are well educated. This widens the market segment for products that involve interaction with the individual. One such example would be exercise products that come with routines by book and/or video.

Inner city residents live in apartments, condominiums and small houses, which are in close proximity. The cost of living increases closer to the city center especially in large cities such as Caracas. The inner city residents are mostly middle class to upper middle class. Upper class Venezuelans live outside the city usually in the hills in gated communities. The lower class lives in slums located in the perimeter of the cities and use public transportation to go to the city center. The lower class may also live on estates and work for the upper class in large numbers especially on large farms.

Reference

http://data.worldbank.org/country/venezuela-rb

www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35766.htm

PROJECT TOPIC  : SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (A Case Study of Cassava Processing Industry) PROJECT PROPOSAL BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Interest in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their contribution in the development process continue to be in the forefront of policy debates in developing countries.

The advantages claimed for SMEs are various, including: the encouragement of entrepreneurship; the greater likelihood that SMEs will utilise labour intensive technologies and thus have an immediate impact on employment generation; they can usually be established rapidly and put into operation to produce quick returns. SME development can encourage the process of both inter- and intra-regional decentralisation; and, they may well become a countervailing force against the economic power of larger enterprises.

More generally the development of SMEs is seen as accelerating the achievement of wider economic and socio-economic objectives, including poverty alleviation. Staley and Morse (1965) identify a ‘developmental approach’ to SME promotion which has as its objective the creation of ‘economically viable enterprises which can stand on their own feet without perpetual subsidy and can make a positive contribution to the growth of real income and therefore to better living levels’.

This approach emphasises the importance of efficiency in new SMEs. Small producers must be encouraged to adopt new methods, move into new lines of production and in the long-run, wherever feasible, they should be encouraged to become medium- or even large-scale producers. The presidential Initiative on Cassava Production and Export has increased the awareness amongst Nigerians of the industrial crop, popularly referred to as the ‘new black gold’.

Started in July 2004, the initiative seeks to generate $5 billion in export revenue. Fortunately, Nigeria, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, in its 2004 report, is currently the largest producer of cassava in the world at 34 million tons yearly, but with a poor yield of an average of 10 tons per hectare over an estimated cultivated land size of three million hectares.

Nigeria is closely followed by Brazil and Thailand, which have a capacity to produce 24 million tons and 20 million tons and a yield of 13. 6 tons per hectare and 19. 4 tons per hectare respectively. Unfortunately, experts at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan, Oyo State, believe that up to half of the harvested cassava is wasted by production and post-harvest inefficiencies while the rest is consumed as food.

Brazil and Thailand, which rarely consume the cassava products directly, have fully developed the cassava industry for the export market. | | Nigeria should not focus on the exportation of cassava but develop the enormous local and regional markets for cassava that exist in the country, West African sub-region and Africa as a whole rather than start exporting the industrial raw material to Europe. Nigerians should be encouraged to add value and process them for industrial application.

The main thrust of this research work shall focus on the development of small and medium scale enterprises in the cassava processing industry justifying the need for agro-processing industries that convert cassava fresh tubers into primary cassava-based commodities that are tradable in domestic and international markets. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM The Small Scale Industry is acknowledged to have huge potential for employment generation and wealth creation in any economy. Yet in Nigeria, the sector has stagnated and remains relatively small in terms of its contribution to GDP or to gainful employment.

Activity mix in the sector is also quite limited – dominated by import dependent processes and factors. Although there is no reliable data, imprecise indicators show that capacity utilization in the sector has improved perceptibly in the period since 1999, but the sector is still faced with a number of constraints with lack of credit availability as the principal constraint. Credit is the largest element of risk in the books of most banks and failures in the management of credit risk have led to the weakening individual banks and in some cases the banking system as a whole, have contributed, to many episodes of financial instability.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main purpose of this study is to identify and consequently analyze the most effective and efficient way through which small scale enterprises could be financed and promoted, thereby taking into consideration various conditions such as economic, political, social, psychological e. t. c under which small-scale enterprises are encouraged to operate with particular reference to the cassava processing industry in Nigeria. In so doing, the researcher intends giving an in-depth information and analysis on the various strategies through which small-scale enterprises can be developed and encouraged.

In view of the above, the researcher intends to find out the following: (i) The role played by government towards promotion and development of small-scale enterprises in Nigeria. (ii) To identify the economic potential of small-scale enterprises in the cassava processing industry. (iii) To identify the constraints confronting the development of small-scale enterprises in the cassava processing industry in Nigeria. (iv) To examine the financial support given to SMEs in Nigeria. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The study would examine the following questions: 1.

What role does the government play in the promotion and development of small-scale enterprises in the cassava processing industry in Nigeria? 2. What impact do small and medium scale enterprises make to Nigeria’s economic growth? 3. What are the constraints confronting the development of small-scale enterprises in the cassava processing industry in Nigeria? 4. What is the trend of the financial support given to SMEs in Nigeria? RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA The two main research methods to be used are survey research and content analysis.

Survey research method is used to study variables and their relationship as related to human observation and opinions about their experience as it concerns the subject matter of study. Interview schedules shall be applied to some operators while the questionnaire schedule shall be applied to some small-scale entrepreneurs. The data, which would be collected from the questionnaire, will be analysed using the simple percentage method and chi-square, goodness of fit. This will make the analysis of the data more concise and simple. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY This research covers the area of promoting small and medium scale enterprises n the cassava processing industry, paying attention to the role of the government and other external factors that can affect positively the development of small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. The research intends to study the essential problems encountered by small and medium scale operators in the cassava processing industry and suggest ways by which they can be adequately and efficiently financed and promoted. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Small and medium scale enterprises in Africa rely largely on own savings, not only to grow but also to innovate.

Firms often need real services support and formal finance assistance, failing which under-investment in long term capabilities (training and R & D) may result, (Oyelaran, 2003). Besides finance, there are critical elements (including: knowledge, skills and experience of staff; capacity and quality of internal facilities; information and knowledge of market; intellectual and managerial leadership; external infrastructure and the incentive system at the micro and macro levels) that are lacking within technology support institutions themselves.

These undermine the effectiveness of their support to SMEs. This study is significant because it would help to evaluate the operations of a vital segment of the industrial sector – small and medium scale industries, which have been identified as having very high potential in promoting economic growth and development. The evaluation shall be done with special focus on the small and medium operators in the cassava processing industry in Nigeria thereby adding to the existing literature on the subject matter.

OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS In Chapter one, which is the introductory part; the background of the study, the statement of the research problem, the objectives of the study and the methodology to be adopted shall be discussed. Chapter two will deal with the literature review. The methodology analysis and theoretical framework shall be examined in chapter three.

Data presentation, analysis and interpretation will be covered in chapter four while the concluding part of the research work will be chapter five where in a nutshell the summary, the conclusion and the recommendations would be discussed. REFERENCES Staley E. and Morse R. (1965) Modern Small-Scale Industry for Developing Countries. London: McGraw-Hill Publishing. Oyelaran O. (2003) Financing and Development of Small-sale industries in Nigeria. Central Bank of Nigeria Economic and Financial Review. 24(4), December.

The research of the impact of natural resources on economic growth is relevant because everyone who not only economists and financiers care problems of the economy through society anyway in their daily life. This research is controversial because while some believe that many countries without natural resources could develop their economy, others believe that natural resource is the most important part of the development of the economy.

Consequently, there are a lot of data, studies and books about natural resource and economy. “Five research articles”1 are used for this study paper so that save time and understand points exactly. These articles are searched from “internet source”2 filtering by citation and up to date information and authors with appropriate credentials for the subject matter.

During the collecting process, where was a challenge that some of the most cited articles were published many years ago and not full publication. However, there was enough information which were possible for the study.

Natural resources are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, electrical properties and forces etc. On earth it includes: sunlight, atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation, crops and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances.
Natural resources may be further classified in different ways. Natural resources are materials and components that can be found within the environment. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources.

There is much debate worldwide over natural resource allocations, this is particularly true during periods of increasing scarcity and shortages (depletion and overconsumption of resources) but also because the exportation of natural resources is the basis. Consequently, I chose this topic. The following articles were not enough for my research fo far I have read five articles, further, I will read a book and from three to four articles. I will use all of these ideas and researches and results for my paper.

The aim of this paper is to assess, theoretically and empirically, the relevance of several forms of capital on economic growth in certain small economies that are dependent upon tourism or natural resources. The main goal of this study is to critically analyse the similarities and differences between the relevance of human capital and natural capital in small economies that are affected by the “natural resource curse” in comparison to countries that are dependent upon tourism as a source of revenue.

Primarily, natural capital seems to produce negative impulses in the majority of resource-dependent economies, especially those that are dependent upon resources that are easily substituted or have prices that are highly prone to influence from external shock. When observing similarities and differences between the resource-dependent and tourism-dependent countries, we find that natural capital does not significantly negatively influence economic growth in the tourism-dependent economies.

The only exceptions that we found were countries that either had a highly diverse economy or had resources whose price was relatively stable in the international market and thus less prone to shock. The main policy recommendation based on the results of our empirical analysis is that countries should attempt to diversify their economy by focusing on more than one key determinant of economic growth.

Focusing on only one key segment of the economy a strategy that involves a significant amount of risk, especially the volatility of the products in the international market and possible shocks that these small economies cannot predict nor can they in any way compensate for the occurrence of such shocks. Thus, as our empirical research suggests, developing a more diverse economy signifcantly reduces the potential risks of foreign shock, which is highly important for the economies that we have observed.

In this paper we authors stock of two decades of empirical research examining the existence of the natural resource curse.
Their results also suggest that three aspects of study design are especially effective in explaining the differences in results across studies:

1. including an interaction between natural resources and institutional quality,
2. controlling for the level of investment activity, and
3. distinguishing between different types of natural resources.

According to authors suggestion that, taken together, the previous empirical studies on the topic imply a negligible effect of natural resources on economic growth on average. Our findings also provide certain support to the literature demonstrating that natural resources tend to crowd out investment activity.

They found that it matters for the results whether primary studies control for the investment level, include an interaction term between institutional quality and natural resource richness, and distinguish between different types of natural resources. Well-functioning institutions eliminate the potentially negative effect of natural resources, as they reduce the extent of rent-seeking activities often associated with point-source natural resources.

Finally, they also fnd that when natural resource richness is measured solely on the basis of oil endowment (and not using other substances such as diamonds or precious metals), support for the natural resource curse is less common. This result highlights the role of the measurement of natural resource richness, as different natural resources have different degrees of “technical appropriability”.

The paper proceeds as follows. In section 2, we deduce an estimated growth model, where:

• labour and capital efficiency are determined by several variables, including natural resources and institutional quality;
• the first order condition for maximising profit in relation to labour is used to evaluate the contribution of the variables to real wage growth per worker and thus to productivity growth;
• the cross-section dimension is added to formalise the final panel model specification of the wage equation, which we differentiate according to the estimation procedures; and
• the wage equation is also used to test conditional convergence.

Comparing these results with the inconsistent pooled OLS estimates, fixed country and time effects dismiss the significant negative effect of diffuse resources on capital efficiency and the impacts of resources on labour efficiency, which are negative if they are concentrated and positive if they are diffuse. Authors conclude that natural resources have a positive impact on economic growth through the increased capital efficiency of concentrated resources, thus dismissing the hypothesis of a resource curse.

Finally, they decomposed the estimated economic growth for eight selected countries in terms of resource abundance and growth. Even though only concentrated natural resources have a significant and positive effect on growth via capital efficiency, we also measured the other contributions of natural resources to growth.

To measure natural resource abundance, they use data on rents compiled by the World Bank. Their main results do not seem to corroborate the existence of a “resource curse” among transition countries. In fact, most of their measures of resource abundance have a positive effect on economic growth. These results hold even for point-resources which are generally said to be the most detrimental to growth. On the contrary, agriculture seems to have a negative effect on growth.

These results are robust to the inclusion of additional control variables widely used in the literature.Changing the measure of economic reform (price liberalization or level of privatization) do not alter results. Their results indicate that institutional quality has a positive impact on economic growth. This interaction term has a positive impact of growth (like institutions per se) whereas the coefficient associated to natural resource abundance is now negative. The other coefficients mostly have the expected signs. They find evidence of economic convergence between countries since initial income has a negative effect on growth.

Main results are unchanged, oil exports still have a positive effect on economic growth whereas mining and agricultural exports have a negative one. They also use forest land and agricultural land as a share of total area in order to have a better measure of “diffuse resources” (since we do not have many plantation crops in transition countries contrary to Latin America or even Africa). They both have a negative effect.

They measure natural resources by resource rents as a share of GDP. Their main results do not support the idea that there is a “curse of natural resources” in transition countries. The authors find a positive and robust impact of natural resources on economic growth and this result holds even for “point resources” and oil which are generally seen as having a negative effect on economic performances. On the contrary, agriculture and forest (“diffuse” resources) seem to have detrimental effects on growth.

This study shows that natural resources export has a positive impact on growth in Mali. However, the interaction of natural resources export and corruption impact negatively on economic growth in Mali. The policy implication is that, there is need for the country to improve on the management of natural resources revenues by putting in place effective and robust policy measures to lessen and/ or possibly eliminate corruption in the public domain.

This study contributes to current literature by providing an econometric understanding of relationships in natural resources endowment and growth for SSA countries. This understanding is important for academics, policy makers and development organizations that are assisting with the growth process of Africa in shaping the future stability of natural resources infrastructure and economic growth in the region.

The attempts to provide logical explanations on the above issues constitute major challenges of the current study. Data on natural resources export, corruption index, government effectiveness, human capital, inflation, openness to trade and real gross domestic product were collected from the International Financial Statistics, the World Bank, over the period 1990-2013.

Introduction:

Economists have during recent time associated economic growth to research and development ability of a country. One of such economic models is called the endogenous growth model. According to the endogenous growth model, research and development is a key driver of technological innovations using human resources capital and the existing knowledge (Romer, 1986). This theory goes on to state that innovation is then used to produce goods which will contribute to the permanent increase in the growth rate of output. Innovations that are endogenously created are essential to a sustainable economic growth. Research & Development therefore can be regarded as an engine for the creation new technology and goods.

China has a long history of research and development. The ancient China is celebrated for having invented paper, printing, compass and gun powder. China has also made great invention in the agricultural sector as well as in the astronomy (Sevin 1982). From 1946 to 1970, China pursued a socialist agenda with government playing the central role of coordinating all state affairs. Even though China was considered as a low income country during this period, it invested a lot into Research and Development motivated in order to become a world military power. Elite research institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences were created to support the research and development and China rapid progress in nuclear technology, space technology, and genetic engineering in the 1960s and 1970 testifies to the partial success of this system. However as the Soviet Union was suddenly divided in the 1960, this advancement could not be sustained because China was then dependent on the importation of Technology from its main ally the Soviet Union. Beginning from the period of Chinese economic reform in 1979, Research and Development in China experienced two transitions: first, from plan to market economy as it moves away from a centrally directed innovation system, secondly, from low income developing country toward Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) industrialised country status as it intensifies its innovation effort and more effectively deploys the ensuing technological gains. According to the comparative measures of R&D intensity among countries of OEC from 1991 to 2003, China’s R&D intensity rose to 1.4 percent.

Beginning from 1980 to 1990, the central government of China in its bid to catch up with other developed countries decided to formulate and finances science and technology programme throughout the countries. Programmes such as the 863 project and the 973 project were designed to promote science and technology capabilities and to catch up with the growing technological and innovation gap between China and the West. Other programmes such as the Torch programme were designed to support local high –tech industries by providing direct government grant and tax incentives to industries. This essay focuses on the Chinese National R&D (863) programme. The objective there is to critically examine the programme, evaluate its output and impact and provide recommendation for its future directions (Naughton,2007).

National High-Tech R&D (863) Programme in Brief

The National High-Tech Research and Development Programme also known as the 863 programme came into being on the 3rd March 1986, when four top China scientists addressed a private letter to Deng Xiaoping, the then Leader of the China calling for the establishment of an Elite project devoted to technology that would make china the “xin jinshu geming” the new technological revolution. Deng Xiaoping agreed and approved the proposal and directed that action must be taking immediately to implement the programme. The project was then codenamed 863 programme for the year and the month of its birth.

The 863 Programme has set as objective to provide funding for technological research and innovation which were of a strategic importance to the economic and social development of China. It was expected that the programme will enable China achieve a technological “leap frog” especially in areas were China already enjoys a relative advantages and support the implementation of the third phase of china modernisation process. In recent years, the programme has been extended to include the development of key technologies, in agriculture, biology, environmental protection, renewable energy and information technology.

Policy Context and Implementation

The programme 863 can be described as part of the general reform efforts that begun in 1979. It was important to move the country away from the socialist approach which was more focused in investing in military research which did help improve the Chinese people wellbeing. The Chinese government also believed that a reform of the economy was important as it will enable a rapid economic growth, improvement on technological innovation and fast infrastructure development that will improve the quality of life of Chinese people.

The 863 programme was constituted of an emerging China’s high-technology sector, which includes a number of high level government agencies, state-run research institutes, public and a growing private R&D investment funds. The programme could be described as an attempt of the government’s openness policy adopted toward international trade and foreign investment by providing investment attraction to foreign investors through tax incentives and co-investment in research. The project came to being at a time the government needed to find a lasting solution to its energy needs which became high as the volume of industries and the number of imported cars have increase dramatically. According to the New Yorker, by 2001, more than two thousand new cars were bought in China everyday and millions of barrels were imported from outside and depended of its coals to generate more eighty percent of its energy. This phenomenon was rendering China very polluted and the impact of climate change could undermine China’s future stability. It was therefore for China to develop new technology to find new solution to its energy and pollution management. The central government wanted to focus on the development renewable energy and as a result made available direct significant public funding to research, product development and application of technologies in the renewable sector. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the lead body in charge of developing science and technology strategy, policy and coordinating other government agencies that were involved in the implementation of the project. Other institutions such as the Chinese Academy of science, the Natural foundation Committee and the Academy of Engineering were also playing important roles in the allocation of funding to research institutes.

Funding and Impact

Data from the Ministry of Science and Technology reveals a continuing growth in the Chinese Expenditure on Research and Development. In 1996 the gross domestic expenditure on R&D was 404 million Yuan and by 2006 the figure has increased to 3003 million Yuan. China currently spends almost 1.5 percent of it of its GDP on research and Development. China’s expenditure on R&D can be regarded as high considering the fact that the living standard of living is still low. By comparison the level of expenditure among OECD countries ranges between 2-3 percent. China is the only low and middle country that depicts such intensity on Research and Development expenditure (UNDP 2001). The government of China is the principal provider of funds for the realisation of the programme. Data from figure 2 shows that government funding is around seventy percent of the total fund that the programme attracted in 2006. Other sectors such the Businesses and Foreign Direct Investment also contribute to funding R&D.

Figure 1. Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D, 1996-2006

Source: Ministry of Science and Technology 2007

Figure 2: GERD by source of funds and sector performance

Source: MOST 2007

Even though it is believed that the 863 programme has immensely contributed to the China’s recent technological and industrial development an examination of the impact is required to justify the large amount of fund pumped in to the programme. The 863 programme is heavily dependent on government fund. At the beginning of every year the commission in charge of award of grant set it objectives and calls for bid. The government intention is just to fulfil its catch up agenda with the west. Researchers and research institutes that are involved in the programme are therefore under indirect pressure to deliver the set objectives. As a result Research and Development is often riddled with plagiarism, falsification of data and conflict of interest. In 2004, the popular Chinese researcher from Shanghai Jiao tang University, Chen Jin was involved in a fakery scandal after having received more than ten million dollar in grant to produce a Chinese microchip to rival the American Intel. The situation is a rampant one among Chinese academics and researchers and the reason is that because it is public fund that is involved many researchers are afraid of taking risk since failure may be expensive to them and to the government as this may mean waste of fund among public opinions.

According to information from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the 863 programme was a successful project as it helps China invent new technology such as the world First man –loading HTS Maglev, the Third Generation Intelligent Robot that can move freely and avoid barriers and able to talk with human within a certain distance and the Atmosphere and Environmental Monitoring Laser just to mention few. Considering the amount of money the Chinese government spend on Research and Development it is not encouraging to say that China high tech export is highly dominated by foreign investment. According to report from OECD, in 2006, China surpassed the European Union, the US and Japan to become the world largest exporter of high-tech. This is mainly due to the relocation of production capacities of multinational enterprises into China. The China technological advancement has little to do with the indigenous High Tech market. Most of the firms producing High Tech goods in China are mostly foreign companies; China only contributes in labour term (Xing, 2010).

The 863 programme in its conception cannot be said to be a programme which has been designed to promote R&D in China. The central government plan was to improve the image of China and it is purely the continuity of the socialist agenda. The only change is that, instead of developing military capabilities, the Deng Xiaoping administration decided to focus on economic catch up. All the projects that were executed under the programme cannot be described as things that will contribute to long term economic growth of China. In the infrastructural and construction area, it is a fact that that the programme has helped China to achieve a historical record in road, railways and airline development. Between 2000 and 2005, the road length in China has increased from 250.700 km to about 1, 930,500 km. Also the Railways have experienced a rapid development. China now has double tracked rails of 25, 000km and electrified rail of 20,000 km. The civil airline has also been developed and today China has become world second largest air transporter after the United States (Liang Chuan, 2008). Some may argue that China needs all these infrastructural development to elevate its status to a developed country. There is even a Chinese old saying which says that “If you want to be rich, you must first build road”. But the problem is all these constructions are heavily dependent on public fund and no other country spend so much on infrastructure as China does. According to one study it is estimated that China will need to spend around $132 billion ever year from 2006 to 2010 to maintain these constructions. Moreover the central government does not take into account the social cost of all these development projects for the common Chinese people in terms of lost of land and environmental problems. The speed at which these projects are executed also poses a problem of quality and standard in the construction and engineering process. In October 1999, the $52 million 0ne half mile-long Zhaona Mountain bridge which was built over the young river in Ningbo started to has sways and shack a month before its opening date and inspectors discovered cracks caused by engineering and design flaws. So also in the month January of same year 1999, two bridges collapsed in two different places killing 47 people and injuring more than 30 others (Hays 2008).

Another core problem with the 863 programme was the incentive packages the central government made available to motivate researchers and R&D firms. It is believed that the central government support to R&D through the 863 programme has contributed to the rapid rise of China in the patent applications. Data for figure 3 from the Ministry of Science and Technology shows that the total domestic patent applications increased from 383.157 to 470,342 between 2005 and 2006. The design applications increased from 151,587 to 188,027 within the same year. This tremendous achievement can on the one side be attributed to the zeal and hard work of Chinese researchers but on the hand it can be attributed to the incentives made available by the central government.

Figure 3 Patent application filed and patents granted by SIPO

Source: Ministry of Science and Technology, 2007

The 863 programme put in place incentive packages ranging from tax reduction to several concessions. In a paper published the Economist title “Innovation in China: Patents yes ideas maybe” it was stated that “Professors who do are more likely to win tenure. Workers and students who file patents are more likely to earn a hukou (resident permit) to live in a desirable city. For some patents government pays cash bonuses for others it covers the substantial cost of filling. Corporate income tax can be cut down from 25% to 15% for firms that file many patents. They are also more likely to win lucrative government contracts. One could say the patents applications filed did not mean so much to the applicants compared to the gains and interest the application may yield for them. Therefore the quality and originality, patents designs, and inventions were questionable.

Closely link to this argument is that fact the 863 programme did not promote the culture of innovation among Chinese researchers and enterprises. The Ministry of Science and Technology which is the principal government agency coordinating the 863 programme stated that one of the key objectives of the programme was to strengthen the innovation capabilities of Chinese researchers and enterprises so that they can become technical bodies that will support the national aspiration of China to achieve socio-economic development. The programme supported some innovative ideas such as the development of an Intelligent Robot, the Coal-fired MHD Power Generation and the Experimental Fast Reactor. Otherwise, most realisations under the 863 programme were heavily dependent on importation of technologies. The programme was following the international high technological development but did not focus on the development of local indigenous technology (Chunliang, 2008).

Conclusion

The 863 programme has enabled the Chinese government to achieve a considerable economic and industrial advancement. In order to consolidate all these achievement is important that the 863 programme be reformed to rather focus its attentions on promoting indigenous innovative research and development activities which can turn China into technological advanced country. Incentives and motivational elements in the programme for researchers and private investors should also be reviewed as this may put local investors at a competitive advantage over foreign investors and deter them from investing into R&D in China. Finally Chinese Government has to enforce the weak intellectual property right regime in existence at the moment.

References

ROMER, P. (2005) “Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth” Journal of Political Economy, 94 (5):1002-1037

SAMINI, J. A & ALERASOUL, S. M. (2009) “R&D and Economic Growth: New Evidence from Some Developing Countries” Australian Journal of Basic Applied Sciences, 3(4):3464-3469

HU. A G. & Jefferson, G. H. (2008) “Science and Technology in China” China’s Great Economic Transformation. Ed. L . Brandt and T. Rawski, New York City, Cambridge University Press

NAUGHTON, B. (2007) “The Chinese Economic: Transition and Growth, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

PENTAS, P. (2005) “Natioanl High-Tech Research and Development Program 863: Introduction, Objective and Organisation [Online] http://www.ppentas.com/thesis/National_RD_Programm_863.pdf, Accessed on the 17/05/2011

ONOS, E. (2009) “Green Giant: Beijing’s Crash Program for Clean Energy” The New Yorker [Online] http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/12/21/091221fa_fact_osnos, Accessed on the 17/05/2011

XING, Y. (2010) “Chinas High-Tech Exports Myth and Reality” EAI Background Brief N. 506 [Online] http://www.eai.nus.edu.sg/BB506.pdf, Accessed on the17/05/2011

The majority of the World’s population now lives in an urban area. Critically evaluate the impact of this change both globally but also for the countries of the South.

Introduction

UN-Habitat Report ‘State of the World’s Cities 2008-2009’ pointed that, more than half of the world’s population are people who live in the cities. Over 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world. Asia will retain the majority of the world’s urban population, account for 63 percent by 2050. During the next two decades, the urban population of the world’s two poorest regions—South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa—is expected to double.

A number of Asian countries, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, also have very high rates of urbanisation; by 2020, Indonesia is expected to have five mega cities: a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people, and by 2025, its level of urbanisation will reach 68 percent. This global phenomenon is the result from the process of urbanisation.

The trend and pace of urbanisation is compounded with various factors and marked by regional disparities. The primary factor is natural population growth, whereas another factor is the combination of rural-urban migration, infrastructure development, and other powerful socio-economic and political processes, including globalisation which drives urbanisation across worldwide (Williams, 1983). Urban growth is the rate of growth of an urban population. It is different to urbanisation which is the process by which there is an increase in proportion of a population living in places classified as urban: the movement from a rural to urban area.

Population growth and city size are underpinning urban growth; which is integrated and dynamic process bringing parts into a whole. The data from UN-Habitat can be implied that half of the world’s population will be settle in urban area, especially cities. This trend led to urban transition or urban change that much involve with the scale and rate of urban growth, global economy and development issue.

This essay will define the characteristic of urbanisation; examine its changing trend in both positive and negative impacts that resulted from this change. It will also critically evaluate the important urban issue that should be addressed firstly on a case study of Bangkok, Thailand, then conclusion.

Urbanisation is inevitable change

Urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. This term is defined by the United Nations as a movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration (United Nations, 2004). Urbanisation is inevitable for development and rural to urban migration can serve as a form of poverty alleviation, provided governments support and facilitate the initiatives of the migrants in both the place of origin and destination. Owing to improvement in transport and better communication, rural to urban migration is no longer a one-time move by and entire family to an unfamiliar destination. This improvement also facilitates contacts by migrants with their place of origin and circular and return migration. As countries develop, rural to urban linkages tend to become stronger (UN-HABITAT, 2003). Small cities and towns can play an important role in regional development and better population distribution, it governments support local initiatives by developing basic infrastructure and services.

Rapid urbanising countries are spread across the world, and represent a wide range of social, economic and geographical contexts. It resulted in term of urban growth which is attributed to both population growths; refers to natural growth and rural and urban migration, and city growth; refers to infrastructure improvement and city size expansion (Henderson, 2002). Urbanisation contributes to sustained economic growth which is critical to poverty reduction. The economics of scale and agglomeration in cities attract investors and entrepreneurs which is good for overall economic growth. Cities also provide opportunities for many, particularly the poor who are attracted by greater job prospects, the availability of services, and an escape from constraining social and cultural traditions in rural areas. However, urban population growth does not always ensure urban economic growth. The urban poor are often rely on the informal sector for their survival and therefore undertake casual or unskilled labour, or even unregistered and illegal work (Amis, 2004). This weakens their rights and benefits, and constrains their capability to escape poverty.

The relationship between urban change and urban poverty

A number of Asian countries have very high rates of urbanisation; 15.4 percent of total population lived in urban areas in 1950 and will have increased to 49.7 percent by 2025 (Asian Study Centre, 2010). The mega-urban regions of Manila and Jakarta have a number of population over 21 million each, while Bangkok has more than 10 million.

Population density can help ensure lower per capita costs for delivery of basic services and easy access to information. Citizens may find it easier to mobilise around shares problems and pool resources to find solutions (Overseas Development Institute, 2008). Urban centres provide economic advantages and job opportunities. Urbanised countries tend to have higher incomes, more stable economies and institutions and are better able to withstand external economic shocks and volatility. Unfortunately, the global economic downturn is seem to increase the number of jobless in the urban migrants who have involved in unskilled labour firm or unregistered and illegal work. There are also pressing environmental concerns associated with urbanisation, evidenced in most of the world’s energy is consumed by urban settlements. Moreover, they are also generates the bulk of the waste in urban areas.

It can be said that urban refers to a context, not a specific area or sector; urban issues are multi-sectoral and require integrated approaches that address a wide range of human needs for people living in urban settlements. It has special relationship between urban growth and poverty in term of development (Asian Development Bank, 2004). Urban change has some particular features. Firstly, the scale of change is unprecedented. Secondly, the rate of change is rapid. Finally, the nature and direction of change is more dependent on the global economy; the capitalist context (Sassen, 2001; Yeung, 2000). It can be said that urban change is resulted by urbanisation; which is driven by globalisation. Many of these factors are obviously related.

Urban change refers to a context, not a specific area or sector; urban issues are multi-sectural and require integrated approaches that address a wide range of human needs for people living in urban settlements. It can be cause of urban trend; which is linked to some particular aspects of development both socially and economically as following:

– Unemployment; a large number of workers in developing countries, including a high proportion within urban areas, operate within the informal sector, which often entails casual or unregulated labour that can be illegal or even dangerous (Amis, 2004). The global economic downturn is in creasing the number of jobless worldwide and the urban poor are likely to be affected (DFID, 2009).

– Social exclusion; urban poor face social exclusion on various levels. The marginalisation stemming from status as a slum dweller may be compounded by discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, and HIV status. The specific groups such as street children and HIV/Aids are particularly vulnerable (UNICEF, 2002).

– Climate change and the environment; poor people living in cities in developing countries often live inadequate areas such as flood-prone or water-logged areas and are vulnerable to losing their houses due to rising sea levels or natural disasters. Some live without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation and faced the environmental pollution (IIED, 2009).

These urban trends is challenge to urban development, it offers the chance for greater focus on the urban context. This challenge is heightened by the fact that adequate responses to urban change impacts are likely to depend on strong and committed local government and communities.

Urban environmental concerns: a case study of Bangkok, Thailand

The urbanisation process is an important force driving to urban growth in Southeast Asia region. It seems to have been accompanied by excessively high levels of concentration of the urban population in very large cities. Thailand is estimated to be about 43 percent urbanised by 2006, and will have 50 percent of the population living in urban areas by the year 2015 (NESDB, 1998). Bangkok is a megacity which has grown rapidly in its 200 years. As in many developing countries, economic development has been accompanied by severe environmental and social problems. Bangkok’s path of urbanisation has focus on economic development almost exclusively on Bangkok, which has grown as a primate city to more than 30 times the size of the next most substantial urban centre (BMA, 2009). Its growth related to uncontrolled urban growth both in term s of the spread of the city and of successive changes in land use within it. There has been little formal planning (Roachanakanan, 1999).

Ongoing environmental degradation and increasing pollution detract from the quality of life of urban Thai people. Urban environmental concerns are also spreading well beyond Bangkok to the broader Bangkok region and other urban areas. There is also a lack of capacity and often initiative to undertake the needed analysis, mobilisation, and action to tackle these emerging problems. With the ongoing focus on economic development at the local level, this situation can be expected to worsen (Poungsomlee and Ross, 1992).

Cities can be view as systems involving people’s interactions with one another and with the built environments they have created. The built environments interact with the natural ecological processes of their sites. Intervention in one part of a system inevitably affects other parts. This analysis will divide the impacts into two parts, firstly: the impact on nature; and lastly: the impact on city people.

Due to the growing population, demands for water, food, housing, energy, clothing, and consume goods are increasing alarmingly. Rapid population growth not only lesson available calorie supply from food per person but also risks the present food production with pollution (Brookfield and Byron, 1993). The production of these needs water and creates more pollutants. Many Western companies produce their products in Bangkok because of more flexible environmental law and cheaper production costs. This puts extra pressure on the environment of Bangkok. Of critical importance are problems associated with waste water, air quality, and solid waste. Public health is increasingly threatened by declining environmental conditions, especially air pollution in urban centres, about 39 percent of Bangkok residents suffer from respiratory diseases, a rate that is seven times higher than in rural areas (NESDB, 2005).

Only about 60 percent of urban solid waste is disposed of to a high standard, with even a smaller proportion being properly handled in the urban fringe areas (BMA, 2009). In the area of waste water, while vast slums have been spent on treatment plants in cities throughout the country, virtually none are operational. Linked to the underperformance of city planning is neglect of managing the built environment in most Thai municipalities, severely affecting quality of life and overall public health and safety.

Public participation in decision making is an important urban trend in Bangkok. Due to urban environmental issue, there has not been strong tradition of public participation in the decision-making process at any level. However, with the advert of the new Constitution in 1997, there are explicit provisions for public input into the local decision-making process, especially in managing the local environment and resources. While there is now a strong constitutional and legal basis for civic participation, the reality is much weaker. On the positive side, through the recent “Small-Medium-Large” programme, community-level planning is being introduced for the first time as a means of better integrating grassroots input into the development process. However, coordination within the municipal development plans is not being encouraged as funding is going is going directly to villages, bypassing the local administrative planning process.

Conclusion

Urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The important force underpinning the changing pattern; described as population growth and city expansion, is driven by globalisation process. Rapid changes are spread across the world, and represent a wide range of social, economic and geographical contexts, especially the developing countries.

Southeast Asia region is the significant model of urban growth, it has very high rate of urbanisation resulted in many megacities such as Manila and Jakarta which have a number of population over 21 million each whereas Bangkok has more than 10 million inhabitants. Overpopulation problem has been address to urban concern in some megacities, especially urban environmental issue in Bangkok. Ongoing environmental degradation and increasing pollution are directly affected to Bangkok residents. This put greater pressure on the environment of Bangkok. The critical problem brings about the relationship between people and city, and making them to be one system: intervention in one part of a system inevitably affects other parts. Linked to the underperformance of city planning is neglect of managing the built environment in most urban residents affected quality of life and overall public health and safety.

The important trend due to urban environmental issue in Bangkok is increasing public participation in decision-making. With the adoption of the 1997 Constitution and the 1999 Decentralisation Act (amended in 2001) made possibly change to greater public participation. However, the question still ongoing due to increasing concern on good governance of local authority.

References

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