The success of nations in the path towards economic development hinges heavily on the emergence and dynamism of a modern sector capable of simultaneously absorbing an increasing share of the labour force while reducing the technological gap with the worlds frontier. Failure to do so would...

This paper develops a model positing a nonlinear relationship between public investment and growth. The model is then applied to a panel of African countries using nonlinear estimating procedures. The growth-maximizing level of public investment is estimated at about 10 percent of GDP based on...

In this paper, we combine the export-led and import-led growth hypotheses in a growth model in which the importation of foreign capital goods and the demand elasticities of own export products explain the growth opportunities and the technical progress of developing countries. This model, based...

This paper, which was prepared for presentation in the program of the 2013 International Energy Workshop Conference held on 1921 June in Paris, France is an extensively revised, expanded and slightly retitled version of UNUMERIT Working Paper 2013009. The latter paper has been cited in other...

Economic growth thus far has been closely linked to the bulk conversion of energy stored in carbon based fuels (wood, coal, oil, natural gas) into useful work. Burning such fuels gives rise to CO2-emissions. These emissions, together with other greenhouse gasses (GHG's) like methane, are now...

The research reported here gives priority to understanding the inter-temporal resource allocation requirements of a program of technological changes that could halt global warming by completing the transition to a "green" (zero net CO2- emission) production regime within the possibly brief...

Since 1950, there has been considerable diversity in developing country experiences. Some countries and some regions have experienced rapid growth and catch up, others have fallen behind. At a global level there is an increasing inequality of per capita incomes. However, within the framework of...

In this paper, we take inspiration from Thomas Malthus' hypothesis that food shortage and hunger would remain "nature's last most dreadful resource" and that "the power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape...

An obstacle to the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly energy technologies such as stationary and mobile fuel cells is their high upfront costs. While much lower prices seem to be attainable in the future due to learning curve cost reductions that increase rapidly with the scale of...

This paper analyses the impact of government R&D on the macro-economy of South Africa. The empirical estimates of the impact of R&D are based on the backward and forward linkages of a macro-economy, within a national innovation system (NIS). There are structural implications of the study, namely...