Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Resource endowment'

Contrary to the logical conclusion that the more natural resources a country has or controls, the more prosperous, rich and happy will be its people, the evidence from many Sub-Saharan countries is pointing to a different direction with numerous conflicts occurring mostly near mineral deposits or in countries heavily endowed with natural resources of various sorts. This paper seeks to tackle the basic questions of a sub-Saharan African and any person interested in the region; why are there so many conflicts in the region? Why is there absolute poverty despite the presence of enormous natural resources? What are the factors contributing to the present problems facing the region? This paper establishes the relationship between poverty, resource endowments and conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper reviews literature, stressing on the different conditions under which resource abundance can and have been a primary cause of conflicts. It argues that poverty and conflicts have re-enforced each other and that natural resources have played a role. The paper also makes use of conflict, resource and poverty data among other variables to establish the probable cause for the numerous conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper suggests statistically that Political Stability and Absence of violent conflicts can only be altered by the lack of sustainable economic opportunity, failure to control corruption and rising levels of poverty. It is worth noting that the resource variables are not statistically significant. This however, do not dismiss the role of natural resources in the present conflicts of the region because the trend is observable that most conflict ridden countries in the Sub-Saharan African region are resource rich. It rather lays an emphasis on the fact that resource revenues could be used to avert the current situation by provision of basic needs like shelter, potable water, security, accountable institutions, education and the promotion of enterprise that will be a guarantor of sustainable economic opportunities. The paper employs Maslow's Human needs theory for some explanations and also multiple regression, using panel data for statistical analysis. Fixed and random effects estimation techniques are used, and other statistical testing to determine the validity of the different variable coefficients generated. The paper suggests concrete economic and policy recommendations to the problems enumerated that could leapfrog the region out of the current bad situation it has been in for decades.

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions l'effet de la répartition inégale des ressources naturelles entre les pays sur trois aspects principaux. Dans le premier chapitre, nous examinons empiriquement les effets asymétriques potentiels de l'adhésion à l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC) entre les membres, en nous concentrant spécifiquement sur les pays en développement. Les résultats suggèrent que l'adhésion à l'OMC a contribué à l'augmentation des exportations de tous les pays, à l'exception des pays non-émergents riches en ressources. En revanche, les pays émergents riches en ressources sont les plus grands bénéficiaires de l'accession à l'OMC. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous explorons empiriquement l'impact de la dotation en ressources naturelles sur les gains de six Accords Commerciaux Régionaux (ACR) entre les membres à travers trois axes : la complémentarité entre les pays, la diversification des pays riches en ressources ainsi que la création et le détournement des échanges. Nous concluons que la complémentarité entre les pays riches et les pays pauvres en ressources a été atteinte dans les accords de l’ECOWAS, du SADC et du CIS. Les résultats indiquent également que, dans tous les ACR, les pays riches en ressources ont accru leurs exportations hors secteurs des ressources naturelles et diversifié ainsi leurs structures d'exportation, en particulier avec les partenaires régionaux. En outre, dans la plupart des ACR, les pays pauvres ont accru leurs exportations vers leurs partenaires riches en ressources, tandis que ces derniers souffrent du détournement des échanges en termes d'importations. Dans le dernier chapitre, nous étudions l'impact de la dotation en ressources naturelles sur le processus de convergence entre les pays du PAFTA. Premièrement, les résultats démontrent que la sigma-convergence n'était observable qu'entre 1970 et 1990 dans les pays du PAFTA. De plus, l’estimation révèle que les ressources naturelles sont l'un des principaux déterminants de la convergence conditionnelle au sein du PAFTA. Par conséquent, l'asymétrie entre les pays en termes de dotation en ressources naturelles n'a pas empêché la convergence dans le PAFTA. L'analyse de la convergence des clubs a identifié trois principaux clubs parmi les pays du PAFTA. En outre, les facteurs qui ont déterminé la formation des clubs sont les ressources naturelles, la qualité des institutions et l'investissement. Par ailleurs, une abondance de ressources naturelles n'est pas suffisante pour être le meilleur club, mais doit être accompagnée d'institutions de qualité
In this thesis, we examine the effect of the unequal distribution of natural resources between countries on three main aspects. In chapter one, we empirically examine potential asymmetric effects of the accession of the World Trade Organization (WTO) across members, focusing specifically on the developing countries. The results suggest that membership in the WTO contributed to greater exports for all countries, except for non-emerging resource-rich countries. In contrast, emerging resource-rich countries are the greatest beneficiaries from the accession of the WTO. In chapter two, we empirically explore the impact of natural resource endowments on the gains of six Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) across members through three axes: complementarity between countries, diversification of resource-rich countries, and trade creation and diversion. We conclude that the complementarity between resource-rich and resource-poor countries has been achieved in the ECOWAS, SADC and CIS agreements. The results also indicate that in all RTAs, the resource-rich countries increased exports in non-natural resource sectors and thereby diversified their export structures, especially with regional partners. Moreover, in most RTAs, poor countries boosted their exports to resources-rich partners, while resource-rich countries suffer from trade diversion in terms of imports. In the last chapter, we study the impact of natural resource endowments on the process of convergence among PAFTA countries. First, the results demonstrate that sigma-convergence was only observable between 1970-1990 among PAFTA countries. The estimation reveals that natural resources are one of the main determinants of conditional convergence within PAFTA. Therefore, the asymmetry between countries in terms of natural resource endowment did not impede the convergence in PAFTA. Club convergence analysis identify three main clubs among PAFTA countries. In addition, the factors that determined clubs’ formation are natural resources, quality of institutions, and investment. Further, an abundance of natural resources is alone not enough to be the best club, but must be accompanied by high-quality institutions

While transnational rebellion and rebel recruitment have received much attention in previous literature, the combination of the two, transnational rebel recruitment, has been relatively understudied. This study aims to cover this research gap by further developing Jeremy Weinstein’s theory on resource endowments to test their effect on transnational rebel recruitment. It seeks to answer the research question: “How do resource endowments impact transnational rebel recruitment?”. A distinction will be made between domestic and transnational rebel groups to test the theoretical argument. It will be argued that rebel groups can have a variation in their economic and social endowments, which both have a domestic an transnational variant. The main hypothesis reads: transnational rebel groups that have much transnational resource endowments are more likely to recruit transnationally. This study will employ a structured focused comparison on strategically picked cases using Mill’s method of difference. The selected cases that will be compared are the transnational rebel group NPFL in Liberia (1989-1995) and the domestic rebel group NRA in Uganda (1981-1986). This study finds support for the theory and the main hypothesis.

This paper aims to measure the relationship between systemic vulnerability and government development investments. Systemic vulnerability is a concept introduced by Doner et al. (2005), which suggests that broad coalitions, severe external threats and scarce resources will lead to developmental states. Developmental states have several definitions that can generally be divided into structural and ideological features. Structural features include aspects related to state capacity and bureaucratic robustness, while ideological features refer to a stated goal of development. However, the term “developmental state” is also used as a political buzzword, which has diluted the academic concept. Education investments are used as a proxy for development investments because of the long-term societal and economic benefits that education has in a society. The study combines theories of political behavior, state-building and rentier states for the argument that systemic vulnerability should be positively correlated with education investments. Analysis is based on data from 73 countries and it shows that only some components of systemic vulnerability are correlated with education investments. The weak relationship between scarce resources and education investment follows the expected trend, while the relationship between external threat and education investment is unexpectedly negative. The broad coalitions show no statistically significant correlation between coalition size and education investment. These findings make a contribution to the field of development studies by expanding the understanding of the impact that systemic vulnerability has on development, since there has not been a large-n test of the concept on development investments before.

Fundamentos para a gestão estratégica na saúde: A enfermagem - 0 caso do sistema de classificação de doentes A dissertação enquadra-se nos sistemas de informação em enfermagem, assim os gestores ao nível estratégico, tático e operacional devem possuir instrumentos que contribuam para a gestão eficiente e eficaz dos enfermeiros. A coordenação do sistema de classificação de doentes (SCD/E) é da responsabilidade do Ministério da Saúde - Instituto de Gestão informática e Financeira tendo sido adaptado e implementado em 1984. Atualmente o SCD/E cumpre os requisitos de qualidade enumerados na NP EN ISO 9001. O SCD/E constitui um sistema de informação do subsistema de enfermagem, que permite a tomada de decisão em tempo útil, contribuindo para a gestão dos recursos humanos e de qualidade. O percurso de investigação contemplou 31 Enfermeiros Diretores a nível nacional, tendo adotado o paradigma quantitativo e utilizado como método de pesquisa, o inquérito por questionário postal. As dimensões analisadas na dissertação foram a gestão da informação, dos recursos humanos e da qualidade dos cuidados de enfermagem e como podem globalmente contribuir para a tomada de decisão a nível estratégico. Os inquiridos consideraram que o SCD/E contribui para a determinação das necessidades, para a tomada de decisão em relação aos recursos de enfermagem em tempo útil e para a gestão eficaz do número de enfermeiros por serviço. Na organização dos cuidados de enfermagem, o SCD/E contribui para a gestão de recursos humanos, para a operacionalização da metodologia de prestação de cuidados de enfermagem e da metodologia científica de organização dos cuidados de enfermagem, constituindo um indicador para avaliar a gestão da unidade de cuidados. /ABSTRACT - The dissertation inserts itself in nursing information systems, so the managers must possess as a strategic, tactical and operational level, tools that contribute to the efficient management of nurses. The coordination of the patient classification system (SCD/E) is under the responsibility of the Health Ministry - Institute of information and Financial Management, having been adapted and implemented in 1984. At present the (SCD/E) fulfils the quality requisites enumerated in NP EN ISO 9001. The SCD/E constitutes a system of information of the nursing subsystem, which allows the taking of decisions in useful timing, contributing to the management of human and quality resources. The course of investigation contemplated 31 Nursing Directors at a national level, having adopted the quantitative paradigm and having used as a research method the inquiry through postal questionnaire. The analyzed dimensions in the dissertation were the management of information of human and quality resources of the nursing care and how they can, globally, contribute for the taking of decisions at a strategic level. The inquired considered that the SCD/E contributes to the determining of necessities, to the decision taking in what concerns the resources in nursing in useful timing and to the efficient management of the number of nurses per service. In the organization of nursing care, the SCD/E contributes to the management of human resources, to the operational side of the methodology of nursing care providing and of the scientific methodology of organization of nursing care, constituting an indicator to evaluate the management of the care unit.

Diese Arbeit bietet eine solide theoretische Grundlage zu Philanthropie und religiös motivierten Spendenaktivitäten und deren Einfluss auf Wohltätigkeitstrends, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und einer auf dem Gedanken der sozialen Gerechtigkeit beruhenden Philanthropie. Untersucht werden dafür die Strukturen religiös motivierte Spenden, für die in der islamischen Tradition die Begriffe „zakat“, „Waqf“ oder im Plural auch „awqaf-“ oder „Sadaqa“ verwendet werden, der christliche Begriff dafür lautet „tithes“ oder „ushour“. Aufbauend auf diesem theoretischen Rahmenwerk analysiert die qualitative und quantitative Feldstudie auf nationaler Ebene, wie die ägyptische Öffentlichkeit Philanthropie, soziale Gerechtigkeit, Menschenrechte, Spenden, Freiwilligenarbeit und andere Konzepte des zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements wahrnimmt. Um eine umfassende und repräsentative Datengrundlage zu erhalten, wurden 2000 Haushalte, 200 zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen erfasst, sowie Spender, Empfänger, religiöse Wohltäter und andere Akteure interviewt. Die so gewonnen Erkenntnisse lassen aussagekräftige Aufschlüsse über philanthropische Trends zu. Erstmals wird so auch eine finanzielle Einschätzung und Bewertung der Aktivitäten im lokalen Wohltätigkeitsbereich möglich, die sich auf mehr als eine Billion US-Dollar beziffern lassen. Die Erhebung weist nach, dass gemessen an den Pro-Kopf-Aufwendungen die privaten Spendenaktivitäten weitaus wichtiger sind als auswärtige wirtschaftliche Hilfe für Ägypten. Das wiederum lässt Rückschlüsse zu, welche Bedeutung lokale Wohltätigkeit erlangen kann, wenn sie richtig gesteuert wird und nicht wie bislang oft im Teufelskreis von ad-hoc-Spenden oder Hilfen von Privatperson an Privatperson gefangen ist. Die Studie stellt außerdem eine Verbindung her zwischen lokalen Wohltätigkeits-Mechanismen, die meist auf religiösen und kulturellen Werten beruhen, und modernen Strukturen, wie etwa Gemeinde-Stiftungen oder Gemeinde-„waqf“, innerhalb derer die Spenden eine nachhaltige Veränderung bewirken können. Daher bietet diese Arbeit also eine umfassende wissenschaftliche Grundlage, die nicht nur ein besseres Verständnis, sondern auch den nachhaltiger Aus- und Aufbau lokaler Wohltätigkeitsstrukturen in Ägypten ermöglicht. Zentral ist dabei vor allem die Rolle lokaler, individueller Spenden, die beispielsweise für Stiftungen auf der Gemeindeebene eingesetzt, wesentlich zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung beitragen könnten – und das nicht nur in Ägypten, sondern in der gesamten arabischen Region. Als konkretes Ergebnis dieser Arbeit, wurde ein innovatives Modell entwickelt, dass neben den wissenschaftlichen Daten das Konzept der „waqf“ berücksichtigt. Der Wissenschaftlerin und einem engagierten Vorstand ist es auf dieser Grundlage gelungen, die Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) zu gründen, die nicht nur ein Modell für eine Bürgerstiftung ist, sondern auch das tradierte Konzept der „waqf“ als praktikable und verbürgte Wohlstätigkeitsstruktur sinnvoll weiterentwickelt.
This work provides a solid theoretical base on philanthropy, religious giving (Islamic zakat, ‘ushour, Waqf -plural: awqaf-, Sadaqa and Christian tithes or ‘ushour), and their implications on giving trends, development work, social justice philanthropy. The field study (quantitative and qualitative) that supports the theoretical framework reflects at a national level the Egyptian public’s perceptions on philanthropy, social justice, human rights, giving and volunteering and other concepts that determine the peoples’ civic engagement. The statistics cover 2000 households, 200 Civil Society Organizations distributed all over Egypt and interviews donors, recipients, religious people and other stakeholders. The numbers reflect philanthropic trends and for the first time provide a monetary estimate of local philanthropy of over USD 1 Billion annually. The survey proves that the per capita share of philanthropy outweighs the per capita share of foreign economic assistance to Egypt, which implies the significance of local giving if properly channeled, and not as it is actually consumed in the vicious circle of ad-hoc, person to person charity. In addition, the study relates local giving mechanisms derived from religion and culture to modern actual structures, like community foundations or community waqf that could bring about sustainable change in the communities. In sum, the work provides a comprehensive scientific base to help understand- and build on local philanthropy in Egypt. It explores the role that local individual giving could play in achieving sustainable development and building a new wave of community foundations not only in Egypt but in the Arab region at large. As a tangible result of this thesis, an innovative model that revives the concept of waqf and builds on the study’s results was created by the researcher and a dedicated board of trustees who succeeded in establishing Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) that not only introduces the community foundation model to Egypt, but revives and modernizes the waqf as a practical authentic philanthropic structure.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
應用經濟研究所
98
An adopted model of the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, suggesting a direct relationship between a country’s trade, seafood endowments and income, has been empirically estimated for four seafood products during the period 1970-2004. Both net export and an index of revealed comparative advantages were constructred and used as depent variables.The major findings are as follows: (1) The rich natural resources of the major exporting countries have a positive affect on their competitiveness. (2) As GDP rises, there is actually a negative relationship to the net export and competitiveness of various seafood products. (3) The coast to land proportion of each country has a very significant influence on the competitive advantages of its seafood products, which is also affected by the difference in seafood species and the degrees of processing. (4) The influence each main fishing region has on the competitiveness of seafood products will vary depending on the different types of products.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014.
The inability to create sustainable wealth has plagued many resource endowed economies on the African continent. Natural resource wealth has not translated into to economic growth, in fact studies done illustrate that of lack of education and subsequent poor economic performances are linked to natural resource endowment. Revenue emanating from the extraction of natural resources is not being effectively managed and this is evident in the level of corruption on the African continent. Natural resource endowed economies rely on rent and commodity exports as their main source of income and due to this dependency, these economies are more prone to volatile income streams as a result of changes in the prices of commodities. The inadequate investment in human capital has resulted in African stock markets not developing further despite having some of the oldest stock exchanges in the world. The Johannesburg Securities Exchange was established in 1887 and the Egyptian Stock Exchange in 1887. This research investigated three natural resource endowed countries; South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. These countries also happen to have the more sophisticated stock markets as compared to other countries on the continent; however these markets remain relatively small and illiquid compared global stock markets. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether stock market development increases economic growth when natural resources revenue is modelled as a determinant for stock market development. The paper also seeks to determine whether the lack of stock market development could be attributed to the natural resource curse, a phenomena where resource endowment is associated with poor economic performance. The results show that natural resource revenue and liquidity enhance economic growth, Nigeria displayed symptoms of suffering from the natural resource curse. The paper also finds that the type of natural resource that a country is endowed with has different effects on economic performance and that the growth of an economy has a significant relationship with the price of commodities. The study concludes that if natural resource endowed economies are to manage its resource revenue efficiently and focus on improving institutional quality and the level of human development. An increase in institutional quality will enhance stock market integrity, while an increase in human development will foster local participants to learn about the stock markets. An increase in the number of participants will enhance stock market liquidity.

In sharp contrast to the debates concerning land policy, land tenure and sustainable resource management in South Africa is any input concerning the geographical distribution of land productivity. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by providing an empirical investigation of land potential in South Africa. In this way we intend to provide the crucial context for policy and academic studies of the land issue in South Africa. Furthermore, we will undertake our study in such a way that comparison can be made to Zimbabwe and Kenya where the land issue has been such a critical component of the post-colonial development process. Theoretically our work is contextualised within the debates surrounding the importance of geographical endowments, institutions and policies in the development process.

In sharp contrast to the debates concerning land policy, land tenure and sustainable resource management in South Africa is any input concerning the geographical distribution of land productivity. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by providing an empirical investigation of land potential in South Africa. In this way we intend to provide the crucial context for policy and academic studies of the land issue in South Africa. Furthermore, we will undertake our study in such a way that comparison can be made to Zimbabwe and Kenya where the land issue has been such a critical component of the post-colonial development process. Theoretically our work is contextualised within the debates surrounding the importance of geographical endowments, institutions and policies in the development process.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate a parametric representation of the relationship between resource endowments and market share, and to evaluate the characteristics of this parameter in the United States market. In doing so, I develop a model using the parameter to measure and map a firm's resource competitive advantages and to test the relationship between market share and profitability The analysis was conducted on the Pharmaceutical, Automobile, Airline, and Grocery Store industries from 1978 to 1997. The firm's resource deployments were classified into three categories---Ambition, Creativity, and Efficiency---named the ACE model. The first function used to represent the relationship between firm's resource deployments and market share was the S Shape function suggested by Cook (1983, 1985), Chattoparday, Nedugngadi, and Chakravarti (1985), Hou and McGahan (1995), and Sterman (2000). The exploration of the empirical properties of the parameter (Beta) indicates that it is better to use another type of non-linear function to represent the relationship between share of resources and market share The findings show that the Beta parameter is normally distributed within industries and across time, that there are differences in the Beta parameter across industries, and that a Beta parameter equal to one can be used as line of reference or equilibrium in the relationship between resource deployments and market share. In addition, the Beta parameter provides a measure to identify, classify, and analyze an industry's and a firm's competitive advantages, and to illustrate differences in the firm's resource deployments strategies. Moreover, the relationship between market share and profitability was found to be moderated by other variables such as industry structure, war prices, and environmental variables
acase@tulane.edu

The Master's thesis deals with China's increased engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa after 2000 and its impact on U.S. political and economic interests on the continent. In the first decade of the new millennium, China's search for natural resources, especially oil, to satisfy its growing demand, need to find new markets for exports, as well as China's aspiration to enhance its position at the international stage led Beijing to pay greater attention to Africa. China started to engage African countries through a combination of development assistance with no strings attached, except for the one-China principle, and high-profile diplomacy. The United States has become concerned that China might jeopardize its programs on democratization and governance and become a fierce economic competitor in Africa. In the first two chapters, the thesis describes the interests of China and the U.S, respectively, the main actors involved in the countries' respective Africa policies, and strategies and concrete policies these two world powers implement in Africa. The third chapter compares the U.S. and China's engagement in three case studies - on Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. The fourth chapter provides a comparison of the general features of the American and the Chinese policies towards Sub- Saharan Africa. The chapter...