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Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Editorial
I am pleased to introduce the first issue of 2024 of the Asia Pacific Sustainable Development Journal (APSDJ Vol. 31 No. 1). The issue contains a thematic section “Sustainable development in Pacific small island developing States: The role of regional cooperation”. The theme fulfils not only our promise to focus on countries in special situations such as Pacific small island developing States but also our commitment to promote regional cooperation for sustainable development.
Submitted papers: Post-COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery in Fiji: A narrative with lessons for the future
This paper focuses on major socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji. It includes a discussion on the country’s crisis management initiatives and on the view that the post-COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery is likely to be stressful for this small and vulnerable economy. It also provides imperatives for improving socioeconomic welfare by accelerating economic activity in the new normal and presents the following suggestions for moving the economy forward: promote economic diversification; develop and commercialize economic activity in neglected industries; and deepen technology for manufacturing. Some of these suggestions are also applicable to other small and vulnerable economies.
A review of the impact of climate change on cocoa production in the Pacific Islands
Cocoa beans are a valuable export commodity for Pacific island Countries. Cocoa is mainly cultivated by smallholder farms operated by families. Cocoa bean exports generates income employment opportunities and export revenue. Smallholder cocoa farmers however face constraints on the production quality of cocoa caused by climate change which exacerbates the effect of pests and diseases on cocoa trees and causes variations in weather patterns and environmental conditions. Regional collaboration on developing quality standards and infrastructure that enhances climate resilience and improves sustainability in cocoa production is therefore needed.
Pacific preview: Current trends and trajectories
This paper provides an overview of the ongoing trends in economic growth and sustainable development policies in the Pacific. The importance of contextualizing country differences through the lens of their own historical circumstance and development priorities are key to understanding the development trajectories. Amid the climate emergencies and post-COVID-19 pandemic recoveries the analysis indicates that countries can balance their economic growth vis-à-vis sustainable development opportunities while taking full advantage of their growing voice in regional and international platforms. The opportunities of regional cooperation and solidarity are at the heart of ensuring implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Education, child health, and mining: Evidence from Papua New Guinea
This paper examines sustainable development challenges in Papua New Guinea focusing on education and child health. Regional disparities between mining and non-mining areas are assessed and the economic potential and social concerns associated with mining are reviewed. Using data from the Demographic and Health Survey the results of the study indicate that mining provinces exhibit poorer outcomes on proxies for human capital child health asset ownership access to public goods and state capacity. In addition a comparative analysis with Papua Indonesia sheds light on the multifaceted challenges faced by Papua New Guinea in achieving sustainable development.
Upgrading Mongolia’s camel wool industry: Opportunities and challenges
The rising popularity of camel wool among apparel manufacturers has prompted Mongolia to firmly embed wool-processing facilities. Based on a literature review an avenue for upgrading the camel wool industry and challenges involved are examined in this paper. Despite clear market opportunities the challenging institutional dynamics and the country’s physical landscape have complicated the trajectory to upgrade the camel wool industry. Studies on global value chains commonly prescribe policies targeting firms and stakeholders; however insights gained from this review suggest that equal if not more attention should be devoted to improving the broader institutional milieu that firms are embedded in.
Natural resource extraction and sustainable development: A case involving Pacific Island countries
This paper presents results from an investigation on the impact of resource rent on sustainable development in three Pacific countries from 1990 to 2019 using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach. The results show a significant negative relationship between natural resource rents and sustainable development in Fiji and Solomon Islands and no such relationship in Vanuatu. These findings have important policy implications suggesting the need for strategies to enhance the value of resource revenue through value addition and to allocate a greater proportion of the revenue to investment in human and physical capital in line with the "Hartwick rule".
Special theme: Sustainable development challenges in the Pacific small Island developing states: The role of regional cooperation: Urbanization, climate change and sustainable development in the Pacific small Island states: The role of regional cooperation and integration
The future of human development depends considerably on sustainable inclusive and climate resilient urban expansion. Pacific small island developing States are urbanizing rapidly and prone to environmental and climate change vulnerabilities. The role of regional cooperation and integration is critical to meet urban challenges. The present paper covers the theoretical discourse between urbanization environmental/climate change and sustainable urban development. Urbanization trends in Pacific small island developing States are examined from the perspective of the environmental/climate change vulnerabilities along with the challenges opportunities and the role of regional cooperation and integration in meeting the urban challenges to achieving sustainable urban development.
Role of environmental factors in the maternal health problems among slums: Evidence from hlaing thar yar township of Myanmar
This paper reviews the environmental factors related to the maternal health prolems in slum areas of Hliang Thar Yar township Myanmar using descriptive statistics the Chi-square test and a binary logistic regression model. The results indicate that antenatal care visits and women’s age affect the abortion rate and drinking water cooking fuel and antenatal care visits have an effect on low birth weight while distance from dump sites toilet facilities cooking fuel and occupation affect urintary tract infection rates among women. For better health outcomes steps should be taken to reduce poverty improve conditions in slum areas disseminate health-related information.
Renewable energy consumption, financial development, and environmental sustainability in Pacific Island economies
The present paper reviews the effects of renewable energy consumption economic development and financial development on environmental sustainability in the Pacific. A non-stationary panel data modelling framework is used to investigate the effects in a balanced sample of six major small island economies from 1990 to 2020. The findings reveal that renewable energy consumption improves environmental sustainability and economic development and financial development worsen it. Accordingly the findings suggest that enhancing environmental sustainability in the Pacific requires significant financial sector reforms adoption of sustainable development practices and investment in renewable energy infrastructure in the Pacific.
Readiness stocktaking of multi-hazard early warning systems in Pacific small Island developing states
Pacific small island developing States are in unique geoclimatic settings making them highly susceptible to hydrometeorological hazards. Safeguarding lives livelihoods and infrastructure in these highly vulnerable countries requires the implementation of well-designed and functional early warning systems. For the present paper an assessment is made of the early warning systems in the seven Pacific island States: Cook Islands; Fiji; Kiribati; Nauru; Niue; Tokelau; and Tuvalu. Specific challenges and distinctive requirements for each country or territory in establishing an effective early warning system are identified and recommendations are given to strengthen and advance the multi-hazard early warning system.
A delicate balancing act for aid effectiveness in small Island developing states: Performance-based selectivity or vulnerability-based allocation?
This paper examines the effectiveness of aid allocation by considering (a) policy and institutions as the traditional criteria for aid allocation and (b) the level of vulnerability as a new paradigm focusing on 35 selected small island developing States over the period 2002−2020. Using the generalized method of moments the findings show that vulnerability-based allocation is the most relevant criterion for aid allocation. They indicate that regional cooperation can be a path to “raise the voice” of Pacific small island developing States to rethink the aid allocation mechanism in favour of a vulnerability-based allocation.
Guidelines for contributors
Consolidated foreign wealth of nations: Nationality-based measures of international exposure
This study presents novel estimates of foreign holdings using a consolidated-by- nationality approach for a sample of 14 developed countries over multiple years. This approach provides an alternative for policymakers and researchers to analyse international exposure that complements the existing approach based on residence-based data. Two main advantages of the nationality-based approach are that it looks through corporate structures of multinational enterprises and considers local positions. The resulting novel data show that aggregate international financial integration is larger than residence-based data indicate for the sample. These data are used to analyse (i) profit-shifting activities and (ii) spillovers from United States monetary policy shocks. This study presents evidence suggesting that nationals of relatively high-tax countries may shift assets to low-tax countries in ways not fully captured in residence-based statistics. It also shows that a tightening in United States monetary policy is associated with a decline in foreign asset holdings by non-financial multinational enterprises using the consolidated-by-nationality approach. These findings underscore the relevance of using the consolidated-by-nationality approach to evaluate policy-relevant questions.
Editorial statement
Transnational Corporations is a longstanding policy-oriented refereed research journal on issues related to investment multinational enterprises and development. It is an official journal of the United Nations managed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). As such it has global reach a strong development policy imprint and high potential for impact beyond the scholarly community. There are no fees or article processing charges associated with submitting to or publishing in Transnational Corporations. All articles of the online version of the journal are open access and free to read and download for everyone.
Arguments for implementing formulary apportionment in the European Union
Using recently published country-by-country reporting data released by the United States Internal Revenue Service we assess United States multinationals’ activity in the single market aiming to contribute with databased evidence to the ongoing political debate about the potential changes in the European corporate tax system. Our findings show evidence of artificial profit shifting across member States under the current method to allocate profits of multinational enterprises with the Netherlands Luxembourg and Ireland appearing to be the countries showing a higher degree of complicity with these activities. Such actions challenge fair international taxation in the European Union distorting European internal competition and hampering tax revenue collection. Although it may not be (yet) the time for a worldwide unitary taxation approach the analysis highlights the urgency for the European Union to adopt a formulary apportionment approach overhauling a century-old set of global tax rules based on the separate entity approach.
Do minority shareholder protection laws benefit investors? Evidence from a natural experiment on cross-listed firms
Good corporate governance practices are not universal. Unlike practices in institutional settings in developed countries which have attracted most scholarly attention corporate governance practices in emerging economies lean towards addressing principal-principal conflicts that stem from concentrated ownership. The study employs a difference-in-differences panel data design with matched samples of Chinese firms cross-listed in mainland China and Hong Kong (China) and of those listed only in Hong Kong (China) based on propensity score matching. It thus adopts a natural experimental setting – the promulgation of China’s Revised Securities Law in March 2020 – to pinpoint whether and how legal revisions of investor protection laws can really benefit investors. The findings show that independent directors in cross-listed firms turn over significantly more than those in firms listed only in Hong Kong (China). Also it suggests that firms mainly replace departed directors with new directors from similar demographics. Furthermore the study observes no evidence of significant changes in board independence in the short run. The findings suggest that policymakers should mind unintended consequences beyond the intended outcomes of the legal reforms on corporate governance particularly the potential disproportionate impacts on smaller firms.
Bridging the productivity gap: A comparative analysis of foreign-owned and domestic firms in Viet Nam
This study investigates the productivity gap between foreign-owned and domestic firms in Viet Nam. Using quantile regression estimation for the period of 2011–2020 the study first examines the impact of firms’ specifics and of provincial governance quality on firms’ total factor productivity at different points of the productivity distribution. The results show that labour productivity market share and return on assets appear to significantly affect firm productivity regardless of firm groups or quantiles. To understand the productivity gap between foreign and domestic firms the study uses the quantile decomposition approach to differentiate the factors that contribute to the gap at different quantiles. Our findings reveal that across quantiles most of the productivity gap is explained by firms’ specifics especially labour productivity. To address the productivity gap between foreign-owned and domestic firms in Viet Nam policymakers should focus on enhancing domestic firms’ access to technology firms’ experience and human capital development as firm-specific factors appear to be major contributors to the productivity differential. In addition improving provincial governance quality and creating an enabling environment for both foreign-owned and domestic firms can further stimulate productivity growth and foster healthy competition in the manufacturing sector.
Special economic zones and entrepreneurship: A new path forward for SEZs in Africa?
In recent years interest has been growing among policymakers in how to leverage special economic zone (SEZ) policies to support local entrepreneurship. With a few recent exceptions the academic literature to date has been silent on the matter. This article aims to contribute to addressing this gap. First it develops a conceptual framework linking SEZ policies and entrepreneurship development. Second it explores the state of play of entrepreneurship promotion in SEZs in Africa using a survey of African SEZs and two case studies. We find significant appetite among African SEZs to promote local entrepreneurship; however it is less clear how best to accomplish the task. Many of the policies facilities and services offered are open to local entrepreneurs rather than being tailored specifically to their needs. The support required in some policy areas also seems to be more straightforward than in others. Adapting the SEZ offering to the needs of local entrepreneurs is one of the key challenges to increasing the effectiveness of the support.