Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Teodoro Gallucci Author-X-Name-First: Teodoro Author-X-Name-Last: Gallucci Author-Name: Vesselina Dimitrova Author-X-Name-First: Vesselina Author-X-Name-Last: Dimitrova Title: The role of carbon footprint indicator for sustainable implications in tourism industry - case study of Bulgaria Abstract: In the last years, the interest in the environmental issues in tourism activities is growing and several initiatives have been promoted to improve the trends for reducing the environmental impact. These considerations underline the necessity of boosting research studies aiming at implementing correct management of the touristic destinations in the light of sustainability. The objective of this study is characterised by two sub-goal: firstly has been shown how to calculate the environmental carbon footprint (CF) indicator hotels located in the Golden Sands Resort, a few km from the City of Varna (Bulgaria), and secondly have been highlighted how the analysis of this environmental indicator became useful in supporting and proposing improvements, both managerial and environmental or to suggest green marketing strategy performing sustainable tourism in Bulgaria. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 61-80 Issue: 1 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: sustainable tourism; carbon footprint; life cycle assessment; LCA; green marketing; environmental indicators; Bulgaria. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107844 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:61-80 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Ashraf Galal Eid Author-X-Name-First: Ashraf Galal Author-X-Name-Last: Eid Title: The impact of government expenditure on GDP in the State of Qatar: a nonlinear ARDL approach Abstract: This study investigates the long run relationship between government expenditure and the GDP in the State of Qatar with a focus on the non-mining and quarrying GDP during the period 1980-2017 using the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The NARDL model results show an asymmetric impact of government expenditure fluctuations as the increase in both government current and capital expenditures leads to a positive and significant effect on the Qatari's non-mining GDP, whereas the decrease in both types of government expenditure does not significantly affect the non-mining and quarrying GDP. This leads us to conclude that the non-mining and quarrying GDP is unresponsive to government budget cuts. The previous result should encourage policymakers to make bold budget cut decisions, when needed, without being afraid of the potential negative effects on non-mining and quarrying GDP. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 25-43 Issue: 1 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: government expenditure; GDP; nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag; NARDL; fiscal policy; Qatar. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107859 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:25-43 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Misheck Mutize Author-X-Name-First: Misheck Author-X-Name-Last: Mutize Author-Name: McBride M. Nkhalamba Author-X-Name-First: McBride M. Author-X-Name-Last: Nkhalamba Title: The impact of sovereign credit rating changes on government bond yields in South Africa Abstract: This study applies an event study analysis on Standard % Poor's (S%P), Fitch and Moody's sovereign credit ratings for South Africa over the period 2007 to 2018 to investigate the impact of long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings changes on 30-year sovereign bond yield. Results of the analysis find a generally significant increase in bond yields before, during and after credit rating downgrades and negative outlook events. However, there was no statistically significant impact on bond yields associated with upgrades and positive outlook events. It is thus concluded that investors in South Africa's long-term bonds are more sensitive to negative credit rating events, which are mainly driven by structural problems in the economy. This paper recommends monetary and fiscal authorities to address the concerns raised by rating agencies in review reports leading to negative outlook and downgrades before they become more apparent to trigger negative rating actions. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 81-100 Issue: 1 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: credit rating; bond yield; downgrades; upgrade; outlooks; South Africa. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107860 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:81-100 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Kambale Kavese Author-X-Name-First: Kambale Author-X-Name-Last: Kavese Author-Name: Andrew Phiri Author-X-Name-First: Andrew Author-X-Name-Last: Phiri Title: Optimal tax rates in South Africa: new empirical insights to the existing debate Abstract: The current study contributes to the existing debate on optimal taxes in South Africa by estimating Scully's optimal tax framework using the ARDL framework applied to quarterly data collected between 2002Q1-2017Q4. Notably, our study differs from previous studies in two ways. Firstly, our current study distinguishes between revenue-maximising and growth-maximising optimal tax rates. Secondly, we go beyond the traditional reliance on aggregated tax rates and provided optimal tax estimates for six sub-categories of tax rates employed by South African fiscal authorities (i.e., taxes on income, profit and capital, taxes on property, VAT, general fuel levy, excise duty, and taxes on international trade). Our empirical results indicate that fiscal authorities have generally implemented revenue-maximising tax policy during economic recessions whilst leaning towards growth-maximising tax rates during expansions periods. Based on these findings, the paper manifests policy advice for South African fiscal authorities in their quest for improving the country's economic performance. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 44-60 Issue: 1 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: optimal taxes; disaggregated taxes; ARDL; South Africa; emerging market economies; Sub-Saharan Africa; SSA. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107861 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:44-60 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Marta Kornafel Author-X-Name-First: Marta Author-X-Name-Last: Kornafel Author-Name: Ivan Telega Author-X-Name-First: Ivan Author-X-Name-Last: Telega Title: Dynamics of natural capital in neoclassical growth model Abstract: The goal of this paper is to consider the growth model in relation to natural capital dynamics to identify the existence of stable equilibria with positive natural capital stock. The main question is whether sustainable economic growth is possible with the increasing consumption of materials. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that implicitly considers investments in natural capital within growth theory framework and points to their key role in maintaining a constant stock of natural capital. We use 'back to basics' approach. We examine the dynamics of the standard Solow growth model extended by the presence of natural capital being modelled in the form of an aggregated renewable resource. It occurs that even if the efficiency of investments in natural capital is relatively low, it is possible to maintain natural capital at a constant level, but this requires a slowdown in the accumulation of man-made capital. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 1-24 Issue: 1 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: sustainability; natural capital; economic growth. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107862 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:1-24 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Zodwa Xesibe Author-X-Name-First: Zodwa Author-X-Name-Last: Xesibe Author-Name: Sheilla Nyasha Author-X-Name-First: Sheilla Author-X-Name-Last: Nyasha Title: Unemployment and economic growth in South Africa: a re-examination Abstract: In this study, we have empirically examined the impact of unemployment on economic growth in South Africa, using time series data from 1994Q1 to 2017Q4. The study made use of the error correction model in determining the relationship between unemployment and economic growth. In addition to economic growth and unemployment, four control variables were added to the model. These were government expenditure, inflation, investment and household final consumption expenditure. Using the error correction model (ECM), the results of the study reveal that there is a negative relationship between unemployment and economic growth in South Africa. An increase in unemployment in South Africa would reduce the rate of economic growth. Based on the research findings, where unemployment was found to have a negative impact on economic growth in the study country, the South African authorities responsible for economic policy are recommended to formulate and enhance policies that aim at reducing unemployment in the country. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 101-116 Issue: 2 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: unemployment; economic growth; South Africa. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110261 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:101-116 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Najib H.S. Farhan Author-X-Name-First: Najib H.S. Author-X-Name-Last: Farhan Author-Name: Mosab I. Tabash Author-X-Name-First: Mosab I. Author-X-Name-Last: Tabash Author-Name: Mohammed H. Alsamhi Author-X-Name-First: Mohammed H. Author-X-Name-Last: Alsamhi Author-Name: Ali Thabit Yahya Author-X-Name-First: Ali Thabit Author-X-Name-Last: Yahya Title: The relationship between capital structure and firm performance: empirical evidence from Indian service sector Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of capital structure on firms' performance in Indian service sector. The study sample consists of 379 companies belonging to five industries under the service sector, for the period from 2010/2011 to 2016/2017. Findings reveal that short-term debt to total assets and long-term debt to total assets have a negative and significant association with firms' performance measured by return on assets (ROA), return on capital employed (ROCE) and earnings per share (EPS). The methodological issues associated with a short period of samples in the previous literature motivated the researcher to use panel data in order to resolve this issue. It is found that the existing research used traditional regression models, which provided a mixed association between capital structure choice and companies' financial performance. Therefore, the study contributes to the body of knowledge by investigating the capital structure of companies under the service sector and making a comparative analysis between the industries under the service sector. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 140-162 Issue: 2 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: capital structure; service sector; firms' performance; India. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110262 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:140-162 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Boris Urban Author-X-Name-First: Boris Author-X-Name-Last: Urban Title: Wealth inequality and entrepreneurial activity in South Africa Abstract: The article investigates the relationship between wealth inequality and entrepreneurial activity. It is widely recognised that South Africa's main sustainability issues remain it's extremely high inequality. Within the framework of sustainable development lies sustainable enterprise development where entrepreneurship has been shown to contribute considerably to sustainability through job creation, economic growth and more equal income distribution. The study relies on panel data, namely the South African National Income Dynamics Study to formally test the study hypotheses. Results indicate that increased wealth inequality is not significantly increasing entrepreneurship activity in South Africa. However there is a positive and significant relationship between wealth inequality and entrepreneurship for those at the bottom of the wealth distribution. The study makes an important contribution by highlighting that public policy aimed at increasing entrepreneurship while decreasing inequality may not be entirely consistent, given the complex relationship between wealth inequality and entrepreneurial activity. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 117-139 Issue: 2 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: inequality; entrepreneurship; wealth; sustainability; South Africa; self-employment. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110263 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:117-139 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Sibusisiwe Mchani Author-X-Name-First: Sibusisiwe Author-X-Name-Last: Mchani Author-Name: Andrew Phiri Author-X-Name-First: Andrew Author-X-Name-Last: Phiri Title: Trade structure and growth: how does Africa fair against the world? Abstract: We present a comparative analysis on the trade structure-growth nexus using two panel samples representing the top 10 trading African economies and the top 10 global trading economies covering the period 1995-2017. The findings from the pooled mean group estimators show disparities in the diversification/concentration-economic growth relationship between the two samples. On one hand, both diversification and concentration are found to be beneficial for short-run growth in the African sample but insignificant for the global sample. On the other hand, export concentration is harmful to long-run growth for the African sample but beneficial for long-run growth in the global sample. In further applying panel causality tests we only observe significant causal relations between export diversification/concentration and economic growth for the global sample and yet none are observed for the African sample and the policy implications of our findings are discussed. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 184-203 Issue: 2 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: economic growth; export concentration; export diversification; pooled mean group estimators; pooled mean group; PMG; panel causality; African economies; global economies. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110278 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:184-203 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Gizem Kaya Author-X-Name-First: Gizem Author-X-Name-Last: Kaya Author-Name: Mehmet Ozgur Kayalica Author-X-Name-First: Mehmet Ozgur Author-X-Name-Last: Kayalica Author-Name: Burç Ulengin Author-X-Name-First: Burç Author-X-Name-Last: Ulengin Author-Name: Merve Kumas Author-X-Name-First: Merve Author-X-Name-Last: Kumas Title: Is 'pollute thy neighbour' valid for Turkey? Abstract: This study investigates the impact of trade in 'dirty' industries on the environment in both the short-run and long-run for Turkey. We use annual data of gross domestic product per capita (constant US$, 2010), carbon dioxide emission, energy use in GDP, the share of exports in dirty industries over total export, and the share of imports in dirty industries over total import for the period 1972-2018. By using threshold regression models, we show that the share of imports in dirty industries over total import affects CO<SUB align="right"><SMALL>2</SMALL></SUB> emissions negatively in the long-run for the period 1972-2010. Besides, for the period 2011-2018, the share of exports in dirty industries over total export affects CO<SUB align="right"><SMALL>2</SMALL></SUB> emissions positively in the long-run. Turkey seems to have polluted its trade partners unconsciously for a long time. However, Turkey has recently started to pollute itself more. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 163-183 Issue: 2 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: dirty industries; CO2 emissions; import; export; environmental Kuznets curve; EKC. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110279 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:163-183 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Davoud Ghahremanlou Author-X-Name-First: Davoud Author-X-Name-Last: Ghahremanlou Author-Name: Wieslaw Kubiak Author-X-Name-First: Wieslaw Author-X-Name-Last: Kubiak Title: Sustainable petroleum supply chains created during economic crisis in response to US Government policies Abstract: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the Saudi Arabia-Russia Oil Price War have created economic catastrophe. This crippled the US sustainable petroleum supply chain (SPSC), which is created in response to government policies, as a solution to global warming and achieving energy independency. Government and investors are striving to rescue the SPSC from bankruptcy. This motivated us to investigate creating a robust SPSC. Thus we extended the risk neutral study performed by Ghahremanlou and Kubiak (2020a) for regular economic conditions. To that end, we propose a risk averse approach by applying conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) and developing a two-stage stochastic programming model. We conduct a case study in Nebraska and provide investment decisions that can withstand economic crises. Our results show that for the survival of the SPSC, government must at least consider 2.151 $/gal tax credit for US cellulosic bioethanol blended with gasoline, and push the blend wall to at least 15%. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 205-232 Issue: 3 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: COVID-19; Saudi Arabia-Russia Oil Price War; conditional value-at-risk; CVaR; sustainable petroleum supply chain; SPSC; two-stage stochastic programming; government policies. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=111535 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:205-232 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Timotej Jagrič Author-X-Name-First: Timotej Author-X-Name-Last: Jagrič Author-Name: Stefan O. Grbenic Author-X-Name-First: Stefan O. Author-X-Name-Last: Grbenic Author-Name: Vita Jagrič Author-X-Name-First: Vita Author-X-Name-Last: Jagrič Title: Health sector in North Macedonia - the analysis of the economic impact Abstract: This paper analyses the economic impact of the healthcare sector in North Macedonia. We calculate various types of multipliers for the years 2010 and 2015 employing the methodology of input-output tables. The results indicate that additional spending into the healthcare sector has above-average stimulus effects on the national economy. Furthermore, we explore the ranking of the various sectors in the national economy concerning their multipliers' values, finding the healthcare sector to rank high. The results are in line with theoretical expectations based upon the findings of previous studies on the economic footprints of healthcare sectors in other European countries. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 281-296 Issue: 3 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: healthcare sector; economic footprint; input-output tables; multipliers; sustainability. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=111537 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:281-296 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Suvajit Banerjee Author-X-Name-First: Suvajit Author-X-Name-Last: Banerjee Author-Name: Muntasir Murshed Author-X-Name-First: Muntasir Author-X-Name-Last: Murshed Title: Do emissions implied in net export validate the pollution haven conjecture? Analysis of G7 and BRICS countries Abstract: This study attempts to relook at the pollution haven hypothesis for the G7 and BRICS countries. The empirical analysis begins by detecting the cross-sectional dependence among the country panels for the period 2005-2015 and applies the second-generation unit-root and Westerlund-Edgerton LM bootstrap cointegration tests to precisely determine the long-run equilibrium relationship between emissions embodied in net export and the real GDP, FDI, trade openness, energy consumption and financial development. The result shows a 1% increase in the real GDP and the FDI increasing the emission variable for the BRICS countries by 0.210% and 0.215% respectively, however, for the G7 countries, reducing the emission variable by 0.169% and 0.038% respectively. These findings corroborate the principles of the pollution haven hypothesis, labelling the BRICS countries as pollution haven and adding new argument to restructure the mitigation obligations for the giant emitters. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 297-319 Issue: 3 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: pollution haven hypothesis; PHH; embodied emissions in net export; BRICS; G7; cross-sectional dependency; Westerlund-Edgerton LM bootstrap cointegration. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=111539 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:297-319 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa Ali Author-X-Name-First: Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa Author-X-Name-Last: Ali Author-Name: Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla Author-X-Name-First: Ebaidalla Mahjoub Author-X-Name-Last: Ebaidalla Author-Name: Reham Rizk Author-X-Name-First: Reham Author-X-Name-Last: Rizk Title: Foreign aid and out-of-pocket health expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa: does institutional development matter? Abstract: This paper examines whether and to what extent foreign aid and its interaction with the recipient country's institutional quality reduce out of pocket health expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We also investigate the validity of fungibility hypothesis in SSA's context by examining the impact of aid on public health expenditure. The study employed the fixed-effects instrumental variables panel regressions using a dataset for 45 SSA countries over the period 1995-2015. We find that aid does not robustly affect out of pocket health expenditure. Neither does the effect of aid depend on institutional quality. This outcome contradicts the previous evidences which have repeatedly emphasised the role of institutional quality as the main factor influencing aid effectiveness. Excluding aid from non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors, we find that aid had no effect on public health expenditure. This finding confirms the absence of fungibility hypothesis in SSA context. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 259-280 Issue: 3 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: aid; Sub-Saharan Africa; SSA; out of pocket health expenditure; OOPHE; institutions quality. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=111542 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:259-280 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alenka Lena Klopčič Author-X-Name-First: Alenka Lena Author-X-Name-Last: Klopčič Author-Name: Jana Hojnik Author-X-Name-First: Jana Author-X-Name-Last: Hojnik Author-Name: Mitja Ruzzier Author-X-Name-First: Mitja Author-X-Name-Last: Ruzzier Author-Name: Janez Dolšak Author-X-Name-First: Janez Author-X-Name-Last: Dolšak Title: Development indicators for the EU's internal energy market - literature review Abstract: This paper focuses on the second dimension of the EU Commission's energy strategy - development of the fully integrated European energy market and reviews prior research on market development indicators and the methods used to assess the state of energy market development as well as aims to determine the role of regulation on energy market development. A systematic literature review covers 80 topic-relevant papers. The main findings reveal that the majority of articles refer to the effects of market reforms or market liberalisation and the adaptation of energy systems to a greater penetration of renewable energy sources into existing power systems, and the energy transition to low carbon in general. There is still substantial potential to achieve an optimal, or rather a unified, model for assessment of the overall development of the energy market, since the indicators and methods of market development have not yet been universally accepted. Journal: Int. J. of Sustainable Economy Pages: 233-258 Issue: 3 Volume: 12 Year: 2020 Keywords: development; internal energy market; regulator; EU; indicator; literature review. File-URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=111544 File-Format: text/html File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsuse:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:233-258