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The present study investigates the nexus between health performance dynamics and economic growth in 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2004–2018.

Four health performance dynamics are used, notably: total life expectancy, male life expectancy, female life expectancy and risk of maternal death. The empirical evidence is based on quantile regressions (QRs) in order to put into perspective the conditional distribution of economic growth.

The following findings are established: (1) total life expectancy and male life expectancy increase economic growth exclusively in the 10th and 90th quantiles of economic growth; (2) female life expectancy boosts economic growth in the 90th quantile of economic growth and (3) the risk of maternal death reduces economic growth in the 75th and 90th quantiles of economic growth. Policy implications are discussed.

The study complements the literature on the nexus between health performance and economic growth by assessing the nexuses throughout the conditional distribution of economic growth.

This paper aims to advance the argument that the process of wealth creation predominantly originates from the economic system of democracy. It seeks to put forth the concept of economic democracy and understand as the process enabling the opportunities for welfare gains to multiply in favour of ever‐larger parts of population.

The paper questions the main insight of the conventional view on the benefits of specialisation according to which a nation's prosperity becomes inevitable under the circumstances of efficient allocation of available resources. It takes instead account of how economic interests intertwine with political processes and proposes an analytical deconstruction of the economic influence of political decisions with extensive consideration to Olson's perspective on collective action.

The argument is that the conventional prediction is necessarily limited by several particular occurrences that make the process of wealth creation take a course dependent on the democratic organization of economic activities. The set of policy actions, as well as its underlying principles rest on the understanding that diversification of sources of economic gains should stand as option number 1 on any governmental priority list in order to achieve a better standard of living.

The paper sheds light on a different perspective, which does not take for granted the principles of free market and open society as determinants of a country's prosperity and proposes instead an understanding of the sources of prosperity based on occupational diversification as a practical consequence of the economic democracy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing role of housing wealth from an investment vehicle to a welfare resource. It also considers the implications of economic prosperity and decline in the UK on homeowners, intentions of equity withdrawal, and the consequences of managing household budgets.

The paper takes the form of a quantitative longitudinal analysis of national data and panel survey, including random effects logistic regression model.

Housing wealth is increasingly being used as a financial safety net across the life course. Homeowners are equally likely to have engaged in equity‐borrowing episodes during periods of economic prosperity as they are during periods of decline; particularly, lone parents with non‐dependent children and unemployed people. Housing tends to be used as a last resort once other forms of credit have been exhausted.

There are data constraints; equity withdrawal can only be calculated from 1994 and the latest wave of data available is 2008. The research is not therefore able to consider the full extent of the consequences of the current recession, however, it does provide an indication of the problems that may emerge.

Social implications arise from the concentration of resources into housing wealth; homeowners may suffer through having increased debt and there are implications for financial and sustainable welfare policy where home ownership is positioned as a nation's welfare resource.

The paper draws upon the author's recent work (in collaboration with others) which offers insights into the motivations for equity borrowing. This paper offers an original contribution through presenting empirical evidence on the effect of economic prosperity and economic decline on household behaviour, and adds new insights in respect of the implications for households who rely on housing wealth in the context of the current recession.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relationship between political freedom and economic prosperity. The paper sheds light on what makes economic growth and opportunities possible and how lack of political freedom obstructs economic growth.

The paper discusses the concept of freedom deficit in the context of the Arab world. The paper relies on recent debates on the state of economic ills in the region.

Based on a survey of the current literature on the state of economic and political freedom in the Arab world, the paper demonstrates that only under conditions of free access to economic opportunities and personal freedom will people in the region be able to overcome their economic misery and move forward to participate in the global economy.

The paper reflects on the state of the Arab world relative to other regions and makes a powerful argument that without allowing the people to utilize their potential and have unrestricted access to economic opportunities, the chances for the Arab world to economically join the rest of the world's progress are slim.

The purpose of this paper is to tie together the insights from the body of research relating to economic complexity theory, structural holes, non-price based competition, and knowledge management. The insights relating to generating national prosperity are synthesised through an intellectual capital lens.

The paper uses literature review combined with insights from an Australian project on state-based economic complexity.

The connectivist and autopoietic epistemological paradigms are found to be most aligned with the need to manage transformation between organisational and human resources that will achieve causal ambiguity and hence inimitability. This inimitability forms the basis for achieving non-price based competition and if there is a rich network of economic agents that, both individually and collectively through collaboration, have these characteristics a large share of the economy can operate on the basis of non-priced based competition. If all these agents have an export focus the economic complexity of the economy will be high, and likely increasing, which will enable both the creation and the appropriation of large amounts of value and hence result in increasing national prosperity.

Findings are only relevant for OECD countries given the origins of the data used.

Managerial implications are outlined as are major implications for public policy.

This is the first time that these concepts are linked.

This article examines the feasibility of Islamic economic system in a modern economy. Contemporary economic system is sophisticated and very complex. Islam established the foundations of its economic system fourteen hundred years ago and its principles are deemed straightforward and simple. So the question arises: How can such a straightforward and simple system handle the complicated problems of a modern economy? This question is addressed here using the problems of poverty and inequity in the USA as an illustration. The choice of the USA is based on the level of its affluence and technological development, but its failure to eliminate the scourge of chronic poverty in spite of the availability of the means to do what. I first show the nature of the problems in terms of poverty, hunger, homelessness, lack of medical care, and inequity in the distribution of income and wealth, in stark contradiction to the affluence of the country. Then I demonstrate how the application of the Islamic principles can, within a very short time, solve these problems without at all stifling the prosperity of the society. This conclusion, however, should not be misconstrued as if Islam cannot deal with the problems in the context of developing countries — Islamic principles worked like miracles in solving these and other problems with the least amount of resources during the early days of Islam.

Much of the environmental sociology literature calls for economic development to lead to environmental destruction, but growing bodies of work on “ecological modernization” and “environmental Kuznets curves” (EKCs) argue that, beyond a certain point, socioeconomic development can lead to environmental improvement. A third hypothesis (Boyce) argues that inequality may be more relevant than levels of prosperity. Published findings have been sufficiently mixed to warrant more detailed analyses. This chapter considers both cross-sectional and two-wave panel data and the three competing expectations, considering air emissions and toxic manufacturing releases for U.S. counties. Air emissions tend to correlate positively with economic prosperity, supporting the “core” environmental sociology hypothesis, while toxic emissions show greater support for the EKC/ecological modernization hypothesis. The most consistent theoretical support is found among indicators of inequality and power that support the Boyce hypothesis. The findings suggest implications for policy as well as for future research.

What differentiates US capitalism from all other forms of industrial capitalism is its historical focus on both the creation of wealth (entrepreneurship) and the reconstitution of wealth (philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that continuously nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created historically has been given back to the community, to build up the great social institutions that have a positive feedback on future economic growth. This entrepreneurship‐philanthropy nexus has not been fully explored by either economists or the general public. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that US philanthropists – especially those who have made their own fortunes – create foundations that, in turn, contribute to greater and more widespread economic prosperity through knowledge creation. If we do not analyze philanthropy we can understand neither how economic development occurred nor what accounts for US economic dominance.

Road and transportation has a significant role in the prosperity, economic growth and development of a region. The main purpose of this study is to conduct an in-depth analysis of local residents’ attitude towards road and transport infrastructure (China–Pakistan economic corridor, CPEC) and the wider economic, social, cultural and environmental impact on local people.

Data were collected using a questionnaire survey from the local people. Factor analysis and structural equation modelling approach were used to test the relation between the observed and latent variables.

The result discovered that road infrastructure has significant socio-economic and cultural impacts that significantly affect the local people support for CPEC development. It also revealed that more promotion and awareness regarding benefits of the project for dwellers lead to more support of the local residents in the study area.

Information provided by this study will help policymakers to gain local resident support for the project and make policies accordingly for the future projects.

This study investigated the attitude and support of the local people based on the road infrastructure’s social, economic, cultural and environmental impact, which has never been examined in the existing literature.