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Does a strong commitment to an exchange rate peg reduce the cost of financial capital to less developed countries? We use a sample of twelve Caribbean countries to examine the impact that the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), a currency board/monetary union, has in lowering the cost of borrowing to its members. Results from estimations on individual and pooled annual data from 1976–1999 indicate that membership in the ECCU, in addition to other policy variables, significantly reduces the cost of financial capital.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This chapter critically examines the causes and effects of continuous poverty in two sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, despite various poverty alleviation strategies adopted by each country. It reveals the theoretical framework and the accompanying set of programmatic and policy tools for poverty alleviation in SSA.

This article describes the implementation of Joint Economic Development Districts between the City of Akron, Ohio and surrounding townships. We examine the capacity of the JEDD structure to make Akron’s boundaries more “elastic” without contentious annexation, explore its capacity to serve as a vehicle for cooperative regional economic development, and assess its utility as mechanism for generating the funds necessary to finance the infrastructure improvements required for economic development. Preliminary indications are that the JEDD mechanism will allow the benefits of economic development to accrue to Akron while it avoids costly and contentious annexations and will generate funds to support economic development, but it does not manifest a cooperative, regional approach to economic development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between social capital and fiscal performance using provincial sub-national state-level data in India during 1991-2012. Fiscal performance in India is based on social trust on fiscal institutions that emphasizes mainly social need for economic development.

People participation in public affairs or simply vote turnover in general election in India is taken to measure social trust on fiscal institution. Applying principal component analysis, the author constructs social capital index and examines the said relation also. Models are estimated using panel data techniques.

Strong social capital reduces fiscal deficits. As one percent vote turnover rate rises, fiscal deficit reduces by 2.6-2.8 percent during 1991-2012. The empirical findings suggest that social capital indirectly controls the fiscal performance of the elected government. The results are robust to a number of control variables.

The strong political trust is established through high turnover rate and vote share in the election for formation of government that creates the platform for sound fiscal policy decisions.

The question discussed in this paper is whether foreign aid can help accelerate growth in African countries. The paper reviews growth determinants and growth constraints in Africa and discusses how aid can help relieve the constraints. Issues covered are the choice of aid modalities, donor coordination, conditionality, and international integration. A key question addressed is how aid should be organized not to overburden the recipient system and to provide incentives for policy makers to perform. The paper also touches upon the need for international trade reforms and public goods investments.

An offshore sector makes reference to financial services and non‐financial services frameworks in a country/territory. Clientele who make use of these services are non‐residents of the given jurisdiction. In these service frameworks assets can be diverted to, and business/financial affairs conducted in, an environment where a package of favourable regulatory incentives are in place to benefit clients who would ordinarily not be privy to such regulatory regimes in onshore jurisdictions. These regulatory incentives typically comprise incorporation mechanisms as regards commercial holding companies or overseas subsidiaries in client‐friendly fiscal and exchange control environments.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the determinant factors of government budget balance forecast errors for Eurozone countries based on four different database sources from 1998 to 2011.

Besides the analysis on quality and efficiency of government budget balance projections, panel data analysis is made from different methods taking into account economic, political, institutional and governance factors, and lagged forecast errors for estimations of budget balance forecast errors.

The results show that even with the concern and pressure due to the fiscal crisis in the Eurozone, the bias in fiscal forecasts remains.

One contribution of this paper, in comparison to other studies, is the use of longer time periods for the analysis of forecast errors as well as the employment of different data sources for detecting systematic patterns of errors, and the use of various estimation methods for the fiscal forecast error determinants, which gives insights into the reliability and robustness of results obtained in earlier studies. In particular, the introduction of variables such as fiscal council and fiscal rules allows one to check whether institutional behavior may change the effect from debt on fiscal forecast errors.

This paper aims to examine the role of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body in China, in addressing environmental challenges.

This study uses 457 CPPCC environmental proposals across 160 cities for the period of 2013 to 2015 and a mediation effect model to examine the effect of CPPCC environmental proposals on environmental quality.

This study shows that CPPCC environmental proposals improve environmental quality; and the relationship between CPPCC environmental proposals and environmental quality is partially mediated by enforcement of environmental laws and regulations only although the proposals positively influence both law enforcement and environmental public budget expenditures.

Future research may examine how the interaction between the government and other important stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations can help improve environmental quality. In addition, future research may examine whether other policy tools such as pollution tax and fees, environmental subsidies, and emissions trading can play a role in dealing with environmental issues.

This study provides evidence that supports CPPCC members to take an even more active role in public governance by engaging with both the government and the public.

The CPPCC’s participation in public governance helps the government respond to critical issues more effectively. The government should pay close attention to CPPCC proposals when making public policies. Furthermore, the government probably needs to review its policies in relation to environmental expenditures.

This study is the first to examine the role of the CPPCC, a political advisory body, in addressing environmental challenges through functioning as a bridge between government and the public, whereas the extant literature has predominantly focused on the role of government, market and the public.