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The paper asks a basic question: Is there any room for more growth on the globalising world that takes into account the budget constraints of ecosystems and the planet's scarce resources? Economists tend to be very complacent about sustainability issues on the planet because they have been a problem throughout human history. Yet technological change has always solved these problems. There is an element of truth to that, but there is probably a greater element of falsehood to it now. The element of truth is that, with sufficient science, we are able to make lots of progress in many areas; but the element of falsehood is that solving the problems of sustainability will become increasingly difficult.

We investigate the convergence of Chinese real GDP per capita at regional and provincial levels, looking separately at the sub‐periods before and after major economic reforms and paying attention to the possibility of structural breaks induced by the ‘Great Leap Forward’. At the regional level we reject convergence pre‐ and post‐reform. At the provincial level we find evidence of a common regional trend for the Eastern region and again for the Central region, but not for the Western region. We conclude that, contrary to the policy objectives of the Chinese government, the regions of China have not shared a common development path.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance awareness and foment the concept of “eco‐citizenship” within today's students in higher education.

The paper takes the form of a literature review on environmental issues and spiritual thinking, student reports, discussion.

The paper's three main findings are: the need to develop educational methodologies that allow students to become advocates of a new society and way of thinking is insufficiently addressed so far; exposing students to such learning triggers a factual mindset change; and faculty and student engagement on matters of spirituality and environmental issues is becoming pivotal in a period where natural resource limitations in conjunction with overpopulation are stressing ecological systems to a threshold where it cannot be sustainable any further.

Further implementation of similar courses, and monitoring of students' long‐term behavioral changes are suggested to verify if such courses trigger a domino effect in terms of the emergence of the “eco‐citizen”.

This was the first time that such an educational approach was employed, where students not only critically investigated the course material in respect to environmental science and spirituality but also became facilitators to their own community, assisting in the development of good citizenship and enhancement of responsibility. It is clear to the authors that community interaction is very important in the curriculum design as the working ground to bring real world experience to the classroom as well as for the development of environmental and spiritual awareness. Based on the students' community activities and personal comments, in regard to the course focus and its effectiveness in changing their attitudes towards a more sustainable way of living, it was demonstrated that the course was successful.

This article analyzes the economic policy reform experience of three less developed countries (LDCs) during the 1980s -- Costa Rica, Ghana and Jamaica -- in three policy areas, exchange rate, trade, and agriculture. A political management model that shows how strong but skillful political leadership is as critical to policy reform success as is economic content is used for the analysis. The model proposes that government officials have to make policy reforms politically feasible if the reforms are to succeed. The assumption is that successful decision makers will take three kinds of political initiatives: (1) appeal to national sentiments, (2) seek the collaboration of affected interest groups, and (3) manage external actors. The article provides evidence that the economic perfomance of three countries correlated with the degree of political initiative taken. Costa Rican policy elites demonstrated the highest level of 1initiative. Ghana ranked second in political management, and Jamaica ranked third. The success of some LDCs also provides instructive experience for the Clinton Administration as it moves forward with a variety of policy reforms.

Outlines the characteristics of Japanese keiretsu (vertically integrated firms interlinked through industrial groups) and reviews the history of financial keiretsu and associated research. Compares the performance of Japanese and US banks 1989‐2000; and examines Japanese bank profit inefficiency by developing a mathematical model and applying it to 1992‐1999 bank data. Shows a “zig‐zag” pattern of profitability change over the period and concludes that the Japanese banking industry is “barely holding its own in profitability”. Points out the particular importance of this to the real economy in Japan and briefly considers the implications for government policy.

This paper aims to assess the various impacts of tourism development in Chiang Mai on the local populace’s sense of well-being. The moderating effect of employment in and affiliation with the tourism industry on perception of tourism development is also examined.

A sequential explanatory mixed method design is adopted, beginning with the development of a conceptual model that links residents’ perceived impact of tourism development with their general and life domain-specific well-beings. The model is tested with a survey of 567 respondents who are long-term residents of Chiang Mai. The findings are subsequently used in the semi-structured in-depth interviews with selected tourism stakeholders to provide qualitative explanation and meaning to the data.

The results suggest a reciprocal relationship between perceived economic, cultural and environmental impact of tourism development and Chiang Mai residents’ general sense of well-being. It also revealed that community well-being and material well-being accounted the most and the least, respectively, on overall well-being for Chiang Mai residents. Another interesting observation was that Chiang Mai residents feel the same way about the various perceived impact of tourism development on overall sense of well-being, regardless of whether they are employed or affiliated with the tourism industry or otherwise.

With limited literature on the perceived impact of tourism development by residents in Asia, this research provides a Thai perspective of the said impact on general well-being. A sequential explanatory mixed method provides an added lens to induce insights and explain the results deduced from the earlier quantitative study.