Issue #2 (Volume 9 2018)

Economy for green is currently becoming a “buzz word” among producers, suppliers and consumers, which is also receiving impetus in Bangladesh. Based on the literature review, a number of theoretical relationships were empirically tested. An investigative query is: to what extent the green economy is flourishing with a via to extend sustainability of the state with competitive advantage? Structured questionnaire was deliberated in order to find the relationships between the demographic variables and the green ecosystem. Time period of the research was October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018. It was empirically observed that the relationship between the respondents of both genders and usability of green production in the country exists; the connection between business type and sensitivity of any green product is easily obtainable; the linkage between business type and awareness of any green product is accessible in the market; the linkage between type of institution and encouraging goods and services of any “Green Product” in Bangladesh occurs; the relationship between different types of institutes and use of Green Product consumption is applicable in the country. Economy for Green can possibly reduce the magnitude of the worst shock of natural disasters which increasingly occur as regular variation in addition to severe problems on human being and non-human assets. Consumers and producers are essential by conscious of green concept. Green Investment Bank in Bangladesh may be established to accomplish a broad range of economic support for innovative green projects and technologies leading to increasing capacity and sustainable connections.

Environmental policies may have a negative side effect on employment, often in a specific industry in the short run. Workers in regulated industries can be affected by losses in job-specific human capital. The informal sectors in developing countries are often associated with environmental pollution and thus targeted by such policies. Welfare loss due to this side effect can be problematic in developing countries, since they often lack safeguarding schemes, including unemployment insurance. Inducing workers in informal sectors to change their jobs can mitigate these negative side effects. This study examines efficient methods of inducing informal workers to change jobs. An alternative job is offered to informal workers at a dumpsite in the Philippines and whether changing the scheme of wage payment increases the acceptance of the offer is examined. The impacts of changing payment schemes are evaluated by using a randomized field experiment. The sampled 112 waste pickers each randomly receive one of four offers for an alternative job, and the number of those who accept the offer is observed to evaluate the impact of less frequent payment (i.e., once every three days instead of daily). Piece rates and fixed wages are also compared. Those offered less frequent payment are more likely to accept the job offer compared with those offered daily payment. This preferred payment scheme can mitigate the side effects of environmental policy and workers’ self-control problem related to savings, while minimizing moral hazard.

Striking a balance between human survival heightened by mass unemployment and the environment is crucial to the sustainability of the natural resources. The role of petty trader is important in ensuring that the excess supply during harvest is processed into the forms (roasted maize, yam, plantain, meat and chicken) appreciated by consumers instead of being a loss to farmer. While average daily income of 2670.79 Nigerian naira (₦) was assured, substantial quantity of charcoal (46786.3 kg) was utilized per week by petty traders. This is equivalent of 20.6 hectares of wood. The per capita charcoal utilization per week for suya, roasted yam and plantain sellers were 178.7 kg, 85.2 kg and 145.8 kg, respectively. These were obtained from clearing 0.8 ha (suya), 0.4 ha (roasted yam) and 0.6 ha (plantain) of wood. Age of respondents, experience in petty trading and hours of trading per day have a positive influence on the quantity of charcoal utilized per day, while frequency of purchase (charcoal) and rainy season have a negative relationship with quantity of charcoal used per day. Considering the appreciable quantity of charcoal utilization among petty traders and its negative effect on the environment, government should go beyond collecting taxes from charcoal producers. Also, the need for control over exploitation of trees and mobilization of staff of the Ministry of Forestry for prompt tree planting are required.

This study aims to provide insight on the nexus between innovation, economic growth and CO2 emissions. In order to achieve this, data on potential factors such as innovation, environmental taxes, research and development (R&D) spending, electricity production, population size, high-technology exports and prices of photovoltaic systems are collected for the sample of the leading innovative countries over the period from 1990 to 2014. Based on a cointegrated panel methodology and a vector error correction model, the long-run, as well as the short-run dynamics of all possible combinations between the variables under study, are estimated. The results reveal that except for China, economic growth is mainly driven by electricity production, population size, CO2 emissions and R&D spending. However, innovation was found to have lesser effect on economic growth. In addition to that, the authors found evidence in favor of CO2 emissions being affected positively by population size and prices of photovoltaic systems and negatively by environmental taxes, high-technology exports, R&D spending and innovation. Moreover, on the contrary to population size, well-being is positively affected by CO2 emission and R&D spending.

The day-ahead power market has become more complex with the allowance of block purchases from private sales companies. Resource handling has become the prominent problem for both energy suppliers and energy distributers. Complexity of the problem forces the approach by each role player in the market. This research handles the market position of a small hydropower plant owner who has negligible effect on market price construction in a complex competition environment. Based on an optimum schedule of three days, this model proposes policies for the power generator to maximize its profits. An MILP model, which uses the day-ahead market price forecasts from a hybrid SARIMA-ANN price forecasting model, is designed to optimize the day-ahead generation schedule. The case application in Turkish power market shows the increase of profit with a reliable generation schedule.

This paper investigates the causal relationship between natural disasters (DMS), information and communication technologies (ICT), foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth (GDP per capita) for 10 developed countries over the period 1990 to 2016. Panel DOLS and FMOLS results show that there is a positive relationship running from ICT to natural disasters and to foreign direct investment. In addition, ICT have a positive effect on GDP per capita. VECM Granger causality analysis results reveal a unidirectional causality in the short and long term from ICT to natural disaster and to FDI at the 5% and 10% levels. Therefore, one may note that there is a unidirectional relationship running from natural disaster to GDP and a bidirectional relationship between FDI and GDP.