Emmanuel Innocents Edoun

Many African countries have been struggling to achieve sustainable economics in order to contribute in putting Africa in the path for socio-economic development. This is partly due to the burden of debt that hangs over many African countries that borrowed funds from multilateral partners irresponsibly. As a result of this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank put in place in 1996 a strategy to provide debt relief to countries that were struggling to repay their debts. This debt relief initiative was reviewed in 1999 to provide adequate results. This paper is, therefore, a critical assessment of HIPIC and the implication of NEPAD from 2001 to date.

Keywords: HIPIC, NEPAD, IMF, World Bank, socio-economic development.
JEL Classification: H62, H63

The ever-increasing traffic congestion echelons and the subsequent undesirable air quality in several metropolitan areas have raised the need for a successful public transportation system to ease the dependence on the private automobiles. Also the environmental economics is becoming more and more appealing taking into consideration different activities that have economic impact. One of such activities is public transportation. In the current scenario of globalization, public transportation services and systems need to perform introspective contemplation towards the quality of services offered (Michel, 2011). The research adopted a quantitative method of inquiry, therefore, a Survey Research Strategy was considered in order to provide a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. It includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using questionnaires or structured interviews for data collection, with the intent of generalizing from a sample to a population (Babbie, 2010). In this context, this research study anticipated to critically evaluate the customers’ perception of the public transportation system and its impacts on service delivery: a case study of Busan Metropolitan City, Korea Republic. This paper is divided into five major sections.

Keywords: environmental economics, public transportation system, customer perceptions, managerial perspective, customers.
JEL Classification: Q50,Q56, R11, P43

Energy is a useful component that has a positive impact to Africa’s socio-economic development. Its effect on households can therefore not be overlooked. Past studies revealed that, the role of the Solar Water Heater is to utilize the energy generated by the sun to heat water. The heating of the water is achieved via the collector. The tubes are filled with water which is heated during the day light hours and this hot water is stored in the main tank. The hot water rises in the tube and is replaced by the cooler water, which is at the lower level of the main tank. This cycle is repeated continuously throughout the day thus heating the water in the main tank. As hot water is drawn from the system, cold water is subsequently supplied. This paper is based on the review of the related literature to show the effects of solar water heating and the usage of innovative technology in residential homes. In particular, the description of SWH product, demand side management potential of solar water heaters, and the innovation diffusion reasons. Then, the conceptual framework as it relates to the innovation diffusion theory will be presented. Lastly, the development of the research problem is outlined. Using a theoretical framework, the paper is able to present the advantages and disadvantages of SWH in Gauteng, South Africa.