This document presents the research proposal on Impact of Urbanization on Enviornmental Degradation Introduction Environmental degradation remains the most complex issue for developed countries and is no longer practically valid for unindustrialized countries. The world’s developed and unindustrialized countries are affected by high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Environmental destruction is caused by forest fires, and the main elements that affect environmental degradation are flooding in...
ABSTRACT The dairy sub-sector in Kenya is of particular importance as it provides vital employment, income and nutrition, in an environment where job opportunities are scarce. The subsector markets about 55 percent of the total milk produced but the informal sector accounting for more than 75 percent of all the marketed milk. Large milk quantities are marketed through the informal sector raising questions over the safety and quality of milk products. In spite of the growth of value added milk...
Abstract This thesis consists of three papers on child labour and schooling in Ghana. The first paper examines the correlates of child labour and schooling, as well as the trade-off between work and schooling of children aged 5-17 years with the 2013 Ghana Living Standard Survey data. A bivariate probit model is used since the decisions to participate in schooling and in the labour market are interdependent. The results show that there is a gender gap both in child work and schooling. In par...
ABSTRACT This study empirically examined the effect of research and development on agricultural sector growth in East African Community from the year 2000-2014. According to the endogenous growth theory, research and development leads to increase in the stock of knowledge which in turn has got spill over effects hence leads to economic growth. However, information on the effect of R&D on the agricultural sector in the EAC was lacking hence the study sought to bridge this knowledge gap. The ob...
ABSTRACT How effectively governments can use tobacco tax as a public health and a revenue-generating measure depends on how able smokers are to circumvent the tax by switching to other tobacco products. Recently, tobacco product switching has become more common, especially with many new tobacco product types appearing on the market. The research on these switching behaviors is scarce. This thesis provides analysis in three aspects tobacco product switching: (1) price-driven between-product s...
Abstract While countries around the world have experienced unprecedented shifts in their population age structures over the last 70 years, it has only really been over the last 20 years that research into the impact of the structure of the population on the economy has gained momentum. Analytically, it is the recognition that engagement in the economy and the resulting economic ows between individuals vary with age that underpins this impact: children consume more than they produce; prime wor...
Abstract This thesis discusses reward bundling as a process that enables decision makers to self-regulate their choice behavior. Most empirical work on intertemporal choice has focused on analyzing impulsive choice. Less effort has been dedicated to explanations of how individuals manage to overcome self-defeating behavior. This thesis evaluates the theory of reward bundling. It presents a set of econometric tools that can be employed to investigate whether actual choice behavior is consiste...
Abstract This thesis consists of three different essays-organized as different chapters-that deal with empirical as well as theoretical aspects of the economics of retirement. The first essay contributes to the theoretical life-cycle literature by analyzing in depth the role of retirement date expectations in determining saving behavior. As our main contribution, we demonstrate that the magnitude of the reaction of consumption and saving behavior of younger individuals to a change in the ret...
ABSTRACT Researchers and policy makers agree that studying the relationship between school quality and academic achievement will benefit public investment in education. An important turning point in educational delivery in Africa came during the 1990 World Conference on Education for All where renewed commitments to quality basic education were made. Against this background, interest in how African education systems are progressing has increased. This thesis contributes to this understanding ...
Contents Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter I: Introduction to the Problem ....................................................................................... 4 The Role of the Labour Market in Poverty and Inequality ................................................ 5 The Costs of Unemployment ....................................................................................
ABSTRACT Commercialization has potential of enabling rural households to advance in vegetable production through better access to financial services, and enriched market coordination and participation. In recent years, there have been efforts to boost vegetable commercialization particularly among smallholder female farmers in Kilifi County. Since risk attitudes vary from male to female farmers, the differences in risks and risk perceptions of farmers may in part explain the unwillingn...
ABSTRACT The challenge of agricultural finance is to securely provide cost-effective financing to rural smallholder farmers with minimum risk of fraud and maximum accountability and transparency. Mobile money payments by farmers can provide the transactional volume economics for creating an ecosystem that can be subsequently leveraged on branchless banking distribution channel for mobile banking credit, savings and micro insurance products. Mobile money is simple, convenient, affordable and d...
ABSTRACT Teachers are an important human resource in the teaching and learning processes and their training and utilization therefore requires critical consideration. The education sector in Kenya faces many challenges, including escalating teacher wage bill, teacher shortages in schools alongside surpluses in the labour market, inequitable distribution and inefficient utilization of teachers. There is therefore the need for a framework for projecting and relating demand to the supply in orde...
This study empirically explored the effect of East African Community (EAC) integration on intra-EAC trade, as reflected by the level of exports, of the East African Community member states over the period 1980- 2012. This time period captured the pre and post EAC eras. Most empirical studies on Regional Integration investigate whether the Gravity Model hold for trading partners. Others investigate the effect of tariffs and other trade barriers on trade but this study considered the influence ...
ABSTRACT A key policy objective ofsustainable economic development, especially in any developing country like Nigeria, is to establish energy development paths that are both economically e.f .f icient and sustainable. However, this depends significantly 012 full utilization ofsuch resources. This resear~hw ork adopts an econometric approach to evaluate both the impact and the sustainability of Gas utilization in the Nigerian economy. Also, it examines the structure ofgas flaring in N...