Ewa Lechman

Economic Growth and Female Labor Force Participation – Verifying the U-Feminization Hypothesis. New Evidence for 162 Countries Over the Period 1990-2012

The paper contributes by providing new insights into relationship between female labor force and economic growth in 162 world countries over the period 1990-2012. It is anticipated uncovering U-shaped relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth. The analysis is run in two different perspectives – first the relationship is examined for sample encompassing 162 countries; and second – the evidence is disaggregated and the relationship is re-examined in four income-groups (low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and high-income). To this aims data on female labor force participation and per capita income are used, from the World Development Indicators 2013 database, and examine the relationship by deploying panel data analysis assuming non-linearity between variables. The main findings support the hypothesis on U-shaped relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth, however high cross-country variability on the field is reported. Moreover, only in case of low-income countries, the U-shaped feminization hypothesis was not positively verified.

Female Labor Force Participation and Economic Growth. Re-Examination of U-Shaped Curve.

The paper contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between female labor force and economic growth in 162 countries over the period 1990-2012. We anticipate uncovering U-shaped impact of economic growth on female labor force. To examine the previous we deploy longitudinal data analysis assuming non-linearity between variables. Our main findings support the hypothesis on U-shaped relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth, however high cross-country variability on the field is evident.

Okun's and Barro's Misery Index as an Alternative Poverty Assessment Tool. Recent Estimations for European Countries.

The paper discusses an alternative measure for poverty assessment - the Misery Index. An author develops an extended version of the index. The calculations are run for European countries, based on Eurostat datas.

New Technologies Adoption and Diffusion Patterns in Developing Countries. An Empirical Study for the Period 2000-2011.

In recent years, enormous changes are noted worldwide when broad adoption of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). These unique technologies – often perceived as economic development incentives – have a great ability to spread at high pace and low cost in world countries, bringing to people opportunities to contribute to economic development and growth. New Technologies play a special role in developing countries, where their in-country adoption lies in the centre of development strategies. ICTs are treated as tools which bring to people access to information, education and knowledge, offering unlimited possibilities for wealth-creation. The paper, purely empirical in nature, reports on the pace of adoption of new Information and Communication Technologies in developing countries, and – additionally – investigates country-specific ICTs diffusion patterns. We expect to uncover the S-shape curve in the diffusion process in most of developing countries, as well as in the whole country sample. For the analysis purposes we apply all counties, which – according to the World Bank nomenclature – are classified as low-income and lower-middle-income economies. Our sample covers 46 countries (upper-middle-income and high-income economies are excluded from the study purposely), which are classified as developing economies. The time framework is set for the period of 2000-2011. All data necessary for the analysis are derived from World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database 2012 (16th edition).

Big Data Analytics for ICT Monitoring and Development

The expanded growth of information and communication technology has opened new era of digitization which is proving to be a great challenge for researchers and scientists around the globe. The utmost paradigm is to handle and process the explosion of data with minimal cost and discover relevant hidden information in the least amount of time. The buzz word “BIG DATA” is a widely anticipated term with the potential to handle heterogeneous, complex, and unstructured data. We can say that big data has evolved as a monitoring tool for ICT to detect relevant patterns which were previous unknown. This chapter focuses on ICT and big data application in varied application domains. The aim is to design a framework for business data resources which gather at unprecedented pace and derive relevant information with big data analytics for better decision-making. In addition, this chapter discusses a novel framework where big data analytics is utilized as potential decision- making step for relatively better management policies.

FERTILITY REBOUND AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. NEW EVIDENCE FOR 18 COUNTRIES OVER THE PERIOD 1970–2011

Long-run impact of economic growth on fertility trends is ambiguous and sensitive for in-time variations. Noticeably, over last decades, economic growth has led to significant falls in total fertility rates in many countries. However, recently, in high-income economies a kind of ‘fertility rebound’ emerged (Goldstein, 2009; Luci and Thevenon, 2011; Day, 2012), which supports the hypothesis that reversal trends in total fertility rates are mainly attributed to economic growth. The paper unveils the relationship between total fertility rate changes and economic growth in 18 selected countries with fertility rebound observed, over the period 1970–2011, and detects the GDP-threshold at which the fertility rebound emerged. To report on the relationship we deploy longitudinal data analysis assuming non-linearity between examined variables. The data applied are exclusively derived from World Development Indicators 2013. Our main findings support the hypothesis on U-shaped relationship between the total fertility rate and economic growth in analyzed countries in 1970-2011. Along with the previous, we project the minimum level of GDP per capita (GDP-threshold) when the fertility rebound takes place.

Human Poverty – Measuring Relative Deprivation from Basic Achievements. A Comparative Study for 144 World Countries in the Time Span 1990-2010.

Poverty – differently defined and measured – still remains one the crucial parts of the world development debate. It`s broadly perceived as multidimensional phenomenon which deprives people from basic capabilities and freedoms, limits their opportunity to educate and fully participate in the labor market contributing to overall country`s socio-economic performance. Referring to seminal works of Sen and many others(see e.g. Morris 1979; Sen 1985, 1992; Desai 1991; Ravallion 1993), we present an specific approach to poverty issues, treating low incomes as consequence – not a cause – of poverty. The main target of the work is twofold. Firstly we aim to develop a new complex measure of relative poverty to set the most recent worldwide poverty estimates. For this purpose we deploy methods based on fuzzy sets (e.g. see works of Zadeh 1965; DuboisP Berenger&Verdier-Chouchane 2006), and we apply a wide array of non-income indicators (proxies) explaining level of socio-economic development. Following the logic of fuzzy sets theory, we explain poverty as deprivation from – for example – access to education or improved drinking water. Secondly, we run an analysis on disaggregated data, tracking for factors which contribute mostly to the level of poverty in different countries. Such approach let us to detect most backward areas of human development which shall be in the centre of interest of policy makers. All data applied in the estimates are derived from World Development Indicators Database 2012. The sample covers 144 world economies, and the set time framework is 1990-2010.

Catching-up and club convergence from cross-national perspective. A statistical study for the period 1980-2010.

The paper present the analysis outcomes on the catching-up process. Additionally it seeks for identifying the “convergence clubs�? in cross-national section. It implements a traditional analysis of convergence tracking the catching-up process as well as the per capita income dynamics across time. The author finds no statistically significant relationship between average annual GDP PPP per capita growth rates (as exponential growth rate) and initial GDP PPP per capita (as natural logarithm) in a selected group of countries. The author also identifies the existence of “rich country cluster�? and “poor country cluster�? in the analyzed sample. The author applies for statistical analysis the country sample composed from 101 economies. All data concerning GDP PPP per capita are drawn from the IMF World Economic Outlook Database 2011. The time coverage is 1980-2010.

FINANCIAL MARKETS DIFFUSION PATTERNS. THE CASE OF MEXICAN INVESTMENT FUNDS

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are one of the most influential financial innovations, reshaping the investment funds market in many countries, including Mexico. Due to their similar investment objectives, ETFs are considered substitutes for mutual funds. This paper examines the changes of the investment funds (ETFs and mutual funds) in Mexico over 2002-2012 using a category of the innovation diffusion models, i.e. logistic growth models in order to explore the key development patterns. First section presents data sources and methodological framework, with detailed description of the innovation diffusion models applied in the research (based on 3-parametric logistic curve). Descriptions of the selected categories of investment funds are provided in the second section of the article, together with the advantages of ETFs as opposed to mutual funds. Sum of assets under management of ETFs and mutual is considered as the size of the total investment funds market. Empirical findings indicate the significant development of the ETF market, both in terms of assets under management and market share. According to the presented estimations, Mexican ETF market development can be described with the logistic growth models, and three characteristic phases of the logistic curve were clearly observable. Predicted ETF market development patterns point towards further increase of market share of ETFs over the next 3-5 years yet the probability of exceeding the level of ca. 20-30% seems low.

ICT Diffusion Trajectories and Economic Development: Empirical Evidence for 46 Developing Countries

In economic theory, technology is treated as crucial factor contributing significantly to economic development. In seminal works of Schumpeter [1934, 1947], Baumol [1986], Gerschenkron [1962] or Abramovitz [1986], the emphasis on the role of technological progress in process of economic development is put extensively. Along with the previous, there emerged theoretical and empirical works on technology diffusion (i.e. Rogers 1962, Geroski 2000), where the dynamics of the process is considered. Temporarily, the spread on new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is massive. The objectives of the study are twofold. Using panel data we analyze the diffusion trajectories of ICTs in developing countries, and we assess the dynamics of the process. Secondly, we hypothesize on existence quantitative links between ICTs adoption and economic development. The time framework is set for period 2000-2011. Statistical data are derived from World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database 2012, World Development Indicators 2013 and Human Development Report 2013.