This thesis studies the long-run relationship between environmental degradation measured by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita and economic growth measured by gross domestic product per capita in Romania, between 1968 and 2018. The study is conducted using the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework and the autoregressive distributed lag bounds test for cointegration. Furthermore, the direction of short-run and long-run causality is investigated using the Granger causality within the Vector Error Correction Model. The EKC hypothesizes the existence of an inverted Ushaped relationship between environmental degradation and the level of income. The analysis lends support to this hypothesis for Romania in the studied time frame and identifies a peak of CO2 emissions at a real GDP per capita of approximately $5,700. This suggests that a green growth strategy is suitable for Romania at this point in time. However, the situation should be constantly monitored and efforts to reduce emissions ought to be maintained to reach the net zero targets.
This paper analyses the determinants of Japanese foreign direct investment into Europe between 1985 and 2000, with a focus on investment patterns in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. The analysis is a qualitative one, conducted at macro-level through applying the location factor within the Eclectic Paradigm framework and identifying the inherent advantages which motivated investments. The main finding is that policy-induced aspects both in the host and the home countries are the strongest determinants for investments.
This paper adds a new component to the existing analysis concerning border effects, namely a national identity facet that is partly responsible for increased border effects in European Union member states. A gravity model of trade is employed as the main technique to answer the research question 'Is the border effect signicant in the European Union and, if so, does national identity play a role in it?'. With the creation of a novel variable and data set, the paper finds that border effects are still signicant and influenced by national sentiment. The results are robust and indicate that, at the 95th percentile of the national identity distribution, an EU country trades 4.7 times more with itself than with another EU country, after controlling for several factors. However, at the 5th percentile, the border effect loses its statistical signficance.
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