This article analyses the impact of public investment on private investment. Apart from purely ideological aspects, two opposing interpretations may be distinguished with regard to the relationship between these variables. The first is that there is competition between public and private investment, so that the former crowds out the latter. The second is that public investment is complementary to private investment in so far that, by generating positive externalities, it creates favourable conditions for the latter. In view of the relative scarcity of empirical studies on this matt…
This article presents a methodological and empirical approach to the measurement of technological maturity in a process industry, such as petrochemicals, at the international level. The main conclusion is that the degree of technological maturity determined in the exercise may vary, depending on the indicator used for measuring the life cycle of the industry. This finding is very important because the conventional indicators of market dynamism or production do not always reflect the degree of technological maturity of an industry or sector. Since technology is a decisive factor in the degree o…
Summary Following the World Summit for Social Development steps were taken by the entire United Nations system to support national governments in their efforts to implement the agenda of the Summit. This document assesses developments in health, education, crime and violence, drugs and migration five years after the Summit.…