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Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2019) | Viewed by 59673

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Prof. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu

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Department of Finance, Faculty of Finance and Banking, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Piata Romana, 1st district, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: financial markets; insurance and actuarial science; financial modeling; sustainable development

Prof. Dr. Mihaela Onofrei

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Vice-rector for student activities and economic partnerships with the public sector, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, 11 Carol I Boulevard, Iaşi, Romania
Interests: corporate governance; financial management; public administration; sustainable development
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Prof. Georgeta Vintilă

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Director of Doctoral School of Finance, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Piata Romana, 1st district, Bucharest, Romania
Department of Finance, Faculty of Finance and Banking, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Piata Romana, 1st district, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: corporate finance; taxation; corporate governance; sustainable development

Prof. Alin Marius Andrieş

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Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
Interests: banking risk; systemic risk; household finance; financial system; financial regulation
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Prof. Dr. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina

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Department of Finance, Faculty of Finance and Banking, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: corporate finance; corporate governance; quantitative finance; sustainable development
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations for the year 2030, there is foreseen the building of a resilient infrastructure, alongside promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation (Goal 9). Global economic growth is critically reliant on the conditions of transport, water, energy, and information infrastructure. A high-quality network of freeways, track ways, seaports, and airports boost trade and cut carriage costs. A secured water supply system depicts a central driver of sustainable growth and poverty mitigation, being a significant input of almost all the goods and services in any economy. Low-carbon energy systems contribute to purified air, better well-being, and a more diversified energy supply. Economic growth could not take place deprived of technology and innovation. Adopting the recent communication technologies generate new economic activities, as well as jobs, and spur economic productivity. In turn, a deficient infrastructure highlights a great impediment towards doing business, also revealing impaired health care and education services. However, an important challenge consists in decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation. For instance, road transport is accountable for increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, a resilient infrastructure will restrict disruptions, besides holding its fundamental purpose and operational ability.

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:

The impact of transport infrastructure on sustainable economic growth
The influence of water infrastructure on sustainable economic growth
The effect of electricity supply on sustainable economic growth
The correlation between information technology infrastructure and sustainable economic growth
The effect of rural infrastructure on sustainable economic growth
The relationship between rural electrification and sustainable economic growth

This Special Issue of Sustainability invites scholars to submit novel theoretical, methodological, and empirical research papers subject to a highly rigorous peer-review before publication.

Prof. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu
Prof. Mihaela Onofrei
Prof. Georgeta Vintilă
Dr. Alin Marius Andrieş
Dr. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Sustainable Economic Growth
Resilient Infrastructure
Low Carbon Infrastructure
Transport Infrastructure
Water Infrastructure
Energy Infrastructure
Information Infrastructure
Irrigation Infrastructure

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 914 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Energy–Economic Growth–Governance Nexus: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

by Ana-Maria Bercu, Gigel Paraschiv and Dan Lupu

Sustainability 2019, 11(12), 3355; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123355 - 17 Jun 2019

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 3315

Abstract

Achieving the goals of sustainable development and poverty reduction implies an important condition for access to electricity for the entire population. In the economic literature, the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth has different perspectives. The lack of good governance within an economy, besides the deficiencies of energy resources, is a key issue in worsening energy issues for developing countries. These countries have failed to alleviate the energy crises that have hindered development prospects, amid flourishing corruption and inefficient governments. Our research, using a panel methodology, analyzes the long-term relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and good governance for 14 Central and Eastern European countries, over the period 1995–2017. The study demonstrates empirically that there is a causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth, underlining the fact that deficiencies in the energy system lead to slowing economic growth. The study also shows that good governance influences electricity and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) consumption, and the governments from Central and Eastern European countries have to restore good governance in the economy, creating an environment conducive to investment in the energy sector, which would increase competition and reduce inefficiencies in the production, transmission, and distribution of energy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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17 pages, 3353 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation of the Operation of a Spark Ignition Engine Fueled with Various Biofuels and Its Contribution to Technology Management

by Karol Tucki, Remigiusz Mruk, Olga Orynycz, Andrzej Wasiak, Katarzyna Botwińska and Arkadiusz Gola

Sustainability 2019, 11(10), 2799; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11102799 - 16 May 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3796

Abstract

Economic progress, development of transport, production of new cars, production of more and more energy, and the combustion of fossil fuels are causing huge changes that are currently occurring in the environment. Ecological problems of the contemporary economy combined with perspectives of resources exhaustion, as well as the need to follow sustainable rules of living, require the search for new fuels. Fuels which can assure their availability and good environmental performance are needed for maintaining sustainable transportation. Knowledge about the behavior of various fuels is necessary for realistic methods of technology management in transportation means and the fuel industry. This paper describes biofuels that can be an addition to petrol or can exist as standalone fuels. A simulation was carried out on an urban vehicle and the tested fuels were petrol 95, ethanol, methanol, and dimethyl ether. For the selected engine a simulation corresponding to that of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test was created using the Scilab package. Based on this simulation, values of carbon dioxide and water vapor emission were determined. The fuel demand for each fuel mixture and the amount of air for the fuels used were also calculated (and verified on the basis of laboratory tests). It was demonstrated that addition of biofuel decreases emission of carbon dioxide, simultaneously increasing emission of water vapor. Biofuel additive also caused an increase in fuel consumption. Unfortunately, in the New European Driving Cycle test being investigated, carbon dioxide emissions in all cases exceeded the permissible level of 130 g CO₂/km, which is bad news in the context of the further tightening of norms and standards. The simulation tests confirmed that when using the start/stop system and applying specific additives, the carbon dioxide emission decreases and the consumption of mixtures with the activated start/stop system is smaller. The analyzed problems and results of this analysis become more important in light of the Worldwide Harmonized Light Duty Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) standard, which became binding from September 2018 and applies to the sale of cars that had been approved prior (in accordance with the New European Driving Cycle standard). Although the NEDC standard appears obsolete the computer model simulating this type of test will be necessary in many cases. It is, however, needed and possible to develop a similar simulation procedure for WLTP tests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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15 pages, 1929 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Toxicity of Exhaust Fumes (CO, NO_x) of the Compression-Ignition (Diesel) Engine with the Use of Simulation

by Karol Tucki, Remigiusz Mruk, Olga Orynycz, Katarzyna Botwińska, Arkadiusz Gola and Anna Bączyk

Sustainability 2019, 11(8), 2188; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082188 - 12 Apr 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3984

Abstract

Nowadays more and more emphasis is placed on the protection of the natural environment. Scientists notice that global warming is associated with an increase of carbon dioxide emissions, which results inter alia from the combustion of gasoline, oil, and coal. To reduce the problem of pollution from transport, the EU is introducing increasingly stringent emission standards which should correspond to sustainable conditions of the environment during the operation of motor vehicles. The emissivity value of substances, such as nitrogen oxides (NO_x), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), as well as solid particles, was determined. The aim of this paper was to examine, by means of simulation in the Scilab program, the exhaust emissions generated by the 1.3 MultiJet Fiat Panda diesel engine, and in particular, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides (verified on the basis of laboratory tests). The Fiat Panda passenger car was selected for the test. The fuels supplied to the tested engine were diesel and FAME (fatty acid methyl esters). The Scilab program, which simulated the diesel engine operation, was the tool for analyzing the exhaust toxicity test. The combustion of biodiesel does not necessarily mean a smaller amount of exhaust emissions, as could be concluded on the basis of information contained in the subject literature. The obtained results were compared with the currently valid EURO-6 standard, for which the limit value for CO is 0.5 g/km, and for NO_x − 0.08 g/km, and it can be seen that the emission of carbon monoxide did not exceed the standards in any case examined. Unfortunately, when analyzing the total emissions of nitrogen oxides, the situation was completely the opposite and the emissions were exceeded by 20–30%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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22 pages, 871 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimating China’s Trade with Its Partner Countries within the Belt and Road Initiative Using Neural Network Analysis

by Koffi Dumor and Li Yao

Sustainability 2019, 11(5), 1449; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051449 - 08 Mar 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4604

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) under the auspices of the Chinese government was created as a regional integration and development model between China and her trade partners. Arguments have been raised as to whether this initiative will be beneficial to participating countries in the long run. We set to examine how to estimate this trade initiative by comparing the relative estimation powers of the traditional gravity model with the neural network analysis using detailed bilateral trade exports data from 1990 to 2017. The results show that neural networks are better than the gravity model approach in learning and clarifying international trade estimation. The neural networks with fixed country effects showed a more accurate estimation compared to a baseline model with country-year fixed effects, as in the OLS estimator and Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood. On the other hand, the analysis indicated that more than 50% of the 6 participating East African countries in the BRI were able to attain their predicted targets. Kenya achieved an 80% (4 of 5) target. Drawing from the lessons of the BRI and the use of neural network model, it will serve as an important reference point by which other international trade interventions could be measured and compared. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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24 pages, 1594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Markov Regime Switching Approach towards Assessing Resilience of Romanian Collective Investment Undertakings

by Leonardo Badea, Daniel Ştefan Armeanu, Iulian Panait and Ştefan Cristian Gherghina

Sustainability 2019, 11(5), 1325; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051325 - 03 Mar 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2827

Abstract

This paper explores the sensitivity of Romanian collective investment undertakings’ returns to changes in equity, fixed income and foreign exchange market returns. We use a sample of 80 open-end investment funds and pension funds with daily returns between 2016 and 2018. Our methodology consists of measuring changes in the daily conditional volatility for the fund returns (EGARCH) and changes in their conditional correlation with selected market risk factors (DCC MV-GARCH) throughout different volatility regimes identified using a Markov Regime Switching model. We argue that, on average, the level of conditional correlations between funds and market risk factors remained stable and unconcerned by the volatility regimes. In addition, for only less than half of the funds in the sample, their volatility regimes were synchronized with those of the selected market risk factors. We found that, on average, fund returns are more correlated with equity returns and less correlated with changes in local bond yields, while not being significantly influenced by changes in foreign bond yields or changes in foreign exchange. During the period investigated equity returns were the most volatile while the funds returns volatility were, on average, much more reduced. Overall, our results show the resilience of the Romanian collective investment sector to the selected market risk factors, during the investigated period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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22 pages, 544 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transport Infrastructure Development, Public Performance and Long-Run Economic Growth: A Case Study for the Eu-28 Countries

by Elena Cigu, Daniela Tatiana Agheorghiesei, Anca Florentina Gavriluță (Vatamanu) and Elena Toader

Sustainability 2019, 11(1), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010067 - 22 Dec 2018

Cited by 71 | Viewed by 10935

Abstract

This paper examines the link between the transport infrastructure and the economic performance in the EU-28 countries, over the period of time 2000–2014, using panel data methods. Firstly, we aim to provide the theoretical background of the transport infrastructure development, public sector performance and economic growth. The paper’s key point is the detailed look at the components of transport infrastructure, analyzing the implications of the policy-makers based on a production function and in order to test the policy implication, factor analysis is also employed. The results show significant effects from transport infrastructure components even after institutional and other factors are controlled for. From the path analysis results, the study confirm the alternative hypothesis, outlining the unidirectional long-run causality relationship between growth, transport infrastructure and Public Sector Performance. Transport infrastructure status (measured thought index of transport) has significant impact on economic development with coefficient estimate. The public performance indicators influence the way to economic growth. On the one hand, the corruption, the regulatory environment, size shadow economy, infant mortality, income inequality, inflation and unemployment rate negatively affect the economic growth, and on the other hand there is a strong positive relationship between the quality of the judiciary, education achievement, life expectancy and economic growth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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21 pages, 1351 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Performance of Low-Carbon Energy Infrastructure Investment on Regional Development: Evidence from China

by Tzu-Yu Lin and Sheng-Hsiung Chiu

Sustainability 2018, 10(12), 4657; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124657 - 06 Dec 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2906

Abstract

In the 13th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government declared that one of the sustainable policy priorities is improving the energy supply composition in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In accordance with the Plan, the Guangdong government subsequently planned to invest in low-carbon energy infrastructure from 2016 to 2020. Using data from Guangdong province and other regions in China for 2007–2016, we propose a two-stage network data envelopment analysis (Network DEA) model to examine the sustainable performance of the Chinese regional/provincial economic system. We postulated that the less sustainable performance of Chinese regional economic systems may be attributed to lower energy productivity performance. However, we found that increased governmental and industrial spending on electricity mix improvement by building new low-carbon power plants created momentum in Guangdong’s economic growth, which experienced an annual rise of roughly 1.16%. Finally, the results from the two-stage Network DEA model showed that Guangdong fared better than other provinces with respect to sustainable performance. Investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure is not only a measure to combat CO₂ emission, but could act as the driving force of regional economic systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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22 pages, 279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure on Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment for the EU Countries

by Elena Toader, Bogdan Narcis Firtescu, Angela Roman and Sorin Gabriel Anton

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3750; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103750 - 17 Oct 2018

Cited by 119 | Viewed by 11198

Abstract

The accelerated development of information and communication technology (ICT) over the past two decades has encouraged an increasing number of researchers to examine and measure the impact of this technology on economic growth. Our study aims to identify and evaluate the effect of using ICT infrastructure on economic growth in European Union (EU) countries for a period of 18 years (2000–2017). Using panel-data estimation techniques, we investigate empirically how various indicators of ICT infrastructure affect economic growth, proxied in our study by GDP per capita. Within the estimates, we have included some macroeconomic control variables. Our results indicate a positive and strongly effect of using ICT infrastructure on economic growth in the EU member states, but the magnitude of the effect differs depending on the type of technology examined. Regarding the impact of macroeconomic factors, our estimates indicate that inflation rate, unemployment rate, the degree of trade openness, government expenditures, and foreign direct investments would significantly affect GDP per capita at EU level. The findings are broadly similar to the theoretical predictions, but also to the findings of some relevant empirical studies. Our research reveals that ICT infrastructure, along with other macroeconomic factors, is an important driver of economic growth in EU countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

15 pages, 279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Financial Infrastructure and Access to Finance for European SMEs

by Alin Marius Andrieș, Nicu Marcu, Florin Oprea and Mihaela Tofan

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3400; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103400 - 25 Sep 2018

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4748

Abstract

In this article we assess credit rationing across European countries by analyzing the impact of banking competition on the access to finance of firms. The importance of the financial sector in promoting the sustainable economy is recognized by the European Union, that has taken the lead in efforts to build a financial system that supports sustainable growth. However, it should be acknowledged that in highly competitive business environments, it is not easy to challenge the existing paradigms, since companies need to be profitable in addition to improving their environmental performance. Using data from European firms Survey on the Access to Finance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), our results, using Probit regression, support the Market Power Hypothesis, outlining that more concentrated banking markets are characterized by higher levels of credit rationing. Also, our results reveal that small firms are more credit rationed compared to large firms. The analysis shows that financial constraints are stronger in the countries more affected by the financial crisis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

32 pages, 874 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are Investments in Basic Infrastructure the Magic Wand to Boost the Local Economy of Rural Communities from Romania?

by Alexandru Pavel, Bogdan Moldovan, Bogdana Neamtu and Cristina Hintea

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3384; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103384 - 21 Sep 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3776

Abstract

This article investigates if public investments in rural basic infrastructure represent the best strategy for boosting the local economy of rural communities from Romania. The article focuses on one specific program implemented under the Cohesion policy in the framework of the National Plan for Rural Development, called Measure 322. Geographically, the research included a sample of rural communities from the North-Western Region of Romania. Moreover, the study also looks at other determinants of local economic development (LED), rather than infrastructure investments, with a focus on certain features characterizing Romanian rural communities such as population size, isolation from urban centers, connection with European and national roads networks, educational stock, etc. The research included three steps, namely the construction of the LED Index, a cvasi-experimental research, and a regression model. Our main findings seem to suggest that, while investments in infrastructure do help, the development gap between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries remains relatively the same. In terms of determinants of LED level, percentage of population with a university degree and connection to a European road are the most significant in the Romanian rural context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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34 pages, 1134 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Empirical Evidence from EU-28 Countries on Resilient Transport Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth

by Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, Mihaela Onofrei, Georgeta Vintilă and Daniel Ştefan Armeanu

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2900; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082900 - 16 Aug 2018

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 5903

Abstract

This paper examines the nexus between the main forms of transport, related investments, specific air pollutants, and sustainable economic growth. The research is important since transport may act as a facilitator of social, economic, and environmental development. Based on data retrieved from Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and World Bank, the output of fixed-effects regressions for EU-28 countries over 1990–2016 reveals that road, inland waterways, maritime, and air transport infrastructure positively influence gross domestic product per capita (GDPC), though a negative link occurred in the case of railway transport. As concerning investments in transport infrastructure, the empirical results exhibit a positive impact on economic growth for every type of transport, except inland waterways. Besides, emissions of CO₂ from all kind of transport, alongside other specific air pollutants, negatively influence GDPC. The fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares panel estimation results reinforce the findings. Further, in the short-run, Granger causality based on panel vector error correction model pointed out a unidirectional causal link running from sustainable economic growth to inland waterways and maritime transport of goods, albeit a one-way causal link running from the volume of goods transported by air to GDPC. As well, the empirical results provide support one-way short-run links running from GDPC to investments in road and inland waterway transport infrastructure. In addition, a bidirectional short-run link occurred between carbon dioxide emissions from railway transport and GDPC, whereas unidirectional relations with economic growth were identified in the case of carbon dioxide emissions from road and domestic aviation. In the long-run, a bidirectional causal relation was noticed between the length of the railways lines, investments in railway transport infrastructure, and GDPC, as well as a two-way causal link between the gross weight of seaborne goods handled in ports and GDPC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth)

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