There exists an enormous interest in clarification of the relationship between education and economic growth. Over the past 30 years, there have been conducted studies by economists about the connection between education and economic growth. There are actually many publications which provide strong evidence that suggests a correlation between the two. This paper attempts to build upon previous publications and to introduce a unique insight along with contemporary evidence about the relationship between education and economic growth in India from 1975 to 2016 by foc using on primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. The relationships are examined by utilization of econometric estimations with the Granger Causality Method and the Cointegration Method. These methods are used to create models that could shed light on the claim that education plays a central and significant role in economic growth of India which could consequently be used as an example for similar countries in Asia or around the world. The findings of this work show that there is compelling evidence proving a positive connection between education levels and economic growth in India which might influence governmental actions and shape the future of India.

The primary goal of this article is to evaluate water scarcity in selected countries of the Middle-East and assess the impact on agricultural production. To begin with, the Weighted Anomaly Standardized Precipitation (WASP) Index from 1979 to 2017 was spatially computed for Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In order to demonstrate the effect of reduced levels of water, the water shortage situation in cities with the population higher than one million was examined. This was accomplished by utilizing the Composite Index approach to make water related statistics more intelligible. A projection for the years of 2020 to 2030 was created in order to demonstrate possible changes in the supply and demand for water in selected countries of the Middle-East. In regards to evaluating the economic effects of water shortages on agricultural sector, effects of lower precipitation on agricultural production in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were estimated. With ever-increasing urbanization, all countries are currently experiencing a moderate to high water risk. Our research points to excessively high water stress for most analyzed cities through the year 2030. Also, it is demonstrated how much precipitation decreases influence agricultural production in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. From the analyzed countries, some evidence is found that precipitation negatively influences crop production, primarily for Iran.

A number of development projects were launched in Russia to support agro-producers, emphasizing increasing potential and perspective significance of Agrarian sector in the Russian economy. In light of this, it becomes interesting to investigate the position of agro-producers both in comparison to producers from other domestic sectors and relatively to its main foreign competitors. An analysis of the recent dynamics (from 2000 to 2014) of the real effective exchange rate of Russian rouble serves in the present study as an indicator of price competitiveness, which determines relative position of domestic producers in external markets. The actual competitive state of Russian agro-producers is analyzed by the means of revealed comparative advantage indices proposed by Balassa, Vollrath and Lafay. The calculations have shown that the entire analyzed period can be generally characterized as the period of significant real appreciation of the Russian rouble and the reason behind this is the difference in inflation rates in Russia and its main foreign trade partners. This predetermined the relatively low price competitiveness of agro-producers, which was mostly confirmed by calculated values of Balassa Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index, Vollrath Revealed Competitiveness index (VRC) and Lafay Trade Specialization index (LFI). The short-term real depreciations of the rouble did not have any expected substantially positive impacts on their competitive position.

For several years, the Zambian economy relied on the mining sector, which has been affected by fluctuations in commodity prices. The new century enhanced the calls for economic diversification, with the agricultural, manufacturing, and services sectors amongst those pronounced. This article focused on the role of agriculture in supporting the economy, particularly, the effect of agriculture on economic growth. The data analyzed was reviewed for the period 1983–2017. The ARDL Bounds Test was applied in order to meet the said objectives. The ECM results suggest that agriculture, manufacturing, services, and mining converge to an equilibrium and affect economic growth at the speed of adjustment of 90.6%, with the effect from agriculture, mining, and services being significant. The impact of agriculture on economic growth was significant in both the short-run and long-run, with coefficient unit effects of 0.428 and 0.342, respectively. The effects are strong because more than two-thirds of the rural population rely on farming, and agriculture has stood as a catalyst for food security. For the effect of agriculture to be much more profound, farmers must be supported with adequate infrastructure, accessibility to markets, farming inputs, better irrigation techniques, which would address the problem of reliance on rain, all of which were inconsistent in the last decade. Additionally, governments must ensure the institutionalization of food processing industries which add more value to the national income.

Currently, the decline in spruce wood prices is a serious problem for the forestry sector in the Czech Republic. We estimate that the fall in wood prices in European markets causes losses not only to the forestry companies producing, harvesting, and processing the wood, but also to the workers in the sector. These losses are mainly caused by a combination of several natural factors: drought, climate change, and the effects of bark beetles. In particular, spruce bark beetles cause the greatest damage. Due to this bark beetle calamity, unplanned logging has increased. In 2019, these damages have culminated. Almost 100 million m3 of wood has been harvested over the last decade due to the bark beetle and more than half of this volume has been mined in the last four years. Therefore, the losses in the forestry sector are around EUR 1.12 billion. The aim of this study is an analysis of the relationship between the volume of incidental logging and the decline in the price of spruce wood. These results show the strong correlation between the measure of unplanned wood harvesting and the decrease in wood prices, as well as an estimate of price development if the upward trend of incidental mining continues. The average price of wood in the Czech Republic could thus reach a historical minimum of EUR 79.39 per m3 of spruce and category SM/JE II (spruce/fir). In addition, the decline in wood prices will be reflected in the management of forestry and timber businesses, including stagnant wages for forestry workers. The socio-economic impact of the bark beetle calamity is high and is most affected by the decline in spruce timber prices.