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This paper investigates how changes in ambient charges influence pollution levels within a mixed Bertrand duopoly model involving both a private firm and a partially privatized public firm. The focus is on reassessing the impact of increased ambient charges. The results suggest that the effect of ambient charges in this mixed Bertrand duopoly setting is about the same as that observed in mixed Cournot duopoly competition. This paper sheds light on the intricate relationship between environmental policies and market competition. By examining the mixed Bertrand duopoly market, the paper provides valuable insights into the dynamics of price competition and environmental impact. The findings contribute to the broader field of environmental economics and policy, emphasizing the importance of considering both private and public players in regulatory frameworks.

Keywords: Ambient charge; Nonpoint pollution: Partial privatization; Price competition
JEL classification: D21; L33; Q58

Using combined data from the American Time Use Survey and the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement with a Random Effects Tobit model, this study finds that SNAP participation has had a negligible negative impact on time spent per day on working. Further, the presence of children has had an insignificant effect on labor supply decisions for all respondent adults, regardless of SNAP participation status. Estimates also confirm that young adults, females, and Hispanics with children who live in SNAP participating households are likely to reduce the usual minutes worked per day. On the contrary, fulltime employment and higher education increase labor supply among all respondent adults, especially those with children, regardless of SNAP participation status. Targeting respectable groups of individuals using appropriate approaches and strategies is vital for not only promoting labor supply, employment and higher earnings but also reducing food insecurity among SNAP recipients.

Keywords: Time Allocation, Labor Supply, SNAP, Welfare Policy, Poverty
JEL Classification: J22, I32, I38

The purpose of this study is to predict carbon prices traded in the European exchangetraded fund market (EU ETF). In particular, using daily data from January 2021 to March 2022, we separately examine the relationship between carbon EU ETF and coal prices, the economic sentiment Index (ESI), stock, oil, natural gas prices, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic policy uncertainty for the United Stated and a geopolitical risk index. In order to further investigate how the aforementioned variables affect carbon prices, we use the Support Vector Regression (SVR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Decision Trees and Random Forests from the field of Machine Learning. The results consistently highlight that there is a positive correlation between carbon and coal prices, the price of DAX40, the oil, the natural gas prices and the price of geopolitical risk index, whereas there is a negative correlation between economic sentiment and economy policy uncertainty index. CO2 emissions and economy policy uncertainty index are also statistically significant. Specifically, the correlation between carbon EU ETF price and CO2 emissions is significant. Moreover, the results clearly indicate that machine learning methods adapt better to the phenomenon than traditional ones. Furthermore, the method that best adheres to carbon prices evolution is the random forest.

Keywords: carbon EU ETF; machine learning;

The biggest single expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of population and territory, occurred in 2004 when ten new members, often called the A10, joined the fifteen existing members. The first decade of the 21st century also saw unprecedented levels of growth in these countries, a ‘Golden Age’ of economic growth – which many have partly attributed to the accession process and concomitant institutional change, and partly due to the free trade strategies pursued within the largest single market in the world. This paper looks at the financial aspect of this burgeoning real economic expansion and investigates the role of financial development in economic growth. Using a panel model with data covering periods from 1997–2020, and allowing for spatial correlation, we distinguish between indicators of financial institutions and financial markets. Within each subcategory, we check for the impact effect of financial depth, access, and efficiency – the three major criteria for economic growth. We find that financial development pertaining to financial institutions is of significant importance, while financial markets have relatively lower effects. This implies that the institutional and regulatory structure, as provided by the accession to the EU, may have played the most crucial role in stimulating economic growth. The ‘Golden Age’, we contend, was catalyzed by financial development broadly, and financial deepening, in particular. However, it was predominantly spurred by the growth of financial institutions arguably facilitated by the accession to the EU.

Keywords: Transition economies; Economic growth; Financial development, Financial institutions.
JEL Codes: E 50, E58, F36, G21, G28

Since the last decade, ecological preservation has become a critically debated topic in developing and developed nations. Hence, to ensure environmental sustainability, countries and international bodies have canvassed for measures that support severe restrictions to protect the Earth?s biodiversity. This study?s objectives were twofold: the sole effect of renewable energy on ecological sustainability and second, identify the impacts of external debt and financial globalisation in the renewable energyecological sustainability nexus, both within the Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC) framework for 44 African economies. Secondgeneration estimation techniques were employed and deduced inferences from the crosssectional autoregressive distributed lag method used in the study. The study empirically demonstrated that renewable energy is insignificant for ecological sustainability without debt stock and financial globalisation. However, the inclusion of both variables revealed that while renewable energy and financial globalisation accelerated ecological sustainability, external debt worsened it in the short and longterm periods. Therefore, the study proposed amongst others that for the productive benefits of renewable energy use to human and environmental wellbeing, policymakers must
execute clean energy portfolios by restricting brown energy use. This measure will require considering introducing a significant amount of carbon tax or emission permit and incentivising businesses to adopt green technologies.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Environmental sustainability; External debt; Financial globalisation; Economic growth; Africa.
JEL Classification: H54, N77, O3.

This paper aims to study the role of trade policy on industrial development and productivity growth. We analyze the relationship between trade policy and productivity growth of manufacturing firms in Sudan. For this work, we evaluate the previous trade policy instruments that implemented between 2000 and 2015. The study finds that Sudan trade policy has significant positive effects on manufacturing firms’ productivity. The study reveals that manufacturing firms offer the largest scope for productivity gains through trade policies aiming at enhancing economic growth. The study also found there was a weak support for investment promotion and tariff protection. This study recommends that building a proper trade policy to support manufacturing firms to adapt new technologies and focusing on labor intensive industries is the key success to sustain productivity and exports.

Keywords: productivity growth, trade policy, manufacturing firms.