Abstracts – Browse Results
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Armstrong, A (2022) Revenue patterns of piped water services in rural Africa, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Chapman, C (2023) Green and grey drainage infrastructure: costs and benefits of reducing surface water flood risk, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Driessen, M (2014) Asphalt encounters: Chinese road building in Ethiopia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Huang, J (2020) Infrastructure, the economy and policy, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: economic development; economic growth; renewable energy; communication; innovation; litigation; marketing; monitoring; policy; China; experiment; productivity; regulation
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2440333033
- Abstract:
The role of infrastructure in economic growth and development has been the subject of continued debate, yet no consensus has been achieved in the literature. This thesis examines the economic effect of infrastructure based on new evidence from China. We add to understanding of this complex phenomenon by focussing at micro levels, i.e., firm-level and household level with a focus on three critical infrastructure sectors: transport, renewable energy and information communication technologies. We employ a series of datasets on infrastructure, firm performance, and household economy from China in our examinations. Our first empirical study focuses on the economic effects of city’s ICT infrastructure on firm performance. We have found that the improvement of city’s ICT infrastructure positively improved firm’s profitability, marketing, and innovation. By taking advantage of an exogenous variation of city’s ICT using the telecommunication upgrade as a natural experiment, we establish the causal impact of city’s ICT infrastructure on firm profitability. We also identify the mechanisms in which ICTs impact firm performance, including the firm’s efficiency, firm’s labour, and firm cost. Our second empirical study focuses on the renewable energy sector and its influence on China’s rural household economy over the past two decades. We provide empirical evidence in this under-investigated area of research, and have found that renewable energy, including bioenergy, solar energy, and hydropower energy, indeed improved the rural household economy in China. In the third empirical study, we then focus on the impact of improved transport infrastructure connectivity on the litigation risks of listed firms in China. Based on a natural experiment on China’s highspeed rail system construction, we have found that the improvement of transport infrastructure connectivity reduced firm’s litigation risks. This study shows that the impact of improved transport connectivity on listed firms’ litigation risk stem from the reduction of information asymmetry, and also the increase of external regulations and monitoring. Overall, we have found evidence that transport infrastructure, renewable energy infrastructure and ICT infrastructure played a positive and critical role in the economic development from the perspectives of firm performance and household economy, and also provide in-depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms. The findings in this thesis offer evidence for policymakers that improvement of infrastructure contributes to the productivity, economic growth and social development, and reasonable deployment of infrastructure could pay off.
Lau, C H (2019) The global trading activities of consulting engineering firms: managing risk and geographical choice, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Marwah, H (2011) Investing in ghosts: Building and construction in Nigeria's oil boom and bust c1960-2000, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Merdinger, C J (1949) A history of civil engineering, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
O'Mahony, M M (1990) Recycling of materials in civil engineering, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Peveler, E (2018) The supply of building materials to construction projects in Roman Oxfordshire: Logistics, economics, and social significance, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Pickhaver, J A (2006) Numerical modelling of building response to tunnelling, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Sheng, X (2018) Public-private partnership in the development of infrastructure under the 'Belt and Road' initiative, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.