Economics Research Topics and Ideas

Circular economics is a novel branch of research in economic development that investigates the material and cash flow streams of institutions/ regions/countries to reduce wastages. It focuses on generating cyclic loops of raw materials, finished products and by-products, such that the end product of one industry could be utilized as the raw material for another, consequently reducing the over-all wastage, reducing capital costs, reducing raw material extraction costs, increasing operational efficiency.  Although it is a novel field in developed countries, the emerging economies still face complications in its implementations. This study will investigate various facets of its implementation in emerging economies.

Although economic development is a multi-variable phenomenon, investigation on its nuances on individual components of societal development is a scarce field, especially in low and middle – income countries. The link between economic development of a country and the development of its education system is complex because efficient economic development provides the platform for educational sector improvement. However, sustained economic development in the current technologically-oriented society is difficult without a performing education system. The current study would focus on the deciphering the links between economic development and education sector to facilitate policy-makers to select the most pertinent domains on their path towards reforms.

Tax reformers, government bodies and policy-makers are often faced with the dilemma of choosing between the most feasible and most effective form of taxation. The primary purpose of such reforms is to find a balance between the amount of taxes collected and the number of people in the tax net. Some countries implement direct taxation while others rely on in-direct taxation to collect money even from the informal sector of the economy. This study would investigate the feasibility of various forms of taxation with case-studies from different developed and under-developed countries. It would encompass the advantages and disadvantages of the various techniques of tax collection and will consequently guide on the future direction of public taxation reforms.

The neo-liberal ideals of free-market economy dictate minimum government intervention in different departments of public service. From examples of some Asian and African countries, a pattern is observed that high government intervention in the health sector gives room to various subtle forms of corruption which leads to the deterioration of the public health sector. On the other hand, a crisis such as global or country-level financial crisis, inflation, and epidemics highlight the inefficiency of private-sector public health departments in providing necessary coverage to the entirety of population. Therefore, this study would focus on the case-study from countries with well-performing public health sector and investigate the underlying mechanisms of their good performance.

The imminent climate crisis has already started to negatively impact the social and economic fabric of many countries. While it is the developed countries which are the leading land and air polluters, low and middle-income nations have more vulnerable to the global disaster due to their infrastructural weaknesses. In light of this, the current study is focused on the investigation of overall feasibility of middle-income economies to shift towards the sustainable and green economy. The study would also evaluate different routes through which the emerging countries could evolve their economic system to be more sustainable as well as more resilient towards climate change.

The rapid pace of globalization now enables small and middle-sized businesses to make cross-continental connections. It has also facilitated the path of procuring higher quality raw materials and cheaper labour. Similarly, digitization of cash flow facilitates remote customers to achieve banking support. However, an investigation of the negative impacts of globalization on the microeconomic development of a country is scarce. South Asia is a region of rapid future development in this sector, therefore, a detailed study is required to guide small businesses in making correct decisions of implementation of digitization and assessing the impacts of entering the global market on their business.

With an increased global focus on shifting towards sustainable energy, public and private sectors all around the globe have been working towards various forms of investments to develop and promote sustainable technologies such as solar and wind power. Governments often take the route of subsidizing such technologies to promote them. However, a glaring dilemma exists whether to spend billions of dollars in subsidizing such technologies or redirecting those investments towards research and developments of these technologies so that they could become more cost-efficient which will automatically promote them over the fossil fuel energy system. This study would investigate the effectiveness of both approaches through analysis of their real implementation in different countries.

The development of economy mandates improvement in production lines, extraction, and conversion of raw materials. Emerging economies of South Asia such as Pakistan, India, and Iran etc. have been heavily focused on boosting their economies through industrialization. On the other hand, unhindered industrialization rapidly destroys the natural assets. Therefore, this study would evaluate various links between the natural assets of these countries. It would also assess the role of natural assets in the economy of such countries, and work on predicting the impacts of the destruction of nature on future economic growth.

The Gross Domestic Product is often taken as the leading indicator of financial growth of a region. However, increasing research has shown that it does not guarantee the improvement in standard of living of the peoples. Its, counterpart, the Human Development Index, although provides a more holistic insight on people’s quality of life. Nevertheless, increasing threat of global warming has induced the countries to protect their environmental assets. Investments in such ventures require correct monetary evaluation of the environment of the country. This study would investigate the techniques of environmental impact assessments, and how they can be utilized in assigning monetary values to natural assets.  

Government policy-making towards housing schemes revolve around increasing public’s satisfaction. Governments often use housing development to stabilize their vote banks in low and middle-income counties. However, analysis of the Human Development Index and GDP growth of various counties show that often the countries with low home-ownership rates score higher on HDI. In-depth investigation on the factors relating to home-ownership and the HDI and GDP growth would be covered in this study. The study would also assess the relationship between economic activity and entrepreneurship with home-ownership.