Investment growth in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) has slowed sharply since 2010. Investment growth performance has varied significantly across different regions, however. This paper examines the evolution of investment growth in six EMDE regions, documents remaining investment needs, especially for infrastructure, and presents a set of region-specific policy responses to address these needs. It reports three main findings. First, investment growth has been particularly weak in EMDE regions hosting a large number of commodity exporters. In regions with a substantial number of commodity-importing economies, investment growth has been somewhat resilient but has also declined steadily since 2010. Second, sizable investment needs remain in most EMDE regions to make room for expanding economic activity and rapid urbanization. A large portion of these investment needs is in infrastructure and human capital. Finally, while specific policy priorities vary across regions, several policy options to address remaining investment needs apply universally. These include more, and more efficient, public investment and measures to improve overall growth prospects and the business climate. Improved project selection and monitoring, as well as better governance, may enhance the efficiency and benefits from public investment.

Modern technologies have intensified innovations and necessitated changes in public service processes and operations. Continuous employee learning development (CELD) is one means of the molecule-atom that keep employees motivated and sustain competitiveness. The study explored the efficacy of CELD in relation to modern technology in the South African (SA) public service departments between 2014 to 2023 era. Departments are faced with challenge of equipping their employees with adequate professional and technical skills for both the present and the future in order to deliver specific government priorities. Data for the study were gathered utilizing a qualitative semi-structured e-questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 677 human capital development practitioners from national and provincial government departments in SA. The inefficacy CELD and the inadequacy of technological infrastructure and service delivery can be attributed to the failure by executive management and senior managers to invest in CELD to prepare employees for digital world. It is recommended that departments should use Ruggles’s knowledge management, Kirkpatrick’s training, and Becker and Schultz’s human capital models as sound measurement tools in order to gain a true return on investment. The study adds pragmatic insight into the value of CELD in the new technological environment in public service departments.

In the current context of China’s vigorous development of its high-speed rail (HSR) network to accelerate the realization of connectivity, which is the aim of the “Belt and Road” initiative, it is crucial to study how the specific opening of HSR enhances enterprise human capital investment efficiency. Using a multiple-time-point difference-in-differences (DID) regression model, we empirically study data from listed Chinese companies. An HSR opening can promote the efficiency of an enterprise’s human capital investment. We further explore the relationship between HSR and a company’s human capital investment, by considering the moderating effects of firm property rights and foreign shareholding. Our findings indicate that these factors can enhance the impact of HSR on the efficiency of firms’ investments in human capital. Finally, to ensure the reliability of our experimental findings, we employed a combination of propensity score matching and the DID methodology. The findings of this study offer empirical evidence that can inform enterprise management strategies and provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to promote economic growth.

The endogenous, human, and social factors influencing the economic development of the municipalities of San Juan Cotzocón and San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla in the Istmo de Tehuantepec region of the state of Oaxaca are analyzed. The hypothesis posits that the dimensions of endogenous development, social capital, and human capital directly impact the economic development of the respective municipalities. The study involved administering 262 questionnaires to the residents of these municipalities during the month of May 2023. The collected data were examined using exploratory factor analysis to determine the underlying structure and structural equation modeling to estimate the effects and relationships between variables. Results indicate that endogenous development, social capital, and human capital are factors in the economic development of the studied communities, with endogenous development being the most influential factor due to its statistical significance. Notably, the existence of tourist and cultural attractions in the municipalities emerges as a catalyst for local economic development in response to the establishment and operation of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor.

Purpose: This research aims to examine the influence of intellectual capital disclosure and the geographical location of universities on the sustainability of higher education institutions in Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach: This research is quantitative and uses secondary data obtained through the annual reports of universities that have the Universitas Indonesia Green Metric Rank. This research uses two stages of data analysis techniques, namely the content analysis stage to determine the number of Intellectual Capital disclosures and the hypothesis testing stage. The analysis tool uses the SPSS version 23 application. The population of this research includes all universities in Southeast Asia that are included in the UI Greenmetric World University Rankings. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling technique, which resulted in 86 analysis units of higher education institutions in Southeast Asia. Findings: The research results prove that the geographical location of universities has a negative and significant influence on Universitas Indonesia Green Metric’s performance in Southeast Asia and human capital has a positive influence on UIGM’s performance in Southeast Asia. However, the structural capital and relational capital components do not affect the UIGM performance of universities in Southeast Asia. Originality/value: The originality of the research is the use of higher education sustainability variables with UIGM proxies and modified IC indicators for universities and geographical areas that have not been widely used to see whether there are fundamental differences in the disclosure of intellectual capital for higher education institutions in Southeast Asia.

This study aims to determine the effect of Human Capital Management (HCM) and work ethics on the performance of life insurance agents mediated by Organizational Citizenship Behavior-Organization (OCB-O) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior-Individual (OCB-I). The data was collected from 103 respondents who had entered the category of having won the Top Agent Awards (TAA) using a survey approach with questionnaires. The population consisted of life insurance agents who had won the TAA/MDRT, a 5 Likert scale questionnaire, and analyses using the SEM-AMOS-21 program. The results prove HCM has a positive significant effect on work ethics; HCM does not have a substantial impact on OCB-O and OCB-I; Work Ethics have a considerable effect on OCB-I and OCB-O; OCB-O and OCB-I have no significant impact on performance; HCM does not have a substantial effect on performance; Work Ethics does not have a considerable impact on performance, however, if OCB-I mediates HCM it will strengthening agent Performance, likewise, Work Ethics if mediated by OCB-I, will strengthening Performance. The findings of this study are that for insurance agents to perform well, companies can treat agents as HCM and work ethics, and it is essential to pay attention to OCB-I as mediation in improving agent performance.