The development of countries in economic transition is often misunderstood. These countries are neither underdeveloped nor are they developed, they are somewhere in between. Therefore, macroeconomic models of transitional economies must include aspects of both underdeveloped and developed...

In this paper, we argue that improved energy efficiency leads to increased consumption of energy for the transitional economies of Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary. The concept that energy consumption increases with improved energy efficiency is known as Jevons’ Paradox. We will provide...

Nigeria has implemented structural adjustment policies for the past twenty years, with the intensity of reforms increasing each year. However, there is an ongoing debate as to whether strong adjustment is more effective than weak reforms in alleviating poverty in African economies. In this...

This paper discusses energy use in the case of four countries, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, which changed the economic system from command economy to open-market. The analysis provided uses the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal metabolism (MSIASM) approach and contrasts it...

The need for energy due to economic and population pressure has resulted in a great expansion of hydroelectric dam projects around the world, especially in Asia. These hydroelectric projects have resulted in considerable environmental, economic, and social damage. Typically, the economic...

The Great Tohoku–Kanto earthquake and the resulting tsunami have brought considerable attention to the issue of building new nuclear power plants. In this paper we argue that nuclear power is not a sustainable solution to energy problems. First, we explore the stock of uranium-235 and the...

Increasingly, climate change has come to the fore as an environmental issue with nearly universal agreement that the current trend is unsustainable and must be addressed. Of particular concern is the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into the atmosphere, the primary contributor to climate...

Convergence, both nominal and real, is occurring in the EU, especially for new members. Among the macroeconomic variables and correlations closely related to the convergence process are inflation, per capita GDP, the natural rate of unemployment and the inflation-unemployment relationship. This...