A Study on Selected Issues of Economic Appraisal of Road projects in Tunisia with a Focus on Social Discount Rate

Imen BEN HASSINE 서울시립대학교 국제도시과학대학원 2022 국내석사

Road infrastructure is one of the pillars of the economic and social development of the countries, as they secure the mobility of the citizens and the major economic activity like the transportations of goods. Therefore, heavy investments are being allocated for the construction and maintenance of road assets. Accordingly, an effective tool is required to ensure the efficiency of the allocations of such public resources to prevent the implementation of road projects with low returns. Therefore, the economic appraisal is a widely used tool to assist the decision-maker in making the most optimal choices when selecting and prioritizing the road projects to implement. Yet, this economic assessment system has to be efficient and standardized. However, in many countries like Tunisia, their method of road economic appraisal presents many weaknesses, and for that reason, the reform of such a system is essential to have effective selection and prioritization of the road projects. Accordingly, this paper served in the first section to diagnose and identify the issues of the current economic appraisal system in Tunisia and draw up a list of possible recommendations to improve and overcome those weaknesses. The second section is dedicated to estimating a consistent Social Discount Rate for Tunisia, notably that variable SDRs are being used for the economic evaluation of road projects in the country. Moreover, because such inconsistency of the SDR, which is the most critical input of the CBA, can affect the fairness in selecting and allocating resources between alternative projects. The SDR was derived based on the Social Rate of Time Preference approach. The results show that the ex-ante evaluation in Tunisia is rarely undertaken, and when is the case, the Cost-Benefit Analysis is poor and not standardized. So, we proposed adopting a model of road selection based on economic appraisals and standardizing the ex-ante evaluation method for all road projects based on a guideline that defines all the items of CBA. As for the SDR, a value of 7.74% is adopted for the CBA in Tunisia. 도로 기반시설은 시민의 이동성과 상품 운송과 같은 주요 경제활동을 보장하므로 국가의 경제 및 사회 발전의 근간이다. 따라서 도로자산의 건설 및 유지관리에 막대한 투자가 할당되고 있다. 이에 따라, 수익이 낮은 도로사업의 시행을 방지하기 위해 이러한 공공자원할당의 효율성을 보장하기 위한 효과적인 도구가 필요하다. 따라서 경제적 평가는 시행할 도로사업을 선택하고 우선순위를 정할 때 의사결정권자가 최적의 선택을 할 수 있도록 하기 위해 널리 사용되는 도구가 된다. 그러나 이러한 경제적 평가제도는 효율적이고 표준화되어야 한다. 그러나 튀니지와 같은 많은 국가의 도로 경제적 평가제도는 많은 약점을 가지고 있으며, 이러한 이유로 도로사업의 효과적인 선택과 우선순위를 정하는 데 이런 제도의 개혁이 필수적이다. 본 논문은 첫 장에서 튀니지의 현 경제적 평가제도의 문제점을 진단 및 규명하고, 이러한 약점을 개선하고 극복할 수 있는 방안을 제시하였다. 두 번째 장에서는 튀니지의 일관된 사회할인율 (Social Discount Rate, SDR)을 추정하는 데 집중하였으며, 특히 가변 SDR이 국가의 도로사업에 대한 경제적 평가에 사용되고 있다. 또한, 이러한 비용편익분석 (Cost-benefit Analysis) CBA의 가장 중요한 데이터인 SDR의 불일치는 대체 사업 간의 자원선택 및 할당의 공정성에 영향을 줄 수 있기 때문이다. SDR은 사회적시간선호율 (Social Rate of Time Preference, SRTP)이라는 접근법에서 파생되었다. 그 결과 튀니지에서는 사전평가가 거의 이루어지지 않고 있으며, 그럴 경우 CBA이 열악하고 표준화되지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 이에 경제성 평가에 기반한 도로 선정 모델을 도입하고 CBA의 모든 항목을 정의하는 지침을 기반으로 모든 도로 사업에 대한 사전평가방법을 표준화할 것을 제안했다. SDR에 대해서는, 7.74%가 튀니지의 CBA에 채택되었다.

Peripheral and central TRPV1 expression following dental pulp inflammation : exploration in rats

Sallem, Imene Graduate School, Yonsei University 2018 국내석사

많은 연구자가 치수염으로 인해 말초 및 중추 신경계에 상당한 변화가 일어나, 통각과민이 나타난다고 주장하였다. 특히, 말초 조직에서 통증 인지에 중요한 transient receptor potential vaniloid 1 (TRPV1)의 변화 는 잘 알려져 있다. 하지만 중추에서의 변화에 대해서는 알려지지 않았 다. TRPV1 이외의 신경계 변화를 확인하기 위하여 Proto-oncogene c-fos의 산물인 c-Fos 를 표지로 사용할 수 있다. 본 연구의 목적은 쥐의 상악 대구치에 치수염을 유발한 후, 말초(삼차신경절)와 중추 신경 계(삼차신경핵, spinal trigeminal nucleus)에서 TRPV1과 c-Fos의 변화 를 동시에 관찰하는 것이다. 본 연구에서는 Sprague–Dawley rat 39마리를 실험동물로 사용하였다. 상악대구치 치수를 노출 시킨 후 한 군(n=13)은 식염수를 도포하였고, 다른 한 군(n=13)에는 complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA)를 도포하였 다. 나머지 한 군은 음성 대조군으로 사용하였다. 3일 후, facegrooming activity를 평가하고, 조직 검사를 위해 쥐를 희생하여, 삼차 신경절(TG), 삼차신경핵, 그리고 치아 및 주위 조직을 적출하여 보관하 였다. 이후 일반염색 검사와 면역조직화학 분석을 시행하였다. CFA를 투여한 쥐는 통증 반응을 더 많이 보였고, 치수에서도 보다 심 한 염증 소견이 나타났다. CFA 군의 삼차신경절에서 TRPV1과 c-Fos 발현이 식염수 군이나 음성대조군 보다 유의성 있게 많이 일어났다 (p<0.05). 삼차신경핵의 interpolaris 부위에서는 모든 군에서 c-Fos를 확인 할 수 없었다. 같은 부위에서 TRPV1은 적게 나타났지만, 세 군 사이에 유의한 차이는 없었다. 삼차신경핵의 caudalis 부위에서는 CFA 군에서 TRPV1과 c-Fos를 보다 많이 확인할 수 있었으나, 통계적인 유의 차는 없었다 (p>0.05). 또한, TRPV1은 심부 보다는 표층에 더 많 이 나타났다. 결론적으로, 본 연구는 급성치수염은 말초조직에서 TRPV1을 포함한 신경가소성 변화를 유발하지만, 중추조직에서의 변화는 명확하지 않다 는 것을 보여주며, 이는 임상에서 치수통증에서 삼차신경절의 변화가 삼차신경핵의 변화보다 더 중요하다는 것을 의미할 수 있다. Considerable evidence suggests that the pulpal inflammation produces significant changes in peripheral and central nervous system, which induces hyperalgesia. These inflammatory modifications have been strongly correlated with the response of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel, best known for its role in sensory transmission in the nociceptive neurons of the peripheral nervous system. The protein product c-Fos of the proto-oncogene c-fos is also widely applicable marker of nociceptive neuronal activation. However, the activation of TRPV1 and c-Fos following pulpal noxious stimulation has not been investigated in central nervous system (CNS) yet. The aim of the present study was to verify whether experimentally-induced pulp inflammation activates the expression of TRPV1 and c-Fos, peripherally (trigeminal ganglion neurons) and centrally (spinal trigeminal nucleus). Acute pulpitis was assigned to Sprague–Dawley rats through pulp exposure and application of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) (n=13) or saline (n=13). Additional animals (n=13) with no tooth preparation served as a control group. Three days post CFA or saline application, face grooming activity was recorded and analysed then rats were sacrificed in order to conduct histological and immunohistochemical analyses on teeth, trigeminal ganglion (TG) and spinal trigeminal nucleus levels. We found significantly increased nociceptive behaviors in CFA-treated animals simultaneously with histological evidence of a severe pulp inflammation. In trigeminal ganglions belonging to CFA group, c-Fos labelling showed that neuronal activity was significantly higher as compared to saline group (p<0.05) along with statistically higher immunoreactivity for TRPV1 (p<0.05). In the spinal trigeminal nucleus, the lack of immunoreactivity for c-Fos was indicative for the absence of neuronal activity in the intermediate region (trigeminal nucleus interpolaris) in all animals with a comparable expression of TRPV1 between all groups. In contrast, neurons in the caudal region of the spinal trigeminal nucleus (trigeminal nucleus caudalis) were able to fix c-Fos and TRPV1 markers at a higher rate in CFA group with no statistical difference (p>0.05). The superficial lamina of trigeminal nucleus caudalis showed significant higher expression of TRPV1 in comparison to the deep layers. The findings of this study indicated that acute pulp inflammation triggered peripherally a robust neuronal activation in trigeminal ganglion with a significant involvement of TRPV1 in nociceptive signal processing. Unlike the central TRPV1 channels which appeared to play a less prominent role as compared their peripheral counterparts.

(The) impact of external debt reduction on the economic growth of highly indebted poor countries

Maddouri, Imen Graduate School of International Studies, Korea Un 2017 국내석사

Aid and growth : how has the Paris declaration bettered the gconomic growth of aid recipient countries (ARCs)?

OLIHA Charles Dickens Imene 韓國外國語大學校 國際地域大學院 2013 국내석사

The purpose of this study is to test whether the principles of the Paris Declaration are really important in promoting economic growth with aid (official development assistance: ODA). Among the major principles of the Paris Declaration are ownership and results oriented aid management, which is represented by the existence of an assessment framework. This study focuses on these two principles as a proxy for the Paris Declaration. This proxy has been used in the devised model following the findings of Burnside and Dollar (2000) and Collier and Dollar (2002) through the use of good economic policies such as fiscal monetary, trade and Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA). The finding of this study shows that, firstly on the one hand, when CPIA interacted with ODA, the result statistically shows its significant impact on both per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and growth rates of per capita GDP. But CPIA alone does not have influence on the dependent variables in a statistically significant way. Secondly, an ownership and assessment framework variables do not make statistically significant influence on per capita GDP or growth rates of per capita GDP, either independently or when interacted with aid (ODA). This interpretation comes from the fact that, on the one hand, Model (i) and (iii), respectively do not include the CPIA, but include only an ownership and assessment framework in interaction with aid. Consequently, these variables are statistically insignificant in explaining economic growth or GDP per capita. And these two Paris Declaration (PD) variables are statistically insignificant in explaining economic growth or GDP per capita. This means that the PD variables alone do not explain the variations in either per capita GDP or growth rates of GDP. On the other hand, model (ii) and (iv) do include the CPIA and CPIA * aid (Country Policy and Institutional Assessment multiplied (*) by ODA), together with an ownership and an assessment framework variables. The estimation results show that CPIA, in interaction with aid, influences the dependent variables in a statistically significant manner. However, an ownership and an assessment framework alone or in interaction with aid do not influence the dependent variables. This means that while CPIA explains the variations in the dependent variables, the PD variables do not complement the CPIA in explaining the variations in dependent variables. Therefore this study concludes that the two PD variables (i.e. an ownership and an assessment framework variables neither replace nor complement the CPIA variables. In other words, the policy and institution of aid recipient countries are important in explaining the aid’s impact on per capita GDP or its growth rates. However, this study cannot states that the PD variables are equally important in explaining the aid’s impact on per capita GDP or its growth rates.

The Impact of External Debt Reduction on the Economic Growth of Highly Indebted Poor Countries

Imen, Maddouri 고려대학교 국제대학원 2017 국내석사

The external debt helped many countries to boost their economic growth. But in the case of some low income or emerging economies, the debt burden is suspected to be an obstacle to development and one of the major causes of the economic performance slow down. This paper analyses the impact of the external debt burden on a country’s real per capita income growth rate using data from Highly Indebted Poor Countries( 18 countries) . By using the fixed effects and the random effects models and over the period 1980-2015, we could analyze the long term relationship between external debt burden and economic growth. The findings of empirical analysis suggest that, an increase by 1percent in the external debt can be the origin of the decrease of the real per capita income by 0.16 to 0.28 percent. So the reduction in debt stock would have significantly improved the growth performance of the indebted country. Also, the debt relief can release the indebted countries from the poverty trap if it combined with strong debt management and appropriate public policies. The results of the debt relief differ from a country to another because the commitment to solve the origin of the external debt burden differs through nations.