Search

Begin New Search Content Type Working Paper

13601. Computers and Labour Markets: International Evidence

Author:
Francis Kramarz
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The rapid diffusion of computers has widely changed the consequences of computer use on the labour market. While at the beginning of the eighties knowledge of computers was an obvious advantage in a career, this same knowledge is now so commonplace that the inability to use these tools is widely seen in many industries as a professional handicap. In relation to such drastic transformations, changes in the North American wage structure during the eighties in favour of the better educated have been interpreted by many analysts as evidence of skill-biased technical change. Evidence outside the US, and in particular in Europe, seems to support the idea that similar transformations affected most other labour markets.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

13602. Underdevelopment, Transition and Reconstruction in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author:
Tony Addison
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Reconstructing Africa's war damaged economies is an urgent task. This is especially so in a group of countries - Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique - which must also complete their economic and political transition from state socialism. Somalia, which shares their common history, must eventually be rebuilt. All of these countries must address their deep problems of underdevelopment and poverty. The challenges are therefore three-fold: to overcome underdevelopment, to make the transition from state socialism, and to reconstruct economies and societies.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Eritrea, and Guinea-Bissau

13603. Resource Abundance and Economic Development: Improving the Performance of Resource-Rich Countries

Author:
Richard M. Auty
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since the 1960s the resource-rich developing economies have under-performed compared with the resource-deficient economies. This paper explains why and outlines the reforms that are required in order to achieve environmentally and socially sustainable resource-rich development. It argues that structural change in the resource-rich countries causes the tradeable sector to shrink vis-à-vis the nontradeables sector (that includes protected manufacturing) in a manner that is not sustainable. This adverse trend in the production structure is associated with policies to close the economy and create discretionary rents behind protective barriers that result in the cumulative misallocation of resources. The build-up of produced capital and skills is slower than in the successful resource-deficient countries. Overall, the inherently slower and less egalitarian economic growth trajectory of the resource-rich countries is intensified and the end result is usually a growth collapse. The collapse causes all forms of capital, including institutional, social and natural capital, to run down. Economic reform is therefore protracted and it may take in excess of one generation to restore sustainable rapid growth. The adverse features of resource-rich development tend to be more pronounced in the smaller countries. They are also heightened where the resource rents accrue mainly to the central government, as in the mineral economies and in the slow-reforming transition economies. Successful reform requires not only appropriate macro and micro policies, but also the construction of institutions to limit the scope for governments to misallocate resources. Part of the explanation for the superior performance of the resource-deficient countries is that their spartan endowment of natural capital acts as a constraint on government failure by placing a premium on the need to nurture scarce resources, including skills, institutions and social capital, and to achieve an efficient allocation of capital.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Government, and International Political Economy

13604. The Role of Knowledge and Capital in Economic Growth

Author:
Sergio Rebelo
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Starting from the celebrated neoclassical (Solow) model of economic growth, this paper discusses new ideas in growth theory focussing on how to make sustained growth feasible. It first reviews models that broadened the notion of capital to include human capital and the state of technology. These extensions of the neoclassical theory are not very satisfying at a descriptive level because productivity growth is associated with either human or physical capital accumulation in a way that does not interact with the invention of new technologies.
Topic:
Economics and Science and Technology

13605. The Basel Convention And Transboundary Movements Of Hazardous Wastes

Author:
Jonathan Krueger
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The international community is increasingly turning to the use of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to solve problems of global environmental degradation and transboundary pollution. One of the most important of these MEAs is the 1989 Basel Convention dealing with transboundary movements of hazardous waste. The Convention has been instrumental in helping to eliminate the dumping of industrialized countries' hazardous wastes on developing countries. However, the development of the regime has been slow and it is now tackling the more controversial issue of regulating 'recyclable' hazardous wastes. This briefing paper provides a short guide to the development and current status of the international effort to manage transboundary movements of hazardous wastes.
Topic:
Environment and Globalization

13606. From G7 To G8: Evolution, Role and Documentation of a Unique Institution

Author:
Peter I. Hajnal
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
As the next millennium approaches, the international community faces the fundamental challenge of devising at the global level mechanisms for governance to reinforce, and at times replace, those that have operated effectively for several centuries at the national level. The end of the cold war has substantially eliminated a world divided among a democratic west, communist east and non-aligned south, highlighted a host of new transnational, human security priorities and led to the demise of the self-contained "national security" state. The advent of globalization in finance, investment, trade, production and communication has led many national economies to be integrated into a single global economy, whose healthy functioning is increasingly vital to the well being of citizens even in large, advanced industrial economies such as the United States and Japan. Finally, new openness and technology have meant that many issues once dealt with primarily as a part of domestic politics - supervising banking systems, protecting the environment, combating organized crime, drugs and disease, ensuring nuclear safety, and creating employment, have now come to require collective international action for their effective accomplishment.
Topic:
International Organization and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, and Europe

13607. The Dynamics Of Negotiation Processes On International Water Disputes — The Case Of The Nile Basin

Author:
Ariel Dinar and Senai Alemu
Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
Treaty-making, or negotiation/consultation processes on international water are guided usually by formal and informal rules, including international law, and accumulated experience, and are also affected by domestic politics. Generating a base-line agreement is a difficult task, which combines scientific uncertainty with political, economic, cultural and ideological issues.
Topic:
Environment and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa

13608. Arms Control and the Revolution in Military Affairs

Author:
Dennis C. Blair, Robert L. Gallucci, John M. Shalikashvili, John J. Hamre, Sam Nunn, Paula Scalingi, Richard E. Combs, Janne E. Nolan, Henry G. Chiles, Theodore S. Gold, John D. Holum, Richard C. Macke, and Joerg H. Menzel
Publication Date:
06-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
The changing nature of technology and the proliferation of advanced commercialized technology are causing a transformation in the nature of threat and security issues and perceptions. The role of technology within the security environment has greatly enhanced the capabilities of both state and non-state actors. Concurrently, the use of technology has increased the vulnerabilities of states to the point where actors with a minimal amount of resources, such as transnational groups or terrorist organizations, can inflict significant harm on their victims. Although these actors are not capable of attacking the United States or its allies head-on, they may be able to exploit technology or use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to present the United States or its allies with asymmetric threats and attacks. As a consequence, the traditional objectives and methods surrounding arms control and threat reduction must be adapted to in incorporate these new threats and to inject some certainty into an uncertain situation.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States

13609. European Union Views on International Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading

Author:
Les Bissell, Johanna Hjerthen, Balachandar Jayaraman, Elizabeth Karkus, John Leahy, Gerald Mulder, Pamela Chasek, David Leonard Downie, Kevin Baumert, Sean Clark, and Joshua Tosteson
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
In December 1997, the Third Conference of the Parties (COP-3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Kyoto, Japan to negotiate a protocol to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Two of the main features of the Kyoto Protocol are (1) legally binding requirements for Annex I countries to reduce collectively their emissions of six greenhouse gases by at least 5.2% below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012; and (2) flexibility measures, including joint implementation (Article 6), a Clean Development Mechanism (Article 12) and emissions trading (Article 17, which appeared as Article 16bis in the draft Protocol text adopted in Kyoto) to encourage countries to meet their obligations at the lowest cost. Although emissions trading (ET) provisions were included in the Kyoto Protocol, the Parties did not establish rules and guidelines for the trading system. Instead, Governments have been asked to address these issues at COP-4, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 2-13 November 1998.
Topic:
Environment, International Cooperation, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe and United Nations

13610. Resolving the Security Dilemma in the Persian Gulf

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper is introduced by an analysis of the concept of region, followed by an application of this analytical framework to the Persian Gulf region. Several problems in this region are identified, including a seemingly open-ended arms race and a significant risk of war. As a possible remedy to these problems, the author proposes a policy of Common Security, intended to satisfy the legitimate security problems of all states in the region. As a consequence, he recommends efforts to ensure the strictly defensive nature of the military postures of regional states, to be implemented unilaterally as well as by means of arms control negotiations and regulations of the international arms trade. The paper concludes with a Postscript on the Iraqi crisis of 1997/98.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Persia