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1. Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks: Policy Recommendations from the ZeroWIN Project

Author:
Claudia Luepschen, Ruediger Kuehr, and Federico Magalini
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
ZeroWIN (Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks) is a five-year project (2009-2014) under the European Commission's Seventh Research Framework Programme. The ZeroWIN project has developed effective strategies for waste prevention through industrial networks. Ten industrial case studies in the automotive, construction, electronics and photovoltaic industries form the core of the project and exchange energy, water and materials in such a way that waste from one industry becomes raw material for another. This brief suggests what can be done to advance the implementation of industrial networks in practice, based on first outcomes of the ZeroWIN project. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7 2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 226752
Topic:
Energy Policy, Health, Industrial Policy, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Europe

2. Trade Expansion of China and India: Threat or Opportunity

Author:
Guanghua Wan and Mahvash Saeed Qureshi
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
By exploring the export performances and specialization patterns of China and India, we assess their trade competitiveness and complementarity vis-à-vis each other as well as with the rest of the world. Our analysis indicates that (i) India faces tough competition from China in the third markets especially in clothing, textile and leather products; (ii) there is a moderate potential for expanding trade between the two countries; (iii) China poses a challenge for the East Asian economies, the US, and most of the European countries especially in medium-technology industries; (iv) India appears to be a competitor mainly for its neighbouring South Asian countries; and (v) complementarity exists between the imports of China and India, and the exports of the US, some European states and East Asian countries, especially Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, implying opportunities for trade expansion; and finally (vi) the export structure of China is changing with the exports of skill intensive and high-technology products increasing and those of labour-intensive products decreasing gradually. This suggests that challenges created by China in traditional labour-intensive products might reduce in the long run.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Europe, South Asia, Malaysia, India, Asia, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand

3. WIDER Special Issue: Inequality and Poverty in China

Author:
Guanghua Wan
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
A large group of smallish countries totalling about a billion people have sheered off from the rest of mankind. As the world becomes more socially integrated this giant pool of poverty will be both unacceptable and explosive. It is the world's biggest economic problem and we need to do something about it. To know what to do we need to start with a diagnosis. While the common fate of the bottom billion has been stagnation and poverty there has been no single cause. In my recently published book The Bottom Billion I propose four distinct traps that between them account for the problem, each requiring a distinct remedy. I also argue that globalization, though it has been benign for the majority of the developing world, is not working for the bottom billion and is not likely to do so. On the contrary, it is liable to make them increasingly marginalized.
Political Geography:
China and Europe

4. Long-Run Changes in the Concentration of Wealth: An Overview of Recent Findings

Author:
Daniel Waldenström, Jesper Roine, and Henry Ohlsson
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to study the dynamics of the wealth distribution over the path of economic development. More specifically, we are interested in distinguishing between changes which seem to be country specific and characteristics shared by all countries. A historical account of the evolution of the wealth distribution in developed countries is interesting in itself, but it can also hold implications for countries that are currently in an early stage of development or in transition. The data used originates from the taxation of wealth and estates.
Topic:
International Relations, Demographics, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe

5. Institutions and Economic Growth: The Successful Experience of Switzerland (1870-1950)

Author:
André Mach and Thomas David
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This research paper discusses the role of institutions in the rapid growth and successful international integration of Switzerland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In analysing the emergence and consolidation of the institutions whose existence was crucial, the paper looks both at the political institutions that managed conflicts and promoted cooperation between private and public actors and the economic institutions that, on the one hand, compensated the groups that fell behind in the developmental process (e.g., agricultural subsidies, high tolerance for domestic cartels, tariffs for some industries, institutions for labour representation) and, on the other hand, enhanced productivity. In addition, the absence of some institutions such as a patent law and an independent central bank was also crucial in the Swiss case, even though these two institutions are regarded as pre-requisites of development by today's economic orthodoxy. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for today's developing countries.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Switzerland

6. Measuring Food Security Using Respondents' Perception of Food Consumption Adequacy

Author:
Benjamin Davis, Kathleen Beegle, Gero Caretto, and Mauro Migotto
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Food security is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. As such, its measurement may entail and benefit from the combination of both 'qualitative-subjective' and 'quantitative-objective' indicators. Yet, the evidence on the external validity of subjective-type information is scarce, especially using representative household surveys. The aim of this paper is to compare information on self-perceived food consumption adequacy from the subjective modules of household surveys with standard quantitative indicators, namely calorie consumption, dietary diversity and anthropometry. Datasets from four countries are analysed: Albania, Indonesia, Madagascar and Nepal. Simple descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, contingency tables and multivariate regression show that the 'subjective' indicator is at best poorly correlated with standard quantitative indicators. The paper concludes that while subjective food adequacy indicators may provide insight on the vulnerability dimension of food insecurity, they are too blunt an indicator for food insecurity targeting. An effort towards developing improved subjective food security modules that are contextually sensitive should go hand in hand with research into how to improve household survey data for food security measurement along other dimensions of the phenomenon, particularly calorie consumption.
Topic:
Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Indonesia, Asia, Nepal, Albania, and Madagascar

7. The Formation of a Mercantilist State and the Economic Growth of the United Kingdom 1453-1815

Author:
Patrick Karl O'Brien
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
New institutional economics lacks a theory of state formation which could help us to deal with the mega question of why some states became more efficient than others at establishing and and sustaining institutions. Some kind of middle range theory could be formulated based upon historical case studies. This paper considers the case of Britain and as its title suggests degrades the myth of the United Kingdom as the paradigmn example of liberalism and laisser faire. In making its precocious transition to and industrial market economy the kingom's history is best represented as a case of successful mercantilism.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Britain, United Kingdom, and Europe

8. State Recognition of the Right to Food at the National Level

Author:
Margaret Vidar
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper considers to what extent the human right to food has been recognized by countries in the world, by analysing international obligations and constitutional provisions, bearing in mind that the right to food may be either explicitly or implicitly protected at the constitutional level. It considers constitutional examples from Switzerland, South Africa and India.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, and Switzerland

9. Central Banks as Agents of Economic Development

Author:
Gerald Epstein
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In the last two decades, there has been a global sea change in the theory and practice of central banking. The currently dominant 'best practice' approach to central banking consists of the following: (1) central bank independence (2) a focus on inflation fighting (including adopting formal 'inflation targeting') and (3) the use of indirect methods of monetary policy (that is, short-term interest rates as opposed to direct methods such as credit ceilings). This paper argues that this neo-liberal approach to central banking is highly idiosyncratic in that, as a package, it is dramatically different from the historically dominant theory and practice of central banking, not only in the developing world, but, notably, in the now developed countries themselves. Throughout the early and recent history of central banking in the US, England, Europe, and elsewhere, financing governments, managing exchange rates, and supporting economic sectors by using 'direct methods' of intervention have been among the most important tasks of central banking and, indeed, in many cases, were among the reasons for their existence. The neo-liberal central bank policy package, then, is drastically out of step with the history and dominant practice of central banking throughout most of its history.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and England

10. Measuring Pro-Poor Progress towards the Non-Income Millennium Development Goals

Author:
Stephen Klasen, Kenneth Harttgen, and Melanie Grosse
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In order to track progress in MDG1 and explicitly link growth, inequality, and poverty reduction, several measures of 'pro-poor growth' have been proposed in the literature and used in applied academic and policy work. These measures, particularly the ones derived from the growth incidence curve, allow a much more detailed assessment of the distributional impact of growth and its link to poverty reduction. However, there are no corresponding measures for tracking the distribution of progress in non-income dimensions of poverty, and thus the distribution of progress towards MDGs 2-7. In this paper, we propose to extend the pro-poor growth measurement to non-income dimensions of poverty (particularly health and education). We empirically illustrate the approach for Bolivia and show that it allows a much more detailed assessment of progress towards MDGs 2-7 by focusing on the distribution of progress. Furthermore, this extension also allows an explicit assessment of the linkage between progress in MDG1 and MDGs 2-7 as well as extends traditional incidence analysis by quantifying outcomes in non-income dimensions of poverty along the income distribution.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Europe and Bolivia