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32. Uranium from Niger: A key resource of diminishing importance for France
- Author:
- Bruno Tertrais
- Publication Date:
- 03-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In France, natural uranium is immediately associated with the relationship to African countries. Uranium has always fed rumours, fantasies and conspiracy theories set against the background of all the colourful stories of what is known in France as the "Françafrique"; the web of personal and economic relations between Paris and its former colonies.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Nuclear Power
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, and France
33. Regional Integration In Africa: Some Recent Developments And Challenges
- Author:
- Idris Ademuyiwa and Eberechukwu Uneze
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)
- Abstract:
- African countries have been left out of the recent benefits accruing from international trade. For example, they accounted for only 3.2 percent of world trade in 2013 compared to 5 percent in the mid-1960s. Regional integration can reverse this weak performance as it holds the promise for countries to gain from the resultant economies of scale and enhanced competitiveness. It will also help to expand the markets for foreign direct investment.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, Regional Integration, Trade, and Trade Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Latin America
34. Natural Resources and Capital Flight: A Role for Policy?
- Author:
- Lemma W. Senbet, Gregoire Rota-Graziosi, and Rabah Arezki
- Publication Date:
- 09-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
- Abstract:
- This paper investigates the relationship between natural resources and capital flight in the form of tax avoidance from multinational corporations. In particular, it focuses on the spillover effects in terms of tax revenue mobilization and stock market development from the thin capitalization rule, a policy instrument aimed at limiting firm tax avoidance through setting limits on a firm’s foreign indebtedness. We exploit the plausibly exogenous within-country variations of data on oil discoveries for a panel of 117 countries during the period 1970–2012. We find evidence that oil discoveries significantly enhance both tax revenue mobilization and stock market development, but only when a thin capitalization rule is in place. We argue that these findings can be explained through the limiting role of a thin capitalization rule in multinational companies’ use of financial transactions among their affiliates or tax havens to transfer part of the profit. The thin capitalization rule may thus not only help limit the erosion of the domestic tax base but may also entice multinational corporations to resort to using and developing the domestic financial system.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Financial Markets, Economic growth, Capital Flows, and Capital Flight
- Political Geography:
- Africa
35. Is Brazil a 'Responsible Stakeholder' or a Naysayer?
- Author:
- Esther D. Brimmer
- Publication Date:
- 09-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Washington Quarterly
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Will aspiring liberal democracies help maintain the current liberal international order? This current order rests on promoting and maintaining five pillars: peace and security; the market economy, especially international trade and investment; human rights and humanitarian action; sustainable development; and global spaces. Each of these areas is large and complex, and the emergence of new powers is likely to alter that system but not destabilize it.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Brazil, and Caribbean
36. Morocco's Emergence as a Gateway to Business in Africa
- Author:
- J. Peter Pham and Ricardo Rene Laremont
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Africa is home to seven of the world's ten fastest-growing economies. By 2050, the continent's population is expected to overtake India's and China's, doubling to two billion people. Moreover, those two billion Africans will be younger than their counterparts in every other region of the world and will account for one in four workers globally by mid-century. Africa's rich endowment of natural resources, including about 30 percent of the world's known reserves of minerals and 60 percent of the planet's uncultivated arable land, is already well-known to investors.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, and Morocco
37. The Impact of Asian Investment on Africa's Textile Industries
- Author:
- Tang Xiaoyang
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Asian investors' impact on Africa's cotton, textile, and apparel sectors may have profound consequences for the continent's industrialization and development. As southeast African countries seek to industrialize and build indigenous cotton-textile-apparel value chains, the interactions between Asian—particularly Chinese—investors and African companies become more and more complex. Indeed, Asian investors present both a challenge to and an opportunity for local industries, and southeast African countries need a clear vision and tailored policies to make the most of the opportunities. Asian investors' impact on Africa's cotton, textile, and apparel sectors may have profound consequences for the continent's industrialization and development. As southeast African countries seek to industrialize and build indigenous cotton-textile-apparel value chains, the interactions between Asian-particularly Chinese-investors and African companies become more and more complex. Indeed, Asian investors present both a challenge to and an opportunity for local industries, and southeast African countries need a clear vision and tailored policies to make the most of the opportunities.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Asia
38. Estimates of Fundamental Equilibrium Exchange Rates, November 2014
- Author:
- William R. Cline
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This semiannual review finds that most of the major international currencies, including the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, UK pound sterling, and Chinese renminbi, remain close to their fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs). The new estimates find this result despite numerous significant exchange rate movements associated with increased volatility in international financial markets at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2014, and despite a major reduction in the price of oil. The principal cases of exchange rate misalignment continue to be the undervalued currencies of Singapore, Taiwan, and to a lesser extent Sweden and Switzerland, and the overvalued currencies of Turkey, New Zealand, South Africa, and to a lesser extent Australia and Brazil. Even so, the medium-term current account deficit for the United States is already at the outer limit in the FEERs methodology (3 percent of GDP), and if the combination of intensified quantitative easing in Japan and the euro area with the end to quantitative easing in the United States were to cause sizable further appreciation of the dollar, an excessive US imbalance could begin to emerge.
- Topic:
- Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Trade and Finance, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Japan, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, and New Zealand
39. Biosafety of GM Crops in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania
- Author:
- Judith A. Chambers
- Publication Date:
- 12-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Against a background of rapid global adoption rates and two decades of safe use, the overly cautious approach to genetic modification (GM) technology in agriculture by African governments seems misplaced. To date, only three African countries are engaged in commercial production of GM crops, although others are experimenting with the technology. Among those African countries experimenting with the technology, several are proceeding along a path toward commercialization and reside geographically close in East Africa, where the potential for regional trade impacts and issues exist. An examination of their historical circumstance and experience with GM technology, and the resultant effects on regulatory policy, can offer some useful insights about the various factors that impact GM technology adoption in Africa, especially from the perspective of the biosafety policies enacted.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, International Trade and Finance, Science and Technology, Food, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Kenya, Africa, and Tanzania
40. Lessons from South Africa's BITs review
- Author:
- Xavier Carim
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Proponents tend to argue that bilateral investment treaties (BITs) encourage investment and strengthen the rule of law particularly in jurisdictions where court systems are weak or biased against foreigners. This premise is contested. First, studies on BITs and FDI suggest the relationship is, at best, ambiguous and that BITs are neither necessary nor sufficient to attract FDI. Indeed, South Africa receives FDI from investors in countries with whom it has no BIT and often little or no FDI from others where a BIT was in place.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa