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52. OECD Territorial Review of Japan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- In recent years Japan has been challenged by important socioeconomic changes. Low economic growth, population ageing and depopulation, and new trade relationships with the East Asia region have made it increasingly necessary to transform the system established during the period of economic and demographic expansion.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Israel, and East Asia
53. Policy Coherence Towards East Asia: Development Challenges for OECD Countries
- Author:
- K. Fukasaku, M. Kawai, M.G. Plummer, and A. Trzeciak-Duval
- Publication Date:
- 05-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- The East Asian development experience needs to be better understood — especially the region's clustered, sequential development process and neighbourhood effects linking economies at different levels of industrial development. How have different policy vectors transmitted by OECD countries, notably in the areas of trade, investment and aid, contributed to the development of the region? To what extent have the impacts of OECD-country policies depended on the capacity of East Asian economies to respond through their own public policies?
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Israel and East Asia
54. The East Asian Experience: The Poverty of "Picking Winners"
- Author:
- Barry Desker and Deborah Elms
- Publication Date:
- 12-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Many leaders in Africa argue that East Asia's success in economic growth and development is due to special prowess in "picking winners." That is, the state is assume to have adequately identified future growth areas and effectively channeled investments into specific firms or industries. We argue, however, that this assessment is not accurate. Even where states have attempted to follow this path, they have frequently made a hash of it. The wrong sectors or firms have been identified. Public monies have been squandered or siphoned off for private enrichment. Instead, the successful East Asian states have focused their attention on consistently creating competitive market environments. They have invested in the hard and soft infrastructure (like road, ports and education) necessary for success in an increasingly globalized economy. It is these types of policies that currently hold out the greatest prospects for growth in Africa.
- Topic:
- Economics and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Israel, and East Asia
55. A Currency Basket for East Asia, Not Just China
- Author:
- John Williamson
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- China recently announced that it is adopting a basket of currencies as the peg for its exchange rate instead of the US dollar. This announcement raises questions of how such a system works, whether other East Asian countries would be advised to follow China in adopting a basket numeraire, and whether it would be advantageous to these countries if they were all to adopt the same basket. This brief answers these questions.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Israel, East Asia, and Asia
56. Egypt after the Multi-Fiber Arrangement: Global Apparel and Textile Supply Chains as a Route for Industrial Upgrading
- Author:
- Dan Magder and Dan Magder
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Exporting through international supply chains was a successful way for East Asian countries to develop their textile and apparel industries in the 1970s and 1980s, but it is a less clear route for countries like Egypt trying to compete today. The challenge is particularly acute given the strength of competitors like China, and even more so in the post-MFA era. Some analysts suggest that "lean retailing" increases the importance of geography in exporting in the world of rapidly changing apparel fashion, in a way that could benefit a country like Egypt with its proximity to European end markets. Using a supply chain model, this paper suggests that shortening lead times can indeed have an impact on profits, but that the effect is not tremendous, being in the range of a 0.3 percent to 0.9 percent increase in profits for every week of improvement in lead times. The study also finds that the business environment in Egypt lags key comparator countries in several areas that help the firms compete in global apparel chains, although recent reforms by the Egyptian government are working to address several of these aspects. It concludes by exploring to what extent geography, trade preferences, and local production factors may help Egypt's textile and apparel industry carve out a role for itself in global supply chains, and provide an engine to drive industrial upgrading throughout the country.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe, East Asia, North Africa, and Egypt
57. What Iraq and Argentina Might Learn from Each Other
- Author:
- Anna Gelpern
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Financial collapse usually triggers a flurry of market, academic, and policy innovation. The Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s produced the Brady Bonds and led to the rise of today's emerging markets. In the late 1990s, crises in Pakistan, Ecuador, and Ukraine helped teach the markets how to restructure international sovereign bonds. Crises in Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, and throughout East Asia raised doubts about the international system's ability to manage vast and rapid capital flows, and prompted a big-picture reassessment under the rubric “international financial architecture.” This included most famously the sovereign bankruptcy proposals discussed elsewhere in this volume.
- Topic:
- Development and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Middle East, East Asia, Brazil, South America, Latin America, and Mexico
58. Global Economic Prospects: Slower But Still Solid Growth in 2005; Worries About Growth and Inflation for 2006
- Author:
- Michael Mussa
- Publication Date:
- 04-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- After surging to the highest growth rate in a generation, world real GDP is set to slow from a rate of just over 5 percent for 2004 to about 4 percent for 2005 and a tad slower for 2006. The economic slowdowns in several important economies in the second half of last year, including much of continental Europe and Japan, already make it clear that year-over-year growth will slow for 2005. But the continued strong growth of domestic demand in other countries, most notably the United States and China, virtually assures that global growth this year will not fall below potential.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, Europe, Israel, and East Asia
59. The Potential of International Policy Coordination
- Author:
- John Williamson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- International economic policy coordination is an idea that is not nowadays at the top of the international agenda. The usual idea these days is that if each country pursues its own national interests, then the world will do as well as possible: There are no exploitable bargains of the type "it will pay [both][all] of us to change policies simultaneously even though if one of us made the change individually we would suffer" available. Even if there are no opportunities of that type (let us call them type A) available, there might still in principle be the chance of gaining by subscribing to a set of rules: Country X might expect to gain more over time from countries Y and Z respecting the rules than it would lose at other times from being obliged to modify its behavior according to the rules. Let us call these type B gains.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States and East Asia
60. Japan Moves toward Sustainable Recovery
- Author:
- John H. Makin
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Japan's stock market, one of the world's strongest this year, is up about 20 percent since spring. It is doing remarkably well for a country whose nominal GDP is still below its 1997 level. By contrast, the U.S. stock market has been drifting lower all year. The S 500 Index is down about 4 percent in the last five months, even more when the highflying energy sector is excluded. This is the case despite U.S. nominal GDP having grown by a cumulative 46 percent since 1997. Clearly, stock markets are looking ahead and seeing a brighter future for Japan than for the United States.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, Israel, and East Asia