Search

Begin New Search Topic Economics Publication Year within 1 Year

121. Inequality and the Environment: Global Inequality Research Award Lecture

Author:
James K. Boyce
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
This lecture, delivered at the ceremony for the inaugural Global Inequality Research Award at Sciences Po in Paris, provides a trajectory of the author’s work on inequality and the environment that was recognized by the award. Thirty years ago, many economists and environmentalists saw inequality as a non-issue. Today there is widespread recognition of its importance. The lecture reviews how inequalities in the distribution of wealth and power affect both the magnitude and incidence of environmental harms and discusses some of the synergies between policies to reduce inequality and to improve environmental quality.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

122. The State, Corporations, or the People: Who Benefits from Mining in Zambia?

Author:
Léonce Ndikumana, Dale Mudenda, and Bilen Gurara
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
The expectations that Zambia’s vast endowment in mineral resources would drive economic transformation and propel the country to higher levels of living standards remain elusive. The country is still confronted with chronic macroeconomic trade and fiscal imbalances, a heavy debt burden, shortage of foreign exchange reserves with attendant pressures on the value of the national currency. The contribution of mineral exploitation to employment, government revenue, foreign exchange earnings, economic growth and poverty reduction remains suboptimal. Yet, the sector continues to attract substantial attention from foreign investors and remains dominated by foreign corporations. So, if the people of Zambia are not reaping adequate benefits from mineral resource exploitation, then who is capturing the rents? This paper provides a review of the history, industrial organization and management of the mining sector, and explores the factors that have constrained the performance of the sector with an emphasis on the role of the ownership structure, the fiscal regime, exposure to external shocks, and lack of transformational orientation of the sector. The paper draws some policy suggestions for the improvement of the performance of the mining sector going forward.
Topic:
Economics, Natural Resources, Mining, and Corporatism
Political Geography:
Africa and Zambia

123. The Growth of Private Financial Markets

Author:
Lenore Palladino and Harrison Karlewicz
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Over the past decade, “private” financial markets, which face little oversight by regulators, have grown to the point where they dominate financial activity. Private funds have approximately tripled in size in the last decade to $26 trillion in gross assets (compared to the $23 trillion in the U.S. commercial banking industry). Private markets raise more in equity than public markets: in 2021, new stock issuances resulted in $434.7 billion, while private markets raised $1.73 trillion in committed funds that same year–almost four times as much. Private markets are structured differently–organized into funds by asset managers as limited partnerships, which shields general managers from liability. The primary dealers in these private markets are venture capital, private equity, private credit funds, and private real asset managers. In this working paper, we examine four institutional shareholder types: public and private pension funders, endowment plans, and foundations. Institutional shareholders now allocate 28-35% of their assets under management to the “alternative” assets of private markets. Pension funds alone currently account for $2.7 trillion in committed funds to private financial markets, the latter of which has ballooned to $26 trillion in gross assets. This development potentially represents new systemic risks to the economy at large and for the institutional shareholders participating in these markets.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Regulation, and Financial Markets
Political Geography:
Global Focus

124. Can Price Controls Be Optimal? The Economics of the Energy Shock in Germany

Author:
Tom Krebs and Isabella Weber
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
In the wake of the global energy crisis, many European countries used energy price controls to fight inflation and to stabilize the economy. Despite its wide adoption, many economists remained skeptical. In this paper, we argue that price controls should be part of the policy toolbox to respond to shocks to systemically important sectors because not using them can have large economic and political costs. We put forward our arguments in two steps. In a first step, we analyze the impact on the German economy and society of the global energy crisis that followed Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022. Our analysis shows that energy shocks matter. Specifically, the one-year GDP loss of the energy crisis 2022 amounts to 4 percent and is of a comparable magnitude to the short-run output losses during the COVID-19 crisis 2020 and the global financial crisis 2008. In addition, during the energy crisis 2022 inflation rates rose dramatically and real wages dropped more than in any other year in post-war Germany. There are also clear signs that the crisis is causing severe long-term economic damage (hysteresis effects). At the beginning of 2024, GDP is 7 percent and real wages are 10 percent below their pre-COVID-19 trend. We argue that the German government handled the immediate response to the energy shock well, but subsequently waited too long to introduce an energy price brake in 2022. This failure to act decisively in response to heightened economic insecurity coincided with a strong rise of the approval rates of the far-right AfD in the summer of 2022. We also show that the German energy price brake was an effective price stabilization policy for households, but did not protect the industrial base appropriately making it more likely that the German economy will continue to stagnate. In a final step, we turn to the use of price controls as an optimal policy response to an energy shock within a general equilibrium framework. We develop a simple production model with an energy sector and shows that price controls are socially optimal whenever selffulfilling expectations generate endogenous price uncertainty in the wake of an energy shock. We also link our analysis to the so-called sunspot literature that was developed in the 1980s as a response to the rational-expectations revolution in macroeconomics. Finally, we use our theoretical analysis to shed some light on the economic policy debate and the resistance of German mainstream economists to the introduction of energy price controls in 2022.
Topic:
Economics, Inflation, Macroeconomics, Price Control, Energy, and Stabilization
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany

125. Buckles and Holes in China’s Belt and Road – A Case Study of Belarus and Serbia

Author:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP)
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP)
Abstract:
The international system is undergoing profound changes and one of the main ones is the growth of China’s global influence, which is gradually turning into a source of influence comparable to the United States. This process is accompanied by the growth of China’s political and economic presence in different regions of the world. Europe is no exception, but this process varies greatly in different countries, with some countries only cautiously developing ties with China while others seek to expand them as much as possible. This raises the question of the reasons for such differences, as well as the consequences of active development of China’s ties for political and economic development. In this regard, it seems interesting to compare the most “pro-Chinese” countries in Europe, namely Belarus, which has the closest contacts with China among countries of Eastern Europe and Serbia, and occupies a similar position in the Balkans. The analysis shows that for both countries, China is, first of all, a political and economic alternative to the EU and the US, and in the case of Belarus, also to Russia. Such cooperation expands the space for manoeuvre, but usually does not lead to the solution of the strategic goals – advanced economic development, political resilience, sustainable cooperation with the main (crucial) partners.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Infrastructure, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and International System
Political Geography:
Europe and Belarus

126. Green Industrial Policy: A Holistic Approach

Author:
Ilaria Mazzocco
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
In the United States, the rise of the economic-climate agenda and green industrial policy has coincided with growing attention to supply chain resilience, economic security, and a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship. As a consequence, the interaction between trade, geopolitics, domestic economic policy, and climate policy demands a new holistic approach from policymakers and civil society to find more politically sustainable and effective policy solutions. More consideration should be given to the specifics of U.S. climate strategy when it comes to trade and international relations and how to integrate climate strategy with the Inflation Reduction Act and green industrial policy efforts.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, Geopolitics, Trade, Sustainability, and Green Economy
Political Geography:
China and Asia

127. Economic Impacts of Climatic Change on African Women

Author:
Hélène Maisonnave and Martin Henseler
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Lower access to money and assets makes women less resilient against climate change impacts, like extreme weather events (floods, drought) and scarcity of resources such as water and food. In agriculturally based economies in Africa, most women work in the climate-sensitive agricultural sectors. Moreover, women face time poverty because they are the main ones responsible for domestic work, for example, childcare, collecting water and fuel, and food preparation. At the same time, women are extremely important for the current and future economic growth in developing economies. In Africa, all these women-specific challenges apply on a continent highly exposed to the impacts of climate change but are regionally heterogeneous. Understanding the region-specific impact of climate change on women is the key to designing effective and efficient policies to counteract the negative impacts on women.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Economics, Natural Disasters, and Women
Political Geography:
Africa

128. European agriculture and Ukrainian agriculture complement each other

Author:
Alan Hervé
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Robert Schuman Foundation (RSF)
Abstract:
Agriculture has long been the richest, most diversified and most innovative of Ukraine's economic and social activities. Since Russia launched its aggression against Ukraine in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, it has also become the most essential for the country and the one that raises the most questions in its relations with the European Union, which it intends to join as soon as possible. Many accuse Ukraine of unfair competition: on wheat, which is seriously disrupting Poland's agrarian economy; on poultry meat, which is said to be a threat to French production; on sugar and, increasingly, on organic products. Beyond the particular circumstances we are currently experiencing, Ukraine could occupy a place of choice within an enlarged Union. Thanks to its high-performance agriculture, it could help to strengthen the Union's role in meeting the food needs of deficit countries, at a time when, without Ukraine, the European Union is losing market share all over the world, particularly to the growing competition from Russia. Ukraine's competitiveness should not be an obstacle to fruitful cooperation, if the accession negotiations agree to include all the key issues of climate change, ecological diversity and the aspiration of a majority of rural people to contribute to solving these problems. This paper outlines the issues at stake and the solutions we need to analyse together in order to take action, and thus to set a new and determined course for a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that has lost its way.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, European Union, Innovation, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine

129. Data Concentration and Competition in Digital Platforms

Author:
Hyunsoo Kim
Publication Date:
10-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
Policy discussions in major countries regarding access to data as a means of promoting competition in the digital platform market are taking place within the framework of existing legislation. The existing legal framework determines whether access to data is necessary based on whether the data is essential for competition in the relevant market and whether it can only be obtained from the dominant platform. In competition law, discussions about whether other companies can access a dominant firm’s resources have traditionally taken place under the so-called essential facilities doctrine. Whether data is essential for competition in a given market cannot be determined uniformly. However, existing literature suggests that narrowly defined essential data does not exist in many markets, and it is also difficult to find such data in markets related to large digital platform companies like Google or Amazon. This is because businesses can be established and operated in search engines or online marketplaces without having extensive user data. From this perspective, the role of competition law in ensuring access to data under the existing legal framework is inherently limited. These limitations arise not only in relation to the essential facilities doctrine but also in the process of applying competition policy. Competition policy typically takes a long time to implement, while the rapidly changing business environment of the digital platform market requires companies to quickly identify business opportunities in order to enter the market. Even if it is proven that a dominant company has used its data in an anticompetitive manner, it is extremely difficult to impose appropriate remedies that could restore the market to its previous competitive state. Additionally, designing complex remedies and continuously monitoring compliance with competition policy is not easy, which is why there are ongoing discussions about the need for ex ante regulation. However, ex ante regulation also has its own costs and drawbacks, so the practical benefits of implementing such regulations must be carefully evaluated.
Topic:
Economics, Business, Data, and Digital Platforms
Political Geography:
Global Focus

130. Investigating the Effect of the U.S. Semiconductor Export Controls on China

Author:
Hyok Jung Kim, Jonghyuk Oh, and Hyuk Hu Kwon
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
his report examines the significant impact of U.S. semiconductor export controls imposed under the Biden administration in October 2022. These controls, which target a broad range of semiconductor manufacturing facilities and AI chips, are part of a strategy aimed at curbing China’s advancement in critical technologies. A notable 32.5% decline in China’s imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been observed, particularly in regions with advanced production capabilities and foreign company operations, such as those involving Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. While Korea experienced substantial drops in exports to China, the Netherlands saw an increase, reflecting its dominance in specific technologies like lithography. The AI chip sector has also been affected, with China turning to downgraded chips due to restricted access to high-performance models from companies like Nvidia. South Korea must adapt by strengthening its upstream semiconductor industry, considering reshoring production, and collaborating with international partners to mitigate risks. As U.S. export controls continue to evolve, the global semiconductor industry may face increased fragmentation, making strategic responses from affected nations essential to maintain competitiveness. Additionally, ongoing monitoring and adaptation to the dynamic regulatory environment shaped by these export controls are crucial.
Topic:
Economics, Science and Technology, Exports, Artificial Intelligence, Imports, and Semiconductors
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America