Search

Begin New Search Topic Economics Publication Year within 25 Years

2361. Care Ethics and Markets: A View from Feminist Economics

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
It is common to think of care ethics and justice ethics as being opposed to each other, and also to think of economic life as being opposed to social life. As a result, it may be hard to see how care ethics, seen as interpersonal, could be applicable to business, when the latter is perceived as asocial. This essay uncovers the origins of these beliefs in unhelpful dualistic cognitive habits and in gender-biases in the development of the discipline of economics. In particular, feminist analysis reveals the mythical nature of both "economic man" and the belief in mechanical "profit maximization." The essay calls for unveiling and recognizing the ethical and connected dimensions that already characterize business life, and including these in thinking about how to create a more humane economy.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, and Human Rights

2362. ¿Es el crecimiento económico suficiente para apoyar la democracia? Lecciones del caso chileno

Author:
Pedro Aravena Lavin
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article analyzes the support for democracy in Chile from an economic, institutional and political perspective. It uses data from Latinobarómetro for the period 1996–2007 and a statistical method of estimation, “ordered logit,” in order to answer the question of why support for Chilean democracy is not connected with economic growth. The analysis generates three key results of interest. First, regardless of the fact that GDP per capita does not have any effect on the level of support for democracy, it does affect individuals' perceptions of economic performance, since the variable “economic situation” is one of the most explanatory variable of the model. Second, the analysis demonstrates the importance of the degree of confidence in the Congress at the moment that perceptions of democracy are evaluated. Third, “political ideology” is the most useful variable in explaining support for democracy, a fact which suggests that the adherents of the right wing do not support the democratic system. This is the most reliable reason for the moderate level of support for democracy in Chile.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America and Chile

2363. Sectoral Productivity Trend: Convergence Islands in Oceans of Divergence

Author:
Fulvio Castellacci, Gaaitzen J. de Vries, and Bart Los
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In their influential study on productivity growth at the sector-level, Bernard and Jones (1996, BJ) observed convergence of aggregate labor productivity levels in 14 highly developed countries in 1970-1987. They also found evidence that this could be attributed to convergence in services productivity rather than in manufacturing. The main question this paper addresses is whether this result can be generalized to a broader set of countries. Several strands of growth theory suggest that thresholds with regard to a variety of issues can lead to multiple growth regimes, which are likely to lead to very heterogeneous patterns of convergence and divergence. To analyze this, we use econometric techniques that explicitly allow for identification of parameter heterogeneity (quantile regressions and quantile smoothing splines), both with regard to initial conditions and to performance conditional on these initial productivity levels. BJ's data are extended in several dimensions. The recently developed sectoral dataset we use spans the period 1970-2004 and covers 49 countries, including many developing countries. Overall, our findings suggest that convergence as found by BJ only applies to limited groups of country-sectors ('convergence islands'), whereas the biggest parts of our sample spaces can be considered as 'oceans of divergence'.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets

2364. Closing the Technology Gap?

Author:
Fulvio Castellacci
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the dimensions shaping the dynamics of technology. We present a model where the knowledge stock of a country grows over time as a function of three main factors: its innovation intensity, its technological infrastructures and its human capital. The latter two variables contribute to determine the absorptive capacity of a country as well as its innovative ability. Based on this theoretical framework, we carry out an empirical analysis that investigates the dynamics of technology in a large sample of developed and developing economies in the last two-decade period, and studies its relationships with the growth of income per capita in a dynamic panel model setting. The results indicate that the cross-country distributions of technological infrastructures and human capital have experienced a process of convergence, whereas the innovative intensity is characterized by increasing polarization between rich and poor economies. Thus, while the conditions for catching up have generally improved, the increasing innovation gap represents a major factor behind the observed differences in income per capita.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Science and Technology, and Infrastructure

2365. Women and Men in Yemen: Statistical Portrait 2007

Author:
Abd Al-Karim Ismael Al-Arhabi
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Central Statistics Organization is glad to present its third Women and Men Report to those who are interested in gender statistics, as a continuation in the organization's endeavor to meet the need of all the different user categories.
Topic:
Economics and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Yemen

2366. Renminbi Undervaluation, China's Surplus, and the US Trade Deficit

Author:
William R. Cline
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
On June 21, 2010, in the run-up to the G-20 meeting in Toronto, China announced that it would shift to a more flexible exchange rate policy. From mid-June to July 30 the yuan rose 0.8 percent against the dollar. In contrast, the currency had remained fixed (at about 6.83 yuan to the dollar) from September 2008 to early June 2010. Pressure not only from the United States and the European Union but also from Russia, Brazil, and India as well as the IMF seems likely to have played a role in China's decision, although concerns about domestic inflation may also have been a factor.
Topic:
Economics and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
United States and China

2367. Pyongyang's Survival Strategy: Tools of Authoritarian Control in North Korea

Author:
Daniel Byman and Jennifer Lind
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
In the early 1990s, many observers predicted that Kim Il-sung's regime would not survive the cessation of Russian aid and the resulting downward spiral of North Korea's economy. Speculation about regime collapse intensified when the less charismatic Kim Jong-il succeeded his father in 1994, and again after the 1996–97 famine that killed upwards of a million North Koreans. Gen. Gary Luck, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, declared in 1997 that North Korea would “dis - integrate.” That same year, a U.S. government and outside team of experts predicted regime collapse within five years. Another decade brought more prognostications: in 2000 Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet warned that “sudden, radical, and possibly dangerous change remains a real possibility in North Korea, and that change could come at any time.” Three years later, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said that North Korea was “teetering on the edge of economic collapse.” Contemporary accounts warn that the regime is threatened by the growing flow of information into the country or by popular outcry touched off by the government's 2009 bungling of currency reform.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States and North Korea

2368. Getting What You Want: Positive Inducements in International Relations

Author:
Miroslav Nincic
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Positive inducements as a strategy for dealing with regimes that challenge core norms of international behavior and the national interests of the United States ("renegade regimes") contain both promises and pitfalls. Such inducements, which include policy concessions and economic favors, can serve two main purposes: (1) arranging a beneficial quid pro quo with the other side, and (2) catalyzing, via positive engagement, a restructuring of interests and preferences within the other side's politico-economic system (such that quid pro quos become less and less necessary). The conditions for progress toward either purpose can vary, as can the requirements for sufficient and credible concessions on both sides and the obstacles in the way of such concessions. For renegade regimes, a primary consideration involves the domestic purposes that internationally objectionable behavior can serve. An examination of the cases of North Korea, Iran, and Libya finds that negative pressures have been relatively ineffective, suggesting that more attention should be given to the potential for positive inducements to produce better outcomes.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, North Korea, and Libya

2369. On the Economics of Regional Powers: Comparing China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

Author:
Robert Kappel
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of different concepts of economic power—such as those of Schumpeter, Perroux, Predöhl, or Kindleberger—concepts of technological leadership, and the global value chain approaches, the paper develops a research framework for the economics of regional powers. This framework is then tested using descriptive statistics as well as regressions analysis, with a focus on the four regional powers Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. As economic power is relational, the relationship of regional powers to other nations in the region is analyzed.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Latin America

2370. Mining for facts: PacRim Cayman LLC v. El Salvador

Author:
Alexandre de Gramont
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
In his recent article, “Thinking twice about a gold rush: Pacific Rim v. El Salvador” (Columbia FDI Perspectives, No. 23, May 24, 2010), Professor Gus Van Harten uses the PacRim v. El Salvador arbitration, pending at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), as the basis for asserting a number of criticisms against the overall system of arbitration under investment treaties.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Latin America