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1801. Competency Based Regional Growth Strategies: Creating Value in a Digital Global Age

Author:
John Zysman, Niels Christian Nielsen, Dan Breznitz, and Derek Wong
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
The policy objective for governments is classic and enduring: sustain the growth of employment and productivity to assure expanding real incomes of the citizens. Success requires that “under free and fair market conditions, the community (firms and populace) can produce goods and services that meet the test of international markets while simultaneously expanding the real income of its citizens.” Yet, the logic of competition and value creation in global markets has evolved. Consequently, old strategies of simply supporting the competitiveness of particular national flag firms or chasing smokestacks are clearly obsolete, but merely investing in R or education is not sufficient, and doing nothing is a formula for decline. Regions have to conceive new strategies to find distinctive advantages to support employment and productive activity. Those strategies will need to target competencies, not particular firms or specific sectors. Our argument begins by considering the basic shifts in global markets that are altering the logic of value creation for firms; it then considers how these market shifts alter the policy choices for places and makes competency domains a necessary foundation of policy analysis.
Topic:
Globalization, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

1802. The Political Economies of Wireless in Japan and South Korea: The Politics of Standard-Setting and Liberalization

Author:
Kenji Erik Kushida
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
The wireless telecommunications markets of Japan and South Korea both developed rapidly, offering extremely sophisticated and advanced wireless services. Yet, their fortunes in international markets diverged significantly, with Japanese firms retreating from relative success in the 1980s to become virtual non-players, while Korean firms stormed into global handset markets since the late 1990s.
Topic:
Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, and South Korea

1803. Thoughts on the Day After

Author:
Michael May
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University
Abstract:
This note consists of some observations on the “Day After, ” or perhaps “Minutes to Months After” that I thought might be useful. They are derived from work done in the past few years, in part for DHS and its predecessor agencies. That work included observing and providing comments on the Topoff 2 Federal-State-Local coordination exercise of 2002-2003. These notes also derive from a workshop we did in 2002 that brought together first responders, media and scientists to discuss the aftermath of a nuclear explosion in the SF Bay Area. I make no attempt at being comprehensive but note a few things that, in our experience, have not seemed obvious to all participants. The notes are divided into two parts, “Response and Recovery” and “Political Reaction”.
Topic:
Security, Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
San Francisco

1804. Next-Generation Media: The Global Shift

Author:
Richard P. Adler
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
A decade ago the Internet was still a novelty. Only a minority of Americans went online regularly, and the rate of global penetration was even smaller. Today the Internet is so pervasive that we often take its presence for granted, thinking of it as “old news.” It has become part of the daily life of a majority of Americans who rely on it as an almost indispensable tool for both business and personal life: a vital communications link, an important source of news and political information, a convenient channel for distributing digital content of all types (including software, music, photos, and videos), and a robust marketplace for electronic commerce (e-commerce).
Topic:
Civil Society, Globalization, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
America

1805. Minds on Fire: Enhancing India's Knowledge Workforce

Author:
Richard P. Adler
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
India's economy continues to grow at a remarkable pace. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) has been expanding an average of nearly 8 percent per year since 2002. In the fiscal year ending March 2007, India's economy grew at 9.4 percent. This performance means that the Indian economy met its own national five-year growth goal for the first time since the first five-year plan was issued by the government in 1950. At its current rate of growth, India will become a trillion-dollar economy by 2007–2008 and will overtake South Korea to become Asia's third-largest economy, after China and Japan.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Education, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Japan, India, Asia, and South Korea

1806. Nuclear Energy: Balancing Benefits and Risks

Author:
Charles D. Ferguson
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
According to a prevailing belief, humanity confronts two stark risks: catastrophes caused by climate change and annihilation by nuclear war. The conventional wisdom also believes that the former danger appears far more certain than the latter. This assessment has recently led an increasing number of policymakers, pundits, businesspeople, and environmentalists to advocate a major expansion of nuclear energy, which emits very few greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. While acknowledging the connection between nuclear fuel making and nuclear bomb building, nuclear power proponents suggest that nuclear proliferation and terrorism risks are readily manageable. Consequently, some of these advocates favor the use of subsidies to stimulate substantial growth of nuclear power.
Topic:
Security, Energy Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

1807. The Law and Economics of Software Security

Author:
Robert W. Hahn and Anna Layne-Farrar
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Security in software networks relies on technology, law, and economics. As the cost of software security breaches becomes more apparent, there has been greater interest in developing and implementing solutions for different parts of the problem.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Government, and Science and Technology

1808. The Taxation of Corporate Gains on Sales of Depreciable Property: An Economic Analysis

Author:
Kevin A. Hassett and Alan D. Viard
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The statutory rate on corporate capital gains currently is equal to the statutory tax rate on ordinary corporate income. Although individual capital gains taxes have received an enormous amount of attention, both in the popular media and in the academic literature, corporate capital gains have received very sparse attention. In principle, however, the distortions that arise from corporate capital gain taxation are analogous to those that might arrive from individual capital gains taxation. Corporations might face a higher user cost of capital and they could find that their previous purchases have been “locked in” in the sense that asset sales are avoided because of their tax consequences.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology

1809. Technology Upgrading and China's Growth Strategy to 2020

Author:
John Whalley and Weimin Zhou
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
It is widely believed in China that in order to meet the target of tripling gross domestic product (GDP) per capita between 2005 and 2020, as set out in China's 11th five-year plan in 2005, a change in China's growth strategy from FDI promotion and export-led growth towards technology upgrading and higher productivity growth in manufacturing needs to occur. This paper seeks to evaluate the potential effectiveness of recent government initiatives to be taken to achieve these ends. In particular, plans these include increased educational spending, tax incentives, large research and development (R) projects, and changes to the regulatory environment. In measuring China's economic growth potential towards 2020, this paper employs an economic analysis of Total Factor Productivity and identifies the importance of continued domestic technical innovation.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
China and Asia

1810. Call centers and the new jobs of the 21st Century

Author:
Jordy Micheli Thirión
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Call centers emerging industry is a dynamic sector in global economy and accounts worldwide jobs in millions. This article shows the tayloristic characteristics of labor process, geographical expansion trends of telemarket firms and concentration job in young people as well as the weakness of the labor relations in the industry. The conclusion is that structure of contemporary postindustrial capitalism constitutes a framework for call centers industry growth. That structure is characterized by: a need for managing the information and communication flows in a competitive way within several firms and organizations; the remarkable innovation wave in digital technology sectors and structural unemployment among young people, bachelors or graduates. In the context of an expanding tertiary economy, call centers become a pattern for managing work and creating jobs in 21st Century.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, and Science and Technology