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262. Industrial Location and Spatial Inequality: Theory and Evidence from India
- Author:
- Somik V. Lall and Sanjoy Chakravorty
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- We argue that spatial inequality of industry location is a primary cause of spatial income inequality in developing nations. We focus on understanding the process of spatial industrial variation—identifying the spatial factors that have cost implications for firms, and the factors that influence the location decisions of new industrial units. The analysis has two parts. First we examine the contribution of economic geography factors to the cost structure of firms in eight industry sectors and show that local industrial diversity is the one factor with significant and substantial cost reducing effects. We then show that new private sector industrial investments in India are biased toward existing industrial and coastal districts, whereas state industrial investments (in deep decline after structural reforms) are far less biased toward such districts. We conclude that structural reforms lead to increased spatial inequality in industrialization, and therefore, income.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
263. Financial Conglomerates: The Future of Finance?
- Author:
- Robert Litan and Richard Herring
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- In 1999, after nearly twenty years of debate, the U.S. Congress finally passed legislation permitting bank affiliations with all sorts of other financial enterprises, and vice versa. In this step, the United States joined many other countries — especially in Europe and, more recently, Japan — in allowing the operation of financial conglomerates. But are financial conglomerates the wave of the future in finance? And if so, how are they to be regulated? These were the two central questions addressed in the fifth annual conference of the Brookings-Wharton Papers on Financial Services, an annual volume published by the Brookings Institution Press. The conference, held in October 2002 in Washington, D.C., convened financial services experts from around the world. The papers presented at the conference suggest, generally, that while the future may see more financial conglomerate activity than it has in the past, there still will be a role for specialist, or "monoline" financial companies. As for regulation, there is no settled model: some nations will pursue consolidated supervision, with authority over entire conglomerates vested in a single authority (often the central bank), while others will still regulate the pieces of diversified financial enterprises along structural lines.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Washington
264. Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries
- Author:
- Sandra Polaski
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- A debate has raged between developed and developing country governments for several years over whether or not to establish a global agreement on minimum labor standards that would be enforced at the international level through the World Trade Organization (WTO) or some other mechanism. That debate has become stale and ritualized. In the meantime the world has changed. For developing countries, the environment in which global labor standards must be considered was transformed in 2002.
- Topic:
- Development, Industrial Policy, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- China
265. Demonizing Drugmakers: The Political Assault on the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Author:
- Doug Bandow
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Few sectors of the economy have provided more benefits to consumers than the pharmaceutical industry. Drugmakers have been vilified by patients and politicians alike, however, because of what they see as unreasonably high drug costs.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
266. Emerging Third Stage Peri-Urbanization: Functional Specialization in the Hangzhou Peri-Urban Region
- Author:
- Douglas Webster, Jianming Cai, Binyi Luo, and Larisa Muller
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Hangzhou Municipality is the provincial capital of Zhejiang, on China's east coast. It forms part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. Hangzhou was “opened up” in the mid-1980s, following Deng Xiaoping's visit to the South, resulting in an almost immediate flood of foreign and domestic investment in manufacturing. This initial investment was significantly in the peri-urban areas, i.e., outside the built-up area. The authors have been following development in the Hangzhou extended urban region, with emphasis on peri-urbanization processes, since 2000. A previous APARC discussion paper describes findings of preliminary field research on the Hangzhou–Ningbo Corridor, conducted in August 2000 and March 2001. The present paper zooms in on two peri-urban clusters in the Hangzhou extended urban region, and assesses their development over time. The goal of the research is to better understand how a peri-urban region changes—particularly in terms of firm evolution, labor characteristics, and spatial dynamics—as it becomes more economically and demographically mature. This paper also examines such changes in the context of the increasing cost structures and emerging competitors, primarily from other areas in China, that the Hangzhou peri-urban region now faces.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Maryland
267. JSF International Industrial Participation: A Study of Country Approaches and Financial Impacts on Foreign Suppliers
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program was conceived as an international acquisition program in order to attract financial investment and technological innovation from partner countries, as well as to partner early with governments whose military Services were likely users of this state-of-the-art coalition forces platform.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
268. Transforming the Defense Industrial Base: A Roadmap
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- For this study, we built upon Secretary Rumsfeld's six operational goals for transformation, requirements from Joint Vision 2020, lessons learned from Operation Enduring Freedom, and previous industrial base studies. We drew on recommendations from experts in the Department of Defense, industry, and the investment community to create a compendium of representative emerging defense suppliers with transformational technologies and products. We identified 24 companies' key technologies, products, and best business practices in case studies. We also surveyed legacy defense suppliers and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to capture key characteristics associated with programs and products judged to be among the organizations' most successful, most important and innovative, and fastest to field. Finally, we spoke with five prominent companies who have substantially exited the defense business.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
269. Annual Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- Section 2504 of title 10, United States Code, requires that the Secretary of Defense submit an annual report to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, by March 1st of each year.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
270. Consumption, Durable Goods, and Transaction Costs
- Author:
- Robert F. Martin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- We study consumption of durable and nondurable goods when the durable good is subject to transaction costs. In the model, agents derive utility from a service flow of a durable good and a consumption flow of a nondurable good. The key feature of the model is the existence of a fixed transaction cost in the durable good market. The fixed cost induces an inaction region in the purchase of the durable good. More importantly, the inability to adjust the durable stock induces variation in consumption of the nondurable good over the inaction region. The variation is a function of the degree of complementarity between durable and nondurable goods in the period utility function, the rate of intertemporal substitution, and a precautionary motive induced by incomplete markets. We test the model using the PSID. Housing serves as the durable good. The data indicate an increase in consumption before moving to a smaller house and a decrease in consumption before moving to a larger house. This result is consistent with the model when there exists complementarity between the durable and nondurable good or when there is a strong precautionary effect.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States