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36721. Strategies for EU-Integration

Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The decision to enlarge the European Union to applicant countries in Central and Eastern Europe is by far the most important instrument to secure the process of democratic and market economic reform in the new, post-Cold War Europe. To implement and manage this decision is indeed a challenge to both the existing members of the Union and the applicants. In principle, the roadmap is clear. Together with the acquis communautaire , the 1993 Copenhagen criteria outline the main framework for the way to full membership. The Union has further developed its enlargement strategy in the Agenda 2000 presented in July 1997.
Topic:
Economics and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Maryland

36722. Subregional Cooperation and the European Union

Author:
Dr. Renata Dwan
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Since 1992-93, the Institute for EastWest Studies (IEWS) has been organizing meetings of a 'Strategy Group for Strengthening Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe'. The Strategy Group brings together representatives of the Central and Eastern European Associates of the European Union and Ukraine (and Western states and neighbouring countries where appropriate) to discuss the security challenges facing the region. The Strategy Group aims to foster the development of cooperative solutions to the problems facing Central and Eastern Europe. Participants in Strategy Group conferences and workshops come from diverse backgrounds, including governmental representatives, politicians, business people, academics and non- governmental representatives.
Topic:
International Organization and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine

36723. Security and Integration in Eurasia's New Boundary Zones: The Role of Sub-Regional Relations

Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Security and Integration in Eurasia's New Boundary Zones: The Role of Sub-Regional Relations' is the second year of a project which the Institute for EastWest Studies (IEWS) is running with generous support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This project explores the contribution made by intergovernmental sub-regional groupings to security and integration in the OSCE area. In 1996-97 a detailed comparative study of six Central and Eastern European groups was undertaken and the role they play in assisting states of the region in their democratic transition, in entering wider European integration processes and in increasing the stability and security of the the region. Two conferences were held and a book summarizing the conclusions of the six case studies will shortly be published. Cooperative relations with OSCE, EU and WEU have been established to help develop these international organizations' policies toward sub-regional relations.
Topic:
Security, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
New York, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, and Maryland

36724. Existing and Emerging Cooperation in New Central and Eastern Europe

Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Security and Integration in Eurasia's New Boundary Zones: The Role of Sub-Regional Relations' is the second year of a project which the Institute for EastWest Studies (IEWS) is running with generous support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This project explores the contribution made by intergovernmental sub-regional groupings to security and integration in the OSCE area. In 1996-97 a detailed comparative study of six Central and Eastern European groups was undertaken and the role they play in assisting states of the region in their democratic transition, in entering wider European integration processes and in increasing the stability and security of the the region. Two conferences were held and a book summarizing the conclusions of the six case studies will shortly be published. Cooperative relations with OSCE, EU and WEU have been established to help develop these international organizations' policies toward sub-regional relations.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
New York, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Maryland

36725. Confidence-Building and Regional Security in the Baltic Sea Space

Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Confidence-building is a process aimed at increasing security and stability amongst and within nation states. It begins with the recognition of each state's legitimate claim to security and proceeds on the principle of equality of all states involved. Confidence, ultimately, is a matter of perception: transparency and inclusiveness are thus key elements in the building process.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Maryland

36726. Information Technology and Economic Development: An Introduction to the Research Issues

Author:
Matti Pohjola
Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
There is substantial evidence that new information technologies are in many ways transforming the operations of modern economies. More than half of employees use a computer at work in the most advanced industrial countries. About 10 per cent of the value of all private investment in fixed non-residential capital is devoted to computers and peripheral equipment in the United States and some other economies. This share goes up to 25 per cent when investment in information processing equipment is included. Nevertheless, all spending on information technology, including hardware, software and services, does not amount to more than 3-4 per cent of nominal GDP in these countries. The share is, however, increasing rapidly, indicating that a steady state has not yet been reached.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

36727. Computers and Labour Markets: International Evidence

Author:
Francis Kramarz
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The rapid diffusion of computers has widely changed the consequences of computer use on the labour market. While at the beginning of the eighties knowledge of computers was an obvious advantage in a career, this same knowledge is now so commonplace that the inability to use these tools is widely seen in many industries as a professional handicap. In relation to such drastic transformations, changes in the North American wage structure during the eighties in favour of the better educated have been interpreted by many analysts as evidence of skill-biased technical change. Evidence outside the US, and in particular in Europe, seems to support the idea that similar transformations affected most other labour markets.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

36728. Underdevelopment, Transition and Reconstruction in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author:
Tony Addison
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Reconstructing Africa's war damaged economies is an urgent task. This is especially so in a group of countries - Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique - which must also complete their economic and political transition from state socialism. Somalia, which shares their common history, must eventually be rebuilt. All of these countries must address their deep problems of underdevelopment and poverty. The challenges are therefore three-fold: to overcome underdevelopment, to make the transition from state socialism, and to reconstruct economies and societies.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Eritrea, and Guinea-Bissau

36729. Resource Abundance and Economic Development: Improving the Performance of Resource-Rich Countries

Author:
Richard M. Auty
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since the 1960s the resource-rich developing economies have under-performed compared with the resource-deficient economies. This paper explains why and outlines the reforms that are required in order to achieve environmentally and socially sustainable resource-rich development. It argues that structural change in the resource-rich countries causes the tradeable sector to shrink vis-à-vis the nontradeables sector (that includes protected manufacturing) in a manner that is not sustainable. This adverse trend in the production structure is associated with policies to close the economy and create discretionary rents behind protective barriers that result in the cumulative misallocation of resources. The build-up of produced capital and skills is slower than in the successful resource-deficient countries. Overall, the inherently slower and less egalitarian economic growth trajectory of the resource-rich countries is intensified and the end result is usually a growth collapse. The collapse causes all forms of capital, including institutional, social and natural capital, to run down. Economic reform is therefore protracted and it may take in excess of one generation to restore sustainable rapid growth. The adverse features of resource-rich development tend to be more pronounced in the smaller countries. They are also heightened where the resource rents accrue mainly to the central government, as in the mineral economies and in the slow-reforming transition economies. Successful reform requires not only appropriate macro and micro policies, but also the construction of institutions to limit the scope for governments to misallocate resources. Part of the explanation for the superior performance of the resource-deficient countries is that their spartan endowment of natural capital acts as a constraint on government failure by placing a premium on the need to nurture scarce resources, including skills, institutions and social capital, and to achieve an efficient allocation of capital.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Government, and International Political Economy

36730. The Role of Knowledge and Capital in Economic Growth

Author:
Sergio Rebelo
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Starting from the celebrated neoclassical (Solow) model of economic growth, this paper discusses new ideas in growth theory focussing on how to make sustained growth feasible. It first reviews models that broadened the notion of capital to include human capital and the state of technology. These extensions of the neoclassical theory are not very satisfying at a descriptive level because productivity growth is associated with either human or physical capital accumulation in a way that does not interact with the invention of new technologies.
Topic:
Economics and Science and Technology