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1. Soap Operas and Socialism: Dissecting Kim Jong-un’s Evolving Policy Priorities through TV Dramas in North Korea

Author:
Jean Lee
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
Romance, humor, tension — everyone loves a good sitcom, even North Koreans. But in North Korea, TV dramas are more than mere entertainment. They play a crucial political role by serving as a key messenger of party and government policy. They aim to shape social and cultural mores in North Korean society. And in the Kim Jong-un era, they act as an advertisement for the “good life” promised to the political elite. Through TV dramas, the North Korean people learn what the regime says constitutes being a good citizen in Kim Jong-un’s North Korea today: showing loyalty to the party, using science and technology to advance national interests, thinking creatively in problem-solving, and facing the nation’s continued economic hardships with a positive attitude. The soaps and sitcoms reveal a shift in social priorities: Viewers are encouraged to put their families first, to nurture and elevate the next generation, and to be bold in thinking outside the box rather than settling for the status quo. These contrast with themes popular in films made during the Kim Jong-il era, which emphasized putting the state before family, the military above the party, and conformism over originality. The props in today’s dramas, including laptops, drones, fashionable clothes, and gold wristwatches, are prominently positioned in such settings as elevators, computer labs, and newly built high-rise apartment buildings. These consumer products are the arsenal of the new generation of Kim Jong-un elites — not the tanks and rifles of his father’s era of filmmaking.
Topic:
Media, Kim Jong-un, and Elites
Political Geography:
South Korea, North Korea, and Korea

2. Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines Working Paper and Spread Sheet

Author:
Rachel Glennerster, Heidi Williams, Georg Weizsacker, Ruth Levine, Jean Lee, Michael R. Kremer, and Ernst R. Berndt
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The G8 is considering committing to purchase vaccines against diseases concentrated in low-income countries (if and when desirable vaccines are developed) as a way to spur research and development on vaccines for these diseases. Under such an “advance market commitment,” one or more sponsors would commit to a minimum price to be paid per person immunized for an eligible product, up to a certain number of individuals immunized. For additional purchases, the price would eventually drop to close to marginal cost. If no suitable product were developed, no payments would be made. We estimate the offer size which would make revenues similar to the revenues realized from investments in typical existing commercial pharmaceutical products, as well as the degree to which various model contracts and assumptions would affect the cost-effectiveness of such a commitment. We make adjustments for lower marketing costs under an advance market commitment and the risk that a developer may have to share the market with subsequent developers. We also show how this second risk could be reduced, and money saved, by introducing a superiority clause to a commitment. Under conservative assumptions, we document that a commitment comparable in value to sales earned by the average of a sample of recently launched commercial products (adjusted for lower marketing costs) would be a highly cost-effective way to address HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Sensitivity analyses suggest most characteristics of a hypothetical vaccine would have little effect on the cost-effectiveness, but that the duration of protection conferred by a vaccine strongly affects potential cost-effectiveness. Readers can conduct their own sensitivity analyses employing a web-based spreadsheet tool.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Health, and Markets