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41. Economic Survey of Germany, 2004

Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
With the effects of adverse external shocks diminishing, a strong and competitive export industry is helping the German economy out of a three-year period of near stagnation. Domestic demand has been declining over the last couple of years, as poor labour market performance has weighed on consumer sentiment and business confidence. The labour market still suffers from weak economic growth and distorted incentives, with both contributing to problems in taking up work and providing employment. Productivity growth is not high enough to compensate for the adverse effect of low labour utilization on economic growth. Fiscal targets have been missed on account of both cyclical and structural factors. The government has launched a major reform initiative to reinvigorate economic growth. These reforms are welcome, have to be continued and need to be broadened further to reduce government debt, remove fiscal distortions, and improve incentives to supply and demand labour. Furthermore, there remains considerable scope to foster the creation of new enterprises and widen product market competition, thereby also maintaining the strong innovative capacity of the economy. The major challenges are to link fiscal consolidation to public sector reform and to increase the capacity of the economy to create employment and increase productivity growth. To create confidence and to restore Germany's traditional economic strength it is necessary that reforms reflect a coherent vision about the reorientation of economic policy – combining a growth and stability oriented macroeconomic policy with structural reforms – and are implemented according to a transparent and predictable roadmap.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany

42. Spoken-About Knowledge: Why It Takes Much More than 'Knowledge management' to Manage Knowledge

Author:
Niels Christian Nielsen and Maj Cecilie Nielsen
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Unimerco a/s is a company depending on knowledge for its success. For CEO Kenneth Iversen - and for all of his colleagues in Unimerco - leading, managing, and developing knowledge processes internally and with suppliers and customers is a dominant aspect of every single workday.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe

43. Learning and Change in Twentieth-Century British Economic Policy

Author:
Michael J. Oliver and Hugh Pemberton
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
Despite considerable interest in the means by which policy learning occurs, and in how it is that the framework of policy may be subject to radical change, the “black box” of economic policymaking remains surprisingly murky. This article utilizes Peter Hall's concept of “social learning” to develop a more sophisticated model of policy learning; one in which paradigm failure does not necessarily lead to wholesale paradigm replacement, and in which an administrative battle of ideas may be just as important a determinant of paradigm change as a political struggle. It then applies this model in a survey of UK economic policymaking since the 1930s: examining the shift to “Keynesianism” during the 1930s and 1940s; the substantial revision of this framework in the 1960s; the collapse of the “Keynesian-plus” framework in the 1970s; and the major revisions to the new “neo-liberal” policy framework in the 1980s and 1990s.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

44. Industrialization and Urbanization: Did the Steam Engine Contribute to the Growth of Cities in the United States?

Author:
Sukkoo Kim
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
Industrialization and urbanization are seen as twin processes of economic development. However, the exact nature of their causal relationship is still open to considerable debate. This paper uses firm-level data from the manuscripts of the decennial censuses between 1850 and 1880 to examine whether the adoption of the steam engine as the primary power source by manufacturers during industrialization contributed to urbanization. While the data indicate that steam-powered firms were more likely to locate in urban areas than water-powered firms, the adoption of the steam engine did not contribute substantially to urbanization.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

45. 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

46. Study of selected Fredskorpset exchange projects

Author:
Axel Borchgrevink
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The present study examines nine Fredskorpset exchange projects, in order to assess the degree to which the goals specified have been reached. The basis for the exchanges is the partnerships established between institutions in Norway and counterpart entities in the South. The projects studied encompass a wide variety of such partnerships, illustrating the flexible and innovative attitude that Fredskorpset has shown during its first two years of operation. By basing its work on such partnerships, Fredskorpset has avoided some of the weaknesses of traditional volunteer programs. In terms of achievements, there are variations among the projects. While individual learning of participants was strong in all cases, the degree to which institutional benefits were achieved varied. Well-matched partners with sufficiently strong institutional structures; thorough planning of exchanges; and participants selected in accordance with well-defined needs for professional skills were seen to be important factors for successful projects.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and Norway

47. Kyoto Flexible Mechanisms: Opportunities and Barriers for Industry and Financial Institutions

Author:
Josef Janssen
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The Kyoto Protocol established global markets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions and permits. Such emerging markets will offer challenging opportunities to a wide variety of different players in industry and commerce. By means of the market-based Flexible Mechanisms Joint Implementation, Clean Development Mechanism and International Emissions Trading it will be possible to trade emissions permits globally. This chapter explores opportunities of the Flexible Mechanisms for industry, including the financial sector. Moreover, it identifies possible barriers to their realisation. This analysis is preceded by a discussion of the possible seize of global markets for emissions permits. In addition, this chapter examines key features of the Flexible Mechanisms that are relevant from an industry perspective.
Topic:
Environment and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

48. Security of European Natural Gas Supplies

Author:
Jonathan Stern
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Security of natural gas supplies has resurfaced on the European energy agenda because of concerns about an anticipated rapid increase in dependence on imports from non-European suppliers – from one-third to two-thirds of demand – over the next 20 years. On a national basis, European import dependence is already an established fact: nine out of 33 European countries are more than 95% dependent on imports; only five are self-sufficient or net exporters.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Industrial Policy, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe

49. Precocious British Industrialization: A General Equilibrium Perspective

Author:
N.F.R. Crafts and C. Knick Harley
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The British industrial revolution created an industrial economy. While casual discourse conflates industrialization and economic growth, Britain was remarkable primarily for the pronounced structural change that occurred rather than for rapid economic growth. Uniquely the British labour force became highly industrialized even prior to the move to free trade in the 1840s. On the eve of the abolition of the Corn Laws the share of agriculture in employment had already declined to levels that were not reached in France and Germany until the 1950s.
Topic:
Economics and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Britain, Europe, France, and Germany

50. International — Auto Consolidation

Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
Fiat announced a sharp fall in May car sales in Italy on June 5 and its debt is under review for a possible ratings downgrade. The world's sixth-largest car maker is one of many manufacturers facing difficult profitability conditions. Global sales volumes in the industry have remained high, but profits have not followed suit. Mergers, the most rational panacea, are confounded by bitter experience.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Europe