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81. Green Foreign Direct Investment In Developing Countries

Author:
Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
The message is by now clear: our global economy must be fundamentally reoriented and redeployed in order to achieve the SDGs and the commitments of the Paris Climate Agreement. This requires action by all stakeholders, including non-financial and financial firms, debt and equity investors, government policymakers, and consumers. In terms of the amount of money required, it has been estimated that meeting the SDGs will require $5 to $7 trillion annually, with investment needs for developing countries amounting to roughly $3.3 to $4.5 trillion per year. While a big picture view of and strategic thinking regarding the entire economic ecosystem is necessary to generate such investments, this paper, produced in conjunction with the UN Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, focuses on the actual and potential role of one type of financial flow—FDI—in achieving the transition to a low-carbon, just and sustainable world and, more specifically, FDI flows into developing countries.
Topic:
International Political Economy and Climate Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

82. Designing a Legal Regime to Capture Capital Gains Tax on Indirect Transfers of Mineral and Petroleum Rights: A Practical Guide

Author:
Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
When a local asset (or a right relating to such asset) is sold, a country will generally have jurisdiction to levy a capital gains tax on the sale, both under domestic law and international treaty. This is called taxation of a “direct” transfer of a local asset. However, taxation becomes increasingly complicated when a company located offshore owns the local asset. Further difficulties arise when the local asset is held by a chain of corporations located in tax havens. An “indirect” transfer occurs when the shares of the domestic subsidiary, the shares of the foreign company with a branch in the country, or the shares of the holding company are sold, instead of the asset.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

83. Conference Report: Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action

Author:
Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
A conference report on CCSI’s Conference on “Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action” is available here, and a shorter outcome document , which was disseminated at COP22, is available here. These documents summarize the discussions at the eleventh annual Columbia International Investment Conference, which took place on November 2-3, 2016, at Columbia University. The Conference offered a high-level opportunity to discuss how countries can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, while also advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular the important implications for the world’s approach to natural resource investments. It featured leaders from government, the private sector, civil society, and academia, and brought together nearly 400 participants. In the lead-up to the Conference, CCSI also published a Blog Series on the Earth Institute’s State of the Planet Blog.
Topic:
Climate Change and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

84. Federalism and Foreign Direct Investment: How Political Affiliation Determines the Spatial Distribution of FDI – Evidence from India

Author:
Chanchal Kumar Sharma
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper links the foreign economic engagement of India’s states with the literature on federalism, thereby contributing to an understanding of the political economy of FDI in‐flows in a parliamentary federal system. More specifically, it studies subnational governments’ international engagements to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and investigates whether the political affiliations of states’ chief ministers and parliamentarians determine the spatial distribution of FDI across the Indian states, correcting for the influence of per capita income, population density, urbanisation, infrastructure, policy regime, and human development. Although the central government plays no direct role in determining the state to which FDI goes, the centre–state relations in a federal structure play a role in creating perceptions about the relative political risk involved in different investment destinations. Employing multiple linear regressions to analyse time‐series (2000–2013) cross‐sectional (12 states) data using the panel procedure, the study finds that affiliated states attract relatively more FDI per capita in comparison to states ruled by opposition parties or coalition partners. However, some exceptions do result, primarily due to two phenomena: first, the presence of a strong state leadership and, second, the presence of a significant share of members of parliament belonging to the prime minister’s party in the non‐affiliated states. Further, states ruled by outside supporters have been most successful in attracting FDI inflows during the coalition period.  
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

85. Comparative Continuismo: Presidential Term Limit Contravention Across Developing Democracies

Author:
Kristin McKie
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since presidential term limits were (re)adopted into many constitutions during the third wave of democratization, 207 presidents across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have reached the end of their terms in office. Of these, 30% have attempted to contravene term limits whereas 70% have stepped down in compliance with tenure rules. Furthermore, of the presidents who have attempted to alter tenure restrictions, some have succeeded in fully abolishing term limits, others have only managed a one-term extension, while a minority have failed in their bids to secure any additional terms in office. What explains these divergent trajectories? On the basis of a series of statistical analyses, I argue that trends in electoral competition over time are the best predictor of the range of term limit contravention outcomes across the board, with the least competitive elections permitting full term limit abolition and the most competitive elections saving off attempts at altering executive tenure rules. Furthermore, results show that failed contravention attempts are true borderline cases, rather than instances gross miscalculations of success by the president and her party, in that they feature less competitive elections than non-attempt cases but more competitive elections than successful contravention cases. These findings suggest a linkage between political uncertainty and constitutional stability more generally.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

86. Economic Distress and the Inevitability of an Economic Recovery Programme

Author:
ZIPAR
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
Zambia is emerging from a major economic downturn. The copper price collapse, electricity shortages, huge fall in the value of the Kwacha and high inflation in 2015 left the economy stalling. Growth in 2015 was 2.9% and possibly 3.4% in 2016, significantly below the long-term average rate of 6.9%. The downturn was compounded by a tightening of monetary policy which made it harder for businesses to borrow, and by a continuation of expansionary fiscal policies which increased the budget deficit and Government debt. Because the scale of the challenge was so significant, the Government announced it would launch Zambia Plus, a home-grown recovery programme to put the economy back on track
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

87. Blue Economy Vision 2025: Harnessing Business Potential for India Inc and International Partners

Author:
FICCI Task Force
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
Blue Economy Vision 2025: Harnessing Business Potential for India Inc and International Partners is a pioneering effort by FICCI to sensitise India Inc about the growing global and regional emphasis on sustainability of harnessing the ocean resources. It makes a convincing argument that the oceans, with a current estimated asset value of US$ 24 trillion and an annual value addition of US$ 2.5 trillion, would continue to offer significant economic benefits both in the traditional areas of fisheries, transport, tourism and hydrocarbons as well as in the new fields of deep-sea mining, renewable energy, ocean biotechnology and many more, only if we integrate sustainable practices with our business models.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

88. Have Macroeconomic Rules of the Game Changed? Some Clues from the Phillips Curve

Author:
Samuel Howorth, Domenico Lombardi, and Pierre Siklos
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Students of macroeconomics will have heard about the central role played by the so-called Phillips curve in both theoretical and empirical analyses for almost 70 years. In 1958, A. W. Phillips reported an inverse relationship between changes in wages and the unemployment rate (Phillips 1958). The progeny of his thinking led to a revolution both in policy making and in the development of theoretical links between the real and nominal macroeconomic variables. Names such as Samuelson, Solow, Phelps, Friedman, Lucas and Sargent became associated with refinements and enhancements of the core finding reported by Phillips. Indeed, all of these economists went on to become Nobel laureates in economics, although not exclusively because of their contributions to the analysis of what has since been called the Phillips curve. Indeed, the concept is so influential that it spawned several different versions of the trade-off used to guide policy makers as a menu for the choices they face when deciding whether the gains from lower inflation are offset by the economic costs of higher unemployment. Initially, expectations of individuals or firms were ignored. This briefly gave policy makers the impression that they could simply select an inflation-unemployment combination and implement the necessary policy mix to achieve the desired outcome. Once a role for expectations was incorporated, debate centred on how forward-looking individuals are. The more forward-looking, the less likely it was that policy makers would be able to “exploit” the trade-off because, unless wages rose in purchasing-power terms, the gains from lower unemployment would, at best, be temporary once workers realized that the higher inflation, at unchanged wages, actually drives real wages down. Indeed, the pendulum swung all the way to the conclusion — reached by the 1970s and early 1980s — that the Phillips curve was illusory and there was no trade-off policy makers could exploit.
Topic:
Economics, Human Welfare, International Political Economy, Labor Issues, and Global Markets
Political Geography:
Global Focus

89. Security Concerns about Chinese Investments: Nuclear Power and Telecommunications

Author:
Yang Jiang, Aki Tonami, and Adam Moe Fejerskov
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
China actively seeks to expand its overseas investment in critical infrastructure. This involvement makes host countries uneasy especially in the West, even though financial benefits sometimes override broader national interests and security issues. China’s attempts to invest in overseas critical infra- structure, defined as infrastructure closely related to sovereignty and national security, has become a sensitive issue to host country governments parti- cularly in the West. They fear that Chinese investment in nuclear and telecommunications infrastructures entails consequences for nuclear security and safety and information security respectively. This policy brief provides an overview of how various countries have received Chinese interest in nuclear power and telecommunications.
Topic:
International Political Economy, International Security, Nuclear Power, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
China and Global Focus

90. A Renewed Commitment to American Commercial Diplomacy

Author:
Charles A. Ford
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
The United States is the world’s leading exporter, the world’s leading importer, and the world’s primary source and destination of funds for foreign investment. Our position as the best place in the world to do business—the most reliable in which to buy, the most lucrative in which to sell, and the safest and surest in which to invest or to raise capital—is the cause, not an effect of American global leadership. Protecting and expanding the US role as the world’s supplier and customer of choice for goods, services, ideas, capital, and entrepreneurial energy should be a foreign policy objective second only to securing the homeland.”
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, International Political Economy, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
America and Global Focus