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Begin New Search Topic International Trade and Finance Publication Year within 25 Years

1111. Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models

Author:
Thomas Richter
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper argues that trade and capital account reforms within autocracies underlie the primacy of foreign currency procurement. A longitudinal comparison of four countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) in the Middle East and North Africa region shows a historical sequencing of reforms. In the 1960s and 1970s, the foreign exchange scarcity was managed primarily by rising restrictions, accumulation of debt and a number of unilateral country-specific strategies, including broader economic openings (infitah) and isolated capital account liberalizations. However, IMF-friendly reforms (orthodox trade liberalization) only became a political option in the context of the extreme fiscal scarcity of the 1980s and 1990s, after the failure of these earlier policies and the drying up of alternative unconditional finance. Additionally, the time differences regarding when orthodox reforms are implemented within autocracies mainly relate to global and regional cycles of different external windfall gains. These findings complement recent debates about the rush to free trade in at least two regards. First, they point to distinct causal mechanisms depending on the type of political regime (for example, autocracy versus democracy), explaining the beginning of trade and capital account liberalizations among developing countries. Second, they reveal the conditional historical influence of neoliberal ideas among structurally similar autocracies.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, North Africa, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia

1112. Think big. Go small. Adapting business models to incorporate smallholders into supply chains

Author:
David Bright, Don Seville, and Lea BorkenHagen
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Incorporating smallholders into the supply chain allows a company to tell consumers how their purchasing choices can improve the lives of men and women farmers. Companies that incorporate smallholders equitably into their supply chains – and communicate their action through their brands – can capture new customers and gain greater loyalty from existing ones.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Third World, and Food
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

1113. Corporate Responsibility Anti-Corruption: the Missing Link?

Author:
Susan Côté-Freeman
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
While corporate responsibility initiatives have multiplied dramatically over the past 20 years there still is no universal understanding or unified approach when it comes to their concept or practice. At their worst, corporate responsibility programmes may be mere window-dressing exercises. At their best, these initiatives represent genuine attempts by companies working with stakeholders to address the great environmental, social and ethical challenges of our times.
Topic:
Corruption, International Trade and Finance, International Affairs, and Governance

1114. The Transatlantic Economy 2010 Annual Survey of Jobs, Trade and Investment between the United States and Europe

Author:
Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
Despite the recession, the United States and Europe remain each other's most important foreign commercial markets. No other commercial artery in the world is as integrated and fused as the transatlantic economy. We estimate that the transatlantic economy continues to generate close to $4.28 trillion in total commercial sales a year and employs up to 14 million workers in mutually “onshored” jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

1115. Cutting Through the Fog: Understanding the Competitive Dynamics in Cloud Computing

Author:
John Zysman, Dan Breznitz, and Kenji E. Kushida
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Cloud Computing is growing rapidly, and it is likely to become part of the dominant computing infrastructure for individuals, start-up firms, small-medium businesses, and large enterprises. However, as it is still an emerging set of technologies and business models, discussions of Cloud Computing have not reached the level of clarity or shared conceptions of more mature areas of computing. The purpose of this document is threefold.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Science and Technology

1116. Fordism Light: Hyundai's Challenge to Coordinated Capitalism

Author:
Gregory W. Noble
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Despite receiving a strikingly pessimistic evaluation in the acclaimed volume The Machine that Changed the World (Womack et al., 1990), the Hyundai-Kia group has overcome numerous crises to become the fourth largest auto producer in the world.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Markets
Political Geography:
South Korea

1117. How Dangerous Is U.S. Government Debt? The Risks of a Sudden Spike in U.S. Interest Rates

Author:
Francis E. Warnock
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
In 1961, the Belgian economist Robert Triffin described the dilemma faced by the country at the center of the international monetary system. To supply the world's risk-free asset, the center country must run a current account deficit and in doing so become ever more indebted to foreigners, until the risk-free asset that it issues ceases to be risk free. Precisely because the world is happy to have a dependable asset to hold as a store of value, it will buy so much of that asset that its issuer will become unsustainably burdened. The endgame to Triffin's paradox is a global, wholesale dumping of the center country's securities. No one knows in advance when the tipping point will be reached, but the damage brought about by higher interest rates and slower economic growth will be readily apparent afterward.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Markets

1118. The Inefficiency of Clearing Mandates

Author:
Craig Pirrong
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, attention has turned to reducing systemic risk in the derivatives markets. Much of this attention has focused on counterparty risk in the over-the counter market, where trades are bilaterally executed between dealers and derivative purchasers. One proposal for addressing such counterparty risk is to mandate the trading of derivatives over a centralized clearinghouse. This paper lays out the advantages and risks to a mandated clearing requirement, showing how, in some instances, such a mandate can actually increase systemic risk and result in more financial bailouts.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Financial Crisis

1119. Europe 2020 and the Financial System: Smaller is beautiful

Author:
Karel Lannoo
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Meeting Europe's 2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is even more of a challenge for the financial sector than for the EU as a whole. Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is just the opposite of what the financial sector stood for, and how it continues to be perceived by the public. The huge regulatory agenda that is on the table should tame the financial sector, but whether it will help it to meet the Europe 2020 objectives is an open question (see European Commission, 2010a).
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Markets, Regional Cooperation, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Europe

1120. Beyond Flexibility and Security: A composite indicator of flexicurity

Author:
Ilaria Maselli
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
'Flexicurity' might be defined as a mix of flexible contractual arrangements, income support measures, active labour market policies and lifelong learning. The successful shift in approach of the Danish and Dutch labour markets from passive to active labour market policies, and to flexicurity, has attracted considerable attention among academics and policy-makers. The objective of this Working Document is to contribute to the debate with the creation of a composite indicator to measure flexicurity, based on the definition provided in the European Commission's Communication on Flexicurity (COM(2007)359). Our indicator confirms that preferences in the balance of flexibility and security are highly heterogeneous among countries; a finding that supports the 'pathway' approach as proposed by the European Commission. A second important conclusion is that the idea of flexibility being in favour of employers and security being in favour of employees needs to be overcome. Flexicurity is 'both for both', although it does not apply uniformly to all age groups but is two and three times greater for older and younger workers respectively.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Europe