Search

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

2001. The Theoretical, Conceptual and Empirical Impact of the Service Economy: A Critical Review

Author:
Birgitte Andersen and Marva Corley
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper offers a critical review of the conventional economic classification, measurement and valuation of output, and related performance indicators, for the service sector. The paper also explores and contrasts long-standing views on the service knowledge base and service innovations, as well as the global aspects of many services. A problem arises when historical industrial classification schemes treat services as being 'immaterial' (i.e. everything that is not manufacturing and agriculture), while ignoring that the activities of services in the economy, as well as the corporate structures of firms, transcend such classification schemes at any level of aggregation. Other problems arise when associated traditional analytical methods measure services input and output and related performance indicators using the same conceptual framework and indicators as those that are applied for problem solving for agriculture and manufacturing. Such entanglements have other and wider consequences for understanding the impact of the new economy and for designing appropriate policy.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy

2002. Financial Sector Development — Futile or Fruitful? An Examination of the Determinants of Savings in Sri Lanka

Author:
George Mavrotas and Roger Kelly
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper documents the financial and institutional developments of China during the past two decades, when China was successfully transformed from a rigid centralplanning economy to a dynamic market economy following its unique path. We empirically examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in China by employing a panel sample covering 31 Chinese provinces during the important transition period 1986-2002. Our evidence suggests that the development of financial markets, institutions, and instruments have been robustly associated with economic growth in China.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
South Asia

2003. Financial Sector Reforms and Savings Mobilization in Zambia

Author:
George Mavrotas and Samuel Manzele Maimbo
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The paper explores the relationship between financial sector reforms and savings mobilization in Zambia. Although there exists an extensive literature on financial sector development and savings levels in developing countries, there does not seem to exist satisfactory work on the above nexus for sub-Saharan African countries, particularly Zambia. Along these lines, the paper examines the linkages between the financial reforms of the early 1990s and savings mobilization. It considers the characteristics of banks and non-bank financial institutions, especially micro finance institutions, and savings levels and identifies problems associated with the relatively poor performance of savings in recent years and concludes with a set of policy guidelines for strengthening savings mobilization, highlighting the expected effect on povertyreducing growth.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa and Nordic Nations

2004. A Holistic Perception of Foreign Financing of Developing Countries' Private Sectors: Analysis and Description of Structure and Trends

Author:
Matthew Odedokun
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The study seeks to identify donor-specific factors that cause donors to delay aid disbursement, and to apply a double standard in dealing with the non-compliance of a recipient with regard to aid conditionalities, a practice that promotes uncertainty in the receipt of aid. Annual panel data over 1970-2000 for the 22 members of OECD's DAC donor group are employed in the empirical study. Our findings suggest that the proportion of pledged aid being disbursed, which shows an increasing trend, is positively affected by the extent to which aid is procurement-tied and by the size of the donor government's expenditure in relation to GDP. On the other hand, the proportion of aid commitments being disbursed, which appears lower for the G7 countries, is negatively influenced by factors such as abundant donor generosity, the predominance of grants in total aid, the specific targeting of aid to lower-income recipients, high growth in donor economy, as well as high level of checks and balances, and polarization between the executive and legislative branches of government in the donor country.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, and Non-Governmental Organization

2005. Integrating European Business

Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The first speaker considered the questions, 'What was expected from the internal market/ “1992” Programme?' and 'What is the single market?' The single market is the cornerstone of the EU, enshrined in Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union. It had not yet been completed but the Commission had argued, nevertheless, that EU GDP is 1.8% higher than it would have been without the single European market (SEM).
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Europe

2006. Sino-Japanese Relations Entering A New Stage- With the Trend of the Times, Broader Perspective as A Fresh Starting Point

Author:
Yang Bojiang
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Relations between China and Japan have weathered 30 turbulent years since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972. This period of 30 years can be divided roughly in half into the first and second parts. From 1972 to the late 1980s, when the world had the bipolar polygenetic political and military structures, the two countries took down the barriers of the Cold War to restore normal exchanges between the states and their cooperative relationship achieved rapid development in areas of trade, finance and technologies. In the period between the end of the Cold War and the present day, the bilateral relationship has entered the new stage where friction and collaboration coexist as do competition and cooperation amid the progress in political multipolarization and economic globalization of the world.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
China and Asia

2007. Fireball on the Water: Naval Force Protection-Projection, Coast Guarding, Customs Border Security Multilateral Cooperation in Rolling Back the Global Waves of Terror...from the Sea

Author:
Irvin Lim
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The Maritime Terrorist Threat is a hydra that continues to pose a clear and present danger to world commerce and, ultimately to the very well being of nations. The global stream of explosive carnage with truck bombs in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on 13 May 2003, gas station bombing attacks across Pakistan on 15 May 2003, truck bombs in Casablanca (Morocco) on 16 May 2003 and in Jakarta (Indonesia) on 5 August 2003 serve as gruesome reminders that the war on global terrorism is far from over. In fact the war is getting tougher. We have not yet seen 'the turning of the tide'. A new wave of attacks is imminent around the world. More than on land and in the air, the vast maritime domain makes policing a Herculean enterprise, and it continues to be vulnerable to potentially devastating terrorist attacks. The paper argues that in order to effectively deal with the common threat of maritime terrorism, the world's naval forces and their respective home-front elements such as coastguard, costums, and port authorities must work hand-in-glove with the shipping community to enhance multi-agency integration and to forge great multilateral cooperation in order to protect vulnerable hulls and safeguard homelands at ports and at sea. It stands to reason then that the protracted, if not interminable fight against maritime terrorism remains to be urgently joined and decidedly joint in effort.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jakarta, and Riyadh

2008. Examining the Role of Foreign Assistance in Security Sector Reforms: The Indonesian Case

Author:
Eduardo Lachica
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Indonesia and the donor community are agreed that security sector reforms are needed to restore investor confidence and sustain the pace of economic recovery. However, donor-assisted programmes have had only a limited success so far and the army's post-Suharto reforms appeared to have ground to a halt. This paper offers some suggestions on how to restore the momentum for reform in the light of donor limitations, the military's historical circumstances and the current mood of intense nationalism. Donors should initiate a quiet Track II (non-official) dialogue with the military, the police, the civilian authorities and civil society to scope out a doable programme of cooperation. The issue of civilian supremacy should be dealt with pragmatically, allowing for a process of negotiation to find an effective working relationship between civilian and military authorities. The dialogue should frame the reform process as a burden for the entire society, reminding civilian leaders that they too have a responsibility to improve their performance and demonstrate their ability to oversee military affairs capably and fairly. Since U.S. assistance to the Indonesian military is likely to remain constrained, the paper proposes a "military donors club" that can expand the donor base and work informally with the World Bank-led Consultative Group on Indonesia. The dialogue should deal creatively and patiently with two of the most vexing issues relating to the army — restructuring its network of territorial commands and phasing out its controversial tradition of self-financing. This could be a difficult learning process for both sides of the civilian-military divide that could last a decade or more.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia

2009. Asian Oil Market Outlook: Role of the Key Players

Author:
Jeffrey Brown and Kang Wu
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
The Asia Pacific region's dynamic oil market is marked by strong growth in consumption, declining regional oil production, and over capacity in its highly competitive oil-refining sector. Its "key players" are China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea—a group that includes the region's five top consumers and three of its major producers—and developments in these countries will have commercial and strategic implications for the whole region. On the consumption side, Japan's slow growth in demand has failed to dampen regional growth, which is now driven by China and India's fast growing thirst for oil. On the supply side, Indonesia's inevitable transition to a net oil importer highlights the trend toward growing dependence on Middle East oil, which already comprises 42–90 percent of imports among the key players. In response to this trend, China, Japan, and South Korea are pushing to acquire overseas oil reserves, with Japan and China already locked in a fierce competition for projected Russian supplies—a type of struggle that will likely become more commonplace.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Indonesia, Middle East, India, Asia, and South Korea

2010. The Move to Preferential Trade in the Western Pacific Rim

Author:
John Ravenhill
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Western Pacific Rim states have been slow to participate in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). In the past four years, however, more than 40 PTAs involving these economies have been proposed or are being implemented. For the first time, Japan and China have either signed or are negotiating bilateral or plurilateral agreements. The new interest in PTAs reflects the perception that they have been successful in other parts of the world, and is reinforced by dissatisfaction with the region's existing trade groupings. Although arguments can be made in favor of PTAs, they amplify political considerations in trade agreements, may adversely affect the political balance in participating countries, impose costs on nonparticipants, and deplete scarce negotiating resources. Nevertheless, the number of western Pacific Rim states participating in PTAs continues to climb. Northeast Asian countries have been following Europe in exploiting loopholes in WTO rules on PTAs to protect their noncompetitive sectors, thereby strengthening their political positions, which will likely make global liberalization more difficult.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Asia, and Australia/Pacific