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36581. Benefits and Burdens: The Politically Dominated Economics of U.S. Alliances with Japan and Korea

Author:
Charles Wolf and Michele Zanini
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Alliances are organizations between or among independent entities that concert to produce “collective goods” for the mutual benefit of alliance members. The statement applies whether the alliances are between or among countries, corporations, universities, research centers, or other institutions. Of course, the nature of the collective goods, as well as the membership in the collectivity, differs across these cases. That the goods (or benefits) are “collective” means that their availability to one alliance member (or their production by any member) implies their availability to the other members of the alliance.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Korea

36582. The Costs and Benefits of Korean Unification

Author:
Marcus Noland, Sherman Robinson, and Li-gang Liu
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Existing estimates of the costs of unification are inadequate for a number of reasons. In this paper we use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to calculate South Korean and total peninsular income streams under a variety of unification (and non–unification) scenarios. We find that there are scenarios in which the present discounted value of South Korean income is higher with unification than without it. Although lower income groups in South Korea experience reduced incomes under this scenario, with redistribution of the gains, everyone can be made better off. Indeed, this scenario, which involves relatively low levels of South Korean private investment in the North together with relatively high levels of North–South migration, is also the one which generates the highest level of total peninsular income as well. The latter point is critical in that it suggests that there is no necessary conflict between the economic interests of North and South Koreans after unification.
Topic:
Security, Economics, International Organization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel, East Asia, and Korea

36583. China's Accession to and Implementation of International Environmental Accords 1978 - 95

Author:
Michel Oksenberg and Elizabeth Economy
Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
China's performance in numerous environmental areas—emission of greenhouse gases, use of ozone-depleting substances, reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions, or exploitation of fishing grounds in the western Pacific—will help determine the success of various global and regional environmental protection efforts. And as the World Bank's recent study Clear Water, Blue Skies: China's Environment in the New Century documents, the quality of life within China will be greatly affected by efforts to protect air, water, and soil, all of which are under heavy assault.
Topic:
Environment and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
China and Asia

36584. Integration on the Basis of Strength: China's Impact on East Asian Security

Author:
Wu Xinbo
Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
China is perhaps the most important variable in East Asian security, not only because of its growing power but also because of the great uncertainty over its future. Therefore, to assess China's impact on regional security, one question should be tackled first: what will China look like in the future? There are three different schools of thought concerning China's future: the “implosion" school holds that China, unable to cope with a wide array of social, economic, and political challenges created by its rapid economic growth, will follow in the footsteps of the former Soviet Union and “implode" the “expansion" school argues that as China gradually builds up its material strength, Beijing will wield its weight and seek to establish hegemony in the region; and the “integration" school believes that as China's economy further merges with the world economy, Beijing's internal and external behaviors will slowly but inevitably conform to international norms, and China will become a more responsible and more cooperative member of the world community.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
China, Israel, Beijing, East Asia, Asia, and Soviet Union

36585. Energy and Security in East Asia

Author:
Michael May
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
This study examines the likely security consequences of the continued growth in energy consumption in East Asia, and in particular: The dimensions of that growth which are likely to have an effect on international security. The dependencies and insecurities created by that continued growth. The policy guidance that can be derived for the United States from a review of those dependencies and insecurities.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Energy Policy, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel and East Asia

36586. The Japan-America Security Alliance: Prospects for the Twenty-First Century

Author:
Daniel Okimoto
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
By almost any criterion of success—be it cost–effectiveness, risk–reward ratio, multiplier effects, or sheer longevity, the Japan America Security Alliance (JASA) stands out as one of the most successful alliances in twentieth century history. For the United States, chief architect of a global network of military relationships, JASA is arguably the most important of its many bilateral alliances. In terms of historic impact, JASA is comparable to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a multilateral alliance that restructured the European security landscape in 1949. For nearly a half–century, JASA and NATO have functioned as the bedrock on which the Cold War security systems of Asia and Europe have been constructed.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, America, Europe, and Asia

36587. South Asia After the Tests

Author:
Marshall Bouton
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
It was recognized at the outset of the workshop that India's and Pakistan's nuclear tests in May 1998 raised a number of questions, both broad and specific. Three broad, but counter-intuitive questions were identified. First, just how much have the tests really changed the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and South Asia's security situation? A case can be made that the two countries' tests do no more than make explicit their nuclear capabilities, which have been fairly confidently known for years if not decades. Second, are there enhanced opportunities for stability and security as a result of the tests? While on the one hand the tests increase risks of conflict resulting from miscalculations and accidents, it is also possible that they will focus the attention of India and Pakistan on reducing tensions between them, and on increasing the security of the region as a whole. The tests might also have the benefit of making external actors such as China more aware of South Asia's security dynamics and the implications of its own policies for the region. Third, how much influence does the international community have on India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons programs? In the past, India and Pakistan have been strongly resistant to external efforts to influence their security policies, and it is quite likely that this will remain the case despite strong responses to the tests from countries such as the United States.
Topic:
Nationalism and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
Pakistan, United States, China, South Asia, and India

36588. Digital Broadcasting and the Public Interest

Author:
Amy Korzick Garmer, Anthony Corrado, Angela Campbell, Henry Geller, Tracy Westen, Charles Firestone, Robert Corn-Revere, Monroe E. Price, Forrest P. Chisman, Andrew Graham, Steven S. Wildman, D. Karen Frazer, and Andrew L. Shapiro
Publication Date:
12-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In January, 1998, the Aspen Institute's Communications and Society Program convened the first in a series of meetings to examine the public interest in the United States' communications system. With funding provided by the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation, the Program hosted the initial session of the Aspen Institute Working Group on Digital Broadcasting and the Public Interest on January 25–27, 1998, at the Institute's Wye River Conference Center. The conference brought together twenty-three legal scholars, lawyers, economists, and policy advocates, representing a variety of experiences and perspectives, to consider two issues: (1) the theoretical and legal bases for the imposition of public interest obligations on those using the electromagnetic spectrum for broadcasting purposes, and (2) other public interest implications of the move to digital broadcasting. It is the hope of the Working Group that the ideas generated at this and subsequent meetings will add to the ongoing public dialogue on broadcasting and the public interest, and will prove useful to the ongoing debate over the public interest responsibilities that should accompany broadcasters' receipt of new digital television licenses.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

36589. Utility Restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe

Author:
Aspen Institute and Klaus Brendow
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The paper reviews market–oriented reforms of the electric power industries in central and eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), related utility cooperation and business strategies, and conditions of integrating CEE/CIS electricity systems into the emerging European electricity markets.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

36590. U.S. Commercial Diplomacy

Author:
Raymond J. Albright, S. Robbin Johnson, David J. Rothkopf, Christopher B. Johnstone, and Gary C. Hufbauer
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
In the larger scheme of U.S. trade, government financing agencies do not loom as large as fiscal and monetary policies, dollar exchange rates, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Yet, the acronym financial agencies—the Export–Import Bank (Ex–Im), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and Trade Development Agency (TDA) —are prominent in the current debates of what is needed to keep American exports competitive, especially in the most dynamic areas of U.S. trade growth—Asia and Latin America.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and North America