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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Mishra, SK; Nayak, Purusottam |
| Abstract: | This paper systematically presents the geographical and historical forces that have shaped the resource base, infrastructure, connectivity, socio-economic milieu and consequently the economy of Tripura determining the level of human development in the state. In spite of a great burden of population on its fragile economy, the state has secured an appreciable score in matters of education and health. The human development of the state needs to be harnessed to promote economic growth in terms of increased productivity and higher per capita income. Human development has also to concord with enhanced dexterity and favorable attitude to economic development. |
| Keywords: | Tripura; India; North Eastern Region; Human Development; Literacy; longivity; per capita income; index |
| JEL: | D63 I31 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10240&r=cwa |
| By: | Wolf, C |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether there are systematic performance and efficiency differentials between National Oil Companies (NOCs) and privately-owned oil companies. The dataset is based on a survey published by Energy Intelligence and covers 1,001 firm observation years in the period 1987 to 2006. After summarising the main trends emerging from the data and discussing some key issues of comparing ‘State Oil’ and ‘Private Oil’, I find that non-OPEC NOCs underperform their private sector counterparts in terms of labour and capital efficiency, revenue generation and profitability. I also find that much of these differences could be bridged through a change in ownership. OPEC producers show higher efficiency metrics than the private sector, which might be related to exogenous asset quality. All NOCs produce a significantly lower annual percentage of their upstream reserves. This paper complements the time-series analysis of oil privatisations in Wolf and Pollitt (2008) and suggests that a political preference for State Oil usually comes at an economic cost. |
| Keywords: | Ownership, performance, efficiency, NOC, IOC, OPEC |
| JEL: | C21 G32 L20 L71 M21 Q40 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:0828&r=cwa |
| By: | Brutti, Filippo |
| Abstract: | Domestic financial institutions, in particular commercial banks, are major holders of public debt in many emerging markets. In such economies, thus, the stability of the banking system can be seriously compromised by a government's default. Yet, past research in the sovereign debt literature typically overlooked the effects on domestic financial markets. This paper adopts Holmstrom and Tirole (1998)'s view, arguing that a market for government bonds can increase the supply of liquidity in economies characterized by informational asymmetries or poor legal institutions. A capital account liberalization is introduced in their set-up, allowing the government to borrow from abroad and introducing the risk of debt repudiation. However, when the government cannot discriminate between domestic and foreign bond holders, the repayment of foreigners can be avoided only at the cost of drying up the economy liquidity. The results of the model are the following: (i) the government repudiates the debt only when aggregate productivity is low and domestic firms demand less liquidity; (ii) domestic firms, indirectly through the banking system, hoard reserves of the domestic bond rather than a foreign risk-less bond, despite the risk of future default; (iii) the government's access to foreign credit is loosened in economies characterized by weak legal enforcement of creditor rights, limited access to external finance and shortage of private securities; (iv) the cost of default is transmitted unevenly throughout the economy and the output contraction is sharper in financially dependent sectors. Using a difference-in-difference approach in the spirit of Rajan and Zingales (1998), I provide consistent evidence for the latter result over the 1990s, when the assumptions of the model suits more realistically the institutional set-up of sovereign debt markets. |
| JEL: | F34 O16 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10262&r=cwa |
| By: | Ojo, Marianne |
| Abstract: | This paper traces developments from the inception of the 1988 Basel Capital Accord to its present form (Basel II). In highlighting the flaws of the 1988 Accord, an evaluation is made of the Basel Committee’s efforts to address such weaknesses through Basel II. Whilst considerable progress has been achieved, the paper concludes, based on one of the principal aims of these Accords, namely the management of risk, that more work is still required particularly in relation to hedge funds and those risks attributed to non bank financial institutions. |
| Keywords: | risk;management;regulation;banks;Basel;Committee |
| JEL: | K2 G21 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10051&r=cwa |
| By: | Herrmann, Peter; van der Maesen, Laurent J.G. |
| Abstract: | The main issue of this article is to discuss the question of ‘precarity’ in the context of the theory of social quality (see Beck et al, 2001), with which to pave the way for developing further the theoretical foundation of precarity. Societal practice is the main challenge this concept tries to address. However, the danger is to introduce a new term, yet maintaining a discussion on traditional problems as poverty, marginalisation and exclusion. Our thesis is that these problems, far from being sufficiently tackled, are currently going along with and being adjunct to another challenge, namely precarity. Although the ‘old problems’ are not problems of individuals and expression of their ‘personal failure’, precarity – seen in the context of the theory of social quality – means a new stage of socialisation of the problems by further individualisation of the victims. In principle, we can say that this understanding of precarity is an expression of a further erosion of society, characterising especially periods of transformation of economic systems. |
| Keywords: | Social Quality; Precarity; Social Exclusion; Social Disintegration; Social Policy |
| JEL: | I30 I31 D90 Z13 H70 J40 J00 B20 I00 H80 B24 D50 I0 D30 L10 B30 H00 B00 A10 I32 A30 I39 H40 B40 J10 I38 D60 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10245&r=cwa |
| By: | Zon, Adriaan van (UNU-MERIT); Schmidt, Tobias (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we seek to explain the causes and consequences of Northern penetration in Southern subsistence markets in order to reach the countless masses at the Bottom of the (Income) Pyramid. To this end we formulate a One-North-Many-Souths model, inspired by the Krugman (1979) North-South model. In our model, Southern countries are differentiated with respect to population size, but also the degree of internal connectedness as a proxy for the cost involved in reaching the local subsistence market. Northern subsistence goods production in Southern countries takes place under increasing returns to scale, why local production of subsistence goods takes place under constant returns to scale. Using this set-up, we show what kind of Southern countries would be penetrated first, and under which conditions this would happen. From the point of view of Northern producers, Southern countries can be divided into three classes: the broad class of partner- and non partner countries, and within the class of partner countries, the sub-classes of small and large partners. In this context, small partners are so small, that all of local subsistence production is taken over by the North, while in large countries part of subsistence consumption must still be met out of local subsistence production. The main insights coming from numerical simulations with the model are that Northern penetration on Southern markets releases (labor) resources that can then be used for producing tradable luxury goods. This has a negative terms of trade effect for the South, but a positive income effect, while, moreover, the latter effect tends to outweigh the former. In addition, small partner countries generally stand to gain more from Northern penetration than large countries, as in small partner countries relatively more resources would be released when shifting production of subsistence goods from local to Northern technologies. Using numerical simulations in which we increase the rate of imitation, we show that this leads to higher terms of trade for the South, and consequently, a higher penetration of the North in Southern countries with respect to subsistence production. The reason is that the opportunity cost of using Northern labor in Northern luxury goods production falls, and consequently more Northern labor is allocated to its alternative use of managing subsistence goods production in Southern countries. Thus we are able to "explain" the recent penetration of Northern firms in subsistence goods production in countries like India and China (which have become increasingly important as manufacturing trading partners), as the latter countries are both large in population terms as well as relatively well connected. |
| Keywords: | Bottom of the Pyramid, North-South model, luxury goods, subsistence goods |
| JEL: | D58 F12 F16 F23 O33 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008046&r=cwa |