nep-cwa New Economics Papers
on Central and Western Asia
Issue of 2013‒10‒11
thirteen papers chosen by
David J. Pollard
Leeds Metropolitan University

  1. Regional Borders and Trade in Asia By Woong Lee; Chankwon Bae
  2. An Asian Perspective on Global Financial Reforms By Peter J. Morgan; Victor Pontines
  3. Monetary Policy Frameworks in Asia : Experience, Lessons, and Issues By Peter J. Morgan
  4. Monitoring innovation activities of innovation process participants (2011: R&D organisations) By Leonid Gokhberg; Tatiana Kuznetsova; Vitaly Roud; Stanislav Zaichenko
  5. Does cultural diversity help or hinder entrepreneurs? Evidence from eastern Europe and central Asia By Elena Nikolova; Dora Simroth
  6. The Long-run and Intergenerational Education Impacts of Intergovernmental Transfers By Irineu de Carvalho Filho; Stephan Litschig
  7. How Much Did China's WTO Accession Increase Economic Growth in Resource-Rich Countries? By Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck; Barslund, Mikkel; Hansen, Casper Worm; Harr, Thomas; Jensen, Peter Sandholt
  8. User innovation - empirical evidence from Russia By Anna Zaytseva; Olga Shuvalova; Dirk Meissner
  9. A decade of poverty reduction in Kazakhstan 2000-2009: growth and/or redistribution? By Alma Kudebayeva; Armando Barrientos
  10. Climate policies as a hedge against the uncertainty on future oil supply By Julie Rozenberg; Stéphane Hallegatte; Adrien Vogt-Schilb; Olivier Sassi; Céline Guivarch; Henri Waisman; Jean-Charles Hourcade
  11. Regional growth and regional decline By Holger Breinlich; Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano; Jonathan R.W. Temple
  12. Ups and downs: How economic growth affects policy interactions By Flues, Florens; Löschel, Andreas; Lutz, Benjamin Johannes; Schenker, Oliver
  13. Russian Federation - Export Diversification through Competition and Innovation : A Policy Agenda By World Bank

  1. By: Woong Lee (KIEP - Korea Institute for International Economic Policy); Chankwon Bae
    Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of regional borders on trade in Asia. The regional borders define the three regions of Asia : South, Southeast, and East Asia. Regional trade indicates the flows of trade within a region, whereas regional border trade means trade across regions. A gravity model is augmented with the region dummies to estimate the regional border effects that capture any and all time-invariant factors promoting or impeding regional trade. The main finding is that regional border effects are asymmetric on the three regions in Asia. There is a large and significant regional border effect on South Asia, small on Southeast Asia, and negligibly negative on East Asia. The significant and positive regional border effect in South Asia suggests that countries share intrinsic factors facilitating trade between the countries in this region. Although the regional border effect of Southeast Asia is positive, its magnitude shows little difference between its regional trade and regional border trade. Finally, the estimate on East Asia presents a completely different picture from the actual data. It implies that there exist some factors leading to active regional border trade between East Asia and other Asian regions.
    Keywords: Border Effect, Regional Borders, Natural Trading Partners, the gravity model
    JEL: F13 F14 F15
    Date: 2013–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:23640&r=cwa
  2. By: Peter J. Morgan (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Victor Pontines
    Abstract: The purpose of this study is to better understand the likely impact on Asian economies and financial institutions of various recent global financial reforms, including Basel III capital adequacy and liquidity rules. Part one reviews the lessons of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007–09 and their relevance for Asian economies. Part two describes the major regulatory reforms that have been announced and possible concerns about their impacts on emerging economies. Part three reviews the literature aimed at quantifying the impacts of Basel III capital adequacy rules. Part four develops our methodology and analysis of the quantitative impact of Basel III capital adequacy rules on a panel of Southeast Asian financial institutions with emphasis on the effect on economic growth. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion on the policy implications of the results obtained from the previous section for Asian financial sectors and economies. Overall, we find that the Basel III capital adequacy rules are likely to have limited impacts on economic growth in Asia, but other financial regulations, including liquidity standards and rules for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, could have stunting effects on financial development in the region.
    Keywords: Financial Reform, global financial crisis, Basel III, regulatory reform, Capital Adequacy Ratio, Asian economies, Southeast Asian, financaial institutions
    JEL: E17 G01 G18 G21
    Date: 2013–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:financ:23637&r=cwa
  3. By: Peter J. Morgan (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI))
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the evolution of East Asian monetary policy frameworks over the past two decades, chiefly in response to shocks from the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 and the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007–2009. The Asian financial crisis showed the importance of exchange rate flexibility and credible policy frameworks, leading to increased central bank independence, greater focus on inflation policy and more flexible exchange rates. A key lesson of the GFC was the importance of containing systemic financial risk and the need for a “macroprudential†approach to surveillance and regulation that can identify system-wide risks and take appropriate actions to maintain financial stability. Emerging economies face particular challenges because of their underdeveloped financial systems and vulnerability to volatile international capital flows, especially “sudden stops†or reversals of capital inflows. The paper reviews the history of East Asian monetary policy frameworks since 1990; describes current monetary policy frameworks, including issue of price versus financial stability for a central bank and the policies a central bank can use to manage financial stability; the monetary policy transmission mechanism based on financial linkages and financial deepening; assesses policy outcomes including inflation targeting and responses to the “Impossible Trinityâ€; and makes overall conclusions. The paper finds that East Asian central banks have generally managed inflation and growth well over the past decade, but the difficulties faced by central banks of advanced countries in the aftermath of the GFC suggests that not all problems have been solved yet.
    Keywords: Monetary policy framework, Asia, Asian financial crisis, central bank independence, Capital Inflows, inflation policy
    JEL: E52 E58 F31 F32 G18
    Date: 2013–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:financ:23639&r=cwa
  4. By: Leonid Gokhberg (National Research University Higher School of Economics, First Vice Rector; Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of knowledge); Tatiana Kuznetsova (National Research University Higher School of Economics. Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of knowledge. Director of the Centre for S&T, Innovation and Information Policies); Vitaly Roud (National Research University Higher School of Economics. Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of knowledge. Research assistant); Stanislav Zaichenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics. Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of knowledge. Senior research assistant)
    Abstract: “Monitoring innovation activities of innovation process participants” is a project which has been carried out by the Higher School of Economics (HSE) for several years to promote monitoring and analysis of innovation issues in general, and on specific activities of its particular actors from a scientific research perspective. The project is aimed at accumulating empirical knowledge about the nature and types of interaction between various actors of the national innovation system. In 2009-2010 the study was targeted at manufacturing and service sector companies while the 2010-2011 study targeted at R&D organisations. The specific objective for 2011 was studying various aspects of applied research organisations’ involvement in the innovation process (application of R&D results in the economy). The study yielded the following results: - A concept for monitoring R&D organisations’ innovation activities was proposed, including operational definition of such activities; - Survey programme and tools to monitor Russian R&D organisations were developed, including advanced methodological and procedural approaches as well as practical experience; - Results of R&D organisations’ innovation activities survey were analysed and compared with available statistical data; the collected data also allows to identify and systematise various factors and conditions affecting innovation activities of these organisations; Eventually areas for updating the survey’s concept and tools were identified
    Keywords: R&D institutions, public research institutes, S&T results, knowledge transfer, technology transfer, innovation, research management, innovation management, microdata, Russia
    JEL: O31 O32 O33 O38
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:wpbrp06sti2013&r=cwa
  5. By: Elena Nikolova (EBRD); Dora Simroth (European School of Management and Technology)
    Abstract: This paper studies the effect of religious and linguistic diversity in a given locality on individual entrepreneurial behaviour, and finds that cultural diversity and entrepreneurship follow an inverted U-shaped pattern. We make three theoretical contributions. Unlike previous research, we are able to analyse both the attempt to establish an entrepreneurial business (‘entrepreneurial trial’) and success of entrepreneurs. Moreover, we argue that the two types of diversity matter at different stages of entrepreneurship – religious diversity is tightly linked to entrepreneurial trial, while linguistic heterogeneity affects entrepreneurial success. In addition, by identifying a non-linear relationship between diversity and entrepreneurship, we put into perspective previous research that is divided on whether cultural heterogeneity positively or negatively affects firm, regional and country performance. We use a new survey data set that covers more than 30,000 households in eastern Europe and central Asia (the Life in Transition Survey 2010).
    Keywords: entrepreneurship, transition region, diversity
    JEL: L26 P31 Z12
    Date: 2013–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebd:wpaper:158&r=cwa
  6. By: Irineu de Carvalho Filho; Stephan Litschig
    Abstract: This paper provides regression discontinuity evidence on long-run and intergenerational education impacts of a temporary increase in federal transfers to local governments in Brazil. Revenues and expenditures of the communities benefiting from extra transfers temporarily increased by about 20% during the 4 year period from 1982 to the end of 1985. Schooling and literacy gains for directly exposed cohorts established in previous work that used the 1991 census are attenuated but persist in the 2000 and 2010 censuses. Children and adolescents of the next generation---born after the extra funding had disappeared---show gains of about 0.08 standard deviation across the entire score distribution of two nationwide exams at the end of the 2000s. While we find no evidence of persistent improvements in school resources, we document discontinuities in education levels, literacy rates and incomes of test takers' parents that are consistent with intergenerational human capital spillovers.
    Keywords: intergovernmental grants, human capital, test scores, regression discontinuity
    JEL: H40 H72 I21 O15
    Date: 2013–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:718&r=cwa
  7. By: Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck (Department of Business and Economics); Barslund, Mikkel (Center for European Policy Studies); Hansen, Casper Worm (Department of Economics); Harr, Thomas (Standard Chartered Bank); Jensen, Peter Sandholt (Department of Business and Economics)
    Abstract: We provide an estimate of China’s impact on the growth rate of resource-rich countries after its WTO accession on 11 December 2001. Our empirical approach follows the logic of the differences-in-differences estimator. In addition to temporal variation arising from the WTO accession, which we argue was exogenous to other countries’ growth trajectories, we exploit spatial variation arising from differences in natural resource wealth. This allows us to compare changes in economic growth in the post-accession period relative to the pre-accession period between countries that were able to benefit from the surge in demand for industrial commodities brought about by China’s WTO accession and countries that were less able to do so. We find that roughly one tenth of average annual post-accession growth in resource-rich countries was due to China’s increased appetite for commodities. We use this finding to inform the debate about what will happen to economic growth in resource-rich countries as China rebalances and its demand for commodities weakens.
    Keywords: Economic growth; natural resources; WTO; China
    JEL: F40
    Date: 2013–10–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2013_015&r=cwa
  8. By: Anna Zaytseva (Centre d'etudes de la vie politique, Universite Libre de Bruxelles); Olga Shuvalova (Research Fellow, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, Laboratory for Economics of Innovation); Dirk Meissner (Deputy Head, Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: Innovations are commonly seen as resulting from the commercialization of new ideas and technological goods by dedicated organizations, especially firms. This conception is reflected in a producer-oriented approach to science, technology and innovation policy-making (STI). However a new understanding of the role of users within innovation processes is gradually taking shape, with profound policy implications. User innovations are often not based on technological improvement or R&D and remain largely under-estimated. Although there are many case studies of user innovators at the industry level, the role of users is not captured by general statistics on innovation. Up to now the only exception is the empirical evidence-based study of user innovation carried out in the UK in 2009. Recently it was complemented by empirical data from the USA and Japan. The present article aims to contribute to closing the gap of empirical data on user engagement into innovation activities at cross-country level. The analysis is based on the results from a national survey carried out in Russia in 2011. The findings contribute to the better understanding of user innovators profile and of the factors which underpin user innovator activities in the context of emerging economies. The article is organized as follows. The first section reviews the relevant literature on the user innovation concept and the main features of user innovations as compared to producer-generated innovations, as well as on the measurement of user innovators. The second section presents the research methodology and the main empirical results. Finally, the paper discusses some of main analytical and policy implications of the empirical findings
    Keywords: User Innovation, Innovation Sources, Open Innovation, Innovation Management, Demand Driven Innovation
    JEL: L21 M10 M14 M31 O21 O32 O33
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:wpbrp08sti2013&r=cwa
  9. By: Alma Kudebayeva; Armando Barrientos
    Abstract: Abstract This paper examines the main factors behind the strong decline in poverty experienced in Kazakhstan. Specifically, it examines the contribution of growth and redistribution to household consumption and to poverty indicators in Kazakhstan for the period 2001-2009. The analysis relies on estimates of pro-poor growth indices using cross-sections of household data. It finds that growth has been strongly pro-poor. Growth was the main driver behind the fall in poverty in the first half of the decade, but redistribution becomes important in sustaining poverty reduction in the latter part of the decade. Redistribution was crucial to sustaining poverty reduction in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:18713&r=cwa
  10. By: Julie Rozenberg (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Stéphane Hallegatte (METEO-FRANCE - Météo-France - Météo France); Adrien Vogt-Schilb (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Olivier Sassi (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Céline Guivarch (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Henri Waisman (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Jean-Charles Hourcade (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: Despite the inextricable link between oil scarcity and climate change, the interplay between these two issues is paradoxically an underworked area. This article uses a global energy-economy model to address the link between future oil supply and climate change and assesses in a common framework both the costs of climate policies and oil scarcity. It shows that, in the context of a limited and uncertain amount of ultimately recoverable oil resources, climate policies reduce the world vulnerability to peak oil. Climate policies, therefore, appear as a hedging strategy against the uncertainty on oil resources, in addition to their main aim of avoiding dangerous climate change. This co-benefit is estimated at the net present value of US$11,500 billion. Eventually, reducing the risk of future economic losses due to oil scarcity may appear as a significant side-benefit of climate policies to many decision-makers.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866449&r=cwa
  11. By: Holger Breinlich; Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano; Jonathan R.W. Temple
    Abstract: Since the early 1990s, there has been a renaissance in the study of regional growth, spurred by new models, methods and data. We survey a range of modelling traditions, and some formal approaches to the ?hard problem? of regional economics, namely the joint consideration of agglomeration and growth. We also review empirical methods and fi?ndings based on natural experiments, spatial discontinuity designs, and structural models. Throughout, we give considerable attention to regional growth in developing countries. Finally, we highlight the potential importance of processes that are speci?c to regional decline, and which deserve greater research attention.
    Date: 2013–07–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:729&r=cwa
  12. By: Flues, Florens; Löschel, Andreas; Lutz, Benjamin Johannes; Schenker, Oliver
    Abstract: Current climate and energy policy has to operate under an ex-ante unforeseen economic crisis. An obvious consequence is the collapse of prices for carbon emission allowances as, for example, seen in the European Union. However, this price collapse may be amplified by the interaction of a carbon emission cap and supplementary policy targets such as the minimum shares for renewables in the power sector. The static interaction between climate and renewable policies has been discussed extensively. This paper extends this debate by analysing how uncertain differences in medium to long-run growth rates affect the effciency and effectiveness of a policy portfolio containing an emission trading scheme and a target for a minimum renewable share. Making use of a simple partial equilibrium model we identify an asymmetric interaction of emissions trading and renewable quotas with respect to different growth rates of an economy. The results imply that unintended consequences of the policy interaction may be particularly severe and costly when economic growth is low and that carbon prices are more sensitive to changes in economic growth if they are applied in combination with renewable energy targets. Our main example for the policy interaction is the EU, yet our research also relates particularly well to the uncertainty of economic growth in fast growing emerging economies like China. --
    Keywords: EU Climate Policy,Growth Uncertainty,Overlapping Regulation
    JEL: Q43 Q48 Q58
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13066&r=cwa
  13. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Private Sector Development - E-Business Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Markets and Market Access Economic Theory and Research Private Sector Development - Emerging Markets Environmental Economics and Policies Environment
    Date: 2013–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:15821&r=cwa

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