|
on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Alexander Sokolov (Director of the international Foresight centre, vice director of the ISSEK HSE. Address: National research university “Higher school of economics”); Alexander Chulok (Head of the science and technology Foresight department, ISSEK HSE. Address: National research university “Higher school of economics”); Vladimir Mesropyan (Researcher at the science and technology Foresight department, ISSEK HSE. Address: National research university “Higher school of economics”) |
| Abstract: | Currently the framework conditions for science and technology and innovation (STI) policy have changed significantly in Russia: a system of technology forecasting has been established, which focuses on ensuring the future needs of the manufacturing sector of the national economy. This system was supposed to be the main part of the state strategy planning system which is currently being formed. Over the last decade dozens of science and technology forward-looking projects have been implemented, among which 3 cycles of long-term S&T Foresight stand out prominently. The Foresight was developed by the request of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. The development of the 3rd cycle of long-term Foresight includes both normative («market pull») and research («technology push») approaches. The project involved more than 2,000 experts and more than 200 organizations. Within the project a network of six sectoral Foresight centers was created on the basis of leading universities. The article describes the most important issues of future studies in Russia and presents the principles which formed the basis for the long-term science and technology (S&T) Foresight until 2030. The authors explore its position in the national technology Foresight system and the possibilities for the implementation of its results by the key stakeholders of the national innovation system and on the level of STI policy. Eventually Russian experience could be fairly interesting and useful for many other countries with similar socio-economic features and barriers |
| Keywords: | Foresight, Russia, research and development strategy, planning of science and technology development, Russian technology Foresight system, innovation policy. |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 O38 O21 O25 O43 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:19sti2013&r=cwa |
| By: | Burkitbayeva, Saule; Kerr, William A. |
| Abstract: | International trade in wheat accounts for approximately one third of world grain trade and is expected to double by 2050.The KRU (Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine) countries account for approximately a quarter of world wheat exports and are collectively considered one of the key wheat exporting regions. The Ukraine became a member of the WTO only in 2008. Russia became an official member of the WTO in 2012 and Kazakhstan is expected to follow Russia and reach an accession deal with WTO members shortly. As a result of WTO accession, all three countries will be entitled to “most favoured nation” (MFN tariffs), and hence, gain improved access to a number of important markets that have been largely inaccessible due to very high tariffs that could be charged on imports from non-WTO countries. World wheat trade liberalization, reflecting the move to the MFN tariff as a result of accession, was simulated using the global simulation model (GSIM). The KRU region’s increased market accessibility as a result of successful accession to the WTO has the potential to foster important re-alignments in world wheat trade flows, prices and changes in welfare among major wheat trading countries. The simulation results suggest that the change to MFN tariffs leads to KRU countries trading more with now freer markets such as Turkey, the EU and China. Major traditional wheat exporters such as Australia, Canada, the EU, and the US do not seem to be negatively impacted to any important degree. Their relative market access conditions, however, erode in Turkish, Middle Eastern, and North African markets with their exports being diverted and broadly distributed among other countries and regions at marginally reduced prices. Trade liberalization is not uniform across regions and, hence, leads to different net welfare changes across countries. Those welfare changes, however, appear to be modest. |
| Keywords: | accession, Kazakhstan, MFN, Russia, tariff reduction, Ukraine, wheat, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpcp:158891&r=cwa |
| By: | Dmitry Suslov (Deputy Director for Research of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, School of the World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University – Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | To a big extent the Russian defense policy and, as a consequence, development of the Russian defense industrial complex, is determined by the prospects of the US missile defense policy and fate of the US-Russia negotiations in this area. As a cooperative solution seems improbable in the observable future, Russia plans to develop certain response measures of military nature, including creation of a new heavy ICBM, and to create its own missile defense by 2015. However, this policy does not seem correct from the economic, political and security viewpoints. Russia overestimates the possible military challenges of the hypothetic US missile defense system and invests huge funds into fighting non-existent threats. A US-Russia cooperation in missile defense is possible, and it would fundamentally change their overall relations for the better |
| Keywords: | US-Russia relations, missile defense, defense policy, strategic deterrence, mutually assure destruction, foreign policy, international security. |
| JEL: | F59 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:02/ir/2012&r=cwa |
| By: | Dinçer, N. Nergiz; Tekin-Koru, Ayça |
| Abstract: | We provide a novel set of stylized facts on individuals engaging in adult education using the Adult Education Survey (AES) conducted by TurkStat for the first time. This way we provide the first evidence on the determinants of participation in adult education in a developing country, Turkey. Our results indicate that old, uneducated, workingwomen with uneducated fathers and with young children in the household are less likely to take part in adult education activities in Turkey. However, young, educated, workingmen living in rural areas are more likely to participate in adult education. We also find that past performance of the sector of employment, significantly and positively affects the odds for adult education. Finally, we repeated our analysis for different fields of adult education. Our results suggest that characteristics of men and women who take courses in the most popular fields of education vary. |
| Keywords: | Adult education, economic growth, Turkey |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I25 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49496&r=cwa |
| By: | Durand , Rodolphe; Szostak , Bérangère; Jourdan , Julien; Thornton , Patricia |
| Abstract: | We propose that institutional logics are resources organizations use to leverage their strategic choices. We argue that firms with an awareness of multiple available logics, expressed by a larger stock of competences and a broader industrial scope are more likely to add an institutional logic to their repertoire and to become purist in this new logic. We also hypothesize that a favorable opportunity set as expressed by status leads high and low status firms to add a logic but not to focus exclusively on this new logic. We examine our hypotheses in the French industrial design industry from 1989 to 2003 in which a managerialist logic emerged and prevailed along with the pre-existing institutional logics of modernism and formalism. Our findings contribute to theory on the relationship between organizations’ strategy and institutional change and partially address the paradox of why high-status actors play a key role in triggering institutional change when such change is likely to undermine the very basis of their social position and advantage |
| Keywords: | Institutional logics; strategic resources; institutional plurality; strategic choice; logic addition; logic focus |
| JEL: | L00 |
| Date: | 2013–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1004&r=cwa |
| By: | Jonathan Pickering; Jakob Skovgaard; Soyeun Kim; J. Timmons Roberts; David Rossati; Martin Stadelmann; Hendrikje Reich |
| Abstract: | Developed countries have relied heavily on aid budgets to fulfill their pledges to boost funding for addressing climate change in developing countries. However, little is known about how interaction between aid and other ministries has shaped contributors’ diverse approaches to climate finance. This paper investigates intra-governmental dynamics in decision-making on climate finance in seven contributor countries (Australia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the US). While aid agencies retained considerable control over implementation, environment and finance ministries have played an influential and often contrasting role on key policy issues, including distribution between mitigation and adaptation and among geographical regions. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy, climate finance, development assistance, bureaucratic politics |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1306&r=cwa |
| By: | Nguyen Thang DAO (CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium and Vietnam Centre for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), Hanoi, Vietnam); Julio DÁVILA (CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium and Paris School of Economics, Paris, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a unied growth model capturing issues of endogenous economic growth, fertility, and technological progress considering the effects of geographical conditions to interpret the long transition from Malthusian stagnation, through demographic transition to modern sustained growth, and the great divergence in GDP per capita across societies. The paper shows how the interplay of size of "land" and its "accessibility" and technological progress play a very important role for an economy to escape Malthusian stagnation and to take off. Thus differences in these geographical factors lead to differences in take off timings, generating great divergence across societies. |
| Keywords: | Geographical land, land accessible, level of technology, human capital, fertility |
| JEL: | J11 O11 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpc:wpaper:1713&r=cwa |
| By: | Gilles Duranton (University of Pennsylvania); Diego Puga (CEMFI, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros) |
| Abstract: | Why do cities grow in population, surface area, and income per person? Which cities grow faster and why? To these questions, the urban growth literature has offered a variety of answers. Within an integrated framework, this chapter reviews key theories with implications for urban growth. It then relates these theories to empirical evidence on the main drivers of city growth, drawn primarily from the United States and other developed countries. Consistent with the monocentric city model, fewer roads and restrictions on housing supply hinder urban growth. The fact that housing is durable also has important effects on the evolution of cities. In recent decades, cities with better amenities have grown faster. Agglomeration economies and human capital are also important drivers of city growth. Although more human capital, smaller firms, and a greater diversity in production foster urban growth, the exact channels through which those effects percolate are not clearly identified. Finally, shocks also determine the fate of cities. Structural changes affecting the broader economy have left a big footprint on the urban landscape. Small city-specific shocks also appear to matter, consistent with the recent wave of random growth models. |
| Keywords: | Urban growth, Agglomeration economies, Land use, Transportation, amenities. |
| JEL: | C52 R12 D24 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2013_1308&r=cwa |
| By: | Karl Aiginger; Susanne Bärenthaler-Sieber; Johanna Vogel |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to redefine the term competitiveness to enhance its usefulness for the evaluation of country performance and for policy conclusions. We attempt to establish a definition that is adequate if economic policy strives for a new growth path that is more dynamic, socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable. We tentatively apply the proposed definition to evaluate the "competitiveness" of EU member states as well as to compare Europe's competitiveness with that of the US, Switzerland, Japan and China, where possible. In the first part of the paper, we examine the evolution of the concept from a focus on "inputs" at the firm level (price or cost competitiveness) to economic structure and capabilities at the country level and finally to "outcome" competitiveness, where outcomes are defined in a broad sense and in the context of the WWWforEurope project. We propose to define competitiveness as the "ability of a country (region, location) to deliver the beyond-GDP goals for its citizens". In the second part of the paper, the performance of the EU-27 countries is assessed along the dimensions described above. We begin with price competitiveness and then proceed to economic structure and countries’ capabilities regarding innovation, education, the social system, institutions and environmental ambition. We conclude with outcome competitiveness in terms of economic, social and ecological outcomes. Overall, we compile a database of 68 indicators that describe these different aspects of competitiveness. In the third part of the paper, we investigate empirically the relationship between "outcome" and "input" competitiveness for the EU-27 using panel data analysis for the period from 2000 to 2010. We construct a composite indicator for outcome competitiveness consisting of income, social and ecological pillars, following the beyond-GDP literature. This measure is then econometrically related to composite indicators of the three groups of input indicators: price competitiveness, economic structure, and capabilities. The results of panel regressions suggest that both economic structure and capabilities on aggregate are positively related to our measure of outcome competitiveness, while a negative relationship is found for the wage component of price competitiveness. Among the different dimensions of capabilities, ecological ambition and institutions are positively associated with outcome competitiveness. Overall, we conclude that a narrow focus on the price component of competitiveness neglects other aspects of the concept that are likely to be particularly important for high-income economies like the EU-27. |
| Keywords: | Competitiveness, economic growth path, industrial policy, social capital as growth driver, sustainable growth |
| JEL: | O25 L16 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2013:m:10:d:0:i:44&r=cwa |
| By: | Anna Matas (Dpt. Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)); Josep Lluís Raymond (Dpt. Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)); José Luis Roig (Dpt. Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | Human capital endowment is one of the main factors influencing the level of development of a region. This paper analyses whether remoteness from economic activity has a negative effect on human capital accumulation and, consequently, on economic development. Making use of microdata this research proves that remoteness from economic activity has contributed to explain the divergences in the level of education observed across Spanish provinces over the last 50 years. The effect is significant even when controlling for the improvement of education supply. Nonetheless, the accessibility effect has been petering out since the 1960s due to the decreasing barriers to mobility. |
| Keywords: | Regional development, human capital, market access |
| JEL: | O10 R11 R40 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2013-06&r=cwa |
| By: | Svetlana Avdasheva (1National Research University Higher School of Economics. Institute for Industrial and Market Studies. Deputy Director;); Polina Kryuchkova (2National Research University Higher School of Economics. Institute for Industrial and Market Studies, Laboratory of Competition and Antimonopoly Policy. Leading Research Fellow;) |
| Abstract: | Law enforcement by regulatory authorities on complaints may replicate not only advantages but also disadvantages of both public and private enforcement. In Russian antitrust enforcement there are strong incentives to open investigations on almost every complaint. The increasing number of complaints and investigations decreases both the resources available per investigation and the standards of proof. It also distorts the structure of enforcement, increases the probability of both wrongful convictions and wrongful acquittals, and lowers deterrence. Statistics of antitrust enforcement in the Russian Federation, including Russian regions, highlight the importance of complaints for making decisions on whether to open investigations and the positive dependence of convictions on the number of investigations |
| Keywords: | antitrust, Russia, public enforcement, complaints, legal errors. |
| JEL: | K21 K42 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:05/pa/2013&r=cwa |