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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Masahiro Kawai (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Henrik Schmiegelow |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses how financial crises in emerging Asia and Japan worked as catalysts for legal reforms. The responses of six Asian countries with different legal histories to financial crises that posed similar challenges are of both legal and economic interest. We first provide a theoretical framework that focuses on law and economics. We then review the basic approaches adopted by the Asian countries affected by financial crises in 1997–1998 to bank and corporate restructuring and to legal and other reforms. Finally we examine indicators that measure the quality of legal institutions (regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption) for the six countries to determine whether these indicators show improvement over time. We find that all six countries pursued significant legal and judicial reforms, but the indicators exhibit mixed results : the Republic of Korea shows clear improvements in all aspects, while the Philippines exhibits clear deterioration and Indonesia indicates a steep decline followed by remarkable improvement. We argue that reforms of the economic laws alone cannot improve the quality of entire legal and judicial systems of countries. What matters is the enforcement of substantive law by procedural law, the efficiency of the justice system, and other political and social factors. In the case of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the colonial “transplant effect†of Western legal systems may have made the implementation of laws a significant challenge. In Thailand, implementation was affected by the “yellow shirts†(anti-Thaksin) versus “red shirts†(pro-Thaksin) conflict. Long time lags, perhaps of several decades, may be needed to observe how de jure changes to substantive laws lead to de facto improvements of legal institutions. |
| Keywords: | Financial crises, legal reforms, Japan, emerging Asia, the quality of legal institutions, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption` |
| JEL: | G01 G28 G33 K40 O16 O43 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:govern:23852&r=cwa |
| By: | Biswajit Dhar (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)) |
| Abstract: | The continued difficulties of the World Trade Organization to achieve further multilateral trade liberalization in the Doha Round negotiations have raised questions about its continued relevance. This paper firstly identifies and assesses the key developments in the Doha Round that have contributed to the present stalemate. Secondly, it presents several options that the organization could consider for defining its future work program, given the new realities of global economic engagement, especially the emergence of global production networks. Most importantly, the paper assesses the possibility of including new disciplines covering areas that can help the growth of these drivers of global economic integration. Such an initiative could include three sets of issue : trade facilitation measures, an equitable investment regime, and effective disciplines for curbing non-tariff barriers. |
| Keywords: | the World Trade Organization, Doha Round, trade facilitation, investment regime, non-tariff barrier, global economic integration |
| JEL: | F13 F53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:23850&r=cwa |
| By: | Nakhoda, Aadil |
| Abstract: | The BRIC countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China) plus Turkey contribute a significant proportion of the exports that originate from developing countries. The varieties imported from the BRIC countries plus Turkey in the textile, creative and leather industries are likely to take precedence over the imported varieties from smaller developing countries as either their production is relatively more efficient in labor-intensive industries or their resources are relatively more abundant. Therefore, the prominence of the exports of the BRIC countries plus Turkey can have implications for smaller developing countries that also specialize in the production of labor-intensive products, such as Pakistan. I study the impact of the exports of the BRIC countries plus Turkey on the exports of Pakistan to the set of importing countries based on their importance as major export destinations of Pakistan for each industry considered and the set of importing countries based on the geographical location of the importing countries as regional and non-regional destinations of the BRIC countries plus Turkey. In this paper, I aim to determine whether the exports from the BRIC countries plus Turkey either complement or substitute exports from Pakistan to the specific set of export destinations. |
| Keywords: | International trade; crowding-out of exports; complementary exports; technology upgrading; exporter and importer linkages; |
| JEL: | F1 F14 F15 F23 M21 |
| Date: | 2013–12–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52477&r=cwa |
| By: | Sergey Kadochnikov; Anna Fedyunina |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between export structure and economic growth in Russian regions. We hypothesize that it is not industry variety per se but the variety of related industries located relatively close to each other in the product space that significantly contributes to economic growth in Russian regions. The empirical analysis presented in the paper confirms that the density of the product space around the products for which a region had a comparative advantage determined the economic development in Russian regions in the 2003-2008 period. We conclude that the presence of a local related variety of industries in a region is one of the most important regional factors in economic development. |
| Keywords: | export, economic growth, Russian regions |
| JEL: | F14 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1327&r=cwa |
| By: | Deborah Kay Elms (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)) |
| Abstract: | Pressure has been building for the conclusion of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. Getting the deal done is important, but the TPP is not just another free trade agreement (FTA). It represents the chance to set a trade agenda for the future across a wide range of topics for countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This means that the agreement should not be settled in haste. More importantly, it also means that key decisions need to be reached about broader issues related to the institutional structure of the TPP. These decisions must be made now, before the deal is closed, on issues such as how to create the TPP as a living agreement, the formation of a TPP Secretariat, and the clarification of entry conditions for future members such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC). These choices must be made deliberately and carefully even while officials are struggling with reaching closure on the most highly sensitive issues still remaining in the agreement. It will not be easy, but wise decisions are necessary now to ensure the long-term success of the TPP. |
| Keywords: | Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP, trade negotiation, the institutional structure of the TPP |
| JEL: | F13 F55 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:23856&r=cwa |
| By: | Herr, Hansjörg; Sonat, Zeynep M |
| Keywords: | economic development, economic policy, economic conditions, trend, Turkey, développement économique, politique économique, conditions économiques, tendance, Turquie, desarrollo económico, política económica, condiciones económicas, tendencia, Turquía |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:484126&r=cwa |
| By: | Manfred Spiesberger (ZSI); Marion Mienert (DLR); Jörn Sonnenburg (DLR); Karel Haegeman (European Commission – JRC-IPTS); Oguz Ozkan (TUBITAK); Alexander Sokolov (HSE); Natalya Veselitskaya (HSE); Gorazd Weiss (ZSI); Andreas Kahle (DLR); Klaus Schuch (ZSI); Ilter Haliloglu (TUBITAK); Irina Kuklina (ICISTE); Elisabetta Marinelli (European Commission – JRC-IPTS); Maria Balashova (ICISTE) |
| Abstract: | This Working Document outlines development perspectives for cooperation in research, technology and innovation (RTI) between the EU, its Member States (MS), countries associated to the EU’s FP7 (AC), and Russia. The Working Document has been prepared in the framework of the ERA.Net RUS project and is based on a comprehensive foresight exercise implemented over the years 2010-2013 and on analysis of ongoing RTI cooperation. In-depth discussions among the ERA.Net RUS and ERA.Net RUS Plus consortiums and Funding Parties, and in the frame of expert workshops with policy makers and analysts provided essential input. Furthermore, results of other related projects (such as BILAT-RUS, BILAT-RUS Advanced, ACCESSRU, etc.) have been studied. The paper proposes a vision on enhancing the cooperation between EU MS/AC and Russia overall, as well as a specific follow-up vision for the ERA.Net RUS and ERA.Net RUS Plus projects. |
| Keywords: | European research and innovation policy, Innovation Union, ERAWATCH, European Research Area, Policy Mixes, Transnational and International Cooperation, NETWATCH, ERA Nets, Foresight, Joint programming of research, Researchers, Universities |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85137&r=cwa |
| By: | Sebri, Maamar; Ben Salha, Ousama |
| Abstract: | The current study investigates the causal relationship between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in the BRICS countries over the period 1971-2010 within a multivariate framework. The ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration and vector error correction model (VECM) are used to examine the long-run and causal relationships between economic growth, renewable energy consumption, trade openness and carbon dioxide emissions. Empirical evidence shows that, based on the ARDL estimates, there exist long-run equilibrium relationships among the competing variables. Regarding the VECM results, bi-directional Granger causality exists between economic growth and renewable energy consumption, suggesting the feedback hypothesis, which can explain the role of renewable energy in stimulating economic growth in BRICS countries. |
| Keywords: | ARDL; BRICS; Granger causality; Economic growth; Renewable energy. |
| JEL: | C32 Q2 Q3 Q4 |
| Date: | 2013–12–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52535&r=cwa |
| By: | Ronald Inglehart (Higher School of Economics); Roberto Foa (Harvard University); Eduard Ponarin (Higher School of Economics); Christian Welzel (Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststr.) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the decline of subjective well-being and a sense of national self-esteem among the Russian people that was linked with the collapse of the communist economic, political and social systems in the 1990s—and a subsequent recovery of subjective well-being that began more recently. Subjective well-being is closely linked with economic development, democracy and physical health. The people of rich countries tend show higher levels than those of poor countries, but already in 1982, the Russia people ranked lower on happiness and life satisfaction than the people of much poorer countries such as Nigeria or India; external signs of this malaise were rising alcoholism and declining male life expectancy. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, subjective well-being in Russia fell to levels never seen before, reaching a low point in 1995 when most Russians described themselves as unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives as a whole. Since 2000, this trend has been reversing itself, but in 2011 Russia still ranked slightly lower than its level in 1981 |
| Keywords: | World Values Survey, Russia, happiness, subjective well-being |
| JEL: | E11 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:32/soc/2013&r=cwa |
| By: | Ünver, Mehmet Bilal; İlhan, Erhan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, regulatory policies and their effects on NGA investment are analysed through a categorisation of four-part: (i) conventional (e.g., copper-based) type regulation, (ii) no imposition of mandatory access, (iii) regulatory holiday, (iv) deregulation. While EU's regulatory policy towards NGA networks originally was denoting somewhere between the first two options, the recent developments refashion an approach near the first. While US experience clearly exhibits deregulation under the fourth category, Turkey's NGA policy repsesents an approach near the third yet marking a difference with the regulatory steps taken recently. This study first elaborates Turkish experience, then deepens EU regulatory approach from the beginning to the its current NGA strategy under the recommended principles and Commission's decisional practice. Throughout the discussion, the interplay beween copper based regulations, e.g., LLU prices and the NGA investments are delved into with factual analysis along with the market behaviours. At last, it is found that conventional regulatory approach has hazardopus effects over NGA investment, and needs to be overhauled in view of some tools that could be gained from Turkish experience, e.g., protecting first-mover advantages from regulation along with ascertained rules of level playing field. Last but not the least, rather than US based deregulation, a controlled regulatory holiday would rather be an appropriate option given the need for regulatory predictability and the hazards of conventional regulatory approach in an emerging NGA environment. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse13:88527&r=cwa |