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on South East Asia |
| By: | Jianwei Li; David Metcalf |
| Abstract: | China has, apparently, more trade union members than the rest of the world put together. But the unions do not function in the same way as western trade unions. In particular Chinese unions are subservient to the Partystate.The theme of the paper is the gap between rhetoric and reality. Issues analysed include union structure, membership, representation, new laws (e.g. promoting collective contracts), new tripartite institutions and theinteraction between unions and the Party-state. We suggest that Chinese unions inhabit an Alice in Wonderland dream world. In reality although Chinese unions do have many members (though probably not as many as the official 137 million figure) they are virtually impotent when it comes to representing workers. Because theParty-state recognises that such frailty may lead to instability it has passed new laws promoting collective contracts and established new tripartite institutions to mediate and arbitrate disputes. While such laws are welcome they are largely hollow: collective contracts are very different from collective bargaining and the incidence of cases dealt with by the tripartite institutions is tiny. Much supporting evidence is presented drawing on detailed case studies undertaken in Hainan Province (the first and largest special economic zone) in 2004 and 2005. The need for more effective representation is appreciated by some All China Federation of TradeUnions (ACFTU) officials. But reasonable reforms do seem a long way off, so unions in China will continue to echo the White Queen:"The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today" and, alas, tomorrow never comes. |
| Keywords: | China, trade unions, Hainan Province, collective contracts, collective disputes, membership |
| JEL: | J5 |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0708&r=sea |
| By: | Simeon Djankov (the World Bank); Yingyi Qian (UC Berkeley and NBER); Gerard Roland (UC Berkeley and CEPR); Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (New Economic School/CEFIR and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We study the determinants of the decision to become an entrepreneur in Russia, China, and Brazil, using unique survey data at the individual level. We find that entrepreneurs have many common characteristics relative to non-entrepreneurs in all three countries. They are more likely to have entrepreneurs among their relatives and friends, place a higher value on work, are happier and perceive themselves as more successful. There are also a few important differences. Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs are more mobile geographically and across jobs. In Brazil, on the contrary, entrepreneurs are less mobile across jobs and industries. Brazil entrepreneurs have higher trust than non-entrepreneurs, while in Russia and China this is not the case. Finally, we confirm that perceptions of institutional environment are an important determinant of individual decisions to expand business. |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0066&r=sea |
| By: | Eric Hillebrand; Gunther Schnabl; Yasemin Ulu |
| Abstract: | We use realized volatility to study the influence of central bank interventions on the yen/dollar exchange rate. Realized volatility is a technical innovation that allows specifying a system of equations for returns, realized volatility, and interventions without endogeneity bias. We find that during the period 1995 through 1999, interventions of the Japanese monetary authorities did not have the desired effect with respect to the exchange rate level and we measure an increase in volatility associated with interventions. During the period 1999 through 2004, the estimations are consistent with successful interventions, both in depreciating the yen and in reducing exchange rate volatility. |
| JEL: | C32 E58 F31 F33 G15 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1766&r=sea |
| By: | Jiang, Juan; Harayama, Yuko; Abe, Shiro |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on Tohoku University in Sendai in the nonmetropolitan area of Japan. Both a long historical and comparative perspective and a spacial perspective are essential to discuss the relevance of university-local industry linkages to local regional economic development. The conjunction of these linkages and economic development has been affected by two evolutionary processes: institutional configurations and territorial dynamics in the national innovation system. In addition, university-local industry linkages have been complicated by top-down regionalization and bottom-up regionalism. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge & Information Systems,Technology Industry,Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems |
| Date: | 2006–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3991&r=sea |
| By: | Michael Grimm |
| Abstract: | In developing countries illness shocks can have a severe impact on household income. Few studies have so fare examined the effects of mortality. The major difference between illness and mortality shocks is that a death of a household member does not only induce direct costs such as medical and funeral costs and possibly a loss in income, but that also the number of consumption units in the household is reduced. Using data for Indonesia, I show that the economic costs related to the death of children and older persons seem to be fully compensated by the decrease of consumption units. In contrast, when prime-age adults die, survivors face additional costs and, in consequence, implement coping strategies. It is shown that these are quite efficient and it seems that in terms of consumption households even overcompensate their loss, although they may face a higher vulnerability in the longer term. The results suggest that the implementation of general formal safety nets can give priority to the insurance of other types of risks, such as unemployment, illness or natural disasters. |
| Keywords: | Mortality, consumption smoothing, risk, micro-model of consumption growth, Indonesia. |
| JEL: | D12 I12 J12 O12 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp611&r=sea |
| By: | Theodore H. Moran |
| Abstract: | How effective are G-8 and OECD efforts to combat bribery and corrupt payments when multinational companies bid on concessions in the developing world? Have the rich countries – and the United States, in particular – done what is necessary to restrain multinational investors from paying off daughters of Presidents and cronies of Ministers to secure favors for their activities? This paper argues that the answer is no. Multinational corporations from the US, Europe, and Japan have devised sophisticated payment mechanisms, as documented and described here, to evade home country anti-corruption laws, including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, with impunity. According to this paper, some US companies have laid these payment arrangements out before the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other US agencies, without arousing any objection whatsoever. Without reforms of the kind spelled out here, the OECD and G-8 campaign to prevent corrupt payments will turn out to be a sham. This working paper provides a preview of research included in a much broader forthcoming CGD monograph entitled Harnessing Foreign Direct Investment for Development: Policies for Developed and Developing Countries. |
| Keywords: | G-8, OECD, corruption, concessions, multinational companies |
| JEL: | E0 O0 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:79&r=sea |
| By: | Todd Moss; Arvind Subramanian |
| Abstract: | There are indications that overseas development assistance budgets will continue to increase in coming years, spurred in part by growing calls for a ‘Big Push’ in aid to the poorest countries. In this paper, we estimate the effect of six proposals on aid intensity ratios for 52 low-income countries. We find that, in the average scenario, at least 35 of these countries would see aid inflows equivalent to more than half of total public expenditure and 17 would cross the 75 percent threshold. We also consider possible negative influences of such increases on the incentives for institutional development, on the accountability of state institutions to their own populations, and on long-term sustainability. |
| Keywords: | overseas development assistance, big push |
| JEL: | O1 F35 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:71&r=sea |
| By: | Martin Shubik |
| Date: | 2006–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levrem:321307000000000299&r=sea |