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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Korhonen, Iikka; Simola, Heli |
| Abstract: | We examine Russian imports since a coalition of countries imposed sanctions on exports to Russia. As Russia no longer publishes detailed statistics on foreign trade, we rely on export data from its largest trading partners (mirror statistics). We are particularly interested in trade diversion, i.e. the extent to which Russian imports have shifted from sanctioning countries to other countries. Our analysis is based on monthly export data and focuses on technology goods (HS codes 84 and 85) utilizing a difference-in-difference approach. Our dataset covers exports to Russia at the HS6-level of disaggregation from 26 sanctioning and 14 non-sanctioning countries during 2018-2023. We find that the exports of sanctioning countries to Russia fell drastically overall, with exports of sanctioned goods declining more than average exports. On the other hand, the export of sanctioned goods to Russia by non-sanctioning countries have risen more than their overall exports, indicating that Russia has managed to replace some goods no longer available from sanctioning countries, but not all of them. |
| Keywords: | Russia, sanctions, foreign trade |
| JEL: | F12 F14 F51 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bofitp:283904&r=tra |
| By: | Vitezslav Titl |
| Abstract: | Approximately 23% of public procurement contracts in the European Union are awarded to the sole firm that submits a bid. The public procurement contracts market constitutes around one-seventh of GDP in developed countries, rendering any inefficiencies on this market a firstorder problem. In this paper, I exploit a unique reform implemented in the Czech Republic that made it impossible to award contracts with only one bid and. Using a difference-indifferences strategy on the dataset of all public procurement contracts, I first show that the reform reduced prices by 10% relative to the estimated costs for single-bid public procurement contracts. Second, I provide evidence that procuring authorities started to provide significantly longer descriptions of procurement contracts and extended the timeframe for firms to prepare their bids. Last, I show that the prices of procurement contracts supplied by politically connected and anonymously owned firms were not reduced after the reform. The main contribution of this paper lies in estimating the savings attributable to the ban on single-bidding in public procurement. |
| Keywords: | Single-bidding, Public procurement, Political connections, Corruption |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:2308&r=tra |
| By: | Devasmita Jena (Corresponding Author, Madras School of Economics (MSE), Chennai); C. Akash (MSE); Prachi Gupta (Temple University, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | Success of economic sanctions hinges on their impact on sanctioned countries’ trade. This, in turn, depends on the sanctioned country’s opportunity to divert trade to a third-party (country, not involved in sanctions). History is witness to third-parties facilitating trade diversion, thus busting sanction. Nonetheless, literature does not present conclusive evidence on trade diversion or on motivation for busting sanctions. Therefore, in this paper, we address the following. What bearing sanctions have on bilateral trade flows and trade diversion? Is diversion dependent on the political and trade alliance the third-party shares with the sanctioned and/or the sanctioning countries? We estimate a structural gravity model for globally representative country-dyads, during 1990-2019, using, inter-alia the Global Sanctions Database. We find that sanctions depress bilateral trade between sanctioned and sanctioning nations and cause trade diversion via third-party. The existence of trade alliance between third-party and country involved in sanction has additional impact on trade diversion. Furthermore, a political alliance between third-party and sanctioned country heightens trade between them. However, political alliance between third-party and sanctioning country doesn’t explain trade between them. Our results have insight for India’s evolving trade relations with Russia, since 2022, as Russia reels under Western sanctions. |
| Keywords: | Sanction, GSDB, Trade Agreement, Political Alliance, Structural Gravity Model |
| JEL: | F1 F14 F51 N4 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2023-248&r=tra |
| By: | Daniele Curzi; Martijn Huysmans; Oliver Ken Haase |
| Abstract: | To stimulate sustainable economic development and a greener economy, the European Commission co-funds public projects through the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which are among the largest such funds in the world worth approximately 100 billion euros annually. Since 2014, ESIF beneficiaries are incentivized to increase their use of green public procurement (GPP). In this paper, we study to what extent ESIF co-funding affects the uptake of GPP, making use of a rare dataset containing all public tender notices in the Czech Republic (2006-2019). We find a positive effect of ESIF on GPP and suggestive evidence that ESIF co-funding instigates selection behaviour by contracting authorities, that allocate their projects and resources to improve their chances of receiving co-funding. Exploiting two policy changes, we show that the ESIF’s effect on GPP is driven by financial incentives and not by ‘greener’ policy objectives. Finally, we study the effect of gained experience with GPP and find that it only increases contracting authorities’ later uptake of GPP to a limited extent. Mainstreaming of GPP calls for a more systemic approach that covers public procurement as a whole, for instance, by making GPP on a national level less voluntary for ESIF eligibility. |
| Keywords: | Geographical Indications, Wine, WTO, Intellectual Property, TRIPS |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:2311&r=tra |
| By: | Fabio Ghironi; Daisoon Kim; G. Kemal Ozhan |
| Abstract: | We study international trade and macroeconomic dynamics triggered by the imposition of sanctions. We begin with a tractable two-country model where Home and Foreign countries have comparative advantages in production of differentiated consumption goods and a commodity (e.g., gas), respectively. Home imposes sanctions on Foreign. Financial sanctions exclude a fraction of Foreign agents from the international bond market. Gas sanctions take the form of a ban on gas trade, equivalent to an appropriate price cap in our model. Differentiated goods trade sanctions exclude a fraction of Foreign and Home exporters from international trade. All sanctions lead to resource reallocation in both economies. Exchange rate movements reflect the direction of reallocation and the type of sanctions imposed rather than the success of the sanctions. Welfare analysis shows that gas sanctions are more costly for Home, while differentiated consumption goods trade sanctions are more costly for Foreign. A third country that refrains from joining the sanctions mitigates welfare losses in Foreign, but refraining from joining the sanctions is beneficial for the third country. These findings highlight the importance and the difficulty of international coordination when imposing sanctions. |
| JEL: | F31 F41 F42 F51 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32188&r=tra |
| By: | Ruben Nicolas; Vitezslav Titl; Fredo Schotanus |
| Abstract: | To stimulate sustainable economic development and a greener economy, the European Commission co-funds public projects through the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which are among the largest such funds in the world worth approximately 100 billion euros annually. Since 2014, ESIF beneficiaries are incentivized to increase their use of green public procurement (GPP). In this paper, we study to what extent ESIF co-funding affects the uptake of GPP, making use of a rare dataset containing all public tender notices in the Czech Republic (2006-2019). We find a positive effect of ESIF on GPP and suggestive evidence that ESIF co-funding instigates selection behaviour by contracting authorities, that allocate their projects and resources to improve their chances of receiving co-funding. Exploiting two policy changes, we show that the ESIF’s effect on GPP is driven by financial incentives and not by ‘greener’ policy objectives. Finally, we study the effect of gained experience with GPP and find that it only increases contracting authorities’ later uptake of GPP to a limited extent. Mainstreaming of GPP calls for a more systemic approach that covers public procurement as a whole, for instance, by making GPP on a national level less voluntary for ESIF eligibility. |
| Keywords: | Green public procurement, EU, co-funding, climate policy, policy evaluation, sustainable development |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:2310&r=tra |
| By: | Bogdan David (Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University of Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | I have deliberately used the archaism “obsolete†to highlight the very expired, outdated and outmoded character of the notion of the crime of influence peddling. Since the crime of influence peddling belongs to the category of corruption crimes, our approach should not be misinterpreted, i.e., in the sense of potentializing this phenomenon that we consider cancerous for a democratic society, but in the sense of updating and progressing Romanian criminal policy relative to this crime. The establishment of a “legislative footprint†, defined as “a comprehensive public register of the influence of lobbyists on a normative act†, would be an effective way to reduce the risk of inappropriate influence and, at the same time, to increase the transparency of the adaptation process of policies within the EU, as revealed in a document issued by Transparency International (Berg and Freund 2015, 4). The present scientific-legal approach is likely to adapt, through a new proposed meaning, the notion of influence peddling crime to the objective reality of current criminal policies and respect for the fundamental freedoms of citizens according to the rules of the European Union and to overcome the obscurity of the elements constitutive of this crime. |
| Keywords: | crime, influence peddling, concept/definition, criminal policy, social reality |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0284&r=tra |
| By: | Nguyen Thi Hai Binh |
| Abstract: | The constant advancement of technology and the rise of social commerce have led to an increase in the inclination among consumers to make impulsive purchases while using social networking sites. It is crucial that researchers and social commerce merchants fully comprehend how the present social commerce environment might be used to manipulate consumers' impulsive buying behavior. So, utilizing the theory of planned behavior and the technology acceptance model, this study intends to analyze the impulsive purchasing behavior of Consumers using social commerce platforms in Vietnam. In response to this, convenience sampling combined with non-probability sampling has been adopted. In order to investigate and clarify the factors influencing user intention, data from 250 consumers were gathered via a questionnaire. These factors included perceptions of ease of use (EU), benefits of social commerce (BE), attitude toward purchasing behavior (AB), subjective norms (SB), control of purchasing behavior (BC), and behavioral intention (IB). The established questionnaire underwent formal validity and content validity checks by the expert panel to assure the validity and dependability of the survey tool. The results point to a variety of favorable influences on parameters that influence impulsive purchasing. |
| Keywords: | social commerce, impulse behavior, consumers |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:283905&r=tra |
| By: | Lia Anton (Manager Iasi TV Life, Romania); Zorina Siscan (Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, Republic of Moldova) |
| Abstract: | One of the powerful driving forces in any business is advertising. Business internationalization contributes to the constitution of the global market of advertising services that also is digitalized. In this article, the authors aim to uncover and explore the contemporary trends in the global market of advertising services, under globalization and digitalization socio-economic megatrends. Methodology and Results: Leaned upon the evolutionary approach to the global market of advertising services, and the analysis of relevant statistical data, the authors have systematized the main trends observed in global advertising services market and provided explanations for these trends. They also have identified and analyzed the particular directions within these general trends. Furthermore, the authors have paid attention to the shifts in global market of advertising services produced by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and offered recommendations which, alongside the outcomes of the article, may help businesses to develop their strategies in line with the revealed and systematized trends and particular directions in order to become more competitive at the contemporary global market of advertising services. In this context a concept of performance advertising has been introduced. |
| Keywords: | Contemporary Trend, Global Market, Advertising Service, Performance Advertising JEL Classification: F0, M3 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0280&r=tra |