Are Environmental Social Movements Socially Exclusive? An Historical Study from Thailand

Environmental social movements in developing countries are often portrayed as democratizing but may contain important social divisions. This paper presents a new methodology to analyze the social composition and underlying political messages of movements. Nearly 5 000 newspaper reports during 1968–2000 in Thailand are analyzed to indicate the participation of middle and lower classes, and their association with “green” (conservationist) and “red-green” (livelihoods-oriented) environmental values. Results show middle-class “green” activism has dominated forests activism, but lower-class “red-green” activism has grown for forests and pollution. Newspapers, however, portray all environmentalism as “democratization,” suggesting that the possible exclusiveness of some environmental norms is unacknowledged.     

How Dutch Teenagers spend their Money**

Adolescents have relatively large sums of money at their disposal; How and on what goods they spend their money is the subject of this paper. An AID system describing the influences of demographic characteristics, pseudo-prices and income on various expenditure categories is estimated. The system is estimated in two steps with the first step explaining zero-expenditures. Income elasticities and pseudo-price elasticities are presented. A comparison is made on the basis of three large data sets, gathered in 1984, 1990, and 1992.     

“Imaginary” or “Real” Moneys of Account in Medieval Europe? An Econometric Analysis of the Basle Pound, 1365–1429

During the Middle Ages, the medium of exchange function of money was separate from the unit of account function. This has given rise to the misconception that the medieval pound was an “abstract” or “imaginary” unit of account whose purchasing power was independent of that of gold and silver coins. The joint behavior of the pound price of gold, the pound price of silver, and the silver–gold ratio in Basle between 1365 and 1429 cannot be reconciled with the notion that nominal values were autonomous. Instead, the monetary system was based on a silver standard, supplemented by gold coins whose money of account values were determined by this silver standard.     

Housing demand in Shanghai: A discrete choice approach

In this study we apply a random utility modeling framework to analyze housing demand in the city of Shanghai. A Multinomial Logit Model taking account of latent choice sets is employed to investigate the impact of household characteristics, such as income, size and age composition, on the choice of dwelling, specified by location, size and unit price. In addition to the price and income effects on housing demand, the model identifies a quality indicator for dwelling attributes, which can be interpreted as the mean attractiveness in a money metric measure.The data used in this study are cross-sectional survey data. The estimated model is used to calculate demand elasticities and demand probabilities, for selected groups of households and types of dwellings. Among the results can be noted that the price–income ratios, the age composition and size of household are all important determinants of the demand. The impact of income distribution on housing demand is also studied.     

The Washington Consensus: A post-mortem

After guiding development policies for nearly 20 years, the “Washington Consensus” lies in shambles. Although selected components remain relevant for development policies around the world, some specifics of the broader policy “package” and, more generally, the concept of a standardized package of policies applicable to all developing countries has clearly been discredited.Criticism has been directed at the assumed link from economic liberalization of international trade and financial flows to more rapid economic growth. Apart from a handful of developing countries, admittedly including some large and important ones, most of the world saw little of the promised economic benefit from widespread and on-going trade and financial liberalization, initially. Many countries actually regressed, when evaluated against broader socio-economic development goals, including income inequality. We conclude that differences in initial conditions (history, culture, geography and levels of industrial and institutional development) preclude any single development policy package from being universally effective.     

Statistical analysis of corruption data and using the Internet to reduce corruption

Corruption is a serious problem in Asia and elsewhere. The Harrison and Vinod (1992) confidence interval for the marginal excess burden (MEB) of taxation is used to estimates the economic harm arising from corruption. One dollar of corruption is estimated to impose a burden of $1.67, which becomes very large when compounded over time. After a brief review of economic theory, this paper uses data on sixteen socio-economic and political variables. A cross-sectional study reveals the relevance of “red tape” and “efficiency of judiciary.” A subset regression using Mallows’ Cp and Akaike information criteria reveals relevance of schooling and income inequality. International aid and cooperation in exposing and fighting corruption and innovative uses of the Internet for information exchange are claimed to be hopeful new tools to fight corruption in the new century.     

Household Production of Health Investment: Analysis and Applications

Michael Grossman's health investment model provides significant insights into allocations between both leisure and income and health and nonhealth goods. Our geometric extension (i) integrates labor-leisure choice with the consumer's production of both health and nonhealth goods and (ii) distinguishes between medical expenditures and healthcare investment. This provides a framework for examining the effects of changes in incomes and wages, alternative insurance arrangements (including managed care), travel times, waiting times, and schooling. Observed differences between the income elasticities for health goods and health investment can be resolved through relative resource intensities in the production of health and nonhealth goods.     

On labor incentives and work norm in Japanese firms

In this paper, we argue that social/corporate norms play an important role in achieving higher productivity and better economic welfare. We define “social norm” to be a standard of behavior suggested by a social custom, i.e., a customary choice of actions in each social situation. We reinterpret the well-known Nash equilibrium as a “norm equilibrium.” A norm equilibrium is a stable social norm, stable in the sense that there is no incentive to deviate from the behavior suggested by the prevailing social norm. This interpretation requires less information than the traditional interpretation. Moreover, we need not be concerned with the problem of refinement because it is the social norm itself which refines the equilibria. We apply this concept to the labor market. The key assumption is that the level of an individual worker's effort is private information known to workers as a whole; i.e., all workers' efforts are known to their fellow workers as well as to the workers themselves. We show that different work norms may emerge in different corporations at an equilibrium. In “prestigious” firms cooperation is the prevailing work norm, while in “nonprestigious” firms noncooperation is the norm. Thus, the efficiency wage hypothesis holds without the existence of unemployment. Some implications of this interpretation for the Japanese labor markets are discussed.     

Invoicing currency and the optimal basket peg for East Asia: Analysis using a new open economy macroeconomic model

An important characteristic of trade in Asia is that the US dollar is the dominant invoicing currency. This fact might have a consequence on the region's choice of the currency regime. To investigate this possibility, I develop a three country “new open economy macroeconomics” model that consists of East Asia, Japan, and the US. Assuming that East Asia pegs its currency to a basket of the other two's currencies, the optimal basket weights are derived numerically. It is shown that the weights under a realistic invoicing pattern are drastically different from those in the textbook case of “producer currency pricing.” J. Japanese Int. Economies 20 (4) (2006) 569–589.     

Outsourcing the State? Public–Private Partnerships and Information Technologies in India

This paper examines public–private partnerships (PPPs) for development through the example of telecenters in two Indian states. How might a developmental state position itself with respect to civil society under a PPP model of service delivery? We find that each state’s political economy is reflected in its PPP strategy, but that in both states the emerging middle classes rather than the poor benefit most from ongoing telecenter projects. Outsourcing development services to private entities need not “privatize” the state but does alter the way in which citizens “see” the state. Service delivery through telecenters becomes a symbol of government efficiency and responsiveness.     

The relation between real cash balances and physical inputs in South Korea's manufacturing sector

This study investigates the role of real cash balances and primary inputs in the production process of an average firm in a newly industrializing country, South Korea, for 1968–1983. It is hypothesized that real balances and capital in the modern sector of industrializing countries are substitutes akin to those of the developed countries; whereas in the traditional sector the two inputs are complements similar to those of the less developed countries. Using the translog cost function approach the hypothesis is verified for South Korea. The results also shed some light on the “Korean miracle” of growth along with implications for income redistribution.     

Market supplanting versus market fostering interventions: China, East Asia and other developing countries

The paper investigates the relationship between growth and different types of government intervention by distinguishing “market supplanting” regimes from “market fostering” interventions. A lesson from the East Asian miracle was not that governments necessarily intervened less, but they intervened efficiently in a relatively transparent and flexible way that kept overall distortions in check. China's reforms can be considered a transition from a “market supplanting” regime where market signals are distorted over long periods, to “market fostering” interventions in which government acts like a gardener. Alternative measures of government interventions were used to construct two composite policy indexes. Preliminary analysis suggests that “market fostering” interventions seem to have facilitated growth in productivity, although the result is inconclusive due to data limitations. Compared with the East Asian NIEs, China still has a long way to go in reforming the role of government in the economy.     

Human Development and Economic Sustainability

This paper attempts to integrate the concern for human development in the present with that in the future. In arguing for sustainable human development, it appeals to the notion of ethical “universalism”—an elementary demand for impartiality of claims—applied within and between generations. Economic sustainability is often seen as a matter of intergenerational equity, but the specification of what is to be sustained is not always straightforward. The addendum explores the relationship between distributional equity, sustainable development, optimal growth, and pure time preference.     

Europe and East Asia in the context of regionalization: Theory and economic policy

Much academic interest has recently centered on economic regionalism as a framework of international economic relations. The European Community (EC) has been a focal point. Other regional economic organizations (APEC, NAFTA), have been subjects of debate.This paper discusses three principal arguments: (1) the “natural”/“optimal” regional grouping, (2) transaction cost advantage in a regional model, and (3) the balancing of intraregional and extra-regional economies. Indeed, the argument is most certainly for an international regime of an “open,” not a “fortress” economic regionalism.This paper examines the subject relative to economic theory and policy.     

From New Order to Regional Autonomy: Shifting Dynamics of “Illegal” Logging in Kalimantan, Indonesia

In recent years there has been a tendency to view the seemingly irremediable spread of “illegal” logging in Indonesia in isolation, or as a result of disassociated and premeditated criminal acts. This paper proposes a different view of the problem by discussing the changing dynamics of the “illegal” logging sector in the two districts of Berau, East Kalimantan and Kotawaringin Timur, Central Kalimantan. It suggests that “illegal” logging is not a simple case of criminality, but a complex economic and political system involving multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, “illegal” logging is not a stationary condition that can be effectively dealt with through coercive or repressive measures alone. Rather, it should be viewed as a dynamic and changing system deeply engrained in the realities of rural life in Indonesia. Regional autonomy has also created a supportive environment for the “illegal” logging trade and allowed it to gain resilience.     

农村公共物品需求偏好显示机制设计分析

由于人民公社时期农村公共物品制度外供给体制在以后的发展变迁中得到了延续和继承，使现行农村公共物品供给面临着结构性矛盾，而摆脱困境的帕累托最优选择是根据农民的需求意愿或偏好供给农村公共物品。文章在公共物品需求偏好显示扭曲机理及相关机制设计述评的基础上，提出了基于公共选择理论的农村公共物品需求偏好的民主表达机制。     

IMF conditionality: Conceptual problems and policy alternatives

This paper argues that the main issue damaging relations between developing countries and the International Monetary Fund is the latter's position that external disequilibria are always a consequence of excess aggregate domestic demand, caused by excessive credit expansion. As a result, Fund sponsored stabilization programs center on demand contraction through a credit crunch and may establish stricter domestic performance criteria than necessary to attain the balance-of-payments objectives. The author suggests that the IMF establish a two-tier conditionality system, which he calls the “hands-off” approach, with one tier composed exclusively of balance-of-payments or foreign exchange denominated variables, and the other of domestic currency denominated variables. The two-tier system would allow more flexibility in compliance assessment and might reduce substantially the number of breakdowns of Fund programs.A revised “hands-on” approach for the Fund is also suggested. The author critiques the recessive biases of the currently used financial analytical exercises and makes specific proposals to introduce “growth exercises” to establish the foreign credit requirements of a growth-oriented stabilization program and thus to introduce performance criteria for creditor countries and banks — a form of “reciprocal conditionality.”     

Expenditure patterns and elasticities of rural households sampled in two communal areas of KwaZulu-Natal

Expenditure patterns among a sample of 99 rural households in two communal districts in KwaZulu-Natal were investigated to determine the potential impact of a widespread income shock on household expenditure. The results showed expenditure elasticities of close to unity for food. Low elasticities were found for staple foods. Elasticities for meat, meat products and poultry were close to unity, while horticultural products showed the greatest potential for demand growth within the food category. Of the statistically significant commodity categories, expenditure elasticities for durables, housing and transport were more than double those estimated for the aggregate food category. For consumer items, the district expenditure elasticities were estimated to be 0,76 and 0,71, while expenditure on social obligations would not increase with rural incomes. Wealthier households (the top expenditure decile) have a greater propensity for increased expenditure on transport, while poorer households show a greater propensity for increased expenditure on housing and durables. Although agriculture has the potential to generate widespread growth in rural incomes, the preference for manufactured goods casts some doubt on the strength of consumption multipliers for locally produced farm and non-farm goods in rural KwaZulu-Natal.     

Wage comparison by gender and the effect of job segregation: The case of Taiwan

This paper examines the wage differential between the genders in a newly industrialized economy-Taiwan. The objective is to verify the existence and magnitude of the Taiwanese wage differential (or discrimination as some would term it) and contrast it with findings in the United States.The gender gap was estimated for the private sector and the public sector respectively. It was found that wage discrimination against females does exist. The magnitude of the “discrimination” falls within the same range as the empirical estimates for the U.S. In Taiwan, however, the wage discrimination appeared to be slightly more severe in the public sector.A measure for the discriminatory effects of the “occupational segregation” was proposed and implemented. Contrary to common belief, the “occupational segregation” was not an important factor in wage discrimination. Nor did the disparity of jobs distribution in terms of “industry” generate any significant level of wage discrimination. The main source of gender discrimination (in terms of wage rates) came from the lower returns to the “productivity” characteristics (experience, education, tenure, etc.) and not from seemingly popular hypotheses of occupational segregation (or, in more general terms, job segregation). This is in sharp contrast to previous studies.