Inter-state Competition,Land Conflicts and Resistance in India

Literature on fiscal federalism has long debated whether inter-jurisdictional competition between subnational units encourages a “race to the bottom”, with competition to attract mobile capital leading to lower taxation and expenditure, and, consequently, the under-provision of public goods. The principal concerns of this literature have been taxation and expenditure, but the ability of state governments to acquire land for industry is also critical in the context of subnational competition. In this article, the authors ask how Indian state governments resolve the tensions arising from their dual role as both wooer and regulator of capital, as they simultaneously facilitate land acquisition and engage with movements that challenge it. The authors demonstrate that there is no simple “race to the bottom”. Inter-state competition has not produced a simple equation in favour of capital and a side-lining of the concerns of those displaced. Subnational approaches to land acquisition must be understood within local political, social and economic contexts.     

Changes in Malaysia: Capital controls,prime ministers and political connections

During the 1997 Asian currency crisis and resulting imposition of capital controls in Malaysia, evidence from previous studies shows that firms with political connections suffered more during the crisis but benefited more when capital controls were introduced. In the period since then, the evidence shows financial firms with political connections have not performed as well as others since the measures set up to support them have been removed. The study period not only includes the relaxation of capital controls, but also the resignation of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad as prime minister and the handover of control to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.     

Contextualizing Voice and Stakeholders: Researching Employment Relations,Immigration and Trade Unions

This article aims to outline some of the ways in which issues of migration and employment relations have been studied in the European context, cross referencing recent interventions in the USA. The argument is a discussion of some of the different dimensions of migration and the way debates within Industrial Relations have been shaped. More specifically, the article will look at the way trade unions have made the ethical turn towards questions of migration and equality. The article will observe the way these issues have been academically framed and the manner in which the ‘problem’ of migration is conceptualized. It will attempt to provide a framework for discussing the way we have been analysing these issues and the ethical dimensions of these discussions. The relevance of the article is that institutionally responding to migration is not solely a question of adjusting employment relations or Industrial Relations institutions to various ‘new’ constituencies. The article will show that the topic raises issues as to how we actually understand what the study of employment and especially Industrial Relations are. The article also argues that there is a growing need for researchers to be aware of ethical issues when studying in the area of migration, and to be sensitive to competing voices and methodologies in this area. In particular we need approaches that are multidimensional and that emphasize the history and context of change in social constituencies, the new mechanisms of representation within communities, the role of the political in terms of discourses and resources, and the broad play and spaces of regulation and social policy.     

THE IMPACT OF POINT‐OF‐SALE DATA INACCURACY AND INVENTORY RECORD DATA ERRORS

The presence or absence of error in point‐of‐sale (POS) data and inventory system records directly affects retailer performance. This study identifies various error sources in retail supply chains and studies the influence of inventory and POS (demand) errors in a simulated retail outlet according to fill rate and average inventory. Other things being equal, we find that inventory record error reduces fill rate more than demand error. This study adds further evidence to other studies that suggest the costs caused by errors in POS systems may be overstated.     

Divas of the Wassoulou Sound: Transformations in the Matrix of Cultural Production,Globalization, and Identity

This paper examines the role of popular music performance in a context of urban change, globalization, and gender. Through an in-depth examination of the Malian music style Wassoulou and its reigning star Oumou Sangaré, issues of gender, interpretation, and cultural production are discussed. Ethnographic data presented indicate that wassoulou performance provides much needed space for Malian youth to negotiate changing notions of identity and community without openly challenging the status quo of women and youth in traditional Mande social hierarchy. These new identities convey multiple and sometimes paradoxical symbolic meaning for Malian and world-music listeners. Viewing vocal performance in Mali as a verbal mode of communication and social display, wassoulou divas are particularly excellent sites for the study of emergent identities in the context of globalization.     

Global Heritage and Local Problems: Some Examples from Indonesia

This article examines what happens to those who live in and around monuments as a result of World Heritage designation. Using the examples of Borobudur and Prambanan in Indonesia as study sites, it is argued that the values that local people attach to heritage are often different from, although not necessarily less important than, the values ascribed by international agencies, government officials, tourism developers and others. However, their perspectives are often not adequately represented or respected by other participants in the planning and management of sites, to the detriment of both the plans and the people. The tendency to adopt top-down, rational comprehensive planning procedures has resulted in the disenfranchisement of local people, giving greater prominence to expressions of national, 'official' culture and nationalism at the expense of local culture. It has tended to freeze sites and displace human activities, effectively excluding local people from their own heritage.     

Book Reviews

Ian Chalmers and Vedi R. Hadiz (eds) (1997), The Politics of Economic Development in Indonesia, Routledge, London, pp. xxx + 269. A$155.00.

Geoff Forrester (ed.) (1999), Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Renewal or Chaos? Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and KITLV Press, Leiden, pp. 373. Cloth: S$49.90/US$32.90; paper: S$29.95/US$19.95/A$29.95.

Corden, Max (1999), The Asian Crisis: Is There a Way Out?, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 82. S$19.90/US$12.90.

Karl D. Jackson (ed.) (1999), Asian Contagion: The Causes and Consequences of a Financial Crisis, Westview Press, Boulder CO, pp. xvi + 312. Cloth: US$75.00; Paper: US$30.00.

H.W. Arndt and Hal Hill (1999), Southeast Asia's Economic Crisis: Origins, Lessons and the Way Forward, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 192. Cloth: S$66.90/US$44.90; paper: S$28.00/US$17.90/A$29.95.

Manuel F. Montes (1998), The Currency Crisis in Southeast Asia: Update, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. xl + 62. Cloth: S$36.00 /US$24.00; paper: S$25.90/US$17.90.     

Leaders,laggards, and the pursuit of foreign knowledge

This paper analyzes how firms in different technological and market share positions use foreign R&D to augment their technological capabilities. Technology transfer issues and absorptive capacity arguments are examined to analyze the different technological capabilities of leading and lagging firms. In addition, a new strategic rationale (in terms of non‐dominant market share firms) that has not been considered in prior studies analyzing knowledge‐seeking FDI is offered. From a panel dataset which includes information on all foreign R&D investments made by publicly traded Japanese manufacturing firms (from 1974 to 1994), I show that Japanese firms investing in foreign R&D tend to be the non‐dominant market share firms, but also the technologically leading firms across fairly diverse industries. By considering both the technological and market share positions of firms, this study reveals important characteristics that influence when firms use foreign R&D as part of a strategy to augment their technological capabilities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of telephone and satellite earth station installations on GDP : A model for rural areas of LDCs

Presents a method for estimating the impact on national development of installation of telecommunication facilities in rural areas of developing countries. A methodology developed by Hardy is applied to three groups of developing countries and a hypothetical rural region to estimate the impact on GDP per thin route satellite earth station installed over a ten year period. A logarithmic relationship between telephone density and impact on GDP per earth station is found, so that the impact per earth station increases with lower telephone densities. The model can be used to estimate the impact on national GDP of telephone installations and/or thin route earth stations in regions of low telephone density.