Dissemination of Consumer Law and Policy in Brazil: The Impact of EU Law

Journal of Consumer Policy - This paper analyses the influence of European Law on Brazilian Consumer Law. It starts by describing the general features of Brazilian Consumer Protection law,...     

Consumer Independence,Vulnerability and Public Policy: The Case of Free Matter for the Blind

Legislation limiting access to advertising may inadvertently limit consumers from independently making consumption decisions. This article addresses the possibility that legislation limiting access to information may inadvertently create vulnerability for the consumers it is meant to protect. A specific public policy outlining the Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped program is discussed.     

The Asymmetric Effects of Macroeconomic Performance on Happiness: Evidence for the EU

An analysis of data from the Eurobarometer finds evidence of the asymmetric effects of macroeconomic performance on happiness. The evidence reveals that the negative effect of an economic recession on happiness can be at least twice the positive effect of economic growth. In short, a single year of recession can undo the happiness gains from years of economic growth. Moreover, while this evidence focuses on a short-run asymmetry, it nonetheless supports the Easterlin paradox of a nil relationship between macroeconomic performance and happiness. The evidence indicates that stable rather than rapid economic growth is a more sensible target for policymakers, because macroeconomic stability can lead to conditions that allow the pursuit of happiness and thus secure greater well-being.     

论欧盟对外贸易政策的保护性

欧盟在整个一体化的过程中积极参与多边自由贸易谈判,对第三国的关税水平不断降低,因此,人们对于其对外贸易开放程度的期望一直是很大的。但本文通过对欧盟对外贸易政策几个方面的分析认为,与非贸易集团的国家相比,欧盟实际上并未降低其对外贸易的保护程度。     

The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement: Relevance,Content and Policy Implications

On 6 July 2017, after four years of negotiation, the EU reached an agreement with Japan over the main elements of a comprehensive free trade agreement. The breakthrough came at a time when progress on multilateral trade negotiations at the global level seemed out of reach and EU bilateral trade agreements faced strong public opposition. This paper examines the content of the new agreement with a view to global trade dynamics and assesses its main trade policy implications.     

EU After COVID-19: An Opportunity for Policy Coordination

Intereconomics - Despite all the difficulties inherent to our political organisation, the European Union has taken a bold step by doubling the EU budget for the next six years with the NGEU fund.     

Enlargement and the EU Periphery: The Impact of Changing Market Potential

We study the impact of changing relative market access in an enlarged EU on the economies of incumbent Objective 1 regions. First, we track the impact of external opening on internal spatial configurations in a three‐region economic geography model. External opening gives rise to potentially offsetting economic forces, but for most parameter configurations it is found to raise the locational attractiveness of the region that is close to the external market. Then, we explore the relation between market access and economic activity empirically. We simulate the impact of enlargement on EU Objective 1 regions. Predicted market‐access‐induced gains in regional GDP and manufacturing employment are up to seven times larger in regions proximate to the new accession countries than in ‘interior’ EU regions. We also find that a future Balkans enlargement could be particularly effective in reducing economic inequalities among the EU periphery, due to the positive impact on relative market access of Greek regions.     

The economics of subsidies for R&D: Implications for reform of EU state aid rules

The primary aim of the reform of EU rules on research, development and innovation for the period 2014–20 is to ensure that aid stimulates more research and that it is kept to the minimum necessary. This paper develops a simple model that identifies a number of problems in the public funding of private research and demonstrates that the determination of the optimum subsidy for research is a complex task. The results suggest that research subsidies should be allocated in a way that reduces the amount of subsidy per recipient firm and ensures that the subsidies go to more efficient firms.     

Models of Consumer Bankruptcy: Implications for Research and Policy

The author explores three models of individual bankruptcy law which might provide some guidance for analysing policy and for posing further research questions in relation to bankruptcy as a legal and social institution. The models are: (1) Bankruptcy law as a response to deviant behaviour; (2) Bankruptcy as consumer protection; (3) Bankruptcy as social welfare law. Some tentative thoughts are also offered on the comparative analysis of consumer bankruptcy as a focus for understanding relationships between legal and social norms.     

EU/ACP Economic Partnership Agreements: Impact, Options and Prerequisites

The EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) are presently renegotiating their trade relations. Behind these negotiations are the fundamental conflict between the existing arrangement and multilateral trade rules, the frustration regarding poor ACP trade performance, the ineffectiveness of trade and trade-related ACP policies, and the inefficiency of corresponding EU assistance. This article highlights the fundamentals of the envisaged Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the ACP countries, sums up previous estimates of their probable economic impact, discusses policy options for ACP countries and sheds light on basic prerequisites, particularly on institutional conditions, that should be fulfilled to ensure the success of EPAs.     

Monetary Policy: The Implications of Capacity Constraints and J-Curve Effects

We present a stylized model to analyse the short- and long-run effects of monetary policy on international debt and competitiveness. The features of this non-linear model include both currency and asset substitution in a two-country framework, paying special attention to the dynamics of international debt. We find, in contrast to conventional wisdom, that, in addition to raising competitiveness and reducing debt, a monetary contraction can generate inflation in the presence of capacity constraints. Furthermore, if the inflation effect is sufficiently strong, there may be adverse short-run responses. The policy analysis explicitly considers the short-run dynamics of competitiveness, debt, prices and trade. We find there is a second J-curve effect which only occurs when the standard J-curve effect is present together with capacity constraints. The existence of cyclical short-run behaviour presents a warning to policy-makers when assessing the progress towards target equilibrium to bear in mind that adverse short-run movements may be consistent with the long-run desired aim (i.e. there may be initial movements in the “wrong” direction which are consistent with the “expected” long-run outcome).     

The New Political Economy of EU State Aid Policy

Despite its importance and singularity, the EU’s state aid policy has attracted less scholarly attention than other elements of EU competition policy. Introducing the themes addressed by the special issue, this article briefly reviews the development of EU policy and highlights why the control of state aid matters. The Commission’s response to the current economic crisis notably in banking and the car industry is a key concern, but the interests of the special issue go far beyond. They include: the role of the European Commission in the development of EU policy, the politics of state aid, and a clash between models of capitalism. The special issue also examines the impact of EU policy. It investigates how EU state aid decisions affect not only industrial policy at the national level (and therefore at the EU level), but the welfare state and territorial relations within federal member states, the external implications of EU action and the strategies pursued by the Commission to limit any potential disadvantage to European firms, and the conflict between the EU’s expanding legal order and national.     

欧盟航空排放与澳碳关税

通过提高碳排放价格、激励低碳能源技术(如太阳能和风能)开发,公共政策能够有效减缓气候变化。2011年全球有两项重大的气候变化政策接近执行。欧盟航空排放政策根据2012年1月1日生效的欧盟航空排放政策,在欧盟境内起降的航班需根据欧盟排放权交易计划购买碳配额。该政策规定了排放上限,将排放额减到上限以下的航空公司将无须支付任何费用。如果欧盟以外的国家能够证明自身正在采取同等措施减少航空公司的碳排放量,其应付费用也可减少。这项政策遭到一些国家的反     

欧盟东扩在环境领域的影响及我国出口企业的对策

欧盟第5次扩张正在紧锣密鼓地进行当中。欧盟东扩使成员国和申请国将在环境领域实现政策的整合,环境法规和标准的统一势必对我国企业对欧扩大出口产生影响。在开展对欧贸易时如何趋利避害,减少绿色贸易壁垒对我国出口的冲击是当前我国企业面临的一个重要问题。     

日美贸易战与中美贸易战对中日双方的影响

2018年3月发生的中美贸易战持续升温,与20世纪80至90年代出现的日美贸易战极为相似,本文根据日美贸易战的历史,对现有文献进行梳理与归纳,对比分析了当今中美贸易战的形成原因与导致的结果,以及未来应对中美贸易战的策略。同时也对现已进行的研究做一个补充,对于我们更深刻的认识贸易战,应对贸易战,都有着重要的意义。     

标准对国际贸易影响效应的研究及政策借鉴

随着科学技术的发展和经济全球化进程的加快,标准对国际贸易的影响效应越来越显著。文章搜集了不同研究对象国家1996～2005年超过的60个产业的标准和国际贸易数据,建立面板数据回归模型并进行多元回归分析,得出标准对在发展中国家与发达国家之间以及发达国家之间的国际贸易的影响效应及其影响机制。在此基础上提出制定国家标准化工作中长期战略、参与国际标准化组织和国际标准的制定工作、有针对性地开展国家标准化工作等方面对我国标准化活动的政策建议。     

价格战对企业的影响：理论与实证分析

价格战是一把＂双刃剑＂,能有效提高企业市场占有率、扩大产品知名度,但运用不当会给企业带来很多负面影响。奥克斯集团的成功在于对价格战的深刻理解和灵活运用,即价格战不是企业成功的长久之策,技术创新和品牌等核心竞争力才是企业持续发展的源泉,只有具备核心竞争力的企业才能在价格竞争中取得最后的胜利。     

Regional Policy in the Americas: The EU Experience as a Guide for North-South Integration?

After ten years the negotiations on the largest free trade agreement to date, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which is to include 34 countries, have still not resulted in an agreement. What can the countries involved learn, both positive and negative, from the experiences of the EU with regional policy?

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The author would like to thank Herman Hoen and J?rg Noll for their comments on an earlier version of this article.