Financing the global environment

The international coordination of environmental protection is particularly difficult with regard to developing countries. How can the industrialized countries be persuaded that financial compensation to the developing countries is economically justified? How can external support for the developing countries be organized so that the incentives for environmental protection are strengthened effectively?     

The drugs economy and anti-drug policy in developing countries

The drugs economy has now developed into a major factor in many developing countries. What effects on the economies of the countries concerned do drugs production and the drugs trade have? How should the prospects of success for substitution policies be judged? What strategy to curb the demand for drugs in the industrial countries might carry the promise of success?     

油气勘探及开发工程专业学生毕业设计工作的改革探析

目前，高校油气勘探及开发工程专业学生毕业设计工作存在着毕业设计指导难度大、毕业设计不能充分反映当前石油企业发展的新要求等问题，需对该专业学生毕业设计工作进行改革创新。成都理工大学能源学院就结合实际情况，提出了两步走的毕业设计教学新模式，使产、学、研相结合，学生在知识、能力和素质等方面都得到了明显的提高。     

The economic system and economic development

An increasing number of voices have recently been claiming that an economic system based more strongly on the market should be introduced in Third World countries for reasons of efficiency. What conditions need to be met in the developing countries for this to be possible? What specific measures should be taken?     

The future of cooperation between the EU and ACP countries

Something over 20 years after the first Lomé Agreement came into force, most of the ACP countries are still among the poorest in the world. Why have these countries' situations not improved despite the Agreements? Why has their share of total EC imports from developing countries fallen in spite of the tariff preferences they are granted? What conclusions ought to be drawn for future cooperation between the EC and ACP countries?     

The advantages of a small European Monetary Union

The question whether European Monetary Union should include all the EC countries from the start or should initially be limited to a few core countries is again being discussed more intensely. What advantages would a small EMU have from an economic point of view? Which countries should be its founder members?     

Export externalities and economic growth

Feder formulated the first model with an explicit mechanism connecting international trade and economic growth. We present new econometric estimates of this unique model for 30 developing countries studied by Feder. We replicate Feder's 1964?–?73 cross-section estimates for 1974?–?83 and 1984?–?93 and find that the export variables lose significance and that the model has less explanatory power overall. We also try to improve on time-series estimates by Ram and find that the coefficient of Feder's total factor productivity differential in favour of the export sector was positive and significant for 18 of the 30 countries. The export externality coefficient proved to be positive and significant in 13 countries although significant multicollinearity occurs in the regressions for eight of the 13. Comparisons of the results among countries suggest that the impact of exports on growth depends on population size, trade orientation, and the importance of manufacturing.     

What Can We Learn from the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Ethics

In November, 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines legislation which had a dramatic impact on corporate America. Can the Guidelines be used as a model or framework by other countries? Could other countries in the world benefit from adopting a similar piece of legislation? Are there any limitations to consider? In addressing these issues, the authors make the argument that the time has arrived for other countries to consider the development of legislation similar to the Guidelines in order to improve organizational ethics.     

International Enterprises and Trade Unions

A “shipping war” has broken out between two friendly neighbouring countries: Estonia (a rather poor land; liberated of Soviet occupation in 1991), and Finland (a wealthy one; independent since 1918). Led by their trade union the Finnish dockers boycott Estonian ships demanding for Estonian sailors the salary in the same range as that is in wealthy West-European countries. Estonian Sailors' Union finds that such a war is not for their better work-conditions but against their working possibilities: the cheap labour force is the only possibility for a poor country to entice foreign investments in it. No matter how the “shipping war” will be solved – the problem will remain. This is the problem of two opposites – cheap labour force of poor countries and expensive one of wealthy countries –, and international enterprises standing between them. Could such an enterprise survive without using the cheap labour force? And if it could, how could the poor countries survive then? Could there be found a clear unambiguous ethical solution? What ought to be the role of trade unions in such international business conflicts?     

Options in foreign economic relations for Central and Eastern Europe

Following the collapse of the CMEA, the foreign trade of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe declined drastically with dire consequences for output, incomes and employment in these countries. What options do the former CMEA members have for revitalizing their foreign trade? What impediments will have to be surmounted in each case?     

Unido III—A preview

The Third UN Conference for Industrial Development (UNIDO III) will be held in New Delhi on January 21-February 8, 1980. Which demands will the developing countries address to the industrial countries on this occasion? And what are the chances of these demands being met?     

Western European integration and Eastern European transformation

The process of EU integration has intensified in the 1980s and early 1990s. The desire of a number of central and eastern European countries to join the EU is often seen as a threat to the continuation of this process. How wide should the radius of EU enlargement be? Which forms of integration would be appropriate between the EU and different subsets of ex-CMEA countries?     

Climate policy challenges after the Kyoto Protocol enters into force

The Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can finally come into force now that Russia has signed it. What has been the trend of emissions in the individual industrial countries in recent years? What options do the countries have? What EU strategy should be chosen for the coming negotiations on the climate regime after 2012?     

The non-oil developing countries and OPEC: Coalition or conflict?

For a time in the mid-1970s, “Third World solidarity” was at its zenith and the prospect of a new international economic order appeared to be within reach. But by the Cancun Summit in 1981 the schism between the oil exporting developing countries and the non-oil exporting developing countries had become apparent. What are the determinants of relationships between these two groups of countries? What are the prospects for the second half of the 1980s?     

The efficiency reducing effects of official development aid

Despite considerable disbursements of official development aid the average annual per capita income in developing countries has increased only slightly. The prosperity gap between these countries and the industrialised nations has widened. In many cases the least degree of progress has been made in those countries receiving most support in proportion to their national income. Has the channelling of vast sums of official development aid turned out to be a failure? Or has it indeed hindered the development it set out to achieve?     

Differing degrees of labour market regulation in Europe

The high density of labour market regulations is often quoted as an explanation for the unfavourable employment trends in most European countries compared to other nations. These regulations vary considerably from country to country, however. Which are the most important areas of regulation? How is the regulation of the German labour market to be judged compared to that of other European countries?     

European integration: West and East

The EC internal market is to be completed by the end of 1992, the creation of a European Economic Space comprising the 18 countries of the EC and EFTA is underway, and the countries of Eastern Europe, above all the USSR, are talking more and more about a “European house” from the Urals to the Atlantic. How much progress has in fact been made so far in this direction? What are the main obstacles, and what developments are to be expected in the medium term?     

Soviet natural gas — A threat to Western Europe’s security?

The gas-pipeline deal planned between the Soviet Union and several Western European countries has met with objections from the US government, which fears that Western Europe could be politically blackmailed as a result of its increasing dependence on energy supplies from the USSR. Are these fears justified? Are there any realistic alternatives open to the countries concerned?     

The Soviet Union’s attitude

The Soviet Union will not be represented at the North-South Summit in Cancún, even though both the developing countries and the Western industrialised countries would have liked to see it participate in the talks on solving the problem of underdevelopment. What are the USSR’s reasons for its negative attitude? Are there any prospects of involving the Soviet Union and its CMEA partners in joint development cooperation?     

The social dimension and cohesion: Complementary or contradictory?

It is again being argued that the low labour costs and social standards in countries on the periphery of the EC—Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain—jeopardise employment in the northern EC countries and the social safety net they have constructed. A common social policy harmonising employment and social standards to safeguard the social status quo is therefore being advocated. How valid is this argument? What consequences would the implementation of such a “social action programme” have for the economies on the periphery? How are the Community’s objectives with regard to cohesion and social policy to be reconciled?