Technology,education, and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines whether telecommunications infrastructure promotes economic growth in countries with better access to education compared to those with less access. Using a panel of 45 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1993 to 2015, the results using the fixed-effects, two-step feasible efficient generalized method of moments estimator indicate that in countries with better access to education, the Internet contributes to economic growth, while mobile phones do not seem to do so. These results suggest that while education is regarded as pivotal for the Internet, it seems to be irrelevant for mobile phone usage.     

Self-appraisal,life goals,and national culture: An asian-western comparison

Positive leniency in self-appraisal was studied for its cross-cultural properties in three Asian and three Western countries. Nine hundred and eighty-three mid-level bank managers were surveyed by indigenous field workers to measure self-appraisal, life goals, and other demographic variables. Positive leniency was found in the three Western countries but not in the three Asian countries while controlling for size and type of organisation, managerial level and several demographics including sex, age, education and religious preference. Our measure of self-appraisal also served as a measure of organisational success. The relationship between success and work motivation was then examined for its cross-cultural properties. Organisational success and work motivation correlated across the six countries although the intensity of work motivation varied. The importance of work and of family were highly valued in all six countries as well.     

Commodity prices, trade, and poverty in Uruguay

The 2006-2008 food price spike raised concerns about the impact of high commodity prices on poverty in developing countries. This paper addresses these concerns in relation to Uruguay, a small country that exports agricultural commodities and imports fuels. Applying a general equilibrium model, we find that, as a whole, an increase in commodity prices has a positive effect on the economy of Uruguay. Benefits obtained through a growth in export activities are partially outweighed by an increase in crude oil prices. In this context, extreme poverty increases. As in other countries, the increase in food prices affects the already poor population, who become even poorer. This fact highlights the need for policies that mitigate the negative effects of price shocks.     

Food policy reforms for sustainable agricultural development in Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan

Given the present conditions of demographic growth and the complicated transition toward market economies in Central Asia, the problems of food security and designing policies to achieve it without compromising economic growth are at the forefront of policy agendas in these countries. This paper reviews food policy reforms in Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan in the context of sustainable agricultural development. Analyzing the trends in the agricultural sector during the transition period, it identifies the major impacts of policy reforms on food security and enumerates future challenges for improving food security in these countries. It finds that despite the progress made in reforming their economies toward market-oriented ones, the three countries continue to face food insecurity to varying degrees. It concludes that there is an urgent need to further expand and deepen the reform process by enabling functioning land, labor, and financial markets.     

Toward Flexible Industrial Relations? Neo-Liberalism,Democracy, and Labor Reform in Latin America

Neo-liberal economic reforms have placed significant pressure on traditional industrial relations systems throughout Latin American. In this context, most countries have revised their basic labor legislation. Yet, despite similar economic pressures, countries have moved in varying directions in revising their labor laws, and industrial relations systems remain highly diverse. This paper focuses on democratization, institutional legacies, the role of organized labor, and the political negotiations surrounding labor law changes to help explain this diversity.     

Standards,innovation, and latecomer economic development: Conceptual issues and policy challenges

Little is known about the impact of standards on the economic development of countries which are latecomers to industrial manufacturing and innovation. Standardization is regarded primarily as a technical issue, and hence receives only limited high-level policy support.However, technical standards contribute at least as much as patents to economic growth. As a key mechanism for the diffusion of technological knowledge and due to the dominant leadership by advanced countries in patenting, technical standards have emerged in latecomer countries as an alternative to patenting. However, latecomer countries and their firms have a set of capabilities and constraints that are fundamentally different from that of advanced countries and firms. This paper argues that latecomer countries should adopt assessment criteria that are more fitted with latecomer contexts which emphasize learning effects and building dynamic capabilities. The paper discusses current issues that are essential in understanding the rise of Asian countries in standardization. We also examine the critical role that patents play for standardization and argue that “strategic patenting” to generate rents from de facto industry standards can stifle latecomer economic development.     

Developing the Internet: entrepreneurship and public policy in Ireland,Singapore, Argentina,and Spain

The Internet has not developed uniformly throughout the world. Data on 141 countries indicate that, after controlling for per capita income and installed telephone lines, cross-national differences in the numbers of Internet users and hosts have to do with favorable conditions for entrepreneurship and investment. We find little evidence that competition and privatization of telecommunications services matters. After examining international patterns of development for the world as a whole, differences between two matched pairs of countries are systematically compared: Ireland and Singapore, and Argentina and Spain. Patterns of entrepreneurship and public policy in each country are shown to have differed systematically, with distinctive consequences for the development of the Internet.     

Lesser evil? Public opinion on regulating fake news in Japan,South Korea,and Thailand – A three-country comparison

This study quantitatively examines and compares public opinion on regulating fake news, and factors affecting the opinion in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Based on the third-person effect, it is hypothesised that the perceived harm of fake news on society increases people's support for fake news regulation. In parallel, according to the lesser evil principle, it is also anticipated that people will be less supportive of regulating fake news if they are aware that there are other non-regulatory counter fake news solutions such as fact-checking. Using original survey data collected from the three countries (n = 5218) and multi-group SEM, it is found that while the first hypothesis holds for all three countries, the second one holds only for Japan and South Korea (the two mature democracies), but not for Thailand (the semi-democratic country). This finding implies that the lesser evil principle also applies in Asian countries, but only in mature democracies where freedom of speech is protected.     

New Venture Performance in China,Japan, and the United States: The Impact of Formalized Market Information Processes

New venture companies, starting from small entities comprising entrepreneurs and their teams, start to grow in scale by instigating formalized processes to enhance management efficiency. This includes the use of formalized processes for collecting and disseminating market information. Despite the fact that utilizing market information is one of the fundamental factors of market orientation, little is known about the way market information is processed in new venture companies. The first aim of this research was to investigate the impact of formalized market information acquisition and utilization on new venture performance. The second objective was to investigate the effect of organizational formalization on the acquisition and utilization of market information in new venture firms. The final goal was to explore the extent to which these relationships vary in different cultural contexts. Based on an extensive literature review and interviews with managers in China, Japan, and the United States, a conceptual framework is developed that relates formalized market information processes to new venture performance in the three countries. The conceptual model is tested with data collected from 453 new venture companies in these countries. The results suggest that the use of a formalized process of market information utilization has a positive effect on new venture performance regardless of country. The analysis also indicates that the effect of organizational formalization, in general, differs between countries. Organizational formalization is associated with increased formalized utilization of market information only in the United States; the relationship does not apply in the two Asian countries studied. Taken together, these results suggest that in the Asian countries, organizational formalization improves information collection, while in the United States, it also improves the utilization of information throughout the organization. One implication of these results may be the potential of added benefits accruing to organizational formalization in new ventures in countries with high levels of individualism and/or high levels of power distance, where organizational power is concentrated in formal vertical reporting relationships, as opposed to informal horizontal peer‐to‐peer networks.     

Agricultural pesticides and land use intensification in high,middle and low income countries

We study levels and trends in agricultural pesticide use for a large cross-section of countries using FAO data for the period 1990–2009. Our analysis shows that a 1% increase in crop output per hectare is associated with a 1.8% increase in pesticide use per hectare but that the growth in intensity of pesticide use levels off as countries reach a higher level of economic development. However, very few high income countries have managed to significantly reduce the level of intensity of their pesticide use, because decreases in insecticide use at higher income levels are largely offset by increases in herbicide and fungicide use. The results also show very rapid growth in the intensity of pesticide use for several middle income countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Cameroon, Malaysia and Thailand. Complementing our analysis with data from the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC), we show that hazardous pesticides covered in the PIC procedure are more weakly regulated in lower than in higher income countries. We discuss the policy challenges facing developing countries with a rapid growth in pesticide use and recommend a four-pronged strategy, including an environmental tax on pesticides with revenues allocated to long-term investments in awareness building, the development of integrated crop management methods and the setting of food safety standards. The interactions between these measures should help contribute to the effectiveness of the overall strategy package.     

发展中国家的电力市场化改革综述——市场模式、约束条件及路径选择

发展中国家由于社会和经济发展水平低,在电力市场化改革中遇到了很多教训。电力市场的目标模式是零售竞争型、但发展中国家受制度、资本市场、人力资源、技术的约束,难以直接实现目标模式。渐进式改革路径更适用于发展中国家的电力市场化改革。     

中国对“一带一路”亚非欧重点国家直接投资效率评价研究——基于动态DEA方法

对外直接投资效率问题关系着我国对外直接投资的质量,自“一带一路”倡议实施以来,2019年我国对外直接投资存量已达21988.8亿美元。为促进我国“一带一路”合作机制进一步走深走实,本文基于动态DEA模型,选取亚非欧60个国家为研究对象,研究2013~2019年我国对“一带一路”沿线国家的直接投资效率。实证分析发现:我国对亚非欧60个国家的OFDI总效率整体处于中低水平,国别差异较大,国家间差距呈现出亚洲>欧洲>非洲的情况;各项指标效率表现为欧洲>亚洲>非洲;三大区域IDI、ET、FR效率值呈现出差异化特征。为此提出加强东道国基础设施建设国际合作,优化产业结构,强化双边贸易关系等对策建议,从而促进“一带一路”合作机制的深入开展,加强与沿线国家的经贸投资和国际合作。     

Assessing farm performance by size in Malawi,Tanzania, and Uganda

Many Sub-Sahara African countries have long endured sluggish agricultural productivity growth and a farm structure dominated by smallholders. This prevailing structure has led to public policies focusing on access to land and its distribution as ways to boost agricultural supply. Drawing on data from the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for three East African countries (Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda), our purpose is to: test whether smaller farms in these countries are more productive than larger ones; examine how managerial performance varies with farm size; and assess how public policy may improve farm performance. We adopt the Random Parameters Stochastic Production Frontier model to estimate and then decompose Total Factor Productivity (TFP) across different farm size classes. In doing so, we test for possible measurement errors of farmer self-reported land area using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, and explore the imperfect factor markets hypothesis. The results show that across the three countries TFP is higher for smaller farms than for larger ones. Overall, managerial performance is low suggesting that programs designed to enhance managerial capacity would promote farm productivity across all sizes. Other policies are size specific. Access to agricultural input markets improves the productivity of the small farms, while greater spending on transportation infrastructure and extension services enhances the productivity of the large.     

Trans fat in foods in Iran,South-Eastern Europe,Caucasia and Central Asia: a market basket investigation

Efforts to minimize the intake of industrial trans fat (I-TF) worldwide and thereby decrease the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) have recently been intensified by the WHO and other organizations. The purpose of this study was to estimate the amounts of I-TF in biscuits, cakes and wafers in Iran, Turkey and Greece and to examine the recent changes made to these food products in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, where these food products were previously investigated for I-TF. Three large supermarkets were visited or revisited in each of the countries’ capitals from 2014 to 2019. Pre-packaged biscuits, cakes and wafers were purchased if the list of ingredients mentioned partially hydrogenated fat or a similar term, including margarine, refined fat or confectionery fat, and the product contained more than 15 g of total fat per 100 g of product. Samples of the foods were subsequently analysed for trans fat (TF).In 84 different products in Iran, TF was between 2% and 5% of total fat. In Turkey, 6 different products had TF between 2% and 5%, and in Greece, 11 products had TF between 2% and 20%. This finding is in stark contrast to the findings of 2% to 50% TF found in 50–100 products in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Croatia in 2014–2015. In the 7 latter countries, there was a 40–80% decline in the presence of TF from 2014/2015 to 2016/2019, but the findings indicate that in 2018/2019, high amounts of TF were still present in popular foods in some of these countries.     

Work values of the next generation of business leaders in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul

Understanding the work values of the current and future workforce is essential for designing a human resource management system that attracts, motivates, and retains talent. This study provides an updated, in-depth analysis of the work values of the next generation of business leaders in the commercial centers of China, Japan, and Korea. Although previous research has often clustered these countries together and labeled them Confucian Asia, survey results from more than 700 respondents reveal striking differences in work values across countries. The Chinese are more individualistic and career oriented, whereas the Japanese are more risk averse and work oriented, and the Koreans are often somewhere in-between. We argue that the value differences can be largely explained by different economic influences in these three countries. This study enhances our understanding of crossvergence theory by distinguishing economic influence in the economic development stage, economic growth, and inward foreign direct investments. While these economic indicators might be related, their influences on work values could be conflicting. The findings suggest that that each economic indicator has a unique effect on the development of work values.     

Cooperation in the agro-food industry: Spain,Greece and Portugal

This article is concerned with some characteristics of the agro-food industry in Spain, Greece and Portugal, countries that will soon enter the European Community. The analysis is based on an examination of the ways in which the agro-industry and food consumption patterns influence the economic development of those countries. The article also considers the problems of agreements between the food industry and the agricultural sector and the role played by public administration.     

Are family ownership and control in large firms good,bad, or irrelevant?

Family ownership and control play an important role in large firms in Asia. There is a puzzle regarding the relationship between concentrated family ownership and control on the one hand and firm performance on the other hand. Three positions suggest that such concentration may be good, bad, or irrelevant for firm performance. This article reports two studies to shed further light on this puzzle. Study 1 uses 744 publicly listed large family firms in eight Asian countries (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand) to test competing hypotheses on the impact of family ownership and control on firm performance. On a country-by-country basis, our findings support all three positions. On an aggregate, pooled sample basis, the results support the “irrelevant” position. Using 688 firms in the same eight countries, Study 2 endeavors to answer why Study 1 obtains different results for different countries. We theorize and document that Study 1 findings may be systematically associated with the level of (minority) shareholder protection afforded by legal and regulatory institutions. Study 2 thus provides critical insights on a cross-country, institution-based theory of corporate governance.     

Trade Union Membership in Europe, 1960–1990: Rediscovering Local Unions

This article compares union density rates in seven Western European countries between 1960 and 1990. In contrast to conventional analyses, the paper argues that, in countries where workplace union organization is well developed, and where unions have managed to turn the official institutions for workers' participation such as works councils into extensions of their operations, they fared better during the 1960s and 1970s than in countries where this was not the case. This difference in the fate of unions was even more pronounced during the 1980s. Unions with strong locals lost few members or actually gained some, while unions without strong local structures saw union density drop by between one-quarter and one-third.     

Access regulation, competition, and broadband penetration: An international study

The evolution of broadband penetration has shown substantial differences between OECD countries. This paper empirically investigates to what extent different forms of regulated competition explain these international differences. It distinguishes three modes of competition between broadband internet access providers that result from regulatory policies: (1) inter-platform competition; (2) facilities-based intra-platform competition; and (3) service-based intra-platform competition. In most countries these forms of competition co-exist although their intensity varies from country to country. Intra-platform competition may differ among countries depending on the degree of mandatory access obligations imposed by the regulator on the dominant network firm. Based on a sample of OECD countries, the analysis finds that inter-platform competition has been a main driver of broadband penetration. The two types of intra-platform competition have a considerably smaller effect on the broadband penetration. Linking these findings back to access regulation suggests that the “stepping stone” or “ladder of investment” theories might not provide the justification to impose extensive mandatory access obligations on DSL incumbents.     

全球代工体系下发展中国家俘获型网络的形成、突破与对策——基于GVC与NVC的比较视角

全球价值链(GVC)的分离与整合,形成发展中国家代工者与发达国家的跨国公司或国际大购买商四种现实对接关系集合。其中,俘获型网络治理关系成为发展中国家在现有国际贸易格局下不得不接受的既成事实,由此造成发展中国家的代工企业无法实现功能升级与链的升级的高端价值链攀升过程。俘获型网络的产生源自发达国家的跨国公司所具有的技术势力和国际大购买商所具有的市场势力,因此,发展中国家摆脱GVC背景下被俘获关系的出路在于基于国内市场空间的国内价值链(NVC)的培育。从NVC与GVC的比较视角出发,本文探讨了构建发展中国NVC的内在决定条件以及由NVC向GVC转变的可行路径,并据此提出中国代工企业如何在NVC条件下消除由俘获型网络向均衡型网络转化中的障碍因素,以及相应可实施的四种策略选择。