Development of the Regional Natural Gas Market in Southeast Europe

The high level of reliance on external energy supplies, mainly from Russia, is considered a major risk to the energy security in Southeast Europe. This dependency is being addressed by the European Union’s new contractual and institutional framework. The construction of new gas pipelines and related infrastructure is being undertaken in a timely manner to secure supplies from alternative energy sources and enhance their sustainability. Still, the EU’s policies have run up against Russia’s systematic and stubborn resistance as it struggles to preserve its dominance in Europe’s energy market and thwart the implementation of competing energy projects. Despite this, Southeast Europe’s energy markets will soon be able to ensure a higher level of diversification and secure its supplies.     

EU State Aid Policy and the Politics of External Trade Relations

European Union (EU) state aid policy has an oft-overlooked but politically-charged external dimension that is most clearly witnessed in the linkage with external trade relations. The article seeks to illuminate the issues and potential problems raised by this state aid-trade linkage. When this linkage is made, the EU engages in an array of complex international interactions through which it may pursue two politically-contentious procedures: countervailing duties or dispute settlement. The article argues that an understanding of the EU’s role in these complex interactions must take into account the Union’s institutional landscape and the competing preferences of different private interests. When deciding to impose countervailing duties against foreign state aids (subsidies), private interests play a significant role in initiating investigations and can use their access to EU institutions to encourage the imposition of such measures. While a variety of factors help to explain why the EU prefers pursuing countervailing duties, the Union also actively uses the World Trade Organization’s formal dispute settlement mechanism. Under this alternative, private interests again play an important role, pursuing varying strategies depending on their preferences. The most important determinant of a firm’s preference to pursue countervailing duties or the dispute settlement mechanism appears to be the extent to which the firm is concerned with restoring competition in their home market or with restoring competition in multiple/global markets.     

Some Notes on Current Problems of Foreign Economic Relations of Russia

This paper discusses developments on the trade front in Russia since the deep structural crisis during the 90s which significantly affected the dynamics and structure of Russian foreign trade. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a major part of the Soviet Union’s internal trade has become a component of Russia’s foreign trade, the ‘export versus import’ structure in Russia has deteriorated, and there has been a rapid increase in the export of energy resources and metals, however, the export of high‐technology products, including those in the defence sectors, have actually been reduced. The opening of boundaries in the domestic market has resulted in saturation with foreign‐made consumer goods, machinery, and equipment all of which have hindered national development.     

European Union Market Access Conditions and Africa's Extensive Margin of Food Trade

This paper examines the impact of two European Union (EU) market access regulations in the food sector presumed to simultaneously affect firms’ decisions to export food products to the EU. We analysed EU pesticide standards on African exports alongside a complementary non‐tariff measure in the form of a minimum entry price regulation, which aims to protect EU growers of certain fruits and vegetables against international competition. Analysis was based on Africa's exports of tomatoes, oranges, and lime and lemon to the EU between 2008 and 2013, using the gravity model of trade. Our results show that EU market access conditions constitute significant barrier to the formation of new trade relation between the EU and Africa. In addition, initiation of trade relationships is contingent not only on market access conditions but also on domestic market constraints in Africa. These results imply that negotiating preferential entry prices duties and the removal of domestic market restraints as well as strengthening domestic capacity to comply with EU standards to enhance continuous market access for the continent could stimulate food trade along the extensive margin.     

Product design and tort law: Safety implications of increasing similarity in civil liability and regulatory standards

This article addresses the impact of changes in design defect tort law on safety in the European Union and the United States, and draws two conclusions bearing significant product safety implications. First, tort law’s approach to design defectiveness is developing more cohesion. Although important differences in jurisdictional approaches remain, the differences appear to be diminishing rather than growing. In both the United States and the European Union, courts are increasingly relying upon a risk/utility balancing test to determine whether to impose civil liability for allegedly defective product designs. Second, the direction in which tort law is evolving is bringing it closer to defectiveness tests typically employed by government regulatory agencies in Europe and the United States. Civil liability standards are increasingly similar to regulatory standards used in determining whether a product should be allowed on the market at all. This trend toward greater cohesion in tort standards, and tort law’s increasing similarity to regulatory standards, has both positive and negative implications for safety. On the whole, the trend is likely desirable – it should encourage efficient products that are closer to an optional blend of safety and utility.     

俄、白、哈关税同盟对中国外贸的影响分析

俄、白、哈关税同盟的正式运行表明独联体区域经济出现了加速一体化的趋势。本文通过总结其进口关税管理措施,重点分析了该关税同盟的贸易与投资效应,以及关税同盟对中国与新疆外贸的不利和积极影响。在此基础上,提出中国应对俄、白、哈关税同盟的策略建议。     

Policy implications

Abstract: In the European Union, the framework of financial services legislation at EU level has been aimed primarily at forming a single market for banks, insurers and other financial services firms. Substantial progress has been made towards this objective. Also, the EU initiatives have stimulated a reappraisal of national regulatory systems. Most of this EU legislation (with the exception of the consumer credit directives) has not had consumer protection as one of its main aims, although it has been assumed that consumers will eventually benefit from a wide choice of financial services providers and from price competition. However, partly in response to consumer pressure, the European Commission is developing a set of initiatives more closely geared to protecting consumers’ interests. Within the context of the EU’s approach, there remain considerable variations in the approach to protecting consumers’ interests in different member states as a result of legal and cultural differences.     

Brexit Poker — Wer hat die besseren Karten in den Austrittsverhandlungen?

The political, economic and legal situation of Great Britain vis-à-vis European Union in the aftermath of the membership referendum and awaiting the commencement of withdrawal negotiations is interesting. The authors summarise the legal controversy in the UK over the powers and procedures needed to be complied with in order to duly trigger the Brexit. They then sketch the legal framework as provided by the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to reconstruct the decision-making architecture under which parties to the upcoming negotiations will have to make their choices. After outlining the opportunity cost for Great Britain associated with leaving the Union, in particular those regarding the financial institutions and foreign direct investments, they conclude that decision-making architecture governing the upcoming withdrawal negotiations puts Brussels in pole position vis-à-vis London. It is likely that Britain will have to accept transfer payments to the EU similar to, if not higher than the net transfers that have been due so far. Some degree of the compliance with the acquis communautaire, at least with regard to the treaty’s fundamental freedoms (goods, workers, services, establishment and capital) will most likely also be expected from London, if it wants to benefit from access to the European market after the termination of its EU membership.     

欧盟东扩后的贸易效应对我国纺织品出口的影响和挑战

欧盟是世界上第二大纺织品服装进口市场，每年进口的纺织品占全球总进口量的31％，就进出口贸易总量来说，欧盟是全球纺织品服装的最大贸易方，在世界纺织品服装贸易中扮演着非常重要的角色。中国是对欧盟纺织品和服装出口最多的国家，是欧盟纺织品最大的供应国。欧盟东扩的实现将对我国纺织产品的出口产生重大影响，因此本通过对欧盟东扩后产生的贸易效应的分析来说明东扩后可能对我国纺织业出口产生的一定影响。     

Bilateral Trade and the Eurozone: Evidence from New Member Countries

The question of whether and how much currency unions increase bilateral trade among their members has garnered much attention since Rose’s seminal article. The answer is as pertinent now as ever for both the Eurozone’s existing and future members as the financial crisis shook the very foundations of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and brought its shortcomings into the spotlight. This paper analyses the issue using the gravity equation with country pair and time fixed effects. For a sample of the four new members of the EMU – Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus – which has, to the author’s knowledge, not been studied thus far due to their recent joining, and controls drawn from the European Union, this paper finds a positive relationship between joining the EMU and trade with EMU partners but not with non‐EMU partners.     

欧盟反倾销新方法及应对策略探析--以辽宁紫光成功应诉欧盟热轧钢板桩反倾销案为例

按照《中国入世议定书》的规定,中国加入WTO15年期满后,即自2016年12月11日起,在对华反倾销调查中,世贸组织所有成员国停止使用"替代国"的做法。欧盟为了履行WTO义务,在2016年11月9日提出了修改反倾销和反补贴规则提案,该提案提出了以"市场严重扭曲"概念替代原立法中的"非市场经济地位"的反倾销新方法。2017年12月19日,欧盟公布了《反倾销基础条例》的一个修正案(第2017/2321号条例),删除了有关"非市场经济"国家的规定,确定了市场扭曲的概念,规定了反倾销的特殊计算方法。在存在严重扭曲的情况下,反倾销新规中计算正常价值的新方法使用未被扭曲的价格和成本来构造正常价值,而不使用出口国国内价格和成本,本质上是一种变相的"替代国"方法。本文借助辽宁紫光成功应诉欧盟热轧钢板桩反倾销案,深入探讨欧盟反倾销新方法,并提出相应的对策以促进中欧间经贸关系持续、健康地发展。     

Efficiency and Ethically Responsible Management

One common justification for the pursuit of profit by business firms within a market economy is that profit is not an end in itself but a means to more efficiently produce and allocate resources. Profit, in short, is a mechanism that serves the market’s purpose of producing Pareto superior outcomes for society. This discussion examines whether such a justification, if correct, requires business managers to remain attentive to how their firm’s operation impacts the market’s purpose. In particular, it is argued that the value of efficiency, despite views to the contrary, cannot be fully separated from the planning and intentions of business managers as long as those managers direct their firms in an ethically responsible fashion. This position is inspired by, and serves as a supportive clarification of Joseph Heath’s so-called “market failures approach” to business ethics.     

The Behavioural Law and Economics of the Precautionary Principle in the EU and Its Impact on Internal Market Regulation

The precautionary principle contributes to “the social” of internal market regulation as it counterbalances the loss aversion and availability bias of regulators who may too hastily endorse measures based to further the fundamental freedoms instead of fundamental rights and environmental protection. The precautionary principle also enhances the regulatory power of the European Union. By way of regulating via the precautionary principle, EU institutions pretend to have answers to citizen’s fears. These fears result from a crisis of causality, as society is trying to find a meaning to what sometimes appears as a series of patternless events. The EU legal order takes advantage of these effects. It creates an image of being able to cope with these fears, although it is rather questionable whether they really can live up to these expectations.     

The Political Economy of Brexit: Why Making It Easier to Leave the Club Could Improve the EU

The UK exit from the EU represents a qualitative change in the nature of EU membership. On the one hand, it conveyed the lesson that for the Union to be sustainable, membership needs to entail constant caretaking as far as individual members’ contributions to the common good are concerned, with both rights and obligations. Countries with preferences that are too divergent for the Union to function properly should then not be discouraged to invoke Article 50 and to opt instead for membership in the EEA or for a free trade agreement. The Union has to deliver to be sustainable, but it cannot do so if there is a constant hold up of decisions that are in the common interest. On the other hand, with the eurozone having established itself as the de facto core of European (political) integration, the UK’s preference for a stand-alone (and incomplete) economic union became untenable, because the need to make the monetary union work calls for further integration and institution-building in the economic union sphere.     

Exporting firm’s engagement with trade associations: Insights from Chile

This study addresses the effects of the firm’s level of engagement with trade associations located at the company’s export market on export performance. It analyzes firm-level data from a South American emerging economy, Chile. Results show that a stronger engagement with trade associations located at the company’s export market has a positive effect on export performance. Environmental uncertainty on customer needs is confirmed as an export performance barrier, but unexpectedly, this obstacle only diminishes in a negligible factor as the level of engagement with trade associations located at the firm’s export market increases. This study contributes to the international management literature by investigating the direct and moderating effects of overseas trade associations on the firm’s export performance, and by scrutinizing on the distinctions among the cooperation determinants of local networks and networks situated at the firm’s export market. Practical implications are discussed.     

Under the AEGIS of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship: employment growth and gender of founders among European firms

An increasing number of theoretical and empirical analyses address the role of innovation as one of the main sources of firm growth. More recently, studies have looked at the role of gender diversity as a possible determinant of innovation and entrepreneurial performance. However, the relationship between gender and employment growth—a dimension of entrepreneurial performance—still remains unexplored to a large degree. This paper contributes to the empirical literature on gender and entrepreneurial performance in several ways. First, it examines the role played by both innovation and gender ownership as determinants of employment growth rates of young, knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial (KIE) firms. Second, it investigates the indirect impact of contributing factors—such as the characteristics of the market, knowledge-based capital, and human capital—on employment growth. And third, it relies on a rich new cross-sectional data set on young, KIE firms across European Union (EU) countries. The data set contains information not only on the gender of the firm’s founders but also on the market environment, business strategy, and innovative and economic performance of firms.     

和而不群李彦宏

<正>【人物简介】李彦宏,百度公司创始人、董事长兼首席执行官。1968年,生于山西省阳泉市。毕业于北京大学信息管理专业,随后赴美国布法罗纽约州立大学完成计算机科学硕士学位。创立百度之前,李彦宏已跻身全球顶尖搜索引擎工程师行列。他领导的百度使中国比肩美国、俄罗斯和韩国,成为全球仅有的4大搜索引擎核心技术拥有国之一。李彦宏曾获得"CCTV中国经济年度人物"、"改革开放30年30人"等荣誉,并多次被《商业周刊》、《财富》等杂志评为"中国最具影响力的商界领袖"和"全球最具影响力人物"。     

Agricultural Policies and Trade Paths in Turkey

In 1959, shortly after the European Economic Community was founded under the 1957 Treaty of Rome, Turkey applied for Associate Membership of the then six‐member common market. By 1963, a path for integrating the economies of Turkey and the eventual European Union had been mapped. As with many trade agreements, agriculture posed difficult political hurdles, which were never fully cleared, even as trade barriers to other sectors were eventually removed and a Customs Union formed. In this paper, we trace the influences the Turkey‐EU economic institutions have had on agricultural policies and the agricultural sector. Using an applied general equilibrium framework we provide estimates of what including agriculture under the Customs Union would mean for the sector and the economy. We also discuss the implications of fully aligning Turkey's agricultural policies with the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, as would be required under full membership.     

“一带一路”背景下中国与欧亚经济联盟贸易效率及贸易潜力研究

以中国对EEU成员国出口贸易为视角,运用SFGM模型,选取2009—2018年的中国与欧亚经济联盟的数据对贸易效率及贸易潜力进行了测度。研究结果表明,欧亚经济联盟各成员国的经济规模、双边政府廉洁、贸易自由度、物流绩效、OFDI、共同边界等对中国出口具有显著的促进作用,通货膨胀也对出口起到促进作用,但作用不显著。双边的地理距离、是否内陆国、关税税率、汇率等对中国出口欧亚经济联盟具有明显的抑制作用,汇率也具有抑制作用,但不显著。根据研究结论提出针对性的政策建议,即加强双边合作,提升清关效率,完善基础设施质量,便利贸易和运输效率,提高物流服务质量;进一步降低关税和非关税壁垒,提高商品运输的效率,清除双方隐性贸易壁垒;加强政府对金融机构的监管力度,加大信贷资金配置规模;积极推动中国与EEU成员国建立自贸区;实现双边资本、信息等资源的共享,从而提高贸易效率,减少贸易阻力。最终着眼于命运共同体及全球价值链视域,推动双边贸易发展。     

Finding Market Power in Electric Power Markets

As part of the regulatory review of electric utility mergers in the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires utilities to submit market power studies. The Commission has specified a detailed method for calculating market concentration in these studies.This paper shows that one can simulate the actual price effects from the merger by using similar data and models. Using the merger between Union Electric and Central Illinois Public Service Company as an example, this paper demonstrates that the Commission's method is unsound and often identifies competitive problems that are not likely to exist.