The impact of China's trade liberalisation on the greenhouse gas emissions of WTO countries

We examine the effects of China's trade liberalisation, post entry into the WTO, on the greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions of its trading partners. Using complementary estimators we establish that China's liberalised trade had significant effects on the GHG emissions of its trading partners. Increased exposure to Chinese exports increased the growth of consumption-based emissions while reducing production-based emission. The increase in consumption-based emissions was larger than the decrease in production emissions. Consumption emissions increased both through a scale effect (consumption increased) and a composition effect (consumption became more emissions intensive). Decomposition analysis suggests that the link between exposure to Chinese exports and the increase consumption-based emissions is the emissions embodied in imports: The emissions embodied in imports increased and imports became more emissions intensive. The increase in imported emissions was not offset by a reduction in domestic production of emissions either in final consumption goods or exports. (JEL: Q53, Q54, Q55).     

Regulating for telecommunications competition in developing countries: Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a low‐middle income, developing, Pacific country whose telecommunications market has developed under regulatory arrangements strongly influenced by Australian policymaking. Nevertheless, it demonstrates very weak performance compared to similar low‐middle income countries. Why does a country whose regulatory regime draws on current international recommended ‘best practice’ perform so poorly? We develop an inquiry framework based on World Bank and the International Telecommunications Union guidelines for assessing the effectiveness of regulatory arrangements in a developing country. The framework takes account of developing country challenges: limited capacity, limited commitment, limited accountability, limited fiscal efficiency, and trade‐offs between factors that take account of these limits. The analysis indicates the most likely explanation for poor performance derives from lack of investment and an unstable set of ownership arrangements constraining government‐owned Telikom from being an effective competitor. Weaknesses in regulator accountability provisions may have contributed to obscuring poor performance. Introducing at least one more foreign operator will improve outcomes only with clear separation of government ownership and regulatory activities and credible commitment from political agents to refrain from interfering in operations of both the incumbent firm and regulatory agencies.     

Transnational enterprises in the manufacturing sector of the less developed countries

Transnational enterprises continue to invest in manufacturing in the less developed countries. Even where they do not, less developed countries are likely to deal with them in the acquisition of technology or markets. The prices for what transnationals sell are not immutable but are the result of bargaining. One can expect more vigorous and more effective bargaining by host countries in the manufacturing, as well as the more frequently discussed resource, sector in future. Success will vary over industries and over time but is least likely in export-oriented manufacturing.     

The competitiveness of China's telecommunications industry before and after China's accession to the WTO

According to China's World Trade Organization (WTO) commitment, its entire domestic market will be more open to the world. China's telecommunications industry is worth special attention because it plays a critical role in enhancing China's overall competitiveness. This study critically reviews and corrects the problems of existing studies on the telecommunications industry, and explains the nature of changes in the competitiveness of China's telecommunications industry before and after China's accession to the WTO by using the diamond model. Based on this analysis, strategic suggestions are provided for both the Chinese government and firms to enhance their competitiveness in the global economy.     

Child Labour: a survey of selected Asian countries

While the African continent has the highest child labour force participation rates, Asia contains the largest pool of child workers. The nature, magnitude and decline in child labour vary sharply between Asian countries. East Asia now has little child labour; however, child labour continues to have a significant presence in South Asia and in parts of Southeast Asia. This paper surveys the literature on child labour in selected Asian countries, paying special attention to its causes and consequences. The evidence presented shows that Asian child labour, especially in South and Southeast Asia, has some common features. For example, the bulk of child labour is in the 10–14 years age group. The phenomenon is largely rural, and child domestic labour constitutes a significant share. The participation rate of Asian children in the 15–17 years age group in economic activities, 48.4 per cent, is the highest in the world. There is a significant gender element in Asian child labour with boys outnumbering girls in economically active work, while the reverse is the case with domestic child labour. A focus of the survey is the empirical findings that provide insights into the policy instruments that may be needed in combating this phenomenon. The survey also discusses some of the important international and national initiatives that have been taken to reduce child labour.     

Bank market power and revenue diversification: Evidence from selected ASEAN countries

This paper examines the association between bank market power and revenue diversification using a sample of 153 commercial banks from five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). We find a non-linear relationship between bank market power and revenue diversification, where at lower degrees of market power (in loan and deposit markets) banks concentrate on revenue diversification. In contrast, those with greater market power focus more on traditional interest-based products. Our findings also indicate that credit losses experienced earlier, during and after the Asian financial crisis have encouraged ASEAN banks to diversify into non-traditional activities to compensate for their excessive losses. When the markets recovered and loan demand increased, however, traditional interest-based business has become more important. These results remain consistent across all models providing robust results.     

The informal sector in selected residential areas of Port Elizabeth

The Employment Research Unit undertook three surveys on the informal sector during 1985 and 1986, two among Blacks and one among Coloureds. The aim of the surveys was to establish the composition and nature of the sector in the Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage area. It was found that in both these sectors most of the respondents were involved in trading and that very few were involved in manufacturing. Incomes earned by most of the respondents were low. and compared to subsistence level incomes only, It also appeared that the employment creation spin‐off was low. Similar problems inhibited the growth and development of this sector for both Blacks and Coloureds. They were: short‐ and long‐term loans, accommodation, poor infrastructure, and legal restrictions.     

Labour force and changing age structure in selected developed countries: a comparative study

The authors examine the effects of demographic aging and the changing age structure on the labor force in the United States, Canada, and Japan over the period from 1950 to 1980. They find that "the changing age structure and population aging have generally had a favorable effect on the proportion of labour force or crude labour force rate.... The remarkable feature was the rate effect of the female labour force, which was positive and often substantially reinforced the positive age effect.... The proportion of the female labour force soared during the 1960s and 1970s in these countries, and a dramatic convergence of male and female labour force participation rates took place."     

Rise of the gold market in China: liberalisation and market development

The Chinese gold market is rapidly rising to global prominence in the recent decades. The paper reviews the history of the gold market in China and its liberalisation process amid the country’s opening to the outside world. Details of the current market structure and its main business are presented. Global impacts of the rise of the Chinese gold market are discussed.     

Financial liberalisation and currency demand in Zambia

This paper examines the impact of exchange rate and financialsector liberalisation measures implemented in the early 1990son the private sector's demand for base money in Zambia. Usingtime-series data I show how the removal of controls on assetmarkets led to a permanent shift in the demand for narrow money.Linked with an increase in forecast volatility, this structuralbreak appears to have undermined the efficacy of money-basedstabilisation efforts in Zambia.     

加入WT0后珠海文化产业面临的形势及对策

文化产业是第三产业的一个重要组成部分.在一些经济发达的国家或地区,文化产业已成为国民经济的重要支柱.20世纪社会发展的历史证明,当一个民族或国家由贫穷走向经济起飞,国民经济规模达到人均GDP300美元以上,人民生活水平从温饱进入小康阶段时,社会对文化产品的需求会变得越来越强烈,这样就为文化产业发展准备了必要的市场条件.至2000年底,珠海市人均GDP就达到3110美元,步入小康阶段,因此,发展文化产业就成为当前珠海经济发展中所面对的一个重要课题.     

Norway's liberalisation of trade and payments in the 1950s

Abstract

While historical scholarship has focused on the domestic macroeconomic adjustment to trade liberalisation of the 1950s in terms of fiscal, monetary and incomes policies, this study deals with the liberalisation itself. From the perspective of the domestic political economy it provides an account of Norway's policies towards the European trade and payments schemes. It argues that although national ambitions were constrained by multilateral European liberalisation, a successful policy mix of exploiting EPU credits, delaying import quota liberalisation and selectively raising tariffs was pursued. It also argues that the government's sympathy towards the stillborn Nordic customs union in 1954 originated in this policy mix.     

Social Services and The GATS: Key Issues and Concerns

Concerns have been voiced about liberalizing social service such as health and education under the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and how this may undermine national sovereignty and autonomy in social policy making. This paper indicates that these concerns mainly stem from misunderstandings and lack of information about the GATS. It tries to dispel unwarranted fears by highlighting the GATS framework and commitment structure and explaining how countries can retain their autonomy on policies concerning public services, under the GATS. The paper also points out certain problem areas that are due to ambiguities and weaknesses in the GATS framework. It suggests the need to strengthen the GATS framework and address these problems in the ongoing GATS 2000 negotiations.     

Trade liberalisation and manufacturing wage premiums: Evidence from Thailand

This paper investigates trade related industrial wage premiums. The procedure involves (1) estimating industrial wage premiums and (2) linking those estimated wage premiums to trade related variables. Results reveal that (1) in addition to workers’ characteristics, industry characteristics where workers are employed were important in determining the wages for workers, (2) falling output tariffs resulted in increased wage premiums, and (3) an increase in intermediate imports exerted a strong positive influence on wage premiums. Linked employer and employee micro data may provide further insights which are currently not available.     

Distribution policy under trade liberalisation in Zimbabwe: a CGE analysis

A computable general equilibrium model is used to simulate theeconomy-wide and income distribution effects of transfer policiesto the poor. The model consists of seven income distributiongroups - communal farmers, resettlement farmers, unskilled workers,agricultural wage workers, skilled workers, industrial capitalistsand agricultural profit earners. The first four groups are treatedas a low income group and the last three as a high income group.Experiments to increase each of the low income groups' incomesby 5% using different sources of finance are simulated usingthe model. These are: an increase in government expenditurewithout budget balancing measures; an increase in governmenttransfers offset by a decrease in government spending elsewhere;and an increase in direct or indirect taxes. The results ofsuch experiments indicate that a policy of increasing directtaxes and increasing the government deficit in order to supportthe transfers are favourable in terms of increased incomes inthe short run. A policy of increasing indirect taxes and transferringthe revenue raised to the poor ranks last in terms of reducingincome inequalities. Finally, targeted transfers are generallybetter than universal transfers in terms of their benefits tolow income groups and in reducing income inequalities betweenthe low income and the high income groups.     

Trade liberalisation,structural adjustment and intra-industry trade: A note

Conclusions This note reports tests of the relationship between trade liberalisation and the levels of intra-industry trade, and between levels of IIT and structural adjustment in response to trade liberalisation. It has used a new approach by focussing on the impact of changes in protection on (i) changes in IIT, and (ii) differences in structural adjustment over time in high-IIT and low-IIT sectors.