Food product composition,consumer health,and public policy: Introduction and overview of special section

As efforts to improve diets in high income countries intensify, attention has turned to how policies may influence diet composition. The case studies in this special issue contribute to our understanding of how two main types of policies have influenced food product composition and dietary outcomes: (1) policies affecting food manufacturers’ input costs and (2) information policy affecting competition. Research on the first type of policy is relatively new, but suggests that US commodity policies would not be good policy instruments to influence diets, except through the long run impacts of agricultural research. Research on the impacts of information policy continues to demonstrate that it can spur food industry competition to introduce healthier products, but may not result in healthier diets. International comparisons show where the US experience may have relevance for other high income countries.     

The race for telecommunication technology: The USA v Japan

Innovations in information technology are driving the USA and Japan into greater interdependence and reduced competition. However, the policies of the two countries towards supplying global telecommunications networks and towards their export earnings are diverging. This article examines the policies and history of both US and Japanese business and government towards investment in communications and computer technologies. Deregulation has been an important influence in both countries. The Japanese have responded to fierce US protectionism and competition by fundamentally changing their production strategy and turning to more offshore operations, involving many adjustments for Japanese management.     

2011年国内外油气财税政策综述

2011年,国际油价总体呈现高位震荡的态势,重点资源国继续调整财税政策,加大对油气资源的控制力度;部分消费国下调消费环节税负以应对高油价;一些发达国家出台碳税,以减少对化石能源的使用;美国则继续运用财税政策调节国内油气生产与消费。2011年,我国全面实施资源税改革,完善相关政策法规,同时针对国内油气生产、天然气进口和企业国际化经营等出台了一系列税收优惠政策和措施。“十二五”期间,我国将继续推进税制改革,扩大增值税征收范围,调整消费税征收范围和征税环节,完善企业所得税制度,全面改革资源税,开征环境保护税。     

Dimensions of broadband policies and developments

There is a continuous discussion on the development and comparison of broadband infrastructures and broadband strategies of different countries and regions around the world. Is the US ahead of Europe, or is it the other way round, and how about East Asian countries? And, are there any policy reasons for it? The paper discusses three of the fundamental dimensions in broadband policies: Infrastructure vs. Service competition, regulatory vs. Developmental policies, and networks vs. Content prioritization. It examines the diverse combinations of these policy dimensions with respect to 7 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. The paper concludes that all three dimensions are found in the broadband policies of all the countries but that there are differences in the prominence of the dimensions in the individual countries.     

WTO negotiations on agriculture and the distributional impacts for US rice farm households

The policies of wealthy countries have proven the most difficult to reform in the WTO Doha Round negotiations. Considerable emphasis has been placed on developing country impacts, but a gap in the literature remains on the stakes for rich country farmers despite the large role these countries play in global agricultural protection. The research here considers the particular case of US rice households and their sensitivity to Japanese market access reform. Using an applied general equilibrium model with multiple farm households we highlight the distributional impacts among these producers. We argue that concessions to Japan on market access make domestic reforms in rice a difficult political sale in the US since the wealthiest producers bear the largest losses. Improving our understanding of the distributional impacts and political realities of the richest countries is critical to informing the negotiating process because the gains to the world’s poor can only be realized with creative policy redress in these rich nations.     

Industrial Relations Systems and US Foreign Direct Investment Abroad

Five readily distinguishable industrial relations systems are identified based on differences in education levels, hourly compensation costs and various government and collective bargaining constraints placed on management's freedom to set the terms and conditions of employment. A model of foreign direct investment (FDI) that incorporates these key industrial relations variables is then specified and tested against US FDI across a sample of nine industries and 33 industrialized and developing countries. The industrial relations system variables significantly influence US FDI abroad. In particular, education is negatively related to FDI across low skill–low wage countries but is positively related to FDI across high skill–high wage countries. Higher hourly compensation costs (apparently capturing higher productivity) are associated with greater FDI. Whereas government restrictions on layoffs, union penetration and centralized negotiation structures are negatively related to US FDI, the ratification of ILO standards and works council policies are positively related to US FDI. Based on these findings, the FDI attractiveness of industrial relations systems are compared and policy implications discussed.     

Can the US transition to digital TV be fixed? Some lessons from two European Union cases

This paper compares the regulatory incentives created by government policies aimed at promoting the transition to digital TV in the US, France, and the UK. It argues that US policies have aggravated coordination problems and even created incentives for terrestrial broadcasters to retard the transition in order to receive compensations from wireless telecommunications providers for vacating frequencies before the statutory deadline. The institutional analysis framework is applied to explain the observed policy variations across countries as well as the factors retarding the transition in the American case. The conclusion suggests possible remedies to accelerate the transition to digital TV in the US based on the British experience.     

Institutional endowment as foundation for regulatory performance and regime transitions: the role of the US constitution in telecommunications regulation in the United States

Recent research demonstrates the importance of what Spiller and Levy (1994, 1996) call a nation's institutional endowment to the efficacy of regulatory policies. We examine various roles of the US Constitution as an enabler of regulatory governance institutions that shape policies towards telecommunications industries, and constrain efforts to change those policies. Constitutional clauses designed to serve important noneconomic societal goals do so by limiting the discretion and efficacy of government bodies. This limits the extent to which regulatory policies may be used to promote economic efficiency. However, these constitutional constraints may also promote long-term efficiency goals by making regulatory commitments more credible.     

Korean telecom policy in global competition: implications for developing countries

United States efforts to open the Korean telecommunications market have been incessant and tenacious, to the extent that Korea is the only country to be twice designated by the US as a priority foreign country (PFC). Through major restructuring driven by the Korean government, the telecommunications infrastructure of Korea has been strengthened and expanded, and in the process has posed a threat to the US telecommunications industry. Thus, since the late 1980s, the Korean telecommunications industry has been monitored and threatened with trade sanctions by the United States Trade Representative, and all internal restructuring has been closely related to bilateral negotiations with the US, and multilateral negotiations in the Uruguay Round. Based on interviews with key Korean telecommunications personnel and analyses of public documents, this research examines the Korean telecommunications market, telecommunications policies relative to the US and WTO, and the recent economic crisis that has affected the stability of the industry. The paper also offers five major recommendations to government and industry policymakers, including a more active and positive stance toward liberalisation, the relinquishing by bureaucrats of their monopolistic power over policymaking, the securing of an open and transparent policymaking process, and, in relations with the US, and the mobilisation of regional and multilateral organisations to ensure fair competition in telecommunications.     

美、日企业专利战略及其对我国企业的启示与借鉴

美日企业在专利战略运用上存在相当多的经验。它们在专利战略的推行上从国家政策上均给予了充分保障,如美国将专利等知识产权问题与对外贸易挂钩,控制他国市场;通过一系列政策法规调整,维护技术的垄断优势。日本通过专利政策立法为专利战略实施提供法律环境。在企业层面上两国积累了丰富的经验,值得我国借鉴。     

Farm policies and added sugars in US diets

We examine how US farm policies for sweetener crops have affected the consumption and composition of sweeteners in the US diet. R&D expenditures have lowered the unit cost of commodities used in sweeteners, but have generated more technical progress in corn than in sugar crops, increasing use of corn in food production, ceteris paribus. Commodity programs have raised the price of sugar and decreased the price of corn. Thus, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) became an inexpensive substitute for sugar in food from 1970 on. However, the effect of policy on ingredient prices has become less important over time. Today the farm value share in sweetened food is below 5% and HFCS is a specialized input in many food items, with limited substitution possibilities. The current link between US sweetener consumption and farm policy is weak. Recent evidence from other high-income countries shows little relationship between sweetener consumption and sugar policies.     

Potential for competition and the role of PTTs

The author considers the potential benefits and problems of deregulation in the telecommunications sector. He discusses competition (a) in terminal equipment supply and (b) in network provision. Assessing both areas in the light of US experience, he draws up recommendations for liberalized policies in European countries.     

Implications of rice policies for farmers: Selected South East Asian countries

Varying levels of rice selfsufficiency have been reached by the agriculture-based economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. The author reviews the major agricultural policies adopted by these countries to provide adequate rice for their domestic populations. While rice production has increased, the distribution of its benefits has been poor. The need to continue rice consumption subsidies is questioned, particularly in cases when they do not benefit the target groups of poor for which they were originally intended. The author proposes a re-examination of policies, emphasizing the need to strengthen development efforts to promote both the production and consumption of other staple food crops.     

US and EEC agricultural trade policies: A long-run view of the present conflict

This paper traces post-war agricultural policy in the USA and compares it with the developing policies of the EEC. It examines the reasons for, and the results of, the protectionist policies which have been adopted in each case, and how the present conflict between the two trading blocs were inevitable, due to the foundations laid in the 1950s. The grain sector is used to illustrate the dominant tendencies in US agricultural policies, which include a programme of food aid used as an outlet for US agricultural capacity. The conclusion outlines how the EEC, with its potential for further growth in grain exports, can learn from the US experience in this, and other, aspects of agricultural trade.     

Trade liberalization and food security in Nepal

Among South Asian countries, Nepal liberalized most extensively during the 1980s and 1990s on both domestic and external fronts. In South Asia, Nepal has the lowest per capita income, highest dependence of population on agriculture and second highest poverty rate. At the same time, Nepal has the lowest average tariffs in South Asia and has taken several steps to downsize its public food distribution system and remove a host of agricultural subsidies. The outcomes from these policy reforms in Nepal are mixed. Aggregate indicators of food sufficiency and security (per capita food availability, extent of malnourishment) show improvement in Nepal since liberalization. Relative to other South Asian countries, Nepal is doing better on some indicators, like extent of undernourished population, while on other indicators, like stunting of children, Nepal is actually doing the worst. More importantly, the gains from liberalization across regions in Nepal have been uneven. The reason for such an uneven outcome is lack of complementary policies from the government that would lead to spatial integration of markets (e.g. the creation of physical and marketing infrastructure). Liberalization has in effect reinforced the ex-ante hierarchy across regions in Nepal. The paper then reviews the role and reform of the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) within this broader context.     

Selection and motivation of distribution intermediaries

This article reviews factors necessitating the application of effective selection and motivation criteria when using independent distributors. It reports findings concerning the criteria utilized by samples of US and UK manufacturing companies. Generally, there appears to be much that is acumenical in the efforts of firms in both countries. However, there also seems to be considerable scope for improvement in selecting and motivating distributors.     

光伏发电产业亟需政策扶持

分析了在世界光伏产业迅猛发展的背景下,我国目前光伏产业快速发展的现状和存在的内需不足、研发和创新能力弱等问题;研究了欧、美、日等发达国家对光伏产业的扶持政策和上网电价,分析了发达国家对光伏产业扶持政策的特点;从发达国家的经验可以看出,光伏发电产业的发展离不开政府的支持,在我国太阳能产业“两头在外”的形势下,大力促进太阳能作为清洁能源的开发利用更需要政府扶持,所以要创建具有中国特色的光伏产业扶持政策。     

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.     

The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe

Biologics represent a substantial and growing share of the U.S. drug market. Traditional “small molecule” generics quickly erode the price and share of the branded product upon entry, however only a few biosimilars have been approved in the US since 2015, thereby largely preserving biologics from competition. We analyze European markets, which have had biosimilar competition since 2006. Using our own survey, we analyze how market features and public policies predict biosimilar entry, price, and penetration, finding significant heterogeneity across countries and products. Effective buyer institutions are associated with increased biosimilar penetration. Our estimates can inform ongoing policy discussions.     

贸易与气候变化的关联机理分析

气候作为全球性环境公共品,维护气候安全也是贸易发展所追求的目标,贸易发展目标与气候目标相一致。贸易对气候的影响主要体现在生产环节,运输环节的气候效应不足为虑。气候友好商品贸易自由化可在全球范围内增进结构和技术效应,有助于贸易与气候目标相互支持。气候和贸易政策都与各国的贸易利益紧密相关,只有在相关国家间相对均衡地分割贸易利益才能消除贸易与气候目标之间的潜在冲突。外松内紧是我国在国际气候博弈中的应对策略。