Saving and investment rates in the BRICS countries

The first decade of the new millennium witnessed the arrival of five large, fast-growing emerging economies on the global stage. These countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, collectively known as the BRICS countries, have achieved robust growth and steadily outpaced the advanced economies in the last quarter of a century or so. In spite of their recent slowdown, on the basis of their demographics, vast natural resources, physical and human capital accumulation and overall progress, they are likely to remain the engines of global economic growth and development for some time in the future. In the light of the rising role of BRICS countries in the world economy, this paper aims to study the relationship between their domestic saving and investment rates in the vein of Feldstein–Horioka but on a country-by-country basis using time-series econometric techniques. The results suggest that the basic Feldstein–Horioka regression is misspecified for each BRICS country. The preferred autoregressive-distributed-lag specifications imply that capital is not perfectly mobile internationally in any of the BRICS countries, but it is more mobile in South Africa and Russia than in India, Brazil and China.     

BRICS: How important is the exchange rate pass-through?

This paper analyses the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into domestic consumer prices in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries from mid-1990s onwards by using three different econometric approaches (i.e., the single equation approach, the VAR approach and the time-varying parameter approach). It is also studied the role of macroeconomic determinants in ERPT. Our results suggest that (a) ERPT is higher for the emerging markets with mostly floating exchange rates (Brazil, Russia and South Africa) than for the other BRICS countries; (b) exchange rate explains, on average, around the 40% of the price variance for Brazil, Russia and South Africa; and (c) inflation volatility, exchange rate volatility and openness seem to be the key macroeconomic determinants in BRICS countries.     

中朝韩经贸关系纵深发展的战略进路

随着东北亚地区经济联系的日益紧密,域内国家间的相互依存度明显提高.东北亚经济合作划时代的契机是域内国家签订自由贸易协定,从而平行地促进产业分工.中朝韩三国经贸合作规模的提升和发展速度的提高,可以推动一度因日本态度消极而搁浅的中日韩自由贸易区建设,并将成为东北亚经济合作发展的催化剂.中朝经贸发展的能动力在于中国建设性的参与朝鲜的经济革新发展,而中韩经贸发展的增长点则在于加速建立自由贸易区.     

解析欧盟韩国自由贸易协定

2011年7月1日欧盟韩国自由贸易协定生效实施。该协定成为各自经济体与贸易伙伴签署的最大的自由贸易协定。该协定既是双边密切经济关系的需要,也是各自实施FTA战略的结果。欧盟韩国自由贸易协定是迄今为止在全球范围很全面的贸易自由化协定,开放深度和广度远远超过世界贸易组织。欧盟韩国自由贸易协定的出现推动了区域经济一体化的进程。韩国目前在中日韩三国各自实施FTA战略上占据了有利的地位。     

Measuring transparency and disclosure at firm-level in emerging markets

Transparency and disclosure are integral to corporate governance. In this paper, we use a new dataset to analyze Transparency & Disclosure scores (T&D score) in 19 emerging markets for 354 firms representing 70% of S&P/IFCI Index market capitalization over the 3 years ending in 2000. We analyze differences across countries, economic sectors and trend over the 3 years. We find that the Asian emerging markets and South Africa have significantly higher transparency and disclosure compared to the Latin American, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern emerging markets. The gap between the Asian emerging markets and South Africa over other emerging markets has increased over the last 3 years. We do not find any significant differences in T&D scores among economic sectors. Changes in the T&D scores over the last 3 years, however, differ by economic sectors for the 6 markets with the largest investable market capitalization and/or number of observations, viz. Brazil, Poland, South Africa, India, Thailand, and Korea. We then study the relationships between T&D scores and cross-holdings for the 6 emerging markets. For the 6 markets except Korea, correlation between cross-holdings and T&D scores is negative. For the 6 markets except South Africa, correlation between price-to-book ratios and T&D scores is positive. We conclude with a discussion on further research.     

试析后危机时代中国企业对俄贸易战略

长期以来,中国和俄罗斯都以良好的政治基础为依托,以相互毗邻为天然契机,发展互补性极强的双边经济,这种发展态势让两国在收获双赢的同时更看到了继续发展的巨大潜力。然而俄罗斯在金融危机的猛烈冲击下,为求自保对中国的贸易采取了种种措施,如通过调升关税限制中国产品进入俄罗斯本土、歧视俄市场上的中国产品、对华采用反倾销手段等,这一系列的做法给中俄经济带来不小的冲击。但近些年来,中俄双方已经充分认识到对方对彼此经济的发展以及人民生活的重要性,中俄政府双方都以积极的态度应对两国的交流与合作,两国在多方面、多领域进行交流,主要以政治、经济和文化三大主线为走向,同时两国政府也提供政策来最大限度地促进了两国的贸易合作。     

“后危机时代”金砖国家的投资合作——中国OFDI视角

金砖国家合作机制的形成是21世纪影响世界经济格局的一个重大事件。文章通过"后危机时代"的新、旧全球化对比,探讨了中国OFDI在金砖国家务实合作中的可能性和现实选择。在梳理有关FDI流动影响因素的文献之后,重点分析了金砖国家在吸收中国OFDI上的潜力和机遇、问题与挑战。结合中国OFDI的投资特征,文章最后提出了促进中国对外直接投资,实现金砖国家经济关系良性互动的四点结论。     

供给侧改革背景下新兴经济体发展现实比较及延伸思考

经济全球化促进了经济要素全球范围的广泛流动,也催生出了一些发展速度快、对全球影响较大的新兴经济体。研究发现:中国、巴西、俄罗斯、印度、南非这些新兴经济体的人均GDP在时间上发生了显著性变化,各个新兴经济体间的人均GDP也存在显著性差别。近十年间,中国经济增长基本保持了平稳状态,GDP的增长率波动不大,巴西、俄罗斯、印度以及南非经济增长波动均较大;中国与其他新兴经济体的货物与服务进出口、国外直接投资均没有显著的相关关系,彼此间影响也不明显。未来中国需要进一步优化产业结构,加强生态、制度环境建设,推动经济社会的全面进步;要加快新一轮高水平对外开放,拓展国际合作空间,建成开放型经济体;促进机会平等,走包容性经济增长之路,实现经济社会可持续发展。     

“一带一路”背景下制度距离对我国向中东和北非出口贸易影响研究

中东和北非国家是我国"一带一路"倡议的重要合作伙伴,该地区各国经济发展水平和制度环境迥异,在经济制度和政治制度方面与我国存在较大差异。基于全球治理指数和经济自由度指数相关数据,分别计算出我国与中东和北非地区24国的政治制度距离和经济制度距离,并采用2007~2016年我国对该地区的出口贸易数据,借助引力模型实证分析双边制度距离对我国出口贸易的影响及出口潜力情况。结果发现,我国与中东和北非国家政治制度距离和经济制度距离均存在临界值;只有当制度距离超过临界值时才会对我国的出口贸易产生负向影响。通过贸易潜力测算发现,我国对中东和北非部分国家出口贸易潜力巨大。最后,就如何减少双边制度差异提出建议。     

The big emerging markets

During his tenure as Under Secretary of Commerce, the author was one of the architects of the Clinton administration's Big Emerging Markets policy under Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. He is now dean of the Yale School of Management. The Clinton policy emerged out of a growing conviction that some ten markets will account for the overwhelming growth potential in world imports, not to mention commensurate growth in economic and political influence around the world. These markets include, in Asia—the Chinese Economic Area (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), South Korea, Indonesia and India; in Africa—South Africa; in Central Europe—Poland and Turkey; and in Latin America—Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The administration concluded that, because many of these countries still have important state sectors, and because virtually all are focusing heavily on infrastructure projects that demand the involvement of local governments, U.S. companies need the U.S. government at their side to win a fair hearing. What is more, because of the intensity of foreign competition and the capital demands on these countries, international competitors will be public/private partnerships in which foreign governments provide concessionary financing and aggressive advocacy to support their companies' efforts.This presentation is based on the author's speeches during his tenure as Under Secretary for International Trade of the U.S. Department of Commerce, June 1993 to October 1995.     

加强金砖国家的经济合作

金砖国家是指巴西、俄罗斯、印度、中国和南非五个新兴经济体国家,其经济以快速发展为主要特点。预计金砖国家GDP总量占全球的比重2015年将会上升到23%,2020年将会达到31%,2025年将达到41%,2030年将达到47%,甚至有可能会占到50%以上。金砖国家目前面临的主要问题是收入分配差距比较大、产业层次低、社会保障体系不够完善、受通货膨胀困扰和国际短期资本冲击大。金砖国家应处理好与发达国家和其他发展中国家以及金砖国家内部的合作关系,把握好共同利益,在国际事务中加强政策协调,共同反对贸易保护主义,推动国际金融体系改革,积极应对全球气候变化,实现共同发展。     

Export Productivity and Specialisation: A Disaggregated Analysis

The paper analyses export productivity and trade specialisation in China, Brazil, India and South Africa. The investigation calculates a time‐varying export productivity measure using highly disaggregated product categories. The modelling shows that export productivity is determined by real income and human capital endowments. But the empirical analysis also reveals significant differences in export productivity and specialisation for countries with comparable per capita income levels.     

South Africa’s economic prospects after the elections

South Africa looks back to half a decade of fundamental changes: apartheid laws have been abolished, sanctions have been lifted and finally at the end of April 1994 the black South African majority was allowed to vote for the first time. How has the political and economic environment to be judged after the election in South Africa? What need for action can be identified for the new South African government to improve the economic prospects of the country?     

Indian ocean rim trade bloc: Prospects and problems

This article advances the view that regional integration among ten nations along the Indian Ocean rim will have positive economic and political consequences for all the members. Emergence of this geographically large area with one-fourth of the human population will be good for financial markets and the global economy as well. Planned regional arrangements will offer major benefits to outsiders, for example, Gulf countries, by stimulating growth and enhancing market forces. Traditional enmity between India and Pakistan, however, and the economic and political adjustments that South Africa is undergoing after the first free election may prevent cooperation in the region, not to mention the fact that the area has deep economic problems with mass poverty and low per capita incomes. Problems aside, there are hopeful signs, both economic and political, that encourage the Indian Ocean rim nations to seriously consider establishing a regional trade bloc. For example, a substantial middle class is emerging in the area. Industrialization is slowly progressing, challenging the dominance of the agricultural sector. India, however, will have to take the initiative in the matter. The size of her economy and her pre-eminence as a regional political force equip India to play the key role in the establishment of a regional agreement in the area.     

Financial connectedness of BRICS and global sovereign bond markets

The paper examines the financial connectedness via return and volatility spillovers between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and three global bond market indices represented by the United States of America (USA), European Monetary Union (EMU) and Japan for the period 01 January 1997 to 27 July 2016 (weekly data). We find that Russia followed by South Africa is the net transmitter of shocks within BRICS, implying that the risk arising from these markets may have an adverse impact on others in BRICS. However, China and India exhibit weak connectedness, suggesting that these markets may be useful for hedging and diversification opportunities in BRICS. The networks of pairwise spillover results further confirm this. Among global indices, China appears as highly interconnected with the USA. USA is the strongest transmitter of shocks to BRICS bond indices. The panel data results further confirm the significant determinants of net directional spillover. Thus, we can conclude that BRICS is a heterogeneous asset class even in the case of the bond market. India and China are the markets to look for better risk management strategies.     

Organizational Culture,Innovativeness, Market Orientation and Firm Performance in South Africa: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

ABSTRACT

For a sample of South African firms, this paper analyzes the relationships of firm performance and a set of organizational measures which includes organizational culture and climate, market orientation and innovativeness. These organizational measures are drawn from three different disciplines–organizational behavior, strategy and economics. The replicative study is framed in an extended model of competing organizational values which have been used in 13 countries including three transition economies (Vietnam, China and Russia). The work has also been done under a variety of conditions–for example, the US in a period of study growth, Thailand during the Asian Crisis and Hong Kong after the handover to China. Comparisons are made between South African results and those of firms from a group of five industrial countries. Market Orientation is the most important explainer of performance of the South African firms, and Innovativeness is also important. Specific elements of Organizational Culture are apparently less important in South Africa than elsewhere.     

Entering the last frontier: expansion by US multinationals to Africa

Literature on multinationalism, even that which focuses on economic development and incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI), largely ignores the African continent despite its market of over 700 million inhabitants and its unique challenges for foreign firms. However, the African continent provides an important arena for examining the effects of infrastructure, wealth, and political differentials across countries and the effects of these variables on the expansion decisions of US multinational corporations (MNCs). In this paper we examine the US stock market reaction to announcements of US firms entering African markets through both FDI and Non-FDI modes. Finally, we investigate the accounting performance implications of these expansions. Our results show that, on average, firms experience negative wealth effects when expanding to Africa. Further analysis shows that expansions to South Africa produce losses, while expansion to the rest of Africa produce positive gains. We also show that firms with higher return on equity perform better than firms with lower return on equity when they expand to Africa in countries other than South Africa.     

Serbian President Vows to Boost Trade Ties with China

Serbian President Boris Tadic on August 20 pledged to promote economic and trade ties with China, welcoming Chinese invest-ment. Serbia wanted to maintain highlevel political ties with China and enhance economic exchanges and cooperation, said Tadic at a business forum held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT）.     

《洛美协定》对当前中非经贸合作的启示

近年来,中非经贸合作日益加强。随着非洲地区经济进入快速增长期,美欧等发达国家开始积极调整对非经贸政策以应对中国在非洲经贸关系中地位的迅速提升。在此背景下,中非经贸政策安排将面临欧美国家的挑战。与非洲经贸关系有着制度性整体安排并卓有成效的当属欧盟与以非洲国家为主的非加太地区签署的《洛美协定》,其可以为中非经贸合作提供有益借鉴。本文将深入梳理、分析《洛美协定》产生的历史背景和核心内容,并对当前中非经贸合作安排提出相关建议。     

Factors Influencing China’s Exports with a Spatial Econometric Model

This article employs a spatial econometric model to examine whether China’s exports are affected by political risk, economic integration, and spatial effects. The results show that as China’s economy has grown, a home market effect is evident for its exports. A higher level of economic integration is beneficial to China’s exports. A substitutive relationship is discovered between China’s OFDI and exports. In addition, the higher income per capita of partner countries and the high degree of economic openness are both beneficial to China’s exports. The partner countries of China, with their higher values of export trade, have been mostly countries with lower political risk.