A new exchange rate mechanism for the Euro age

Only a limited number of countries will participate in the single currency area at its formation on January 1st, 1999. A new link between the currencies participating in the Euro zone and those unable or unwilling to do so must therefore be created. A new EMS, with the Euro as its anchor currency, must be installed to ease the path into EMU for those countries that wish to join at a later date.     

The role of the IMF and the World Bank in the former Eastern Bloc countries

Although the main responsibility for carrying out economic reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe lies with these countries themselves, the transformation of the Soviet-style economic system into a market economy must be made easier by support from abroad. In this the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will play an important part.     

New technologies and developing countries: Prospects and potential

Technological innovations in informatics and other new technologies are having a major impact on most production and service sectors in industrialized countries. Inadequate transfer of such technologies to developing countries, with a few notable exceptions, is increasing the technology gap and reducing competitive capability in these countries. Far-reaching policy changes and a new emphasis on technological development must be made by developing economies in order to avail themselves of the growing potential of new and emerging technologies.     

Unilateral Liberalisation or Trade Agreements: Which Way Forward for the Pacific?

Empirical results show that, for the Pacific island states, a free trade agreement with developed countries provides more benefits followed by regional trade agreement within the Pacific and then unilateral tariff reduction. While the agricultural sector expands and the manufacturing sector declines in all scenarios, to avoid second‐best outcomes, developed countries need to go beyond the provision of aid for trade/development measures. For developing countries, the way forward with regional trade agreements is to carefully sequence them with regard to the different developed countries involved. This must be accompanied by domestic reform which is necessary but not sufficient for long‐term gains.     

比较优势与南—南自由贸易区的利益分配——中国—东盟自由贸易区对双方分工地位的影响

在自由贸易区(简称FTA)内,贸易利益如何在成员国间分配取决于各成员国的比较优势。在竞争型的南南FTA中,具有极端比较优势的国家利益将受损,具有中等比较优势国家将获益。CAFTA(中国—东盟自由贸易区)的建立,对中国来说将主要带来贸易转移,进一步导致优势产业在东盟的集聚,强化中国在高新技术领域与东盟的贸易逆差,从而使中国在国际生产链条的末端长期驻足,并导致利益损失。政府必须对此密切关注并采取相应的政策和战略。     

国外"大店法"对我国流通产业进入规制的启示

目前,我国流通产业由于过度进入而导致低效竞争和无效竞争,必须实施进入规制。在各发达国家根据各自国情对流通企业实施进入规制所采取的各种手段中,以日本和法国的《大店法》最引人注目。鉴于我国的实际情况,本文认为,我国对大型零售店铺的规制,在动机上应从防止过度进入和过度竞争入手,防止资源浪费;从规制的方式上,可以先制订管理条例和商业规划进行规制,然后推出专门的《大店法》;从规制的程度上,对不同业态类型的商店需要作不同程度的规制;从规制的程序上,我国可以适当借鉴法国听证的做法。     

Are the developing countries in reality “Exporters of capital”?

The developing countries have missed no opportunity at any of the great international conferences in recent years to raise the demand for larger capital transfers by the developed countries. Whether compliance with this demand can really contribute to narrowing the North-South gap must however be doubted. According to the following calculations interest payments, royalties and—overt or hidden— profit retransfers have already reached such an amazing dimension that the developing countries would in reality have to be regarded as “capital exporters”.     

黑龙江省城乡经济协调发展战略探析

通过对黑龙江省城乡经济发展的不平衡性的分析,提出要实现这一老工业基地和重要的农产品生产基地的振兴,就必须实行城乡经济协调发展战略。即促进城乡经济资源的合理流动,塑造一批有竞争力的企业,强化城市功能,发挥城市的带动效应,用工业化的思维搞农业。     

知识产权保护对中国对外直接投资的影响——基于“一带一路”建设视角的研究

发展导向的“一带一路”倡议是否需要完善知识产权保护规则？文章以世界经济论坛知识产权保护指标作为核心解释变量,运用面板数据模型,实证考察了知识产权保护对中国对外直接投资存量的影响。发现东道国加强知识产权保护对中国对外直接投资具有显著的促进作用,而且这种作用有两个显著的特点,一是在“一带一路”沿线国家样本中强于非沿线国家样本,二是在低知识产权保护度的国家样本中强于高知识产权保护度的国家样本。“一带一路”沿线多为发展中国家,知识产权保护度较低,中国企业在这些国家进行投资更多是处于被模仿的地位,需要通过双边或者多边协定,敦促沿线国家加强知识产权保护。文章结论为在“一带一路”倡议中完善知识产权保护规则的政策导向提供了实证基础。     

发展中国家对华反倾销的深层次分析

经济全球化使得国际贸易竞争态势更加激烈,中国加入WTO后发展中国家对华反倾销趋势有增无减,这种严峻形势要求我国企业必须对发展中国家反倾销的形势、特点有清醒的认识,结合发展中国家的国际贸易地位,产业结构,及反倾销法律环境制定有针对性的应对策略,这样才能提高我国产品在发展中国家的市场占有率,拓展发展中国家市场。     

Tariff retaliation versus financial compensation in the enforcement of international trade agreements

We analyze whether financial compensation is preferable to the WTO's current dispute settlement system that permits injured member countries to impose retaliatory tariffs. We show that, ex-post, monetary fines are more efficient than tariffs in terms of granting compensation to injured parties but fines suffer from an enforcement problem since they must be paid by the violating country. If fines must ultimately be supported by the threat of tariffs, they fail to yield a more cooperative outcome than the use of tariffs alone. Furthermore, the exchange of bonds between symmetric countries also does not improve enforcement relative to retaliatory tariffs.     

Consultancy for LDC projects

How much and what kind of development consulting the industrial states provide for the less developed countries (LDCs) must depend on the structure of the reciplent country and the specific needs for advice ensuing from it. Constant consultation on development issues and development programmes for the whole national economy may be wanted or only advice on individual development projects. The two forms are connected insofar as individual projects must dovetall with an overall plan.     

资本项目开放与经济增长研究的比较分析

近年来国外学者对资本项目开放与经济增长相关性进行了大量的实证研究,认为实证结论差异的原因在于度量指标和样本上存在区别。多数实证研究认为发展中国家开放资本项目的收益少于发达国家。本文认为其原因在于资本项目开放后,在增加投资、提高资源配置效率和增加政策约束性方面,发展中国家所获得的收益小于发达国家。因此,发展中国家开放资本项目必须具备一定的宏观经济和微观金融条件。     

海峡两岸贸易人民币结算及其制度构想

2010年9月中旬,跨境贸易人民币结算的境外试点地区由东盟和港澳扩大到所有国家和地区,两岸贸易初步具备了由美元转向以人民币结算的条件。海峡两岸贸易人民币结算有别于大陆与其他国家或地区贸易人民币结算的若干特性,实现两岸贸易人民币结算必须解决国际市场用以结算的人民币来源,台湾企业持有的人民币自由兑换与再投资,多样的两岸贸易人民币结算渠道等问题。     

The Success of the Nordic Countries as a Blueprint for Small Open Economies

To retain their leading position, the Nordics must invest in developing more sophisticated products than competing economies like Turkey. This applies to all complex economies, but constitutes a greater challenge to the Nordic countries with their comparatively small populations.     

Peace and Economic Interdependence in the Middle East

Can economic interdependence pacify the Middle East? While Middle Eastern countries have, for the most part, avoided the global trend of regionalism, this study provides empirical evidence that Middle Eastern countries with significant trade ties to other countries in the region do cooperate more and fight less. In addition to confirming the liberal notion of peace through trade, this study shows that several conditions outlined by the selectorate theory of political survival must be fulfilled if economic interdependence in the Middle East is to be achieved. A case study outlining Israeli and Turkish economic cooperation is used to show the selectorate model's regional compatibility. The regional applicability of the selectorate theory leads us to conclude that politically liberal countries are more likely to maintain economic relations with one another than with autocratic ones. Since liberal countries will be more economically interdependent with one another they will also be more peaceful towards one another. Ultimately, then, this study concludes that political liberalisation is one way of enhancing regional economic interdependence and consequently the prospects for a more peaceful Middle East.     

After Lomé IV: ACP-EU trade preferences in the 21st century

The ACP countries and the EU recognise that the present non-reciprocal and discriminatory Lomé preferences must be replaced with WTO compatible arrangements. This means that the agreements conform either to the free trade area provisions of Article XXIV or to the GSP. This article sets out the key elements of ACP preferences and examines the potential advantages and disadvantages for various groups of ACP countries of possible forms of free trade areas and a ‘Lomé-equivalent’ GSP.     

整合国际物流加强我国与中亚各国的国际合作

随着中国和中亚各国经济形势逐步进入平稳发展的历史阶段,中国与中亚各国间的贸易往来有较大增长,经贸合作的广度和深度都有所提高,中亚各国都注重区域整合,建立以关税同盟为目标的区域经济合作,在此情况下,整合国际物流,加强我国与中亚各国的经济合作势在必行.本文在论述我国与中亚各国物流合作的基础之上主要谈谈如何整合国际物流,加强与中亚的合作.     

Soft vs. hard approach in communicating on corporate social responsibility

These past years, companies have become aware that their mission went beyond mere profit‐making. Corporate social responsibility toward all stakeholders is today, more than ever, an important stake for communication. Companies must know how to communicate if a social or environmental crisis occurs. However, effective communication must be based on facts. Management must consider a new criterion for success: the ability to respond to all the actions of the company, at all levels. Faced with widespread confusion regarding what is conventionally referred to as “corporate social responsibility” and regarding all matters related to the subject, which may or may not be the result of a trend, we opt for a straightforward and practical approach by focusing on one question: Should there be more talk of the social duties of companies, and if so, how are we to tackle the issue? We have observed that there are many conflicting opinions on the matter, at least in certain countries, including France. This raises points hardly spoken of in the numerous works broaching the subject. Opinions may be based on differing attitudes on legitimacy (do companies have an obligation to their community besides being formed to make a profit?), on the legislation provided by countries on “corporate citizenship” (laws of the home and host countries), on the expectations of the society in which the firm exists, and on the logic of those putting forth those opinions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Skill classification does matter: estimating the relationship between trade flows and wage inequality

Empirical work must pay careful attention to how it measures the relative skill abundance of countries and the relative skill intensity embodied in trade flows. This paper compiles a new data set, using income levels, average education, manufacturing wages, and an index of these three variables, to classify countries and trade flows as relatively high skill or low skill. Then, in order to show the importance of skill classification, it uses a reduced-form fixed-effects model to estimate the relationship between trade flows and wage inequality. This specification not only controls for any time-invariant omitted variables, but also permits the inclusion of a large number of diverse countries. When more accurate skill rankings are utilized, results suggest that, in high-skill abundant countries, increased trade with lower-skill countries is correlated with an increase in wage inequality. This relationship is significant and highly robust and is driven by the negative relationship between trade and low-skill wages (instead of a positive relationship between trade and high-skill wages.) Results, however, are highly dependent on the skill classification utilized.