Africa Research Bulletin, Economic, Financial and Technical Series, May 16th–June 15th 2003 Published July 10th 2003

In This Issue
G8
Evian Summit 15657
The Gambia
Economic Outlook 15662
South Africa
Growth And Development Summit 15664
ADB
Annual Meeting 15667
Container Ports
Infrastructural Issues 15673
Coffee
Sector In Crisis 15676
Contents
Continental Developments 15656
Policy and Practice 15660
Communications and Transport 15672
Commodities 15676
Industries 15683
Economic Aid 15688
Rates 15671
Index 15690     

Evolution of the market economy : The responsibility and contribution of business

The scale and seriousness of contemporary social problems require a new form of cooperation among governments, companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Business Association for the World Social Summit (BUSCO) has undertaken a consultation exercise among heads of companies in various sectors (industry and services) and of different sizes in 30 countries. The business leaders who have been consulted are prepared to assume their civic responsibilities, and go beyond their traditional responsibilities towards their clients, employees, shareholders, suppliers and subcontractors. They accept the need to contribute to an unprecedented amplification of social progress, and to involve themselves in an action programme.     

Sustainability accounting—a brief history and conceptual framework

Research linking accounting to the emerging concept of sustainability surfaced in the early 1990s and has received continuing attention in academic and professional accounting literature. This paper tracks this brief history through to the release of the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002, consolidating the various approaches into a sustainability accounting framework. The result is a comprehensive reporting model that presents an enormous challenge to business organisations, requiring a significant commitment of resources to achieve widespread implementation. Failure to meet this challenge enables business organisations to continue to avoid accountability for their continuing unsustainability. The paper concludes with a personal view as to how implementation of the sustainability accounting framework could proceed.     

外部不平衡:渐近修复、阶段修复

自G20多伦多和首尔峰会以来,如何衡量并约束全球经济失衡已成为各国争论的焦点问题。2011年2月在巴黎召开的G20会议强调已经就评估世界经济失衡的指标达成初步共识,但没有涉及到如何调整现存的以美元为主导的国际货币体系所具有的内在不稳定性,也没有针对国际金融体系的不足继续提出有针对性的矫正措施。     

国外公司公民思想研究新进展

公司公民思想是20世纪90年代公司社会责任概念与利益相关者理论相融合的产物,先是由公司在实践层面运用,然后得到了政府的推动,最终激发了学者们的研究热情。公司公民思想的内涵由初期的局部观逐步发展到目前的营销工具观和战略投资观,公司公民思想的发展历经初始、参与、创新、整合和转型五个阶段,公司公民思想发挥作用需要具备一定的制度条件。     

Searching for opportunities for Sub-Saharan Africa's renewal in the era of globalisation

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries rely heavily on donor assistance and international borrowing. The Official Development Assistance (ODA)/GNP ratio in SSA is expected to rise well into the next century. Increases or decreases of ODA, which is known to be the main source of SSA's investment, may depend on the type of global settlement expected to emerge in the post-cold war world. SSA has therefore a stake on the type of globalisation which may frame world economic policy and financial aid to it. Neo-liberal globalisation has no enthusiasm for massive financial transfers. The incipient globalising ideas which emerged from the Rio Summit in 1992 have suggested to increase ODAs in real terms and debt relief to control crushing debt service payments. Agenda 21 has created new and additional facilities formally for increasing donor assistance in the form of financial and investment transfers. The question is whether this new mechanism will make any difference to stem the SSA decline and can “incentivise” the region's renewal or renaissance. This article will focus on how globalisation may be related to increase or decrease of financial transfer to SSA.     

促进农村消费信贷良性发展

<国民经济和社会发展十二五规划纲要>明确把扩大消费需求作为扩大内需的战略重点,而发展农村消费信贷又是扩大农村消费的重要支撑.本文对消费信贷在我国的发展现状和存在的问题进行了分析,研究提出了促进消费信贷良性发展的对策.     

The Insurance Industry's Talent Gap and Where We Go From Here

There is concern among insurers and related firms in the United States and abroad that there will be a shortage of skilled insurance professionals in the next few years as current workers retire. Though there have been discussions among insurers, organizations, and academics as to how to address this issue, until recently, each group has been primarily working in isolation. The Insurance Education & Career Summit, which took place in September 2011, brought together 110 individuals across these groups for the purpose of creating a unified strategy to both attract and retain skilled workers to the insurance industry and work to create the next generation of insurance executives. This article provides a brief background on the talent gap issue. We also discuss its potential impact on the insurance industry. Finally, we summarize the main obstacles identified by Summit participants to both attracting and retaining skilled workers as well as the strategies developed to overcome these obstacles.     

Errors and weaknesses detected by the European Court of Auditors in the reports on the European Structural Funds 2000–2004

The present paper shows the weaknesses and the errors detected by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in the reports regarding the Structural Funds (the European Social Fund (ESF); the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, ‘Guidance’ section (EAGGF-Guidance), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG)), presented by 15 countries of the European Union from the year 2000 to 2004. We have classified the said countries in four groups, regarding the date of their EU incorporation. The main aim of our work is to highlight the errors made by the Member States on the management and control of the structural funds received from the EU, analysing the likely causes and consequences of such errors.     

Trade, autonomy and perestroika

On 19–20 May 1989 in London The Other Economic Summit (TOES) conference questioned the justice and efficiency, as well as the environmental consequences, of current enthu iasm for ‘free trade’, and for economic growth measured by GNP, the extension of the money economy and the rise of corporate, multinational business power.     

中国企业家协会:中外企业家合作的桥梁

<正> 今年年初,我应施瓦布主席的邀请,出席了在瑞士达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛第30届年会及企业顾问集团专门会议。我们讨论了经济全球化日益加快和信息技术快速发展给各国所带来的影响,议论了南北差距和发展中国家的呼声,建议有关国际组织、国际金融机构和工业发达国家加强对发展中国家的援助,使他们能获得更多的发展机会,增强参与国际竞争的能力。同时,希望发展中国家的企业界加强合作,促进相互发展。达沃斯世界经济论坛第30届年会的声音已经传遍几大洲,受到各国的广泛关注。这次移师北京,是论坛第30届年会的继续和扩展。本次高峰会的主题是:“中国日益显著的全球角色:影响力、机遇与挑战”。     

社会保险法立法需要重点解决的几个问题

社会保险法是我国社会主义法律体系中的重要的基本法律，其立法涉及到众多方面的利益，对国家经济发展和社会稳定具有特殊重要的意义，我们认为立法的时候一定要十分慎重，在学习借鉴西方发达国家的先进制度文化的同时，要充分考虑我国地域辽阔，东、中、西三大板块的经济发展水平存在巨大的差异的国情，坚持“广覆盖、保基本、有弹性、可持续”的立法理念，而不能急于求成，盲目追求高福利。     

Africa Research Bulletin, Economic, Financial and Technical Series, August 16th–September 15th 2004

In This Issue
African Union
Unemployment Summit 16214
Unions in Crisis 16215
Angola
Cash-Strapped 16218
South Africa
Job Loss Worries 16221
West Africa
A Plague of Locusts 16223
Franc Zone
"Dirty Money" Replaced 16225
Diamonds
Under-Cutting de Beers 16236
Contents
Continental Alignments 16214
Policy and Practice 16218
Communications and Transport 16230
Commodities 16232
Industries 16238
Economic Aid 16241
Rates 16241
Index 16242     

“天”字之痛

＂天＂字系列是金地最为高端的产品,同时也是受市场调控最深的产品。＂天＂字系列是金地集团四大产品线当中的顶级产品系列,以＂大平层＂、＂平墅＂为卖点,曾吸引大量的市场关注目光。然而,随着房地产调控趋紧,＂天＂字系列作为豪宅代表也随之受到波及。近期,《中国房地产金融》赶赴了华东区域内上海余山天境,杭州天逸,常州天际,这几个＂天＂字系列项目现场,一探近况。     

Africa Research Bulletin, Economic, Financial and Technical Series, June 16th–July 15th 2005

In This Issue G8 Gleneagles Summit 16576 Malawi Fiscal Prudence 16581 South Africa Jobs at Risk 16583 Gold Industry Declining? 16600 Zambia Turning the Corner 16584 Nigeria Debt Relief 16589 Stock Markets High Growth 16590 Contents Continental Developments 16575 Policy and Practice 16579 Communications and Transport 16592 Commodities 16596 Industries 16602 Economic Aid 16605 Rates 16605 Index 16606     

Strategic asset allocation for individual investors: the impact of the present value of Social Security benefits

This paper demonstrates the dramatic effect of Social Security wealth on individuals’ asset allocation. We first discuss why Social Security wealth should be included in portfolio asset-mix decisions. We then draw parallels between Social Security benefits and inflation-indexed treasury bonds to help quantify the present value of Social Security benefits. Finally, we show the portfolio impact of including Social Security wealth under several asset-mix decision rules. Excluding Social Security wealth from the asset mix decision results in suboptimal portfolios. Including Social Security wealth provides an incentive for including more stock in the asset mix.     

各国场外衍生品市场改革进展与前景展望

为实施G20匹兹堡峰会有关OTC衍生品市场改革的承诺,FSB成员在设立国际标准、推进立法及改革市场基础设施方面取得了积极进展,但改革任务仍面临诸多挑战。文章从OTC衍生品市场改革的框架、主要国家和地区当前工作进展及落实中存在的问题、我国相关工作进展等方面对场外衍生品市场改革这一热点问题进行研究和梳理,以期对我国参与OTC衍生品市场改革国际规则的制定以及国内市场发展完善提供参考和借鉴。     

Social Trust,Rule of Law,and Economic Exchange: Evidence from China and Its Major Trading Partners

ABSTRACT

Using cross-country panel data and employing the instrumental variable generalized method of moments (GMM) method, this article examines the effect of social trust on economic exchange between China and its major trading partners over the period 2005–2013. Social trust significantly increases bilateral trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) between China and its partners, and this effect is much stronger in nonmember countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) than OECD member countries. Further exploration suggests that the heterogeneity could be explained by the substitution relationship between social trust and the rule of law: social trust matters more in countries where the rule of law is weaker. We also .find that the impact of trust on trade and FDI is weaker in countries that have greater language similarity to China, are adjacent to China, or are common-law-origin countries. Based on these results, in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese government and companies should not only focus on each country’s legal norms but also attach importance to the role of social capital in international economic exchange.     

The impact of the Social Security Fund on auditor litigation risk

In this study, we examine the effect of the Social Security Fund on auditor litigation risk. Using audit fees as a proxy for auditor perceptions of litigation risk, we find that the Social Security Fund significantly reduces auditor litigation risk. Furthermore, we show that the Social Security Fund influences auditor litigation risk through reducing both the audit risk and the business risk of public companies. In addition, the impact of the Social Security Fund for reducing auditor litigation risk is more obvious in the group of firms with low levels of internal governance, which indicates that the Social Security Fund plays an important governance role as a high-quality institutional investor. In summary, we verify that the Social Security Fund, when acting as an institutional investor, plays an important role in corporate governance, and that it helps to reduce auditor litigation risk. Our results provide empirical support for expanding the governance role of the Social Security Fund as an institutional investor in China’s A-share market.     

Social security and the rise in health spending

In a quantitative model of Social Security with endogenous health, I argue that Social Security increases the aggregate health spending of the economy because it redistributes resources to the elderly whose marginal propensity to spend on health is high. I show by using computational experiments that the expansion of US Social Security can account for over a third of the dramatic rise in US health spending from 1950 to 2000. In addition, Social Security has a spill-over effect on Medicare. As Social Security increases health spending, it also increases the payments from Medicare, thus raising its financial burden.