The gulf capital markets at a crossroads

“The capital markets in the Gulf are a good mirror of their societies. There is some fear of change, but just like the slow train coming round the bend, change is surely coming and cannot be stopped.” In this article, Seznec discusses the current state of the capital markets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and to a lesser extent the financial organization in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. He gives reasons for the limited development of these markets within their various monarchies, and explains how and why the markets are now liberalizing. Undoubtedly, if the markets are allowed to develop, the Gulf will become a world center of energy-based industries.     

Japanese subcontracting at a crossroads

This paper examines the economic role of small business in Japan in the classic model of subcontracting vis-à-vis the novel model of networking. The Japanese economy can be characterized by an extensive system of subcontracting. There is an intensively elaborated point of focus on this Japanese approach to the technological and managerial aspects of subcontracting outside of Japan. Small and medium sized enterprises and big enterprises, in their endeavour to be effective and efficient, determine the characteristics of this system of industrial production. The characteristics of the subcontracting system in Japan are undergoing structural changes. The requirements concerning an accelerating technological expertise and marketing know-how of subcontracting firms will be adduced as a motive for the rapid industrial restructuring.     

Telco business models at a crossroads

The goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe are far from being achieved, and the measures taken so far have not proven to be sufficiently effective in order to attain European infrastructure and investment targets in a timely manner. Without adequate investment in telecommunications infrastructure, Europe will lose competitiveness compared to the digitally better-equipped world. This article proposes new funding opportunities as well as a number of policy measures to foster investment in electronic communications infrastructure in order to encourage digital modernisation and thus to enhance the EU’s international competitiveness.     

Business ethics at the crossroads

During the last decade, the intensity of interest in the subject of business ethics has surprised even the most ardent defenders of the movement. It is easy to become euphoric over such developments. Yet, we should not be lulled into believing that such growth has no limits. The fact is that the movement stands at a watershed where certain alternative courses of action are available. In this paper, I outline what some of those crossroads are and what the consequences will be if certain actions are or are not taken. The key to success is dependent upon a multidisciplinary approach that relies on dialogue and cooperation among colleagues in the academy and in business. This will ensure a true mix of theory and practice.     

站在十字路口的手机游戏

业界对手机网游的重视来自于对3G技术的期待，因为这样才能解决手机网游目前发展中带宽有限的瓶颈问题，才能真正提升用户的使用体验，从而提升使用规模。可以说36将是推动手机网游加速发展的巨大契机。     

European agricultural policy at the crossroads

It is now widely acknowledged that the agricultural policy course followed by the EC in the past cannot continue unchanged. Intensive negotiations on modifications to the Common Agricultural Policy have taken place, but have not yet led to agreement among the member countries. Professor Tangermann analyses the ideas for reform that are currently under discussion and presents possible alternatives.     

The world economy at the crossroads

The dramatic changes presently taking place in the world economic environment involve considerable risks, but at the same time offer significant opportunities which should not be ignored. Some of the major challenges the world economy is facing in the 1990s are discussed in the following article.     

Laypeople roles at road traffic crash scenes: a systematic review

This study aimed to identify the roles of laypeople at road traffic injuries (RTIs). A systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The key words of ‘laypeople’, ‘layman’, ‘layperson’, ‘bystander’, ‘first responder’, ‘lay first responder’, ‘road traffic’, ‘road traffic injury’, ‘crash injury’, ‘crash scene’, ‘emergency’, ‘trauma care’, and ‘prehospital trauma care’ were used in combination with the Boolean operators OR and AND. We did electronic search on Google Scholar, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, CINAHL, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest. Based on the reviewed studies, some factors such as cultural conditions, knowledge, relief agencies, and demographic factors affect the interventions of laypeople at the crash scene in functional areas. Regarding the permanent presence of people at the crash scene, the present study can provide an opportunity to reduce different side effects of RTIs imposed on the society.     

Labor markets in Latin America: a look at the supply-side

This work asks whether there is a supply-side story to be told about labor market outcomes in Latin America. We present stylized facts about the connection between the demographic transition and changes in education (the size and quality of the labor force), with labor supply, inequality, and unemployment. The main conclusion is that the neglected topics of demographics and education improve our understanding of the overall decline in employment, the changing pattern of unemployment, and the rise in wage inequality. By adding them to the well-established demand and institutional factors behind these outcomes, we can obtain a clearer picture about labor markets in Latin America.     

Are EC-Japan-US Trade relations at the crossroads?

The Uruguay Round negotiations are currently passing through a critical phase after four years of strenuous bargaining. The ultimate success of the negotiations largely depends on the attitudes of the USA, the EC and Japan. What are the main contentious issues between these three and how are their trade relations likely to develop in future?     

Understanding reserve volatility in emerging markets: a look at the long-run

In this paper, we examine long-run determinants of cross-country variation in reserve volatility for 30 emerging market economies from 1973 to 2000. Reserve holdings and openness are found to be the most important explanatory variables of reserve volatility. The empirical results are robust for a range of control variables, including monetary variables, the degree of financial development, and the level of indebtedness. We view these results as establishing interesting stylized facts that may be helpful in evaluating reserve volatility as a crisis indicator.     

Financial densities in emerging markets: an application of the multivariate ES density

This paper derives and presents the multivariate Edgeworth–Sargan (ES) density, discusses some of its properties, and estimates it for three exchange rates in emerging markets (Chile, Hungary and Singapore). The ES density fits the data adequately, and the model is estimated simultaneously for all variables. This involves estimating a highly non-linear model with 32 parameters. A multivariate Student's t is also estimated, and both sets of results are compared. The empirical results show that, (a) the ES density applies to emerging markets as well as to more developed economies, as shown in previous research, (b) it is feasible to estimate a multivariate density of large dimensionality, and (c) independent estimation of the marginal densities, although a consistent procedure, yields significantly different results from the multivariate estimation for some parameters.     

Modernizing times: UK hearing‐impaired consumers at the policy crossroads

Although there is now a long‐standing belief in the UK that free consumer choice improves market efficiency, the supply of some consumer products and services remained controlled by the state. In the interests of consumers, it regards as vulnerable to misdirection and malpractice or unlikely to have the technical expertise to make informed decisions. Historically, the supply of hearings aids has been restricted to the National Health Service and specific licensed practitioners in the independent sector. Recent changes to both product and service provision have brought about a radical alteration to this situation, and to the framework of control. This case study of a changing healthcare system demonstrates more generally the difficulties experienced by people trying to improve or maintain auditory functions for speech communication. Access to appropriate technological solutions may be precluded by cost, distribution arrangements or lack of knowledge. Overarching these difficulties, regional health policy variations within the UK mean that consumer experiences vary according to where they live. Consumer influence over the direction and scope of changes to the hearing aid market is limited despite the rhetoric of choice. This article examines the emerging ‘liberalized’ market and its contradictions.     

Japanese trade unions at the crossroads: dilemmas and opportunities created by globalization

Japanese trade unions have contributed much to the economic stability and success of Japanese enterprises. Globalization has, however, placed substantial pressure on the Japanese industrial relations system and, in turn, upon the enterprise union system. Not all changes can be directly attributed to globalization. We contend, however, that the success of Japanese firms, both in exports and in overseas production, has made the Japanese economy reliant on a strong world economy. Economic downturns that have been witnessed in a number of countries in 1990s have weakened the demand for Japanese export products. This, in combination with the Japanese banking and financial crises, has created pressure for an overhaul of employment and human resource management systems. This article examines these pressures and the response by trade unions.     

Small-scale industry at a crossroads: U.S. Machine tools in Global perspective

In 1975, the United States was the world's largest producer of machine tools, the second largest exporter, and had the lowest degree of dependence on imports of all major machine tool producing countries. By 1987, the U.S. had slipped into fourth place as producer of machine tools (behind Japan, West Germany, and the U.S.S.R.), into sixth place in exports (behind Switzerland, East Germany, and Italy), and relied on imports for more than half of its supply of machine tools. It is the object of this paper (1) to explain what happened globally in the machine tool industry since the mid-1970s, (2) to examine the arguments concerning the strategic role of the industry in industrial development, and (3) to analyze the implications for the future and to recommend courses of action.     

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.     

Financial crises and contagion vulnerability of MENA stock markets

This paper examines contagion vulnerability and the international and regional financial linkages of the MENA stock markets. The degree of vulnerability of those markets to global and regional financial crises will have important bearings on the respective economies' growth rate, and on their ability to diversify international and regional portfolios. Granger causality tests and impulse response functions reveal that while the GCC equity markets still offer international investors portfolio diversification potentials, those markets are relatively less vulnerable to global and regional financial crises. Moreover, even though the remaining MENA stock markets of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have matured and are now financially integrated with the world stock markets, they tend to exhibit more vulnerability to regional and international financial crises. Their vulnerability to international financial crises is due, on the one hand, to weak regional integration, and to greater economic and financial integration with the more advanced economies on the other.