Book Reviews

Ian Chalmers and Vedi R. Hadiz (eds) (1997), The Politics of Economic Development in Indonesia, Routledge, London, pp. xxx + 269. A$155.00.

Geoff Forrester (ed.) (1999), Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Renewal or Chaos? Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and KITLV Press, Leiden, pp. 373. Cloth: S$49.90/US$32.90; paper: S$29.95/US$19.95/A$29.95.

Corden, Max (1999), The Asian Crisis: Is There a Way Out?, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 82. S$19.90/US$12.90.

Karl D. Jackson (ed.) (1999), Asian Contagion: The Causes and Consequences of a Financial Crisis, Westview Press, Boulder CO, pp. xvi + 312. Cloth: US$75.00; Paper: US$30.00.

H.W. Arndt and Hal Hill (1999), Southeast Asia's Economic Crisis: Origins, Lessons and the Way Forward, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 192. Cloth: S$66.90/US$44.90; paper: S$28.00/US$17.90/A$29.95.

Manuel F. Montes (1998), The Currency Crisis in Southeast Asia: Update, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. xl + 62. Cloth: S$36.00 /US$24.00; paper: S$25.90/US$17.90.     

Revisiting carbon Kuznets curves with endogenous breaks modeling: evidence of decoupling and saturation (but few inverted-Us) for individual OECD countries

This paper tests for a carbon Kuznets curve (CKC) by examining the carbon emissions per capita–GDP per capita relationship individually, for 21 OECD countries over 1870–2010 using a reduced-form, linear model that allows for multiple endogenously determined breaks. This approach addresses several important econometric and modeling issues, e.g., (1) it is highly flexible and can approximate complicated nonlinear relationships without presuming a priori any particular relationship; (2) it avoids the nonlinear transformations of potentially nonstationary income. For 10 of 14 countries that were ultimately estimated, the uncovered emission–income relationship was either (1) decoupling—where income no longer affected emissions in a statistically significant way, (2) saturation—where the emissions elasticity of income is declining, less than proportional, but still positive, or (3) no transition—where the emissions elasticity of income is (or very near) unity. For only four countries did the emissions–income relationship become negative—i.e., a CKC. In concert with previous work, we conclude that the finding of a CKC is country-specific and that the shared timing among countries is important in income-environment transitions.     

The long-run causal relationship between transport energy consumption and GDP: Evidence from heterogeneous panel methods robust to cross-sectional dependence

This paper employs panel methods that address/mitigate heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence to determine the direction and sign of long-run causality between transport energy consumption per capita and real GDP per capita. Granger-causality was determined to run from GDP to energy.     

RDAs, Sub-Regional Partnerships and Local Regeneration

This article examines the structures and relationships being formed between regional, sub-regional and local levels of governance. It highlights how traditional methods for the delivery of regeneration, based on Weberian formalization, centralization and bureaucratic procedures, are being challenged by the call for more flexible arrangements with decentralized decision-making and wider participation, a key philosophy of contemporary regeneration management. It is suggested that the implementation of programmes is problematic because cultural and professional differences emerge between professional regeneration managers and the recipients of regeneration projects. By focusing on the emergence of four Sub-Regional Partnerships (SRPs), a new intermediary in regeneration, in the North East of England, this article will be of interest to both practitioners and academics. Early evidence tends to indicate that through SRPs, the governance of regeneration appears to be another 'managerial fix' rather than a new form of political articulation.     

Sustainable Development and Globalization in a World with Unequal Starting Points

We develop a simulation model by integrating aspects of economics, demography, and environmental science. The model is used to explore the challenges of development for countries with different initial conditions (i.e., natural resource endowment, physical and human capital, technology, and population) in a world with movement of goods, people, and capital, free substitution in production, flexible economic structures, and the ability to upgrade input factors via investment. We find that the impact of globalization on various countries differs depending on their starting points. In general, capital flows (when accompanied by technology transfer) tend to benefit all countries, migration tends to benefit the destination countries (particularly the aging, rich) and the migrants themselves, and the benefits of trade can be either positive or negative depending on country endowments. A basic revelation of the explicit dynamics is that history matters, a finding that is often highly counter–intuitive from the point of view of conventional models.