The International allocation of trade-tied aid: A quantative analysis for the export quota scheme in coffee

Zusammenfassung Die internationale Verteilung der Handelshilfe: eine quantitative Analyse des Systems von Exportquoten für Kaffee. - Die bisherigen Untersuchungen über die internationale Verteilung der Entwicklungshilfe haben sich haupts?chlich mit der Finanzhilfe befa▾t. Dagegen fehlen Untersuchungen über die Handelshilfe, obgleich es eine ganze Reihe von handelspolitischen Ma▾nahmen gibt, die implizite Transfers an Entwicklungsl?nder einschlie▾en. In diesem Aufsatz werden die Bestimmungsgründe für Handelshilfe theoretisch gekl?rt, und empirisches Material über implizite Schenkungen und Einnahmen wird vorgelegt, die in einer der Formen der Handelshilfe enthalten sind, n?mlich in dem System von Exportquoten auf dem Weltkaffeemarkt. Dabei wird das unterschiedliche Verteilungsmuster der Handelshilfe nach dem Internationalen Kaffeeabkommen einerseits und der offiziellen Entwicklungshilfe andererseits herausgearbeitet. Es wird gezeigt, da▾ die Verteilung der Handelshilfe davon abh?ngt, ob ein Land Kaffeeexporteur oder -importeur ist, ob es Mitglied des Abkommens ist oder nicht und wie seine Netto-Handelsposition ist. Bedürftigkeit spielt keine Rolle bei der Verteilung dieser Art von Handelshilfe.

---

Résumé L’allocation internationale de l’aide assujettie au commerce: une analyse quantitative pour le systéme de quota exportatrice de café. - Les études existantes sur l’allocation internationale de l’aide ont concentré principalement sur l’aide financière. Il n’y a pas d’études sur l’allocation de l’aide assujettie au commerce (AAC) bien qu’une grande variété des mesures de politique commerciale existe qui inclut des transferts implicites en faveur des pays en voie de développement. Cette étude clarifie théoriquement les déterminants de l’AAC et présente quelque évidence empirique pour des donations et recettes implicites dans un des types de l’AAC, c’est le système de quota exportatrice dans le marché mondial de café. La structure d’allocation de l’AAC sous l’Accord International de Café et de l’assistance officielle étrangère est analysée. L’auteur démontre que la distribution des flux de l’aide des pays dépend de la question si les pays sont des exportateurs ou des importateurs de café, des membres ou non-membres de l’Accord aussi bien de leur position commerciale nette. Indigence n’est pas importante pour l’allocation de cette forme de l’AAC.

---

Resumen La asignación internacional de ayuda al desarrollo ligada al comercio: un análisis cuantitativo del sistema de cuotas de exportación de café. - Los estudios existentes sobre la asignación internacional de la ayuda al desarrollo se concentran especialmente en la ayuda financiera. Faltan estudios sobre la ayuda al desarrollo ligada al comercio, a pesar de la gran variedad de medidas de política comercial que incluyen una transferencia implícita a los países en desarrollo. En este estudio se clarifican teóricamente las déterminantes de la ayuda al desarrollo ligada al comercio y se presenta evidencia empírica sobre donaciones implícitas en relación a una de las formas de ayuda ligada al comercio, el sistema de cuotas de exportación en el mercado mundial del café. Se elabora el patrón diferencial de asignación de ayuda ligada al comercio bajo el Acuerdo International del Café y la ayuda oficial. Se muestra que la distribución internacional de los flujos de ayuda depende de las siguiente características: si los países son exportadores o importadores de café, signatarios del acuerdo o no y de su posición comercial neta. La asignación de esta forma de ayuda ligada al comercio es independiente del grado de necesidad de ayuda.

     

The assessment: introducing competition into regulated industries

The introduction of competition into utilities is currentlybeing pursued in the many countries, including the UK. Competitioncan take various forms, such as competition for outputs, inputs,franchises, and outright takeovers. Attention is currently focusedon output competition, whereby customers are being given a choiceof final supplier in many industries. We consider the implicationsof the introduction of such competition, including the effectson industrial structure and contracts, cross-subsidies and distributionalconcerns, and uncertainty and stranded contracts. We also analysethe transitional problems encountered as competition is introducedand suggest that the UK regulators and government have, in somekey respects, failed to define a clear and consistent policy.     

The maastricht fiscal criteria: Required but ineffective?

The paper investigates the rationale for, and the effectiveness of the fiscal criteria in the Maastricht treaty against the background of two questions: What are the incentives for an unsound fiscal policy in EMU, and what are the (potential) negative externalities if such a policy were to occur. The paper argues that EMU creates both incentives for a higher fiscal deficit while respecting solvency, and incentives for not rectifying a potentially unsustainable debt level once one is a member. Unsound fiscal policy could trigger important negative extermalities for the other member countries. The paper concludes that the current fiscal provisions of the Maastricht treaty are not sufficiently well defined and the envisaged sanctions not strong enough to enforce a disciplined fiscal stance. This leads to proposals of supplementary measures for surveillance and alternative sanctions. Staying within the framework of the Maastricht treaty, it is strongly suggested that both debt and deficit criteria should be strictly surveyed, but in view of their conceptual and operational deficiencies they should be supplemented by additional indicators. Based on this broader measurement concept, it is proposed to use semi-automatic and market-led sanctions to enforce a disciplined fiscal stance.     

Constitutional safeguards against centralization in federal states: An international cross-section analysis

This paper contains an international cross-section analysis of the share of central government expenditure in total government expenditure for a sample of about 50 countries and a subsample of 23 industrial countries in 1989–91. The expenditure shares, their changes and the unexplained residuals for each country are reported in Table 1. As the analysis demonstrates, the share of central government is significantly lower, if income per capita and the country's area are large and if it is a federal state. The explanatory power of the equation rises considerably if the binary dummy for federalism is replaced by quantitative constitutional variables. The most powerful single explanatory variable is the age of the constitutional court in the complete sample or the constitutional court's independence of union institutions in the sample of industrial countries. The equation's explanatory power (adjusted for degrees of freedom) can be raised by allowing also for the degree of control which provincial institutions have over the constitution and over the second chamber and by taking into account whether an increase in federal tax rates requires a popular referendum. Other types of constitutional referenda and the relative age of the federal constitution do not seem to matter. Among the federal states, the share of central government is much larger than predicted in the United States and Mexico, and it is much smaller than predicted in Argentina and Canada. The constitutional variables are particularly helpful in explaining the relatively small share of central government in Switzerland, Malaysia, Germany and Austria. The last section draws conclusions for the design of constitutions with some special applications to the European Union.     

The long-run impact of bombing Vietnam

We investigate the impact of U.S. bombing on later economic development in Vietnam. The Vietnam War featured the most intense bombing campaign in military history and had massive humanitarian costs. We use a unique U.S. military dataset containing bombing intensity at the district level (N = 584) to assess whether the war damage led to persistent local poverty traps. We compare the heavily bombed districts to other districts controlling for district demographic and geographic characteristics, and use an instrumental variable approach exploiting distance to the 17th parallel demilitarized zone. U.S. bombing does not have negative impacts on local poverty rates, consumption levels, infrastructure, literacy or population density through 2002. This finding indicates that even the most intense bombing in human history did not generate local poverty traps in Vietnam.     

Technology-driven service strategy

Advancements in technology are radically transforming service, and increasingly providing the underlying basis for service strategy. In this paper, we develop a typology and positioning map for service strategy, in the context of rapid technological change, and outline the process for firms to position or reposition their service strategies. Which strategy to choose is based on the degree to which customer demand is heterogeneous, and the degree to which potential customer lifetime value varies across customers. This results in four strategies: the McService strategy that is standardized and transactional, the Relational Service strategy that is standardized and relational, the Customized Transaction strategy that is personalized and transactional, and the Adaptive Personalization strategy that is personalized and relational. We provide firms a roadmap for identifying a “sweet spot” strategy in relation to a segment’s realized or potential customer lifetime value, combined with the firm’s technological capabilities. Because technological capabilities inevitably advance, firms will tend to move from standardized to personalized and from transactional to relational over time, implying that firms should be alert to technological opportunities to personalize their relationships with customers. Our strategic framework also produces a useful bridge from marketing practice to the conceptual evolution of the service literature, showing how the historical trends toward continuing customer relationships and co-productive personalization should drive strategic thinking in service.     

Motivations for enterprise system adoption in transition economies: insights from Poland

Enterprise system (ES) adoption can bring many benefits, but may also put tremendous strain on an organisation or business, sometimes with disastrous outcomes. The specific motivations and expectations that lead to ES adoption may impact the success or failure of these endeavours, and understanding these motivations may be useful in predicting the success of ES projects. Most of the published research on ES adoption motivation has been in the context of highly developed countries. The social, cultural, economic and political conditions in developing, emerging and transition economies make for a different business environment, and insights obtained from developed countries may not always transfer to these settings. This study seeks to identify and help understand the motivations for ES adoption specifically in transition economies, as these economies play a significant role in the global market, but have not been receiving adequate research attention. Drawing on the experience of 129 ES adopters in Poland, a transition economy, this study categorises motivations into coherent groups of issues and evaluates the influence of discovered motivations on ES adoption success. Further, motivations revealed by this study are compared with motivations reported by prior research conducted in developed countries.     

Can money endogeneity be generalized? Empirical evidence from Caribbean economies

This study investigates the direction of causality between the money supply and reserve money for some selected Caribbean countries using recently developed techniques of causality tests. The findings suggest that neither money endogeneity nor money exogeneity can be generalized to all small, open economies. The causal patterns may differ according to whether the monetary arrangements of the countries follow either a fixed or flexible exchange rate regime. Moreover, this-study highlights the fact that a mixed bag of policies must be implemented by respective central banks to maintain macroeconomic stability.