Can countries rely on foreign saving for investment and economic development?

Contrary to widespread presumption, a surprisingly large number of countries have been able to finance a significant fraction of their investment for extended periods using foreign finance. While many of these episodes are in countries where official finance is important, we also identify episodes where a substantial fraction of domestic investment is financed by private capital inflows. Although there is evidence of a positive growth effect of such inflows in the short run, that positive impact dissipates after 5 years and turns negative over longer horizons. Many such episodes end abruptly, with compression of the current account and sharp slowdowns in investment and growth. Summing over the inflow (current account deficit) episode and its aftermath, we find that growth is slower than when countries rely on domestic savings. The implication is that financing growth and investment out of foreign savings, while not impossible, is risky and too often counterproductive.     

An elementary model of export tax war

In this paper, the author uses a generalized version of Kennan and Riezman (Int Econ Rev 29(1):81–85, 1988) trade war model with Stone–Geary preferences, where countries can choose between a Nash tariff or an export tax. Three scenarios emerge from this setting, namely: the standard tariff war, the export tax war and a mixed scenario—“the tariff-export tax war”—where one country applies a Nash tariff, while the other imposes an export tax. In this setting, countries derive their market power not only from their relative endowment size, but also from their subsistence consumptions. As a consequence, a large country does not necessarily win a trade war if it has a substantially higher consumption requirement than the small country. This finding explains why large economies sign trade agreements with small counterparts that prohibit the use of tariffs and export taxes.     

Non-tariff and overall protection: evidence across countries and over time

This paper analyzes the evolution of the incidence and intensity of non-tariff measures (NTMs). It extends earlier work by measuring protection from NTMs over time from a newly available database and provides evidence on the evolution of NTMs. In particular, building on Kee et al. (Econ J 119(534):172–199, 2009), this paper estimates the ad valorem equivalents of NTMs for 97 countries at the product level over the period 1997–2015. We show that the incidence and the intensity of NTMs were both increasing over this period, with NTMs becoming an even more dominant source of trade protection. We are also able to investigate the evolution of overall protection derived jointly from tariffs and NTMs. The results show that the overall protection level, for most countries and products, has not decreased despite the fall in tariffs associated with multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements in recent decades. We also document an increase in overall trade protection during the recent 2008 financial crisis. Overall, this study sheds light on an under-researched aspect of trade liberalization: the proliferation and increase of NTMs.     

The impact of shadow banking on the implementation of Chinese monetary policy

This paper empirically analyses the relationship between the shadow banking system and implementation of monetary policy in China using the VECM methodology. We show that an increase in the size of shadow banking sector increases the independence of bank lending from the policies of the People Bank of China. We also find that Shadow Banking works in an asymmetric fashion in that it amplifies increases in the money supply but weakens the effects of restrictive interest rate-based monetary policy decisions.     

MERCOSUR in gravity: an accounting approach to analyzing its trade effects

This paper aims at unveiling the roots of integration-induced trade effects for MERCOSUR. For this purpose, its methodology combines previous dummy-variables- and continuous variable approaches to identifying trade creation and trade diversion effects in a gravity model framework. Applying a straightforward accounting exercise to the integration-induced trade effects which are found for MERCOSUR en bloc, two results are central: Firstly, with sectoral exceptions, I generally identify pure trade creating effects on the import side but also find trade diversion with associate countries when refining extra-bloc country status. Secondly, while extra-bloc import growth seems to be driven predominantly by non-tariff determinants, trade creation in pooled commodity imports for the largest fraction stems from differences in the tariff treatment between trading partners.     

Net foreign asset positions and appreciation expectations on the Swiss franc and the Japanese Yen

The paper shows that currencies of countries with persistent current account surpluses and high foreign-currency denominated assets, such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen, are under persistent appreciation pressure, particularly when the centres of the world monetary system follow expansionary monetary policies. This limits the choice of exchange rate regime. Given flexible exchange rates, a negative risk premium on the domestic interest rate can emerge. Empirical estimations provide mixed evidence for a negative impact of net foreign asset positions and exchange rate uncertainty on interest rates of international creditor countries at the periphery of the world monetary system.     

企业战略联盟竞争优势分析

战略联盟已经成为企业谋求竞争优势的一个重要手段。文章分析战略联盟竞争优势的来源,主要有规模经济和范围经济、培育企业核心竞争力、促进组织学习、推动创新、降低交易成本以及创造新的机会。为了发挥优势,企业应该明确目标,选好伙伴,定好协议,加强合作和管理。     

我国高等教育营销的新理念：顾客导向

顾客导向理念是市场导向理念的核心,实现顾客导向理念在高等教育营销中的应用是十分必要的。文章探讨了高等教育顾客导向理念的内涵及特征,并分析了实施顾客导向理念的瓶颈,针对高等教育如何实施顾客导向提出了建议。     

关于我国构建知识产权文化之探讨

我国知识产权战略的建设实施需要构建知识产权文化。知识产权文化本质就是一种创造文化,一种发展文化,一种和谐文化。当前我国知识产权领域存在诸如发展不平衡,知识产权纠纷较多,公众知识产权意识不强,市场主体运用知识产权制度的能力不足,水平不高等不和谐之处。我国要大力加强知识产权文化建设,鼓励创造,提高知识产权创造、管理、运用和保护能力,推动知识产权事业又好又快发展。     

论我国公司分立制度之构建和完善

公司分立作为公司组织体进行更生再造的一项重要举措,其分立方式与分立过程异常复杂和多样,且分立效果对分立公司原债权人权益影响甚巨,故域外立法多对公司分立予以详备规制,以求股东与债权人之间利益之平衡。我国新公司法虽然在旧法的基础上对公司分立制度进行了修改,但仍然过于疏漏,且不尽合理,对公司分立实务难以起到规范调整作用,也难以真正平衡股东和债权人之间的利益。新公司法于公司分立制度之建构仍然任重道远,函待日后进一步修改、补充和完善。