Business School Partnerships for Globalization

International partnerships are an essential tool to enable business schools to internationalize their activities. They can lead to improved research, better more internationally relevant teaching, provide staff with an international perspective, and help prepare students for careers in global business. Using case studies of four of Durham University Business School's main partnerships, the article identifies the motivations for forming partnerships, examines some of the practical management issues associated with partnership working in higher education, and details the many benefits that can be derived from such arrangements.     

A dynamic analysis of the Korea–Japan free trade area: simulations with the G‐cubed Asia–Pacific model

This paper explores the effects of the proposed free trade agreement between Japan and Korea. Our experiments are based on a new dynamic simulation model, called the Asia‐Pacific G‐cubed Model, which incorporates the rational expectations and intertemporal optimizing behaviour of agents. The simulations show that both Korea and Japan benefit from the bilateral FTA although other countries lose. The output gains from the FTA are estimated to be larger when trade liberalization is undertaken by a tariff reduction that is more gradually phased‐in than rapid.

JEL Classification: F15     

Global Fiscal Adjustment and Trade Rebalancing

The emergence of substantial fiscal deficits and a large build up of government debt in major advanced economies will inevitably lead to a period of fiscal consolidation in coming years. In an earlier paper, Asian Economic Papers, 9, 2010 and 54, explored the effects of this fiscal adjustment in advanced economies on the global economic outlook. This paper focuses on the differences between the impacts of fiscal policy in advanced versus emerging economies. In particular, the need for more fiscal spending on infrastructure in emerging economies and the need for fiscal consolidation in advanced economies leads naturally to the question of what this asymmetric fiscal adjustment might do to global trade balances as well as global economic growth over the coming decades. The adjustment needed in both regions is substantial, and the asymmetry of the adjustment implies important consequences for trade and capital flows between regions as well as asset price adjustments within and between regions.     

Environmental Consequences of Rising Energy Use in China*

China is already the world's third largest energy producer and second largest energy consumer accounting for 10 percent of global energy use. This share is expected to rise to 15 percent by 2025. Energy use in China has important environmental consequences which are explored in this paper. A range of policy options are also discussed. It is argued that each major environmental issue requires a policy response that is a mix of direct government intervention as well as market based incentives. In coming decades, the choices made by China of how to tackle the environmental consequences of expanding energy use will have important implications for China, Asia and the world.     

The Asian Financial Crisis and Global Adjustments: Implications for US Agriculture

This study investigates the impact of the recent Asian financial crisis on global economic adjustment and its implication for US agriculture using a multi-country, multi-sector dynamic intertemporal general equilibrium model with endogenously modelled financial markets. The simulation results show that the crisis in Asia reduces not only US exports but also interest rates and the cost of intermediate inputs of production, stimulating US domestic economic activity in interest-sensitive sectors, and driving up demand for agriculture products. However, this stimulus of domestic demand may or may not offset the negative impact of declining exports. JEL Classification Numbers: D58, F17, F30.     

Keeping secrets? Or what government performance auditors might not need to know

This paper examines the claims made in a recent paper in Critical Perspectives on Accounting by Vaughan Radcliffe about the way in which public sector auditors report their findings. Drawing upon the work of Taussig, he argues that while public sector auditors may know the truth, as may others, they choose not always to tell the truth in their reports and instead to treat what may be publicly unpalatable as a public secret. They modify their findings to ensure that these will be more acceptable to governments and, thereby, enhance their opportunity to influence government. These claims are shown in this paper to overstate the public sector auditor's response to difficult issues. Rather than keeping secrets, the contents of the auditor's reports may instead reflect the constitutional and institutional limitations in which they must work. Most importantly in most jurisdictions they are not to comment on matters of policy which are the domain of the government.     

Migrants and Technological Transfer: Chinese Farming in Australia, 1850–1920

Chinese farming in Australia between 1850 and 1920 has generally been given little attention, being usu ally characterised as just market gardening, but with little other detail about its development and characteristics. This article argues that Chinese farming was both complex and dynamic. Initially, Chinese farming was primarily casual labouring along European lines. However, from the 1880s onwards, Chinese farming became more specialised, focusing on a wide range of high-value, labour-intensive crops. The skill of the Chinese was not just the transference of farming techniques from China, but also in their entrepreneurship and ability to adapt their techniques to the Australian environment. Despite widespread European racism, some Europeans sought to capture the benefits of Chinese farming, developing European–Chinese partnerships. After 1900, Chinese farming declined in scale and diversity. At the same time, Europeans influenced by Chinese success adopted more labour-intensive farming practices.