Do environment regulations matter for EU-MENA trade?

This study examines the impact of environmental regulations stringency on agricultural trade between European Union (EU) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA countries). Using a gravity model and applying the zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model, we estimate the impact of environmental regulations stringency on bilateral agricultural exports between 28 EU and 20 MENA countries during the period 2001–2014. The results have showed that environmental regulations do matter for agricultural trade between both regions because in the presence of excessive zero trade observations, they act as significant fixed export costs that affect the probability of trade. More stringent environmental regulations stimulate innovative efforts in cost-saving green technologies, which increase productivity and positively affect agricultural exports. The results have favoured the revisionist Porter hypothesis (PH), according to which environmental regulations may stimulate innovative efforts, which mitigate the negative effects of higher fixed abatement costs and enhance trade competitiveness.     

Do persistence and passion matter: Evidence from the educational testing service major field test in business

The authors examined the determinants of success on the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test in Business. The authors find that gender, SAT performance, and concentration are significant predictors of performance. Additionally, they derive proxies for student passion and persistence, and find that the greater the student's passion for business is, the higher the score is. The authors discover that students who demonstrate persistence, as measured by the extent to which they outperform their grade point average expectations, also score higher on the exam.     

European policy and markets: Did policy initiatives stem the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area?

We investigate how European policy initiatives influenced market assessments of sovereign default risk and banking sector fragility during the sovereign debt crisis in four adversely affected countries — Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy. We focus on three broad groups of policies: (a) ECB policy actions (monetary and financial support), (b) EU programs (financial and fiscal rules as well as financial support in crisis countries), and (c) domestic austerity programs. We measure immediate market impact effects: what policies changed risk perceptions, using CDS spreads on sovereign bonds and banks in this assessment. We employ dynamic panel and event study methodologies in the empirical work. We find that a number of programs initially stabilized sovereign and bank bond markets (e.g. Outright Monetary Transactions program), although announcement and implementation impacts on markets differed in some cases (e.g. second Covered Market Bond Program). Actions designed to shore up sovereign markets often lowered risk assessments in bank bond markets and policies designed to ensure safety and soundness of the European banking system in some cases significantly impacted sovereign debt markets. Finally, a number of policies designed to stabilize markets had surprisingly little immediate impact on either sovereign or bank bond market risk assessments.     

区域经济一体化经济增长收敛性的实证研究

本文采用δ收敛考察欧盟(欧共体)在1955年-2000年和东盟在1965年-2005年区域经济一体化与经济增长收敛的关系,发现欧盟在1955年-1990年呈现显著的经济增长收敛,而东盟成立后经济增长呈发散趋势。本文通过分析认为,呈现经济增长收敛的区域经济一体化具有如下特点:一是经济一体化成员国消除了彼此间的贸易壁垒,区域内部基本实现自由贸易;二是经济一体化成员国之间的贸易流量成为各自对外贸易的主要流量;三是FDI效应导致成员国之间的资源配置进一步优化。     

Two sides of the same coin: Green Taxonomy alignment versus transition risk in financial portfolios

We develop the first top-down method to estimate the greenness of financial portfolios, in terms of alignment to the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities. We also develop a method to estimate, at the same time, the portfolio exposure to climate transition risk. We provide sector-level, standardized and transparent coefficients for both estimates, based on definitions of greenness and transition risk that are applicable across countries. We analyse the portfolios of Euro Area investors in 2022, based on the confidential Securities Holdings Statistics of the European Central Bank. We find that, overall, the greenness of Euro Area investors’ portfolios is lower than their exposure to transition risk (2.8% vs. 11.7%).Across financial institutions, we estimate greenness and exposure to transition risk, respectively, at 3.2% and 12% for investment funds, at 0.8% and 5% for banks and at 4.8% and 15.1% for insurers. Our analysis also shows that investors with large amounts invested in green activities can have at the same time large exposures to transition risk.     

Global investments in agricultural land and the role of the EU: Drivers,scope and potential impacts

This paper investigates the recent wave of investments in agricultural land, often referred to as land grabbing; a term that not only emphasises the appropriation of resources by investors but also implies a criticism of their potential impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems in the target countries. This phenomenon has increasingly been the focus of public attention as well as a source of concern for NGOs, international institutions, academia and civil society. More specifically, this study investigates the role that the European Union member states play, both collectively and individually, in this wave of acquisitions in agricultural land, by providing a comprehensive overview of the drivers, scope and potential impacts of these land deals.     

Southeastern Europe,Transitions, and the EU – Is Ever-widening Desirable?

The paper addresses the issue of further widening of the EU, given theevident tensions between deepening and widening, in light of thecommitments made to southeastern Europe since the Kosovo intervention.After clarifying the portent of Kosovo for the EU's enlargement, themeaning of EU integration in its proper context is recalled. Mext thepaper sketches how the approach to southeastern Europe fits into therelations the EU has built up with transition economies. Thereafter itexamines the promises made to southeastern Europe, the nature of theagreements entertained for southeastern Europe, and what has since cometo the fore. Before concluding, the paper proposes a more realisticassistance approach, given the area's urgent need for economic, political,and social transformations prior to lodging a credible request for EUmembership.     

欧盟对华贸易摩擦现状及对策探析——基于政府宏观视角

伴随着中欧经贸关系的发展，特别是在欧债危机的背景下，欧盟对华频繁使用反倾销、反补贴、技术性贸易壁垒的贸易救济措施，成为制约我国产品出口欧盟市场的羁绊。我国政府从宏观层面出发，通过开展经济外交、运用WTO争端解决机制等措施寻求贸易摩擦应对之道。     

The quality and variety of exports from the new EU member states

The goal of this article is to evaluate the variety and quality of exports from the new EU member states (NMSs) in the period 1999–2009. The practical relevance of such an analysis is threefold: recent studies underline the importance of export variety for economic growth; empirical results show that export variety was influenced by the EU membership; and looking separately at export quality permits a better understanding of price competitiveness. Our results show that all NMSs significantly increased the average number of brands exported to the EU market, the largest increases being observed in 2004 and after. This indicates that integration into the EU market occurs in the extensive as well as the intensive dimension. We also find that all NMSs increased the average quality of their exports during the decade studied although there are differences between countries. Thus, a large part of the increase in the prices of exports from NMSs resulted from improving quality and did not result in a loss of competitiveness. Finally, estimates of relative quality are much more stable than relative prices, suggesting that our measure of relative quality is better than the traditional proxy.     

The computable general equilibrium analysis of the reduction in tariffs and non-tariff measures within the Korea-Japan-European Union free trade agreement

The trilateral Korea-Japan-EU FTA with the removal of tariffs can contribute to the increase GDPs of Korea, Japan, and the EU. The reduction of NTMs gives more benefits from the Korea-Japan-EU FTA. In particular, trilateral Korea-Japan-EU FTA with the reduction of both import tariffs and NTMs can give the larger increases in Korea, Japan and the EU’s GDPs, exports, and imports. Furthermore, the Korea-Japan-EU FTA also provides the positive welfare effects to all participating countries such as Korea, Japan the EU. And it can also contribute to increase the whole world’s welfare level. Thus, the Korea-Japan-EU FTA will be a win-win FTA strategy not only to Korea, Japan, and EU but also to the global world.