从零部件贸易看中日韩分工差异

本文以中国为研究对象,对中国在日韩市场上零部件生产和组装的比较优势的分布、结构和变迁情况进行了细致梳理。通过分析扩展的RCA指标,得出结论,针对日韩两国市场而言,中国在零部件生产上的比较优势总体上呈增强趋势;在组装业务上,中等技术零部件逐渐呈现萎缩态势,而高技术零部件组装的比较优势正在扩大。随着时间的推移,中国同日韩两国之间的生产共享加强,而生产和组装结构也在一定程度上呈现出升级态势。     

全球经济衰退背景下的中印自由贸易区建设——基于实证的研究

中国和印度作为世界上最大的两个发展中国家,相互间经贸合作稳步推进,已互为对方的对外贸易、投资和经济交流的重要伙伴。在全球经济衰退的大背景下,"龙象"合作对包括两国和全球在内的三方都是有好处的。本文通过对双方经济开放度、贸易结合度、贸易竞争性与经济互补性、以及贸易量与GDP之间关系的实证研究,计算了GDP对贸易额的弹性系数,分析表明,中印两国构建自由贸易区不仅具有现实的政治经济基础,更是在日益恶化的世界经济环境下中印和世界的理性选择,只有中印两国携手,才可以稀释衰退的负面影响。     

论上海世博会的海关边境保护措施——以贸易安全和贸易便利为视角

安全保障问题一直是所有重大国际活动的举办国需要面对的敏感问题。举办国对进出本国关境的人员及其活动进行有效的监管和防范是保障国家安全和活动安全的第一步。[1]依据WTO多哈回合的贸易便利化要求,海关在执行维护国家安全的职责时不能阻碍自由贸易,不能用繁杂的海关手续形成一种非关税壁垒。这意味着我国海关在重大国际活动中要运用有限的海关人力与物力在保障贸易安全的前提下实现贸易便利。本文将从2010上海世博会的海关边境保护措施出发,探讨国际重大活动中的贸易安全与便利问题。     

Progress of e-development in China since 1998

In this paper, a holistic analytical framework for tracing and understanding the progress of e-development is developed and adopted in an empirical case study of China’s e-development since 1998. In particular, the progress is analyzed systematically by benchmarking various ICT infrastructure and e-devices, the composition of Internet users, and the key dimensions of e-government, e-working, e-commerce, and e-networking. In addition, the questions of whether the geographical digital divide in the country has been narrowed is examined. Our findings show that (1) China has made noticeable progress in the e-development since 1998; yet, progress varied in different dimensions; (2) based on the overall performance, 2004 can be considered as the watershed for China to move from the formative stage to the developmental stage; (3) during the e-development, digital disparities in China have dramatically decreased at the provincial level, however, the urban-rural digital gap widened. We suggest that other than promoting affordable ICT possession, the wider and more diversified e-applications for different walks of life will be important for China to move towards the mature stage.     

Can household-based food consumption surveys be used to make inferences about nutrient intakes and inadequacies? A Bangladesh case study

Household Consumption and Expenditures Surveys (HCES) are increasingly being used to make inferences about individual food consumption, despite the fact that they collect food data at only the household level. Usually the analysis assumes that the household’s food is distributed among its members in direct proportion to each member’s share of the household’s total energy requirements; what is referred to as the adult male equivalent (AME) approach. Using the 2011–2012 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey—which collected consumption data for all members of rural households using combined 24-hour recall (24HR) and food weighing methods—this study directly compared probability-based average estimates of intakes, intake gaps, and the prevalence of inadequacies as estimated by the 24HR and those calculated using the AME approach for energy and each of four micronutrients: vitamin A, iron, zinc, and calcium.At the population level, for iron, vitamin A, and calcium, more than 97% of all individuals had the same estimated prevalence of adequate or inadequate nutrient intakes using 24HR and AME-based estimates. In the case of energy and zinc, roughly 77 and 83% of the sample population had identical adequacy statuses, respectively. The magnitude of inadequacies (the nutrient gaps) differed by 8 percentage points for energy and less than 3 percentage points for the four micronutrients. Disaggregating intakes and inadequacies by age groups revealed that the vast majority of variance between the two methods was highly concentrated in the first few years of life. Children 3 years of age and younger constituted 7.5% of the population but had 13.1% of the inconsistencies in intake adequacy status. 54% of children 3 and under had at least one pair of inconsistent prevalence estimates. While there are important differences in the levels of estimated energy and micronutrient intakes using 24HR and the AME-based estimates for children 3 and under, the results are remarkably comparable for the rest of the population.     

Regulatory inertia versus ICT dynamics: The case of product innovations

This article conjectures that the legacy industry-specific regulation that has governed the telecommunications sector for a long time is in basic conflict with the dynamics and product innovations that characterize the modern information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Reasons for the failure of legacy regulation to promote product innovations are explained and proposals for alternatives, such as deregulation and regulatory reform are discussed. Both regulation and competition policy are more difficult for ICT than for other sectors. Therefore both, regulation and competition policy may need reforms in order to deal with new problems. The most drastic and most realistic alternative to legacy-type regulation remains deregulation and a move to competition policy. Symmetric regulation, smart regulation, quasi-Coasean approaches and subsidies all have some limited applicability to specific situations, but are all associated with complications that have to be resolved, while competition policy is a comprehensive alternative. Last-mile access and gatekeeper access are analyzed as two main areas of legacy regulation, which are in danger of being exported to other ICT areas. Such exports may negatively affect the dynamics of the ICT industry. Rather than being exported, legacy regulations should be reduced in order to enhance product innovations.     

‘Communities of resistance’ and the use of newspaper discussion boards: Polish workers in Japanese foreign investments

This article examines the content of 200 posts on newspaper discussion boards by workers in a cluster of Japanese foreign investments in Poland. The conclusions are first, that the material experiences of workers generate a set of themes in relation to the labour process with regard to wages and working conditions, bullying and monitoring that exhibit similarities across countries. Second, we argue that an analysis of the discourse used is shaped by political and institutional conditions, which reveal national differences in how workers perceive and locate their exploitation. Finally, in relation to debates about workers’ resistance and the use of the Internet we argue that the interaction of themes related to the material experience of work are intertwined with institutionally embedded understandings of exploitation, which not only enable a shared framework for venting, but also provide the basis for a community of resistance.     

Making sense of new technology during organisational change

This article examines how employees interpret the use of various social media and web 2.0 technologies by managers of an organisation during a merger process. The article explores the way in which managers use technology to give sense to the merger process, the corresponding sensemaking of employees and also how employees make sense of the use of technology itself. The findings show that new media enables the sharing of emotional sense about organisational processes between managers and employees and places employees with different levels of involvement with the process and at different points in the organisational hierarchy on equal footing. In spite of this, employees view the use of technology negatively and feel mastered by the technology itself. In discussing these unintended consequences of the use of this technology, the article further discusses the paradoxes that emerge from using new technology to give sense during organisational change.     

Nutrition,agriculture and the global food system in low and middle income countries

The entire food value chain and diet of low and middle income countries (LMICs) are rapidly shifting. Many of the issues addressed by the nutrition community ignore some of the major underlying shifts in purchases of consumer packaged foods and beverages. At the same time, the drivers of the food system at the farm level might be changing. There is a need for the agriculture and nutrition communities to understand these changes and focus on some of their implications for health. This rapid growth of the retail sector will change the diets of the food insecure as much as that of the food secure across rural and urban LMIC’s. This short commentary contents that current research, programs and policies are ignoring these rapid dynamic shifts.     

Faltering fisheries and ascendant aquaculture: Implications for food and nutrition security in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made considerable progress against human development indicators in recent years, but malnutrition resulting from poor dietary diversity and low micronutrient intakes remains entrenched. Fish is central to the Bangladeshi diet and small fish species are an important micronutrient source. Although fish consumption per capita has increased in recent years as a result of rapid expansion of aquaculture, it is likely that consumption of fish from capture fisheries (including small indigenous species particularly rich in micronutrients), has declined. This paper evaluates data on fish consumption collected in Bangladesh by the International Food Policy Research Institute in 1996/7 and 2006/7 to assess changing patterns of fish consumption and their implications for food and nutrition security. This analysis indicates that growth of aquaculture has been positive, mitigating a sharp reduction in the quantity of fish consumed from capture fisheries and smoothing out seasonal variability in consumption. However, increased availability of fish from aquaculture may not have fully compensated for the loss of fish from capture fisheries in terms of dietary diversity, micronutrient intakes and food and nutrition security, particularly for the poorest consumers. A range of approaches are recommended to sustain and enhance the contributions capture fisheries and aquaculture make to food and nutrition security in Bangladesh