Commentary. Stuck in low GEAR? Macroeconomic policy in South Africa, 1996-98

Despite its ideology while in opposition, once in power theANC government implemented an orthodox macroeconomic policywhich stressed deficit reduction and a tight monetary policy,combined with trade liberalisation. The stated purpose of thispackage (the Growth, Employment, and Redistribution programme,or GEAR) was to increase economic growth, with a 4.2% rate programmedfor 1996-2000. At mid-term of the programme, growth remainedfar below this target. The GEAR's lack of success cannot beexplained by unfavourable external factors; rather, the disappointingperformance seemed the result of fiscal contraction and excessivelyhigh interest rates.     

论现代物流中心建设与房地产业现代化

本文阐述物流，物流中心基本概念及其在现代社会经济发展中重要地位，进而首次将物流引入房地产业，论述物流中心建设对于房地产业现代化的必要性与积极作用，并以华南为例就现代房地产物流中心建设进行初步探讨     

Does Trade,Technology, or Education Expel Traditional Sectors? Some Evidence from the Collapse of the Silk Sector in South Korea*

Rapid economic growth and development often drives out traditional activities. We determine how increased trade, technology, and access to education in South Korea led to the collapse of its silk sector. Results show that although the imports of silk yarn and fabric reduced domestic silk output and prices, trade liberalization was not the sole contributor to the collapse. Inelastic labor demand for unskilled workers, skill‐biased technology, and especially increased access to education all led to a sharp rise in the relative wage of unskilled workers, and the ensuing rise in production costs contributed to the silk sector's collapse.     

A Sticky Information Phillips Curve for South Africa

Mankiw and Reis propose the Sticky Information Phillips Curve (SIPC) as an alternative to the standard New Keynesian Phillips Curve to address empirical shortcomings in the latter. A SIPC for South Africa is estimated, and we find estimates of information updating probability between 0.69 and 0.81, somewhat higher than suggested by methods using micro‐evidence. Because the estimation requires data on expectations of current period inflation and output gap conditional on sequences of earlier period information sets, we provide a detailed analysis of the impact on our estimates of alternative proxies available in South Africa.     

在华日韩企业的本土化之比较--以人才本土化为中心

全球金融危机后世界经济处于低迷状态,但中国经济依然高速、稳定增长。面对中国产业结构优化升级和市场日益成熟、逐渐扩大的投资环境,日韩企业开始调整其投资战略。但危机后,韩资企业的竞争力迅速提高,而日资企业却逐渐失去竞争力,造成这些差异的原因之一便是两国本土化能力的不同。作者分别于2007、2012、2014年对部分日韩企业进行调研,发现本土化是影响企业竞争力的一个重要因素,并具体比较分析了以人才本土化为中心的日韩企业本土化特点及实施方式。最后得出一些对我国企业和政府的启示。     

Multiple Temporalities of Policy Circulation: Gradual,Repetitive and Delayed Processes of BRT Adoption in South African Cities

In 2006, bus rapid transit (BRT) swept across South African cities. Within three years of learning of the Bogotá model of BRT, Johannesburg's Rea Vaya opened, followed shortly by Cape Town's MyCiTi, while several other cities are at various stages of planning and implementation. This article traces the circulation of BRT across the South African urban context to expose the multiple and varied temporalities through which BRT came to appear as the only available solution. These earlier encounters, which include the first published discussion of BRT in South Africa in a 1973 conference report, study visits to Curitiba in the 1990s and a failed attempt to implement a Bogotá‐style BRT system in Cape Town in 2003, were instrumental in creating a fertile ground for later adoption practices. While it may appear as if circulated policies shorten the gestation time from policy introduction to policy adoption, these repeated attempts to implement circulated innovations ensure that the turnover only seems accelerated. This article unravels the story of BRT adoption, departing from the theoretical discussions of the policy circulation process as a rapid phenomenon, instead demonstrating that it is gradual, repetitive and at times delayed.     

The relationship between stock prices and exchange rates in South Africa and Nigeria: structural breaks analysis

The relationship between stock prices and exchange rates has continued to generate interest from both the academia and financial industry players for many years. This study conducts an empirical investigation into the relationship between stock prices and exchange rates for the two largest economies in Sub-Saharan Africa – South Africa and Nigeria. Our methodology accounts for structural breaks in the data and the long-run relationship between stock and foreign exchange markets. The results of multivariate causality tests with structural breaks showed that causality runs from exchange rates to domestic stock prices in Nigeria (flow channel) while in South Africa, no causality exists between domestic stock prices and exchange rates. The results also reveal that there is causality from the London stock market to both countries’ stock markets, thus showing that international stock markets are driving both the Nigerian and South African stock markets.     

中、韩、朝旅游合作现状及其对图们江区域经济发展的作用

图们江区域是东北亚的地理中心，是东北亚区域经济的潜在交会点，图位江区域开发是东北亚六国国际经济合和的关键。本文具体分析了环图位江区域中、韩、朝三国的旅游合作现状，旅游带动和促进了跨国区域经济的发展，旅游合作不仅给图位区域经济带来了新的增长点，并创造了许多间接收益，大大地促进了图位江区域经济的发展。