Optimum currency areas and the European experience

Across nations or regions, the debate on optimum exchange rate cum monetary policies is not yet resolved on three levels. First is the optimum domain of fixed exchange rates versus keeping them flexible. Second is the subordinate debate on whether one needs full monetary union (as in continental Europe) to secure an optimum currency area's internal domain; or, whether virtually fixed exchange rates — where national currencies remain in circulation — can be sufficient. Third is whether a regional grouping of economies with close trade ties (as in East Asia) gain by collectively pegging to an outside currency such as the US dollar. Using an axiomatic approach, which limits the set of cross‐country financial claims to what is feasible, I analyse how best to both share and reduce macroeconomic risks on these three levels. JEL classification: F31, F36.     

一个培育我国外贸新增长点的设想--发展环渤海区域外贸城市群

对外贸易的拉动作用是实现我国十六大经济增长目标的重要保证。但是，反观当前的国内外环境，我国进出口贸易的发展遇到了诸多困难。欲解决这些问题，必须进行制度创新，其中培育城市群是一种可行的办法。而环渤海区域以其特有优势，成为培育对外贸易城市群的首选。为此，我国需要在环渤海区域大力发展高新技术产业，培育产业集群，引导民营企业发展，以及发挥政府的政策作用。     

The Cost of Capital of Cross‐listed Firms

This paper analyses the cost of capital of firms with foreign equity listings. Our purpose is to shed light on the question whether international and domestic asset pricing models yield a different estimate of the cost of capital for cross‐listed stocks. We distinguish between (i) the multifactor ICAPM of Solnik (1979) and Sercu (1980) including both the global market portfolio and exchange rate risk premia and (ii) the single factor domestic CAPM. We test for the significance of the cost of capital differential in a sample of 336 cross‐listed stocks from nine countries in the period 1980–99. Our hypothesis is that the cost of capital differential is substantial for firms with international listings, as these are often large multinationals with a strong international orientation. We find that the asset pricing models yield a significantly different estimate of the cost of capital for only 12% of the cross‐listed companies. The size of the cost of capital differential is around 50 basis points for the US, 80 basis points for the UK and 100 basis points for France.     

Foreign debt and economic growth

This paper empirically examines the relationship between government foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP based on a total sample of 77 countries, as well as sub‐samples of various regions. Cross‐sectional estimates of the coefficient of foreign debt based on the total sample have a negative sign, but are not always statistically significant. Available data from African countries indicate that foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP were negatively related at a high level of significance. For industrialized and Latin American sub‐samples, this relationship is negative but statistically insignificant. The sub‐sample Asian and other developing countries show a positive but insignificant relationship. JEL classification: F34, H6, O23.     

The New Characteristics of the International Capital Circulation and the Strategic Readjustment of China＇s Utilizing Foreign Capitals

This essay proposes the concrete view that China＇s strategy of utilizing foreign capitals to adjust again on the foundation of explaining new characteristics of international capital circulation, namely, expanding the foreign investments of the service trade, strengthening efforts to attract outside investment of the Midwest, attracting trans-corporation＇s investment, etc., Chinese enterprises actively move towards overseas investment and create the policy environment that can contribute to absorbing the foreign capitals as well as making national economy benefit from it.     

国际资本流动的新特点与我国利用外资的基本思路

中国正式加入WTO，标志着中国对外开放进入了一个新的阶段，本文试图在分析国际资本流动的新特点的基础上，从完善市场经济制度和投资环境，引资方式创新，发挥利用外资对结构调整战略的配合作用，以及利用外资与宏观经济目标的相互协调等方面，提出中国利用外资的基本思路。     

对外贸易对我国生态环境影响的实证分析

学术界对对外贸易与生态环境的关系还存在争论。本文建立了对外贸易影响环境的投入产出分析模型，并以此模型为基础，利用我国2002年投入产出表和我国能源消费数据，对我国2002年对外贸易对环境的影响进行了实证分析，得出了对外贸易有利于我国生态环境改善的结论。     

普京内政外交新动向探析

在当今世界,俄罗斯在解决国际重大争端,处理全球重大事务等方面具有不可或缺、不可替代的重要地位和作用.因此,研究普京的内政外交新动向意义重大.在内政方面,普京正在全力实施以能源、武器和原材料生产为核心的中长期经济振兴计划,提出了10年内翻番的目标.在对外事务中的布局层次是--独联体是重中之重,欧洲及美国是首要,亚太一些周边大国是关键,东欧、中东、非洲和拉美不可忽视.     

外资进入武汉物流市场的现状及对策

武汉以优越的地理位置,良好的交通设施,雄厚的科技和产业实力吸引了外资,形成了新的竞争环境,文中以运输环境作为对象,分析了外资进入物流市场给内地物流带来的机遇和挑战.     

Competition as a track for preventing illegal immigration

Rich countries often face sizeable illegal migration. This paper suggests that these countries would use the financial aid which they give to the source countries as an instrument to prevent illegal immigration. The core of this policy is to allow the source countries to compete for the pre-determined aid, which would be distributed according to the cross-proportion of the apprehended illegal aliens. Moreover, we show that it may be beneficial for the rich country to split the source countries into competing pairs rather than allowing all of them to compete jointly. The rich country has basically two policy means: funds allocated to strengthening its border control; and the foreign aid given to the source countries. The multi-country general equilibrium model presented shows how the rich country, by choosing an appropriate mix of these two policy means, can minimize the number of illegal immigrants subject to its budget constrain.Received: 15 August 2002, Accepted: 21 January 2004, JEL Classification: F22Nava Kahana, Tikva Lecker: The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.