International Economics Commons^™

Trade And Divergence In Education Systems, Pao Li Chang, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper presents a theory on the endogenous choice of a country's education policy and the two-way causal relationship between trade and education systems. The setting of a country's education system determines its talent distribution and comparative advantage in trade; the possibility of trade by raising the returns to the sector of comparative advantage in turn induces countries to further diferentiate their education systems and reinforces the initial pattern of comparative advantage. Specifically, the Nash equilibrium choice of education systems by two countries interacting strategically are necessarily more divergent than their autarky choices, although the difference is still less than …

The Oecd And Economic Governance: Invisibility And Impotence?, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

Chapter 3 sketches the OECD's role in economic governance, in particular the pursuit of its obligation to promote policies which maximize economic growth. While the OECD's work in the economic field evolves, its mechanisms of economic governance have barely altered. Richard Woodward argues that the OECD exerts ‘subtle discipline’ over the trajectory of economic governance through the use of its soft law mechanisms such as surveillance and peer review. These mechanisms can lead to convergence in national policies and, occasionally, outbreaks of international policy coordination. Ultimately, however, the proliferation of international mechanisms of governance and the internal politics of the …

Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Do Not Explain The Hiv Epidemics In Africa: A Systematic Review Of The Evidence, Larry Sawers, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

The notion that concurrent sexual partnerships are especially common in sub-Saharan Africa and explain the region’s high HIV prevalence is accepted by many as conventional wisdom. In this paper, we evaluate the quantitative and qualitative evidence offered by the principal proponents of the concurrency hypothesis and analyze the mathematical model they use to establish the plausibility of the hypothesis.

We find that research seeking to establish a statistical correlation between concurrency and HIV prevalence either finds no correlation or has important limitations. Furthermore, in order to simulate rapid spread of HIV, mathematical models require unrealistic assumptions about frequency of sexual …

Effect Of Monetary Incentives On Institutional Deliveries: Evidence From The Janani Suraksha Yojna In India, Ambrish A. Dongre

Ambrish A Dongre

This paper is the fi#12;rst attempt to rigorously evaluate the short term e#11;ffects of the `Janani Suraksha Yojna' (Safe Motherhood Scheme), a nationwide conditional cash transfer program in India, launched in April 2005. Under the scheme, a woman delivering her child in a medical facility is provided monetary rewards.

My diff#11;erence-in-di#11;fference results indicate that in the initial one and a half years of its operation, the scheme did not have any eff#11;ect on the disparity between the targeted and non- targeted states. In fact, the gap widened in this period, albeit marginally. But beginning from 2007, the targeted states have …

Mother Earth "Speaks": Change Yourself, Change The World, Use The Archetypal Energy "Harmony" As A Guide, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

In relation to the Cosmos, we all, as human beings, live on this tiny planet we call Earth, a planet that supports and sustains life, as we know it. There are many different kinds of people, plants, and animals functioning in harmony with soil, air, and water--all linked to one another in a complex web of life to form one Earth community. Unfortunately, we often take this miracle and ecosystem of life for granted. When, however, we take the ecosystem of life too much for granted, Mother Earth "speaks," reflecting imbalances and dis-harmonies. When Mother Earth "speaks," her message is …

Africa's Debt Crisis: Perspectives On Nigeria's Escape From External Debt Trap, Solomon O. Akinboye

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In sharp contrast with the image of an "oil-rich" country, Nigeria is paradoxically a heavily indebted poor country. While the country's oil production reached 2.5 million barrels per day in 2004, its total external debt stock at the end of 2004 was estimated at $35.9 billion. The debt crisis has been aggravated by the burden of debt servicing, which has absorbed the nation's budgetary and foreign exchange resources with deleterious impact on the critical sectors of the economy. The paper critically examines Nigeria's external debt profile and efforts toward its alleviation. It argues that the debt burden constitutes a major …

Policy Suggestions For Emissions Trading In The U.S.A., Nathaniel Wallshein

Honors Scholar Theses

This honors thesis will examine current and theoretical "cap and trade" emissions trading schemes in an attempt to make recommendations on how to improve this regulated commodity market. The various control mechanisms available to regulators will be discussed: including allocation methodology, benchmarking, banking, variation in design frameworks, etc. To aid and support the proposed policy recommendations, this paper will investigate the design framework of the SOx emission trading scheme in the US, the Kyoto Protocol, and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The political, social, and economic context of these schemes will be taken into account when considering the …

May Roundtable: The Downfall Of Human Rights? Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Downfall of Human Rights” by Joshua Kurlantzick. Newsweek. February 19, 2010.

Rights & Interests: Trade & Disputes, Howard Guille

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weight Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policy-Making. By Susan Ariel Aaronson & Jamie M. Zimmerman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 337pp.

and

Public Values & Public Interest: Counterbalancing Economic Individualism. By Barry Bozeman. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2007. 219pp.

and

The Impact of the WTO: The Environment, Public Health & Sovereignty. By Trish Kelly. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2007. 220pp.

The Political Economy Of Telecoms And Electricity Internationalization In The Single Market, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Revuelta Julio

Judith Clifton

As a consequence of liberalization policies in the European Union (EU), a number of formerly inward-looking incumbents in telecommunications and electricity transformed themselves into some of the world’s leading Multinationals. The relationship between liberalization and incumbent internationalization, however, is contested. Three political economy arguments on this relationship are tested. The first claims that incumbents most exposed to domestic liberalization would internationalise most. The second asserts that incumbents operating where liberalization was restricted could exploit monopolistic rents to finance internationalisation. The third argument claims that a diversity of paths will be adopted by countries and incumbents vis-à-vis liberalization and internationalization. Using …

Evaluating Eu Policies On Public Services: A Citizens' Approach, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

Judith Clifton

This article evaluates EU policies on public services – particularly public network services - from the citizens´ point of view. It is first argued that citizens´ perceptions are important because the provision of fundamental services is at stake and because they constitute the infrastructure necessary for social and economic development. Citizens’ “voice” can, therefore, be known, analysed and used in the design of improved policy on public services along with other indicators. Changing EU policy on public services is synthesised and classified into two main phases in section two. Citizen satisfaction with public services as revealed through surveys from 1997 …

"Análisis Espacial De La Competitividad A Nivel Municipal: Una Aplicación Del Análisis Exploratorio De Datos Espaciales", Ramiro Esqueda-Walle

Ramiro Esqueda-Walle

En este artículo se asume implícitamente la hipótesis de que el nivel de competitividad en su forma territorial (en este caso municipal) determina al nivel de desarrollo humano, no obstante, tratar de corroborar esta relación implica realizar un trabajo de naturaleza confirmatoria (por ejemplo, un modelo econométrico espacial) mismo que no forma parte de los objetivos de este trabajo, ya que se considera necesario tener un primer acercamiento al fenómeno de estudio y para ello resulta muy útil el Análisis Exploratorio de Datos Espaciales (AEDE). Entonces se echa mano de diversas herramientas del AEDE para evaluar la situación intermunicipal en …

Female Political Leadership And The Prevalence Of Water Borne Diseases: Evidence From A Natural Experiment In India, Ambrish Dongre

Ambrish A Dongre

This paper examines the relationship between prevalence of water borne diseases and gender of the head of the village councils by exploiting a natural experiment in local governance in India. A constitutional amendment in early 1990s ensured that only women could contest the elections and be the head in at least one- third of the village councils selected through an exogenous process. Utilizing a unique sample survey, we show that having a woman as the council head seems to have no effect on the prevalence of water borne diseases. But if we look into the sub-categories of the female council …

Is The European Union Ready For Fdi From Emerging Markets?, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

Judith Clifton

This chapter asks whether the European Union Member States are ready for inward Foreign Direct Investment from the Emerging Markets. It concludes that European Union Member States have relatively open Foreign Direct Investment regimes in the international context, and yet instances of protectionism have been apparent in the recent period. However, protectionism has occurred both vis-a-vis Foreign Direct Investment from the Global South as well as from within the European Union, particularly in the so-called 'strategic' industries.

The Effects Of The 1996 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement On The Industrial Users Of Lumber: An Event Study, Nisha Malhotra, Sumeet Gulati

Nisha Malhotra

In this article, we analyze whether the Softwood Lumber Agreement between the United States and Canada imposed significant economic costs on industries that use softwood lumber in the United States. To ascertain this impact, we use an event study. Our event study analyzes variations in the stock prices of lumber-using firms listed at the major stock markets in the United States. We find that the news of events leading to the Softwood Lumber Agreement had significant negative impacts on the stock prices of industries using softwood lumber. The average reduction of stock prices for our sample of firms was approximately …