International Economics Commons^™

Fish Landings At The World’S Commercial Fishing Ports, Tim Huntington, Fiona Nimmo, Graeme Macfadyen

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

In 2009, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adopted the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing (PSMA). Countries that ratify the treaty commit to exert greater control at ports over foreign-flagged vessels to detect IUU catch before it is offloaded from vessels, and prevent the ill-gotten catch from entering the world’s markets. The PSMA, when effectively implemented globally, will be a major deterrent to IUU fishing. A major challenge to selecting ports for enhanced controls has been the lack of data on which ports are the world’s largest …

The Economic Impact Of Lifting Sanctions On Iran: How The Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action Will Affect The Economy Of Iran, Ryan Foley

Washington Semester Program

During the second term of the Obama Administration, the United States and the European Union negotiated a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding their nuclear program. These negotiations encompassed the relaxing of sanctions on the Iranian economy in exchange for concessions on the part of their nuclear program. This thesis investigates how the deal will affect the economy of Iran and the international oil market, two entities which are deeply intertwined. The findings suggest that the opening of Iran’s economy will almost certainly lead to a strengthening of their domestic economy in the short-term, but that the government …

Trade Integration, Income Divergence, And Global Imbalances, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We embed financial frictions and sector-specific minimum investment requirements (MIR) in a two-factor, two-sector, overlapping-generation model and showthat whether trade integration leads to convergence of the income levels among member states depends on their level of financial development. It helps reconcilethe mixed empirical evidence on trade integration and income dynamics in differentgroups of countries from the institutional perspective. In the recent decades, trade globalization has allowed developed countries to specialize towards the high-MIR, high-return production stages and tasks through international fragmentation of production and global sourcing. In our model, the “sectors” can be interpreted broadly as production stages and tasks. …

Competition And Gains From Trade: A Quantitative Analysis Of China Between 1995 And 2004, Wen-Tai Hsu, Yi Lu, Guiying Laura Wu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper provides a quantitative analysis of gains from trade for China over the period of 1995-2004, which was when China's openness drastically improved. We decompose gains from trade in two ways. First, we disentangle pro-competitive effects from a traditional Ricardian effect. Second, we separate the effect due to tariff reductions from that due to reductions in non-tariff trade costs. Our quantitative analysis shows that the pro-competitive effects account for 25.4% of the total welfare gains from trade, whereas the allocative efficiency alone accounts for 22.3%. We also find that tariff reductions account for about 31.6% of reductions of overall …

Institutional Complementarity Across Countries In Bilateral Fdi Flows: Theory And Evidence, Pao-Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper builds a theory to characterize the comparative advantage of MNEs based in countries of different institutional qualities. It is shown that MNEs headquartered in countries of poorer state institutions will invest more in `informal institutions; and choose to undertake FDI in countries of weaker institutions. At the aggregate, MNEs on average generate more net profits in countries of weaker institutions, the poorer the institutional environment at home. I conduct an extensive test of the theory using bilateral FDI volume for 219 economies in year 2001-2010. The results indicate a statistically significant and robust institutional complementarity effect in bilateral …

The Next Wave Of Globalisation, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

As consumption patterns shift away from OECD countries to the developing world, businesses need to leverage on technology to overcome last-mile delivery obstacles

Remittances Without Borders, Tan Swee Liang, S. N. Venkataramanan, Anil Kishora

Research Collection School Of Economics

A Pan-Asian Mobile Remittance Platform might just be the next big disruption in global remittances. One out of every 28 people lives in a country that they were not born in. As migrants, they are estimated by The World Bank to send home US$636 billion in 2017, with three-quarters remitted to developing countries. These remittances form a significant percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many of these developing countries. Given their magnitude and contribution to national economies, even a small reduction in remittance cost adds billions to these local economies. Mobile-to-mobile cross border remittances have recently shown that …

Peru: Open For Business, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

South America’s third-largest economy seeks to capitalise on growing global trade

Europe: Ready To Rebound, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Increasing trade, investment, and immigrant integration are keys to Europe’s economic vitality

Two-Year And Four-Year Tertiary Education: Measuring Human Capital Effects On Economic Growth In Developing And Developed Countries With The Uzawa-Lucas Model, Darryl M. Tyndorf

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Tertiary education is believed to be a driver of economic development through the relationship between human capital development and economic output. Global massification efforts of tertiary education have led to increased global demand. Countries with limited tertiary education systems, like developing countries, have employed policies to increase domestic tertiary education opportunities instead of sending students abroad. Many tertiary education policies have focused on importing tertiary education from countries with established tertiary education systems. Import efforts first emphasized university models, but limited success prompted the import of more flexible short-cycle education modeled after the United States’ community college system. Limited empirical …

Clamoring For Greenbacks: Explaining The Resurgence Of The U.S. Dollar In International Debt, Hiro Ito, Cesar M. Rodriguez

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper investigates the determinants of currency denomination in international debt. Using data on currency shares for international debt securities for 82 countries from 1995 through 2013, we find that while the extent of foreign currency issuance has not changed much since the 1990s, especially for developing countries, the currency composition has shifted, especially between the U.S. dollar and the euro. Before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the share of the U.S. dollar has been on a downward trend while that of the euro had been on a steady rising trend, but since the crisis, the U.S. dollar …

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 18, Number 4, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Adam G. Walke

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

An Interactive Research Study On For-Profit Microfinance And Its Continued Social Impact, Rachael Peroutky

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Though the world is changing rapidly, the problem of poverty and the push for human development have been debated for as long as anyone can remember. Outdated strategies for human development are not sustainable in this new globalized world. The relatively young and growing field of microfinance is hoping to be the answer for sustainable human development and poverty elimination. This study analyzes the impact of microfinance on human development through two major questions. Firstly, to what extent and in what ways can microfinance impact the poor? This research question is multifaceted and will seek to address some of the …

Fair Trade Or Fake Trade? Specialty Coffee Certifications And Development In Uganda, Eliza Cummings

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project examined the relationship between specialty coffee certifications and development. The focus was exploring the local and national implications Fairtrade coffee certifications have in Uganda. Coffee is a critical commodity, accounting for 15 percent of Uganda’s foreign exchange and engaging over one million households in production. Currently, specialty certified coffees including Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and 4C make up only four percent of total production. However, under Uganda’s 2013 National Coffee Policy, there is a target to expand specialty production to 24 percent. It is therefore imperative to understand how these specialty certifications affect primary producers participating as well as …

International Trade In Telecommunication Services: A Cross Sectional Gravity Regression, Justin C. Doty

Undergraduate Economic Review

The gravity model has been successful in measuring the effects of institutions, trade barriers, and other characteristics on trade in goods. Kimura and Lee [2004] find the gravity model is also suitable for measuring trade in services. The Organization for Economic Co-Development [2009a] develop gravity models for pilot service sectors such as construction, computer, professional, and telecommunication services. The purpose of this paper is to extend the findings of the OECD paper for telecommunication services. The paper finds that a 10 percent increase in distance between countries will decrease imports by 11.77 percent. Imports of telecommunication services are influenced by …

Comparing Advantages: Us Trade With The Rest Of The World, 1968-2008, Roger White, David Buelher

Economics

Calibrating a stylized version of the Dornbusch-Fischer-Samuelson model, this paper finds that relative to a cohort of 97 trading partners, the US capital stock, labor force, and nominal GDP per capita decreased, while the level of technology embodied in its output increased. These observed dynamics suggest a shift in comparative advantage that, coupled with increased production at the extensive and intensive margins, yields an expectation of labor market churning. Grouping trading partners by World Bank income classifications reveals that observed changes for low and lower middle income cohorts resulted in more pronounced shifts in comparative advantage. Examining employment and earnings …

Implication Of Closure Of Rdas And Wdas Segment Of The Foreign Exchange Market In Nigeria, Akin Dawodu

Bullion

The Nigeria foreign exchange market has transitioned a great deal since the country gain independence. Nigeria had a pegged exchange control until the introduction of the structural adjustment program (SAP) in 1986. which brought about dual exchange rate system, the first and second tier foreign exchange market that later metamorphosed into the Foreign Exchange Market (FEM). Hence there continue to be policy reversals as a result of the volatility in the exchange rate.

The Effects Of Nafta On Consumption, Income, And Employment, Warren Mills

Theses and Dissertations

A significant amount of concern exists in popular and political culture concerning the effects of trade liberalization on the domestic economy in the U.S. Difficulty exists in isolating the effects of a particular trade agreement due to unrelated trade policy changes that happen preceding, during, and following the signing of an agreement. This research seeks to do an analysis of the big picture involving consumption, income, and employment not with the intent of determining causation, which has proven highly problematic in previous research; instead, the focus is on whether we can exclude a negative effect by NAFTA on these measures …

Do Immigrants Reduce Bilateral Trade Costs? An Empirical Test, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse

Economics

We use the first comprehensive estimates of bilateral trade costs to test the extensively stated, but rarely evaluated, hypothesis that immigrants reduce trade-related transaction costs. Our results provide robust and direct evidence supporting this often-posited hypothesis. We examine the period from 1995 through 2010 using data that represent 174 immigrant home countries and 19 OECD member host countries. We find that a 10% increase in the stock of immigrants from a given home country that reside in a given host country corresponds with a 1.04% decrease in the overall bilateral trade costs between the home and host countries. While different …

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 18, Number 3, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Adam G. Walke

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

A Curious Study Of China, Sana Khalil

Business Review

China seems well-positioned in terms of innovation output; nonetheless, have underperformed with regards to innovation input which presents a very curious case for study. I investigate the determinants of China's cross-regional innovation output and link the variations in innovation output with the level of economic development. Using panel dataset from 31 regions of China, I show that the differences in China's regional innovation output can significantly be explained by variations in R&D manpower and expenditure, share of highly educated students, and public education spending. Additionally, domestic patent stock, high-tech export share and output value of new products are positively and …

Greece Caught In Death Spiral, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

The country is trapped between twin evils akin to the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis that threatened Odysseus' voyage.

Greece Caught In Death Spiral, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

The country is trapped between twin evils akin to the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis that threatened Odysseus' voyage.

Three Essays On The Economics Of Foreign Aid, Hongwei Song

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in the issue of foreign aid especially in the context of developmental economics. As foreign aid is designed to help those less-privileged nations with developmental objectives such as poverty reduction and/or economic growth, fundamental questions include whether aid has been effective and what motivates donors to provide aid. This dissertation is composed of three essays that examine different issues concerning foreign aid. First, I focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its impact on aid allocation among sectors. If specification of the MDGs affected aid flows, it should be observed that more …

Role For Singapore In Mobile Phone Remittances, Tan Swee Liang, Singanallore Narayanan Venkataramanan, Anil Kishora

Research Collection School Of Economics

As sending money home this way takes off, the country can provide a Pan-Asian platform

Is There A Future For The Euro?, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

A Greek exit could spell the euro zone's disintegration. The Greek referendum last Sunday resoundingly backed its embattled government over its tortuous negotiations with the Troika of the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Greece is now back at the negotiating table, which may ease the terms of loan repayment and lighten the reforms demanded or it may lead to a Grexit.

European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (Esfrc) (2015) : Escalating Crisis In The Eurozone: The Case For Conditional Debt Relief For Greece (Statement No. 40), David Veredas, Niels Thygesen, Tom Berglund, Reinhard H. Schmidt, Franco Bruni, Harald Benink, Kern Alexander, Santiago Carbo-Valverde, Rosa Lastra, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

In this statement the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC) is advocating a conditional relief of Greek's government debt based on Greece meeting certain targets for structural economic reforms in areas such as its labor market and pensions sector. The authors argue that the position of the European institutions that debt relief for Greece cannot be part of an agreement is based on the illusion that Greece will be able to service its sovereign debt and reduce its debt overhang after implementing a set of fiscal and structural reforms. However, the Greek economy would need to grow at an unrealistic …

Art Arbitrage - Violations Of The Law Of One Price Created By Fine Art Auctions, Amy Liu

Undergraduate Economic Review

Although fine art is becoming increasingly popular as investment, its price determination is relatively opaque. This paper expands upon the work of Pesando (1993) and Pesando and Shum (2007) concerning the law of one price in the art auction industry. By examining the sale history of silkscreen prints from Andy Warhol’s 1970 series Flowers, this paper controls for the physical characteristics of particular artwork and seeks to determine the likelihood of sale and price differentials created by specific auction environments. This paper further examines the extent to which auction houses take into account these auction environments when setting presale …

Three Essays On Capital Regulations And Shadow Banking, Diny Ghuzini

Dissertations

The shadow banking sector is a sector that is comprised of financial intermediaries that do not have access to central bank funds and performs their activities outside the regular banking system. This sector had been rapidly growing in most developed economies. This dissertation focuses on the behavioral difference and interaction of the traditional and shadow banking sectors as displayed by the relative asset position of both sectors, their risk-taking positions, and their business-cycles properties.

The first essay examines the impact of minimum capital requirements on the share of shadow to total banking assets. Previous literature has argued that increased regulation …

Export-Learning And Fdi With Heterogeneous Firms, Amanda Jakobsson

Research Collection School Of Economics

I present a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms that can innovate, learn how to export and then go on to become multinational firms. Entering the foreign market is a dynamic process where firms first learn how to export and then can learn how to adapt production to a low-wage location (multinational production). I solve the model numerically and, starting from a 1990 benchmark of US and Mexico, study how policy changes such as stronger patent protection and trade liberalization affect innovation, technology transfer and consumer welfare. In particular, I disentangle how labor resources are reallocated within regions in …